I fell to the ground with all my strength, looking blankly at the green mountains and green mountains in front of me, shrouded in rain.

I tightened the child in my arms and regained my spirits, and there were more important things waiting for me to do.

He said he would come back, and I believed he would come back, no matter how long he waited.

When I got home, there was only a dim light in the house, and I saw my grandmother sitting alone in a chair, as if waiting for me to come back.

Footsteps are heard. She looked up tiredly, and when she saw me, all the tiredness disappeared instantly, and she stepped forward to check on me and the child in her arms.

She took the child from my arms and sighed, "You came back alone?" ”

"Grandma......" I choked up, and finally my strong faith collapsed in that moment.

She also stroked my hair like she did when she was a child: "If you're tired, just go to sleep, and when you wake up tomorrow, the sun will still rise in the east." ”

I understood what she meant, and I took a bath, fed the child, and fell asleep.

The child is surprisingly sensible and quiet, many times, just with bright black eyes, looking around curiously, and a person babbling doesn't know what to say.

After I had slept enough, I looked at the disc in my hand and pondered for a long time.

This thing looks very old, and there are many runes engraved on it, and I can't make it clear. It's just that I doubt that this thing really has a huge amount of energy hidden and can open the door of time and space to go back to the past?

The waterhole in the tomb should still be there, but now the living are no longer able to enter, all of them have collapsed, and there are many gems stored in the waterhole, and the aura is very sufficient.

"Nantang, Changzhi...... Don't leave me alone. ”

At this time, grandma walked in from outside: "Get up and eat something, so that you can have more energy to face everything." ”

"Hmm." Looking back at the child who was still asleep, he followed his grandmother out to eat something, and suddenly the child, who had never made a noise, cried inside.

I was so frightened that my hands trembled, put down the chopsticks in my hand, ran into the room desperately, and picked up the child.

The child stopped crying as soon as he was held in his arms, and he seemed to feel very stable.

"Baby. Are you hungry? ”

The child couldn't speak, but just rubbed into my arms, and his white and fat little face turned red.

Seeing that the child didn't seem to be so difficult, after feeding him for a while, the grandmother broke in from outside and said, "Mr. Shen and Mr. Gu are here." ”

I was shocked, buttoned up my clothes and put the child down, and hid the plate of Fuxi under the sheet, covered it with the quilt, and walked out with my grandmother.

The person I haven't seen for a long time has finally met.

He was standing in the courtyard with his back to me, Gu Xi, I was the first to see me, raised my eyes, Shen Qiushui turned around when he heard the footsteps, and smiled at me.

"Lingsheng, long time no see."

Although the heart has long been turbulent. But I pretended to be calm and said in a deep voice, "What do you want to do?" ”

Shen Qiushui stepped forward and said, "I didn't expect you to reach that kind of consensus with Rong Wan, and I was almost deceived, but Rong Wan is not you after all, how can you fool me after a long time?" ”

"Shen Qiushui, Rong Wan loves you very much, you should cherish her instead of wasting time on me."

"How can the time spent on you be called a waste? I'm willing to eat it. He smiled slyly, and I couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat behind my back.

I pulled the corners of my mouth and smiled: "I didn't expect your life to be really big." ”

Shen Qiushui pretended to sigh: "It's also a life of nine deaths, shouldn't you be happy that we can come out alive?" Lingsheng, it's better to follow me, you follow that dead ghost, what future can you have, only follow me. I can give you everything you want. ”

"You know what I want?"

"Tell me?"

I sneered and smiled: "Shen Qiushui, what I want, you can't give it to me." ”

He didn't care: "Then what I want, you should be able to give it to me." ”

"I don't understand what you're saying."

He approached, clasped my jaw, and said coldly, "You know what I'm talking about? Don't push the limits of my patience anymore, I don't have time to spend it with you. I don't think you want me to do it with you in front of grandma, do you? ”

I waved his hand away, although I was unwilling in my heart, I was helpless, thinking of Chu Nantang's last advice, I didn't want to continue to entangle with them.

"What you want is indeed here, but I have one condition."

"Huh?" Shen Qiushui raised his eyebrows.

"Don't come again, don't come to my house again, disturb my peaceful life with my grandmother."

"What if I don't say yes?" Shen Qiushui said in a deep voice. Eyes are cloudy.

