Chapter 37 short story snake island

The third uncle can be said to be my only relative in this world.Whenever I think of my remote, gloomy home village, I can't help but send a chill down my spine.It was a small village called "Snake Island", located in a hilly area.When I was a kid I always wondered where the name "Snake Island" came from, because we don't have more snakes there than anywhere else.A boy who was older than me told me that there used to be snakes here, and sometimes several snakes hung on a tree.The third uncle's family lived at the end of the village, about a hundred steps away from everyone else, as if angry, the house was built on the edge of the rice field.At that time, my third uncle would always carry a load of red-skinned and white-heart radishes to a distant town to sell. He usually went out in the morning and came back almost midnight.The degree of poverty in our place is astonishing. It is said that the soil quality is not good, and the crops always fail. Generally, the whole village starts to drink sweet potato porridge from winter until the new rice is harvested.I have not returned to my hometown for more than thirty years, and even the death of my father failed to call me back.My mother died early and I am the only child in my family.My father was buried by my third uncle. At that time, he sent me a letter with crooked handwriting, to the effect that all the funeral affairs had been settled and I didn't need to go back.There is a sentence in the letter engraved in my heart: "For a hometown like this, the sooner you forget it, the better." Although the third uncle is a farmer, he has a high level of education and is known as a "scholar".For many years, I wondered: Why haven’t people from my hometown (including my old father) visited me even after I’ve been out for more than 30 years?The long distance is one reason, but it is not so far that it is impossible to get there. It only takes a little more than a day to take the train.It seems that they, like me, belong to the blood of "Snake Island".The letters my father gave me always emphasized that the life of the people in the village was already very good, no one was hungry, and the young people were running around all over the world.He never asked me to go back and have a look. Instead, he told me that one house in my house was destroyed by the flash flood, and now there is only one room.He seemed to be actively looking for a reason for my not going home, but the tone was not exactly like that, maybe he and the third uncle were sticking to something?what is it then?After my father died, no one wrote to me about the situation in my hometown, and I lost all contact with there.I know that my third uncle is still alive, he is twenty years younger than my father, and he is not sick in any way.

Destiny always loves to joke with others.Just when I had almost forgotten my hometown, one day (I still remember that it was my birthday), my boss called me to his office. "You haven't been working very hard lately," he said, gesturing for me to sit in front of the hard chair with his finger. "I hope you can point out if there is anything wrong." "Actually, it's not a big problem. That's it. I've heard people say that you haven't been back to your hometown for thirty years? As soon as they told me, I felt very ashamed. I don't care about my subordinates so much. No wonder you started working." I'm not in a good mood. I've made a big decision now (this decision is not so easy, because the company is busy now), I will give you half a month's leave, and let you go back and see your father."

"My father died long ago." "Really? Don't tell me such a big thing, I say you, you are so honest and honest, I can imagine how much pain you endured back then. Since this is the case, you should go back Let’s go, go visit your poor father’s grave, and comfort him. You will leave tomorrow.” Although the boss in my heart is unwilling, the instructions of the superiors are still waiting for me. But the hometown has changed beyond recognition.The strange thing is that no matter how carefully I search my memory, no matter how I stare at those scenes, I just can't recall the original hometown.As soon as I got out of the car, I wanted to identify the mountain road leading to our village, the winding cobblestone road that I had walked countless times from childhood to adolescence.But where is the way?Even the mountains have disappeared.In the endless fields, there is a group of one-story houses with dazzling exterior walls, and there are few trees around the houses.I suspected that I had gone to the wrong place, so I asked the same peasant woman.

"Snake Island?" She rolled her eyes and said in my long-lost accent, "This is it." "where is that?" "It's everywhere. Who are you looking for?" "I'm looking for my third uncle." "You belong to Xu Liang's family, aren't you already dead?" "I'm dead?!" "There is your tomb at the head of the village. I didn't expect you to come back." She leaned over and scratched my back with two fingers, as if trying to find out if someone was under the clothes, still exclaiming: "I didn't expect it, I didn't expect it." Suddenly she let me go, and quickly run away.Her figure flickered in the rice fields, but she didn't run to those bungalows, she disappeared behind the houses.

I followed the only road into the village.The first house was two ugly thatched houses. I suspected that no one lived in them, so I walked over.I stopped at the door of the third house.I saw two girls about seven or eight years old weaving straw sandals at the door. I guess they were grandchildren.They ignored me, so I had to salivate and ask them over and over again: "Is there anyone at home? I want to find someone." Finally the thinner girl raised her head, but what she said was: "Get out." I had to go to the fourth house to knock on the door, but this one was not closed at all, and the door was blown open by the wind when I knocked.The furnishings in the room are unobstructed.An old man slept on the bed in the inner room. His long snow-white hair stood out in the darkness. I was surprised that this country old man was so elegant and had long hair.

