The fifth pigeon whistle

Returning to Beijing from Shennongjia, it was autumn, the weather was cool, and the people were comfortable. Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 infoThere are many things on the verge of life and death, and people's desires will become lighter and simpler. What many people think is a boring day, but it's actually very comfortable. I still drink tea and read books every day, enjoying the best time of the year in Beijing.

But it wasn't Team Cao who came to my house first, but Jiao Er, who rode from Dongcheng to Xuanwu to find me, sweating profusely, just to send me a pair of pigeons. I asked him to come in, but he didn't do anything, took some planks from the back seat of the bicycle, made a small pigeon cage, and settled a pair of little pigeons, and then followed me into the house.

People who have been through hardships together have a sense of closeness in their hearts, Jiao Er was originally a little introverted, but in my family, it was like a different person, and he kept talking, of course, it was more of a strange story about his pigeon raising, but as he spoke, he suddenly stopped, looked at the teapot in my hand and was stunned. That trip to Shennongjia I have a general understanding of his temperament, when he doesn't speak and is stunned, it is actually when he wants to say but is not easy to speak. I poured some tea into his teacup and asked him with a smile, "Jiao Er, if you want to ask me about raising pigeons, I really can't help you, if you lose the pigeons, let me help find them, I may be able to help." ”

Jiao Er grinned: "Master Chang, if Team Cao says that you are an immortal, you will also be a prophet." As soon as these words came out, I was stupid, I was joking, where can I find this pigeon if I lose it?

Jiao Er is actually a person who admits death, for example, when he came back from Shennongjia, he changed his name to Chang Ye, I asked him, I am not a few years older than you, how awkward it is for you to call me so. He didn't, told me that the capable must call the master, it has nothing to do with age, I can't resist him, I can only call with him. But when the Cao team was there, he only called the Cao team Lao Cao, so that the Cao team hid when he heard that we were drinking together.

Knowing Jiao Er's characteristics, I know in my heart that this matter of looking for pigeons can't be flashed. I refilled his teacup with some water and sat next to him and listened to him.

Before we went to Shennongjia, Jiao Er's pigeons had already begun to be lost sporadically, only one or two a week. At first, Jiao Er thought that he was recruited by other people's pigeons, which is also a common thing for pigeon keepers. But Jiao Er's flock of pigeons is 150 people, and it is often difficult to recruit other people's pigeons. Pigeons are actually very loyal animals, absolutely monogamous, and once together, they are really life and death. Many pigeons have lost their mates and then they don't look for other pigeons, much like swans. Among the pigeons that Jiao Er lost, many of them are already married, and it is common for people to abandon their wives and children, but it is impossible for pigeons. Moreover, Jiao Er's pigeon raising is emotional, and he began to raise pigeon chicks, and his pigeons are human, and I have seen it in Shennongjia. Therefore, there is zero chance that Jiao Er's pigeons will be picked up by other pigeons.

Then the pigeon must have gotten lost and didn't fly back. Jiao Er lived in Lumicang Hutong in the east of Beijing, in Beijing in the 80s, there were few high-rise buildings, and you could see most of Beijing from the roof of the courtyard. At that time, there was no mobile phone, no walkie-talkie, and there was no source of electromagnetic interference, and the radius of the pigeon flying out every day was two or three kilometers, and the pigeon was the most able to identify the direction and recognize the animal.

Most of the pigeons raised by Jiao Eryang are high-quality carrier pigeons, in order to cultivate their flying ability, it is definitely not possible to go around in circles near home. Every Saturday and Sunday, Jiao Er gets up before dawn, carries the pigeon cage onto the tricycle, takes a dozen pigeons, and heads all the way to the west. Beijing pigeon connoisseurs, like to go to the West Mountain or North Hot Spring to release pigeons, Jiao Er most often goes to the Baiwang Mountain in western Beijing, although the road to ride for three hours, but it is Jiao Er's most leisure and pleasant moment.

Jiao Er pedaled three wheels, one hour out of Xizhimen, past the zoo, the first body, turn onto Baishiqiao Road, is a quiet boulevard, the poplars on both sides of the road have more than 20 years old, tall and straight, covering the sky and the sun, there are some exotic pastoral atmosphere. When you arrive at the Summer Palace, a few miles further north, you will reach Baiwang Mountain. Baiwang Mountain is actually not high, climb to the top of the mountain, it doesn't take an hour to get to the top of the mountain, but because the surrounding area is very empty, this mountain is very abrupt, and it has the name of "one mile and one turn, one hundred miles and one hundred hopes".

Jiao Er generally put pigeons at the bottom of the mountain, feed the pigeons' water, but the food is only half full, in order to let the pigeons try their best to fly to the pigeon loft at home, and the pigeon loft has prepared the peanuts and corn that the pigeons love to eat, which is also the method of Jiao Er's pigeon refining. The pigeons were full of energy, and Jiao Er opened the cage door and watched the pigeons scramble to fly into the sky. The pigeon did not fly home directly, but circled around Baiwang Mountain a few times, the sound of the pigeon whistle was like a hypnotic song, Jiao Er lay in the grass, slept contentedly for a while, and then rode back home.

