Celebrate the first season of the year

Chapter 6: The Pillow

Although Fan Xian was only four years old on the outside, he was a mature soul inside, and the blood light and corpse on the first day of coming to this world were firmly imprinted in his mind, so he had always had great uneasiness in his heart, knowing that his unclear life would one day bring trouble to himself.

It seems that today this trouble has finally come.

The sneak attack was not successful, naturally it was impossible to repeat the trick, he was drinking pitifully, intending to confuse the night walker, while quickly turning his brain, trying to find a way to escape the world.

If you call for help, the other party will definitely kill himself in a very short period of time, and seeing that the other party has no action at this time, he is obviously stunned by his own random "Daddy".

Fan Xian's brain spun very quickly, and when he saw that the sneak attack did not work, relying on his innate advantage of being super young, he looked at the night walker and cried bitterly: "Daddy, Daddy..."

While crying, he nervously began to calculate how he would escape.

"No need to pretend, Young Master Fan." The night walker spoke in a very indifferent tone, but there seemed to be no danger, "It seems that you are really smart, and you know how to protect yourself at such a young age, but you should know very well that I am not a count." ”

After saying this, the night walker compared the knife in his hand, and then leaned over to the four-year-old Fan Xian.

Fan Xian's face was still innocent and tearful, but his heart contracted tightly, and he sobbed and said, "Uncle, who are you?" ”

"I was sent by your father to see you, so don't call it Oh."

The night walker's eyes were slightly brown and looked a little ugly, while the wrinkles in the corners of his eyes exposed his age, and the tone of his speech made Fan Xian think very directly of the grandfather who tricked the little girl into going to see the goldfish.

But Fan Xian did not show it, still playing the role of a four-year-old child who should have a little panic, a few surprises, and a little anger.

"You're not Daddy!"

Then, as if he didn't see the knife in the other person's hand, he twisted his little ass, climbed onto the big bed, and muttered, "I don't know what Daddy looks like." ”

The night walker smiled and walked over to the bed.

Suddenly, the little boy on the bed turned his head to look behind the night walker, a trace of surprise flashed in his eyes, and shouted: "Mother! ”

……

This is a very bad move, and if anyone shows it, I am afraid that it will not deceive the night walker, after all, the other party is also a master who owns a laboratory independently in Kyoto.

But it was a four-year-old boy who used this trick, so the night walker simply believed it, and as soon as he heard Fan Xian call his mother, the night walker's eyes showed a look of extreme shock, and he turned his head sharply and looked back.

Behind him was naturally the tightly closed door and the thick night.

bang! A crackling sound sounded in the bedroom.

The night walker lay on the ground covered in blood.

Fan Xian held the half-broken porcelain pillow in his hand, looked at the guy on the ground with trepidation, swept the residual pillow in his hand, bit his teeth, raised his small arm, and smashed it hard into the back of the other party's head.

This sound was a muffled sound, and the strength was extremely great, even if this night walker was a generation of masters, after suffering from this sullen pillow, I am afraid that it would be difficult to wake up for a while and a half.

……

Outside came the voice of the big girl ring: "What's wrong?" ”

"Nothing, sister, broke a cup, come back tomorrow."

"How can that work? What should I do if I tie the young master's feet? ”

"I said I'll do it tomorrow!"

Hearing that the little young master, who had always been gentle and innocent and cute, had a big temper tantrum, he closed his mouth and did not say anything more.

Fan Xian walked back to the closet, dragged out a bed of winter quilts from inside, and then tore the surface into strips of cloth with two fingers, twisted it, and firmly tied up the unconscious night walker on the ground.

Only then did he realize that his back was completely wet.

A hint of fear came to his heart—whether in his past life or in this life, this was the first time he intended to kill someone, although he didn't know if he had killed the other party—he was too risky, if the other party was really a martial arts master, he would definitely ruin his own life in the previous moment.

He tried his hand under the masked black scarf of the night walker, and found that the other party was still breathing, and somehow, Fan Xian's mind actually sprang up with the idea of killing people and killing mouths.

Immediately, after finding that after he was reborn, it seemed that his personality had become much tougher, and he had just started so fiercely that he did not hesitate a bit.

He himself did not realize it, because in the heart of the child now called Fan Xian, he was already a person who had died once, and the rebirth of this life was particularly precious, so he did not allow anyone to harm his life.

