On June 10, 2012, Zhang Youlin felt in a daze that someone was pushing him, he opened his sleepy eyes and saw a beautiful face, fair skin without wrinkles, she is Zhang Youlin's mother, called Zheng Xiuling, 28 years old this year. Zhang Youlin said aggrievedly: "Mom, isn't today the weekend?" I don't have to go to kindergarten, why are you waking me up so early. Mom gently touched his head and dressed him: "Today we will go back to our hometown."

"Is it grandpa's house?" Youlin stared at his mother with hopeful eyes.

"Yes." Mom said with a short sleeve over his head.

"Then I can meet grandpa." Youlin said excitedly, "My classmates have grandfathers, and I have grandfathers, but I have never seen them, and they all laugh at me." ”

Mom shook her head, "It's a pity that I won't see you this time, your grandfather left us forever, and he went to a far away place." ”

Zheng Xiuling took the dressed Zhang Youlin downstairs, his father was already waiting for them next to the car, I don't know when he was already downstairs, but there were already five or six cigarette butts under his feet, and now he also had a cigarette in his mouth and swallowed the smoke, and the smoke covered his face and couldn't see his appearance clearly.

Zhang Youlin is 7 years old this year, lives in Qingcheng, his father is called Zhang Sihai, 31 years old, he came to Qingdao at the age of 16 to work alone, and now he opens a small restaurant, because his mother is called Zheng Xiuling, his father hopes to bless him for a lifetime, and named him Zhang Youlin, which also means Youlin.

Because it was too early, Zhang Youlin fell asleep when he got in the car, I don't know how long it took, Zhang Youlin woke up in a bump, he lay on his mother's lap, and when he opened his eyes, he saw his mother's puzzled eyes, as if to say why he woke up. Zhang Youlin, who was asleep, leaned down to the window and looked outside, there were green crops and rows of big trees, which he could not see in the city. Because it had just rained yesterday, the weather was still gloomy, and the road surface became soft because of the rain, leaving ravines of different depths after the vehicle passed, and it became hard again after the rain stopped, causing the vehicle to drive through bumps.

Zhang Youlin looked at the scenery outside the window curiously, although it was the same, but he watched it with relish, because the open vision of the countryside could not be brought by the steel-lined city, "Don't look at it, it's time for motion sickness after such a bumpy while." Mom stretched out her hand to hug Zhang Youlin over, when Zhang Youlin suddenly saw through the window that there was a Taoist priest in the wheat field, he was wearing a dark blue robe, walking slowly, suddenly he turned his head and looked at Zhang Youlin in the car window, pulling his wrinkled face, revealing a puff of yellow cigarette teeth, smiling brightly, and raised his hand to shake it here, as if to greet him.

"Mom, you see there's an old man waving to us outside." Zhang Youlin pointed in the direction of the old Taoist priest outside the window.

Zheng Xiuling followed Zhang Youlin's fingers, only saw the green wheat field, and didn't see any figures, "You get motion sickness, what's the old man here" said and hugged Zhang Youlin to his side.

Zhang Sihai also looked behind him from the rearview mirror, but he didn't see a figure, "Maybe it's an old uncle who is doing farm work, he got up and rested his waist just now, and then squatted down again." ”

In another hour of bumps, Zhang You vomited twice on the way, and finally arrived at his destination, Zhangjiazhuang. It is a small mountain village, with about 100 households, but most of them have already gone out to work, and will only return during the Chinese New Year and autumn harvest. All the way to the northeast corner of the village, I saw a courtyard, the yard is very clean, the east side of the yard is fenced with a small courtyard, in which all kinds of vegetables are grown, there is a thatched cowshed in the west, there is an old ox in it, and in the middle is a three-room mud house.

Zhang Sihai parked the car in the yard, Zheng Xiuling also took Zhang Youlin out of the car, they walked to the house together, the house was full of people, the moment the door was pushed in, an old man on crutches, wearing a white undershirt, limped over, picked up the crutches and smashed on Zhang Sihai's body, and drank: "You are an unfilial son, I don't know how to come back once for so many years, you look at it, I can't see the last side, you kneel down for me." "I couldn't stop coughing because I was talking too hard.

