During breakfast, everyone was discussing with great interest where to go to play today.
Xiao Lang's cell phone rang suddenly, and he picked up the phone casually.
"mom."
"Well, I slept in the hotel last night, everyone has company."
"What? Didn't you say you'd be back in a few days? Oh, that's it. Okay, so let's hang out around the neighborhood today."
After hanging up the phone, Xiao Lang said a little apologetically, "Why don't you just take a stroll around the old streets around Shunping City during the day, my parents heard that you were coming, and they came back specially, they insisted on asking me to be there. College friends, have a good meal at home."
Xiao Lang is the host, and everyone is naturally grateful for his parents' enthusiasm.
So today's itinerary was decided. For the time being, I didn't go to the distant ancient village, but took a walk on the old streets of Shunping City.
In the afternoon, Xiao Lang handed over the next itinerary to Tian Luo.
He said, "I'll go home and help first, so that my parents won't be too busy to cook a large table of dishes, and I can tell them about the dishes you should not eat."
Anyway, there is Tian Luo, a local, and everyone is already familiar with each other, so they decided to divide the army into two groups, Xiao Lang went home, and the rest continued to play in Shunping City.
Just when Xiao Lang turned around and was about to leave, Du Yan suddenly stopped him.
Du Yan rubbed his temples and looked very tired: "I didn't sleep well last night. I'll move with you in the afternoon. I can rest at your house for a while."
Xiao Lang was taken aback and said, "Are you going to stay at my house with me this afternoon?"
Du Yan smiled: "If you find it inconvenient, I can go back to the hotel to sleep."
Xiao Lang hurriedly shook his head and hurriedly said, "Nothing, if you want to come, it's too late for me to be happy."
So the afternoon's itinerary was divided into two groups. Tian Luo took Xiao Lang's roommates and continued to stroll the old streets in Shunping City, while Du Yan followed Xiao Lang back to his home.
Xiao Lang's home is in an old-fashioned community. His parents are employees of state-owned enterprises, and all the colleagues living in this community have a good relationship with the neighbors, so his parents didn't bother to move to other places and lived here all the time.
This kind of honest community is a small residential building with about five or six floors, and there is no elevator. The stairs are very narrow, and only two people can pass side by side at the same time, and the residents' daily necessities are piled up at the corners.
The corridor was a little dark, and the light bulbs seemed to be broken a lot. While leading the way, Xiao Lang turned around and instructed Du Yan: "Be careful, there are too many things in the corridor, don't stumble."
Xiao Lang's home is on the fourth floor, and the security door installed at the door is quite new, and it looks a bit out of tune with the surrounding environment.
Xiao Lang took out the key to open the door. The interior decoration was very different from the dimly lit corridor outside, and it was quite modern.
Xiao Lang turned around and said to Du Yan, "It looks okay inside, my parents just think that they are acquaintances living here and are more friendly."
Du Yan nodded, lowered his head and put on the slippers handed over by Xiao Lang.
When Xiao Lang heard there seemed to be movement in the kitchen, he raised his voice and shouted, "Mom, there are guests at home."
Soon someone came out of the kitchen.
Xiao Lang's good looks may be inherited from her mother. The middle-aged woman in front of her, even if she is old, can tell that she must have been a famous beauty when she was young.
Xiao Lang introduced: "Mom, this is my friend Du Yan."
Du Yan smiled and said hello: "Hello, Auntie."
Xiao Lang's mother smiled and nodded, looking very mild-tempered.
Xiao Lang asked again, "Where's my dad?"
Mother Xiao said, "He went out to buy vegetables. Say hello to Xiao Du, and I'll go prepare some fruits."
After speaking, Mother Xiao turned around and walked into the kitchen. Xiao Lang led Du Yan to sit on the sofa and poured him some tea.
The sound of kitchen knives falling on the chopping board quickly sounded in the kitchen, very regularly.
Xiao Lang sat on the sofa, answering questions from the kitchen without a word.
Xiao's mother's question is probably how is this semester at school? This time, a few friends came to Shunping, whether they were having fun or not.
With a smile on his face, Du Yan listened to the conversation between the mother and son, but his eyes kept falling in the direction of the kitchen.
Perhaps Xiao Lang hadn't been home for a long time. He was so excited to see his family that he didn't realize that it took too long to cut the fruit. The regular tuk-tuk-tuk sounded for a long time, and even if ten watermelons were cut, the time was much longer than that.
Du Yan glanced at Xiao Lang and finally said, "Xiao Lang, it's just the two of us now, there's no need to prepare too many things, let's let Auntie come over and sit down."
Xiao Lang finally came back to his senses and found that his mother seemed to be spending too long in the kitchen. He raised his voice and said, "Mom, don't be too busy. Now it's just me and Du Yan. Cutting so many fruits will not be fresh for a while."
There was no echo from the kitchen, only the regular sound of a knife cutting on a cutting board.
Xiao Lang thought his mother didn't hear it, so he repeated it again, but there was still no response from the kitchen.
