A boy one year older than Ju Nian, a "little monk" who was shaved with his head when he was a child, a murderer's son, a baby who was briefly adopted and abandoned by his aunt and uncle, and a... the most precious scar in memory.

My aunt and uncle live in the suburbs. They do a small business selling fruits. They are not sad, but they have to get up early and go to bed late every day.

Ju Nian had a cousin who was four years older than her. But when his cousin was three years old, he was playing alone in the open space at the door of his house. A farm truck passed by, and his cousin was crushed under the wheels, making it a bloody ball, and the ambulance didn't have to come. When the aunt and uncle ran back and cried loudly, they could only face the cold body of their son.

For some reason, after my cousin was gone, my aunt and uncle never succeeded in wanting a child. Perhaps not everyone is as lucky as Ju Nian’s parents. There is no birth of a newborn to dilute the unresolved sorrow. A couple who experienced the pain of losing their child was once facing a collapse in their marriage. They cried, they regretted, and they resented each other.

My uncle scolded my aunt, if she hadn't taken care of her son in the inner room that day, how could such a tragic thing have happened? She killed her son.

The aunt cried and said that if you want to blame, she could only blame her uncle. She pushed all the things at home to her and was busy outside all day long. He was the indirect murderer.

At that time, Ju Nian's grandfather was still alive and did not want his daughter and son-in-law to lose both sides in grief. So, the year after his cousin passed away, he decided to adopt a newborn boy for them. The boy's home was actually near his aunt's house. His father killed someone and ate a gun because of drinking. His mother left, leaving a grandmother who was left to raise.

My aunt and uncle adopted this child, and life did not turn around as expected by Grandpa Ju Nian. Because knowing the child's family is a big mistake. No matter how innocent the child is, they think every day that the child's father is a murderer, a dragon gives birth to a dragon, a phoenix gives birth to a phoenix, and the old murderer's child is a young murderer. This idea makes the poor child extremely hideous, and instead becomes a heart-wrenching problem for the couple. In addition, Ji Nian's uncle misses his son too deeply and feels that no one's child can replace his son who died prematurely. He becomes more and more disgusted with the boy he is holding, so that the child speaks bad words when he cries and even takes a heavy blow.

It’s really for this reason that life is not as quiet as having children as having children. Before the child stayed in this family for three months, his aunt sent the little boy back to his grandmother. When others knew about this, it became more and more difficult for them to adopt a new child. They just went day after day until Ju Nian was sent to them.

After so many years, my uncle is no longer interested in raising another child. My aunt used to like Ju Nian quite a bit. She said that this child is obedient, quiet, and has a companion around her, and can help her work. Besides, she has also helped her brother a favor. It is the right thing for her brother to have a boy. Their Xie family came from Ju Nian's grandfather and could not break the incense.

In this way, Ju Nian transferred from Cuihu Primary School near the Procuratorate to Taiyuan Primary School in the suburbs. At that time, there were farmland in the suburbs, and the roads were not as easy to identify as in the city. On the first day of going to school, my aunt took time to take her away, just as she recognized the way.

"Do you remember the road?" asked my aunt.

Ju Nian nodded.

She remembered it at that time, but when she came home from school, when she walked alone on the small road around for the first time, she easily got the wrong direction. After walking, she didn't know where her aunt's house should be.

Elementary school students who rushed out of school at the same time gradually disappeared from Ju Nian. The children who were walking in the same direction passed several intersections and disappeared. The more Ju Nian walked, they felt that the path they were in became more deserted. The sun fell little by little in front of her left. Ju Nian finally stopped and turned around in a daze. The sunset in the suburbs was strange, the wind blew through the rice fields in the distance was strange, the inconspicuous little white flowers at their feet were strange, the fishy smell of the soil in the air was strange, and the east, south, west, north, and north... Everything that can be perceived with eyes is strange.

She knew she could no longer walk forward blindly. According to the journey her aunt accompanied her to school, she should have arrived home long ago. Her aunt and uncle might be waiting for her to have dinner. She had just lived in someone else's house and could not add so many worries and worries to others from the beginning.

Ju Nian regretted it very much. At first, when she felt the direction was blurry, there were still several children from the same school in front and behind. Although she didn't know each other, she could still ask. She shouldn't be so slutty. Now, everyone is going home, like birds returning to their nests at dusk, and she is the only one left.

Just as I didn't know what to do, the wind blew the grass in front of me a little lowered, revealing a person's back, wearing white clothes, squatting in a squatting position, quietly, without making a sound or moving, and I don't know what I was doing.

Ju Nian looked around and there was no other figure. She didn't want to get lost until dark, so she plucked up her courage to take two steps forward.

"You...hello."

The man was motionless and was ambushed in the grass and motionless.

The plot about abandoning corpses on the roadside that I saw in the book suddenly took root in Ju Nian's mind. It was indeed not a good thing for a child to read too many miscellaneous books. This person should have been squatting there for more than a short while. Could it be that he would die? Ju Nian thought secretly in his heart.

