"Uncle, what do you mean by that?" Li Zong stood up and asked. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The old man smiled strangely, but he stopped talking, and turned to go back to the house.

"Hey, wait, old man, we haven't finished asking yet!" Jiajia shouted anxiously, "We are all hungry now, where is there a place to eat except for firewood and chicken?" ”

Uh, oh my God, we instantly felt extremely embarrassed, this unreliable girl.

Seeing that we looked disgusted, Jiajia pleaded dissatisfiedly: "What's wrong? Am I wrong? Haven't you been hungry for so long? ”

"Aren't we here to eat firewood roast chicken? If you don't have it, just go back. Wen Ya said.

At this time, the old man laughed instead, "Come in, girls, I don't have this firewood roast chicken, but I do have firewood stuffy chicken, and the bag is no worse than the roast chicken!" Then he patted the dirt on his cloth and turned and went into the house.

"What do you think I'm talking about?" Jiajia immediately came to her senses, and without being greeted, she pushed open the fence door and jumped in, leaving the four of us looking at each other in the back. One total, forget it, so be it. Then he followed.

"Come on, come on, you're welcome, eat more." Grandma greeted us warmly, stewed chicken, steamed fish, and all kinds of game that we had never eaten or seen were put on the table, and the five of us ate around the meal.

"Well, it's delicious, grandma, your craftsmanship is so good! I've never had such a delicious stewed chicken! Jiajia stuffed meat in her mouth, and did not forget to raise her head to express her worship for Grandma.

"Well, Grandma is really a good craft!" The rest of the crowd also praised it.

Grandma grinned happily, and her eyebrows and eyes were squeezed by deep wrinkles and lost space.

Abel sat on the threshold, smoking his cigarette pouch, putting down the cigarette, and spitting out, "My old woman, there is no other use, the cooking is absolutely delicious, there is no better than her." ”

"Don't listen to his nonsense, as you get older, you get more and more speechless." When Grandma heard Ah Bo praise her, she was even more embarrassed, wiped her hands on her apron, and went out of the house.

"Eh, Abel, then you said that the firewood roasted chicken burned itself, what's the matter?" Li Zong hadn't forgotten what had just happened, and raised his head and asked.

"Oh, do evil!" Without waiting for Uncle to reply, Grandma walked in with a pot of tofu and fish soup, moved the dish in the middle of the table outside, put the soup in the middle, straightened up and said, "That's really a sin." Good girl's house, I don't know what kind of ghost she recruited, but it's ****. ”

“****？” We were instantly shocked.

"Oh, yes. I don't know what I recruited, I was confused, and in the middle of the night, I lay down in the firewood, and when someone found out, I burned early...... Oops......! As Grandma spoke, her eyes turned red, and she hurriedly raised her sleeves to wipe the tears left along the wrinkles.

"It can't be so weird, right? Could it be murdered? Li Zong is not calm.

"What are you trying to kill? We in the barren mountains and mountains, we have no money and no wealth, who came here to murder? The old man interjected at this time, and the old-fashioned cigarette stick tapped on the sole of his shoe, "Hmph, that's the 'Immortal God' to adopt the material." ”

"Immortal Adoption Material? What is this allusion? I couldn't help but ask.

The old man saw that we were all staring at him intently, his eyes narrowed, and he leaned against the door frame, and he smoked again.

It's really an old man who likes to sell guanzi, I thought to myself.

"Hey, girl, don't you know, there is a big banyan tree in our village, I heard people say when I was a girl, this tree is estimated to have grown for thousands of years, our barren mountains and mountains, too barren, to support such a big god, so every few years, a few people will die in the village, all of them died inexplicably, saying that it was chosen by the immortal god and used as nutrients."

"This is ridiculous! What kind of society is this, and how can you still believe in these things? Jia Jia slapped her chopsticks on the table and said indignantly.

"Yes, after socialism, animals and plants are not allowed to become spermatological?" Li Zong also answered.

"If that's the case, hasn't anyone thought of cutting down that big banyan tree?" Wen Ya raised her head and asked with a serious expression.

