In 1993, unlike previous years, after the time entered August, Qingshui Town, located in the upper reaches of the Great River in the Southwest Basin, did not rain a little, like a big steamer. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

At ten o'clock in the morning, the sun hung diagonally in the air like a big fireball, engulfing heat waves, and the dazzling sunlight pushed away the clouds far away, scorching the earth without hindrance.

In the courtyard, the sun-soaked ground seemed to have a layer of smoke.

There is a yellow horn tree planted on one side of the courtyard wall, the body of the tree needs two strong men to embrace, the branches are open like a canopy, there is no wind, and the shade of the tree is not moving to cover most of the yard.

On the other side, which was not covered by the shade of the trees, there was a lounger.

At this moment, Gu Xinyan was lying on the chair, his hands folded in front of his abdomen, his eyes closed, taking a nap, and the sun was falling straight down, shining on his body without hindrance.

He was only fifteen or sixteen years old, not tall, not very handsome and straight, but also with clear eyebrows and beautiful eyes, and his face was particularly pale, without the slightest blood.

The upper body is a blue long-sleeved shirt made of homespun cloth, with buttons on the cuffs and neckline, and a pair of grass-green military pants on the lower body, and a pair of rubber shoes of the same color under the feet, which covers the whole body tightly. The strange thing is that with such a high temperature, such a dress, and exposure to the sun, there is not the slightest sweat stain on his face.

"Gu Xinyan ......"

Shouts were heard outside the hospital.

On the chair, the boy opened his eyes.

Although he woke up from a nap, there was no tiredness in his eyes. The two eyebrows, which seemed ordinary when they closed their eyes, became unusual after opening their eyes, like two scimitars slashing diagonally towards their temples. The young man slowly got up and looked at the half-open courtyard door, his eyes as if filled with a faint mist.

"Gu Xinyan, are you on the house?"

The shouts grew closer.

"In!"

He put his hands in his trouser pockets and answered.

"Babbling ......"

The wooden courtyard door was completely pushed open, and a tall and thin middle-aged man strode in.

He wore a gray short-sleeved shirt on his upper body, a pair of Western-style shorts of the same color on the bottom, and a pair of plastic sandals on his feet.

This person is Gu Xinyan's second uncle Luo Ping.

"Quick! Go and bring the line with you, Qiao Liuye of the eighth team is gone......"

"Hmm."

Gu Xinyan replied and walked to the left.

There is a low tiled house against the banyan tree, which is not connected to the main house, and is usually stacked with sundries.

Luo Ping's line was put inside.

Gu Xinyan's second uncle is a yin and yang Taoist priest, if someone passes away, most of them will ask him to ask him to recite scriptures and practice things, send the dead on the road, and go up the mountain to find dragon points, and find a piece of feng shui treasure for burial.

In recent years, such things have become more common. Although it can't be said on the surface, in fact, it is already a conventional thing. Even, when the family members of some officials died, they secretly went to find Taoist priests. More than ten years ago, it was unimaginable.

Ten years ago, Luo Ping committed a lawsuit for helping people do things, saying that he was spreading feudal superstition and ate a year in prison.

"Smack!"

I pulled the light rope behind the door and the light came on.

The faint yellow light poured overhead, and the light was very dim, so that I could barely see the furnishings in the house.

Electricity is expensive in rural areas, and in order to save electricity, the light bulbs used are generally not high, and the bulbs used in utility rooms like this one are up to five degrees.

There are a lot of sundries in the utility room, but they are placed in a very standardized manner, not messy at all, and Gu Xinyan personally sorted it out.

a knife of jute paper, chisels, maces, guillotines, these things are used to make paper money; White paper, bamboo strips, brushes, paints, paper people, sedan chairs; Compass, copper coins, ink fountains, necessities for dragon hunting; In addition, there is also a yellow robe, which the second uncle needs when he recites scriptures and practices at night.

In the past two years, whenever he didn't go to school during the holidays, Gu Xinyan would run errands with his second uncle Luo Ping and eat a mouthful of food.

He has two identities, one as a nephew and the other as an apprentice.

Soon, he skillfully sorted things into the basket, and then walked out with the basket on his back.

Luo Ping was coming out of the kitchen, holding a wooden scoop in his right hand, tilting his head, gulping water, his Adam's apple shaking up and down, gurgling.

Raising his left hand and wiping off the water stains on his mouth, Luo Ping raised his right hand and sprinkled the remaining water in the scoop into the yard.

The waterline reflects the sunlight, and the dazzling light is fleeting.

Luo Ping glanced at Gu Xinyan, who was standing silently on the side, and sighed lightly.

Compared with two years ago, his nephew is like a different person.

At that time, Gu Xinyan was lively and cheerful, smart and clever, and could speak well, and he often smiled when he saw people, and his popularity was very good. And now? He is gloomy, behaves strangely, and is so taciturn that he never speaks unless he has to, and because he follows his own work, he occasionally talks to himself.

Replaced by other people, there is basically no communication at all, even at school, it is the same, which makes the people around him stay away, and even has the nickname of a ghost boy.

It's all to blame on that bastard!

If it weren't for him, how could the third sister be ......

If it weren't for the great change, my nephew wouldn't have become like this!

"Gu Xinyan, where is Qiao Jiawa of Team Eight? You know how to sprinkle ......"

Gu Xinyan nodded.

Luo Ping rubbed his nose and continued.

"You go to Qiaojiawa with your back first, at this time, there must be a lot of people in Qiaoliu's family, you won't be stupid enough to find the wrong door, right? I'm going to the town to find the lockblower, I'm going to be late! ”

Gu Xinyan didn't speak, but still nodded.

