Chapter 55 Chapter 55: Strange Sounds in the Firewood Room

To get to Seventh Aunt's house, you have to go through a deep alley.Seventh Aunt's home used to be a mill in the village, and the two large stone mills that require three or four people to turn are still there. Because of poor drainage, a muddy road in the alley has not been dried all year round. When it rains, water will accumulate in the alley and cannot be drained out. People walking through the alley have to choose a dry place with bumps and bumps. At the entrance of the alley, Zhang Ziheng frowned and said, "Master Yao, why are you carrying the stone slabs! The road is so bad, everyone wears cloth-soled shoes."

Master Zhang Yao also felt that this matter was really a matter.He clicked Ye Ziyan, thought for a while, and said, "Oh, by the way, aren't there two steles beside the well? Go and carry those two steles!" Zhang Ziheng called out: "Master Yao, those two steles? I'm afraid each stele weighs seven to eight hundred catties, and there are no five or six people, can you lift it?" Master Zhang Yao became anxious: "You can't do this, you can't do that, so what do you think you can do!" Zhang Ziheng said: "It's really impossible to carry Seventh Aunt's stone slab realistically. If the shoes are wet, at most dry it. If you forcefully lift the stone tablet by the well sill, whose fault is it if you vomit blood?"

Hearing what Zhang Ziheng said, Master Zhang Yao said: "Then hurry up and dawdle with a hammer!" As he said that, he walked into the alley first... Seventh Aunt's mill is a partial house in Woniu Village. At the back of the village, the house is built with a straw roof.Because the bamboo forest behind the house is very dense, the branches and leaves of the thick bamboo weigh heavily on the roof, which keeps the roof in a humid and dark environment, and the straw on it rots extremely quickly. Every year when the rice was harvested, the straw in the rice field had not had time to dry. The first thing Zhang Yaoye worried about was to urge Zhang Ziheng to call in a few strong laborers to rebuild the house for Seventh Aunt with fresh straw.

Seventh Aunt's door was locked with an old-fashioned brass lock.A black-lacquered plank door sits incongruously on a simple frame.The wooden door was carried by Mr. Zhang Yao from Jingwu Temple. In the year Jingwu Temple was destroyed by the rebels, Master Zhang Yao took down this wooden door from a meditation room, and it happened to be converted into a door for Seventh Aunt. A statue of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva with benevolent brows and kind eyes, sitting on a lotus platform, holding a red lotus, carved on the wooden door is faintly visible. The Bodhisattva statue was deliberately painted with a layer of chicken blood. If you don't carefully identify it, the Bodhisattva carved on the door panel looks a bit hideous from a distance. , but like a ghost with red eyebrows and red eyes.

Although the door was locked with a copper lock, Master Zhang Yao took out a key tied with a hemp rope from the crack in the brick beside the door without thinking, and opened the door with a creak. In Woniu Village, the keys to almost every household are placed in a crack in the brick next to the door frame.This has become a not-so-secret secret in the village.No matter who wants to borrow something from another house, if no one locks it at home, they can take the key from the crack in the brick to open the door, and leave after borrowing something. The same is true for greetings afterwards.

This kind of harmonious neighborhood relationship is a kind of harmony dissolved in the blood and bones. He opened the door with a creak and walked in. The light in the inner room was dim.Zhang Yaoye, Zhang Ziheng and the others were very unaccustomed to the sudden darkness for a moment, feeling as if they were suddenly covered with a black cloth.After getting used to this environment a little bit, you can see the belongings in the house clearly. The furnishings in Aunt Seven's house are extremely simple, a small square table, a few shabby bamboo chairs, and an abacus hanging on a wall.The only decent thing is a shrine under the front wall, which is extremely exquisite in workmanship, carved and carved with gold and bordered.The original wooden statue of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva enshrined in the shrine has disappeared, replaced by several pairs of white porcelain bowls and several earthen jars for storing oil and salt.