"Old man, old man, I want to find Xu Sanbao." The old man twisted a few times on the bed, beckoning me to go to him. I found that he was ill, his chest was heaving, he was coughing heavily, and his eyes were filled with tears. "Looking for Sanbao?" He said in a hoarse voice with difficulty, "Well, someone finally came to look for it, and he didn't wait all these years in vain. Good." "I'm from Xu Liang's family, I just came home." "Xu Liang's family, okay, I'm going to your side soon. You, you looking for Sanbao? It's hard, it's very rare."

I felt that the old man was already out of his mind, and it would only be a waste of time to pester him any longer, so I left him and walked out, continuing to look for him.I walked past several houses, and saw a middle-aged man drying mung beans in the yard. His face was also completely unfamiliar. "Where is my third uncle's house?" "From Xu Liang's family? Ha! It really happened!" "Did someone tell you I was coming?" "Of course, of course, you are welcome back. The news of your return has spread throughout the village." He drew a big circle with his arms exaggeratedly.

But he didn't invite me to sit in his room, he just stood outside and talked to me.I saw the head of a woman in the room shake. It was the woman I had just met in the field.I asked again where my third uncle’s home was. The middle-aged man seemed embarrassed, he hesitated, and finally told me that my third uncle no longer had a home. Since the catastrophe, many people have no home. Now everyone is used to it, only I can't figure out the situation. "Actually, that was many years ago." When he said this, a sense of vicissitudes appeared on his wrinkled face. "So where is the other person?" I asked.

"You need to change the concept of the village in your mind. Let me give you a simple example. Did you meet a dog when you entered the village today? No, do you see where there are dogs? Hey. You ask where he is, This question is asked by someone who is not familiar with our situation here. Where else can he go except in the village?" "So where is he now?" I asked again patiently. "You're going to run into him!!" he said angrily, leaving me inside. I inquired several more, and those people were either extremely impatient or answered irrelevant questions.I was exhausted from carrying my luggage.At this time, I remembered that there was my tomb at the head of the village, and I gritted my teeth and walked to the head of the village again.I put down my luggage under a thin camphor tree and sat on a rock to rest.Looking forward, there are indeed many raised tombs in the place where the rice fields are connected, but there are no tombstones on those tombs. How can I know which one is my own?I'm afraid I can't even find my father's grave.Despite this thought, I dragged my feet to the tombs.All the grave bags are almost exactly the same, and it seems that they cannot be identified.Some of them opened their mouths wide open, with dead human bones littering beside them.After staying in this kind of place for a long time, I only felt that the Yin Qi was rising, so I hurried out.At this time, I was certain in my heart: "The peasant woman's claim that my tomb is located in the village is completely fabricated. Then is this the Snake Island? If it is not a Snake Island at all, how would those two people know who I am just now? I can't give up halfway, I have to wait in the village until the third uncle shows up." I opened the travel bag, took out mineral water and sausages to eat, and my mind was full of thoughts.

I looked at the village carefully again, and remembered what the middle-aged man said about the catastrophe.The surrounding environment really doesn't remind me of my hometown at all. I obviously went to another village, but the people in this village recognize me somehow.Could it be that a catastrophe really happened?If that's the case, wouldn't the history of our "Snake Island" be buried under these mass graves? I plan to go to the village to ask one by one, and I must ask to find out the truth.This trip back to my hometown, I still have the task of sweeping the grave of my parents. If I can’t even complete this task, how can I explain to my boss?After recovering a little strength, I walked into a house with a golden exterior wall. I put my luggage at the door and stretched my neck to look inside.Suddenly someone patted me behind me.

