Dazed

During the day, when mother and son were working in the field, Qi's mother suddenly called Qi Zheng, who lived nearby to loosen the soil, and said seriously, "Ah Zheng, don't play with that friend of yours again."

It was the first time I received advice from my mother about making friends. Hearing this, Qi Zheng looked at her in surprise and asked, "What's wrong?"

Qi's mother smiled awkwardly, and said: "His family is very rich, right? You two are not from the same world. If you come to a small place like ours after Chinese New Year, you can't eat well, and neither of you can sleep well. Aren't you making things difficult for people?"

Qi Zheng frowned, and said: "His hand is injured, and there is no one at home, so we can't leave him alone in the city."

"Look at him blocking the car for you and coming home with you. He didn't complain at all, and he followed you home after the Chinese New Year. Mom always felt a little inappropriate." The wrinkled old woman lowered her head. , has been busy with the farm work in hand, and didn't even raise his head, but the meaning hidden in the words, Qi Zheng really couldn't figure out whether he was thinking too much, or his mother's piercing eyes saw Cao Jingxing's love for her son. It is indeed a conspiracy.

"Did he say something in front of you?" Qi Zheng looked at his mother cautiously, thinking of Cao Jingxing, he was not sure if he had lured a wolf into the house.

"No, I didn't say anything." Qi's mother raised her head to look at him, denied it repeatedly, took a breath, and persuaded: "Mom just thinks that people of different social status will always pay a price for being friends."

Seeing Qi's mother who suddenly shrank her hands and feet and seemed to be full of thoughts, Qi Zheng's face suddenly turned cold, frowning, and asked strangely: "What happened, why did you suddenly say these things to me?"

Hearing her son's vigilance, Qi's mother quickly raised her head, with the usual reserved and flattering smile on her face, and said, "It's nothing, Mom saw that after your father suddenly fell ill, those rich friends around him walked away and hid. In the end, the only ones who supported me were those good friends who made friends when they were poor, I was a little worried, but you have grown up and have your own ideas, mom doesn’t force it, as long as you like it.”

When Qi's mother said this, Qi Zheng was speechless for a moment, and suddenly felt a little helpless. Thinking of the obviously weird atmosphere when he came home yesterday, what happened to his mother and Cao Jingxing, but he wanted to hide it. with him alone.

Panting for breath, Qi Zheng suddenly raised his head and looked at the gray sky. On the vast field, there happened to be a very eye-catching archway not far away, with four big characters engraved on it-"Yu Dongxi Shu", the north wind slowly The wind blows, the weeds rustle, Qi Zheng's eyes can't help but freeze, the doubt in his heart gradually deepens uncontrollably, that doubt seems to be about to be screwed to the end, and it is about to spew out——Cao Jingxing said that he has been here, why?

On the night of New Year's Eve, Qi's father also came out of the hospital as an exception to go home to have a reunion dinner, but because he was too weak, he only ate a little food on the bed in the room, and then was taken back to the hospital.

There are always a lot of customs in the countryside to celebrate the New Year, including worshiping ancestors on New Year's Eve, carrying lanterns, and visiting the ancestral hall. These were all things that Qi's father had to do before, but now the burden can only be changed to Qi Zheng's shoulders.

The village, which is usually so quiet that only the sound of dogs barking, is unusually lively tonight. Every family walks on the country road carrying lanterns with their surnames written on them. The voices of greeting each other seemed a little lively.

Qi Zheng followed the flow of people to the Qi Clan's Ancestral Hall in the countryside, hung up the lights in his house, lit a stick of incense, and then took a pack of incense from the old man in the ancestral hall, then returned the same way, and returned home.

Qi's mother had already prepared all the offerings for ancestor worship in the evening. Chicken, duck, pork, and fish meat were set up on a table full. Qi Zheng hung the lantern he brought back on the door and walked into the old house. Only mother Qi was active in the house.

"Hang the lantern by the side, and come to offer incense later." Qi's mother turned her head, and when she saw Qi Zheng came back, she ordered.

Qi Zheng did as he did, hanging the old paper lantern on the crack of the door next to the gate, and then walked into this small, dilapidated, quiet and dim old house of his own.Qi Zheng's father was the only seedling in their family, so compared to the bustling scenes of ancestor worship in other families and the scenes of relatives chatting with each other, Qi Zheng's place seemed a bit deserted.

Qi's mother, who has been doing these things for decades, is very used to all the procedures. She quickly placed the offerings, paper money, and firecrackers one by one, lit the candles, lit two sticks of incense, and greeted Qi Zheng. : "Okay, let's worship."

Qi Zheng took the incense obediently, bowed, shook his hand, and then inserted the incense into the incense burner. The candles on the candlesticks placed on both sides of the altar were always shaking and flickering from time to time, silently In the night, it seemed a little restless.

