Ah Tao squatted on the spot, clasped his hands on his knees, buried his head deep between his legs, and did not speak for a long time.

When I stood up again, my face was full of tears.

He smashed the wooden branch in the face of the old man, staring at him hatefully.

The old man sighed and said, "So you can't see ......."

"I can see it. Ah Tao indifferently interrupted the old man.

This time, the old servant was taken aback: "You can see it?"

"I can see it, so I don't need you to talk too much, you can go quickly, I don't like you. As he spoke, he turned and walked into the woods.

The old man looked at the Mai woman hiding in the shade of a tree on the side, and was at a loss.

The young Ah Tao walked through the woods to the lower reaches of the creek and washed the earthworms along with the burlap bags. Fished out the washed earthworms and was stunned.

"You have to eat well, my mother doesn't like picky eaters. He suddenly muttered to himself.

Then stuff the earthworm into your mouth indiscriminately, close your eyes and chew painfully. The fishy bitterness was disgusting, and he couldn't get used to it. My mouth was full of earthworm chewing juice, and it was very painful to eat.

He usually roasted it over the fire before eating, although it was not delicious, it could still be eaten in his stomach.

This time, he knew that he would have a stomach ache for several more days.

But he still chewed back and forth in large gulps, swallowing the raw earthworm.

He needed other pain, such as physical pain, to distract from the pain in his heart.

I cried while eating, and muttered indistinctly, "I'm not sad, I'm not sad, just because it's too unpalatable." Mother, I didn't cry. ”

"Mother......

The child who writhed in the mud all day like a wild boar, the child who used to cry but now refused to cry, howled and cried again.

The floating Mai woman was still hiding in the shade of the tree, watching the child crying more and more fiercely, and finally couldn't help but want to hug him, take a step, and expose herself to the sun.

As soon as the foot in the gray cloth shoes was exposed, it began to smoke violently and silently. Seeing this scene, Ah Tao rushed over like crazy, trying to push the woman back into the shade of the tree, but penetrated her body and hit her head on the tree.

Bleeding from the head.

Seeing the embarrassed appearance of tears mixed with blood on Ah Tao's face, the woman in sackcloth also cried silently with him.

Four-year-old Ah Tao choked up and said to the woman: "I'm sorry......"

The woman burst into tears but squeezed out a smile and opened her mouth, although silent, the child understood what she meant:

"It doesn't matter. ”

The child said, "I'm sorry...... I promised my mother not to cry. ”

The woman still opened her mouth: "It's okay. ”

The child said, "I'm sorry...... I've never been afraid to face you. I don't want to believe that my mother is no longer there. ”

The woman caressed the child's face lovingly, trying to wipe away the blood and tears for him, but in vain, she said, "I have always been with Ah Tao." ”

The child hung his arms in the air and hugged the untouchable woman, crying silently.

I don't know how long it took, but the tired child stopped trembling, but threw himself forward and fell to the ground.

"In my mother's arms, I slept most comfortably. The child turned his head and pretended to be relaxed and coquettish to the woman.

The woman just looked at him with a smile on her face.

Although I still love to cry, I have grown up a lot.

At this moment, the child's eyes suddenly turned cold, and he said to the woods, "What are you doing with me?"

The old man replaced the cover on his face with a sackcloth, held up a grilled fish in his hand, and said to Ah Tao, "Are you hungry?"

The child stubbornly said: "I'm full of food!"

The old man smiled and said, "Then eat some more?"

The child was about to refuse, but the old man preemptively said, "Your mother will let you eat some." ”

The child looked at the Mai woman, and sure enough, smiled, and motioned for him to eat the grilled fish. He pretended to be displeased and said: "My mother asked me to eat what I ate, just to give my mother face." ”

The old man smiled: "Yes, yes, your mother is the biggest, eat it." ”

The child takes the grilled fish and takes a big bite. Although the old man is ugly, his craftsmanship is very beautiful. The child only felt that the taste of this grilled fish made him feel unreal as if he was in another world.

When the old man saw the child gobbling up, he touched his head and said, "Eat slowly, there are thorns." ”

The child was obedient and slowed down, perhaps he remembered that if he stuck his throat again, no one would pat him on the back again, feed him vinegar, and coax him not to cry.

