Chapter 2 Neem Blossom Season

With the warm spring sun shining on his back, Hu Taiming was held by his grandfather Hu, and walked up the path behind the mountain while counting the stepping stones.There are miscellaneous trees on both sides of the path, and two or three unknown birds fly from the branches and squeak on the branches... and sing shortly.The uphill path paved with stepping stones seemed to go on endlessly.Walking uphill, Taiming became panting, and unknowingly stopped counting the stepping stones.He found himself lagging behind his grandfather.The old man waited for Taiming, who was lagging behind, at a slightly flat place in the middle of the slope path.Panting for breath, Taiming finally got there.

The old man unbuttoned his long black hood and let the air blow on his head. Taiming followed suit by taking off his melon cap and wiping the sweat from his forehead.The slightly sweaty braids felt itchy at the roots, and the wind immediately made the sweat disappear.The old man probably wanted to smoke there, so he wrapped the shawl he had untied around his head again, sat on the rock, filled his favorite long bamboo pipe with shredded tobacco, and asked Taiming to light it for him. Start smoking deliciously.Taiming was already used to that whirring sound.Listening to that voice, as if it would lead to a charming harbinger of a long story, brought Taiming into a strange longing mood.

The old man seemed to be immersed in the memories of the past for a moment. He slammed the pipe and pot on the stone and said: "This place has changed. When Grandpa was young, there were amazingly tall pine trees or camphor trees or  trees. The forest...Moreover, the trees, vines and snake trees are luxuriant, even in the daytime there are foxes and squirrels strutting around, even a bold man may not pass by alone. However, when Grandpa Taiming was twenty years old, One day a person walked here alone.' That hillside used to be used by bandits and thieves to steal the road. If cattle were stolen on the way, they would never return to the owner's hands anyway. That place is even more frightening, even if someone was killed by thieves in that area, and because it is near the territory, their atrocities are attributed to the Fan people, and the hands of the military police are often useless. However, the old man was not afraid when he was young, One day he rashly passed there alone. When he reached the middle of the slope, an indescribable gust of cold and gloomy wind suddenly hit him out of thin air. Ah, he dodged, instinctively covering his body, his eyes widened. Dazzling, the flying black sand and dust blocked his vision, his body shrank into a ball and couldn't move. At least he came back to his senses and looked at his feet, and there was a big umbrella snake lying horizontally. He shuddered and took two or three steps back, picked up the A stone was in a stance, but what happened! The snake was gone. It was only three or four seconds. It was so strange. He threw the stone in his hand into the grass and was in a daze for a while. Going to the destination to do business. But on the way home, when he walked back to the place where he came, he saw that the stone he threw into the grass was actually placed in the middle of the road. He felt chills shivering down his spine, and he was in a hurry like he was flying. I ran home, but I had a fever just like that, my head was heavy, and my waist hurt like it was falling off.

He believed that he encountered a 'ghost', but he didn't 'exorcise ghosts'. He had a high fever every day and cursed: 'Ghost!It was you who came to me. If you like gold and silver treasures and want to find someone with worse luck, I will not give them to you! 'This is his method of fighting, but the ghost stubbornly refused to leave. His mother was worried and asked a fortune teller to expel the ghost.The so-called ghosts obviously refer to barefoot gods with big heads.So prepare paper money: one thousand gold paper, three hundred silver paper, five incense sticks, a pair of big white tigers, one bowl of rice, one bowl of soup, and one egg, and send them out from the sick bed to a place 120 steps away.So I burned gold and silver paper, and the next day, the fever suddenly subsided.In fact, there is no such thing as ghosts and monsters. If you persist for a week, the ghosts have to admit defeat.The old man smiled boldly as he said this.

When the 'Memory Talk' ended, the old man said: 'Then let's go!Too bright! ' He lifted his waist and stood up, leading again.After crossing the dragon's neck, the horizon opens?up.The eye-catching new green tea garden stretches as far as the eye can see, and at the far end of the greenery lies the refreshing central mountain range.What Taiming had just heard about the strangeness of piercing the dragon's neck disappeared like a daydream. From the shade of the acacia tree, the singing of young women came, it was the vulgar folk song of the tea picking girl.Because of Taiming's footsteps, the singing stopped suddenly.Some kind of expectation shuts them up.But when they saw each other, they said: 'Hmph!Old man and child! Disappointment was evident on their faces, and they said some jokes and laughed obscenely.