Zheng Xiuling was also a little frightened when she saw such a scene, and held Zhang Youlin in her arms. Zhang Sihai slowly walked to the middle of the mourning hall, looking at the black and white photos on the mourning hall, he hadn't seen him for more than ten years, and the people in the photos were much older than he remembered.

The old man on crutches saw that he didn't mean to kneel down yet, and pulled the crutches on the crook of his leg again, "After going out, you have grown your ability, can't you bend this golden knee?" I don't care what conflicts your father and son had before, so you didn't come back for more than ten years, and your father didn't want me to call you back when he was dying. But the dead are greater, and you have to remember that he will always be your father. ”

Zhang Sihai slowly knelt down and kowtowed three times, his forehead was red and swollen. When the old man saw Zhang Sihai behaving like this, his face softened, and he beckoned the people around him to start crying, throwing pieces of yellow paper into the brazier, and chanting something in dialect while crying.

Zhang Sihai didn't cry or burn paper, walked up to the old man and said, "Third uncle, thank you." He took out a cigarette from his arms and handed it to the third uncle.

The third uncle waved his hand, took off the pipe tied to his belt from his waist, and waved, "I can't get used to the thin strips of cigarettes in your city, soft, I still like this pipe." ”

Zhang Sihai saw that the third uncle was so insistent and did not force it, took the match from the third uncle's hand, lit the match, blocked the wind with his hand and approached the third uncle's pipe, the third uncle inhaled with the cigarette holder, the tobacco burned slowly, the third uncle inhaled a mouthful of cigarette with great satisfaction, Zhang Sihai took advantage of the flame and lit his own cigarette.

"The cigarettes in your city have a filter and filter the aroma of the cigarette." The third uncle took a sharp breath of smoke and exhaled it from his nose, with a comfortable expression on his face.

"It's healthier with a filter."

"Heh, you people in the city are very treacherous, smoking is not healthy, adding a filter can be healthy. Sometimes the city is good, but people also have to know where their roots are. When the third uncle said this, he was beating Zhang Sihai, "When he was alive, he didn't fulfill his filial piety, burn more paper for him after he died, and come back every year during the Qingming Festival, don't let him be lonely." ”

"Hey, I'll listen to you." Zhang Sihai agreed. "Why are so many people here, old man, he has so many relatives."

"This, your father has been telling people fortunes since your mother left, and now he has become an old fairy in ten miles and eight towns, these people have received the favor of the seventh child before, so they came here to mourn." The third uncle finished smoking a bag of cigarettes and began to knock cigarette ashes on the table.

"Can he still do the work of a Taoist?"

"Oh, didn't your dad tell you?" The third uncle wondered. "Speaking of which you are very similar to Lao Qi, he has been clever since he was a child, one day an old Taoist priest came to the village, saying that he was talented and intelligent, and brought him to the mountains to be a Taoist priest, at that time my second aunt was your grandmother, I didn't agree, and chased and beat with a feather duster. Your father was also strong, and he secretly ran out the next day, and this walk is fifteen years. At that time, I came back with your mother and you, but your grandmother had already turned into a handful of loess. ”

"He even became a Taoist priest, and he never mentioned it." Zhang Sihai looked at the photos on the wall.

"For some reason, he didn't talk about what had happened in those fifteen years." The third uncle sighed.

Because the atmosphere eased up, Zhang Youlin also dared to look this way, he looked up and saw the photo on the wall, pointed to the photo, and said loudly: "I have seen this person on the wall." ”

At this time, Zheng Xiuling pulled him over, "Don't talk nonsense, you have never been back to your hometown, where have you seen it." ”

"It's the old man I saw on the side of the road, wearing blue clothes, tattered, with exactly the same face, even the same pleats."

Everyone looked at Zhang Youlin in horror and talked about it. "It must be because of his unfilial piety, the old man will not turn a blind eye, and this will turn into a ghost to haunt their family."

"I think it's the same, the old immortals have profound mana, and they may directly become immortals after death to punish them."

"Then why won't they be affected here?"

"Maybe, then let's finish burning the paper and leave."

