Dad's marksmanship wasn't great, but at a distance of thirty meters he rarely missed, yet this time he couldn't hit the target even after my mom brought him more ammunition.

  In this situation, people would be very anxious, and he was no exception. In his anxiety, the muzzle of his gun almost touched the top of the prey's head. At this distance, he struck a match.

  A match was used as a fuse to ignite the black gunpowder in the barrel, and with a loud "bang", a huge impact force shook Father's hand holding the gun, causing his wrist to go numb, and before he could grasp it again, the gun fell to the ground, and he himself stumbled.

  Even so, he felt that his bullet had hit its mark, but reality was cruel; at this distance, he had fired a blank.

  Gunpowder filled the air with a pungent smell of saltpeter and thick smoke, when the smoke cleared, not even a single hair was seen on the ground, Father's back was soaked through.

  As I rolled down the small hill, my mom saw me crying and quickly picked me up. She thought I was scared by the dark environment, but actually I wasn't afraid of the dark since I was little. She held me tightly with her coat wrapped around my body that kept convulsing from sobbing. When I was a kid, I had severe asthma, and whenever I cried, I couldn't catch my breath, so she had to pat my back hard.

  I had something to say, but it was stuck in my throat and I could only manage to utter two words: "marbles."

  They wouldn't think that a child's lost toy would be a big deal, it was just the usual sadness and distress that belonged to children. At that time, their hearts were even more uncomfortable than mine. My mother just patted my back, not saying a word, walking back and forth.

  I went back home and maybe I was tired, anyway I fell asleep on my mom's shoulder.

  "Little brother, want to play marbles with me?" I heard a little girl's voice. I opened my eyes drowsily and found myself in that temple hall, the big door which was usually locked was now open. There was a little girl wearing a red vest with a bow made of crepe paper on her hair, holding two marbles in her hand, and at a glance, I recognized they were mine.

  My little aunt once gave me a glass pendant with a snake inside, but later the thread broke and this hollow glass ball became my favorite marble because none of my friends had anything like it.

  I was furious and shouted at her: "You little thief, return my things to me!"

  "I, I'm not a thief, I picked it up." The little girl explained somewhat nervously, her originally pale face also began to show a hint of red.

  She didn't admit it, so I wanted to go up and grab it. My mouth was still saying: "You're just a thief, this bead with a snake inside is only mine, where did you come from? You have no shame, stealing my things and not admitting it!"

  That little girl's face turned red as she watched me approach, I rudely snatched the two marbles that belonged to me from her tender small hands, and then quickly walked down the steps, I needed a quiet place to continue playing with my marbles.

  The fun of marbles made me forget the little girl crying at the door, she was like a person abandoned in this world, my eyes only had marbles and self-entertainment.

  After a while, a woman in a deep blue cheongsam walked up to me. I looked up and saw that she was a beautiful auntie. If I had to say why I could remember her appearance at a glance, apart from her delicate face, it was probably the faint purple mark on her slender neck.

  "Yuer says she wants to play with you, can you take her out to play for a bit?" A faint voice escaped from her mouth.

  "Who is Yu'er?" I countered, putting away the marbles.

  She pointed at the little girl who was crying and said: "Yu'er come here, play with this young man together."

  The little girl wearing only a red undershirt walked over step by step, as if afraid I wouldn't agree, and kept tugging at the hem of her clothes.

  When I was a kid, I wasn't too fond of playing the role of bringing along my little sister. But that beautiful aunt stretched out her palm: "This is for you." Suddenly, she had something new and interesting in her hand - a small paper doll made from red, blue, and white paper, with a pale face painted bright red with rouge.

  I've seen this sort of thing before, at the funerals of some elderly villagers. At my age back then, everything was a curiosity, and things like this were only vaguely understood as something that grown-ups wouldn't let me play with - the more they weren't allowed to be played with, the more curious I became.

  So I took that paper doll and became partners with a little girl named Yu'er.

  Playing and playing, one will get tired. Children are always like this. Every time I got tired from playing, I would feel drowsy and then wake up again to find myself lying on my own bed at home. At that time, I had no concept of what a dream was.

  More and more after falling asleep, I entered that temple, Rain became a good little partner of mine who lacked playmates in my childhood.

  Yuer is very pretty, just like her mother. However, every time we play in the yard, I still know nothing about the world outside the locked gate.

  That beautiful aunt is Yu'er's mother. Sometimes I can hear her softly sobbing from inside the house, and sometimes I can see her sitting on the threshold with her hands propping up her chin, looking sorrowful. Only when Yu'er is playing very happily will she faintly reveal a smile.

  The cheongsam with the typical Republic of China style perfectly set off her figure, and the butterfly buttons at the top were always tightly tied. Occasionally, inadvertently, a purple circle would still appear on her neck.

  Once, Yu'er was very happy and said she wanted to dance for me. It was also the only time I entered that door.

  That was Yu'er's "home". In that "home", a hemp rope hung from the beam, and under the hemp rope was an unpainted coffin. The coffin was covered.

  I'm not unfamiliar with this thing, and I'm not even afraid of it. In the countryside where firecrackers were not yet widespread, when there was an elderly person at home, the most important thing was to prepare a coffin for oneself. The thickness of the wood and the wood material were particularly emphasized. Usually, while the person was still alive, the coffin would not be painted with oil paint, only when they were critically ill would craftsmen be summoned to apply the oil paint.

  So this unpainted white coffin is almost every household in the countryside, nothing to be surprised about, in my eyes it's just like an ordinary piece of furniture. This thing often becomes our hiding place when we play hide and seek as kids, and even take a nap inside after getting tired from playing.

  The girl climbed up onto the white coffin with a nimble movement, and then began her dance performance on top of it. I vaguely remember that her movements were very strange, not like the kind of dance we usually see. She kept repeating one action, which was to clench her fists, then put something around her neck as if she had taken hold of something, and then roll her eyes upwards and stick out her tongue.

  I was amused by her comical dance and burst out laughing, but unexpectedly, Yu'er's mother had already appeared in the southwest corner of the room, scolding Yu'er severely. Yu'er looked wronged and pouted, saying: "I'm just learning from Mom."

  I saw it wasn't going well, so I quickly took Rain out with me. Rain secretly told me that her mom had told her not to bring me into that room again.

  It was also from that day on that I started having a low-grade fever all along, and the coughing started at that time too.

  My mom is also very strange, no matter how severe I cough during the day, as soon as I fall asleep at night, I won't cough at all, even if I have a fever it will subside, and when I wake up, I'll start coughing again.

  Day after day of seeking medical treatment during the day and returning home at night has finally driven my mother to desperation. The doctor's examination can only prescribe some routine medication, but it has not been effective all along.

  Zha Wenbin asked me: "Xiao Yi, will you still play with that little girl called Yu'er now?"

  I shook my head and said, "No more, since that day when Rain was scolded by her mother, I haven't seen her again."

  I was too busy looking at the little tadpole with a golden yellow color, its appearance is very cute.

  "Xiao Yi, come here." Zha Wenbin didn't know when he got something in his hand: a small paper-made man, similar to the one Rain's mother gave me, but this one looked uglier.

  To be honest, Zhang Wenbin is not good at this paper-cutting job. I have no interest in the thing he's holding, but he wants me to take it and hide it on myself.

  That night, Cha Wenbin went back to my home with us, and until I fell asleep, I saw Yu'er again...

  read3;