Urban Oddities: Soul Contract

Chapter 21 Mother

Huo Minghai couldn't answer any of Zheng Chuanchuan's questions.

To ask him what it was, Huo Minghai touched his arm, it was flesh and blood, what else could it be if it wasn't a human?

Asked him what his obsessions were, Huo Minghai tried his best and didn't think he had any lofty ideals, just going to work, earning money, and earning a living.

When Huo Minghai came home, the sofa was empty, his mother was not there, and he didn't know if he had left or where he had gone. Du Jiajun was still busy in the kitchen, when he heard the noise, he called Huo Minghai in, and while washing the vegetables, he asked, "You just came back?"

"There are a lot of people in line."

"Have you bought the bun?"

"Yeah." Shaking the bag, "Mom is gone?"

"No." Du Jiajun signaled him to take out the bowls and chopsticks.

Huo Minghai responded, and Du Jiajun stopped his paws reaching for the tomato, and stuffed it into the bowl and chopsticks.

"Can't you eat a piece?"

"Eat and eat."

"Stingy...huh?" Stuffing a piece of tomato into its mouth, the gluttonous cat ate it happily and blinked.

"No more, get out! Get out!" The chef drove the gluttonous cat out of the kitchen.

When setting the table and chopsticks, a familiar voice came from behind.

"Going all the way, just to buy pineapple buns?"

The bag made a rattling sound, and the mother touched it through the bag: "Yo, it's still hot."

Huo Minghai took a deep breath, and said slowly: "The signature bread has just come out of the oven, and you have to queue up to buy it."

He untied the bag and handed it to his mother: "Try it?"

"Hehe, good boy." Mother Huo patted her son's head, and took the bread to the sofa to drink tea while eating. The short man next to him raised his head, and Huo's mother looked over, but the short man stopped moving again.

"Mom, where were you just now?" Huo Minghai sat beside his mother and took her hand.

Wearing a ring on his skinny hand, it was specially made by his father. The name of the couple was engraved on the circle of the ring. It was unique in the world. Huo Minghai turned his mother's palm over. The lifeline was very long, but it was cut from the middle. in two halves.

"What? Why don't you just sit here?" Mother Huo smiled.

"Come and eat." The chef greeted.

Parents came to visit, and the dishes were much richer than usual. Mother Huo tasted a few mouthfuls and was very satisfied. She joked that with Xiao Du around, she didn’t even need to marry a wife. Huo Minghai nodded in agreement, and added a good brother in a funny way That's how it should be.

There is a popular saying on Weibo that a good brother is to be your woman when you need her most. This famous saying frequently appeared in the Weibo messages of the two of them. Huo Minghai secretly hurt Du Jiajun by learning and using it. Jian, still not changing his face, smiled and said: "Don't dare to be, you are my good brother."

Huo's mother was amused by them, and picked up a tomato for each of them. When it was Huo Minghai's turn, the tomato fell off the table.

"Hey, I'm old and useless." Stretching out the chopsticks, he picked up another piece. Before the tomato was put into the bowl, Huo Minghai seemed to have seen something terrible, and uttered a loud cry, knocking over the bowl and chopsticks , Rice and soup were sprinkled hotly on the table.

"Ming Hai?!" Mother Huo was taken aback, took his hand and asked if it was burned somewhere.

"Mom..." Big drops of cold sweat dripped down his forehead, but Huo Minghai held onto her hand tightly, and hesitated for a long time but couldn't say anything.

"Ming Hai, why do you look so bad?"

The old bark-like hand touched her son's face. She didn't know that her hand disappeared for a few seconds just now. In Huo Minghai's eyes, he only saw a pair of chopsticks floating in the air!

Huo Minghai's nose was sour, and an unusually terrifying feeling spread in his heart. After eating, Du Jiajun poured them a cup of tea each, and then went into the kitchen to wash the dishes. Mother and son were left in the hall. Mother Huo took out a cup of tea from her pocket. The small box was solemnly stuffed into his son's hands.

My father bought my mother a birthday present, small silver earrings, nicknamed a pair of mandarin ducks, and my mother was reluctant to bring them, saying that they were reserved for the future daughter-in-law.

"Ming Hai, you are not young anymore, you have to consider starting a family."

Huo Minghai was in his twenties and hadn't had a girlfriend yet. He usually lived a casual life. His mother nagged him for several years, only hoping that a good girl would take care of him and ask his grandson to hug him.

Huo Minghai put away the small box, took a sip of hot tea, and said in a relaxed tone, "Mom, where is Seventh Street?"

