Chapter 2 first quarter

Since I serialized a novel on the Internet that records the weird events I experienced with my grandfather when I was a child, more and more book fans have become interested in my grandfather. Many years have passed in a blink of an eye, and I am no longer a college student who was not deeply involved in the world, but a member of the Beidiao army.During this period, almost every day on QQ, new book fans added me, asking about the progress of the story and asking about Grandpa's recent situation.Especially when Chinese New Year is approaching, many friendly book fans asked me to say hello to my grandfather, and some even wanted to go back to Yueyang, Hunan Province with me to see him in person.Some of them are lucky and want to worship grandpa as their teacher, hoping to learn some alchemy skills such as physiognomy or calculation.

As everyone knows, Grandpa's mood has changed drastically now, even a little weird.He has long been reluctant to use his alchemy.Including people who used to come to grandpa to find out if they lost something, but now no matter how many good things they say, grandpa can't make grandpa raise his scab-covered hand and predict the direction they are looking for. There is a jujube tree in front of my grandfather's house that has grown for nearly half a century. In the spring of the year before last, it never gave out a single green bud.With a light tap, the branch will break very simply, and it will almost shatter when it falls to the ground, instead of being like in previous years, it will come alive and grow into a small jujube tree.

I went to see him before Chinese New Year, and people in the neighborhood told me secretly that your grandpa might be dying.When I asked why, he pouted his mouth and said, "Just look at that jujube tree." I know the jujube tree is dying.But I don't know why they want to link Grandpa's physical condition with the jujube tree. I asked them again, but they waved their hands in a mysterious manner, as if this was a well-recognized secret and no verbal explanation was needed. But there is one exception. That person is Father Yan. Father Yan is about the same age as Grandpa.During the day they were busy with their own affairs, and at night, either grandpa went to his house to warm up the fire, or he went to his grandpa's house to drink tea.

Father Yan said that one night, he and his grandfather were chatting about what happened 50 years ago by the firepit when they heard a knock on the door.He felt a little strange.The older you get, the fewer people you can chat with.Now, both of them are the only people in their village with whom to talk.Now in the middle of the night, who else would come to chat with them?What's more, after my uncle built a new building, my grandfather stayed alone in the old house. The old house was in serious disrepair, the tiles were leaking, and the walls were crooked. Pedestrians would avoid passing by during the day, and who would knock on the door at night?

Grandpa also felt strange. Father Yan teased: "Isn't it a thief? If someone knocks on the door, he will leave, and if no one answers, he will pick the lock and enter." Grandpa said: "Probably not. If it is a thief, just by looking at an old house like mine, you will know that there is nothing to steal." Opening the door, a strange young man came in. Grandpa didn't shy away from it, and invited him into the house to chat with him, without asking where he was from or what he was doing here. The two old people continued to chat about what happened 50 years ago. Unexpectedly, this strange young man knew something, and sometimes he could insert a sentence or two to help the two old people recall the situation at that time.

Father Yan was a little surprised, but saw that Grandpa's face remained unchanged, so he endured it. Grandpa suddenly changed the subject, talking about the stars on duty in the old emperor's calendar, the stranger's interest did not decrease but increased, and he spoke eloquently and clearly. Father Yan was even more surprised.It is really rare for young people to understand the old emperor's calendar and discuss with their grandfather. Maybe it's rare to meet someone with old knowledge, but Grandpa still had a good chat with him, but Father Yan couldn't get in the way.

After chatting for more than an hour, the stranger stopped suddenly, was stunned for a while, and murmured, "It will rain tomorrow." Father Yan was dumbfounded.He knew that grandpa had to go outside to see the wind direction from southeast to northwest besides calculations and formulas when predicting the weather.This is already very remarkable, but this young man can blurt it out.He expected that grandpa would be surprised too. Father Yan looked at Grandpa, and saw Grandpa stood up, and said with a smile: "Nest-dwelling animals know the wind, and cave-dwelling animals know the rain. It seems that this friend is either a fox or a mouse."

After the grandfather finished speaking, the stranger suddenly turned pale with shock, many rough hairs grew on his face instantly, his cheeks quickly lost weight, and turned into a fox. Before Father Yan let out a scream, the fox slipped away with a "whoosh". So Yanpai insisted that my grandfather could not be like Zaoshu. "Your grandfather is no different from before. He is not a jujube tree, he is an everlasting pine." Father Yan said, patting me on the shoulder. Father Yan is almost a head shorter than me, and he seemed to struggle when he patted me on the shoulder.

As soon as I turned around, I heard him sigh softly: "The little grandson back then has grown so tall!" Later, my grandfather told me that he sold the buffalo at home and exchanged it for a yellow ox. Grandpa has been raising cattle since he was able to work in the fields. He has changed cattle several times in the past few decades, but they are all buffaloes without exception.I asked in surprise: "Why do you want to switch to scalpers?" Grandpa shook his head and said, "Your grandfather, I'm old now. The buffalo is so strong that I can't even pull the rein to twist it. The scalper is weak, but I can still control it."

Immediately I had mixed feelings.