Artisans in Tunli

Chapter 4

In the summer of 1970, the fourth year after my mistress passed away, my aunt married Zhang Xiaojun from the next village with the help of my grandfather.

The ancestors of the Zhang family have been carpenters for generations, and their family background is not bad.Earlier, our village and several nearby villages were reformed into rural economic cooperatives because they owned a lot of land.

The former "Widow Village" and a series of villages with less catchy names were changed to production teams. At that time, only the Zhang family was a carpenter, and the living conditions were naturally much better than our ordinary farmers.

Not long after the eldest aunt passed the door, she became pregnant with the eldest sister, Zhang Yunyun.But on the day of giving birth, the aunt suddenly became nervous and said that there were two people in the yard. When asked who she was, she kept saying that they were two old ladies.The eldest uncle thought that the eldest aunt might have read it wrong, and was in a hurry to get to work, so he ignored the eldest aunt.

Unexpectedly, when my uncle came home, he saw my aunt standing on the roof alone, about to jump off.

At that time, the Zhang family was one of the few families with a large tile-roofed house, which was at least three meters high from the ground to the eaves, but there were no ladders around.The eldest uncle didn't think much about it and immediately went to the barn to find a ladder. As soon as he entered the barn, he heard a heavy impact. The aunt was lying on the ground with a lot of blood between her legs.

At that time, the eldest uncle stood there with numbness in his scalp and was stunned. Fortunately, his father just came back from work. When he saw his daughter-in-law lying in a pool of blood, he went to the office to borrow a four-wheel (tractor) Aunt sent to the hospital.

Luckily, the child is fine.Maybe the yard was full of land at that time. If it was paved with red bricks, my eldest sister would probably die.

The eldest uncle hugged the child, looked at the sleeping aunt, and murmured in his heart, his mind was full of what the aunt said earlier that there were two old ladies in the yard, and he wanted to find a god or something to show him?

When the aunt woke up, she said that she didn't remember anything, and when she asked the two old ladies what happened, she also frowned, unable to remember what happened.Everyone saw it, and had no choice but to give up, at least for now, everyone is safe.

The eldest uncle asked his mother to watch over the aunt and the children, and hurried to find the famous "Ma Daxian'er" in the team, asking him to help find out what happened.But as soon as he went out, his father stopped him and asked him where he was going. Seeing that he couldn't resist him, the eldest uncle talked about the whole thing.

"Are you looking for the kid? He's been cheating a lot, but the kid is still in the middle." After the old man Zhang said, he asked his eldest uncle to go to his cousin's house in the market to find his second uncle Zhang Muzhen.

When the eldest uncle heard about Zhang Muzhen, he seemed to suddenly think of something, his eyes lit up, and he ran to the city.It is not an exaggeration to say that his second uncle is really not easy, he can pass the time, and he can pinch and count. The ancestors of the Zhang family have been carpenters for generations, so it is not an exaggeration.

But his second uncle has a weird temper, and most people ask him for help, but he never agrees.But seeing my uncle snot and tears, after all, we are still a family, after thinking about it, I followed my uncle back to the company.

As soon as he entered the uncle's house, his second uncle felt that something was wrong, and he couldn't tell what was wrong, but the atmosphere was wrong.Thinking about other people's family experiencing some happy event, such as marriage, childbirth, etc., the family usually gives people the feeling of being happy at home.But as soon as he entered Zhang's house, he felt deserted and desolate, without any festive feeling of having a baby.

"Xiaojun, can you describe it again, where did your wife jump off at that time?"

The eldest uncle reproduced the scene at that time, and Zhang Muzhen continued to search in this direction.Sometimes I look up, sometimes I lie on the ground looking for something, and sometimes I smell the soil with my nose.He walked out of the corridor of the concierge and out of the gate, and finally stopped at the firewood stack in front of the gate.After a while, he turned back to his eldest uncle and said that he had found the reason.

"What's wrong with my daughter-in-law, second uncle?"

"Hysteria, it's nothing serious, but this thing still has to come, you can get a whole chicken, it's fine if it's alive. Let's see how I deal with this little bastard today." Zhang Muzhen said, holding a handful of chickens in his hand. yellow hair.

"You're staring blankly, you're so stupid!" The eldest uncle was scolded by his second uncle before he could recover, so he hurried to the neighbor's house, and got a rooster in a short while.

In fact, the "hysteria" that Zhang Muzhen said was insanity.Of course, this is the interpretation of "hysteria" by later generations. Earlier, the general cause of "hysteria" was the "Huang Daxian".

