Chapter 4 Chapter Three
After walking out of the Li Family Valley, Grandpa has been worrying a lot.When they passed the ravine opposite the courtyard of their hometown, Li Wei asked his grandfather, "Junzhi, do you want to go home and have a look?"
Grandpa glanced at him, then at the looming old house in the depths of the bamboo forest opposite, sighed lightly, and shook his head very positively.
"Good guy, you're hard-hearted enough not to enter the house?" Zeng Yingui muttered behind him.
Grandpa listened, and sneered, but Zhang Qi knew him very well: "He, it's not that he is hard-hearted, he is afraid to go back, and his mother will have tears and snot when she sees him, and she will be even more reluctant. "
——In fact, no one present could see it, but Zhang Qi was the only one to point it out.
Seeing that his grandfather hadn't spoken, Zhang Qi leaned forward, swayed him with his shoulders, and said, "Okay, just like a girl—see what this is?"
Grandpa turned his head and saw him take out a chicken leg from his arms.Grandpa's eyes widened, he was very surprised: "You..."
"Don't think about it. When we were leaving in the afternoon, Mo Wan and I came out of the side yard of Li's house. She asked me if I was full. I still haven't eaten enough.' After hearing this, she turned around and ran to the kitchen, and when she came back, she stuffed this to me."
"Then why did you give it to me?" Grandpa asked puzzled.
"Hey, didn't I see that you were going to cry, I'll give you this first, and treat it as if you owe me." Zhang Qi made a very generous look, and handed over the chicken leg.
"I don't, I don't want to." Grandpa turned his head.
Seeing that his grandfather refused to take it, Zhang Qi smiled triumphantly, and was about to stuff the chicken leg into his bosom.Grandpa turned around suddenly and grabbed it.
"Boy, your aggressive trick doesn't work for me!" Grandpa stuffed the chicken leg into his arms, then shook his head, and walked to the front.Only Zhang Qi was left behind and told himself that he had been fooled, and everyone was amused by him.
Li Wei stepped forward to comfort him: "Good brother, I don't care about a chicken leg."
After all, the two walked towards the road hand in hand.
At that time, Jiangjin was a small county. If you want to go to Guizhou, you must take a train from the only railway station in the county (the railway was first built in 1876, and the story happened around 1936).
That was the first time Grandpa and Zhang Qi took the train, and it was also the first time they traveled far.When the train drove out of Jiangjin County, they were all deeply attracted by the scenery outside the window.The trains at that time were not as rigid as they are now, and all the windows could be opened and closed freely.With Zeng Yingui's help, grandpa opened the window of the car beside him and squeezed Zhang Qi aside.He cast his eyes on the scenery passing by outside the car window, and in the shadows of the trees that hadn't had time to see clearly, he unexpectedly saw Mo Wan's smiling face.That face was pasted on his forehead like a talisman, no matter what or where he wanted to see, he had to look through that face.
Grandpa felt that he was possessed and shook his head desperately.
When the train drove into Guizhou, Grandpa's arms were a little sore from the weight of Zhang Qi who was sleeping soundly beside him, and he pushed Zhang Qizhong's head.After that, I saw Lin Zi sitting next to him.
Several people in the group were already extremely sleepy, and fell asleep in various ugly postures.Only Lin Zi was still tinkering with a bronze mirror.
Just when Grandpa was watching it intently, Lin Zi caught his gaze.He glared at his grandpa, stuffed the mirror into the package, hugged the package tightly into his arms, pouted his mouth again, fell on the seat and began to close his eyes and meditate.
To be honest, at the beginning, grandpa hated him very much. He always felt that he looked like no one was paying attention to him and spoke coldly.Later, grandpa discovered that although he was young, he was the most capable member of the funeral band besides Yu Guangcai and Li Wei.Also, the strangest thing is that everyone seems to have reservations about him when things happen.
"What are you looking at?" Zeng Yingui said suddenly, which made Grandpa tremble with fright.
"nothing."
"I see you're always staring at Lin Zi, do you think he's weird?" Zeng Yingui seemed to have something to say.
Grandpa didn't say anything, just nodded.
"Come here, smoke a cigarette with me, and I'll tell you the ins and outs of this."
After finishing speaking, Zeng Yingui got up and walked towards the junction of the carriages, where there was a place exclusively for passengers to smoke.Zeng Yingui buried his head in lighting the cigarette and threw away the matchstick.He said: "In fact, Linzi is quite pitiful. He is the only one left in his family."
"You mean, he is an orphan?" Grandpa was a little surprised.
Zeng Yingui nodded, exhaled a puff of smoke, and said: "His mother died in the second year after giving birth to him. He used to have an older brother, but he suddenly fell ill five years ago, because he had no money for medical treatment, and later died too. "
"What about his father?" Grandpa asked.
Zeng Yingui snorted and said, "Speaking of his father, there is a strange thing going on."
Grandpa knew that Zeng Yingui's chatterbox had been opened, and the following story had whetted his appetite before it even started.
"Speak quickly!" Grandpa urged. Zeng Yingui took another deep puff of cigarette and said, "Lin Zi's family is not rich, just like you and me. His father is actually a drummer in a mourning band, named Lin Zhong. Hehe, you may have heard it too. It’s not a good name. Lin Zhong Lin Zhong sounds like it doesn’t have a long life. This Lin Zhong knew his master in the early years. They once joined a mourning band, and the master was not very old at that time. Although the two only had We meet once, but we are very close. Every time we meet, we feel like reuniting with old friends, and we must have a few drinks. But there is a problem in Linzhong, that is, he likes the eldest son Lin Shan very much—that is, Lin Zi's elder brother. Although he ran funerals outside and worked as a drummer, he never let Lin Shan learn these things. Lin Zhong spent all his savings on Lin Shan and asked him to study hard. As for Lin Zi , since he learned to walk, he has been running around with his father, so even though he just joined our funeral band and is not very old, he knows a lot about these things." Seeing Zeng Yingui stop, the grandfather said: "His father is a bit biased." Zeng Yingui did not answer him directly, and continued: "Actually, Lin Zi never hated him in his heart. At that time, he heard from his master that Lin Zi himself was very interested in our business, and pestered his father every day to ask questions. I have seen and heard a lot while staying in this mourning band, but I am often left speechless by Lin Zi's questions." "Well, what happened afterwards? What happened to his father?" As soon as the grandfather asked, he looked back at Lin Zi vigilantly to make sure that he hadn't noticed before turning around and continuing to listen to Zeng Yingui. "Don't worry." Zeng Yingui threw away the cigarette butt, and continued to tell Lin Zi's story, "Actually, this whole thing should start when his brother bumped into Huo Shawei by mistake five years ago. Speaking of Huo Shawei, originally It is a taboo position when burying people. If it is buried in this place, the descendants will probably die short. Five years ago, Lin Zi’s elder brother went to the funeral with his father, Lin Zhong, on vacation from school. The family that did the funeral was also rich People have to light the lamps five miles away, and they have to visit the city for two hours on the day before the funeral. Anyway, all kinds of etiquette must be done. In this way, people in need will naturally be indispensable. After Lin Zi's brother joined the funeral band, he Under the instructions of several seniors, I started to help. There are many details that need to be paid attention to at this funeral. If the deceased died not normally, like the second young lady of the Li family, it would be even more troublesome. In those few days At the funeral, Linzi's elder brother always listened to his seniors. He clearly distinguished what should be done and what should not be done, and nothing went wrong. When the deceased was buried, he followed the Eight Immortals who carried the coffin. , go to the selected acupuncture point. I don’t know which gentleman found that acupuncture point. It’s far away from the house. Eight people carried the big coffin and were out of breath. Originally, there were people on the way to carry the coffin. There are many taboos, especially in the section of the road from the house to the acupoints. The coffin cannot be put down in the middle. If the earth's atmosphere gets in the air, these eight people and the descendants of the deceased will be in bad luck. Because they are all mountain roads and the roads are narrow , although the family had sent servants to repair the road beforehand, the twists and turns of the dirt road still made it difficult for them to move forward. When the eight people carried it for almost half a mile, the person in the lead suddenly slipped and almost He fell down the valley. Lin Zi's elder brother was following him at the time. He reacted quickly and quickly helped the coffin up. Fortunately, the coffin did not touch the ground. But just such a sprain, the servant's foot was injured. Can't stand up. The eight people who carry the coffin are indispensable, let alone the one in the front row. That is the most important thing. His foot was injured, so he had to find a replacement. The people are all the old people and children in this family. You look at me and I look at you. In the end, it was Lin Zi’s elder brother who took the initiative to take the burden from the family member’s shoulders and followed the Taoist priest.” "The result? You went to Huosha position?" Grandpa asked puzzled. Zeng Yingui shook his head: "Actually, this has nothing to do with Brother Lin Zi. If someone else was carrying the coffin, he would have been harmed. After finally getting to that place, he found the acupoints. The Taoist saluted and asked the Eight Immortals to put the coffin. Lin Zi's My brother was the first one. As soon as he walked over the acupuncture point, his whole body trembled, and he felt that his head was beginning to lose control. At that time, he thought it was because the coffin was too heavy and he was weak, but when The coffin was buried in the ground, and after returning home, I realized that it was not that simple. Strange to say, before the burial, I found a rooster, cut a knife on the neck, and threw the rooster into the grave. The rooster would flop around in the tomb for a long time, and the corner where it died symbolized who the tomb would prosper. But the rooster died on the spot as soon as it entered. Linzi's brother followed his father back home. When I entered the door, my chest felt uncomfortably hot, as if being burned by fire, and slowly, the heat spread from my chest to my whole body, as if my whole body was burning in a stove. Father Lin Zhong thought he was sick, I saw many doctors, but nothing worked. Later, Lin Zhong discovered the strangeness and asked around, only to find out that the tomb chosen by the family not only fell on the position of Huo Sha, but most importantly, moved Tai Sui!"
"Move Tai Sui? I often hear people say this, what is going on?" Grandpa asked. Zeng Yingui said: "Generally, when burying, you have to find a good yin and yang gentleman to check the location. First, you can find a geomantic treasure land, and you can prosper your descendants if you bury it in the right place. Second, you can avoid some evil places, even if it is not good luck. There will be dangers. However, there is a problem with the burial place this time. Not only is it buried on the Huo Sha position, but it is also buried on the Tai Sui position. Usually, before the burial, Tai Sui is drawn to avoid Tai Sui. As the saying goes Well said, who would dare to break ground on Tai Sui's head? The choice of this position must have been tricked by that Feng Shui master to intentionally harm people." Grandpa listened and nodded. It seems that there are still many things to ponder.After thinking about it, he asked, "Then what happened to Lin Zi's brother?" "After Lin Zhong learned of this situation, he asked around for capable masters. But no matter how capable a master is, he can't resolve it after committing Tai Sui. Lin Zi's elder brother died within five days." Zeng Yingui Shaking his head, he was very sorry, "It is said that the lips and mouth were rotten when he died, as if he was burned by fire." Hearing Zeng Yingui's narration, Grandpa seemed to have imagined the tragedy of brother Lin Zi's death.He gasped and heard Zeng Yingui continue talking. "This incident caused Lin Zhong a lot of blows. He warned Lin Zi that this is the end of not being good at learning. He told him to study hard in the future, otherwise he would not know if he was tricked." "No wonder, Linzi can understand so much." Grandpa said. "Not only that, didn't you find out that in our team, we didn't let him know a lot of news? Not only was he eager to learn, but he was also very hard-hearted, just like the day you met Mrs. Li's body in the Gourd Valley During the process of leading the corpse, without saying anything, he stepped forward and pasted a piece of talisman on the forehead of the corpse, which is a way to make the dead never reborn." "I think he must hate these things that make trouble after death." Grandpa deduced. Zeng Yingui nodded and said, "After Lin Zi's elder brother died, his father Lin Zhong couldn't bear the blow and finally went crazy." "Ah? Crazy? Didn't you say you're dead?" Grandpa asked. Zeng Yingui sneered: "This is just a precursor. After he went crazy, Lin Zi never went out, and he stayed with him every day. Lin Zhong became supernatural. He often told Lin Zi that he met a fairy, a fairy Taught him a lot of spells, such as being able to see through the future of people, heal people's diseases, and often say some things that Lin Zi didn't understand. What happened before. The master listened to Lin Zhong's nonsense all day long, but he couldn't figure it out. Then he simply stayed at Lin's house. Three months later, when Lin Zhong woke up one morning, he was inexplicably healed , not only recognized Lin Zi, but also called out the name of the master accurately, and even recalled the process of the two getting acquainted. The master asked him what happened in these three months. He said that he saw a white beard The Taoist has been sitting on a cloud and lecturing to him, over and over again. At that time, he still remembered the content clearly in his dream, but he forgot it when he woke up. The master was very happy and said that he had been waiting for him for a long time when he woke up. The two of them are going to have a good drink these few days. But Lin Zhong asserted that the master would not stay there for long. The master was very surprised and asked him why he was so sure. Lin Zhong couldn't tell the reason, so he just told the master, Within three days, someone in the master's family will die of illness. The master was very surprised, and after waiting for another three days, he received the news that his father died of illness." "No way? Is he really so magical? Could it be that he was enlightened by a fairy when he was insane?" Grandpa asked. Zeng Yingui shook his head and said, "I can't explain this clearly. Even the master can't see a clue. I just listen to it and can't draw a conclusion." "Then what happened in the forest?" "later……" In the middle of Zeng Yingui's speech, he heard the sound of the train arriving at the station.He hurriedly pulled his grandfather back to his seat, packed up all the packages he was carrying, and started queuing up to get off with the flow of people. After getting off the train, everyone regained their spirits.Zhang Qi looked at the scene in front of him and was very surprised. Li Wei pointed to the green hills in the distance and said, "The mountains here look greener than those in Chongqing." "In addition to being called Fanjing Mountain, this mountain has another name - Three Valleys." Yu Guangcai said. "A valley formed by three mountains?" Zhang Qi asked puzzledly, "I don't think it looks like this, but the rocks here are very strange." "This is still a sacred place of Taoism. Let's go, find out how to get to Gujiawan." After finishing speaking, Yu Guangcai led the crowd out of the station. "Master, what is the situation this time?" Zeng Yingui chased after him and asked Yu Guangcai. Yu Guangcai said quietly: "In the Gujia Bay at the eastern foot of Fanjing Mountain, there is an old man named Gu Jingtian. He had given birth to four daughters in succession before, and finally gave birth to a son last year. In the end, he was born without feet. After that, the whole village seemed to be under a curse, and all the males who were born after that had only legs but no feet." "Ah? So strange?" Zhang Qi was frightened by Yu Guangcai's words and stopped, as if he didn't dare to go to Gujiawan. "What does that have to do with the salvation of dead souls?" Zeng Yingui asked. Yu Guangcai smiled and said, "We'll know about this when we get here."