I laughed: "Then you can step over my corpse, Mr. Shen, we didn't know each other for the first day, you know what I say." ”

Shen Qiushui looked unwilling, but he no longer forced each other: "Then I will also attach one condition, where is the spirit of Yanzhi?" ”

Gu Xi's body trembled, and he raised his eyes to look at me.

I was silent for a moment before I said: "Nantang and I took her to the place where the spiritual energy in the tomb is the most abundant, but now that the spiritual tomb has sunk underground, in fact, I don't know what happened to Yan Zhi and where she is." ”

Shen Qiushui seemed to struggle to believe my words, and met my determined gaze, but he didn't ask any further.

"In that case, so be it. Hand over the plate of Fuxi, I will let you go for ten years of tranquility, and after ten years, I will definitely bring you back. After all, you can only belong to me, Shen Qiushui. ”

"The person who belongs to you is not me Zhang Lingsheng, it can be Jiang Rongwu or Zen heart, Zhang Lingsheng only loves Chu Nantang alone."

"I'll remind you of the past."

I turned around indifferently and only said, "You wait for me for a while, I'll go get it, I believe that your Mr. Shen is true to his word, and he won't embarrass me as a little woman." ”

After that, I turned around and went back to the room, took out the Fuxi plate, rubbed it for a while, took it out, and handed it to Shen Qiushui.

Shen Qiushui was a little excited, took the Fuxi plate from my hand, and smiled a little hideous: "Come and see if this is the real Fuxi plate." ”

Gu Xi stepped forward to take it from him, looked at it and said with great certainty: "It is indeed the plate of Fuxi." ”

Shen Qiushui breathed a long sigh of relief: "After a lot of hard work, nine deaths, I finally got it." ”

He glanced back at me and smiled: "What I said, it's still counted, since that's the case, don't pass it, I'll still come back to you, Lingsheng." ”

The sense of oppression brought by Shen Qiushui made me a little breathless.

Grandma came out of the house and asked in a deep voice, "Are they gone?" ”

"Well, let's go."

"Although I don't know what happened between you and Mr. Shen, but you have grown up, many things have your own judgment, and grandma doesn't ask much, you just need to know what you're doing."

"Grandma, they are gone, they will not come to disturb our peaceful life again, I will accompany grandma."

I would often take my children to the top of the mountain to look at the place where the spiritual tomb was once held, and the dried spring water never gushed up again, so the villagers had to lead the mountain water down the mountain to provide for their daily necessities.

Half a year later, my grandmother's health gradually deteriorated, and her eyes couldn't see clearly.

I'm just glad I can still be by her side and take care of her.

"Grandma, are you awake?"

Grandma took a nap and sat up from the bed: "Girl, are you carrying Afan to the top of the mountain again?" ”

"Yes, I just came back and picked some wild vegetables, grandma, your favorite food."

Grandma smiled: "Oh, this sleep is really comfortable, maybe I don't want to wake up when I fall asleep." ”

I was shocked and shook my grandmother's hand: "Grandma, are you confused too?" How can you say something unlucky? ”

Grandma looked at me reproachfully: "Where is this unlucky word?" Falling asleep and falling asleep and going like this is also a blessing from cultivation. ”

My nose was sour, and I pursed my lips: "If grandma really leaves, how lonely it will be to leave me and Afan." ”

Grandma smiled absently: "Silly child, you should have your own life, to face some new people, and new things." ”

"Grandma, why do you keep pushing me out? I just want to stay by your side. ”

"The fate of man is wonderful, you don't belong here, you have to go where you need to go."

Although this sentence sounds easy to understand, it has a deep meaning. I didn't dwell on it anymore, I just took the clothes and put them on her: "It's getting hot, wear this thin jacket." Later, we can eat, and grandma can go to the yard and sit down first. ”

"Hehe, grandma is going to see my great-grandchildren." She left the room on crutches, which she hadn't needed before, and had been saying something inexplicable lately, which gave me the sadness that she might leave me at any moment.

On a thunderstormy morning at the end of April, I brought porridge to my grandmother, only to find that she was not lying in bed, but on a chaise longue in front of the window, sleeping peacefully.

The porridge bowl slipped out of my hand, and I could clearly feel that she had left me.

