Maybe it's because of an inadvertent choice, or maybe it's because of a predestined fate, grandpa's sentence "Feeling the gentleman's lingering meaning, tied to the red mattress" became true like a prophecy.

Later, my grandfather thought that if he had chosen to pass on not this sentence, but another sentence, would what happened more than 20 years later be different?

Luo Buzhai also asked his father like this.

Grandpa said that fate is like a tree with lush foliage, and man is an ant that climbs from the root of the tree to the tree. Every day you have countless options, you can go a little left, you can go a little right, or you can go straight ahead. When you get to the fork, you can choose one branch here or another. There may be many bifurcation points, and each time you can choose this side or that, the trunk or the side branch, and the south or north. There seem to be many options and many paths on this lush tree. But you can only walk one path in this tree, and there is no turning back.

Hong Xi saw that it was too late, and he wanted to leave his grandfather to live in Hong's house. Grandpa was worried that Luo Buzhai was not vigilant enough and would be discovered by Ze Sheng, so he insisted on returning to Thrush Village overnight.

Hong Xi was so happy that he wanted to send his father back.

Grandpa thought it was a big deal to let Hong Xi stay overnight in Thrush Village, so he agreed.

When the two of them had walked three or four miles, they suddenly heard the sound of horses' hooves behind them, from far and near, at first almost inaudible, and then the sound of clattering became louder and louder. The sound of horses' hooves was messy, and when you heard it, you could tell that it was not one or two people, but a group of horses galloping.

Dad looked back, and more than a dozen horses came out of the back. These horses were followed by a group of galloping people, estimated to be about three hundred.

Hong Xide also looked back, and said in horror: "Oh no, didn't they find a helper to kill us and kidnap us, right?" You still said that you would help them move their graves, but your kindness is not rewarded! ”

Grandpa couldn't figure it out for a while, so he was so busy pulling Hong Xi that he hid in the barren grass on the side of the road.

When the horsemen and runners came closer, Grandpa realized that these people were not ordinary from horses. Those who ride horses wear helmets and horses wear armor. Runners, wearing military uniforms and holding weapons. Grandpa only saw the food soldiers brought by his father, and the clothes were not neat, and the team was lazy. And the team in front of them is obviously a regular army. It's just the dress of the regular army of the former Qing Dynasty.

Why did this team march at night? Could it be that there is a war going on? But now that the dynasty has changed, the Qing Dynasty army has already cut its long braids and changed its clothing. So, could it be that this is a restored army? Grandpa secretly thought to himself.

However, the people in this team are all good and not very energetic. After the team swept in front of Grandpa and Hong Xide, who were hiding in the grass, a cold wind rolled up, hitting their faces like a sleet wind on a cold day.

After the team passed, Grandpa waited for the sound of the horses' hooves to disappear before crawling out of the grass. Hong Xi then crawled out.

Patting off the grass clippings on his body, Hong muttered happily: "It turned out that it wasn't them." Is there going to be a war somewhere? ”

Grandpa shook his head and said, "I haven't heard of a war nearby. ”

"What are you doing on the midnight march?" Hong happily looked in the direction where the team had disappeared.

"Because they can only come out late at night."

"Why?" Hong Xide asked.

Grandpa pointed to the ground and said, "They are not human troops, but Yin soldiers. It's a good thing they didn't find us, otherwise we would have been taken away by them. ”

Hong Xi looked at the ground and wondered, "What can you see from the ground?" ”

Grandpa said: "If it is a human army, and the war horse runs over, there should always be a horseshoe print on this ground, right?" But there was not a single horse's hoof print on the road. What else could it be if it wasn't a Yin Soldier? ”

Hong Xi looked at it, squatted down again, lowered his head on the ground and touched the place where the horse's hooves had just stepped on, and found that there was indeed no horseshoe prints, and suddenly realized.

"Yin soldiers borrowed the way?" Hong Xide raised his head and asked.

Daddy nodded, and then immediately shook his head.

Hong Xi was puzzled: "Ma Xiucai, is it or not?" ”

Grandpa said: "There have only been two situations since ancient times. The first situation is that this army was defeated during its lifetime, and often this kind of yin soldiers are very united and have a great sense of honor, they all think that they are not dead, they still do not admit defeat, and they want to continue to fight to maintain their share of military honor. These Yin soldiers often appear in some remote and uninhabited places of extreme yin, so there are very few people who have seen them. ”

Grandpa looked at the surrounding geography and said, "The so-called extreme yin place is a place where the sun does not shine all year round. The place where sunlight can reach is called the yang land, and the place where the sun does not shine all year round is called the yin land. The yang dwells the people, and the yin dwells the soul. This is clearly not a place of extreme yin. ”

Hong Xide agreed: "Cemeteries often choose shaded land, and it is better to have the mountains and rivers behind them, which can bless future generations." That's why those actors didn't want to be in the open plain, so they identified my weaknesses and asked me to help them move their graves. And what about the second scenario? ”