"Oh, girl, you can't cut it, if you cut it, it will violate the mandate of heaven, and there will be a great disaster!" Grandma slapped her thigh in a hurry, as if we had already carried an axe to cut down a tree.

"What kind of calamity will there be?" Manji's father couldn't help but ask.

"This ......," Grandma hesitated, "We can't say anything about this, but it's just passed down from our ancestors." ”

"Hey, this is all superstitious grandma, the banyan tree is an aerial root plant, the growth ability is already vigorous, it is not strange to live for one or two thousand years, in the Liangguang area, there are many such banyan trees, where will it become fine?" Li Zong couldn't stand it anymore, and was determined to popularize science for these ignorant old people, and by the way, he also showed off his knowledge to Wen Yaxian. "Legend has it that the banyan tree, also known as the 'immortal tree', is the most peculiar thing about it, that is, 'a single tree can become a forest'. In addition to the main trunk, it can also protrude many bizarre 'aerial roots' from the side branches, some of which are suspended in the air to absorb moisture from the air, and some of which simply penetrate into the soil, absorbing soil water and nutrients like normal roots, and quickly grow thick and become small trees. From afar, a tree looks like a forest. These small trees grown from aerial roots not only have branches and leaves, but also provide nutrients to the mother body continuously, so that the banyan tree can grow luxuriantly and live for thousands of years, so the banyan tree is called the 'immortal tree' in the folk. Where did the 'immortal god' come from, that's all superstition! After speaking, Li Zong raised his eyebrows and looked at Wen Ya proudly, Wen Ya looked like a nymphomaniac, and the worshippers almost applauded.

"Hmph, young man, don't think that after reading a few years of books, you can question this, question that." Abo, who had not spoken for a long time, stood up at this time, patted the ash on his buttocks, and said with a gloomy face, "Some of the things left by the ancestors have their own reasons. Come and see. Abel raised his hand and pointed at it, and we hurriedly got up and gathered at the door, looking in the direction he was pointing. Abel pointed to the firewood room at 90 degrees from the main house, where I saw Grandma cooking before. "Normally, the door, when closed, will never open by itself. One day, if you see him driving it himself, within three days, someone in the village will die. With that, Abel took another puff of his cigarette, squinted his eyes, and turned to go inside.

We looked at each other.

Li Zong couldn't help it, "What's strange about the door opening by itself, the wind blows." ”

Abel didn't speak, but sat down on the mahogany chair next to the main hall, picked up a pitch-black ceramic jar with a burning bottom, took a sip of strong tea, and smoked again.

"Actually, this statement is not completely groundless." At this time, Manji's father spoke, and I quickly looked at him, wondering what he was going to say. "In our hometown, there is also this saying. Legend has it that three days before a person dies, his soul will go out of his body and will go to various houses, especially firewood houses, in order to find something to eat and get on the road. I encountered it once when I was a child, I was playing in the yard, and suddenly I saw the door of the firewood house open by itself, and three days later, the uncle of the next family passed away. ”

"Huh? Gao Zhe, where is your home? Why are you so superstitious? Jiajia asked rhetorically.

Manji's father was stunned and blushed.

"Huh, superstition? What is superstition? Why do you have to eat enough to go on the road? That's to be sacrificed to the immortal god, thin and thorny, can the immortal god be satisfied? Abel said, full of anger. Don't look at us anymore.

We stood there in embarrassment, not knowing what to say. I looked outside the door and realized that the sun had sunk to the west at some point.

"Okay, it's not early, we should go back too, and I'll be bothering Uncle and Grandma for a long time." I said.

"Oh, yes, yes, yes, we should go back too, we should go back." Everyone reacted and said they were leaving.

"Hey, what's the hurry, don't be in a hurry, just sit for a while, we haven't been so lively for a long time." Grandma hurried out to keep us.

"Grandma, your cooking is really delicious, it reminds me of my grandmother's craftsmanship at home, thank you so much. This money is for your meal, and you can see if it is enough. Manji's father took out 500 yuan and stuffed it into Grandma's hand.

