Between 1994 and 1996, Liu Shangang said countless words and bragged about countless cows. Most of them were left unimpressed, and I only remember one thing. It was in the summer of eight years old, children were often lost in the small town where I was. Liu Shangang said that a group of human traffickers came from the county town, squatting on the street, catching children aged seven or eight, and transporting them to a faraway place to sell.

The reason I remember this is because one day Lao Chaitou went to my house to instruct my father that the county town was not peaceful during this period, so he asked my father to lock the door when he went to bed at night.

At that time, I asked Lao Chaitou what happened to the county town and whether there were human traffickers?

Lao Chaitou snorted with his nose: "If it's a human trafficker, that's fine! You go home early after school, don't wander around outside at night!"

After saying that, Lao Chaitou left, and I wondered, one day I didn’t go home early as soon as school was over, and when did I wander around outside?

But unexpectedly, Lao Chaitou's words were like a prophecy, and one night soon after, the words came true!

That day happened to be the first day of my summer vacation. After school was over in the afternoon, I went home early, but there was no one at home unexpectedly.

The weather was hot and dry. I threw my schoolbag on the kang as usual, then took a scoop and went to the kitchen water tank to scoop water. I was originally fantasizing about drinking a scoop of cold water, but it felt so cool and comfortable. But when I opened the scoop of water tank, I found that there was no water in the scoop.

Originally, there was an old well in the yard, but the rope wrapped around the wheel was not sure where it went, and only a half dry and half tide water tank was left next to the wellhead.

Seeing that I couldn't drink water anymore, I thought about looking for Lao Chaitou to go to the Lunfen Mountain in the west of the village first.

During that period, the small earthen house where Lao Chaitou lives was my favorite place to go. Not only did his house have a lot of delicious candy, but also many novel gadgets, such as dolls, wooden pony and cart, and they couldn't count them.

Although Lao Chaitou said that most of the things in his house were prepared for the dead and could not be touched by the living, even so, he would often "give me a toy or two. However, when Lao Chaitou's house, he never told ghost stories, and said that the graves were the land of the dead. It would be taboo to say that such things here.

"Forget it, I'd better go to Lao Chaitou's house to drink." I thought so in my mind, so I locked the door and walked towards the west end of the village.

My uncle's old house is in the east of the village, and Lao Chaitou's family is in the west of the village. They are all lonely houses in a very deserted place, and there are no neighbors around them. Wangzhuang is very small, not far from the east, but I just hate walking from the village, because there are three or four children of similar age as me in the village, and they are also in school. With them, the news that I don't like in the school has spread a long time ago. Every time I pass by the village, some old people always point fingers when they see me.

So, as usual, I carried the uninhabited path towards Lao Chaitou's house. This road was very remote, with only Aunt Liu's family living. If you want to talk about Aunt Liu, you should be considered the woman with the longest tongue in the countryside. What does a long tongue mean? It means you like to talk about other people's gossip, and sometimes you even make trouble.

When Aunt Liu met me, she always asked me, "Have you passed the exam recently?", "Have your parents quarreled recently", "Have your uncle been dating?", etc., but Aunt Liu owed our family money recently, and she didn't talk much when she saw me, so I dared to leave her door.

The wellhead of Aunt Liu's house was knocked outside the door. When I passed by her house, I happened to meet her eldest son Wang Qiang fishing watermelons by the well. At that time, there was no refrigerator in the village, and many things were found in the well to keep them fresh.

Although Aunt Liu has always had a bad reputation in the village, Wang Qiang is a genuine and good person, honest, capable, filial, and handsome. Everyone in the village said that Widow Liu didn't know what luck he had, and raised such a good son.

Wang Qiang took out a watermelon from the well and hugged it in his arms. I could feel a very cool air on the watermelon from a distance. Wang Qiang also saw me from a distance and waved to me with a smile: "Yangyang, come in, come and eat melons."

Although I was young at that time, I still knew how to be polite: "No, no, I'm about to go to Grandpa Chai's house."

In fact, it’s just a polite word. If Wang Qiang invites me a little more, I have to sit in their house for the sake of watermelon.

But Wang Qiang was about to speak, but Aunt Liu's voice came from the yard: "Hao Qiang, put away the quilt hanging in the yard."

Wang Qiang responded "Oh" and then hurriedly entered the yard gate. Leaving me alone outside the door, I felt like I had eaten a fly shit.

Aunt Liu has always been very stingy. She must have called Wang Qiang back on purpose just now. Really, I just took a bite of watermelon for you. Are you as for it? Besides, you still owe my family 100 yuan and haven’t paid it back!

Given that in that era and the financial situation of my family at that time, 100 yuan was definitely not a small amount. When Aunt Liu asked my mother a month ago, she borrowed it without saying anything, but she promised to pay it back in two days. After this month, Aunt Liu seemed to have forgotten about this and never mentioned it again.

