Chapter 8 Seventy-eighth night hide and seek

I spent my childhood at my grandmother’s house, and the heat was unbearable, so I had to go to my grandmother’s place to escape the summer heat. According to the current view, there are slums, and from east to west there are long and narrow alleys that can accommodate at most three people. There are more than a dozen families living in the alleys, and the whole area is full of low bungalows. Of course, if you have six children like your grandmother, you will carve out a narrower space on the roof as a separate room. Remember The youngest uncle lived on it when he was taking the college entrance examination. It was humid and hot, with a musty smell. Even in late autumn, he was sweating profusely after staying there for a while.Most of the houses are built by themselves. Although dilapidated, they are quite solid, but most of them have insufficient lighting. Even during the day, you can’t see your fingers inside. However, for the people here, it is better than living in thatched huts.

Every alley always has one or two connected places from the beginning to the end, like a big net, and like a cultivated field full of ravines.The children in every household, no matter how big or small, are free-range. They play marbles in spring, play pictures in summer, play spinning tops in autumn, and play snowball fights in winter. The heads of the little friends are only thinking about how to play in different ways. At that time, you almost You can see little ghosts running wildly with sweaty dirt everywhere, and sometimes bump into adults who are busy doing things, and parents occasionally scold them and have no time to take care of them.

Of course, hide-and-seek is the most suitable and easiest to play on this terrain, and when talking about hide-and-seek, I think of Xiao Yuan. Xiao Yuan's family is not an aborigine in this area. He and his mother, a frail, sallow and thin woman, moved to the next door to his grandmother. Yuan's mother is a very eccentric person. No matter in spring, autumn, winter or summer, she wears a floral shirt and thin brown trousers. Every day, she holds a handful of broken millet in her hand and greets the few dogs she raises that are thinner than her. Like a wood hen.She doesn't like to talk to her neighbors very much, but she often supports herself and her son by weaving some bamboo products for sale, such as some brooms, rice buckets, bamboo hats and so on.There is always indescribable pain on her face, like a patient suffering from a secret disease, or like a young child who has been waiting to be scolded. The yellow face like millet and the slightly chapped blue lips are very eye-catching. Uncomfortable, every time I see my son coming back, the unconcealable disgust and fear in the eyes are completely opposite to the thoughtfulness and concern in the action.Xiao Yuan's mother's voice was always very low, as if it came from the ground through a hood or from the ground, and it sounded like the wailing of a Cicada who was about to die on a hot day.

Although this woman doesn't like to join in the fun, she can often be heard chatting with her son, but most of the time it's her talking and she can't hear her son answering, but occasionally you can hear a few words, because most of the time during the day Xiao Yuan is playing crazy outside , Only in the evening, the two mothers chat together.A few times I got up to urinate, and when I heard something going on inside, I lay down under the window sill of their house and listened secretly. It's just that the content of the conversation was quite peculiar, and it even puzzled me.

"Leave me alone." "What else do you want?" "How long are you going to follow me, are you still not leaving?" and so on, and Xiao Yuan's answer is only a repeated sentence. "No." I was curious about this peculiar mother and child, but the adults at that time were very troublesome about the children. Even if they told my grandmother or mother about these things, they would at most just slap my ass lightly, and then He reprimanded him jokingly, and went back to busy himself with the matter in hand. Five or six-year-old children only have question marks on their heads and are curious about everything, so I kept a close eye on Xiao Yuan.

The place where my grandmother stayed was originally a forest. Some fishermen came to the shore in the late Qing Dynasty more than a hundred years ago and lived here. They called this generation Fangjiachang. The older generation is just used to it. There are a lot of children from five to eight or nine years old in this area, so it is natural that they often play. Since everyone's family background is similar and not rich, children from poor families seem to like to help each other by nature, so Xiao Yuan didn't come here for a few days. Just get acquainted with everyone. It's just that he's a little weird.

