Hearing the sound, Erya was so frightened that her body trembled. The firewood she held in her hand was scattered on the floor, but instead of picking it up, she stepped over the firewood and ran away.
Behind her, a man with a ferocious scar on his face limped towards her, with a sinister look on his face, "You dare to run away, you lose money, but you still want to find that bitch?!"
Erya shook his head in horror, but the man still looked excited. He bent down and picked up a piece of firewood on the ground, and smashed it on Erya's head.
"Today, I will beat you to death, you lose money!"
ah! !
Erya let out a scream of terror. Fortunately, she reacted quickly, and her flexible and petite body quickly escaped. The firewood smashed on the ground and broke into two pieces. The sound made Erya tremble in her heart.
If it hits her, it will definitely hurt a lot. She... doesn't want any more pain!
"Dad, I didn't mean it!"
As Erya fled around the yard, she begged: "Erya was just having fun and wasted time. This will never happen again. Daddy, please forgive me!"
"You lied! You just wanted to escape. That bitch left me. Do you want me to die so that you can join her?! You came back so late to cook. Do you want to starve me to death!"
As the man spoke, a crimson look of madness appeared in his eyes. He turned back and tightened the door bolt, and continued to chase Erya. Although Erya was nimble, he was still young after all and could not move very fast. He gradually lost his physical strength and was caught. Beaten up.
…
"Cry! Just cry. Go cook for me!"
Bang!
The man swung the stick, the madness in his eyes subsided, and turned back to the house. Erya hugged her knees and huddled in the corner of the earth wall, sobbing softly while wiping the blood stains on her arms with her small hands.
When the man's voice in the house came again, she had to endure the pain in her body and got up to light a fire to cook.
"Hiss..."
The cold well water soaked her little hands. Erya took a deep breath and felt that the pain in the wound on her hand was lessened. Then she started to wash the rice. The blood in the wound inevitably flowed into the water, but it was soon diluted to the point where it was invisible.
Suddenly, she was slightly stunned. Just now she seemed to see a wisp of black air flashing in the rice water, condensing into a dot, and finally blooming, like a black lotus.
"Hallucination?"
The young woman didn't think much about it, blinked in confusion and continued washing rice.
Being beaten, begging for mercy, working...
This scene seems to be repeated every few days, but one thing is different, that is, the man's temper has become more and more violent. When he is angry, his eyes are red and he loses his mind. When it is serious, he doesn't even know what he is doing. What.
He is like a bottle that is about to be filled with sand. He is stuffing sand into it every day... every day. One day in the future, when the sand continues to reach a certain limit, the bottle... will definitely crack!
As for the reason for this situation, the man who was deeply involved in it did not realize it at all, and the young and ignorant Erya had no idea at all. She only obeyed her terrifying biological father every day.
Early the next morning, the crow of cocks sounded from Hexi.
Erya, who was half asleep, immediately got up and made breakfast. The painful memory of yesterday was still very clear. However, after making breakfast, she opened the door but did not find her father's limp figure.
Just as she was wondering, there was suddenly a burst of messy footsteps outside the door. Erya looked back and immediately saw the old Huangtou who told her a story yesterday, as well as several respected old people in the village.
Seeing Erya carrying breakfast with a confused look on her face, a faint pity flashed across the faces of several old people, but it quickly disappeared.
Although they are kind people in the village, but... no one wants to itch this ugly little girl.
"That's all, Old Huangtou, take her to kowtow to her father first."
He stood in the middle and said hello, turned around and left, and then the remaining few also left.
Old Huangtou snorted coldly, with sarcasm flashing in his eyes. After turning around and seeing Erya, he slowly walked in and hugged Erya, "Girl, your life is really hard. From now on, you can live with grandpa."
"What happened to my dad?"
Erya asked cautiously, with well-hidden expectations in his eyes.
Old Huangtou sighed: "It seems that he was knocked on his foot last night, and your father fell into the river... and drowned."
One day later, with the help of many villagers, a new tomb was built on the mountain. Erya was wearing linen clothes and crying so hard that her voice could be heard from a distance, which made the many peasant women watching from a distance feel unbearable. .
"This girl is also pitiful. She has never experienced a good thing since she was born."
"How else can we say it's Sangmen Star?!"
"The man just died, so you should stop saying a few words!"
The woman immediately stopped talking. She didn't want to be possessed by a ghost in the middle of the night.
The chief, leaning on a cane, looked at Old Huangtou standing behind Erya, comforted her gently, shook his head and sighed: "Fortunately, Old Huangtou is willing to adopt this girl, which can be considered a blessing."
Everyone immediately agreed, "Everyone knows Su Silin's bad temper. When his mother-in-law was still alive, he would beat his own mother at every turn. How could a girl named Xiaohui endure it? If she hadn't run away with a wild man, I'm afraid I’ve long been angry to death just like Su Silin’s mother.”
