Xiao En is nine years old this year. He stutters, looks ugly, and looks a little silly, so everyone in the village doesn't like him very much.
Even his parents didn't want him. When Xiao En was very young, his father quietly left him in the grass beside the cemetery in the back mountain several times, but every time Xiao En crawled back home with amazing perseverance, His father originally wanted to strangle him to death with his hands, but after thinking that he was born by himself, he finally held back and did not do anything.
What makes it even more difficult for everyone in the village to accept is that Xiao En is still yin and yang. He always likes to say that he saw a ghost again one day, and he also described the appearance of the ghost in detail and vividly, which often scared other people in the village. Every time Xiao En passed by the entrance of the village, those children would throw stones at him, and then cursed: "Throw you to death, you little stutter!"
"I, I, I'm not, little, little stammer…" Xiao Enqi replied eagerly, but every time he opened his mouth like this, he would expose his inherent physical defect to the full.
"Haha, you are not a little stammer, then you are a little dick." The children laughed at him again.
"I, I'm not, little, little dick…" Every time Xiao En said this, it always caused a burst of cynicism from the other children.
However, to be honest, Xiao En will not hold any grudges against these children, the adults in the village, or even his father who repeatedly tried to kill him.
He is a lonely child, but it is precisely because of this that he longs for the warmth of the world. How he hopes to do something to let the villagers eliminate their prejudice against him and give him a little love and care!
Yes, ghost doll Hanako 1 , even a little bit, Xiao En will be satisfied.
It's a pity that this simple wish in Xiaoen's heart has never been fulfilled. Everyone still has a deep prejudice against him. No child wants to be friends with him, and no adult teases him for a while, including his parents. The ground is eccentric to his brother's side.
Xiao En's only trustworthy partner is a puppy. Xiao En named it Momo, because although the puppy can't speak, it is like a friend silently waiting by her side, listening to her narration, and accompanying her through life. through those lonely years.
Every time he encounters any grievance or is unhappy, Xiaoen will hold Mo Mo in his arms, and then tell him what is in his heart. After each time, Xiao En will ask in Mo Mo's ear, "Momo, I've said so much, do you understand everything?"
"Wow–" Momo would yell at herself a few times every time, and then nodded slightly to show that it had understood.
"Mo Mo, do you really understand?" Xiao En asked again, "Don't lie to me, Xiao En, I am pitiful enough, I only have you as a friend worthy of entrustment."
"Wow woof—" He silently yelled a few more times to show that he understood again.
In recent months, strange things have often happened in the village.
Specifically, every moonless night, children often disappear inexplicably, and they can never be found after disappearing.
No one knows how the children disappeared.
But there have always been rumors that these children were eaten by ghosts, because the area where Xiao En's family lives is a large cemetery, and people who died in several nearby towns will bury their bodies here. When it was dark, many villagers didn't dare to walk at night, because the faint will-o'-the-wisps in the cemetery were really scary.
However, the villagers still have a question in their minds. Why have no children disappeared before? Did the ghosts only start in the last few months? This seems a bit wrong, right?
"By the way," a woman who thought she was smart shouted, "I know why!"
"What's the reason?" The villagers naturally wanted to ask her this way.
"All the reasons are due to that little stuttering Xiaoen!" The woman said firmly, "Besides this, there will be no other reasons!"
"Oh? Why do you say that," the villagers asked again, "What is your reason?"
"Think about it, everyone," the woman said again, "How old is Xiaoen this year?"
"Nine years old," the villagers replied, "is there anything wrong with that?"
"That's right," the woman said, "I've heard that some people are weak in body and have a strong yin spirit, and they are easy to provoke wild ghosts. This Xiao En probably belongs to this kind of people."
"Does that have anything to do with him being nine years old?"
"Of course, that kind of person is not easy to cause ghosts every year," the woman said. "To be specific, when a man reaches the age of eight, sixteen, and twenty-four, and a woman reaches the age of seven, At the age of fourteen, at the age of twenty-one, it's easy to talk to ghosts."
