Chapter 53: Materialism
Wang Ermao clamored for Tian Yuzhen to tell a story to his aunt.
Hua Feifei was extremely afraid of ghosts, so she immediately became alert and retorted loudly, "What's the point of telling a story? Just walk away. What's the point of telling a story?"
But the voice of the speaker was obviously lacking in confidence.
Wang Ermao was also quite the smart kid. He covered his mouth and laughed secretly: "Sister Feifei, aren't you afraid of hearing... stories? Oh, so you adults get scared too."
"Of course I'm not," Hua Feifei was terrified, but she stubbornly insisted for the sake of her so-called adult status. "What's there to be afraid of in a story? And why do you call Ye Yu Auntie and me Sister Feifei? Doesn't that make me feel inferior to her for no reason?"
Wang Ermao was successfully diverted to the topic and replied: "Because Sister Feifei, you look obviously younger, and I was afraid of calling you old." These sweet words were truly passed down from her great-grandmother.
Hua Feifei's face lit up when she heard this. She said that the child had really good taste. While saying this, she looked at Ye Yu happily. She looked younger than Ye Yu, hahaha.
Unfortunately, Wang Ermao only learned half of the true skills. He changed the subject: "If you bring your schoolbag to our school, the teacher might think you're a new student from the next group!"
???
Is this a satire on her being short and small, like a primary school student?
Hua Feifei was very angry. She originally had an apple face, and now she looked like a cute pufferfish. She really looked very young. In this era, there are many older people studying, so it really doesn't feel out of place to see her carrying a schoolbag to school.
Wang Ermao had a huge smile on his face.
What made Hua Feifei even more angry was that although Wang Ermao's attention was diverted, Tian Yuzhen was still focused on the ghost story.
At some point, she took the opportunity to interrupt: "Sister Feifei is not an elementary school student. I heard from my grandfather before that there was a guy named Maozi next door to our Honghe Village. He was over 30 years old and only one meter tall. He looked like an elementary school student, even shorter! The grandfather in the team said it was called dwarfism."
Xu Fei helped to add:
“Dwarfism.”
Hua Feifei was still complaining that it would be better not to explain, but she didn't notice that at this time Wang Sanhai skillfully covered his ears, and Wang Ermao covered his eyes with his slit hands, performing an alternative "stealing the bell while covering one's ears".
"Yes, yes, yes, one day the Russians came into the mountains..." Tian Yuzhen narrated slowly.
Her voice is very ethereal. There is nothing wrong with listening to it alone, and I even think that singing with such a voice is nice.
The biggest problem lies in her tone and delivery, which is slow and airy, and she is gifted with a vivid and graphic narrative ability that truly resonates with the heart.
Although there is no ghost word in it, one can quickly realize that this is definitely a horror story.
Not only that, Xiao Yuzhen is also very good at setting hooks when telling stories. Once she starts, it is hard not to listen. Even Wang Xiaohai, who was very determined, loosened his hands covering his ears, and several adults listened with great interest.
"...Da Mao fell on a small mound of earth covered with tall, dense weeds. Look, just like that."
Everyone followed Tian Yuzhen's gaze and saw more than two or three earthen mounds faintly visible in the ups and downs of the forest not far away. A gust of wind blew, and the leaves rustled, which made them feel creepy and their skin stood up with goosebumps.
At this moment, an owl in the woods also joined in with two ghostly cries.
There is a reason why owls are called birds of mourning. Their calls are truly eerie and sad, like a ghost. Few people can hold their breath against such background noise.
This isn't—
“Ahhh.”
Several screams arose from the crowd.
One was Hua Feifei, who was afraid of ghosts. She instinctively hid beside Ye Yu, who she thought gave her the most sense of security, clinging to a corner of the backpack. The other was Wang Ermao, who was both naive and playful. He also huddled behind Ye Yu with Wang Sanhai.
The last person who surprised everyone was Xu Fei. His image as a literary young man was broken, and he subconsciously found the safest spot. He walked around Han Jing and came to Ye Yu. After hesitating for a moment, he actually reached out and grabbed the other corner of the backpack.
Han Jing, who was being bypassed like a tree stump, said: "???"
Ye Yu, who was treated as a tree stump: "???"
Wang Ermao laughed twice, poked his head out, made a face, and said, "Sister Feifei, you are lying. You said you are not afraid. What do you mean by that?"
"You talk as if you're not afraid." Hua Feifei didn't admit that she acted like a primary school student, but she argued with the student on the spot, and both sides won and lost the argument.
Tian Yuzhen smiled with satisfaction, but not entirely. She squinted her eyes and looked at Ye Yu, then at Han Jing, very puzzled, and asked: "Cousin, Brother Han, why aren't you afraid?"
"Little girl, you're far from being able to scare me!" Han Jing smiled with a row of big white teeth. He was a staunch materialist and never believed in ghosts and gods. Of course, he was not afraid of ghosts. This was also related to his grandfather's constant reminder that a person with a clear conscience has nothing to fear since he was a child.
It just so happened that Tian Yuzhen was also one of them, but she was scolded by her mother, and her mother was scolded by her second sister Wang Lai Di.
