Chapter 4 Escape from the Wolf's Mouth in the third quarter

I decided to follow Uncle Gousheng to see how they robbed the tomb.There are a lot of folklore stories about tomb robbers, thrilling and exciting, but there are never any reports about tomb robbers in the newspapers.After I told the newspaper about my thoughts, the newspaper agreed very much. But I didn't tell my mother about this idea, I didn't want to make her old worry.Over the years, my mother only knew that I was a reporter, but didn't know that I had made unannounced visits one after another, dealing with all kinds of dangerous people.She always thought that I was the kind of reporter who carried a camera on TV and dressed up and wowed passers-by. She thought this kind of reporter was very beautiful.Little did she know that her son had the most dangerous job of all.

In the days when my mother came, I had to go to work very early every day, get the clues of the day from the leader on duty, and then rush out of the room like a hound, crowded on the bus, and rushed to the scene to interview.By the time the interview was over, it was already the second half of the day. After returning to the newspaper office, I didn't even have time to eat, so I just sat in front of the computer and typed.After handing in the manuscript, it was already very late, and at this time I squeezed into the bus back to the village.Standing on the bus, I dozed off while holding on to the handrail, and often passed the stop.After returning to the village, it was already very late, and he picked up his job and devoured it hungrily.

My mother would often look at me silently and whisper, "Is my baby very tired? Let's go home when we are tired. There are still a few acres of land at home, which is enough for a family to live on." I smiled easily and said, "I'm not tired, I'm not tired." In fact, I know that I can't go back, and I can only stay in this city after exhausting myself.I have no choice. I remembered an exchange I had with Chi Dao during that time.I said that if I could do it all over again, I would like to live in a small town, be a primary school teacher or a clerk, and the family of three would live a peaceful and peaceful life without competing with the world.

Chi Dao said that he also has the same idea, but the premise is that there must be a good principal, but now it is more difficult to find a good principal who is fair and honest than to catch a lice on a bald head. Middle school Chinese teacher Chi Dao is a very wise man, he has many amazing words.He said, if you praise a person, say she is a lady, beautiful and rich; if you belittle a person, say he is a poet, pedantic and poor. I can still remember these words of Chi Dao until now.But now, I don't know where Chi Dao has gone, we haven't been in touch for many years. A few days later, I sent my mother and brother home.This time, we bought a sleeper ticket.The mother has been sitting by the window, looking out of the window, she is feeling how the land outside the window is red, how the peasants are plowing the land in the water, how can the cow grow so big?She didn't know that there are two kinds of cattle in this world. The cattle in the north are yellow cattle, and the cattle in the south are buffaloes. The buffaloes are much bigger than the cattle.She didn't know rice, she didn't know sugar cane, she didn't know bananas and many southern crops and plants.She sighed and said that our country is so big and has so many crops.

Farmer mothers are also most concerned about crops.She has the most affection for crops. After returning to our hometown, we first went to the township middle school at the foot of the mountain, where my sister works as a private teacher.A year ago, a distant relative who was a public teacher recommended my younger sister to be a private teacher in a junior high school, that is, an acting teacher.The public teachers in this junior high school are all thinking of moving to the county seat, and there is a serious shortage of teachers. In this school, my younger sister teaches mathematics in the first grade of junior high school, and her students rank first in every exam.However, because she is a private teacher, she only earns 80 yuan a month.And those public teachers whose teaching performance is not as good as hers earn ten times her salary.

At that time, my sister's biggest dream was to become a public teacher. On the second day after returning home, I lied about going back to the south, and sneaked over the deep ditch to find Uncle Gousheng. Twenty years ago, we crossed the deep ditch several times and came to this village where Uncle Gousheng lived, stealing red dates, persimmons, and tomatoes with just a little red skin.Another time we had a group fight with the children of this village, but they were beaten and fled by the advantaged geographical advantage, and ran around in the ditch. Twenty years later, I set foot on this village again, and my childhood life suddenly came back to my eyes.

