(1984. Shandong, Yanshengshan)

The night was so quiet that it seemed to freeze.

At this time, two black shadows were hurriedly walking in the woods in the mountains, and the man walking in front suddenly stopped, looking at the bright moon in the night sky, his facial muscles twitched, as if he wanted to say something, but then swallowed again.

"I'm sorry, it's all because of me." The woman behind her, who had always lowered her head, said in a somewhat reproachful tone.

"It's okay, after tonight, it's over, it's all over......" The man looked at the gradually thinning lights below the mountain and showed a faint smile. Wang Yuan will be fine here. ”

"Hmm." Two lines of tears crossed the woman's cheeks.

At the same time, in the village at the foot of the mountain, people unload the fatigue of the day and gradually fall asleep. Of course, there was one person who did not sleep, and a sense of foreboding always lingered in his heart. He got up and got off the kang softly, glanced at the sleeping baby beside him, and there was a hint of calm in his complicated eyes, and he walked softly into the courtyard, sat on the stone steps and smoked a dry cigarette.

"Huh?" He noticed that the moonlight was fading, and he suddenly realized something, and he jerked his head to look up at the eastern mountain, the silhouette of the mountains in the distance gradually disappearing from his vision in the moonlight, to be exact, by blocking the billowing smoke. He crushed the cigarette butt that was caught in his fingertips and slammed it to the ground, and the whole person fell silent.

"I can't help you, I'm sorry."

At this time, the baby who had been sleeping soundly in the house let out a "cooing" cry, and then another baby next to him also cried.

"Where's his father?" The woman next to the baby said.

"Here, go to the hut, maybe wake up the child."

"Alas, dad of the child, this has an extra child for no reason, and this day will always be passed in the future." The woman next to her said as she coaxed the child.

"What are you afraid of, how many people with five or six children in the village are not worried, what are you worried about."

"People are biological." The woman blurted out, apparently unwilling to accept the child.

"What's wrong with the biological one, what if it's not the biological one, from today onwards, this child will be raised as the biological one!" The man unconsciously raised his tone, and the crying that had just subsided wanted to be heard again.

It didn't take long for someone to shout for help from the streets of the village. Then the whole village was in chaos. Due to the size of the fire and the dense vegetation covering the mountain, the fire got out of control at the beginning and spread from one hill to another. After a while, the red light of the fire illuminated the east of the village, but fortunately the fire did not spread to the village.

At the door of a house halfway up the hill at the edge of the village, a man looked at the raging fire and said, "It's time to put an end to this." ”

Then he walked slowly into the courtyard with an oil lamp in his hand, looking at the stacks of handwritten materials on the ground, he looked at it for a few seconds, and then threw the oil lamp in his hand. He wasn't ready to turn away until everything on the ground had burned out.

"Hmph, you're still as cautious as ever." At some point, there was another man in black behind him.

"I'm getting tired of it, so let's put an end to it." The man said.

"You want those things to be buried in the ground forever?" The man in black said.

"No, what better way do you have it?" The man said.

"I don't want to go in vain, because that would mean declaring me dead." The man in black said.

The man glanced at the burned ashes on the ground and said, "I didn't set the fire." Then he walked out of the courtyard gate and walked down the hill without looking back.

Sixteen Years Later (2000)

"Wang Yuan, where are you going? Feed! I'll talk to you, wait for me. ”

On a road at the foot of the mountain, a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl with a long braid and a delicate face was walking briskly following the boy in front of her.

"Don't follow me, Xiaoying, let me be alone for a while." Wang Yuan said.

"But my mom has already cooked, let us go back to dinner." The girl named Xiaoying seemed to say slightly apologetically.

"She's your mother, and I'm not her own, I'll go to Uncle Liu's house for one night tonight and won't go back." After speaking, Wang Yuan turned around and ran towards the mountain.

"Hey, you're back, Wang Yuan!!" No matter what Xiaoying called, Wang Yuan ran away without looking back. "Hmph, be careful to let the ghosts on Yansheng Mountain catch you." Xiaoying said angrily, she looked at the gradually gloomy weather, it seemed that it was going to rain, and she could only go back.

There is a saying among the older generation in the village that Yan Sheng Mountain is the closest mountain to the king of Hades, and there is an entrance to hell in the mountains, and anyone who enters the mountain and offends the king of Hades will be burned to death by his anger. Of course, there is a reason why the village is so superstitious, because mysterious fires often occur in Yansheng Mountain, and the reason why the fires are mysterious is because when fires occur are usually when people from other villages enter the mountain.

There are a total of five mountains in the east of the village, Yan Sheng Mountain is actually the collective name of those five mountains a long time ago, one of the mountains is the closest to the village, facing the east of the village, the villagers are used to calling it "front mountain", and the other four mountains are scattered to the east of this mountain. The people in the village generally farm on the front mountain, and few people set foot in the other four mountains, and some old people even talk about the change of color of the mountain. Over time, Yansheng Mountain became the name of these four mountains. The name of the village under the mountain is Yansheng Village, and no one can say clearly whether it is named after Yansheng Mountain.

