Cries in the Basement

Grandpa put his hand on Karen's shoulder. Karen's body also trembled.

"Then...go home."

"okay."

Karen was clear and certain about what he had just experienced. He did not think that it was his "overconcern" in this situation, but that it was purely a "thin line between life and death."

Reaching out and pushing open the courtyard door, Karen took a step forward, and then her knees immediately became weak, and she stumbled forward. Thanks to his other hand, he kept pulling on the golden retriever's leash, causing the golden retriever to also He was dragged forward, and finally fell on the golden retriever.

"Well..." The golden hair wailed. Karen immediately stood up with her hands on the ground and couldn't help but look back at her grandfather standing there. Grandpa was looking at him with no other expression.

  Karen picked up the rough-skinned golden retriever and continued walking home. In the living room, Aunt Mary was sitting there discussing matters with a few middle-aged men and women. It should be the children of the elderly man in the nursing home who were making funeral arrangements.

Aunt Mary called Karen, but Karen didn't respond. When she went up the stairs, she let go of the leash. He walked all the way to the third floor, opened the door to his room, walked in, locked the door, then leaned his back against the door, and slowly slid down and collapsed on the ground.

"Huh...huh...huh..." Karen began to gasp uncontrollably. Tears, snot, and cold sweat began to drip uncontrollably. He clenched his hands into fists, suppressed his voice to a very low level, and kept talking. All kinds of swear words came out.

At this moment, only swear words that are free of thought and close to instinct can help him relieve some of his problems. But, not long after, Mina's voice came from outside the door: "Brother, lunch is in the kitchen, can I heat it up for you and you can eat some?"

Karen took a deep breath, wiped away her tears with her palms, wiped her nose with the back of her hand, and said, "No, I'm not hungry."

"Okay, brother."

Mina leaves. Karen leaned against the door and raised her head. Mr. Hofen saw who I was, and grandpa was at the door just now, obviously... he wanted to kill me! He just wants to kill himself!

The "identity issue" that I originally thought I didn't have to worry about has now brought me a clear crisis, no, I have been escorted to the gallows.

At this time, cousin Luunt 's voice sounded from outside the door: "Brother, grandpa asked you to have lunch with him."

Karen gritted her teeth and waved her fists, damn, damn, damn! ! ! The person I am most afraid of facing now is my grandfather, Dis! But what's even worse is that Karen found that she still didn't dare to refuse.

After a moment of blank eyes, Karen suddenly laughed out loud. He covered his face with his hands, unable to suppress the laughter, and his shoulders trembled. He is clearly aware of the changes in his current mentality, starting from one extreme and moving to the other extreme, which is referred to as: breaking the jar and breaking down. After people are greatly stimulated mentally, it is easy for them to have similar emotions. For example, people who were originally diligent and thrifty will go out to spend a lot of money, and people who are clean and self-sufficient will suddenly go around and have sex. After their emotions stabilize, they will probably regret it. But that didn't stop them from immersing themselves in that period of indulgence;

After all, humans are living beings with flesh and blood and souls. Even machines need to be stopped for maintenance and repair after being overloaded.

Karen stood up slowly. He looked at himself in the bedroom mirror. Karen did not feel regret or shame for his previous weakness. A normal person suddenly faced a life-or-death situation. Who could really maintain his integrity? Calm?

But, he was tired of it. ...It's three o'clock in the afternoon, long past lunch time. Karen walked to the dining table and sat down.

Dis raised his head and glanced at Karen, and found that Karen's expression was very natural, and with her wet hair pulled back, she looked very energetic. In front of him was a plate of noodles with tomato sauce, and in the middle was a pancake. Pick up the fork, roll up the noodles and put it in your mouth. It's sour, sweet, soft and glutinous... well, it's not delicious. She picked up another pie and took a bite. The sweetness almost made Karen send her away.

Karen put down her fork helplessly and sighed. Dis asked while eating slowly:

"What's wrong?"

Karen noticed that Aunt Mary and Aunt Winnie were not on the second floor, and she replied bluntly: "It's not delicious." Mina, who was bringing water next to her, was obviously uncomfortable hearing such a direct conversation, because everyone in the family People, including her parents, are always in awe when facing her grandfather. For example, commenting on food and showing willfulness are not allowed. Dis took a bite of the pie and asked, "What do you want to eat?" Karen shook her head and said, "I'll make lunch tomorrow." Dis wiped the corners of his mouth with a napkin and said slowly, "Okay. "

But then, Dis pointed at the food in front of Karen: "Don't waste it." "Okay." Karen started eating again.

Dis picked up the glass of water at hand and took a sip, his eyes always falling on Karen. Karen, on the other hand, was obviously eating with a frown on her face. He didn't try to hide his emotions and sighed while eating.

"Food requires the most basic respect." Dis reminded.

