We couldn't lie down anymore without the paper shells on the ground, so we sat until dawn. My father had his back against the wall of the passage, and I leaned against my father's body, I don't know if my father was asleep, but I slept soundly anyway. But I curled up because the wind was strong.

However, I woke up twice, once when a car drove through the passage, and once when there was a rumbling sound above our heads, and the clicking sound lasted for a long time, and I felt like the ground was shaking. Also, there was always a coughing sound from the platform opposite.

The next day, before dawn, we got up and walked around. Because of sitting for a long time, my body was almost numb. The people sleeping on the table seemed to be awake.

I saw an old man sitting on the table opposite, with long hair and beard, dirty, and coughing. The coughing sound at night should be due to him. He sometimes coughed breathlessly, holding his hands on his chest, and looked very uncomfortable.

Who would have believed that this old man died on the second night I stayed in the passage. He exposed me to death again.

This old man always stares at me when he doesn't cough, and it makes me feel furious. I couldn't have looked in his direction. Later, when I looked into his gaze, I realized that he was not staring at me, but just looking in my direction, and he didn't have us in his eyes at all.

That morning, my father bought me two buns and left.

He told me he was going to find something to do. He repeatedly warned me not to go far, not to talk to strangers, not to go with others. Otherwise he wouldn't have found me. I took his words to heart and stayed on the stage all day long.

I ate both buns in one go.

There are more and more cars coming and going on the road, and more and more people are coming and going from the platform. Some pedestrians would notice me, some would treat us like air, and some would look at me with disdain, as if I was getting in the way of their walk.

When I was idle, I took out the textbook I had brought with me and read it. I first flipped through the Chinese, then I looked at the math, and I finished the math book problems.

I thought my father should come back at this time, but looking at the direction of his departure, I didn't see my father's shadow for a long time.

Suddenly, the deafening rumble came again, from afar, nearer, nearer, louder, and then continued above me.

Out of curiosity, I ran out to see. It's a train, it's the train mentioned in the book! It's a long, long train. I didn't expect to see a train in such a small county.

I've been excited about this for a long time.

Then I went back to where I was sitting on the stage. Last night, I had packed up the newspapers and cardboard shells and lay on the platform in a mess, and a few of the newspapers floated onto the road, crumpled by the passing cars. I don't know if my father remembered to come back with some newspapers or paper shells, otherwise it would have been very difficult to sleep at night.

Father finally returned.

One look at his father's face knew that he had not found something to do. His father's face was a barometer of his mood. Out of nowhere, my father found a bowl with a small notch, and a little water in it. I'm really thirsty. My father also brought me food, or two steamed buns. I swallowed the cold, hard bun with the water.

"Have you eaten enough?" Father asked.

I nodded. Oh my God, where does it feel full?

"I'm still going to go out and walk around." My father seemed to be telling me.

"Good. However, Kiki wants her father to come back soon. Also, remember to bring back a cardboard shell. ”

"If you don't say it, Dad almost forgot." Father finally smiled.

The boring afternoon began.

By the afternoon, it was just me and the coughing old man in the entire passage.

I walk out from time to time. Outside the passage is a wasteland. Some places have been reclaimed, revealing yellow mud, and most places are overgrown with wild grass.

Running through the wasteland is a six-meter-wide road. Vehicles coming out of the passage go out on this road. The trees on both sides of the road were covered with dust.

There was a large camphor tree in the wasteland not far from the passage, and a path led to it.

I went to play under the camphor tree, watching the birds jump on the branches, watching the sun shuttle through the clouds, and watching the dragonflies fly freely at low altitude.

I always think of my grandfather and mother. I think of my grandfather's kindness and my mother's taciturnity. I think of my grandfather, who was surrounded by a hemp mat, who covered her whole body with a sheet, and my mother, who was covered in blood all over her body, and even the bed where she was lying was covered in blood.

I'm thinking more about my brother. I don't know if my brother remembers what he said, that is, they are not together, as long as they always miss it, they still "never leave"; I don't know if my brother will be like me, as long as I close my eyes and sleep, I will say goodnight to my brother; I don't know if the jade pendant I gave him will wear it around his neck every day......

Suddenly it rained. The rain was getting heavier and heavier, and I had to go back to the platform of the passage. I noticed that there was more and more water on the road inside the passage. I had a premonition that trouble was coming, and sure enough, a car was coming, and as I was passing through the passageway, water splashed on the platform, and I had to run out.

The tragic scene happened, the coughing old man had no time to dodge, and the stagnant water splashed him. After a while, another car came, and the water splashed on the old man again. It turned out that the old man could not stand up at all.

Perhaps because his body was soaked by the rain, the old man's cough became more and more violent. The way he coughed out of breath scared me. How I wish my father would come back soon.

