Chapter 7 Chapter 3 Legend·Story-1

He was sure it wasn't his hallucination.Definitely Not. There is a river without a name in our village. People of the older generation in the village say that it has a name, but it has never had a fixed name. The river has four names throughout the year. The first name seems to be Jiushu. It is said that before the Tang Dynasty, the wine for tribute had to pass through this river, and this name was passed down at that time. By the way, my nephew is also called by this name, but it was changed by the villagers and became Uncle Jiu. Uncle Jiu is a lunatic known to all women and children in our village.

He wasn't called Uncle Jiu because he was ranked ninth, but because the word "jiushu" was in his name, so people in the village called him Uncle Jiu.I am a generation older than him, but he is much older than me. Uncle Jiu wasn’t crazy at first. When I remember, he was still normal, relying on the savings left by his ancestors to live a luxurious life of clothes, hands, and food—in the poor and remote barren land of our village, his kind of life Even if it is a luxury. The talkative women at the entrance of the village said that if a girl could marry into his family, she would have no worries about food and drink for several lifetimes. Later, the old man heard this, and he angrily squatted on the threshold of the earthen house and knocked on the pipe and pot vigorously, " Damn it! That son of a bitch snatched everything from my ancestors."

I don't know what the elders of the family do. I only found out after I asked my father. My ancestors were originally a rich man who was hated by everyone in the evil old society. When I came to the village, I lived a peaceful life for more than ten years, and then my grandfather died, and the second master proposed to divide the family. Because the uncle committed a crime in his early years, he only got a little property and the family's dilapidated house, while the second master, that is, Uncle Nine's grandfather got most of the property. My father was the youngest in the family, and he was born during the Cultural Revolution. At that time, Uncle Jiu took off his crotch pants, which is why I am a generation older than Uncle Jiu.

I don't know if it's because of his name, Uncle Jiu is addicted to alcohol and gambling. His mother-in-law nags him every day, with a rough voice, howling, even the village entrance can be heard.Even so, Uncle Jiu is still addicted to gambling. Regardless of his prodigal behavior, he is very loyal. He heard that a time-honored restaurant in the village was about to close down. The owner of the restaurant came to beg him. He didn't take it, and he also gave a lot of money every month, but the old people in the village cursed: Uncle Nine, you will have to take off your pants next year for money.

Uncle Jiu didn't take it seriously, and continued to play his wine and bet his cards. People in the village didn't like him, and avoiding him was like avoiding the plague god. The children and the people in the gambling shop liked him very much-the children had fruits and candies to eat, and the gambling shop had a lot of tickets to earn. one Uncle Jiu likes to gamble, but he never loses his temper no matter he wins or loses, and he doesn’t take it out on the children and wives. Instead, he buys a lot of sweet fruits and distributes them to the children playing by the river bank. I'm basically not interested in Jiu Shu's fruits, especially Misandao, which he often buys.

Misandao is an uncommon dessert in our village. Only during the Spring Festival, each family will buy some for children’s fragrant mouth. At that time, Misandao is very expensive, and the most expensive thing is the layer of sweet-scented osmanthus sauce and honey wrapped on the surface. , take a bite, that sweetness, that kind of feeling is to exchange a hundred yuan for this mouthful of honey and three knives... But I only saw this feeling from other children, I have never eaten such a sweet Food, one is not used to eating, and the other is because of the thoughts instilled in me by my father, he always coaxed me that sweetness is always a trap for Rakshasa.

Uncle Jiu likes to see our group of little kids with dry breasts greedily licking the honey on their fingers after eating honey three knives. Every time he sees it, every time he wants to "hehe" Lol, I don't like Uncle Jiu like that, it gives me the illusion that he is not a good person. Every time he distributed fruit, he would ignore me, because I would always squat on half of the stone tablet and watch those children eating the fruit like a hungry ghost like Uncle Jiu.But after a long time, he still found me. That time, he gave each of those children a bag of Misandao. Those guys had never been given so many fruits, and they all went home like crazy to give their adults a taste. In this way, the empty river bank was gone. The child's cover, the half of the stele I was on was simply a lice on the bald man's head, it was obvious.

"Yo, I bought less today, one is missing." He came over and squatted under the stone tablet, rolled up his trouser legs, "Boy, have you eaten fruit yet?" "I'm not a kid. I'm a generation older than you, so I have to call you Uncle." The concept of seniority is deeply ingrained in everyone in the village, and it has been ingrained in everyone's bones since birth, so it is never wrong to call someone in our village. Uncle Jiu frowned and looked me up and down, and raised his hand to hit me. I jumped smartly, and he slapped hard on the polished stone tablet.

