August 1999, White Tower Park.

There is a white pagoda in the park and it is named, and there is nothing else except the tower.

The year in which the white pagoda was built is not examinable, and it belongs to the tower system of the Lamaist monastery.

The shape of the pagoda is round at the top and at the bottom, full of changes, and the top of the tower is equipped with a treasure cover, and is decorated with sun, moon and flame patterns, to show that "Buddhism" shines on the earth.

The body of the tower is covered with a bowl, and the bricks and stones are seen but not the wooden frame. The pedestal is a stone Sumeru seat, the middle part of the tower belly, and the upper part is composed of thirteen phase wheels.

Around the white tower, two or three sit on the ground and sit the fortune teller, put a square white cloth in front of the body, there are obscure hexagrams, supplemented by the shape of the gossip pattern, year after year, for the wood forest to call farmers and herdsmen to guide the maze.

"This one, stay and come to a hexagram, you are not allowed to ask for money," a middle-aged man in an ordinary gray and white shirt and navy blue coarse linen trousers greeted pedestrians for a walk.

An aunt passing by looked at the middle-aged fortune teller with white eyes: "Go and go, what a person, I have no illness or disaster, what kind of fate is it." After speaking, the aunt swayed her fat body and walked past the middle-aged man's fortune-telling booth.

Mulinzhao Town, located in northern Xinjiang, belongs to the Jin language dialect, there are many ethnic minorities, with the Mongolian nationality accounting for the majority, but the ethnic integration is bottomless, most of them do not know their own ethnic language, and the Jin language dialect is the mainstay.

The middle-aged man who was blinded by the aunt didn't say much, smoked a dry tobacco pouch, and continued to observe the tourists leisurely.

……

The fat aunt stood under the weeping willows in the distance, looked at the sun, grabbed a handful of melon seeds from her pocket, pinched a melon seed from the palm with the other hand, opened her mouth, threw it in the air, and entered her mouth. After a while, the fat aunt had a layer of melon seed skin under her feet.

At this time, a thin aunt walked in the distance, wearing a short-sleeved shirt to cool off the heat, stepping on a pair of rubber-soled cloth shoes, and walking towards the fat aunt in Liu Yinzhong.

"His aunt, are you here?" the thin aunt walked towards the fat aunt, and the voice arrived before anyone arrived.

The fat aunt spit out the skin of melon seeds: "Why did you come, it's dark." After speaking, he glanced at the sun hanging high in the west, and he was a little lacking in confidence.

"I said He Fengying, look at your temperament, this day, the weather is cool, just to lower your anger!" After the thin aunt finished speaking, she reached out and grabbed a few melon seeds from the name He Fengying, and ate them by herself.

The fat aunt didn't answer, and her tone turned: "Gui Ying, where is the fortune teller you said last time? It can't be the one, right?" After speaking, He Fengying pouted and pointed in the direction.

A thin aunt named Gui Ying turned her head to look, and a middle-aged man smoking a dry tobacco pouch in the distance was greeting passers-by, his dark blue coarse linen pants covered with oil stains and glowing in the sun.

"Look at that virtue, deceiving the goods of eating and drinking, coaxing the old man and the old lady is okay, how can there be real ability in it. Gui Ying said disdainfully.

"That'...... Where is the fortune teller you are talking about?" He Fengying ignored Guiying's displeasure.

"What sir, isn't he just a fortune teller? ”

"Hey, I said Liu Guiying, did you take the wrong medicine today? Didn't you tell me that there is a fortune teller, and you still have a gentleman, what's the matter?

Liu Guiying went out today and had a quarrel with the master, the cause of which was the fortune teller in Liu Guiying's mouth.

……

A month ago, Liu Guiying's niece went to Qi People's Hospital for a re-examination and stayed at her house for a few days.

My niece, who lives in Gacha Village in the countryside, suddenly vomited a year ago, and all the major hospitals in the league were unable to cure my niece's illness. Looking at her niece Liu Xia, who was getting thinner, Liu Guiying quietly wiped her tears a few times, a hard-working baby.

During her stay at home, Liu Guiying accompanied Liu Xia to Baita Park every day for a walk.

