Chapter 53: Materialism

Wang Ermao clamored for Tian Yuzhen to tell a story to his aunt.

Hua Feifei was very afraid of ghosts. She immediately became alert and retorted loudly: "What story are you talking about? Just walk. What's the point of telling a story?"

But the voice when speaking was obviously lacking in confidence.

Wang Ermao is also a little smart guy. He covered his mouth and laughed secretly: "Sister Feifei, you are not afraid of listening to... stories? Oh, so you adults are afraid too."

"Of course I'm not afraid," Hua Feifei was scared to death, but she insisted to save face for the so-called adults, "What's there to be afraid of in a story? And why do you call me Sister Feifei when you call Ye Yu Auntie? Isn't this making me a generation lower than 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 blossomed when she heard this. She said that the child had really good taste. While saying this, she glanced at Ye Yu happily. She looked younger than Ye Yu, hahaha.

Unfortunately, Wang Ermao only learned half of the true teachings. He changed the subject: "If you carry your schoolbag to our school, the teacher might think you are a new student from the next group!"

???

Is this a mockery of her being short and small, like a primary school student?

Hua Feifei was angry. She originally had an apple-shaped face, but now she looked like a cute pufferfish, which really made her look very young. In this era, there were older people studying, so it didn't seem out of place to see her carrying a schoolbag to school.

Wang Ermao's face was full of smiles.

What made Hua Feifei even more angry was that although Wang Ermao's attention was diverted, Tian Yuzhen was still focusing 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 is a man named Maozi next door to our Honghe Village. He is over 30 years old and only one meter tall. He looks like an elementary school student, even shorter than an elementary school student! The grandfather in the team said that this is called dwarfism."

Xu Fei helped to add:

“Dwarfism.”

Hua Feifei was still complaining that this explanation was worse than no explanation, but she didn't notice that at this time Wang Sanhai skillfully covered his ears, and Wang Ermao covered his eyes with his open hands, performing an alternative "covering one's ears to steal the bell" trick.

"Yes, yes, yes. One day, the Russians entered the mountains..." Tian Yuzhen narrated slowly.

Her voice is very ethereal. There is nothing wrong with listening to it alone, and you will even think that it sounds nice to sing with such a voice.

The biggest problem lies in her tone and voice, which are slow and light, and she is born with the ability to tell stories vividly and vividly, which can really touch people's hearts.

Although there is not a single ghost word in the story, one can quickly realize that this is definitely a horror story.

Moreover, Xiao Yuzhen was very good at telling stories that were very interesting. Once she started, it was hard not to continue listening. Even Wang Xiaohai, who had a very determined attitude, loosened his hands that were covering his ears, and several adults listened with great interest.

"...Da Mao fell on a small mound of earth covered with tall and dense weeds. Look, just like that."

Everyone followed Tian Yuzhen's gaze and saw more than two or three earthen mounds vaguely visible in the uneven forest not far away. A gust of wind blew, and the leaves rustled, which made them shudder and get goosebumps.

At this moment, an owl in the woods also joined in with two ghostly cries.

There is a reason why the owl is called the bird of mourning. Its cry is really as eerie and sad as a ghost. Few people can stand such background noise.

This is not——

“Ahhh.”

There were several screams from the crowd.

One is Hua Feifei, who is afraid of ghosts. She reflexively hides next to Ye Yu, who she thinks gives her the most sense of security, and holds on to a corner of the backpack tightly. The other is Wang Ermao, who is both naive and playful. He also hides behind Ye Yu with Wang Sanhai.

The last surprising person was Xu Fei. His image as an artistic young man was ruined and he subconsciously looked for 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 used as a tree stump, said: "???"

Ye Yu, who was used as a stake: "???"

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 are you talking about?"

"You talk as if you're not afraid." Hua Feifei didn't admit that she acted like an elementary school student, but she started arguing with him on the spot, and both sides won and lost the argument.

