The two families broke off relations before the Lunar New Year. Zhou Xiaolan herself may have forgotten, but he will never forget how Zhou Xiaolan shirked responsibility to protect herself back then.
After He Ping'an finished speaking, he walked past her and left, unaware that Zhou Xiaolan was watching his retreating figure, lost in thought.
&
Qianjin Village
Erlaizi ran all the way home, wrapped himself tightly in his quilt and huddled in the corner. Last night, no matter which way they went, they couldn't get out of the road at the entrance of the village.
After several attempts, they dared not move around anymore, realizing they had encountered a ghost wall.
But in the latter half of the night, the wind howled and howled. Even though it was the hottest time of the year, and the night should only be a little cooler, they felt a bone-chilling cold.
When the rooster finally crowed, they dared not make any rash moves. Only when a ray of sunlight shone down did they try to run home.
This time, unlike before when they returned to the same place, none of them dared to linger and ran back to their respective homes in one go.
Da Laizi had just spent the night with the young widow in the next village and was humming a song as he entered the house.
Seeing that the gate was not closed, he didn't care at all. Anyway, his family was poorer than the outside world, so the gate was just for decoration.
"Little brother, didn't you make breakfast today? Big brother, bring me a piece of meat, let's make some meat soup."
Normally, Erlaizi would have already rushed to him, so why is there no movement at all today? Could it be that this lazybones has gone to the fields?
This isn't like him; it's unlikely he's not home.
Walking into Er Laizi's room, I saw a dark figure trembling in the corner.
"Who, who's there?" The one moving was his second brother's black quilt, whose color was no longer recognizable. In this sweltering heat, who would be moving around inside the quilt?
Not hearing a reply, Da Laizi mustered his courage and went inside. Could it be that his second brother had put something in the blanket that attracted mice?
Anyway, my second brother is not particular at all; he piles everything up in a corner.
Just as he climbed onto the kang (a heated brick bed) and was about to approach the corner, the quilt suddenly moved, revealing a head, which startled him so much that he almost screamed.
Seeing that familiar face, Da Laizi frowned. "What's wrong with you? Why are you wrapped in a blanket in this heat?"
Erlaizi's teeth were chattering as he said, "Big, big, big brother, there's a ghost..."
Da Laizi quickly turned around to make sure there were no outsiders in the house before he said urgently, "What nonsense are you talking about? Let me tell you, our family has already had enough bad luck, you can't add to our misfortune."
Erlaizi threw off the covers and ran over, hugging Dalaizi tightly. "I, I really didn't lie to you... we met yesterday..."
Da Laizi also noticed something was wrong at this time. Despite the hot weather, Er Laizi was ice cold all over.
"Where did you see it? Is it in our house?" Da Laizi carefully looked around. He had only heard that there were unclean things at the Ren residence before. When did it get into their house?
As the villagers would say, even rats would avoid their house, so how could those ghosts possibly be interested in two poor boys?
I bet if you ran into them at night, you'd spit on them and call them a poor wretch.
“We met at the entrance of our village yesterday,” Erlaizi said, touching his brother’s warm body and refusing to let go. “My brothers and I were trapped all night and only returned this morning after the sun came up.”
"Are you stupid? Hiding here wrapped in a blanket, you might as well go outside and get some sun," Da Laizi also felt that the room was a bit too cool, so he simply dragged Er Laizi directly to the yard. "If there really is that thing, it is most afraid of sunlight. You should hurry up and sunbathe here, you're all cold, you have no body temperature."
If his younger brother hadn't been alive and well in front of him, he would have had the illusion that a corpse was standing next to him.
"What are you doing out there in the middle of the night instead of sleeping at home?"
"No, it wasn't the middle of the night. When we were trapped there, it wasn't even completely dark yet. We walked for a long time but couldn't get out of that place." As for their attempt to intercept the educated youth, Er Laizi didn't mention it.
There was a suspicion in my mind: they had clearly cornered someone yesterday, but they were the only ones trapped there afterwards. What about Hua Xiangyun?
Could it be that these ghosts are following her, specifically there to protect her?
He remembered that Hua Xiangyun's last smile to him yesterday was very suspicious...
"I told you to stay away from those people. Look at how few work points you earn, it's not even enough to squander with them..."
Erlaizi hated hearing this the most. "You always talk about me, but you're never around to see me."
I really don't understand why you like to date those widows. At most, they'll give you some food. Look how poor our family is now. We two brothers can't go on like this forever.
"What will we do when we get old if we don't have any descendants?"
"What else can we do? Given our family's situation, who would be willing to marry into this family?" Although Da Laizi was entangled with these widows, he had considered marrying one of them.
But they were destitute, and even widows looked down on them. Their casual flings were just for mutual benefit, but when it came to actually living together, there was a distance between them.
"What's wrong with you? You haven't warmed up at all." The morning sun was strong, and he was already sweating, but Erlaizi was still ice cold.
Da Laizi couldn't help but worry. The two brothers depended on each other for survival. He hoped that nothing else would happen to his younger brother, otherwise he would be all alone in the family.
"I don't know either, I just feel extremely cold." Erlaizi was still very frightened. "I heard someone say there was a shaman around here? Should I go and ask her for help?"
"A fortune teller?" Da Laizi looked troubled, and after fumbling around for a while, he finally pulled out a few coins from his pocket. "I heard those people charge exorbitant fees, so we probably won't be able to find one."
"Why don't you go and borrow some money from the brigade leader?" Da Laizi doesn't usually work, so he doesn't have any work points. It would be difficult for him to borrow money from the village.
Erlaizi was a little better off; he could get some food by doing some work.
“Yes, let’s borrow some from the brigade headquarters,” Er Laizi said and was about to leave when Da Laizi grabbed him. “At least change your clothes before you go.”
He didn't laugh at his own brother, knowing he was being mocked for his urine-smelling clothes; he didn't want to be kicked out before even reaching the captain.
Erlaizi: "...This is the only set of clothes I have at home..."
Da Laizi said, "...Never mind, let's go to the room. I'll take off my clothes for you first."
He still had some cotton-padded trousers, but in this weather he couldn't very well... "By the way, aren't you feeling a bit cold? Why don't you put those cotton-padded trousers on?"
In the end, Erlaizi actually put on his cotton-padded clothes and went out, giving the villagers another spectacle.
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