"Haha! It's really you! There are so many things in this world. Interesting, interesting. I'm a person who doesn't believe in evil, what do you say as the saying goes? By the way, I know that there are tigers in the mountains, but I prefer to go to the tigers. Now you can find the right person Already!" It was an elderly man with a gray goatee, and he was also completely unknown to me.But I'm not going to get to the bottom of him.The old man sat down on the stone bench in the yard and motioned for me to sit next to him.After a while a young woman came out, probably his daughter or daughter-in-law. The woman asked the old man if the guests were eating at their house, but the old man stared at her and replied fiercely: "Is there a need to ask? We have to have a good meal, and there are activities in the evening." The woman promised to go in. I began to look at the face in front of me. I looked and looked, but still couldn't arouse any memory.When the old man saw me staring at him, he laughed, showing his yellow teeth.I don't know what he's laughing at.At this time, I felt itchy on my neck, and I slapped hard, killing two mosquitoes.Mosquitoes swarmed in the ditch in front of the house.Unable to sit still, I took out a towel from my bag and wrapped it around my neck.Both hands were inserted into the pockets, even so, the poisonous mosquitoes attacked through the cloth of the pockets.Look at the old man again, sitting motionless, completely indifferent to these mosquitoes.Just now the woman came out again and brought the old man a pipe, and the old man started smoking tobacco leaves.I got two more stings on my face. I couldn't bear it, so I had to get up and walk around impolitely.At the same time, I also warned myself in my heart: Don't ask random questions, so as not to anger the old man.But I didn't ask him or tell him, and the time passed in embarrassment.After smoking his cigarette, he finally spoke: "Xu Liang's family, let me tell you, you can only meet him at night." "You mean to meet my third uncle?" "Who else?!" "Will you take me there?" "Of course I took you to that place and then it's all on your own. I can't get in, I've tried countless times and I get kicked out every time. One time a guy threw a pickaxe at me Dig it, dig it on the trunk, now there is still a bowl-sized scar on that tree, it is the camphor tree you just saw." "Who are those people?" "I think it's probably the same person as you, with a mark on your face. I remembered it when I saw you just now. How many people still remember going back to their hometown? You are the only one. " His words made my hair stand on end.I vaguely felt that the place he was going to take me to was that mass grave. Could it be that my third uncle lived in the mass grave?Why do people here regard me as a dead man?I still wanted to think about it, so he patted me on the shoulder and invited me into the house for dinner.His expression was very kind, and I was a little relieved. The son of this family also came during the meal.My son nodded at me and sat next to me with a sullen face.Women were walking around the room with bowls in their hands. Besides the daughter-in-law (not the daughter), there were two middle-aged women whose identities were unclear, who seemed to be relatives of his family.The dishes are very rich, served in large plates and basins, steaming hot, and wine.It's hard to imagine such a rich feast in such a barren place.The son put his head down and only cared about eating, while the two middle-aged women seemed very nervous and kept looking at me, not eating much.The old man yelled at me to drink, it was a slightly bitter farm wine, I was a little dizzy after drinking two cups, but the old man didn’t let me go, and while urging me to drink, he yearned for the delicious wild duck meat in front of me Put it on the plate, and all kinds of dishes on the plate are piled up.I kept muttering in my mouth: "It's really dead, it's really dead..." After drinking another cup, I felt dizzy and dizzy, and the old man's voice seemed to come from a distant place: "The strong man is gone!" Don't look back." When I woke up, I was still lying on the messy table, but everyone else was gone.Look outside, it's getting late, obviously I can only stay in the village.I stood up and walked around the room, inspecting every room, but found no one.At this time, I saw that they had brought in my luggage and put it on the chair.Crickets chirped one after another in the stove.I think there should be no doubt about the kindness and hospitality of this family. Although they are a bit weird, it seems that I will have to stay at their house tonight.I made up my mind and went out to the yard.Under the moonlight, there was nothing in front of them except rice fields that could not be seen at a glance, and the whole village fell into a deep sleep.There was a man sitting on the rock that I had sat on during the day in the yard. I approached and saw clearly that it was the old man. "You have to go by yourself, I can't help you. I went there just now with the strength of wine, but I was thrown out, and my legs were broken, ouch! ouch..." He bent down and hummed in pain. I was a little overwhelmed, wondering if he had broken his leg.I asked where his son and daughter-in-law had gone, and did he want me to call them?The old man waved his hands vigorously and said, "Never, never."He groaned again for a while, as if recovering. "My son is young and energetic, and he is still fighting with them over there. Those guys are all holding hoes and two-toothed hoes, and we don't bring anything, just bare hands. Your third uncle, his weapon is a big Scythe, as long as I see that sickle, I will run away desperately. You think, how can my old bones be against him? Listen, my son is back, this good-for-nothing guy really pissed me off!" There were hurried