"Grandma......" I stepped forward gently, as if I was afraid to disturb her sleep. leaned against her: "Grandma, sleep, sleep in peace." ”

Tears rolled down from the corners of my eyes, and I choked up, and although I had tried hard to restrain myself from crying, I couldn't help but feel sad.

"In the future, for a long time, only Ah Fan will accompany me." I gently kissed her on the cheek: "But don't worry about me, I will take good care of myself and your little great-grandchildren." ”

Fortunately, with the help of the villagers, I held a funeral for my grandmother, and on the last night of the first seven, I coaxed Ah Fan to sleep, went to the mourning hall to light incense, and suddenly heard someone call me.

This voice made a sudden surprise: "Grandma......"

I turned around and ran to the yard and saw my grandmother standing under a big tree in the yard. He beckoned to me.

"Grandma!!"

"Lingsheng, grandma is going to another world, don't be sad, grandma is fine. Grandma came back this time to tell you something. ”

I soured my nose and choked up and asked, "Grandma, you said." ”

"That box, be sure to keep it, although grandma doesn't know what it is for, but it is the only thing left by the ancestors, and it must have its own important place."

That small box, in order to suppress Chu Nantang's forbidden spell, has been there for him, and he doesn't know ......

But I still nodded: "Don't worry, grandma, I will definitely take good care of it." ”

"Okay, you take care of yourself and Afan, grandma is leaving. If you go too late, you won't be able to cross the bridge. ”

After all, a gust of wind blew, and where else was there anyone under the tree? I raised my hand to touch her, but all I could do was air, and I couldn't grasp anything.

After my grandmother was buried, I sorted out the relics of the family and burned most of them to her.

Aunt Lin is always worried about me, and often comes to take a look and persuade me to open a little.

Grandma was very peaceful when she left, and I had nothing to think about, but often I would wake up from my dreams alone, feeling very lonely, and in the endless dark night, I couldn't hear even a single human voice.

I couldn't hear the man call me 'Madam', and I missed him so much.

Waiting for him at the top of the mountain and looking at the direction of the tomb has become a daily routine, and the villagers think that I may have become stupid because of my grandmother's death.

I often stay alone on the top of the mountain, even for most of the day and ignore others.

"Nantang, grandma has left, it's a pity that you didn't come to see her off for the last time, grandma said to me before leaving, this place doesn't belong to me, you say, where else can I go?"

"Nantang, I feel very lonely alone, but fortunately I have Ah Fan with me, but I can't hear your voice, I still feel ...... It's lonely. ”

"Nantang, maybe I should go, if you come back, go to our house to find me, Ah Fan and I will be there waiting for you to come back."

……

A person's whispering until he is hoarse and unable to make a sound, only the tears that fall can tell all the feelings of missing his relatives and lovers.

"Lingsheng! Lingsheng!! ”

I hurriedly wiped away my tears, looked back, and saw Xiaohuzi running up the mountain happily: "I knew you were here again." ”

"Little Huzi, do you have something to do with me?"

"What, my mother wants to invite you to my house for a meal, and it's hard for you to start the stove alone, otherwise go to my house and eat together."

"No, it's actually not troublesome."

"You're going!" Xiaohuzi panicked, and his honest face turned red: "Actually, it's a girl who wants to see you." Come up with ideas. ”

I laughed, "Yes, it's time for you to marry a daughter-in-law." ”

So he went to his house with Xiaohuzi for dinner, and the girl was born well, but she was also a good match for Xiaohuzi. Aunt Lin and her family are also very interesting to this girl.

At dinner, Xiaohuzi sent me back with a flashlight, and before I said, "The girl is very good, and she looks very honest, you are very right." ”

Xiaohuzi scratched the back of his head embarrassedly: "Really? Hehe...... Lingsheng, I actually ......"

"Huh?"

Xiaohuzi took a deep breath: "I used to like you very much and wanted to marry you as my daughter-in-law, but ...... How do you like me? ”

"Little Huzi, don't say that, I really treat you as a brother."