Gujiawan is a strange village. This is the first impression that Gujiawan gave to grandpa.The buildings here are obviously different from those in Chongqing. Most of their houses are built of wood, some with hanging feet and some with flat foundations.As far as the terrain of Gujiawan is concerned, it is tightly clamped by two mountains, forming a canyon. In the canyon, all the houses are arranged in a line, winding from the valley mouth to the valley end. "Look at the style of these houses, they are obviously different from ours." Li Wei looked around. Yu Guangcai nodded, but did not speak. "Besides, this place is very strange. You see, there is a peach tree in front of almost every house." Luo Qi said, as if finding something wrong again, she took a deep breath and said, "Look, these The peach trees have basically been pruned, and the branches are very neat, and the people here seem to cherish these trees very much, a circle is built with stones under each tree, and they are carefully maintained for fear of being hurt." "You said, do they all believe in peach trees here, and regard peach trees as their gods?" Zeng Yingui asked with a low eyebrow, "I went to a village in the north before, and they never used mirrors, saying that mirrors are monsters." His words made Zhang Qi very excited, and he quickly asked: "Where? Did something strange happen again?" Zeng Yingui rolled his eyes at him and ignored him.Grandpa followed behind with a smile, thinking that fortunately he hadn't heard Lin Zi's story, otherwise he would have broken the casserole and asked the truth. "Let's go, they are waiting for us in front." Yu Guangcai said sullenly. After hearing this, everyone raised their heads and looked forward, only to see about 20 people standing upright less than 50 meters ahead, and they were all wearing blue coats.Everyone just looked at Yu Guangcai and the others without moving, without even a slight change in expression. "Why do I feel a little... hairy?" Luo Qi said, everyone turned their heads to glance at her, and had to walk forward one after another. As soon as he got to the front of the group, the people suddenly started whispering. "We are..." Yu Guangcai was about to introduce his background to everyone when an older man squeezed out from behind the crowd. He saw Yu Guangcai with a smile on his face.The smile seemed to be prepared in advance, stiff and rigid. The man took the initiative to hold Yu Guangcai's hand and said, "You are Master Yu, I can tell." "Are you... old Gu?" Yu Guangcai asked tentatively. The man nodded: "That's right!" "Hehe, your Gujia Bay is easy for me to find." Yu Guangcai said. After hearing this, Lao Gu was very sorry: "It's hard for everyone, it looks like you are tired, and there must be no lunch along the way, now follow me to the house, and I will ask my wife to get you some lunch." Grandpa was confused by his words, so he naturally understood that he was speaking the dialect of the people here.But the open-mouthed Zhang Qi saw that he couldn't understand, so he opened his mouth and asked, "Old Gu, what are you talking about?" After hearing this, Lao Gu didn't have an ugly expression on his face. He smiled and said, "Maybe you are not used to listening. I mean, let you go to my house to have dinner." Yu Guangcai quickly held his hand, turned to Zhang Qi and said, "He asked us to eat." Hearing this, Zhang Qi nodded his head thoughtfully: "So it's just eating." Several people were amused by Zhang Qi's appearance, smiled and followed Lao Gu to walk along the houses on both sides of the village towards the end of the canyon.The old house is just on the slope of Guwei, and beyond their house is the back mountain.This Guwei entrance is very small. Looking at the dense bushes above the entrance, one knows that there must not be many people walking here.The old house is no different from other buildings in Gujiawan. There is also a well-loved peach tree in front of the door, but this peach tree is more monotonous than other houses. There is basically no branch, only the A trunk was created. Grandpa followed behind them, looking at Gu's back, he was a little puzzled, he was only in his early fifties, how could he be so old? After entering the old house, his wife was standing on the right side of the door of the main room, with an apron around her waist, and when she saw grandpa and others stretching out her hands and rubbing them, she looked very nervous. Yu Guangcai cupped his hands and said, "I've seen my sister-in-law." Old Gu's wife smiled and said, "Sit down first, take a break, I'll go to the kitchen, and I'll be ready for dinner right away." After speaking, she turned and went into the kitchen. Several people rested in the main room for a while, and when they finished complaining on the road, Li Wei said first: "Old Gu, what happened to you here, what can we do to help?" Lao Gu lowered his head, took a deep breath, and his face became solemn.After a long time, he said: "Hey, you guys want me to tell you something, I really don't know how to start it, why don't you, let me tell you first, the peach tree at the door of each of our houses, I think you all know it too." very curious." Everyone moved their stools and leaned forward. "There is a custom in our place, which may seem strange to you. But this custom has been kept in Gujiawan for many years. It is the peach trees you saw when you entered the village just now. Everyone in our village moves here, and they have to plant a peach tree in front of the door. At the beginning, the peach tree has more branches, and when it grows slowly, it will be protected. From Le From then on, as soon as a baby girl is born in the house, one branch of the peach tree will be cut off, and two branches will be cut off if there are two..."
"Then what if it's all chopped up?" Zhang Qi asked probingly, and also imitated the old-fashioned tone. Old Gu smiled wryly: "Look at the tree at the door of our house, isn't it cut down? If only one trunk is left, it's up to the owner of the house to make a decision." , if you choose to regenerate, if you are lucky enough to give birth to a boy, then you can wait for the next spring to let the main trunk send out a branch. If you give birth to a girl again, it will be miserable, and you will not be able to carry it in this Gujiawan. Second, you will be punished by your ancestors, and you will not be able to enter the genealogy after you die. But fortunately, up to now, there is no one in the whole village where all the branches of the peach tree have been cut off." Several people did not speak, listening to Lao Gu continue to talk. "After careful calculation, the strange thing should have happened a year ago." Lao Gu said, got up from the stool and went to the door to take out a bag of dry tobacco, and handed it to Yu Guangcai and the others.Everyone was not very interested in the dry tobacco in his hand, and what they were looking forward to more was the story in his mouth.So they all waved their hands at him.After sitting back on the stool, Lao Gu continued, "A year ago, there was only the last trunk left on the roof of my house. People in the village often made fun of us. I discussed it with my wife for a long time and decided to have another one. It's like gambling. , I bet on the lives of our family. Fortunately, after being pregnant in October, the mother-in-law gave birth to a baby boy. At that time, I almost passed out with joy. But when the baby fell to the ground, I was terrified It’s silly, because this doll has only legs and no feet. And the missing feet have no wounds, no strange shapes, from the calf to the ankle, they are completely gone, and the cross-section is still very neat.” As Lao Gu was talking, a seven or eight-year-old girl ran over from the lobby.Seeing her, Lao Gu immediately showed a smile on his face: "Third brother, be careful, you will hit your head again later." The girl turned her head and stuck out her tongue at Old Gu, then ran into the house. "Very naughty." When Lao Gu said it, there was a smile on his face. Yu Guangcai took over the conversation: "It's rare, there is a girl who still likes it." "It's all born by myself, so there's no reason why I don't like it." After finishing speaking, Lao Gu continued the narration just now, "The boy is the fifth child at the head of our house, and he is in the back room. I will take you in every now and then. You can see it. After this situation happened, I was thinking, is this really a coincidence? I, Gu Jingtian, lived to be fifty years old and gave birth to four daughters. You have also seen that my family conditions are already It was very difficult, I finally gave birth to a child, and turned into a monster in the end!" The more Lao Gu talked, the more excited he became, his face flushed red.Grandpa sat on the side, hearing the creeps. He didn't know why, but when he heard what Lao Gu said, he thought of Mo Wan in the Li family's yard.She is the only daughter of Butler Mo, but Butler Mo loves her very much.In contrast, she is much happier. "Hey, after looking at it later, I got used to it. I thought it was just a coincidence. I didn't expect that since then, as long as the baby born after our Gujiawan is a boy, both feet will be cut off. It's very strange. " The old saying made everyone sigh. Zeng Yingui asked: "Are other children born without feet?" Lao Gu shook his head: "No, although they don't have feet, but there are wounds on their ankles, which are bloody." Everyone present was very puzzled. Grandpa glanced at Yu Guangcai, and saw that he also frowned, looking very puzzled. "Old Gu, we don't quite understand what you said, why don't you take us to see Lao Wu now." Li Wei said. Lao Gu extinguished the dry tobacco in the pipe, got up, and led everyone into the back room.Since the room there was not very big, after a few people entered, the room was almost packed to the brim.Zhang Qi, who reacted slowly, stood behind the crowd, tiptoeing very unwillingly, and kept asking what he saw. Grandpa followed Li Wei to the front, got into the curtain, and when he got to the bedside, he saw the puzzled fifth child.He was only one year old, and he was not afraid of strangers when he saw everyone, biting his fingers, his big eyes flickered, as if he was questioning everyone.Li Wei on the side seemed to be amused by his appearance, and couldn't help stretching out his hand to gently pinch his little face.Lin Zi took a look at Li Wei, squeezed forward, and tore off the small sheet covering Lao Wu's body.Everyone was frightened by his feet. The ankles were indeed neat, as if they had been chopped off with a knife before he was born, but the skin and flesh of the wound had completely healed, and no trace could be seen . "This is definitely not done by humans." Li Wei deduced, he turned his head and asked Yu Guangcai, "Master, what do you think?" Yu Guangcai nodded: "Of course not, this is caused in the mother's womb. The misfortunes and fortunes of a person's life are already determined in the fortunes at birth. No matter how hard the day after tomorrow, it can only avoid some minor disasters and misfortunes. , the appearance of this fifth child is mostly innate, you and I can't change it, as for the children of other families, I think there must be something strange in it." At some point, Old Gu's wife also entered the house.After hearing Yu Guangcai finished speaking, she said weakly behind her: "This afternoon, Gu Zhenrong gave birth to a son at the head of the house." Yu Guangcai said, "Okay, let's go and find out tonight."
