As I walked, I suddenly saw a small village in front of me, called "Pengkeng Village", which is a small mountain road with a winding path opened up on the official road mountain road, surrounded by fragmented mountain fields, and a small stream interspersed in the mountain fields from high to low. The stream is muddy, the sound of the water is crisp and pleasant, if you look closely, you can also find fish and shrimp as neighbors, accompanied by frolic, and there is the quiet beauty of the water town in the south of the Yangtze River.

The three of them ate and stayed in the dew for many days, and it was rare to see someone's home, and they were very happy in their hearts, so they decided to stay here.

As soon as he stepped into Pengkeng Village, he met a childish and naughty little boy who rushed over with a bamboo sword and shouted: "Where are the monsters, watch me subdue demons and eliminate demons." ”

Zhou Kui reached out and grabbed the bamboo sword, and then twisted it behind the little boy's back, and the little boy was immediately caught. Zhou Bin knew that his younger brother was kind by nature, and he knew the severity of his shot, but he just looked at it with a smile.

Jiang He also found the little boy interesting, so he quipped: "Little guy, do you want to subdue demons and eliminate demons, or do you want monsters to see how you subdue demons and eliminate demons?" ”

The little boy was stunned, still looking at it with a confused expression.

Jiang He: "Where are the monsters, look! I'll subdue demons and eliminate demons." He deliberately accentuated the "look" tone and slowed down the pace of his speech.

Only then did the little boy hear his own speech, and hurriedly explained with a red face: "It's me who wants to subdue demons and eliminate demons, not to watch me subdue demons and eliminate demons." The crowd laughed.

Zhou Bin: "Okay, let him go." Then he said to the little boy, "Little friend, we are passing by here, and we see that it is getting dark, and we want to stay here for the night, but we are not a big villain." ”

The little boy looked at Zhou Kui's burly figure, and he was still a little scared when he was captured by the raid just now, but when he saw Zhou Bin riding on a horse and having no legs, he suddenly felt that this uncle was so pitiful.

Finally, looking at the river, this brother smiled, not annoying at all, and he must not be a bad person. So he nodded and took them to his grandmother.

This is a pleasant old man, about sixty years old, kind eyebrows and kind eyes, although full of silver hair, but in good spirits. She enthusiastically connected the three of them, and arranged for the little boy to sort out three rooms for everyone to rest first, due to Zhou Bin's special situation, Zhou Kui insisted on a room with his brother to facilitate care, and the old man nodded to show understanding.

Although the house is not big, there are many rooms, the rooms are closely connected, separated by thin wooden boards, although the equipment is simple, but the cleaning is spotless, which shows the owner's feelings for this home.

At suppertime, the five of them came to the open space outside the house, set up a large square table, and prepared to have dinner here by the afterglow of the setting sun. Not far away, smoke rises above every house, and under the breeze, soaring into the sky, the breeze is slightly chilly, but with such a beautiful environment, this chill is nothing.

It's not that the old people are deliberately embarrassed, so that everyone can eat in the open space outside the house, the room is relatively small and cannot accommodate five people to sit at the same time, plus Zhou Kui is tall and strong, one top two, too much space.

The dishes on the table are sumptuous: sliced cucumbers, leek quiches, cabbage soup, and a delicious mixture of sliced cured meat and wild vegetables.

Jiang He spent a lot of time in Jianyang City, and knew that most of the people would make reasonable use of the surplus meat, such as the fat part used for oil extraction, and the other lean parts were salted so that the meat could be eaten from time to time.

The little boy stared at the light of the cured meat, and it can be seen that his grandmother was reluctant to put the meat when she was eating, and only when the guests came to the door or during the New Year's festival would eat some.

Grandma's surname is Lin, and she is the only Langzhong in this village, and the little boy's parents have not been around since he was a child, and he was brought up by Grandma Lin, although he was a little naughty, but he was still filial.

A few people chatted about the parents and customs. Zhou Kui had a slurred speech due to tongue biting disease, so he just listened and didn't speak.

Zhou Bin knew that his younger brother was quite annoyed by this, but whenever there was a glimmer of hope, he wanted to try, so he asked Grandma Lin if she could treat tongue biting disease, and Grandma Lin obviously hadn't heard of it, so she asked Zhou Kui to speak.

The intermittent words made the naughty little boy laugh out loud, and Grandma Lin stopped her grandson's unreasonable behavior and shook her head regretfully at us, saying that she could not do anything about such a strange disease.