"Eh, I know." Xiaohuzi smiled at me: "Lingsheng, you have a hard time alone, right?" With children, have you ever thought about finding another one? Although you are now with a child. But depending on your conditions, you can still find another good one. ”

"Thank you, little tiger, I'...... I'm going to wait for the kid's dad to come back, and he'll come back. ”

"Really? But from the time you were pregnant to the time you gave birth to Afan, he never came to see you once. ”

"He's been here, in fact, he's been with me all the time, it's just ...... It's just that he was shy and didn't say hello to everyone, and the next time he has the opportunity, he will definitely let everyone meet him. ”

Xiaohuzi was skeptical: "What, don't always climb the mountain alone with your child, there are many graves in the deep mountains and old forests, and you will inevitably encounter some dangers." ”

"Well, I might ...... Won't go again. ”

After saying goodbye to Xiaohuzi, I went home and packed my luggage. Afraid of alarming the villagers again, he left only a letter to Aunt Lin, and left the village alone three days later.

After catching the train back to the city, I now seem to understand the meaning of my grandmother's words.

A woman's life is like a rapeseed, where it is planted, it takes root, sprouts, thrives, and multiplies.

My home with Chu Nantang is the final destination of my life, so I should go there.

It was really tiring to return to the original city and take Avan on a long journey. The house was cleaned very clean, and it seemed that Xiaobai was not lazy. This time should still be in school.

I took Afan to take a shower, lay on the bed and closed my eyes and fell asleep.

I slept until more than four o'clock in the afternoon, and was woken up by Xiao Afan, and after feeding the child, he stopped making noise.

I carried him out of the room, the wind chimes rang at the door, and someone pushed the door and walked in.

When he raised his eyes, Bai Yiqing's expression froze, and then his eyes widened: "This ...... Whose milk doll is this? ”

Ah Fan babbled and turned his head to look at Bai Yiqing, as if he was curious, and looked at him with wide eyes.

The two stared at each other for a long time, and Bai Yiqing smiled at me: "It's so cute, let me hug me." ”

was about to reach out to hug him, but the little guy's hand was faster, and he pulled Bai Yiqing's hair and laughed so hard that his mouth watered. And Bai Yiqing screamed in pain.

"It hurts, it hurts...... Let go! You little one, see how I clean you up. ”

Saying and tickling him, Ah Fan retracted his hand and hid in my arms, I wiped Ah Fan's saliva, Bai Yiqing stared at the few hairs that were pulled off with a sad face, and did not speak for a long time.

"Xiaobai, help me watch him, I'll make dinner."

"Okay." Bai Yiqing wanted to ask something, but when he saw that I was busy walking into the kitchen and didn't answer him, he couldn't bear to ask again.

One big and one small were on the sofa, staring at each other with big eyes, and they were also happy, and Bai Yiqing made Ah Fan giggle.

It wasn't until I brought the fried dishes to the table one by one that Bai Yiqing took the opportunity to ask: "Lingsheng, whose milk doll is this, why did you bring this little bit back?" ”

I let out a long sigh, "Take a look." ”

"Huh?" Bai Yiqing was stunned. Turning his head to look at Ah Fan for a long time, he was shocked on the spot: "Like! It's like!! It can't be, right? ”

"Why can't it be? It's my child with Nantang. ”

"I ...... No, let me calm down, this disappearance is so sudden, so sudden that I can't accept it for a while. He didn't even eat dinner, so he went back to his room to calm down.

"Then I'll leave you a meal, and you remember to come out to eat later."

The courtyard in the middle of the night is very quiet, the small bridge is flowing water, the breeze is coming, I took Chu Nantang's zheng, my hands are very rusty, and I am not skilled, I played a few tunes, but fortunately, it is still sound.

The little guy was staring at me curiously, and I smiled, knowing that he might not understand.

"It's something your dad left behind. Mom can't play well, but Dad is amazing, and when he comes back, I can let him play it for you. ”

Although the little guy didn't understand what I was saying, he seemed to be listening very seriously, and his big innocent eyes stared at me for a moment.

I put down the zither and hugged the child: "If he comes back, he must love you very much, little Afan, are you also thinking about him?" ”

The weather was getting hotter, Bai Yiqing took a cold drink from the house and handed it to me, looking at me and Xiao Afan, still looking incredulous.

"You guys are so fast, and you're so quiet, even the baby has been made."

"Who is like you, a big carrot?" I gave him a roll of the eye: "Seriously. Ai Zi is very good, you don't want to break people's hearts. ”

Bai Yiqing sighed cheaply: "I'm a person, I just like to taste new things, it's too easy to get my hands on, and I don't think it's exciting and fun." ”

"I really want to behead you scum for the majority of female compatriots in the world and for the way of heaven, so that you can harm a few girls less."

