August 2002, Dongyang Town, Chaoshan City, Huaguo.

There is a small mountain village, there is a mountain in the southeast, Chen T Xing, hooking this village with a population of not 10,000 but also 8,000, and only the northwest direction faces the world.

The winter in the south is cold that penetrates deep into the bone marrow, and it is facing the heat of the summer baking the earth.

No, the midday sun was white and blinding, shining on the ground.

If the shoeless child puts his feet on the newly repaired mud floor, it will be like the pancakes of the old grandmother's stall in the town.

But there was a little boy of seven or eight years old, barefoot, who hurried to the fields at the foot of the mountain.

"Abba! Abba!"

The little boy stumbled and finally ran to the field and shouted at a middle-aged man about forty years old.

"What's the matter, why don't you wear shoes, what should I do if I hurt my feet!"

The middle-aged man braved the scorching sun and checked the ditch in the field to prevent the rice field from dying without water, and saw the little boy running on the mud without slippers, and couldn't help but teach a lesson.

"A few people took two pieces of paper and stuck the door of our house, grandma told you to go back quickly!" The little boy ignored his father's reprimand and spoke to him in a hurry.

"You go to the old house over there and take home the wooden scoop for watering vegetables, you don't have to come to me, I'll go home and have a look first."

"The electricity bill has not been paid for more than a month, and it seems that it is here to recover it, hey..."The middle-aged man frowned when he heard this, thought about it slightly, and said to Zhang Ming, who was panting on the side.

Xiao Zhang Ming looked at his father's figure gradually moving away, rested for a while, and then jogged barefoot towards the old house in the compound.

Because the new house is built six or seven minutes away from the field, but the old house is built a hundred steps away from the field, so usually in the summer, I come to the field to pick vegetables and water vegetables or something, and I also take a cool rest on the side of the old house.

The dilapidated old house can be traced back to my grandfather's generation, and in the old days of the Red Guards, there were wolves on the mountain, so a large group of people lived in a large courtyard surrounded by walls to prevent anyone from being bitten to death by wolves at night.

But more than ten years ago, families moved down one after another to build new houses, so now the hundreds of houses in this large courtyard are empty, and they seem dead and desolate.

Xiao Zhang Ming stood at the door of the compound and looked inside, because it was a child, he lived in the mountains for a long time, and he didn't have much knowledge, so he was very afraid in front of this unmanned and closed courtyard.

"Oops, no! If you don't take the wooden scoop back, Abba will definitely be scolded if you are in a hurry!"

I stood for about a while, although it was not for a long time, but in Xiao Zhang Ming's eyes, it was like standing at the entrance of the village and looking at the snacks in the commissary.

"I'll run in quickly, get the wooden scoop and come out quickly, it'll be fine!"

After hesitating for a while, Xiao Zhang Ming couldn't help but muster up his courage, and the girl ran into the big courtyard.

At the right corner, I stopped in front of an old house that was dilapidated and would collapse at a glance, but I didn't see any wooden scoops pouring vegetables at the door, and I couldn't help but look around.

"Where? Why didn't you see any wooden scoops!" Because of its remote location, no one usually comes, it is quiet and desolate, and the door is overgrown with weeds.

Suddenly, Xiao Zhang Ming's eyes lit up and he saw the existence of a wooden scoop in the grass at the door.

Because only the handle of the wooden scoop is exposed outside the grass, the scoop itself is hidden by the grass, and it may not be found if you don't look closely.

Xiao Zhang Mingxing rushed over, picked up the wooden handle with both hands, and lifted it up, because of his short size, the wooden scoop looked extremely heavy in his hand, and it was as big as Xiao Zhang Ming's head in front of him.

"Oops!"

Suddenly, Xiao Zhang Ming's feet ached, and he couldn't help throwing out the wooden scoop he had just picked up, squatting on the dirt and holding his right foot and screaming in pain.

Looking at the right foot, there was a white mouth that was spilling crimson blood, and it didn't take long for a kick to flow.

Of course, this is a child's worldview, but in fact, it is just so much that the fingernails of the adult's little fingers are shed.

It just so happened that there was a herb that the rural people specially used to stop bleeding, which could be seen everywhere, Xiao Zhang Ming pulled it randomly, chewed it in his mouth, and pressed it on the wound with a foaming star.

"That's how Abba's hand was scratched, it must be fine!"

Xiao Zhang Ming didn't know whether to believe in his father or to find comfort in his heart, and thought silently in his heart.

Xiao Zhang Ming only had time to find the culprit who caused all this. “”

With his little head down, he looked around, and there was an old melon seed-shaped, covered with a layer of soil ash, and something as slender as an adult's thumb came into view, and there were drops of blood on one end.

Xiao Zhang Ming grabbed the thing, and wanted to crush the stone next to him, but it was really warm and cool to start, and he couldn't help but be curious.

Why do you feel happy in your heart, could it be that this thing is still smashing Xiao Zhang Ming's head, stupid and crazy, so that he doesn't hate and annoy the thing that caused his leg injury? But no.

"Ah, why does this thing look like melon seeds!"

"But the melon seeds don't seem to be white! Could it be a shelled melon seed? ”

"The melon seeds don't seem to be that big, so they have become fine?"

"It looks delicious, no matter what, grandpa said that after the founding of the People's Republic of China, you are not allowed to become a spirit, and you don't think it's a monster, let's talk about it after eating!"

After thinking about it, he didn't come up with a reason, so Xiao Zhang Ming thought about eating this "white melon seed". It just solves the gluttony of rural children who don't have snacks.

"Let's take it out and wash it in the stream outside the yard."

After thinking about it, Xiao Zhang Ming picked up the "white melon seeds" and the wooden scoop that he threw out, and ran out of the yard in a hurry.

After a while, Xiao Zhang Ming turned around and ran west, walked out of the empty courtyard, and came to the stream in front of the courtyard.

The creek is one meter wide, the murmuring stream is less than 20 centimeters, and you can see the mud and sand at the bottom of the stream, and a few translucent shrimp are jumping and swimming in the water.

Xiao Zhang Ming came to the stream, squatted down, put the hand holding the "white melon seeds" into the water, washed the "white melon seeds" carefully, and held them in front of him again, and the "white melon seeds" finally revealed its true face.

If you don't look closely, the whole surface is just white, covered with some strange veins, if you look closely, it is as clear as glass beads, and inside it seems like a chaotic unknown gas is surging, sacred and mysterious.

The hand is soft, warm and cool in the hand, and the two different feelings fill the heart, making Xiao Zhang Ming feel as warm as nesting in the quilt in winter.

Xiao Zhang Ming couldn't help but send the "white melon seeds" to his mouth, instinctively wanting to take a bite and let the already boring taste buds taste it, but unexpectedly, the "white melon seeds" slipped and stabbed and drilled into his throat.