On the top of the shrine, which was originally the wall where the ancestral ancestral hall's relatives and gods should be posted, there is a portrait of the great leader Chairman Mao posted upright.The portraits are friendly and lifelike.The four corners of the portrait were nailed, and each nail was padded with a small square of paper folded squarely. Although the house was dilapidated, it was kept clean and tidy by Aunt Seven. Aunt Seven is a woman who is very good at housekeeping. There is a side door in the inner room, through which there is a small courtyard.In the courtyard is a water tank carved out of bluestone, which is full of clear water, and the clear water is covered with green moss.Exquisite relief images of the twenty-four filial piety are carved around the outer wall.

Zhang Yaoye walked around the water tank twice with his hands behind his back.A foot-long red-tailed carp poked its head out of the water tank, spat out a mouthful of blisters, then sank down with its tail wagging, looking at ease. The carp was raised by Chunming, and Aunt Seven was used to Chunming and helped Chunming take care of the carp.The two mothers regarded this carp as a living treasure. Normally, Chunming and a few playmates would dig some earthworms to feed this red-tailed carp.This red-tailed carp also seemed to understand human nature. As soon as it heard the footsteps of Chunming and his playmates, it would emerge from the bottom of the water and wag its head and tail at Chunming like a child begging for food. It was very miraculous.

Zhang Yaoye patted the water tank with his hands, and said with emotion: "This is the only water tank left in Aunt Seven's house. It turns out that there are more than a dozen such water tanks in the village. Don't underestimate this water tank." , when the house leaks and catches fire, this water tank will come in handy.” Zhang Ziheng said: "I remember that there seems to be a water tank one size larger than this one on the empty dam of Jingwu Temple." Zhang Yaoye said: "I know that water tank. When I was young, I used to stand on top of that water tank and urinate. In the weather of May, Yellow and June, the monkeys around the monastery would drink water from the water tank. The little monk at Jingwu Temple treats those monkeys like brothers. When he is free, he takes dozens of monkeys around the mountain to play. Think about how majestic the little monk is with a large group of monkeys behind his buttocks. .”

Zhang Ziheng said: "Master Yao, are you bragging? That monkey thing wants to catch people with its claws." Zhang Yaoye said: "You know what a fart! Monkeys are very human. If you treat it well, it will treat you well. If you mess with it, it will definitely retaliate against you. Monkeys and people are the same Scheming, but just can't speak human words." Just as he was talking, there were several shrill chirping sounds from a closed firewood shed.Although the cry was not loud, Master Zhang Yao and the others could hear it very clearly. Zhang Ziheng whispered: "A monkey?"

Master Zhang Yao was also taken aback for a moment, and said, "Monkey? Where did the monkey come from?" Zhang Ziheng pointed to the firewood room. A few dumb boys also looked straight at the firewood room. Mr. Zhang felt strange, and said: "Is there really such a monster? Why do you say anything? I know that there has been no monkey in this area for decades." Zhang Ziheng whispered: "Didn't you just say that there are dozens of monkeys in Jingwu Temple?" Zhang Yaoye glared at Zhang Ziheng, and said viciously, "I'm talking about something from my childhood. A while ago, I either played sports or learned from Dazhai. I chased out all the sparrows flying in the sky, let alone monkeys. There will be no monkey hair." Zhang Ziheng said, "Maybe it's a mouse?" Zhang Yaoye said: "Maybe it's really a rat, I'm overwhelmed." As soon as the words were finished, there were two more "ji-ji-" calls from the firewood room. This time Zhang Yaoye and Zhang Ziheng really heard them. "It's definitely not a mouse!" Zhang Ziheng said nervously immediately. Zhang Yaoye gestured vigorously to Zhang Ziheng to keep quiet, then turned around, found a stick in a corner, and tiptoed towards the door of the firewood room. Zhang Ziheng and a few stunned boys stood still in place because of their nervousness. Zhang Ziheng reminded Master Zhang Yao in a low voice: "Master Yao, be more careful, if you really can't do it, run away." When Zhang Ziheng reminded him like this, the foolish boys really wanted to run away.All of them had stiff facial muscles, their eyes were fixed on the woodshed door, and their calves were trembling.