The bright moon is like a mirror, and the moonlight is like water. Under the quiet moonlight, the village with only a dozen households looks particularly quiet. Suddenly, a little candlelight lights up in the night, which is particularly conspicuous.
In the tile-roofed house with candlelight lit, two old men looked at the child lying on the bed, with his brows furrowed and his face flushed, and they talked with some worry...
The huge boulders like mountains are rolling in the sky. Looking up at them, I feel a sense of insignificance and powerlessness in my heart.
The body fell from the cliff, and the kind-faced ancient Buddha was sitting on the cliff, but he had no intention of reaching out to rescue him. An unprecedented fear grew crazily in his heart...
Suddenly waking up from the nightmare, Feng Bingwen opened his eyes in a daze. His mind was groggy, his body was hot, his limbs were sore and weak, his body was covered in cold sweat, and his clothes were wet and damp. He felt extremely uncomfortable.
"Fever!"
This strange yet familiar feeling made Feng Bingwen, whose mind became extremely heavy, understand the current state, but he didn't understand.
"Why do I have a fever?"
More importantly, why was he so frightened? Even the flickering candlelight in the room made his heart palpitate, and the shadow under the candlelight made him even more frightened, as if some harmful ghost would crawl out of it.
"Don't be afraid, grandpa is here!"
While he was groggy and full of fear, a steady and powerful voice sounded. Then, a pair of strong arms picked him up from the bed and held him in his arms. Feng Bingwen, who was in a panic, only felt a warm and moist feeling like spring.
The warmth enveloped him, and he instinctively opened his arms and hugged her tightly.
After his mind calmed down a little, Feng Bingwen saw the old man's hanging black beard, and his angry and stern face in the day, but in the silent night, it became kind and kind, giving him an indescribable sense of security.
As the candlelight flickered, the shadows dancing with it were no longer so scary. A wave of fatigue came over him. Feng Bingwen, who was no longer frightened, closed his eyes again and fell asleep in a daze, his breathing gradually calming down.
"How is Wen'er?"
A low-pitched voice sounded, trying not to disturb the sleeping children.
"When he falls asleep, touch his hands and feet to see if they are still hot. If they are too hot, apply some vegetable oil. I will carry him to see the doctor tomorrow morning."
"You old thing, are you old and confused? This is what the doctor can see? I'm going to set up my chopsticks and buy some joss sticks at dawn. I'll wait for you to shout once and get some sleep."
"..."
Under the illumination of candlelight, the old man sat on the bed, silently hugging the child who was sleeping peacefully. On the bedside, a three-foot-long, shiny rattan seemed to be glowing faintly as it reflected the uncertain lights.
"I know you don't like to ask ghosts and gods, but isn't it helpless?"
"I didn't stop you."
The old man's voice was low and he seemed a little depressed.
"You should also lie down and take a rest. It's still early before dawn!"
"I'm almost asleep, just sit like this!"
"How can this be done? You have to go to the school to recruit students at dawn. How can you stand it at your age?"
The gray-haired old woman had a look of distress on her face.
"I can't stand it. My body is very strong. Just sit like this. When I feel sleepy, I can just squint for a while."
"It's okay, go to sleep!"
The old woman still wanted to persuade.
"If I fall asleep, this kid won't be able to sleep peacefully. It's okay, just wait until you get through tonight. Go to sleep, it's still early!"
"I'll take your place later!"
"Forget it, you can't be steady."
"Look how proud you are."
The old woman snorted and said nothing more. After checking that her grandson was in good condition, she went to bed.
The quiet night passed by in the flickering lights. As the sun rose and the red clouds dyed the east, the quiet little village gradually became noisy.
On the third day of the morning, Feng Bingwen woke up from the bed in a daze. At this time, his mouth felt dry, his head was as heavy as lead, and he was groggy, unable to exert much strength.
"I actually have a fever!"
Feng Bingwen lay on the bed and recalled for a moment. He remembered everything last night, including the strange but extremely terrifying nightmare.
Until this moment, Feng Bingwen still couldn't believe that he was actually sick. Ever since he could speak and move, he had tried his best to maintain the best quality of life.
He doesn't drink raw water, doesn't eat raw meat, and the children in the same village can roll around in the mud, but he will never join in with them. Although he is only a child, he is cleaner than most people in the village.
These anomalies, which were very different from those of the children in the same village, often made the elders in the village laugh at him. Some people joked that he was the eldest son of a wealthy family in his previous life.
Of course, those who gossip are always in the minority, because his grandfather is one of the most educated people in the countryside and is a teacher hired by the county middle school. As the grandson of a scholar, it is normal for him to be particular.
However, despite being so particular, he still fell ill for no apparent reason. Feng Bingwen recalled his diet and daily life these past few days, and he couldn't figure out what he had done wrong.
"That feeling of fear..."
It took a while for Feng Bingwen, who was heavy in his head, to remember the abnormalities last night. The flickering candlelight, the shadows fluctuating with the candlelight, and the chirping of insects frightened him and made him unable to feel at ease.
"I seem to be crying."
The child reached out and touched his white and tender face. He could feel some dried tears, which confirmed that what he experienced last night was not a dream.
"what?"
Feng Bingwen struggled to hold up his body and felt something was wrong.
Although he has a childish body, his mind is that of an adult. It doesn't feel right no matter how much he thinks about having nightmares and being scared to tears.
The experiences of the past few days flowed through his mind like water, and finally he grasped the key points.
"The wasteland behind the village!"
Yesterday, when the grandfather who returned from the county middle school heard that he had been to the village, his suddenly furious face appeared on his face. He finally understood those strange words.
"It really does exist!"
The child's face became ugly. When he was pretending to be a "normal" kid in the village, he would occasionally listen to the adults in the village talking about some strange things, but most of the time he would just listen to them.
Fun.
Sometimes the adults speak vividly, as if they have really experienced it, and it is very scary to hear. Feng Bingwen sometimes wonders whether the strange things they talk about really exist.
But every time I questioned it, I was suppressed. Maybe it was because people in the feudal era were ignorant and regarded some incomprehensible things as gods and demons. You must have the ability to make subjective judgments, and you cannot believe everything you hear.
But how to explain what happened to me now?
Just following a group of brats to the wasteland behind the village and falling ill when they came back was outrageous.
The key is fever. In this era, what else can we do besides fighting the fever?
"Wen'er, are you awake? How do you feel? Are you thirsty?"
There were footsteps outside the house, and Feng Bingwen looked up and saw his grandma holding a stack of joss sticks in her hand, looking at him with concern.
"I feel a little dizzy and my mouth is very dry!"
Feng Bingwen said honestly, it was very uncomfortable to have a fever.