Since Lao Gu's house was not big, the kitchen couldn't accommodate so many people when it was time to eat, so they simply welcomed them into the open-air dam. In Grandpa's memory, the moonlight was particularly bright that night.The moon was round, like a well-polished plate, just hanging above the heads of several people, looking up through the deep and narrow canyon, as if the moon only belonged to this canyon. At the dinner table, Lao Gu's two daughters were all present.I heard from Lao Gu that his first two daughters had married to other places and basically never came back.On the contrary, these two daughters are well-behaved. They stay at home and help their parents with things every day. After listening to him, Yu Guangcai showed an envious expression and said, "I really envy you." Lao Gu smiled wryly: "It's good now, my daughter is growing up slowly, no matter how much you like her, she will marry after all." Yu Guangcai smiled and said, "Don't be so pessimistic, no matter where she is married, isn't your ancient blood still flowing in her body?" When Lao Gu heard this, he really showed a smile. He nodded and said, "Oh, that's right. I can only take good care of them before they get married." After finishing speaking, Lao Gu took a piece of egg from the plate in front of his two daughters respectively.The eldest daughter looked at her father, twisted her butt, said nothing, and returned the piece of egg to Lao Gu. When Grandpa saw this scene, he suddenly felt his eyes were hot, and his eyes were filled with tears.At that time, he thought, he didn't know how his parents who were thousands of miles away were doing now.The last time the group ate all the meat at home, it must have been a shabby year. Lao Gu smiled awkwardly, and divided the egg into two halves, gave the big half to the eldest daughter, and swallowed the young half by himself.When he brought eggs to the little daughter again, the little daughter acted coquettishly: "No, no, I want Daddy to feed me." Everyone looked at her pouted mouth and couldn't help laughing. After dinner, grandpa and Zhang Qi stood aside.Zhang Qi stepped on the stone in front of the house with one foot, and said worriedly: "Seeing this scene, I suddenly miss my father very much." When grandpa heard this, he couldn't help but burst out laughing. He said, "Didn't your father beat you every day? I think you haven't been beaten for a few days, and your skin is itchy." Zhang Qi didn't turn around to argue with his grandfather, he continued to say quietly: "I'm serious, especially when I said that I would go to Lijiagu with you, he didn't even scold me. Now that I think about it, I... " Grandpa heard something wrong with Zhang Qi's voice, looked down and found that his eyes were really red.Grandpa was infected by his emotions, stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder and said, "Okay, I know that no matter who has a hard heart, this kind of thing will..." Grandpa's words hadn't come out of his mouth completely when he heard Zhang Qi laughing. Grandpa glanced at him and didn't understand at all. "Haha, I'm just kidding you!" Zhang Qi couldn't stop laughing. Seeing his success, Grandpa wished he could punch him under the stone dam, and then crush him like a cockroach. "Okay, we're going to the house where Lao Gu is going to have a baby now, do you want to go together?" Li Wei followed Yu Guangcai out and asked the two of them. "I'm going!" Grandpa and Zhang Qi said in unison. As soon as Grandpa finished speaking, his eyes widened, he turned his head and stared at Zhang Qi fiercely, raised his eyelids and shook his fist, as if asking him, are you really going? Zhang Qi was frightened by his appearance, and his voice trembled a little when he spoke: "Okay... okay, I just don't want to go." Grandpa put away his fists in satisfaction, and smiled crookedly: "Hmph, it's not too bad." After finishing speaking, Grandpa followed Yu Guangcai, Li Wei and Lin Zi and turned down the small slope.It was Lao Gu who led the way. His wife stayed at home to take care of the children and arrange beds for Zhang Qi, Zeng Yingui and others. On the way, Lao Gu introduced the situation of Gu Zhenrong's family to several people. Gu Zhenrong's family has always lived in Gujiawan. He is in his early thirties this year and has three children, the first two of which are daughters.I finally gave birth to a son, but when I learned that something like this happened in this village, I was very worried.In fact, as early as ten days ago, Lao Gu sent someone to find Yu Guangcai.They suspected that these things were not done by humans, so they wanted to ask Yu Guangcai to come and help them.But when Yu Guangcai asked what this had to do with the salvation of the undead, Lao Gu hesitated to speak, and only said that he would tell him the details after going to Gu Zhenrong's house to read it. When they arrived at Gu Zhenrong's house, they looked around and found nothing unusual.Yu Guangcai went to see Gu Zhenrong's son, he was normal, and he was not missing arms or legs as Gu said.But at that time, several women from other families came to Gu Zhenrong's house, and they all held their children.Under Lao Gu's introduction, they unwrapped the sheets that wrapped the children one after another. Indeed, all the children lost a pair of feet. After seeing it, Yu Guangcai was stunned, and after thinking about it carefully, he asked Li Wei to take out the compass, and they fiddled with each other in front of Gu Zhenrong's house for a while.When the compass was set, Yu Guangcai looked at it and suddenly frowned.Seeing that something was wrong, Li Wei also leaned forward, followed the pointer on the compass with his fingers, and finally the pointer stopped in the northeast direction. Li Wei looked up and said in surprise, "Isn't that the old home?" Yu Guangcai nodded and became thoughtful.
After leaving Gu Zhenrong's house, Yu Guangcai and others did not speak.When they arrived at Lao Gu's house, they sat down in the main room again.As soon as he was seated, Zhang Qi rushed out of the room yelling, and when he reached his grandfather, he stopped in panic, wriggling his lips and was about to tell his grandfather something, when he suddenly saw someone behind him approaching. Old Gu swallowed all the words that came to his lips. Grandpa felt that he was a little baffled, so he asked a few more questions, and when he saw that he started to prevaricate carelessly, grandpa stopped talking. After sitting in the main room for a while, Lao Gu started to smoke again.Slowly, his face became serious.He turned his head and said to Yu Guangcai who was still fiddling with the compass, "Master Yu, let me tell you now why I let you save a dead soul." Yu Guangcai handed the compass to Li Wei, then turned his head and listened attentively. This thing started three years ago. 那天和往常一样，老古一大早就起床出去赶羊，从老古家到村口放羊的三里坡大概要走十来分钟。当他赶着羊走到村口的时候，天只挂着鱼肚白，还没有大亮。他也是点了旱烟，一路吆喝着将羊群朝三里坡上赶。就当他走出村口没有几米的时候，路边的草丛突然动了一下。老古反应敏锐，扭头看了一眼，以为是地鼠什么的，也没有在意。可当他叼着烟斗正要回身继续朝前走的时候，那草丛又动了一下。老古这时候起了疑心。 他握紧了手里的那根足足有两米长的赶羊棍，朝着那草丛探了过去，慢慢地，赶羊棍没入了草丛中。由于当时的天色尚早，他根本看不清那草丛里到底藏着什么东西。他握着那棍子在草丛深处左右探了探，想把挡在面前的草丛拨开，看清里面的情况。可当他拨着拨着，那根棍子突然不动了。老古明显地感觉到，棍子的另一端被什么东西给拽住了。 这时老古紧张起来。他左右看了看，也没有发现什么人。想了想，他铆足了胆子，慢慢地朝着那方向蹲下身去，他的脑袋刚好凑到草丛边，里面突然伸出来一只手，抓住了他的头发。 老古挣扎着，以为自己遇到了什么怪物。惊慌之中，他惊叫了一声，连忙后退。还好，那只手的力气并不太大，老古两下就挣脱开来。 被吓得瘫坐在地上的他，好不容易才平静下来。回神之后，他见那草丛又被掩了回去。这时候，天色已经亮了起来。他干脆两步上前，用脚拨开了那路边的草丛。那一刻，他傻了眼，躺在他面前的竟然是一个婴儿。 据老古回忆，那个婴儿当时就那么直愣愣地看着他，闪动着长长的睫毛，脸上的笑容非常清澈，让老古有些动心。 这时候的他已经没有了任何顾虑，乐呵呵地将那婴儿从草丛中抱了起来。他拨开裹在婴儿身上的薄布，在证明她是个女婴之后，非常高兴地将她抱回了家。 见老古莫名其妙地抱回来一个女婴，妻子很疑惑，追问了两句，也上前扯开了女婴身上的薄布。这个时候他们才发现这个女婴是没有脚的，不过很明显，那一双脚不是生来就没有，肯定是被人后来剁掉的。 看着这触目惊心的一幕，老古和妻子都被吓住了。于是召集了村子里的所有人，询问这女婴到底是谁家的。可他们问了半天，也没有人应答。其实他们也知道，任谁做了这样的事情都不会承认的。 起初，老古是想把这个女婴留下来，由整个村子里的人一家出一点粮食，将她养起来。可在那个连自家人都要分羹而食的年代，谁还愿意去管这么一个缺了脚的弃婴呢？当然，最关键的还是因为她是一个女婴。 “那后来呢？”听到这里，张七忍不住问道。 老古眯起了眼睛，并没有看他，也没有正面回答他，而是说：“我晓得，如果我捡回来的是个男娃娃，那肯定大家一人少吃两口也会将他养大，而且说不定还会争着来养。可问题就是，她是个女婴，还被人剁了脚。” “嗯，她的父母可能就是因为她是个女婴，想把她扔了，可这孩子应该已经会走路了，怕她走出来之后，被熟人看见，所以将她的脚给剁了，想让她在路边活活饿死。”李伟推断道。 一听到这话，爷爷的心里像被绞了一下。他听见一旁的张七大骂了一句：“狗日的，要是被我知道哪个是她的父母，我第一个把他们的脚给剁了！” 大家都没有再说什么，老古继续讲：“所以说，这个女娃之后的出路成了问题。当时所有人都没有说话，过了几分钟也不晓得是哪个在人群里吼了一句，说干脆把她扔到后山去。这句话一出，大家都非常赞同，我真的很不忍心……” “那后来，你们真扔了？”张七很是吃惊。 老古点了点头，眼眶变得湿润起来：“扔了之后，过了几个小时，我就后悔了，觉得这种事情做得太缺德了，实在想不过，我又按着原路折返回去，可奇怪的是，当我走到丢娃娃的地方的时候，我发现她竟然不见了，就只剩了之前裹在她身上的薄布。”
