Chapter 26: The Village of Thieves

He seemed to figure out something,

Laugh three times, and when you are done, you die.

In Hetang Village, the river in front of the village is full of lotus flowers.

That year, the river receded, the pond dried up, it hadn't rained for a long time, but a green lotus leaf grew vigorously, the lotus to devour the leaf is more than one person high, dense as a forest, the green umbrella is shady, the silt has become a hard ground, walking in the meantime, the lotus is fragrant, just like in a dream.

The ground on the river beach is cracked, and many potholes are densely packed with small tadpoles, and perhaps in half a day, they will be sunburned to death.

Shi Yanxin was still a teenager at that time, and he followed his father to dig lotus roots, and he pinched those tadpoles and threw them into the river one by one.

The father asked, "What are you doing here?" ”

Shi Yanxin said: "Save the tadpoles." ”

The father said, "There are so many tadpoles on the embankment, can you save them?" ”

Shi Yanxin said: "Save one, it's one." ”

Every lotus flower in this world blooms where it should open.

Everyone in this world is where he must be.

His father dug up lotus roots, cleaned them in the pond, and rowed a wooden boat to take him to the county market to sell them.

He sat cross-legged, guarding the stall, watching the people coming and going in front of him, and watching the clouds rolling in the sky. All this is zen-like, when the boat is tied under the bridge, he sells the lotus root on the bridge, and the wind passes through the hollow of the broken lotus, and the remaining lotus root buds will bloom in the future.

Only by sacrificing the boat can you land on the shore, and only by abandoning the lotus root can you give birth to lotus.

The dust is not over, the love is not broken, and a lotus seed has become the source of traceability.

Whether in the mud or in the turbid world, it should be like a lotus flower, not polluted.

His father said to him, "No matter how poor and miserable you are, don't be a thief." ”

The thieves in the vegetable market are all from Hetang Village, and Shi Yanxin will shout second uncle when he sees a thief. The second uncle waved his hand embarrassedly, pretending not to know, and staring at an old man's pocket.

They steal wallets, they steal meat, they steal vegetables, they steal bicycles, they steal BP machines that hang around their waists.

It was 1999, and the young people in the county town were wearing the popular Aaron Kwok-style mid-parted hair, T-shirts tucked into their pants to reveal the BP machine hanging from their waists, and the mantra was: Call me if you have something. At that time, these songs were sung in the streets and alleys:

"Wait for a thousand years, wait for a while! Once in a thousand years, I have no regrets! Who is in the ear, saying, Love me forever......"

"The great river flows eastward, and the stars in the sky are in the Big Dipper...... When Lu saw injustice, he roared, and when it was time to make a move, he made a move......"

"Let us be the companions of Hongchen, live a chic life, gallop on horseback, and share the prosperity of the world......"

Time is like flowing water, and the vegetable market was expanded into a river, and now it has been exhausted.

Shi Yanxin said to his father, "I don't want to sell lotus roots. ”

The father said, "What do you want to do?" ”

Shi Yanxin said: "Touching points, just like them, stealing things." ”

The villagers of Hetang are strong, laughing at the poor and not smiling at stealing, and the villagers call theft a touch. In several surrounding villages, some girls looking for a son-in-law have to ask the man how many points he has in his family, and if he answers that there are several points, the woman will be very like. There are a lot of points, which means that this family must be rich.

The village chief's family raises chickens and sells eggs, but they work hard but don't earn much money.

The neighbor renovated the house in a few years, six bungalows, the courtyard wall is more than three meters high, and the large iron gate painted red is very magnificent, all because the neighbor's two children stole in the city, although the money is unknown, but it still makes people jealous.

The village chief said to his son: "Haifei, you learn some crafts, and you can also go and touch the points." ”

The village chief's son is the thief's cape.

That year, Shi Yanxin II

Ten years old, the water swallow is fourteen years old, the thief cloak is only six years old, and the three of them worship a teacher, who is the famous thief king in the village.

The king of thieves once went to college, majoring in mechanical manufacturing, during the "Cultural Revolution", he was beaten into a mental illness, sometimes good and sometimes bad, so he did not marry a wife, wandered around the country alone and stole all over the country, never missed, washed his hands when he was old, returned to the village, and lived for a long time.

There was no wall or door in the courtyard of the thief's house, and there was a grape vine in front of the house, and a cat was lying at the root of the tree, and there were several little gourds hanging from the grape trellis. No one dared to steal from the king of thieves, many people had seen his skills, and there was an endless stream of people who admired him.

Shi Yanxin, the water swallow, and the thief's cloak were standing, and the king of thieves was lying on the rocking chair under the vine and shaking his body, without looking at it.

The king of thieves closed his eyes and said slowly: "If you don't have the ability, you can't be my apprentice." ”

The three of them were a little nervous and didn't dare to speak.

The king of thieves said, "I don't accept female apprentices, women are clumsy and can't do this." ”

The swallow said, "I'm no worse than a man." ”

The king of thieves said, "Then I will test you." ”

The king of thieves got up from the rocking chair, picked up the cat under the vine, untied the bell from the cat's neck, and tied it to the grapevine branch.

