Xi Kui, ancestral home Wutang. Originally, he was just a small local wharf helmsman, but then he was helped by a nobleman and went to Fengcheng City to do things.
Many years have passed, and he has become more and more nostalgic for the mountains and rivers of his hometown, as well as the old folks in his hometown, so he wants to take the time to go back and see.
When I was about to walk to the familiar intersection in the township, I saw an old man with a white beard walking out on crutches. When the old man saw him, he was surprised and moved, and the wooden stick in his hand poked a small hole in the ground under his feet.
Xi Kui was also very excited when he heard the cordial hometown dialect, he didn't expect that he had been away for so many years, and his appearance had already changed, but there were still people in the township who could recognize him at a glance.
The old man was talking well in front, but his face suddenly changed in the back.
"Look at you, you're having a good time outside! You are developed, and the younger brothers and sisters in the family are still suffering......"
This made Xi Kui confused, he had no parents when he was less than ten years old, where did he run out of his younger siblings?
When he rushed home, he finally saw the so-called "younger brothers and sisters" in the dilapidated and familiar earthen house—a young man with a harasser on the corner of his mouth, and a young girl who was digging something out of the dirt and playing.
Xi Kui looked at it for a while, but he couldn't find anything similar to him. After trying to call out to them, both of them looked up at him in unison, and when they saw that he was carrying a fragrant paper bag in his hand, they were about to pounce on him and fight for it.
Xi Kui generously took out all the food he bought on the street and gave them to eat, ate and drank to their heart's content, and then asked them who they were and why they lived in his house.
The young man was still stunned, but the girl was very good at talking, and when she said it, she could speak for a long time, and she was clearly organized, and her language was calm, like an adult.
She told Xi Kui that they had been here since they were born, and that they were members of this family.
The names of the brother and sister have not been chosen yet, so Xi Kui called the young man Xi Liu, because he often shook his hands to compare with six, and those who didn't know thought he was sick with his torso. Another girl was named Xi Yan because she loved to talk.
Xi Yan was very good at talking about some daily life, but when Xi Kui asked how they grew so big when no one took care of them, Xi Yan suddenly shut up and stopped talking, and he couldn't ask no matter how he asked.
Because there are not many days to rest, after Xi Kui has walked around the entire Wutang in the past few days, he wants to arrange this home as much as possible, because now there are two living people living in it, and it can no longer be disposed of as an idle abandoned house like in the past.
When I first entered the house, the smell of dust filled the house, and it was hard to imagine how these two children survived here.
Xi Liu almost didn't understand anything, but Xi Yan was smart. Xi Kui only needed to teach it once, and she learned to clean the house, cook, do laundry, and all kinds of daily household chores.
After a few days, the two siblings finally stopped looking as gray as they did at the beginning, they became clean and tidy, and they also had the sunny breath of ordinary children.
There is only one thing that makes Xi Kui a little distressed, that is, because Xi Liu is demented and greedy, he often goes to other people's houses to beg for food.
Now he is young, and the neighbors look down on him pitifully, and it is normal to give alms occasionally. But if you run into a bad-tempered adult, I'm afraid that you will be beaten and scolded.
However, no matter how Xi Kui told him, there was no response, and letting Xi Yan persuade had no effect.
It didn't take long for Xi Kui's worried scene to appear.
In the middle of the night, Xi Liu muttered a few words of "spicy rabbit head" in his mouth, and his body floated out like a wandering soul and came to the outside of Zhao Daniang's house, who raised rabbits.
Two thieves were touching the shed in the yard of someone's house, trying to touch a few rabbits to take away. Before coming, the two were still discussing how to make a "spicy rabbit head".
"Hey, even the emperor appreciates the food, let's not eat it twice!"
What the two thieves didn't know was that when they just said this, Xi Liu, who was lying on the bed, woke up "smelling" and followed them.
The thief was touching the rabbit, and suddenly he heard footsteps behind him, and when he looked back, he saw that it was the fool, shaking his hands and comparing six, and standing there smirking. For fear that he would call someone, the thief's movements trembled a little.
Another whispered: "A fool who doesn't understand fart is also worth your attention." If he dares to call someone, it just so happens that we will sneak away, and it is up to him to make the incident happen. ”
The two of them were muttering, and suddenly one of them let out a bone-chilling scream.
The fool Xi Liu didn't know when he took a knife in his hand, slashed it at the back of one of them, and muttered "spicy rabbit head" in his mouth.
Only then did the other man realize that the knife he had brought was gone, and he did not know when the fool had stolen it.
Besides, after the little thief howled like this, he woke up Aunt Zhao in the house. Aunt Zhao followed the sound and saw that someone was stealing rabbits, and she was immediately furious.