Xiao Yuan's head is very big, and the facial features are peculiar, almost flat without any ups and downs. From a distance, it looks like a red balloon balloon blown up after the facial features are meticulously depicted. The big and round head is dotted with A few strands of wet hair, thin and white like a piece of cloth that has been rinsed many times with washing powder, purple blood vessels the size of straws are clearly visible under the scalp.His eyes were small, with sparse brows that almost gave the impression that they were two beans stuffed into a dough.But he still likes to squint his eyes and talk, his nose is not high, wide and short, and slightly sunken inwards, his thick and slightly raised lips are always covered with oily beads—even if Xiao Yuan’s mother doesn’t eat by herself , but also to ensure that her son has meat and fish every day. She was too poor, so she went to a nearby pond with bare hands to catch some toads and burned them for Xiao Yuan to eat, even though her hands were burned by the venom secreted by the skin of the toads.So we kids are very jealous of him.And he doesn't like to talk very much, but every time he speaks like an adult, he always teaches us the same age, and everyone is very convinced by his words.Xiao Yuan's exposed skin is always swollen and translucent, like thin pigskin torn off, and his hands are always wet. Every time I hold his hand, it always feels slippery, as if holding a piece of skin. Soap.

Almost every time we played hide-and-seek, he could always find us, no matter where we hid - under the cart, in a bamboo basket, in a small dark room, or on a big tree. Every time he thought he was hiding perfectly, but it didn't take long was found. And every time, Xiao Yuan appeared behind you, patted heavily on the shoulder, and then said with a sneer, "I saw you." According to the rules, people who are caught should go to hide, but Xiao Yuan doesn't seem to like hiding, and everyone is happy to let him catch it. It's just that once the game is out of balance, once it is caught more times, it will lose its balance. Interesting, when Xiao Yuan enthusiastically invited everyone to play again, he was met with blank stares from everyone, and all the friends dispersed, leaving me alone, while he narrowed his eyes again and looked at each one going away. The back figure did not speak.

"Why do you always find us?" I stopped by him and naturally asked him. "You are so stupid, I have avoided those places countless times before." His answer is still very rude, but I am used to it. "Then, is there any way to make your captors never find it?" When I got home, Xiao Yuan was about to push open the wooden door and go in, so I asked him again. This time Xiao Yuan didn't answer right away, but pulled back the hand that pushed the wooden door open. He walked up to me with a smile, stretched out his hands, and gently pressed his thumbs on my eyes.

"Blind his eyes, like this, press down hard with your thumb, and he won't be able to find you again." His words were like an awl, and his hands really started to force, and my eyes quickly felt a squeeze feel. I, who was more than five years old, naturally burst into tears. Xiao Yuan seemed to realize that something was wrong, and immediately withdrew his hand and walked into the room, leaving me alone to carefully massage the sore eyes. That night, I fell asleep very late, and I could no longer hear the songs of grandma and mother coaxing me to sleep in my ears, but the words Xiao Yuan said kept echoing.

