Chapter 10 second quarter

Not long after entering elementary school, I moved to my father's house and started living here.I can't remember where I lived before.Those memories have disappeared from my memory along with my mother, leaving only a faint aftertaste. The only old images that barely remain in my mind are the fragments of memory left by the living environment that is completely different from that of my father's house.And those memories, too, have faded. I only vaguely remember that the room at that time was very small, only the size of four tatami mats, the wooden window frames on the windows were very rough, and there were still photos on the wall.The sun shone through the window into the room, shining on the mother, casting a long shadow.I don't know if it was because of the backlight or because I was too young at the time, but I always felt that the shadow of my mother was very big and long.I lay there and turned over, listening to my mother humming a lullaby.

Now, even though I have grown up and entered the society, I have never forgotten these ancient images and the lyrics of the lullabies. I grew up without a mother in elementary school, only my father, grandparents, and uncle lived with me. My house is at the foot of the mountain. Although the terrain is extremely sloping, my house has not been affected in any way, and it was built on a clearing in the forest.Although it is very old, it is still very spacious for five people, and more than half of the rooms are empty.There was a sloping downhill road in front of the house. It was very easy to pass by to go to school, but it was very difficult to climb up after school.From time to time, there are some terraced paddy fields on both sides of the slope, so in order to take a shortcut, I often go to school through the field path.Sometimes I would change course, rushing through bushes or strangers' yards to school.

At the fork on the road to school, there is a small and elegant small building like a Buddhist hall.It is said to be like a Buddhist hall, but in fact it is only as tall as a child's shrine. It is built among the trees, quietly hidden in the faint shadows. Inside the altar is a Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, whose body is wrapped in spider webs. You can clearly see the smooth surface of the Buddha statue when you get closer.The Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva has no eyes, not because someone pranked the eyes of the Buddha statue, but it was designed like this when it was first built.For foreigners, this must be very interesting.In our place, at least the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattvas seen within the scope of activities of elementary school students are all without eyes.

Although we are still primary school students, I think we have a little understanding of why the Bodhisattva of Earth Store must have no eyes. At that time, among the games that my friends and I often played, there was a game of hide-and-seek called "Blindfolded". First, guess who will be the ghost, and then blindfold the "ghost", and the "ghost" will catch the people who are running away with their eyes blindfolded.If the ghost is heading in a direction where there is no one, the escaper must clap his hands to the beat and sing "Mr. Ghost, this way, in the direction of clapping" to tell the ghost where he is.If caught by a ghost, the game is over, that is to say, the person who is caught is dead.

The above is an ordinary hide-and-seek game, in addition, there is another way to play it.The ghost is not blindfolded, but the fleeing one is blindfolded.People are often injured while running because the view is blocked.Usually when we play like this, we set the scope within the shrine.This shrine, which is only 5 minutes away from my house, is so dilapidated that even the gods don't want to come to stay overnight, but for us to play, the size is just right. When running away with your eyes blindfolded, you should not reach out to explore the road ahead, but run with all your strength.Whether there is a broken stone lantern in front of you or a protruding tree root on the ground, you cannot stop.Because as long as you are caught by a ghost, you will die.So there are two or three accidents every year, and either someone breaks a bone or someone knocks out a tooth.With nosebleeds, bruises all over our body and running away, we must be very abnormal in the eyes of others.But, no matter how horrific things happen, we repeat the game every day.Not only because this game is interesting, but also because of the influence of an ancient legend circulating here.Because of this legend, half of us are playing this game of hide and seek with a mentality of obligation and exercise.

Such a dangerous game should be absolutely prohibited, but it is inconceivable that no adult does it.Instead, those children who dare not run at full strength for fear of being injured in the run will be scolded by adults passing by.And the adults will force them to try their best to avoid the crazy ghost. Adults always say, "If you don't practice blindfolded escape well, you will be turned into stone by Ishime".People at the age of grandparents are reluctant to even mention the name Shimu.If you accidentally mention it by mistake, immediately put your hands together and bow respectfully to the top of the mountain several times.