One stone stirred up a thousand waves, everyone left one after another, and finally the third uncle got up and prepared to say goodbye, saying: "Rural people are like this, superstitious and timid, don't mind the four seas, your father is indeed an old fairy in the village, and it is normal for everyone to have such thoughts." The third uncle patted Zhang Sihai on the shoulder, "Come to my house for dinner in the evening and let your aunt kill a chicken." ”

Zhang Sihai agreed, sent the third uncle out of the door, hurriedly entered the house, closed the door, sat on a chair, and smoked. Zheng Xiuling brought water over to Zhang Sihai to drink, "You haven't drunk water this morning, drink some water." ”

"Did you say that Xiao Lin saw his grandfather's ghost?" Zheng Xiuling was obviously affected by other people's remarks and was a little scared.

"How can there be any ghosts, after the reform and opening up, they are not allowed to become essences, right? I guess I saw a similar old man, but it's just that a child doesn't have such a good memory, so he will admit it. Zhang Sihai scoffed at this, he had never believed in these gods and ghosts, he was a loyal materialist.

"Mom and Dad, I want to pee." Zhang Youlin ran over at this time and said, "There is only a dry toilet here, the environment is too bad, you probably can't stand it, you can just go to the bottom of the wall to urinate." ”

Zhang Youlin quickly ran to the base of the wall, unbuttoned his pants and began to solve the problem.

"This flow, at first glance, is my Zhang family's species." This sudden sound startled Zhang Youlin, and he almost peed on his shoes, he turned his head to see where he was squatting, and it turned out to be the old man he saw in the morning, with a face exactly the same as the photos in the house, and a lewd smile, "Grandpa!" "He knew this was his grandfather, because it looked the same as the picture.

He couldn't wait to take his grandfather's hand into the house and said, "Look, I'm not lying, I just saw grandpa." ”

Zhang Sihai and Zheng Xiuling's eyes widened, revealing frightened eyes, because they only saw Zhang Youlin's left hand raised, as if he was being held by someone, but they didn't see anyone else's figure.

The old man let go of Zhang Youlin's hand, touched his head, and said, "Good grandson, it's useless, they can't see me, you go and drop the water in this bottle on their eyes, and they can see me." As he spoke, he took out a porcelain vase from his arms and handed it to Zhang Youlin.

Zhang Youlin took the porcelain vase and dripped the withered yellow liquid into the eyes of Zhang Sihai and Zheng Xiuling, "This is the spring water of the Yellow Spring where Yin and Yang meet, which can temporarily let people in the Yang world see the underworld." ”

Zhang Sihai and Zheng Xiuling opened their eyes, their eyes had turned yellow, they saw the old man standing in front of the door, his figure was a little more illusory than ordinary people, but it was indeed his father, Zhang Sihai was so frightened that he fell to the ground, Zheng Xiuling also covered her mouth in horror, they couldn't believe the scene in front of them, and they couldn't understand that people were dead but could still stand in front of you.

Zhang Sihai said: "Zhang Fa, no matter what, it's my fault, if you want revenge, come to me and spare my wife and children." ”

Zhang Fa stood there, looking at Zhang Sihai in astonishment, with an expression like a fool, "Why did I harm them, one is my good daughter-in-law, and the other is my good grandson, besides, if you have a grudge, I am sorry for you." ”

Zhang Fa slowly walked to the chair and sat down, "Don't be afraid, just be the last trace of nostalgia for a dead person in the world, Sihai, I didn't expect you to come back, after all, your hatred for me has hurt into the bone marrow, so I am going to Qingcheng to find you, just to see you for the last time, and also to take a look at my grandson and daughter-in-law by the way." ”

"I didn't expect to see your car on the way there, and I didn't expect my grandson to see me." Zhang Fa changed his words, "What's the name of the daughter-in-law and eldest grandson, don't you introduce it to me?" ”

"My name is Zheng Xiuling, Xiaolin's name is Zhang Youlin, the blessed You, the temporary Lin." Zheng Xiuling took a glass of water and said tremblingly.

"Xiuling, you don't have to be afraid, speaking of which, I've suffered you for so many years, and I didn't help you when you got married. In Qingcheng, you can only rely on your own hard work, I originally prepared a big red envelope for you, but I never had a chance to send it to you, he was under the bed in my room. Zhang Fa pointed to the bed in the back room and said.

