The old man who sells tofu is surnamed Chen, he has two in his fifty this year, his wife and son went early, his daughter married his son to serve as a soldier, and he is the only one in the family now, and he makes a living every day from the copper plates he earns from selling tofu.
In the past, the first place he went to every morning was the Liu family compound, that Liu Chengmao was kind-hearted, and he had a little friendship, so every time he didn't care about thirty-seven twenty-one, he would first take most of the tofu in his car, and the rest would be basically sold by Old Man Chen after walking through the streets and alleys.
But now, the Liu family is gone, and in the past few days, most of the tofu he makes is left every time, and if he can't finish it, he can only give it to his neighbors, and the rest can only watch them spoil.
Looking at the rancid tofu, Old Man Chen was distressed, not only for himself, but also for the twenty-three members of the Liu family.
He thought that they were just missing, and he always had hope in his heart, but today, after seeing the corpses of the Liu family with his own eyes, that little hope was completely shattered.
Throughout the day, he kept thinking of those corpses, his limbs were twisted, his face was hideous, and he couldn't see it, especially Liu Chengmao, his arms were raised high, as if he was resisting the attack of something, but finally he couldn't resist the past, his mouth and nose were filled with mud, and he drowned in the lotus pond behind Liu's mansion, which was only a few points big.
Obviously, on the morning half a month ago, he still joked with himself with a smile, saying, "Brother Chen, your tofu is getting better and better, and now a meal is missing it, and the crescent moon is not dependent, you see, that girl eats white and fat, thanks to your fresh tender tofu."
At the same time as he said this, the little girl of the crescent moon was under the crook of his arm, poked her father's round belly with her fingers, and her eyes flashed with a sparkling light, "Uncle Chen, look at my father's current appearance, and you are embarrassed to say that I am fat, do you think it's funny?"
” At that time, how beautiful it was for their family to be happy, but now, the crescent moon is missing, and the others have become corpses covered with stinky mud, Old Man Chen can't figure out why this is, and he doesn't dare to think about it deeply, so he simply bought a pot of wine, returned home early, casually made two small dishes with wine, sat at the table and poured himself a drink, and wiped his tears while drinking.
After a few glasses of wine, my brain became a little dizzy, and in a trance, it seemed that Liu Chengmao was sitting opposite, calling him "brother, brother", and handed over a glass of wine, just like it did decades ago, and it hadn't changed at all.
Old man Chen wiped the corners of his wet eyes, "Cheng Mao, why are you in such a hurry, you haven't even had a good drink with my brother, I think back then, our two brothers were ambushed by more than a dozen Liao cubs, and they didn't miss their hands, and beat a few of them to the ground, but now, this world is also a lot more peaceful, and you have built such a big family business, why did you go overnight." ” Speaking of this, sadness rose from his heart, he got up and took two more cups out, filled three glasses of wine, walked to the door, sprinkled them in the courtyard in turn, and said in a low voice: "Cheng Mao, go all the way, my brother will send you on the road with this wine today, you must not dislike it." ” As soon as the words fell, a cool breeze suddenly drifted in from the courtyard, and then, Old Man Chen saw a vague white shadow standing next to the courtyard wall, swaying with the cool breeze that was still swirling, fluttering, and seemed to be unstable on his feet.
He narrowed his eyes a little dazzled, carefully distinguishing the figure in front of him, and saw that he was tall, slightly fat, with a square face and round eyes, just like Liu Chengmao.
Old Man Chen was startled, barely stabilized his mind, and called out his name softly, "Cheng Mao, is that you?"
Are you unable to let go of your heart, so come back to see my brother?
” The white shadow trembled slightly, let out a sob, and suddenly opened his mouth and shouted at Old Man Chen, but his voice seemed to be swept away by the wind as soon as it came out of his throat, and no matter how carefully Old Man Chen listened, he couldn't hear what he was saying.
"Cheng Mao, can't you let go of the crescent moon?
Don't worry, my brother will be looking for her from tomorrow, and as long as she is alive, I will put together this old bone and get her back for you.
Old man Chen swore angrily.
However, after hearing his words, Liu Chengmao's soul not only did not calm down, but looked more anxious, he shook his head, and was still shouting those words at Old Man Chen, and his round eyes were filled with anxiety and deep fear.
Old Man Chen took a few steps closer to Liu Chengmao, and finally, he could tell what he was going to tell himself from the shape of his mouth.
He said, "Run, run."
"Run?"
Old man Chen went through these two words in his heart, he was already a little drunk, and these two words were inexplicable, so he couldn't understand what Liu Chengmao meant for a while.
So at this moment, he stared blankly at the soul of his old friend in front of him, and two identical syllables came out of his mouth, "Run, Cheng Mao, why do you want me to run?"
” When he said this, his mind suddenly cleared up, because he saw a withered yellow hand stretched out from the root of the wall and clasped tightly on Liu Chengmao's ankle, the hand was very small, like the small hand of a child under a year old, but although the size was similar, the appearance was very strange, but where the strange was, the frightened old man Chen couldn't figure it out.
At this moment, he couldn't do anything other than let out an exclamation, his body seemed to be frozen, he just stood in place, motionless, until Liu Chengmao's translucent body disappeared from front of him like a gust of wind, he sat on the ground with weak feet, and couldn't get up for a long time.
After a long time, Old Man Chen looked at the courtyard again, the place where Liu Chengmao appeared just now was empty, there was no shadow of a ghost, he rubbed his eyes, and took a closer look at the place: Could it be that he was dazzled?
Or is it that the wine is on the head, and there is a hallucination?
Or is it that you are old and take a short nap and you don't even notice it?
After some hard thinking and meditation, Old Man Chen finally made up his mind to treat the incident just now as a strange and bizarre dream, and desperately forgot about it and left it behind.
However, after returning to the house, he was not in the mood to eat and drink anymore, so he put away the plates and chopsticks, turned off the lights and went to bed early.
As soon as he closed his eyes, there was a foul smell from the tip of his nose, and then his face was cold, and a small hand groped his way up to his old face.