After being drunk, Fang knows that he knows that his life is heavy after death, which is such a simple truth.

Holding the knife in his hand, thinking and thinking, Fan Xian still did not make up his mind to kill the comatose nightcrawler on the ground, and suddenly he thought of a person, his face appeared joyful, quietly pushed open the door, ran to the backyard and got out of the dog hole, and came to the grocery store on the corner opposite the Earl's Court.

"Snap snap..." He tapped lightly on the grocery store door, a very small sound, in the quiet of the late night in Cangzhou, and did not reach the distance.

But Fan Xian knew that the person inside must be able to hear this knocking on the door, although the other party pretended not to know himself for four years, but when the matter came, Fan Xian could only think that this person could be trusted.

"Who?"

From the grocery store came a voice that was extremely flat and did not have a trace of mood swings.

Fan Xian thought that this person was indeed the same as outside Kyoto, talking and doing things one by one, his eyes turned twice, and he said softly: "I am Fan Xian." ”

Sure enough, as Fan Xian expected, the wooden door of the grocery store opened silently, and the blind teenager stood in the doorway like a ghost, which frightened Fan Xian a little.

Fan Xian looked at the person in front of him who had sent himself to the port of Cangzhou, looked at the black cloth on the other party's cheeks and eyes that seemed to have not changed in the past four years, and was a little curious in his heart, wouldn't this person be old?

Chapter 7: The Visitor is the Guest

But at this time there was another unconscious assassin in his bedroom, so he didn't have time to ask anything, and directly said, "Someone came to kill me, and now I am knocked unconscious, and I am lying on the ground." ”

The blind teenager tilted his head slightly, his heart moved slightly, there was no expression on his face, and he bowed his head and performed a salute: "What is Young Master Fan talking about?" ”

"I don't have time to dress deep here, you always have to take care of me." Fan Xian giggled and thought to himself, what time is it, you still pretend not to know here, no matter how much, take the blind boy's hand and walk in the direction of Beppu.

"The young master is still talking nonsense."

The blind boy frowned slightly, and seemed to wonder why the little child in front of him seemed to know his identity--when he sent the infant Fan Xian to Cangzhou, Fan Xian was only a few months old, and he should have no memory--was it the old lady in the Earl's Court who told him her identity?

It was late at night, and there were a few terrible dog barks in the distance, and I don't know whose owner got up and touched the wrong door at night.

The blind teenager Wuzhu looked cold, leaned over to listen to Fan Xian's speech, and finally moved, closed the door of the grocery store, and walked towards the Earl's Palace, Fan Xian was relieved in his heart, and hurried to follow the small steps.

Outside the Earl's Court, the two men burrowed back through the dog hole and stood in the bedroom, "watching" the assassin underground who was still unconscious.

Fan Xian looked at the people on the ground, not knowing whether the other party was dead or alive, it was inevitable that he was a little nervous, and instead asked: "Uncle Wuzhu, in the past few years, you have been staying in the grocery store and dare not recognize me, why?" ”

The blind boy named Wuzhu tilted his head again, and after half a moment, he said, "Little Master, you really surprised me." ”

He did have some surprises, although he knew that since the child in front of him was a missus's child, there must be something different about it, but Wuzhu really did not expect that the other party's age of four years old would appear so mature, and he could actually... Secretly calculated that Lord Fei had come to Kyoto.

"Deal with the man in front of you first." Fan Xian struggled to turn the assassin on the ground over and remove his mask to reveal the true face of the assassin.

The assassin's face was thin, he was already a little old, and the beard on his jaw was beginning to turn white, but he didn't know why, and there were some green and gloomy colors mixed in with the white, which looked a little disgusting.

Fan Xian was startled, jumped behind Uncle Wuzhu, grabbed his sleeve, and hummed bitterly: "Uncle, this assassin is not selling well." ”

"This is Lord Fei, the organizer of the Third Branch of the Control Yuan." Wuzhu slowly squatted down and touched the assassin's jaw, "One of the three people who are recognized as the most profound use of poison in the whole world, proficient in using poison to detoxify, such a powerful character will actually be ruined by you with a porcelain pillow, I don't know if you are too lucky, or his luck is too bad." ”

"It was his bad luck." Fan Xian secretly said in his heart, although he was very surprised by the big name on the ground, but when he thought of the other party encountering a monster like himself, who looked like a baby but was actually a demon for two lifetimes, the other party's luck was indeed not very good.

