Huaizhong Town, a border town of the Daqing Dynasty, has nearly 1,000 households, which is quite prosperous for the border of Daqing.

Huaizhong Town is located in the northwest of the Daqing Dynasty, drought and little rain, a huge locust tree in the center of the town is not disturbed by this, not to mention the perennial lushness, more than a dozen children holding hands in the body of the tree can not be embraced. This season is the season when the locust rice is ripe, occasionally the ripe locust pods fall, the children pick it up with a smile, put aside the locust pods and eat, the taste is slightly bitter at the beginning, but there is a fragrance after chewing for a long time.

I don't know how long this old locust tree is, and some places at the bottom of the trunk are hollow, and ordinary children love to play hide and seek. There are two or three people to be able to wrap around the branch trunk stretched out obliquely, an ancient bell hangs here, for many years the wind and sun, the mottled traces on the bell indicate the ancient years. The mouth of the bell is about five feet wide, and there seems to be an inscription on the bell, which no one can recognize.

Every New Year's Day, the oldest elder in the town rings the bell. There is a saying in the town: Huai Hua is fragrant, Huai rice is sweet, and Huai Zhong rings for a good year! Presumably, the name of Huai Zhong Town comes from this.

This day coincides with the town's half-year fair. The sound of striking iron, children's laughter, and all kinds of cries are endless, and it is very lively. It was not unusual for a little boy of about eight or nine years of age with a cute drooping hair to follow a woman of about twenty-five or sixteen years of age, looking east and west. The woman was dressed in a bright yellow shirt with a lilac folded skirt embedded in it, and her appearance was good-looking, leading the child all the way, making the noisy market have a unique scenery.

I saw the woman bow her head and say warmly: "Xiao Chen'er, don't run around with your mother, and when your mother buys good clothes, I promise you to buy you your favorite sugar gourd, okay?"

"Mother, Chen'er doesn't run around, Chen'er wants to eat sugar gourds. When the child heard that his mother had promised to buy his favorite sugar gourd, he was overjoyed, and replied happily with his little breast.

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The woman's surname is Li Mingyu, and when she saw Xiao Chen'er's sugar gourd, she was very happy and smiled slightly. Walking to a stall specializing in selling women's clothing, the stall owner saw that the old customers enthusiastically pulled aside and chatted familiarly. For example, this year's clothing is more popular with bright yellow and light purple, while jewelry is popular with blue and green.

The child with the nickname Chen'er is Li Yu's only son, surnamed Hu, Mingchen, and is the naughty age. Previously, I followed my mother to visit most of the market, and saw so many delicious and fun things, my mother didn't allow Xiao Chen'er to touch it, Xiao Huchen knew that every time I bought clothes, I would rub for a long time, and my eyes couldn't help but roll. Just now I passed by a stall selling paper kites, those paper kites are beautiful, colorful, Xiao Chen'er has been envious of those birds since she was a child, so she wants to take this opportunity to take a look again. That uncle's stall was not far away, and it wouldn't take much time!

Many years later, standing at another height, he looked back on the most carefree life of his youth, only to find that when he thought about it and turned around, it was a completely different fate.

As soon as Hu Chen ran a few steps, a wave of crowded crowds rushed over, where could the young Hu Chen stop such crowding, he was wrapped in no distinction between east and west, north and south, and his feet were also trampled on painfully. When the crowd passed, Hu Chen's dizzy eyes, looked around, it was just a white expanse, called a few mothers and kisses and no one answered, and the paper kite shop close at hand was also invisible, Hu Chen became nervous, and cried out in fright.

"Xiaochen'er, don't be afraid, don't cry, come, come to me. A soft call came from not far away.

Hu Chen stopped crying when he heard the voice and rubbed his eyes. I found a white-bearded old man sitting at a small table not far ahead, smiling and waving to him.

Hu Chen turned his head to look, there was obviously no one just now, where would an old man come out? "How do you know my name? Who are you? I want to find my mother, I want my mother!"

"Xiao Chen'er, don't cry yet, don't you want to see a paper kite? Come over and see what this is?" The white-bearded old man took out a beautiful paper kite and waved it at Hu Chen.

"Ah, it's a paper kite, where did the paper kite come from? Wow, it's so beautiful, it must be very beautiful when it flies!" Hu Chen heard something, turned his head to see the paper kite, and ran over with a smile in the blink of an eye, picked up the paper kite to look east and west, and asked lovingly.

The old man looked at Hu Chen's happy appearance and said with a smile: "Xiao Chen'er, why do you like paper kites alone with so many fun toys along the way?"

Hu Chen kept looking up and down with the paper kite, and replied excitedly: "Because it can fly, Chen'er also wants to fly, but I can't." But I can take the paper kite, and the paper kite flies like it flies with the dust, and the dust likes to put the paper kite. ”

"Little Chen'er, that little bird can fly, don't you like little birds, if the paper kite doesn't want to fly, or if the thread breaks, what should you do?" the white-bearded old man continued to ask.

