In the remote mountainous area of northern Guizhou, there is a mountain village called Baofeng Temple, at the fork in the village, there is a bluestone tablet about three feet high and about two feet wide.

In the center of the stele, from right to left, it is vertically engraved "Go up Zhangjiawan to Tongren, go down to Sanjiang to Dadu; The left passes through the horse urine water to Lengjialing, and the right reaches the Heima River out of the West Mountain".

On the left and right, large characters are engraved vertically: "Kill the general's arrow, the bow will be broken by itself" and "There is no taboo, everything is fine".

At the top of the stele, three inscriptions were carved horizontally: "Arrow Monument".

At the bottom left of the stele, there is a strong and powerful small letter: "Wu Youwen is the thirteenth stand of the Son Wu, 1992." ”

My name is Wu Thirteen, I was born on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month in the year of Xinwei, and the stone tablet was erected for me.

According to rural legend, the arrow monument is used to guide the way on the one hand, and its most important purpose on the other hand: to ward off evil spirits.

According to my grandfather, on the eve of my birth, my whole body was cold, my face was blue, my lips were purple, my eyes were dull, and there was constant foam in my mouth.

After the doctor declared that I could not be saved, my father used the dead horse as a live horse doctor and invited an old gentleman from the neighboring village of Xianrenling to tell my fortune.

That old gentleman is highly respected, and everyone in the eight villages within a radius of ten miles knows his ability. There is a legend in the countryside that he has long washed his hands of gold and no longer tells fortunes.

No one knows how my father brought him in.

When the old gentleman came to my house, my grandfather was there.

Grandpa said that when the old gentleman saw me in swaddling clothes, his expression suddenly became a little ugly, and he hurriedly confirmed my birth date and pinched his fingers to calculate my fortune.

Not long after, the old gentleman shook his head, sighed deeply, and said, "Alas! This kid's life is very thin, not to mention the general's arrow, his life is still the tenth number.

He sighed, ten is the number of the end, the baby is destined to have a few hurdles, a hundred days of calamity, nine years old not to die, twenty-one years of life.

The old gentleman was notoriously accurate in his fortune telling, and after listening to his words, my family was almost desperate and burst into tears.

Seeing this situation, the old gentleman was silent for a long time, and finally said helplessly: Although this baby has a miserable life, it is not completely hopeless. However, even if this baby crosses a few hurdles in his life and survives, judging from his life, sooner or later he will kill his parents.

After saying this, he asked my parents if they wanted to save me.

My mother wiped away her tears, looked at me who was dying, and told the old gentleman very firmly that even if she and my father were killed, they would ask him to save me.

The old gentleman's face was solemn, and he hesitated for a moment and said: Tao gives birth to one, life to two, two to three, and three to all things. From now on, the child's name was changed to Wu Thirteen.

I changed my name, and the old gentleman also asked my father to erect a monument for me overnight to ensure that I lived to the age of twenty-one, and as for what happened after the age of twenty-one, it depended on whether I had that blessing or not.

My grandfather said that that night, the old man went to the village alone to find a piece of land, and then took my father to a location he liked to erect a stone monument. When the stele was put into the ground, he quickly cut the tip of my index finger, took the blood of the boy with three coins, and then used the blood as a guide to paint the stele red.

The old gentleman asked my family to keep one thing in mind: when I turn nine years old, I will personally go and burn incense and candles on the stele on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month and the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, and I will not stop until I am twenty-one years old.

I don't know if it was the old gentleman's words that came true, or if it was an accidental coincidence. The night after the monument was erected, my father and mother both disappeared, and their bodies were later found in the river behind the village.

I remember that when I was just nine years old, my grandfather took me to put incense and light candles on the stele. And that year, I did encounter several times of life-threatening danger, and each time I saved the day.

The most impressive thing was that I fell into the river behind the village and almost drowned, and when I was about to lose consciousness, it was as if a girl who was much taller than me had dragged me to the river.

Once I went into the mountain to chop wood, I accidentally fell from a cliff more than 40 meters high, and the bottom of the cliff was littered with rocks. But I felt as if I had landed lightly on a rock, and I didn't even suffer a single skin injury.

To this day, when I think of some of the experiences I had when I was a child, I also feel scared and puzzled.

When I graduated from university and was still an intern, a county road had to be repaired from our village, and the arrow barrier that my father erected for me happened to be in the middle of the planned road.

Grandpa stood in front of the stone monument and didn't let the construction team dig it. He said it was the thing that saved my life, and dug it up, and if I had a three-long and two-short, who would be responsible.

Wang Fugui, the village head, called me and said that my grandfather was engaged in feudal superstition, and a broken stone tablet could save my life.

For the sake of the same village, he gave me a three-day grace period and asked me to go back to the village as soon as possible to deal with it, otherwise if something happens to my grandfather, we will bear the consequences.

Wang Fugui's way of speaking and doing things is very wild, his hands are black and ruthless, and most of the villagers are afraid of him. After learning about this, I was worried about my grandfather's safety, so I quickly asked for leave and returned to the village.

To be honest, I didn't really believe in such mysteries as the old gentleman telling my fortune and saving my life.

Besides, I'm twenty-one years old now, and I'm not living well, if I really had to die, wouldn't I have died ten or eight times a long time ago?

As soon as I arrived home, the village head, Wang Fugui, came to the door with his eldest son and five yellow-haired youths. I know all the five yellow-haired youths, all of them are idle people.

"Wu Thirteen, you short-lived cub, if you don't come back, Lao Tzu will even bury your grandfather and the broken monument together." , Wang Dacai, who had a meaty face, smacked his phlegm on the ground and said proudly.

