The First Part Chapter 3 The Mystery of One's Birth (1)

  At that time, the sky was already very late, so I went back home, had dinner, and fell asleep as soon as my head touched the pillow. Tang Jun, on the other hand, was like a man possessed, searching everywhere for news of his wife and child. When I woke up, it was in the middle of the night, I'm not sure what time exactly, but as soon as I opened my eyes, I saw that the courtyard was white and fluffy, just like it had snowed. I gently lifted the window curtain, and indeed, outside was covered with a layer of snowflakes. Just as I was about to put down the curtain and continue sleeping, I suddenly saw two rows of footprints on the snowy ground. Old Jin's breathing became rapid again as he spoke to this point, and he pressed his chest hard.

  I hastily handed over the nitroglycerin tablets on the table, and Old Jin's face turned pale as he waved his hand. After a while, he took a deep breath and said: "I thought it was left by that monster, so I put on my clothes and walked outside. When I lowered my head to look, I was completely stunned. My heart didn't know whether it was joyful or worried. Those two footprints were all left by Hongying. I thought maybe Hongying is still alive, so I followed the footprints forward, but when I pushed open the door, the footprints disappeared at the entrance.

  Those two rows of footprints, one was from the door to the house, and the other was from the house to the door. But when I got to the gate, the footprint disappeared without a trace. I walked very far outside the gate again, but still didn't find any footprints. I went back to the door, wondering if Hongying is still alive, why doesn't she come out to see me? Why did she sneak back home? And that row of footprints leading to the door, all this was like a puzzle that made me think deeply. Old Jin's eyes were already filled with turbid tears as he spoke.

  "What happened next?" I said, glancing in the direction of the jar.

  It had been about half a year since then, and I still hadn't found any trace of my daughter. Táng Jùn was becoming increasingly strange, going out early and returning late every day, the matter of finding his wife and child almost driving him to collapse mentally, becoming obsessed. But that summer something strange happened again, because the mountains here are quite high, one night I had just fallen asleep when I felt a bright light in the courtyard, my heart still hanging on the whereabouts of my daughter and Jīn Dòu Zi, a faint feeling telling me they were still alive, and seemed to be right next to me, only I couldn't find them.

  "I lifted the curtains, and to my surprise, there were a few fireflies flying outside. I was puzzled, as fireflies usually only appear in autumn, but now they were clearly flying around in front of me. These fireflies were quite large, and suddenly something flashed through my mind, so I immediately got out of bed, walked barefoot into the courtyard, grabbed a hoe and ran to the door." Old Jin said excitedly.

  "What were you thinking of?" I asked in puzzlement.

  "Hide and Seek!" Old Jin Tou repeated these two words heavily, but it made me feel like I had fallen into a deep dream, the two topics seemed to have no connection at all.

  "My daughter was very young when her mother passed away, so she has been following me ever since. She was a mischievous little girl from the start. One autumn evening, with fireflies flying all over the sky, my daughter suddenly grabbed my hand and said, 'Dad, let's play hide-and-seek, see if you can find me.'"

  "I said okay, closed my eyes, and waited for my daughter to hide. Then I started searching for her in the yard and house. Before long, I found her hiding behind some large jars. My daughter wasn't satisfied, so we played again. This time, I found her quickly too. Finally, she said, 'Dad, this time I'll hide somewhere you definitely won't find me.' I looked up at the sky and saw that it was already very late, so I told my daughter that this would be the last time, and after finding her, we'd go to sleep."

  Rainbow nodded and then ran out of the house like flying. After a while, I started looking for my daughter in the yard, but I searched every corner of the yard, even looked into the mouse hole, still couldn't find my daughter.

  "After a long time, my heart began to panic. This village only has our family, and now it's summer, with desolate mountains and ridges on both sides. What if something happens to my daughter? The more I think about it, the more anxious I become. So I shouted out my daughter's name: Hongying, come out! Dad can't find you, don't scare Dad."