Lao Zhang walked beside the ridge with a hoe on his back, dusk was approaching, and only a few machines were buzzing to harvest corn on the vast plain - this is a corn harvester that has only appeared in the past two years, and it can smash the corn stalks while harvesting the cob completely.

Lao Zhang had already walked out of the field when he secretly lamented the rapid change of the world, he stepped over the tombs of his ancestors and the ancient locust tree, and set foot on his way home in the setting sun.

He is in his fifties this year, and he can't tell how old he is, and he himself is indifferent to this kind of thing; My daughter takes this very seriously, and she used to come home on his birthday. But slowly, it seems to have faded away. What if the son was here? Does a son remember his birthday? He sometimes thinks of this illusory question.

Lao Zhang used to have a son, but he was abducted when he was less than ten years old and has not been heard from since. Since then, his wife has gradually become demented, ran away from home one winter and never came back, so Lao Zhang can no longer have a son.

After many years, Lao Zhang can't remember his son's face, and he can't even remember how old he was when he was abducted. I even sometimes wonder if I really had a son. There were some vague fragments of his son in his mind, but when he pondered it, there was nothing left.

Lao Zhang thought about it in a trance, and walked down the dirt road. There were many accompanying men along the way, most of them were wearing cloth shoes, their clothes were dirty, and their faces were full of tiredness and contentment;

There were also many homecoming farm carts clattering along the road with black smoke and many women covered in straw hats. This is the most noisy time of the year in the countryside, and it is also the most impetuous time in people's hearts.

Thinking about his son, he walked down the steep dirt slope, and at the end of the dirt slope was a bridge, and crossing the bridge was considered to be a return to the village.

A very abrupt thing made Lao Zhang wake up from his aimless fantasy. It was a white sedan that was resting under a tree on the other side of the bridge, and it didn't match the gray-yellow tones of the countryside at this time.

Next to it, a pair of two people who seemed to be mother and daughter were pulling, the woman was very angry, and from time to time she slapped the little girl's back with her hand, and the little girl cried while trying to resist with her legs against the ground.

"I'm not going! I don't ...... with you I'm not going! The little girl screamed as she resisted, tears streaming down her face.

"You have to go today, and you have to go if you don't go!"

Lao Zhang shook his head, and his footsteps did not stop—this is a common war between adults and children.

He stepped onto the bridge, and as he walked across it, he kept a sneaky eye on the mother and daughter, and quickly withdrew his gaze as soon as someone passed by—he didn't want anyone to think that he was still interested in such a thing at his age.

But the more he looked at it, the more he felt that something was wrong, and the girl's reaction to the dispute between mother and daughter was too violent.

She desperately tried to escape from the woman's grasp, hitting and biting the woman's hand like a mad dog; And the woman's appearance also made Lao Zhang feel a little vicious, she grabbed the clothes on the girl's chest fiercely, cursing and threatening.

This scene made Lao Zhang feel a little familiar, but he couldn't say where he had seen it. Just as he walked past the mother and daughter, he suddenly remembered: this scene was too similar to the picture of his son being abducted and trafficked countless times he had imagined.

"You're not my mother! I don't want to go with you......"

Lao Zhang stopped and looked back at the two of them.

"Why am I not your mother? Don't talk nonsense! The woman said viciously.

The woman noticed Lao Zhang at this time, and when she saw Lao Zhang standing there motionless and looking at herself, her movements and expression became very flustered, and she tried her best to drag the girl into the car.

Lao Zhang threw down the hoe, his lips began to turn white and tremble slightly, and sweat appeared on his bare head.

He was suddenly nervous, and his consciousness was in a trance; In a trance, he seemed to see his unrecognizable little son being dragged into the car, and his son was struggling with the sky, but to no avail. The huge and thick hands were about to grab him into the van and run to the ends of the earth.

"Catch the doll!" Lao Zhang finally shouted.

A few people glanced this way, but only from a distance.

"Don't shout nonsense, you old thing!" The woman scolded Lao Zhang.

But Lao Zhang shouted again, and this time the few people who were watching seemed to understand, and immediately ran over with serious faces—catching children is a great evil in the countryside.

Driven by these few people, many people ran over, and Huladi suddenly gathered in a circle, most of them were men who had finished farm work.

"She's not my mom! She's not my mom! The girl seemed to understand that she was coming for the woman, and cried even louder.

