The thirteenth year of Tianshun of the Xia Dynasty.

It was the end of autumn, the days were getting shorter, and in the evening, a thin figure at the foot of Taibai Mountain, carrying a large bundle of freshly chopped firewood, walked down the mountain.

The appearance of a wood-chopping boy in his early tens, often going up the mountain and going down the water, his skin is dark, but he is born with sword eyebrows and starry eyes, and his face is very resolute.

The mountain path was not easy to walk, and the boy shrugged his shoulders with some difficulty, so that the bundle of firewood rope moved slightly from his shoulder, but his shoulder still hurt.

The young man seemed to be accustomed to it, and there was no sign of stopping to rest, but when he looked down at the two red and swollen blisters in the palm of his hand, the young man sighed, and said angrily to the wooden-handled axe: "You little axe, it's too unlucky, it's only been less than half a month, and you have rolled the blade again, and when you go back at night, you have to let your mother polish it hard, and when you help me pick out the blisters, I have to feel distressed for a long time." Of course, it's a piece of cake for me to pick up two little blisters, a manly man, this pain is nothing, but every time I see my mother's frowning and distressed appearance, I am not happy......"

Speaking of this, the boy quickly picked up his little hand and put it to his mouth, and blew on the two blisters that made him no easier than his shoulders, relieving a little of the hot burning pain.

After nagging to himself for a while, the young man looked up at the sky, gritted his teeth, and said firmly: "Yang Twenty, you will already be an adult after the age of ten, you are not allowed to rest halfway today, you must return home in one breath." ”

Afterglow elongated the thin figure, and after a few steps, as he said, it seemed to be an adult.

Walking down the hillside, the young Yang 20 came to the village under the mountain with smoke curling, the village is not big, most of the people live next to the river, so the village is long and narrow, because the Great Xia Dynasty has been peaceful for more than 200 years, there is no war involved, so this small village by the mountains and rivers is quiet and peaceful like an old man, like a paradise.

His home is at the entrance of the village, back to the house, a dilapidated courtyard, sitting in the north and facing south a total of three adobe grass houses, but unusually clean and tidy, out of the house came out of a young woman wearing an apron is cooking, the face is thin, slightly pale face is a little less blood than ordinary people, the woman who does not apply fat powder can vaguely see the glimpse of her youth.

However, after all, the woman is a woman in her thirties who raised a child alone, and for more than ten years, she has been dealing with the stove smoke that can be called the natural enemy of the woman's appearance, and it has long been simple and impermanent.

After helping Yang Twenty take down the firewood on her shoulder, the woman squatted down, gently wiped the dust off the child's face, smiled and said, "Go wash your face and wash your hands first, and then send a little bit of the pastries made by your mother to Kougui Granny in the village over there, and then come back for dinner." ”

Yang Twenty ran in response.

The young woman looked at the well-behaved and cheerful child, and instantly wrinkled her nose and her eyes were hazy with tears.

The young man, who had quickly finished washing, ran back to the kitchen, picked up a box of pastries and ran towards the entrance of the village.

His house is not far from the entrance of the village at the foot of the mountain to the west, but the house of the Gui mother-in-law who wants to deliver the pastries is at the east entrance of the village.

When Yang Twenty walked to the vicinity of the only school in the village with the pastries, the children just left school, and they were all village children, men and women, who were about the same age as Yang Twenty, walked out of the gate of the school, and saw Yang Twenty in a hurry, one of the boys who looked about the same size as him shouted: "Yang Twenty, you are in a hurry to go to that strange old woman's house again, she is a goblin who knows how to demons, be careful that she swallows it alive." ”

Originally, Yang Twenty didn't plan to pay attention to this group of children who didn't grow up in his eyes, but soon someone echoed and coaxed, "Yang Twenty, I think your family is from the same way as the old goblin, you two both moved from outside, my mother said that twelve years ago, after your mother came to our village alone, she gave birth to you without sleeping with a man, you said it's not a goblin." ”

A group of naughty children began to laugh and make fun of Yang Twenty.

Yang Twenty is known as Yang Twenty, Twenty is just his milk name, at first he was also studying in the school, and the master called his big name Yang Twenty, but since a new teacher came last spring, for some reason his mother stopped letting him go to school.

