seven relics

Lian Jiangyue saw that he was dejected after hearing what she said, and immediately smiled and comforted him: "Furthermore, you still miss me so much and think so much about me, brother, if you are not satisfied, wouldn't you be greedy?"

Xingshan didn't say a word again, but his spirit seemed better.

Lian Jiangyue looked at this junior brother, and couldn't help but think that when Xingshan was young, his parents died in a car accident, and his mother and Mr. Bian had a brother-sister relationship. Hearing the sad news, Bian Rugou immediately rushed to Hangzhou to contribute money and efforts to take care of it. funeral.The grandpa and grandma who traveled to the mountains have passed away. The grandparents are all over the past few years. They lost their children in their later years. They are very sad and need someone to serve them at the bedside. How can they take care of their grandchildren?In addition, the parents of Xingshan are just ordinary primary school physical education teachers, they have no real estate, and they have no savings. The old people usually depend on their children for support. Bian Rugou begged Bian Rugou to take Xingshan as his apprentice, regardless of other things, so that after hiking, he would have skills and be able to settle down.After Bian Rugou arranged the care of the old man, he took Xingshan up the mountain to take care of him and became his fourth disciple.

Bian Rugou is a person who attaches great importance to love and righteousness, and he always uses "respect" as the criterion when teaching his disciples. Following him, his disciples have to carry water and chop wood, burn the stove and fan the wind every day, and perform heavy chores; receiving people and things, sitting and lying down. Daily life, every word and deed, Bian Rugou has his own set of rules, and he also takes this set of rules very seriously. If he doesn't like it, he has a ruler, a bamboo whip, a straw rope, a wooden stick, and a red-hot iron. If there is something in his hand, he will beat and scold his apprentice.

Xingshan lives in the family at the foot of the mountain. Although the living conditions are not first-class, his parents never let him do any dirty work. Within a few days after he came to Bian's house, his hands were blistered by an axe. His shoulders were also bruised from the weight of the shoulder pole. He was often ordered to stand by Master Bian for dropping rice grains on the table when eating, and talking loudly when talking to people who were older than him. He often shed tears—when he shed tears, Bian Rugou would scold him again: "A man should not flick his tears easily, and he is not allowed to cry! Your elder sister is at your age, and she has already run back and forth four times in 10 minutes, pretending for half a day." The tank is full of water, the firewood has already been split, and it’s stacked against the wall! You’re worse than a little girl! You’re still crying!”

Hiking was impossible, so I had to carry someone on my back to remove tears. My eyes were red and swollen every day.

Lian Jiangyue had been a teacher for nine years at that time, and after learning about Xingshan's life experience, she felt a little sympathetic to him, and she often saw Xingshan, a ten-year-old, so thin and small, dangling on a pole Walking on the mountain road, if you are not careful, you will fall, and you will sprinkle all the water you have fought back with great difficulty, and the skin on your hands and feet will be scratched. From time to time, his subordinates ate the hardships, and from time to time secretly helped Xingshan to do some odd jobs of chopping firewood and carrying water, picked delicious fruits on the mountain, picked up wild chestnuts, roasted them secretly, and gave some to Xingshan.The two also secretly raised an injured deer lying in a cave by the stream together, picked up caterpillar chrysalis, jumped over butterflies, and caught cicadas together.In front of Mr. Bian and his father, Lian Jiangyue often protects Xingshan.As the days went by, Xing Shan and Lian Jiangyue became closer and closer. He was often worried about his health and lamented how advanced his forging skills were.

Lian Jiangyue knew that Xingshan felt sorry for his missed opportunity to show his talents, so he said those words, but he really didn't have the idea of ​​competing for the successor of the master.What he said in reply to Xingshan was what he thought in his heart.However, when she thought that the junior whom she had grown up with was so considerate of herself—there was another person in this world who was considerate of herself, Lian Jiangyue felt warm in her heart, and felt a lot closer to Xingshan.

At this time, the two had returned to Bian's house, and the house was quiet. There were two more rows of clothes hanging in the backyard, and the lights were still on in a west room on the second floor.

Lian Jiangyue said to Xingshan: "Go and rest."