"The child is not sensible......" The woman was surrounded in the middle, embarrassed and panicked to explain to the people around her, and after saying that, she symbolically slapped the girl, signaling her not to talk nonsense, but this action made the girl's reaction more violent.

"She took me away from my mom and I don't want to go with her!"

"It's a human trafficker!" Lao Zhang suddenly shouted coldly.

So the crowd began to stir, and two women rushed in and pulled the woman's hand away, and were about to leave with the girl in their arms, but they were pulled by the woman. One of the women spat in the woman's face, and then the man next to her swarmed up and grabbed her.

The woman screamed and cursed everyone in tears, the girl was out of the woman's grasp, and the two women hurried away with her in their arms, as if they were fleeing from the disaster.

The crowd was in chaos at this time, everyone was making a loud noise, the screams of the women were mixed with the scolding of the men, no one could hear what was being said, everyone was shouting.

The woman ran out with all her might, but the men's bodies blocked her like black mountains, and they pressed closer and closer.

This chaotic situation, along with the rattling of farm carts, the swarms of mosquitoes flying in the sky at dusk, the churning dark yellow water, and the road surface, all contribute to the tense atmosphere of this busy farming season.

"Call 110!" Lao Zhang suggested loudly, but his voice was completely drowned out by the torrent of chaos.

The crowd was still chaotic, and the woman tried to explain something, but the people were too angry to listen to her. In their eyes, this woman can no longer be regarded as a human being.

I don't know who started first, but the woman seemed to have been kicked and punched, so the men let go of their last sanity as if they had been instructed and allowed to do so, and began to beat the woman who was surrounded by them.

Lao Zhang was squeezed out, he was very excited, he was as angry and hateful as everyone else when he stood in the crowd, and when everyone's fists and feet began to fall recklessly, he also wanted to go up and kick him. But he was so old that he was immediately squeezed out by the raging crowd.

The men beat and cursed with hideous faces, and they all tried their best to vent their anger, waving their fists and feet like crazy. The woman was beaten and curled up on the ground, and Lao Zhang couldn't see her at all, only her cries and screams.

Lao Zhang looked at this group of violent people with passion, an inexplicable excitement wrapped him, as if he himself was also involved, it seemed that justice had been carried out, and it seemed that the hatred of his son being robbed had been alleviated.

But slowly, when he saw these usually gentle and kind villagers suddenly become so brutal, and when he heard the women screaming incessantly, he began to be afraid. He vaguely felt that this should not be the case, so he stepped forward and tried to stop the men.

Then the woman suddenly let out a very miserable and high scream, which seemed to contain all the pain, and then there was no sound, and the men gradually stopped.

Lao Zhang hurriedly rushed forward.

The woman lay on the ground in disheveled clothes, motionless, as if she was dead, with a lot of blood under her body. The men were all panting and red-eyed.

The ambulance came quickly, and when the woman was carried on the stretcher, Lao Zhang was very scared, as if something terrible had happened, and this terrible thing would affect his life.

The men all watched quietly, and no one spoke, and now they were gentle and kind villagers again. After a while, it was dark and the people dispersed.

The girl was placed in Grandma Li's house, she was not too old, and the children were not around. The police have been called, and the police should send the trafficked girl home tomorrow.

But the next day, before the police arrived, the news of the death had already arrived. I don't know who sent the news that the woman died on the way to the county hospital, which said that her spleen had been kicked and that there was a lot of blood in her skull.

Lao Zhang didn't understand the meaning of "intracranial hemorrhage" and "spleen" at first, but later he probably understood after listening to other people's explanations: the woman's brain was broken, so she died; In other words, the men beat the woman to death.

At the beginning, Lao Zhang was very scared, because such a thing as "beating people to death" was really rare in the village;

But after thinking about it, I was also relieved: that woman was just a human trafficker, was it wrong to beat a human trafficker? Even if someone is killed, it makes sense. Traffickers deserve to die, and it's not a big deal.

Lao Zhang has no concept of the law, "beating people to death" is certainly a terrible thing, but will the law prohibit them from killing human traffickers? They are doing the right thing for heaven, and will the law punish them for it?

Thinking of this, Lao Zhang felt very proud. He had worked diligently all his life, and there had never been anything for him to boast about, but this event made him extremely proud, and even felt that the lintel was glorious. He wanted to say to someone, "I caught a trafficker and beat her to death!" ”

So Lao Zhang walked out of the house and walked on the road with his head held high, the late summer sun shining above his head, making him feel very comfortable.

