C22 (1/2)

Every summer, Xu Mei's two grandsons would come over from the city to visit, and Xu Mei would lead them around.

The two children were twins, one was called Wang Jun, the other was called Wang He. Both of them were in the first grade of primary school, and because they were going to vacation, their parents didn't have time to take care of them at work, so they were sent to live at Xu Mei's maternal grandma's house. Xu Mei naturally did not find it troublesome, and liked it quite a lot. After all, the old people usually liked to cause a stir, especially when their wife, Xu Mei, passed away a long time ago.

The place they visited most often was the river, and because there was no river in the city, the two children found it very strange.

However, the rivers in this area were very dirty, there was no other way around it. It was not realistic to clean the river right next to the industrial area. Every time the two children tried to move the algae on the water's surface with their branches, Xu Mei would always stop them.

Not only that, but there were also a lot of miscellaneous items along the river, such as thick ropes, baskets, broken shoes, used shampoo bottles, cigarette boxes and so on.

Xu Mei had always hated these things of unknown origins, and it could also be due to the shadow of her childhood.

Occasionally, when the two children wanted to pick up the things on the ground to play with, Xu Mei would say, ”Don't randomly pick up the things on the ground, hurry up and throw it away!”

That day, after dinner, Xu Mei took the two children for a walk as usual and once again came to this road.

After walking a few steps, they saw a dark blue schoolbag on the ground.

Xu Mei guessed that it should be a child from someone else who accidentally left it here.

Xu Mei instinctively wanted to go around the bag, but unexpectedly, when the two grandsons saw this bag, they were overjoyed. Wang Jun immediately picked up the bag and carried it on his back.

”Let me try, let me try as well.” His younger brother, Wang He, was envious of his big brother and wanted to take responsibility for the ruckus.

Although the bag was worn out, it was indeed quite exquisite, and was the kind of style that primary school students loved the most.

But Xu Mei really did not like the things that were picked up from the ground, so she shouted to stop them, ”Hey hey hey, the two of you are not obedient anymore, throwing it away, quickly throw it away!”

”Grandma, just let us play for a while, okay?” Wang He pleaded.

”No!” You can't touch other people's things. Have you forgotten what your grandma usually tells you? ”

”But others don't want this. If someone comes looking for a bag, can we give it back to him?”

”That won't do, hurry up and throw it away, hurry up!” Xu Mei already had no patience. Even though she was old, her temper was still very bad.

”Hmph, grandmother is unreasonable.” Wang He had finally managed to snatch the schoolbag from his brother. This time, he wanted to throw it away, and was unwilling to do so. However, he was afraid that his grandma would really be angry, so he could only pucker his mouth and prepare to put the schoolbag down.

At this moment, Wang Jun, who was standing behind Wang He, seemed to have noticed something as he shouted, ”Look, Grandma! Look! There's a hole in the bag!”

After Xu Mei arrived behind Wang He, she saw that there was indeed a hole on the outer pocket of the bag. She thought that it was no wonder that no one wanted this bag.

Wang Jun was also curious. He reached his hand into the hole and fiddled around in his bag for a long time.

Seeing this scene, Xu Mei was suddenly stunned. She remembered something from the past, a fear that had been buried deep in her heart for a long time.

”Throw it away! ”Throw it away!”

Xu Mei uncharacteristically snatched the bag from Wang He's hands and threw it far away.

Wang Jun and Wang He were both stupefied. They had never seen their grandma lose her temper like this before. In the past, no matter how mischievous they were or how much they angered their grandma, she would never be like this.

Xu Mei panted heavily. After pausing for a long time, she realized that her two grandsons were staring at her in a daze.

”Grandma, did we do something wrong again?” Wang Jun eagerly asked.

”No, it's just that my grandma was scared, my grandma was scared.” Xu Mei waved her hand.

”Why?” Wang Jun asked with a smile. Upon hearing that it had nothing to do with them, the two brothers instantly felt relieved.

Xu Mei looked at the blue bag that she threw far away again and was quietly sitting next to a pile of yellow sand. She said thoughtfully: ”In this world, there are many strange things that you have never seen before. If something strange pops out of the bag, aren't you guys scared? ”

”But grandma, there's nothing in the school bag!” Wang Jun said with certainty.

”What if there really is one?”

”What should I do?” Wang Jun repeated Xu Mei's question dumbly.

”Grandma, what do you mean by strange thing?” Wang He could not help but ask.

”Grandma will tell you a story, okay?” It was back when my grandma was a little kid. ” Xu Mei said.

”Good!” ”Alright!” Hearing that their grandma was going to tell a story, the two children became excited.

”At that time, Grandma was the same age as you guys, and she was in primary school as well …”

Xu Mei said as she reminisced about the past.

Just as Xu Mei had told the two children, she was still young and lived in the rural areas instead of the town. Because it was only the 1950s, the conditions were quite harsh and the family had many children. They often fought over food. The rare good thing was that there were many children in the countryside during that time, and they all liked to run outside. The whole village was filled with children, and it was very lively.

On Xu Mei's way to and from school, the students would flock away every evening. There were those who went to the roadside stall to buy candy, those who went to catch fish, those who hopped off ropes, those who played marbles, and, of course, those who were naughty and fought.

Xu Mei's popularity in the class could be considered good, because she had a good relationship with a few of her classmates. Because their families were close, they often traveled together from school to school.

That day, Xu Mei returned home from school with three other classmates. Two of them were female, one was called Zhou Yan, the other was called Gu Wenfang, and the other was a male.

After turning off the road into the lane, they passed a long alley. On both sides of the alley were a few dilapidated bungalows. As a result of the infrastructure, the residents had all moved to the town.

The alleyway was very quiet and completely different from the roads outside. There were very few people here, especially at night. It was dark and gloomy, so no one dared to come in.

Xu Mei had walked this path countless of times. She knew that every winter, because the sky was getting dark quickly, it would be very dark when she passed through the alley after school. That was why she arranged to go home with her classmates.

But today, as she passed through the alley, she saw a strange figure walking towards her.

When she got closer, she found that he was an old man, stooping over a walking stick, walking slowly like a snail. The old man's face could be described as deathly pale. It was rather gloomy, and he didn't have any expression on his face. Under the pile of wrinkles, his eyes were almost narrowed into slits, causing people to wonder how the old man was able to see clearly.

”Where did this old man come from? I've never seen him before.” Zhou Yan whispered to Xu Mei.

Xu Mei shook her head, she was also observing.