"That...... Why didn't Grandpa Grandpa come back with you? ”

When I mentioned this question, I was silent for a long time before I said, "He has something very important to do, and he can't come back for the time being." ”

Bai Yiqing took a thoughtful sip of cold drink: "What, what, how is the spirit in the sponge you gave me at the end?" ”

I sighed, raised my head and drank half a bottle of cold drink, and my boredom was much more relaxed: "I don't know, maybe one day." They'll be back. ”

"Forget it, if you don't want to say it, I won't ask." Bai Yiqing was quite interesting, and seeing that I was not in a good mood, he didn't ask any more.

The two sat in the corridor and looked at the night sky for a long time, before Bai Yiqing said, "It's too late, go to sleep." By the way, are you going to take another year off from school? ”

"I don't know ......"

There was another silence, and Bai Yiqing said again: "What? ”

"What?"

"Can you promise me one thing?"

I looked at him and nodded, "You say." ”

"Don't play the piano at night...... It's scary. It's nothing to scare me, but if you scare the little ancestor, it's not good. ”

I stared at him coldly, Bai Yiqing reacted quickly and got up quickly, and hurried back to the house.

Looking at the guzheng in front of me, I thoughtfully plucked the strings and whispered, "It's really that ugly??" ”

"Oh, yes." Bai Yiqing suddenly poked half of his head out of the house: "Recently, there have been several cases of missing girls in the neighboring city, which has made people panic, you have to be careful when you go out." ”

"Don't worry, you also said that it was a girl, I am a child fucking now, probably this kind of pervert, I am not interested in me."

Bai Yiqing thought for a while and said, "That's not necessarily, maybe this pervert suddenly changed his taste?" ”

"Go to sleep."

Originally, Bai Yiqing and I didn't pay attention to the girl's disappearance case at first, until one day, Bai Yiqing brought back a pale and very haggard girl.

Watching him put the skinny girl on the bed, I couldn't help but wonder: "She's sick like this, why don't you take her to the hospital?" ”

Bai Yiqing frowned and shook her head: "This is not a problem that the hospital can solve, she is actually not sick, but the essence in her body has been sucked dry, if she is allowed to continue, she will only ......"

"Jingyuan?" I looked at him suspiciously: "Is it the same as Nantang's frequent inhalation of yang qi and replenishment of essence?" ”

"Well, it can also be said that those low-level spirits survive in the world by absorbing people's yang energy."

Bai Yiqing put a gem on her chest, and he said: "There are many spiritual qi in the gem that can be replenished, plus the spiritual energy flowing around this house, she only needs to rest and recuperate, and she should be able to wake up soon." ”

"Hmm." After Bai Yiqing and I left the room, we asked him carefully, "Why was she sucked the essence dry?" Could it be that some ghost thing is harming her? ”

Bai Yiqing pondered: "I don't think it's like it, ordinary ghosts harm people, and Jingyuan won't dry up like this." It's too evil! By the way, do you remember what I mentioned to you before, the case of the disappearance of the girl? ”

"Well, I remember."

Bai Yiqing said: "Actually, I continued to investigate later, and found that this case is not so simple. ”

"How?"

"Ten years ago, there was a similar case in which a total of thirteen girls disappeared, about 15 to 20 years old."

I thought for a moment and said, "Is it related?" ”

Bai Yiqing pondered for a long time: "It is still uncertain, the strange thing is that the thirteen girls who disappeared ten years ago have never been able to find their whereabouts, and they have not even found their bones." However, many of the characteristics of today's cases coincide with those of a decade ago, and the most disappeared cases are still in these two neighboring cities. ”

"If it is really the same person who committed the crime, and it is the concentration of missing girls in two neighboring cities, could this murderer be hiding in these two cities?"

"It's not like ordinary wounders, they act strangely, and it seems that no evidence has been found until now, and now the media have blocked this matter in order not to cause panic."

"I'll have to wait until she wakes up."

"Hmm."

The girl had been in a semi-comatose state, sometimes awake, sometimes confused, and she couldn't tell where she was.

Just a look of horror, full of defense staring at me and Bai Yiqing.

It wasn't until a week later that her symptoms eased significantly, and she seemed to realise that we weren't going to hurt her, so she let her guard down.

I asked Bai Yiqing not to come in for the time being, and personally brought lunch in, and she didn't seem to be so nervous when she faced me alone.