Luo Ping strode outside, walked to the gate of the courtyard, stopped, turned around, and commanded with some anxiety.

"When you get there, you look for Jiang Sanye, he is helping the Qiao family to preside over the funeral, how much paper money does it need? How many paper figurines do you want to tie? Fold a few sedan chairs, and he will tell you that you are ...... when you listen to his instructions and do things."

Seeing that Gu Xinyan was still silent, just nodded, Luo Ping couldn't help but sigh again.

"Iniquity!"

He said softly, turned and strode away.

The footsteps were far away, and they sang again in the corners of the house, in the trees, and in the grass.

Gu Xinyan walked to the door, turned around and was about to close the courtyard door, he paused, and his eyes swept over the courtyard.

This is an ordinary small farm yard, facing the courtyard gate is three tiled houses, the middle is the hall house, the two sides are bedrooms, the left is under the banyan tree is the utility room, and the right one is the kitchen. Behind the main house is the backyard, planted with a bamboo forest, next to the bamboo forest there is a pigsty and a toilet, but now there are no pigs in the pigsty, only firewood and hay, exuding a faint smell of rancidity.

Somehow, this summer courtyard was very depressed in Gu Xinyan's eyes.

If Mother is there?

Gu Xinyan squinted his eyes, took a deep breath, closed the courtyard door, took out the key, locked the door, and turned to leave.

His family is in the second team of Qingshui, located in the middle of the river bay, and dozens of families are scattered all over the river bay. Three or five families live together in a bamboo forest, connected by fields, and paddy fields separate the homes.

The Qingshui River meanders from the hills to the northeast, turns a large bay in front of the door, flows northwest, and finally flows into the river through the town of Qingshui. A bluestone road passes through the second team of Qingshui, connecting Qingshui Town ten miles away at one end and Banqiao Town dozens of miles away at the other end.

This road was built in the early Qing Dynasty, has a long history, and is the only way for villagers to travel.

The eighth team of Qingshui is in the direction of Banqiao Town, more than ten miles away from Gu's house, and it won't take long to walk along the stone road to go down to Tiankan. After a few hours' walk along the field path, over two or three small dirt slopes, you will see a large pond in the distance. On three sides of the pond, surrounded by trees and bamboo forests, dotted with eaves and courtyard walls, that is where the eight teams are located.

Team 8 is different from Team 2, whose homes are scattered in river bends, while Team 8 is built around the big pond.

It has a long history, according to records, it has a history of more than 200 years, it is the place where the Qiao clan people live, so it is called Qiaojiawa.

Behind Qiaojiawa, there is a continuous hillside, full of trees and lush greenery, this hillside that the locals call Hualong Mountain stretches like a long snake across the east and west, separating Banqiao and Qingshui towns.

At the edge of the pond, several women were doing laundry.

The sound of conversation was faintly heard in the wind.

"What's so good about wine!"

"Yes! Qiao Liu left before he was sixty! ”

"If he hadn't drunk too much horse urine, even if he fell into the pond, this little water wouldn't have drowned him!"

"Last night, Qiao Liu seems to have fallen from here into the pond? That dead ghost might be hiding in the water and staring at us, trying to find a stand-in......"

"Yes, he loves to stare at you when he lives, look at the pair of water bags on your chest......"

Then, there was a burst of laughter and scolding.

Gu Xinyan approached, the women's laughter and conversation were gone, they looked up at him, and then lowered their heads and continued to do their own things.

After walking, the conversation continued.

"This is the ghost boy?"

"It's really weird, such a hot day, dressed so thickly, this is a place to spend the winter!"

"Did you see that? He didn't sweat at all on his face, his face was as white as a harlequin on the stage, if you want me to say, he must have the true inheritance of Luo Daoshi, and he has real skills......"

"Hehe, it's really true! Zhang's family, you've heard too much about the Longmen Array! ”

"Don't say it...... This baby is actually quite pitiful, I heard that he and his mother went to the city to see his father two years ago, and later, my mother passed away without knowing what happened, and the baby came back alone......"

Listening to these in his ears, Gu Xinyan's expression remained unchanged, and he kept moving forward under his feet.

Stepping on the bluestone slab under his feet, walking between the houses and the bamboo forest, after a while, a noisy voice came, turned the corner, and Qiao's house arrived.

There are several tiled houses, with a bamboo forest in the back and a courtyard dam in front.

In front of the courtyard dam, there are a few clumps of oleanders, and at this moment, some red and white flowers are blooming, and a strange fragrance wafts over, lingering in the nose.

In the courtyard, there are several tables of eight immortals.

People gathered in the courtyard, some sat at the table, some walked back and forth, noisy and noisy, so lively.

The funerals of farmers in the southwest are very lively, and they have nothing to do with solemnity, even the cries of relatives when they mourn, in the eyes of irrelevant people, are mostly funny.

It's like an absurd comedy.

Jiang Sanye is in his sixties this year, he is the director of the Qinghe Zhenchuan Theater, and he is also highly respected in the town, and he is very familiar with the etiquette procedures of funerals, and is often invited by the mourners in Sili and Eight Townships to preside over the funeral. At this time, he was naturally very busy, so he didn't notice Gu Xinyan's arrival.

Gu Xinyan didn't say hello to him, and stood silently on the side of the courtyard dam.

Gradually, the voice of the person was lowered.

He has such a ability, making others cold anytime and anywhere.

It didn't take long for Jiang Sanye to see him and shouted at him.

"Gu Xinyan, where is your second uncle?"