I walked forward calmly. The steps are not as heavy as a dying man.

I also wondered if I was not afraid at all when I knew that I was going to die, I was going to be drowned in a pond.

I just feel sorry for Hao Junqi. I was the one who caused her. During the days when I was "knocked down", she always stood by my side and never wavered in the slightest. In order for me not to be tortured by the thin man and this gang, he accompanied me up the Tiger Slope and climbed the Optimus Stone Pillar Cliff, but I didn't expect that in the end, even a small life was taken.

I also thought about my parents and my grandmother who was far away in the city. My grandmother loves me the most. When she learned the news that I had died, she didn't know if she would faint from crying, just like Hao Junqi's mother had fainted from crying just now. I don't know when the "study" of my parents will end, so someone must have passed the news on to them, right?

But before I could finish thinking about it, they had already crushed us to the edge of the pond.

The wind was blowing from the fields, and a few clumps of weeds near the pond that had not yet completely dried up fluttered with the wind.

I remembered the scene when Zhu Jinshan and we came here to steal the bamboo cage that night. We walked barefoot on the muddy ridge road and could clearly hear the sound of the water flowing.

They forced us to kneel on the dam of the pond. Facing the pond, I noticed that the water in the pond was still full in early winter.

It seems that I heard Grandpa Hao say that even in the driest years, the pond in the village is full of water. It never seemed to dry up. It is said that there are several springs at the bottom of the pond, and the water gushes throughout the year.

No one knows exactly how deep this pond is. At a glance, the water is clear and quiet. I forgot which family in the village had a child who had come here at noon to catch a dragonfly and fell into a pond and drowned.

It's winter, and the dragonflies are long gone.

Hao Junqi and I glanced at each other. I wanted to pretend to laugh easily, but I couldn't, but Hao Junqi opened her mouth, but tears flowed out of the corners of her eyes.

"What's wrong, are you scared?" The sun shone on us at two or three o'clock in the afternoon. The sky was clear.

"Well, but I'm not afraid of death," Hao Junqi's voice was weird, "Brother, what I'm afraid of is that if I sink into the pond, I will never see my brother again, and I will never see my brother again." ”

"What a stupid girl, you don't know what death is. I don't know, though. I guess when we die, we should be unable to see anything, to have no sense at all. None of us will ever see anyone again. ”

"So I'm scared. It would be nice if you could still see my brother when he died. ”

"Kiki—" The corners of my eyes moistened, too.

Someone found two large stones.

The stone must be heavy, otherwise the person who came with the stone would not have been so out of breath after putting it down. It's the kind of flattened bluestone that is perfect for tying to our belly or back.

I know that they will soon tie the stone to us. The hands and feet were tied with ropes, and with this big rock pressed on the body, anyone who could swim again would surely die.

In a trance, I felt that death had possessed me.

The old village chief ordered two middle-aged men to come up and tie stones to us. The two middle-aged men drank and ordered us to bow our backs so that the stones could be pressed against our backs.

The crowd of onlookers fell silent for a moment. From the woods behind the village came a terrible birdsong.

"My Kiki—" Hao Junqi's mother's cry was worse than the bird's cry.

Somehow, the fear of death instantly filled my entire mind, and I could no longer calm down. It was as if I was touching death, and I could even see the way death laughed at me.

Just now, I easily comforted Hao Junqi, saying that if I die, I am ignorant and unconscious, that is, no one can see anyone, and now, the shadow of death is like the brown rope that binds me and makes my hand hurt.

Once you're dead, you can't do anything.

I can no longer take Hao Junqi to the mountains to pick flowers in the rhododendron blooming season and make garlands for her; can't say goodnight to each other with Hao Junqi at every moment before going to bed, and I don't want to go to bed because I haven't had enough fun; can't pick a few dates for Hao Junqi to satisfy her hunger when they are not ripe, which makes her diarrhea; Oh, it's winter, and there's a lot of joy in winter – building snowmen, having snowball fights, kneading all kinds of small animals with late rice balls when playing late rice cakes, just like kneading clay figures......

None of these things can be done.

Once a person dies, he will not be able to see anything, he will not be able to enjoy anything, and he must be in that boundless darkness all day long, the kind of darkness that cannot see anything, the darkness that cannot be seen by his fingers.

There is no color, there is only darkness, empty and lonely, but there is darkness everywhere......

A thought suddenly popped into my mind: Zheng Qihang, you can't die, you can't die!

I turned to look at Hao Junqi, who had been sobbing.

Your heart is shattered for no reason. It's not that you can't die, it's that none of you can die, at least not Kiki!

So you've got to struggle, you've got to make a fuss!

You have to find a way to escape!

I took advantage of the fact that the man who was about to press the stone on my back was not paying attention, and turned my neck and opened my mouth to bite his arm violently, and the man was not wary, and let go of his hand in pain, but the stone fell and hit his foot again, and he jumped three feet high in pain.

I quickly straightened up and took a step and ran out along the pond dam.

It's just that my hands were tied tightly with brown ropes and I couldn't shake my arms, so I didn't have to run a few steps before I fell, but I quickly got up again and kept running.

I ran and tried to untie the rope.

"Catch him! Go grab that bunny! Fast! This is Captain Wu's voice.

"Don't run, don't run!" I couldn't tell whose voice it was, I just knew that several people were catching up.

They quickly caught up with me. I struggled hard. I shouted that I don't want to die, I can't die, I don't want to die, but to no avail, they simply picked me up and dragged me back.

I felt as if my strength had been sucked dry by something, and my whole body went limp.

Nothing can be changed!

I knelt down on the dam again, facing the water. At this time, they agreed that they would sink me, the "rabbit cub" who was going to escape, into the pond first.