Although she lives in this room alone, she has a loud voice, and as long as she yells, the son and daughter-in-law next door immediately come over and catch the two thieves who wanted to steal rabbits, but Xi Liu disappeared long before Aunt Zhao came out.
Zhao Zi has been very angry lately, and he has nowhere to vent, just to let this thief taste his iron fist. During this period, the two thieves also tried to explain, but only ushered in a heavier beating.
I thought this was the end of the matter, but I didn't expect that rumors of Xi Liu's murder suddenly came out the next day.
The thief who stole the rabbit shouted to catch the thief, relying on Xi Liu's inability to speak to defend himself, so he wanted to frame him, saying that he was a fool who was greedy to steal the rabbit to eat.
In the end, the thief lying on the stretcher showed the deep visible injury in his back, and he had to let the official catch the fool and punish him severely.
I heard that Xi Liu had injured someone, Xi Kui was so anxious at home, he couldn't ask him, and he didn't know where to start if he wanted to help.
Unexpectedly, before it was dark that day, I heard that the matter had been resolved.
That Aunt Zhao didn't see Xi Liu last night, but only saw the two rabbit thieves, so she asked her son to teach them a lesson. Now because the thief wants to sue, she realizes that it was Xi Liu who helped her catch the thief last night.
At noon that day, Aunt Zhao didn't even have time to cook, so she pulled her son to find the official to tell the truth, saying that she would protect Xi Liulai if she said anything.
The result was obvious, the two real thieves saw that the matter was exposed, fled in the wilderness, and left Wutang. If you stay any longer, I am afraid that if you don't get a few more punches from Zhao Zi, who has a lot of strength, you will have to be drowned by the spittle stars of the villagers.
And Xi Liu was invited by Aunt Zhao to his home to take good food and entertain him, so he turned evil into good fortune, and Xi Kui also breathed a sigh of relief when he knew it.
That night, Xi Kui was asleep soundly when he was suddenly woken up by a sharp sound beside the bed. He hurriedly got up and lit the lamp, only to see a very enchanting woman, holding a fox's claw to pounce on him, but was dragged by Xi Yan with an iron hook.
"That's not the person you're looking for!" Xi Yan shouted.
When she said this, the fox spirit had already seen Xi Kui's appearance clearly, and it was really not the negative man she was looking for. Seeing this, she had to withdraw her claws, but she still glanced at the man in front of her with her eyes.
Since Xi Kui named their brother and sister, and when he raised his own brother and sister, Xi Yan regarded Xi Kui as his own big brother. Seeing that her biological mother was coming, she told Xi Kui everything as it was.
It turned out that Xi Kui's house had been uninhabited for many years and was occupied by fox spirits. The fox is very beautiful, and a passer-by man who is on a night road can't help but follow her into the house after seeing it.
After the fox spirit became pregnant with a child, the man saw that he could no longer have fun as in the past, so he quietly ran away to the field. The fox spirit hated him for being ruthless, and left after giving birth to two children in the house, which is how Xi Liu and Xi Yan came.
While Xi Yan was explaining, Xi Liu also got up when he heard the movement. Like his sister, he didn't react when his biological mother came, let alone joy, as if he was looking at a living person.
In the past, the fox spirits would come to see them once every other day, and they would bring a bag of food every time they came back. As soon as the object is put down, the kitsune will immediately turn away. It's always like this, and there's no other superfluous communication.
She was afraid that the children would live in this place for a long time, so she asked them to tell the public that they were the children of this family, and the neighbors would think that they were Xi Kui's younger brothers and sisters when they heard it.
Every time I come back, in addition to sending some food to the child, the main thing is to find out if the negative man has come back.
Because of Xi Liu's murder, the news spread in the township and neighborhood, and the fox spirit also knew that someone in this house had returned. thought it was her good friend, so he immediately rushed back to take revenge, but she was disappointed.
The fox spirit was unwilling to be lonely, he had no negative heart, and when he saw that Xi Kui was handsome, he wanted to seduce him, and he couldn't even hold back his daughter.
Xi Kui scolded: "I can't complain that everyone says that the fox spirit should be beaten, you are doing it yourself!" ”
When the fox spirit heard this, his face was full of shame. She glanced at her two children, then turned around and walked away. After that, the fox spirit never came again.
……
In addition, in the case of stealing rabbits, one of the thieves who escaped, surnamed Wu, was the one whose back was cut by Xi Liu with a knife, and there was also a father at home. On the day Xi Kui returned home, the old man he met at the intersection was this Wu's father.
Remembering that he was taken care of by Wu's father a lot when he was a child, and Wu Zi was actually not a few years younger than himself, Xi Kui's eyes were a little hot for a while, but he didn't expect that he would be like this now.
