Chapter 3 three

Three years later, Liu Sheng went to Beijing for the exam again, still walking on the yellow road.Although it is still spring season, the surrounding scenery is completely different from what I saw last time. There is neither peaches and plums competing for beauty, nor mulberry and hemp everywhere.As far as the eye can see, the trees are withered and the loess is everywhere; the bamboo fence is skewed, and the hut is crumbling in the wind.It is a desolate scene in the twelfth lunar month of winter.Along the way, Liu Sheng met only ragged beggars. In this famine year, Liu Sheng still went to Beijing to rush for the exam.When he walked out of the hut, the heavy sound of his mother's cloth plane did not chase him out, and his mother had already slept under the nine springs.For some days after his mother's death, he survived only by relying on the two seals of silver that the lady gave him three years ago.If there is no name on the list after this trip, Liu Sheng will never have the opportunity to honor his ancestors.When he stepped on the yellow road, he suddenly looked back, and the thatch on the thatched hut was blowing in the wind.So when he came back from the exam, the situation of the hut was already foreseen at this moment.The hut will disappear without a trace like the heavy sound of the mother's loom.

Liu Sheng walked for several days, but along the way, he did not see any dignitaries on horseback, nor did he meet a wealthy son who was going to Beijing for the exam.The yellow road under my feet is bumpy and rough, stretching tiredly in the famine years.He once saw a person sitting on the ground, gnawing on the roots that had been dug out of the soil, and his mouth was full of mud.From the clothes that could no longer cover his body, Liu Sheng could vaguely distinguish that they were embroidered satin made of high-quality materials.The rich and the noble families are so degraded, and the poor and the poor are also unimaginable.Liu Sheng was deeply moved.

The trees along the way are scarred and gnawed by human teeth.Some trees still have a few teeth embedded in them, and the teeth must have stayed on the tree due to excessive force.And the bones on the side of the road are scattered all over the place, and every mile you walk, you can see three or two mutilated human corpses.Those human corpses were all naked, including men, women, old and children, and their ragged clothes had been stripped off. Along the way Liu Sheng walked, the surrounding fields were all yellow and yellow, and he only saw a small piece of green grass once.But there were more than a dozen people squatting on the grass, with their buttocks raised high, eagerly gnawing on the grass. From a distance, they really looked like a herd of cattle and sheep.The sound of them gnawing on the grass rustled like the wind blowing leaves.Liu Sheng didn't dare to watch, and hurriedly turned his head and walked away.However, what I saw after turning my head was a dying person swallowing a handful of soil. Before the soil was swallowed, the person suddenly fell to the ground and died.Liu Sheng walked by the dead man, feeling that his legs were light. He really didn't know whether he was walking on the avenue of the underworld or the path of the underworld.

On this day, Liu Sheng came to a fork in the road, stopped to look around, and gradually recognized this place, and when he looked again, this place had already changed beyond recognition.Three years ago there was no trace of the green grass and the drooping willows.The grass has been uprooted, and the scene of dozens of people gnawing on the grass seen yesterday also happened at this time.But the bare willow is alive and dead.The river is still there.Liu Sheng walked to the river, and saw that the river was gradually drying up, and the remaining water was cloudy.Liu Sheng stood beside the river, and everything he saw here three years ago slowly emerged.Once there was a white fish swimming in the water, its body twisted very charmingly.

So in the embroidered building, the scene of the young lady walking towards the outer room is also clear to my eyes.Although three years have passed, the scenes of the past seem to be right in front of us.But it disappeared in a blink of an eye, and there was only a river that was about to dry up.In the turbid residual water, how can you see the writhing of the white fish?And where is Miss at the moment?Is it life or death?Liu Sheng looked up, in a daze. When Liu Sheng set foot on the yellow road again, he could already see the city. Once he got closer, the past came back to his mind.The lady's shadow fluttered and seemed to be far away, as if walking with him.And the rich and deep houses and the desolate ruined wells appear alternately, and sometimes they overlap.

