Chapter 24 Ninety-fourth Night Snowman

Snow in winter, like the rain in spring, the sun in summer, and the wind in autumn, should be commonplace, but the long-term warm winter seems to make everyone forget the coldness of winter. Just relying on a few thick clothes to survive the short cold, nature gave us a blow, it swallowed the whole city like a beast, we seem to live in a refrigerator, the arrival of the new year has not weakened The majesty of winter. Daxue blocked all the information everywhere. I haven't heard from Ji Yan for a long time. I can't help worrying about his situation, but fortunately, I finally received the first letter of the new year.

(The following is Ji Yan’s letter.) You can't imagine what my place has become. You know from the news that your place is also a disaster area, but compared with where I am now, it's a world of difference.I don't like to use e-mail, but if you think about it, if you write a letter, you may not receive it for several weeks. As a best friend, I can't help but share my experience with you, even if it delays me by one more day. I can't stand it.You are a journalist, you should have the same feeling as me. (I couldn’t help but smile when I saw this. Indeed, whether it’s joy or sadness, it’s fun to share all kinds of emotions with others.)

Maybe you and everyone around you are cursing the damn weather, but I think it's normal, it's just that we used to live in an abnormal environment all year round, like that sentence, if everyone around you is lying, Then you must be lying too. Li Duo and I endured the coldness different from that in the north, and walked slowly to a place.The damp cold here is completely different from the dry cold in the north. It always seems to be soaked in bone marrow and blood. It is useless to wear thick clothes. Your clothes seem to have just been fished out of the water and worn on your body. It seemed that in order not to get frostbite, we had to walk as fast as possible to keep warm.

The air in the mountains is colder than outside. We originally planned to cross the mountain road to live in a neighboring county, but we didn’t expect that the frozen mountain road was more difficult to walk than the waist-high snow road in the north. We had to support each other and walked along the mountain wall. Go, the speed is much slower than expected.It was almost dark, but we had only walked halfway.However, what puzzles me is that I have been here before. As the only way to connect to the previous county, even freezing rain should not cause the road conditions to be so bad. There are no other colors around, it is all white, judging from the integrity of the snow, there should be no living things passing by here.

Yes, according to our habits, creatures passing through the snow will naturally leave a little bit of imprint. Finally, before sinking almost completely into darkness, I vaguely found some tracks. The footprints are very small, probably belonged to women or children. We followed the footprints and saw a remote village. But the village is too small, and it can be seen from a distance, but in this lifeless place, seeing people already warms my heart. I encouraged Li Duo to walk a few steps quickly and entered the village.At the entrance of the village stands a wooden archway about four meters high and more than two meters wide, with a white marble lion on each side.The wooden archway was precariously attacked by the freezing rain, and the icicles hanging down were as long as an arm, which seemed to be many years old.

It seems that this is not an ordinary farmer's village, but rather like a person with a rich family background living in seclusion in the mountains and forests in ancient times. The door of the house closest to the archway suddenly opened, and a strong man walked out. He had a cut-cut hair, and his ears were red from the cold. Not only the ears, but also the nose, cheeks, and chin were all red, as if they had been smeared. The thick tomato sauce is average, but it looks hard.His eyes are half-opened, he seems to be a little sleep deprived, he looks us up and down tiredly, there is almost no flesh left on his face, I can see the bone structure of his face well, the thick lips are shiny, it seems are having dinner.He was wearing a bloated checked jacket, and he looked at us strangely with his hands clasped. He stepped on the snow with his cotton-padded shoes and made a puffing sound, and stopped when he was about two meters away from us.

"I said, where did you come from?" His voice seemed to be frozen, and he slammed hard and cold, landing with a sound, dull and crisp. I briefly explained my purpose of coming here and my predicament, hoping to stay overnight.Unexpectedly, he flatly refused. "I can't decide, you have to listen to Master Liu whether you stay here or not." After speaking, he pointed to a two-story white brick house in the village. "You'd better go quickly, Mr. Liu sleeps early, as long as he gets into bed, he won't open the door." He said as he dodged into the door.