"Blind his eyes." "What a weird person." I turned over and suddenly felt that the night was a bit hot. The night wind should be very cool, but now it was very weak. Suddenly, my lower body tightened, and I felt like urinating. I crawled on the bamboo bed. Got up, rubbed the eyes that were still slightly painful to relieve. As I said before, the alleys of Fangjiachang are very narrow. In summer, the house is like a steamer. Everyone puts beds and bamboo mats outside to escape the heat. Grandma’s house is at the head of the alley, and every household here has There is no toilet, so the older ones go to the public toilet more than 100 meters away. As for the children, they usually deal with it by the ditch next to the kitchen. I got off the bed and found that the moon came out. Because there were so many things, I carefully avoided the piled up sundries, and suddenly found those neighbors who were sleeping outside. I didn't pay much attention to it before, maybe it was because my eyes hurt a little that day, so I looked at it unnaturally. Extending from where I stood, there were several people lying outside the door of every household. Everyone was motionless, like piles of goods piled up, and the edge could not be seen.The silvery moonlight shone through the cracks in the dilapidated plastic shed on their bare muscles, reflecting strange light. I have seen a factory processing plastic figures nearby—a place that specializes in making models for clothing stores.When they unloaded the goods that day, there was a strong wind, and a pile of stacked mannequins were exposed in the open space, just like now, I was a little surprised when I was young, and I couldn't tell whether the people lying on the ground were real or not. But when I finished my urgency, I noticed that only Xiao Yuan's family no longer slept outside, and it seems that since they moved to now, no matter how hot the weather is, their mother and son have never slept outside, they always eat After dinner, I closed the door early and went in. I just wanted to go over to see what happened, but the door suddenly opened with a creak, and a figure squeezed out from the crack of the door, then stood upright, and closed the door again. I quickly squatted next to a bamboo building, and after a closer look, it turned out to be Xiao Yuan's mother. Her face was facing me, showing an irrepressible sense of excitement and relief, like a prisoner released after serving her sentence, or a gambler paying attention to the result of gambling.She was carrying a small cloth bag in her hand - she and Xiao Yuan carried it when she and Xiao Yuan moved here. The woman seemed to look inside worriedly, and then carefully walked through the people lying in the alley, but it was not an easy task, she seemed to hesitate, and of course chose to walk out of the alley from my side, and then she Past the place where I hid, disappeared into the night.Fortunately, maybe she was in a hurry to leave and didn't notice me. But just as I was wondering why she left so carefully late at night, the wooden door that was brought opened again. Xiao Yuan came out from inside, his eyes were not as small as they looked in the daytime, but glowing like a cat's eyes. "You can't get away. My favorite thing is hide and seek." Xiao Yuan's voice was very low, but it sounded like a grown man's voice, just like my uncle and grandpa.Then, he flashed into the house.I was a little scared, the heat I felt before was gone, I rubbed the goosebumps on my arms with both hands, climbed onto the bamboo bed and fell asleep. The next morning, I was woken up by my family and was about to wash up and have breakfast, but found that Xiao Yuan’s mother was holding a bowl of noodles covered with poached eggs and handing it to Xiao Yuan who was sitting on a small bench. Xiao Yuan's expression was very smug, and he took the bowl of noodles.However, I saw that the noodles were obviously exhaling hot air, but Xiao Yuan ate them in big mouthfuls without fear of being hot, and hardly swallowed them. And Xiao Yuan's mother didn't seem surprised by this, she just took the empty bowl resentfully, biting her lip, and Xiao Yuan ran outside in a hurry after eating, and told me to eat quickly before leaving he plays. I felt very unreal about what happened last night. Maybe it was just a dream of mine, and it never happened at all. At that time, I comforted myself so much. A few days later, the summer temperature began to subside, and my happy days at my grandma's house were coming to an end. I counted my fingers and calculated that it would be tomorrow, and when Xiao Yuan heard that I was leaving, she just said oh, Then invite everyone to play hide and seek. The children played with him only when there was really nothing else to play.Of course, the result was obvious, Xiao Yuan was the one who was catching people all afternoon, and he never missed one, and I naturally went home with Xiao Yuan amidst the complaints of my friends. After dinner, everyone went to bed very early. In the middle of the night, the wind suddenly became cold, like an iron