Zhang Sihai walked to the side of the bed, pulled out an iron box from it, the weight was very heavy, opened it, and showed a strange expression on his face, it turned out that there were some colored magazines inside, "This is the big red envelope you prepared for me?" Zhang Sihai gritted his teeth and said.

When Zhang Fa saw the things inside, he blushed and said: "Your father and I, as a single man, are not looking for other wives, and it is normal to have a little need, it should be in the box on the cabinet, I am old, and I can't remember anything." ”

Zhang Sihai found a stool and opened an iron box from the top of the cabinet, which was full of banknotes, although most of them were ten, five, one, and even a dime and a half cent. "In the village to help others exorcise evil fortunes, some wealthy people will give a fifty hundred, and some poor people can only take out ten or eight yuan, I will save for you, I originally wanted to buy you a house, but I heard that the house price in Qingcheng is more than 10,000 yuan, and I know that the money in my hand will buy you a toilet. Dad has no ability, so don't be too little, just give money to your child. ”

Zhang Sihai held the box in his hand, looking at the fragmentary money, he seemed to see the joy of Zhang Fa throwing a few dollars into it every time, he looked around the house, the age of this cabinet is older than his age, the TV at home is also a black and white TV many years ago, everything is what it looked like when he left fourteen years ago, in this era when every family has a color TV refrigerator, the old man is reluctant to buy anything.

"Sihai, I want to talk to you alone."

Zhang Sihai glanced at his wife, "How about we go to the commissary to buy food?" Zheng Xiuling said to Zhang Youlin, "But you can't say that you can see grandpa." ”

Zhang Youlin hesitated for a moment, but finally said firmly: "Okay." ”

After Zheng Xiuling and Zhang Youlin walked out of the door, Zhang Sihai closed the door and sat on a chair with Zhang Fa, "Have something to say." ”

"Don't you wonder why Xiaolin can see me?" Zhang Fa saw that Zhang Sihai did not answer, "We people are composed of flesh and soul, the body is conceived by our parents, and the soul is provided by the underworld. In fact, I am not an ordinary dead soul, your mother and I are born with yin and yang eyes, so I was selected by the old Taoist priest to take to the mountain to practice, when I was young, I and your mother were also punishing evil and promoting good, catching demons and exorcism, so I accumulated enough yin virtue, so that I do not need to be reincarnated after death, and I have won an official and a half position in the underworld to maintain the balance between yin and yang. Now Xiaolin also has this talent, and he has the opportunity to cultivate earlier than me, and it may not be possible to accumulate enough Yin Virtue to ascend to the Immortal Realm in the future. ”

"Do you think that I want my son to be like you, telling fortunes and abducting people every day? Besides, isn't there a risk in catching demons and exorcism? I will not agree with my son to take risks, and I have no intention of making him an immortal, I just hope that he can grow up peacefully and be an ordinary person. Zhang Sihai said angrily.

"Sihai, do you know how happy we were when your mother and I found out that you didn't have yin and yang eyes? We know the sadness and danger in it, we need to go to all kinds of dangerous places to fight with ghasts, and finally we are tired of preparing to retreat to the mountains and forests, but escape will not be the way in the end, they will still come to the door, and finally I lost your mother I understand, even if you choose to escape, it will not help. The ability of the Yin and Yang Eyes, even if it is a gift from the sky, is a curse of the sky, he makes you see too much ugliness, when a ghast is ready to occupy an ordinary person's body and devour his soul, when you hear the soul trembling in pain, do you choose to stand by or stand up. Zhang Fa's thought-provoking question made Zhang Sihai fall silent, "I just hope that Xiaolin can have the ability to protect himself after encountering the ghast." ”

"Then you have to promise me that you must protect him well." Zhang Sihai finally agreed after careful consideration, he understood the truth, and he also hoped that his son would stand up when he encountered a ghast and hurt someone, instead of running away and living in the shadow of guilt for the rest of his life.

"I assure you, until I have my soul gone, Xiaolin will be safe and sound." Zhang Fa raised his hand and swore.

"Remember what you say, and don't break your word again."