Chapter 36 short story legendary treasure

Old man Tian finally got his wish, and got the hill behind his house from the production team. Several people shared it, and two other families shared it. When he was still a child, he heard from his grandfather that there was a box of silver dollars and jewelry hidden in the mountain, which was hidden in it by their ancestors who were officials during the turbulent years of war.Old Man Tian remembered that when he was young, his father plunged into the mountain when he had nothing to do, digging everywhere in the thatch with a two-toothed hoe.Sometimes when it was time to eat, he would not come out even though his mother shouted and broke his throat.After the death of his father, the life at home became poor. Most of the old man Tian’s life passed by working in the fields all day long, without even a chance to catch his breath. Looking back, this life is like some faint shadows: to die for his mother , get married, have children, marry a daughter-in-law for the two sons, and then live alone with the sons... How come you are in your fifties all of a sudden?Now he is free. His two sons send firewood and rice every month, and he only needs to grow the vegetables.Once a person is free, the desire in his heart, the desire that has been suppressed for fifty years without knowing it, is ready to move.I don't know from which day, he also started to run into the mountains with a two-toothed hoe like his father.

Old man Tian's wife was very angry. She hoped that old man Tian would stay at home more and do housework. She had to take care of her grandson and raise pigs, so she was too busy.Besides, she didn't like her man's mysterious and frequent drilling into the mountains. Some people in the village had already discussed that this kind of behavior of old man Tian was a "disease", and some people said that he wanted to steal tombs to make a fortune.No one knows what's going on in Old Man Tian's mind, the strange thing is that even his wife doesn't know. Old Man Tian never told her about silver dollars and jewelry. This may be due to his usual cautiousness, or it may be due to his exhaustion in the past few years. Suffer, forget about it long ago.Although angry, Old Man Tian's wife couldn't stop him.These days, she found that the old man Tian even had the vegetable field so-so, and often leaned on the hoe in the field in a daze.After much deliberation, the woman decided to punish the man.This morning, after feeding the pigs and tidying up the two adobe brick houses, she took her two grandchildren to the eldest son's house.She wanted to starve the man for a meal, to see if his madness could be reduced a bit.

Old man Tian's wife took her grandson into the main room and saw the eldest daughter-in-law pouring water into the tank. "Why did you carry water at this time?" she asked. "He hasn't come home all day and night." The daughter-in-law was referring to the eldest son. "Where did you go?" Old man Tian's wife was taken aback. "In the mountains." The daughter-in-law looked distressed, and threw the pole on the ground casually. "It's the father-in-law who is playing tricks. They keep so many secrets from me. Who am I in this family?" When she said this, she gave her mother-in-law a hard look.

The daughter-in-law obviously regarded her as a group of troublemakers, and Old Man Tian's wife was very sad.Since the conversation with the daughter-in-law is not speculative, it is better for her to leave this place of right and wrong as soon as possible.She made an excuse and wanted to leave, but the little grandson refused. He wanted to eat fried soybeans from the cupboard.The daughter-in-law unhappily grabbed a handful and stuffed it into his pocket, angrily said: "Why don't you all go to see the King of Hades!" When Old Man Tian's wife was walking home along the ditch, she heard someone calling her natal name, she turned her head, but there was no one; she walked two feet further, and the person called again. , she looked back, still no one.She felt creepy, so she bent down and asked her elder grandson, "Did you hear someone calling us?" The elder grandson replied nonchalantly, "It's grandpa calling you from the mountains." Old man Tian's wife trembled all over, and said to her grandson. Raised his voice.

"You are lying, the mountain is two miles away from here, how can you hear me? Huh?" The grandson looked at grandma aggrievedly, and whispered: "I heard it." "What's his name?" "It's calling you anyway, I can't hear anything else." Old man Tian's wife looked around for a while, took her two grandchildren to her side to give her courage, and continued walking.She quickened her pace.When approaching the small bridge, the sky was overcast, and the shrill old man's voice suddenly sounded in the air: "Second Show!!"

Old man Tian's wife's legs went limp and she knelt down on the ground.The two grandsons were in a mess, tearing at her clothes, crying, "Grandma! Grandma!" It took her a long time to regain her strength, stood up beating the ashes on her body, and asked her grandson again: "Did you hear someone calling us?" "We didn't hear anything." The two grandchildren answered in unison. "My God!" she murmured, gripping her grandson's hand even tighter, and trotting away. Old Man Tian and his eldest son were smoking on a big rock, both of them were exhausted.

"Minju, go back, my wife doesn't know how to be angry at home." Old man Tian said to his son. Min Ju rolled her eyes, and asked her father in bewilderment: "Why don't you get tired of this kind of thing? Every time I dig a hoe, I immediately think that the second hoe will be good, so I dig and dig, and the night passes quickly. Daddy, do you still remember that day?" Something in the story? Think about it carefully." Old man Tian closed his eyes and thought for a long time, then shook his head.He was indeed about to forget it all. In the remaining memory, his grandfather's old voice was full of temptation, but it was really difficult to salvage the details of what he said, and it could not give him any enlightenment.What's more, this happened when he was six years old, even if his grandfather told him some tricks, he still couldn't understand it.He looked at the emaciated elder son with a little pity, and a sense of guilt rose in his heart.When the land was distributed, the daughters-in-law all hoped to share more fields to increase their income. Only Old Man Tian insisted on wanting this mountain, which made everyone financially tight.Everyone knows that the soil quality of this mountain is not good.You can't grow anything, you can only let it grow some thatch and small shrubs, so the only benefit that Old Man Tian gets from this barren hill is to have firewood for the fire.