A large group of people were chattering at the intersection about something, and Lao Zhang walked towards the group, he thought that it would be the stage for his performance, and he would explain his incomparable feat to the crowd.

But when I got closer, I realized that there was already a performer there.

"I kicked her hard and she immediately went limp!" Xiao Li was happily describing.

These words caused an exclamation from everyone.

"Where are you kicking?"

"In the face, I kicked her in the face." Xiao Li swore that at this time he saw Lao Zhang who was walking over, so he pointed to Lao Zhang and said, "Lao Zhang has seen it, Lao Zhang must have seen it, don't you believe him!" ”

So everyone's attention shifted to Lao Zhang.

"Right...... Really, this guy kicks really hard...... Hehe. Lao Zhang responded with a smile, saying that what the other party said was all true, but in fact, he didn't see Xiao Li at all on the day of the incident.

"Then you hit it too?" One of them asked.

Lao Zhang was stunned, and his previous pride was gone—he didn't hit the woman, and he was kicked out of the circle at the beginning of the beating, which made him feel ashamed.

"I called someone...... I'm ...... Right...... Hit, hehe. Lao Zhang scratched his head and replied vaguely.

After saying this vague sentence, Lao Zhang felt that his face was very hot, but he also noticed the admiration and surprise in everyone's eyes, which made him feel very satisfied.

Lao Zhang's pride lasted until the day the police arrived.

A carload of police officers came that day, all wearing dark blue police uniforms, reflecting the flashing light of the siren.

Lao Zhang didn't expect so many people to come, he felt that he only needed two policemen to come, make some notes, and then take the girl away, and the matter would be over. As for the trafficker, if she is dead, she is dead.

This shows that things may be more important than he imagined, so Lao Zhang is even more proud, and deep down, he even fantasizes that there is a beautiful pennant waiting for him.

But the next news completely shattered Lao Zhang's illusions: the woman was not a human trafficker, but the girl's stepmother.

According to the grapevine from the police station, the girl's parents divorced because the man had someone outside, the woman who was killed, and then the girl's father naturally married the woman.

But for some reason, the girl was sentenced to his dad. Again, for unknown reasons, the girl's father chose to let the woman pick up the girl and take her back to her new home. The girl apparently didn't like her new mother, so while passing through the place, she got out of the car under the pretext of peeing and tried to escape home in this naïve way, and the woman was later killed.

Lao Zhang's brain was shocked to go blank, and things were suddenly beyond his comprehension, and it was too late for him to be afraid.

Later, he calmed down and began to be afraid, but when he thought about it, this news was too bizarre, and it was a rumor. Even if it was true, it was impossible to blame himself because he hadn't touched the woman at all.

Despite this, Lao Zhang was still in a state of panic, he felt that he had committed a crime, but he could not tell what crime he had committed. He waited for the day when the rumors would be dispelled, waiting for someone to tell him that the woman was indeed a human trafficker.

But more and more rumors and what happened next are gradually proving that the news is true.

The girl had long since been taken away by the police, but many policemen still came to the village every day, and they took the woman's picture and went from house to house looking for witnesses of the day.

There were many onlookers on that day, and although no one could tell who was watching and who was committing the violence, the scope of the investigation shrank smaller and smaller, and in the end only a small number of people were investigated.

The police found Xiao Li, because he had told the process of violence in public, and a policeman with glasses asked him expressionlessly:

"You hit someone?"

"Nope! Not me! Xiao Li was very frightened, he had never faced police interrogation in his life.

"Did you say three days ago that you kicked her in the face?"

"I ...... That's my nonsense......" Xiao Li was like a sponge running out of water when he said this, "I wasn't in the village at all that day. I went to the county, not alone, many people can prove it! I have nothing to do with it! ”

The policeman did not speak, still looking at him with a blank face. Xiao Li looked at his feet tremblingly, and his brain searched for words as hard as he could. Then he seemed to suddenly remember something, and whispered as if to please the other party:

"Lao Zhang did it, he beat it, he said that he caught the woman, he said it himself."

The police questioned the others, most of whom were the perpetrators of the day, but when the police asked, they all said in unison that they didn't remember anything.

I don't remember if I hit someone, I don't remember who hit someone, and in the end I even forget whether I was there that day.

They are evasive, they have different opinions, and when they exonerate themselves, they will inevitably accuse another person. But when cross-examined again, the object of the accusation was different from the previous one.