After burning the incense, Qi Zheng had nothing to do. He stood there with his head raised, just in time to see a table full of grand ancestral tablets in front of him, which had existed since his last three generations. The plaque is on the far right, probably the youngest generation that has passed away. On the wooden plaque less than half a foot high, the words "Mother Zhang Xianfu's seat" are gently written with a golden brush. She died at the age of 81. This is the row of plaques The only person Li Qizheng knew.

On the wall above the memorial tablet is still a ghost photo of Grandma Qi, her stiff expression is imprisoned in the black and white photo, those gloomy eyes seem to be still conscious, staring at everyone who enters this old house.

Qi Zheng had very little impression of grandma, almost zero. If it wasn't for his familiarity with her appearance, he probably would have mistakenly thought that the time of the old man's death was when he was not yet born, not when he was eight years old. When you start to have memory.

But Qi's mother often babbles that his grandma loves her very much, and Qi Zheng himself always dreams about the scene of the old man's death.And ever since he decided that his mother and Cao Jingxing were hiding something from him, Qi Zheng could not help feeling that everything in life was weird.

When Qi Zheng was immersed in his own thoughts, suddenly, Qi's mother whispered in the quiet old house, saying: "It's broken, I forgot to bring the gold ingot!"

"What's that?" Qi Zheng turned his head and asked, "I'll get it." Qi's old house is not far from his house, just a few alleys away.

Qi's mother, who had forgotten something, seemed very anxious, and said hurriedly: "How do you know where to put it, I will go for a run."

"Okay, don't worry, be careful." Qi Zheng said, so he had to wait in the room by himself.

Qi's mother waved her hand, took a small flashlight, and disappeared into the night in a blink of an eye. The surroundings became quiet again. Qi Zheng was really the only one left in the dilapidated old house. Grandma Qi's photo was still hanging high on the wall. Her creepy gaze was still alive, and it still gave people inexplicable pressure. Qi Zheng always felt that someone was staring at him, which was very inexplicable.

Qi Zheng was alone in the dark old house, and the only light in the house was the two flickering candles. The small candlelight pulled out the long shadows of the things in the house and reflected them on the ground.

Qi Zheng looked at the two candles strangely. In the quiet lobby where there was not even a breath of wind, why did the candlelight dance so violently? He couldn't help but want to take a step forward to see if the candle filaments were caught.

Unexpectedly, when he walked to the altar, he suddenly stepped on something soft with his right foot, and then a crisp cat meow sounded, Qi Zheng's forehead twitched, and he looked over subconsciously, a vigorous black The cat followed the night, and ran from under the table to the gate. Before leaving, it turned its head to look at Qi Zheng. Two glass beads without any emotion were shining brightly in the night.

Qi Zheng frowned as he looked at the figure that disappeared into the night, the scenery outside the gate was still a thick darkness that could not be seen, and the surrounding was as quiet as another fragment that had fallen into the old time.

"Aozai! Aozai!" Suddenly, there was a soft call from outside the door, like an old man calling his grandson. Aozai is the dialect name for the youngest child in the family. Shouting, my heart moved, and I couldn't help but wanted to walk towards the door.

His grandmother liked to call him that when he was a child.

Qi Zheng stepped across the overgrown courtyard, walked through the two wing rooms on the east side, and arrived at the gate of the old house.

The wild cat that escaped suddenly came back again, hid by the door, looked up at him with a warning in its eyes, and let out a soft "meow" from its mouth, as if to remind him.

Seeing a black cat in the dark is not a good thing. It is said that the black cat is psychic and can foresee ghosts, but Qi Zheng frowned and looked out sharply. After that inexplicable ghost, his life began to be shrouded in mist. The inexplicable and mysterious roommate, the mother who was full of worries, and the sudden dream, the ghost who could suddenly peep, everything seems to be surrounded by nothing, but it has nothing to do with it. .

Where is the source? Qi Zheng frowned. He couldn't shrink back as a man, and his mother and father had to support him. No matter what happened, he had to figure it out.

With such thoughts in mind, Qi Zheng crossed the short threshold without hesitation, but unexpectedly, the moment he stepped over the threshold, the scenery outside the door suddenly changed.

The originally dark night sky suddenly returned to the daytime scene, the surroundings were gray and white, and the sun was completely blocked by layers of thick clouds unique to winter. That house, the scenery is still the same, just like a very ordinary rural picture that can be seen everywhere.

But Qi Zheng still smelled a strange smell. The few newly built houses that should have been in front of his old house have all disappeared. There is only a piece of barren land, and all the surroundings are old houses. There are few houses, most of which are deserted. Only the tall archway in their village has not changed, standing upright in the cold wind, like a loyal old man, when people see the archway, they will recognize this place and be familiar with it. There is a little strangeness in it.