For twenty years, this village has not changed at all. The old locust tree at the entrance of the village is still thick and dry, with fine and sparse leaves on the branches. The body of the tree is mottled, and the roots protrude from the ground.There was a little wolf who was hung on a tree branch by Uncle Gousheng, trying to lure the old wolf into a trap, but failed in the end.The closest to the old locust tree is a lonely ancient temple. The gate of the ancient temple was demolished during the "Cultural Revolution" and burned as firewood.The clay sculptures in the ancient temple are crumbling here and there, exactly the same as the ones we saw when we were young.There is some pasted mud on the kiln roof of the ancient temple, which has not fallen down in the past twenty years.It was after a rain twenty years ago. We squeezed the mud into a bowl shape with our hands and threw it upwards. The air in the bowl exploded at the bottom of the bowl, and the mud was firmly stuck to the roof of the kiln.There are only four words on the wall of the ancient temple, "Forget Class", which is exactly the same as what we saw twenty years ago.Before coming here, there should have been a row of walls with the words "Never Forget Class Struggle", which was a quote from leaders all over the country during the "Cultural Revolution". Later, the walls on both sides collapsed, and only "Forget Class" remained. .In fact, it is quite interesting to think about these four characters left on the wall of the ancient temple. It can be said to be a kind of prophecy.Who still mentions "class" now?Who cares whether you are a poor peasant or a landlord?People fighting against each other in a special era made people suffer a lot.

The village is like a crotch, with old locust trees and ancient temples at the waist of the trousers, two rows of cave dwellings and houses at the bottom of the trouser legs, and a deep ditch under the crotch.The deep ditch is also bottomless, only the cold wind blows up, making people's scalp numb and dizzy.There are a few jujube trees on the cliff, all of which have lost their leaves, and a few red jujube pearls are dotted on the branches as hard as bones, which makes people feel chilly. Twenty years ago, this village was very lively, with people shouting, horses neighing, babies crying, chickens crowing, dogs jumping, pigs and sheep running.Twenty years later, it seems unusually quiet.The earthen walls of several courtyards have collapsed. Looking in from half of the earthen walls, the open spaces in the courtyards are covered with knee-high weeds. Centipedes, grasshoppers, and crickets roam among the weeds. The windows of the dilapidated houses are closed tightly. The iron lock hung high on the door.The few trees in the village, poplar and plane tree, have grown taller than twenty years ago, but they have lost all their leaves, making them look extremely desolate.There were no chickens looking for food or pigs walking on the village road, only a piece of grass rolled on the village road like a ball and fell into the deep ditch.

Where did everyone go? Uncle Gousheng’s house is on the other side of the village, at the bottom of his trousers.I used to go to his house when I was a kid. The courtyard gate of his house was open. The so-called courtyard gate was actually a fence gate woven with wicker. It had been like this for many years.The water hole under the gate of the courtyard was the place where the wolf had entered, and he was almost dragged away from this place by the wolf.There is no weed growing in the yard of his house, but some vegetables are planted, such as leeks, green onions, peppers, and white radishes. The fat white radishes propped up the ground, revealing their white roots.His house has only one cave dwelling, and the cave door is locked.I looked in through the crack of the door and saw the unfolded quilt on the kang, and the bowls and chopsticks on the lid of the box.It is estimated that he must not have traveled far.

I went to several courtyards where people lived, and saw only the elderly and children at home. When the old people heard that I was looking for Uncle Gousheng, they waved their hands: "That guy, who knows how long he will come back. Sometimes he comes back in the middle of the night, sometimes Sometimes I don’t come back for a few days, no one cares.” From the tone of the old man, it can be heard that they all hate “that guy”. "Did you see him yesterday and today?" I asked. "I saw you yesterday." Maybe Uncle Gousheng will come back tonight, so I decided to stay in the village and wait for him.