"Don't touch it with your hands, what if he's poisoned?" Fan Xian reminded the blind teenager Wuzhu.

Wuzhu did not stop moving, nor did he explain anything, but the momentum made Fan Xian feel that the other party was telling him that there was no poison in this world that could poison him.

Fan Xian squeezed his eyebrows and asked with a bitter face, "Uncle, what about this person?" ”

He is not a self-familiar temper, but in this world, the blind teenager in front of him is the first person he knows, and he is the only person who dares to believe it in its entirety, and he knows that the other party is a very powerful person, so he is deliberately cute and respectful, and the word uncle is endless.

His eyes slipped around, and finally he landed on the knife, biting his teeth, thinking that he would simply stab this Fei Lord to death.

Sensing his movements, Wuzhu stood up and shook his head: "Your temperament is too different from that of Miss, at such a young age, you are so fierce, and you don't know who taught you." ”

"Learn it yourself." Fan Xian did not dare to offend this strong man whom he only dared to trust, and said very respectfully: "The nephew knows that the uncle has been guarding the grocery store to protect the nephew, and he also knows that the uncle is afraid that his mother's enemies will come to me because of the existence of the uncle, so he did not stay in the earl's palace, so the nephew had to be cruel himself." ”

Gotake shook his head again and didn't say anything.

Fan Xian knew that his mother's servant master was beginning to be suspicious of himself, and he giggled and asked, "Uncle, what do you do next?" ”

His meaning was obvious, and the killing of people was still done by Uncle Wuzhu.

Unexpectedly, Wuzhu said lightly, "Young master, you have hit the wrong person." ”

"Huh? Hit the wrong person? Fan Xian was dumbfounded, and slowly looked down at the assassin on the ground with a bloodied face.

"But if you fight, you don't need to think too much about it." Wuzhu said quietly, "Lord Fei is the host of the third room of the Control Yuan, and his identity in the dark... To be precise, it is your father's subordinates. Therefore, he came to Cangzhou this time, he should not have come to kill you, if he really came to kill you, then I believe that no matter how capable the young master is, he has already died countless times. ”

Fan Xian then thought that the assassin on the ground seemed to have said that his father had sent him, but...

"Day, as long as T-BAG, who dares to believe this old adulterous stick."

Fei Jie has been staying in the Kyoto Control Bureau's Grid Office all these years, an old man in his fifties, although he has some reputation such as poisoning everyone, but on the whole, he is already in a semi-retired state, and this time if it were not for a powerful person who entrusted him to come to The Prefecture for classes, and he did not have the courage to refuse, he would definitely not leave Kyoto.

But unexpectedly, the first time I saw my students, I was beaten by the other party with two large bags, shed half a bowl of blood, and almost sent my old life.

He looked at the little boy in front of him and found that the other party's face was full of innocence and cuteness, and the big eyes flashed, mixed with a trace of fear and shame, such a cute little face, coupled with the identity of the little boy, but let his full anger have nowhere to go.

Turning his head to see a servant-like guy, he was about to send his anger to the other person: "Who! Don't untie me yet! I am a teacher hired by Lord Earl at great expense. ”

Who knew that the servant seemed to be more proud than he was, ignored him at all, and said coldly: "In the agreement between me and your superior, there seems to be no link between you as a teacher." ”

"The Big Five?" Fei Jie's eyes widened a little cloudy, and with his brown and poisonous eyes, he saw the appearance of the servant clearly, and was startled: "Five adults, it was you." ”

Hearing that the assassin woke up and called himself Fei Jie, Fan Xian felt that this matter was indeed very puzzling.

Chapter 8: The Cemetery

The reason he thought Fei Jie was very puzzling was: "Didn't his father always ignore his illegitimate son?" Why would you send a teacher? If it is just a matter of teaching reading, how can you engage in such an old pervert to teach yourself? ”

Seeing that the other party knew Uncle Wuzhu, Fan Xian knew that it was not his turn to interject in this matter, and pretended to be stupid and sat on the bed.

When the adults had made things clear, Fan Xian used his small arm to remove the sheets from Fei Jie's body, and then hid behind Wuzhu and smirked, playing the role of a demented child.

