Chapter 4: The Night Spirit
Smoke wafts gently between the setting sun, a quiet mountain village, a few mud-tiled houses are hidden among the verdant ancient trees, a few cicadas in the distance, the melodious sound of cicadas echoes in the green willows, and the white river winds around the village, meanders along the green carpet of rice fields, and disappears into the jungle at the foot of the mountain in the distance. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ļ½ļ½ļ½Uļ½Eć ļ½ļ½ļ½ļ½
A group of cattle and sheep who returned late from grazing, came leisurely, a pair of tall horses, riding two little boys, riding Mingjie of the fat and healthy old cattle, shaking with the strong body of the ox, swaying and being content, and talking to Xiao Haodong and Xiao Shaoyun on horseback behind him, holding a hare in his arms, the set put down a few days ago has been harvested, and it is discussed to eat rabbit meat at Mingjie's house at night. And Xiao Shaoyun on horseback grabbed a small snake and played with it.
Xiaomei didn't dare to approach Mingjie far away, she was very afraid of the cow running wild, when she entered the village, the brick said to Shaoyun on horseback: "Xiaoyun, you've had enough, you still threw a poisonous snake, and your grandmother saw it, and she would beat you!"
"Yes, Xiaoyun, you better let it go, don't kill it. The shaky Mingjie persuaded Shaoyun.
Xiao Shaoyun looked at the little snake, a little reluctant, but there was no way, so he threw it into the grass casually, and the little snake swam along the grass.
Entering the entrance of the village, Mingjie seemed to hear Xie Hong's mother making noise, and knew that this domineering woman must be making noise at the door of her house. The mother, who has always been charitable, will definitely be bullied by her, hurriedly drove the old scalper, and has been running towards the house, where is this kid like a seven-year-old child, he is simply a domineering little devil.
The door of the house has long been surrounded by the villagers, most of the people in the village are watching the excitement, that pungent woman, but no one dares to come forward to stop and persuade, she actually pointed at the honest and honest mother and scolded and made trouble.
Xiao Mingjie couldn't stand her mother being bullied, jumped off the old scalper, rushed into the crowd, picked up a stone, and threw it at the woman. The woman had already seen Mingjie running, and in a panic she dodged Mingjie's big boulder, and stopped the noise, this arrogant boy can do anything, pulled out a long wooden stick, and was about to rush over to hit Mingjie.
"Old slut, what are you doing, my mother is a bully, right, she has the ability to come at me, what's wrong with your son being beaten by me? I really hate that I didn't strangle him. ā
The young Mingjie mouth was unforgiving, and he pointed at the woman and scolded.
The woman, who has always been spicy, is willing to bow her head in front of this little doll, clutch the wooden stick in her hand and point at Mingjie and scold: "Little wild seed, the old lady tore your mouth today." ā
Xiao Mingjie was afraid of him, just now when he saw his mother being bullied, he was angry, and whistled at the old scalper, who actually screamed and rushed to the woman holding the wooden stick. No matter how fierce the woman was, in the face of the old cow running madly, she was so frightened that she screamed, ran back to her door in a panic, closed the door tightly, and the scolding still came from inside, extremely vicious.
Mother was frightened by Mingjie's actions, this old scalper went crazy and hurt people, so angry and cried, while crying grabbed Mingjie, and whipped Mingjie on the back with a bamboo stick, it was very ruthless and painful, but Mingjie gritted his teeth and didn't snort, such a scene, the people in the village seemed to have seen a lot, and wanted to dissuade him, but he was stopped by his mother.
"Don't care, if this little beast doesn't care anymore, I'm afraid of a big disaster in the future, it's really lawless, why did I give birth to such a troublemaker. While scolding and beating, the child did not cry, but she cried again and again, obviously anxious and angry.
An old woman on crutches couldn't stand it, so she stepped forward and grabbed Mingjie's mother's stick, preventing him from beating Xiao Mingjie so desperately, and finally her mother relented and stood in front of Mingjie and cried.
Xie Hong's mother did not take advantage, but was suppressed by a small child and lost face. At this moment, Xiao Mingjie was beaten by his mother, and stood at the door with his hands on his chest, watching Mingjie being beaten, although he relieved his hatred in his heart, a few vicious scoldings came out of his mouth, and he hated this child very much in his heart.
