In the dark alley with drizzle, a mother and son walked from a distance.

The mother was holding a floral umbrella, and the child looked only six or seven years old. When he was being naughty, he was carrying a schoolbag and deliberately jumped into the water.

Mud spots splashed on his trousers, but the mother didn't scold him when she saw it. She just held his hand and walked quickly towards the small restaurant.

"Are they the middle-aged man waiting for? This mother and son look very normal." I used my judgment and found no yin or unclean things on them.

"Why are you coming back now? School ends at five o'clock, and it's already past eight o'clock now!" The restaurant owner's solemn expression finally relaxed. He put out his cigarette and walked out in the rain.

"Didn't you, my precious son, cause trouble? I got into a fight with someone and nearly blinded someone's eye. I managed to persuade him to let him go after I had to pay him." When we entered the store, the mother saw me present and was embarrassed to lose her temper. , but his face is not very pretty.

"Fighting again?" The store owner glared at the child, "How many times this month? Can't you let your parents worry less? Come here!"

"I didn't fight with anyone. He was pushed down by someone else, by a sister..."

"Are you talking nonsense?" Without giving the little boy a chance to defend, the mother interrupted: "Teachers and classmates said that you were the only one who was with others at the time. If you want to make it up, just make it look more like it. It would be better to say that he fell on his own. of!"

She seemed to have a headache in disciplining her children, rubbing her brows: "Such a sharp branch can only hit an eyeball by two or three centimeters. If it really hits the eyeball, our family will have to sell the house to pay for it!"

The mother became more and more angry as she spoke. She took off the boy's schoolbag and threw it aside: "Stand up! You don't have the posture to stand or the posture to sit. Do you have no bones?"

The woman taught the child a lesson, but the middle-aged man did not interrupt. He wiped the raindrops from his hair with a towel: "How much did you pay to others in the end?"

"More than three thousand."

"Three thousand?! Your eyes are fine, why should you pay so much?" The middle-aged man's voice suddenly became louder, and he twisted the child's arm: "Little bastard, your parents are almost exhausted, and you still make trouble for us every day. !”

"I really didn't push him. I saw branches on the ground, so I went over to remind him. You all don't believe me..." The boy didn't know whether he was frightened or was being pinched by the middle-aged man so much that his eyes hurt. I was in tears, almost crying.

"Boss, it is natural for children to be naughty. The more naughty a child is when they are young, the smarter and more promising they will be when they grow up." I started to persuade, but in my mind I was thinking about what the child had just said.

The boy said that the victim was pushed down by an older sister, but the teachers and classmates only saw the boy and the victim alone together. Could it be that the older sister was made up by the boy?

I have been secretly observing the boy's reaction. With discernment, I can determine a person's inner fluctuations through the smallest expression changes on a human face. This little boy does not seem to be lying.

From another perspective, if the boy hadn't lied, then the whole thing would have been more terrifying.

"You can't discipline your child, he's too naughty." The middle-aged man smiled sheepishly at me, patted the boy on the head, and asked the woman to take him into the house.

"Don't be too rigid in educating children, you have to reason with them." I said casually because I had something on my mind.

"You look like you don't have a child. This little brat is so skinny, I want to beat him to death." The middle-aged man lit another cigarette, walked to the door of the store, closed the door, and used a wooden board to hold it in place.

“Boss, it’s only after eight o’clock and you’re going to close?

"It's our custom not to leave anyone on a rainy night." Seeing my confusion, the middle-aged man took the initiative to explain: "On rainy nights, we have to close the door early and don't let strangers stay overnight, for fear that some bad things will come to shelter from the rain. , and then stayed inside the house without leaving."

"What age do you still believe this?" I lowered my head and ate the food, but my heart was beating.

"It's a lot of walking at night, so it's better to have some faith."

"Then what customs do you have here? I just arrived in Jinghai, so I'm afraid I might accidentally offend your taboos."

I said it very sincerely, and the store owner didn’t think much about it. He said casually: “It’s all trivial things, like not riding a dog, don’t put your shoes on when sleeping... By the way, there is one thing you really want. pay attention."

As he spoke, he suddenly became serious and pointed at the black umbrella next to my seat: "It's best not to go out with a black umbrella."

"What can you say?" I thought it was strange. When I was in the hotel just now, the middle-aged woman almost refused to let me stay because I was holding a black umbrella.

"Do you really want to know?" There was no other customer in the store except me, and the boss had nothing to do after closing the store. He simply lit a cigarette and sat down not far from me: "The rainy season in Jinghai City is very long. They all have it, but there are many theories about umbrellas. Some people think that umbrellas were created by Master Lu Ban and can ward off evil spirits, but others say that umbrellas gather yin and dirty things will hide under them. Do you have any in your hometown? Similar customs, the elderly do not allow children to open umbrellas at home, saying that they do not grow taller is a lie, opening umbrellas at home will draw out hidden dirty things."

