Chapter 7 chapter Five
I should not forget these things.
I was born in a family named Liu in Xishan, south of Beijing.The earliest recorded name of the village is "Xianxin Village".Aunt Bao taught me to write the words "Xianxin Village" on the stone slab.The Liu family has lived in Xianxin Village for more than 600 years. They have made ink for generations and sold it to merchants in the past.
Our home and workshop are all vivid, and I seem to be standing at the gate of the courtyard.My home is in the Zhutou alley, the east end of the alley is close to the place where the pig's head is sold in the market.The pig's head alley passes through the field, going north, past the original location of the famous Undead tree.Going forward, the alley is getting narrower and narrower, and there are people from house to house on both sides.There is a terrace at the head of the alley, and a steep valley at the end.Aunt Bao said that the table was made by a general thousands of years ago.This man daydreamed that the mountain was full of jade, so he ordered people to dig down, dig and dig, and dig.Men, women, and children all worked tirelessly for his dream.When the general died, the children at that time became hunched old men, half of the mountain was hollowed out, and the earth and rocks were piled up here, forming this platform.
To the back of our yard, the terrace becomes a cliff.If you fell headlong, you would fall to the bottom of the valley.The Liu family used to have 20 mu of land behind their house, but for hundreds of years, the cliff collapsed when it rained heavily, the mountains and rivers roared, and the soil erosion became more and more serious. The cliff ditch got wider and deeper every year. .Every ten years or so, the 20 acres of land became smaller, until finally, the cliff approached the back of our house.
The ever-increasing approach of the cliff taught us all to realize that we have to look back from time to time to see what awaits us in front of us.We call that cliff ditch "the end of the road".
There are more than 30 people, old and young, living inside the courtyard wall, half of them are our Liu family, from the landlord to the tenant, from the old lady to the youngest niece, there are people in various professions.The Liu family has four sons, and Jin Sen, whom I call father, is the eldest.My cousins are called father and uncle, followed by uncle and second uncle, and their wives are called aunt and second aunt.When I was young, I used to think that my parents were the eldest because they were tall.The uncle and the second uncle are also big-boned, and so is Gao Ling.For a long time, I couldn't figure out why I was so short.
The younger uncle is Lao Yao, the most favored youngest son, named Liu Husen.He is my real father. He had an engagement with Aunt Bao long ago, but unfortunately he died unexpectedly on the wedding day.
Aunt Bao was born in a larger town in the surrounding hilly area. The name of the town was Zhoukoudian, which was named after King Zhou of Shang, a famous tyrant in ancient times. ①
For nine hundred years, Aunt Bao's family has been practicing bone setting.This is an ancestral business.Most of his father's patients were workers who had fallen in coal mines or lime mines.He also healed other ailments if need be, but setting bones was his specialty.He didn't need to go to junior college to learn this trade, he followed his father when he saw a doctor, and his father learned it from his own father.The skill of setting bones has been passed down from generation to generation.The place where the keel is buried is also a family secret.The best keel is hidden in a place called "Monkey's Mouth Cave".In the Song Dynasty, one of Aunt Bao's ancestors found this cave in a deep valley on a dry river bed.After generations of digging, the cave has been dug deeper and deeper.Its exact location also became part of a family tradition, passed down from father to son, and then later, my father passed the secret to Auntie Precious, who passed it on to me.
I still remember the location of our secret cave, which is located between Xianxin Village and Zhoukoudian, far away from the caves at the foot of the mountain where everyone went to look for dragon bones.Auntie Bao took me to the secret cave several times, always in spring and autumn, never in summer or winter.We took the "end of the road", walked in the middle of the valley, far away from the cliff, and the adults always said that there were all kinds of shady and scary things over there.Sometimes we passed on the road with clumps of dead grass, broken china bowls, or dry branches. In my childhood imagination, they all looked like mummies, dead children's skulls, or women's dismembered bodies.Maybe there really are those scary things, that's why Auntie Bao stretched out her hand to cover my eyes so that I wouldn't see them.
*
When Aunt Bao was nineteen years old, one day in late autumn, two patients came to see the bone setter.The first one is a little doll from a family in Xianxin Village, and the second one is my uncle.Both of them brought endless pain to Aunt Bao and completely changed Aunt Bao's fate.
The crying doll is the youngest son of Boss Zhang, who runs the longevity material store. Boss Zhang was born with a burly back and made a fortune from natural disasters and man-made disasters.The outer layer of their coffins is carved with high-quality camphor wood, but the inside is cheap pine wood. They painted the pine wood, which is very bright in color and smells good.