But Wang Lai Di and her mother actually believed that "it is better to believe it than not to believe it". They thought of Tian Yuzhen only because she grew up during the period of breaking superstitions. In order to follow the trend, they said this without thinking, and for some reason they cultivated such a rare flower.
The two materialists looked at Ye Yu with curiosity.
Ye Yu answered honestly: "I'd rather believe it exists than not."
Even if one was a staunch materialist before, after experiencing time travel, rebirth, and inheritance of soul powers, some inexplicable metaphysics seemed to exist.
"But why aren't you afraid?"
Why?
Ye Yu did not answer, but bent her arms slightly, revealing the muscle lines that were barely visible due to the clothes. She did believe in the soul, but she believed in her fists even more.
Even if you really encounter something, it's just a matter of one or two more punches.
Quack, quack, quack.
A flock of crows flew by.
Everyone present, even Tian Yuzhen, had been informed about Ye Yu's high fighting power, so they could understand that it was unexpected but reasonable for Ye Yu to have such an idea.
But Hua Feifei said that she couldn't imitate it because she couldn't beat him at all.
Han Jing winked at Xu Fei and laughed at him for believing in such things. Xu Fei pushed his glasses. He was indeed upright, but it was normal for him to be afraid.
After walking in this lively manner for a while, they came to a fork in the road. Originally, they were going to separate from Tian Yuzhen, who was carrying a schoolbag, at this fork in the road.
But Han Jing and the others were really worried about letting Tian Yuzhen go back alone in the dark with a flashlight. It would be fine if they didn't see her at other times, but now that they saw her, they couldn't just ignore her.
What's more, this was an era without mobile phones, and they couldn't confirm in time whether Tian Yuzhen had really returned home. Instead, they might have been thinking about it all the time.
So we decided to send Xiao Yuzhen home first.
Wang Ermao and Wang Sanhai put their heads together and whispered: "Those adults are troublesome", "Yes, yes."
But his eyes were full of envy. It was so great to have family members to send you to and from school, especially a "great" aunt like Ye Yu. No, they have one too, hehe.
"Great" Aunt Ye Yu: ...You are very good at Chinese, so don't learn it next time.
Honghe Village is not far from the fork in the road. At Tian Yuzhen's pace, it will take about ten minutes. Together with Hua Feifei and the others, it will take at most twenty minutes.
When they arrived, a young woman with a worried look on her face was standing under the big locust tree at the entrance of the village.
Tian Yuzhen saw this and shouted, "Mom! I'm back."
"Why are you back now?"
The woman turned around, revealing a calm and rosy face. One could only say that Grandma Wang and Grandpa Wang had good genes, and the children they gave birth to, especially the girls, were all very pretty. This should be Wang Laidi's sister, Wang Wudi.
Ye Yu called out "Fifth Aunt".
"Hey, is this Sanya? You've grown so tall? Last time I saw you, you couldn't walk steadily. You're taller than your mother now."
In fact, Wang Wu Di doesn’t look particularly like Wang Laidi, at least not as similar as Wang Pan Di’s daughter Li Mudan. But when they speak, the details of their expressions are at least 50% similar. No wonder Wang Laidi said that when talking about relatives with her daughter.
Ye Yu smiled when she heard this. Anyone who invites her to dinner and compliments her on her height can be considered a friend.
Wang Wudi immediately tickled another itchy spot on Ye Yu and asked them to go back with her for dinner.
Ye Yu really wanted to agree, but after confirming that Wang Wudi was actually sincerely inviting so many people to dinner, his few remaining consciences were awakened. He shook his head and refused, saying only that he might have to go to work tomorrow and wanted to go back and rest early.
She refused when someone invited her to dinner, and even she was moved by herself. It might have been related to the fact that she never went hungry during this period and personally experienced the peace before the end of the world.
Before leaving, Wang Wudi forced an old newspaper bag of chestnuts and a few multi-grain cakes over, and asked Han Jing and the others to take care of Ye Yu, Wang Ermao and the others.
Han Jing and others:
...Who takes care of whom?
They hurriedly replied: "We have been relying on Ye Yu to take care of us. Auntie, look, everything is with Ye Yu."
Wang Ermao and Wang Sanhai were also chattering about how great their aunt was.
Wang Wudi just thought they were being polite and childish. Even though Ye Yu was carrying a lot of things, why didn't she notice? It must be because of Ye Yu's relaxed demeanor, which made it seem like he was carrying a ball of air.
A group of people set out on their return journey again.
It was almost seven o'clock when they returned to Wangjiagou. The weather was so cold, but there were seven or eight familiar faces in front of the Wangjiagou village, gathered by the fire and waiting for them.
There was Aunt Baiyun, a female cadre, Wang Ermao's mother and Wang Sanhai's aunt, the aunt who worked with Hua Feifei on weekdays, the uncle who had chatted with Xu Fei and Han Jing, or the teenagers in the village who followed Wang Ermao and the others and always called them aunt.
Seeing them coming back, he waved enthusiastically: "You're back. Are you cold? Come and warm yourself by the fire."
Whether it was the smiles on these people's faces or the blazing bonfire, at this moment, they were like a warm spring breeze that blew away the cold winter and into everyone's heart.
Wang Ermao rushed into her mother's arms. Hua Feifei, the most emotional girl, had red eyes and responded loudly with a bright smile.
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