One day, the two came to the White Pagoda Park as usual, and when they passed by the towering White Tower, they saw a young man who looked like a student, about seventeen or eighteen years old, sitting on the long stone steps around the base of the White Tower, holding a copy of "The Legend of Double Dragons of the Tang Dynasty" in his right hand, and holding a small pebble in his left hand unconsciously playing in his palm, as if no one was around, immersed in the book.

Liu Xia and her aunt were tired of walking, sitting on the stone steps not far from the young man to rest, Liu Guiying touched Liu Xia's wilted short ear-length hair, sighed for a long time, and her eyes were unconsciously moist again.

The two chattered for a while, repeating Liu Xia's experience again, and in the past year, I don't know how many times I have said such a topic, with sadness over and over again, wiping tears again and again.

As soon as he finished saying these bad things, the young man walked up and stopped in front of the two.

"Auntie, is what you just said about your daughter?" the young man looked at Liu Xia and said to Liu Guiying.

Liu Guiying looked at the young man in front of her, a little angry, it was very impolite to eavesdrop on other people's conversations, and even more impolitely, she told you in person that I eavesdropped.

Liu Guiying raised her head, squinted her eyes, and said, "Young man, what are you doing to inquire about other families?"

The young man heard Liu Gui's displeasure in his anger, "Auntie, don't get me wrong, I just heard about it, your daughter is sick and spends a lot of money, and it still can't be cured, I think I can help something, so I stepped forward to ask." ”

"How can you help when you are young?" Liu Guiying raised her voice and said, her face was full of displeasure, but she didn't say anything to death, the local accent of the young man in front of him was not very old, and he didn't dare to have any bad intentions, and the conversation was also considered to soothe the sadness in the previous chat with Liu Xia. At the same time, she did not point out Liu Xia's relationship with herself.

The young man didn't care about the other party's dissatisfaction: "Maybe I can help, you might as well tell me about your daughter's birth date and surname." ”

"Do you know how to tell fortunes?" Liu Guiying looked at the young man with disdain, and then said: "You don't learn well at a young age. After speaking, Liu Guiying turned her head and did not intend to continue.

The young man didn't seem to be able to hear Liu Guiying's dissatisfaction and dissatisfaction, and said calmly: "Auntie, I don't cheat money, I don't hurt people's lives, you don't have to worry about anything, just treat it as a family routine, what you said is not right, you can turn around and leave, eh...... No, that's not right, I turned and left. The boy added with a smile.

Liu Guiying looked at the young man, with fair skin and simple dress, the only feature was that his simple clothes were washed cleanly, and he seemed to be able to smell the fragrance of soap. Bright eyes, no evil thoughts, and good facial features, not like street gangsters.

Liu Guiying casually looked around, but found no suspicious person. She feared that the teenager might have accomplices and engage in blackmail tricks.

The young man stood and waited for Liu Guiying to reply, he had his own hardships, not to be enthusiastic about doing that chivalrous thing.

After Liu Guiying temporarily made sure that the young man in front of him didn't have any flies, she stood up and said, "Young man, my aunt asked you, where is your family from?

Liu Guiying asked, wanting to inquire further about the young man's situation, and his tone of voice was a little soothing at this time.

The young man also heard the meaning of Liu Guiying's words, and said: "My family lives in a gathering trench and is in the first year of high school. The teenager did not tell Liu Guiying about the school she attended.

Gathering moat, located in the suburbs of Mulinzhao Town, 30 years ago this place for the country to build a paper mill sewage discharge site, later, the paper mill can not make ends meet, the enterprise restructuring, has long moved away from the original site, the sewage pool no longer has sewage in.

I don't know when, the sewage area gradually got up people's houses, most of them are mud embryo structures, 30 years have passed, there have been 20 or 30 families living in this place, after a long time, people will call this place a gathering moat.

Liu Gui thought for a while and said, "At the age of studying, why did you learn to tell fortunes?"

"In my spare time, I like to read some fortune-telling books and magazines to change my brain, which does not affect my studies. After the young man finished speaking, he reached out and touched his short hair.

Around 1999, under the influence of the old boy and the Four Heavenly Kings, young people either dyed their hair long or combed their hair parted, and they didn't dare to look back when they walked in the wind, for fear of blowing their hairstyles out of order.