I had no choice but to go to Mr. Liu according to the man's words, and I didn't understand why I had to ask Mr. Liu for instructions on this matter. After calling for a long time, the door finally opened, but only a crack was opened, and a nimble little head came out from inside, looking at us with big eyes blinking. "It's getting late, we want to stay overnight in the village, I hope Master Liu will allow it." I forced a smile from my frozen face. It is probably a child inside, although I can't see it clearly, but the complexion is white and dazzlingly white, only the eyes in the eye sockets are very black, like a pour of ink, shaking at any time.

I don't know if it's a boy or a girl, but he (she) is so handsome, he (she) nodded and trotted into the yard. After a while, the door opened completely, and a middle-aged man in his forties came out, with his hands behind his back, looking quite proud. Although he was old, he could see that he was well maintained. Here I want to say that human maintenance does not only refer to physiology, such as good living habits, diet, and a high-quality living environment.The most important thing is psychology. If a person is always worrying and panicking, even if he is well-clothed and well-fed, he will grow old very quickly.But the man in front of me is obviously not. He looks only about forty years old. He is full of energy and elegant.

So I whispered: "Master Liu, hello." He is tall and tall, and there are tall people in the south, but they rarely have such a wide body, not fat, but burly.His appearance is also quite inconsistent, with a wide and thick chin, a high nose bridge, and deep-set eye sockets. He seems a little tired, but he is still in good spirits. His thin, tightly closed lips finally opened his mouth. "I'm Lord Liu, do you want to stay overnight?" I was somewhat surprised by his standard Mandarin. I nodded, but Mr. Liu stretched out his palm as big as a cattail fan and waved it. "Women can, but you can't. We absolutely don't keep outside men here overnight, especially in winter." After finishing speaking, he motioned for us to leave quickly.