Unfortunately, a small hand was revealed today, and the two powerful people in front of them knew that the brain of the four-year-old child in front of them was not simple.

The sky was already faintly bright, and in the distance was faintly heard the sound of chickens calling and people boiling water.

Wuzhu led Fei Jie out of the door, but before leaving, Fan Xian heard a cold sentence coming from Wuzhu in his ear: "When to explain, why do you know who I am?" ”

Fan Xian chuckled in his heart, he really didn't know how to explain, when he came to Cangzhou with Uncle Wuzhu Qianli four years ago, he was still a baby who was only a few months old. He thought and thought, always unable to find a good excuse, only blamed by fei Jie's strange old man at that time.

The city began to wake up from sleep, but there was no sign of the inconspicuous small grocery store opening.

In a dark room in the shop, Gotake looked at Fei Jie coldly, "What does it mean to be crippled?" ”

Although Fei Jie can also be called a generation of people in some aspects, when he thinks of the cold-blooded and vicious nature of the blind teenager in front of him, he can't help but feel a little worried, and replied: "The young master always has to grow up, and he will always face those things in Kyoto in the future. ”

Gotake raised his head and "looked" at him.

Although he knew that the other party was blind, Fei Jie always felt that behind the black cloth there were two rays of essence that were enough to kill people staring at him, and he smiled and said, "If the five adults have an opinion, I can go back to Kyoto immediately, and I believe that the adult will respect your opinion." ”

Wuzhu shook his head, "I want the cripple to let you come, it shouldn't be that simple." ”

"Good value for money" Fei Jie thought that only this guy in front of him dared to call the Dean Lord a cripple, he bent down and replied, "The adult has not found the box left by the young lady, and he is very worried that it will be found by those who have a heart, so he wants to ask the five adults to point out the mystery." ”

"Don't look for it, the lady destroyed the box before she died." Gotake said expressionlessly.

Fei Jie nodded, turned to leave, and suddenly frowned again: "I always feel that the little young master is a little strange, the five adults, he is only four years old, you let him practice such a domineering True Qigong, aren't you afraid of accidents?" ”

"The strange thing is still behind, and his True Qigong Technique is not taught by me." Wuzhu looked at the poison that was about to become the little master's teacher and said lightly, "It will be hard for you." ”

Fei Jie touched the faint pain in his head, always feeling that this sentence seemed to have some bad omen, and smiled bitterly and resigned.

When he was gone, the blind man Wuzhu entered a secret room in the grocery store, staring blankly at a dusty box in the corner, his eyes still covered with the black cloth, but it was obvious that he was thinking about something.

During the day, a strange gentleman came from the Earl Beppu, and after submitting the name post, he was personally received by the old lady, and somehow, he gained the trust of the old lady and began to serve as the second mr. of the young master of the Fan family.

The Yahuan had already spread the word about this matter, and they were all very strange, a guy with gauze wrapped around his head and looking like an old rogue was qualified to be his own cute young master's husband.

In the study, Fan Xian was obediently beating Mr. Fei's back, knocking people on the pillow last night, and at this time, he had to hurry to please him.

"Teacher, you can't blame the students." He was talking in a milky voice, and he felt very sick in his heart, "You take a knife, the student is young, so he is impulsive." ”

Fei Jie thought to himself how to pry open the door without a knife, he was just going to secretly see what this legendary bastard looked like, who knew the children's family, and actually did not sleep in the middle of the night playing insomnia.

Therefore, this misunderstanding is inevitable, but there is still some pain in the back of the head, but unfortunately, we must find a way to recover this debt in the future.

"I thought the teacher would come and teach me quietly."

"Yes, in many legendary stories of the jianghu, it is common for a teenager who is alone in a small garden to meet a dusty stranger and learn the art of astonishment, while the people around him know nothing."

Fan idly looked at Teacher Fei Jie and listened to him.