Everyone persuaded Mingjie's mother, Xiao Mingjie's back was beaten and bruised, not crying, the neighbors sighed, a seven-year-old child, let the old cow hurt people, bold has to be worrying, grow up great; Mingjie is only seven years old, the villagers see the white and tender skin, deep blood, and have to make people feel distressed, this little boy is really iron-clad, gritted his teeth and did not cry, not even a tear fell.
A turmoil stopped with the arrival of the night, Xiao Mingjie's mother did not let Mingjie go, and did not let him eat dinner, kneeling in the yard. Today is indeed a bit excessive, even a few old people in the village came to reprimand Mingjie, this kid is naturally left ear in and right ear out, where can I listen, now I just hope that my mother will not be angry, forgive myself, my stomach is indeed too hungry.
At this time, Xiao Shaoyun's elderly grandmother came to see Xiao Mingjie on crutches, the old man saw the little boy covered in scars, and led Mingjie into the house in distress, this old grandmother is not like others who only say that Jie is not, but she is on crutches to teach Mingjie's mother a lesson, Mingjie's mother saw the blood marks on Mingjie's back, and her heart softened, regretting that she was too ruthless to her son, and she could only shed tears in her heart at this time.
Xiao Shaoyun's grandmother is really a very good old man, and she doesn't know what herbs she used for Mingjie's scars, so she treated the wounds and let Mingjie lie on the bed and rest.
Xiao Mingjie realized that she was too reckless today, but she didn't regret it, in order to protect her mother from being bullied, no matter how much she was wronged and scolded, it was worth it, and she wouldn't hold a grudge. After a while, the mother brought in rabbit meat, which made the kid's heart bloom, and he grabbed the chopsticks and started eating.
While eating, listening to Grandma Shaoyun talking to her mother, Mingjie learned that there were several graves hidden at the foot of Meiling Mountain, and a few were secretly dug up by some young people from neighboring villages a few days ago. But when they came back tonight, two of them went crazy, always babbling nonsense, saying that they could see some fluttering ghosts, pestering them and refusing to leave, and the situation was a bit serious. After leaving Shaoyun, grandma followed the people in the neighboring village, saying that she was going to see those who had collided with evil spirits and wanted to find a way to treat them.
While grabbing rabbit meat and nibbling on it, Mingjie looked up at Shao Yun and reminded Shao Yun not to tell his grandmother about the day, otherwise he would be trained again.
Outside the door showed a cute little face, biting his fingers to look around, seeing that it was Xiao Haitao, the mother smiled, beckoned Xiao Haitao to come in and eat rabbit meat with Mingjie, the three children ate happily head to head, Xiao Haitao was really hungry, and he wanted meat to eat in the blink of an eye, and his mother only gave the rest to Xiao Haitao, this dirty little boy, with a pair of beautiful watery eyes, was particularly pitiful. The mother, who sat among the children doing needlework, looked at the lovely children who were full of food and drink, and her heart was peaceful.
The owl's cry came from the distant valley, and in the dark night, it felt a little gloomy to listen to, at this time, Xiao Haitao pointed out the window and said: "Moon, why do you see that the moon is getting redder and redder today?"
"Wow, what a beautiful moonlight, why have you never seen such a red moon?"
"Behold, there is a miraculous laurel tree on the moon!"
Ming Jie said coldly: "Where is the laurel tree, let's talk nonsense." ā
Xiao Mingjie's wound hurts, and she is not in the mood to enjoy the moonlight with Xiao Shaoyun and Xiao Haitao. Xiao Haitao pulled Shaoyun to the courtyard to watch the red moon rising from the top of Dongshan Mountain today. The village on the other side of the river, out of some people, enjoy the moon tonight, between the vast sea of clouds, the faint red moon, suspended in the sky, the black clouds behind the dim red clouds are like ink, outlining a very beautiful painting, like a tail swimming dragon, the dragon's head facing the northern mountains, the beautiful dragon clouds across the sky.
The fog drifting in the distance in the night, the mother was busy pulling Shaoyun home, when Shaoyun's grandmother was leaving, she had ordered to burn yellow paper, worship the dead souls, and hope that the lonely souls and wild ghosts would not be entangled with the children who had been to the mysterious valley today.