Karen also took a glass of water from Mina's hand, used it to swallow the sweet stuffed pie in her mouth, and said: "It is really disrespectful to make the ingredients unpalatable."

Dis nodded thoughtfully and said, "Then I'm looking forward to tomorrow's lunch." At this time, Aunt Mary came up from downstairs. Karen noticed that her aunt had various kinds of ever-changing anger on her face, but in the When he appeared in front of his grandfather, he quickly restrained himself.

"The guest has left?" Dis asked.

"Well, they chose the cheapest package." Aunt Mary said.

"Yeah." Dis said nothing special. The cheapest package is to rent the first floor of the Imles house as a place of mourning. All unnecessary decorations and arrangements are not required. It is like "pausing" there. Relatives and friends can just take a look at a specific time in the morning or afternoon; even ...No preparation is required for wine and beverages.

"What's even more ridiculous is that they want to cremate Mr. Mossanen and don't even want to pay for the cemetery. In order to save money, the brothers and sisters even said that Mr. Mossanen is a believer in the Berry religion. But when I was handling Mr. Mossanen 's body , , I clearly saw an angel tattoo on his back."

Followers of several sects stipulate that they must be cremated after death, so that the physical body becomes both an end and a new beginning. However, most sects, or most people, are still unwilling to choose cremation. Of course, the most important point is that cremation is much cheaper than burial with full beard and tail.

What makes Aunt Mary angry is that Mr. Mossanen 's children deliberately made up this unreliable reason in order to save money...well, it also cut off a large portion of the profits she originally planned. Coffins, cemeteries, priests, etc. are the real oil and water.

"Yes." Mr. Dis responded and replied calmly, "Follow the guest's request."

"Okay, Father."

"By the way, since Mr. Mossanen 's family members have not asked for food, that's fine. Karen will prepare tomorrow's lunch."

"Okay, Father." Aunt Mary glanced at Karen subconsciously.

"I'm a little tired today. I'll go back to my room and rest first. I'll be busy tomorrow morning, so you should go to bed early."

"Okay, Father."

"Okay, Grandpa."

Dis got up and left the table and walked up to the third floor.

"Mina, take Luunt and accompany me downstairs to decorate the curtains. Oh, and then call Chris to join us."

"Okay, Mother."

Aunt Mary looked at Karen again and asked, "My chef nephew, do you need to purchase some ingredients for you in advance?"

"No need, Auntie, there are plenty in the kitchen, it's enough."

"Then I'm looking forward to tomorrow's lunch." Aunt Mary took Mina and the others downstairs. Although Paul and Ron would come over to decorate the mourning venue in the morning, she needed to put some basic items together tonight. . Karen finished eating and started to collect the plates. At this time, the door of my uncle and aunt's room on the second floor was pushed open from the inside.

"Karen, Karen."

"Uncle Meissen?" Karen asked.

"Is there anything to eat?" Uncle Meissen asked.

"And a few pies."

"Okay, okay, give it to me, give it to me."

Karen brought the plate with empanadas to the door of the room. Uncle Meissen, wearing pajamas, took the plate and immediately picked up a empanada and took a big bite. He looked like he was devouring it hungrily, showing that he was hungry.

"Uncle, what are you..."

Uncle Meissen said helplessly: "I fell while walking, and my butt still hurts a lot. I don't know if I have injured any bones. I'll lie down first. I won't delay my work at home tomorrow."

"Uncle, you are so careless."

"Hey, if a family wants to have good luck, there must be one person who is unlucky to bear all the burden. As long as you are healthy, I am happy."

Although she knew Uncle Meissen was "farting", Karen still gave him a "polite" and "touching" smile. Uncle Meissen, carrying the plate, limped back to the bedroom, not forgetting to tell Karen: "Close the door."

"Okay, uncle."

Karen closed the door. Judging from Uncle Meissen's reaction in the morning, Karen guessed that his uncle was beaten by his father. Well, that's normal, isn't it?

Even though his uncle's children are so old, it is not incomprehensible for him to be beaten by his own father. After all, Dis almost killed his "grandson" with his own hands today. I habitually stretched out my right hand and scratched the place in front of my right eye. This was a habit I had in my previous life, but I ended up feeling lonely;

"Karen" has good eyesight and does not need glasses. Karen laughed at herself:

"Grandson..." Immediately afterwards, he emphasized his tone again: "Grandson."

…

Karen didn't go down to help. After clearing the dishes, he went to bed. Drowsily, I fell asleep again and again, and woke up again and again. Each time I slept for only half an hour. After lingering until late at night, Karen's sleepiness was wiped away.

He glanced at his cousin Luunt , who was sleeping on the spring bed opposite him. After he woke up, his cousin who originally lived in the same room with his grandfather immediately moved back to live with him. As you can imagine, sleeping in the same room with his grandfather brought a lot of benefits to him. How much pressure must there be.

