Chapter 3 stone boat

An empty boat stopped on the bank of the river named Kangcun. Stones are produced in the village, and the stones are transported to XXX City, and the stones become a smooth street for gentlemen to take a walk after dinner.On the street, people strolling in soft clothes, calm in attitude, friendly in color, with all kinds of equipment, but no one can think of the source of the stone from the hard and shining stone road.In the village of Kangcun, which produces stones, there are always a number of stone boats that are significantly heavier than other boats berthed every day. When the boats arrive, people walk from the diving board to the small wooden houses on the shore at night to rest, drink cigarettes, eat tea, take a nap, and rest. After a long time, after changing the return ticket, I started to load the stones again.Kang Village used to be a barren hill, but due to the development of ×× City, stones were needed to build roads. After someone discovered it, they sent boats to transport the stones all day long, so it has become a small town recently.

For all the stone boats that come here, the number of people on the boat is roughly as follows: a sailor, who steers the rudder when sailing, and guards the boat when it stops. This is the owner's business.When driving, take care of meeting the front and use a pole to avoid danger. When anchoring, push the anchor into the water. When reaching the shore, tie the cable and tie the cable knot in different styles. In addition, Brother San.Three or five brothers San, what they did was tidy up everything on the deck, put up the awning when setting up the awning, and row the oars when rowing. , Transport the stones from the boat and put them on the wharf of XX City.The movement of a ship and the control of making money are all the business of the ship owner.As for those who are scattered, they only eat rough food, do boring things, gamble when they have money, and make brave sacrifices for a small amount. Sincerely looking forward to arriving early, sometimes I still have extremely ridiculous dreams. When the wind is clear and the moon is white on the water, I forget the suffering of the sun and rain, and sing simple songs to comfort my desolate life.

This boat has been on the ×× River more than 60 times.Each time is seven days, and in these seven days, only three days of the worthless energy of the people on the boat are wasted on the water surface, two days are carried stones on board, and two days are carried stones ashore from the ship.Because of the pre-booking of the contract, the construction project of ×× City develops with the times, and there is a tendency that it cannot be delayed for a day, so this boat is like other people's stone boats, and the owner cannot bear all the rights due to time delay Losses, more than 60 times of transshipment, only two more extended time for one day.The earnestness of the ship owner has made the disbanded life even more mechanical, but these useless and stupid things, what does it matter if they are more mechanical?After all, because of this, there are more and more asphalt and gravel roads in XX City every day.

This boat has now been to the shore of Kang Village sixty-four times.Because of a convenience, the anchorage of this boat is to go to the city street of Kangcun, which is farther away from the rock-producing hillside and closer to the shore.The boat was empty, and when the boat reached the shore, the man at the end was the first to jump ashore. He tied the boat and sat in the shade of a tree.The other five disbanded groups also went ashore one after another and sat down in the shade of the tree.The boatman was the only one left on the boat to adjust the ropes. While the boatman lowered his head and went about his business, he thought about the news he had heard in ×× City.He once got a rumor from a servant in the police force that there were strange rumors about the XX Party in Kang Village.He didn't read newspapers on weekdays, and he didn't interact with people in the military. He didn't know why these people came to the small place of Kangcun.However, over the past few years, he used two jars to pack the hard earned money on the ship and deposited it with an old aunt. Because he had this little money, he became a "government party".

The sailor was a distant relative of his, the grandson of an aunt, who was too young, and when he got ashore, he was just about to climb a tree because of his joy. "Ba Niu, come down, I have something to say." The kid just whistled in the trees. "Ba Niu, come down, I have something to tell you!" "What's the matter?" he asked unhappily, because he was hearing the boat song singing in the distance, and he heard the sound of stones being knocked on the mountain. "Come!" This word is almost oppressive, and it is an obvious order. If you don't come, you can't do it, so Ba Niu obediently agrees: "I'll come."

