Chapter 2 North Hill

People no longer remember what Mr. Xintao looked like when he lived in seclusion in Beishan. His thatched hut was destroyed by fire long ago, leaving a few blackened wooden stakes piled up in a barren vegetable field.At first, someone sneaked up to the northern mountain and bowed down to those wooden stakes. After a long time, those sturdy wooden stakes were also dragged down the mountain. I don’t know if they were chopped up as firewood, or built into someone’s house. .Although the tomb of Mr. Xintao is empty, it is graceful in four seasons. In winter, a thin layer of shiny ice forms in the pit. When you climb up, it looks like a huge silver mirror thrown on the slope, reflecting the clouds and birds. shadow.When the flowers bloom in the warm spring, the pit also blooms, a large area of ​​pink Polygonum and white wild lilies swaying in the wind, and there are butterflies flying around.In summer and autumn, when there was a lot of rain on the mountain, the tomb was hidden. The rainwater poured into the empty tomb of Xin Taojun along the mountain. With inexplicable enthusiasm, he disguised a tomb as a pond, and there were often stray geese. Swimming alone in this pond, confide the goose's thoughts to the ghost of Lord Xintao, and shepherds from far and near go to the north mountain to graze sheep, and will drive the flock to the pond to drink water. No matter how thirsty they themselves are, they dare not Drink the water from that pond.In the Beishan area, the witches of Chai Village have the final say on what spring water is drinkable and what wild fruits are edible, and all people’s knowledge comes from the witches of Chai Village. They say that the water in the pond is not drinkable, and no one dares to drink it. Who dares to drink from the fountain of tears?The witches of Chai Village once took bull head bowls and tortoise shells up the mountain, and studied the half-bitter-sweet taste of the water. They believed that it was a pool of tears, and the sweetness was the rainwater on the surface. The tears of a weeping spirit.

People at the foot of Beishan still dare not cry. The descendants of the Crying Spirits are now scattered in Taocun, Chaicun, and Mopanzhuang. Even children know their unique blood relationship.The surviving old people are all gray-haired. With the intention of teaching future generations, they point to Beishan and spend the rest of their lives recalling the catastrophe many years ago.My child, other people's ancestors are buried underground, but the spirits of our ancestors are still wandering in Beishan. Why are those white butterflies flying around on the top of the mountain?Why are those beetles coming and going on the mountain road?They are all the wronged souls of their ancestors, and they are still looking for their own graves on Beishan!Children, other people’s ancestors either died of starvation or disease, or died of old age or died in battle. Our ancestors died unjustly. Guess, children, guess what they died for?You'd never guess, they died for their eyes, they died for their tears!

A funeral many years ago appeared in the night dreams of countless children.The old man's memories are lengthy and sad, like a thick black silk that is patiently spread out inch by inch, and the children cut it off at the saddest point, so countless flowers of nightmares can bloom to their fullest.The old man said that Lord Xintao’s funeral alarmed the king. The king sent thousands of captors and county soldiers to guard the mountainside to monitor the mourners who came down from the mountain. Some people passed through the mountainside smoothly. , some were stopped, and those who were stopped had their cheeks and eyes checked harshly. As a result, three hundred villagers with wet tears were detained on the mountainside.The catchers made the villagers stand in two huge circles according to their gender. The men stood on the uphill, and the women rushed to the small circle on the downhill. There was a mountain road in the middle for the busy county soldiers to pass through.At the beginning, no one knew that tears were to blame. Most of the people detained on the mountainside were adults. They were a little confused about the sudden detention, but there were so many people standing up and down, and there were some respectable people in the circle of people. , they dispelled their doubts.Who doesn't know the tactics used by the government to go to the countryside to investigate cases?The chicken thief checks the smell of chicken shit on his hand, the cow thief smells the cow dung on his body, the murderer checks his blood, the adulterer strips naked, checks their shame, they don't know their eyes And what guilt would be left in cheek, so they weren't so panicked at first.Some couples are discussing family matters across the mountain road, some are thinking about the food for the pigs at home, and urge their children to go to the river to cut pig grass, and some people deliberately show his hands to the catcher, implying that his hands are clean , I haven't done anything sneaky.There was a woman who simply made all kinds of fierce statements about her sex life in the circle of people below. Her statement attracted the cynicism of other women, but there were knowing smiles on the corners of the mouths of the arresters, but stern eyes. stare in their faces.Afterwards, an order was issued, the women below were not allowed to make noise, and the men above were not allowed to whisper to each other. In the suffocating silence, they ushered in a coil of rope that they had never seen before. A millstone, but bigger than a millstone, was pushed up the mountain by several county soldiers chanting.The rope rolled like a millstone rolled to the feet of the villagers, and they finally knew what the county soldiers were up to.Someone realized that the situation was not right, and tried to get out of the crowd, but it was too late, and the guards pointed their guns at all the weepers who disobeyed orders, and they put wooden shackles on some strong young people, Most of the people were strung together with that amazing long rope. The catcher wove their hands in the knot, twisted it, stretched it, and twisted it again. The weaving was very fast and smooth, and it took a while to cry. The runners are neatly arranged on both sides of the rope like pieces of mulberry leaves.A catcher took hold of the rope and effortlessly pulled the men down the hill to the side of the prison cart.The old people said that the poor weeping soul woke up when he saw the prison car. It was the funeral of Lord Xintao, and it was his tears that caused his death. So many people looked at the faces of passers-by who were running around in horror, and shouted: , he also went to cry, and she also went to cry, why didn't they catch them?There are hundreds of people, and everyone is crying!

