Burning fire

The time bird passed quietly, running fast.A few days after Zhou Qizun and Bai Yuxing returned to the city, the New Year came.

There is a lot of snow this winter, even the first few days of junior high school are snowing.The air is humid and cool, and the smell of fireworks that make every household fragrant is moist and moist.

The Spring Festival is used to visit relatives and friends. Large pieces of red firecracker debris are lying on the snow, being crushed and trampled black by people's new shoes one by one.

Everyone is so busy that they don't have time to put down the smile on their faces. It's no wonder that after each year, the wrinkles on the skin will become deeper--it's a New Year's smile.

However, there are exceptions, such as Zhou Qizun, a bare-bones commander who has no relatives and no affiliation, is just the opposite.He has no one to visit, no one to worship, and he is so idle.

Even something went wrong.

On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, Zhou Qizun went to an open bookstore from nowhere. As the first customer of the new year, he went to buy two books early in the morning.

One "Huainanzi" and one "Shan Hai Jing".

Bai Yuxing was shocked.

"You actually bought the book?" Bai Yuxing was stunned, staring at the exquisite book cover in shock.

He refers to "Shan Hai Jing": "Myths and legends?"

Zhou Qizun was full of atheism, he never looked down on ghosts and ghosts, he despised ghosts and legends when he was young, when other children were scared to cry by ghost stories, he would roll his eyes when he heard them.Besides, Zhou Qizun didn't like to read books either. He was a bag of rice when he was studying.

Facing Bai Yuxing's horrified questioning, Zhou Qizun just flipped through "Shan Hai Jing", then threw the book aside like a brick, smiled and said, "I just bought it casually."

Bai Yuxing: "..."

So far, Bai Yuxing, who is always worried about Zhou Qizun's mental deformity, has been running to Zhou Qizun's small barbershop almost every three days. The elders have a very simple way of expressing their care - every time he comes, he will bring delicious food to the lonely family.

Big meat dumplings, fish head hot pot, stewed blood sausage with dried pork and radish... two bowls of one pot after another were poured into Zhou Qizun's stomach. After a month, when the year was over, and early spring came, Zhou Qizun lost four weeks of weight by Bai Yuxing. Five catties.

With a little more flesh, it looks stronger and better looking.The injuries from years ago have also fully healed.Zhou Qizun spent his whole day in the small second floor of the barber shop as a big waste of firewood, puffing out smoke rings against the chilly northeast wind from the window.

This stock is so happy, it's a pity that the insomnia that has been suffering for eight years can't be cured, and it has continued into the new year.

Same today.Zhou Qizun suffered from insomnia last night, he closed his eyes until dawn, and held his breath until noon.

After getting out of bed, Zhou Qizun took a shower and his stomach started to growl.

So, he went to the table on the first floor to grab the pork patties that Bai Yuxing brought yesterday.

After leaving it overnight, the cake was cold and hard, like a piece of rock.But Zhou Qizun was so bold that he directly put the cake in his mouth and gnawed it.

The girl's black cat is also at home now.Seeing him eating cold pancakes, the girl couldn't help but jumped onto the nearby microwave oven and squatted.

Zhou Qizun squinted at it, chewed hard on the cold and hard cake, and said vaguely: "Come down, go upstairs."

Girl of Spades: "..."

Its whiskers trembled twice, and it said in its heart, "I have already reminded you so clearly, why can't you grow snacks? What if you still need cats?"

——Fuck it, Zhou Qizun's heart has grown into the gutter.

Not only was Zhou Qizun rude and ungrateful, he clicked his tongue impatiently and threw his temper at the beast: "Hurry up, why don't you stay downstairs by yourself."

"..." The girl had no choice but to get close to Zhou Qizun in a desperate manner.

Zhou Qizun stretched out an arm towards it, and the girl lay down on the pole, leaped from his arm to his shoulder in a few cat steps, nestled her big black haired head into the socket of Zhou Qizun's neck, and breathed air from both nostrils.

Zhou Qizun hunched the girl up the stairs, and when the stairs were finished, a piece of cake was eaten, and his stomach was full.

He washed his hands, threw the girl to the foot of the bed, leaned on the head of the bed, picked up "Huainanzi" and started flipping through it, directly to the part of myths and legends.

I don't know if these are well written...

Zhou Qizun had just glanced at it twice when the phone on the bedside table rang.

It's my sister's phone number.Zhou Qizun connected: "Sister-in-law."

"Xiao Zun, how are you doing? How are you doing these days?" The girl on the other end asked with concern.

"It's good, you don't have to worry about me." Zhou Qizun turned a page of the book, "What about you?"