No matter what Yang Twenty thinks of this group of former classmates, as long as anyone dares to insult his mother, the end is that some people have tried it repeatedly in the school a few years ago.

Sure enough, Yang Twenty made a sharp turn, and instantly rushed towards the child who called his name at a faster speed, and the child also knew that he had said the wrong thing for a while, which angered this guy who had been invincible in the school, but when he saw Yang Twenty turn around, he also ran away.

But even if he was allowed to run out a hundred steps in advance, Yang Twenty would be able to easily catch up with him, let alone now, the result was naturally no suspense, and after the unobstructed Li Hutou was caught up by Yang Twenty, he directly stepped on it and fell into a, which caused the onlookers to laugh again.

Li Hutou, who was trampled on the ground by Yang Twenty, didn't get up, just cried and howled in the mud, and scolded: "Originally, the immortal old witch at the entrance of the village, the year before last, he took a broken cane and flew my family's farming cow into the river, isn't that what witchcraft is, and where is your father......"

Yang Twenty was about to raise his foot and kick again, but Li Hutou, who was peeked at him, rolled out two steps to dodge, and cried even louder like a heartbreak.

Yang Twenty snorted, and pointed to the child who was still splashing and rolling and said, "Li Hutou, you heard me clearly, my mother said that my father died before I was born." But Uncle Wang next door to your house said that your mother's fox legs don't know how many men have been killed, and your mother is the real goblin. ”

Yang Twenty turned around and left, he didn't bother to quarrel with this group of little children who didn't grow up.

As a result, a girl who was slightly younger than him came over, looked at the pastry box in Yang Twenty's hand, and asked timidly: "Yang Twenty, why don't you come to the school to study? After you left, our master said that you are talented and intelligent, and if you study hard, you will definitely be able to gain fame in the future!"

Yang Twenty puffed up his cheeks, thought about it seriously, and said proudly: "My mother said that a manly husband must be self-reliant from primary school to grow up. The master also said, 'Heaven is strong, and a gentleman is constantly striving for self-improvement'. Besides, my mother is also literate, and she often tutors me with homework. ”

The girl was confused.

Yang Twenty hesitated, opened the box, took out a piece of pastry, handed it to the always timid girl, and said, "Let's eat it for you, the pastry made by my mother is delicious." ”

The girl smiled, took the pastry, thanked her, and went home happily.

Yang Twenty came to Granny Gui's house in the east of the village, which was even more shabby than theirs, with only one thatched house, and he didn't know how this elderly Granny Gui lived alone.

But Yang Twenty didn't think much about it, anyway, he knew that this Granny Gui was not a goblin, since he could remember, Granny Gui had always been very good to their mother, and often sent some broken silver for them to subsidize the family, and his mother only said that it was a distant relative of hers, who came here to settle down alone.

Granny Gui touched the young man's head with a kind smile, took the pastry box, and took out a note from the mezzanine of the box, Yang Twenty was not surprised by this, because his mother often wrote something to this Granny Gui.

But Granny Gui's reaction after reading the contents of the note made Yang Twenty a little scared. After reading the content, Granny Gui, who instantly grabbed the note in her palm, not only had a gloomy and terrible face, but even the withered fist holding the note gurgled.

Yang Twenty looked at Granny Gui, who couldn't come back to her senses for a long time, and tentatively shouted "Granny Gui".

There was no response, and Yang Twenty asked loudly again, "Granny Gui, are you okay?"

After exhaling a long breath, Granny Gui squeezed out a smile that was really not good-looking at all, and said to Yang Twenty: "Granny Gui is fine, I just remembered an unpleasant thing, Little Twenty, go home for dinner, don't let your mother wait too long." ”

After Yang Twenty went out to leave, this Gui Granny slowly spread out the palm holding the note, and the whole note had turned into powder and scattered gently, and this old woman who looked old was obviously in a thatched house, but she seemed to be standing in the wind, her clothes kept fluttering, and a layer of air rippled from her body, so that the walls of the house were hunting.

The old woman stretched out her hand, and the crutch leaning against the wall was caught by her in the air, she walked to the door, looked up at the gradually gloomy sky, and the black clouds pressed all the way from the top of the Taibai Mountain with the west wind.

In the dark, the wind and rain are coming.