Chapter 22 21 Hou Zhongquan old man

When Hou Zhongquan was young, he was not like this. The old people in the village can still remember what a smart boy he was in the village when he was in his twenties.His family was decent at that time, with nineteen and a half acres of land and three tile-roofed houses.He studied in a private school for another two years, and he could read a lot of words.He likes to read songs and plays, and those stories full of loyalty, filial piety, righteousness, joys and sorrows once confused him.He was intoxicated in those heroic women, loyal ministers and righteous servants, and vigorous plots.He often told these stories to his neighbors, and many young people surrounded him.He learned to sing again, pretending to be someone else.During the Chinese New Year, everyone in the village wanted to see him, so they loved to watch his plays, and his father couldn't stop him.He also begged the most beautiful girl in the village and gave birth to a fat boy. His parents were overjoyed.But there was a famine that year, and they borrowed three stones of grain from his uncle Hou Dingchen's family, and they managed to get by.The second year's interest was not paid back.Hou Dingchen didn't force them to ask for a bill, but often asked his wife to help with needlework. They didn't have anything to say, and it's not easy to have opinions. This is human favor!It's my own family again, let's go, let's go.It's only because his daughter-in-law is also flirtatious, and she hooked up with Hou Dingchen's eldest son, Diancai.Hou Zhongquan heard a word or two of the wind, called his daughter-in-law back without asking any questions, beat her up, and wanted to divorce her, the daughter-in-law felt wronged, and jumped into the well at night in a fit of anger.When Diancai saw the death of his beloved woman, he was so angry that he instigated the woman's natal family to file a lawsuit with him.He spent two months in prison and paid six acres of land before he settled the case.Father was so angry that he fell ill and died at the end of the year, without even the money to buy a coffin.His mother asked him to go to his uncle's house to borrow money again, but he refused, so he got angry to celebrate the new year, so his mother went to borrow ten strings of money to bury his father.He couldn't bear the suffocation at home, so he went outside to help others pull camels, running in the desert for years and months.At first, he fantasized about going to another country and returning home with a fortune.But the endless white clouds, the endless sand dunes, the moon waxing and waning, wild geese flying back and forth... For five years, Hou Zhongquan's blue cloth jacket was worn out, and the old sheepskin jacket had no sleeves. Bringing the letter, my mother was lying on the kang waiting for him to go back and die.He had no choice but to walk home.Someone else was already living in the family, and my mother moved into an earthen house behind the ruined temple.His white and fat child became a thin and black little monkey.Mother was happy to see him back, and her illness became lighter.When my mother was able to get up on the kang, he fell ill.Mother watched over him, asked God for divination, and found a doctor for him. She didn't know where the money came from. When he recovered from his illness, she realized that all the acres of land had been given to his uncle.But now he can't go anymore, he has to stay in the village to farm for others.At this time, both Dingchen and Hou Diancai died, and his second son became the family.Hou Diankui went to find him and said, "We are still uncles and nephews. Whatever our elder brother did, forget it. Let the undead come back to life. Now your land is in the hands of the old man and you are in debt. It's only because of your bad luck." .You have to support your mother and your son. You should plant the original land, and you can rent it to me for a few shi a year." He lowered his head, agreed without saying anything.Moving to Hou Diankui's two dilapidated houses was for the sake of the whole family, and they didn't ask for money.From then on, Hou Zhongquan no longer sang operas or told stories.For many years he hid from the villagers, and spent all his labor on the land.He wants to forget his past while working, and he wants to numb himself while working.Throughout the year, Hou Diankui often came to him, and he often went to help.He doesn't want to worry about these trivial things anymore, and he will do what he can do.My mother also often went to help with cooking and sewing.After autumn, they also took the good grain and ate some bad ones themselves.Hou Diankui always asked him to owe some rent and gave them back a few tattered clothes so that they would thank him.Hou Diankui is a believer in Buddhism and often persuades him to convert to the Emperor of Heaven; when there is someone who speaks good books at home, he goes to him.Sometimes he felt a little comforted, and sometimes he even resented the sky, feeling that it was too unfair.At this moment, as if to punish him for this resentment, his child died of smallpox again.His life was even more lifeless, and it seemed that there was no such person in the village.It wasn't until his mother found a daughter-in-law for him that he had contact with people again.This daughter-in-law is not beautiful, and she doesn't know how to say it. He is also very ordinary to her.But this poor woman stabilized him with her hard work and kindness.He had another child, and he was slowly returning to a peaceful life in the past.He no longer hides from people and even tells stories sometimes.However, he no longer talked about the generals of the Yang family, nor did he talk about Su Wu shepherding sheep, but he only talked about some karma from Hou Diankui, and used the doctrine of extremely superstitious fatalism to persuade people to do good.He has surrendered to fate, forgiven all the harsh treatment and forgiveness, and attributed all the suffering to his own fate.He greeted the future with a feeling of redemption.He can live any kind of life calmly. He has lived like this for decades. His whole family is working hard, and they can't get enough to eat, but they can't starve to death either.Not only was his labor exploited, but even his spirit and emotions were deceived and captured by vampires.He became a dear old man, and he often became a ridiculous old man.

In the spring of this year, everyone fought against Hou Diankui, and many people came to him and asked him to come out to settle accounts.He refused, he said that he owed them in the previous life, and he wanted to get it back, and he would have to change into a cow and a horse in the next life.So later he forcefully returned the one and a half mu of land that was given to him.This time he still had the same thinking as before. The Eighth Route Army was a good idea, but after thousands of years, he knew from all the books he had read and heard that there were no poor people who were in charge of their families.Zhu Hongwu was born in a poor family, and he used the flag of the poor, but he became emperor, and he was fine for the first few years, but then changed, not for his own group, but for the common people.He saw that some young people in the village didn't think long term, just focused on the present, and followed Ba Lu to coax them, but he was sweating for them.So he didn't allow his son to get close to these people, and if something happened, he would take the lead by himself, thinking that for a person in his sixties, it doesn't matter if something bad happens, he has never done anything wrong in his life, and he is not afraid of seeing the king of hell.But he doesn't express his thoughts on his face, and when people agree, he just twirls his beard and smiles.He understood that one hand could not hold back the flood that burst the embankment; but he did not expect that the overflowing flood would rush to his house, and even himself would be drowned.