After a while, I heard Lao Chai Tou sigh in the house: "Alas, don't be afraid, I won't force it if fate has not arrived." My fate with Yangyang has not yet reached that point, it is useless to force it, it is useless to force it. ”

In the second half of the sentence, Lao Chai Tou seemed to say it to my father, and it seemed to be said to himself.

What I couldn't understand was that my father didn't insist anymore after that, and was silent for a moment in front of the thin-looking wooden door, and then walked back to my uncle's house with my mother and me.

When he was about to leave the Mass Grave Mountain, Lao Chai Tou shouted through the door: "Yangyang Mom, don't forget what I told you." ”

My mother stopped, turned around and nodded towards Lao Chai Tou's earthen house, and I don't know if Lao Chai Tou saw it.

When I got home, I kept thinking about Lao Chai Tou's words, the more I thought about it, the more I felt that he was very godly, my dad hadn't opened his mouth yet, he knew what my dad thought, the first time I went to his house, he seemed to be like this, and before anyone else spoke, he knew that I was haunted by a ghost who died in vain.

At that time, I was thinking, Lao Chai Tou must be able to pinch and calculate, and I remember that he also calculated my birthday. Later, I learned that Lao Chai Tou can indeed pinch and calculate, but his ability in this area is very limited, at most he can only count his birthday, and other things cannot be prophetic.

There are other reasons why Lao Chai Tou can be so prescient in front of us, of course, this is a later story.

That afternoon, my mother didn't go to the field, so she moved a stool and sat in the yard staring into space, and when we arrived in the summer, the weather was dry and hot, and even when the sun was about to set, the residual heat of the setting sun was still so hot that people couldn't breathe. But my mother sat from two o'clock in the afternoon until late in the evening, doing nothing, just sitting dry.

During this time, I poured my mother a glass of cold water and placed it next to her, but she ignored me, took a few sips of the glass, and began to look at the sky again. I thought my mom was still angry about me stealing, and she didn't dare to say more.

Until sunset, when evening and night alternated, a very cool wind blew in the yard. It is said that in this hot summer, it should be a comfortable thing to have a cool breeze. But the wind didn't know what was going on, it wasn't cool at all, but faintly tinged with a yin aura.

After the wind blew, my mother stood up with a "whew", quickly took out a red thread from her pocket, tied it to the clothesline in the yard, and then pulled me back to the house.

As I entered the house, I looked back at the red thread on the clothesline, which looked old, less bright, and in the dull red, there was still a hint of gold.

I immediately remembered that this red thread was the one that the old firewood had tied on my ankle. My mother never threw this red thread, and when I turned it out of the closet a while ago, I found that in the already thin red thread, I was wearing a gold wire thinner than a hair, which was a real gold wire, and my uncle said that it was made of very pure gold.

I forgot to mention one thing before, my uncle was not lame when he was a child, and he worked as an apprentice in the gold store in the town, and his vision for gold products is very accurate.

It was almost time for dinner when my dad and uncle came home, and when they came back, my dad and uncle brought some meat and wine respectively. At first, I thought I would have a good meal tonight, but my uncle said that the meat was prepared for Lao Chai Tou, and I hope I won't need it.

I was disappointed for a while, and at the same time I was curious why my uncle said "I don't need hope", as if he didn't want to let Lao Chai Tou come to our house.

When eating, my dad seemed a little dull, he has been like this for the past two days, no matter what he does, he talks very little, and he used to talk to his uncle when he got home, but at the end of this day, my dad and uncle said a total of only ten sentences.

My uncle has always eaten quickly, and after eating, he put the dishes and chopsticks aside, and said to my father: "Patriotic, don't think about it, Lao Chai Tou is such a person, since my father's generation, he has always been like this." There are some things, it's inconvenient for him to say, let's not ask too much, since he said that Yangyang won't have anything, there will definitely be nothing. ”

My dad nodded, still not speaking.

My mother put down her chopsticks and asked my uncle, "Big brother, what are you doing?" Listen to you, you went to look for Uncle Chai again this afternoon? ”

"Isn't it?" The uncle said: "But it's not the old firewood we went to find, when I went to work in the field in the afternoon, the old firewood took the initiative to find me and explained some things." Lao Chai Tou said that what Yang Yang encountered this time was very troublesome, and as for what it was, he would only know after tonight. By the way, Lao Chai Tou asked me to explain to you, don't forget what he told you. ”

My mother nodded hurriedly: "I haven't forgotten, I've hung up the red rope." ”

At this time, my dad raised his head and asked my mom, "What does Uncle Chai tell you?" ”

My mother stretched her chin, pointed to the clothesline outside the window with the tip of her chin and said, "Lao Chai Tou told me to wait in the courtyard this afternoon, and if I feel a cold wind blowing through the yard, I will quickly hang the red thread on the clothesline." If the cold wind doesn't appear after seven o'clock in the evening, forget it. ”

Uncle frowned: "This afternoon and afternoon, it doesn't seem to be windy." As he spoke, he glanced at the red thread on the clothesline.

