The next day, when I kicked open the broken door, as was customary, the old lame man was hanging from under the blackened beams, and a broken hemp rope strangled around his neck, causing him to sway gently in the leaky grass hut, like a broken swing, or a rotten salted fish.

His feet were dangling in the air, and there was a trail of urine on the ground that hadn't dried up.

He hung his head, staring at me with a vacant gaze.

He didn't say anything anymore, his mouth was open, and he looked like he was still smiling, like the one I've been familiar with since I was a child, but it looked so weak.

He's dead.

No one knows why he committed suicide, no one knows why this usually happy and warm-hearted old lame man chose such a way to end his surname.

That was the first time I experienced life and death, the feeling is hard to describe, at first, I didn't seem to believe that he died like this, and thought it was a joke he played with me, and it was not very sad, although there were tears in the eyes, but it was not until the adults in the village spontaneously put the old cripple into the coffin to prepare for burial, I suddenly felt as if something was knocked hard in my heart, and then I realized that the old cripple was really gone, and he would never open his eyes again, and never open his mouth to tell me stories againand will never let me call him grandpa again.

For a while, tears came out of his eyes, and they never stopped.

I lay on top of his broken coffin, I couldn't control myself from crying, my nose blocked my nasal passages, I could only gasp with my mouth, I cried and shouted, grandpa, grandpa.

But he couldn't hear it anymore.

The old lame man fled to Xinglonggang decades ago, without any relatives, his funeral was simply like splashing dirty water, the village got the news, the village committee pooled money, and quickly bought a thin coffin and shroud, and the elders wiped the old lame man's body clean and put it in the coffin after sealing it, and there was no mortuary and vigil, nor did he beat gongs and drums, but a few young men carried him out of the village, and dug a pit and buried it in a secluded place in the Xinglonggang cemetery area in the back mountain.

The whole process didn't take a day, I followed behind the funeral procession, wiping tears as I walked, my mind was full of fragments of this old guy telling me a story and telling me to play the huqin'er, he was alive yesterday, and today is gone, why is this, why do people die.

Although the old lame man is lonely and has no children and no daughters, he is very popular in this village, and as I said before, whoever has a wedding and funeral can help him, so there are many people who come to his funeral.

It wasn't until that day that I learned that his name was Shao Yongxing.

After burning the paper, the people in the village went back, and I was the only one kneeling in front of his grave, looking at the new bulging tomb in front of me, the old lame man who was still alive yesterday was now lying here, the more I thought about it, the more sad I became, and I felt a burst of loneliness attacking, and the sourness in my heart turned into tears again, and I squeezed out of my eyes.

He was my grandfather, but I didn't scream, and by the time I regretted it, it was too late.

I spent an afternoon at his grave, and for some reason, I just didn't want to go back, and I wanted to be here to spend more time with him, just like the previous days, and listen to his stories, but he couldn't open his mouth anymore.

Slowly, the sun sank in the west.

Just when I was still sentimental, I suddenly heard a rustling sound behind me, and I subconsciously turned around, only to see a black Santana driving up the hill and driving towards here.

I recognize this car, this is the one that was parked at the old lame man's house yesterday, and I heard the old lame man say that they wanted the old lame man to give them a white job (funeral), but who would have thought that the one who died the next day would be the old lame?

The car drove to the front, stopped, and the three people who got out of the car were the three yesterday, only to see that the kind old man got out of the car, and looked at the grave of the old lame, and the five black characters on the tombstone made of simple stone slabs were very eye-catching.

The old man's face was expressionless, and after thinking for a while, he walked over slowly, came to my side and looked at me, and then he asked me softly, "Son, are you good with him?" ”

The old man's voice was very low and pleasant, I nodded, and then wept and said, "He always tells me stories." ”

The old man nodded, and then asked me, "Did he tell you anything before he died?" ”

I wiped my tears and remembered that the old lame man had tried to call him grandpa yesterday, but I was too shy and I wasn't good at talking to strangers, so I just shook my head.

He didn't care when he saw that I was a big child, and I couldn't help but wear a trench coat, so he didn't care, but he beckoned to the back, and the two people behind him understood, so one of them stepped forward and handed the old man a box of 'China'.

The old man took out four cigarette sticks from the cigarette case, lit one for himself, and inserted the other three in front of the grave, only to see him smoke a cigarette, and then said softly: "Shao Yongxing, Shao Yongxing, why do you say you are doing this?" What exactly are you for? ”

"Do you know him?" I saw that the old man seemed to know the old lame, so I asked him.

The old man sighed, then shook his head and said, "Just a former friend." ”

After saying that, he did not stop, turned and got into the car, and the car drove down the mountain.

