I was still shocked, but Xiaobao said to the old woman: "Mother, this thing is useless for me!" ”

The old woman said, "It works! It's very useful! In the future, the witchcraft passed down by your grandfather will also be passed on to you by my mother. ”

Xiaobao seemed to be a little excited, she stuffed the sachet back into the old woman's hand, and said casually: "Mother, it's unlucky, let's not talk about it yet...... Yikes! The water in the pot is boiling, and I go to get the tofu. ”

"Ah, good! Then you go get busy first......"

The mother-in-law showed a look of disappointment on her face, but Xiaobao didn't notice it.

Xiaobao lifted the lid of the pot and was about to put the tofu on it to steam, but at this time, the old woman said to Xiaobao: "Xiaobao! You stop! ”

Xiaobao asked, "Mother, what's wrong?" ”

The old woman made a silent gesture at her, lowered her voice and said, "Wait a while, don't talk yet......

The two of them didn't dare to come out of the quiet atmosphere, and there was only a slight crackling sound of firewood in the house, which I thought was a little strange, but at this moment, I heard some footsteps outside the house, and soon, these footsteps became faster and faster, more and more chaotic, mixed with heavy gasps, and then the rapid knock on the door shook the whole room.

Xiaobao's voice trembled slightly: "Mother, is it the enemy?" ”

The old woman's eyes were firm, and she said in a calm tone: "You go back, my mother will take a look." ”

At this time, I heard someone outside the house calling for the door: "Is there anyone?" Open the door! ”

The old woman leaned on the door panel and said with some caution, "Who are you?" What's the matter? ”

It was a middle-aged man's voice that replied, and his voice sounded more steady.

"This sister-in-law, we are the villagers of Songkou Town at the other end of Meiling, the Guangdong soldiers called two days ago, we fled here, the dry food has long been gone, we are tired and hungry, and please make it convenient for the sister-in-law."

The old woman's tone was very cold: "This big night, our orphans and widows are very inconvenient, and now it is another disaster year, and there is nothing to eat in the house, you better go!" ”

After hearing this, the middle-aged man prayed: "Sister-in-law, please do well!" We really can't walk, just beg for hot water to drink. ”

The old woman was unmoved, and said, "It's inconvenient, let's go!" ”

At this time, there was a "wow", and there was a baby's cry outside the house, and Xiaobao's face was worried: "Mother, it seems that there is a child......"

"It's freezing ...... outside"

The old woman hesitated, but turned on the deadbolt.

"Come in!"

As soon as the door opened, a middle-aged man with a long beard stood outside the door and bowed to her: "Thank you, sister-in-law!" ”

At this time, a lot of people came in from the outside, there were men and women, old and young, there was a woman still holding the doll and coaxing, the leader of the long-bearded man wore a horse coat, a coat on his shoulders, a businessman's dress, and said to his mother-in-law: "Thank you sister-in-law for taking me in, my surname is Chen, I am the shopkeeper of Longxin Inn in Songkou Town, we have a lot of people, just drink hot water!" ”

The old woman saw that all of them had sunken eyes and heavy steps, obviously exhausted after a long journey, so she vacated the inner room for the old man and the women and children, and Alain distributed the hot water in the pot to everyone to drink, and the leading shopkeeper Chen was grateful for a while.

At this time, the sound of thunder sounded outside the house, and it rained after a few electric lights, and the rain became stronger and heavier, and the rain in the winter night was cold to the bone, and it could freeze people to death.

The shopkeeper Chen said to the old woman: "This weather is really fortunate to meet my sister-in-law, otherwise it will be miserable, I will thank you another day, I don't know your surname, sister-in-law?" ”

The old woman responded, "Don't give your surname Shi." ”

"Oh, sister-in-law Shi, we are also in a hurry to escape, and we are walking in the dark," Shopkeeper Chen asked again: "May I ask which township and which village is here?" ”

Granny Shi said: "This place is Zizhu Cave, and from this ravine is Zhongchi Township, which is more than ten miles away from you. But if you want to talk about this, I have a few words to ask. ”

When the shopkeeper Chen heard this, he said, "Sister-in-law Shi, please say something if you have something." ”

Granny Shi said: "Don't blame me for talking too much, you are only a dozen miles away from here, even if you don't eat a meal, you won't be so tired?" ”

Shopkeeper Chen sighed before replying: "Cough, sister-in-law Shi, you don't know, the Guangdong soldiers broke into the town two days ago, things were robbed, people were killed, we were forced to helpless, fled to Meiling to avoid trouble, took it in the mountains for two days, until the dry food was exhausted, we didn't close our eyes for two days!" ”

Granny Shi listened to Shopkeeper Chen's explanation, nodded and said, "I see......

At this time, there were a few villagers sitting on the ground next to each other.

A tall villager said: "I heard that those Cantonese soldiers are the protectors of Chen Jiongming and Chen Dashuai......

"Protect your fart!" A fat guy interrupted him, and continued, "A bunch of robbers are not as good as dogs!" Before entering the town, he opened fire, and when he entered the town, he shot without saying a word, if it wasn't for the shopkeeper Chen leading the way to hide in the mountains, all our lives would have to be reimbursed! ”

Another short man complained: "This can hide from the first year of junior high school, can it hide from the fifteenth?" When we came out of the mountains, didn't we meet these plague gods again? As soon as they fired, we ran forward without a head, and now we have been running for two hours, and we are so hungry that our eyes are ......"