"Is there such a saying?"
"Yes, yes, I suddenly remembered," the woman gestured like a godmother, "Do you remember the day when the first missing Xiao Le in our village disappeared?"
"It seems to be in March," someone replied, "Xiao Le followed his father to the sweet potato field that night. He followed behind well, but when he reached the hillside, when his father turned around, he found the child Gone."
"It's the seventh day of March," said the woman. "There was no moonlight that night, and it happened to be the birthday of that little stuttering little En!"
"Yes, it's the seventh day of March," someone remembered, "Yes, yes, it was indeed Xiao En's eighth birthday. This kid was clamoring for his mother to boil eggs for him, but his mother gave him I slapped him, and the boy ran to my window with his job and started to cry. There was no moonlight and it got dark early, so our whole family fell asleep. When we heard the little boy stammering and crying, we all thought it was a ghost. call!"
"Is there really such a coincidence?" Someone wondered, "Should it be just a coincidence?"
"Is it a coincidence? Isn't this too coincidental?" The woman said, "I don't think it's a coincidence. It must be that little stutter is dirty, so the ghost came to him…"
"But, since the ghost is looking for him," someone questioned, "then why is he still alive and well, while the other children are taken away by the ghost?"
"It's not surprising, ghost doll Hanako 1 ," the woman said, "isn't that little stutterer a yin and yang eye? When the ghost comes looking for him, he can hide in advance, and the other children don't have to wait." Be patient, otherwise, why would so many children be taken away by the ghost? Isn’t it because the ghost has never found him, so it keeps taking revenge on other children in the village…"
"The analysis seems to make sense," said another person, "Then what should we do? We can't let the children go away in the hands of the ghosts. Now everyone in the whole village is in danger, and no one dares to let them go." My child sleeps alone at night, especially on moonless nights…"
"That's right," another person said, "I just hug my baby to sleep every day, so that my man can't even do the kind of thing he wants to do with me."
"Yes, going on like this is not an option, we have to find a way." A bad old man in his seventies also ran over to join in the fun.
"Of course there is a way," said the woman who took the lead, "and it's very simple."
"What's that?" people asked.
"Just kill Xiao Jieba," the woman made another beheading motion with her hand, "If you kill Xiao Jieba, you will be fine, all the problems are caused by him…"
"That's not good," someone suggested, "after all, no matter what he does, it's human life. Besides, we don't have any evidence to prove that this matter was really caused by him. Isn't it just our guess now? ?"
"However, if he doesn't die, more children will die because of him," the woman said again, "As for the evidence, so many coincidences are the evidence, maybe we will be wronged if we just kill him like this, But at least we have to try, in case he dies, the remaining children will not disappear."
"What if it doesn't work?" The person who raised the objection asked again, "Aren't you disregarding human life? If it doesn't work, wouldn't you lose your wife and lose your army?"
"It doesn't matter even if it doesn't work," the woman said, "isn't it just a loss of a little stutter? If he dies, it can be regarded as a compensation for his wife? What's more, that little stutter is loved by no one. His parents I don’t even like him, so if we kill him, maybe we’ll fulfill him and keep him safe in the next life…”
After the woman said the last words, those onlookers who were still on her side changed their minds one by one, and they all said, "Why are you so cruel, we don't like that little stammer, either. But Xiao En is fate after all, from our point of view, we should continue to observe and observe this matter…"
A group of people finally gradually dispersed.
One day, Xiao En led Momo around the village, when suddenly, a boy three or four years older than him stood up and shouted, "Stop, little stutterer!"
The boy's name is Corn, and he has entered puberty. He is much taller than Xiao En, and his muscles are very muscular. He likes to bully other children on weekdays, and the children in the whole village are afraid of him.
"What, what's the matter…" Xiaoen was afraid of even the youngest child in the village, and naturally he didn't dare to offend Maize.