That night, I came home very late, the whole person was depressed, my grandmother saw me so sad, she also understood why, although he had some prejudice against the old lame, but after all, he was old, and people were already dead, people died greatly, how could she care about anything anymore?

In fact, she had known that I had a relationship with the old lame, but she never said anything, just turned a blind eye, and now she saw that I was sad, and she didn't say anything to me, but just made some dishes that I liked to eat, but I didn't eat a single bite.

That night, it seemed to be very cold, I lay on the kang, thinking about the old cripple all night, this incident came too suddenly, but the reason for it was not what I could understand at that time.

Thinking about it, I fell asleep, had a lot of strange dreams, woke up in the middle of the night, felt very hungry, after all, I hadn't eaten all day, so I thought of the kitchen to find some leftovers to eat, the original bungalow structure in the northeast, you can see the cauldron when you enter the door, that is, the field (refers to the kitchen), which is also the structure of the original Manchu house.

At that time, it seemed to be two or three o'clock in the second half of the night, I can't remember it now, anyway, it was quite late, because I was afraid of waking up my grandmother, so I didn't turn on the lights, and quietly pushed away the aspect and walked to the field, groped to the side of the pot, and the dinner cooked in the evening should be cold now.

But when my hand lifted the lid of the pot, I suddenly felt a hot air rushing to my face, which startled me, I subconsciously turned around, just facing the window outside my house, in a trance, I seemed to see a black shadow flashing next to the window, and it disappeared after brushing.

I chuckled in my heart, and I didn't know why I was suddenly scared, so I hurriedly put down the lid and walked to the window to look out.

But outside the window, I could only vaguely see the silence of the night, and the small courtyard with the gate locked, and there was nothing in the courtyard, was it that I was dazzled?

I shook my head, thinking that maybe I was hungry or too tired, so I didn't think much of it, and went back to the stove, but something strange happened, what should have been cold leftovers came out of the pot and was steaming hot.

What's going on? You must know that the fire in the stove pit at that time had long been extinguished, and the pot was not kept warm, how could this be?

And it's not leftovers, the big bowl I brought out was full of a bowl of fragrant stewed chicken and a big bowl of hot white rice.

But I don't know what I thought at the time, but as soon as I smelled the tempting aroma of chicken, I couldn't control my appetite and swallowed and foamed, so I picked up the bowl of rice, stood in front of the stove, and devoured it.

After eating, I burped and felt a lot better, so I patted my stomach and went back to sleep.

Strange to say, after eating enough, I never had nightmares again, and slept until dawn.

When I got up in the morning, my grandmother was cooking breakfast, but I was not hungry at all, and I said to her that I wanted to go out, and my grandmother sighed, and while holding porridge out of the pot, she said to me, "You have to eat first when you go out, you didn't eat anything yesterday." ”

When I saw that my grandmother seemed to be a little haggard, I felt a little guilty, and it seemed that I was worrying her, so I said to her, "I ate it, I got up last night and ate it, and the chicken you stewed yesterday was so delicious." ”

"Stewed chickens?" My grandmother looked at me and said to me in some confusion, "Didn't you stew eggplant in sauce last night, and didn't stew chicken?" ”

What? This time it was my turn to be stunned, I looked at my grandmother, thinking to myself that I can't ah, I obviously ate chicken last night, and I also ate a big bowl of rice, and now my stomach is a little panicked.

My grandmother saw that I seemed to be talking nonsense, so she panicked, she hurriedly stepped forward and touched my forehead, and after making sure that I did not have a cold or fever, she calmed down a little, only to see her say to me: "You child, are you dreaming, don't scare me, I'll tell you." ”

Dream? Did I get up to eat last night in a dream?

I don't know, I thought about it at the time, but I couldn't figure it out, but I didn't have a fever or anything, on the contrary, after a good night's sleep, I felt that my spirit was quite good now, and after thinking about it for a while, I felt that something was a little wrong, and you thought, how could there be hot food in the middle of the night? And I can eat it even when it's dark, well, it seems that I'm really dreaming, I must be too hungry, that's why I have a dream like that, so I don't pay much attention to it.

When my grandmother saw that I seemed to be fine, she said to me, "Do you want to eat chicken, and when I kill a chicken for you to eat at night, don't be too angry, don't delay your studies because of this, you know?" ”

She knew that the death of the old cripple hit me hard, after all, I had no friends in this village since I was a child, and the old cripple had such a good relationship with me, so she persuaded me, I nodded, forced a smile, and then said to her, "Well, I know." ”

My grandmother handed me a bowl of porridge, and then said to me: "Just get it, eat some quickly, and go to your grandfather Zheng's house after eating, he told me yesterday that it seems that Shao Cripple has something for you." ”

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