众人听了，都欷歔不已，面面相觑。 喻广财问：“你丢的地方可有野兽出没？” 老古摇了摇头：“我们在这峡谷里住了不晓得好多年了，还从没有听说过后山有野兽的，就算有也只是一些野鸡野鸭，或者蛇之类的，不然我们早搬走了。” “有没有可能是被蛇吞了？”张七冷不丁地从身后冒出一句话来。 爷爷扭头瞪了他一眼：“蛇虽然很快，但它总归是个没脑子的畜生，而且蛇吞食向来都是整个吞下，不可能留下孩子身上的襁褓。” 被爷爷这么一问，张七不得不识趣地闭了嘴。 大家都沉默了一阵，老古继续说道：“那天回来之后，我没有对任何人说起过勒件事情，本来我想，反正勒个娃娃都是在大家的建议之下丢在那山里头的，不管她还在不在那原位置上，都没有活路。于是，勒个事情就烂在了我的肚子头。不过这两年之后，突然出了我们家老五勒个事情，我就觉得有点儿奇怪了。我就在想啊，当时是我捡到的那个娃娃，也是我丢的她，我好不容易生了个儿子，结果却没得了双脚，勒个肯定是遭到了报应。在老五出生一段时间之后，我也渐渐接受了勒个现实。但是，让我没有想到的是，这一年过去了，整个村子先后出生了几个男娃娃，居然全都没有脚！” “那在你丢下那个女娃娃之后，到你们家老五出生之前，有没有出现过这样的情况？”李伟问道，显然，他问出了很多人心中的疑惑。 老古看了李伟一眼，那眼神怪怪的。许久，他摇了摇头，还是说了实话：“没有，不过这个事情肯定跟我们老五没得啥子关系嘛。” 喻广财听了，点了点头，思索了一阵，他对老古说：“要不这样，老古明天早上等咱们吃了早饭，一起到后山去看看。” “好，明天我放完羊就回来带你们去。”老古说完，敲了敲手里的烟杆，从凳子上站起身来，要迎大家进门去休息。 老古家里只有两间卧房，老古把那间大的卧房让了出来，把喻广财等人安排进去。几人累了一天，都纷纷上前占领了一席之地。喻广财和李伟还有林子占了一张床，罗琪自己占了一张，最后剩下了爷爷、张七和曾银贵三人不知如何是好。 曾银贵走上前去，厚着脸皮对罗琪说：“罗大姐，你看你一个人就占了这么大一张床，干脆你就把这床让给我们三个，你去问问老古，那边还能不能挤一下？” 罗琪看了曾银贵半天，最后牙齿缝间蹦出了两个清脆的字眼：“没门！” 曾银贵听到此话，一下就泄了气，刚一转身，他就又听到了罗琪的声音：“不过……” “不过什么？”曾银贵仿佛看到了生机。 罗琪两只黑黝黝的眼睛一转，指着爷爷和张七说：“不过他俩可以跟我一起睡！” 曾银贵脸上的表情瞬间冻结，随后他收起了尴尬的笑容，哈哈大笑了一阵。“他俩可都是小男子汉，怎么能跟一个女人在一个房间休息呢。”说完，他又回头看着爷爷和张七，挑眉问道，“是吧？” 被他这么一问，爷爷和张七都傻了眼，不知怎么应对，只好被他生生拉出了房间。 走进了堂屋，张七问：“那咱们现在睡哪儿？” 曾银贵想了想，指着老古的房门说：“我去问问老古。” “喂喂，我可不睡那个房间。”张七瞪大了眼睛，样子不像在开玩笑。 “为什么？”曾银贵追问。 张七压低了声音：“刚才他们出去之后，你一直躲在厕所拉屎，我一个人待在那个卧房里，本来老古的媳妇儿还在，后来说要到隔壁去给我们铺床，就出了卧房。当时，整个卧房里就只剩下我和老五，那个油灯也不是很亮，火光一晃一晃的。我靠在那个牙床的床沿上，四下张望。可等我一回头，眼光刚一对到那个牙床，你们猜我看到了啥？” 爷爷和曾银贵都被他吊足了胃口，曾银贵连忙追问：“什么？那个娃娃莫非站起来了哇？” “这个倒没有，他呀……”张七拖长了音调，“居然在对我笑！” 曾银贵和爷爷纷纷挥了挥手，很有种被耍的感觉，爷爷不屑地说：“嘁，还以为什么大不了的，一岁左右的孩子笑笑又怎么了嘛？” “哎呀，你们不懂，那种笑很奇怪，一双眼睛特别有神，嘴巴斜起，扯着嘴角，好像，好像有什么阴谋得逞了一样。”张七的样子很激动，“而且最关键的是，他笑了不晓得多久，等他妈一进屋，就收起了笑容，闭上眼睛装睡，现在我想想那样子真是鬼里鬼气的。” 正在这时，老古举着油灯从卧房出来了。见了三人，他眯着眼睛问：“你们三位咋个不进去休息呢？” “我们这边……” 曾银贵的话还没有完全说出口，张七就抢了先：“我，我不给你们扯了，我去挨着罗琪睡，你们就快跟老古去嘛。” 说完，张七就钻进了房间。留下曾银贵和爷爷两人，爷爷正在为何去何从犹豫难决的时候，曾银贵说：“你跟我去，晚上我给你讲林子他爹的事情，怎么样？” 听到这话，爷爷似乎没有要拒绝的理由。那个悬念一直在他的心中慢慢发酵，就快要撑破他的心脏了。 等爷爷点了点头，两人就跟老古说明了情况，被老古带进了那个黑得伸手不见五指的房间。爷爷刚一穿过那道门，就感觉在牙床的方向，有双眼睛在盯着他。那道隐没在黑暗中的目光，爷爷不敢肯定里面藏的是童真还是邪魅。
爷爷和曾银贵进了老古一家人的卧房，这卧房中只有两张床，一张被老古、妻子和老五占了，一张被老古的另外两个女儿占了。为了安排爷爷和曾银贵，老古将那张床板铺到了地上，然后从衣柜里取出了一床薄被，递给两人，说：“今天晚上就先委屈两位了，明天我让两个女儿睡凉板，你们睡床。” 两人听了连忙摆手，曾银贵嘴最快：“没关系，出门在外能有睡的地方就不错了。” “那两位就早点儿休息嘛，明天我带你们去后山。”说完，他举着那油灯转过身去，没走开两步，又折返回来，叮嘱道，“对了，晚上我们老五喜欢磨牙，希望两位不要介意。” “没事儿没事儿，小孩子嘛，都这样。” 老古听了，就笑嘻嘻地转身上了床。他把油灯放在离他们睡的凉板两步开外的桌上。见老古完全歇下之后，曾银贵上前去吹熄了那油灯，在凉板上睡了下来。 在黑暗中，曾银贵尽可能压低了声音，说：“那就睡吧，明天早上一起去后山。” “喂，说好的跟我说林子他爹的事情，你上回就没有讲完，吊了我半天胃口。”爷爷有些不满。 曾银贵自知躲不过，问：“那我跟你讲到哪儿了？” 爷爷不假思索，提醒他：“讲到林中疯了之后又清醒过来，结果猜中了老喻父亲病丧的事儿。” “哦哦，想起来了。你也别老喻老喻地叫，我知道你心头早就把他当成师傅了，就是嘴硬。”曾银贵挤着喉咙，声音像是从喉咙处憋出来的，“言归正传，说来林中才真的是神了，从那之后，他不仅能够看到未来要发生的事情，还能说中你的过去。本来说中过去这种事情很多会卜卦算命的先生都会，可没有人能够像他这么精确。一般的先生顶多也猜到你在哪一年可能会遇到什么事情，比如你可能会破相、可能会有灾祸等。但林中却会准确无误地说出你在哪一天做过什么事，包括你的吃喝拉撒。” “啊？那不是任何人在他面前都没有秘密了哦？”爷爷非常惊讶。 黑暗中的曾银贵点了点头，说：“对的，只要你能够给出准确的生辰八字。可这一行中的人有一个规矩，该讲的讲，不该讲的点到为止。虽然林中算是半路出家，可在丧乐队里混了这么多年，对这些行规还是知道的，所以他不会轻易透露。” 爷爷猜道：“那肯定是他泄漏的天机太多了，老天爷看不下去了。” 曾银贵冷笑了一声，说：“呵，这个也算一种说法吧。那个时候林中在附近可是出了名的，帮人看病、驱邪、观风水、算命，可谓是样样精通。每个人都把他当成了仙。那段时间他也捞了不少钱。因为林子的哥哥不在了，林中每次赚了钱一回家就喝酒，喝醉了酒就开始哭，说自己的儿子就这么平白无故地死了，死得冤枉，死得惨，然后就把那些钱挥霍得一干二净。” 见爷爷一直没有插话，曾银贵拐了他一下问：“你在听吗？” “嗯。”爷爷说道，“林子见到这种情况一定非常伤心。” 曾银贵接着说：“林子虽然年纪不大，可他是个明事理的人，不会跟他的父亲计较这些，只是他一直都搞不懂自己的父亲是怎么变成这样的，难道真的遇到神仙点化？呵，当然没有这么简单。大概一年之后，林中突然就死了。” “突然死了？” “嗯，当时他正在给一个老大娘看病。老大娘把手搭在桌上。他把手这样轻轻地放到了老太太的胳膊上，闭着眼睛给她仔细地号着脉。把了大半天，林中都没有睁开眼来。那老大娘被他的样子吓住了，就低声问他，自己的病是不是很难治？也不见林中回答。老大娘就觉得不太对劲儿，开始叫他的名字，'林先生'，'林先生'地喊了半天，他也没有反应。老大娘就将手腕收了回来，她迟疑着站起身来，伸手轻轻一点林中的肩膀，林中就连人带椅子朝着身后倒去。就在那一瞬间，他的眼睛、鼻子、嘴巴、耳朵里都渗出了血，把在场的所有人都吓得惊叫着跑了出去。” “林中就这么死了？”爷爷不解。 “嗯，后来医生来检查，也说不出个所以然，就说这可能是脑子受损造成的。可当时所有人都在旁边看得清清楚楚，他分明就那么坐着，连动都没有动一下，不知脑子怎么就受损了。”曾银贵说道。 “那这到底是怎么回事？” “关于他的这种情况说法也很多，有的说他也是受了大儿子犯了火煞和太岁的影响，因为和进墓穴的人是间接关系，所以没有直接死掉。可师傅却觉得不是这么一回事。”曾银贵侧了侧身说，“据师傅说，早在阴阳界里有种传言，说人在精神受到严重刺激之后，或者说在临死之前，会变得思绪不清，这个时候很容易出现一种凌空的状态，也就是说他的魂魄会横跨在阴阳两界的中间，看得见人事，也分得清鬼怪。至于他的死，是因为他过分使用了自己的脑子。凡是懂阴阳之事的人，必然有所顾忌，不该说的不能说，每天能够参破命理也是有限的，如果过度使用，那必定会透支你的生命。那一年多的时间里，想必林中是用完了自己后面几十年的生命力，就算不死也会成呆子。” 这个事情让爷爷非常吃惊，不想这世间还有这样神奇之事。他琢磨了半天，在心里暗暗地想，既然林中受到了神人点化，必然是知道这样透支后果的，可他不但不收敛，反而愈加放肆，多半是他早就已经不留恋这人世了。一个人倘若找不到生的寄托，那死对他来说，不过只是一个等待的日期而已。 这样想着，爷爷竟然听到了身旁的曾银贵发出的鼾声，不出所料，他已经沉沉地睡去了。 爷爷长叹了口气，将薄被裹在了身上，翻了个身，闭上眼睛。可就在他刚要进入梦乡的时候，一个声音将他拉了回来。他迅速睁开眼来，那个声音让他全身瞬间泛起了鸡皮疙瘩：嚓……嚓嚓…… 那声音很熟悉，像是动物身上的皮和肉被撕裂时发出的。爷爷突然想起今天张七的那番话，不自觉地在黑暗中将目光向那张牙床投了过去，而事实上，那声音也的确是从那个方向发过来的。 嚓……嚓嚓……
爷爷从凉板上支起身子来，那声音细细的，像一根银丝轻轻勾起了他的耳膜，牵着他朝着那个方向靠过去。 此时，曾银贵已经没心没肺地睡了过去，呼噜声在这土壁的卧房里显得特别突出。爷爷踹了他两脚，也没见他有丝毫反应。透过黑暗，想想他的样子，爷爷还是泄了气，慢慢从凉板上移下身子，为了避免发出声响，他没有穿鞋。 那时候的房子都是由泥土和石头砌成的，光着脚难免会割人。爷爷猫着身子，凭着记忆将两步之外桌上的油灯握在了手里。 嚓……嚓嚓…… 那个声音还在继续，与曾银贵的呼噜声协调得非常瘆人。爷爷下意识地咽了口唾沫，一步一步地朝着那张床靠了过去。爷爷的眼睛已经习惯了黑暗，能从这漆黑的房间里寻出一丁点儿光线。他走到那张床面前的时候，突然就愣住了，因为那声音的节奏慢了下来。很明显，此刻黑暗中的那个声音的制造者已经注意到了他。 爷爷顿下身子来，这个声音虽然慢了，却特别清晰。想了想，爷爷在心里做了最坏的打算。他举起那个油灯，用最快的速度，擦亮火柴凑到了油灯的灯芯上。很快，面前的整个视野都亮了起来。 不管三七二十一，爷爷伸着脖子看向那张牙床。在牙床的角落里，那个男婴，正睁着一双黑幽幽的大眼睛，目不转睛地盯着他。而此时，他的嘴角满是鲜淋淋的血。那血渍沿着他右边的嘴角已经流到了脖子上，而在他的怀里，还捧着半只小脚，已经被啃去了大半。 “我没有脚，所以要吃很多很多的脚。” 爷爷的脑子一下就炸开了，老五，一岁的老五居然能说话！爷爷惊叫一声，刚要退后，一个踉跄就跌倒在地上，手里的油灯瞬间碎裂。而那阵声响之后，整个房间又回归到黑暗之中。 那阵碎裂声惊醒了房间里的几个大人，第一个起身的是老古，黑暗中，爷爷听到老古在问：“咋个了？出了啥子事？” “没，没什么。”爷爷惊魂未定，说话的时候有些颤抖，“老古，你们家还有油灯吗？” “有，我这就去拿。” 说完，爷爷听见老古从床上下来，走到床边的一间衣柜前，打开柜门捣鼓了一阵，然后随着一声火柴的擦响，整个房间都亮了起来。 见到还坐在地上的爷爷，老古举着油灯弯下腰去搀扶他。 “出啥子事了吗？”老古拧眉问道。 爷爷从地上支起身子，二话没说，走上前去，一把掀开了老古床上的被子。老五还是睡在那间牙床的最里面。被爷爷这么一弄，他没有丝毫要清醒的样子，努了努嘴，样子非常宁静。 “咦，奇了怪了。”爷爷呢喃了一句。因为此时他发现，老五身上和嘴上的血渍都没有了，好像刚才真的什么都没有发生过。 “小师傅，你怎么了？是不是我们老五磨牙吵到你了？”老古虽然语气非常关切，可明显还是有些不满。 爷爷见状，摇了摇头，不好意思地说：“哦，我刚才好像看到了一只耗子，怕它弄到老五了。” 老古听了，笑出声来：“哎呀，我还以为好大的事情呢，耗子在我们这个地方常见得很，它不过是出来溜达溜达，不敢伤人的。” “哦，哦，看来是我想多了。”说完，爷爷就折身回到了凉板上。 不知道什么时候，睡神曾银贵也被惊醒了。等爷爷躺下来，灭了油灯之后，他在黑暗中幽幽地问：“你不是看见耗子了吧？” “这个明天再给你说，晚上自己留个神。”爷爷说完，就没有再吱声。他将手臂枕在脑下，目光落在黑夜中牙床的方向，一夜都没有睡着。 第二天，天色刚一破晓，老古就从床上下来。在整理好衣衫之后，他就拿起门背后的那根赶羊棍出了门。他刚走到大门口，就突然听到村子里传来一阵惊呼，是一个女人的声音。 爷爷和曾银贵都被那声音给惊得愣了神，两人对望了一眼，深知不妙，立马从凉板上翻起身来，抓起衣服就出了门。 门外，喻广财、李伟和林子都已经早早站到了老古屋前的坝子里。爷爷和曾银贵上前去，只见在那坝子下的那条土路上，一个女人抱着个孩子一路鬼哭狼嚎地乱跑。她头上的头巾还没有卸去，身上穿得特别厚。爷爷认得她，她是古真荣的妻子，昨天才分娩完。看着她怀里抱着的孩子，大家都知道出事了，二话没说，飞快地从坝子上下来。 几人走到女人的面前，将她稍稍安抚下来之后，李伟接过她怀里的孩子，拨开那身上裹着的襁褓，大家都傻了眼，那孩子的双脚没了，上面只有已经慢慢结痂的血疤。
眼前的这一幕，让在场的所有人都震惊不已。爷爷站在李伟身后，看着那婴儿缺掉的双脚，脑子里立马就浮现出昨晚在老古那张大牙床上看到的那一幕。 难道这一切真的是老五所为？这样想了想，他也觉得太荒唐了。老五现在连路都不会走，怎么半夜在所有人浑然不知的情况下溜到其他人家里去，还能这样生生取下婴儿的双脚？ “对了，昨天晚上你在老古家的卧房里到底看到了啥子？”曾银贵在身后拐了他一下。 爷爷回过头来，看了喻广财一眼。喻广财也听出了话里的端倪，他非常
"Speak quickly!" Grandpa urged. Zeng Yingui took another deep puff of cigarette and said, "Lin Zi's family is not rich, just like you and me. His father is actually a drummer in a mourning band, named Lin Zhong. Hehe, you may have heard it too. It’s not a good name. Lin Zhong Lin Zhong sounds like it doesn’t have a long life. This Lin Zhong knew his master in the early years. They once joined a mourning band, and the master was not very old at that time. Although the two only had We meet once, but we are very close. Every time we meet, we feel like reuniting with old friends, and we must have a few drinks. But there is a problem in Linzhong, that is, he likes the eldest son Lin Shan very much—that is, Lin Zi's elder brother. Although he ran funerals outside and worked as a drummer, he never let Lin Shan learn these things. Lin Zhong spent all his savings on Lin Shan and asked him to study hard. As for Lin Zi , since he learned to walk, he has been running around with his father, so even though he just joined our funeral band and is not very old, he knows a lot about these things." Seeing Zeng Yingui stop, the grandfather said: "His father is a bit biased." Zeng Yingui did not answer him directly, and continued: "Actually, Lin Zi never hated him in his heart. At that time, he heard from his master that Lin Zi himself was very interested in our business, and pestered his father every day to ask questions. I have seen and heard a lot while staying in this mourning band, but I am often left speechless by Lin Zi's questions." "Well, what happened afterwards? What happened to his father?" As soon as the grandfather asked, he looked back at Lin Zi vigilantly to make sure that he hadn't noticed before turning around and continuing to listen to Zeng Yingui. "Don't worry." Zeng Yingui threw away the cigarette butt, and continued to tell Lin Zi's story, "Actually, this whole thing should start when his brother bumped into Huo Shawei by mistake five years ago. Speaking of Huo Shawei, originally It is a taboo position when burying people. If it is buried in this place, the descendants will probably die short. Five years ago, Lin Zi’s elder brother went to the funeral with his father, Lin Zhong, on vacation from school. The family that did the funeral was also rich People have to light the lamps five miles away, and they have to visit the city for two hours on the day before the funeral. Anyway, all kinds of etiquette must be done. In this way, people in need will naturally be indispensable. After Lin Zi's brother joined the funeral band, he Under the instructions of several seniors, I started to help. There are many details that need to be paid attention to at this funeral. If the deceased died not normally, like the second young lady of the Li family, it would be even more troublesome. In those few days At the funeral, Linzi's elder brother always listened to his seniors. He clearly distinguished what should be done and what should not be done, and nothing went wrong. When the deceased was buried, he followed the Eight Immortals who carried the coffin. , go to the selected acupuncture point. I don’t know which gentleman found that acupuncture point. It’s far away from the house. Eight people carried the big coffin and were out of