Guo Yang lost a sheep, and his sky fell.

Steward Wu whipped Guo Yang seven times fiercely, and ordered coldly: "Tonight, the lost sheep must be retrieved." Otherwise, I'll skin you!"

Steward Wu did what he said. Guo Yang once saw with his own eyes that Steward Wu said that he wanted to skin a tenant, but as a result, the middle-aged man who couldn't afford to pay the tenant rent howled in the middle of the night in the small dark house where Steward Wu specially punished his subordinates.

The next day, Steward Wu asked dozens of subordinates and tenants to visit his masterpiece.

Guo Yang saw that the man was like a skinned sheep, hung on a stake by a rope, drooping his head, motionless.

It's your turn next.

Guo Yang couldn't even feel the hot pain on his back that had been whipped by the whip.

The great fear made the nine-year-old child tremble all over, and he walked quickly on the dark and high mountain.

Guo Yang followed the route of herding sheep during the day, but did not find the lost sheep.

He hurried up the hill again, but found no place under the slopes of the hills, which were too steep for sheep to roll down.

Guo Yang began to despair. He sat down on the stone and cried quietly.

The night was dark and cold.

Guo Yang wanted to turn into a stone and hide in the night.

If he could, he was even willing to turn into a sheep and return to the sheepfold of Wu Yuanwai's house. Even if what awaits him is the destined to be slaughtered and skinned.

But as long as it's not tonight, or tomorrow.

Guo Yang walked back in despair, and continued to look for the sheep as he walked.

The sheep may have been taken away by a wolf, or it may have fallen off a cliff, or it may have ......

For Guo Yang, there is no maybe.

If he loses his sheep, he has to be skinned by Steward Wu.

For large families, Guo Yang's life is not worth the life of a sheep.

He was an outcast who was picked up by Steward Wu on the side of the road. After Guo Yang was picked up, Steward Wu casually placed him in the sheepfold and let an old shepherd pull him.

In the summer, he drank goat's milk and slept in a sheep trough. In winter, when the north wind howls and the weather is cold, he huddles with the sheep to keep each other warm.

It was not easy for Guo Yang to survive. But if Steward Wu wants to kill him, it will be easy.

In the middle of the night, Guo Yang still hasn't found the lost sheep.

He returned to the mountain near Wujiazhuang, but he could only look at the lights in the village from afar.

Guo Yang didn't dare to go back.

He also saw the lantern at the door of the sheepfold, flickering and dimming, like a sleepy eye.

The wind is blowing, and the winter nights in Shuozhou are extremely cold, and the wind goes straight into the bones.

Guo Yang found a pile of hay under a bare old elm tree, caged a small nest, and climbed into it like a dog.

He curled up, trying not to let the hay poke into the wound in his back, trying not to let himself fall asleep.

But to no avail, after a frightened search in the middle of the night, this nine-year-old child has reached the limit of physical strength and spirit.

He was cold and hungry, aching and sleepy, and fell asleep in the cold wind.

......

He was carried by Steward Wu's iron hook and dragged into the small black room. Steward Wu hung his thin body on a large iron hook, and then brought a basin of cold water and poured it from head to toe.

Guo Yang trembled, cried, begged bitterly, and struggled desperately.

But it didn't work, Steward Wu didn't have any expression on his face at all, and he didn't even move his eyeballs much. He took out a knife from his bosom to slaughter sheep, seemed to smile, and began to skin Guo Yang.

Steward Wu first used a knife to cut a small slit on Guo Yang's forehead, put his finger in, and stretched the wound wide.

After stopping for a while, Steward Wu reached in with a hard and cold finger, hooked Guo Yang's scalp, and cut it down the scalp with a knife.

Then, put down the knife, grab the two pieces of the scalp that had been cut with both hands, and push it down vigorously.

Guo Yang screamed, and saw that his body was smooth, bloody, white and red, and his blood vessels and heart were beating hard.

Fear and pain made him convulse.

Guo Yang saw himself like a skinned lamb, ridiculously hanging on a stake.

......

In the early morning, the winter days in Shuozhou are dry and cold.

The sun shone on the pile of hay, through the cracks, on Guo Yang, who was curled up like a dog.

The hay moved. After a while, it moved again.

A small hand slowly stretched out, black and thin, stained with blood.

Then, the other hand, with its unkempt hair, dirty face, and seven bloody marks on his back that had been drawn by the whip, were vividly visible.

Guo Yang crawled out of the hay, a little confused: "Haven't I been skinned?

He crawled on the ground for a while, and finally figured it out, it was just a dream.

For him, this is not good news. Since he has not been skinned yet, what awaits him will be a real skinning.

For Guo Yang, the punishment that has not yet come will be far more terrifying than he has already endured.

Guo Yang looked at Wujiazhuang under the mountain, and a large number of buildings belonged to Master Wu.

In winter, the owners of Wujiazhuang get up late, and only those people are already busy.

Mama Zhang should be boiling porridge in the kitchen, maybe she also stewed a pot of mutton bone soup, which is the favorite of Master Wu and Steward Wu.

Li Dezhi should be cleaning the yard, he is a thin and shrewd old man, and he is also very diligent, which is quite valued by Steward Wu.

In the sheepfold, those sheep should be waiting for Guo Yang's crisp shout. In the past, Guo Yang had already removed the sheep manure from the sheepfold, and under the sun, he drove them up the mountain.

But not today. Guo Yang didn't dare to go back.

His life is not as good as a sheep or a dog.

He was wounded, and he had to crawl silently under the crooked-necked old elm tree, for fear of being discovered. Especially afraid of being discovered by Steward Wu.

He lay motionless on his stomach, and after about half an hour, a thought suddenly appeared that even startled him: to run.

Yes, flee, flee far away, flee to a place where no one can find it!

Like a wounded dog, Guo Yang quietly crawled towards the back of the hillside.

Estimating that the people below the mountain could no longer see him, he slammed to his feet and ran towards the desolate mountain.

He followed the old shepherd for three years and was familiar with the hundreds of nearby mountains. He specially chose those deserted places to escape, and two hours later, he was more than 30 miles away from Wujiazhuang.

Guo Yang was hungry and tired, gasping for air, causing a sharp pain in his chest. In addition, the wound on his back that was pulled out by the whip began to seep blood, and the pain made his eyes black.

After climbing a mountain, Guo Yang was finally exhausted, his legs were weak, and he rolled uncontrollably down a valley.

Fortunately, the mountains of Shuozhou have more soil and less rocks, so he was not knocked to death when he rolled down.

However, rolling from the slope of the mountain dozens of feet high to the end, even if the slope is not very steep, the nine-year-old child still fell into the dark, vomited a mouthful of blood, and finally passed out.