"Hey! You boy!" "My uncle said, you have to call me uncle! My father and your grandfather are of the same generation!" I said unconvinced, dusting off the dirt on my body. "Oh... Xiaosan's grandpa's child..." The anger on Uncle Jiu's face disappeared, and he waved his hand to call me over, "Come on, you made a mistake as a nephew, someday I will buy you two packs of Misan Knife as an apology. " "No, honey three swords, sweet, deadly." I gradually approached, and he picked me up and put me on the stone tablet, "You are small! There are a lot of things to do!" He put down his trouser legs, looking as if he was about to leave, "What do you want to eat, I will buy it for you next time you win, as a tribute to your old age." Uncle Jiu smiled.

I thought about the fruit shop in the village. I passed by once last year. My mother wanted to buy some for me to take home, but I found that there were no salty fruits at all, and they were all sweet. Finally, I asked the old lady who sold the fruit to find out where our village is. It belongs to a place in the south, so there are very few salty fruits... In this way, it is impossible for Uncle Jiu to buy me fruits to eat. "I don't know." I said to Uncle Jiu helplessly. Uncle Jiu was startled when he heard this, and then smiled, revealing a row of yellow plates and two obvious canine teeth.But Uncle Jiu still left me a pack of glutinous rice sticks and left.

I don't want to move, because sweet things will become bitter after a short time after the taste in my mouth... When I returned to the old house, the uncle heard that the rice sticks belonged to Uncle Jiu, and he was smoking a cigarette pouch. In fact, I think the uncle really wants to eat it. Although he lived the life of a rich young master when he was young, since the separation of the family, he has been living a poor life and rarely has spare money to buy these fruits. two I still often go to the river bank to play with those children, fight mud fights, climb trees, touch fish, and catch fireflies. You can see a bunch of green ones bouncing around from a distance. If you don’t know it, you think it’s a will-o’-the-wisp, but there’s a rule in our village that you can’t catch fireflies overnight, so our children have to let them go after catching fireflies. It’s not the best thing to put it in a pig urine bubble to play as a lantern. Uncle Jiu said that in midsummer, the banks of the river are full of fireflies, and the whole river is illuminated green, which is more beautiful than the Milky Way in the sky. Uncle never let us see more, because the river in the summer is also called "Congfenzi Beach" by the older generation. In the summer when I was six years old, I soaked in a small stream with the army, enjoying the coolness. After noon, the stomachs of us monkey grandchildren who have been forgotten by adults began to make revolutions, but we all didn't want to go home. We all waited for Uncle Jiu to bring fruit, but I thought he could bring some rice. Just as he was thinking about it, Uncle Jiu ran over with the oil-soaked paper package on his back, sweating all over his face, "Oh my uncle, he ran away to death." He hurriedly distributed the fruits, those hungry wolves dispersed, I'm the only one left with empty hands. "mine……" "Hehe, don't worry..." Uncle Jiu took out an aluminum can from behind as if conjuring. I had seen this before returning to the country. My father said it was beer, and my father would not allow it to be drunk either. Like white wine, it is not a good thing. "Here's the whole thing for you, let us taste it?" After finishing speaking, he opened it with a "bang", scaring me to hide behind the stone tablet, and the scattered children gathered and snatched Uncle Jiu He took a sip from the jar in his hand, then spat it out again, cursing bad luck and smelling strange. Uncle Jiu was proud of himself, but after taking a sip, he was still screaming strangely... Although I was hesitant about my father's warning, curiosity was more important than anything else. I took the beer in Uncle Jiu's hand and took a sip. The liquid flowed into the mouth, first bitter and then sweet. "It's delicious, bitter and sweet." Uncle Jiu froze on the spot again, and patted my head, "How come you are such a monster at home?" "so rude!" "Hey! I'm so angry!" He raised his hand to hit me, so I hugged the can of beer and squatted on the stone tablet to drink slowly. That was... It was the first time he brought me something, and the last time he bought us fruit to eat. Later, the situation in his family became worse and worse. His mother-in-law bled to death after giving birth to a child for him, and because he had been fond of gambling for a long time, his family's savings were finally almost exhausted by gambling. The boy who was born also has problems. He is a mute, but he can understand people's speech. His father showed him that something in the cerebral cortex was broken. It was born and couldn't be cured. He got a name named Fugui. On the way to the tavern, there was a figure of a child, and the laughter of an adult was missing. three After the beginning of autumn, the river will usher in the annual drought period. If you walk a few laps by the river every day, you will find a lot of stranded fish, and they will spit bubbles in the sun. Generally, the villagers will put the fish back, but there are also a few greedy women who will hold the fish and run home