"Is this dog yours?" the corn asked with a high air.
"Yes, yes, it's mine…" Xiao En replied.
"This dog is not bad," Corn looked at and said, "But you, you are really not very good, I really feel sorry for this dog."
"You, you, what do you want…" Xiao En suddenly realized something was wrong, and immediately hugged Momo tightly.
"Hey, you asked me what I want," Corn said with a sly smile, "It seems that you are really a fool, don't I already understand what I mean, your dog is too wronged to follow you, so Your good dog should find a master like me! Or, little stutterer, you have done favors, so give it to me. If anyone in our village dares to bully you in the future, just tell me, I will Make sure to get him!"
After finishing speaking, the corn didn't care whether Xiaoen agreed or not, and stretched out his hand to snatch Mo Momo.
"No, let go!" Momo is his only friend, how could Xiaoen allow others to take it away, so Xiaoen quickly protected Xiaoen with his hands, preventing the corn from being snatched away.
But Corn is much stronger than himself, and soon overturned Xiao En to the ground, and took advantage of the situation to hold Mo Mo in his arms, and ran away like flying.
"Mo Mo, Mo Mo—" Xiao En immediately followed and chased after him, "Corn, let go of Mo Mo, give me back Mo Mo!"
Momo is indeed a good dog, and Corn likes it very much after seeing it. He snatched it and walked a few steps, but found that Xiaoen could no longer catch up with him, so he stopped.
"Puppy, you are so good." Corn also wanted to tease it a few times, "I thought we were destined for each other the first time I saw you, but it's a pity that I don't like that stupid stammer calling you silent, why don't you , I’m not called corn, so I’ll call you sweet potato!”
"Woof -" screamed a few times silently.
Corn thought that Momo was welcoming him, so he stretched out his hand to touch Momo's nose, but Mo Momo was also an affectionate dog, and it bit Momo's finger hard, The corn yelled "Wow" in pain.
"You smelly dog!" Corn threw Momo to the ground, then drew a knife from his pocket, and stabbed Momo.
"Mo Mo, Mo Mo—" Xiao En saw Mo Mo being stabbed by a knife, and immediately ran over again.
But when he rushed to Mo Mo's side, Mo Mo had died.
"Corn, you, you," Xiao En hated Corn to death in his heart, but knew that he couldn't beat him, so he could only pass his mouth, "You actually killed Mo Mo, I curse you to be eaten by ghosts tonight !"
"Haha, it's just killing a puppy, I haven't killed you yet," Corn didn't take this matter too seriously, "Okay, let's see if your curse works. I just want to see what the ghost looks like, if I am not eaten by the ghost tomorrow, then I will come here to trouble you!"
After speaking, Corn kicked Xiao En a few times and left.
After silently dying, Xiao En felt very uncomfortable, because in this way, he would not even have anyone to talk to in the future, how would he survive this long night?
That night, Xiao En recalled the days he spent with Mo Mo, and couldn't help but burst into tears. This was indeed a sad thing for him. The relationship between Xiao En and Mo Mo was comparable to that of Mo Mo His parents are much better.
This night, Mo Mo didn't fall asleep all night, because he kept thinking about Mo Mo over and over again in his mind.
There is no moonlight tonight, and it is so dark that you can't stretch your fingers. Will another child in the village disappear and be eaten by wild ghosts? Xiao En asked secretly.
After waking up the next day, Xiao En suddenly heard a very shocking news-the corn disappeared strangely last night.
It really verified Xiao En's curse!
It was this curse that brought Xiao En a lot of trouble.
Xiao En's words were originally unintentional. In fact, he was still a very kind child. It was only at that time that the corn bullied people too much, so he said those words out of desperation.
But he didn't know why. It's really strange that the corn kid really left as soon as he said he would.
Because a passing villager happened to hear Xiao En cursing the corn at that time, and the gossip woman fanned the flames in the village again, saying that the disappearance of these children in recent days was caused by Xiao En and the ghosts he summoned, otherwise the corn How could it be missing?
