"Let the wolfdogs bite off your necks." Zhang Fat Man whispered, his teeth gritted loudly. "One day none of you will be able to hide, and you will shout even more hoarse."

Zhang Fatzi scolded and vented this curse, and the look on his face that didn't care about life and death fully reflected his temper of not caring about life and death. He placed the wounded Yongchang on his knee and turned his head to look at the pursuers behind him.

The night was so dark and foggy that nothing could be distinguished, only the noisy and noisy shouts resounded in the air, and the neighboring dogs were awakened by the anxious sound of their bells, and barked one after another, and rang in all directions.

"Stop, you coward!" When the robber saw that he had spread out his two long legs and had already rushed ahead, he shouted loudly. "Stop!"

Hearing a second shout, the five suddenly stopped. He wasn't sure he was out of range of the pistol, but Zhang Fatzi didn't have the heart to play around at all.

"Help get this kid away," Zhang Fatzi gestured murderously to his accomplice. "Come back!"

The five made a look like they were going to turn back, and walked slowly towards this side, but they had the audacity to say that their boss was reluctant to go back, and his voice was not loud, and because of his panting, he spoke intermittently.

"Hurry up!" Zhang Fat shouted, he put Yongchang in a dry ditch at his feet, and pulled out a pistol from his pocket. "Don't play tricks on me."

That's when the noise gets louder. Zhang Fatzi turned his head again and looked, and could conclude that the pursuers were climbing the fence gate of the field where he was, and there were two dogs running in the head.

"It's all over!" The five shouted, "Leave this kid and slip away." After he had said this parting word, he deserted in a bright light and ran away with a puff of smoke. Zhang Fatzi gritted his teeth, glanced back again, threw the cloak that had wrapped Yongchang indiscriminately just now on the child who fell straight to the ground, and ran away along the fence wall, apparently trying to lure the people behind him away from where the child was lying. He stopped abruptly in front of another fence perpendicular to the aforementioned location, drew a circle in the air with his pistol raised, and fled over the fence.

"Over there!" A trembling voice shouted from behind, "Master! Come here, come here! ”

The two dogs, like their owners, didn't seem to have any particular interest in the game going on, and readily obeyed orders. At this time, the three men who had been running on the field for some distance stopped their search and gathered together to discuss.

"I mean, or at least I should say, my orders," said the fattest one in the line, "and we'd better hurry back."

"I don't disagree with what the master said." A man of short stature, but by no means thin, said that he was very pale and had a very elegant demeanor, as is often the case with frightened people.

The third had already called the dog back and said. "The master just has an idea.

"Of course," replied the short man, "whatever the old man says, we will not refute it." No, no, I know where I am. Thankfully, I was well aware of my situation. To be honest, the little man did seem to understand his situation very well, and he fully understood that it was not a desirable situation, and his teeth kept clicking as he spoke.

"You're scared." Master Qian said.

"I'm not afraid." Lao Li said.

"You're scared." Mr. Qian said.

"You're." The tinkerer said.

"You're lying, Lao Li." Mr. Kelce said.

At present, these four sentences of back-and-forth are caused by Master Qian's mockery, and Master Qian's hurt people because he felt angry, and others used a flattering word as a cover, so they put the responsibility of going back again on their heads. The third man ended the argument with the style of a complete philosopher.

"I'll tell you what's going on, gentlemen," he said, "we're all scared. ”

"Say it to yourself." Master Qian said that he was the palest in the line.

"I'm talking about myself," replied the third, "and in this case it's natural to feel scared, and there's nothing wrong with that." I was scared. ”

"Me too," said the master, "except that there is no need to bluff and accuse others of being afraid. ”

This frank confession softened Mr. Qian's heart, and he immediately admitted that he was also afraid, so the three of them turned around together, and ran back in unison, running and running, Mr. Qian was the most short of breath among his companions, and dragged a pitchfork, and very generously advocated a stop, so that he could apologize for the insulting words just now.

"But this thing is really strange," said Master Qian after explaining, "As long as a person has blood and energy, he can do anything." I'm afraid I'll kill — I know — if we catch one of those scoundrels. ”

The other two felt the same way, and their blood and qi also subsided like him, and then they began to think about the reason for this sudden change in temperament.

"I know what is going on," said the master, "it must be the hedge gate." ”

"I wouldn't be surprised if it were." Patching up the pot loudly, he immediately adopted the idea.

"You can believe it," said Master Qian, "because the door is in the way, the fire has not hit." I felt it, and I was about to crawl through the door when the fire suddenly vanished. ”

It's no coincidence that the other two experienced the same unpleasant feeling at the same time. Obviously, the problem was with the fence gate, especially considering that the time of the mutation was indisputable, for all three men recalled that they had appeared before the robbers at the very moment of the mutation.

There were three people talking, including the two men who scared away the night thieves, and the other being a tinker who walked the streets. The tinkerer was sleeping in the outhouse when he woke up and took his two ragtag dogs with him in the pursuit.

Lao Li is a foreman and housekeeper under the old lady, and he has been working for the old lady since he was a child, and he is still regarded as a hairy child with no interest, although he is in his early thirties.

The three of them emboldened each other with such narratives, but they were still huddled together, and whenever a gust of wind blew and the branches of the trees rattled, they looked straight behind them with uncertainty. They had left their lanterns behind the trees beforehand so that they would not indicate which direction the robbers were firing. They scurried to the back of the tree, grabbed their lanterns, and trotted home. Their gray figures were long unrecognizable, and the lights could be seen flickering in the distance, as if the damp and dreary air was spewing out clumps of phosphorus fire.