It was already late autumn at that time, the sky in the north was as clear as washing, and the air was cool.When I was a child, every season in this season, I could see wild geese flying over my head, flying to the south. Their voices were clear and high, and the voices were connected together. Farmers holding plowshares in the fields would always stop their work. Looking up at the figures of wild geese flying by in line.When the wild geese fly far away, they will continue to slap the whip in their hands: "Drive—" The old cow in front of the plowshare will start to walk slowly again.However, I did not see the wild geese flying overhead that day.I heard that the Mongolian prairie is no longer green and grassy, ​​but has become a desert mixed with sand and stones.Wild geese leave their homes where they have lived for generations and migrate to unknown places.I also didn't see farmers holding plowshares. They went to work in distant cities, and the fields were covered with luxuriant weeds. Going back and coming, the fields will be overgrown, and Hu will not return? The sky is gradually dimming, and there is not even a wisp of smoke over the silent village. All the memories of the countryside when I was a child are gone now.The crotch-like village seems to be like a prehistoric site, and it is frighteningly silent. I walked into the ruined temple, and I decided to wait for Uncle Gousheng here, maybe he will come back tonight. The sound of sheep bleating came from the middle of the mountain, and the sound spread far away in the empty valley. I followed the sound and saw an old man in a black coarse cotton padded coat, hunched over and climbing up the slope.The old man is very old, like many old men here, with a white sheep belly handkerchief tied on his head, the color has changed from white to gray; a leather strap is tied around his waist, the color of the strap is black, it is obviously old.The old man's face was dark and wrinkled, and he had a shaggy gray beard.In the city, old people of this age have long been walking birds in the park, chatting in teahouses, and sitting under the eaves playing cards, but here, old people of this age still have to herd sheep in the ravines to make a living. Seeing me standing in front of the temple gate, the old man stretched out the palm of his left hand to wipe his face, sneezed, and slapped the long whip in his right hand in the air. One curiously walked out of the team and tried to walk into the temple gate to find out what happened. The goats immediately returned to the flock obediently.The old man asked: "Baby, which one are you looking for?" I said, "Look for the leftover dog." The old man said, "That guy is wild." After the old man finished speaking, he drove the sheep forward again, and walked into a yard at the leg of his trousers. It was getting darker and colder.I pulled a bunch of firewood from the field behind the temple, carried it into the temple, and lit a bonfire.Sitting by the fire made me feel so much warmer. Outside the temple gate was the endless darkness, and inside the temple gate was a pile of raging bonfires. This scene made me feel as if I had passed away. I didn’t know where I was, and what night it was.I suddenly remembered the plot in the movie, Wu Song, Lu Zhishen, Li Kui, Lin Chong, and Liu Tang, each of them has a story connected with the ancient temple, that is, on such a night, they walked into the ancient temple, Encountered a bizarre and blood-boiling plot.I also thought of Jin Yong's martial arts novels. The ancient temple is also a very important scene in his novel. It can be seen that the ancient temple, as a symbol, has always been in the rural life of ancient China.The heroes of the green forest and the heroes of the rivers and oceans, and even the thieves who come and go, will use the ancient temple as a shelter in the dark night. So, what stories will be staged in my tonight? I don't know how long I have to wait tonight, so I took out a book from my backpack to read. Later, when I got tired of reading, I closed the pages of the book and looked to both sides. The bonfires shone on the faces of the clay sculptures on both sides, which looked very strange. down.I suddenly felt extremely nervous and scared and forced myself not to look to either side.I looked towards the temple gate, and suddenly saw a more terrifying scene: A female ghost with disheveled hair quietly walked into the ancient temple... I was so terrified that I sat back and couldn't utter a word.I have heard many stories about tomb robbers before, and I have also heard many stories about female ghosts. Could it be that the female ghost came to revenge me when I came to find Uncle Gousheng to learn about tomb robbery? The female ghost continued to walk forward, the torn clothes on her body were illuminated by the firelight, and there was a pale face behind the messy hair.She looked at me, suddenly laughed, and pointed at me while smiling, with a very happy expression. My panic gradually dissipated, and I saw clearly that she was a lunatic, not a female ghost. The lunatic saw that I was no longer afraid of her, and the smile on my face disappeared. She didn't think it was fun, so she turned and walked