in small steps. I thought no one saw it but let me, who was in a daze by the river, see it for real. "Sooner or later, those eight wives will be taken by the river god master to be his mothers." In the beginning of autumn of that year, I saw Uncle Jiu again, curled up, with a shiny hookah pinned to his waist, and a gourd wine jug, he looked like an old man in his seventies, but he was only in his early forties. And I'm not yet ten years old. "Why don't you come out more often?" I said. The scene seemed to be still yesterday, I was still squatting on the half of the stele, but he was getting old day by day, he took out the hookah and sucked it long and short, and after a while he coughed violently, his face was flushed, and he was almost out of breath. He took a sudden breath and then coughed slowly. "I'm sick." He was desperately pinching the hookah again, as if he didn't want to say a word of gossip. I didn't want to ask any more questions. Even though it's the beginning of autumn, it's still in dog days. No matter how thin I wear it, it feels thick.The wind blowing from the entrance of the village is hot, and the whole land is like a frying pan. "Uncle, tell me..." He coughed twice and knelt down, "How many boats cross this river? I've been counting for most of my life and I don't even have a head." Suddenly, I remembered a story my father told me. As for the people in it, I forgot, but it was very similar to what he asked. "Two." "Uncle is tricking people again." I suddenly saw Uncle Jiu wearing a thick black padded jacket with a hole on the left side. "One is called name, and the other is called benefit." I fanned my thin coat and replied softly. Uncle Jiu was stunned, the hookah slipped from his hand, and stared at me in horror.I felt uncomfortable all over, turned my head to one side, found a gravel and scratched on the stone tablet. From then on, Uncle Jiu became more and more silent, and saw him less and less frequently. At the beginning of autumn that year, my grandmother died of illness. I saw Uncle Jiu again, huddled in a corner and smoking silently, while the uncle pointed at him with his hands on his hips and told the mourning relatives about Second Master, saying how Second Master stole other people's property in such a way, plausibly plausible , completely covered up his youthful faults, what faults?It's just that when I was young, I got drunk and got out of control and raped the girls in the village. If I married them for the sake of face and made a side room, there would be nothing wrong with that. Fugui opened his eyes wide and blocked Uncle Jiu, pushing the uncle's arm to make him stop talking.Unexpectedly, the uncle was even more angry, and slapped Fu Gui on the face, and the relatives in the hall were stunned for a moment. Just as I was about to step forward to stop the uncle, my father grabbed me. I have never seen such a terrifying father. His face was ashen, his brows were tightly knit, and his pale filial hat was on his head. impermanence. "Beat people and go outside, this is the mourning hall." Father folded a stack of paper money and threw it into the brazier.His words shocked the uncle, and the uncle knew that today is not a day to settle accounts, so he viciously asked Uncle Jiu to kowtow to grandma's spiritual seat, then kicked Uncle Jiu's ass, and kicked him out of the old house . "If you dare to come here again! I won't take your skin alive!" I don't understand why the uncle is so angry. An old man who usually smiles well can't suppress his anger when he sees his grandnephew. It seems that he has vented all the anger from many years ago on Uncle Jiu. In fact, it's all about money. I heard that Uncle Jiu fell seriously ill after returning home, and Fu Gui can always be seen hurrying along the road.Like the stranded fish that can be seen everywhere in the beginning of autumn. By the way, I once knew from relatives who were going to mourn that the river at the beginning of autumn was called "Dead Man's Valley". The old man thought it was unlucky, so he never told the children. Four After Jing Zhe finished planting the rice, the aunt next door would always come to the uncle’s house to chew some tongues, and every time Jing Zhe went to the river, there would be a damp smell, and the fishermen in the village would be at home at this time, and would come to the uncle occasionally The family asked the uncle to play cards. One day, I was lying on my back in the backyard of my house, and I heard a rush of footsteps in the distance, and then I heard someone break into the door. I got up and entered the lobby, and a sweaty villager came in panting. "Something went wrong! Go and have a look, village chief." The village chief is the uncle. The man took the uncle for a trot all the way, but I didn't follow. My father stopped me at home and signaled me not to mind my own business. Late at night, the uncle came back home smoking a pipe, his face was flushed, he didn't say anything and he dragged his father into the ancestral hall. If so, I thought to myself that Fugui must have died. Taking advantage of the darkness of the night, I walked towards Uncle Jiu's house with a flashlight. Before entering the alley, the crowd blocked the entrance, and I squeezed my way to the innermost part of the crowd.Fugui was soaked, lying on the ground, his face was pale, and he was still holding Jiushu's wine gourd in his hand. Jiushu knelt beside