Mother Huo obviously didn't expect her son to ask this suddenly, she was stunned for a while, and said with a smile: "Oh, you actually know Seventh Street?"

Huo Minghai turned over the box of green tea cake, and then Mother Huo saw the booth number printed on the box.

"Hehe, this street is actually a small market. Farmers pick things up and set up stalls. It's very lively."

"What about this?" Huo Minghai pulled out the Kunlun Blood Jade from his collar, "You also bought it at the market?"

"That's right." Huo's mother also said that many things were bought in the market before, and the things in the market were not adulterated, so she was more assured than those in the supermarket.

If it was before, Huo Minghai would have heard of it, but now, every word of Huo's mother is like explosives, barrels are ignited and detonated.

The hand holding the cup was shaking, and a few drops of tea were spilled.

"Mom, when will you take me shopping?"

"Oh, kid, want to go shopping?" Mother Huo winked with a smile, "Hurry up and find a wife and let her go shopping with you."

"To Seventh Street?" Huo Minghai tilted his head to look at her.

"The Seventh Street is far away. Isn't there a very famous old street in the city, what is it called... Oh, Dongmen Commercial Street!" Mother Huo patted her son's hand, and the topic turned to his wife again, "Ming Hai , don't ask too much, as long as the girl can catch eyes."

"En." Huo Minghai put down the cup, stared blankly for a while, dipped his finger in the tea, and swiped it on the coffee table a few times.

"Mom, I recently received a very strange item."

My son has been doing express delivery for several years, and Huo's mother also knows this industry more or less. The company allows them to deal with the things they don't want after signing for them. Young, sometimes the lost things were dolls, sometimes roses, and even a box of Dove chocolates. The girl who was losing weight became popular when she saw it. After signing for it, she directly gave the package to Huo Minghai.

Mother Huo watched her son draw a character for sheep on the table, and asked curiously, "Sheep? Pleasant goat?"

Huo Minghai: "...not sheep."

"That's a comb?"

Huo Minghai heard that it had turned into a branch, so he nodded and observed her reaction secretly. Mother Huo looked calm, and even touched her son's head and told him to keep it for himself.

Huo Minghai wondered: "How to use it?"

"Comb your hair."

So that thing is used to comb hair?

Seeing her son stunned, Mother Huo thought it was funny, and she was curious about what kind of comb was so special, and asked him to take it out to have a look. When Huo Minghai came out with a branch, Mother Huo shook her hand, and the cup fell on the floor with a snap. on the ground.

His face changed drastically, and he grabbed the branch.

"Where did this thing come from?!"

Like an angry lioness, the always gentle mother Huo glared fiercely at her son.

"Pack...package...inside..."

"Who sent it? To whom?" Huo Minghai was intimidated by her, his mind was in a mess, and he stammered for a long time before he could make up a word. He watched her put the branch into his pocket. Minghai was in a hurry and wanted to take it back, but she slapped her away. Mother Huo protected her pocket, and no matter what Huo Minghai said, she just wouldn't let him touch it, so she got up and left in a hurry. Huo Minghai chased her all the way out to the corridor, and finally endured Unable to stop, he took a step and stood in front of his mother.

"Get out of the way!" Mother Huo shouted angrily.

"Mom! What's going on?" Huo Minghai is still in the dark. The branch seems to be a big thing. His mother knows it, but there is no explanation. Huo Minghai is depressed, and his voice is unconsciously louder.

Huo's mother stared at her son for a long time, and finally her tone eased.

"This branch...is not a good thing...it has radiation and is dangerous."

"Radiation?" Huo Minghai didn't know whether to laugh or cry, crystals contain radiation and magnetic fields, it's just a question of how much or how little, his mother's words flickered, obviously she didn't finish her sentence.

When Huo Minghai was thinking about it, he heard a word from his mother suddenly.

"Ming Hai, move out."

"... what... what?"

Mother Huo's tone was firm: "Ming Hai, be obedient, mother is doing this for your own good, find a new place to live, and don't do this job."

"Why..." Huo Minghai thought about it, and immediately understood, "It's because of... Du Jiajun?"

Huo's mother nodded and didn't explain anything. Huo Minghai was stunned, but his mother walked around him. When he realized that he was about to chase, his mother had already turned down the stairs.

"Mom! Wait! Mom—!"

There were still many doubts in his heart, Huo Minghai was in a hurry, he rushed down in three steps at a time, just after turning the corner, he bumped into a person.

Chu Moxie was hit by his hammer and almost fell down the stairs, Chu Gan quickly helped him up, Huo Minghai fell to the ground with a wow, and was in a daze, a strong arm stretched out from the side to support him.