He descended the tree, like a monkey, very fast.After getting off the tree, he hopped onto the boat. At this time, several disbanded gangs had already used the large bluestone slab under the shade of the tree as a battlefield, and began to gamble there.The captain bent his waist and did not look at the shore, only to hear a disbanded voice on the shore saying: "...you are really going to be a party." Another voice said: "..." Recently, the knowledge of punters has improved a lot, other things are unknowable, and as for the term XX party, it is extremely smooth.The owner of the ship was not moved when he heard this voice before, as if these terms had nothing to do with him, and their meaninglessness was the same as saying that Yuan Shikai ascended the throne and Feng Yuxiang moved troops from Russia.However, recently, and it is said that there is already a XX party in Kangcun, and I feel that I can't dispose of the little money I have accumulated over the years. Naturally, these words are a bit shocking.Because on the one hand, he still feels that he is the master, and a master has a reason to be petty when his servant disturbs his mood, so he mentions a name named Xibao, saying that gambling is not allowed, and hurry to the factory on the mountain to have a look , to see if the manager is in the factory, because the ship has arrived, we have to collect the tickets, and we can load the stones on the ship tomorrow morning.

As the name suggests, Xibao people have a face that is not insulted by the world, and at the same time, they have a heart that is not lacking in interest in various things and work.Regarding ticket exchange, this should be done by Xibao in normal times.But when it comes time to pour all the little wages paid each time into betting, people have a slightly different temper, and sometimes they don’t do what they should do, and they show a little rebellious spirit besides laziness. up. Today's Xi Bao just lost.He was babbling at another companion with an absurd stammer, and he heard the captain speak, but paid no attention to it.He still has the last fifty-wen copper coin in his hand, holding it in the palm of his hand, ready to put all his eggs in one basket.The owner of the ship knew that this man had lost, because he would not speak wild words if he did not lose. The owner of the ship said: "Go to the factory and keep your money in your pocket for a while, it is not a crime!"

The person who was sent didn't turn his head back. He had heard it, but he pretended to be insane, as if he had paid attention to Baoshang with all his heart.In this way, the master felt a bit of a revolutionary air about this boatman.He couldn't use his words, so he straightened the rope of the canopy and tied a knot with all his strength.Ba Niu was now standing beside the captain. "Uncle, what's the matter?" He originally wanted to have something to say to Ba Niu, but because he called Xibao no, he became even more confused and couldn't say anything.He saw Ba Niu's face, looked at it for a while, and without saying a word, he tied the rope of the boat tent indiscriminately again.

Xibao under the shade of the tree, at this time, the last copper coin was given away, and he yelled loudly at the copper-nickel coin that was used as a gambling tool, cursing, "Fuck your mother for three generations!" He no longer stayed in the group and left. Go back to the front cabin of the ship on the gangplank. When the captain saw the boy, he knew that all the copper coins had been lost. He felt amused and seemed very happy. "If you are unlucky and don't listen to the Bodhisattva's signature, you should lose." "I'll fuck him for three generations of money." Xi Bao walked from the side of the boat to the stern while touching the fire scythe, only to hear another person on the shore yelling like this, and laughed when he thought he had a comrade.

Ba Niu asked him, "Is it all gone?" "It's exhausted, just lighting it up, the boss lent me some money to make money." At this time, the boss also pretended not to hear him working on the rope, wet one end of the rope with water, and tied it to the stake.After a while, he squinted at the man who had lost his wages and said, "Go to the factory and talk about it later." With a helpless expression on his face, he staggered up the diving board, and Xibao left.The revolution is over.The middle-aged boat owner remembered what Tong Ba Niu was going to say, and he asked him to guard the boat because he wanted to walk around Puwei Village.Puwei Village is five miles away from Kang Village, and the road is not far away. There are two altars of Yuan Shikai's head buried in the soil under the old aunt's bed. , So I ordered Ba Niu to guard the boat, and when Xibao came back, I would exchange it for stones to collect the bill, and I could go to Puwei Village to bring back some beef as something to drink.

