3. Ice and fire

The Sun family is an outsider, and I don't know who taught it. The fist-busty children in the village all knew this, but no one could tell when the Sun family came.

The Sun family lives at the end of the village, and there is only a whimpering river flowing slowly in front of the door. The water in the whimpering river is not large, and people can cross the river without a bridge, roll up their trousers and walk over. However, the course of the Whining River is very wide, and there are always several flash torrents that flow through the Whining River every summer, staining the otherwise clear Whining River water yellow, and making the clean river dirty and smelly.

The Sun family has two courtyards at the end of the village, one on the edge of the Whimpering River and one on the mountain.

In the winter they moved to the mountains, and in the summer they moved to the river. As for when they moved, no one has seen. The people of the village were more curious about his family's behavior. When the flash flood came, the whimpering river would rise very high, and several times it almost washed away the gate of Lao Sun's house. It stands to reason that they should live in the mountains in the summer. But how many years have passed, and Lao Sun's house has built more than a dozen houses, and nothing has happened. So everyone no longer cares about when Lao Sun's family moves, and they forget it after a long time.

Compared with everyone's curiosity about the moving behavior of Lao Sun's family, everyone is more curious about the girl of Lao Sun's family. Lao Sun's family has been for several generations, and there are always fewer boys and more girls. The boy was ordinary-looking, thin and weak. But the girls, one by one, look like a hibiscus and are very handsome.

Many times, under the big tree at the entrance of the village, some people guessed that these Peugeot people of the Lao Sun family might be fairies, how could they be bred in the northwest where the yellow sand is full of sky. As for the boys of their family, no one mentioned them, as if they had been forgotten.

It is precisely because of these beautiful girls of the Lao Sun family that both the Zhang family and the Li family in the village have some different courtesies to the Lao Sun family, and sometimes even selfless assistance. And everyone knows the purpose of this selfless assistance. Among these selfless helpers, there is one person, but he is very eye-catching.

That is the eldest grandson of Zhang Datou, the head of the Zhang family, Zhang Zhen. That is, the newcomer who just won the crown of "firefighting" this summer.

Zhang Zhen just turned fifteen years old this year, and he was born with thick eyebrows and big eyes. The body has just begun to develop, with a height of about one meter six, and the flesh of the whole body is well-proportioned, looking sturdy, I can't see the childishness in the child for a long time.

Zhang Zhen was brought up by his grandfather Zhang Datou since he was a child, and his father Zhang Tong was a young man with brains. Relying on the popularity that Zhang Datou made when he was young, he has made a lot of money over the years. But Zhang Tong and his old man don't deal with each other, and they always quarrel a lot when they go home. Therefore, Zhang Tong rarely went home in recent years, so he took his daughter-in-law to run all over the country, no matter how Zhang Zhen was, and no matter how Zhang Datou was. Later, Zhang Tong bought a house in the city and has been living in the city all the time, and he only comes to his home during the New Year's holidays.

Because "Trouble Thirteen" is a big festival in Gengzhuang, it is not inferior to the excitement of the Spring Festival. Therefore, only in such days can Zhang Zhen see his parents. In other days, Zhang Zhen is a child without a father and a mother. Although Zhang Zhen's grandfather is the patriarch of the Zhang family, he is a miser to Zhang Zhen, he never spends the money Zhang Tong gave him, nor does he give Zhang Zhen flowers, and he doesn't give Zhang Zhen a dime.

In addition to not worrying about food and clothing, Zhang Zhen basically did not spend any pocket money. However, at that time, everyone didn't seem to have any money, and Zhang Zhen, who had no money, didn't feel down. Hang out with a group of your own friends all day long, smoking, drinking, dating, stealing chickens and dogs, and doing everything. All the chicken-raising houses in the village were stolen by them. But there is only one family they don't harass, and that is the Sun family at the end of the village.

Sun Jing, the eldest granddaughter of Sun Laohan of the Sun family, and Zhang Zhen are classmates, and they have been good since they were children, no one can say why, the two of them seem to have known each other in their previous lives. Zhang Zhen didn't listen to anyone, only Sun Jing. Everyone shouted behind their backs that Sun Jing was Zhang Zhen's daughter-in-law, and Zhang Zhen didn't speak when he heard it, but smiled.

The generation born in the new society has long been no longer concerned about the ancestral teachings of the Zhang family and the Li family, so they don't care about the shortcomings of the Zhang family and the Li family. In the eyes of these children, the Zhang and Li families are all human beings, and there is no difference. There is also the Sun family who lives at the end of the village, the whole family is amiable, and there is nothing wrong with playing with them. With such thoughts, Zhang Zhen played well with him in the village, whether it was the Zhang family or the Li family. After a long time, the people who played with him didn't care about any messy clan rules and ancestral teachings at all, and besides, they didn't know about those things.

