Her mother is from Caojiawan, but she does not have the surname Cao. As far as I know, there is no family surnamed Cao in Caojiawan now. So, where did the name Caojiawan come from?

I asked my mother about it, but she couldn't tell me. So I asked my grandfather later, and the answer was solved by my grandfather.

It is said that a long time ago, the village went on a steady pace of life as usual. The sheep herd, the work, the cook. Everything seems to be nothing unusual, life is ordinary, although not very rich, but the people in the village are very satisfied. This group of people is the villagers of Caojiawan, and 80% of the people in the village have the surname Cao.

And then? What happened? What caused the Cao family to disappear overnight? Was it a natural disaster or a man-made disaster?

According to my grandfather, everything changed because of an earthquake, and I can only imagine the following scene.

On this day, there was a sudden increase in the number of rats in the village, and children chased them everywhere to catch them. And Lao Cao, who was working in the field, had an ominous premonition, and before he went to the ground, the donkey's reaction made him puzzled. In normal times, donkeys are more obedient. And today, the donkey appears restless. As he passed by the pigsty, the pig's reaction made him even more panicked, and the pig was frantically bumping around.

Lao Cao recalled these strange phenomena he saw today, and couldn't help but be a little cranky.

"Shopkeeper, I always feel a little wrong today, do you think something is going to happen?" said Lao Cao to his wife after rolling a stick of dry tobacco.

After hearing this, Lao Cao's wife raised her head and glared at Lao Cao, and then scolded: "You don't want to talk about it for a day! You can't do work in front of people, and you're still there for a day." Let's get to work after smoking!"

Lao Cao knew that what he would get was a scolding, he was used to it, this wife had never praised him, and he didn't know how he became this family business in the first place. He didn't say anything more, and finished the cigarette slowly.

After a day's work, Lao Cao and his wife returned home. Lao Cao's youngest son ran over to Lao Cao and said, "Dad, today the village is flooded with rats! We have caught rats for a day." After Lao Cao listened to his son's words, his heart became even more messy.

"Rabbit cubs know how to catch mice one day. I don't know what to do. Lao Cao counted his son down. In fact, he knew in his heart that his son's words had made him feel even more flustered, and he now had a clear premonition that disaster was coming.

Lao Cao thought about telling the people in the village about his ominous premonition, but with his popularity, who in the village could still believe him?

After a tiring day, Lao Cao soon fell asleep. The village became silent, with the occasional dog barking.

"Daddy, the ground is moving!"

Lao Cao was awakened by his son's shouts, and he felt the earth shaking violently. At this point, the whole family jumped off the kang.

Lao Cao shouted: "Run outside!

Because the earth shook too violently, Lao Cao could no longer maintain his balance, and stumbled outside. His phone was pulling on his youngest son, and the doll was already crying with fright, and the crying made the panic even more panicked.

The village began to boil, the livestock roared, the villagers shouted, and they all tried to run for their lives in the crisis of taking care of themselves.

"Shopkeeper, look!" said Cao's wife to Cao.

Lao Cao looked over and saw the huge mountain coming upside down towards them.

All the people froze in an instant, and they clearly realized that God was asking for their lives.

It didn't take long for the air to smell of earth, and the earth mist enveloped the entire village. There was a rumbling sound of mountains moving in the air, and there were tragic cries for help everywhere.

Lao Cao looked back at his family and cried. He said to his family, "Be strong, don't cry!

Before Lao Cao's words fell, their family was covered under the loess.

The earthquake stopped, and a village in Caojiawan was buried in the ground. The entire mountain has undergone a huge displacement, and after the collapse of the mountain, a new mountain has been formed, and the air waves brought by the earthquake are still rolling on the mountain.

Caojiawan was destroyed at this moment. All the families surnamed Cao were spared, and they were buried under the mountain that raised this village.

More than a month later, the first person with a different surname came to this ruin. When he saw the ruins in front of him, tears fell because his sister was here.

Just as he fell to his knees and wept bitterly, he heard the sound of a donkey grinding. He put his ear to the loess and could clearly hear the movement underground. He quickly picked up the shovel and dug up, and never dared to stop. By the time we dug the next day, the sound of the ground was gone. Knowing that the only glimmer of hope was lost, he threw down his shovel and wept bitterly.

For many years afterward, no one dared to live on this mountain, not for fear of earthquakes, but for fear of the souls buried in the mountain.

Until one day, a group of people came here to escape the famine. They were ready to settle here, and before settling they listened to this terrible story. The disaster did not deter the group, and they decided to settle here. In order to commemorate the deceased villagers, they continued to use the original village name.

After knowing this story, I felt sorry for the villagers who died in the disaster, and I felt admiration for the villagers who later settled here. If there were dead souls, I am sure they would not have bothered the people who came after them, because the people who came after them were continuing to live for them, planting the land they had not planted and drinking the water they had not drunk enough.

Ever since I learned this story, every time I went to my uncle's house and passed by the mountain behind me, I had to stare at it for a long time, because I knew that under that mountain, all the history of a village was buried.

Lao Cao must have been particularly annoyed, he had a premonition of the earthquake in advance. However, he was helpless to convince the villagers, nor his wife and children. But maybe Lao Cao doesn't have too many thoughts, he will think that all this is fate, and it is not something that he can escape if he wants to prevent it.

The indigenous villagers of Caojiawan should not have any regrets, although the earthquake took their lives, but did not take away the soul of Caojiawan, the name Caojiawan has been inherited.

Lao Li sat on the ground, looked at the mountain range behind him, and told his son this sad story.

When Lao Li's son grew up, he walked out of the mountain and came to the city. Lao Li's grandson heard his grandfather tell about this incident and was very curious about the village in the story.

Finally, Lao Li's grandson, led by Lao Li's son, returned to Caojiawan. In front of Lao Li's grave, they remembered Lao Li who told them a story.