Christmas

The bleak cold wind blew past, Xia Yao couldn't help shivering, raised his head and looked blankly at the strange village in front of him.

A dilapidated earthen house that has collapsed stands lonely at the entrance of the village, and khaki mud clods are scattered everywhere.Whenever the cold wind blows, there will be a burst of muddy rustic atmosphere, which makes the unpopular village appear extremely desolate.

Shi Xie stretched out his arms to embrace Xia Yao who was shivering from the cold, and brought him into his arms.

"This is Xiaxiang Bay? This is too desolate..."

Baili Qianyan hid in Shi Lin's arms tremblingly and couldn't help but speak out.

This Xiaxiang Bay is really much dilapidated than he imagined. Looking around, there are only about a hundred families in this village, most of which are earthen houses.

The mud-yellow walls are mottled, and there are even large and small potholes in many places.

Baili Qianyan doubts whether such a house can live in, it looks really crumbling.

"This Xiangxiang Bay is really too poor. Where are we going to live at night?"

Shi Lin hugged Baili Qianyan with one arm, and subconsciously pushed his glasses with the other hand. The actual situation in Xiaxiangwan was beyond his expectation.

Oddly enough, Shi Lin lost his mind for a moment.

"Go to the village chief first. After all, we are outsiders, so we have to meet the person in charge here."

Shi Xie still looked calm and calm, and didn't feel helpless because of such a desolate village.

Baili Qianyan had long lost his sense of proportion, and the weather was cold, so he nodded hastily when he heard Shi Xie's words, but Shi Lin didn't have any objections.

Xia Yao, Xiao Shen and He Bishen are of course wherever Shi Xie goes.

Shi Xie held Xia Yao in one hand and pulled the suitcase in the other, while Xia Yao still held He Bishen in his hand.

On the other side, Baili Qianyan and Shi Lin did the same thing. Xiao Shen was pulled by Baili Qianyan in his hand, looking a little sluggish, and his chubby, white and tender face was a little red from the cold.

Baili Qianyan looked distressed, took out his own and Shi Lin's scarves from the suitcase, and wrapped them around Xiao Shen and He Bishen respectively.

Xia Yao's spirit is not very good, and he speaks softly, looking very tired.

Stepping on the frozen ground, the friction between the suitcase and the floor made the sound of "caracalla--", which was particularly harsh in the silent village.

After walking for five or six minutes, the sky had already darkened, and Shi Xie saw lights starting to light up in the houses in the village.

After walking a few steps forward, Shi Xie vaguely saw a figure in front of him. He hugged Xia Yao and walked two steps forward quickly, only to see that there was indeed an old man packing dry corn stalks by the wall.

"Uncle, we are here to gather folk songs. Can you tell me where the village chief's house is?"

Shi Xie's voice was very loud. The old man who was holding the corn stalks slowly turned his head, squinted his eyes and looked at them. It took him a long time to open his mouth and say a few times. The old man turned out to be dumb.

"Uncle, we want to go to the village chief's house, just show us the way."

The old man nodded, kept yelling, gestured a few times with his hand to point in one direction, pointed in that direction, swiped and pulled from left to right, and stretched out three fingers again.

Shi Xie looked in his direction, only to see a row of dilapidated houses.

Shi Xie understood what the old man meant in a second, nodded and thanked him.

The old man waved his hand to show that it was all right. Just as Shi Xie and Xia Yao were about to find the village chief's house, Xia Yao suddenly walked out of the intern's arms and stretched out his arms in front of the old man.

Xia Yao's back was facing them, so Shi Xie and the others didn't see what Xia Yao was holding in his hand, but happened to see all the expressions of the old man.

The old man was taken aback for a moment, as if he didn't react, then his old cheeks trembled suddenly, and his dry lips slowly showed a kind smile.

The old man stretched out his hand and carefully took the thing from Xia Yao's palm. Only then did Shi Xie and the others see clearly that what Xia Yao gave the old man was actually a candy wrapped in beautiful floral paper.

"grateful."

Xia Yao smiled innocently, like a child, with the most sincere look in his eyes.

The old man seemed to like Xia Yao very much, he gestured back and forth to him several times, with a constant smile on his face.

I don't know if Xia Yao understood it or not, but he followed the old man's gesture and nodded in response.

Finally, after the two chatted for a while, Xia Yao nodded vigorously, and shook his hand at the old man again.

"Goodbye, grandpa!"

After finishing speaking, he ran to Shi Xie's side again and hugged Shi Xie's arm with joy, looking very happy.

The old man said goodbye to Xia Yao, and walked slowly into the gate, knowing that the old man had completely closed the gate, so Shi Xie and the others walked towards the village chief's house.

"What did you tell the old man just now?"

As they walked, Shi Xie lowered his head slightly and asked Xia Yao.

"Give grandpa candy, thank you!"

"Well, what else?"

"Grandpa told me to be obedient and listen to you."

Xia Yao didn't know what to think of after he finished speaking, and suddenly he laughed to himself. The clear laughter drove away some of the loneliness that belonged to the night, and made him feel more relaxed.

Shi Xie's face softened involuntarily, he reached out to touch Xia Yao's soft hair, reached out to hold his hand, and held it tightly.

