Ajiu**

I picked up a mute boy at the entrance of the village. His whole body was covered in injuries and he was so thin that only a handful of bones remained. He was curled up in a pile of moldy straw, looking up at me, his eyes so dark that he seemed to be sucking me in. Raised him for seven years. Teach him to talk, feed him, and let him crawl into my bed at night. He cooked for me, chopped firewood, and put mint leaves in my water glass. When I took the photo, he squatted next to me and watched, quietly, like a puppy tied to his feet. Until the night he came of age. He pushed me in front of the Gu statue in the main room and pinned both my wrists with one hand. I bit the tip of my tongue and drew a mouthful of blood into my mouth. He said: "Du, you've been drinking the poison I planted for seven years. The water, the food, the lamp you smelled at night - it's all poison. Do you think you can still walk away?" He smiled, and the small mole at the corner of his mouth moved slightly. It's the same face as the child who squatted in the bamboo shed and looked up at me seven years ago. But the eyes are different. "Brother, you have raised me for seven years. Now it is my turn to raise you." Blue-black lines began to appear on my wrists, following the blood vessels and heading towards my heart inch by inch. Like a vine, like a snake, like the thing he buried in my body seven years ago finally woke up. I remembered the year I picked him up and when I carried him into the car, he buried his face in my neck and rubbed me. It's cool, like a snowflake falling on it. Later, there was a green mark on that piece of skin, which could not be washed away. I understand now. At that moment, he planted himself inside. -