He put the food on the bed table and said softly, "Eat quickly, take care of your body first, and then go home." ”

She looked at me and gently took the chopsticks. When he ate it, he ate very little, and he refused to eat it again.

I cleaned up the bed and table, and didn't rush to leave, but asked tentatively, "Do you remember what happened before?" ”

The girl clutched the quilt, her whole body trembled, as if she remembered something, and held her head and whimpered.

Seeing her like this, I couldn't bear to ask any more, so I stroked her hair and said, "Don't think about it, if it's painful, forget about it." ”

She calmed down, lay down with me on her back casually, thinking that she wouldn't say anything more when she was asleep, and folded the quilt for her and was about to go out, but suddenly stopped me.

"They're demons."

"What?" I looked back. I thought I had just had auditory hallucinations.

It wasn't until there was silence for a long time that the girl repeated: "They are demons, they have captured me in a secret room, they have locked the captured girl and hung it on the wall, and held a cult ceremony. ”

"Do you remember where that secret room is? How many girls are there? ”

"I don't know, I don't know......" she cried, holding her head and not thinking about it.

"You have a good rest, if you feel better, go out for a walk, breathe, and bask in the sun, which will help your body recover a lot."

I exited the room and relayed everything she said to Bai Yiqing.

"It seems that I guessed correctly, it is indeed the behavior of infidels."

"What can you do by sucking away a young girl's essence? And it's once in a decade......"

Bai Yiqing sneered: "There are many capable people, and some of the materials recorded in many ancient books are written. Those heretics collect these essences and gather them into powerful energy, which can turn on evil arts and do evil. If they were the same group, then this formation might need to be replenished once every ten years, so there will be incidents of thirteen girls going missing every ten years. ”

"I wonder if I can find her home?" I thought for a moment and said, "Why don't we call the police?" ”

"No, you can't! This will startle the snake. They are so powerful, I guess as soon as we call the police, this girl's life will be in danger. ”

I thought for a moment and said, "I don't know how many girls they've arrested, if they have to be thirteen." ”

Bai Yiqing touched his chin and thought about it and said: "The enemy is in the dark, I am in the light, I can only wait and see what happens, the enemy does not move, I do not move, see what they want to do next?" ”

I didn't expect Bai Yiqing, who usually makes two unreliable mistakes, to be quite reliable when he does the right thing. All aspects are also very thoughtful.

"Xiaobai, I found that I underestimated you too much."

Bai Yiqing couldn't stand the praise, and the original form of the boast was revealed: "That's ah!" Suddenly you think I'm actually handsome, right? ”

I secretly gasped, "Well, when I didn't say anything. ”

"Eh, didn't you just boast?"

"You heard me wrong." I carried little Afan back to the room.

When the girl was better, I took her out into the yard for a walk, and she gradually became more and more sane.

Looking around the courtyard in surprise: "Here...... It's beautiful. Is it your home? ”

"Well, yes, you can stay as long as you want."

The girl sighed, "I'm so scared now, I don't know what to do. ”

"What are you afraid of?"

"They're going to look for me! You won't let me go so easily. The girl shuddered as if thinking of those terrible pasts.

"Don't worry, the man who rescued you, he ...... Well, the spell is very powerful, and it will definitely protect you. No demons or monsters dare to approach. ”

The girl's eyes widened, and her gray eyes rekindled hope: "Really? ”

"Hmm. It's true. Suddenly, the little guy in my arms was restless and wanted to play, and the girl looked at the child in my arms curiously: "Is he your son?" ”

I nodded, and she said in surprise, "You became a mother at such a young age?" What a envy. ”

I laughed: "There's nothing to envy, one day you'll be a mother too." ”

"Mr. Bai is your husband?"

I smiled awkwardly, "Uh, no, we're just friends, my husband...... I'm out of the house, and I won't be back yet. ”

"I'm sorry, Mr. Bai is very nice, I caused you a lot of trouble."

After a few more conversations, she said she was sleepy, so I accompanied her back to her room. Originally, her condition was improving, and she thought that the danger was gradually moving away, but on that night, an accident happened.

The little one suddenly woke up and was crying, he had hardly ever cried like this. I picked him up and coaxed him, and I felt a strong sense of uneasiness when I heard a sharp knock on the door outside.