"If Daddy can't remember, let's dig honestly, and one day we will get it right. Sometimes I also think, if we need a bulldozer to level this mountain, won't things come out? Then I When I think about it, what's the point of that? It's still meaningful to dig one hoe after another." Old man Tian chuckled, and slapped his son hard on the back, his heart became active.He recalled digging when he encountered some loose soil, which may have been where his father had dug.Has father dug all over the mountain?Had he already discovered those things, brought them out, admired them, and buried them deep under the earth again?According to his mother, his father was the kind of person who kept secrets and never told anyone what was on his mind. If he wanted to enjoy the joy to himself, he probably would have done so.Thinking about it further, if my father wants to bury the treasures he has found, he must bury them deeper, which makes the search even more difficult.If that's the case, he should dig the loose soil specifically.With this in mind, he once dug under a rock for three consecutive days, but in the end he still found nothing.Now he was sitting on that rock, with all the scenes of war and chaos running through his mind, and a horn blowing and blowing from mid-air.There was a hunchback among the running crowd, and the hunchbacked figure often disappeared behind the collapsed wall while running, and the other jumping shadows quickly covered him.When this kind of scene reappeared, the hunchback reappeared, ran out of the crowd again, and got away.The old man Tian thought, could this hunchback be a character in his grandfather's past stories?

"I'll keep digging," Min Ju interrupted Old Man Tian's contemplation, and got up while nibbling the dry rations he took out from his backpack. "We'll work separately, and we'll meet up here in the afternoon." He disappeared into the high Inside the thatch. The eldest son joined him unexpectedly.At first, Old Man Tian was only immersed in his enthusiasm, and never thought of sharing it with others.As soon as his feet stepped on this barren mountain, the blood rushed to his head, and many voices screamed in his body. Every time he had no time to think about it, he set a goal for himself and dug down with all his strength.That day was a northerly windy day. Old man Tian lowered his head and was busy, when he suddenly heard the sound of digging the soil behind him. He thought it was the echo of his own digging, so he stopped his hoe to listen, and the sound was still coming again and again.The old man Tian was shocked, and he felt completely hopeless, because this secret no longer belonged to him alone!He thought the man must be one of the other two that owned the hill.He stood there and waited, but the man was still digging neither far nor near, but he couldn't get over.In the end, Old Man Tian couldn't bear it anymore, so he pushed aside the thatch and searched all the way there.He hadn't expected to see his son's pouty ass, and the discovery brought some relief to him.How strange, how did the son know his secret?He stopped Minju and asked him what he was digging, and Minju asked him back with a smile: "What did you dig?" Old man Tian lowered his face and told Minju not to joke with him, and Minju admitted that he didn't know at all. My father was digging something, but he thought in his heart that this matter must be very interesting, so he imitated him.Old Man Tian sighed and told his son the story passed down from his ancestors.From that day on the job became a joint job between father and son.The son is young and energetic, his ideas are changeable, and there are always new opinions.For example, not long ago, he said that after thinking about it, he felt that the well in the yard was suspicious. Would his great-grandfather dig out those treasures and throw them into the well?His thoughts made old man Tian very depressed for a while, because it was absolutely impossible to drain the water in the well to get out the baby, and they had no money to rent a water pump.The son's changeable temperament often made both of them very uncomfortable, because it had to stop work constantly to have the kind of discussions that would definitely have no results. Deep disgust comes, wishing to get rid of it immediately.Sometimes, looking at Minju's back, Old Man Tian couldn't help thinking: Who told him to get in halfway, it's a disaster!Although not happy, Old Man Tian is still satisfied with his son on the whole. Because of his joining, Old Man Tian's nerves are always tense and excited. If his son doesn't come, he will just keep digging around. Maybe the brain is already demented.

When Old Man Tian returned home, it was already time to light the lamps. He walked into the yard and saw the darkness in the house, feeling very strange.Entering the house, I heard my wife's voice coming from the darkness: "If you don't let the ancestors rest in peace, I won't be able to live. How greedy." "What's going on?" Old Man Tian's heart beat in his throat. "The voices of our ancestors are everywhere, on the road, under the eaves, in the stove, in the latrine, yelling endlessly. I am scared out of my wits. How can I survive? Eat!"