Later, the police noticed that although due to the particularity and complexity of the case, the testimony of these people did not say anything. But Lao Zhang's name appeared in their mouths many times, so the police's spearhead was pointed at Lao Zhang.

At this time, Lao Zhang's panic has reached the extreme, since the police launched frequent investigations, he has not slept a peaceful sleep, often sleepless all night, recalling the scene over and over again, but this can only increase his panic.

So when there was a knock on the door, Lao Zhang almost wanted to pick up a kitchen knife and go out with the people outside the door.

He opened the house tremblingly, and the moment he saw the police, Lao Zhang's leg completely lost its strength. The urge to kneel down and hug the policeman and cry bitterly, begging for forgiveness made him almost cry.

But he held back, his reason telling him that there was one last trump card - he didn't hit the woman.

A policeman spoke, "You told someone to beat her?" ”

"Tell someone to beat ...... No...... I was just...... I thought she was a human trafficker. Lao Zhang's voice trembled, "I have nothing to do with this!" I didn't do it! ”

"It's you who tell someone that she's a human trafficker, how can it have nothing to do with you? If you don't shout like that, that woman won't be killed. ”

"I didn't hit her, I just ...... They hit it, and I tried to stop it, but ......"

The policeman flipped through a black notepad, looked at it, and said, "You said to many people that day, you hit her?" ”

Lao Zhang had nothing to say, he was so scared to death, and vaguely felt that he was finished.

"Can anyone prove that you didn't hit her?"

Lao Zhang still has nothing to say, and no one in the world can prove it. He stared blankly at the gloomy policeman, trying to find something to justify, but couldn't think of anything.

The policeman closed the notepad, glanced at Lao Zhang solemnly, then turned back to the other policeman and said something, and finally said to Lao Zhang, "We will come again." When they were done, they pushed the door open and left.

Lao Zhang stood in the courtyard and felt that the hairs on his whole body were exploding.

The police came twice in three days, and they asked the same questions, but the angles were more tricky and aggressive. kept poking Lao Zhang like a sword, so that he had no way to retreat, and in the end he could only be killed.

But Lao Zhang slowly stopped being afraid, and he began to feel that he deserved it. If he hadn't shouted in the first place, that woman wouldn't have been killed. Under the pressure of the police, he gradually came to believe that he had killed the woman, and although he did not beat her, she still died by his own hands.

So when the police drove him away on the fourth day, he didn't have a trace of grievance. The moment the handcuffs were closed, he had nothing but fear of the future and great shame in his heart.

There were many onlookers outside the door, including those who had beaten the woman that day. They all looked at Lao Zhang and whispered.

Everyone thinks this is the most reasonable solution, even Lao Zhang himself thinks so. Someone is killed, someone has to pay for their lives, and that's how it should be, otherwise what else can be? Besides, the police don't arrest people indiscriminately.

Lao Zhang didn't dare to raise his head, staring at the road tightly, this road he had walked countless times, it was the road he was most familiar with, but it was only today that he stared at it so intently for the first time.

I don't know why, the police car was parked far away from Lao Zhang's house. Lao Zhang walked a long way with his head hanging under the escort of the two people, until he came to the end, he still felt that there were a lot of eyes behind him, which made Lao Zhang feel that he should do something. So just as he was about to reach the police car, he struggled violently, turned his head and shouted:

"I didn't kill anyone! I didn't kill anyone! ”

It's a pity that he is too far away from the audience, and the sound has already dissipated on the way to transmission. One could only see him leaping restlessly in the distance, as if he wanted to say something, but could not hear anything.

Mr. Zhang was sentenced to seven years in prison for "causing the death of another person by negligent acts." This charge was too complicated for Lao Zhang to understand, and he only knew that he was now a prisoner, probably because he had killed someone.

So when his fellow inmates asked him why he came in, he scratched his head embarrassedly and said, "Killed someone." So no one asked him, and everyone thought there was something wrong with the old man.

When the dust settles and the world runs again, people are peaceful because nothing has changed.

Only Lao Zhang was very uneasy, although he admitted his sins in his heart, he still felt that something was wrong.

When he lay in prison in the middle of the night and pondered this series of events, although what was hidden behind it was too profound for him, there was always something awkward.

Why did you somehow become a murderer? I didn't touch the woman at all, and since that's the case, how can they say that they are murderers?

But after all, he came to prison, and since he was found guilty, he must be guilty. But he didn't kill anyone, so where was his sin?