The day was slowly approaching, and the surrounding area was even colder. The fog rolled around on the ground like a cloud of cloudy smoke. The grass was wet, and the paths and low-lying areas were filled with muddy water. The stinking and corrupt wind carried the dampness, whining, and blowing listlessly all the way.

Yongchang fell at the place where Zhang Fatzi threw him off, still motionless and unconscious.

As dawn approached, the first dull and faint colors—not so much the birth of day as the death of night—shimmered weakly in the air, and the air became bitter.

Objects that looked blurry and scary in the darkness became clearer and clearer, gradually regaining their familiar shapes.

A shower of rain crackled across the bare bushes. Despite the torrential rain, Yongchang didn't feel it, he was still lying upright on his dirt bed, helpless and unconscious.

Finally, a painful and faint cry broke the silence around him, and the child let out a burst of * and woke up.

His left arm was hastily bandaged with a shawl, and it hung heavily beside him, unable to move, and the shawl was soaked with blood.

He was so limp that he could barely sit up. When he did sit up, he turned his head with difficulty, hoping for help, but he couldn't help but get up.

Every joint on his body was shivering from the cold and fatigue. He struggled to his feet, but he shook from head to toe and fell straight down.

Shortly after Yongchang woke up from a long coma, he suddenly felt a feeling of nausea crawling with worms crawling in his heart, as if to warn him that if he lay there, he would definitely die.

He stood up and took a tentative step. His mind was dizzy, and he staggered a few steps like a drunk. Still, he held on, his head pressed limply on his chest, and stumbled forward, not knowing where he went.

At this time, many chaotic and confused impressions came to his heart. He seemed to be still walking between the fat man and the five, and they were still arguing angrily—the words they had spoken rang in his ears again.

He struggled hard to keep him from falling to the ground, and now he seemed to come to his senses and found himself talking to them. Then he was alone with Zhang Fatzi, walking one foot deep and one foot shallow, exactly the same as the day before. The phantom man walked past them, and he felt the robber grasp his wrist tightly.

Suddenly, the shot was fired, and he retreated again and again, and the noisy shouts echoed in the air, the lights flickered before his eyes, and there was a lot of noise and commotion all around, and at that moment, an invisible hand led him away in a hurry.

An indescribable, unsettling pain pierced through all these glimpses, invading and tormenting him all the time.

In this way, he stumbled, almost unconsciously, crawling over the gaps in the crossbars of the gates blocking the way, or between the cracks in the fences, to a road.

When he got here, it was raining heavily, and he came to his senses.

He looked around and saw a house not far away, and perhaps he had the strength to walk there. The people inside may pity him when they see his situation.

Even if they didn't have mercy, he thought, it would be better to die with someone next to him than to die in the lonely wilderness. It was the final test, and he used all his strength to walk tremblingly towards the house.

As he approached the house, he felt a sense of déjà vu, the details of which he could not recall at all, but the shape and appearance of the building seemed to have been seen somewhere.

That garden wall. Last night he knelt on the grass inside the wall, begging the two fellows to show mercy. This is the house they tried to rob.

Yongchang recognized this place, and a wave of fear couldn't help but hit his heart, and at that moment, he even forgot the pain of the wound, and only had the thought of escaping.

Escape! He couldn't even stand on his feet, and even if his immature and thin body was in a state of full energy, where could he escape? He pushed the garden door, which was unlocked and opened. He staggered across the meadow, ascended the steps, and knocked timidly at the door, and by this time he had become weak, leaning against a pillar in the small porch, and fainting.

It so happened that at this time, the tinkerer was enjoying refreshments and various foods in the kitchen after a hard night's work and a night of fear, so as to refresh his spirits.

According to the temper of the master of this household, Mr. Qian, he had always disapproved of getting too close to the servants of the lower ranks, and was more accustomed to get along with the people below him in a noble and amiable manner, so that they would not be strange, and would not forget that his status in the outside world was higher than theirs.

However, funerals, fires, and robberies can level out everyone, so Mr. Qian sat in front of the kitchen stove, straightened his legs, rested his left arm on the table, and gestured with his right hand, and was telling the details of the robbery.

"It was about half past two," said Mr. Money, "perhaps it was near three o'clock, and I am not sure, but I was awake and rolled over in bed, as it is now, and at this point Mr. Kelce turned in the chair, and pulled the corner of the tablecloth over and put it on his body as a quilt, and I seemed to hear a little noise. ”

At this juncture in the story, the cook's face turned pale, and she asked the maid to close the door, and the maid asked the tinkerer to close the door, but the one pretended not to hear.

"—I heard a little noise," Mr. Qian continued, "and at the beginning I said that it was a hallucination, and I was trying to sleep again in peace, when I heard that voice again, and I heard it clearly. ”

"What kind of sound is it?" The cook asked.

"It's the sound of something breaking." When Master Qian answered, he looked back and forth,

I lifted the covers, sat up from the bed, and pricked up my ears to listen.

The cook and the maid shouted at each other, and drew their chairs closer.

"I could hear it all the better this time," Mr. Qian continued, "'There must be someone,'" I said, 'slamming the door or the window, what should I do?' I have to wake up Lao Li so that he doesn't kill someone in bed. Otherwise,' I said, 'he might have had his trachea cut off from his right ear to his left ear.' ’”

At this time, all eyes turned to Lao Li, and he looked at the storyteller in amazement, with an absolutely pure and terrifying look on his face.

"I'll lift the quilt aside," Mr. Qian broke off the tablecloth and looked at the cook and maid with an unusually grim expression. "I got out of bed lightly, put on a pair of shoes, and got a pistol full of medicine, and I had to take this guy upstairs every day, and I went into his room on tiptoe and woke him up, this guy was snoring like a pig"

"Not so loud, sir." Lao Li whispered.