Karen sat up from the bed, turned on the lamp on the small desk, opened the drawer according to memory, and took out a book from it. The book is called "Money, a Meaningless Thing" and it is the autobiography of a financial tycoon from Ruilan Country, the country where Karen lives. Karen flipped through the pages of the book, and inside were banknotes with a face value of "one hundred" rupees. This was the money saved by the previous "Karen". His pocket money was quite generous. Karen took it all out and counted it, which was 6,000 rupees.

At this stage, the monthly salary of an ordinary worker is just over 2,000 rupees. Factory workers with good profits can get a monthly salary of 2,500 rupees. Paul and Ron, the two assistants at home, earn a monthly salary of 3,000 rupees. My salary was increased today to 4,000. After all, for the job of transporting dead people, your salary must be higher. Therefore, this 6,000 rupees is almost three months' salary of an ordinary worker. In fact, ordinary workers need family living expenses, and it is not enough to save this for half a year.

When he first woke up, Karen retrieved from his memory that "Karen" had been planning to run away from home. He had never liked this home. But these 6,000 rupees are indeed a lot of money, but even if he goes out with this money, what can he do?

"'Karen', 'Karen', why did you drop out of school? You can leave me a high school diploma after all." But then I thought about it, at least I left myself a "little plum" face, and it was not a joke. The little plum of water gun; I don't seem to have much reason to complain about "Karen".

Now, I inherited this choice: "Run away from home?"

"Continue to stay at home?" These two issues kept flashing in Karen's mind, but recalling the scenes during the day, Karen couldn't help but wonder, would it be so easy to leave home after running away from home? This is really not as simple as a child taking a sum of money and getting on the train away from home, but involves a mystery that is somewhat beyond his or her established worldview, and the mystery is in his own home!

"Woof...woof..." Two dog barks came from the yard downstairs. It should have been there before, but Karen didn't notice it. Putting the money back into the book and keeping it there, she put the book into the drawer. Karen stood up and pushed open the door to the room, just in time to see Pu'er lying on the window sill in the corridor.

The black cat at home is looking at the "exiled" golden retriever in the yard downstairs in a very "anthropomorphic" manner; as if to show off, I am in the house and you are outside.

Karen glanced at the "lonely" golden retriever in the yard. The temperature was very low at night. He felt that the golden retriever would most likely not freeze to death. However, the most unbearable thing for a pet that has long been accustomed to accompanying its owner is loneliness. .

Aunt Mary and the others probably didn't pay attention to the golden retriever, or they were too lazy to let it stay in the house at night. It would be better to leave it outside the house and deal with it in the yard in the morning instead of calling someone to walk it.

  Karen walked from the third floor to the living room on the first floor, opened the door of the living room, and the golden retriever immediately came over and kept rubbing its face against Karen's pajamas. Bending down, reaching out and patting the golden retriever on the head, Karen planned to take the golden retriever to the kitchen on the second floor to find some food. But as soon as she reached the stairs, Karen heard a strange man's "crying and choking" sound coming from below. In the quiet night, this voice seemed extremely clear at this time.

Karen took two steps back, glanced at the ramp leading to the basement, and took two tentative steps down. The voice became clearer. You can even imagine an old man sitting in the corner and sobbing. picture. But Karen immediately stepped back and did not go deep.

"I'm a bitch in a horror movie who can't survive three minutes. I like to go to the basement alone because of my ridiculous curiosity." Karen didn't scream or call anyone, but went upstairs and came to the kitchen.

He poured a glass of milk, put the glass of milk in a large bowl, poured hot water into it and boiled it. He picked up two pieces of bread, bit one piece and threw the other piece in front of the golden retriever. Golden Retriever lowered his head, sniffed the bread, then pushed it away in disgust and refused to eat. It seems that it has been fed. Karen picked up the bread on the floor, then carried the milk to the third floor.

When she reached the door of her room, Karen hesitated for a moment. Instead of opening the door and going in, she turned around and came to the door of her grandfather's bedroom. Reach out and knock;

"Duoduo... Duoduo..." There was no response inside. Just as Karen was about to continue knocking on the door, she found that the door dedicated to her grandfather's office nearby was opened, and her grandfather wearing a black nightgown stood at the door of the study.

"What's up?"

"Give grandpa a cup of hot milk." Karen handed the cup with hot milk to Dis.

Dis reached out to take it and took a sip in front of Karen. "Good night, grandpa."

"Good night." Dis closed the study door.

Karen noticed that the light in the study swayed a little, which meant that grandpa did not turn on the light, but... lit a candle. After standing at the door of the study for almost three minutes, Karen turned around and did not go back to her room. Instead, she went straight down the stairs and went from the third floor to the first floor again.

When he stood on the ramp leading to the basement again, the "crying" sound came again.

"Hehehe..." Karen couldn't help laughing, then she crossed her fingers with her hands and tapped her toes on the ground, doing a warm-up before physical education class, "Okay, let me take a look at you now."