My dad is not easy to ask others, and I guess he began to hesitate after listening to my uncle's words. After a while, my dad said that he still had some work to do, and that he might have to stay up at night and let my uncle sleep first.

I heard my uncle say: "Patriotism, I know, you don't like to ask for help, but Yangyang's matter is not anything else, your family has been passed down for three generations, don't ......" As he spoke, the uncle couldn't go on.

My dad didn't complain about my uncle at all, but said: "I'm actually thinking, it's good to bring something when I go to find Lao Chai Tou tomorrow, you know, the efficiency of our factory has not been good recently, and last year in order to see a doctor for Yangyang, the family has no money." But after all, I'm begging someone, so I can't go empty-handed. ”

"There are still two chickens at home, I will kill them tomorrow, and bring them to Lao Chai Tou." When the uncle said this, he did not hesitate at all, you must know that the two old hens in the yard are already the most valuable things in his house.

My dad sighed, "I'll think of another way, I can't take those two hens...... Big brother, don't persuade me anymore, there must be another way. You go to sleep first, I still have a little work, I can't finish it tonight, and tomorrow it's a bunch of troubles, sleep. ”

After that, my uncle didn't say anything more, and the sound of making the bed sounded in the south room, and my father lit the kerosene lamp and wrote until late.

I don't know when I fell asleep, but after tossing and turning for most of the night, and my body was weak, I slept very deeply.

But at three or four o'clock in the middle of the night, I was awakened by a chill above my head.

The windows of the old house, still the same wooden windows made of pasted paper, were blown open by a cold wind, and were swaying and creaking non-stop.

The window is facing the kang head of the earthen kang, and a gust of cold wind blows in, just above my head, can it not be cold?

My mother usually sleeps very lightly, and often wakes up at the slightest disturbance, but this day she slept very deeply, and the cold wind blew her hair up, and she didn't feel it.

I got up wrapped in the quilt and reached for the window, and I saw that it was frighteningly dark outside the window, and there were no stars in the sky, but there was a very round moon, and the color of the moon was miserable and white. By the moonlight, I saw a figure outside the courtyard gate, I couldn't see it clearly, I could only vaguely see that it was an old man, with his back bent, and the clothes on his body reflected the earthy yellow light.

As soon as I saw this figure, my heart immediately rose to my throat, and I quickly closed the window, plugged in the latch, and then put my foot on my mother's shoulder, trying to wake my mother up.

But my mother didn't know what was wrong, she just couldn't wake up, I was anxious and scared, and cold sweat soon ran down my back.

At this moment, the window latch "clicked", and it actually fell off by itself, and the wooden window slowly opened little by little, and the old lady like a dead tree stood outside against the window.

I wanted to scream, I wanted to run, but my mouth felt as if it had been sewn with a needle and thread, and I couldn't open it at all, and my hands and feet trembled without obeying the call, and I couldn't move at all.

The old lady stood out the window, staring at me motionless, and I still couldn't see her face, but I was just staring at me. After a while, she began to make a strange sound from her mouth again, which seemed to be laughing, and it seemed to cry, and I felt goosebumps all over my body.

Her voice grew louder and angrier, and finally she reached out a hand and grabbed me by the neck.

I was so scared that I cried out loud with an "um-" sound.

The kerosene lamp in the south room suddenly turned on, and then I heard my dad talking in the house: "Yangyang, what's wrong?" ”

As soon as my dad shouted like this, I felt a warmth in my body, as if something had just gone out of my body and now it was back. I sat down on the kang with my legs limp, crying uncontrollably.

By this time the old lady was gone, the windows were still open, and a dense cluster of stars appeared in the sky.

My mother also woke up, took me in her arms, stroked my head, and coaxed me: "Yangyang don't cry, don't cry." ”

My dad and uncle also came to the north house soon, and as soon as they entered the house, my dad asked my mom, "What's wrong with Yangyang?" ”

My mother shook her head: "Alas, I don't know, as soon as I woke up just now, Yangyang has been crying, and I don't know what's wrong." ”

"Yangyang, what's wrong, tell Dad." My dad also sat down on the edge of the bed and asked me in a gentle tone.

Although my dad didn't care much about me when I was very young, for a child at that age, my father was definitely the irreplaceable backbone in my heart.

I cried so much just now that I wanted to stop, but when I spoke, I still sobbed: "Just ...... Just now...... The old lady is here again, right in the ...... Outside the window...... Whew-"

As soon as I finished speaking, I began to cry again, crying like a wolf.