The old man asked, "Is it delicious?" ”

The child said: "It's delicious, it's better than what the master chef in the Chang'an Huamanlou makes." ”

He added, "It's not as delicious as my mother's cooking." ”

The old man smiled: "Yes, yes, your mother makes the most delicious." ”

The child ate half of the fish, then handed it to the old man and said, "Here you go." ”

The old man was puzzled, "Are you full?"

The child said, "I'm small, I'll be full after a few bites, you can eat." ”

The old man said: "It's okay, at the age of the little old man, eating it will only turn into dung and pull it out." When you are young, what you eat in your stomach will become your flesh and bones and help you grow up. ”

The child said: "I used to want to grow up quickly so that I could protect my mother, but now, when I grow up, it's useless." ”

The old man did not convince him, people die like lights go out, he can see it, but he knows that the child can't let it go, just take off the head and tail of the fish, and then hand the rest back to the child: "I don't like to eat fish, there are too many spines, you can eat it." ”

Suddenly the child remembered something, took out the sackcloth bag from his bosom, and said, "Do you eat earthworms? ”

The old man smiled: "Okay, you eat fish, I eat earthworms." ”

The sky is dark, and the moon and stars are sparse.

In the end, the old man did not eat the remaining two earthworms, and the old and the young sat down against the tree, chatting without a word.

The child asked the old man, "You said in the morning that you were a servant and ran errands for the dead?"

The old man said, "That's what it means." On the surface, it is to tell the living what the dead want to tell the living, but there is another unknown job in our vein, which is to seal the corpse. ”

It's not a secret, it's just that as a man who deals with the dead, he is often looked at strangely by the world, and no one will be willing to inquire about their strange news.

The child was very curious and asked, "What do you mean by sealing the corpse?"

The old man said: "If the deceased has unfulfilled wishes or grievances before his death, he will easily turn into a resentful spirit after death. That is, what you commonly call ghosts. If they are good in nature, these resentful spirits just want to accompany the deceased, and do not want to enter reincarnation, so they wander around the host, that is, the person who made him have a knot, in the form of spirits. Your mother is such a spirit. ”

The child said, "Then can my mother stay with me like this all the time?"

The old man shook his head and said, "No." Without the replenishment of aura, the spirit will always slowly dissipate in the end. ”

The child said, "How do you replenish the aura for my mother." ”

The old man said: "We can't give it, so she can only absorb it herself." ”

The child said, "Where to draw from." ”

The old man said: "From the host, that is, from you." ”

The child lifted his clothes, revealing his skinny belly, and said to the woman in cloth: "Mother, you can suck it." ”

The woman in the cloth just smiled and shook her head.

The old man said: "If she sucks your aura, she will become an evil spirit, which is what you often call a terrible ghost." ”

The child said, "What happens when you become a ghost." ”

The old man said: "If you lose your mind, you will harm the world, and if you are caught by the yin, you will be thrown into hell to fry and roast." ”

The child put down the clothes he had lifted and said, "I don't want my mother to be a ghost." ”

The old man said: "Your mother will not become a ghost. Generally, ghosts are people who have had great grievances or are already great evils. ”

The child said: "Didn't you say that ghosts can only absorb the host's aura, how do ghosts harm the world, they can harm people other than the host?"

The old man said: "No, as long as it is a ghost, you can't act recklessly in the world, so you can only attack the host." The only way to harm the host is to absorb the aura. The ghost absorbs the aura without knowing moderation, and will directly suck the host dry, causing the host to die of a long illness. ”

The child said: "That ghost is not so scary, the host is the one who bullied them when they were alive, what is this called...... Do you like a pot, but not shaved ice?"

The old man laughed and said, "It's a cycle of cause and effect, and retribution is unpleasant." If we can really only infringe on one or two hosts, we will be much more idle as a group. The scary thing about the ghost is that his resentment is contagious. There used to be a yin house on the outskirts of Chang'an, but if anyone entered, they would be sick in bed soon after returning home, and they would die. The reason is that the ghosts in that Yin Mansion will be resentful all over the Yin House, and as long as someone breaks in, it will be regarded as violating his territory and forming a grudge with him, that is, they have become his host. If the spirit wants to continue to exist in the human world, it must absorb the aura. A spirited ghost will suck all hosts dry. Once there is no aura, it will dissipate in this heaven and earth, and even reincarnation will no longer exist. ”

The child said abruptly: "Then what should my mother do, can she only watch her dissipate?"

The old man said: "No, that's the result of a terrible ghost who has lost his mind." We can also invite your mother into reincarnation. ”