"Hmm." Grandpa nodded, "This second situation often appears after a catastrophe that kills many people. This kind of Yin soldier is not the ghost of the human army, but the ghost and ghost general who comes from the underworld to detain the soul. After a catastrophe occurs, there are often many unjust souls gathered together in the place where the catastrophe occurred, and they are reluctant to leave. At this time, the underworld will send Yin soldiers to the human world to forcibly arrest the souls. From ancient times to the present, there has been a food shortage or plague in some places, and many people have the opportunity to meet the legendary Yin soldiers after they die. ”

This matter of the Yin soldier borrowing the Tao was told to his grandfather when the grain officer was alive. The grain officer had participated in wars when he was young, and had seen undead armies that fought for honor after death. After retiring from the battlefield, the grain officer became a grain officer, and he saw a great food shortage, and he saw the scene of starvation on the road, so he saw the Yin soldiers coming to the world to arrest the undead.

"I haven't heard of any food shortages or plagues nearby, and these Yin soldiers shouldn't be from the underworld." Daddy said.

Hong Xide said: "Could something else happen? ”

Grandpa was silent.

When the two of them were about to reach Laohe, they saw a figure standing there on the bridge of Laohe.

Grandpa remembered that Zesheng took him to see Granny Wu that night, and thought that it was an acquaintance from the underworld who came on the other side∵ and when he looked closer, it turned out to be Luo Buzhai.

Luo Buzhai was worried about his father's safety, and he didn't follow his father's instructions, so he kept standing on the bridge and waiting for his father.

After seeing his father, Luo Buzhai was overjoyed, grabbed his father's hand and shook it desperately, and said like the rest of his life: "You are back!" If you haven't come back for the first time, I'm going to look for it. ”

Grandpa was a little relieved to see that he was not sleeping. As long as he didn't sleep and dream, Zesheng didn't have a chance to capture his dreams.

Grandpa thought of Ze Sheng and hurriedly asked, "Is Ze Sheng here?" ”

Luo Buzhai replied: "He goes out every night and is not in the house. Luo Buzhai asked his father again how he handled the ghost show.

While walking home, Grandpa told everything that happened, and finally told Luo Buzhai to go to Hongjiaduan to find a good place when he was free, buy it with money, or exchange it with the land over there, and make sure that the bones of the troupe are no longer exposed to the sun and blown by the strong wind.

Luo Buzhai promised to come down.

When he got home, his grandfather asked Luo Buzhai if he had seen an army passing by or heard the sound of horses' hooves while waiting on the bridge over the old river.

Luo Buzhai said no, but told his father a new news. A few days ago, he heard that zombies had appeared on Lijiaao, and he jumped past the front doors and windows of each house at night. A lot of people saw it. The zombie seemed to be looking for someone. Luo Buzhai saw that his father was in a daze at the handwriting left by Xie Xiaomi for the past few days, he thought that his father was about to understand the mystery of reincarnation from those seven words, so he didn't bother his father and didn't tell the news.

Luo Buzhai went to Li Xiaocheng from Li Jiaao and asked for details.

Some people in Li Jiaao suspect that Li Xiaocheng made a scarecrow again, and even Li Xiaocheng and his father think so. But after Li Xiaocheng secretly looked at the jumping zombie in front of his window, he very firmly denied this suspicion and frame-up. He said that the scarecrows he made were all beautiful women and had never been a man. And the zombie that came out at night in Lijiaao was obviously a male zombie.

The reason why Luo Buzhai went to find Li Xiaocheng was that he was worried that the zombie was the weak king who escaped from the radish village, and he was worried that the weak king would find here. Instead, he expects to hear that zombies are scarecrows. But after asking Li Xiaocheng, Luo Buzhai's worries deepened a lot.

In order to find out the truth, Luo Buzhai took the time to stay in Lijiaao for two days. It seemed that the zombie deliberately avoided Luo Buzhai, but while he was deliberately waiting, the zombie did not appear for two consecutive nights.

But after returning to Thrush Village, Li Xiaocheng immediately sent news that the zombies had reappeared. More than 10 people got out of bed after hearing the sound of zombies jumping and leaned on their windows to look outside. The more than a dozen people claimed to have seen the face of the zombie, and believed Li Xiaocheng's words, thinking that the zombie was a man. The dozen or so people said that the zombie was obviously looking for someone or something, but they didn't know what it was looking for.

Luo Buzhai was worried that what it was looking for was his father.

He had decided to hide it for a while longer to make things clearer. Today, seeing that Grandpa went to Hong's family to help Hong Xide and deal with the matter of ghost plays, Luo Buzhai thought that Grandpa still had the heart to deal with these trivial matters, so he decided to tell him about it.

Grandpa broke Hong Xide's way, and then asked, "Do you think it's likely to be the weak king?" Is it looking for me around here? ”

Luo Buzhai nodded.

"Have you heard of a corpse in the neighborhood?" Daddy asked.

"Are you worried that anyone who has seen it will be touched by it?" Luo Buzhai asked.

"yes. I can't let me alone affect the fathers and villagers here. ”

"I haven't heard anything like that yet. If it's really it, I think it's here for you. Maybe it wants to get rid of you cleanly, and then go back to Nyingchi soon. ”