My parents are both face-loving people. If others don’t pay it back, they are embarrassed to ask for it. But Aunt Liu’s family is not without money. Who doesn’t know that Wang Qiang opened a small shop next to the small family yard. Although it doesn’t make much money, it will definitely not be missing for 100 yuan.

Why didn’t Aunt Liu pay back the money? You’re not bullying my mom for being honest!

I stood at the door of Aunt Liu's house, and the more I thought about it, I became more angry, and I thought about taking revenge on her. But I was also thief-hearted but not brave. After thinking about it, I gritted my teeth and cruelty, and stole a watermelon from Aunt Liu's well.

That was the first time I had stole something in my life. I was so nervous that I was thumping and my heart was beating wildly. In addition, the watermelon was too heavy for me. When I was running home with the watermelon, I fell several times on the road.

When I got home, I was still out of breath. On the one hand, I was tired, and on the other hand, I was nervous. I put the watermelon on the kitchen counter and found a knife. I was about to cut it when my mother and my uncle came back.

As soon as my uncle got home, the first thing he did was to find water to drink. He came to the kitchen with a scoop. Then he saw me standing blankly in front of a watermelon, holding a knife in his hand.

At the beginning, my uncle didn't care either. He opened the lid of the water tank and saw that there was no water in the water tank, so he went to the yard to fetch water.

This morning, my uncle saw that the rope on the wheel was about to break, so he simply took it off. At this time, he saw that there was no rope on the wheel, so my uncle was not in a hurry. He touched the roof of the shed at the north end of the yard and took out a new one, and then quickly wrapped the new rope around the wheel.

But as soon as the rope was wrapped, my uncle suddenly stopped and shouted in the direction of the kitchen: "Yangyang, where did the watermelon come from?"

My mother was also in the yard at this time. When I heard my uncle's words, her first reaction was to look at the wellhead. Because I was about to have summer vacation, my uncle saved a basket of watermelons in the well a few days ago and left it to me to eat during the holiday. But it is true that there is watermelon in the well, but there is no rope on the wheel. How can I catch it without rope?

And at that time, I had no pocket money. It was impossible to buy it. The rest might either be given by someone else or stole it.

Since I was a child, my mother has taught me not to take other people's things randomly, especially when the adults at home are not present, and I cannot take them randomly. What's more, this watermelon was stolen by me.

In that situation, I was so nervous that I didn’t know what to do. When my mother came to the kitchen angrily, I felt that my legs were almost unstable. Before my mother could speak, I couldn’t help but confess: “I took it from Aunt Liu’s house.”

Be honest and lenient, and resist. Before the age of eight, I always thought that these eight words were the truth, and I also heard that if you commit a crime and surrender voluntarily, you can be given a lighter punishment. Besides, Aunt Liu deliberately owed our family money and refused to pay it back. It would not be a big deal if I took her a watermelon, right?

Of course, I'm just wishful thinking about it.

My mother stood at the kitchen door and asked me: "Did Wang Qiang give this watermelon to you? Or did your Aunt Liu give it to you?"

I shook my head: "No, I took it myself."

Bang!

My mother's iron palm hit me in the face without hesitation, and I started crying with a "wow" sound.

When the uncle heard the sound, he hurried into the kitchen: "Sannier, why is this? Why are you hitting the child again?"

My mother ignored my uncle and pressed me to the cutting board. Then I felt a chill on my butt, and then my mother's iron sand palm fell on my butt one after another.

While hitting me, my mother shouted: "If you steal something, don't learn it well! If you beat you to death, you won't learn it well!"

I only knew how to cry, and I was not convinced while crying. I always felt that I had stolen Aunt Liu's watermelon to avenge my mother. I couldn't understand why my mother hit me like this, and she was more ruthless than ever before.

My uncle kept persuading my mother, but my mother ignored me and kept hitting me. Later, I couldn't feel the pain, and I was numb on my butt.

In the end, my uncle probably couldn't stand it anymore, so he yelled at my mother in a hurry: "My leg was beaten by our father!"

Hearing this, my mother's hand stopped in the air, and she was cruel several times, but she didn't fall down. My uncle quickly pulled me up from the cutting board and pushed me out of the kitchen again.

When I walked out of the kitchen door, my uncle sighed behind me: "Oh, you kid, really won't worry about adults."

After saying this, my uncle turned around and persuaded my mother.

That afternoon, my butt started to hurt so much. As soon as I sat down and lay down, it felt like a needle was being stabbed. Later, there was no choice but to lie on the kang, and the food was not delicious. When my father came back in the evening, he saw me lying on the kang, and asked me, "What's wrong? It's not the time to sleep, why are you still staying on the kang?"
Chapter completed!