breath. Originally, there were people on the way to carry the coffin. There are many taboos, especially in the section of the road from the house to the acupoints. The coffin cannot be put down in the middle. If the earth's atmosphere gets in the air, these eight people and the descendants of the deceased will be in bad luck. Because they are all mountain roads and the roads are narrow , although the family had sent servants to repair the road beforehand, the twists and turns of the dirt road still made it difficult for them to move forward. When the eight people carried it for almost half a mile, the person in the lead suddenly slipped and almost He fell down the valley. Lin Zi's elder brother was following him at the time. He reacted quickly and quickly helped the coffin up. Fortunately, the coffin did not touch the ground. But just such a sprain, the servant's foot was injured. Can't stand up. The eight people who carry the coffin are indispensable, let alone the one in the front row. That is the most important thing. His foot was injured, so he had to find a replacement. The people are all the old people and children in this family. You look at me and I look at you. In the end, it was Lin Zi’s elder brother who took the initiative to take the burden from the family member’s shoulders and followed the Taoist priest.” "The result? You went to Huosha position?" Grandpa asked puzzled. Zeng Yingui shook his head: "Actually, this has nothing to do with Brother Lin Zi. If someone else was carrying the coffin, he would have been harmed. After finally getting to that place, he found the acupoints. The Taoist saluted and asked the Eight Immortals to put the coffin. Lin Zi's My brother was the first one. As soon as he walked over the acupuncture point, his whole body trembled, and he felt that his head was beginning to lose control. At that time, he thought it was because the coffin was too heavy and he was weak, but when The coffin was buried in the ground, and after returning home, I realized that it was not that simple. Strange to say, before the burial, I found a rooster, cut a knife on the neck, and threw the rooster into the grave. The rooster would flop around in the tomb for a long time, and the corner where it died symbolized who the tomb would prosper. But the rooster died on the spot as soon as it entered. Linzi's brother followed his father back home. When I entered the door, my chest felt uncomfortably hot, as if being burned by fire, and slowly, the heat spread from my chest to my whole body, as if my whole body was burning in a stove. Father Lin Zhong thought he was sick, I saw many doctors, but nothing worked. Later, Lin Zhong discovered the strangeness and asked around, only to find out that the tomb chosen by the family not only fell on the position of Huo Sha, but most importantly, moved Tai Sui!"
"Move Tai Sui? I often hear people say this, what is going on?" Grandpa asked. Zeng Yingui said: "Generally, when burying, you have to find a good yin and yang gentleman to check the location. First, you can find a geomantic treasure land, and you can prosper your descendants if you bury it in the right place. Second, you can avoid some evil places, even if it is not good luck. There will be dangers. However, there is a problem with the burial place this time. Not only is it buried on the Huo Sha position, but it is also buried on the Tai Sui position. Usually, before the burial, Tai Sui is drawn to avoid Tai Sui. As the saying goes Well said, who would dare to break ground on Tai Sui's head? The choice of this position must have been tricked by that Feng Shui master to intentionally harm people." Grandpa listened and nodded. It seems that there are still many things to ponder.After thinking about it, he asked, "Then what happened to Lin Zi's brother?" "After Lin Zhong learned of this situation, he asked around for capable masters. But no matter how capable a master is, he can't resolve it after committing Tai Sui. Lin Zi's elder brother died within five days." Zeng Yingui Shaking his head, he was very sorry, "It is said that the lips and mouth were rotten when he died, as if he was burned by fire." Hearing Zeng Yingui's narration, Grandpa seemed to have imagined the tragedy of brother Lin Zi's death.He gasped and heard Zeng Yingui continue talking. "This incident caused Lin Zhong a lot of blows. He warned Lin Zi that this is the end of not being good at learning. He told him to study hard in the future, otherwise he would not know if he was tricked." "No wonder, Linzi can understand so much." Grandpa said. "Not only that, didn't you find out that in our team, we didn't let him know a lot of news? Not only was he eager to learn, but he was also very hard-hearted, just like the day you met Mrs. Li's body in the Gourd Valley During the process of leading the corpse, without saying anything, he stepped forward and pasted a piece of talisman on the forehead of the corpse, which is a way to make the dead never reborn." "I think he must hate these things that make trouble after death." Grandpa deduced. Zeng Yingui nodded and said, "After Lin Zi's elder brother died, his father Lin Zhong couldn't bear the blow and finally went crazy." "Ah? Crazy? Didn't you say you're dead?" Grandpa asked. Zeng Yingui sneered: "This is just a precursor. After he went crazy, Lin Zi never went out, and he stayed with him every day. Lin Zhong became supernatural. He often told Lin Zi that he met a fairy, a fairy Taught him a lot of spells, such as being able to see through the future of people, heal people's diseases, and often say some things that Lin Zi didn't understand. What happened before. The master listened to Lin Zhong's nonsense all day long, but he couldn't figure it out. Then he simply stayed at Lin's house. Three months later, when Lin Zhong woke up one morning, he was inexplicably healed , not only recognized Lin Zi, but also called out the name of the master accurately, and even recalled the process of the two getting acquainted. The master asked him what happened in these three months. He said that he saw a white beard The Taoist has been sitting on a cloud and lecturing to him, over and over again. At that time, he still remembered the content clearly in his dream, but he forgot it when he woke up. The master was very happy and said that he had been waiting for him for a long time when he woke up. The two of them are going to have a good drink these few days. But Lin Zhong asserted that the master would not stay there for long. The master was very surprised and asked him why he was so sure. Lin Zhong couldn't tell the reason, so he just told the master, Within three days, someone in the master's family will die of illness. The master was very surprised, and after waiting for another three days, he received the news that his father died of illness." "No way? Is he really so magical? Could it be that he was enlightened by a fairy when he was insane?" Grandpa asked. Zeng Yingui shook his head and said, "I can't explain this clearly. Even the master can't see a clue. I just listen to it and can't draw a conclusion." "Then what happened in the forest?" "later……" In the middle of Zeng Yingui's speech, he heard the sound of the train arriving at the station.He hurriedly pulled his grandfather back to his seat, packed up all the packages he was carrying, and started queuing up to get off with the flow of people. After getting off the train, everyone regained their spirits.Zhang Qi looked at the scene in front of him and was very surprised. Li Wei pointed to the green hills in the distance and said, "The mountains here look greener than those in Chongqing." "In addition to being called Fanjing Mountain, this mountain has another name - Three Valleys." Yu Guangcai said. "A valley formed by three mountains?" Zhang Qi asked puzzledly, "I don't think it looks like this, but the rocks here are very strange." "This is still a sacred place of Taoism. Let's go, find out how to get to Gujiawan." After finishing speaking, Yu Guangcai led the crowd out of the station. "Master, what is the situation this time?" Zeng Yingui chased after him and asked Yu Guangcai. Yu Guangcai said quietly: "In the Gujia Bay at the eastern foot of Fanjing Mountain, there is an old man named Gu Jingtian. He had given birth to four daughters in succession before, and finally gave birth to a son last year. In the end, he was born without feet. After that, the whole village seemed to be under a curse, and all the males who were born after that had only legs but no feet." "Ah? So strange?" Zhang Qi was frightened by Yu Guangcai's words and stopped, as if he didn't dare to go to Gujiawan. "What does that have to do with the salvation of dead souls?" Zeng Yingui asked. Yu Guangcai smiled and said, "We'll know about this when we get here."