The wife rattled the bowls and bowls on the table, but did not light the lamp.As soon as Old Man Tian sat down at the dining table, two chopsticks poked his chin, which was handed over by his wife. "How can you eat without lighting?" "Let's make do with it. Turn off the lights and those voices will stop. I thought it was the end just now." Old man Tian finished his meal indiscriminately, threw the bowl and chopsticks on the table, and fumbled to find his pipe. "You don't need to look for it, I put that thing in the stove and burned it." "Why?!" Old Man Tian growled. "You know what I'm saying. I was standing here sifting rice this afternoon and I saw the smoke coming out of the closet and I went and opened the closet door and saw your goddamn pipe burning? Do you understand? ?No one smoked it, it was full of shredded tobacco and it was on fire! Is this bewitched? Could it be that the ancestors were sitting in the closet smoking? Then Mother Qin came, and she ordered me to burn that thing. Ah, listen, listen!" Old man Tian's wife slipped into the bedroom while talking. Old man Tian fumbled to find matches in the cupboard, but couldn't find them after searching for a long time. He thought to himself that his wife must have hidden them, and couldn't help but get angry.With a sweep of his palm, he swept four or five bowls to the ground. Amidst the shattering of the porcelain bowls, Old Man Tian found a tall man standing at the door, whose shadow was motionless.Thinking of his wife's words, Old Man Tian's feet felt weak for a moment, and he knelt down. "Very well," said the man. "Who are you?" "Who, who else could it be, your cousin!" Old man Tian stood up in shame, and said to himself in his heart: What are you afraid of?He walked towards his nephew and saw him take out a lighter to start a cigarette.As soon as the flames rose, the face of the nephew was reflected. That face was not a nephew at all, but a middle-aged man with teeth and nose. Old man Tian had never seen this person before.The flame was extinguished, and only by the sound, Old Man Tian felt that this person was indeed his cousin.Are you old and dim?I don't know when Old Man Tian's wife sneaked into the house again. She squatted at Old Man Tian's feet and pulled his trousers. Me, damn it." "Cousin, there is still one place you haven't dug, that is, the intersection where you enter the mountain. I saw that the soil there is good, so I knew that you didn't pay attention to it at all. What do you think?" Speak to them. "So what if you dig it, so what if you don't?" Old Man Tian pretended to be calm. "Who can predict such a thing?" The man's tone was almost distressed. As if infected by the man's emotions, Old Man Tian also felt inexplicable sorrow in his heart. He wanted to stand up to light the lamp, and then have a good chat with this man, not only to find out if he was his cousin, but also to find out about him. How much do you know about your business?But his wife tightly grabbed his trouser legs, preventing him from moving.Old man Tian managed to break free from his wife, and the man had already started to walk out. Old man Tian told him to stop, but he didn't seem to hear him. He went straight through the yard and disappeared on the road over there. "Crazy! Crazy!" Tian's wife said angrily, "Did he light the pipe?" That night, the old couple carefully bolted the door twice, and put the table behind the door before going to sleep.Old man Tian's wife woke up again and again, and each time she heard the man calling her natal name outside the door.It sounded to her that the man's voice was very old, reminding her of the "grandfather".When she felt annoyed, she woke up Old Man Tian, ​​asked him if he heard, and said, "It's all caused by your messing around in the mountains."Old man Tian ignored her, let her scold, and soon fell asleep again amidst the scolding. Old man Tian woke up in the morning and saw his wife combing her hair with a swollen face. He couldn't help but feel palpitations. Thinking of what happened at night, the words "family ruined and dead" appeared in his mind, and his face also changed color. "I won't go to the mountains today, I'll stay at home and prepare the ground." "It's useless, if you don't go, Minju will go too, he's in a hurry!" said his wife without looking at him. "So you already know." "What do I know? I don't know anything, and I don't want to know, what's the difference?" The wife turned her head this time and stared at him helplessly. Old man Tian saw the signs of death on his wife's face, his heart was clenched, he fell down on the edge of the bed, sighed and said, "It's terrible!" Even he himself was baffled by the fact that when he saw his wife enter the kitchen, he quickly went into the miscellaneous room, picked up the two-toothed hoe, and went out; he didn't even have time to wash his face.When he reached the mountain, the red sun had already risen in the east. Looking down, he saw that Minju had gone down the mountain by another road.Thinking of him spending another night on