As the Ching Ming Festival approaches, Lao Xu’s wreath shroud shop has become busy. This year, a kind of ingot made of gold paper is particularly popular, but it has to be folded manually. He is the only one in the store, and he is busy almost every day until midnight. I wanted to hire someone for help, but for this little work, people would not do it if the money was less, and he would feel at a loss if it was too much.
This day, he just folded three boxes of ingots, and they were all sold out at noon. In addition to a set of shrouds and a large amount of paper money, a customer wanted a box of ingots, but Old Xu couldn’t get it out. As a result, they didn’t need anything, and he felt distressed for a long time.
In the evening, a 10-year-old boy with a schoolbag came to the store. He was not tall, very thin, and his face was as pale as a patient.
“Please, excuse me, do you want to hire someone here?” The boy was very shy, his head hung slightly when he spoke. Hiring such a small child is notoriously known to be child labor.
Lao Xu frowned and looked at him. Do you still have to work in such good clothes? His grandson also has a pair of Nike sportswear, which cost more than two thousand yuan! Thinking of this, Old Xu felt very uncomfortable. Since the death of his son, he has not seen his grandson for more than a year.
“No.” Seeing Old Xu categorically refused, the boy became anxious and said, “I don’t want real money, you can give me the one.” The boy pointed to the Ming coin on the counter. . Old Xu was surprised: “What are you kidding? Go, this is not your place to play.” No matter how he banged, the boy just didn’t leave and looked at him eagerly.
Lao Xu said impatiently: “Thank you, I’m unlucky, do you want to burn paper for your loved ones? I’ll give you some.” Lao Xu took a black bag and went to There were some coins in it and handed it to the boy, “Here you are, these should be enough.”
The boy refused to accept it. He looked at the gold paper on the ground used to make ingots. , Picking up one and folding it, Old Xu was stunned. After a while, a piece of gold paper was ravaged and crumpled by the boy. Old Xu couldn’t stand it anymore. He snatched it and said, “It has to be folded like this.”
After teaching it several times, the boy finally learned. Old Xu squinted and watched the boy earnestly fold the gold paper, curled his mouth, and thought, do it if you want! During the past two days, Old Xu often stayed up late, so he caught a cold and was always sleepy after taking the medicine. He leaned on the chair and fell asleep after a while.
By the time he woke up it was already 9pm. Unexpectedly, the boy was still there, and the empty cardboard box was almost full. Old Xu was surprised with some surprises, and asked: “Why are you still here? Aren’t you worried about your family?” The boy lowered his head and whispered, “I told my grandma to go to my classmate’s home to do my homework. I’m going back now.”
Old Xu hesitated, took out a 20 yuan bill from his wallet and handed it to him, but the boy said nothing, his eyes kept staring at Ming.currency. Upon seeing this, Old Xu asked tentatively: “Do you really only need Mingbi?” The boy nodded.
“This is what you want, don’t turn around and say I bully you.” Old Xu said as he handed the black plastic bag that was just filled to the boy. The boy bowed his head and said thank you, and then said that he was Yang Xiaomo and would come back tomorrow night. He turned around and left after he said that, regardless of whether Old Xu Tong agreed.
Just two or three hours, and no money, should not be counted as employment! It’s help at best, Old Xu thought.
For several days, Yang Xiaomo always came around at 7 o’clock in the evening. I didn’t talk much when I entered the door, and I sat down and started to make ingots. Sometimes Lao Xu felt bored and wanted to chat with him, but couldn’t answer three questions, which made Lao Xu too lazy to speak again later, and the two silently did their own work.
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When Yang Xiaomo leaves, Lao Xu will give him two small bundles of Ming coins. Every time at this time, Yang Xiaomo’s expression became a little weird, like excitement and pain. Gradually, Old Xu felt an indescribable feeling in his heart, which was strange.
On this day, Old Xu couldn’t help asking: “Could you tell me why you want so many coins? Even ten graves are enough.”
Yang Xiaomo’s lips moved lightly, but he didn’t speak. He stuffed Mingbi into his schoolbag and walked to the door. The moment he opened the door and left, Old Xu found that it was raining outside. He hesitated, picked up an umbrella leaning against the wall and chased it out. However, there were no people outside the door. Why did he walk so fast? I don’t know if it’s because of the rain. The usually crowded streets were frighteningly quiet at this time. Old Xu involuntarily fought a cold war and hurriedly returned to the house.
Since opening this shop, Lao Xu has almost lived and boarded here. After Yang Xiaomo left, he simply ate something, turned on the TV, and folded ingots while watching. A ghost movie was playing on TV. Old Xu watched it, and suddenly a chill suddenly appeared on his back and his body became more and more rigid.
The ghost film talks about a ghost who goes to the sun to work to earn money. The ghost comes out every day when it gets dark. Don’t want real money, only accept money. Why is it so like Yang Xiaomo? He had heard people say before that the shroud shop was so dark that it was easy to attract unclean things, so he decided to open this shop after his son died. He thought it would be closer to his son.
Now think about Yang Xiaomo’s performance and his bloodless face. It is really not the face that a normal teenager should have.
The next day, Yang Xiaomo appeared in Lao Xu’s shop on time as usual. Lao Xu sat in the farthest place from Yang Xiaomo, his eyes fixed on Yang. Xiao Mo felt that he was not like a normal child because he was too silent.