Gujiawan is a strange village. This is the first impression that Gujiawan gave to grandpa.The buildings here are obviously different from those in Chongqing. Most of their houses are built of wood, some with hanging feet and some with flat foundations.As far as the terrain of Gujiawan is concerned, it is tightly clamped by two mountains, forming a canyon. In the canyon, all the houses are arranged in a line, winding from the valley mouth to the valley end. "Look at the style of these houses, they are obviously different from ours." Li Wei looked around. Yu Guangcai nodded, but did not speak. "Besides, this place is very strange. You see, there is a peach tree in front of almost every house." Luo Qi said, as if finding something wrong again, she took a deep breath and said, "Look, these The peach trees have basically been pruned, and the branches are very neat, and the people here seem to cherish these trees very much, a circle is built with stones under each tree, and they are carefully maintained for fear of being hurt." "You said, do they all believe in peach trees here, and regard peach trees as their gods?" Zeng Yingui asked with a low eyebrow, "I went to a village in the north before, and they never used mirrors, saying that mirrors are monsters." His words made Zhang Qi very excited, and he quickly asked: "Where? Did something strange happen again?" Zeng Yingui rolled his eyes at him and ignored him.Grandpa followed behind with a smile, thinking that fortunately he hadn't heard Lin Zi's story, otherwise he would have broken the casserole and asked the truth. "Let's go, they are waiting for us in front." Yu Guangcai said sullenly. After hearing this, everyone raised their heads and looked forward, only to see about 20 people standing upright less than 50 meters ahead, and they were all wearing blue coats.Everyone just looked at Yu Guangcai and the others without moving, without even a slight change in expression. "Why do I feel a little... hairy?" Luo Qi said, everyone turned their heads to glance at her, and had to walk forward one after another. As soon as he got to the front of the group, the people suddenly started whispering. "We are..." Yu Guangcai was about to introduce his background to everyone when an older man squeezed out from behind the crowd. He saw Yu Guangcai with a smile on his face.The smile seemed to be prepared in advance, stiff and rigid. The man took the initiative to hold Yu Guangcai's hand and said, "You are Master Yu, I can tell." "Are you... old Gu?" Yu Guangcai asked tentatively. The man nodded: "That's right!" "Hehe, your Gujia Bay is easy for me to find." Yu Guangcai said. After hearing this, Lao Gu was very sorry: "It's hard for everyone, it looks like you are tired, and there must be no lunch along the way, now follow me to the house, and I will ask my wife to get you some lunch." Grandpa was confused by his words, so he naturally understood that he was speaking the dialect of the people here.But the open-mouthed Zhang Qi saw that he couldn't understand, so he opened his mouth and asked, "Old Gu, what are you talking about?" After hearing this, Lao Gu didn't have an ugly expression on his face. He smiled and said, "Maybe you are not used to listening. I mean, let you go to my house to have dinner." Yu Guangcai quickly held his hand, turned to Zhang Qi and said, "He asked us to eat." Hearing this, Zhang Qi nodded his head thoughtfully: "So it's just eating." Several people were amused by Zhang Qi's appearance, smiled and followed Lao Gu to walk along the houses on both sides of the village towards the end of the canyon.The old house is just on the slope of Guwei, and beyond their house is the back mountain.This Guwei entrance is very small. Looking at the dense bushes above the entrance, one knows that there must not be many people walking here.The old house is no different from other buildings in Gujiawan. There is also a well-loved peach tree in front of the door, but this peach tree is more monotonous than other houses. There is basically no branch, only the A trunk was created. Grandpa followed behind them, looking at Gu's back, he was a little puzzled, he was only in his early fifties, how could he be so old? After entering the old house, his wife was standing on the right side of the door of the main room, with an apron around her waist, and when she saw grandpa and others stretching out her hands and rubbing them, she looked very nervous. Yu Guangcai cupped his hands and said, "I've seen my sister-in-law." Old Gu's wife smiled and said, "Sit down first, take a break, I'll go to the kitchen, and I'll be ready for dinner right away." After speaking, she turned and went into the kitchen. Several people rested in the main room for a while, and when they finished complaining on the road, Li Wei said first: "Old Gu, what happened to you here, what can we do to help?" Lao Gu lowered his head, took a deep breath, and his face became solemn.After a long time, he said: "Hey, you guys want me to tell you something, I really don't know how to start it, why don't you, let me tell you first, the peach tree at the door of each of our houses, I think you all know it too." very curious." Everyone moved their stools and leaned forward. "There is a custom in our place, which may seem strange to you. But this custom has been kept in Gujiawan for many years. It is the peach trees you saw when you entered the village just now. Everyone in our village moves here, and they have to plant a peach tree in front of the door. At the beginning, the peach tree has more branches, and when it grows slowly, it will be protected. From Le From then on, as soon as a baby girl is born in the house, one branch of the peach tree will be cut off, and two branches will be cut off if there are two..."
"Then what if it's all chopped up?" Zhang Qi asked probingly, and also imitated the old-fashioned tone. Old Gu smiled wryly: "Look at the tree at the door of our house, isn't it cut down? If only one trunk is left, it's up to the owner of the house to make a decision." , if you choose to regenerate, if you are lucky enough to give birth to a boy, then you can wait for the next spring to let the main trunk send out a branch. If you give birth to a girl again, it will be miserable, and you will not be able to carry it in this Gujiawan. Second, you will be punished by your ancestors, and you will not be able to enter the genealogy after you die. But fortunately, up to now, there is no one in the whole village where all the branches of the peach tree have been cut off." Several people did not speak, listening to Lao Gu continue to talk. "After careful calculation, the strange thing should have happened a year ago." Lao Gu said, got up from the stool and went to the door to take out a bag of dry tobacco, and handed it to Yu Guangcai and the others.Everyone was not very interested in the dry tobacco in his hand, and what they were looking forward to more was the story in his mouth.So they all waved their hands at him.After sitting back on the stool, Lao Gu continued, "A year ago, there was only the last trunk left on the roof of my house. People in the village often made fun of us. I discussed it with my wife for a long time and decided to have another one. It's like gambling. , I bet on the lives of our family. Fortunately, after being pregnant in October, the mother-in-law gave birth to a baby boy. At that time, I almost passed out with joy. But when the baby fell to the ground, I was terrified It’s silly, because this doll has only legs and no feet. And the missing feet have no wounds, no strange shapes, from the calf to the ankle, they are completely gone, and the cross-section is still very neat.” As Lao Gu was talking, a seven or eight-year-old girl ran over from the lobby.Seeing her, Lao Gu immediately showed a smile on his face: "Third brother, be careful, you will hit your head again later." The girl turned her head and stuck out her tongue at Old Gu, then ran into the house. "Very naughty." When Lao Gu said it, there was a smile on his face. Yu Guangcai took over the conversation: "It's rare, there is a girl who still likes it." "It's all born by myself, so there's no reason why I don't like it." After finishing speaking, Lao Gu continued the narration just now, "The boy is the fifth child at the head of our house, and he is in the back room. I will take you in every now and then. You can see it. After this situation happened, I was thinking, is this really a coincidence? I, Gu Jingtian, lived to be fifty years old and gave birth to four daughters. You have also seen that my family conditions are already It was very difficult, I finally gave birth to a child, and turned into a monster in the end!" The more Lao Gu talked, the more excited he became, his face flushed red.Grandpa sat on the side, hearing the creeps. He didn't know why, but when he heard what Lao Gu said, he thought of Mo Wan in the Li family's yard.She is the only daughter of Butler Mo, but Butler Mo loves her very much.In contrast, she is much happier. "Hey, after looking at it later, I got used to it. I thought it was just a coincidence. I didn't expect that since then, as long as the baby born after our Gujiawan is a boy, both feet will be cut off. It's very strange. " The old saying made everyone sigh. Zeng Yingui asked: "Are other children born without feet?" Lao Gu shook his head: "No, although they don't have feet, but there are wounds on their ankles, which are bloody." Everyone present was very puzzled. Grandpa glanced at Yu Guangcai, and saw that he also frowned, looking very puzzled. "Old Gu, we don't quite understand what you said, why don't you take us to see Lao Wu now." Li Wei said. Lao Gu extinguished the dry tobacco in the pipe, got up, and led everyone into the back room.Since the room there was not very big, after a few people entered, the room was almost packed to the brim.Zhang Qi, who reacted slowly, stood behind the crowd, tiptoeing very unwillingly, and kept asking what he saw. Grandpa followed Li Wei to the front, got into the curtain, and when he got to the bedside, he saw the puzzled fifth child.He was only one year old, and he was not afraid of strangers when he saw everyone, biting his fingers, his big eyes flickered, as if he was questioning everyone.Li Wei on the side seemed to be amused by his appearance, and couldn't help stretching out his hand to gently pinch his little face.Lin Zi took a look at Li Wei, squeezed forward, and tore off the small sheet covering Lao Wu's body.Everyone was frightened by his feet. The ankles were indeed neat, as if they had been chopped off with a knife before he was born, but the skin and flesh of the wound had completely healed, and no trace could be seen . "This is definitely not done by humans." Li Wei deduced, he turned his head and asked Yu Guangcai, "Master, what do you think?" Yu Guangcai nodded: "Of course not, this is caused in the mother's womb. The misfortunes and fortunes of a person's life are already determined in the fortunes at birth. No matter how hard the day after tomorrow, it can only avoid some minor disasters and misfortunes. , the appearance of this fifth child is mostly innate, you and I can't change it, as for the children of other families, I think there must be something strange in it." At some point, Old Gu's wife also entered the house.After hearing Yu Guangcai finished speaking, she said weakly behind her: "This afternoon, Gu Zhenrong gave birth to a son at the head of the house." Yu Guangcai said, "Okay, let's go and find out tonight."
Since Lao Gu's house was not big, the kitchen couldn't accommodate so many people when it was time to eat, so they simply welcomed them into the open-air dam. In Grandpa's memory, the moonlight was particularly bright that night.The moon was round, like a well-polished plate, just hanging above the heads of several people, looking up through the deep and narrow canyon, as if the moon only belonged to this canyon. At the dinner table, Lao Gu's two daughters were all present.I heard from Lao Gu that his first two daughters had married to other places and basically never came back.On the contrary, these two daughters are well-behaved. They stay at home and help their parents with things every day. After listening to him, Yu Guangcai showed an envious expression and said, "I really envy you." Lao Gu smiled wryly: "It's good now, my daughter is growing up slowly, no matter how much you like her, she will marry after all." Yu Guangcai smiled and said, "Don't be so pessimistic, no matter where she is married, isn't your ancient blood still flowing in her body?" When Lao Gu heard this, he really showed a smile. He nodded and said, "Oh, that's right. I can only take good care of them before they get married." After finishing speaking, Lao Gu took a piece of egg from the plate in front of his two daughters respectively.The eldest daughter looked at her father, twisted her butt, said nothing, and returned the piece of egg to Lao Gu. When Grandpa saw this scene, he suddenly felt his eyes were hot, and his eyes were filled with tears.At that time, he thought, he didn't know how his parents who were thousands of miles away were doing now.The last time the group ate all the meat at home, it must have been a shabby year. Lao Gu smiled awkwardly, and divided the egg into two halves, gave the big half to the eldest daughter, and swallowed the young half by himself.When he brought eggs to the little daughter again, the little daughter acted coquettishly: "No, no, I want Daddy to feed me." Everyone looked at her pouted mouth and couldn't help laughing. After dinner, grandpa and Zhang Qi stood aside.Zhang Qi stepped on the stone in front of the house with one foot, and said worriedly: "Seeing this scene, I suddenly miss my father very much." When grandpa heard this, he couldn't help but burst out laughing. He said, "Didn't your father beat you every day? I think you haven't been beaten for a few days, and your skin is itchy." Zhang Qi didn't turn around to argue with his grandfather, he continued to say quietly: "I'm serious, especially when I said that I would go to Lijiagu with you, he didn't even scold me. Now that I think about it, I... " Grandpa heard something wrong with Zhang Qi's voice, looked down and found that his eyes were really red.Grandpa was infected by his emotions, stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder and said, "Okay, I know that no matter who has a hard heart, this kind of thing will..." Grandpa's words hadn't come out of his mouth completely when he heard Zhang Qi laughing. Grandpa glanced at him and didn't understand at all. "Haha, I'm just kidding you!" Zhang Qi couldn't stop laughing. Seeing his success, Grandpa wished he could punch him under the stone dam, and then crush him like a cockroach. "Okay, we're going to the house where Lao Gu is going to have a baby now, do you want to go together?" Li Wei followed Yu Guangcai out and asked the two of them. "I'm going!" Grandpa and Zhang Qi said in unison. As soon as Grandpa finished speaking, his eyes widened, he turned his head and stared at Zhang Qi fiercely, raised his eyelids and shook his fist, as if asking him, are you really going? Zhang Qi was frightened by his appearance, and his voice trembled a little when he spoke: "Okay... okay, I just don't want to go." Grandpa put away his fists in satisfaction, and smiled crookedly: "Hmph, it's not too bad." After finishing speaking, Grandpa followed Yu Guangcai, Li Wei and Lin Zi and turned down the small slope.It was Lao Gu who led the way. His wife stayed at home to take care of the children and arrange beds for Zhang Qi, Zeng Yingui and others. On the way, Lao Gu introduced the situation of Gu Zhenrong's family to several people. Gu Zhenrong's family has always lived in Gujiawan. He is in his early thirties this year and has three children, the first two of which are daughters.I finally gave birth to a son, but when I learned that something like this happened in this village, I was very worried.In fact, as early as ten days ago, Lao Gu sent someone to find Yu Guangcai.They suspected that these things were not done by humans, so they wanted to ask Yu Guangcai to come and help them.But when Yu Guangcai asked what this had to do with the salvation of the undead, Lao Gu hesitated to speak, and only said that he would tell him the details after going to Gu Zhenrong's house to read it. When they arrived at Gu Zhenrong's house, they looked around and found nothing unusual.Yu Guangcai went to see Gu Zhenrong's son, he was normal, and he was not missing arms or legs as Gu said.But at that time, several women from other families came to Gu Zhenrong's house, and they all held their children.Under Lao Gu's introduction, they unwrapped the sheets that wrapped the children one after another. Indeed, all the children lost a pair of feet. After seeing it, Yu Guangcai was stunned, and after thinking about it carefully, he asked Li Wei to take out the compass, and they fiddled with each other in front of Gu Zhenrong's house for a while.When the compass was set, Yu Guangcai looked at it and suddenly frowned.Seeing that something was wrong, Li Wei also leaned forward, followed the pointer on the compass with his fingers, and finally the pointer stopped in the northeast direction. Li Wei looked up and said in surprise, "Isn't that the old home?" Yu Guangcai nodded and became thoughtful.