knife piercing flesh. I closed my eyes and touched the blanket for a long time but failed. In the end, I touched something like a round meat ball. I suddenly opened my eyes and found Xiao Yuan squatting next to my bed, and my hand was on his big head. He stared at me with his eyes twitching and his nostrils twitching. Of course, I screamed in fright, but soon Quickly cover my mouth with his hand. "Follow me." After he finished speaking, he turned his back and walked outside, but I actually followed behind him as if possessed by a demon. In the bustling streets during the day, the shops are silent. In that era, there were no nightlife such as bars and Internet cafes. Even TV was a luxury for a small number of people. Apart from night watchmen, there were not even ghosts outside during this time. He Xiaoyuan's footsteps echoed on the asphalted road with residual heat. He walked unhurriedly in front, and after an unknown amount of time, he walked out of the Fangjiachang, the grain station and the free market. "Where are you going?" I couldn't help asking him. "Go find someone, she wants to play hide-and-seek with me." He didn't look back, and kept walking. "Who are you looking for?" I muttered and asked, but Xiao Yuan didn't answer this time, he just hummed and laughed a few times in front of him, his fat shoulders shook twice, and the fat on the back of his neck was also piled up. I don't know how long I walked, I was almost tired and closed my eyes, but bumped into Xiao Yuan, and it turned out that he stopped. "You know you can't escape." Xiao Yuan said suddenly.I was surprised, and then realized that he didn't tell me. The object of his conversation was a man curled up next to a small grocery store that had long since closed. "I will follow you forever." Xiao Yuan said again. This is a junction connecting the road outside and the residential area, and there is no one around. "I have to try." The man suddenly stood up, holding a bundle in his hand. It turned out to be Xiao Yuan's mother. "You're leaving tomorrow, aren't you?" Xiao Yuan suddenly turned his head, looked at me with a smile, and I nodded numbly. "Here, you are the only one who treats me best." Xiao Yuan suddenly stretched out his hand, wanting to touch my head like an elder. "What do you want to do again?" The woman suddenly screamed, like the sound of fingernails scraping on a blackboard. Xiao Yuan's hand stopped in mid-air.I don't know why, but I subconsciously feel that Xiao Yuan is very dangerous at this moment, so I ran to the woman. The woman pushed me behind with her hands. "I hate this body." Xiao Yuan whispered while holding his head with both hands. "Why do you always play hide-and-seek with me? I said you can't play with me, no matter where you hide, I can find you." Xiao Yuan stretched out his hands and walked towards me in an embracing shape. I could clearly feel the woman's presence trembling. "Run away, hide, and then I'll come to you again. As I said, I like to find people who are hiding." Xiao Yuan walked over while grinning. "Go, don't let him find us." The woman stretched out her hand and pulled me to run on the quiet street. Looking back, Xiao Yuan was still standing there without moving, just stretching out his hand towards us. We ran to several places one after another, but each time before we could sit still, Xiao Yuan slowly came out from the darkness. "I found you again! Run, hide!" The woman yelled like crazy after hearing this, and dragged me to run again. I don't know how long we ran, but the woman and I were exhausted, and we were almost dragged away by her.The two leaned against the iron railing on the road and gasped for breath. "Can't you run anymore?" Xiao Yuan poked his head out from the gap between the iron railings behind him, smiling foolishly. "I'm not running away!" The woman didn't know where the strength came from, and suddenly stretched out her hands to hold Xiao Yuan's neck, and dragged him to the ground, but Xiao Yuan still smiled. "I only buy and sell things, and I have never killed anyone. I have tolerated you enough on weekdays, and you are the first!" "Is it the first one? Isn't it?" Xiao Yuan's voice has been pinched out of tune, as thin as a faucet that is about to run out of water. "Blind his eyes, and he won't be able to find you again." I don't know why, but I suddenly remembered this sentence, and said it involuntarily, the woman suddenly understood something, and really stretched out He pressed his fingers towards Xiao Yuan's eye sockets. A stream of blood flew out from the eye sockets and splashed all over the woman, but Xiao Yuan smiled as if he didn't know the pain, and didn't make any resistance. After a while, Xiao Yuan really lay on the ground and stopped moving. The woman He also exhausted his last strength and pulled me to continue running forward, cursing while running. I looked back, Xiao Yuan was lying there not moving. Finally, neither she nor I could run anymore, and collapsed on the ground, panting for a while, and the woman's voice seemed to have recovered. "I saved your life, Xiyazi." She