After I traveled through the book, I gained a humanoid pendant

Chapter 207

Scratch, what are you scratching?

Who is speaking?

Qi Yi didn't know, and the first few times he heard it he thought it was his own hallucination.

During the day, there was so much work to do, including collecting firewood, feeding chickens, making fire, carrying water, and watering the fields. If he was lazy and didn't do it, his mother, who had just given birth to his sister a dozen days ago, would have to drag herself to work.

The aunties in the village said that it was because their mother did not take good care of herself and rest after giving birth to them that she was always coughing and sick and had a weak constitution.

Now that I'm grown up, I can't let my mother work so hard anymore.

On the day his mother gave birth, Qi Yi hurried back home amidst the sky full of blowing paper ashes. It was the annual festival to worship the mountain god, and every household burned some paper money, which fluttered down like ashes rain. I heard that the village chief's family even slaughtered a pig and sent it to the mountain god's cave.

The Qi family didn't have the spare money. When their mother was giving birth, her condition didn't look good, so they asked someone to call a mountain doctor, who prescribed a life-saving medicine. They still owed the doctor more than twenty cents, so naturally they had nothing to offer for the sacrifice.

She gave birth to a younger sister. Her stepfather came back home in the dark after drinking that night. After hearing about what happened that day, he was so angry that he wanted to drown her in the village river. Fortunately, Qi Yi snatched her back.

At that time, Qi Yi didn't know how to get this wild-dog-like man to keep the little life in his arms. He just took a long breath through his nose and imitated the villagers' gossip: "Raise it and sell it for money."

The man raised his head and sneered: "How much rice and grain can you raise me in this lifetime? How much money can you get in exchange?"

Qi Yi held the wrinkled-faced child tightly in his arms and said, "It doesn't cost any food. I can collect more herbs and sell them for more money."

The man looked at the child holding the child, and he didn't know what he was thinking about. Suddenly he waved his hand generously: "If you can raise the child, then raise it!"

After saying that, he turned around and went back to the yard.

Qi Yi didn't dare to enter the main room when he returned. He heard his mother sobbing quietly in the room, then the sound of something falling over, and then the room became quiet.

The boy had no choice but to carry his sister back to his own hut.

It is not yet autumn and the weather is not too cold. The baby who had no milk fell into a coma and woke up again, opening his mouth to cry.

Qi Yi poured some water, dipped chopsticks in it and dripped it into the baby's mouth. After the baby drank some water, he let the baby suck on his finger to sleep.

He heard the voice in the middle of the night.

The whole day was full of traveling, snatching children, and taking care of the baby. Even the strongest person could not endure it. Qi Yi was so sleepy that he heard faint laughter in the house while he was half asleep.

My sister smiled?

Will my sister laugh now?

Qi Yi tried hard to open his eyes, and saw in the moonlight that his sister had stopped sucking her fingers and had fallen into a deep sleep. The room was pitch black, and there was a sound again.

“… scratch…”

"Give me……"

Qi Yi's eyes opened wider and wider, and he looked around carefully. In the room, apart from the bed and the backpack leaning against the door, there was nothing in the house. How could there be a place to hide someone?

Qi Yi touched his sister with shaking hands. Her body was still warm and she was not awake yet. The boy listened attentively, but the sound disappeared again.

Did I hear it wrong?

At this moment, the wooden door creaked, and Qi Yi's hair stood on end with fright, but then he heard his mother's voice.

“One One…it’s me.”

My mother hunched over, holding onto the door and walked inside with difficulty. God knows how long it took her to walk across the yard, which was only a few steps away.

Qi Yi hurried over to help him get out of bed: "Mother, why are you here? Where's...father?"

"I'm drunk and fell asleep. I came to see your poor sister..."

His mother's face was as pale as if she was seriously ill. Qi Yizai ignored the strange noise and just held his mother's shoulders to help her onto the bed, then held his sister and put her together.

