Chapter 7 Count the wolves in the sixth quarter

While we were talking, there was the sound of prickling corn leaves outside the door.Uncle Gousheng blew out the candle in one gulp. I lay on the window and looked out. Under the bright moonlight, I saw an old wolf limping and running slowly to the distance. It is like a fluffy grass rolled up by the wind, weak, dull and slow.I said, "The lame wolf, will you drive it out?" Uncle Gousheng picked up the iron fork from behind the door, and said, "Stab this lame wolf to death. We are two people tonight, and we can beat wolves." It is about one meter long, with forks in front of the stick, and it is often leaned against the wall of the kang, and can be used as a self-defense weapon in a crisis situation.

We opened the door and chased out, shouting loudly.I am tall, with big strides, chasing in front; Uncle Gousheng is short in stature, closely following behind.We chased to the ancient temple, and the lame wolf turned around. Under the bright moonlight, I saw a strange smile suddenly appear on its long and narrow face.I was stunned for a moment, and suddenly saw two wolves flashing out from behind the temple, and they rushed towards me like two gray lightning bolts. We were ambushed.Wolves are really cunning, they are setting us up. Uncle Gousheng yelled loudly: "Beat the wolf, beat the wolf!" His voice was cracked by fright, and it sounded extremely harsh, like the scream of an owl at midnight, which makes the scalp numb; The blade cut through the glass, making people get goosebumps all over their bodies.

The lame wolf was calm and composed. It squatted on the ground with a smile, like a schemer, with an expression of sitting firmly on the Diaoyutai.The two wolves behind the temple were about to pounce on us, and the distance was less than a few meters away. We all stared at these two drooling wolves with teeth and claws.Suddenly, I saw a shadow under the moonlight. The long shadow was swaying like a lake. I subconsciously turned my head, and a wolf behind me had already stood up and rushed forward. The fork of the wolf's body got stuck, and the wolf rolled on the ground twice, got up in a jerk, and pounced on it again.

Just when I stuck the wolf behind with a kang stick, the wolf in front had already pounced on me. I could feel its warm and heavy body. The huge inertia brought by the speed made this wolf feel like It knocked me down like a boulder, and I was crushed under it, and I saw its miserable white teeth under the moonlight.Now I can still remember my thoughts at the time, I thought: It's over, it's over! The wolf was lowering its head and biting at me. Uncle Gousheng came at me with a fork. The wolf dodged briskly, while the other two wolves turned their heads to surround Uncle Gousheng.Uncle Gousheng yelled loudly. His voice sounded very scary on this mountainous night. He swung the round iron fork, and the two wolves couldn't get close for a while.

In the northern countryside, the iron fork is an important agricultural tool. When harvesting wheat, it is necessary to use the iron fork to insert the wheat bundles and throw them on the cart; The iron fork is also the best self-defense weapon. When thieves come at night, the hostess will hold the iron fork to catch up;The iron fork has a handle and is 1.67 meters long; the front part has four curved iron rods, less than a foot long. The chopsticks are thick and thin, and the tips are extremely sharp, like an awl. Uncle Gousheng holding an iron fork is majestic. He shouted and fought hard, and the iron fork danced like a windmill.The kang stick in my hand was only one meter long, so it seemed stretched. Fortunately, there was a fork at the front end of the kang stick, and it was made of hard locust wood. It was heavy in my hand, like it was made of iron.I got up and pointed the front end of the kang stick at the wolf that threw me down. We were all testing each other, and neither of us dared to make a rash move.

When I was a child, I heard from the villagers that when fighting with wolves, you must never raise the stick in your hand, because before your stick falls, the wolf has already rushed to you, and you can only use the stick as a gun. The tip of the stick to poke the wolf. When I was in a stalemate with this wolf, I suddenly heard Uncle Gousheng shouting: "Behind, behind." I didn't have time to look back, and I flashed to the side, and another wolf had already jumped in front of me. The old wolf who has been watching the battle.The old wolf is cunning and cunning, and has a bad stomach. It pretends to be lame, but in fact it is not lame at all.