Until now, Ju Nian didn't know why he, who was ten years old at that time, did not choose to run wildly when facing a suspected "corpse", but walked behind the man in panic, timidly, stretched out a finger and poked the man's back.

When his fingers touched the man's back for the first time, the man moved his shoulders, but when Ju Nian increased his strength for the second time, the man suddenly jumped out of the grass like a monkey burning his butt.

This action was too sudden, and Ju Nian was startled and even screamed in her throat. The man seemed to be no less shocked than hers. He took a step back and patted his chest in a daze.

"What are you doing in broad daylight for scary?"

"I thought you were dead. Yes, I'm sorry." After saying that, Ju Nian realized that he was probably saying something wrong. Others were doing it, so why did he curse him to die?

She waited for the man to reply to her, "You're dead." Who knew that the man was stunned for a moment, lowered his hand that was patting his chest, and started laughing.

Now Ju Nian saw it clearly. She mistakenly thought that this "dead person" in the grass was just a little furry child about the same age as her. Her white clothes were not the school uniform of Taiyuan Primary School. What was strange was that the boy was thin, but with a big bald head, his whole head was eye-catching. With his wide school uniform, he looked like a little monk who ran out of a temple to beg for alms.

A "little monk" lurking in the grass.

Somehow, Ju Nian also felt it was a bit funny and started laughing foolishly with the boy.

"You poke me if I die?"

The boy was not much taller than the Orange Nian. The wild grass grew wild grass over his head. There were two narrow grass leaves that were still lying on his cheeks. The tail was green and the tips were a little withered and yellow. Perhaps the grass was swept on his face itchy, and he reached out and waved away the annoying leaves. He was a "little monk" who was as clean and bright as a green lamp in front of the Buddha.

"I want to ask you for directions, but I called you, but you didn't respond." Ju Nian stopped smiling and said a little embarrassedly. She is in the third grade, and a child of this age already knows that there is a difference between boys and girls, let alone a stranger.

"You speak like a mosquito humming. Who can hear it? I suddenly poked me and almost scared my soul out. Ask me for directions, where do you want to go? Look at you, you don't live nearby."

Judging from his appearance, he looked like a local snake.

Ju Nian didn't say much, just asked: "Classmate, do you know where Xie Maojuan's family is going?"

"Xie Maojuan?" The boy repeated it, as if he was digesting the name.

"Yes, she is my aunt, my uncle's surname is Liu. Do you know where they live?" Ju Nian began to feel a little disappointed. She has not visited her aunt's house many times over the years, and she doesn't know how to describe the characteristics of the house. The area of ​​this area is not small, and he may not know when he frowns.

"Oh, Fruit Liu, I know." The boy suddenly smiled brightly and turned around and pointed her in a direction. "Here, you walk towards the sugarcane field, pass through it, and you will get closer. Then you will see a particularly tall metasequoia tree. You know what Metasequoia is. Turn the left side of the tree and keep walking, and you will soon reach Fruit Liu's house."

Ju Nian looked at the direction of his finger and saw a piece of sugar cane field that could not be seen.

"Why, you want to walk from the main road? You have gone astray now. If you walk on the main road, it will probably be dark when you return home. Don't you believe me?" The "Little Monk" tilted his head with serious expressions on his face.

"Ah? I believe it."

In order to prove her trust, Ju Nian really walked towards the sugarcane forest. After walking five steps, she hesitated five times, and finally decided to turn around and ask.

"What were you doing just now?"

"There is an ant nest on the ground. Go quickly, otherwise your aunt should be anxious. Remember, turn the left side of the tree, keep walking, keep walking..."

It took Ju Nian a long time to pass through the sugarcane field. The leaves of the sugarcane made her skin exposed outside her clothes red and itchy. There was even a hole in the back of her left hand and the sharp Ye Yuan. However, Ju Nian just thought in her heart that she could go back to her aunt's house faster and faster.

The sugarcane field finally came to an end. There was a bamboo forest there. There was a small path in front of the bamboo forest, but where was there any metasequoia? Ju Nian looked back anxiously and saw only the beige leaves of the mature sugarcane. It was impossible to confront the boy.

There was only one road ahead, and Ju Nian had no choice. She thought that there might have been a Metasequoia here, and the path was just on the left side of Metasequoia. For some reason, the tree was cut down and the roots were dug. The boy didn't know.

She walked along the path like this, and the sky turned gray, dark gray... The moon had already poked its head from the other side. Isn't this road closer? Why does it seem to extend to endlessly? My aunt's home did not appear, nor did anyone's home appear. There are bamboo forests around it, no one's voices, only insects are ringing.

When the surroundings were finally covered by darkness, Ju Nian was willing to believe that the bald boy who smiled completely might have deceived her. Why did he tease a stranger? The answer is no longer important. Ju Nian didn't even know how to stop, but she just kept walking, and the earth was round. Didn't Columbus prove this?