Ba Niu nonuo agreed, but at the same time asked for a little money, saying it would be useful.Because this man is young, the money is not in his own hands. Usually, the ship owner hands all the wages to his mother or grandmother, and he doesn't get much.At this time, due to the responsibility of the ship, he asked the captain for some money. He was really itchy to see the excitement on the shore. "You are not allowed to gamble!" "I'm not betting." "What's the use?" "it works!" "You are not allowed to gamble, you must gamble!" The middle-aged man had seen through the heart of the idiot.Because of this, Ba Niu was a little bit aggrieved, so he replied: "I said you don't believe it, you!" As an elder and master, he felt different from what he was used to when he heard this. He lowered his head and thought for a while, thinking that this is really going to be a revolution, and there is no way to do it. He suddenly raised his head and said seriously :"No money." "Why don't I have what I should have?" Although the talking bastard has an air of injustice, but his tone is weak, which is completely like a child's indulgence, but to the ears of today's shipowners, he always feels that this is almost a revolution instigated by the Party members Similarly, it seems that his future is extremely bleak.He heard Ba Niu say that he must understand the reason for not giving the money, he was planning a strategy, he didn't answer, he hesitated for a while, but said in a parental tone. "Ba Niu, you are an adult, you should be sensible." "Just give me a dollar." "What's the use of so much?" "this is mine." It seemed that these words did not come from Ba Niu's mouth at all, so he looked at Ba Niu's face in surprise, "Is it not safe to put yours by my side?" The truth is very strange, the nature of Ba Niu seems to have changed today, he still stubbornly said: "I want it." "I can take you all by tomorrow, but I can't take it now." "why not?" He is a complete failure.Anyone who asks questions and asks to understand the reason can be said to be the brewing of a revolution. At this time, he thought that maybe this person would murder him in the future, rob him of his savings, and everyone would share them equally, so he sat down at the helm without saying a word. After a while, he took out a foreign coin from the belt, squeezed it into his hand, and handed it to the eight cows in front of him. After giving the money, he could have left if he wanted to go to Puwei Village, but he didn't.He remembered something and he didn't go ashore for the time being, as if he had forgotten about going to Puwei Village.He looked at the sky, and at the group of men who squatted under the shade of the trees, who could become murderers and arsonists in the future, he sighed softly.Because he seems to vaguely know that wherever the xx party comes, the workers will not work, and the law-abiding ones will not work. At that time, the masters will suffer completely, and everything will be bad, needless to say. Because of Jing, he also heard the sound of rocks hitting on the mountain, and he thought in a daze,... Eighty-eight sixty-four, the sesame seed song said that everyone got up.Let's all rise up and beat the foreigners.Imperialism has been overthrown, the roads are gone, and the boat fare is not counted, but thirty-one yuan. ...He just thought in a daze, he seemed to be angry a little bit, but he couldn't attack anyone. Ba Niu, who got money, said that he didn't gamble, but he wanted money because of gambling.Now seeing that the boat owner has no intention of going ashore, and he dare not go ashore to participate, and he dare not go to the city street to play, the money is sweating in the palm of his hand, and he doesn't know what to do, so he feels bored. At this time, people on the shore shouted again. This is a banker who has won a lot of money. Suddenly, the money was divided up by everyone in an all-or-nothing bet, so everyone shouted proudly.The banker, after a while, walked onto the boat from the diving board with his head downcast. Ba Niu gently asked the guy who lost money, "Fourth brother, what's going on?" "Knocked down." "Will it break the bank?" "Bad luck." "I have it here," he said with an air of not wanting to let the owner know, and handed over a hot piece of foreign money to the man, as if as long as the money could be used as a bet, he would get the meaning of gambling.One of the boatmen who had been helped suddenly became bolder, and soon joined the gamblers' clamor again, all of which the captain could see clearly that he was silent. When Ba Niu saw that the boat owner didn't leave, he understood that it was because he asked for money, so he felt unhappy. Since he had lent the money to others, he didn't show weakness. He didn't go ashore, but just sat on the side of the boat and washed his feet.He put his feet in the water, with the mid-autumn sun above his head. This man can still work and sail under the white hot sun of June, so the sun above his head naturally doesn't care at all. The boat owner saw the young man and handed over the money to another boatman. He also witnessed the people who went ashore trying to clear the foreign money on the bluestone, but they didn't make a sound.Many things came to his mind, and many feelings that he didn't need to have at ordinary times came to his mind at this moment.Because he was bored and had nothing to do and didn't want to go, he jumped into the water from the end of his tail, the water was knee deep, and walked ashore wet from the water.He didn't want to go there to gamble, so he walked up the high ridge alone. From the ridge, he could overlook the distance, and he could vaguely see the flag of the security regiment of Puwei Village fluttering in the wind. Ba Niu