"But not everyone in this world is a fool, and you are not my daughter-in-law, and I don't like to climb the wall every day." Fei Jie's face was not very good, looking at the little boy in front of him, "So since you can have an identity, it is better to use this identity to teach you." ”

Fan Xian smiled and climbed onto his lap and sat down: "Teacher, do you know my father?" What kind of person is he? ”

Fei Jie's face was flushed, knowing that the little guy in front of him had a fierce stomach, and he was still playing a naïveté in front of himself, and he had a feeling of powerlessness in his body, and when he heard the other party ask questions, he thought about it for a moment before replying: "Lord Earl is a friend of my superior, so he asked me to teach you, and you will still call me a teacher in the future." ”

"Teacher? So what are you going to teach me? ”

Fei Jie smiled, and a strange light flashed in the slightly brown pupils: "I will only... Use poison, so I'm here to teach you how to kill people with poison, how not to be poisoned by others. ”

Originally thought that this sentence could scare the children into crying, but Fei Jie immediately thought that the child in front of him was not an ordinary person, and his trick was estimated to be useless.

Sure enough, Fan Xian's big eyes were full of excitement, and his long eyelashes blinked and looked particularly interested: "So what are you waiting for?" Do you want me to catch a few rabbits to use as test subjects? Rabbits are not good, then use toads? ”

Fei Jie turned around foolishly, thinking to himself, is this little guy really only four years old?

A few months later.

About a dozen miles away from the port of Cangzhou, in the slightly whitening eastern sky, the faint morning light sprinkled in the dark cemetery, making this land look even more ghostly.

Fei Jie stood outside the cemetery with his hands wrapped around him, looking at the little young master who was squatting in the grave, and his brow trembled slightly.

This time it was an excuse to travel, and after a few days of leave from the old lady of the Earl's Court, Fan Xian was taken to the cemetery to plan the corpse and used it to learn the human body structure.

Although he knew that Young Master Fan Xian was very different from ordinary little boys, when Fei Jie saw that Fan Xian actually only took a moment to get used to the gloomy atmosphere in the cemetery, he actually stabilized his mind so quickly and began to dissect the corpses in the cemetery according to the relevant content he had learned in this month, and Fei Jie himself was very frightened.

He had always been a professional working with these dead bodies, but he had never seen a four-year-old boy who could face the corpses so smoothly.

The grave was a foul smell, and a nice and clean little boy was wearing a large mask.

This scene was terrifying, very frightening, and Fan Xian felt that his second life was still miserable.

Chapter 9: Age is not a problem

Taking off the mask and washing his hands with clean water, Fan Xian began to record the characteristics of the corpse, and then analyzed the possible symptoms, and recorded them in detail on a large black leather book provided by Teacher Fei Jie.

After doing all this, he stood up, his face a little pale, and his long eyelashes kept shaking: "Teacher, what else is there to do?" ”

Fei Jie looked at him and frowned, not expecting the little guy to be so bold.

Without waiting for him to speak, Fan Xian finally did not hold back the nausea, ran to the bottom of the ridge, wow, began to vomit desperately, and waited until the boredom went a little, and then stood back.

Fei Jie's eyes drifted a little tender, thinking that it would be too cruel for him to let a four-year-old child touch these most terrifying things in life? Until he saw Fan Xian vomiting, Fei Jie suddenly found that only at this time, Fan Xian was really like a child, not like another soul hiding inside all the time.

"Forget it, first have an intuitive understanding, and then talk about it next time."

Fei Jie's voice had not yet completely fallen, and then he heard Fan Xianqing's childish voice say, "Unfortunately, the port of Cangzhou is a small city, and there are too few dead people, otherwise you can find a fresh corpse." ”

Fei Jie sighed in his heart, and slowly turned his head to face Fan Xian's eyes without a trace of impurities, not knowing what he wanted to see from these eyes, and after a long time he said coldly: "Why..."

"Huh?"

"Why aren't you afraid? Why aren't you angry that I made you do these things? Fei Jie felt very puzzled, frowned, and looked at the little guy.

Fan Xian lowered his head and said respectfully, "Because the teacher said that he would poison a person to let me observe and study, I was afraid, so I would rather come and dig up the body." ”

"It turns out that there are still things in this world that you are afraid of."

"Yes." Fan Xian looked at him pitifully, "Xiao Xian is only four and a half years old. ”

"Being young is no excuse." Fei Jie nodded, and then shook his head again: "Although you are young, maybe you don't understand some things, but you must know that the illegitimate son of an aristocrat like you may face many conspiracies and injuries in the years to come, and sometimes this kind of cheap sympathy is often a weapon to kill yourself." ”

After saying this, Fei Jie had a strange thought, maybe everything he said, this little child in front of him might understand. At this moment, the morning light suddenly reflected in fan xian's eyes, which were half-raised, and a very wonderful luster was reflected.