Shimu is also written as "stone girl". He is the protagonist of a story that has been widely circulated in his father's hometown since a long time ago.I don't know when I heard it from whom, but in short, we children all know these stories unconsciously. There are stories of a mother whose dead child was called and turned to stone.Some stories say that people who lost their way in the mountains went to a passing house to stay overnight, and it turned out that there was Ishime's house.Some stories say that Ishime's eyes that turn people into stones are special eyes, and his real eyes are hidden in his bosom.There are also stories that if Ishime's real eyes were pierced, he would turn himself into stone because of the pain.

As I grow older, I gradually understand that these legends are not true.Maybe it's just a layer of warning and a cloak of lessons for some local history, a mythical story deliberately told to children. When they reached the upper grades of elementary school and learned about this inside story, the children who played this kind of hide-and-seek game gradually disappeared.Everyone started playing some more advanced games. The children of the same grade nearby became popular for fishing, so I had to go to the river together from time to time.At that time, there was a boy who fought very hard in this area, and everyone played around him.Not out of admiration for him, but because of the dire consequences of refusing his invitation to play.So when he started fishing, I had to follow suit.

The water flow was very fast, and large stones rolled freely in the water.Some children even climbed onto the big rocks protruding to the middle of the river and sat there to fish.The river water is very clear, and the stones protruding from the bottom of the river collide with the water, making a pleasant sound.However, I hate fishing.At that time, I always thought that it would be great if I could stay at home and paint without hanging any fish. That summer, just thinking about it like this, I slowly alienated myself from the circle of friends.In order not to be discovered by the boy who fought hard, I always pretended to enjoy fishing.

Throw the fishing line into the water, and then fix the fishing rod, making it in a state where the fish can be caught immediately, and then leave the fishing friends by saying that they are going to find earthworms elsewhere.Before I left, I did not forget to ask my friends to say, "If any fish is hooked, call me immediately", but no fish will be hooked, because I didn't put any bait on the hook at all. A little further along the river bank, there is a secret base known only to me. On the way, the road turned into an upward slope, and a cliff-like place with a certain distance was formed between the river surface and the ground. From there, my secret base was located.Even though it was a cliff, it wasn't high enough to jump off and die, but it seemed impossible to go down without getting hurt.But if you really muster up the courage to jump down, you will find that it is not so difficult to go down at that time, because there is just a landing at a suitable height below.However, there is nothing under the cliff, it is covered with moss, and it is a very small space. If you hang your feet into the water, it is just enough for a person to sit.

There is no wind at all here, and you will sweat just sitting quietly.The noon sun scorched the earth, casting chiseled tree shadows.I'm sitting in a secret base under a cliff.Because I had to use both hands and feet when I came down, the sweaty arms in short sleeves were covered with sand. It was only a few days ago that I was attracted to this place for the first time.That day I slipped and fell down.Probably more than half of the scars on my body are left when I climbed down this cliff.The elbow of his left hand was bleeding, and his heart was beating wildly in his chest.Looking up, you can see that there are small stones falling from the place where you just fell.What buffered the impact of my fall was a thick layer of moss, densely covered on the ground and the surface of the rocks, which had probably grown for dozens or even hundreds of years.Part of the moss fell off because of my impact and was washed away with the river.It can be said that this accident hurt both Qingmos and me. Without the moss, the wet black ground was exposed to the air for a long time.I carefully observed the ground that had just been covered with moss, and found a small piece of stone carving that looked like a hand buried there.When I dug out the stone carvings and observed them closely, the precise workmanship moved me, who was still a primary school student at the time.Although there is only a short section from the wrist to the fingers, it is certain that it was carved in imitation of a child's hand.Slightly long nails, fingerprints, veins of muscles and bones, and even lanugo.The chubby hands with the characteristics of a child seem to have swelled out of a stone, and it feels a little weird to the touch that it is not elastic. That hand didn't pose any poses, it just kept a very natural state.It gives the impression of being hesitant as if you are about to grab something.This always makes me forget that the hand is actually just a sculpture, and wonder if it will move at any time.And, even if it did move, I probably wouldn't be too surprised. I brought that stone sculpture back, and didn't tell anyone, but quietly regarded it as my own treasure. I drew this hand again and again, and my drawing skills have improved a lot, but I can't feel the excitement when I look at my paintings, the feeling that when I look at the stone, I feel that it will move at any time Excited.