out of the temple gate.An old man shouted outside the temple gate: "What are you doing out here? Go back!" I saw that the old man standing in front of the temple gate was an old sheep herding man at dusk. The old sheep herding man said to me: "Baby, it's windy at night, if you can't stand it, go back to our house, we can live in it." I smiled at the old man and said to wait a little longer.In fact, I was afraid of living in the same room with such a lunatic, and I would have nightmares all night, and I was terrified. The lunatic left in front, and the old man followed behind.While walking, the old man turned his head and exhorted: "If you can't stand the cold, go back to our house, ah—" The old man walked away, and I stood at the gate of the temple, looking at the night sky, and felt that this place was very close to the starry sky, as if I could pick one off by jumping up.The long Milky Way stretches across the sky, like a satin strip, and the stars in the satin strip are densely packed, blinking their eyes.A waning moon hangs in the sky like a sickle, looking very lonely.For many years, I have not seen such a starry sky again.The night sky of the city is covered with a layer of industrial smog and exhaust gas, and the starlight and moonlight are powerless to penetrate.There are only street lights in the city at night. This kind of false light makes city people forget the ancient myths and legends, and makes city people forget the awe of heaven. A starry sky full of stars is a luxury for city dwellers. I stood at the gate of the temple, in the quiet northern countryside, on the land full of childhood stories, looking at the starry sky obsessively.This is the Big Dipper, this is Sirius, this is Ursa Major, this is Vega and Altair, they meet only once a year... On those happy nights twenty years ago, we often sat in the clearing of the threshing field and listened to Parents told stories, counted stars, and identified constellations.And twenty years later, can the children in the countryside still experience such a scene?Do they know where their father is?Will they be able to see their father?Can they recognize the constellations in the sky? Now, their names are left-behind children. The star is still the same star, the moon is still the same moon, the mountain is still the same mountain, and the beam is still the same beam... However, what about those people who looked at the starry sky back then?Now, who else is looking at the starry sky? Things change and people change, which is the most sad. I walked back to the temple gate and continued to sit by the bonfire. The bonfire was a bit dim, and the firewood had been burned through.I had to pull firewood behind the temple again, but this time I didn't pull much. In the dark, my finger was pricked by a thorn. I went back to the temple with a small bundle of firewood, thought about it, and wandered outside the temple again. I saw a shovel break off a thick and thin dead tree, and took it back to the temple.And the stories in Jin Yong's novels always scare me a little, so I use this stick for self-defense. The bonfire was crackling again, shining brightly on the temple wall. There were some traces drawn with chalk on the temple wall, and some handwritings that were blurred by years: "Xiaoqin is shameless, and loves to eat big meat slices." "Where are the writing children and the violin now?What kind of life did they spend in this village?Are they married, or are they still single? A night wind blew up outside the temple gate, and the sound of the wind first whistled sharply like a thin wire, and then it rang like the sound of waves.After the sound of the wind, there was a rustling sound, like leaves falling on the ground, or like an army sprinting.I lit a cigarette and savored it carefully. I haven't heard the sound of night for a long time. The sound of the wind is sometimes absent, sometimes tight and sometimes slow, and the wind is also mixed with the sound of frightened night birds, the sound of dead branches breaking, and the sound of unknown small animals fighting.Evenings in the country are rich in content. I was listening intently, and when I turned my head, I suddenly saw a wolf standing by the campfire. I don’t know when it stood by the campfire... I yelled "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"Seeing me standing up suddenly across the campfire, the wolf also took a few steps back in horror, but did not run away. It tilted its head and squinted at me. The triangular eyes were full of disdain. The ears of wolves stand up high, while the ears of local stupid dogs hang down a little; the tails of wolves are plump like brooms, while those of dogs are slender; Will wag its tail.The wolf was watching me, and I was watching the wolf. It was clearly a wolf, an adult wolf. Both the wolf and I are evaluating each other's opponents, looking at their strength and courage.My mother said that a wolf is a very ghostly animal. It usually looks at its opponent secretly, then suddenly attacks, bites the opponent's throat, makes the opponent lose the ability to resist, and kills the opponent.But why did this wolf suddenly break into the ancient temple and confront me?Mother said