Although it was Wu Zi's fault first, but it was really ugly at the moment, Xi Kui thought about it, and still brought some fruits that the old man could eat to visit Wu's father. Now that the only son is gone, the old man is probably uncomfortable.
When Xi Kui arrived at Wu's house, Wu's father was climbing a ladder and fiddling with something at the eaves. Seeing this, Xi Kui hurriedly stepped forward to hold up the ladder and persuaded Father Wu to come down first, and let him do something.
When Father Wu saw that it was him, his eyes were a little complicated for a moment, but he quickly calmed down again, just like Xi Kui did when he was a child.
"After your aunt left a few years ago, there have been no swallows to make a nest at home. This year I remembered and made a new nest. No, as soon as the swallow came, the happy event came, and even my son came back...... It's a pity...... Alas......"
Father Wu said, and couldn't help but wipe his face with his free hand.
Only then did Xi Kui know that Wu Zi, like himself, had been working outside for many years, and finally came back, but he didn't live for a few days, and he had to leave home again because of stealing rabbits.
He wanted to open his mouth to persuade something, but Father Wu suddenly said: "I guess, it's just that the wind is strong at night, and the newly made nest is damaged, the swallows are flying, and the good things are gone." Now that I've fixed it, the swallows will come back, don't you think? ”
Hearing such words, Xi Kui couldn't say anything, but just said a few words.
In the next few days, Xi Kui came over every day to help Wu's father cook and clean. The outspoken aunt next door laughed when she saw it, saying that Father Wu left a fake son and came back with a real son.
Father Wu was a little unhappy when he heard this, so Xi Kui hurriedly took the perfunctory words and left the aunt.
This morning, Xi Kui went to Wu's father's house to help him with housework as usual, but he didn't think that it was all this hour, and Wu's father, who had always gotten up early, hadn't gotten up yet. Xi Kui was not easy to disturb, and was about to leave, when he suddenly heard a wail from the house, and the voice was clearly Wu's father's.
He was worried that something would happen to the old man's house, so he immediately broke in. I saw that in the dim room, Father Wu was lying on the bed with his eyes closed and waving his hands indiscriminately, as if he was afraid of something. Xi Kui knew at a glance that he was suffering from a nightmare, so he stepped forward to wake him up.
The moment the old man woke up, he trembled and touched his left hand in a cold sweat, and he couldn't stop being afraid. He was muttering something "blood" and "his hand was broken". Xi Kui hurriedly comforted him, saying that it was all a dream and nothing to do.
But Father Wu didn't seem to hear anything, and it seemed that he was still immersed in a nightmare and couldn't get out, no matter how Xi Kui asked him to pat him, he was still sitting on the bed in a daze, and there was no other movement.
What's even more terrifying is that for the rest of the day, Wu's father was still like this, as if he was too frightened, and he couldn't eat and do things normally.
It wasn't until the next day that Xi Kui figured out the cause of Wu's father's symptoms.
It happened that the night after returning from Wu's father's house, Xi Kui also had a dream, an extremely real dream!
In the dream, he went back to his childhood, and his parents were still alive and well. The father did not beat the mother to death, nor was he taken away by the man wearing the official hat. He doesn't have to be humble and beg for food, the family sits around and eats every day, gentle and loving, which is enviable.
This dream is so real that Xi Kui in the dream can even clearly taste the taste of food, the feeling of touching the door, and even the scent of grass blowing in the breeze is exactly the same as in childhood. He really felt that he was still young, and he was still an ordinary child who was less than ten years old in Wu Tang.
Just because the dream was too beautiful, Xi Kui didn't wake up at Xi Yan's call until three o'clock that day. After waking up, he sat on the bed in a daze for nearly an hour, as if he couldn't distinguish between reality and dreams......
Strange to say, he has always slept peacefully, and rarely dreams. For some reason, since I got home, I have been dreaming every night, and there is no night that is idle. Fortunately, they are all sweet dreams, and he doesn't hate them.
But he dared to say that all the beautiful dreams he had in the past were not as real as Shangcai! That's a real experience! As a result, for a long time after he woke up, he was still stupid and couldn't come back to his senses.
He remembered Wu's father's situation yesterday, and felt that the evil sect was even more evil, and after talking to the two brothers and sisters, he was about to go out to the temple to find a master to support him, but he was stopped by Xi Yan.
"That's a dream, why don't you like it?" Xi Yan asked very bluntly.
"Since it's a dream, it's fake after all, we can't stay in a dream for the rest of our lives, so it's better to come out as soon as possible." Xi Kui is very calm.
"What if I could keep you in a dream for the rest of your life?" Xi Yan couldn't wait to reply.
Hearing this, Xi Kui knew that he didn't need to find any master today, and the initiator was right in front of him.
