Turning the road and walking along the ridge for about 50 meters to the river, this is almost a shortcut that the villagers of Qiaojia Village know. Although Qiao Xiaojing has been away for many years, when she comes here again, many stories that happened when she was young will emerge.

Qiao Xiaojing, who was emotionally complicated, walked along the ridge, and inadvertently saw a dilapidated and crumbling thatched house standing on the side of the mountain, and her heart instantly "chuckled", as if there was an invisible force that pierced her heart.

Her thoughts instantly conjured up the scene of her own father's death, the collapse of the roof of the house weighing heavily on her weak father, who struggled among the weeds and dirt, using up the last strength of his life. Blurred flesh, distorted in size, and miserable, this is the last memory my father left in me.

Qiao Xiaojing thought of her poor father being so far away, thinking that she was like duckweed in the water without her father, her heart was full of pantothenic acid, and tears couldn't help but flow out, she slowed down, raised her head and took a deep breath in the sky.

Qiao Xiaojing wiped away her tears and quickened her pace, she didn't want the villagers to see her now, she hadn't been home for many years, and she couldn't let the villagers see her again after many years instead of a happy smile, but bitter tears.

As she reached the river, she was caught by a boy of about ten years old--- covered in dust, like a clay statue in a temple, who was trying to climb up a large high, sharp rock, with his limbs spread out on the smooth stone wall, and his movements were like a gecko, lifelike and very interesting.

Qiao Xiaojing was amused by this mud boy's different actions and laughed "poof", and temporarily forgot the melancholy in her heart.

The mud boy crawled and crawled, and when he was about to reach the top of the stone wall, he suddenly fell straight down from the stone wall as if pulled by an external force, and fell into the river, and the river splashed like a blooming white lotus, and the petals were more than a foot above the surface of the river.

Speaking of this river, there is a sad story. Legend has it that the place where the river is located was originally a rocky beach, and the river water was only created on the day Qiao Xiaojing's grandfather died, of course, this river water has nothing to do with her grandfather.

It is said that in those years, there was a great drought in the world, and the famine penetrated into every corner like air, and the drought was especially serious in Qiaojia Village, which was within a radius of 100 miles. The seedlings in this area of Qiaojia Village are dry and dead, the earth is dry and cracked, the land is gray, and even the old wells in the village are gradually drying up.

At first, the villagers went out to go up the mountain when the rooster crowed, and after going up the mountain, they all knelt on the offering table, incense burner, and offerings, and the cigarette smoke rose and drifted in the air with the wind. The villagers kept praying according to the mantra of the "Great Immortal", chanting those words over and over again with the most devout attitude, praying that God would have mercy and a little rain to relieve their urgent needs.

In order to show their sincerity, the villagers did not eat a drop of water after going up the mountain, and they could not go home to eat until it was dark.

The prayer for rain lasted for a long time, and I don't know when it began, the villagers stayed in the mountains day and night, talking in their dreams as if they were begging for rain, and everyone's lips were blistered, and then thick scabs formed.

Months passed, the drought became more and more severe, many poultry in the village died one after another, the plague followed, and a disaster was quietly befalling Qiaojia Village, many people thought of death, and the villagers panicked.

Many villagers began to doubt and beg for rain, and at first the firmness began to waver, and there were more and more voices abusing God, and some people were even unwilling to wait for death on the mountain, they thought that they should not die so miserably, at least at home. The one who took the lead down the mountain was Qiao Xiaojing's grandfather, who had just passed the age of his establishment, and was a man of strong blood and contempt for gods and ghosts.

The matter of praying for rain came to an end, and it came to a ridiculous and sad end.

The drought was unresolved, the plague struck strongly, in order to avoid contagion, the villagers stayed at home, and the whole village fell into a deathly silence, and the fear of death hit Qiaojia Village like an invisible net, making the villagers extremely uneasy.

After a long time, the villagers who stayed at home all day were really panicked, and many bold people like Qiao Xiaojing's grandfather walked out of the house hard, but who would really not be afraid of being infected by the plague and not afraid of death? In order to be able to relax and not get close to each other, they thought of a good place, that is, the rocky beach at the edge of the village.

Since then, the rocky beach has become a place for these overlord-tempered men to brag about the New Year.

One day, Qiao Xiaojing's grandfather, as usual, ate a few bites of fried noodles and came to the rocky beach. Less than half an hour later, it suddenly darkened, almost in the blink of an eye. It was so dark that there was not the slightest light, and the people sitting on the rocky beach felt as if they had fallen into another space, so dark that they could not see the way home.

In the darkness, the heavens and the earth suddenly shook, and everyone felt as if they were standing on a soft cloth that was shaking endlessly, and they all tried to grasp something so that they could stand safely, but all efforts were in vain. The shock is getting stronger and stronger, the frequency and amplitude are getting bigger and bigger, the sky is spinning outside the house, the things in the house are crooked, and the bottles and cans are "jingling" and rolling...... This state lasted for about ten minutes, to say the least.

The moment the shock disappeared, the heavens and the earth returned to normal.