that wolves have two fears, one is afraid of iron objects, and the other is afraid of fire.Then, if the wolf didn't attack me suddenly, it must have dared not jump over the bonfire. The wolf squinted at me from the other side of the campfire, and I stared at him from the other side of the campfire.The wolf pretended to be indifferent, but in fact it cared very much. It was looking for my weakness. In ancient times, humans were able to defeat wolves. Humans had sharp teeth and claws. Humans were much bigger and stronger than wolves.However, with the continuous evolution of human beings, human teeth became dull and could not bite through raw meat; human claws degenerated and became nails.The human mind is evolving, and various tools have been invented and domesticated to replace their own labor, while the human body is degenerating, degrading more and more powerless.Therefore, even a small wolf dares to challenge people. I slowly raised the stick, suddenly jumped over the campfire, and threw it at the wolf.I cursed viciously in my mouth: "Fuck you!" The wolf turned around and ran, jumped down the steps, and disappeared into the night in a flash. Wolves can understand people.When a person sees a wolf, even with bare hands, he must not be timid.If you scold it harshly, the wolf will also be afraid.When I was in the third grade of elementary school, one winter, it snowed heavily at night, and the snow reflected light, making my mother think it was dawn, so she woke me up and told me to go to school quickly.I walked to the school gate sleepily, and saw a wolf squatting at the school gate, squinting at me, exactly the same as tonight.At that time, I didn't know how to be afraid. I thought it was a dog, so I didn't care.The wolf waddled towards me, only a dozen meters away.Suddenly, my uncle came running from the hillside next to the school. The uncle threw the carpentry bag on the ground, held a sharp axe, and shouted loudly: "Damn you, I will kill you!" escape. My uncle is a carpenter. When he was young, he often carried a carpentry bag to and from the surrounding countryside for dozens of miles, building houses to make tables and chairs, and repairing farm tools for the production team.Everyone in the surrounding villages for dozens of miles knew him. After driving away the wolves, I returned to the ancient temple, and I was a little scared.What if the wolf comes again?What if two wolves come? According to the habits of wolves, the wolf must not have run far, and must have been staring at me in the darkness not far away. I turned around in the ancient temple, and the bonfire gradually went out, leaving only ashes.With my bag on my back and a stick in my hand, I walked carefully all the way to the door of Uncle Gousheng’s house. The iron lock was still hanging on the door, and Uncle Gousheng hadn’t come back yet. I didn't dare to go to the ancient temple anymore, so I had to go to the old man who herded sheep. The door of the old sheep herding man was ajar, but I opened it with a push, and the creaking sound was heard far away.I was surprised and didn't know whether to go in or not to go in. The old sheep-herding man turned on the electric light. In the dim light, the old sheep-herding man put on his clothes and got off the kang, making a modest gesture and said, "Come in, baby, I know you will come, so I am waiting for you." I don't understand why the old man knew that I would definitely come, but before I asked, the old man continued, "It's cold in the middle of the night in the mountains." The old man lived in a cave dwelling. The cave dwelling was very old, and the walls were blackened by the smoke from the stove. The crazy woman was lying on the bed, covered with an old quilt, curled up into a ball, looking as big as a puppy. pity.The light bulb is a 15-watt light bulb. In order to save electricity, people in the mountains choose such a small light bulb for lighting. The light of this light is red and dim. With the help of the dim light, I saw several calendars pasted on the wall, and each calendar had a few lines of words: "Happy New Year to the old Red Army and Laoba Road. Congratulations from the Civil Affairs Department."I turned around in surprise and looked at this old man with a hunched waist: Could it be that he is an old Red Army veteran? I took off my shoes and sat on the kang.I pointed to the woman and asked the old man, "Who is this?" The old man said: "My granddaughter." I asked, "How old is it?" The old man said: "16 years old." It turned out that she was only 16 years old, and I couldn't see her face clearly at night, so I thought she was an adult. I asked again: "Where is the baby's mother?" People in our place called the father "Da". The old man said: "They all went to the provincial capital to work." The old man also said that he had two grandsons, both in their 20s, who went to work in the city with their parents, and came back only once a year. When the old man was talking, he kept coughing, and his weather-beaten face looked extremely sad under the dim light, which made people feel a lot of sadness. I pointed to the almanac on the wall and asked, "Are you an old Red Army?" The old man said: "That was all a long time