Changping Village, Lao Wang's house.
Xiao Heiye was so full that he felt sleepy before he even put down his chopsticks after finishing the last bite of rice.
So much so that even when Yang Huamei urged him to wash his feet and go to bed, he was too lazy to move. When he got back to the bed, he lay down on the bed and fell asleep.
Dabai brought the food back to the house to eat with Hongmei. After the two of them finished eating, Dabai brought out the bowls and chopsticks, and after saying a few words to Yang Huamei and Wang Hongquan, he went back to the house.
Before leaving, he told Yang Huamei: "Mom, if anything happens at night, just call me."
Yang Huamei understood what it meant. He was worried about her being alone in the room.
Yang Huamei's eyes were kind and she shook her head gently: "Don't worry, nothing will happen."
She was still looking forward to something happening, so that she could see Shuanzi and ask him if he was living well there...
After Dabai left, Wang Hongquan and Yang Huamei were the only ones left in the hall.
Wang Hongquan quickly put down his chopsticks and walked to the east room on crutches, not wanting to be alone with his daughter-in-law.
It's not because I want to avoid suspicion. We have lived under the same roof for more than ten years, so there is nothing we can't avoid.
Mainly because of embarrassment, the quarrel never stopped.
But Yang Huamei stopped him: "Dad, after Qiqi is finished, I have something to talk to you about."
Wang Hongquan's back suddenly stiffened.
Could it be that the thing he was worried about couldn't be avoided after all?
"There's no need to wait until a month later, just say it now!"
At that time, Wang Hongquan responded to Yang Huamei like this, and even turned around and looked at her coldly. His eyes changed from the vagueness in the day, and were now so sharp that he seemed to be able to see through everything.
Yang Huamei sneered, "I have a mouth, so I can speak whenever I want!"
After saying these words, she stood up and packed the things on the table. She pursed her lips and put on the offerings and candles needed for the soul to return with a livid face.
Wang Hongquan stood in the dark corner of the main room and stared at Yang Huamei's busy figure.
"Don't think that because my son is gone, you can bully me, a lonely old man. I still have two grandchildren!"
He said through gritted teeth.
Yang Huamei didn't defend herself, but she was sneering in her heart.
A slap in the face will separate you. No matter how close you are, you will never be able to kiss me, a mother. Your two grandsons both popped out of my belly.
The so-called bloodline suppression, I have it, but you don’t!
But Yang Huamei didn't want to argue with this ruthless and cold-blooded old man anymore. She didn't want to catch up with them arguing when Shuanzi went home tonight.
"This family's surname is Wang, not Yang!"
Seeing that Yang Huamei didn't respond, Wang Hongquan mistakenly thought that she was intimidated by his words, so he said these harsh words again, and then returned to the east room with a heavy cane.
Yang Huamei shook her head, caressed the memorial tablet of Wang Shuanzi in front of her, and murmured softly: "Shuanzi, I still want to separate the family. Don't blame me. If we don't separate the family, and without you as the middle man and the mud, sooner or later this family will be in trouble. Jump."
"But don't worry, even if the family is separated, I will support your father and will not leave him homeless."
"I hope you can understand me."
…
Yang Huamei tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep for a long time.
She didn't even take off her coat. She pulled off a corner of the quilt and closed her clothes, leaning on the bed, listening to the sounds outside the curtain.
If it weren't for her mother and third brother's repeated warning not to go to the main room to see her, Shuanzi's soul would be disturbed. Otherwise, she really wanted to go to the courtyard to pick her up and wait in the main room...
There were no lights in the room, it was dark, and there was an occasional sound of wind blowing through the branches outside the window.
In this silent night, human senses seem to be infinitely magnified.
The roof rubble had been stepped on by someone's cat, making a snapping sound.
Rats on the roof beams came out to look for food, squeaking.
Even in the main room across the door, the occasional small pop of a white candle... none of it escaped Yang Huamei's ears.
When these familiar sounds reached her ears in such a late night, her heartbeat would speed up and her fingers would subconsciously tighten the quilt.
Could it be that the embolus has returned?
Just like that, she kept lying there waiting and waiting, listening and listening, and she forgot what time it was now.
After a long time, she heard a faint "bang bang" sound coming from outside.
That was because the person in charge of the year was patrolling the village this year to do the watch. Normally, the watch was not done, but it was done every year in the first month of the year.
Yang Huamei counted, and there were three sounds, which meant that it was already the third watch.
It's midnight, why hasn't Shuanzi come back yet?
Yang Huamei couldn't help it anymore. She put aside Tan's instructions for the time being, opened the curtain and got down to the ground, tiptoeing towards the door of the house.
He leaned against the crack in the door and peered into the main room.
Two white candles illuminated the main room miserably. The offerings on the table were not moved at all. There was no one in the area of the table illuminated by the white light, not even a ghost.
Yang Huamei was nervous and expectant, but finally turned into disappointment.
She lay back on the bed, thinking about a question as she lay there.
That is, does a person have a soul after death?
If so, why haven't you come back yet? And for so many days, she didn't even dream about him.
It was as if he had been caught by a bird, and there was no news at all. But once, he was such a living person of flesh and blood. He talked to her, took care of her, cared about her, enlightened her, made her laugh, and improved her temper. He was willing to be her punching bag...
How can such a good person be gone forever?
Two lines of clear tears slid down Yang Huamei's cheeks.
She raised her hand and wiped it. At this moment, the courtyard door outside was suddenly banged.
The noise was so loud that she could feel the courtyard door falling apart even from inside the house.
"Which one?"
Yang Huamei was very unhappy. Tonight was the night of Shuanzi's seventh soul. What if a drunkard from the village came and knocked on the door, or knocked on the wrong door and disturbed Shuanzi's soul?
She opened the curtain and came to the window, opened the window and shouted outside: "Who are you?"
"Meier, Meier open the door!"
Yang Huamei froze at the window as if she had been stabbed.
Is this... the sound of a bolt?
The embolus is back?
The bolt is back!
She was so excited that she rushed out of the house. When she opened the door of the main room, she clearly felt a cold wind rushing in, blowing the white candle on the Eight Immortals table in the main room and almost extinguished it.
"I'm coming."
She shouted incoherently, and one of her shoes slipped away.
However, when she unlocked the door bolt and opened the courtyard door, there was no one outside.
"Shuanzi, Shuanzi, where are you? Come back..."
She rushed outside like crazy, crying into the vast night and empty road.
"Mother, mother, wake up..."
Someone called anxiously in his ear, and with a cold voice, Yang Huamei suddenly opened his eyes.
What came into view was the familiar top of the tent. The tent was half-opened. Dabai was standing beside the bed wearing a coat and holding an oil lamp in his hand. Hongmei was standing behind Dabai with a big belly.