At 8 o’clock, Yang Xiaomo put the last folded gold ingot into the box and stood up.Looking at Old Xu, planning to leave. Old Xu trembled inexplicably, and hurriedly picked up two bundles of Ming Coins, put them into the black bag, and gently threw them on the box in front of Yang Xiaomo. Yang Xiaomo picked up the bag and turned around and left.
Old Xu thought for a while and followed. Lao Xu’s shop is located in the old city. Going west is the city, going east is the suburbs, and Yang Xiaomo’s direction is the suburbs. They came to a place called Linzhuang, and under the moonlight, Old Xu watched Yang Xiaomo walk into a forest. He dared not go any further, there was unspeakable fear in his heart. Old Xu hurriedly fled back to the shroud shop and locked the door behind him. This night, he kept his eyes open until dawn.
Fearing that Yang Xiaomo will come again, Lao Xu closed the shop at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. He sat in the park for a few hours and did not return to the shop until 8 o’clock. When I went back, I saw a note sticking to the store door, which read: “Grandpa, where have you been?” Old Xu darkened his eyes and couldn’t help but become nervous again.
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In the next few days, Old Xu Tiantian hid like this. When he came back, a note was posted on the door, and the content was different each time. At first it was a question, but later it became a concern.
Lao Xu is a little depressed, when will he hide his head? This morning, a middle-aged woman suddenly came to the store. She threw a cardboard box in front of Lao Xu and said angrily: “Why are you such a bad person? Even children are going to cheat, and you are not afraid of going to hell in the future!” “
Lao Xu was inexplicably scolded by her, looking at the dozens of bundles of Ming coins rolled out of the cardboard box. “Are you?” Old Xu asked in surprise. The woman looked thin and her face was as pale as Yang Xiaomo.
“I am Yang Xiaomo’s mother. I only learned yesterday that Xiaomo came to work with you every day. You used Ming coins to fool him. Are you still human?” The woman was very rude, and Old Xu became anxious and asked her to speak clearly.
From what the woman said, Old Xu finally understood that Yang Xiaomo’s mother, in order to make money to support the family, did not care about him, so he secretly went to a classmate’s home to do homework. When she went to work in Lao Xu’s shop, she also said that her family was alive and well, it was useless to ask for money, so she asked Lao Xu to exchange it for real money.
Lao Xu had no choice but to take out three hundred dollars. She was too young, so Lao Xu had to give another two hundred, so she reluctantly left.
Old Xu laughed to himself and gave a false alarm. There are no ghosts in this world, but he frightened himself. It seems that there is no need to hide anymore. These days have delayed a lot of business, and he feels distressed when he thinks of this.
At 4:30 in the afternoon, Yang Xiaomo came again. There was worry on his face: “Grandpa, where have you been these days? Are you okay?”
Old Xu shook his head awkwardly and said, “Oh, yes, you Don’t come here anymore, otherwise your mother will notYou can’t take me apart. “
Yang Xiaomo let out a frustrated “Oh”, his voice was very small, as if he was muttering to himself: “I hid the Mingbi in the woods behind my house. Mom found it, but took it all away. It would be nice to burn it to Dad earlier. “His disappointed look made Old Xu a little unbearable, so he took a few bundles of Ming coins and put them into a black plastic bag to give him. Yang Xiaomo shook his head and said, “I’m afraid this is not enough. “Old Xu laughed dumbly and asked: “Then how much do you want to burn?” “
“My grandma said that my father likes money, and he has to burn a lot of money for him so that he won’t take other people’s money. So I have to earn a lot of ‘money’ to burn him, but my mother doesn’t allow me to burn it, she said he is not my father. “
Old Xu smiled bitterly: “Do you still want to work with me?” This is no good, forget it, I’m unlucky, I’ll give you all this! Don’t come again later. “He gave Yang Xiaomo all the box of Ming coins that Yang Xiaomo’s mother returned.
Seeing Lao Xu so determined, Yang Xiaomo’s face was disappointed: “I don’t want it for nothing. , These “money” count as I borrowed, and I will definitely come back to repay it in the future. “
Yang Xiaomo really doesn’t come anymore, and Lao Xu is left alone in the store. After that, he will involuntarily look at the door every 7pm. It feels like something is missing.
On the Ching Ming Festival, Lao Xu went to burn paper for his son and unexpectedly saw Yang Xiaomo in the cemetery. There was a large pile in front of him. He also carried the ashes of Mars. Old Xu looked at him, and then at the words on the tombstone, Yang Yuanshan, isn’t this the deputy mayor who just fell from the horse last month? The news at the time was full of turmoil, saying that this deputy city After Chang knew that he was going to be investigated by the Commission for Discipline Inspection, he secretly sold all the real estate in his family, took the money and drove the car with Xiaosan, but unfortunately suffered a car accident and died on the spot. Yang Xiaomo’s mother was implicated and was fired by the company. She rents a house in the suburbs and earns a small amount of money by working everywhere.
No wonder Yang’s mother hates Yang Yuanshan, and it’s no wonder Yang Xiaomo wants so many coins. Old Xu’s nose is sour and tears are coming. His eyes moistened.
Yang Xiaomo saw Old Xu stunned for a while and asked, “Grandpa, are you here to burn the paper? “
Old Xu said: “Yes, like you, I have to burn a lot, so that he won’t covet other people’s things anymore. “When Old Xu said this, he looked at the tombstone in front of him. It was his son’s tombstone. Two years ago, his son was also the chief of the scenery. He committed suicide by jumping off the building because of the corruption incident. His daughter-in-law couldn’t stand other people’s eyes and ridicule. I went to other cities with my grandson…