After what she said, those people who were still skeptical about this matter all nodded their heads and believed it – it was impossible for them not to believe it, the facts were already in front of them.
Instigated by the gossip woman, the ignorant villagers really decided to kill Xiaoen to avoid future troubles, lest more children will disappear in the future.
For this matter, everyone also specifically asked for the opinion of Xiao En's father. Xiao En's father said that he had no objection, because he had long been displeased with Xiao En, but he couldn't bear to do it. Everyone killed him for him. Xiaoen just happened to help him a lot.
A group of people tied up Xiao En who was still sleeping with a rope, and then gagged his mouth to prevent him from screaming.
The gossip woman suggested digging out Xiao En's heart to sacrifice to the ghost. After the ghost ate his heart, he would not come back to trouble other children in the village. The gossip woman also said that digging out Xiao En's heart was not enough. , must also throw his body in the wild, let the ghost know that he is really dead, so that everyone can feel at ease.
Although the heart-digging process was a bit cruel, the gossip woman's reasons were all one set, and the reasons she said were high-sounding. Many villagers with conscience in the village actually listened to it, and even followed to watch the fun.
After Xiao En was gagged, he couldn't speak at all. In addition, he was a stutterer. When he was brought to the murder scene, although he had a premonition of something, he still had the mouth to say no. When he came out, he was struggling wildly with his hands and feet, but his struggle was in vain, because the person who wanted to kill him was a village with thousands of people.
"Haha, little stutterer," the gossip woman said with a sneer, "today is your death day, grandma, I will use this knife to dig out your heart to sacrifice to the ghosts, and also to sacrifice to the missing children in the village , you just wait to die!"
Seeing the bright knife in the gossip woman's hand, Xiao En was also very scared, so he turned his eyes to his father who was hiding in the crowd for help, and begged his father to save him, but his father had already Already hard-hearted, he turned his back and disappeared into the vast crowd.
Perhaps his father had forgotten that the gossip woman who claimed to be Xiao En's aunt was actually taking advantage of him indirectly.
"Stop rambling, let's do it!" A bystander said to the gossip woman.
"Okay, now I'll dig out the little stammer's heart to see if it's red, ha ha ha…" The gossip woman walked into Xiao En, and raised the knife high, wanting to end Xiao En life.
Xiao En had completely closed his eyes, because he knew that the moment the knife pierced his heart must be very painful, and he didn't want to witness this moment with his own eyes.
He was already ready to die, and his only hope was that the gossip woman could stab a vital part with a knife, and there must be no procrastination.
"slow–"
Just when Xiao En was about to see the roof of heaven, a voice suddenly called out, and the gossip woman quickly put down the knife in her hand.
It turned out that the patriarch of the village rushed over.
"Patriarch, this little stammer deserves to be killed," said the gossip woman, "why don't you let me do it!"
"Let him go first," said the patriarch, "he's still useful."
"Patriarch, why did you let him go," said the gossip woman, "What use is this little stutterer, he can only lead ghosts into the village and make more children disappear…"
"I believe that the children disappeared because they were eaten by ghosts, but the ghost may not be attracted by Xiao En," the patriarch analyzed, "It just so happens that he can see ghosts with his yin and yang eyes, so we will let him see ghosts every night when there is no moon. Just guard at the entrance of the village, and if you find a ghost coming, tell him to yell loudly so that the young people in the village can go and fight the ghost, isn’t that good?”
The patriarch's proposal was approved by most people in the village, and the gossip woman couldn't say anything more, so she had to curse and leave angrily.
"Clan, patriarch, thank you, thank you," Xiao En knelt on the ground and kowtowed as soon as his mouth was let go, "I, in the future, I will definitely, do this, do it well, no, don't let ghosts, The ghost came in to catch the child…"
"Okay, okay, I believe in you," the patriarch said with a smile on his face, "Xiao En, from now on, you will sleep during the day and keep a clear head at night, and scream loudly when you find a ghost, okay?"