He probably knew why his sister-in-law called him, so he asked directly: "You said last time that you would go to his hometown with Uncle Peng, did you agree?"

A year ago, there was a bloody storm, and people were killed in the mountains, and some people were missing outside, and their whereabouts are still unknown.There are beasts and ghosts again, and the area of ​​Xiaotai Mountain is over.

Not to mention that outsiders are frightened when they hear the news, even some people in the village are timid, fearing that bad luck will happen, so they quickly moved.

The world is so big, the most indispensable thing is beautiful scenery.No matter how beautiful the waterfall is, no one will be happy to see it.The sister-in-law's hotel bears the brunt, and it is determined that it will not be able to continue.

Zhou Qizun had heard from his sister-in-law earlier that Lao Peng proposed to take her back to his hometown.

I didn't dare to go home before, but now that I have a companion, maybe I dare to go back.

Even if Lao Peng is drifting outside, he still wants to find a village that feels like home.In fact, what he is afraid of is not the land where he was born and raised, but what he is afraid of is dying alone on that land.If so, it would be better to die in a foreign country, in a "foreign country" like home.

To be human, in the final analysis, is just mean and weak, struggling to find courage in the world.

Sure enough, Zhou Qizun guessed right.

"Well, I'll be leaving the day after tomorrow." The aunt said.

"Very good." Zhou Qizun smiled, "Uncle Peng is a nice person. If you stay with him, I can rest assured that he can take care of you."

"Hi..." Sister-in-law seemed a little embarrassed.She rarely had such a tone, a little shy, and with a smile, "Let's make do with it."

The phone was silent for a while, Zhou Qizun turned another page and waited for my sister-in-law's next words.

"Xiao Zun." The aunt said.

She suddenly said, "The big pear tree in the backyard cannot be moved now."

Zhou Qizun's eyes stopped on a line of words, and he didn't respond immediately.

Speaking of this, the aunt and nephew have already tacitly understood.My sister-in-law's voice softened a bit: "There are always things that have to be let go."

"Well, I know." Zhou Qizun said non-emphasis.

I could hear my sister inhaling lightly.She asked Zhou Qizun, "Do you still live in that barber shop?"

"En." Zhou Qizun's eyes moved, looking at the next line of writing.

"If you want me to say, you should rent a house first..."

"Sister-in-law." Zhou Qizun closed his eyes, leaned his head firmly on the cushion, and ticked the girl at his feet with his index finger.

The girl crawled to Zhou Qizun and lay down on the bed sheet.

Zhou Qizun scratched the cat's head, and spoke a little slower: "Don't worry about me, I'm fine."

The aunt was silent again.In the end, I didn't know what to say, so I could only sigh: "You child."

——A bitter child, a poor child who can’t take care of himself, it’s a shame...

Zhou Qizun smiled again, but said nothing.

Birth and death, all living beings are ants.Maybe people always have to let go, like my sister-in-law would leave the big pear tree and go to another place.But some things can only be put down after being cremated into ashes, such as the flesh and blood of the body.

There are so many blood debts that no one can persuade him.

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Qizun gave the girl a hard time, and took out Zhou Yunheng's relic from under the pillow—the blood jade finger ring.

Turning this gadget around his fingertips a few times, Zhou Qizun put it on his hand.

Knocking the book aside, Zhou Qizun was so annoyed that he simply closed his eyes and lay down and ran for a while.

The girl's hair was scratched by a head bump, and its head bumped twice on the bed sheet, creating a small crumpled hole in the bed sheet.

Seeing that Zhou Qizun was not in the mood to talk to it, the girl quietly jumped off the bed and slipped out through the crack of the door.It went down the stairs, leaped from the broken sofa on the first floor, jumped high to the window sill, squeezed through the cracks of the windows, and slipped to the street.

.

Puyang Road, Kangning Psychiatric Rehabilitation Hospital.

In a ward, the sunlight pierced a few dark streaks on the tiled floor.

Zhang Jueming sat in front of the bed, looking at the thin man in front of him.

It can be seen that this man originally looks good, especially the eyebrows and eyes, which are delicate and delicate.Take a closer look, Zhang Jueming is very similar to him.

They both have a pair of beautiful peach blossom eyes.

It's a pity that the man's eyes are now dull.He was very old and lean on the bed.

He didn't look at Zhang Jueming, and he didn't even seem to notice that Zhang Jueming was in front of him at all.

Holding a magazine in his hand, the man tore the magazine down page by page, muttering a sentence every time he tore out a page: "She is human."

"She's not human."

"She's human."

"She's not human."

……

Zhang Jueming didn't make a sound, watched him tear up more than half of the book, stood up and opened the door and left.