'A place where the customs are rather bad. ' murmured the old man bitterly, quickening his pace, wishing he could get out of there sooner.At that time, it was customary for gentlemen and scholars not to sing folk songs, and the old man was as jealous of folk songs as snakes and scorpions, as if listening to folk songs would stain his ears. Soon the two walked down a large slope surrounded by pine trees, and came to the Yunti Academy facing the banyan tree square.The academy is opposite to a temple across the banyan tree, and a house next to the temple is used as a classroom.There are also thirty or forty students in the narrow space, the sound of reading aloud is mixed with the laughter of the students, and the chaotic classroom atmosphere spreads outside.The old man led Taiming into the dark building.Because I suddenly stepped into a dimly lit room from a bright outdoor, I couldn't see clearly for a while, but my eyes got used to it, and the appearance of the room gradually appeared clearly.There was a bed in one corner, on which was placed a square cigarette tray.There is a sealed lamp like an alcohol lamp on the cigarette tray, and a faint small flame flickers lonely.And the dim light of the fire gloomyly illuminates opium drinking utensils such as chimneys, cigarette boxes, cigarette sticks scattered here and there, and a thin old man lying beside them.Books are piled up on the table in front of the bed, and there are a few vermilion pen holders (this is still some time before summer, but there is a dirty feather fan in the pen holder, which is particularly conspicuous), and there is a statue of Confucius on the front wall, The smoke from the incense sticks rises like wisps, all of which make the air of seclusion in the room more densely revealed.

The old man walked to the bed and called out politely: "Mr. Peng!" The old man on the bed opened his eyes dully and stared at each other: "Ah! Mr. Hu!" He jumped up from the bed and said, "Oh! It's been a long time. !' Unexpectedly, it was a powerful and beautiful voice. Mr. Peng got out of bed, put on a dignified appearance, and went to visit the teaching ground next door. When he scolded something, the clamor of the urchins suddenly fell silent. Mr. Peng and Mr. Hu are poor scholars who were classmates. He was taken care of by Mr. Hu when he was a student.After studying hard, he passed the examination and became a scholar. When he visited the big families, the rich people gave him congratulatory red envelopes, so Peng Xiucai became a moderately well-off man.But he spent the money in an instant, and returned to his old poverty.

He seemed to say, this is what suits me... In the countryside, the jobs of scholars can only be said to be geographers, doctors, fortune-tellers, and teachers.Peng Xiucai chose to take the road of teaching and became a teacher at Yunti Academy. He dreamed of becoming a scholar or a Jinshi in the future, and enriched himself diligently in learning.However, Taiwan became a colony of the Japanese Empire, and the education law changed accordingly, and the old way to become a dragon was blocked.Peng Xiucai's dream of being a scholar or Jinshi was disillusioned. Thirty years seemed like a dream. His life was devoted to private school education.This is not so much about cultivating talents for the local area as it is more appropriate for making a living.However, when talking to Mr. Hu, he likes to use words in classical Chinese such as "gentlemen fall to the ground" and "my way is declining" to lament the sluggishness of Sinology, and even when talking to Hu Taiming: "How old is your son?" The wording of the matter. This is his reluctance to lose things, and it is also arrogance. Taiming answered according to what the old man taught him in advance, which made Peng Xiucai very happy. The old man hoped to teach Taiming to Peng Xiucai, so he took him today Come. Peng Xiucai pointed out that in terms of the distance to study, the journey is too far for the nine-year-old Taiming, so he suggested waiting for another year. However, Old Man Hu wanted his grandson to receive Sinology education no matter what, and because the schoolchildren in the village All the study rooms for reading Chinese have been closed, and now there is no other place but Lai Yunti Academy. Even this Yunti Academy, it is unknown when it will suffer the fate of closing down. The situation is such that it is impossible to wait another year in the long run.

In the end, due to the enthusiastic proposal of Old Man Hu, Taiming was allowed to enter Yunti Academy, and he was allowed to board because he was unable to go to school.Although the old man was reluctant to let his lovely grandson leave home, he had to do so for his education. When he was leaving, Peng Xiucai hung a copper plate of 120 centimetres, which was strung with a red button rope, on Taiming's neck as a gift.And in April, when the neem flowers were fragrant, Taiming wore cloth shoes made by his mother, wore a melon cap on his braided hair, and entered Yunti Academy.