"Okay, okay…No, no problem…" Xiaoen agreed.
After the patriarch left, Xiao En glanced at his father. His father was obviously very disappointed with the result, twisted his neck and left angrily.
It happened that there was no moonlight that night, so this naturally became Xiao En's first night of "work".
Even though Xiaoen was also a timid child, it was dark outside, and he was very scared in his heart, but Xiaoen was an honest child, and he believed that since he had promised the patriarch, he must fulfill it.
It was very cold that night, and Xiao En was also very sleepy, but he didn't dare to take a nap, his eyes were kept wide open. Sometimes when he really wanted to sleep, he would prick himself with a pin that he carried with him until His thighs were covered with blood blisters.
Although the villagers were already sound asleep and no one came to supervise him, when he thought of the missing children in the village, Xiao En felt that he had a sense of sacred mission. He felt that he was responsible for safeguarding the safety of the entire village. , he feels very honored for this, because he can finally do something for the village, maybe after this thing is done well, everyone's opinion of him will change a lot.
Even though these missing children have bullied him, Xiao En doesn't hate them at all now. On the contrary, he still feels very sad for the parents of these children.
Until dawn, no abnormalities were found at the entrance of the village. It seems that ghosts will not come today. Xiao En plans to end the night's work, go home and sleep well, and wait until it gets dark Come back and wait.
Suddenly, just as Xiao En was about to walk back, he heard a few strange yells of "Aww", and Xiao En couldn't help but stop.
"What, what's the sound, the sound…" Xiao En was also very scared in her heart, but she still dared to call out.
"Aww——" The monster didn't answer, but continued to scream like this.
"You, you, are you a ghost, are you a ghost…" Xiao En asked again.
"Aww—" the monster howled again.
"You, you, don't come here, you, come to me, I'm going to call someone…"
But before Xiao En finished speaking, the monster appeared by itself, jumped up, and flew to the top of Xiao En's head.
"Ahhhh—" Xiao En turned pale with fright, and cried out loudly with all her strength.
"Little stammer, what's the sound?" A few villagers who had already woken up heard Xiao En's cry, and asked, "Is it a ghost?"
In fact, at this time, Xiao En had already seen clearly what this monster was. It was not a ghost at all, but just a vicious-looking bobcat. However, after hearing his yell, the villagers rushed over with their tools and weapons.
"Little stammer, have you found a ghost?" The villagers asked loudly from a distance before they arrived in front of Xiao En.
"There are ghosts, ghosts, ghosts… ghosts…" Xiao En was frightened, so he said.
"Don't worry, we're coming right now," the villagers rushed to Xiao En, disappointed to find that there were no ghosts.
"Little stammer, where are the ghosts?" the villagers asked angrily.
"There are ghosts, ghosts, ghosts… ghosts…it's strange…" Xiao En finally finished the sentence. He should not be blamed for this, because he also wanted to finish the sentence at once, but Who told him that he was born with a stutter.
"I'm almost mad at this little stutter!" The villagers said angrily, "He has learned to lie!"
"Papa!" Some people feel that they are not satisfied with just cursing, and they have to slap Xiao En's face a few times to relieve their hatred.
No child disappeared in the village that night, but the villagers did not rejoice because they felt that they had been cheated by Xiaoen. The small stuttering of the question deceived me, and I felt unbalanced when I thought about it.
Someone said, "Don't trust that little stutterer again, he knows we don't like him, so he lied to us on purpose! He's taking revenge on us!"
"Yes, trust him one more time at most in the future," someone said, "If he lies again, we will
Don't believe him, it means that he is no longer useful, then follow what the gossip woman said, dig out his heart and sacrifice to ghosts! "
Xiao En's honesty was greatly questioned, which made him very wronged, but he decided to do a good job in this "job" in the future, and would not let everyone down again.