two ears pricked up

Autumn in Yudi is early, and the early morning has the coolness of early autumn. There are layers of thin autumn mist in the mountains and fields, and the grass and leaves are covered with frost, which is very cool.

Huo Zheng set up a wooden ladder under the corner, wrapped his hands twice with a coarse cloth belt, and planted a large piece of thorny vines transplanted under his feet. He put all the vines along the outer circle of the corner to form a thorny wall to prevent wolves. Guard against thieves.

Bai Xi stood on the sidelines watching, Huo Zheng lowered his head, and saw him staring at him with round almond eyes.

Dust suddenly shook off the wall, Bai Xi was worried, "Zhengzheng, what's the matter with you?"

Huo Zheng shook his head, Bai Xi only had a dependent look in his eyes, which made him almost uncontrollable, his legs and feet slipped, and he lost his sense of proportion.

Huo Zheng sighed guiltily where Bai Xi couldn't see.

Huo Qianjun went to the tomb in spring, and Huo Zheng planned to visit his grave today. Huo Qianjun's tombs had been moved by Huo Qianjun, and he only found out the place a few days ago, and it wasn't too far from Huo Qianjun's cemetery.

After washing up, Bai Xi gathered around Huo Zheng to watch him tidy up the things he needed to bring when visiting the grave. There were paper decorations, silver coins, ingots, treasures, clothes, a few pairs of white candles, and he had to bring a hoe.

After killing a chicken, the leaking chicken blood was still dripping in the yard and hadn't been washed. When Bai Xi walked through the yard just now, he was almost fainted by the dazzling blood.

He hugged his knees and squatted down, maybe he had eaten pastries, he would always stick out the tip of his tongue to lick the corner of his mouth, invisibly luring Huo Zheng to spy secretly, and the memory of drunken kisses always stimulated his heart.

"Zhengzheng, where are we going today?"

Bai Xi was talking about us, Huo Zheng glanced at him, he didn't intend to let Bai Xi go with him.The two hills go back and forth, the road is not far away but it is inconvenient to walk, Huo Zheng has something on his body, and he is worried that he will not be able to take care of him.

Seeing Huo Zheng's cool eyes, Bai Xi knew that he was useless, and hurriedly grabbed his pants, "Don't leave me behind."

Huo Zheng tried to persuade him, Bai Xi covered his ears with his hands, made a gesture that he would not listen, turned his back, squatted into a grievance, pitiful, and helpless state, and refused to talk to Huo Zheng.

The sun poked out a corner from the east, and the morning glow scattered.

Huo Zheng carried a burden on his back and carried two baskets of things on his shoulders, Bai Xi closed the door, walked by his side, and went into the mountain together to the cemetery.

On the road, I walked alongside villagers herding cattle. Huo Zheng was taciturn, and Bai Xi couldn't talk to others. The villagers gathered together and walked in twos and threes. When they saw Bai Xi's strange eyes, they asked, "Who are you?"

Bai Xi jumped to the other side and shrank back, Huo Zheng said: "He is the little brother I made friends with outside."

Bai Xi didn't say a word, and Huo Zheng was always silent. The villagers felt that they were boring, so they separated when they passed the fork.

The two were walking in the deserted path, when Bai Xi suddenly heard a weak sob.

He stopped and listened intently, Huo Zheng followed him and asked, "What's the matter?"

"Hush—" Bai Xi raised her index finger to her lips, "Zhengzheng, do you hear a sound?"

Huo Zheng shook his head, and Bai Xi followed the source of the sound. He brushed away the weeds growing along the road. There were needle pricks on the thin edges of the grass blades. Huo Zheng was worried that he would be cut, so he put down the burden and took a hoe to remove the weeds. The grass was pushed aside, and behind the layers of weeds, there lay a mass of black and not slippery, its body was scratched by grass blades, and its body was covered with black and red blood.

It was a very thin puppy, with a few strands of sticky and sparse hair, revealing a thin skin and bone shape.

The surroundings are desolate and uninhabited, and it is very likely that they were abandoned by the villagers in the weeds and left to fend for themselves.

Bai Xi stepped forward and gently flipped the black puppy, Huo Zheng pulled him away to check it out himself.

"It's not dead yet, but its breath is weak, and it won't live long like this."

Bai Xi couldn't move, her eyes were fixed on the dog.

As if aware of someone, the puppy struggled to open its eyelids. Its eyes were wet, mixed with blood and tears, and the fur under its eyes was wet. Probing lightly, it was the movement of Diai Baixi stretching out his claws.

Bai Xi said: "Zhengzheng, let's take it back."

Poor puppy, he couldn't bear to see it die in the wilderness, and be eaten by other animals after death.If you can't die after saving it back, dig a hole in the ground and bury it, so that it will be a hundred times better than dying here in a peaceful place after death.

Huo Zheng showed helpless eyes to him, but the corners of his mouth curved slightly.He took out the dagger on the back of his waist, cut open his robe, wrapped the puppy in cloth, and picked it up carefully.

Make a place in the basket, put the puppies in, continue to pick up the burden, and go to the cemetery.

Bai Xi walked beside the puppy. The puppy seemed to remember him. His body was weak and weak, but he always tried to stretch out his short forelimbs to hook Bai Xi's hand, until it got tired, and fell down weakly with a whimper. , sleeping in a cloth robe.

Walking to the cemetery, the lush weeds are already half the height of a person, occupying the entire cemetery.

Huo Zheng opened up an open space for Bai Xi to rest on the spot, continued weeding, and repaired the cemetery. He cut the grass and dug the ground alone, and Bai Xi folded his sleeves to help clear the weeds.