turned her head proudly and said. "Isn't Xiao Yuan your son?" I collected my breath, wondering why their mother and son were like this. "He's not my son!" The woman frowned, her expression was like a god of evil, and her fists were clenched. "I thought he was just a piece of cargo, but unexpectedly, he couldn't get rid of it like a dog's skin plaster." She continued to complain, but she turned her head and saw my puzzled look, and waved her hands impatiently. "Why am I telling you this, you kid doesn't understand." She stood up and stretched her waist. "I shouldn't be able to see him anymore. You talk about hide and seek every day, you little brat, I'll blind you to see how you can find me." After she finished speaking, she suddenly narrowed her eyes and looked at me like a hungry ghost looking at food, making me uneasy He took two steps back. "Let's go with auntie, auntie will take you to a fun place." She stretched out her hand towards me, I shook my head desperately and stepped back, she cursed angrily and ignored me. "Where are you going?" When I saw her turn around, she suddenly bent down very hard. "Don't worry about it." She turned her neck a little strangely, "Why does the hair always feel like it's being pinched?" I suddenly found a fat white hand protruding from the woman's neck, covered with blue blood vessels, like meridians on a dead leaf, so I raised my head and looked. Another Xiao Yuan's heavy body was pressed on the woman's back, and he smiled exaggeratedly with his mouth open, holding the woman's hair with one hand, and pressing the other hand on his own mouth, and made a gesture of silencing his voice. . But I think something is wrong, because Xiao Yuan doesn't have any scars on his face, but the woman was obviously bleeding from her hands just now. The woman didn't seem to know it at all, but walked forward along the street, and after walking a few steps, she turned her neck. "Where I go, I can find you." Suddenly, a whisper-like voice passed through my ears, and that voice belonged to Xiao Yuan. Instead of going home, I sat until dawn because my feet were a little soft. When I went back during the day, I was scolded, and my grandmother and mother were terrified, but fortunately nothing happened to me, so let's forget it. Not long after, I heard that the police came here with a wanted warrant to find Xiao Yuan's mother, or that woman was more suitable. "Who is that man?" I asked my mother. "This woman is a human trafficker who specializes in reselling dolls of a few years old, just like your size. She gathered the cheated children and took them to the countryside to buy them. But one night the driver didn't sleep well and the car overturned into the river. In the village, all the children were drowned, and they were found after soaking for many days. When they were picked up, their heads were swollen like buns, and the veins on their heads were protruding. More than a dozen dolls, their lips were purple. The eyes were covered by the swollen forehead and the skin was as transparent as a radish. The police told us the arrest warrant and what happened that day, and everyone knew that the woman was such a cruel person, and she also had a baby. It's a pity that she didn't catch her because she did such an outrageous thing." The mother explained indignantly. "Xiao Yuan is not her baby." I said suddenly. The mother was a little strange, but said to herself: "Never mind her, anyway, the police said that she seemed to have cheated a baby before she was reported, and she was often brought with her, so she probably wanted to recognize a son too. There are many bad things. I may not be able to give birth by myself!" The mother scolded again. After finishing speaking, my mother went to busy with her own affairs, and then went to grandma's house, and the house was changed to someone else, but the woman was never seen again, and later I heard neighbors talking about it, and I saw it in other places A thin woman with a big son.It's just that they couldn't catch it all the time. The two seemed to be playing hide-and-seek with the police. Later, I often had the same dream. In the dream, I saw a group of children playing hide-and-seek from a distance. The children hid themselves with a smile.I also happily walked towards them to join. The child leaning against the wall suddenly turned his head. He has no eyes, and there are only patches of blood in the eye sockets. The eyelids and forehead are pulled tightly, forming a few forehead lines as deep as ravines. That face was Xiao Yuan's face. In the dream, I was so scared that I stepped back step by step. The children who had been hiding before suddenly came out of their hiding places and walked towards me slowly. They are all Xiao Yuan, with fat and swollen heads, small eyes, blue and purple lips, and wet bodies. They all look alike, but they seem a little different. "Come and play hide-and-seek." They shouted childishly in unison. I woke up from the dream, sweating profusely.It seemed to understand why the woman couldn't get rid of Xiao Yuan no matter what.