The young man in front of him is a model of a young man who is responsible.

At this point, Liu Guiying also relaxed her vigilance, and said as if she was bored to pass the time: "This girl is my niece, young man, you give face-to-face." After speaking, Liu Guiying hugged Liu Xia's shoulder, and her mood was a little low.

The young man calmly stretched out his right hand and said with a fake look: "Look at the palmistry first, and then face each other." ”

Liu Xia raised her head and looked at her aunt, as if she was asking for Liu Guiying's opinion.

Liu Guiying's heart fluctuated slightly, could it be that she wanted to play hooligan to take advantage?

Liu Guiying muttered in her heart.

"Xiaxia, it's okay, stretch out your hand. After speaking, he said to the young man: "Little offspring, just look at palmistry, you don't need to use your hands and feet, right?"

The young man understood Liu Guiying's thoughts, and said with a sneer: "Auntie, don't worry, I see with my eyes, I don't need to touch my bones." The boy made a joke.

Liu Guiying didn't say anything more, and asked Liu Xia to stretch out her hand in front of the young man.

The young man does not know how to criticize fortune telling, and he has this to hide from others, because he has secrets that cannot be told to others, and can only use superstitious means to practice the ability that cannot be explained.

Looking at Liu Xia's outstretched left hand, the young man said in a deep voice: "The first minister's right hand." ”

Liu Xia was slightly stunned, retracted her left hand, and timidly stretched out her right hand.

The young man looked at Liu Xia carefully, with a sickly demeanor, short ear-length hair was a little messy, his face was pale, and his facial features were handsome, but his chapped lips were a little pale, his body was thin, and his eyes were big and godless. kept his head down, sometimes raising his eyes to look at the young man in front of him.

Cough, cough, cough, Liu Guiying coughed and reminded the young man, looking at palmistry, staring at what should not be seen.

"Hand, contains the way of two instruments and three talents, including the secret of the five elements of Tai Chi, its big, heaven and earth are in one palm, its small, five internal organs are in the square inch. The boy began to pull the tiger's skin and put up a big flag.

"The method of hand-to-hand, first look at the palm type, then look at the gossip, the palm has a thickness, the finger has a length, the tattoo has a shade, the color has a bright lag, so that the monarch and the minister get the position, the five elements are matched, the gossip has stopped, the guest and the host are even, only the master can go to the guest, and the guest is not allowed to come to the master. ”

"The so-called 'left hand is congenital, right hand is acquired', and the acquired has the greatest impact on the fortune of a person's life. The boy kept saying, for this reason, he memorized fortune-telling books.

Liu Guiying looked at the young man in confusion, feeling that he was not like other fortune tellers around Baita Park, and he spoke in a crepe manner, quite like that.

"Young man, what are you talking about, what do you see?" Liu Guiying has no culture, she only knows a few big words, and she automatically ignores the words of the young man in front of her, she wants to know whether the young man in front of her has the ability.

The young man held his forehead, it seems that the words of the gods and gods, for the aunt who has little knowledge, there is no need for any foreshadowing, it is a waste of words, and he has to get to the point.

After reading his right hand, the young man looked at his left hand again, pondering for a while, meditating for a while, sometimes looking into the distance, sometimes nodding. After doing these foolish procedures, the young man said: "Little sister, what's your name? Do you know the eight characters of your birthday? ”

Without waiting for Liu Xia to speak, Liu Guiying hurriedly said: "My niece's name is Liu Xia, her birthday is April 18, she was born at ten o'clock in the evening, she is 14 years old this year, young man, you can take a look, if you say it is accurate, what you say is right, I will give you five yuan." After speaking, Liu Guiying looked solemn, as if she had made a major determination, stretched out her five fingers, and made a promise to the young man.

The boy didn't speak, and continued to look down at his palmistry, assuming a sufficiently sophisticated demeanor and posture.

In fact, at this moment, the young man did not observe Liu Xia's palmistry, but just retrieved the information obtained in his brain quickly.

……

"Liu Xia, female, 14 years old, born on April 18, 1986......"

The boy knew that although Liu Xia was 14 years old, what the residents of Mulin Zhao Town said was a virtual age, and few people would say that he was one year old......