was on the boat, took off his clothes, jumped into the water, walked slowly to the deep water, and started to swim.He will swim across the river, which is a quarter of a mile wide and three-fifths as deep as the river itself, and he will swim slowly, patting the water with his feet, pawing with his hands, holding his head up, and he can still Listen to the sound of singing in the distance.Soon he swam back from the other side, like a storm in a day, washed the water away, and shouted to the captain in the river. He called him uncle and said: "Uncle, why don't you go to Puwei Village to see grandma?" The middle-aged man looked at the eight bulls in the water and did not answer. Ba Niu went ashore, climbed up the ridge naked to the side of the captain under the tree, and he surrendered. "Where are you going? I'm here to watch the boat. Where are you going? I'll wait. It's still early today. I heard the rooster crowing. It's only been half a day." At this time, the gambling side shouted again, borrowing money. One of the men in the house took the money and went to Ba Niu to refund the money.Ba Niu took the money, it was still the previous one yuan, and he still handed it over to the owner, "Uncle, why don't you take it, I don't want it anymore." The owner of the ship took the money and did not stuff it into the belt for the time being.Because the money was returned repeatedly, his heart moved a little.He thought he would go to Puwei Village to have a look, and then he went to the boat to bring some things he bought from the ×× market to his old aunt. He went ashore without saying a word, and walked along the river. When he arrived at the aunt's house, the old man was still making hemp thread, and there was a pile of small bamboo tubes and a big ball of hemp on the ground.The old man's complexion is as good as before, and the situation at home is as good as before, so he is relieved.So he took out the things he had sent, drank the wild honey tea specially prepared by the old man, and sat on the big chair in the main room.At this time, two little pigs came, humming and chirping, approaching him, as if they knew him, they wiped their bodies on the chair legs and had no intention of leaving.He looked at the complexion of the old man again, and felt that he had nothing to do with the Party here, so he drank another sip of tea in peace of mind, and tasted the aroma of tea. Because of the pigs, he first talked with the old man about the price of pigs in XX City.He only knows that pork in XX City is worth a lot, but he doesn't know how much tax a pig will pay if it goes to XX City. "Good on the way!" "Peace and safety, thanks to the old man." "Hi Ba Niu!" "Toefl too." "His mother came here the day before yesterday and told me that she had seen a kiss for him, and asked him to see it himself. She is the daughter of a kiln burner in Huoyaochang. She is eighteen years old and has three hundred yuan in private savings." "Is it true?" "Why not, she is a good girl, she is good at all kinds of things, only a boy like Ba Niu is worthy!" The boat owner remembered the conflict with Ba Niu, but asked his aunt, "Is his mother in Zhouxi?" "In the past few days, she has always been here. She told me that San Duo was sick. He invited a witch and fulfilled his vow. After spending thirteen slings of money, he still had a fever and a cold. Bodhisattvas don't bless people, so they can't think about it." "You old man, have you ever heard people say that Kangcun has..." "Everyone knows about this! I caught two, and I heard that they were killed when they were caught in the city. They were the sons and daughters of a good family, but they still killed them. They went to the house to say; hand over your money ticket, hand over the red deed, and hand over the red deed. I handed over the borrowed words so that we could set them on fire. These people first said this, but no one listened to them. When the soldiers came later, they captured the regiment and beat them half to death. Then they killed them...." Only seven days later, The place has changed like this, and the owner of the ship is unexpected.And it was only a few days ago, I thought I was the one who knew the most danger, but now when I heard the old man talk about it, I seem to be very familiar with the root of these things, obviously in everyone's heart, there is If there is a wavering, everything will change in a month and a half later.So he came to discuss with the old man about disposing of these two jars of money.The old man thought that it was best not to move, so that things would be stable and not afraid of changes.However, what he meant was that he had no determination, and he didn't know what to do.By this time, he had experienced all the embarrassments of a rich man. After talking for a while with no results, the boat owner went to the wine shop in the village to buy the two hundred and sixty shochu, and took the gourd to the wine shop, just as the hotel was closed.He went to another wine shop and bought five catties of wine, brought it back to his aunt's house, and said in surprise, "How come Jufu is closed, and no one knows about it." "What, is it closed? My God!" As he spoke, the old man's eyes turned red.Because she has thirty-seven yuan deposited in Jufu, she usually never tells anyone.She got the news at this time, which was unexpected by the boat owner. She put down the ball of twine in her hand and ran to the street. The boat owner followed her to the gate to see what the old man was going to do. , not leaving. He watched the old man walk away in a hurry until the old man's shadow disappeared behind the big tree, then he turned around and came to the old man's room, leaned down on the bed, checked the traces of bricks and dirt, and saw if