Uncle Gousheng is fighting with two wolves, and he has been keeping an eye on my safety. With such a short burning kang stick, it is already difficult to deal with one wolf, but now it is even more difficult to deal with two wolves.I suddenly had an idea: run to the temple wall as soon as possible, and lean against the temple wall, so as to avoid the enemy from the front and back.However, the idea was only a flash, and I immediately realized that this approach was not feasible.The speed of the wolves is far faster than mine, and I will be caught up by them as soon as I start, and they will bite my neck from behind.

I could only hold the kang stick with one hand, and dance the kang stick like a windmill.However, the kang stick was too short, and my legs were exposed. A wolf bent down and attacked my legs. I hit it on the head with the front fork of the kang stick, and it jumped to the side. , escaped.Just as I pulled back the kang stick, another werewolf stood up and rushed towards my arms. Before I could dodge in time, I bent my arms and smashed the wolf on the neck with the back of the kang stick.When a person desperately resisted, his strength was very strong, and the wolf was knocked to the ground by the burning kang stick.

The wolves are very smart. They saw that it was difficult to besiege Uncle Gousheng holding an iron fork, so they only left one wolf to entangle Uncle Gousheng, while the other three wolves attacked me together.Now I regret very much that I didn’t bring a shovel or other agricultural tools when I went out to catch up. The round shovel in front of the shovel is like a steel knife; The wolf did not dare to attack me so recklessly. Uncle Gousheng yelled and cursed loudly, and stabbed the wolf with his iron fork. Taking advantage of the wolf's dodge, he took two steps and approached me. He shouted: "Back to back, back to back." I often saw it in black and white movies when I was a child. In such a situation, when two people encounter danger, they will use back-to-back methods to defend against powerful enemies.I also took two steps, trying to get close to Uncle Gousheng, but the wolves were very cunning, and all four wolves stuck between me and Uncle Gousheng, preventing us from approaching.

Just when the two sides were at a stalemate, the old wolf jumped out of the circle, pressed its mouth to the ground, and howled long, the sound sounded very terrifying on such a tragic moonlit night.I knew that this was the old wolf calling for his companions, and it would not take long for the wolf's brigade reinforcements to arrive. I was so anxious that I was sweating profusely, and I heard Uncle Gousheng was also panting heavily.We are all very tired. There was the echo of wolves in the distance, one at first, then several, their voices rising and falling, making one's hair stand on end.