the mountain under the moonlight, Old Man Tian couldn't help feeling very envious, thinking that after all, the young man was full of energy.The elder son is completely different from the younger son. The younger son went out to do transportation very early, and the life at home is prosperous;The old man Tian's relationship with his eldest son had been relatively cold before, and this eldest son was too much like himself.It is impossible to see a person's inner heart from the surface, isn't it only when he is old that desire erupts?For an infatuated person like Min Ju, who stayed in the mountains for two days and two nights, I'm afraid he can only be described as "demonized".The enthusiasm displayed by the always dull Min Ju made even Old Man Tian feel ashamed.Minju told him yesterday that he had found a hole and had dug several meters into it.Could it be that Minju, like her ancestors, had found those things by herself, but because she was afraid that others would find out, she pretended to keep searching and dug up and down the mountain?Maybe he was admiring and guarding those treasures at night?Otherwise, this deformed passion is too unreasonable.As soon as Old Man Tian made things complicated, he felt dissatisfied with himself.Why don't you even trust your son?Since he didn't trust him, why did he tell him the secret?My heart was flustered, and I didn't even bother to dig the ground, so I started looking for the hole my son had mentioned.The mountain is only so big, so you can always find it. "Minju, Minju," Old Man Tian scolded in his heart, "You shouldn't hide it from your father. You stayed on the mountain for two days and two nights, which means that some major accident happened. You are quite scheming." Guy, why don't you show your father a little bit of wind?" Before he knew it, Old Man Tian felt that he couldn't trust his son again. That evening, when Old Man Tian saw Minju and his wife drying the vegetables talking and laughing, he couldn't help but "thump" in his heart, doubting his judgment during the day.It was his wife who solved the mystery for him. "I've been doing it for a long time, so it's because of this rag!" She kicked a poorly made copper incense burner and said loudly to her father-in-law, "People's poverty is doomed in previous lives, and the idea of ​​getting rich is the worst thing!" Old man Tian and his eldest son looked at each other embarrassedly for a second, then they both looked away. Old man Tian turned his face to the setting sun. In that place, there was a tall ancient pavilion. Countless bats were flying around the ancient pavilion. They weaved the dream left by their ancestors in the air. Old man Tian turned his face to the setting sun, his eyeballs seemed to be covered by a layer of fog, and he could not see clearly. He knew that there was a tall ancient pavilion at that place, and countless bats were flying around the ancient pavilion. The dream left by the ancestors is woven in the air.When the heat of the light faded from his face, he dozed off into the past. That year, he, who was full of blood, took his wife Erxiu and his eldest son, and left the big farm house to seek a living outside.The place he went to was a farm, which was exposed to the scorching sun every day. The rice fields could not be seen as far as the eye could see, and the lake was boundless.He had only worked for one summer before he couldn't bear it anymore. He was lying on a bunk made of door panels suffering from malaria, and an old man outside the door kept calling his nickname.It seems to be the third day, the whistle of work outside the door pierced the dim dawn sky, Erxiu came in from outside, knelt by the side of the shop, leaned close to his ear and said: "That man refuses to let our family go. He is still waiting outside. You must hold on. He keeps mentioning a box of jewels. I don't know what he is thinking about?" "Who is it?" Old man Tian heard his own voice that seemed to come from the grave, and some gray shadows appeared in his mind. Erxiu jumped up as if startled, and rushed outside.Old man Tian struggled to turn over. He dreamed that he was standing barefoot in the snow. On top of his head was a gigantic bird-catching hood. The edge was supported by a thick stick with a hemp rope tied on it. The hemp rope leads to a bush in the distance, and behind it squats a man in black.Could it be that he has become a bird?He felt his toes hurt from the cold, and when he looked down, he saw a pair of bird claws.He was so frightened that he cried, but there were no tears.It was already dusk when he woke up, and as soon as he regained consciousness, he immediately remembered about the jewelry box. When he asked his wife, she denied it flatly, saying that she had never heard anyone talk about such a thing, and complained: "Boss Tian, ​​you Stupid people." After returning to Tian's mansion for a long time, he often thought of the half-year life in the lake area like a nightmare.Every time Erxiu asked Erxiu what happened during those days when he was ill, Erxiu shook her head and said, "I don't remember." She said that she had to cook, take