Sludge to the Mountain Ghost

Mentioning the door, before closing the door, he went into the room and said, "I'm not at home, so be careful."

Xu Rui had almost reached the second floor. He leaned on the railing and lowered his head. The railing on the first floor and the stairs on the second floor cut off his sight, leaving only a small corner where He Hui could be seen standing by the door. Feet, and then it is blocked.

He Hui turned off the lights on the first floor, and the house was engulfed in darkness, until the door was closed with a "bang", Xu Rui neither answered nor left.

For three days in a row, He Hui did not return home.On the fourth day, the school holiday ended, Xu Rui resumed his school schedule, but He Hui still did not come back, so it was the fifth and sixth days.

On the seventh day after He Hui left, Xu Rui called her while walking to the classroom. The other end of the phone kept showing that the other party was busy, so he called again.

Lin Pai caught up with him from behind and patted him on the back. Unexpectedly, Xu Rui was so startled that he couldn't even hold his phone firmly.

Lin Pai was also taken aback by his reaction, but still caught his cell phone quickly and handed it back, "What are you doing? You seem to be restless these two days."

"No, I was distracted just now." Xu Rui glanced at the phone, and the call hadn't been hung up yet, so he put it to his ear and listened.

"Sorry, the number you dialed is turned off, please try again later..."

Xu Rui turned off the phone screen with a sullen face and put it in his pocket.Recently, the cold air has come one after another, and almost all the students have changed into bloated winter school uniforms. Xu Rui thinks that the only advantage of this big padded jacket is that the pockets are large, and all kinds of miscellaneous things can be thrown into it.

He rubbed his hands together and let out a cloud of white gas from his mouth, "I'm going to leave school this afternoon..."

Before he could finish speaking, Lin Pai stretched out his hand to shake his hand, and immediately let go, "Your hands are so cold, aren't they usually warm? Have you caught a cold?"

"No..." Xu Rui shrank his hands and put them in his pockets, "Maybe he's been playing with his mobile phone outside."

"Oh...you just said what happened after school in the afternoon?"

"I have something to do after training in the afternoon, so I won't go to the Internet cafe in the evening..." They walked to the first floor of the teaching area, Xu Rui reached out to give Lin Pai a hand, avoiding a few rough people, "Your self-study class in the afternoon Go back when you're done."

Lin Pai glanced sideways at the troublemakers, followed Xu Rui up the stairs, "Oh, I also want to tell you this, my grandma told me to go back early today, and I won't go to the Internet cafe tonight."

"Hmm..." Xu Rui nodded, chatted with Lin Pai for a few more words, and reached the fourth floor. The corridor turned a corner, and the two walked into the classroom one after the other. The homework to be collected was neatly stacked on the corner of the table.

Since the beginning of winter, Xu Rui's training has been changed from outdoors to indoors. After the afternoon, when he walked out of the gymnasium, it was completely dark.

He walked around the school a few times. Like the previous two days, he checked the township news for the past two days, and made several calls to He Hui. He didn't stop until his phone reminded him that the battery was low, and went to Heshan. Go to the town police station.

The Heshan Town Police Station is next to the row of residential buildings. It doesn't look special except for a larger yard.

In the night, the red slogan "Serve the People" was scrolling on the LED screen above the door. There was a policeman on duty in the guard room, and the hall lights inside were still on, but it was very quiet.

Xu Rui leaned against the side wall of a house opposite, the wind whizzed through the path between the two houses, he looked at the rolling red slogan from a distance, and his whole body almost merged with the night.

After a long time, he left here with his head down.

He walked very slowly, and it took more than half an hour to walk for more than ten minutes. The north wind at night became more unbridled, and his ears were red from the cold.

From a distance, Xu Rui saw that there seemed to be a light on his house. At first he thought He Hui had come back, but when he got closer, he found that the light was not inside the house, but at the door of the house.

Five or six people gathered at the door, Xu Rui walked behind them, heard some broken words, couldn't spell any sentences for a while, and they started kicking the door without saying a few words.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Xu Rui shouted from behind. Five or six people turned their heads together. Someone shone a flashlight on his face. Xu Rui raised his hand to block it. The sudden light made him unable to open his eyes.

"Who are you! Are you meddling in other people's business when you're full? Get out of here!" An impatient voice shouted at him.

"He's still wearing a school uniform, he's a student..." The person with the flashlight looked him up and down, and persuaded him, "Hurry up and go home and do your homework!"

"Damn! What nonsense, you guys are kicking it now..."