Standing at the door, Zhang Jueming watched for a while through the transparent glass.The magazine in the man's hand was torn empty.Tear up the last page and stop at the sentence "She is not human".

"She's not human." The man stared blankly at his two hands.He suddenly hugged his body into a ball, then retracted into the bed in panic, and buried his head under the pillow.

"How come you are like this." Zhang Jueming whispered to himself, his voice was very small.

"Mr. Zhang." At this time the doctor came over and greeted Zhang Jueming behind him.

"Hello." Zhang Jueming turned around and smiled at the doctor.

The doctor nodded slightly: "Your father's condition has been stable recently, you can visit him more when you have time."

"Okay. Thank you. You have worked hard." Zhang Jueming smiled again.

"Be polite, it's what we should do. Also, the patient's appetite has been good recently. I took him out for a walk a few days ago..."

Zhang Jueming didn't listen to what the doctor said.

Is this stable?Not bad?

Thinking about it, at least now he won't hit the wall with his head, but bury his head under the soft pillow.

Zhang Haolang was a very good father when Zhang Jueming was young. ——Before he knew that his wife was not a human being and his son was also a monster.

After talking briefly with the doctor, Zhang Jueming glanced at Zhang Haolang again, turned and left the hospital.

.

Go a few hundred meters from the hospital, turn around the signal light, and there is a small park right at the intersection.

There are some fitness and entertainment facilities in the park. You can see children running around happily, and two silver-haired grandfathers, facing each other, leaning on a big tree with their backs, chatting and using their backs Hit the tree.

Zhang Jueming passed them and walked deeper into the park.

There is a big red plastic slide inside.The ladder is dirty and has some cracks. This ladder has been in disrepair for a long time, and no children will come up to play.

The spade girl was squatting on the slide, when she saw Zhang Jueming, it rolled down the slide bald and rolling, like a big spring wrapped in black hair, it bounced high into Zhang Jueming's arms from the ground.

There was no one around, so Spade hurriedly started today's report: "My lord, there is nothing unusual."

"Yeah." Zhang Jueming rubbed its fur.

These two slaps made it uncomfortable, Spade immediately closed his eyes, and continued to sell Zhou Qizun: "But he didn't go to bed until midnight last night. He still ate the overnight cake when he got up, and he didn't heat it up, so he just kept it cold." food."

Zhang Jueming frowned upon hearing this. ——Zhou Qizun never pays attention, if things go on like this, his stomach will definitely get sick.

Lai's concern was chaotic, and he actually asked Spades in a difficult way: "Did you think of a way to remind him?"

"I really can't see it, I think about it." It's okay not to mention it, but when Spade is mentioned, he immediately sighs, "I'm squatting on the microwave oven, but he doesn't realize it at all."

It has lived for decades, and from the time it became a spirit until now, it has never seen a primate with more strings than Zhou Qizun.

Spade said again: "Yesterday I didn't put on my clothes after taking a shower, and kicked the quilt in the middle of the night."

After scolding Zhou Qizun, it still didn't forget to show off in front of Zhang Jueming, coquettishly, and said cautiously: "The quilt is too thick, it hurts my teeth."

Zhang Jueming: "..."

Zhang Jueming had no choice but to pat the cat's head again, coaxing the cat in a low voice: "Thank you for your hard work."

There are countless people, ghosts, and ghosts walking in the boundless world. For a long period of time, only Zhang Jueming's own narrow eyes know how much he envies a cat.

"You still have to follow him every step of the way, you know?" Zhang Jueming took out a piece of imperial concubine toffee from his pocket, peeled off the wrapper and put it in his palm, "Keep an eye on him, if there is anything unusual and wrong, you must immediately Tell me. You know how to find me."

——He was worried that those five-fingered claws would find Zhou Qizun again.

"Don't worry, my lord, I'll go back and watch him right now." Spade licked the toffee from Zhang Jueming's palm, suddenly looked down, and assured him earnestly, "There must be no details."

The author says:

"Huainanzi", also known as "Huainan Honglie" and "Liu Anzi".The content of this book is complex, including political science, philosophy, ethics, and many others.It also involves strange things, ghosts and spirits, and some mythological materials are preserved.

Jiuying originally came from "Huainanzi Benjing Xun".

And, let me explain in nonsense: my sister-in-law said to let go, not to let go of the truth, after all, it was her family that had the accident.She hoped that Zhou Qizun would let her go and live a more relaxed life, such as renting a decent house.

Again, you can't blindly hit the tree, especially the elderly.

Happy 2021 everyone, a safe and joyful New Year, and everything goes well.