When I asked, sure enough, all the dreams, including those of him and Wu's father, were all done by Xi Yan.
Xi Yan was born with the ability to make people dream, and even deeply immersed in dreams, and even never woke up! That Father Wu is a good example, if it weren't for Xi Kui to find him, I'm afraid people would have been left in a nightmare forever.
Asked why he tortured an old man like this, Xi Yan blinked and said, "Who is this for me to torture him?" It's this man who is trapped by his past! ”
When Wu's father was young, he opened a shop with a friend to do business, and later quietly swept away most of the money earned by the two. But his friend was in debt, his wife was separated, and since then he has been in a slump, and most of his life has been very miserable.
Speaking of which, Father Wu did have a bad influence at that time, and even brought his own son badly.
After Wu Zi stole the rabbit a few days ago, he didn't want to go with another thief, after all, he had only been back for a few days. Unexpectedly, Father Wu kept chattering in his ear, accusing him of how to do wrong things and losing face in front of the villagers.
Wu Zi was angry: "It's not all that you taught me since I was a child, how can you get good if you don't harm others?" Now it's going to be wrong! ”
He put down these words and took the burden and left, and he didn't know if the father and son would have a chance to meet again.
The son's words reminded Wu's father of the mistakes he made when he was young, but now it is too late to make up for it. Obviously, there was just a thought in his mind, who would have expected such a nightmare at night, and he almost couldn't wake up.
In the dream, his betrayed friend turned into a terrifying ghost, holding a sharp machete to chase him all the way. Father Wu couldn't dodge and was cut off his left arm by Shengsheng.
I don't know if it's because of the dream, under that kind of severe pain, he didn't faint, and he has been conscious and feels the pain of his broken arm.
He fell to his knees unable to move, and saw his friend carrying a wooden bucket and throwing it on him, only to see a dense network of snakes, insects, rats and ants climbing on him. He wanted to beg his friend for mercy, but he couldn't get a syllable out of his mouth......
Fortunately, Xi Kui came over at this time to wake him up, otherwise he didn't know what kind of torture was waiting for him behind.
Xi Yan told Xi Kui that in fact, he could not fully know the dreamer's mind and the content of the dream, and it was their "heart disease" that they had before they had the material to weave nightmares or sweet dreams.
A nightmare of the same level as Father Wu's, I am afraid that he did not repent after making mistakes in the first half of his life, and he lived too well, and now the backlash will be so serious. After all, it should be repaid, and even a little bit is indispensable.
After all, Xi Kui had already tasted the discomfort of switching from dreams to reality, so he wanted Xi Yan to cut off his dreams, and he also helped Father Wu say the same.
The girl who was still chattering non-stop just now suddenly fell silent again: she only had the ability to open other people's dreams, but she couldn't forcibly turn them off.
After all, aren't those dreams all caused by people's "inner demons"? She can only use the dreamer's own mind as a lead to hook up a dream, but she can't interrupt the original mind for them in order to interrupt the dream.
……
In the blink of an eye, Xi Kui was about to return to the city.
Before leaving, he went to see Wu's father. Father Wu actually climbed the ladder again, and according to him, he made nests everywhere, so that more swallows could come back with happy events.
The breeze was blowing, Xi Kui found a small wooden sign hanging under the eaves, and when he got closer, he saw that a person's name was written on it, and a lot of blessings were written on the other side of the wooden card.
Xi Kui thought about all the people he had seen in the township since he was a child, and made sure that no one called him by this name.
Father Wu has lived here for half his life, rarely going far away, and must have been friends he met when he was young......
What Xi Kui didn't know was that Father Wu had a nightmare of being hunted down and killed on the first night, and his mood has become more and more peaceful since then.
He always thinks before going to bed, "Now, I'd rather he be worse to me, and my heart can be more peaceful." I don't know if he's still alive, I'm really afraid that he will go down before me, then I will have no shame to see him......"
……
After saying goodbye to Wu's father, Xi Kui finally returned home, took the baggage and had to leave.
Around the corner, I saw Xi Liu climbing a ladder to build a nest on the eaves. Still chewing the leftover meat in his mouth, he chirped: "Nest...... Swallow...... Happy Event......"
Xi Kui understood what he meant, and his heart suddenly felt warm.
At this time, Xi Yan took out the burden that Xi Kui had collected from the house, and said with a smile: "Swallows can bring good luck and ensure that the eldest brother is smooth outside!" ”
Xi Kui was even more moved when he heard this, and nodded hurriedly in response: "Our family must have happy events this year!" ”
In the past ten years, he has been reluctant to come back because of the painful memories of his childhood. Now that there are people in the family waiting for him to come back, he has hope for working outside, and he has the expectation of going home, and the gloom of the past has gradually been covered by the warmth of the present......