The visibility on the path is already very low, and what can be used to be the hazy moonlight in the sky. In the wilderness, the moon is dark and the wind is high. All terrifying things can happen in a lonely little girl. Ju Nian was trembling. She was afraid that a female ghost with white clothes and red lips would suddenly float out of the bamboo forest, so she could only try her best to abandon these things from her mind. In addition to ghosts, there were also elves and cute elves.

Ju Nian quickly entered her small world. The closed door blocked the horror of the outside world, allowing her to stumbling, but kept walking. No matter how dark it was outside, the moonlight in her small world was clear and the flowers were fragrant.

She didn't know how long she had been walking aimlessly. As she walked, for some reason, the end of the road seemed to be no longer important, whether her aunt's home was on the other end, and even why her parents didn't want her, it became no longer important.

What's so sad? From mom and dad's home to aunt's home, it's just from one place to another. Her heart has always lived in her own world, well.

Xie Juinian, a third-grade elementary school student, felt that he suddenly realized when he got lost. Could it be that the boy who seemed to be a little monk wrongly pointed out a way that gave her Zen opportunity? Just like the Buddhist scripture story she heard when she grew up, the Buddha picked up a flower and smiled at the Lingshan meeting. At that time, everyone was silent, but only Venerable Kashyapa suddenly realized. Haha, one mistake plus another is correct, just like a negative and positive one.

I never expected that the lost child would have a smile on his face. Before she knew it, she walked to the end of the path, which was winding up, long cement stairs, and I wondered whether it extended to heaven or hell.

Ju Nian was tired, and in my memory she had not walked that long way alone, her bangs were stuck on her forehead. She sat on the first step and untied her schoolbag. Will anyone come to find her? If she starved to death quietly in this deserted place, would her look become ugly?

She lay on her backpack on her knees and took a nap. When she woke up, she heard the call from far and near in the night.

"Ji Nian... Xie Ju Nian..."

Accompanied by the shouts, there were many beams of flashlights.

Ju Nian felt nervous and was pulled back to reality. She caused trouble and asked adults to search everywhere.

"I'm here, I'm here!"

Is her voice loud enough? Can the person looking for it hear it?

"I knew you were here!"

The face of the "little monk" appeared behind a strong light. Ju Nian covered his eyes and noticed that he was approaching and leaned over to look at himself sitting on the steps.

"Are you stupid? I'm lying to you to play, waiting for you to look back on the other end of the sugarcane field, and no one can see you when the sun sets. Why don't you know how to turn back?" asked the "Little Monk".

Ju Nian convinced him with the reason to convince himself: "The earth is round, why should I turn back?" The "Little Monk" half-opened his mouth and sat next to Ju Nian's side.

"Silly, stupid!"

Ju Nian was not stupid, she said, "You are stupid. Since you lied to me, you came to me again. By the way, when did that metasequoia tree be cut down?"

"How did you know that there was a metasequoia tree there that was cut down?"

"You said it!"

The "Little Monk" hit the flashlight from bottom to top and smiled gloomy and terrifyingly.

"You are so strange. You don't ask me why I teased you. Do you know where this is?"

Ju Nian shook her head blankly, she really didn't know.

"This is a martyr's cemetery. Walking up the steps is a martyr's tombstone, with many dead people buried inside. Fortunately, you were not stupid enough to climb up tonight."

"The martyrs' ghosts are all good ghosts!" Ju Nian said affirmatively.

"Wrong! There are many other evil spirits in addition to the ghosts of the martyrs. This place is remote and not when commemorating the martyrs, few people will come." "The little monk" said and lowered his voice and made a fearful expression. "I heard that many murders happened above. What sounds will the ghosts who died unjustly make when they appear... They look like crying, laughing, and screaming like wild cats. These ghosts will transform, from one to two..."

"Gee, gee." Ju Nian laughed suddenly, frightening the "little monk" who told scary ghost stories.

"You, why are you laughing at me?" he asked in horror.

Ju Nian sincerely praised, "You are so interesting."

As he spoke, the sound of adult footsteps approached.

"Ji Nian, Ju Nian, are you there?"

Ju Nian quickly calmed down her smile, grabbed her schoolbag and stood up, ready to fight.

The ones who came were aunts, uncles, and one or two adults I didn’t know.

As soon as my aunt saw Ju Nian, she rushed up, angry, anxious and relieved.

"You are a sinister, you, a child, don't go home after school, why are you going to this gloomy place to do? You want to piss me off, be careful, I tell your parents." The aunt turned Ju Nian around and found that she didn't have much or too much on her body before she breathed a sigh of relief. Her uncle also had a stern face and said nothing.

"Let me tell me, why are you here to come?" The aunt asked Ju Nian, but glanced at the "little monk".
To be continued...