The king is not allowed to cry for Lord Xintao. It is an unpromulgated decree. The dignitaries naturally know it, and the chariot sellers who pay attention to the current situation also know it, but the people at the foot of Beishan don’t know it at all. Talking about farming and mulberry, I don't know anything else.Qingyun County is far away from the northern capital by mountains, and it is difficult for swan geese to communicate.People only heard afterwards that Mr. Xintao was exiled to Beishan by the king. He had the king's golden seal on his back. It was only that day that the white silk was hung on the beams of the cottage.The people at the foot of Beishan are simple-minded and paranoid. They only know that Mr. Xintao is the uncle of the king. Out of natural respect for the noble blood, they are also full of admiration for the hermit. As for the hatred between princes and nobles Undercurrents, no matter how turbulent, are inaudible to them.

During the days when Mr. Xintao lived in seclusion in Beishan, the villagers at the foot of the mountain could hear the sound of the flute from the hut on the top of the mountain. The shepherds often followed the sound of the flute up the mountain and saw Mr. a cloud.Some people once believed that Mr. Tao had predicted the date of his death. He said that as soon as the wild lily bloomed next to the thatched cottage, he would leave. Where are you going?After the funeral, many people looked up at Beishan and sighed, mainly regretting that when Mr. Xintao was bathing by the stream, he just peeped at his private parts and didn't ask him why the words were engraved on his back.Several people have seen Mr. Xintao's naked body in the summer. The noble man's body looks mysterious because of its excessive whiteness and delicateness. What is even more mysterious is a round gold seal on the back. Inside the gold seal should be words, Words can express deep hatred briefly, and they can also tell good news or bad news calmly, but they just don't know how to read.They stood by the stream and talked about the child-like genitals of King Xintao across the water. The shepherd hiding behind the rock said that princes and nobles are different, and even that thing looks so delicate and elegant. The woodcutter in the bushes Doubting whether such organs could be passed on from generation to generation, they jumped into the water and concentrated on picking up the knives and coins that Mr. Xintao deliberately scattered in the stream.The reclusive aristocrat scattered his wealth under the tree by the stream in Beishan, and then began to lead latecomers into his thatched hut. The villagers of Peach Village at the foot of the mountain accepted his last favor, a sheep, a piece of hemp, a bowl of rice, Some people took the bamboo slips from Xintaojun's desk, washed off the words on the bamboo slips, dismantled them, and made a pair of chopsticks.The memories of the old people are trivial and precise. They said that the three hundred crying spirits all died of a grateful heart, but some died of the temptation of knives and coins in the stream, some died of the kindness of a sheep, and some died. But he died unjustly, and was killed by a chopstick.

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