care of the sick, and keep an eye on her son Minju, afraid of him. Falling into the ditch at the door, it was dark all day long, and I didn't have the energy to take care of the surrounding things at all.Erxiu's answer always made old man Tian angry, he thought she was trying to trick her.She kept complaining that he shouldn't have taken the whole family to that "Gate of Hell" that year, and almost lost her life.She also said that if anyone called him when he was ill, it would only be ghosts wandering outside.Think about it, their family is not familiar with the place in the Lake District, who will take care of his business?Old man Tian broke into a cold sweat when he heard his wife's words, and said to himself: "After all, I won't let it go." His son Minju has another kind of memory for the lake area. After coming back, he mentioned the white lotus root and water chestnut in the lake area with fascination for a long time; he often stared at the mountain at the door in a daze, because Erxiu always told him to climb over this mountain When we arrived at the lake area, the big fish in the lake were bigger than people.One day, Erxiu didn't pay attention, and Minju went to the mountains alone.It was almost sunset when they found their son on the path halfway up the mountain.He still remembers their conversation with their son. "Minju, what are you thinking while sitting here? Are you not afraid?" Erxiu asked her son. "Nothing. I'll wait for that person to come." "Who?!" His face changed color. "The jeweler." The son seemed very tired of their interrogation, and ran to the front of the couple from a distance.He asked Erxiu what was going on, Erxiu said that she couldn't figure it out, she had never told her son about this kind of thing, and his behavior was so strange that it made people disturbed. Old man Tian recalled these trivial past events, and always felt that he could not go deep into any one thing, everything was floating on the surface of the memory, and every little thing seemed to be not what it appeared on the surface. look.How did these decades of chaotic days come?How do forgotten things wake up in memory?Of course, it is more likely that they have never forgotten anything, not only have they not forgotten, but they have deepened that memory day by day, what a big joke time has played on them! In the deepening twilight, Guting looked a little gloomy, and Old Man Tian heard that meaningless murmur sounding in the distance, as if someone was calling for a wanderer.He thought, how did Minju become what she is today?Just now he heard Minju beating his wife, and one of the sticks was broken.After the two brothers separated and went out, the youngest son had a good heart and rented a car to help people in the canal all year round. Later, he actually bought a car, and his life became richer and richer.Minju is stubborn, guarding a few acres of fields, and even has a hard time eating.And because I envy my younger brother's house, I don't allow my wife to go to that house, and when I feel bored, I want to beat someone, to death.The daughter-in-law was about to get divorced, so she ran to the township government twice, and it was about to be approved. After all, she couldn't leave her two children behind, so she stayed again.Sometimes Old Man Tian looked at Minju's back, and felt that the vicissitudes of life did not look like those in his thirties at all.What would have happened if the son had stayed in the Lake District?As long as they gritted their teeth and survived that period, maybe they would take root in that kind of place, right?It was really unexpected that my son would know that ancestral story.Maybe he had seen the old man too, maybe there had been one when they were in the Lake District.These years, father and son have never discussed this kind of thing, but old man Tian felt from Minju's gloomy face, from the strange light in his eyes that he occasionally observed, that he had not forgotten his childhood memories.Old man Tian didn't know how his elder son would fulfill his desire, seeing him beating someone made him tremble with fear. Old man Tian didn't go into the house to eat until it was dark.Erxiu didn't turn on the lights, and hid in the room and couldn't come out, leaving him to grope for the bowls and chopsticks alone in the dark.Old man Tian knew that his wife had resentment in her heart, so he had to eat alone in silence.As I ate and ate, I felt guilty again and again.He seemed to see the days slipping away from him year after year.These old houses left by my father are getting more and more dilapidated.And he himself, in his old age, actually became a loafing bum, drilling in the mountains all day long, looking for a bunch of non-existent things, which is simply out of place.Could it be that Erxiu knew everything, had already discussed this matter with his son in detail, and the two of them kept it from themselves?What a terrible thing it would have been if the mother and son had made an offensive and defensive alliance with him during the time they lived in the Lake District.It is probable that on that malarial night something