It was this painted fake wood that fell off the shelf and knocked the child out of his shoulder and made him cry in pain.The daughter-in-law of the Zhang family was frightened and chattered hurriedly.Aunt Bao recognized the panicked woman.Two years ago, she was sitting in the shop of the bone setter, because a big rock fell from the sky for no reason and hit her eyes and jaw.Now she is back with her husband.Boss Zhang beat the child with his hand and taught him not to call.Aunt Bao said loudly to him, "Don't tell me the child's shoulder is broken, you still want to break his leg!" Boss Zhang looked at Aunt Bao with an angry face.Aunt Bao took the child and rubbed some medicine on his cheeks. Soon the child calmed down, yawned, and fell asleep.At this moment, the bone setter came and put his little shoulder back in place.
"What kind of medicine is this?" the coffin shop owner asked Aunt Bao.She refused to pay attention.
"It's all traditional Chinese medicine," replied the bonesetter. "A little bit of opium, a little bit of herbal medicine, and a special kind of keel, which was dug out from a secret cave in our family."
"Dragon bone?" Boss Zhang dipped his finger into the medicine bowl, and then wiped it on his face.He wanted to wipe Aunt Bao, but Aunt Bao stepped aside with a snort.He laughed and stared at Aunt Bao wantonly, as if Aunt Bao belonged to him and he would do whatever he wanted with her.
The Zhang family went out on their front feet, but my uncle limped in on his back feet.
He told the doctor that the horse had frightened him.On the way back to Xianxin Village from Beijing, he stopped to rest his feet. The horse startled a rabbit, and the rabbit started the horse again. The horse stepped on my uncle's feet and broke three of his toes. Uncle immediately rode the strong horse to Zhoukoudian, and went straight to the famous bone-setting doctor.
Uncle sat on an ebony chair and let the doctor look at his feet, while Aunt Bao was in the back room and could see him through the curtain.My uncle was twenty-two years old at the time, with a thin build.His facial features were very beautiful, his manners were comfortable, neither humble nor overbearing, although he was not dressed like those rich kids, he was clean and tidy.Aunt Bao heard him talking and laughing: "My horse was startled, and wished it could drag me straight to the underworld." At this time, Aunt Bao came in and said, "But God has eyes to take you away." Come here." The uncle was speechless for a moment.She smiled, and the uncle forgot the pain on his body.The moment Aunt Bao put the ointment mixed with keel on his feet, he decided to marry Aunt Bao.Aunt Bao said that the two of them fell in love at first sight.
I had never seen a photo of my biological father, but Aunt Bao told me that he was handsome and intelligent, but very shy, so that a girl could not help but feel tenderness when she saw him.He is like a down and out scholar, and one looks at him and thinks that one day he will be successful.If the imperial examination hadn't been abolished in the early years of the Republic of China, my uncle would have been able to pass the exam.
Early the next morning, my uncle came to see Aunt Bao and brought three bunches of lychees for Aunt Bao to enjoy.He peeled a lychee, and Aunt Bao tasted the white flesh inside in front of him.Both said that in the late autumn weather, this morning was really too warm.He asked Aunt Bao to listen to him recite a poem he just wrote in the morning: "Suddenly the words of meteors are spoken on my lips, as bright as the morning sun covering the sun, and I can't find it at sunset in a blink of an eye. I wish to follow the stars to the end of the world."
That afternoon, boss Zhang of the coffin shop sent a watermelon to Dr. Bonesetter. "Thank you very much. My precious son is already fully recovered. He is stronger than the other three children when he throws bowls."
Within a few days, the two of them split up to find a fortune teller, both wanting to ask if their birthdays were compatible with Aunt Bao, and if they were married, would there be any discrepancies.
The owner of the coffin shop found a fortune-teller in Xianxin Village.The master said that the horoscopes of these two people are very compatible, because Aunt Bao is a rooster and Boss Zhang is a snake, these two zodiac signs are the most suitable.The old man said that the number of strokes in Aunt Bao's name is also auspicious (once I remember Aunt Bao's name, I will write down the number of strokes).What's more, there is an auspicious mole on Aunt Bao's cheek, and the mole grows on the middle of the eleventh, which means that she is docile by nature and good at talking sweetly.The coffin shop owner was overjoyed and rewarded the fortune teller.