Everyone had to change the subject and talk about other things, and the little boy was also very active, chattering about his story, his adventures,

Suddenly, someone shouted in the distance: "It's on fire, come quickly." I saw black smoke billowing into the sky in the distance.

Grandma Lin: "Grandson, hurry! Hurry up and bring the wooden barrel to help." ”

Seeing this, Jiang He hurriedly offered to go to fight the fire with Zhou Kui, because Grandma Lin was older and her legs and feet were not good, so she stayed to help take care of Zhou Bin.

The two followed the boy to the burning house, and many villagers had gathered around him, and they were pouring water from the nearby stream with wooden barrels and basins, and splashing them on the raging fire. Zhou Kui has great strength and fast movements, and has obviously become the main force in firefighting.

Jiang He was about to perform water thaumaturgy, but he heard a person crying bitterly while splashing water: "My lady, my child, what can I do?"

Jiang He hurriedly asked how many people were inside, and what was the approximate location? The man immediately replied, just the mother and the child, about the location of the bedroom, and then briefly described the layout of the house.

Jiang He immediately flew into the sea of fire, startling everyone.

Jiang He rushed into the raging fire with the strength of the flame resistance, and began to look for the trapped man, only to see a woman holding a child who had just turned one year old, and the child was crying in the scorching heat. The woman was also frightened and desperate.

Jiang He rushed to the front: "Rush out with me." After that, he picked up the child and prepared to carry the woman, but the woman whispered softly: "Thank you to the son for coming to the rescue, as long as the child can save the child out, the little woman will be satisfied, if you carry the little woman again, it will be difficult to move in the fire." I'm afraid it will affect the child. ”

Jiang He hurriedly said: "I don't have time, come up, I have a way." ”

Perhaps it was the fear of death, perhaps the desire for life, or the desire not to want the child to be left without a mother, but the woman finally decided to leave alive.

So the river took the baby in his arms, carried the woman on his back, and burst out of the fire with the speed of lightning.

It was really a moment, and the river that had just rushed out of the fire heard a sound behind him. The house, fragile by the fire, collapsed wooden walls collapsed.

The man fell to his knees and wept silently, not noticing the river standing behind him.

"Wow~Wow......" The child's cry sounded around him.

The man turned around and wiped his tears, and was pleasantly surprised to find that Jiang He, who was holding his child, and his wife standing next to him.

The man turned around and knelt down a few steps, hugging Jiang He's thighs and thanking him a thousand times.

Jiang He hurriedly handed over the crying baby in his arms to the woman, and helped up the man who was kneeling on the ground and choked: "It's okay, mother and son are safe." ”

By the time the fire was completely extinguished, it was a mess in front of you, and everything of value was burned. However, the wife and children are there, and the man is not upset, he has strength, and what he has lost can be earned back.

An old man with gray hair and trembling walking, with the support of a young girl, walked out of the crowd and faced Jiang He and Zhou Kui: "Thanks to the two brothers for their help, I see that there are some faces, and the two of them don't seem to be residents of this village." ”

Jiang He: "Yes, old man, we are going to go north to join the army, passing by your village, it happened to be late, so we stopped here, and we are currently staying at Grandma Lin's house." ”

"Oh, I'm sorry for the bothering of your guests before you rest. I am the village chief of Pengkeng Village, and they all call me Chen Lao. The village chief replied, wanting to say something, but he couldn't say anything, and it seemed that it was a little difficult to speak.

Jiang He: "Don't bother, Chen Lao doesn't have to care about the hard work." In addition, I see that Old Chen is preoccupied, I don't know if there is anything else that can be effective?"

The village chief thought for a while: "Ah Xiang, now that Ah Wen's family is not out, let's live in your house temporarily, and then our villagers will work together to cut down trees and rebuild new homes."

Ah Xiang: "Elder Chen, don't worry, before Brother Chen Wen and his sister-in-law build a new house, please come to my house to live for a while." ”

Arwen: "Then excuse me, thank you all for your help, and thank you to the two brothers"

Jiang He hurriedly waved his hand to show that he didn't care, but Zhou Kui just smiled and didn't say anything.

Village Chief: "Can the two brothers come to the little old man's humble house?" ”

Zhou Kui frowned, although everyone in this village is kind and has Grandma Lin taking care of him, his brother must be fine, but he has tongue biting disease, and he doesn't want to talk more, he just wants to be by his brother's side more.