"Huang Daxian" is a weasel. The folk description of weasels is generally very vengeful and likes to play pranks, but unlike other "immortals", Huang Pizi is mostly a prank and rarely hurts people.

It is rumored that weasels can control people to do some strange things. Most of the victims are women. This time, the aunt was controlled by the "Huang Daxian". If this thing can be cured, it will usually become a victim. He has become the "Fairy of Baojia" of the old man, and he has no worries about food and clothing ever since.

With Zhang Muzhen's skills, it is more than enough to deal with such a small thing that does not make sense.

He tied the rooster's paw with a red thread, grabbed the other end himself, and hid behind the gate with his eldest uncle and uncle, waiting quietly for the arrival of "Huang Daxian".

Not long after, I saw a small yellow head protruding from the pile of firewood, looking around.Seeing this, Zhang Muzhen slowly pulled the red thread back, Huang Pizi followed the chicken slowly, and followed the gate all the way.The eldest uncle immediately took a soil basket that had been removed and put it on it. It was so frightened that it bumped left and right, and the eldest uncle simply sat on it.

Zhang Muzhen untied the red thread, threw the chicken back to the next door, turned around and squatted down, muttering something to the helpless Huang Pizi in the basket.After finishing speaking, he got up and walked into the back room, and after a while, he walked to the basket with a kitchen knife, and was about to chop it without saying a word.

Seeing this posture, the little guy quickly put his head on the ground, as if kowtowing.Zhang Muzhen paused for a while, then slowly lowered his hands, and said to the basket:
"Little bastard, let me tell you, you are not allowed to harass our Zhang family again, or with your two actions, eight hundred times of death is not enough, do you know?" After speaking, he motioned to the uncle to open the basket and let it go. .

The eldest uncle seemed a little unhappy, but the second uncle had to listen, and slowly opened the basket.Huang Pizi rushed out immediately, went out the gate, stood up and looked back before going out, and then disappeared into the darkness.

"It's all right?" Zhang Muzhen saw his uncle's worried expression, and told him to rest assured that this thing would never come again, so his uncle's heart was finally relieved.Zhang Muzhen saw that he was all right, so he planned to go back to the city, but his uncle stopped him and said that he must stay a few more nights before leaving. The family has added more people, and the second uncle has done such a big favor, so he still needs to have a meal go again.Zhang Mu really couldn't resist, so he had no choice but to stay.

That night, my uncle took my aunt and daughter home. At that time, it was not like now. After giving birth, we usually had to take them home for confinement. The hospital's expenses were too high.

The eldest uncle saw that the second uncle happened to be there, so he asked the eldest uncle to choose a name.The eldest sister's appearance is endearing, and his second uncle has no children, so he is very happy to see the eldest sister.After thinking about it, Zhang Yunyun came up.Until now, I still can't figure out why a person who can pinch and count gave the eldest sister such a simple name.

The next day, the eldest uncle called relatives and friends at home to prepare a few tables of banquets. Everyone said that the full moon is not yet full, so why rush to make a full moon wine?The eldest uncle said with a smile, Chong Chongxi, Chong Chongxi.The banquet lasted until night, everyone was talking, laughing and drinking, only Zhang Muzhen was drinking there alone, suddenly seemed to think of something, he slapped the table: not good!

Everyone was startled by the sudden voice. The eldest uncle knew that the second uncle was never reckless, and he must have something important to do, so he hurried to ask.

"Xiaojun, do you remember, your wife said that what you saw were two old ladies?"

"Remember, don't you...?"

"Yes, I forgot, there is another one." As soon as Zhang Muzhen finished speaking, the cry of a baby was heard from the east room.

The two hurried to the east room, and everyone didn't know what was wrong, so they all followed to join in the fun.As soon as I entered the room, I saw my eldest sister standing on the kang, holding her elder sister with both hands, and she seemed to throw her elder sister to death with dull eyes.The eldest uncle went to the kang to snatch the child, while everyone shouted there to tell the eldest aunt not to be impulsive.

The eldest uncle was very fast and snatched the child in one go.Zhang Muzhen immediately took out a talisman from his jacket pocket, and stuffed it into the aunt's mouth, but the aunt was still struggling to spit it out.

"Hurry up and bring me a ladle of water, hurry up!" Everyone saw Zhang Muzhen's eyes widening, and hurriedly handed over the water.Zhang Muzhen directly poured it down the mouth of the aunt.A few minutes later, the aunt passed out, and the atmosphere in the room was a bit awkward for a while, and everyone was also very conscious, knowing that it was no longer suitable to continue drinking at this time, so after a few polite words, they went back to their respective homes.