what to do? Suddenly, there was the creaking sound of the wooden door being pushed open in the village, the torches illuminated the uneven village road, and several old people shouted "Wolf, wolf!" The wolf fled in fright.As they ran, they looked back at the crowd behind them, their triangular faces showing unwilling expressions. Running with torches were several old people in the village. The old man ran in front, holding a torch in one hand and a shining blade in the other.Behind him are several similarly aged people. The wolf ran away.The uncle said: "If you don't know the place where you live, what are you doing running out in the middle of the night?" Before I could speak, Uncle Gousheng said flatteringly, "Uncle, thanks to you tonight. You still have this knife hidden in your house, why haven't I seen it?" The uncle turned his head away, ignored Uncle Gousheng, and let out a "hum" from his nose.I thought of him saying "that guy" when he told me about Uncle Gousheng. He was obviously very disdainful of Uncle Gousheng's behavior of stealing chickens and dogs all his life. I weighed the uncle's knife in my hand and said, "Master, this is really a good knife." The uncle gestured with his hand and said: "It's a good knife. The head of the Japanese ghost was cut off with this knife. It rolled away for a long time." Another uncle said: "Hurry up and go back to sleep, the sky is almost dawn." I looked back and saw that the yellow and round moon was about to set over the distant mountain depression, and the crowing of chickens came from the village on the other side of the ditch. The sound was muffled and thick, as if frozen. Unexpectedly, I actually talked with Uncle Gousheng all night. Uncle Gousheng said that wolves often appeared outside his window at night, but he ignored them. Sometimes when he fell asleep, he heard the wolf's paws pawing at the window, and he cursed a few times, but the wolf stopped moving. "Tonight I thought that the two of us would be able to kill the lame wolves, but I didn't expect there to be so many wolves." Uncle Gousheng is an old Jianghu. When talking about the scene just now, he was also a little scared. Wiping the sweat from his brow. We sat in the room, smoking for a long time, with lingering fears in our hearts.Although it was late autumn and a layer of frost had already formed on the corrugated outside the window, we all felt hot and dry and unbuttoned our clothes. I said: "That old wolf is setting us up. Why are wolves so cunning? You see, when fighting with us, they avoid the truth and defeat each other..." As I was talking, I suddenly remembered something and asked: "Have you seen this old wolf before?" Uncle Gousheng said: "Wolves and wolves look alike, and you can't see clearly under the moon." I said, "You liked digging out wolf dens back then. I guess this old wolf has been looking for revenge." Uncle Gousheng sat up suddenly, and said in horror, "Oh, I'm afraid it's true." I said: "I read from the book that the wolf has a very strong memory, and it is smarter than the dog. You really have to pay attention in the future." Uncle Gousheng nodded heavily. Dawn came, and a ray of blue light squeezed in through the crack of the window, everything in the room seemed vague and indistinct, and there were birdsongs outside the window, all kinds of clear and crisp birdsongs, vying to be the first, one after another.I opened the window curiously, and saw a group of birds standing on the tree, competing whose song was more beautiful.And the trees that have lost their leaves are as simple and beautiful as antlers. We still don't get any sleep. I asked about digging the tomb again. I asked, "You said that three or five people were digging the tomb at night, and if all three or five people went into the tomb, how could there be so many people in the tomb?" Uncle Gousheng said: "Our industry is a society, and you scholars don't understand it. The only people who enter the grave are those who suffer." I asked, "What's the trouble?" Uncle Gousheng said: "There are four kinds of people in the tomb-digging business: those who hold eyes, those who support pots, those who have legs, and those who work hard." I became interested all of a sudden. After talking all night, I thought I had a thorough understanding of the tomb robbery industry. I didn't expect that there were so many weird names. I didn't expect that the more I knew, the more I didn't know.This is really a secret society that is completely unknown to the outside world. I asked, "How do you distinguish these four types of people?" Uncle Gousheng lit a cigarette and said slowly, "There is a lot of knowledge here, and I can't finish it for three days and three nights. Forget it, let's not talk about it, there is no length in it." I asked, "Uncle, what are you among these four kinds of people?" Uncle Gousheng took a long puff of cigarette and said, "Hey, your uncle has no connections, no money, and no literacy, so he can only suffer now." I continued to ask, "Then what is suffering?" Uncle Gousheng said: "Those who suffer are those who make others suffer. They dig graves and dig graves. No matter how much the owner earns when digging a grave, there is no such thing as suffering." I asked, "Then how much can you pay for digging a tomb?" Uncle Gousheng said, "That's a few hundred dollars." I asked: "Then when it's dark at night, didn't you say that you only get one pole once you go out, and if you do it well, it's two poles?" Uncle Gousheng blushed a little, obviously I exposed his big words, and felt a little ashamed, he found the steps by himself, and said: "Uncle said it? How did Uncle forget it, look at this memory." Uncle Gousheng is the most inferior person in the gang of tomb robbers. The tomb robbers are all rich, but the "hard-working" Uncle Gousheng is still penniless. I asked, "When are you going to dig the grave? Take me with you too." Uncle Gousheng said: "Tomorrow it will be dark and the grave will be dug. Do you dare to go?" I smiled and said, "Why don't you dare? Why don't you dare?" Uncle Gousheng said: "Okay, I will tell you to see the legs tomorrow, and that bastard can do a lot." In the tomb robbery organization, Uncle Gousheng belongs to the lowest level, so it is called "Xia Ku's". In the Northwest dialect, Xia does not pronounce "xia", but pronounces "ha". One level above the bitter ones are the legs.Why is it called this name?I don't understand.Legs refer to dog legs in some places in the north, that is, running dogs.If the legs are running dogs, then those who suffer from a level lower than the legs are even more running dogs. Why don't they call them legs? When playing mahjong in Northwest, if one of the three is missing, he will call the person next to him: "Support a leg." This leg may be closer to the true identity of the leg.Legs can enter the mahjong group, but after all, they are from the bench and have not entered the core class of power, but they are one level higher than those who serve tea and pour water.I think the name of the legs in the tomb gang may come from here. The legs are actually skilled workers in the tomb gang.