This place is the tomb of the Huo family. Huo Zheng has not been back to Changyue Village for many years, so he did not come to worship them.

He took out the offerings from the basket and placed them one by one in front of the tombstone. Bai Xi, who was illiterate, stared at the tombstone, knowing that the people buried inside were Huo Zheng's parents, so he bowed and bowed.

There were blades of grass hanging from his hair, Huo Zheng cleaned up the offerings after he had arranged them, and immediately said to the tombstone, "Father, mother, this is Xiaobai."

Bai Xi then followed him and learned well, "Father, mother, my name is Bai Xi."

Huo Zheng: "..."

Huo Zheng had a ghost in his heart, and in a trance, his daughter-in-law had a fantasy of seeing Huo Zheng's mother-in-law, and he couldn't help feeling ashamed and angry.

After offering sacrifices to the Huo family, the two went to another mountain to worship Huo Qianjun.

Huo Zheng didn't reveal the fact that the Bai family cheated Bai Xi to marry him, the dead were the most important, Huo Qianjun was buried in the ground, Huo Zheng didn't want to add worries to the dead, and he also subconsciously refused to think that Bai Xi had been wronged by him. It's a matter of sister-in-law.

They stayed in the mountain for more than half a day, except for a poor puppy they picked up, the two went down the mountain empty-handed.

The fence erected near the entrance of the village was full of villagers, and the crowd chattered and gathered together to discuss something.The fence is mostly used for announcements, Bai Xi and Huo Zheng exchanged glances, and approached the fence.

The crowd was crowded, Bai Xi was taken aside by Huo Zheng, and he watched the other party find a place, leaned in a little, and with his tall and straight figure, he could clearly see the notices pasted all over the fence.

It turned out to be a matter of land tax.

Every year before the Mid-Autumn Festival, farmers have to pay the annual field mu tax, and the mu of land is distributed according to the population. The larger the population, the higher the tax borne by the peasant household.

The Huo family got the land allocated to two people, and Huo Zheng converted the tax money. Although he was shy in his pocket, the money was not unaffordable.He thought about it in the bottom of his heart, and he had some confidence in his heart.

Bai Xi followed him and asked, "Zhengzheng, what's the matter?"

Huo Zheng explained the matter of tax payment to him clearly, Bai Xi understood, and was quite aggrieved, "I just have to pay the money!"

He pursed his lips and looked a little displeased. In his eyes, Huo Zheng had worked so hard to make money, and now he had to pay the money based on the piece of paper that was posted. Thinking about it, he was very unconvinced.

It didn't take long for him to be unhappy, because after returning to Huo's house, the black puppy who had been sleeping all the time woke up.

It seemed to have had a peaceful sleep and regained some energy. Bai Xi tried to communicate with it, but the puppy was not enlightened and would only bark weakly at him. Go out and see-"

Huo Zheng was changing his clothes, and he was half naked, when Bai Xi broke in, he stood outside the door and stared for a moment, his mouth opened into a circle, and then closed.

Huo Zheng took off his clothes and put on clean ones as if nothing had happened, but from the corner of his eye he kept seeing Bai Xi's movements.

Huo Zheng noticed that Xiaobai seemed to like looking at his body, covered his lips and cleared his throat, "What happened?"

Bai Xi collected his attention, hurriedly grabbed Huo Zheng's hand, and led him out, "The puppy is awake."

Huo Zheng followed him to check the puppy's condition, and fed it the soft rice soup.The little thing was already starving, and when it smelled something to eat, it stuck out its tongue to lick it. The soft hair was dirty, and Bai Xi sat on the small stool to watch it eat. Up, wipe the coagulated blood from its hair.

The puppy lay flat and let people toss and turn, its wet black eyes kept looking at Bai Xi and Huo Zheng with a dewy light.

There is no veterinarian in the village, Huo Zheng turned to Bai Xi and said, "It depends on its fate."

If this dog hadn't met Bai Xi, it would have been exposed to the wilderness early.

Put some fodder in the wooden basin for the puppy to nest, Bai Xi carried the dog back to the room with the basin, Huo Zheng didn't stop him, boiled some more fine rice, Bai Xi left a bowl, and fed it to the puppy from time to time.

Bai Xi misses the puppy, and at night, the lights in the house are still on, and she gets up in the middle of the night to take care of it, for fear that it will die.

Huo Zheng got up at night and saw that there was light in the room, he knocked on the door, but Bai Xi didn't respond, she pushed in gently.Bai Xi was curling up at the corner of the bed, with a wooden basin under the corner of the bed, and a wooden spoon in his hand, apparently got up in the middle of the night to feed the puppy.

Bai Xi fell into a deep sleep, and Huo Zheng didn't even know he was near him.Sensing a source of warmth approaching in Mengying, she murmured softly, turned around, and rolled into Huo Zheng's arms.

Huo Zheng gently put him back on the bed and covered him with the quilt.He was supposed to leave right there, but his feet didn't move as if they were rooted, and his eyes traced the thin white outline. This was a face that had nothing to do with women, but it always broke into his dreams from time to time.

Huo Zheng was a traditional man at heart, but now he thought about Bai Xi every day, and couldn't help shaking his head bitterly.

He surrounded the wall with thorny vines to prevent anyone from spying on Bai Xi. He could guard against others but not himself.

He is the wolf who stands by Bai Xi's side, stares at him covetously, and harbors evil intentions.

Bai Ximeng stuck out her tongue and licked her mouth, just in time to bump into something soft and warm.

Huo Zheng woke up like a dream, and fled from the room in embarrassment. He stood in the courtyard for a long time, and slapped himself hard.