"Ouch, that's not going to happen!" Grandma waved her hand again and again, "I'm not opening a restaurant, it's just for you to be lively." I don't want it, I don't want it. ”

"Take it." Manji's father stuffed the money into Grandma's hand, and quickly ran out to make peace with us. In the distance, when we turned around, Grandma was still standing at the door of the fence and waving to us.

"Hey, Grandma and Uncle are quite pitiful, just two old people, living in such a simple wooden house." Jiajia said as she lowered her head to dodge the roots of the trees on the road.

"Yes, most of the young people in the countryside have gone out to work, leaving the lonely old people at home, which is really pitiful......"

I looked up at Manji's father, and saw that he was silent. I squeezed his hand, and he smiled at me, but still didn't speak.

By the time we reached the end of the village, it was completely dark. We waited for a long time, but no car passed by.

Wen Ya: "Hey, don't wait, let's go back to the hotel." Isn't it said that it is not far away? ”

Jiajia: "Boss, that's not far in that direction, from this side, it's much farther!" ”

Suddenly, there was a thunderclap in the sky, and before we could react, the downpour had already fallen. All of a sudden, we were in a mess.

"Quick! Banyan tree! Go under the banyan tree! I couldn't tell who shouted, and the crowd waited for the girl to run back to the banyan tree.

Sure enough, the branches are big and the leaves are big, standing under the tree, the rain can only pass through the gaps between the branches and occasionally drop one or two. However, before he could rejoice, the wind surged violently, and the big banyan tree was blown with a rattling sound, and the rattan swayed wildly, pumping on his body from time to time.

"You can't stay here for long, the thunder is too close, it's not safe to hide under the tree!" Manji's father shouted at the top of his voice, "We have to go back now, go to Grandma's house, and wait for the rain to stop before making plans!" ”

The three girls hugged each other at this time, and after listening to the words of Manji's father, they all felt that this method was feasible. So, in groups of three, we rushed out of the tree in pairs and hurried to the hut.

"Grandma, grandma! Open the door! ”

"It's coming, it's coming! Oops, come in, come in!! ”

And just like that, we were back at the chalet. Grandma found dry clothes for us to change into, and got hot water for us to wipe down. After some tossing, I finally settled down. The dim light bulbs in the room flickered occasionally, and everyone sat around the fire, looking at each other. Manji's father and Li Zong were wearing Abo's blue cloth clothes, and the three of us girls were wearing Grandma's dark floral cloth clothes, and the clothes exuded a faint smell of firewood.

Grandma said: "This rain will not stop for a while, I will pack up two rooms for you, you will live here tonight, and you will leave tomorrow!" ”

"Thank you, Grandma, it's so bothering you."

"Hey, silly children, don't be polite to Grandma. It's not too early, why don't you rest early? ”

Then, Grandma took us to the side rooms. Together with Wenya and Jiajia, I slept next to Uncle and Grandma, facing the firewood room, while Manji's father and Li Zong were in the wing room next to the firewood room. The wing room is very small, most of which is occupied by a large wooden bed, and in the remaining corner, there is a mahogany cabinet and a basin stand. On the low roof, like the main house, a dim light bulb hangs, and the walls around it are pasted with newspapers of unknown age, which are old and yellow. However, the house is clean, except for the unique smell of firewood in the countryside, it is also warm. Told us to close the door at night, and Grandma left.

"Hey, what a twist and turn today! I'm tired and my back hurts. As she spoke, Jia Jia fell headlong on the bed, and the wooden bed made a "creaking" sound.

"Fortunately, Grandma is kind enough to take it in, otherwise now that the wind and rain are heavy, we don't know where it will be." Wen Ya wiped her hair, and she looked very gentle under the light.

I also took off my shoes and climbed into bed, leaning against the wall, and suddenly felt paralyzed, so comfortable. Through the window, I looked into Manji's father's room, and faintly saw a shadow undressing, and I didn't know if it was Manji's father's or Li Zong's. I took out my phone, thought about it, and sent a message to Manji's father: "Tonight, I can't sleep with you......" After a while, the phone shook, and I received a reply from Manji's father: "I miss you!" ”