sunk in yesterday

That is to say, but Xia Zhuo is not sure where the little girl is looking.

She is thin and thin, with an unhealthy pale complexion, and her hair hasn't been taken care of for some time. She covered half of her face under the wetness of the rain, revealing only one dull eye staring directly at the place where the two of them were. Look at the place.

From the outside, it seems that she is not more than ten years old, but her slightly malnourished body makes it difficult to determine her real age. The gray skirt she is wearing is covered with patches, and her muddy feet are exposed on the broken bricks and tiles. On the ground, she was so thin that if the wall collapsed, she would fall from a height of two meters and die on the spot.

Her appearance was very different from the imp seen in the tunnel, and she didn't look very dangerous.Xia Zhuo raised her wrist, bared her teeth and greeted her generously: "Little sister, are your parents at home? Can you come and open the door for uncle?"

Guan Yuzhou thought to himself, if the police uncle heard this, he might come up and take you back for afternoon tea without saying a word.

Suddenly a scream came from inside the wall, but in the next second the exclamation was suddenly suppressed, and the woman's old hiss seemed to be mixed with deep fear: "Lai Lai, come down quickly! Don't leave the house! Come to grandma, Grandma is cooking batter for you, come down quickly!!!"

Guan Yuzhou looked back at the top of the wall as well, and saw a nail sticking out, as if trying to pull the little girl back.

The second half of the rake was already covered with rust, but the tops of the sharp teeth had been specially polished day and night. The person holding the sharp weapon seemed a little unsteady, and even poked it straight at the back of the little girl's head.

Xia Zhuo couldn't help but squeezed a cold sweat in his heart, and Guan Yuzhou beside him had already taken a step quickly.When the tip of the rake touched the little girl's clumps of hair, he opened his arms and took a soulless rag doll into his arms.

As if he had discovered something was wrong, his face changed slightly.

The old man inside the door saw that he had poked his granddaughter down with this action, and quickly threw away the tool with his backhand.After the sound of water splashing several times, a gray and old face suddenly appeared on the high wall.

Obviously there are not many fine lines on the face, but the old man's hair is all white.She didn't seem to expect to see two strangers outside the door, but when she saw her granddaughter staying in Guan Yuzhou's arms with empty eyes and her whole body unharmed, she still couldn't help stretching out her hand to snatch them back.But on the other hand, she seemed to be afraid of leaving the house, and when her fingers were about to cross the wall, she barely stopped, and Guan Yuzhou sent her in again before catching it, and while thanking jerkyly, she retreated to hide behind the wall.

"thanks, thanks."

Xia Zhuo stretched out his hand and grabbed the old man's sleeve. According to this posture, as long as he exerted force on his hand, the old man inside would be torn off the wall by him.He didn't seem to see the other person's expression of wanting to swallow him alive for a moment, and he still smiled and said: "Saving someone's life is better than building a seven-level pagoda, and we don't need you to build a pagoda. It's getting dark, so let's go in to avoid the rain overnight."

Guan Yuzhou glanced at his slender arms, and leaned against him silently.He was about ten centimeters taller than Xia Zhuo, and with a height of 1.9 meters, he looked like a thug who followed behind his boss to smash the scene, making the old man inside tremble again.

"You...are people? Are you living?"

Xia Zhuo asked with a harmless face: "It's broad daylight, whose family's dead dare to come out and mess around? Is it yours?"

Although he was calm on the surface and still had time to joke with the aborigine in front of him, both of them could get some clues from the brief conversation.

There are indeed some problems in this lonely village. Judging by the old lady's way of asking, it seems that there are ghosts in the village, and she has also encountered frightening things, so she painted red paint on the places she entered and exited.

And why there are so few people here, whether they moved to other places or were killed by ghosts, it is unknown.

But now that there is a beginning, Guan Yuzhou knows what to do next. It is nothing more than knowing what happened from these aborigines, and the key is to prescribe the right medicine.

Unexpectedly, as soon as Xia Zhuo's last words came out, the expression of the old man in front of him changed immediately.She dodged and looked around, and finally gave in with her granddaughter in her arms: "Let go, I'll hand you the ladder!"

Xia Zhuo said that he didn't really understand the reason why he insisted on climbing the wall to get in without leaving the door.

After getting the invitation, the two finally entered the courtyard surrounded by high walls.

Only then did they see that there were a lot of furniture parts blocked behind the door, ranging from a round table to a dilapidated wooden board, and an abandoned TV set with intertwined threads piled up on the top, as if they had moved all the idle and movable things at home. .The red paint was painted in a straight line, extending along the wall into the main room, which seemed to encircle the entire house.

The two looked at the yard from the corner of their eyes, and followed her into the main room. Lailai, who had not made any movement all this time, raised his hand and grabbed the old lady's clothes, weakly calling a single tone, saying that he was hungry.

When coaxing her to come down from the wall just now, the old man mentioned making batter for her.But at this moment when she heard her granddaughter urging, she raised her hand to cover her face in embarrassment, and sat down on a piece of white paper money that had not yet been spilled in the future.

She took her granddaughter into her arms, and didn't care about arranging for the two uninvited guests who broke into the house.Then she scooped up a spoonful of water from the iron bucket beside her, shook her hand and fed it to the little girl's lips, hugging her and coaxing her, "Hey, go to sleep...you won't be hungry after you fall asleep."

