Ying Xia came to Jiangcun in August.
"... This kid has always been introverted and doesn't like to talk. Alas, it's because his father and I quarreled since we were young. I'll trouble you to take care of him after that..."
"Sister, you and Jianping—really separated?"
"...um."
"No, why did you get divorced? Husband and wife, there is no quarrel. You have been here for more than ten years, how can you just leave?"
"..."
The thin and dense voice was like an impenetrable net, penetrating deeply from every pore he used for breathing.
He stood in the corner, squinted his eyes, and opened them again. The figures of mother and uncle appeared for a while and disappeared for a while.
Gradually, the topic came to an end: "Sister, I also know that it is not easy for you to be a woman with children in Beijing. As for Ying Xia, we will take care of them. It's just that our family already has two children. I also know that it is not easy to raise a child. Food, clothing and housing all cost money... "
"I know," the woman said.
The pink banknote was handed over to the uncle he had never met, and from that moment on, the boy's fate was changed.
After getting the money, the expression of the uncle who seldom met finally became clear: "It's okay, we have two children in our family, one more is just a matter of adding a pair of chopsticks, Yuxiu, you give Xiaoxia the house Pack it up."
As he said that, he sighed again and looked at the woman across from him: "Sister, it's not like you don't know Jianping's temper. He's been here for so many years. The eldest grandson of their family was born by you. Why make room for them?... Men, it's normal to flirt outside, and so is my sister. If you were more considerate and gentle to him, how could he go out... "
Before the words fell, there was a loud noise from the door. The woman named Yuxiu screamed and rushed over, and was relieved when she saw the intact enamel cup.
The two people in the room looked towards the door. After seeing the boy leaning against the door, the woman didn't wait for the man to speak, and took the initiative to reprimand: "Why did you knock something off? You were clumsy when you first came to his house, so hurry up and apologize to your uncle! Clumsy..."
Ying Xia pursed her lips and said nothing, so the woman smiled awkwardly: "He doesn't talk much, I've been used to him since he was a child... I guess he just sat on the bus for a few hours and got motion sickness, so he didn't recover."
"It's okay, it's okay." The man took the money, and his mood improved, "Xiao Xia just arrived here, it's normal to not adapt, she grew up in the city since she was a child. Sister, you will go back at night? Why don't you take him shopping?" Shopping? A lot of things have been repaired in the village in recent years."
"That's right, I'll show him the way." After everything was handed over, the woman came to the door, "Son, let's go."
The boy named Ying Xia did not talk to her. He pursed his lips and walked ahead.
The two walked quietly in the rice field, and the woman looked at the buildings on both sides, while forcing a very happy look: "...Look at that one, is it a new house built by the Sun family? Their family used to go there in the 1980s. If you work in Shenzhen, you have money. You can see that the decoration of this house is no worse than that of the villas in the city. That one belongs to the village chief's house... Walking this way is the Taoist temple in the village. There is an old Taoist priest inside, very spiritual. Over there, there is a ruined temple..."
She rambled on like this, as if she didn't care about her son's silence at all. After a while, under a tree, she stopped and sighed.
"Don't take what Uncle said to your heart." She said, "From now on... You will live well with Uncle these few years, ah."
After a long time, she heard her son's answer amidst the cicadas.
"Mom, why can't I stay in Beijing?" he asked.
"Ying Xia, mom can't do anything about it." The woman smiled hastily, like a flower that just bloomed and was blown down by the wind, "Mom, mom can't take you with me now..."
She stretched out her hand, as if she wanted to touch her son's head: "Ying Xia, be good, listen to your mother..."
That hand, however, was dodged.
The woman was a little taken aback, but the next moment, the boy walking in front of her stopped.
"You're going to marry Uncle Li, aren't you?"
"I… "
The real reason hidden in her heart was revealed to the world. Before the woman had time to explain, she heard the boy's extremely low voice.
"I saw your text message."
There was a moment of silence.
The woman didn't say a second sentence of justification, and before she could speak, the boy had already walked away again. His voice was hoarse, as if he was suppressing something: "I'm going out for a walk."