This was the first time I heard what the store owner said, and I rubbed my head: "What does this have to do with the black umbrella?"

"You young man is so curious. I'll explain it to you now, but don't talk nonsense after you go out." The shop owner blew out a puff of smoke and looked at the smoke ring: "A few years ago, something happened outside the Guan Strange thing, whenever it rains at night, there will be a woman with a black umbrella wandering in the alley. At first, no one paid attention to it, but after a while, it is said that a drunk man saw the woman's slender figure, I wanted to tease someone, but guess what happened?"

"I can't guess, please go on." I didn't even bother to eat, I listened intently.

"The drunken man was so obsessed that he hugged the woman holding the black umbrella from behind. The woman's body was very cold, her skin was slippery, and her long black hair was tied into a big braid. The drunkard hugged the woman She had a slender waist, and at first he felt that he had taken advantage of him. Just when he was about to put his hand into the woman's clothes, the woman slowly turned her head." The shop owner's hand holding the cigarette was trembling slightly: "He saw The most terrifying scene in my life is that the woman has no face and has a big braid on her head!"

I took a breath of cold air and drank the tea that had been left cold for some time on the table: "Both sides are braids? No face?"

"No."

"You're too ridiculous. You're talking as if you're actually there." My expression was very calm. It was impossible for outsiders to know what I was thinking in my heart at this time.

"Why don't you believe it? The drunk man's body was found in the alley the next day. It doesn't matter if you don't believe me. You can check this case online. Anyway, it hasn't been solved yet." The shop owner said to him He glanced out the window: "Later, many people saw that woman on rainy days, so we usually don't go out on rainy nights."

"It sounds scary. After coming to Jinghai, I realized that I am still more comfortable in my hometown." I said with a slight sigh.

"Young people, you should go out and have more adventures. There are many opportunities in big cities." The boss smiled and handed me another cigarette.

After I lit it, I asked casually while paying the bill: "They say big cities are good, but when I first came to Jinghai, you made up stories to scare me. Before, a taxi driver told me that I can go anywhere in Jinghai, but only Isn’t it ridiculous that you can’t go to a place called a pig cage apartment? How can any apartment name itself a pig cage..."

While I was talking, I was also paying attention to the change in the store owner's expression. When I said "Pig Pen Apartment", his fingers holding the cigarette moved unnaturally like a spasm.

"Brother, did the taxi driver really tell you about this pig cage apartment? Do you have any grudge against him?" The shop owner's voice was much lowered, and I didn't know what he was afraid of.

"There's no big grudge. He's a shady truck driver. He overcharged me by a hundred or two hundred dollars, and I suffered a loss." I asked, "What do you mean, is there really a pig cage apartment in Jinghai?"

"Yes, the pig cage apartment is just outside the customs." The shop owner's voice quickly returned to normal, "Jinghai was a foreign concession decades ago. Then the war broke out, and the surrounding refugees wanted to take refuge in the foreign concessions, so they came in droves. , in order to accommodate the increasing number of refugees, 'pig cage' apartments were built in the concession."

I frowned: "I seem to understand why it is called a pig cage apartment."

"You still don't understand." The shop owner glanced at the food on the table and thought for a while before saying: "Actually, the real name of that place is Longchang Community, and it can be regarded as saving many people during the war. There is nothing wrong with the residence itself. But with the outbreak of war and natural and man-made disasters, many people did not have enough to eat.”

"Eating?" I raised my eyebrows, thinking of something very bad.

"Well, that's why it's called the pig cage apartment." The cigarette ashes fell to the floor unknowingly. The shop owner looked at the sky outside: "It's getting late. You should go back to your place after dinner. , it’s dark, don’t run around.”

After paying the bill, the shop owner had not yet given change. His wife suddenly walked out of the back room with her mobile phone and waved to him.

The two of them ran to the kitchen together before answering the phone, talking quietly.

The couple was mysterious and mysterious, and I wasn't going to disturb them. I stood up silently. I originally wanted to leave, but with a quick glance, I discovered something very interesting.

The door to the back room was half open, and the woman didn't close it tightly when she came out. From my angle, I could just see the scene inside the room.

The six or seven-year-old boy was kneeling by the wall, staring in a certain direction and talking from time to time, as if he was talking to someone.

"Talking to oneself alone?" I touched the ghost ring, got up and walked towards the house. The shop owner was a nice guy, and I wouldn't mind helping him if it was convenient.

I gently opened the door and followed the little boy's gaze. There was only an open floral umbrella.

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