When I was a child, I stayed at my grandparents' house in the countryside, the village was called Snake Head Village, and I heard the old people in the village say that a few years ago, when someone used a detonator to dig a well, he blew up a big stone, and someone saw a crystal clear dragon flying out of the stone, and afterwards the villagers went to look for it under the stone, and found a black snake head weighing more than ten catties. That's how the village got its name.

The above things are all legends, the authenticity is difficult to study, and many taboos in the countryside, although passed down from generation to generation, but there is no factual basis, I also respect these legends and taboos, and believe in vain.

But there is such a taboo in Shetou Village, and I am convinced.

It is said that in the first seven days after death, the ghost of the dead person will return to the yang world and walk the path he walked during his lifetime.

Therefore, on the seventh day, most of the villagers closed their doors for fear of encountering unclean things.

It was when I was eight years old, in March, the temperature was still very low, and when I got up in the morning, my grandmother added a lot of clothes to me, and told me not to go out, saying that the old man Chen from the next village was returning to his soul today.

I was young, my heart was not strong, and I didn't have a TV at home, so I couldn't stay. When the grandparents were not paying attention, they ran out, ready to play with the other children in the village.

My grandparents' house was at the top of the village, and it would be a long walk to find the other children.

There is a big ditch next to my grandfather's house, and there is a muddy path on the side of the ditch, and a huge chestnut tree on the side of the road.

As soon as I slipped out of my grandfather's house and arrived under the chestnut tree, I was confronted by an old man in his seventies, dressed in a black cotton jacket and black shoes. There was a lot of mud on the road, but there was no mud on the old man's shoes.

I was in a hurry, but I thought I had seen this old man, but I didn't know who he was.

As soon as he missed him, the old man sighed, and then turned around and called me and said, "Eh, are you the Haiwa of the Ye family?" ”

When he heard him call me, I stopped and turned around and hummed, he saw that I answered him, his mouth flattened, smiled, and said: "I saw you a few days ago, you are still so little, now you are so old, come to stand on tiptoe and let me see how tall you have grown, and you still have to call me Grandpa Zhang when it comes to seniority." ”

At that time, I wanted to leave early, but I couldn't leave when my grandfather found out after a while, so I wanted to send him away as soon as possible, so I did as he said, but I didn't understand, he wanted to see my height, what was I doing on tiptoe?

I glanced at him and got to my tiptoes with a groan.

At that time, his eyes flashed, and then he looked at the old man, where could he still find his traces.

Although I was not enlightened at that time, I also knew that something strange had happened, and I went to my second grandmother's house in a puff of smoke.

My second grandmother's name is Mu Wantong, and she is a famous goddess in this nearby village.

According to my grandfather, when I was born, family planning was strict, and because I had an older sister above me, I became the target of the attack.

My parents are a little patriarchal, they want to have a son, and they have always been unwilling to beat me off.

Despite this, the people in the village and town were very greedy, and every time they came, they would carry a few pieces of bacon at my house, and so on several times, and my parents finally couldn't afford it anymore and decided to abort me.

My mother met my second grandmother when she went to the town hospital, and after the second grandmother knew what my mother meant, she grabbed my mother and persuaded her, and said that a few days ago she dreamed that a star fell on the roof of my house.

It was also thanks to my mother's superstition that she was really persuaded to come back.

I was born as a second grandmother, and my name was also taken by her, she said that I had too much soil in the five elements, so she gave me a name of Ye Hai.

After I was born, the 2,000 yuan fine I paid for family planning was lent to my parents by my second grandmother.

Maybe 2,000 yuan doesn't seem like much now, but in that era when relatives and friends could get married and the money could be replaced by half a basket of eggs, the amount of 2,000 yuan was definitely not less than tens of thousands now.

It was with the help of my second grandmother that I was able to survive, so now my parents will ask me every time I call if I have gone to see my second grandmother.

Under the supervision of my parents, going to the second grandmother's house has become my daily routine, and even the big scalper of the second grandmother's house will habitually hum a few times when they see me.

At that time, I was frightened by the old man, and I immediately thought of going to the second grandmother's house.

I don't know if it's too fast, I always feel like it's easy to run, but fortunately, I ran to the door of the second grandmother's cowpen in less than a minute.

I don't know why, this time the big scalper ran to the corner of the cattle pen when he saw me, and I didn't bother to pay attention to it, turned a corner, and ran to the second grandmother's house.

The second grandmother was tying her shoes at the door at that time, and when she saw me going, her face immediately burst into a smile and asked me to sit next to her in a chair.

I sat down and asked her who she had tied her shoes.

The second grandmother said that this kind of shoes are called toad shoes, which are tied for her own and will be worn for a hundred years in the future.

Hundred years is what we say here, that is, dead, and old hundred years is just a kind prayer.

I listened, a little puzzled, and asked her why she didn't wear it while she was alive.

The second grandmother smiled and said, "Toad shoes can only be worn by the dead." ”

When the second grandmother said this, I was startled at the time, because the old man I saw under the chestnut tree just now was wearing these toad shoes.