After leaving Gu Zhenrong's house, Yu Guangcai and others did not speak.When they arrived at Lao Gu's house, they sat down in the main room again.As soon as he was seated, Zhang Qi rushed out of the room yelling, and when he reached his grandfather, he stopped in panic, wriggling his lips and was about to tell his grandfather something, when he suddenly saw someone behind him approaching. Old Gu swallowed all the words that came to his lips. Grandpa felt that he was a little baffled, so he asked a few more questions, and when he saw that he started to prevaricate carelessly, grandpa stopped talking. After sitting in the main room for a while, Lao Gu started to smoke again.Slowly, his face became serious.He turned his head and said to Yu Guangcai who was still fiddling with the compass, "Master Yu, let me tell you now why I let you save a dead soul." Yu Guangcai handed the compass to Li Wei, then turned his head and listened attentively. This thing started three years ago. 那天和往常一样，老古一大早就起床出去赶羊，从老古家到村口放羊的三里坡大概要走十来分钟。当他赶着羊走到村口的时候，天只挂着鱼肚白，还没有大亮。他也是点了旱烟，一路吆喝着将羊群朝三里坡上赶。就当他走出村口没有几米的时候，路边的草丛突然动了一下。老古反应敏锐，扭头看了一眼，以为是地鼠什么的，也没有在意。可当他叼着烟斗正要回身继续朝前走的时候，那草丛又动了一下。老古这时候起了疑心。 他握紧了手里的那根足足有两米长的赶羊棍，朝着那草丛探了过去，慢慢地，赶羊棍没入了草丛中。由于当时的天色尚早，他根本看不清那草丛里到底藏着什么东西。他握着那棍子在草丛深处左右探了探，想把挡在面前的草丛拨开，看清里面的情况。可当他拨着拨着，那根棍子突然不动了。老古明显地感觉到，棍子的另一端被什么东西给拽住了。 这时老古紧张起来。他左右看了看，也没有发现什么人。想了想，他铆足了胆子，慢慢地朝着那方向蹲下身去，他的脑袋刚好凑到草丛边，里面突然伸出来一只手，抓住了他的头发。 老古挣扎着，以为自己遇到了什么怪物。惊慌之中，他惊叫了一声，连忙后退。还好，那只手的力气并不太大，老古两下就挣脱开来。 被吓得瘫坐在地上的他，好不容易才平静下来。回神之后，他见那草丛又被掩了回去。这时候，天色已经亮了起来。他干脆两步上前，用脚拨开了那路边的草丛。那一刻，他傻了眼，躺在他面前的竟然是一个婴儿。 据老古回忆，那个婴儿当时就那么直愣愣地看着他，闪动着长长的睫毛，脸上的笑容非常清澈，让老古有些动心。 这时候的他已经没有了任何顾虑，乐呵呵地将那婴儿从草丛中抱了起来。他拨开裹在婴儿身上的薄布，在证明她是个女婴之后，非常高兴地将她抱回了家。 见老古莫名其妙地抱回来一个女婴，妻子很疑惑，追问了两句，也上前扯开了女婴身上的薄布。这个时候他们才发现这个女婴是没有脚的，不过很明显，那一双脚不是生来就没有，肯定是被人后来剁掉的。 看着这触目惊心的一幕，老古和妻子都被吓住了。于是召集了村子里的所有人，询问这女婴到底是谁家的。可他们问了半天，也没有人应答。其实他们也知道，任谁做了这样的事情都不会承认的。 起初，老古是想把这个女婴留下来，由整个村子里的人一家出一点粮食，将她养起来。可在那个连自家人都要分羹而食的年代，谁还愿意去管这么一个缺了脚的弃婴呢？当然，最关键的还是因为她是一个女婴。 “那后来呢？”听到这里，张七忍不住问道。 老古眯起了眼睛，并没有看他，也没有正面回答他，而是说：“我晓得，如果我捡回来的是个男娃娃，那肯定大家一人少吃两口也会将他养大，而且说不定还会争着来养。可问题就是，她是个女婴，还被人剁了脚。” “嗯，她的父母可能就是因为她是个女婴，想把她扔了，可这孩子应该已经会走路了，怕她走出来之后，被熟人看见，所以将她的脚给剁了，想让她在路边活活饿死。”李伟推断道。 一听到这话，爷爷的心里像被绞了一下。他听见一旁的张七大骂了一句：“狗日的，要是被我知道哪个是她的父母，我第一个把他们的脚给剁了！” 大家都没有再说什么，老古继续讲：“所以说，这个女娃之后的出路成了问题。当时所有人都没有说话，过了几分钟也不晓得是哪个在人群里吼了一句，说干脆把她扔到后山去。这句话一出，大家都非常赞同，我真的很不忍心……” “那后来，你们真扔了？”张七很是吃惊。 老古点了点头，眼眶变得湿润起来：“扔了之后，过了几个小时，我就后悔了，觉得这种事情做得太缺德了，实在想不过，我又按着原路折返回去，可奇怪的是，当我走到丢娃娃的地方的时候，我发现她竟然不见了，就只剩了之前裹在她身上的薄布。”
众人听了，都欷歔不已，面面相觑。 喻广财问：“你丢的地方可有野兽出没？” 老古摇了摇头：“我们在这峡谷里住了不晓得好多年了，还从没有听说过后山有野兽的，就算有也只是一些野鸡野鸭，或者蛇之类的，不然我们早搬走了。” “有没有可能是被蛇吞了？”张七冷不丁地从身后冒出一句话来。 爷爷扭头瞪了他一眼：“蛇虽然很快，但它总归是个没脑子的畜生，而且蛇吞食向来都是整个吞下，不可能留下孩子身上的襁褓。” 被爷爷这么一问，张七不得不识趣地闭了嘴。 大家都沉默了一阵，老古继续说道：“那天回来之后，我没有对任何人说起过勒件事情，本来我想，反正勒个娃娃都是在大家的建议之下丢在那山里头的，不管她还在不在那原位置上，都没有活路。于是，勒个事情就烂在了我的肚子头。不过这两年之后，突然出了我们家老五勒个事情，我就觉得有点儿奇怪了。我就在想啊，当时是我捡到的那个娃娃，也是我丢的她，我好不容易生了个儿子，结果却没得了双脚，勒个肯定是遭到了报应。在老五出生一段时间之后，我也渐渐接受了勒个现实。但是，让我没有想到的是，这一年过去了，整个村子先后出生了几个男娃娃，居然全都没有脚！” “那在你丢下那个女娃娃之后，到你们家老五出生之前，有没有出现过这样的情况？”李伟问道，显然，他问出了很多人心中的疑惑。 老古看了李伟一眼，那眼神怪怪的。许久，他摇了摇头，还是说了实话：“没有，不过这个事情肯定跟我们老五没得啥子关系嘛。” 喻广财听了，点了点头，思索了一阵，他对老古说：“要不这样，老古明天早上等咱们吃了早饭，一起到后山去看看。” “好，明天我放完羊就回来带你们去。”老古说完，敲了敲手里的烟杆，从凳子上站起身来，要迎大家进门去休息。 老古家里只有两间卧房，老古把那间大的卧房让了出来，把喻广财等人安排进去。几人累了一天，都纷纷上前占领了一席之地。喻广财和李伟还有林子占了一张床，罗琪自己占了一张，最后剩下了爷爷、张七和曾银贵三人不知如何是好。 曾银贵走上前去，厚着脸皮对罗琪说：“罗大姐，你看你一个人就占了这么大一张床，干脆你就把这床让给我们三个，你去问问老古，那边还能不能挤一下？” 罗琪看了曾银贵半天，最后牙齿缝间蹦出了两个清脆的字眼：“没门！” 曾银贵听到此话，一下就泄了气，刚一转身，他就又听到了罗琪的声音：“不过……” “不过什么？”曾银贵仿佛看到了生机。 罗琪两只黑黝黝的眼睛一转，指着爷爷和张七说：“不过他俩可以跟我一起睡！” 曾银贵脸上的表情瞬间冻结，随后他收起了尴尬的笑容，哈哈大笑了一阵。“他俩可都是小男子汉，怎么能跟一个女人在一个房间休息呢。”说完，他又回头看着爷爷和张七，挑眉问道，“是吧？” 被他这么一问，爷爷和张七都傻了眼，不知怎么应对，只好被他生生拉出了房间。 走进了堂屋，张七问：“那咱们现在睡哪儿？” 曾银贵想了想，指着老古的房门说：“我去问问老古。” “喂喂，我可不睡那个房间。”张七瞪大了眼睛，样子不像在开玩笑。 “为什么？”曾银贵追问。 张七压低了声音：“刚才他们出去之后，你一直躲在厕所拉屎，我一个人待在那个卧房里，本来老古的媳妇儿还在，后来说要到隔壁去给我们铺床，就出了卧房。当时，整个卧房里就只剩下我和老五，那个油灯也不是很亮，火光一晃一晃的。我靠在那个牙床的床沿上，四下张望。可等我一回头，眼光刚一对到那个牙床，你们猜我看到了啥？” 爷爷和曾银贵都被他吊足了胃口，曾银贵连忙追问：“什么？那个娃娃莫非站起来了哇？” “这个倒没有，他呀……”张七拖长了音调，“居然在对我笑！” 曾银贵和爷爷纷纷挥了挥手，很有种被耍的感觉，爷爷不屑地说：“嘁，还以为什么大不了的，一岁左右的孩子笑笑又怎么了嘛？” “哎呀，你们不懂，那种笑很奇怪，一双眼睛特别有神，嘴巴斜起，扯着嘴角，好像，好像有什么阴谋得逞了一样。”张七的样子很激动，“而且最关键的是，他笑了不晓得多久，等他妈一进屋，就收起了笑容，闭上眼睛装睡，现在我想想那样子真是鬼里鬼气的。” 正在这时，老古举着油灯从卧房出来了。见了三人，他眯着眼睛问：“你们三位咋个不进去休息呢？” “我们这边……” 曾银贵的话还没有完全说出口，张七就抢了先：“我，我不给你们扯了，我去挨着罗琪睡，你们就快跟老古去嘛。” 说完，张七就钻进了房间。留下曾银贵和爷爷两人，爷爷正在为何去何从犹豫难决的时候，曾银贵说：“你跟我去，晚上我给你讲林子他爹的事情，怎么样？” 听到这话，爷爷似乎没有要拒绝的理由。那个悬念一直在他的心中慢慢发酵，就快要撑破他的心脏了。 等爷爷点了点头，两人就跟老古说明了情况，被老古带进了那个黑得伸手不见五指的房间。爷爷刚一穿过那道门，就感觉在牙床的方向，有双眼睛在盯着他。那道隐没在黑暗中的目光，爷爷不敢肯定里面藏的是童真还是邪魅。