"It didn't hurt, did it?" Du Jiajun's voice.

"You boy... hiss... did you run so fast to reincarnate?!" Chu Moxie covered his chest in pain, and Chu Gan put his hand into his brother's suit to help him rub it gently.

"Ah! Mom!" Huo Minghai came back to his senses, and was grabbed by Du Jiajun as soon as he jumped up.

"What mother?" Chu Moxie wondered.

"His mother just left." Du Jiajun explained.

"What kind of mother is there?" General Chu felt strange, "We are the only ones on the stairs, and you don't see anyone else?"

At night, Huo Minghai suffered from insomnia again.

The head of the department, General Chu Gan, was chatting with his brother on the phone in a low voice. Huo Minghai also dug out the address book and dialed the number at home.

"Your mother hasn't returned yet?" Du Jiajun said.

Before Huo Minghai came to S City, he lived in a small town. After the train got off, he had to transfer to another car. Huo Minghai didn't react until he reminded him. He was about to hang up the phone, but he didn't expect the connection.

"Hello? Who is it?" An unfamiliar voice.

"Huh? You... who are you?"

When he was disturbed in the middle of the night, the man over there was on fire, when he heard the person on the phone asking who he was, the man finally lost his temper.

"Fucking call in the middle of the night to ask who I am? I am your ancestor!!!"

After the rant, the phone hung up.

Huo Minghai was in a daze holding the beeping mobile phone.

Usually it was his mother who called, but Huo Minghai seldom called back. Some simple groups of numbers became so unfamiliar at some point. He stared at the number word by word, recalling whether he had made a mistake in which number.

"Strange, I obviously saved it directly...how could it be wrong?"

Redialed, the phone was answered, and it was the man's voice again, this time before he could start scolding, Huo Minghai quickly hung up the phone.

"Is there no other number?" Du Jiajun asked.

"No."

"Then we can only wait for your mother to call."

The voice just finished, the phone rang, it was the familiar number, as usual, when Huo Minghai connected, the man over there roared, warning him not to call again, only half of the threatening words were cursed, Huo Minghai hung up Telephone.

The surroundings became quiet, General Chu in the hall had finished talking on the phone and fell asleep.

The phone didn't ring again, Huo Minghai went online with his mobile phone and found a train timetable.

"Want to go back?"

"Yeah." Huo Minghai did not hide anything, and directly sent a message to Manager Zhong Kui, saying that there was an urgent matter at home and he needed to go back and take a look. As soon as the message was sent, Zhong Kui replied quickly.

Zhong Kui: How many days?

Huo Minghai: 1 day.

Huo Minghai thought in his mind that he would leave early in the morning and arrive in the afternoon, just to have a look, and come back the next day just in time for work.

Zhong Kui was very forthright, and replied: "Okay, you two come back to make up the fake bill."

Huo Minghai: Good.

After posting, Huo Minghai was taken aback, two?

Turning around, Du Jiajun just typed OK on his phone and sent it.

"Are you going too?" Huo Minghai was surprised.

"How long has it been since you went back?" Du Jiajun asked back.

The phone call is always from the mother, and it is also the mother who comes to look for her son during the Chinese New Year. Huo Minghai's relatives are only the mother, and the mother said that it is the same wherever the Chinese New Year is. Looking back carefully, the home there has not been back for many years.

"There are so many alleys in that small town, I guess you have almost forgotten how to get there."

Huo Minghai snorted and said, "I don't know the way, do you know the way?"

Du Jiajun laughed and said, "One Zhuge Liang is worth three cobblers."

"Okay, you are Zhuge Liang, and I am the cobbler!"

"Wrong." Du Jiajun fiddled with the phone, "One-third of the cobblers."

"……Depend on!"

The time on the wall clock pointed to 02:30, Huo Minghai flipped through the timetable, thinking about booking an early morning train ticket.

"Go to sleep." Du Jiajun urged.

"Sleep after booking the ticket... Ah, there is a train at six o'clock, how about..."

"It's booked, we should get up at five o'clock."

Du Jiajun reported an order number, and Huo Minghai went to check it out. Damn, there really are, even the return ticket is bought!

At five o'clock, Huo Minghai couldn't get up on the bed. Du Jiajun dug him out of the quilt and dragged him into the bathroom. Chu Gan would be woken up by them. When he learned that he was going to go far away, he also got up sleepily and walked crookedly. Tripped by the big spider, he fell directly on its back. The big spider shook him off and kicked him away with a flick of its legs.