"Ying Xia, where are you going?"
"Don't follow me."
"Ying Xia!"
"Stop following me!" the boy yelled, "Leave me alone!"
The shout echoed in the wheat field, and the woman stopped after two steps. The boy from the city has already pushed aside the wheat waves and sank into the golden ocean far away.
He walked first, and walked very quickly, and when he reached a place where no one could be seen, he turned into running. He thought he was running on the plastic red track in the playground, if he ran fast enough, he could start again from the starting point, and if he ran fast enough, he could return to the place where he came from.
He ran for a long time until noon turned into dusk. Finally, he lost his strength and sat down on a field ridge, panting heavily to hold back his tears.
She doesn't want me anymore, she throws me away, she doesn't want me anymore, she throws me away... She wants to go back alone...
Thoughts were stirring in his chest, he covered his head and panted heavily.
He felt boundless loneliness and desolation, like an ear of wheat blowing in the wind in a deserted wheat field.
I will go back to Beijing. He thought so angrily, even if it was only me, I would go back to Beijing!
He wiped away his tears and suppressed all the out-of-control emotions in his heart. Only then did he realize that he had run a long way, almost across the entire field, to the edge of the woods.
And on the hillside opposite, hidden among the trees, facing him, is a small red temple.
Perhaps it was in disrepair for a long time, the small temple seemed to be crumbling, even the bricks and tiles were weak, revealing a lifeless atmosphere, the two temple doors were ajar, and it was unknown whether there were people living inside.
He stared at the temple for a long time, until behind him, someone called.
He turned around, only to see a strange boy.
"Ying Xia! Ying Xia!" The strange boy yelled like this, and halfway through the yelling, he started coughing again. He pushed aside the waves of wheat and came here through mountains and rivers, with beads of sweat on his forehead. He is dressed like a typical local boy. Ying Xia looked at the other party, feeling a little stunned for a moment.
The other party looked about his age, and seemed to be a little taller than him, but he was thin and sickly. After seeing him, the boy breathed a sigh of relief: "Great, I finally found you."
"How do you know my name?" Ying Xia stepped back a little, looking at him warily.
The boy was not angry either. He patted his pants, coughed twice, and sat next to him like this: "I know everyone in the village. You went back to the village with Aunt Ying this morning. Everyone is talking about you."
He saw that Ying Xia was still very vigilant, so he smiled: "My name is Ren Qiu, here, I live near here. Aunt Ying said that she saw you running this way, so let us help you find it."
As he said that, he took Ying Xia's hand: "Go, go back, it's time for dinner, if you don't go back, Aunt Ying will be in a hurry."
"...she won't wait in a hurry." Ying Xia whispered.
"what?"
"Leave me alone for a while," he said.
After speaking, he closed his eyes.
"But it's getting late." Ren Qiu gently looked at the other party's awkward look, "If you don't go back, there are wild beasts coming down from the woods."
"... How could there be beasts in the woods."
"It's true, if you don't believe me, look at the temple on the mountain." Ren Qiu looked at the stubborn side face of the young man, and made it up, "That temple is used to sacrifice to the Great Immortal Fox. When you pass by there at night, you can see the will-o'-the-wisp It's running."
Then, he finally heard the reply amidst the sound of the other party's deep breathing.
"... I don't want to go back." Ying Xia closed her eyes.
"Why don't you go back? Are you in a bad mood?"
"No reason." Ying Xia said coldly, "I hate this place."
"Oh..." The boy thought he got the right answer, he looked sideways at the other side, and persuaded him, "After all, you are from the city, it's normal to not get used to it for the first few days, after a few days you get used to it, You'll get used to it."
"..."
"The weather here in Jiangcun is very good, the air is very fresh, the mountains and water are beautiful, and in spring, the flowers all over the mountains are all bright red. There are voles in the fields, and they can go down to the river to catch fish." The boy Counting enthusiastically, "The fruits in the mountains are also delicious, and you can watch the stars at night... In short, after you stay here for a long time, even if someone invites you to go back, you don't want to go back... Just like me..."
His words hurt Ying Xia's nerves.