Jiang He knew Zhou Kui's thoughts, so he said: "Chen is honest, we also have a partner who has difficulty moving because he lost his legs, so he couldn't help with the firefighting, this partner of mine is his brother is very concerned about him, why don't I go with Chen Lao." After hearing this, Zhou Kui glanced at Jiang He gratefully.

Village Chief: "Okay, then there will be Mr. Lao, please." ”

Jiang He: "Elder Chen, please." ”

The girl helped the village chief to walk in front slowly, Jiang He could only follow behind, during which the two did not say much, Jiang He wanted to know what the village chief was so dignified, and the village chief didn't seem to want others to know, and what he said was also some irrelevant answers, such as who was the name, the situation of the parents, what he liked to eat, and so on.

When he arrived at the village chief's house, a woman walked out, saluted the river, took over the old village chief, and sat down in the front hall. The village chief asked his granddaughter to make some jujube tea, and the woman lit a candle, closed the door, and sat down next to the village chief. In the end, the girl brought two cups of jujube tea and handed them to Jiang He and the village chief, and then snuggled up to her mother.

The old man looked even more old and haggard in the candlelight, he raised the tea and took a sip of it, then put it down again, and never spoke.

Jiang He is not easy to urge, so he can only wait patiently.

The old man slowly raised his head, holding the teacup tightly with both hands, as if his heart was in great pain, and finally said with great determination: "Jiang He Gongzi, you, do you believe in ghosts and gods?" Seeing Jiang He nodded, he said, "Then are you afraid?"

Jiang He smiled, and the charming and confident smile made the old man feel stunned, as if he saw the savior.

Jiang He: "Old Chen, I believe that there are ghosts and gods in the world, and I also respect the immortals and gods very much; ”

The village chief nodded, noncommittal. Raising the teacup and taking a sip again, Jiang He found that Chen Lao's hands were shaking violently at the moment, and the tea was falling on his long clothes because of the shaking.

The woman knew that her father was too frightened, so she said to Jiang He: "Childe, here's the thing, a few months ago, my father-in-law went out hunting, and said that there was a huge stone on the top of the mountain, and this stone was very terrifying, and it looked like a huge human face. Some people say that Xianggong encountered a ghost and fell into evil, so he asked someone to go to Dacheng and invite a demon who can subdue demons and eliminate demons (簺霸: Generally refers to mages, Taoists, wizards and other people who can chant spells to drive away evil spirits)"

As if the story described was too terrible, the woman took a breath of relief, and waited until her mind calmed down a little and continued: "The prince drew a talisman and recited the mantra, but there was still no sign of improvement. Some villagers also wanted to quell the evil spirits as soon as possible, so they followed from afar, hoping to help. Considers..... Whining...... Whining. Suddenly, the woman could not speak any more, and hid her face in pain, and the girl hugged her mother and sobbed.

This is the old village chief has eased a little, and said: "Hey, that's my son, that day he was terrified and took the master to the back mountain, hoping to relieve the fear in his heart as soon as possible, and never came back after that." According to the villagers who went with me, my son saw the boulder suddenly go crazy and crash into the demon stone, and his head broke and bled until he died of exhaustion. Holding the ghost drawing talisman and holding the peachwood sword, he chanted a spell at the demon stone for a while, and then the peachwood sword suddenly stuck into his body with the peachwood sword as if he was in the middle of an evil until he died of blood. The villagers who followed were so frightened that they all ran back, and they were all seriously ill. Fortunately, Grandma Lin poured the decoction in time, and these people were pulled back from the ghost gate. However, after that, I didn't dare to mention the matter of the back mountain. ”

The old man picked up the shaking teacup and put it down again: "Later, I invited some famous tyrants one after another, but to no avail. Now seeing Jiang He Gongzi and another strong man, the old man felt that he should be able to move the boulder away, so he took the liberty to ask for it. ”

Jiang He: "Elder Chen, with all due respect, the demon stone is not broken, but it is just moved, as long as the people who get close will inevitably have casualties, and where can the demon stone be moved so that it will be fine?"

The old village chief was speechless for a while, he just wanted to keep the people in the village away from the demon stone, but he didn't expect that wherever the demon stone was placed, it would cause harm to people: "This ...... It's old and confused, I really didn't think of it, hey...... This may be the fate of our village. ”

Jiang He saw that the old man seemed to have been hit and was very depressed, so he comforted: "Old Chen don't worry, I'll go back and discuss it with my partner, and I'll go tomorrow morning to see how to break the demon stone." ”