爷爷和曾银贵进了老古一家人的卧房，这卧房中只有两张床，一张被老古、妻子和老五占了，一张被老古的另外两个女儿占了。为了安排爷爷和曾银贵，老古将那张床板铺到了地上，然后从衣柜里取出了一床薄被，递给两人，说：“今天晚上就先委屈两位了，明天我让两个女儿睡凉板，你们睡床。” 两人听了连忙摆手，曾银贵嘴最快：“没关系，出门在外能有睡的地方就不错了。” “那两位就早点儿休息嘛，明天我带你们去后山。”说完，他举着那油灯转过身去，没走开两步，又折返回来，叮嘱道，“对了，晚上我们老五喜欢磨牙，希望两位不要介意。” “没事儿没事儿，小孩子嘛，都这样。” 老古听了，就笑嘻嘻地转身上了床。他把油灯放在离他们睡的凉板两步开外的桌上。见老古完全歇下之后，曾银贵上前去吹熄了那油灯，在凉板上睡了下来。 在黑暗中，曾银贵尽可能压低了声音，说：“那就睡吧，明天早上一起去后山。” “喂，说好的跟我说林子他爹的事情，你上回就没有讲完，吊了我半天胃口。”爷爷有些不满。 曾银贵自知躲不过，问：“那我跟你讲到哪儿了？” 爷爷不假思索，提醒他：“讲到林中疯了之后又清醒过来，结果猜中了老喻父亲病丧的事儿。” “哦哦，想起来了。你也别老喻老喻地叫，我知道你心头早就把他当成师傅了，就是嘴硬。”曾银贵挤着喉咙，声音像是从喉咙处憋出来的，“言归正传，说来林中才真的是神了，从那之后，他不仅能够看到未来要发生的事情，还能说中你的过去。本来说中过去这种事情很多会卜卦算命的先生都会，可没有人能够像他这么精确。一般的先生顶多也猜到你在哪一年可能会遇到什么事情，比如你可能会破相、可能会有灾祸等。但林中却会准确无误地说出你在哪一天做过什么事，包括你的吃喝拉撒。” “啊？那不是任何人在他面前都没有秘密了哦？”爷爷非常惊讶。 黑暗中的曾银贵点了点头，说：“对的，只要你能够给出准确的生辰八字。可这一行中的人有一个规矩，该讲的讲，不该讲的点到为止。虽然林中算是半路出家，可在丧乐队里混了这么多年，对这些行规还是知道的，所以他不会轻易透露。” 爷爷猜道：“那肯定是他泄漏的天机太多了，老天爷看不下去了。” 曾银贵冷笑了一声，说：“呵，这个也算一种说法吧。那个时候林中在附近可是出了名的，帮人看病、驱邪、观风水、算命，可谓是样样精通。每个人都把他当成了仙。那段时间他也捞了不少钱。因为林子的哥哥不在了，林中每次赚了钱一回家就喝酒，喝醉了酒就开始哭，说自己的儿子就这么平白无故地死了，死得冤枉，死得惨，然后就把那些钱挥霍得一干二净。” 见爷爷一直没有插话，曾银贵拐了他一下问：“你在听吗？” “嗯。”爷爷说道，“林子见到这种情况一定非常伤心。” 曾银贵接着说：“林子虽然年纪不大，可他是个明事理的人，不会跟他的父亲计较这些，只是他一直都搞不懂自己的父亲是怎么变成这样的，难道真的遇到神仙点化？呵，当然没有这么简单。大概一年之后，林中突然就死了。” “突然死了？” “嗯，当时他正在给一个老大娘看病。老大娘把手搭在桌上。他把手这样轻轻地放到了老太太的胳膊上，闭着眼睛给她仔细地号着脉。把了大半天，林中都没有睁开眼来。那老大娘被他的样子吓住了，就低声问他，自己的病是不是很难治？也不见林中回答。老大娘就觉得不太对劲儿，开始叫他的名字，'林先生'，'林先生'地喊了半天，他也没有反应。老大娘就将手腕收了回来，她迟疑着站起身来，伸手轻轻一点林中的肩膀，林中就连人带椅子朝着身后倒去。就在那一瞬间，他的眼睛、鼻子、嘴巴、耳朵里都渗出了血，把在场的所有人都吓得惊叫着跑了出去。” “林中就这么死了？”爷爷不解。 “嗯，后来医生来检查，也说不出个所以然，就说这可能是脑子受损造成的。可当时所有人都在旁边看得清清楚楚，他分明就那么坐着，连动都没有动一下，不知脑子怎么就受损了。”曾银贵说道。 “那这到底是怎么回事？” “关于他的这种情况说法也很多，有的说他也是受了大儿子犯了火煞和太岁的影响，因为和进墓穴的人是间接关系，所以没有直接死掉。可师傅却觉得不是这么一回事。”曾银贵侧了侧身说，“据师傅说，早在阴阳界里有种传言，说人在精神受到严重刺激之后，或者说在临死之前，会变得思绪不清，这个时候很容易出现一种凌空的状态，也就是说他的魂魄会横跨在阴阳两界的中间，看得见人事，也分得清鬼怪。至于他的死，是因为他过分使用了自己的脑子。凡是懂阴阳之事的人，必然有所顾忌，不该说的不能说，每天能够参破命理也是有限的，如果过度使用，那必定会透支你的生命。那一年多的时间里，想必林中是用完了自己后面几十年的生命力，就算不死也会成呆子。” 这个事情让爷爷非常吃惊，不想这世间还有这样神奇之事。他琢磨了半天，在心里暗暗地想，既然林中受到了神人点化，必然是知道这样透支后果的，可他不但不收敛，反而愈加放肆，多半是他早就已经不留恋这人世了。一个人倘若找不到生的寄托，那死对他来说，不过只是一个等待的日期而已。 这样想着，爷爷竟然听到了身旁的曾银贵发出的鼾声，不出所料，他已经沉沉地睡去了。 爷爷长叹了口气，将薄被裹在了身上，翻了个身，闭上眼睛。可就在他刚要进入梦乡的时候，一个声音将他拉了回来。他迅速睁开眼来，那个声音让他全身瞬间泛起了鸡皮疙瘩：嚓……嚓嚓…… 那声音很熟悉，像是动物身上的皮和肉被撕裂时发出的。爷爷突然想起今天张七的那番话，不自觉地在黑暗中将目光向那张牙床投了过去，而事实上，那声音也的确是从那个方向发过来的。 嚓……嚓嚓……
爷爷从凉板上支起身子来，那声音细细的，像一根银丝轻轻勾起了他的耳膜，牵着他朝着那个方向靠过去。 此时，曾银贵已经没心没肺地睡了过去，呼噜声在这土壁的卧房里显得特别突出。爷爷踹了他两脚，也没见他有丝毫反应。透过黑暗，想想他的样子，爷爷还是泄了气，慢慢从凉板上移下身子，为了避免发出声响，他没有穿鞋。 那时候的房子都是由泥土和石头砌成的，光着脚难免会割人。爷爷猫着身子，凭着记忆将两步之外桌上的油灯握在了手里。 嚓……嚓嚓…… 那个声音还在继续，与曾银贵的呼噜声协调得非常瘆人。爷爷下意识地咽了口唾沫，一步一步地朝着那张床靠了过去。爷爷的眼睛已经习惯了黑暗，能从这漆黑的房间里寻出一丁点儿光线。他走到那张床面前的时候，突然就愣住了，因为那声音的节奏慢了下来。很明显，此刻黑暗中的那个声音的制造者已经注意到了他。 爷爷顿下身子来，这个声音虽然慢了，却特别清晰。想了想，爷爷在心里做了最坏的打算。他举起那个油灯，用最快的速度，擦亮火柴凑到了油灯的灯芯上。很快，面前的整个视野都亮了起来。 不管三七二十一，爷爷伸着脖子看向那张牙床。在牙床的角落里，那个男婴，正睁着一双黑幽幽的大眼睛，目不转睛地盯着他。而此时，他的嘴角满是鲜淋淋的血。那血渍沿着他右边的嘴角已经流到了脖子上，而在他的怀里，还捧着半只小脚，已经被啃去了大半。 “我没有脚，所以要吃很多很多的脚。” 爷爷的脑子一下就炸开了，老五，一岁的老五居然能说话！爷爷惊叫一声，刚要退后，一个踉跄就跌倒在地上，手里的油灯瞬间碎裂。而那阵声响之后，整个房间又回归到黑暗之中。 那阵碎裂声惊醒了房间里的几个大人，第一个起身的是老古，黑暗中，爷爷听到老古在问：“咋个了？出了啥子事？” “没，没什么。”爷爷惊魂未定，说话的时候有些颤抖，“老古，你们家还有油灯吗？” “有，我这就去拿。” 说完，爷爷听见老古从床上下来，走到床边的一间衣柜前，打开柜门捣鼓了一阵，然后随着一声火柴的擦响，整个房间都亮了起来。 见到还坐在地上的爷爷，老古举着油灯弯下腰去搀扶他。 “出啥子事了吗？”老古拧眉问道。 爷爷从地上支起身子，二话没说，走上前去，一把掀开了老古床上的被子。老五还是睡在那间牙床的最里面。被爷爷这么一弄，他没有丝毫要清醒的样子，努了努嘴，样子非常宁静。 “咦，奇了怪了。”爷爷呢喃了一句。因为此时他发现，老五身上和嘴上的血渍都没有了，好像刚才真的什么都没有发生过。 “小师傅，你怎么了？是不是我们老五磨牙吵到你了？”老古虽然语气非常关切，可明显还是有些不满。 爷爷见状，摇了摇头，不好意思地说：“哦，我刚才好像看到了一只耗子，怕它弄到老五了。” 老古听了，笑出声来：“哎呀，我还以为好大的事情呢，耗子在我们这个地方常见得很，它不过是出来溜达溜达，不敢伤人的。” “哦，哦，看来是我想多了。”说完，爷爷就折身回到了凉板上。 不知道什么时候，睡神曾银贵也被惊醒了。等爷爷躺下来，灭了油灯之后，他在黑暗中幽幽地问：“你不是看见耗子了吧？” “这个明天再给你说，晚上自己留个神。”爷爷说完，就没有再吱声。他将手臂枕在脑下，目光落在黑夜中牙床的方向，一夜都没有睡着。 第二天，天色刚一破晓，老古就从床上下来。在整理好衣衫之后，他就拿起门背后的那根赶羊棍出了门。他刚走到大门口，就突然听到村子里传来一阵惊呼，是一个女人的声音。 爷爷和曾银贵都被那声音给惊得愣了神，两人对望了一眼，深知不妙，立马从凉板上翻起身来，抓起衣服就出了门。 门外，喻广财、李伟和林子都已经早早站到了老古屋前的坝子里。爷爷和曾银贵上前去，只见在那坝子下的那条土路上，一个女人抱着个孩子一路鬼哭狼嚎地乱跑。她头上的头巾还没有卸去，身上穿得特别厚。爷爷认得她，她是古真荣的妻子，昨天才分娩完。看着她怀里抱着的孩子，大家都知道出事了，二话没说，飞快地从坝子上下来。 几人走到女人的面前，将她稍稍安抚下来之后，李伟接过她怀里的孩子，拨开那身上裹着的襁褓，大家都傻了眼，那孩子的双脚没了，上面只有已经慢慢结痂的血疤。
眼前的这一幕，让在场的所有人都震惊不已。爷爷站在李伟身后，看着那婴儿缺掉的双脚，脑子里立马就浮现出昨晚在老古那张大牙床上看到的那一幕。 难道这一切真的是老五所为？这样想了想，他也觉得太荒唐了。老五现在连路都不会走，怎么半夜在所有人浑然不知的情况下溜到其他人家里去，还能这样生生取下婴儿的双脚？ “对了，昨天晚上你在老古家的卧房里到底看到了啥子？”曾银贵在身后拐了他一下。 爷爷回过头来，看了喻广财一眼。喻广财也听出了话里的端倪，他非常