What my uncle was looking for was a sorceress in Zhoukoudian. The old woman's face was more wrinkled than the palm lines on her palm.When she saw it, she said something was wrong.First, there was the mole on Aunt Bao's face. She said that Aunt Bao's mole grew on her twelfth body. This mole pulled down the corner of Aunt Bao's mouth, indicating that her life would be miserable.What's more, the zodiac signs of the two are also very different. Aunt Bao is born with Fire and belongs to Rooster, while Uncle is born with Wood and belongs to Horse.The turkey bride will jump on the back of the Trojan horse and groom, pecking him to pieces. Aunt Bao's desires are endless, until she has to squeeze the uncle dry.The worst thing is, according to Aunt Bao's parents, Aunt Bao's birthday is on July 16th, but the goddess has a sister-in-law who lives near Aunt Bao's house, and she heard the news of the newborn baby on the 15th night of July Crying, the July 15th Ghost Festival is a day when wild ghosts are rampant.The sister-in-law also said that when the baby cried, the sound of "woo-woo" was not like a human voice, but like a ghost wailing.The sorceress also whispered to my uncle that she knew this strange girl very well, and she often saw her wandering alone when going to the market.She said that Aunt Bao did mental calculations very quickly and even argued with the peddler.She behaves perversely and has a stubborn personality. She also learned to read and write from her father who is a doctor, and she knows some magical and medical skills. She likes to ask questions and make her own decisions. It will definitely cause trouble to the upper body, it is better to find another marriage.
The uncle gave the witch some money again, not as a reward, but to teach her to change her mind.But the sorceress kept shaking her head, and the sorceress agreed to recalculate the calculation until the uncle paid out two pennies.She said that Aunt Bao often smiled, and when she smiled, the mole would be on the right side of the auspicious mouth.The sorceress checked Aunt Bao's birth date according to the horoscope, and the result was good. People who were born at Mao had the most kind personality.As for Aunt Bao's stubbornness, it's nothing more than a bluff. If she passes the door and is still ignorant, she will be punished as soon as she goes to the family law.What's more, her sister-in-law is the most gossipy woman who loves to tell tales, so don't pay attention to her words.The sorceress also sold my uncle a Hundred Treasure Talisman, saying that it can keep the marriage harmonious, drive away ghosts and avoid disasters, and can also cure hair loss.She also said, "Even with this Hundred Treasures Talisman, we must not have a happy event in the Year of the Dragon. The Year of the Dragon is not good for horses."
The Zhang family came to propose marriage first, and the matchmaker said that Aunt Bao and Boss Zhang were a match made in heaven, and boasted about the family background of the Zhang family, saying that the Zhang family was a famous craftsman handed down from generation to generation, and praised how rich their house was, with beautiful stone fish ponds in the back garden, and many wing rooms. The furniture inside is all made of high-quality rosewood, with a pure color, just like fresh bruise.The matchmaker also said that Boss Zhang was very generous and did not ask the bone setter to accompany her. Anyway, the girl used to be the concubine of the second room, so can I just give a jar of opium cream and a jar of keel as a dowry?This is not much, but it is of great significance, and it will not humiliate the girl's worth.
Doctor Bonesetter carefully considered Zhang's request.He is also older.In case something happens to me, what can my daughter do?Who else is willing to have his daughter?She was so willful and did her own thing. Her mother died early and never taught her how to be a wife.Indeed, if he had to choose, boss Zhang of the coffin shop would not be the most ideal son-in-law, but he didn't want to delay his daughter's lifelong event, so he told Aunt Bao about the coffin shop boss's visit to propose marriage.
When Aunt Bao heard this, she was very disdainful. She said, "That Zhang is too rude. Even if I eat bugs, I won't marry him."
The bone setter had no choice but to politely decline the matchmaker of the Zhang family, saying: "I'm really sorry, the little girl cried like a dick at the thought of leaving me, a useless old man." Although this excuse was clumsy, it made sense, but within a week, the doctor The Zhang family agreed to the uncle's marriage proposal, which made the Zhang family feel extremely humiliated.
After the news of Aunt Bao and Uncle's engagement came out, the coffin shop owner ran back to the Zhoukou store. Aunt Bao had just come back from fetching water from the well and was startled by him. "Who do you think you are? How dare you humiliate me and laugh at me so blatantly?"
"Who is humiliating whom? You want me to be your concubine and marry you back to serve your wife. I don't want to be a slave in this feudal marriage."