"But in this weather, I'm afraid we'll all freeze to death when we get to a place where we can rest, so why don't you just save someone's life?" Li Duo begged bitterly. Master Liu lowered his head and hesitated for a moment, then raised his head and said straightforwardly: "Okay, you can stay, but you must agree to one condition." I would never have guessed that the so-called condition was that I promised him that he would never fall asleep. There was burning charcoal in the room, which smelled smokeless and crackled when it burned, and sparks splashed like water. Fortunately, the charcoal stove was surrounded by iron sheets. "Is it the best Wugang white charcoal?" I asked Mr. Liu.He led us through the courtyard and along the gravel road on the right to the side room—about ten square meters, although the inside is simple, there are beds and charcoal fire, a tea set, and four black-lacquered round wooden stools. "Oh? It seems that the customer knows the goods." Master Liu was a little happy.He was fastidious, and the fastidious man is happiest when he is seen to be fastidious. "But this charcoal is mostly produced in the north, and it has been shipped all the way here for use?" I couldn't help asking. "Hehe, I'm from the north, and I'm not used to the smell of burning black charcoal, so I use the white charcoal I brought in to burn it. In the past few years, the weather was warm and I didn't use it much. This year, I used it from previous years. Some damp charcoal Yes, but it’s still very important.” Judging from the layout of the house, it really doesn’t look like a residence in the south, it seems that Mr. Liu did move here from the north. "I don't understand why you promised to stay with us, but you didn't allow us to sleep?" Li Duo asked, shaking Can Xue on his body. Mr. Liu's eyes were warm, and he looked at Li Duo without speaking for a long time. After a while, he sat down on the chair again, staring at the charcoal fire and said word by word. Although the voice was soft, it could be heard in this room. Very true. "If you fall asleep, tomorrow I will go outside to get you." After speaking, he fiddled with the charcoal with the tongs and stood up. "You don't have to be afraid. I'll go get some food and wine. We won't sleep today. Let's chat with you. If there are too many people talking, it won't make you sleepy." After speaking, he went out again. Master Liu's words confuse me, but since he warned me not to sleep, I should follow suit. Anyway, staying up all night is better than freezing outside. I looked at my watch, it was only seven o'clock, but I felt that it was already very late. The food they ate was simple but solid, and they all produced heat when they entered the stomach. Big meat-filled dumplings, thick pancakes, and slowly warming wine made it much warmer after drinking. "Don't eat too much, or you will easily get sleepy. Tell me, don't talk about sleeping, even taking a nap!" Master Liu warned us again sternly.Li Duo and I were very hungry, so we had to agree vaguely while eating. Suddenly the door opened, and the child who opened the door jumped in, pulled Master Liu's arm sleeve like a little mouse, raised his head and shouted timidly: "Grandpa." He stretched out his little hand and waited for Master Liu to hug him. , and smacked his lips while looking at the things on the table.Li Duo wanted to ask her to eat with him, but Mr. Liu refused.Master Liu didn't hug her, but walked over holding her hand. "This is my granddaughter, you can call her Wangchun." After finishing speaking, he lowered his head and called the girl, "Wangchun, you've finished dinner, it belongs to the guest." Then, he led her out, while the little girl Nod obediently. About half an hour later, Mr. Liu came in to tidy up, and then the three of them sat by the charcoal stove and chatted. From Master Liu, I knew that he was originally from the north, and came to this small village with his family to escape the war when he was young.But this village is not ordinary. There were several champions in ancient times. These people walked out of the mountain village and entered the capital. When Master Liu's family fled here, they were not as good as before, but the locals were all people who knew etiquette and handouts after all, so Master Liu's family lived here. During the conversation, Mr. Liu never mentioned my question, which is why he, a man with a foreign surname, is now the person with the highest status in the village. There is also the man at the beginning, although it is said that Master Liu's words here have the most weight, but the disgust on that man's face cannot be concealed, and he always mentions it when talking about Master Liu's family. The content of the conversation became less and less, and finally Mr. Liu went out.I began to feel tired, and looked at Li Duo, who seemed to have fallen asleep.I remember Master Liu's words, and I tried my best not to fall asleep, but I don't know if I was too tired from walking during the day, and I became more and more sleepy, and finally I was really blinded and dozed off. I was afraid that I would fall asleep again Too far, so I stood up, wanting to open the door and stand on the snow, so that I can wake up for a while. It was very dark outside, everyone was asleep, except for the occasional wind blowing, the only sound was my own footsteps.Fortunately, it wasn't too cold outside, but after I stood there for a while, I decided to go inside to warm up. When I turned around and wanted to open the door to enter the house, I suddenly saw a figure standing on the vast snow.It's not high, just standing alone under the merit archway in the distance. I didn't want to shout loudly, for fear of disturbing people's dreams, I thought that I might be a passerby, so I walked over with steps. The snow reflects only a little bit of moonlight, creating circles of dreamy scenes like water pouring around. When I walked in front of the "person", I could see clearly that it was just a snowman.I laughed dumbfounded, maybe some naughty child piled it up, it does look like a real person from a distance. But when I took a closer look, I