They also discussed, and tied their hands and feet with brown ropes, and it didn't matter if they tied stones or not, they could not sink. So they picked me up and tied my feet with another rope.

I think this is what the tying of someone in "Water Margin" looks like. If I jumped out and looked at me like this, I would look like a scarecrow.

The gongs and drums sounded, and the person who struck the gong suddenly said: "Sacrifice to the sky!" ”

I looked behind me, and all the onlookers knelt down. Even Hao Junqi's parents are on their knees (maybe they have been kneeling on the ground).

The old village chief walked to the pond dam with a bouquet of burning incense in his hand, and he inserted the incense along the pond dam and inserted it into a line. The peculiar smell of incense wafted into my nose.

At that moment, I faintly heard the thunder. Extremely light, extremely far away, as if inadvertently. Just a bang!

I think it's weird. Could it be that our ascent to the Optimus Stone Pillar Cliff really alarmed the so-called Heavenly Court?

After the old village chief planted the incense, he knelt down on the pond dam, he bowed his back and kowtowed religiously, and all the kneeling people kowtowed with him. He kowtowed three times in a row. All the villagers kowtowed.

Another thunderclap. This one was louder than the one just now. Many people heard it. I feel like a lot of people are looking into the distance.

The gongs and drums sounded. "The sacrifice is over, Shentang-"

The man who bound my hands and feet stepped back, and Captain Wu walked up to me. I squinted at him.

"Bunny, don't blame me for being ruthless. Who told you to beat my son like that? Captain Wu seemed to be talking to himself.

My brain buzzed. The scene of me beating the skinny man on the river beach flashed through my mind. The scene of Captain Wu taking his son to Grandpa Hao's house to ask my father Xingshi for guilt flashed in his mind.

So that's it!

Parents have to endure hardships.

"You're going to die a bad death." I'll take it word by word.

"You can't call it a good death." Captain Wu pressed his hand on my back.

I closed my eyes.

"Zheng Qihang-" was Grandpa Hao's voice.

"Brother-" was Hao Junqi's voice. Piercing. A bright light flashed before my eyes.

"Boom-" The rumble sounded at the same time as Hao Junqi called me, which was deafening.

I subconsciously closed my eyes. Almost at the same time, I heard Captain Wu's screams.

I lost consciousness again.

……

When I woke up, I found myself in bed. To my surprise, my father and mother were also sitting on the bed. Hao Junqi and her family were standing in front of my bed. I woke up as a surprise to them.

I tried to get up, but my father stopped me.

"Am I not dead? Am I not a sinking pond? "I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

"Set sail, your life is great. Even Lei Gong wants to protect you. Grandpa Hao touched my head and said.

"Yes, yes, brother, you are really a blessed man. It also saved my little life. "Hao Junqi's face is full of flowers, just as beautiful as the plum blossoms I picked from the Optimus Pillar. She was jumping and jumping.

"Did something happen? Didn't they push me into the pond? Also, Mom and Dad, don't you still study collectively in the brigade? "There are so many questions to ask.

"What group learning?" His father, the second monk, was confused.

"Hehehehe," Grandpa Hao smiled, "It was me and Qihang who said that you husband and wife were caught in the brigade to criticize and fight, and I said that they were concentrated in the brigade to study together." ”

"Oh, almost, it's another form of learning." Father got up from the bed.

"What else are you pushing?" Grandpa Hao continued my topic and said, "Do you know that just as Captain Wu was about to push you into the pond, suddenly thunder rang. ”

"I heard a boom and saw a bright light. Is that a thunderous sound? I said.

"How not? And that Lei Gong is specially designed to split Captain Wu. It's a day that I can't even see it. If it weren't for this Captain Wu, who would have thought of sinking you in the pond? I only have Kiki, a precious granddaughter. Grandpa Hao took Hao Junqi in his arms.

"And how's Captain Wu?" I asked.

"Hacked to death by Lei Gong."

"What? Then how come I didn't die? I sat up sharply. My mother hurriedly brought her coat and put it over me.

"How else can we say that my son is a blessed man?" Mother said.

"After this thunder, you all fell to the ground at the same time," Grandpa Hao continued, "Your Uncle Hao rushed up and helped you up, and I went to untie Qiqi's rope." The person who went to help Captain Wu exclaimed that Captain Wu was dead, I thought you were also killed by thunder, but I didn't expect you kid to be so fatal, but he was stunned. At this moment, the whole village was in chaos. And we will take you home. ”

"How could they have asked you to take us home?"

"Why not? Who would dare to punish you and Kiki again? Heaven does not tolerate it! Captain Wu is the end. Grandpa Hao raised his voice. Even if Captain Wu was killed by thunder, Grandpa Hao still didn't feel relieved. "It's all caused by Captain Wu. It really responds to the old saying, good is rewarded with good and evil is rewarded with evil. ”

I remembered what Captain Wu said to me at the end, which verified that Grandpa Hao's words were not wrong. But I didn't say what Captain Wu said to me.

I was in a coma for two days. My parents came back the day after my accident. Hao Youde ran to the brigade to plead with the brigade secretary, and the brigade secretary gave his parents "leave".

Soon there was good news that there was a big man above who had spoken, and all those who had been beaten down were immediately rehabilitated, and those who had gathered in the brigade to criticize and fight were all "acquitted".

My parents joked with me, "Set sail, you're a celebrity in the county now." ”

"Why?"

"The news of your breaking into the forbidden area has not only spread in our commune, but even Yangjiang County has been shaken. Say that you are the pioneer in breaking down feudal superstitions. ”

"Then what about me, Mr. Zheng, I went up to the Optimus Pillar Cliff with Brother Qihang." Hao Junqi was very unconvinced.

"You too, so do you."

Hao Junqi and I glanced at each other, and we couldn't help but touch the bump or notch on my middle finger.