She wanted to leave, but Boss Zhang grabbed her by the neck and said he was going to strangle her to death. Then he grabbed her neck and shook her vigorously, as if he was going to cut off her head. Finally, he threw her to the ground and yelled at her. , full of swear words, and insulted Aunt Bao's dead mother.
Aunt Bao managed to catch her breath, and said with a sneer, "You can talk big and move your fists. Do you think that I will be afraid of you and feel sorry for you?"
Boss Zhang's answer will never be forgotten by Aunt Bao. He said, "It won't be long before I will make your life worse than death every day. You can't ask for death."
Aunt Bao didn't tell her father or Hu Sen about this.She felt there was no need to worry them.Besides, why should the fiancé be suspicious, thinking that she has done something wrong to Boss Zhang?Anyway, many people said that she was stubborn and made her own way in everything.Perhaps she was like that, fearing neither punishment nor humiliation.She is almost fearless.
One month before the wedding, my uncle came to Aunt Bao's room late at night.He said softly: "I want to hear your words like flying stars." Aunt Bao led him to the kang, and my uncle was busy enjoying the wedding ceremony.But when the uncle caressed her, Aunt Bao felt a cool breeze blowing over her skin, and she couldn't help but start to tremble all over.For the first time in her life, she felt afraid that she would not be able to bear this unknown pleasure.
The wedding date is set at the beginning of the Year of the Dragon.It was early spring and there was still ice on the ground.That morning, a master photographer who walked around the streets came to Zhoukoudian's bone setter's shop.A month ago, he broke his arm, and the bone setter helped him diagnose and treat him, so he agreed to take a picture of the bride on the wedding day for the consultation fee.Aunt Bao put on her best winter coat, with a high collar trimmed with fur and an embroidered forehead.The master asked her to keep staring at the camera. While watching, she thought that her life would be completely changed from now on. She was both happy and worried.She vaguely had an ominous premonition, but she couldn't explain it clearly.She tried her best to think about the better days in the future, but all she saw was confusion.
Before sending her relatives off on the road, Aunt Bao changed into a red wedding dress and a gorgeous phoenix crown, and put on a red hijab as soon as she left her father's house.The bone setter borrowed money to rent two mule carts, one carrying the escort for his in-laws, and the other carrying the bride's clothes, dowry and bedding.The bonesetter also hired four bearers to carry the bride, two grooms, a flute player, and two bodyguards in case of robbers.He prepared the best for his daughter: the most beautiful sedan chair, the cleanest car, and the strongest bodyguards, all equipped with live ammunition.A large cart contained the dowry he prepared for his daughter, a jar of opium, and a jar of keel, and the doctor only had the last jar of keel.He has repeatedly advised his daughter not to worry about spending.After the wedding, he can go to Houzui Cave again and dig more keel back.
Halfway along the way to see off relatives, two masked robbers jumped out of the woods.One of the big ones shouted: "The Mongolian bandit is here!" Aunt Bao immediately recognized that the voice was Boss Zhang of the coffin shop.What kind of joke is this?But before she could speak, the bodyguards dropped their guns, the porters dropped their burdens, and they all scattered like birds and beasts, throwing Aunt Bao's sedan chair on the ground, and Aunt Bao fell unconscious.
When Aunt Bao woke up, she saw Uncle's face in a blur.He was the one who carried Aunt Bao out of the sedan chair.She looked around, but saw that her dowry box had been looted long ago, and the bodyguard porter had long since disappeared without a trace.Then she saw her father lying in a ditch by the side of the road, his head and neck bent unnaturally, and the color on his face had long since faded.She is dreaming, isn't she? "My father," she whimpered, "I want to see my father." She struggled to hold her father's body, completely unable to understand how this happened.At this moment, the uncle picked up the gun dropped by the bodyguard.
He shouted, "I swear, whether you are a man or a ghost, I will take revenge on you for killing my bride like this," and he fired a shot into the sky, which startled his horse.
Aunt Bao didn't see the horse kick the uncle to death with her own eyes, but she heard a frightening sound, as if the sky was falling apart.Since then, she would think of this scene when she heard the sound of tree branches snapping, coal fires bursting, and even the sound of cutting watermelons in summer.