felt that something was wrong. Where was the snowman made by a child so realistic, with facial features, faces and costumes all coming out, it was not so much a snowman as a sculpture of snow.It's just that this person is not very familiar with him, and he has never seen him before. But the face of the snowman was clearly mine. Under the dim moonlight, I stared at another snow-white self in a daze. Suddenly I felt the snowman move. I thought it was my eyes dazzled, but it was true. It "walked" outside as if gliding. I don't know why, I became very interested, so I hurried back to the house, put on my gloves, hat and flashlight and went out, followed by the snowman. It seemed to want me to follow it on purpose, and it always kept a slow pace, but I kept complaining. Even though I wore rubber shoes, the soles of my feet were still slippery, so there was always a distance between us. I don’t know how long I’ve been walking, but I can’t see the tall meritorious archway when I look back. I’m hesitant, it’s still early in the morning, it’s not good if I get lost here, but if I just go back like this, it’s even more inconsistent with my work principle. The snowman's figure began to become blurred, and finally stopped on an empty snow field.When I approached slowly, I saw the snowman began to slowly melt and spread out, and finally merged with the snow. And I also felt that I stepped on something under my feet, which seemed to be a hard rock. I squatted down, breathed out and turned on the flashlight. It was so dark, I took off my gloves and touched it with my hand. Even though it had been frozen as smooth as iron, I still felt that it was a human skull. I tried my best to push the snow away, and sure enough, a person's head was exposed. He was completely buried under the snow, his cheeks were bruised, his hands were wrapped around his chest, his fingers were bent, and he kept the appearance before freezing to death.I dug up several corpses from the snow nearby. They share common features, both frozen to death, and both male.Their costumes are varied, unlike the locals. I realized that I seemed to be entering a larger designed world and that I was the prey. When I wanted to turn around and go back, I found that my feet had been firmly grasped. Although a pair of snow-like hands were slender, they fixed me like a vise. The snow under his feet began to slowly swell into a big bag, the snow slid down, and a human-shaped thing with snow-white long hair rushed up.Reflexively, I pushed the flashlight to full power and shot at it. I will never forget her eyes in my life, like a black agate, the whole body is white, only those eyes are as black as ink. She seemed to be afraid of the strong light, and retreated into the snow again, but my feet were still unable to move, and the temperature began to drop rapidly. If this continues, I will definitely freeze to death in less than two hours.That thing hid like a wolf afraid of flames, and as soon as the flashlight light source was turned off, she would pounce on it again. And the battery doesn't last long either. I had to make a quick choice, either stand here and wait for someone to come, or take off my rubber shoes and walk back by myself. Either rely on others or rely on myself, of course I choose the latter.I always remember someone saying that if you're going to be completely dependent on someone else, you're giving your back away. I quickly took off my shoes, then took off a sweater inside, tore it apart, wrapped my toes separately, and walked back along the footprints I had made when I came. Along the way, I could feel that thing behind me was still chasing me, and my toes turned from cold to numb. I knew that if I didn't rush back as soon as possible, even if I could escape, my toes would freeze off. Fortunately, I vaguely saw the lights ahead. Li Duo appeared in front of me, and the things behind me also chose to retreat. Li Duo cried and helped me back to the house, and immediately wiped my feet with snow. Fortunately, my feet were saved.Li Duo wanted to ask Master Liu to come over, but I refused and told her not to tell Master Liu about it. As soon as the sun came out the next day, Mr. Liu came into the room. He looked at me very surprised, and I also saw that his eyes were darkened. "You, are you still alive?" My current situation made the always calm Master Liu lose his composure. I was more convinced of my thoughts, but there were still some things I had to know. "Of course, I also feel lucky. If Li Duo hadn't rushed to rescue me, I'm afraid that even if I escaped, my legs would be crippled." I lay on the bed and smiled wryly. Master Liu quickly regained his composure, but he was still puzzled. "You mixed something like sleeping pills in your food. In fact, when I entered the village, I found that your faces were very tired, like the kind of people who have long-term lack of sleep or deep insomnia. Of course, I didn't care. , I just realized that I was able to stay up late, but I fell asleep last night, and you didn't let Wangchun eat those things. "Actually, you didn't sleep at all last night, or maybe the men in this village didn't sleep at all." I said slowly, but it was actually just my guess.But Mr. Liu's acquiescence confirmed my opinion. "I just want to know, what do you want to do in space? What was the thing last night." I questioned Master Liu. "I don't want to talk about that stuff. I've committed too many crimes. If I wasn't afraid that Wangchun was still young, I would have killed myself a long time ago." Master Liu closed his eyes in pain. From Mr. Liu's words, I learned a fact that made me feel chilling, that is, the difficult road outside the village was created by human beings. Mr. Liu asked people to pour water on the road over and over again, in order to retain the passing people. Passers-by, and this is only to save their own lives, because every snowy night, that thing will come out to look for food, and the food is sleeping people. "So, in fact, you were just playing hard to get." I said coldly, Master Liu shook his head. "I really hope you don't stay here. I have already killed many