This incident passed quickly, and because of this incident, the eldest uncle and his second uncle's family also drew closer.After many years, the two families still walk around frequently. Now his second uncle is over 70 years old, but he looks like he is in his early fifties.

As for Zhang Yunyun, my eldest sister was never thrown around by my aunt again.Today's eldest sister is a high-achieving student of a university in Harbin City. Not only is she good at studying, but she is also beautiful. More importantly, the eldest sister also knows how to do calculations. This is all thanks to Zhang Muzhen. When she was young, she followed Zhang Muzhen's ass. The eldest sister, she has learned some superficial things by her ears and eyes, but there are only some superficial things.

I remember when I was a child, when my uncle and aunt came to visit with my eldest sister, she took a handful of poker cards and insisted on telling me my fortune. After all the calculations, she didn’t understand it. I laughed at her and gave her a nickname. Fortune teller Zhang, although he is addicted to talking, still has some physical pain.

"How can this be fixed?"

"Well, let's see what your second master has to say." When I saw my eldest sister this time, it was the family who received a call from my uncle, saying that my uncle was bewitched again.

Everyone helped to contact people everywhere, because this time it was not a simple hysteria.I was standing behind the crowd in the yard, and I heard my relatives and friends saying that when my aunt was bewitched, she kept talking nonsense, looked straight at her, and stabbed her thigh with scissors, and finally called An ambulance took her to the hospital.

I didn't know what I could do to help, so I simply found a corner to squat and eat melon seeds.After a while, a broken Xiali came outside, and a person got out of the car in a hurry.When the elder sister saw it, she immediately walked up and the two couldn't hear what they said, and then entered the room.In this era of advanced technology, feudal superstitions such as bewitching evil are rare.

"Hey, do you think this is for something?"

"That's not necessarily true. Maybe I did something wrong. Is this someone's revenge?"

"I said, can you accumulate some morals? I can't help you, and you're still talking nonsense!"

"I'm bothering you, I'm happy with it!"

I listened to their chattering nonsense in the corner, and I was so angry that I didn't know where the courage came from. I threw the melon seeds over there, and immediately pretended that I didn't know anything. .

They may have a guilty conscience, and they didn't dare to get angry, so they left in despair.This group of people is full and idle. When I was still wondering why the middle-aged woman who was talking about me looked so familiar just now, my eldest sister came out, looking around as if looking for someone, and finally her eyes stayed on me. On the body.

"Thirteen! Come here quickly, I need you!" The elder sister called, and everyone looked at me thinking about it, and I was embarrassed to see it.

"What are you talking about? Come here!" I reluctantly followed my elder sister into the room.The person who beat Xia Li up and down just now was none other than Zhang Muzhen.Previously, the impression of Mr. Zhang was Du Fu's profile picture in the book. Now that he saw him, he really looked like him, but he didn't look so old.

"Young man, are you still a child?" Zhang Muzhen's question made me turn red. Isn't it obvious? My appearance, figure, and family background can all be linked to "a child's body" ah!I seemed to hear my elder sister laughing beside me, I squinted at her, and she stopped laughing.

"My second master asked you something!" The elder sister was very arrogant, as if she had avenged her for giving her a nickname back then.

Someone said, isn't it just a nickname?That's right, when we were both in the same school, I called this nickname twice and it became popular on the whole campus. I heard that once their head teacher also called her Fortune Teller Zhang in class. Since then, we have become each other's biggest friends. enemy.

"You are not a boy, are you? Young man, why don't you learn well at such a young age?"

"I'm a boy! I'm a boy!" I yelled out in a hurry, and the big guys were laughing when they heard it. I clearly remember that the parents in the crowd were the happiest.I thought to myself, how can I raise my head in front of relatives from now on?

"Okay, okay, the boy is fine. You are the only boy in your old Zhong's family. Whether your aunt can save the day or not depends on you." I was also at a loss when I heard it. come to mind.

Zhang Muzhen took out a gourd from his bag. It was not very big, but it was red. It looked like it could take away at least three old men.Then he handed it to me and told me to pee in it.

When I thought about it, it turned out that I was asked to soak in the urine of a boy, this is simple.

"Isn't it bigger? When I came here in the morning, I kept holding back and didn't pee."

"Just this one, be careful, don't pee profusely." I took the gourd out of the house, intending to have a good soak, and when I was leaving the house, I seemed to hear Zhang Muzhen say something about being careful, and also I didn't hear clearly, probably because I was afraid that I would dirty the gourd if I urinated too much.