there was any change in the secret mark he left .There was a moldy smell under the bed, but he didn't care.After reading it, it was still the same as before. He stood up, his palms were covered with dirt, he patted the dirt and let out a sigh of relief, as if he had done a big thing, and his face was sweating.At this time, he heard someone calling his nickname from a distance, and the voice sounded like a boatman's voice, so he went out and stood at the gap in the fence to look. It was really one of the boatmen, and he came here in a hurry, as if he had walked five miles, without taking a breath, saw the upper body of the captain from the sloping fence, and said loudly from a distance: "Boss, Go back quickly, dead man." He said aimlessly, "Is he dead?" The man said aimlessly, "Totally dead." When he heard that someone died, he didn't ask who died or why he died, so he left his aunt's house in spite of everything, and followed the boatman to Kangcun road empty-handed.Halfway through, because of the hot weather, we had to rest under the shade of the trees, so our pace slowed down a bit.At this time he remembered the words of the dead man, and he asked the boatman: "What is it?" "bath." "Who?" "Ba Niu. I was submerged in the water, and I didn't get up for a long time. The man went into the water to look, and one hand hit the rock gap. He touched the fish, and the stone bit his hand. It was all over." After hearing this, the captain tightened his heart again. He had already taken a sip from a bowl of dregs brought by a sweet wine seller, and ran to Kangcun again as soon as he put the bowl away. one Everything is obviously completely hopeless, and it takes ten miles to come and go!When the captain arrived at the ground, the body of Ba Niu had been dragged out of the water and put on the stone slab under the tree on the bank. The corpse was padded with leaves, and some people surrounded the corpse. Xibao, who came back from the factory, had a lot of bamboo sticks with stones stuck in his waist, and was squatting beside Ba Niu, performing the pouring operation.But when the captain saw it, he knew it was hopeless.He looked at the boatmen one by one, and all the boatmen were depressed and speechless. Those who won the money, the belt in front of their belly was swollen, and when they walked around, they heard the sound of money.He went to the boat again.He went ashore again.I have no idea at all, just like a dream, because the water is still flowing like usual, the sun has been tilted, and the sound of stones being knocked on the mountain is accompanied by the sound of stone workers singing, which is not different from the situation in the first half of the day.He stood by the river in a daze, and then remembered what happened before, thought of asking for money, but refused to give it, so he quarreled, so he went into the water to take a bath, and then...he just remembered that his old aunt was talking nonsense while pulling the hemp For the marriage, Jufu knocked down the store and closed the door. My aunt panicked and crawled out from under the bed by herself. Hearing the voice calling him, she also came in panic. At night, one crew was left to guard the boat, and three crews, in the form of T-shaped crutches, used the tent ropes on the boat and long poles carrying stones to carry the dead cows wrapped in tattered tarpaulins to Puwei Village.Xibao took a piece of waste bamboo cable and lit it as a lamp to guide the way. The captain followed behind with a bundle of paper money.Everyone formed a silent team without making a sound. The owner of the ship has two jars of foreign money and a capable sailor.Foreign money is a dead thing. He was worried that he would lose it one day, so he still slept there, but he didn't expect that as soon as the sun went down, he would have to send a good living person to Puwei Village to be buried in the soil. .Think about it, how would this mutation deal with the deceased's mother and grandmother?But when it comes to this matter, it is natural to cry for a while.Rural women tend to shed tears easily and stop them easily. After a while, they will naturally forget about it, so I won't talk about it here. Because of this incident, the ship was delayed by one day when it repeatedly loaded and unloaded stones to the city of XX.No matter what the explanation was, the owner of the ship was still deducted three yuan, and the owner lost another ten yuan in terms of eight cows. This matter came to an end in the sense of losing money. When the boat arrived at Kangcun, the owner of the ship had made up his mind to transport the two jars of money to ×× City, but when he approached the shore, he heard the sound of trumpets blowing.The boat moored to the same place, and the crew still went ashore to gamble. The owner of the boat sat on the back boat to watch the current.The river water flows away, as if there are eight cows swimming happily and innocently in the water. The sun is setting and the weather is slowly getting darker. Xi Bao, who raised the bar, puts the wet firewood into the pot, and looks sideways. When the fire is blowing, the smoke rises in strands, and is immediately blown by the wind and floats to the river surface like a milk-colored mist.The captain felt desolate. For the first time, he acted like a child. His eyes that did not shed tears last time were wet. The men boarded the boat, and Xibao made a joke to one of the winning boatmen that only sailors could do, saying: "Buy some paper with the money you won and burn it to Ba Niu, and Ba Niu will bless you." After the man had eaten, he really bought two catties of paper money and burned them on the bank, and the red light of the fire shone on the water.Everyone was speechless when they saw the flames. 1928