Wang Yuan said that Uncle Liu lived in an old house halfway up the mountain in front of the mountain, named Liu Shiye, 52 years old this year, because his wife died early, the village gave him a job to watch the mountain, although let him see the mountain, but basically did nothing for more than ten years. He is not Wang Yuan's relative, but when he was a child, Wang Yuan was naughty and mischievous, often leading a group of children up the mountain to catch grasshoppers at noon, and when he was tired, he went to Liu Shiye's house to rub water and rice. Liu Xingye also has no children, he likes children very much, so he is very familiar with Wang Yuan's group of children. At first, the group of children Uncle Liu called Uncle Liu, and some even called him Grandpa Liu, but Liu Xingye was suspicious of calling Uncle Liu and Grandpa Liu old, so he had to unify his voice, and later almost all the children in the village called him Uncle Liu when they saw him.

As soon as Wang Yuan entered Liu Shiye's house, he went straight to the well in his yard, and at this time Liu Shiye was listening to the radio and drinking tea on the kang, when suddenly he heard a plop in the yard.

"Not good!" He got up and rushed into the courtyard.

"Rhubarb, !!" When Liu Xingye rushed into the courtyard, he found that Wang Yuan was sitting by the well. "Yo, it's you kid, I said you drink water as for the bucket? I thought rhubarb had fallen into the well again. ”

Rhubarb is a native dog raised by Liu Xingye, and he usually likes to yo-yo when he is bored, and at this time Rhubarb is lying next to Wang Yuan and wagging his tail at him.

Liu Xingye noticed that Wang Yuan, who usually likes to joke, sat there with his head bowed without saying a word, "What, did you make Aunt Qin angry again?" ”

Wang Yuan still didn't say a word, Liu Xingye understood that this time was definitely not an ordinary trivial matter, usually if Wang Yuan was in trouble or ran to him angrily, he would definitely complain to him, but this time it was surprisingly quiet.

"It looks like your kid is in trouble again, stay here with me tonight, it just so happens that I plan to eat noodles tonight." Liu Xingye comforted him.

Liu Xingye was just about to turn around and enter the house, but Wang Yuan's words made him stunned. "Uncle Liu, do you know about my parents?"

Liu Shiye's whole body trembled, but Wang Yuan didn't seem to notice, just sat there in a daze.

Liu Xingye asked: "What are you asking for, what is going on?" ”

Wang Yuan patted his thigh and said aggrievedly: "Don't mention it, Xiaoying and I were both admitted to high school, but my Aunt Qin's eighth wife didn't seem to want me to go to school." Hum! I'll find a way to go. ”

"Yo, you kid can also be admitted to high school." Liu Xingye said with a smile.

But Wang Yuan did not answer his words, and said, "Alas...... If I don't go out to school, I will be ruined in this poor village in my life, just like you old man......" Wang Yuan looked at Liu Xingye after speaking.

"Since I was a child, your Uncle Liu has loved you so much, it turns out that your kid has treated me as a negative teaching material." Liu Xingye was obviously not used to Wang Yuan's contemptuous eyes.

"If my parents were still around, maybe all this would be ......," Wang Yuan said with some sadness as he looked at the empty courtyard.

Liu Xingye took out a pipe from the house, walked to the well and sat down, "Alas... In fact, I can't blame you Aunt Qin, there are not many families in our poor village who can afford two children to go to school. Liu Shiye took a puff of his cigarette fiercely, and changed his words: "However, with Li Fangzheng, I will definitely find a way to let you go to school, even if you borrow money." ”

"No, I don't need their help, I have a way." Wang Yuan replied.

"What can you do? Our village is poor and white. Liu Xingye asked.

"Didn't you say that Yan Shengshan often caught fire? I want to go up the hill and pour some charcoal, maybe I can raise enough money for my tuition. Wang Yuan said.

"No, if you kill me, I won't let you into the mountain!" Liu Xingye hurriedly said.

"It's just one of the ways, and I can go up the hill to the hour..."

"Stop! You are not allowed to fight Yan Shengshan's idea, as long as I look at the mountain for a day here, I won't let you step into Yan Shengshan. Liu Xingye replied.

"Who can save me...... Uncle Liu, don't you have any money? Let me go to school......" Wang Yuan wailed.

"My most valuable thing here is a radio, do you want it?" Liu Xingye spit out a smoke ring and said.

"Why did I grow up in Uncle Li's house!" Wang Yuan touched Rhubarb, who was lying beside him, and Rhubarb rubbed his head back and forth on Wang Yuan's body as if he understood Wang Yuan's words, as if comforting him.

Liu Xingye also understands that perhaps Wang Yuan's long-term lack of care has made him question this matter. "Didn't your Uncle Li tell you?" Liu Xingye asked.

"He only said that they were all dead, and entrusted me to him before leaving, and if I asked him further, he would not say anything." Wang Yuan said with some sadness, because he knew that even if he understood these things, it would not change his current situation in any way. As long as he doesn't leave the village, he will continue to live like this.

Liu Xingye said: "Your parents once went up to work in the mountains and encountered a fire, and the result was ......."

"Why do you go up the mountain at night?" Wang Yuan stared at Liu Xingye tightly. "Uncle Liu, I want to listen to the truth, you can't lie to me."

"Alas...... Looks like you know a little bit about it, too. Liu Shiye sighed and said.

The wind grew stronger, and the sky became more and more overcast, as if the clouds were about to lose the rain it had accumulated, and were about to be crushed.

Liu Xingye looked at the weather, didn't seem to care, spit out a cigarette and said slowly: "Li Fangzheng doesn't tell you that he naturally has his reasons, originally we wanted to hide this matter forever, but almost twenty years have passed, it's nothing to think about, and now that you have grown up, since you want to know, it doesn't hurt to tell you." Liu Shiye put down his pipe.