ghastly and strange happened.Old man Tian still remembered that Erxiu didn't come back after rushing out that night. It seemed that he didn't return until noon the next day.Why hadn't the woman mentioned that night in all these years? Old man Tian wanted to smoke, but he couldn't find a match in the dark; he wanted to find an oil lamp, but the oil lamp was gone. "I just stayed on the mountain for a while, and if you treat me like this, I can't make it through?" He shouted loudly towards the back room, and slapped the table impatiently. After shouting again like this, the lights in the back room came on, and I heard my wife talking to someone inside.Old man Tian felt in surprise and pushed open the door. There was no one in the room, the kerosene lamp was dimly lit, and the half-sifted rice and grains were spread out on the ground.Old man Tian sat slumped on the bed, bitterly thinking about his wife's betrayal these days.In a fit of anger, I didn't wash my face or feet at all, and fell asleep on the bed. After falling asleep, I remembered that I hadn't blown out the lamp, got up and blew it out in one breath, and fell down again. It was midnight when he was woken up.His wife Erxiu came back from the outside, smelling like dead leaves all over her body. "Did you hear that?" she said nervously, teeth chattering in her mouth. Outside the house, someone was digging their homestead, and the digging was so fierce that the whole house shook.Old man Tian's blood poured to his head, he quickly put on his shoes and went outside to have a look. moonlight.Minju's slender back was swinging a hoe. "Stop! You rebel! You don't want to live!!" He rushed up and slapped his son.Minju staggered and almost fell. "Reluctant?" The son covered his face and said with a sneer. Then he threw the hoe into the ditch in a fit of anger.He dragged himself back to his home. Old man Tian looked at his son's back and stood there blankly.The moonlight shines on the homestead that has been dug a gap.It was not until his son was out of sight that he remembered that it would take a day to repair the homestead.He remembered that his wife had told him yesterday that Minju hadn't gone down the mountain for two days, but was digging wildly on the mountain.Old man Tian judged from this that his son must have been impatient before digging his house, as if to revenge him or to remind him.He looked at the adobe brick house shivering in the night air, and felt that it really didn't look like a place to bury jewels.Why should Minju doubt the house?This house was built when his father was still alive. Could it be that Minju guessed what grandpa was thinking?Old man Tian slapped his thighs with both hands, said "ah", and his mind became active.He said to himself: "This kid thinks so far." Erxiu stood far away in the courtyard and saw this scene. Old man Tian walked up to his wife and said hesitantly: "We have an ancestral story in our family about the same chest of jewels." "Hmph." Erxiu turned her face away. He returned to the room and lay down in a daze, and fell asleep immediately.He dreamed that he and his son were scrambling for a hoe to dig the house foundation, until the house fell down with a bang, and the rising gray fog blinded his eyes, and he couldn't see anything, so he fumbled around in the pile of bricks with his hands... Erxiu is actually an unpredictable person.She works at home along with a pair of bulbous eyes every day, cooking, feeding pigs, and taking care of her grandchildren.She seldom went out, never talked with outsiders, and seemed to have no interest in the unreasonable hopes in the hearts of old man Tian and her eldest son. She neither asked nor talked about what she should do every day.But Old Man Tian knew that no matter what thoughts he had, he couldn't hide it from her after all.This wife was arranged by Old Man Tian's father for him back then. Old Man Tian still remembers how his father introduced her and said, "Tight mouth, she won't ruin the family affairs." At that time, he didn't quite understand what his father meant.Now that I think about it, my father is really prescient, but is this a good thing or a bad thing for him?Sometimes, Old Man Tian hoped that she would speak out against his delusions of getting rich, such as throwing away his hoe and not letting him go up the mountain. In this case, he might have to reconsider his plan.It's a pity that such a thing never happened. She watched herself and her eldest son digging in the mountains coldly, and didn't come out to object at all.More than once, Old Man Tian felt that she was secretly waiting for an opportunity, or waiting for Old Man Tian to kill himself.Recently, she seemed to have amnesia. Old man Tian didn't have to eat when he got home, and there was no boiling water for tea.When she asked her about it, she said that she also had a lot of things to worry about, and she would inevitably make mistakes, and she stared at him sideways, as if she wanted to scold him, as if she wanted to shout at him "how can that be?"After thinking about it, Old Man Tian felt that he was indeed too outrageous, and it was not an