Hu Chen raised his head suspiciously, scratched his head and said, "I also like birds, but they fly too high to catch them." Once, my Uncle Tu finally helped me catch one, but it always tried to run away, and it didn't eat what Chen'er fed, and it died soon after, which made Chen'er sad for a long time. But the paper kite is different, it was made to fly into the sky, and if the line is broken, it will fall, even if it is gone, I can still ask Uncle Tu to make another one. ”

"That's right, it seems that grandpa is really confused. Then grandpa gave you this paper kite, and this beautiful bracelet also gave you, do you say okay?" said the white-bearded old man, took out a bracelet with a colorful light and handed it to Hu Chen.

Seeing this, Hu Chen hurriedly waved his hand, shook his head and said, "I can't ask for it, grandpa, thank you, my mother said that you can't accept other people's things casually." As he spoke, he handed back the paper kite in his hand along with the beautiful bracelet, but his little face was full of reluctance.

The white-bearded old man pointed to a very tall pole next to him and said: "Grandpa didn't give it to you for nothing, you did grandpa a big favor today, grandpa wants to thank you, by the way, I will test you again, if you know all this word, grandpa will give them all to you." ”

After listening to the old man's words, Hu Chen looked sideways, and a huge flagpole stood beside him, towering into the sky. There was a huge white cloth floating on the top of the flagpole, and there were indeed words on the white cloth, but the wind blew the white cloth up and down, undulating, where it was so easy to recognize. Hu Chen tried hard to open his eyes wide, but he still couldn't see clearly, rubbed his eyes and looked up again to carefully identify them.

"I see, old man. It was a "life" word, my mother once taught me, it is the word of life. ”。 Hu Chen suddenly shouted happily.

The old man stroked his long white beard and smiled: "It is also the word "life" of fate. Xiao Chen'er, you answered correctly, these are all given to you, this is what you deserve. ”

"Thank you, old man, what's your name? I'm going to go to my mother and show her my new toy. Hu Chen said happily, his eyes narrowed into a slit with a smile.

"You don't have to know who I am, we'll see you again. Go, you see your mother is looking for you. Grandpa Whitebeard smiled and pointed behind Hu Chen.

Hu Chen turned his head happily, and sure enough, he saw that his mother was finding that he was gone, and he was anxiously asking if anyone around had seen Xiao Hu Chen.

"Thank you, grandpa, goodbye, grandpa!" Hu Chen saw Li Yu at this time, and hurriedly ran back, for fear that his mother would be angry, and he didn't forget to say goodbye to the old man while running.

"Xiao Chen'er, run slowly, grandpa will send you a few words, remember, you will need it later." Grandpa Whitebeard said to Xiao Chen'er, who was running quickly towards his mother.

"The troubled times have first appeared, and they are born at ease, they have gone through thousands of calamities, and the Lord has risen and fallen!"

Hu Chen waved his hand as he ran: "Thank you, grandpa, I will remember." ”

In a trance, Hu Chen was already standing two or three feet away from his mother, Hu Chen saw that Li Yu was still anxiously asking others, knowing that his mother was in a hurry to find him, he shouted timidly, "Mother." I am here. ”

Li Yu saw Hu Chen pulling Hu Chen not far away and hugging him, his eyes were a little red, and while carefully checking whether Hu Chen was injured, he complained: "What's the matter with you kid? Where have you gone? Huh, what is this?"

"Mother, you see, this is a paper kite given to me by a white-bearded old man, and a very beautiful bracelet. Hey, where's the bracelet? I'm wearing it, why is it gone?" Hu Chen saw his mother asking, and hurriedly showed off the things given by the white-bearded grandfather to his mother, but he couldn't find the bracelet, Hu Chen was very sad and thought that the bracelet was lost, but he didn't know that the bracelet was worn on his hand, but no one could see it.

When Li Yu heard Hu Chen's words, he frowned, looked around to see where there was any white-bearded old man, and heard that there was a bracelet that was lost, so he comforted him softly: "What bracelet? And you can't just run around in the future, you know? If you lose it, your mother will be sad to death! Don't be sad, your mother will buy you sugar gourds to eat, okay?"

Hu Chen himself was also puzzled, obviously he was chatting with the white-bearded grandfather just now, why was it gone in a blink of an eye, and even the bracelet was lost, Hu Chen pursed his mouth when he heard Li Yu's words, nodded, and then heard that Li Yu was going to buy himself a sugar gourd to eat, and immediately became happy.

The crowd in the bazaar was the same as before, but there was no white-bearded old man Hu Chen said, Li Yu was also puzzled, if there was no one, where did Hu Chen's paper kite come from? As for the higher-level cultivators, it is not impossible, but how could these rare beings come here to deceive a drooping child.

As the sun sets, the afterglow reflects Li Yu's mother and son on the way home, and everything seems so harmonious and warm. Hu Chen was bouncing and eating sugar gourds, showing off his beautiful paper kite with Li Yu from time to time along the way, Li Yu responded to Hu Chen gently, and sometimes squatted down to wipe off the residue stained on the corner of Hu Chen's mouth. There was a faint shadow in the blue sky, and it was the white-bearded old man, looking indifferently at everything in front of him.