footsteps outside, and the man went around to the back of the house. "He's too embarrassed to come in through the front door, he's terribly ashamed." "You said my third uncle was holding a scythe?" "Yes! He's over there. You've been there during the day. I don't think he can hurt you. Now try your luck." When I arrived at the cemetery, everything was silent, and the camphor tree I used as a symbol was nowhere to be found.I think, as long as I stay here, the third uncle will probably come to see me.I looked up, and the undulating graves were like cattle under the moonlight.Thinking of the scuffle just described by the old man, I dare not go any further. I sat on the edge of the cemetery for a long time, and nothing happened.Maybe the old man was talking nonsense?Thinking about it doesn't look like it.Bite the bullet and wait, it was almost midnight.I sat on the rock for a while and got up and walked for a while.The village has become very unreal in my eyes. Those high and low tiled roofs and those colorful exterior walls have lost the vulgar and ostentatious style in the daytime under the starlight, showing their extremely ancient connotations.I suddenly felt that maybe the person I was looking for was not the third uncle (probably he had been dead for a long time), but this strange old man, his unapproachable son, and the old man's daughter-in-law, two middle-aged Women, the crazy old man I met in the fourth house, the peasant woman I met first and her husband later, even the two little girls I met in the first house.Are they people in a different world than me?Perhaps even more incomprehensible is myself?In the eyes of so many people, am I already dead?How should one deal with a ghost?Was it their tacit belief that the only way to deal with ghosts like mine was to resist?Where did the dog bark? It was far away from here. There seemed to be many dogs barking at the same time. I thought the sound was very familiar. It was the dog barking in my childhood memory.Then, I went to the wrong place, this is not my hometown, this is a trap next to my hometown.I must get through the night before I go to my village.After making up my mind in this way, I went to the old man's house. When I returned to this house, I found that the door had been closed, and everyone in the house had probably fallen into a deep sleep.I turned to the bedroom and knocked on the window. I knocked and knocked, but there was still no movement. "They closed the door on me," I said sadly to myself.I sat down on the stone bench in the yard and dozed off, with my head resting on the trunk of the dead tree next to me, thinking sadly in my heart: "Why can't even trees grow here?" Then I became drowsy of.Even with my eyes closed, I can still see the big stars in the sky, and I can hear dogs barking in the distance.Because the posture is not suitable, it is always difficult to fall asleep, which makes it very uncomfortable.At some point in the middle of the night, the door swung open with a loud "wow".I saw the father and son running out one after the other. After they left, the door was still open.I took the opportunity to sneak into the house, fell down on the wooden sofa in the living room and fell asleep.The wooden sofa is very short, so I had to bend my legs and pray in my heart that I hope I can sleep well before those two people come back.I am so tired.In the dimness, I saw that the whole room was brightly illuminated by lights, and I also saw women sharpening knives and boiling hot water in the kitchen.Several times I tried to wake up without success.But the women finally spotted me, and the three of them stood around me by the couch, looking at me without saying a word.I had to sit up, but they didn't speak to me, and still looked at me with sad faces. "Dad, haven't they come back yet?" I asked. "Why are you here?" The three of them said together in a drawn-out cry. I figured they were all disappointed in me for something, and resented me for the disappointment.Maybe I shouldn't be in their house anymore, maybe they expected me to go to the cemetery with the old man and the son to fight a duel.It should be too late for me to go now.Really, how did I forget all about the mission I came here for?If I don't find third uncle, I will be speechless when asked by the boss, and my impression in the eyes of the boss will be finished.I stood up and walked out the door, the three women breathed a sigh of relief at the same time, and whispered: "He finally has a sense of responsibility." It's not that dark outside, but maybe it's pre-dawn.I looked back at the hut, it was really brightly lit, I wondered what the women were busy with.When I hurried to the edge of the cemetery, the old man and the son were lying on the ground moaning.When the old man saw me bending over him, he waved to me and said: "Over there, you go over there, you're with them. I can't stop those guys, and my son can't stop them." "There's nothing over there. You just let them go, why ask for trouble?" Hearing what I said, the old man stopped moaning and said with a sneer: "We are just not convinced, who can guarantee that they win every time? Open your eyes and take a closer look, isn't your third uncle there? Look, he slipped to the side of the vegetable soil. Hey, old guy, your My nephew is here! This trick is really good, and he is hiding." While the old man was speaking, the son had gotten up and walked home without saying a word.At this time, the old man proposed to go to the cemetery with me and let me see my own grave, and I readily agreed.I helped him walk towards the rolling graves.The old man said excitedly that he was with me, and those vicious guys hid.As he walked, he asked me if I saw my third uncle. When I said no, he was very disappointed and accused me of not looking hard enough.The old man asked me to stop in front of a