He spoke calmly, and after listening to Xingshan, he became a little sad again, lowered his eyes, and said in a low voice: "The medicine that Grandma Qi gave you has arrived, I will bring it to you."

Lian Jiangyue wanted to refuse at first, the medicine sent was always put in one place, he could just go get it by himself, but when he looked at Xingshan, in the night, his originally bright black eyes seemed to be covered with a layer of veil , covering some of the light in his eyes, he let him go.

Xing Shan hung the two knives on the weapon rack in the backyard, and walked quickly to the front yard.Lian Jiangyue followed him back into the well that day, the Eight Immortals table had been put away, and the lights in the corridor were still on.Xingshan entered the kitchen.Lian Jiangyue picked up the backpack that had been left here before, and went to the kitchen as well.

As soon as Lian Jiangyue entered, Xing Shan, who was bending over and squatting in front of a wooden cabinet, said to him, "Put the dirty clothes in the washing machine."

Lian Jiangyue took out the herbs collected along the road from her backpack, and said, "No, I'll wash it myself later, it's late at night, and the washing machine is too noisy."

Xing Shan took out a wooden box from the cabinet and said, "Then wash it tomorrow."

Lian Jiangyue didn't respond, she lifted a roll of beaded curtains on the side of the kitchen, and entered a room behind the beaded curtains.He turned on the light in the room, and Xing Shan also came in, saying: "If you want water, use the water in my water tank."

Lian Jiangyue pointed to a green plaque hanging on the west wall of this room.

Xing Shan said helplessly: "You just came back from the outside, you need to rest quickly, you also said that you are not in good health, and then go to the mountains to fetch water in the dark, if you are exhausted, there is still so much work in the workshop, etc. Master is the only one who blames you for delaying the progress of work, and if you don't tell me, master doesn't know."

He sighed for a while: "Brother, you are too strict, aren't you?"

After speaking, he seemed a little angry, holding the wooden box, lowered his head slightly, and stopped looking at Jiangyue.

On the plaque was written "Being alone".There are six large water tanks under the plaque, all of which are covered with lids, and each cover is pasted with a piece of paper in black characters on a white background. The first one from the left reads: Bian Rugou, Mingming, followed by Yes: Bian is true, Zhao Youzhi; Lian Jiangyue; Traveling in the mountains; Quan Suya.

Xing Shan was standing in front of the water tank with Lian Jiangyue's name written on it.

Lian Jiangyue said: "It's true that I didn't eat much just now, if you are not sleepy, you are also hungry, why don't you eat something with your brother."

Xing Shan finally laughed and nodded in response.Lian Jiangyue looked at a staircase that opened to the north of the hut, and said, "I'll go up to put things first and take a shower."

Upstairs is an attic with two single beds in the east and west.The one on the west is where Lian Jiangyue slept, and the other one was left empty, leaving only a wooden shelf. This was originally the bed of the second brother Zhao Youzhi. After Zhao Youzhi and Bian Shizhen got married, they moved to the backyard and lived with her. If you live together, the bed will be vacant.There is another wardrobe and a desk in the room.A sandalwood fan hung above Zhao Youzhi's bed, and a string of red silk tassels hung from the fan handle.There was no other furniture or decoration in the room.

Lian Jiangyue simply packed up his things, took a change of clothes, and went to the bathroom on the first floor to take a shower. After he finished washing, he saw a small square table and two benches on the door of the kitchen. Bowl of noodles, Lian Jiangyue leaned over to look in the direction of the kitchen, Xing Shan came out of the kitchen in a hurry, holding a can of beer in one hand and a dry towel in the other.He pressed Lian Jiangyue on the bench and helped him wipe his hair.Lian Jiangyue was a little embarrassed, and said half-jokingly: "If I know that the treatment is so good after going out for a long time, I will go back a few more times."

Xing Shan said: "Suya burned the hair dryer of the elder sister that day, otherwise she would dry faster."

"That's too noisy." Lian Jiangyue took a sip of the noodle soup and ate the noodles.

"Master, I bought a silent one on Xinwang."

"No sound at all?"

"Not at all."

"Really? Did you use it?"

"Really, I saw Suya's use." Xingshan said, "We said that next time we would buy a fan without fan blades. Master saw the picture and said that he can do it too. Now he is thinking about it in the room every day."