Following the old man's guidance just now, Shi Xie and the others quickly found the village chief's house without much effort.

Also used a large wooden board as the door panel. After years of wind and rain, the door panel is full of deep imprints scratched by the years.

There are some dim lights in the gaps on the door panel, which are not bright, and can only faintly illuminate a small area.

Shi Xie grabbed Xia Yao and stretched out a hand to knock on the door panel a few times. The chain on the door panel made a "cracking" sound, which was extremely loud in the silent night.

I don't know whose watchdog was alarmed. Along with the sound of the chains, there was also the loud barking of dogs in the village.

Not long after he knocked on the door, he heard a sound of opening the door, and Shi Xie saw a man in a dark gray padded jacket coming out of the house through the gap in the door.

The man stopped at the door, looking out through the crack in the door panel.

Shi Xie also saw his appearance clearly at this time, he was an old man in his sixties, his face was a little pale, his eyes were blue and black, and his eyes

The bag drooped, looking very listless.

The village chief looked at Shi Xie and the others in bright clothes outside through the gap in the door panel, his dead lips trembled, and he opened his mouth to spit out an obscure dialect.

"Who?"

Shi Xie thought about it for a while, and hearing some similar voices, Shi Xie could probably guess what the old man said, and raised his voice to answer

Road.

"Village chief, we are foreigners, and we are here mainly to save lives."

After Shi Xie finished speaking, there was a sudden silence on the other side. Shi Xie could see that the village head hadn't left, as if he was thinking about something.Shi Xie was not in a hurry, he still had time to caress Xia Yao's palm with his fingers, Xia Yao was so itchy that he just wanted to withdraw his hand.

"Father, Xiao Shen is very sleepy and wants to sleep."

Xiao Shen suddenly walked up to Shi Xie and tugged at the corner of his clothes, and said in a daze.

Shi Xie looked down at Xiao Shen, only to see that he was rubbing his eyes with his chubby hands, looking very sleepy.

Shi Xie let go of Xia Yao's hand and bent down to pick up Xiao Shen, stroking his head.

"Come in."

At this moment, the village chief suddenly spoke in awkward Mandarin.

Baili Qianyan on the side suddenly let out an exaggerated breath, and leaned against Shi Lin as if he had no bones.

"I'm cold and hungry right now, I just want to eat a bowl of warm food and get some sleep."

"hold on."

Shi Lin touched Baili Qianyan's face distressedly, his hands were cold, so he could only warm him with the palm of his hand.

The village chief took out a large number of keys from his pocket, picked one out and put it behind the door panel, only to hear the sound of the key colliding with the lock, and with a "click", the wooden door opened. With an unpleasant babbling sound, it slowly opened from inside.

The village chief raised his eyelids to look at Shi Xie and the others, and turned sideways to let them in without saying a word.

"Thank you."

Shi Xie thanked Xiao Shen with his arms in his arms, why bothered to pull Xia Yao into the door carefully, Shi Lin also watched Baili Qianyan walk in.

"Come in first."

The village head shook his head to let Shi Xie in, then closed the door and locked it again.

There were only a few earthen houses in the village head's house, and only one of them was lit. Shi Xie and the others walked into the house.

As soon as the thick cotton curtain was lifted, a gust of hot air rushed towards his face, Baili Qianyan couldn't help but let out a long sigh, and followed Shi Lin's strength to sit on the simple sofa covered with floral cloth.

"Sit down."

The village chief came in last, put down the cotton curtain and closed the door, walked to a wooden cabinet, opened it, took out a few cups from it, and poured hot water for them.

"Thank you."

Xiao Shen was even more sleepy being hugged by Shi Xie, so Shi Xie had to carefully put him on one side of the sofa, and Xiao Shen nestled on the sofa obediently and closed his eyes.

Baili Qianyan held the hot water cup, his body slowly warmed up, and his face became flushed.

And Xia Yao looked at the room curiously, holding He Bishen's hand tightly, not daring to let go.

The village chief sat across from them, rubbing his rough fingers together, with a serious expression on his face.

"Young man, what did you just say to save lives?"

Hearing the village chief's question, Shi Xie put down the water glass in his hand and immediately sat upright.

"I don't know if the village chief has heard of Missing Return. My lover has been poisoned by Missing Returning. After investigation, we found that your village has a solution to Solving Missing Returning. That's why we came to bother you."

I saw that the old man's gray eyebrows frowned suddenly when he heard Missing No Return, and his face was a little worried.Shi Xie knew from his appearance that the village chief must also know that he was missing, so their trip was not in vain. "Young man, what kind of poison did you say your lover was poisoned with?"

"I can't think of returning."

Shi Xie stretched out his hand to hold Xia Yao's hand. Xia Yao, who was in a daze, froze for a moment, and turned his head to look at Shi Xie dumbly.

"husband?"

"fine."

Shi Xie patted Xia Yao's hand to comfort him, Xia Yao turned his head to look at Baili Qianyan and Shi Lin, then at the village chief, he responded blankly, and began to lean on the sofa in a daze again.

When the village chief heard Xia Yao call Shi Xie, his face suddenly became a little strange. There was no discrimination or shock, but it was very complicated.

Finally, after a while, the village chief clasped his hands, coughed lightly and said.

"Young man, let me tell you a story."