After a while, Qiao Xiaojing's grandmother heard the people in the village shouting and making a fuss, and as the villagers came to the edge of the village, they found that the rocky beach was gone, replaced by a rushing and clear river.

There is a tall and sharp stone in the center of the river, on the tip of the stone hangs the jacket that Qiao Xiaojing's grandfather wore when he went out, fanning in the wind, no one knows how deep the river is, no one knows when Qiao Xiaojing's grandfather's shirt was blown away by the wind, in short, it is this river that allows the suffering villagers to recuperate, but since then they have disappeared grandfather.

Qiao Xiaojing stopped, stared intently at the surface of the river that submerged the mud child, and half-opened her mouth, expecting the mud child to poke her head out again. But a few minutes have passed, the "white lotus" has long disappeared, the river has long been calm, and the mud child is still missing. Qiao Xiaojing tiptoed, stretched her neck and looked forward, her heart hitting the atrium like an angry lion hitting a beast cage, and her limbs trembled involuntarily.

"No, no, no......" The sentence was like a spell, and Qiao Xiaojing kept chanting.

In the blink of an eye, Qiao Xiaojing threw down the things in her hand and ran frantically towards the place where the little mud child fell into the water, the splash of water from her feet slapped on her face powerfully, and the whole river was trampled by her sonorous footsteps, and the water waves became messy.

Qiao Xiaojing ran further and deeper, the water slowly submerged her knees, the water slowly climbed up her hips, slowly climbed up her rut, walked upright became extremely difficult, she jumped into the water, and the water calmed down again.

Time hit the hearts of the women on the riverbank, everyone froze in place, all eyes focused on the place where Qiao Xiaojing jumped into the water, after a few minutes, Qiao Xiaojing held the head of the mud child and surfaced, the two slowly swam back, the rescued child closed his eyes, without any vital signs.

Qiao Xiaojing panted and put the muddy child flat on the river beach, and slapped his chest with his hand, time passed minute by minute, the child still did not move, the women on the river beach all dropped the clothes in their hands, and surrounded them with straight faces, forming a circle, encircling Qiao Xiaojing and the little mud boy in the middle, all eyes stared at Qiao Xiaojing in unison, exuding a compelling cold light, just like staring at a murderer, Qiao Xiaojing was so anxious that she cried.

Just when Qiao Xiaojing was about to cry, the mud boy suddenly sat up, grabbed Qiao Xiaojing's arm, made a grimace, and asked with a smile: "Sister, do you think I'm dead?"

Qiao Xiaojing was taken aback by this sudden move, instinctively knelt down and retreated a few times, her mind calmed down a little, and when she saw the naughty child in front of her, she couldn't suppress her emotions anymore and cried.

Not only did the child not come forward to comfort him, but instead he leaned back and smiled back, pointing at Qiao Xiaojing, and said to the peasant woman next to him: "Big sister is crying nose, big sister is crying nose." ”

Qiao Xiaojing was amused by this naughty child, "snorted" and laughed, and the child also "sneered" and laughed.

At this moment, a middle-aged woman rushed into the crowd, viciously grabbed the little mud child's hand, dragged it out without saying a word, and muttered in her mouth, "Forget about the wild death, I don't even know how to go back to my home, why don't you let the water ghost take you away, so that I can save my worry......"

All the women moved their eyes to this woman again, Qiao Xiaojing stood up, the water flowed down her body, and a pool soon appeared under her feet.

The mud boy turned his head from time to time, his eyes were as clear as the river, and he looked at Qiao Xiaojing, who was covered in water.

Qiao Xiaojing ignored the boy's gaze, picked up her baggage and walked home.

Not far from home, Qiao Xiaojing met an old man who was sitting on a big rock at the edge of the village, who was looking at her with confused eyes. Qiao Xiaojing was not sure whether the old man in front of her was a man or a woman, only to see that the old man was as thin as firewood, and his arms and legs were like dead branches, which were mixed together in a disorderly manner, supporting the head shaped like a skull. Even Qiao Xiaojing herself didn't know what the reason was, when she saw this woman, she felt an indescribable sourness in her heart.

The woman's hair was as yellow as grass, and it was messily spread on her head, sparse, and a handful of skin looked like psoriasis. The eyes peek out from the middle of the hair, and the eyes are dull, but they are terrifying.

Fortunately, it was daytime, if it was night, a person would be scared to death when he saw such a monster, Qiao Xiaojing let out a long sigh of relief. She kept her steps as light as she could, and walked past the old man in the utmost quiet.

For Qiao Xiaojing, home is a special contradiction, she longs to go home, but she is afraid to go home. Time had tormented her to the point of incompleteness, and slowly soothed her until she healed. The home in front of her made her feel extremely heavy, and even faintly painful.

Qiao Xiaojing felt that her feet weighed a thousand catties, as if they had been filled with lead water, and every step required hard work. She gritted her teeth, pursed her lips, and frowned......

"Double happiness, double happiness, you wait for me. Just as Qiao Xiaojing was about to walk into the courtyard, suddenly a gray-haired old man followed behind a crazy middle-aged man, shouting incessantly, and walked past him.

"Double happiness!" Qiao Xiao silently read the name, and his heart couldn't help but tremble.