With a puzzled expression on Xiao Lang's face, he stood up and walked towards the kitchen. Du Yan didn't say anything, only
It was quietly following behind him.
In the kitchen, Mother Xiao turned her back to the door, and was concentrating on cutting things on the chopping board. It didn't seem to be unusual.
Xiao Lang took a step forward, afraid of scaring his mother and cutting his fingers. So he whispered again: "Mom, why don't you say anything..."
"What, what is this!"
From Xiao Lang's angle, he could just see what was on the chopping board. What caught my eye was not a fruit at all, but a pile of unidentified objects that were so rotten that they could not clearly see the shape.
The regular voice finally stopped, and Mother Xiao said softly, "Aren't you looking for your dad? He's on the chopping block."
After speaking, Mother Xiao turned around slowly.
Her hair was well-maintained, and her black hair was neatly pulled in a bun at the back of her head. She turned around slowly, and the two people at the door saw her profile face first, then her whole face.
Xiao Lang was horrified and took a few steps back, because the face of the person who turned around was completely blank.
No eyes, no nose, no mouth, nothing.
She looked at the two people at the door of the kitchen and spoke, but the voice came from nowhere, it seemed to be from the stomach and from other places.
The voice was full of kindness, and it sounded very strange: "Baby, look at the things on the chopping board, do you like it? If you don't like it, will my mother buy it for you?"
After asking, she raised the kitchen knife in her hand and walked over step by step.
"!"
Xiao Lang bounced off the sofa, his forehead was covered in cold sweat, he clutched his chest and kicked a few times, still feeling a little frightened.
"What’s wrong with you?"
Xiao Lang looked up and found that Du Yan was sitting opposite him, looking at him with some doubts.
"I, my mother..." Xiao Lang stammered, then got up and rushed into the kitchen.
The kitchen was empty, no one and no rotten meat on the cutting board.
Du Yan followed behind him and asked, "What are you looking for?"
Xiao Lang replied, "Where's my mother? Have you gone out?"
Du Yan said strangely: "When we came back, there was no one in your house. You said your parents went out to buy vegetables. Then we sat on the sofa and watched TV. You fell asleep after watching it for a long time."
It turned out to be a dream, Xiao Lang pinched his brows and thought about the strange dream just now. Could it be that he was too tired these past two days, so he had such a strange dream.
The two sat on the sofa for a long time, and Xiao Lang's parents did not come back.
Xiao Lang looked at the time and felt something was wrong, so he called to find someone, but it showed that the conversation was not in the service area.
Xiao Lang became anxious, he got up and opened the door, walked to the door of the next door neighbor's house, and rang the doorbell.
The one who opened the door was an old man with a kind face. When he saw Xiao Lang, he smiled and said, "Yo, Xiao Xiao, I haven't seen you for a long time."
Xiao Lang said: "Grandpa Zhou, it's been a long time. I want to ask, when did my parents go out today?"
Grandpa Zhou asked very strangely: "Didn't your parents sign up for a tour group and went out two days ago? I heard them say that they won't be back until at least a week."
Xiao Lang felt even more confused and confused. He thanked him and went back to his home.
"How is this going?"
Du Yan reassured him and said, "The elderly don't have good hearing. Maybe he didn't hear when your parents came back."
Xiao Lang nodded hesitantly, just at this moment, his cell phone rang.
When he saw it, it was his mother who called.
Xiao Lang quickly picked it up and asked, "Mom, where did you guys go, why haven't you come home yet?"
Xiao Lang's familiar voice came over the phone: "Didn't you have a friend here? Your dad and I went to the countryside to buy a few free-range chickens. There was no signal there just now, so I'll give you a call when I get there. You called back.
The expression on Xiao Lang's face relaxed slightly: "I just went to Grandpa Zhou's house next door to ask. Speaking of which, Grandpa Zhou's ears are getting worse and worse. He actually said that you never came back."
"Xiao Lang, what are you talking about? The old man next door, Zhou, passed away last month. Now the house is empty and no one lives in it!"
Hearing this sentence, Xiao Lang shook his hand and wanted to ask something, but the phone seemed to be disconnected because of the poor signal.
Xiao Lang looked at Du Yan in front of him with a stiff expression on his face: "You, did you just see someone next door?"
Du Yan just thought Xiao Lang was strange: "What are you talking about?"
"That's right, just now my mother said that Grandpa Zhou passed away last month..."
Du Yan in front of him smiled, and he said softly, "Xiao Lang, what are you talking about, what is next door, what is your home?"
Xiao Lang only felt that the voice in his ears became more and more blurred, and Du Yan in front of him also became hazy.
"Xiao Lang, Xiao Lang. We're here."
Xiao Lang opened his eyes abruptly, and what caught his eye was Du Yan's face. The two were very close, and he stepped back abruptly.
With a bang, Xiao Lang only felt a sharp pain coming from the top of his head.
"..." Du Yan reluctantly looked at Xiao Lang who hit the car window, "Why are you so surprised?"
Only then did Xiao Lang realize that he and Du Yan were clearly still sitting in the taxi.