people. I'm not afraid to tell you that the monster I met is my daughter." Master Liu's words surprised me even more. "Before she came out of the cabinet, she got pregnant for no reason. No matter how I beat and scolded her, she just cried and said that she was ruined by someone rushing into the house on a snowy night. So I wanted to hide it and let her give birth to the baby. I went back to my hometown, but I didn’t know how to leak the news when I was about to give birth. It happened to be such a cold winter like this in decades. The mountains were covered by heavy snow, and the village could not communicate with the outside world. The patriarch said that my daughter’s infidelity offended me. The meritorious archway, the ancestor blamed it. And she forced us to drive out the child who was pregnant with Liujia, otherwise our whole family would be expelled. As a result, my daughter left the village by herself on a snowy night." Liu Ye wiped away tears, Said painfully. "A month later, I found my daughter's clothes at the door of my house. There was a baby wrapped in it, which is my current granddaughter. I hope her arrival can make spring come quickly, so I named it Wangchun. After that, as long as it snows every year At night, a snowman will appear under the merit archway at the gate of the village. People who look like the snowman will be taken away as long as they fall asleep at night, and then there is no news. They say that my daughter has become a monster, and the patriarch also died a few years ago. They disappeared, so no one dared to wait here, but those who escaped were still tortured, and they finally came back here, but all the missing were men, so everyone suggested to lie to those outsiders to act as scapegoats, and I also I had to do it out of conscience.” As soon as Mr. Liu finished speaking, the door of the room was suddenly kicked open. The sturdy man we met at the entrance of the village earlier led a group of old and young men to rush in. They all held a thing in their hands and looked fierce. "My surname Liu, it's not because we are afraid of you that we let you be the village chief. Don't be ignorant. You actually told this outsider everything. How will the people in the village live in the future? From now on, we unanimously elect Sun Mao as our village chief." He's grown up, originally, he is the son of the old patriarch." A thin monkey-like man in the middle shouted at the top of his voice, looking at the man named Sun Mao with a flattering smile. "Master Liu, I respect your age, but our village has been educated and educated for generations, and our ancestors even had a number one scholar. Your daughter is immoral, and you have done those immoral things yourself, and you have caused the villagers to suffer. I advise you not to sit down." This lady is old, take care of yourself and take care of yourself. I will take everyone up the mountain immediately, and kill that evil spirit. Isn’t it just a white-haired girl? I still don’t believe she has become a demon!” Sun Mao said with a sneer. Master Liu trembled with anger, pointing at them for a long time speechless. "Obviously you were the ones who threatened me, saying that I would attack my granddaughter if I didn't deceive those foreigners, but now you say it's me?" Master Liu's eyes darkened, and he passed out. Sun Mao continued to smile: "I didn't do those things. You were the one who took in those people, and you were the one who drugged them. Everyone in our village has read books and understands benevolence and righteousness. Now we will get rid of the harm!" After that, a group of people ran out of the house. I really want to stop them, because Master Liu's daughter is no longer human-killable, but I can't do anything. When the crowd dispersed, Li Duo helped Master Liu and fed him a glass of water, and he recovered.But Wangchun suddenly ran in and took Master Liu's hand. "Grandpa, there are so many snowmen outside." She said in a childish voice.As soon as I heard this, I thought badly, and hurried out while leaning on the wall. There was no one outside, only the wives and wives of those men stood outside the door and looked at the snowmen with great fear. The sun became extremely dim, and I saw dozens of snowmen standing under the merit archway. I looked one by one, but found no one of Sun Mao. In the afternoon, when my feet got better, I took Master Liu and those women to the place where I was last night. I only saw Sun Mao was there, and the others were gone. He sat on the snow with a dazed face. Sun Mao's wife shook his body when she ran over crying, but there was no response. "Cold, so cold." Sun Mao just kept repeating this sentence.Looking at Sun Mao, Wangchun suddenly opened his mouth and shouted, "Uncle has a snowman on his back." But I and the others didn't see anything, but Sun Mao kept bending over and saying it was cold. The other men were gone, and the heart-piercing cries of women echoed in the empty snow. "This village is over." Master Liu said with a sigh. Everyone took Sun Mao back, Master Liu asked me if there was any way to save him, I could only shake my head. Master Liu's daughter's desire for warmth turned her into a monster who specializes in stealing people's temperature, or like the Xi bag mentioned in ancient times, it sucks people's energy when they lead them back to their residence, but she just let it go To kill Sun Mao, or to say that living is a heavier punishment than death. Li Duo suddenly stared at Wang Chun again and said, "Don't you think Sun Mao and Wang Chun are very similar?" She asked me. There is no need to answer this, and Wangchun is outside worryingly making snowmen. Before breaking up, Mr. Liu said that he would take Wangchun back to the north. He said that Wangchunsheng likes snow and is not afraid of the cold, so he simply took her to the northeast, where there is the most beautiful and thickest snow in the country. When I left the village, I looked back, and the meritorious archway seemed to be even older, and the snowflakes piled up on it made it hard to breathe. Perhaps, it is only a matter of time before it is destroyed.