It looks like there is nothing to eat.Xia Zhuo didn't intend to compete with his body, and he didn't pay attention to Kong Rong's spirit at all, so he walked to the only intact small stool in the hall and sat down.He looked around, and couldn't help clicking his tongue after seeing the inside of the house. This place has refreshed his understanding of poverty.

There are no cans hidden on the beams to prevent rats, the hanging sacks are empty, scattered slippers and old paper are spread all over the floor, various thin quilts are placed on the dirty cardboard, and there are patched woven fabrics. The bag was also mixed in, and a yellow leather book hidden under the bag was printed with a few words that were about to fade. Judging from the dust on the corners, it should have been a long time since I read it. Xia Zhuo looked at it twice. With my eyes, I could barely make out the content of the words on the cover.

With a little curiosity, he slowly moved over and opened the book, but he couldn't help feeling a little disappointed—the inside pages of the book were clean, without leaving any traces, as if it had never been used.

There is a chopping board on the edge of the iron bucket standing against the wall, and the stacked stainless steel bowls are covered with a thick layer of dust. There are only a few rotten old cabbage roots left in it, and the dripping juice and dust condense Disgusting lumps, even the small bucket of water was floating with fluff, and the precipitated mud was visible to the naked eye, and it was fed directly into the little girl's stomach without filtering.

The only table was also used to block the door. It can be seen that this restaurant has not been opened for a long time. There is still a small tooth mark on the vegetable side in the bowl. It should be left when the hunger is unbearable. They can't bite, even if it rots into a lump of mud, they are reluctant to throw it away.

Xia Zhuo glanced at the exposed light bulb above his head, raised his hand and pressed the switch on the wall.The switch made a clicking sound, but the light bulb did not respond. Guan Yuzhou peeled off the thin plastic shell in twos and found that the wire wrapped inside had been cut.

Over there, Lailai was hugged in her arms with her head down. She had never worn shoes, her feet were covered with mud, and the exposed soles of her feet were full of calluses and scars. She didn't look like a teenager at all. Girls should have feet.After yelling hungry, she curled up obediently in her grandma's arms, staring at the ceiling above her head motionless, like a mechanical puppet entering a dormant period.

Guan Yuzhou reached into his pocket and began to break the remaining half of the compressed biscuit he returned in front of Xia Zhuo.The two aborigines seemed to be wearing shielding devices, and they didn't respond to the things in his hands.Xia Zhuo watched Guan Yuzhou use his thumb to break off the crumbs with tooth marks on the corners little by little, and asked amusedly, "You said you liked my body before, but now you despise my saliva? "

Guan Yuzhou glanced at him, but said nothing.He divided the biscuit into two parts, and stuffed the broken piece that was stained with saliva back into the bag. With the other hand, he held the remaining unsoiled biscuit and placed it in the bottom bowl on the chopping board. Step by step, he walked up to the two aborigines who were next to each other, and handed over the bowl, "Although there are not many, it can make a meal."

With the special emphasis of the participants, the aborigine finally noticed the food in his hands that could be digested.

The old lady repeatedly confirmed that the intruding young man didn't mean to tease her. Fearing that he would repent, she quickly took the bowl, mixed it with water to make a paste, and fed it to her granddaughter's mouth little by little.I don't know how long this little girl hasn't eaten, even the movement of swallowing is very jerky, but fortunately, there is enough water, and there is no choking incident.

Xia Zhuo watched Guan Yuzhou seal the bag and stuff it back into his pocket. He couldn't help whistling and teasingly said, "Is there still scum? Is this for myself to eat?"

Guan Yuzhou smiled, gently stroking the plastic bag seal with his fingertips hidden in his pocket.

Xia Zhuo's scalp was numb from his gentle smile, and he closed his mouth out of boredom.Guan Yuzhou didn't get too entangled in this matter, but explained to his "employer" calmly: "In the dream, all the clues must be obtained by yourself, so when conditions permit, some aborigines' favorability You can still swipe some, after all, it is much less labor-intensive to obtain information from the parties than to look for it like a headless chicken."

Xia Zhuo curled her lips: "Didn't you just come in a few times, why do you seem to be very skilled."

What Guan Yuzhou said was true. After the old lady finished feeding the biscuit batter, the little girl named Lailai fell asleep in seconds.After comforting her granddaughter, the old lady checked again whether the door in front of the courtyard was secure before it got dark, and then she turned back and closed the door of the main room. After a sigh, she made the first opening sentence: "You shouldn't come here ah……"

Seeing that the aborigines started to get involved in the plot, Guan Yuzhou stood beside Xia Zhuo and asked casually, "May I ask what happened here?"

"This village is hopeless." The old lady shook her head again and again, her eyes moved to the pile of paper money in the corner, "There is no food, and people are starving to death. You shouldn't have come here, you should leave before it's dark .”

Her voice was a little stiff, but she didn't get to the point, as if she was deliberately avoiding something.Guan Yuzhou didn't ask any further questions, but just started another topic by insinuating: "I saw a memorial couplet pasted on the door, may I ask if there is someone at home—"

"No!" The old lady interrupted him quickly this time, "No, it has already left, and we won't have it at home...and it won't be there in the future, and it won't be in the future..."

"Who has left?"

"It's gone, it's already gone..." The old lady seemed to be caught in some kind of trick, and she just repeated back and forth stupidly: "I won't die... As long as Lai Lai is still here... I don't want to die." will die..."