But my father didn't return as early as I had hoped, but came back even later. I was so hungry that I kept making noises to protest against me.

Father finally returned. I can't tell how happy I am to see my father. I thought my father would come back with something, but he didn't have anything else but newspapers and paper shells, not even buns.

"I'm sorry, Kiki, I'm going to be hungry tonight." Father said.

"Is the bun sold out?"

The father shook his head, "No, there is no money." The money Dad brought was all gone. ”

"Daddy still hasn't found something to do?"

Dad shook his head, then nodded, "Tomorrow, Dad believes that tomorrow will find something to do." You bear with me. ”

"I'm not hungry." I say.

By then, the rain had stopped. The water that had accumulated on the road had also receded. The rain on the countertops was also dried by the wind.

We spread the newspaper that my father had brought on the floor and went to bed early. I think that as long as I fall asleep, my stomach will not be hungry. Or, when you go to sleep and dream of a lot of delicious things, your stomach will naturally not be hungry.

The old man's cough continued.

"Dad, that old man is so pitiful." I said softly.

"How could he not have a loved one?" The father frowned, "Maybe his relatives don't know he's here." ”

"Well, Dad, I noticed he hadn't eaten for a day. He didn't go anywhere, he seemed to have a problem with his leg. ”

"Oh, if Daddy can't find something to do tomorrow, we'll be hungry for a day." My father thinks more about himself.

"No, Dad will find something to do tomorrow."

In the middle of the night, I was awakened by the old man's terrible screams. Dad woke up as well. I heard the sounds of the other people sleeping on the table as they turned around, and I knew they should be awakened too.

"Would you like to go over and have a look, Daddy?" I asked my father.

"Okay." Father said.

We stepped off the stage and walked over to the old man. By the faint light of the stars, I saw the old man grasping at the hem of his shirt, his face contorted in pain. He used to sit against the wall, but now he is lying on the countertop.

"How are you, old man?" Father asked.

"Whew—whew—" The old man gasped. He seems to have only breath out and no breath in.

"Are you feeling bad?" The father continued.

"Ahh

"It doesn't seem to work." Father said to me.

"Ah, what else?" I asked, surprised.

"What else can I do?"

We retreated to where we slept.

In less than two minutes, the old man coughed violently again. The violent cough caused him to sit up, but he quickly collapsed again, and then stopped moving.

I guess the old man exhaled his last breath.

There was a deathly silence in the passage.

My father and I walked over again. The father tried to push the old man's body, but the old man did not move. He was unconscious.

"It's dead, Kiki." Father said.

"Dead?" I was chilled. I was a little man who met death three times in just two months, can I not be afraid? "Dad, I'm afraid."

"Don't be afraid. We went back to sleep. ”

"Is that all he wants?"

"I guess someone will take care of it tomorrow. We don't handle it well. ”

"But I'm scared. How can it be so pathetic? It's pathetic. ”

"There are so many poor people in this society, Kiki. We're no better. ”

I was silent, yes, we weren't much better. If my father doesn't find anything to do tomorrow, we'll be in a similar position to the old man. Hunger will also kill. Thinking of this, the feeling of hunger in my stomach is even stronger.

Back on the countertop where we slept, I couldn't sleep for a long time. I always think about the old man's corpse. Some of the ghost stories I usually hear are always shaking in my mind now, so that the more I think about it, the more scared I become.

It's been a long time. You look forward to the dawn, and it seems to be against me, and it is always not light. The feeling of horror has not completely passed, hunger and cold have returned. It's an indescribable feeling.

The next day my father went out early in the morning. I wanted to go with my father to find something to do, but he didn't agree, and he insisted that I stay in the hallway. But the thought of a dead man in the passage made me panic.

The old man's body was covered with a newspaper by someone, and his head and face were covered, which made me feel a lot more relieved.

Sure enough, in the middle of the morning, someone came and dragged the body away.

I don't know who the people who dragged the bodies were, but they were dressed in uniformed costumes (which I later learned were called uniforms). They scolded as if the old man had made them pour mold for three lifetimes.

But thankfully, the body was dragged away.

When the fear is gone, the hunger increases. I regret not bringing more sweet potatoes from home. I dared to go around the neighborhood, but I couldn't find anything to eat, and I was afraid that my father wouldn't come back and see me, so I didn't dare to go around for too long.

I dragged my heavy legs back into the passage, but my father still didn't return.

The sun is a little westerly, and my father hasn't come back yet!

I was really hungry, and I felt like there were thousands of worms in my stomach eating at me. I urgently needed something to fill my stomach, and I felt that I would faint if I didn't have anything to fill my stomach, so I resolutely picked up my cloth schoolbag and walked towards the center of the county.

Before leaving, I left a note on the ground.