Ying Xia opened her eyes, and Ren Qiu thought that her persuasion had worked, so she stepped up her efforts and said, "Your mother is so worried when you stay here, she must be very anxious."
— she won't.
She didn't even give him a call.
"Let's go, let's go back." Ren Qiu came to pull him again, "Don't run so far when you have troubles in the future, if something happens, your family must be very worried about you..."
"... I'm different from people like you." He grunted.
"Ok?"
The boy didn't seem to hear clearly, so Ying Xia amplified her voice: "I'm different from people like you, I'm going back to Beijing sooner or later!"
He roared so loudly that even the field mice looked up. But the boy whom he hurled at, just looked at him in astonishment.
After the momentary surge of passion, there is a deeper emptiness and depression. He wanted to stand up, but his legs were weak due to hypoglycemia, so he had to sit on the field ridge with his head buried in his knees.
He wanted to cry.
He misses Beijing, his home, his former father, and the mother who abandoned him. He doesn't like here, he hates Jiangcun. Thousands of acres of Jiangcun, thousands of telephone poles, and more than 1,000 yuan of mobile phones, but not even a phone rings.
It took him a long time to hear that person's gentle voice amidst the monotonous cicadas and the overwhelming silence and solitude divided by electric wires under the clear blue sky.
"You were going back to school." Ren Qiu said, "Alps, do you want to eat?"
It took him a long time to raise his head. At that moment, he felt panicked like never before, like a stray cat who finally heard the call from others after a long and aimless wandering. In order to cover up his fear and panic, he snatched the cheap candy that was about to melt from the opponent's hand.
slimy.
Sweet.
"... Don't be sad." The man said clumsily, "If you don't want to go back, you can go to my house for dinner. My mother is very good at cooking. My sister just came back from the city today..."
"...how about this." The boy thought on a whim, "I will accompany you to the temple to make a wish. The wishing pool in that temple is very magical. Our family used to make a wish there. , very clever..."
He babbled to comfort the other party, but Ying Xia didn't listen to his words at all.
I will go back to Beijing. While licking the cheap sweetener in his mouth, he tried hard to think, I will go back, I will pass the exam, I will work, I will take the train, I will take the plane. He will live hard there, live a good life, and live a better life than all those who abandoned him!
I will go back there, that is my world, where I should exist, and belong to my world.
At that time, Ying Xia thought so firmly.
Ying Xia woke up from a dark dream, the memory of coming to Jiangcun for the first time was still reverberating in his mind, like tides and waves, following his thoughts in the golden waves of wheat for a long, long time.
It was still early, so he let himself lie on the bed for a while. He checked his phone, but there was no text message from Beijing.
The silence was broken at this moment.
"It's terrible! It's terrible!!" Screaming, mixed with the sound of running, came from the street, "Another person died! Another person died!"
The sound spread like a bomb in the silent village. The sound of people getting up in a hurry and the sound of doors opening came from the streets and alleys. The men opened their eyes, and the women picked up the crying children who woke up. The bold ones broke through the door, while the timid ones hid at home and peeked out the windows.
The hustle and bustle filled the entire Jiangcun. Even Ying Xia's uncle and aunt's room next door could hear noises.
"It's coming again this year?" He heard his aunt's voice.
"Let me take a look." Then came the voice of my uncle putting on shoes, "Stay at home, don't go out."
Ying Xia then put on her shoes, took a flashlight and followed her uncle out the door. The uncle was absent-minded, and didn't pay attention to the underage nephew who came out with him. Instead, he followed the flow of people and hurried to the place of the incident that people said, the entrance of the village.
Sure enough, there was a very fresh corpse lying under the flagpole at the entrance of the village, exactly the same as the one that had appeared six months ago. He fell to the ground, his chest was bloody and his mouth was open, as if he had seen something that horrified him before he died.
Ying Xia didn't need to look closely to know that the heart in that person's chest had long since disappeared.
"... Another..."
"Since three years ago, every six months, there will be such a time..."
"Sin, it's all sin..."
And next to the corpse, there are still familiar big characters, written by fingers stained with congealed blood.
"Not one left!"