dug-up grave, so I was facing the black hole. "Is this my grave?" "Yeah, everyone knows about it. The one next to it is your third uncle's, and your father's is behind. See how nice it is to stay together after death." He sat down on the dirt floor and smoked, as if all his wounds were healed.I wanted to tell him I wasn't dead, that I was alive, not a ghost, but I couldn't open my mouth.What is the use of such an argument?He only trusts his own experience.Just now he and his son were beaten to the ground and couldn't move. Now he and I are walking among the tombs, but nothing happened. What could be more convincing than this?But why on earth are ghosts afraid of me? "I work in the city, and I didn't know there was a grave for me in my hometown." I tried to discuss it with him. "That's because you didn't come back to take a look. When you came back, everything was exposed." He said calmly, "Your third uncle is a tenacious old guy. Every time he insists on knocking me down. You noticed that we Is there any difference between the village and the outside?" "What's the difference?" "That's it, stand up and take a look. Do you see clearly? The dead and the living are divided into half, and the old camphor tree is the boundary. We each have our own territory. For decades, we always have to fight each other." Don't let it go. You saw it during the day. There are no trees in this village, and the harvest in the fields is not good. This is a battle between the dead and the living. Just now we were battered, and when you came, they all behaved That's right, they haven't gotten used to the smell on your body, they will get used to it after you stay here for a long time. It's not easy, this time, we sent you so many telegrams before you came back." "Telegram me?" "Yes. You don't know, do you? It's all telegrams received by your boss. He is my second son." He laughed dryly.The village floated before my eyes, and there were so many secrets hidden in these farmhouses, they entered the sea of ​​nothingness, and they came towards me like a ship, as if to crush me.Perhaps, nothing can really be forgotten, anything.I thought of my bespectacled boss, who did look a lot like the old man's dour older son.As the son of "Snake Island", it turns out that my hometown has never forgotten me at all. It turns out that I live in their original memory every moment.Who is this old man in front of him?In such a big village, he was the only one who came out to receive me, and I didn't even ask his name.I sat on the edge of my grave thinking about these things, and during this strangely long night I lost my grip on myself.Who knows what will happen tomorrow?Thinking about it this way, I no longer worry about it.Along the night wind came the crying voice of the old man's son: "Daddy --" the voice was hoarse and angry. I couldn't see the expression on the old man's face, but I knew he was indifferent. "Do the math, how many years have you been away from the village?" "Thirty-one years. I thought I would never come back. It's so quiet in this cemetery!" "They're all hiding, probably because they're not used to you. Just now it was bustling like a big market. I come here every night to pass the time, and fighting with them is a common occurrence. The old people don't sleep much anyway. To tell you the truth, I haven't slept since this year. Look, your third uncle is here again, and he looks very ashamed; usually they are shy when they meet strangers, but you are not an outsider, you are with them, which is a bit Strange. Hey, where are you going? Don't run around!!" I ran back and forth between those graves, I wanted to get rid of the old man and meet my third uncle.I subjectively think that the old man blocked my sight so I couldn't see the third uncle.I ran for a long time, but there was no movement in this cemetery.There is a thin mist in the air, and some graves may be newly dug, and the smell of soil can be smelled.At this moment, this cemetery does not make people feel gloomy, but gives me a feeling of home.And no matter which direction I looked, I couldn't see the shadow of the ghost.The old man stood there alone, as if listening to something.I ran a long circle back to him, and suddenly understood one thing in my heart.I said to him abruptly: "You are my third uncle, right?" "It doesn't matter to you now, does it?" I thought about it and replied, "Yes." This is an endless night, I smell the breath of new soil, a deep boredom spreads from my bones to my whole body.When we were young, we tried our best to run out, as far away as possible, among strangers. At the same time, in the same place, a kind of process was going on irreversibly in the hometown, which was as thin and misty as smoke.The hometown that has undergone such changes has long been changed beyond recognition, and it is even more likely that there is no original face at all, and some are just hallucinations changed by forgetting. Of course, under the domination of hallucinations, I can’t recognize the third uncle.After all, who can recognize those people and things that have been completely forgotten by themselves?When I thought about it this way, my third uncle's silhouette seemed to be in a trance and wandered around in my eyes. That night in my third uncle's narrow bedroom, under the attack of mosquitoes, I had a long and endless conversation with him.It was night outside the window, and the third uncle's son was roaring angrily in the yard.I don't remember exactly what we talked about, it was a direct heart-to-heart exchange, and the sentences were mostly incoherent.Even after this kind of heart-to-heart confession, the image of the former third uncle has not been restored at all.Gradually, my stubborn desire to "check in" faded away, and the old man in front of me became a mottled portrait, an ancient, indistinguishable call...