Tian Yuzhen smiled with satisfaction, but not completely satisfied. 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 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 because his grandfather always told him since he was a child that a man of integrity has nothing to fear from his own shadow.

It just so happened that Tian Yuzhen was also like that, 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 believe that "it is better to believe it than not to believe it". They thought that Tian Yuzhen was just growing up during a period when superstitions were being dispelled. In order to follow the trend, they said something contrary to their heart, and they didn't know why they cultivated such a rare flower.

The two materialists looked at Ye Yu with curiosity.

Ye Yu answered honestly: "I would rather believe it exists than not believe it."

Even if one was a staunch materialist before, after experiencing time travel, rebirth, and the inheritance of soul and supernatural powers, some inexplicable metaphysics does seem to exist.

"But why aren't you afraid?"

Why?

Ye Yu did not answer. She 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 something really happens, 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 of 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 it at all.

Han Jing and Xu Fei squeezed their eyes 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 and noisy 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 his friends were really worried about letting Tian Yuzhen go back alone with a flashlight in the dark. 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.

Moreover, this was an era without mobile phones, so they had no way of confirming in time whether Tian Yuzhen had really returned home, and they might have been thinking about it all the time.

So I decided to send Xiao Yuzhen home first.

Wang Ermao and Wang Sanhai put their heads together and whispered: "Their adults are just troublesome", "Yes, yes".

But his eyes were full of envy. It was so nice 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. Don’t study it next time.

Honghe Village was not far from the fork in the road. At Tian Yuzhen's pace, it would take about ten minutes. With Hua Feifei and the others, it would only take twenty minutes at most.

When they arrived, a young woman with a worried look on her face was standing under a large locust tree at the entrance of the village.

When Tian Yuzhen saw this, she shouted, "Mom! I'm back."

"Why did you come back just now?"

The woman turned around, revealing a calm, rosy face. One can only say that Grandma Wang had good genes. The children she 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."

Wang Wudi actually doesn't look very much like Wang Laidi, at least not as much as Wang Pandi's concubine Li Mudan. But when they opened their mouths, the details of their expressions were at least 50% similar. No wonder Wang Laidi said that when she was talking about relatives with her daughter.

Ye Yu smiled when she heard this. Anyone who invited her to dinner and complimented her on her height could be her friend.

Wang Wudi immediately took advantage of another itchy spot of Ye Yu and asked them to go back with her to have dinner.

Ye Yu really wanted to agree, but after confirming that Wang Wudi was actually sincerely inviting so many people to dinner, her few consciences were awakened and she shook her head to refuse, saying only that she might have to go to work tomorrow and wanted to go back and rest early.

Someone invited her to dinner but she refused. Even she was moved by herself. It might have been because she never went hungry during this period and personally experienced the peace before the end of the world.

Before leaving, Wang Wudi stuffed an old newspaper bag with chestnuts and a few mixed-grain biscuits, and asked Han Jing and the others to take care of Ye Yu and Wang Ermao and the others.

Korean scenes:

...Who is taking care of whom?

They hurriedly replied: "We have been relying on Ye Yu to take care of us. Aunt, look, everything is with Ye Yu."

Wang Ermao and Wang Sanhai were also chattering about how amazing their aunt was.

Wang Wudi thought they were just being polite and talking to children. Although Ye Yu was carrying a lot of things, why didn't she notice it? It must be because of the relaxed manner in which Ye Yu carried the things, as if 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, sitting together by the fire and waiting for them.

There was the female cadre Aunt Baiyun, Wang Ermao's mother and Wang Sanhai's aunt, the aunt who worked with Hua Feifei on weekdays, the grandfather 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 warmly: "You're back. Are you cold? Come and warm yourself by the fire."

Whether it is the smiles on these people's faces or the blazing bonfire, at this moment, they are like the warm spring breeze that blows away the cold winter and into everyone's heart.

Wang Ermao rushed into her mother's arms. Hua Feifei, the most emotional one, had tears in her eyes and responded loudly with a bright smile.