Fugui, without saying a word, he looked even older, like a dry locust tree stump On the loess, only the hookah is shining under the night. Uncle Jiu's eye circles were so red and bloodshot that he tried to hold back his tears.There are also people who sneer and sneer at him, saying that he does not accumulate virtue, likes to gamble and drink, and he deserves to die. The adult behind me poked me, trying to make me boo, I knocked off the man's hand angrily, and got angry. "Shut up! You can die with a little bit of morality!" I think I inherited the anger of the uncle. I have long hated the nameless resentment of the villagers towards the rich. Now, Uncle Jiu is so poor that there is nothing left. What happened, the only child died, and those jealous guys still didn't let him go. The noisy crowd became quieter, and the adults who watched the excitement looked at me coldly.These people are all of the same generation as Uncle Jiu, that is to say, I am a generation older than them. Perhaps because of seniority considerations, they didn't retaliate and left angrily. I don't want to leave, I want to ask Uncle Jiu, But he was dragged back home by the rushing mother. Since Fugui's death, Uncle Jiu has become crazy, with disheveled hair, laughing while staring at Fugui's grave every day, pointing to the row of dead poplar trees in front of the house door and muttering. As for what happened to him later, all I know is a few years later.When I was ten years old, I went to study in the city with my father. Later, my father was transferred from the county hospital to the provincial hospital. Since then, I have stayed away from the village and lived in the city. Fives Time flies, when I was in high school, my father proposed to go back to my hometown to visit my grandma's grave. When I went to the grave, I saw Uncle Jiu lying on Fugui's grave with a smirking "hey hey", covered in blood and holding a shiny knife in his hand. I tugged on the uncle's sleeve and pointed to Uncle Jiu. "Let him out again!" The uncle greeted several relatives, picked up a piece of dead wood and rushed over, knocking out the knife in Uncle Jiu's hand. Uncle Jiu was frightened, and Yiyi ran around with his hands up. There was a hole in the cotton jacket, and the cotton wool fell out little by little with the wind. "Catch him! Give me a good beating!" The uncle seemed to be still angry, but Uncle Jiu only ran on the spot for a while before he was pushed to the ground. Loess, scratched with blood on his hands, the uncle raised the stick and hit him hard on the back. Uncle Jiu was honest, and cried like a child with a "wow", just when the uncle was about to hit him again , A yellow dog sprang out from the grave and roared at the uncle. Everyone was startled at that time, and the person who was holding down Uncle Jiu let go of his hands in fright. Uncle Nine rushed towards me, grabbed my arm tightly and kept shaking it. "You are a Buddha! You are a Buddha!" ​​He turned his head and glanced at the uncle again, "Hey, cross me, don't cross them, hey..." He let go of his hand, and ran away like the wind. The dog didn't know when it ran away. Everything happened so suddenly, like a dream. The grown-ups, including my father, went after Uncle Jiu, and I was left alone with the bag for going to the grave. I breathed a sigh of relief and walked towards the river. On the bank, they pushed Uncle Jiu to the ground again. You are Buddha! His words made my mind suddenly clear. I am not a Buddha, maybe I was a Buddha when I was a child, but I am not now, maybe it was decided at the beginning of our life that we will become a Buddha, but we never know, as we go far on the road, we will give life to one thing I thought I was reborn, but I didn't expect it to be a fall. When the years passed, I didn't know where I was, and I wanted to turn around and follow the path I came from, picking up things bit by bit, and finally returned to the end point, hugging Full of what life has bestowed, I started to walk again...and so on and on... Passing by the river bank, I caught a glimpse of half of the stele where I stayed as a child. I used to love that dark place so much, now, I can only watch from afar.It's like a world that doesn't belong to me, that place gives me an inviolable vigilance, I understand my own depravity, because I know that I have grown up, and I know that everything lost is just the past. Uncle Jiu will become a Buddha. He doesn't know what is the present, the past, and the future. We don't know the world he exists in, but in order to cover up our ignorance, he is defined as a lunatic. But...I also admit...he's a madman... The backpack was a bit heavy, and there was a faint pain in the place where Uncle Jiu grabbed it. "Hey, do you want to become a Buddha?" I looked around in fear, and saw a ragged child squatting on half of the stele, his face was covered by disheveled hair, only one bright eye was exposed, staring at me like a wolf staring at its prey. It suddenly occurred to me that I knew him...he was me when I was a child. The body began to be involuntary, and wanted to refuse, but the head couldn't help it. I saw... the smile under his hair, as stiff as the smile on a Buddha statue, the sea has disappeared, only it has remained unchanged for a thousand years... He spread his arms and called me over. "Play with me!" I don't think I will agree to him, because after this sentence, he has disappeared.