exaggeration to describe him as "old and crazy". "When the production team distributed the land, I asked for this mountain, and you agreed." Old man Tian tried his best to discuss with his wife calmly.He wanted to make things clear and make everyone feel better.It's a pity that Erxiu didn't appreciate his courage. Erxiu hated his confession very much and didn't like to hear it. "Your family has been around this mountain for generations, and it's nothing unusual in the village." Erxiu spat on the ground, then walked away. It turned out that Erxiu knew the story a long time ago, and it turned out that she had been pretending not to know for decades.From this point of view, she is really "tight-mouthed" as her father said.Did her father tell her the story of someone burying jewels in the mountains?His father had died a long time ago, and there was no way to dig him out of the ground to find out.In general, Old Man Tian does not believe that his father would tell a daughter-in-law the secrets of his family. Strange thing.This is clearly an exaggeration.He and Minju went up the mountain with hoes on their backs and dug randomly.It did arouse the ridicule of the villagers.Ridicule is ridicule.They didn't mention the incident, just said in general that the father and son had "gone crazy."That is to say, Minju also went up the mountain after listening to Erxiu's teaching, but he said nonsense, "followed daddy in a daze, trying to find something".Thinking of the mother and son discussing this kind of matter behind his back, Old Man Tian's mood became very bad.He hated the father who had been dead for many years. He felt that everything was caused by his ghost. It was he who made him impoverished, and now he couldn't even keep the house he lived in.Every time Minju walked to the door, she looked at the homestead that had been dug up and repaired by him, smiled coldly, and believed in her heart that the treasure was hidden there. The autumn wind blows early in the morning.Old man Tian stayed in the mountains for a while, and when he got home he felt dizzy and coughed.He lay on the bed and lowered the curtains, and the scene on the mountain kept turning in his mind like a revolving lantern. At first, he and Minju agreed to work separately, and then came together at noon to exchange information.Minju climbed to the top of the mountain with a hoe on his back, while he stayed where he was.There is a big poplar tree where he is standing, and the soil around the tree is relatively loose. Yesterday he dug around the tree with hope, and today he will continue to dig deeper.While he was working seriously, when he looked up, he saw a blue mass flashing in the bushes below, and he rubbed his eyes and took a hard look.It was a person prostrate on the ground.The man was also looking for something, but he was raking the grass with a small rake, his buttocks were sticking up, and the blue ball that Old Man Tian saw was the man's buttocks.The man seemed to be aware of it, and ran away with a bent waist.Old man Tian found out that there were other people on the mountain, and among them was a woman, wearing a flowered dress, kneeling on the ground and digging hard with a coal rake.Old man Tian felt sick, and thought anxiously: Isn't this "digging mountains by the whole people"?He stumbled and fell down the mountain, his eyes darkened for a while; when he passed by those people, he even heard them whispering in the grass.what on earth is this kind of happenings?When I got to the foot of the mountain, I turned around and looked, and almost fell to the ground: there are people everywhere in the mountain. When he walked into the yard, his wife was drying eggplants, and he told her what he saw. "Now is the season to pick up autumn mushrooms." "Fart! When did fungus grow in this barren mountain?" "You always think of things based on old experience. You have so much experience, and you still need to go digging in the mountains? Huh, I don't know you yet!" Old man Tian became angry again thinking of these things in the tent.He heard Minju come in from the outside, and then heard his wife's voice, and Erxiu's voice.The three of them were moving the big cabinet next door, "huh huh huh". "It's good to move away, everyone moves away, this house is too bad to live in." Erxiu was saying. Old man Tian's headache was about to explode, he coughed violently for a while, and then moaned weakly. The three men were so busy working in the front room that they seemed to have emptied the room. "Father left this old house to me, what exactly is he planning?" These words appeared in Old Man Tian's torn head, and he didn't dare to think about it anymore. When the peppers were blooming, his wife Erxiu confided a clue to Old Man Tian in the field: there was indeed a person following him, and he didn't know what that person was going to do. After Erxiu pointed out the vague thing in Old Man Tian's heart, it slowly took shape and made a sound.那个人最初的出现可以追溯到田老汉在湖区的那段狼狈生活，那时这个幽灵现了一下身就消失了，田老汉当时只是隐隐地感到他同二秀之间有交易，他也知道从二秀口里是什么都问不出来的。时常在恍恍惚惚之中，他竟觉得二秀比他的祖先还要古老。有一回她在弯着腰洗菜时，田老汉眼一花，看见她在水里舞动的双手变成了一节一节的骨头。因为不知道那个人在他生活里要起什么作用，田老汉心里很压抑。