Lao Zhang spent seven years in prison and finally figured it out: he was responsible for the punishment of the rioters. After thinking about this, he no longer felt ashamed, so on the day he was released from prison, Lao Zhang felt that he was not a prisoner who had been released from prison, but a hero who escaped from the enemy camp.

Heroes, naturally, deserve applause and cheers.

However, the moment he stepped out of the prison door with a heart full of pride, he realized how depressed he was. The prison gate was empty, his daughter did not come to pick him up, they had cut off contact as early as when they were in prison, and no relatives came to pick him up, not even anyone watching the excitement.

Lao Zhang suddenly felt like a weathered wild dog, a 60-year-old wild dog.

When I got out of prison, it was winter, and the world was bleak. He walked through the streets of the center of the town and walked into the entrance of the village. No one greeted him along the way, which made him feel like he was still in prison despite taking off his prison uniform.

As he walked, he suddenly noticed that there was a person on the other side of the road staring at him tightly, and his expression was like seeing a ghost. Lao Zhang thought that it might be an acquaintance, so he also stared at the other party closely, but found that he didn't know him at all, and then the man turned his head and left in a hurry.

He walked all the way through the village and found that although seven years had passed, the village had not changed much. It's just that he knows the village, but the village doesn't remember him.

Later, when he stood at the door of his house, Lao Zhang remembered that he didn't have a key. But the collapsed courtyard wall provided him with convenience, allowing him to easily climb over it. The yard was full of weeds half a man high, and he went into the back room from the yard and found the key. But when I opened the door, I found that the key and lock were already badly rusted.

Lao Zhang realized at this time that he had nothing left, and even survival was a problem. Fortunately, the next day, the village committee sent someone to send some relief, and then sent several pieces intermittently, which allowed him to hold on for some days.

Lao Zhang has always been reluctant to go out of the house because he heard people outside call him "a murderer".

He ate relief all day, lay on the kang and did nothing, and didn't even bother to remove the grass in the yard, so he survived in a daze for more than ten days. It wasn't until there was a sudden explosion outside that he hurriedly went out to see that he knew that the New Year was over.

In Lao Zhang's memory, the Chinese New Year should be like this: the house is red, the fire is burning in the house, children and adults are surrounding the elderly, and everyone greets each other warmly.

So he sat on the kang and waited, he felt that someone would always come, isn't that the New Year? At least her daughter will come, although she hasn't contacted her for a long time, but it's her daughter after all.

He waited until late at night, the explosions outside still continuing, but he was getting more and more lonely. So he got off the kang, took out the smoke pot and tobacco from the drawer, lit it with a match, and smoked it with a squint.

He smoked dry cigarettes to relieve his boredom, but the more he smoked, the more he wondered. He didn't know what was wrong, why didn't he catch anything for so many years? The son is gone, the wife is gone, the daughter is gone, and he is still in prison, and now he has to rely on relief to eat and drink.

The vague thing that I came up with when I was in prison is now completely gone. Lao Zhang has worked all his life in the face of loess, and he has long lost the ability to think, he just feels panicked in his heart.

The sound of fireworks exploded in Lao Zhang's heart like thunder, making him feel very uncomfortable. The fireworks exploded all night, and his heart was uncomfortable all night.

Three days later, when the people from the village committee came again, they found Lao Zhang dead. He was lying on the kang, and the smoking pot, which was as old as Lao Zhang himself, was placed next to his head.

At this time, it is a very troublesome thing to die, and no one wants to be touched by this bad luck during the New Year.

The village made a lot of effort to find two people who collected the corpses, and spent a lot of money to invite ice coffins from other places.

Lao Zhang's body remained in the crumbling old house until after fifteen years before being buried. When he was buried, no one knew where his ancestral grave was, so he found a random place in the cemetery to bury it, and the grave pile was very small.

Later, when Granny Wang, the daughter-in-law of the Liu family, and several women chatted in the village, they said:

"I think he's starving to death."

"His house is so broken, I'm afraid he will freeze to death." The daughter-in-law of the Liu family said so.

"What did the Public Security Bureau say?" Another person asked.

"Who does the Public Security Bureau care about this?"

"That old man must have no face to see his ancestors, and he is ashamed to death!"

A boy who had been playing next to him suddenly looked up and said with a grin, "He died of sadness." ”

His grandmother glanced down at him, then looked up again and joined in the conversation, as if she hadn't heard it at all.

After all, his voice was so small, and it seemed so absurd on such an occasion.