There was blood flowing down between Jing Xiaocui's legs, but she ignored it and undressed beside the bed. She fed the child while crying, suppressing her voice. The baby was unaware of the pain and ate vigorously.

Qi Yi brought some water to his mother, stood at the door to block the wind, and said, "Mom, don't cry, and watch your eyes."

"How can I not cry? Why didn't this little child give birth to a boy? God wants you to suffer with me..."

Qi Yi clenched his fist and said, "I will earn more money, mother..."

Jing Xiaocui shook her head sadly and said, "You can't keep the flowers, so you might as well hide them so that you can find a wife and start a family in the future."

Qi Yi wanted to retort that he didn't want a wife, but seeing that his mother was only thinking about him, he couldn't say anything.

Perhaps poor people always have a tougher life. The little girl barely survived by borrowing rice from other families to make some thin soup. However, her limbs were dry and she looked like a skinny monkey without hair.

Qi Yi thought that what happened that night was just a dream due to his sleepiness. However, on the fourth and fifth days, every time after about midnight, he would hear bursts of teeth-chilling laughter.

It's the same sentence every time.

Qi wanted to tell his mother, but he felt that it would cause trouble for her. His sister had managed to survive with great difficulty, and she could feed her every night while his stepfather was asleep by his bedside. If he told her about such a thing, it would only cause trouble.

Qi Yi endured it, didn't speak, didn't respond, just thought he was deaf. Every time he told himself to go to bed early, go to bed early, but his nerves were always tense. Now it has become difficult to fall asleep without listening to the strange sound.

On this day, Qi Yi lay on the bed and forced himself to close his eyes. The bloody smell of the rabbit in the basket was covered up, but there was still some fishy smell on his hands that had not been washed off.

I heard the last sentence:

"——Tickle me...."

The sound of wind outside the window gradually weakened, and the boy fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, Qi got up early.

He first went to the kitchen to heat up the food and covered it with the lid. It was still dark, so he carried the basket on his back and walked towards the town. Although the road was dark, the sparse stars could provide some light. As he was walking, he heard footsteps behind him.

"Hey! Boy!"

Qi turned around and saw Li Mancang, a fellow villager who was two years older than him, running towards him. He was carrying a basket of eggs covered with some cloth. His clothes were relatively new, but the legs of his trousers were a little short. What was different from the past was that there was a dark circle under his eyes, as if he had not rested well.

Qi nodded and said, "Brother Mancang."

Li Mancang was tired of going to the town to sell eggs. It would be a happy thing to have some extra money to buy some snacks after selling them, but it obviously did not make him so happy as he had to walk for more than an hour and go early in the morning.

He is afraid of the dark.

Fortunately, I met the son of the Qi family in the village today. Although he is not tall enough and is younger than me, it is always better to have someone with you than to walk alone, as it can give me more courage.

"Boy, are you going to town too? Let's find some company."

Qi nodded: "Go sell some wild vegetables."

"How much can this be sold for? Where are your eggs? Don't you raise chickens?"

The boy walked with his head down, looking at the ground under his feet and said, "It's for my mother to replenish her body."

Li Mancang gasped: "Good fellow, your stepfather asked you to kill the chicken? Didn't he beat you to death?"

Qi Yi didn't say anything.

Seeing this, Li Mancang said nothing more, and the two boys walked side by side under the dim starlight.

The wind was strong before dawn. As Li Mancang walked, he rubbed his arms with his hands, trying to shake off the goose bumps on his body. He looked at the boy who was walking steadily and quickly beside him, and asked a question.

"Did you hear any strange noises when you were sleeping last night?"

Qi Yi was originally thinking about this matter. Hearing this, he turned around and saw the sleepiness and panic on Li Mancang's face.

Li Mancang folded his arms and said in a show of strength, "It's really nothing. I'm not afraid. I just asked you."

"When you go to bed at night, after midnight, do you hear a child crying?"