The whistling night wind blew, swaying the burning flames, the paper money gradually turned into ashes in the fire, the swirling breeze rolled up the ashes, the mother burned the paper while chanting words in her mouth, the three children stood next to her, and finally it was Shaoyun's turn, the mother had words in her mouth, and the yellow paper in her hand went around Shaoyun's head three times, and after being lit on the ground, there was a pale green flame. Xiao Mingjie's eyes widened, and through the green flames, Mingjie was surprised to find that in the swirling ashes, his pale face was revealed, and he turned around and floated towards the village across the river.
Xiao Haitao, who was standing at the door behind him, pointed to the air and said to himself: "Auntie, there are ghosts, there are ghosts that have broken into the village, it seems that they have gone to Xie Hong's house!"
The mother turned her head and glared at Shaoyun and scolded: "Children, don't talk nonsense. ā
Xiao Shaoyun timidly hugged his mother's legs, blinked his eyes and said, "Auntie, I also saw the white ghost shadow floating away." ā
If it was just Xiao Haitao saying that he saw a white ghost, his mother would never believe it, but from Shao Yun's mouth, his mother was startled, pulled Shao Yun and Mingjie, and ran into the door in a panic, and was about to close the door, when in the village across the river, there was a sound of crying and laughing, and listen carefully to the voice of Xie Hong's mother.
The mother was stunned, hugged Shaoyun and Xiao Haitao and asked, "Did you really see a ghost floating towards Xie Hong's house?"
In the originally peaceful small village, no one has ever encountered evil spirits for about three years, why did it appear again today? The mother turned her head to stare at Ming Jie, and asked sharply, "Have you really been to the mountain pass on the rocky slope today?"
Mingjie licked her lips with the tip of her tongue, nodded and said, "Yes!
The mother's face changed greatly, and she closed the door and said, "Who told you to go where? Didn't you tell you that you couldn't go to the valley behind the rocky slope? ā
Mingjie pursed her lips, scratched her face with her fingers and said, "Mom, we didn't go! Today, as before, we came back when we arrived at the mountain pass on the rocky slope, and we didn't go in to play." ā
"Did you really not go in?"
"yes, we really didn't go in, I promise. ā
"Auntie, do you believe that Brother Xiaojie really didn't go into the valley to play. But today we were in the mountain pass and ran into a dead man's head. ā
Mingjie grabbed Haitao and said: "Nonsense, what we see is not a dead head, it's just a skull left behind by a person who was dug up and robbed the grave." ā
Hearing the children say this, the mother's heart was uneasy, and she led the three children back to the house to do a good job, and sighed again and again: "What a sin, digging graves and digging graves is such a thing that damages yin morality, aren't you afraid of retribution?"
Looking at her mother calmly, Xiao Mingjie raised her eyebrows and said, "I have already suffered retribution! Otherwise, what would Shaoyun's grandmother do in the neighboring village? Maybe a few grave-digging thieves in the neighboring village are not as simple as hitting evil spirits." ā
Mother stopped Mingjie and said, "Don't talk nonsense." ā
There was a knock on the door, and the mother stood up and opened the door, but it turned out to be Xie Hong's father, who looked anxious, but it turned out to be the grandmother who was looking for Shaoyun. I heard that Grandma Shaoyun went to a neighboring village, Xie Hong's father asked what he was doing, but he didn't have time to answer, so he ran away in a hurry.
When something happened in the village, my mother was still relieved, so she lit incense, lit the oil lamp in the hall, illuminated the world of the offering table at home, knelt down and bowed three times, burned some paper money, and prayed for four or five minutes before her heart was settled.
After the village was a little quieter, after his father came back from outside, he looked a little haggard, and after drinking a glass of water, he picked up Shaoyun who was sleepy, saying that Shaoyun's grandmother was back and sent Shaoyun home. Because Xiao Haitao, who has a father, has already been picked up by his father, Xiao Shaoyun, who is lonely, follows his grandmother for his life, and he can rest assured when he goes home to his grandmother. Shaoyun is gone, Mingjie should also sleep, lying on the bed, sleepiness is coming, and gradually falling asleep, after wiping it, Mingjie sleeps sweetly, and his parents don't know when they come in to visit. When the father blamed the mother for being too heavy, the mother's tears completely collapsed and she sobbed softly.