In the wild, the pigeon is either lost while flying around Baiwang Mountain, or it is lost on the way home. Jiao Er then numbered each pigeon released in the wild, and when he went back to count, he found that the lost pigeon had no regularity at all, the male pigeon, the hen, the wild or experienced, all were lost, and even participated in the national long-distance competition, one did not fly back. The number lost, sometimes one, sometimes two, and at most one less came back five. Jiao Er realized the seriousness of the problem.

But he is such an axis person, others lost pigeons, it's a big deal to change the place and put it, but Jiao Er is biased, he wants to find out where the pigeons have gone. So he simply took a few pigeons, squatted at the foot of Baiwang Mountain, and guarded for two days. I met a few pigeon fanciers, and when we communicated, there were also cases of losing pigeons, how many of you and how many of him were, and it was not a small number to count. But in this chat, several people still summed up a little rule. The pigeon disappeared from the beginning of spring in March, and some fanciers' pigeons did not fly around Baiwang Mountain, and there were very few missing, which seems to have something to do with Baiwang Mountain itself.

Now I understand Jiao Er's intention, but I know that there is a sea eye well in the Summer Palace, but it is impossible to affect Baiwang Mountain, which is three kilometers away. "Jiao Er, do you suspect that there is a geomagnetic anomaly near Baiwang Mountain, which affects the flight of the pigeons? Why don't I take the time to accompany you to take a look?" I asked him.

Jiao Er looked at me gratefully, "I brought a compass with me, it's normal, I want you to help analyze and analyze another thing." ”

It turned out that Jiao Er squatted in Baiwang Mountain for two days and ran into an old man in a nearby village. The old man told him that there was a strange phenomenon here in Baiwang Mountain, that is, in winter, there were many birds in the woods on the mountain, but in summer, these birds moved down the mountain and did not go up the mountain again. In the early years, in the field under the mountain, there were many hares, field mice, and weasels, and there would be some big birds such as eagles and falcons hovering in the air and prey, but in summer, these wild animals left the nest one after another, and ran to the mountains to live, and the strange thing is that those eagles and falcons disappeared, and this phenomenon has never appeared in other mountains, only this Baiwang Mountain is like this.

The old man also told Jiao Er that one year, when the wild geese flew north, he was on the top of Baiwang Mountain. The sky was a little cloudy, the clouds were very low, he saw a pair of geese flying by, it is said that no matter how low the clouds are, the geese will not fly into the clouds, but in a blink of an eye, the pair of geese disappeared under the clouds, I thought it was dazzling, but after a while, I saw a lone goose emerge from under the clouds, and I couldn't go for a long time, and the old man understood that the geese were swallowed by the clouds.

Looking at Jiao Er, who was stunned, I suddenly realized, "Jiao Er, do you think that the disappearance of the pigeon is very similar to the ghost market we encountered in Shennongjia?"

Jiao Er nodded, "Master Chang, according to the old man, the wild goose was let to swallow, and the pigeon is also very likely, except in Shennongjia, I have raised pigeons for so many years, and I have never encountered such a strange thing." ”

I shook my head, thought for a while, and said slowly: "It shouldn't be, you think, one is in the sky, the other is underground, in Shennongjia, your pigeon flies back and forth from the ghost market a few times, it is fine, it means that the ghost market only has an effect on the creatures on the ground, and he can't do anything in the sky." The second is that the ghost market is only to confuse people, using illusions to control people's spirits, but it seems that they can't destroy the flesh, and the geese and pigeons are confused and can't be still in the clouds, and they have already fallen. The third is that the ghost market is fixed in one place, which is completely a biological habit, and the clouds seem to only appear in summer, like migratory animals. So I don't think it's something we encountered in Shennongjia.

Seeing Jiao Er's somewhat disappointed look, I patted him on the shoulder, "No matter what it is, let's just figure it out?" Tomorrow we will go to Baiwang Mountain to squat and see what we find." ”

Send Jiao Er away, I still don't have a clue about the disappearance of the pigeon, but the old man said that the wild goose was swallowed by the clouds, and his intuition should be wrong. But it's even more impossible that there's something like a mystery in mid-air, so where is the clue to solving this mystery?

Genealogy is always the key to opening my mind, and the experience of my predecessors may not solve real problems, but it can definitely show you a path to success. But this time, there are zero records in the genealogy about the disappearance of pigeons or any other birds. The only thing that has something to do is that during the Yongzheng period, a large number of Haidongqing raised in the palace disappeared in the Mulan hunt, and the investigation did not yield any results, and some officials were punished for this. But this event is only mentioned in the genealogy, and there is no detailed description. Just when I was disappointed, I accidentally turned to the record of my great-grandfather Chang Shigeshou in 1900, watching Lin Heier perform spells in Xianghe. (To be continued.) )