Fei Jie's heart trembled slightly, and he felt that the little boy's eyes were very strange. He didn't know how many people he had killed with poison in his life, when the former emperor was fighting in the Northern Expedition, the venom he had configured also killed tens of thousands of soldiers in the Northern Wei Kingdom, if he wanted to talk about sin karma, he was destined to go to hell, but why did he look at the cute little guy in front of him, but he couldn't help but be afraid?

The nameless tomb to be dug up was rearranged, and an old and a young and strange master and apprentice began to follow the skylight to the east, and as they walked, Fei Jie suddenly asked, "You should be curious." ”

"Hmm." Fan Xian snorted in his nose, and there was a hint of shyness in his sweet smile, "The teacher is very attentive to me." ”

Fei Jie didn't expect the child to answer the question, and said with a bitter smile: "At this time, you can still laugh, I really doubt your nerves and your brain maturity." ”

"It's better to laugh than to cry."

"That's true." Fei Jie's eyes turned to the city wall that loomed in the distance, and he frowned, "Your father's family property in Kyoto is very large, and there will be many people who will compete with you for family property in the future, so you must become stronger and learn more." ”

Fan Xian did not speak, but in his heart he was calculating, he had always heard that his father, Count Sinan, was very trusted by His Majesty the Emperor, so he did not send a place to emigrate, but stayed in Kyoto.

The political turmoil in Kyoto the year before, I don't know how many princes and nobles died in that coup, and finally His Majesty the Emperor firmly controlled the situation, and washed the homes of countless royal nobles in blood, while his father, although he was also a nobleman, still wonderfully maintained His Majesty's trust in him, and this official became bigger and bigger.

But Fan Xian still couldn't understand what kind of family property would actually kill himself, and would let his father invite the most terrible people in Kyoto's control court to act as his teacher.

"I understand that someone will definitely want to kill me in the future, so the teacher taught me to use poison, in fact, I was afraid that I would be poisoned."

"Yes, there are many ways to kill people, but the most convenient and least eye-catching is the use of poison." Fei Jie put his hand on the top of his head and gently touched it twice, "My task is to teach you these aspects within this year, to ensure that no one will be able to poison you in the future in the meal." ”

"Why now? A few years ago, I wasn't afraid of people poisoning me? Some questions must be asked clearly, so Fan Xian must not be afraid to let the other party perceive his maturity beyond age, and continue to ask questions.

Fei Jie smiled, but there was something sinister in his smile: "Because last month, Count Sinan's aunt just gave birth to a son, that is to say, the property of the Earl's Palace, you have already had an extra competitor, and that aunt and wife just happen to have some connection with some people in the Control Yuan." Your father was worried about an accident on your side, and it was inconvenient to send someone to protect you for a long time, because it would be easy for you to surface prematurely, so he arranged for me to teach you. ”

Fan Xian noticed that Fei Jie used two titles, Count Sinan and Father.

I am an illegitimate child. Fan Xian smiled sweetly, "According to the laws of this country, I should not be eligible to inherit my father's title, and my aunt should not worry too much about me." ”

"What in this world can be said correctly?" Fei Jie replied casually, "Although the five big people have been secretly protecting you, he can't be your nanny after all, and the poison in the meal can't kill him, but he can easily kill you." And you don't know, if you die, how many people will accompany you to death. ”

Fan Xian became more and more confused, thinking about what kind of power his father, who had never met before, was secretly much more powerful than a count could have.

The morning light was faint, Fei Jie took his small hand and walked towards The City of Cangzhou, two shadows of a tall and a short one fell to the ground and pulled into two long sections, Fei Jie looked at his still somewhat pale little face: "In fact, dead people are the least terrible." ”

"Yes."

"In the future, don't use that kind of true qi to control your emotions, people's emotions can't be properly vented, even if the domineering true qi in your body really reaches the peak, you will only become a monster that can only kill people."

"Yes." Fan Xian obediently dissipated the true qi in his body, no longer forcibly controlling his fear and disgust for dead bodies.

At this moment, Fei Jie suddenly said, "You still have a rotten intestine in your sleeve, are you ready to go home and braise it?" ”

"Ah!" On the quiet country path came the screams of a child and the sinister laughter of a bad teacher.