On that day, Aunt Bao lost her father and husband at the same time, and became an orphan and widow.She stared down at the corpses of her relatives, and muttered to herself, "This is a poisonous curse." For three days in a row, Aunt Bao stared at the corpses of her father and uncle without closing her eyes, filled with guilt.She spoke to the body and caressed the lips of the deceased regardless of taboos. The women in the family were afraid that the ghost of the unjust death would possess her, or they would stay at home and refuse to leave.
On the third day, Boss Zhang delivered two sets of coffins.As soon as Aunt Bao saw him, she yelled, "He is a murderer!" She first held up the fire chopsticks to beat him, and then patted the coffin and cried loudly.My uncle's brothers had to drag her away, and apologized to Boss Zhang, saying that the girl was crazy. Boss Zhang replied that seeing the woman so sad, it would make people sigh.But Aunt Bao was still heartbroken, so the women in the family had to tie her up with cloth strips from her arms to her legs, and let her lie on my uncle's kang. She was still struggling, like a butterfly trapped in a cocoon. The old lady poured her a bowl of medicinal soup, so Aunt Bao fell into a drowsy sleep. In her dream, she was lying with the uncle and became his bride.
When she woke up, she found herself lying alone in the dark. The cloth strips on her body had been untied, but her limbs were still weak.The room was silent.She looked around for her father and uncle, and when she came to the main hall, she realized that the body had disappeared, and had already been buried in Boss Zhang's coffin.She walked up and down the house, crying and swearing to follow them.She came to the ink-making workshop, looking for a rope, a sharp knife, or a match, so that she would die like her father and uncle, and not have to stay in the world to suffer such pain.Then she saw a pot of ink paste.She scooped out a spoonful and stretched it into the hearth, the ink paste burned hotter and hotter, caught fire, and burned into a spoonful of blue flames.She picked it up, tilted her hand, and swallowed it in one gulp.
The old lady was the first to hear the sound of thumping in Mofang, and then all the women in the family rushed over.Everyone saw Aunt Bao rolling on the floor, her mouth full of blood and ink, and a hissing sound coming from her throat. "It's like there are a lot of eels swimming in the mouth," said the mother. "She's better off dead."
But the old lady must save her.The night before yesterday, my uncle dreamed to the old lady, saying that if Aunt Bao died, the ghosts of the two of them would make a big disturbance in the house and take revenge on those who refused to show mercy to Aunt Bao.Everyone knows that the lingering ghosts are the scariest thing.Wrong spirits will make the room smell of corpses, the smell is unbearable, the tofu can be turned sour in a blink of an eye, and all kinds of insects are crawling on the walls of the haunted house.If there is a ghost in the house, you will not be able to sleep peacefully at night.
Day after day, the old lady applied a wet cloth soaked in ointment to Aunt Bao's wound.She bought keel bones, crushed them and sprinkled them on Aunt Bao's swollen mouth.Later she noticed that not only Aunt Bao's mouth, but also her stomach began to swell.
In the next few months, Aunt Bao's wounds gradually healed, and her belly grew bigger and bigger, like a gourd.She used to be very beautiful, but now, except for the blind beggar, everyone is afraid of her when they see her.Seeing that her life was safe, but she couldn't speak anymore, one day, the old lady said to her: "I have saved your life, where are you and your child going from now on? What are you going to do?"
That night, the uncle entrusted a dream to the old lady again. The next morning, the old lady said to Aunt Bao: "You have to stay and be a nanny for this child. The sister-in-law will say that this is her child and treat him as a child of the Liu family." Raised. When you meet people, you tell them that you are a distant relative from Beijing. You used to live in a nunnery. Later, the nunnery caught fire and almost burned to death. No one will recognize you because of your face."
In this way, Aunt Bao stayed.I became the reason she stayed, the only reason she survived. In 1916, five months after I was born, my mother gave birth to Gao Ling. The old lady forced her to say that I was her child, but how could my mother give birth to a second child five months apart?So the mother decided to wait.Nine months after I was born, in 1917, I picked an auspicious day, and it was Gao Ling's birthday.
The adults in the family knew the truth about our birth.Children only know how to do what adults want.Although I am smart, I am also dull.I never inquired about the truth, and I never wondered why Aunt Bao didn't even have a name.To others, she is the nanny, to me, she is Aunt Bao.It wasn't until I read her manuscript that I realized who she really was.
"I am your mother," the manuscript read.
I did not read the manuscript until after her death.But I do remember her telling me this in sign language.Her eyes are also speaking the truth.When it was dark, she told me in a clear voice, but I never noticed.Her words are like shooting stars, fleeting.