"Afraid?"
Someone sneered, "Whether she was angry to death or beaten to death, who knows! After Su Silin's mother died, he immediately burned her and cremated her. It was clear that she had something evil in mind."
"I think the plague seven years ago must have something to do with Su Silin. Unfilial sons were struck by lightning, and so many neighbors and people were affected."
The more people talked, the more excited they became. They did not notice that the old man and the young man on the mountain had walked down the mountain. Old Huangtou was confused and couldn't help but ask:
"what are you guys saying?"
As soon as he saw Erya, the place was silent for a moment, and the atmosphere became strange. Li Chang's face trembled, and a trace of unnaturalness flashed across his face. He tried his best to avoid Erya's innocent eyes, and looked at Old Huangtou and said:
"When these things happened, you hadn't come to our village yet. I'll tell you in detail later. You see, Erya is also tired, so go back and rest first."
When Old Huangtou heard that it made sense, he nodded and said, "Then I'll see you tonight."
The head of the village nodded, and after watching Old Huangtou and Erya leave, a group of villagers immediately gathered around and said anxiously: "Chief, you can't talk about what happened seven years ago!"
"Yes!" The little fat man's mother echoed: "Chief, don't think about it. If you tell that old Huangtou what happened seven years ago, he will definitely think of Erya. Then he won't want to It’s too late, you can’t bear the punishment?”
"If none of us take care of her, and if she dies, you, the village chief, will be the last to die!"
“…”
"enough!"
Seeing that they were going too far, Elder Li's face turned red with anger. He slammed his cane and said in a deep voice: "I have my own sense of discretion. Even if something goes wrong, it's troublesome."
It's not your turn, let me go! "
The fat lady rolled her eyes, not worried at all, "Think of your kindness as a donkey's heart and lungs, let's go!"
The remaining women also said a few words and turned to leave in a strange manner.
"The old man, my wife and the others are all little bitches, so please don't take it to heart."
"Yes, they are all women and ignorant!"
The only few hunters in the village comforted each other and then left one after another. Only the old man was left standing there with a gloomy look on his face, wondering what he was thinking.
But when Old Huangtou returned to his home with Erya, Erya immediately ran to the earthen stove to prepare for work. Old Huangtou was so frightened that he picked up Erya and cursed:
"What do you want to do, girl? My sturdy stove can't stand your tossing, so just go ahead and play while I cook."
Erya suddenly became watery-eyed after hearing this. Old Huangtou looked confused, and finally heard Erya cry and say: "Grandpa, I... can cook, and... go up the mountain to collect firewood. I can do everything. Grandpa... don't Leave me behind."
Old Huangtou was astonished. He saw the little girl being picked up by him, and he didn't do anything. Why did this girl feel that he didn't want her anymore
Suddenly, his eyes narrowed and he saw the injury on Erya's hand. His face immediately turned ugly. He sat down with Erya in his arms and lifted the linen covering Erya's wrist.
Sure enough, just like his face, it was densely covered with wounds, and many of the scars were still new.
"You bastard! If I had known earlier, I would..."
He couldn't help but cursed angrily, and immediately felt guilty. There were too many scars on Erya's face, and the girl usually wrapped herself up tightly, so he didn't even notice it.
"Girl, grandpa will never abandon you! You will follow grandpa from now on. As long as grandpa can still work, you don't have to do any menial work. Just like other girls, you can learn needlework... Oh, by the way, grandpa, I can also read. From now on, I will teach you how to read..."
The night was as cold as water, and Erya had fallen asleep peacefully on the newly decorated bed, with tears still in the corners of her eyes, but with the comfort of Old Huangtou, she finally lost her panic.
Old Huangtou chuckled, and an unprecedented warm feeling arose in his heart. He spent most of his life in the Yuxu Sect in order to seek immortality. His relatives had long since died and been scattered, let alone married. A wife gives birth to a son.
Now that he suddenly had a granddaughter, Old Huangtou really wanted to leave all the good things to her.
"It's almost time, let's see what old Li Tou has to say. Seven years ago... this girl was just born. What happened at that time?"
With questions in mind, Old Huangtou gently closed the door, turned around and walked towards the old Li Chang's house.
Not long after, Old Huangtou came to the fence outside the old village chief, and sure enough he saw the chief sitting on a stone bench outside the house, with a candle lit next to him, waiting for him.
Seeing Old Huangtou, the manager nodded, "Come in, the door is open."
After Old Huangtou opened the door and sat down, the headmaster looked at him deeply. Seeing the joyful look on his face, he seemed to understand something. He turned around and said directly without confirming anything:
"Seven years ago, a plague occurred in Hedong."