As soon as he got to the edge of the city, Liu Sheng could smell the dilapidated atmosphere in the city.The gate of the city is deserted and deserted, and there is no scene of villagers carrying burdens and baskets in and out, and there is no scene of rich men loafing around.There are no boiling voices in the city, just some yellow and emaciated people walking alone in pieces.Even if he could hear some voices, he was weak.Although there are still five steps to the first floor, and ten steps to one pavilion, the gold powder on the pavilion has long since fallen off, revealing the frustration inside.Liu Sheng was walking in the street market, there were no ladies and visitors, but some ordinary people with poor clothes were full of despair.There are very few tea kiosks and hotels that used to fill the streets, and most of them have closed their doors and left their houses empty.Dust covered the door frames and window mullions.The few surviving ones can't sell fat mutton, orange cakes and rice dumplings.The bartenders all looked dumb, unable to be lively, there were still some plates on the cabinets in the hotel, not spread out in a row, but stacked together, empty.Not to mention the villagers selling pancakes with noodle soup.

While walking, Liu Sheng recalled the prosperity of the past, as if in a dream. The world is like smoke, fleeting.Unconsciously came to the temple.Look at this formerly resplendent temple, but now it looks down and out.The stone steps in front of the door are intermittent, like a messy mountain path.The century-old cypress tree in the temple is already a broken body.The pillars and beams of the house are mottled and mottled, revealing a lot of decay.The tiled floor was overgrown with weeds. Liu Sheng stood for a while, took off the bag, took out some pre-finished calligraphy and paintings from it, and pasted them on the temple wall.Although there are some passing people, they are all frowning, who has the leisure to be arty?Liu Sheng waited for a long time, seeing this lonely scene, thinking that no one would come to buy his calligraphy and painting, so he had to put it away and put it in his bag.Liu Sheng went all the way, but he didn't sell a single calligraphy and painting, and he often suffered from hunger.There is not much silver left over from the old lady's gift, how could Liu Sheng dare to spend it casually.

Liu Sheng left the temple and walked to the street market again, recalling the prosperity of the past again, feeling a lot of emotion.This emotion actually stems from the lady's embroidered building and the grand courtyard of the deep house.Seeing that the city was in such a difficult situation, and thinking about the downfall of the Embroidery Building, Liu Sheng no longer just felt sorry for Miss, but began to lament the rapid changes in the world. Thinking of this, Liu Sheng came to the ruins of the ruins.After three years, there is no trace of the broken wells and ruins here today, and there is only a wasteland in front of us.Miss's embroidered building can no longer be identified, there are only faint weeds in the whole wasteland, and it is difficult to find a piece of broken tile or a piece of rotten wood.If it weren't for the two maple trees that looked like corpses, it would have been difficult for Liu Sheng to confirm this place.It seems that this place has been desolate for a hundred years, and there have never been rich and deep houses, green trees and flowers, back gardens and embroidery buildings, and famous ladies.And Liu Sheng didn't seem to have been here before, even if he had been here three years ago, it was a wasteland three years ago.

Liu Sheng stood for a long time before turning around and leaving.When I left, I felt a little light in my body.The heavy yearning for Miss has subconsciously faded a lot.When he was far away, the longing disintegrated very cleanly, as if he had never had that period of ecstasy. Liu Sheng did not return to the market, but stepped into a back alley.As Liu Sheng walked, there were only cobwebs hanging from the houses on both sides, and no human voice was heard, so it was deserted.Liu Sheng didn't want to go into the market at the moment to be company with other people, he just wanted to walk alone, so this back alley was very suitable for him.

