Anyone who has ever lived in the countryside knows that free-range chickens will choose branches or relatively tall beams at night and squat on them to sleep. Because this is a characteristic of chickens, they will never sleep standing or squatting on flat ground, and in essence, they still have some remnants of the habits of birds. We call the rack where the chickens roost at night as the chicken frame, which is generally a relatively tall beam. And our chicken rack is the wooden railing of the sheepfold, and there are about seven or eight chickens roosting on it at night.

Late one night, I was in a daze when I heard the chickens on the racks outside the yard fluttering and screaming, as if something was driving them. Then the dog in the yard barked wildly.

It's such a cold day, it's still a snowy day, will there be people who come to steal sheep? Why else do chickens fly and dogs jump? I didn't care about the cold of the midwinter night, so I hurriedly dressed as fast as I could, copied a stick, picked up a flashlight, opened the door and rushed to the yard.

Because of the snow, even though it was late at night, the light was not too dark because of the reflection of a thick layer of snow on the ground. I hurriedly walked to the sheepfold, turned on the flashlight and shone it in, and I was stunned by the scene in front of me:

It's the sheep that just need to be slaughtered!! It's—it's tearing at something on the ground with its mouth, ah, it's a chicken, and the feathers and blood are particularly dazzling on the snow. I saw the sheep, its mouth was already stained with chicken blood, and when I shone it with a flashlight, it looked up in the direction where I was standing, and its eyes reflected two faint blue lights under the light!

It just looked at me, then lowered its head and continued to tear the chicken under its hooves with its beak. After a while, most of the chicken had been eaten by it.

It's terrifying, if it were a wolf, or a dog, it wouldn't feel like this to tear a chicken like this, but this is obviously a sheep, or a sheep that is usually extremely docile!

I hurried back into the house, then reflexively slammed the door shut. My heart was beating wildly, as if it was about to pop out of my mouth. I really wanted to run to the yard where my parents lived and tell them what had happened. But I can't, I don't want them to suffer from this fear and insecurity as well, I don't want any shadow to remain in their hearts.

But what should I do? I was half-lying under the covers, smoking cigarette after cigarette. After racking my brains to think about it, I finally had some eyebrows, and I fell asleep unconsciously.

When I woke up, it was already dark outside, I quickly got dressed and got up, and went to the yard, and by the dawn, I took a look at the sheepfold, and the remains of the chickens were scattered all over the ground, and the red chicken blood spots were everywhere. Look at the white sheep under the shed, its snow-white mouth is stained with chicken blood. Even if I saw this scene during the day, it was still so shocking.

I didn't have the courage to look at it for another second, so I hurriedly opened the courtyard door, dodged out of the courtyard, and then quickly turned around and closed the courtyard door again, as if I was afraid that something would come out. When I walked out into the street, I breathed a deep sigh of relief.

Because it was the end of the month, it was really the middle of winter, so few people got up so early, although the sky was gradually getting brighter, there was no one on the street. But how much I want to see people at this time, even if I see one, the fear and tension in my heart can be relieved a little.

I wrapped myself in a coat, stepped on the thick snow, faced the biting cold wind, and walked quickly towards Zhang's house with my head down.

Zhang Butcher is in his forties, and has been slaughtering pigs and sheep since eighteen or nineteen, and has been in the slaughtering business. As soon as the Spring Festival arrives, many people in the village will invite him to their homes to help slaughter pigs and sheep for the New Year. This slaughtering pigs and sheep can be regarded as a technical job, and not everyone can do it. Take this slaughtered sheep as an example, you have to make sure that the trachea and carotid artery of the sheep are cut at the same time with a knife, because only in this way will the blood of the sheep be drained before the sheep dies completely, so that the mutton is delicious.

Some raw hands will go down with a knife, although the blood of the sheep has flowed a lot, but after letting go, the sheep will still be alive and jumping, scurrying around, which is not cut to the vital parts. If the sheep is pressed down and then cut a second time, it will be difficult for the sheep's blood to flow more thoroughly, which will not only affect the meat quality, but more importantly, it will be unlucky.

And Zhang Butcher has more than 20 years of slaughtering experience, so the work in his hands is very neat, others kill a sheep, and a few people need to hold down the sheep on the board, and Zhang Butcher kills sheep, he alone is enough He will use his knees against the body of the sheep, and then grab the head of the sheep with one hand, and the other hand with a knife straight into the neck of the sheep, all this qiē seems so relaxed, but just right.

My pure white sheep is also going to be killed by him, because there are many people who invite him to work, so our sheep will not be able to take their turn until tomorrow. And I went to Zhang Butcher to tell him about the strange things that happened last night, after all, he had killed so many livestock, and he should have seen a lot in this regard, and he must have encountered all kinds of strange things.

I soon came to the gate of Zhang Butcher's yard, and heard the sound of men and women talking in the yard, Zhang Butcher must have gotten up, because this time is his busiest time, so he should get up early every day.

I banged on the courtyard door vigorously and shouted into the courtyard, "Uncle Zhang, are you up?" ”

"It's coming, it's coming", Zhang Butcher agreed, and walked over to open the door, "It's Xiao Ming, isn't that sheep killed tomorrow?" Why did you come here so early? ”。

I lowered my voice and said, "Uncle Zhang, I have something to do with you."

Zhang Butcher saw that my expression was a little wrong, and hurriedly asked, "What's the matter?" It's cold outside, let's go inside and talk about it."

I handed over a cigarette and pulled one out of my own and put it to my mouth. He was not polite, and took it naturally. I took out the lighter, lit it for him first, then lit mine, took two sharp puffs, tried to calm down the feelings, lowered my voice and said to him: "Uncle Zhang, I have something important, I want you to help me, is it the case......"

I told him in great detail about last night's horrific experience. The expression on the face of the butcher became more and more stern. When I finished speaking, he didn't say anything else, but said briefly: "Let's go, hurry up and see where you are."

He took the courtyard gate and was about to go to my place, when suddenly he seemed to think of something, and said, "Wait for me, I'll get something." When he came out again, he was carrying a red cloth bag in his hand, and he didn't know what was inside. In the other hand he held a long, sharp knife that was shiny and slaughtering.

It was already very bright, but the sun didn't seem to come out yet. Butcher Zhang and I walked briskly towards my house, and neither of us said anything else, but we could both feel each other's nervousness and uneasiness, although the reasons for such nervousness and uneasiness were not necessarily the same.

For some reason, I'm really worried that I saw that scene just a hallucination, yes, how could a sheep eat a chicken? Could it be that when we get to the yard, it is very normal that the scene last night did not happen at all? No chicken blood, chicken feathers, no sheep with a mouth full of blood?