"I'll go." Du Jiajun winked at him. Today the museum welcomes a group of leaders. As the deputy curator, Chu Moxie will be on stage to give a report. When I talked about it yesterday, General Chu was thinking about it. Moxie told him that the TV has Broadcasting, watching TV is good, but TV can't compare with real people, Chu Gan will wake up immediately when he hears that he can go to his brother's place today, and when Huo Minghai finishes washing up with dark circles under his eyes, Chu Gan will already rush out the door excitedly.

There is no high-speed train in the town, only ordinary green leather trains, swaying slowly, Huo Minghai followed the swaying, his head drooped, and finally fell on Du Jiajun's shoulders, and fell asleep drowsily...

After an unknown amount of time, Huo Minghai was awakened by a murmuring sound.

It was dark all around, Huo Minghai wondered, maybe there was a power outage on the train?The muttering sound was like a lullaby, Huo Minghai closed his eyes again, he heard the sound of the door opening in a trance, walked over lightly with one step, and stopped by the bed.

Huh, bed?

Huo Minghai pulled himself together, his eyes were hazy, he felt cold, his sweaty clothes stuck to his skin, the space was filled with a strong smell of herbs, the white-haired woman was touching his forehead with her hands, Called his name lightly.

"Ming Hai..."

mom……?

Huo Minghai suddenly woke up, but there was no one around him.

Was it just an illusion?

Huo Minghai sat up and looked around. The small wooden table and small bench were simple but clean.

Strange, where is this?

Huo Minghai remembered that he got on the train, why did he suddenly come to this place?

He touched the table and knocked on the chair. When he was wandering around in the room, it suddenly became foggy. The dense fog came suddenly. Huo Minghai found that he could not see clearly what was in front of him very quickly, as if he was being pulled by a force, which he could not control. Containing himself, he walked straight towards the bed, fatigue swept over him like a tide, Huo Minghai lay down on the bed, thinking about going to sleep first, half dreaming and half awake, and heard someone calling him again.

"Ming Hai..."

"mom?"

"He's dying."

"Fuck, who do you think is dying?" Huo Minghai fiercely opened his eyes, there was his mother standing by the bed, and a man with a stethoscope.

"My condolences." The man helped the mother who was about to faint and walked out.

"Fuck you!" Huo Minghai was furious. Is this man blind or something? He's not just fine, why doesn't he look like he's not working?Wanting to get up, I tried hard, but found that I was still lying on the bed.

"Huh?" Huo Minghai struggled for a moment, his body seemed to be filled with lead, unable to move.

For a moment, his mind was stunned, and an extremely terrifying thought suddenly popped up in his heart.

It's not that his body is heavy, but that he can't control his body at all!

The body is no longer controlled by the soul.

Could it be...he is dead?

No...impossible! !

"Mum - Mom -!!" Huo Minghai yelled, but he couldn't even hear the sound, or in other words, his body didn't make any sound at all.

Huo Minghai never thought that he would become like this, a sense of hopeless fear made his mind go blank.

"Do not--!!"

move... move...

"Ah!!" Huo Minghai yelled and sat up.

The feeling of surviving after a catastrophe made him sweat profusely, whispering voices came from outside the door again, Huo Minghai went to the door quietly and listened for a while, the people outside spoke very quietly, Huo Minghai couldn't hear it Qing, footsteps sounded, someone left, Huo Minghai opened the door, under the moonlight, a tall man stood outside, wearing a black hat, black clothes and trousers, the brim of the hat was pulled down very low, but Huo Minghai I recognized him immediately.

"Hello!" Huo Minghai walked over, "Where is this? Where is the train?"

Du Jiajun glanced at him, then looked away and stared ahead, Huo Minghai was a little depressed, what is this guy doing so mysteriously?

Walking around in front of Du Jiajun, Huo Minghai raised his hand and waved in front of his eyes.

Under the shadow of the brim of the hat, Du Jiajun looked at him indifferently, with unfamiliar and wary eyes, Huo Minghai was about to tease a few words, but Du Jiajun looked away.

Mother hurried over with some money and jewelry.

"Look, are these enough?"

In the open palm, Huo Minghai saw the pair of small silver earrings that his father gave her.

My mother has always cherished it very much and never let Huo Minghai touch it. The money she brought was scattered bills, about 100 yuan, and now [-] yuan is only a few meals. Huo Minghai didn't know that his mother Why did he have to give money? He took out a few hundred yuan bills from his pocket and handed them to his mother, but the mother didn't pick them up, and didn't even look at him. Huo Minghai had to put the money into his mother's hand. Then, he saw those The money penetrated the mother's hand, dangling and falling with the wind...

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