I stared at him fiercely and said, "Wang Dacai, how dare you!" ”。

"Yo, yes! You kid went out to college for a few years, and you were bold, didn't you? dared to talk back to Boss Wang. Li Er, the yellow-haired young man, said viciously, stepped forward and pushed me violently.

I took two steps back, ready to fight him. When I was in college, I practiced boxing and kicking, and even if I couldn't win, I wouldn't admit it, and let them bully my grandparents and grandchildren.

"Li Er, stop it, I said that I would give Wu Thirteen a few days of grace, and I will do what I say. I'm sure he'll take care of it. After Wang Fugui finished speaking, he was about to go back with his hands behind his back.

Li Er was a little anxious and said: "Uncle Wang, the excavator is parked there, and if you delay it for one more day, you will lose more ......."

Wang Fugui snorted and glared, and Li Er didn't dare to talk again.

I understand that Wang Fugui's purpose in coming to my house is nothing more than to get off the horse first, so that I know that if I don't handle it well, there will be hardships for my grandparents and grandchildren.

But after I persuaded me again and again, my grandfather just didn't let me dig up the stele.

I wanted to dig it up secretly, but my grandfather seemed to see my thoughts, and told me with a dark face that if I dared to dig up the stele quietly, he would drink pesticides and die in front of me.

The old man is stubborn, I can't do anything about him, the three-day grace period will soon come.

That afternoon, Wang Dacai took the five yellow-haired young men and carried hoes to the door again.

As soon as they entered the door, without saying a word, they let people carry me and my grandfather to the stone monument.

"Damn, don't be ashamed. Today, Lao Tzu will dig up in front of your grandchildren and show you. Wang Dacai said fiercely.

When my grandfather saw this, he was a little anxious, "Thirteen, don't let them dig up the monument." ”

Wang Dacai slapped my grandfather and scolded: "You old immortal thing, there are so many nonsense." ”

"Fuck your Wang Dacai, don't hit my grandfather. If you want to dig it, you will dig it, the old gentleman put a curse back then, whoever digs will die, you don't you all know how to die. ”

I was angry when I saw him hit my grandfather and tried to break free from their hands, but I tried a few times without success, so I could only say things like this to scare them.

When Wang Dacai heard me say this, he was a little cowardly, he did not go forward to dig the monument himself, but ordered Li Er to do it.

Li Er hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward and waved his hoe, but before he could dig a few times, he suddenly fell in front of the stone tablet, kicked his limbs, and fell unconscious.

At this time, everyone was dumbfounded, including myself, who also felt incredible.

"Zhang Hu, you...... You go dig ......", as soon as Li Er was lifted to a cool place, Wang Dacai yelled at another young man.

Zhang Hu looked a little nervous and said, "Brother Cai, it seems to be a bit evil." I think...... I still don't ......."

Wang Dacai glared at him angrily, and Zhang Hu had no choice but to cower, pick up the hoe, and dig it again.

Seeing that Zhang Hu was about to dig up the stele, he suddenly screamed as if he had seen a ghost, threw away his hoe, and ran away without possessing his body.

Five yellow-haired youths, one fainted, one was inexplicably scared away, and Li Bin, Huang Hai and Zhang Jun from the neighboring village were left at the scene, stunned.

Wang Dacai probably also felt evil, so he set his eyes on me and said to me with a spit flying: "Wu ...... Wu Thirteen, damn this monument is erected for you, you go and dig it down for Lao Tzu in person. ”

"What if I don't dig it?" , I snorted coldly.

"Don't dig! It's very simple......", Wang Dacai didn't finish his words, and kicked my grandfather in the stomach.

Grandpa was originally nearly seventy years old, and he was directly kicked to the ground by Wang Dacai, curled up and couldn't get up.

"To dig or not to dig ......", Wang Dacai shouted, seeing that I didn't move, he raised his foot and kicked my grandfather again.

"Stop! I'll dig it! I glared at him and said viciously.

"Grandson, that arrow monument can't be dug yet. Even if they kill me, don't dig it up! ", Grandpa said bitterly.

I didn't look at my grandfather with a black face, so I grabbed my hoe and went to dig the stone tablet.

Strange to say, when I dug up the soil around the stele, nothing strange happened.

But as soon as I dug up the stele and knocked it down, suddenly a big python with a thick bowl mouth sprang out from the foot of the stele.

"Ahh Grandpa, be careful! What a big anaconda. I screamed in fright and jumped out of the way.

I wasn't afraid of snakes, but I was scared into a cold sweat by this sudden change.

"Wu Thirteen, you shit, where are the snakes?" Wang Dacai was shocked.

"Yes, yes, snake...... Where is the snake, dare to scare the old men, you cub don't want to live! Zhang Jun looked a little nervous, and his speech was unnatural.

I didn't say anything, so I hurriedly looked around, and there was still a trace of the snake.

Am I really dazzled? Such a big python, so many people shouldn't have seen it, and it can't have slipped so fast.

"Don't these things, get rid of the stele quickly."

I leaned over and was about to lift the stele aside, but as soon as my hands touched the stele, it suddenly slid down to the ground, and in the blink of an eye there was a muffled sound, as if it had hit something.

Where the stone monument was originally erected, a black hole with a diameter of about 50 centimeters suddenly appeared, and a cold wind blew out of the black hole.

Wang Dacai's group stood on tiptoe when they heard the sound and looked over to me.

The ground was empty, and I dug a large pit along the edge of the black hole and found a scarlet coffin underneath the stele.