Although I was scared, I have been stubborn since I was a child, and I didn't say it, just watching my second grandmother tie her shoes there.

When I got bored, I asked her, "My sister has been back for a long time?" ”

The sister I am talking about is the granddaughter of the second grandmother, named Ye Xiaoxiao, who was taken to the city by her parents since she was a child, and came back once a few days ago, and I played with her for a few days, so I have never forgotten it.

I have a vague impression of her, anyway, it's just a few words, very beautiful, very quiet, the last time I came, I had Qi bangs, I was wearing a brown scarf, and I was wearing a pink dress, she looked very beautiful, like a fairy in the sky.

The second grandmother wore reading glasses and said that she would be back in a few days, and then concentrated on tying up her shoes, and after a while, she said again, she said: "Haiwazi, do you want to give my sister to you as a daughter-in-law." ”

I knew she was joking, and I didn't care and nodded my head and said yes.

She laughed twice and reached out to touch my head.

I yawned when she touched my head, and she thought I was sleepy, so she asked me to go to her bed and sleep for a while, and I didn't refuse, and got up and went into the house to lie on her bed.

The second grandmother is alone at home, and I talk to her the most on weekdays, and I am more free in her house than in my grandfather's house.

I turned over in bed a few times and fell asleep in a daze, during which I heard the voice of my grandfather outside, he came to look for me, and he was going to wake me up, but was stopped by the second grandmother, saying that I should sleep for a while.

The more I fell asleep, the more sleepy I became, and I didn't even want to get up, so I rolled over and fell asleep.

Until it was almost dark, the second grandmother called me to get up to eat, and before I could shout the word "eat", I suddenly scolded: "You short-lived ghost who cut off your head when you have your back, you are here with a bag." ”

I was startled by this voice, thinking that the second grandmother was scolding me, and I was about to turn around to look, but I saw the second grandmother pick up the broom and jerk it at me, I thought it would hit me, but the broom only fell next to me.

As soon as the second grandmother's broom fell, the old man who was under the chestnut tree actually got up from next to me and ran out the door.

I was immediately stupefied, and I had no idea when he had come in.

The second grandmother saw that he was about to run, and closed the door with a bang.

The second grandmother can draw talismans herself, and there are talismans on the doors and windows of her room, and I have asked what the talisman is before, and she said that it is for the house.

As soon as the door was closed, the old man had nowhere to run, and after a few glances in the house, he pounced on the second grandmother.

I could see clearly when he pounced, his heels were on his heels, and he didn't have a jaw at all.

I've heard my grandfather say that ghosts don't have jaws.

The more I saw such a scene, the more scared I became, and I didn't dare to move when I curled up on the bed.

The second grandmother had inconvenient legs and feet, and when she saw that the old man was about to pounce, she didn't move, but waved the broom violently, only to hear a dull sound, and the old man was beaten out by the broom.

Seeing that the old man was beaten to the ground, the second grandmother hurriedly shouted to me and asked me to pee on the old man.

I was almost scared to death, where can I pee at this time, the second grandmother saw that I didn't move, stretched out her finger and bit it.

After just one bite, I saw the blood on the second grandmother's fingers flowing happily.

After the second grandmother got the blood out, she threw it at the old man, and all the blood on her fingers was thrown out, and a few drops of books were thrown into my eyes.

At that time, the feeling of blood in the eyes was the same as the feeling of onion water in the eyes, I couldn't open them at all, I couldn't open my eyes, I was afraid that the old man outside would get me, so I desperately squinted and slit out, but the old man really pounced on me with smoke.

I rolled over and rolled down to the bed, and after a while, the second grandmother pulled me outside and washed my eyes with a basin of water.

After one qiē, my eyes were already swollen and high, like a bee sting, and the pain was terrible.

After crying for a while at the second grandmother's place, I asked the second grandmother who the old man was just now.

The second grandmother said that the old man was a person who died a few days ago, and today happened to be the first seven, and I ran out to meet him, and he followed me.

On that occasion, the second grandmother taught me two things.

First, if you meet someone wearing toad shoes and old clothes on the road and calling you, you must not agree, otherwise he will entangle you.

Second, if a stranger tells you to tiptoe, don't tiptoe, because the ghost will stick his toe in your heel and follow you, and by the way, extinguish the three fires on the person's head, and then there will be no help.

For a long time after that, I was too scared to go out, and my eyes hurt for years. In those days, my second grandmother often came to see me, and every time she came, she would bring me a bowl of red things, saying that my eyes would not hurt after drinking.

That incident affected me more than that, there is a saying in the village that everyone has a fire, and those with a low flame are easy to attract ghosts. I bumped into a ghost, which naturally means that my fire is low, and since then the villagers have quietly beckoned their children not to stay with me, otherwise they will also bump into ghosts.

I don't know what I've done wrong, no one wants to be with me, and my grandparents also felt the meaning of the villagers to stay away, and told me every now and then not to go to other people's houses.

Because of disobedience, I met a ghost, this time I learned to be obedient, listened to my grandparents, rarely went to other people's houses to play, my life was only wandering in the second grandmother and grandpa's house, of course, occasionally with other children in the village to say a few words.