Zhang Zhen's grandfather, Zhang Datou's real name is Zhang Wenyuan. When he was young, he was a ruthless character, a martial artist, he traveled south and north for many years, fought a lot of battles, and killed people. Later, in battle, he was hit in the head by a grenade thrown by the enemy, but the bomb did not explode, and he saved his life. After the war, he returned to the village for four or five years, and after grinding down his temper, he did not marry until he was thirty years old, and gave birth to Zhang Zhen's father, Zhang Tong, and his wife died.

Zhang Wenyuan, who died of his wife, has become very soft-tempered since then. From then on, everyone called him Zhang Datou, and he didn't lose his temper. Of course, he also knew that this was actually a kind of jealousy of his great fortune, and over time everyone called it that. It's just that the children call him "Big Boss".

Zhang Zhen knew that his eldest master never cared about him, and he didn't say anything even if Zhang Zhen stole all the chickens in the village. Sometimes, when people from the village came to the door, Zhang Datou apologized, and then took out the money he had saved to compensate others. Zhang Datou has been the patriarch of the Zhang family for many years, and no one has to give him face, and later the Zhang family knows that as long as Zhang Zhen does bad things, they will never look for Zhang Datou again. The Li family knew that Zhang Zhen did it, so they could only complain to Li Slender Monkey. But their generation still abides by the rules of the Zhang family and the Li family for I don't know how many years, and they don't interact with each other. Therefore, for Zhang Zhen, the little villain, he can only let it go.

In this way, Zhang Zhen has no one in the village who can control him. He became more and more bold, often running on the rooftops of the whole village, and practicing tendon flesh.

Zhang Zhen has a good body, and he thinks about participating in the thirteenth every year. But I haven't been old enough, and I finally got to fifteen this year. He really showed his skills in making thirteen troubles, and the children who played with him admired him even more. After the thirteenth year of this year, time flies. After a few days of heat, the leaves turn yellow and fall off, and then immediately the wind and sand blow, and winter arrives all at once.

Winter on the Loess Plateau is very cold. There are no trees to shelter it, and as soon as the northwest wind blows, it blows out along the loess ditch. The loess is so hard that it is frozen.

This winter, the weather was exceptionally cold. Whimpering, the river froze. The wide river channel is covered with white ice. Zhang Zhen, who is already fifteen years old, is also a young man, and when puberty arrives, strange changes have taken place in his body.

This winter, he felt that his body was very hot, hot and hot. Looking at the water in the pond and at the ice in the whimpering river, he always wanted to take off his clothes and jump in and take a shower. He felt that there was a fire burning in his heart, and he didn't want to run, play, or steal chickens and dogs.

He just wanted to find a cold place to lie down.

In the village, he did not dare to take off his clothes, he went to the field alone, and he was followed only by a dog named "Xiaoxiao", who had grown up with him since childhood.

There was no one around, and the fields were covered with white snow and thick loess. Zhang Zhen looked at the snow and couldn't bear it anymore. He took off his cotton clothes and pants, and took them off naked. He didn't dare to run, because the more he ran, the hotter it became, and he lay quietly in a snow nest. Finally, he felt more comfortable than ever. It didn't take long for me to lie down, and that comfort was gone. He turned his head to look at the snow nest, the snow inside had already melted, and the melted snow could not see the water at all, only seeing Zhang Zhen steaming up and down, like a steamed bun that had just been taken out of the steaming drawer.

Zhang Zhen, stand up, find another snow nest, and continue to lie down. After doing this more than a dozen times, he finally felt that the fire in his body was suppressed.

As the fire in his body gradually disappeared, he felt a cold air coming from the soles of his feet. The cold was not like the biting cold water in winter, nor like the cold wind in a winter night, it was a cold that hit the heart and froze all the veins on the soles of his feet at once. The cold only lingered on the soles of his feet, not rising, and he still didn't feel the slightest chill in his whole body. It's just that your feet are getting colder!

Zhang Zhen's hair was steaming hot, wisps and fluttering; The soles of his feet felt as if they had been frozen, unconscious, but painful. A very strange feeling rose from the soles of his feet, and Zhang Zhen felt that this cold was not something he could resist on his own. If he doesn't deal with it, it won't be long before his feet will be frozen, and finally all the nerve tissue inside will be frozen to death, and then his feet will no longer belong to him.

The more Zhang Zhen thought about it, the more frightened he became, and hurriedly called his dog. Then put your foot in the ground of the dog's belly and burn it up. The thick fluff under the little belly is very warm, but after a long time, the temperature of the feet does not rise, but feels colder and colder.