Liu Sheng walked through a back alley and came to a clearing, only dozens of barren mounds, almost level with the ground, probably neglected for a long time.Not far away is a thatched hut, two people in the shed look like butchers, and there are several people outside the shed.Liu Sheng didn't know that this was a vegetable market, so he walked over to it.Because there are no grains of food in famine years, and the bark and grass roots are gradually exhausted, people are used as food, and some vegetable markets have emerged as the times require. Two people in the shed were sharpening sharp axes on the whetstone, and several people outside the shed carried baskets and loads as if they had been waiting for a long time, and the baskets and loads were empty.Liu Sheng walked closer, and saw three people approaching not far away, a man in scantily clad walking in the lead, followed by a woman and a child, who were also scantily clad.The man walked into the shed, and one of the two in the shed, who looked like a shopkeeper, stood up.The man didn't say a word, he just pointed to the women and children outside the shed with his fingers.The shopkeeper took a look, then held out three fingers to the man, the man didn't even counter the price, took three slings of money and walked out of the shed.Liu Sheng heard the young girl call "Father", but the man didn't turn his head, he walked away and disappeared in a blink of an eye.

Looking at the shopkeeper again, he stepped out of the shed together with the staff, and tore off the woman's ragged clothes, and the woman was naked and naked. The woman's abdomen was a little swollen, but she was extremely thin elsewhere.When the woman was stripped of her clothes, she didn't struggle, she just swayed a bit, then turned her head to look at the little girl beside her.The two men were ripping off the young girl's clothes, the young girl struggled a bit, but after looking up at the woman, she stopped moving.The young girl looks to be about ten years old, although she is skinny, she is fatter than that woman. Several people outside the shed gathered around to negotiate with the owner.Listening to their words, it seems that they have taken a fancy to the young girl, they think the woman's flesh is a bit old.The owner was a little impatient and asked: "Do you eat it yourself? Or sell it to others?" There are two people who say they eat it at home, and the rest say they sell it to others. The shopkeeper added: "If you sell it to others, it's better to have a bigger piece of meat." The shopkeeper said to give advice to the woman. After negotiating again, it was settled. Then the woman said: "She comes first." The woman's voice was indistinct. The shopkeeper promised, then grabbed the young girl's arm and dragged her into the shed. The woman said again: "All right, let's stab her to death first." The owner said: "No, the meat is not fresh like this." After the little girl was dragged into the shed, the men grabbed her body and put her arms on the tree stump.The young girl glanced out of the shed to look at the woman, so she didn't see that the shopkeeper had raised the sharp axe.Women don't look at young girls. Liu Sheng watched the innkeeper's sharp ax slash down, and heard a "crack", the bone was chopped off, and a stream of blood splashed all over the innkeeper's face. The young girl swayed in the "click" sound.Then she turned around to see what happened, and saw her arms lying on the stump, she was stunned for a moment. After a long while, he howled a few times before falling to the ground.After falling to the ground, he cried and cried, his voice was very harsh. The shopkeeper wiped his face with a rag at this moment, and the clerk gave his arm to the person with a basket outside the shed.The man put his arm in the basket, gave the money and left. At this moment, the woman ran into the shed, picked up a sharp knife that was on the ground, and stabbed the young girl in the chest.The young girl choked, and the crying stopped abruptly.It was too late for the owner to find out.The shopkeeper punched the woman to the corner of the shed, picked up the little girl from the ground, dismembered the little girl with the shop assistant, and handed the little girl one by one to the people outside the shed. Liu Sheng was so out of his wits watching it, it took him a while to wake up.At this moment, the young girl has been dismembered, and the owner dragged the woman out from the corner of the shed.Liu Sheng didn't dare to continue to witness, so he quickly turned and left, hiding in a back alley.However, the heavy sound of the shopkeeper's ax chopping down, and the woman's tearing howl followed, making Liu Sheng tremble, until he quickly walked out of the alley, those sounds disappeared.But the scene just now was hard to get rid of, and it kept shaking in front of Liu Sheng's eyes in misery.No matter where Liu Sheng went, the tragic scene would not go away.Liu Sheng watched the twilight approaching, he didn't dare to sleep outside in the city, so he hurried out of the city.When stepping on the yellow road, it is considered a little calmer.Soon a cold moon rose in the sky, and Liu Sheng walked under the moonlight, feeling a bit of coolness.