Before Xu Rui finished speaking, the flashlight was suddenly snatched by another man. As the flashlight moved, the knife in the other hand of the man also flashed coldly. He held the flashlight and pointed it at Xu Rui. Rui Rui's face, asked in a gloomy voice, "Wait, do you know He Hui?"

These words fell on Xu Rui's chest like a heavy hammer, a strong uneasiness rose from the bottom of his heart, and his heart beat violently. The sudden tinnitus made him temporarily forget about the bitter cold wind.

"I... I don't know."

"I don't know why you came to her house!" The man waved his flashlight twice on his face.

"I really don't know, I just passed this road after school...you are busy with your work..." Xu Rui put his hands in his pockets, turned and left as if nothing had happened.

He hadn't walked a few steps away when suddenly a rough voice whispered, "Boss, that woman seems to have a son, look at this kid's age..."

"Stop, turn around!"

The man with the flashlight suddenly turned the light source to him. Xu Rui stopped where he was, his heart almost jumped out of his throat. He slowly turned towards them. Running wildly in the night of the town.

The flashlight held the posture of splitting the night, followed by the sound of messy footsteps.

29. Chapter 29

"Grandma, I'm back."

Lin Pai pushed open the door and saw grandma sitting in front of the sewing machine in the corner of the room, wearing reading glasses and sewing fabric brought from the factory.

This old-fashioned sewing machine has a metal casing with gilded patterns, and it makes a lot of noise when it is stepped on.

The sewing machine was originally placed in an empty room upstairs, but Lin Pai’s grandma felt that she was suffering from leg cramps some time ago, so she asked Lin Pai to help her move to the first floor, and no one went to the entire second floor.

Although he promised to come back early, Lin Pai still took two extra sets of test papers at school. He glanced down at his watch, and it was almost nine o'clock.

"Didn't I tell you to come back early? Why is it still so late?"

After stepping on the piece of fabric in her hand, Grandma Lin Pai came out from behind the sewing machine and brought some dishes on the table to heat.

Lin Pai closed the door, and followed grandma to look at the plates she brought. The food inside seemed untouched, "Grandma, haven't you eaten yet? Didn't you say that you don't have to wait for me to eat? You still cook so many dishes... ..."

Grandma Lin Pai waved her hand, blocking Lin Pai's attempt to help, "Don't make trouble for me, the rice is in the pot, you can serve it yourself."

After working for more than ten minutes, the two ate hot meals at the dining table.Lin Pai was picking up the rice, sneaking glances at the old man from time to time, but she just calmly put vegetables in Lin Pai's bowl.

Today's meal is extraordinarily rich. He thought about all the festivals he could think of, but he still couldn't figure out why.

When Lin Pai had finished eating, the old man stopped his chopsticks and said to himself, "In less than a month, it will be Chinese New Year..."

"Grandma, do you have something to tell me?"

Lin Pai looked at the sunken eye sockets of the old man, the yellow light of the incandescent lamp magnified the uneasiness suppressed in his expression.

"Lin Pai, what do you want to celebrate this year?"

"This year?" Lin Pai tried to ease his uneasiness with a smile, but he pulled the corner of his mouth and found that he couldn't laugh at such a dignified and silent old man. Watching the Spring Festival Gala on TV, is there anything different this year?"

A north wind came in through the crack of the window, Lin Pai pulled his trousers so that they covered his ankles.

Grandma Lin Pai was silent for a long time, some kind of struggle seemed to be tearing at her throat, at the end, she let out a long breath, "Do you want your father to come back to celebrate the New Year together?"

Lin Pai put down his chopsticks silently, put his eyes on the edge of the rice bowl, and found a small gap by accident, "Did he call you? Did he come back alone, or did the two of them come back together?"

"No..." The old man shook his head in disappointment, "I called your father a few times according to the number I used to get through, but he refused to answer..."

"Grandma, if it's not an empty number, it only means that there are still people using this number, not necessarily him. Besides, it's been almost ten years, let alone a number, even if the person is alive or..."

"Lin Pai!" Across the dining table, the old man frantically raised his hand and waved it in the air, stopping his remaining words, then closed his eyes, and muttered a few words with his palms folded.

"I'm sorry, grandma." Lin Pai waited for her to finish the action before continuing, "If you want them to come back, come back, I can..."

"Actually, the first time I called and got connected, it was his voice! I recognized it right away!"

She became excited as she spoke, and couldn't tell whether the moisture in her eyes was from joy or sadness, and was soon wiped out by a flash of disappointment, "But he hung up as soon as he heard my voice, and if I called again, he wouldn't Pick it up... I was wondering if he would be willing to talk a little longer if he heard your voice..."

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