Lian Jiangyue laughed twice, stopped talking, and just ate noodles.Xing Shan's hand suddenly felt heavy, and he wondered: "Senior brother, the depression on the ground is not caused by the water dripping from your hair when you often sit here after washing your hair?"

Lian Jiangyue turned her head, and the two squatted on the ground, both looking at a small hole in the bluestone slab.Lian Jiangyue reached out to touch it, and Xingshan pointed not far away: "Look, there are still some there." He looked up at Lian Jiangyue, "I see, it's the water that dripped from your clothes when you dried them. of."

Lian Jiangyue moved away the bench she was sitting on, and said with Xingshan: "Look, there is also under this stool." He reached out for beer, took a sip with a smile, raised his right palm, shook his head, "I feel like Sit and melt in this mountain."

Xing Shan also looked at him, and asked him intently, "Brother, do you want to go down the mountain?"

"Didn't I often go down the mountain?"

"I mean..." Xing Shan didn't continue, but changed the subject and asked, "Could it be that you want to stay here forever?"

"Hasn't Master been here for almost a lifetime?" Lian Jiangyue said with a light smile, but seeing a dazed look in Xingshan's eyes, he said, "You are different from me. I have no relatives or reasons at the foot of the mountain. I have experienced the world at the foot of the mountain. For me, being able to help the master here and show some loyalty and filial piety makes me happier than being at the foot of the mountain.

"Master also said that you will be able to become a teacher in a few years, and he doesn't ask you to stay in the mountains for a lifetime. You can go down the mountain, accompany your grandparents, and find a place to open a small shop. With your craftsmanship, the business will be sure." The flow is endless, remember to go up the mountain to see Master and Mistress during the New Year and holidays."

Lian Jiangyue looked at Xingshan, saw that he lowered his head, touched the depression on the ground with his hands, and said: "It doesn't matter if you don't want to do this job anymore, you have a college degree, go find someone Work and live the life you want. Master is not as strict as before, times have changed, he knows and understands."

He went on to say: "To tell you the truth, at that time Master suddenly asked me to go to the middle school in the town as a transfer student, and asked me to take the high school and university entrance exams. I thought he was going to expel me from the teacher's school."

Xingshan raised his head, his expression and tone were relaxed: "I remember, at that time you didn't think about food and drink, you lost a lot of weight, and you went to cry with your wife. It was the first time I saw you cry, I was scared silly Now, I want to say that the third senior brother would also cry, he is not a blood bag made of iron."

Lian Jiangyue laughed and said: "I found out later that Mr. Zhuang from Changsha went to be the principal of a university in Hangzhou. He asked me to teach chemical engineering and material engineering if he wanted to teach anything. After I got into school, he took me to live in Hangzhou for four years, and I feel that Master has changed a lot during those four years.”

Xing Shan also recalled this past event, nodded his head and said: "When Master came back that time, he asked me to study too, connected electricity to the house, pulled the network cable, and taught us not to be out of touch with the times. Senior sister is very happy again. Not open again..."

Speaking of the elder sister, Xing Shan pursed his lips, did not continue, looked aside with dodge eyes, and nuzzled his chin at the table: "Eat quickly, the noodles will not taste good when they are dry."

Lian Jiangyue agreed, and sat back, with a big appetite, she ate and drank a bowl of noodles and noodle soup.After eating, he and Xing Shan packed up the tables and chairs, and the two separated in the courtyard. Lian Jiangyue found a wooden barrel and a pole, and went out to fetch water.

There are many streams in the mountains, Lian Jiangyue fetched two buckets of water nearby and went back.He scrubbed the changed clothes and trousers, and hung them to dry in the patio. After drying the clothes, he bent down to look carefully at the ground, and touched them.There are indeed many dents on the ground, and some dents are surrounded by a circle of moss. Lian Jiangyue felt a strange feeling in his heart for no reason. He felt like a tree. His seeds—he was born in Stone Village , his father's name is Lian Wuchen, but he has lived in the mountains of Zhejiang for 25 years, and the person who raised him is Bian Rugou.His roots are here.He won't be going anywhere else.

Lian Jiangyue went back to the attic and fell asleep soundly.