When I came to the barn of my aunt's house, I started to urinate, but I felt something was wrong when I was urinating.It seemed that there was something, just about to take a closer look, a tingling pain spread all over the body.Inside this gourd, there is a centipede!
Fortunately, I was almost peeing, so I quickly put on my pants and ran into the house.

"I was bitten by a centipede, Second Master!"

"Hey, didn't I tell you to be careful if there are centipedes in it? It's okay, you quickly get on the kang and lie on your stomach, and it will be fine in a moment." I scolded in my heart, you old man is very bad, and there are centipedes. Say it early.As soon as you hear that it's nothing serious, just lie down quickly. If this is abolished, there will be no palace now, and there is no need for eunuchs.

I lay down on the kang, watched Zhang Muzhen and the eldest sister with a wicked smile go away, thinking that this time I really lost.My dad came over and sat next to me at this time and said let me sleep for a while, they are going to the hospital to see, and then left without looking back.Please, is this your own father? You don't care about me, you have to think about your future grandchildren?

Gradually, there were fewer and fewer people in the room, and my eyelids became heavier and heavier. I woke up before dawn in the morning, just in time to catch up on sleep, and fell asleep in a daze.

Strange to say, I rarely dream when I sleep, but I had a dream that day.In the dream, I saw the backs of two women walking in front of me, and I followed them all the way.

Tired from walking, I wanted to tell them to stop, but they didn't stop as if they didn't hear me.When I was out of sight, I hurried to catch up, but I couldn't catch up.

Suddenly, a bridge appeared in front of it, and there were reddish water-like things under the bridge.I leaned on the bridge and looked down, and suddenly felt a strange touch in my hand. Looking carefully, isn't this the text I saw in the Heigouzi Cave?

Just being curious, a sentence came from behind: You are here.

When I woke up, I found that everyone had come back. My aunt was lying on the kang and whispering something to my elder sister. My elder sister nodded with tears in her eyes.

I wanted to turn over, but found that I couldn't move. I wanted to speak, but I just opened my mouth and remained silent.I just watched what everyone was saying over there, but no matter how hard I listened, I couldn’t hear it clearly. On the contrary, the voice became more and more noisy.

At this time Zhang Muzhen suddenly turned his head, said something, and patted my forehead casually, and I woke up with a cleverness.Only then did I realize that I was already sweating profusely. I wiped off the sweat and glanced at Zhang Muzhen. He nodded and said:

"You're sick, it's okay."

It is said that this "nightmare" is a nightmare, that is, "ghost pressing the bed".Nervous people generally feel as if they are awake, but they cannot move.I used to hear people say "ghost pressure bed, ghost pressure bed", this time it happened to me.

I sat up and looked at my aunt, who seemed very weak.Zhang Muzhen came over and said that she was going to die, her body was too weak, and if she went on like this, she would die in a few days.

My aunt has been possessed by evil spirits since she was young. Even if she is not possessed by evil spirits, she often suffers from illnesses and disasters.This time, I guess I really hurt my vitality. Thinking of this, I feel a little uncomfortable.

When I was young, I always liked to steal plums from my aunt’s house. There was a plum tree in the back garden of my aunt’s house, which produced a lot of plums every year, and there were no bugs.

But after I entered high school, I was a little far away from home, and I never came to my aunt's house again. When I thought that my aunt's popularity would not last long, my nose became sore.Thinking about it carefully, if the person in the cave is really the grandfather, then he must be the longest-lived of the old Zhong family.

I sniffed, and the eldest sister came over and touched my head and said, "You are still crying even though you are a grown man." As soon as this sentence came out, I couldn't help it anymore and burst into tears.Scenes of good memories from the past seemed to come flooding back. My aunt always left a kind impression on me. Mainly because my mother had such a hot temper. In comparison, my aunt was much gentler.

The eldest sister also started to cry on the side. The adults couldn't bear to watch this scene, and tried to persuade us from the side.

I just remember that when we came home very late that day, both the elder sister and the elder uncle suppressed their grief and sent everyone out of the house.

Sitting in the car, I looked out the window at the snow-covered land, and my thoughts flew far away, how fragile human life is.If you can't enjoy life well and cherish life, you are not only sorry for yourself, but also unfair to those who love you.

Thinking about it, looking at it, a white shadow flew by in front of me, and I quickly looked through the rear window. The white shadow just now was the two familiar and unfamiliar figures from the back in the dream.I looked at the mother on the side, she didn't seem to see anything, she wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with her hands.

I turned back to look at the co-pilot's dad, who turned his head to look at us and wanted to say something, but finally gave up.Just when I was about to open my mouth to ask him, the car body shook violently, my eyes went dark, and I passed out.

(End of this chapter)