It was a sunny day, and there was not a single wind blowing in the village or the county, except in the yard of my house, which blew the cool breeze.

After a while, my mother asked my uncle again: "Big brother, when Uncle Chai saw you, he didn't say anything else, did he?" ”

The uncle thought for a while and said, "It's nothing, just let me and Aiguo go to the town to buy some meat and wine and come back, saying that if things are troublesome, he will come over tomorrow, and the wine and meat will be prepared for him first." But what about you, don't worry too much, Lao Chai Tou said that as long as he is there, Yangyang will be fine. ”

As my uncle was talking, my dad sighed slightly, his voice was small, I sat closest to my dad, and I couldn't hear it very clearly.

"By the way, when I went to the town with Aiguo today, something happened." My uncle didn't hear my dad sighing at all, and was still talking: "Juyizhuang at the entrance of our village, which is the oldest funeral parlor in the Republic of China, has been demolished." At that time, when Aiguo and I passed by, there were still many armed guards under martial law, and the bulldozers inside directly pushed the two old houses used for morgues. I also leaned over to look, and through the cracks in the people, I saw a tall and thin old man standing next to the bulldozer, especially like an old firewood. But before I could see it, your patriot dragged me away. ”

Every time I heard my uncle say the words "old chaitou", the expression on my dad's face became a little unnatural, and my dad lowered his head at that time, and his expression was only visible to me.

Although my dad has a bit of a quick temper, he is a very practical person after all, and over the years, he has been very sincere and simple in both people and things. At that time, in his opinion, Lao Chai Tou was kind to me, and this kind of kindness had to be repaid sooner or later, but he didn't want me to live like Lao Chai Tou in the future, guarding other people's graves for the rest of my life.

On the one hand, it is the kindness of Lao Chai Tou, and on the other hand, it is my future, for my father at that time, Lao Chai Tou can be regarded as a knot in his heart that is difficult to untie.

After dinner, my uncle took me to the south room to sleep, and my parents talked in a very low voice in the north room, and there was no movement until late in the night.

I only got up at noon that day, lying on the kang, but I didn't feel sleepy at all, although my uncle kept his eyes closed, but I knew that he didn't fall asleep, because from beginning to end, he didn't snore.

That night, whether it was me, my uncle, or my parents, we all knew in our hearts that this night must be a not peaceful night. But knowing that something is about to happen, but not knowing when it will happen, that feeling is really uncomfortable from the bottom of my heart.

Perhaps it was for this reason that not only my uncle, but also my parents, who slept in the North House, did not fall asleep that night. In the middle of the night, I heard my mom getting up and closing the window.

It wasn't until about four o'clock in the morning, when the sky outside had begun to light slightly, that there was a sudden movement in the courtyard.

The first to be alarmed were the two old hens in the yard, and the two chickens, not knowing what they had seen, suddenly screamed "cluck-cluck-". I remember correctly, it was a scream, as if someone had choked the two hens by the neck, and let out a staccato scream, like the sound of an old record player.

I was already a little drowsy, and my body couldn't help but tremble, and at this time my uncle also woke up, put a hand on my shoulder, and whispered to me not to make a sound. Then I listened with my uncle to the sounds in the yard with my ears pricked up.

The cries of the two hens soon stopped, and then a strong wind was heard blowing in the yard, and the sound of the wind was mixed with a "whirring" wheezing sound, which was hoarse and heavy, like the sound made when the bellows were broken.

After that, I heard a very dull crash, as if something was hitting the wall with its head, and the stone walls in the room trembled.

As I lay on the bed, I felt the dry mud on the roof being shaken down little by little, and kept falling on my head and face. My uncle also looked at me and made a silent gesture to me, but even if I didn't, I would have been too scared to speak out.

The crash continued, and it became more and more urgent, but the more urgent, the more muffled it sounded. I could tell that the thing in the yard wasn't hitting the stone wall of my house. The wall it hit seemed to be soft, but it was very resilient, and when its strength came into contact with that wall, it was immediately dissolved, and the more often it hit, the faster the force was dissolved.

I don't know how long it lasted, but when it was getting dark, the courtyard was calm without warning. So much so that I had the illusion that nothing had happened in the yard before, and that it had been so quiet all along. But those scattered little mud spots really spilled on my uncle's face and me.