My dad glanced out the window, his face became very solemn, and after a while, he suddenly stood up and said to my mother, ", put on some thick clothes for Yangyang." Then he said to my uncle, "Big brother, where does Lao Chaitou's family live?" ”

The uncle wrapped his jacket: "It's on the side of the mass grave mountain in the west of the village, I'll go with you." ”

My dad nodded and didn't say anything more, his eyes were bloodshot at the time, which was urgent.

My mother put on a padded jacket and pants for me, and picked me up with a military coat, so I was carried by my father and went out of the house with my uncle.

The road in the village is not easy to walk, my uncle turned on the flashlight to lead the way in front, and my father carried me on his back, stumbling all the way, and it took a long time to come to the vicinity of the mass grave mountain in the west of the village.

The so-called Mass Grave Mountain, which is actually a hill more than 20 meters high, is the western gateway to Wangzhuang, separating the entire village from a swamp to the west. At that time, in our place, the mud swamp was very common, because the city opened a paper mill, after a few years of pollution, many Xiaoqing rivers became sewage ponds, plus there were two years of drought, several major rivers were cut off, and the Xiaoqing River also dried up, and it became a muddy swamp.

Later, however, I heard from the elders in the village that the quagmire to the west of Wangzhuang had existed since ancient times, and the mass grave hill on the marshland, because it could not grow crops all year round, became a place for the dead to be buried.

When I walked to the foot of the Mass Grave Mountain, my dad could clearly feel a thick yin qi, that feeling, it is difficult to describe in words, if you have to describe it, it is like the whole person has sunk into the ice pool, not only the body, but even the breath exhaled from the mouth is cold. My mom also got nervous and kept holding my dad's arm.

Until my uncle turned his head, shone a flashlight on a small mud house not far away, and said to my father, "Old Chai Tou's house." ”

My dad looked in the direction of the flashlight, and he saw a very simple earthen house standing on the hill of the Mass Grave Mountain, as if a ghost was missing, and when my father looked at the earthen house, the earthen house was lit up with a very soft light.

The moment the lights came on, my dad felt warm all of a sudden, and even the wind in the winter night didn't seem to be as cold as usual.

At this time, a very resentful voice came from the earthen house: "Who? In the middle of the night, I shine a flashlight on my window! ”

Frightened, the uncle quickly turned off the flashlight.

I muttered in my heart at the time, why is this voice so familiar?

After a while, the door of the earthen house was pushed open, and out of it came a tall and thin old man, it was the middle of winter, but he was wearing only a thin old military uniform, and the military uniform was obviously too fat for him, a cold wind blew, blowing the old man's clothes "whirring and clicking".

I've seen this old man, and the last time he showed up in the building, he scared me into tears. But this time, after I saw him, I felt a sense of relief inexplicably, because of the high fever before, the whole body was in pain, and the pain disappeared at this time. After a while, I started to feel hungry, very hungry.

The old man was standing in the backlight, and he should not be able to see us clearly, but he recognized the uncle at a glance, and shouted from a distance: "It's a kid from the Benliang family, right?" ”

My grandfather's surname is Wang, and his name is Benliang.

Uncle hurriedly responded: "Eh, it's me, it's me." Uncle Chai, something happened to our family, I want you to ......"

Before the uncle could finish speaking, Lao Chai Tou waved his hand and said, "I already know about your family." Let the children in, it's cold outside. ”

Hearing Lao Chai Tou's words, my father hurriedly carried me to the door of the earthen house, but heard Lao Chai Tou say next to him: "When the child enters the house, the adult will wait outside." After saying that, he passed my father and stepped into the house first.

Lao Chai Tou's tone was obviously very gentle when he spoke, but I don't know why, but my heart trembled a little for no reason.

My dad must have felt the same way at that time, he looked at the old chai head, stood there for a long time, and then made a great determination, as if he made a great determination, he suddenly put me off his back, and pushed me into the earthen house. I struggled to figure it out, but my dad glared at me fiercely.

For me when I was a child, my father's eyes were particularly intimidating, I hesitated for a while, but still didn't dare to come out of the earthen house, just stood at the door, watching my dad go farther and farther, until I returned to my mother, my dad stopped and looked at me from a distance.

Later, I asked my dad what he thought at that time, leaving me alone in the house and leaving, my dad said that he suddenly felt that Chai Zongyuan was very reliable, so he handed me over to him, rest assured!

Chai Zongyuan is the name of the old Chai Tou, of course, his name was only known to my father after a long time.

Lao Chai Tou closed the door casually, then pointed to a wooden cabinet next to the earthen kang, and said to me with a smile: "There is sugar in the cabinet at the head of the bed, take it yourself." ”