看来这二十年，他总在不远不近地跟着自己，老婆和儿子都撞见过他好几次，只有田老汉本人还不曾同他谋面。那个人同老祖宗埋下的那一箱珠宝又是什么关系呢？也许是田老汉同儿子最近这种狂热的挖掘惊动了他，他才出现得频繁起来了吧。那天田老汉同儿子在山上呆到半夜，两人都看见了树丛里那团黄色的光，那团光移动着，忽远忽近的，敏菊说他已经同那人见过面了。田老汉细问敏菊，敏菊就做出嗤之以鼻的样子，老气横秋地说："很多事情都难讲出个来龙去脉。"那个夜里的事几乎使田老汉心如死灰，好久都没有同儿子一道去山上。 他开始在心里诅咒自己的父亲了。死了那么多年的父亲，原来每天在他周围兴风作浪。田老汉不能想像，一个人在活着的时候怎么能到处埋机关、设圈套，用非常的手段全盘控制自己的后代的生活，这样一种处心积虑是出于什么样的古怪理念。在父亲活着时，他同他的关系一直比较冷淡，这种冷淡不是漠不关心的冷淡，而是有种冷眼旁观的味道--田老汉将父亲的一举一动都铭刻心底，他下意识地相信自己未来的分析能力。结果怎样呢，结果是最不理解父亲所作所为的就是他。田老汉就想，其实父亲自己也不理解自己编织的阴谋网，他只不过是遵循祖先的理念行事罢了。也不知是从哪一天起，二秀和敏菊就同他对立起来了，有段时间田老汉不得不认为：二秀是父亲安插在他生活中的钉子。时至今日，他还记得父亲将这个童养媳带回家中的情形，记得二秀那种老练的、不卑不亢的神气。湖区发疟疾的那一段是他一生中最艰难的时刻，当他躺在门板上生死搏斗的时候，二秀却始终处于亢奋状态，跑进跑出的。田老汉分明感到她在起劲地同外面一个什么人为某事讨价还价。后来他们一家就离开那间棚屋回到了家乡，她也似乎毫不留恋。留恋那段地狱般的生活的反倒是不懂事的小敏菊。 "我们的祖先对我们有过一些什么样的要求呢？" 田老汉在心中默默地说出这句话。他想不出那个问题的答案，他只知道自己无法放松自己去过一种安逸的日子。不光他，老婆儿子也是同样，他们绷得紧紧的，一直在和什么人较劲。who?总不会是那个人吧。 "田老大啊田老大，我十五岁跟了你，真是没过一天好日子。这是个什么家呢？要财产没财产，要希望没希望，活像口棺材。我总在想，你这个人啊，不会一生出来就是这么干瘪瘪的吧，这种事总是有它的原因吧。这个家被你经营了几十年，现在成了这个样子，你是如何想的呢？" 这一通话是二秀半夜里从隔壁房里床上爬起，举着油灯走进田老汉睡觉的房间，站在田老汉的床前说的。油灯将她那张脸照成了绿色。起先田老汉只听见有个老男人在耳边唠叨，后来睁眼一看，才看见老婆。他正要对她讲话，她却又举着油灯回她的卧房去了。田老汉并没有听见她讲话，却在心里记下了老婆的话，那些话不是声音，是一些字。他觉得自己羞愧难当，他决计不去想老婆的话，就像她什么都没对他说过一样，本来他就没醒过来嘛。 他没事一样坐在桌边吃饭，二秀又开口了： "当初要是分了沟边那块地，现在也不会餐餐吃咸菜了，那可是块种西瓜的好地。你和敏菊偏要这荒山，说要了这山心里清静，现在清静了没有呢？你和敏菊要再去山上呀，全村的人都会跟你们去了，就像搞大生产运动一样。" "搞大生产也好，总比听你诉苦强。"田老汉忍不住顶了她一句。 "我真是不想和你吵啊，你记得老爹死前说的话么？" "他说了什么？"田老汉茫然地停了筷子的动作。他真的记不起了。 "哈，原来你早忘了。"二秀的心情突然就好起来了。 田老汉知道在这种谈话中自己只能甘拜下风，因为他什么都丢弃，而老婆什么都收藏。沮丧之际又听见媳妇在院子里哭，肯定又是挨了敏菊的棍子。媳妇真是生得贱，摊上这种男人还不出走，这个家里到底有什么东西吸引她们（媳妇和二秀）呢？于是他的思路又一次回到老祖宗的意图上面。 二秀走到院子里去，媳妇就停止了哭泣。过了一会儿，田老汉竟然听到两个女人在哈哈大笑。看来这个家的凝聚力还大着呢，要不敏菊怎么会死守着几亩老田节衣缩食，不去外头赚钞票呢？小儿子运河沙赚了钱，他不光眼红，简直满腔仇恨。昨天下午小儿子家的猪跑到他院里，他用木棒打断了母猪的脊骨！那要多大的力气啊，想一想都毛骨悚然！敏菊之所以如此暴躁，一方面是自己赚不到钱，另一方面也是因为想通过自己所愿意的方式搞钱，心里急。田老汉知道这个敏菊，你就是打死他，他也不会去运河沙。湖区的生活在他心灵里留下了烙印。在湖区的时候，天天想的都是发财，那种意外之财，比如从湖里叉到一条大鱼，比如打到几只野鸭等等。经历了那种希望与失望的人才不会屑于去运河沙呢。如果没有意外之财，几亩薄田维持最低的生活对于敏菊这样的人来说当然不够；而假如去运河沙的话，心里头的那种渴望就会消失。所以阴沉暴烈的敏菊，实际上日日沉浸在热烈的向往之中，他才不会放弃这种生活呢。那么媳妇呢？她做出委屈痛苦的样子，说不定心里藏着精明的算计？ 有那么一天，田老汉决心要摆脱这一大堆莫名其妙的纠缠，去过一种清静的生活了。天还没亮他就在井边用井水冲了个澡，换上干净衣服，然后带上干粮去他二弟家。 二弟家在邻村，有三十多里远。田老汉一直走到天黑才到了他家。远远地田老汉就看见他家已掌灯吃饭了，大黑狗亲切地迎了上来。进了屋，田老汉才想起二弟家可能并不欢迎自己，各家有各家的烦恼嘛。他的打算是在二弟家住几天，把家里那些事都撇干净，换一副脑子再回家。以他这一生的经验，很多事都是越想越糊涂，越无希望，要是放下不想，反倒会出现另外的路。 二弟不声不响地替田老汉盛了一碗饭，将桌子中央那盘豆角推到他面前。其他的人都不说话，埋头吃饭，看来田老汉没猜错。弟媳第一个放下碗到厨房去了，田老汉听见她在厨房将铁锅弄得"哐当哐当"刺耳地响。两个侄女儿交头接耳地说："妈又发疯了。" 吃完饭，将烟斗递给田老汉，二弟才开口："我们这边这阵关于你们一家的谣传很多，是怎么回事呢？听说爹爹在夹墙里藏了东西，大侄儿要拆掉房子？" "你还相信这种事啊，村里人惟恐天下不乱造谣罢了。" "我也是这个看法。天下爱捣乱的家伙多着呢。嘿，你们两个站在这里干吗？还不收了碗到厨房去！" 两个侄女磨磨蹭蹭，口里小声骂粗话，临走还将一张椅子踢倒。田老汉想，到了二弟家，还是纠缠这些老问题啊。 侄女一离开，二弟又凑近来问他： "真的拆了房？拆出什么来没有？" "不过是他要挖宅基，被我骂走了。这种老屋，和牛栏差不多，里面能藏什么东西？真是想得出！你说是不是？" "那件事你还没死心？我那时听说你们要了那座荒山，我就知道你没死心，你和老父亲性情差不多。" "胡说！我和他根本不一样，我已经打算放弃了，这才到你家来呆几天的。" "你这是何苦呢，"二弟盯着他的瞳仁拉长了声音，"世上谁不想发财？我们是没那个命罢了。爹爹他只器重你。" 睡在二弟家的那一夜，田老汉感觉就像睡在一个大的墓穴里，有人在地底深处通宵不停地挖，田老汉就是睡着了也听到挖掘声和喘息声。他只好用被单蒙住头，但还是听得见。好久好久，他终于确定那声音是从他身体内部发出来的。为了进一步证实，他就披上衣端着油灯去察看。他走到外面，挖掘的声音响得更大了，很像从厨房后头的堆房里发出的。于是他慢慢地绕到堆房，他刚一靠近，房门就"吱呀"一声开了。是大侄女，鬼一样披着头发，手里拄着一把镐。那房内，已被她挖出了一个坑。半夜三更的，她挖什么呢？这里也有珠宝么？他想问侄女，又怕被她抢白，就愣愣地立在月光下。倒是女孩先开口，她怨恨地说： "我们大家差不多死了心了，你偏偏跑了来。你跑了来又什么都不干，躺在那里睡大觉。我看你这个人啊，长辈不像个长辈。你来干什么的呢？" 田老汉被她质问得很惭愧。回想起家里那一摊事，又很诧异，怎么会到处都是这一式一样的情况，一式一样的纠缠呢？会不会老爹对家里的每个人都做了形式不同的安排？下雨天的时候，父亲在屋檐下放了个破碗，要他数那碗里的水滴，真是亏他想得出啊。这时侄女目光炯炯地瞪着他，他无端地害怕起来，手中的油灯都差点掉到了地上。他掉头便走。 "嘿！你！停下！！"侄女嘶着嗓子大叫。 田老汉穿过鸡舍时，引起鸡笼里的鸡一阵骚动，这时他看到二弟卧房里的灯亮了，两老趴在窗口朝外看。弟媳激烈地说："干出这样事来，真是遭人恨！"接着就听到啪啪的脚步声，似乎从地下钻出了不少人。田老汉摸到自己睡觉的房门口，脚下被什么东西绊了一下，低头捡起，原来是他随身带的装干粮的布袋，还有草帽和水壶。房门被锁起了，这件事一定是弟媳干的。他只好退回堂屋坐在椅子上等天亮。黑暗中往事又出现了。 二弟因为模样生得周正，很小时就被父亲送给富裕人家做儿子。起先二弟在那家人家过着娇养的日子，突然那家人家遭了噩运，两夫妇自缢身亡，家业也被没收了。二弟成了孤儿。这个时候，按理父亲应该将二弟接回来，可是田老汉听村人说父亲任凭二弟成了乞丐，流浪到了城市街头。然后就好长一段时间没有他的消息。直到几年前乡下分田时他才带着一家人回来，不知怎么却在邻村落下了户，还盖了房子。那之后不久田老汉就开始同二弟家来往了，一年里头相互走动三四次。他和二弟都闭口不谈从前的事，也不谈父亲，见了面大多数时间都是沉默，双方都不知对方到底在想些什么。二弟家的房子比田老汉从父亲手上继承的那几间老屋要气派多了，大概是他在城里弄的钱盖的。田老汉第一次造访他家就感到他的屋子里有种说不清的氛围，他的老婆和两个女儿都是那种很厉害的人，对田老汉很警惕，似乎有什么事要防备他。防备什么呢？以为他要打他们家财产的主意么？这又从何说起呢？ 想着这些事，田老汉后悔不该来这里了。然而就在他打算起身不辞而别时，二弟从房里出来了。借着朦胧的晨光，田老汉看出他也度过了一个不眠之夜。他沙哑着喉咙对田老汉说： "你知道我为什么选这个地方盖房子吗？因为这个村里也有一些传说啊。我想要是你挖不到那些珠宝，恐怕它就藏在我这边了。你那边是老屋，我们的老爷爷狡诈无比，他才不会将宝贝埋在那里呢！这些年我等着看你的戏，你要是罢休了的话，我可不会罢休。最近我才看出一点眉目来了。" "I gotta go." "刚来就走么？你起先不是这么安排的吧？" "不是。不过没什么关系，反正得走。" "那就走吧，我不送你了，怕引起村里人议论。" 在外面，雾蒙蒙的田野里，很多人在雾中穿梭。那种情景令田老汉想起儿时的事。那时二弟还在家里，父亲带他俩去很远的镇上赶集。也是这种雾蒙蒙的早晨。走到半途，父亲嘱咐兄弟俩站在原地等他，因为他要上厕所。他俩眼巴巴地站着，父亲却没再出现。赶集的人一拨接一拨地走了，二弟哭起来。幸亏他还记得回家的路，不然会不会那一次他也成了流浪儿呢？后来父亲对这事没做任何解释。田老汉边走边想着这些遥远的事，田里那些人的说话声给他一种亲切的感觉，但他也知道那些眼光都怀着敌意。这个地方离大河很近，人们的见识都比较广，这些见识广的人却什么都不放过，至少田老汉是这样感到的。也许埋伏在山上的草丛里，看田老汉挖山的那些人里头就有他们。田老汉想，要是儿子敏菊也来了就好了，他眼力好，一定会从这些人当中认出一两个人来的。现在，他只好匆匆加快脚步，他知道过了那条港就不会有人了。 他回到家中时，二秀已收完豆角了。 "敏菊昨天也不见了，我还以为他同你一块去二弟家了呢。"她说。 二秀进屋点亮油灯时，田老汉百感交集。他听见房子里有窸窸窣窣的声音，尤其是堂屋的黑暗中，像是一些野猫在那里追咬。他问二秀听到没有。二秀正端着饭从厨房出来，回答说： "早就是这样了，耳根不得清静，我已经很习惯了。" 田老汉将油灯移到堂屋，摆在柜顶上，他的目光顺着亮光扫来扫去的，他听见卧室里又在弄得大响。他正要去搞清楚，二秀催他吃饭了。 "熄了灯之后呀，比这可怕的事多着呢。"二秀说，"你想想看，还能是谁？" 两人闷着头吃饭，却又听到敏菊在打老婆，儿媳杀猪般嚎叫着，冲到外面去了。二秀欣慰地"哦"了一声，她听见敏菊已回家就放心了。田老汉要告诉她二弟家的怪事，她不耐烦听，说一点都不怪。"那种人家当然是乱七八糟的，只有你才有闲心去搞调查工作吧。" 田老汉又端着碗走到了院子里，他发现敏菊也端着碗从他自己家过来了。儿媳妇和两个孙子站在门前，都端着碗在吃。 "明天还去山上吗？"田老汉问。 "说不准啊。"敏菊回答。 过了一会，忽然又听到那个苍老的声音在后院那里喊："敏菊啊--" 田老汉失手将筷子掉到了地上。他弯腰捡起筷子，朝敏菊看，敏菊的脸已被夜色罩住了--刚一眨眼天就全黑了。他问敏菊听见那个声音没有，敏菊就若无其事地回答说，他懒得听，要是天天注意这种事，还不累死啊。田老汉想用自己的感觉说服他，他就急躁起来，连连往地上吐唾沫，然后一扭头走开了。 田老汉转身看屋里，看见屋里灯灭了，还有敏菊家里，居然也灭了灯，像大家约好了似的。