Zhang Zhen can't think of a way, his feet are finished.

Zhang Zhen was holding his feet under the dog's belly while looking around. He was looking for something in the wilderness that would help him. I searched around, but there was nothing. What to do? The whole body is simply two heavens of ice and fire, what can I do?

Suddenly, there was a rustling sound in his ears, like a mouse chirping. He hurriedly searched for it, but where could he see the shadow of a mouse in the white wilderness. Besides, voles only hide underneath in the winter, and people don't see them on the ground. Odd? So what is the sound that something makes?

Zhang Zhen was startled by this sudden voice, and for a while he was distracted from his concentration on his feet, and his feet did not feel the cold before. He couldn't find it, and thought he was so cold that he was hallucinating. He ignored it and continued to look for a solution that would help him solve the problem at hand.

But as he continued to look, the rustling sound came back to him, and it became clearer and clearer. This time he didn't look for it, but listened quietly. He listened for a while, and suddenly heard the sound of two rats talking.

"I hear movement up there, is someone digging our hole?"

"Don't talk nonsense, how can humans see such a deep hole."

"Tomorrow, I'll dig somewhere else, and if someone comes to dig up the food we have hidden, it will be bad."

"Hmph, suspicious. You spend the winter, and the humans also spend the winter, if you want to dig it, you dig it yourself, I'm too lazy to move. ”

"Daughter-in-law, this is our food for the whole winter."

“……”

Zhang Zhen was stunned. He was terrified: it was indeed the voice of a mouse, but how could I hear it and understand what they were saying? It's also weird.

Zhang Zhen was thinking about it, and suddenly, a few more words came, and the voice became farther and farther away.

"You see, there's a guy and a dog there. I don't know how to stay at home on a cold day, and I'm still bare-assed. ”

"Yes, yes, there's a black dog, like a crow, how ugly that dog is."

"Don't make any noise, hurry up and find something to eat, the snow has covered the mountain, and there is not even a grass seed, do you still have this leisure?"

Zhang Zhen didn't know where the voice came from, and chirped a few times, drifting farther and farther away with the wind.

Xiao Xiao, who was squatting beside him and holding his feet, barked at the sky a few times at this time. Zhang Zhen looked up and saw that it was a few sparrows flying over.

Could it be that the sparrow was talking just now? How can I still hear sparrows?

"Dare to laugh at us, and call me ugly! If you can't fly, I'll kill you. ”

Zhang Zhen hadn't figured out why he could suddenly hear the sounds of mice and sparrows. A voice rang in my ears again. He looked down at the little one nesting at his feet, grinning and whirring in his throat.

Zhang Zhen was taken aback, this sentence just now was a small novel. Turns out, I can hear animals talking, that's amazing!

Zhang Zhen thought about it, and suddenly stood up excitedly. But as soon as he stood up, his feet hurt like a heart. His feet are still tormented.

He stood up, the cold on his feet making him shiver. Attention was focused again, and the feet were indescribably cold again. He couldn't take it anymore and began to howl loudly. There was no one around, and he was the only one in the wilderness howling. He never heard any animal sounds again. The little one next to him watched his master go crazy and barked around Zhang Zhen.

Zhang Zhen couldn't stand it, and he ran. I want to use my own fire to quickly drive away the cold on my feet. Fire fire fire fire and he needs a fire now to solve the problem.

Zhang Zhen was running on the wasteland and saw a pile of corn stalks not far from the field. So, Zhang Zhen quickly turned around and ran back, picked up the clothes thrown on the ground, and took out matches from his pocket. A fire burned like that.

The pile of straw was already lined up on the ground, and it seemed that the family was about to take it home. It may be that it is snowing, so it has been delayed until now and has not been pulled away. Two or three acres of corn stalks were piled up together, and they all burned, and the flames were so bright that the grass seeds burned in the fire beeped and blew loudly. Zhang Zhen's naked body did not dare to approach.

He stood far away, and could vaguely smell the burning smell of burning hair, and he looked at himself, and the hairs on his body were curly. But at such a temperature, his feet were still uncomfortable.

The fire in front of me was burning all over the sky, and it was burning more and more vigorously in the wind. Zhang Zhen looked at the burned straw in front of him, and a pile of ashes was spread there. The black ashes shone with red fire. Zhang Zhen had a bold idea, he wanted to treat himself. He was ready to step his foot into the pile of dust. It's better to ruin your feet than to freeze them like this.

Zhang Zhen no longer hesitated, raised his left foot and saw that he was about to step in.

"Stop, boy, don't mess around!"