ago." I said with interest: "Can you tell me about those years?" The old man said lightly: "What are you talking about, it's over." I said, "Master, my grandfather also served in the Red Army." I saw the old man's eyes flash like sparks. He looked at me and asked, "Your grandfather? Which army is he in? Which village is he from?" I said that my grandfather had worked in Liu Zidan's army before. He worked all the way through the Red Army, the Eighth Route Army, and the People's Liberation Army. After the success of the revolution, he asked to go home and farm. The old man suddenly asked: "Is your grandfather Bai Chaoding?" I screamed and stood up.The old man said: "Your grandfather and I are in the same army, and we got back together." My grandfather's name is Bai Chaoding, and his name is recorded in the local county annals. When my grandfather was in the Red Army, he was already married. People in those days got married early, but he was only in his teens.Grandpa worked as a security guard for a later major general of the Republic. The major general was the head of the underground party at the time. They held meetings in the cave, and grandpa stood guard in the distance.Later, when the Red Army passed through here on the Long March, they went to northern Shaanxi together and were incorporated into Liu Zidan's army.Then, he crossed the Yellow River east to fight against the Japanese army, and then followed Peng Dehuai's army to fight against the Majia army until the liberation of the whole country.Later, the organization wanted to arrange for my grandfather to work, and my grandfather said: "I am a farmer and I don't know a word. I'd better go home and farm." Just like that, he returned home. I asked, "Master, why did you come back in the first place? It's great to have a job. Look at how hard it is to be a farmer." The uncle smiled: "Your grandfather is like me, illiteracy will only burden the country, and we farmers are the lives of farmers." The uncle also said that at that time, many people came back to farm after the successful revolution.The purpose of the revolution at the beginning was to be able to share a few acres of land. After the land was divided, they went home to cultivate the land. I asked, "Why did you think of being a member of the Red Army?" The uncle said that that day when he was grazing cattle for the landlord’s house, the cattle fell into a dark hole, and he dared not go back. When he saw the Red Army passing by the mountain, he followed the team.At that time he was not as tall as a rifle.The team kept walking, and kept walking. When he was tired, he grabbed the waistband of the person in front of him and walked to northern Shaanxi. I asked, "Have you ever killed a Japanese devil?" The uncle suddenly straightened his waist, his eyes were piercing: "I killed it, I killed several of them." The uncle called a Japanese ghost a Japanese ghost. He said that he cut off the head of a Japanese ghost with a big blade when he was fighting with a bayonet. On another occasion, when he delivered a letter, he saw two Japanese ghosts shitting by the bank. A Japanese ghost will die. Uncle’s life is very poor, but that night I saw him very optimistic, he laughed, as if he had returned to the glorious days of beating Japanese ghosts. I asked, "Master, can you still sing military songs?" The uncle straightened his waist again, and he sang in a muddy voice: Iron flow twenty-five thousand miles, Go straight in a firm direction! Ten years of hard work, Forge into an invincible force. Once the frontiers are captured by force, Generous elegy to the battlefield. The first battle of Pingxingguan, It is famous all over the world. ... I am very familiar with this song, because I heard it sung by my grandfather at the beginning, and I also learned it from him. My eyes were moist, and under the dim light, the uncle's eyes were also glistening with tears. We talked until dawn that night.After dawn, I was about to get up when the uncle seemed to suddenly remember something and asked, "Who are you looking for?" I said, "I'm a dog leftover uncle." The uncle said, "Why did you find that guy?" I deliberately asked: "What happened to him?" The uncle bent the five fingers of his right hand, made a digging gesture and said, "To dig someone's tomb is to cut off children and grandchildren." Killing laying hens, poisoning watchdogs, knocking on widows' doors, and digging family graves are the four most taboo things in northern rural areas. I lied that I was writing a book and wanted to know about tomb robbers. Before I left, I unpacked a piece of Hongtashan that was given to Uncle Gousheng, and left six boxes for Uncle Gousheng.The uncle said he didn't want anything, but later he saw that I was very determined, so he only accepted a pack of cigarettes.As soon as I stepped out of the courtyard, the uncle stopped me from behind and forced me with an old pumpkin.I don't want it, the uncle pouted and said: "If you take what you have, if you don't return it, it's not a courtesy." The old pumpkin may be the only thing that can be handed out in the uncle's house. I left the uncle's house as if fleeing, and hurried on the village road, tears streaming down again.