Shopkeeper Chen listened to the complaints of these villagers, turned his head and smiled bitterly with Granny Shi: "Our gang of people are hiding in the mountains and hurrying together, and they haven't eaten for almost two days, which makes Sister-in-law Shi laugh." It also happened that the moon had risen on this cloudy day, and I could see the smoke in this ravine by the moonlight, otherwise we would not know where we would be starving and freezing! ”

Granny Shi listened to Shopkeeper Chen's words, hesitated for a moment, turned her head and said to Xiaobao: "Xiaobao, I see that everyone is also hungry, you put all the pots of red mushroom tofu in the pot, and boil the pot of tofu soup to cushion everyone's hunger." ”

Xiaobao listened to Granny Shi's instructions, and went to eat tofu without saying a word.

Chen Zhan Cabinet looked surprised, and hurriedly persuaded: "How can this be done!" Sister-in-law Shi, you can just give us hot water to drink, and you can get us food......"

Granny Shi comforted the shopkeeper Chen and said: "They are all poor people who have suffered disasters, and there is nothing to do, let Brother Chen, you see and laugh!" ”

Seeing that all the villagers in the house were hungry, Shopkeeper Chen couldn't refrain from his mother-in-law's kindness, so he had to respond with a thousand thanks.

After a while, the tofu soup boiled, and the smell of red mushroom tofu wafted all over the room. I'm looking for the dishes and chopsticks! ”

Shopkeeper Chen said: "There are twenty-three people in our line, and there is really a labor girl." ”

Xiaobao turned out all the dishes and chopsticks, and there were only six bowls and five pairs of chopsticks, so he had to say to Granny Shi: "Mother, our dishes and chopsticks are not enough!" ”

Granny Shi smiled and said, "Isn't it brainless? How can we have so many bowls and chopsticks in our house, let everyone share the food! ”

Xiaobao smiled shyly after listening to her mother-in-law's words, and began to distribute tofu soup to everyone.

Although a pot of tofu soup was cooked, it couldn't stand more than 20 people eating it openly, and the tofu soup was about to bottom out after a while.

Granny Shi also saw the situation in the pot, and she was afraid that she would miss any of them and didn't eat them, so she stood up and counted the heads, and she counted all the people who had eaten.

In the end, Granny Shi turned her head and asked the shopkeeper Chen, "Brother Chen, how many people are there in your line?" ”

Shopkeeper Chen looked up and said, "Twenty-three! Didn't you just say that? ”

Granny Shi pointed to the woman holding the baby in her arms and asked, "Is this baby in swaddling clothes?" ”

Shopkeeper Chen nodded and said, "Forget it!" There were twenty-three people, including children. ”

Granny Shi listened to Shopkeeper Chen's words, her face changed a little, and she said, "This number is not right!" ”

Shopkeeper Chen said: "Are there fewer people? We came here at night, and it's easy to get lost in this mountain, so it's not surprising that there are fewer people. ”

"It's not missing...... Granny Shi turned her head to look at the Chen display case, and her face turned pale.

"It's one more!"

"I've counted them, and they're twenty-four!"

Shopkeeper Chen was also a little surprised when he heard this, and hurriedly stood up and looked around.

The tall man behind him said nervously: "I heard that the Cantonese soldiers are not familiar with the terrain of western Fujian, so I arranged for spies to follow the fleeing people into the village to investigate, in order to prevent the news from leaking, whenever they enter a village, they will kill a ......."

The fat man on the side slapped his thigh, stood up and shouted, "Oops! But don't let the spies of the Cantonese soldiers get involved, otherwise this village will suffer! ”

Granny Shi was a little panicked when she heard this.

Shopkeeper Chen immediately instructed: "Everyone is a neighbor in the same town, take a look at each other and see if there are any new faces!" ”

The villagers in the house looked at each other, you look at me, I look at you, and they distinguished each other for a while, and finally found a new face.

This villager, with a fresh face, was squatting alone in the corner of the wall by the door, dressed in rags, wearing a black leather hat and lowering his head, and was drinking a bowl of tofu soup without hesitation, no matter how the people around him asked him, he just refused to raise his head.

Granny Shi hurriedly pushed everyone away and stepped forward, but before she could get closer, she smelled a foul smell.

This stench was indescribably strange, and Granny Shi forcibly held back the smell, squatted down and approached the person and asked, "Who are you?" ”

The man did not speak, but continued to drink the soup without heeding.

The mother-in-law looked carefully, and her face became more and more pale, only to see that this person was black and thin, and his face was withered, but his nose and mouth were very large, and a mouth opened and closed from time to time, but he didn't drink half a mouthful of tofu soup, what was going on?

This man took the tofu soup and didn't drink it in a sip, but the tofu soup was all poured into the two big nostrils facing the sky!

He grinned blankly at Granny Shi, revealing a mouthful of rotten teeth and letting out a cold and strange laugh.

Granny Shi staggered back a few steps and shouted, "Be careful, everyone! Hurry up! He's not human at all! ”

Everyone didn't know why, and subconsciously retreated, and Shopkeeper Chen asked in surprise: "He's not human?" What's that? ”

Granny Shi quickly pinched her handprint in her hand, her expression was extremely solemn, and she said a word, which made the hairs of everyone present stand up!

"He's not human, he's a plague ghost!"

I only heard her say categorically: "It's the plague ghost turned into a dead corpse in this mountain!" ”