Chapter 334: Eating Fish
Today is the first day of the Lunar New Year, a day of good fortune.
There was a big red lantern hanging at the door. Abao was sitting at the table, eating the fish cooked by his mother.
He was a little boy of six, fair and clean, wearing new red clothes, just like the fat baby in the New Year pictures. All the uncles and aunts in the surrounding villages doted on him.
His mother doted on him especially.
Because Abao loves to eat fish, his mother cooks fish for him every two or three days. Since she can't afford to buy fish, she goes to the river to catch it herself. After cooking, she carefully picks out the bones for him before letting Abao eat it.
The fish is cooked and served steaming hot.
A Bao's face was full of anticipation. He picked up the chopsticks, picked up a large piece of meat from the fish belly, dipped it in the sauce, and put it in his mouth.
The reason why he first picked up the meat from the fish belly was not because Abao was greedy, but because he was a filial child. Mother had said before that she loved to eat fish heads and tails the most, so Abao always left the meat from the head and tail for her.
But as A-Bao was eating, he felt something was strange. He looked up and asked, "Mom, why does the fish you cooked today taste a little strange?"
"Yeah……"
My mother's voice was faint, "What's strange about that?"
"It just feels... tasteless." Po frowned.
Mother's voice seemed a little nervous, "Abao doesn't like it?"
"Hmm..." A Bao thought for a moment and said with a smile, "As long as my mother cooks fish, I like it!"
"Abao is such a good child." Mother praised.
But……
A Bao suddenly felt that not only the fish was weird, but his mother seemed to be weird today as well.
She was wet all over, and it even seemed that water was dripping from the ends of her hair and clothes, onto the chopping board and the ground, making a dripping sound.
In the past, his mother always smiled when she talked to him, but today, for some reason, her loose hair covered half of her face, and it seemed like she wasn’t smiling at all.
Although she was still wearing the same plain green dress and the same apron, when Po looked at her, he suddenly felt that she was not as warm as usual and was a little cold.
But he still tried hard to eat.
His mother liked to see him eat with big mouthfuls, saying that this would help him grow taller and bigger. So every time he ate, he would pretend to enjoy the meal, even though sometimes it wasn't that delicious.
A big red lantern was hung outside the door, with brand new Spring Festival couplets on both sides of the door. Inside the door, a fair-skinned baby was eating fish, and a wet woman was standing by and watching.
A warm scene.
A gust of wind blew over, blowing the red lantern at the door.
A Bao shivered and looked up and said, "Mom, I'm so cold."
"Yeah?"
His mother looked at him with concern, and seemed to want to reach out and touch his head, but when she reached her hand halfway, she pulled it back, as if she didn't dare to touch him.
"Ah Bao, be good and eat more. You won't feel cold if you have something in your stomach."
"Okay..." Po nodded again.
Mother looked at Abao and her voice suddenly fluctuated.
"Abao is such a good boy..."
"I'll be fine even without my mother..."
"Mother, what are you talking about?" A Bao raised his head, his lips turning purple, "A Bao can't live without mother."
…
A thin, hunchbacked old woman in odd clothes stood outside the door with her arms folded. She looked at the sky, then at the candlelight in the red lantern, and said quietly, "It's time..."
It seemed as if there was a gust of wind, and as if there was no wind, but the fire in the lantern was suddenly extinguished.
Inside the house.
A Bao's hand suddenly stopped, his teeth chattering, and he said in a trembling voice: "Mom... I'm cold..."
Following this groan, A Bao's figure suddenly faded, and then it seemed as if it was gradually fading away and disappeared.
And the fish on the table was there intact, as if it had not been touched from beginning to end.
"Abao...my Abao..."
The woman with her hair loose couldn't hold back any longer and covered her face with her hands and started crying.
She covered her face and cried for a long time before staggering out of the house.
The old woman outside the door had just put away the red lantern and was holding it in her hand.
The woman grabbed her hand and begged, "Witch Zhang, please let me see Abao again tomorrow night, okay?"
"Abao's mother, I know your situation. If you want to catch a fish, you have to go to the river to catch it. In the middle of winter, you are in such a mess..." The old woman shook her head, "Where else do you have the money?"
"My family is indeed out of money..." the woman burst into tears, "but I can't live without Abao! Witch Zhang, please, let me see him again, okay?"
“This…” The old woman was embarrassed. “This is something that goes against nature. If I do it too much, it will shorten my lifespan! To be honest, if I didn’t feel really sorry for you, I would never do this for you. Please accept my condolences.”
"Witch Zhang..." The woman knelt on the ground and grabbed the corner of the old woman's clothes tightly.
"How about this." The old woman hesitated for a while and said, "Within forty-nine days, Abao's soul will not dissipate. As long as you collect five taels of silver within forty-nine days, I can let you see him again."
"Ah? Witch Zhang, where can a family like mine get five taels of silver?" the woman panicked.
"That's not my business." The old woman let go of her hand, turned around, and said slowly, "If it doesn't work, then I can only advise you to accept the change with condolences."
"Witch Zhang..."
A woman's wailing could be heard from behind, but the old woman ignored her and kept walking forward.
…
An old woman was carrying an unlit lantern and walking alone on the forest path in the mountain village. As she walked, she suddenly heard the sound of crows and sparrows flying in fright in the distance.
A trace of vigilance appeared on her old face.
After taking a few more steps, she suddenly stopped.
"Which party are you coming from? Please come out and mark a path. Why hide your head and show your tail?" the old woman said slowly.
"hehe……"
A sinister laugh came from the woods.
"You old woman, you have imprisoned the soul of a child and made her spend all her family's wealth to meet him. Aren't you afraid of retribution in the underworld?"
"What are you talking about?" The old woman sneered back, "That woman doted on her child. She always picked out the fish bones before feeding him, so that he didn't even know that fish had bones. Only once did she fail to pick out all the bones, and the child was choked to death by the fish bones. She was full of remorse and had no interest in life. What I did was just to give her some hope to live, how can I get her any retribution?"
"You are quite eloquent." The voice replied, "The woman's reason for living is the soul of her son. Then, whose soul is the reason for you living?"
"What the hell are you talking about?" The old woman frowned. "Who are you? What do you want to do?"
"Nothing... I just wanted to ask you if you want to avenge the dead soul you care about..."
There was a rustling sound in the woods, and a small figure floated out from the bushes.
"There was a Soul Gu Master from Southern Xinjiang who was only going to Shenluo City to collect his dues, but he was killed unreasonably by a small Taoist priest. Don't you... want to avenge him?"
The figure was only the size of a palm and looked like a little wooden figure. Its face had an expression that looked either crying or laughing, and it was extremely evil.
The old woman looked at him intently for two seconds, then suddenly exclaimed, "I recognize you! You are... the Wooden King of the Yanyue Sect!"
I still feel a little annoyed during the Chinese New Year. I struggled to write a chapter. Ah...
(End of this chapter)
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