The king of thieves said, "Take the bell down, and don't let me hear it, and I'll take you." ”

This is a bit difficult, the swallow is only fourteen years old, not tall, tiptoe to stretch out his hand can not reach the bell hanging under the grape branch, and the king of thieves is a wooden knot, this knot is easy to tie, but it is difficult to untie, the forest farm workers often play this knot to pull the wood, when untying the knot, want the bell not to make a sound, how easy it is to say.

The king of thieves lay down in the rocking chair again, closed his eyes and said, "Give you ten minutes." ”

The water swallow pondered for a long time, but could not find a way.

Shi Yanxin whispered: "Hey, there's a stool by the wall......"

The original intention of the king of thieves was to ask the water swallow to climb onto the grape trellis and untie the bell lightly. Unexpectedly, the water swallow got Shi Yanxin's guidance and moved a stool from the wall, although she only had three legs, she stood on it carefully, pinched the tongue of the bell with her fingers to avoid making a sound, and broke the grape branch with her other hand and successfully untied the bell.

The king of thieves was a little disappointed and said, "This is opportunism and cheating...... Even if you pass the level. ”

The king of thieves continues to test the thief's cloak, perhaps to take care of the son of the village chief's family, and the exam questions are very simple. The stool had only three legs, and the king of thieves asked the thief to go to the forest behind the village to cut a suitable willow branch to make the stool legs.

The thief's cloak shuddered with fright, and his heart retreated.

The forest was a mass grave, overgrown with weeds, and there were some willow trees, almost every tree with nodules on them, and they looked strangely shaped. Even in the daytime, adults will be timid when they walk into mass graves, not to mention that it is getting late at this time, coupled with the legend of the village ghosts, letting a six-year-old child go to the cemetery is as terrifying as dying.

The king of thieves threw him a woodcutter and said, "You need courage to do this, and if you are afraid, go home." ”

The thief's cloak lowered his head and thought for a while, picked up the wood knife, and half an hour later, returned with a willow branch. He didn't have the courage to go to the mass grave, but cut down trees by the river, and rubbed outside for a while, calculating the time to return. The child's eyes were evasive, and he didn't dare to look at the king of thieves, but he had already figured out how to lie and defend himself.

The water swallow said: "Haifei, you are so bold, dare to go to the forest, the forest is full of graveyards." ”

The thief's cloak said, "Sister Yanzi, I'm not afraid at all. ”

Shi Yanxin said, "Have you encountered a ghost? ”

The thief's cloak said, "Brother Yi,

I didn't meet a ghost, I saw human bones there, white. ”

The king of thieves sneered and didn't say anything, as if he had seen through his thoughts.

The king of thieves asked Shi Yanxin: "Your father sells lotus roots, but he is an honest man, how can he let you touch the points?" ”

Shi Yanxin said: "Master, I want to do it myself. ”

The king of thieves said: "Don't call the master first, I haven't promised to accept you as an apprentice, I will test you first, do you know who the ancestor of this line is?" ”

When Shi Yanxin usually sells lotus roots, he likes to read and has read the four famous novels, and he replied: "Master Zu is the time change." ”

The king of thieves said: "The apprentice wants to kowtow to the ancestral master, I watched the TV news that the museum in the city is holding an art exhibition, "Water Margin One Hundred Singles and Eight Generals", among which there are sometimes portraits, if you steal that painting, I will accept you as an apprentice. ”

Shi Yanxin had never stolen before, and the first time he had to steal something from the museum, it was really a huge test.

The king of thieves said, "Give you three days." ”

The King of Thieves made a higher demand, requiring Shi Yanxin to notify the museum before stealing.

Shi Yanxin accepted this difficult task, he asked the water swallow and the thief's cloak to be helpers, the whole theft process has been said before, and will not be repeated. In short, he successfully stole the painting, hung it on the wall of the hall, placed an incense table, kowtowed, and formally apprenticed to the king of thieves.

The king of thieves said, "There are three realms of thieves.

"The first type, stealing chickens and dogs, putting a wallet on the bus, and carrying a box at the train station, this kind of thief is not enough.

"The second type, the thief, is both good and evil, stealing the rich and helping the poor.

"The third type, the thief of the country, there are many usurpers and power-grabbers in history, Wang Mang, Cao Cao, Li Shimin, Wu Zetian, Zhao Kuangyin, stealing a country and stealing a prosperous life."

Shi Yanxin stole a painting, the museum called the police, and the leaders of the Public Security Bureau swore on TV that they would definitely catch the thief.

The king of thieves was furious and said, "Tell this man that I will steal his uniform." ”

The king of thieves demonstrated in person, took three apprentices, sneaked into the home of the leader of the public security bureau at night, stole the leader's police uniform and put it back in the museum's booth along with the painting. He taught how to burglary, how to pick locks, and how to lurk, including dress details and time of crime.

The king of thieves asked the three apprentices to learn some basic skills first, such as staring at incense to exercise night vision, holding bricks between two fingers to exercise strength, and catching flies with bare hands to practice reflexes.

The thief said that the trick to stealing pedestrians is to divert attention, for example, if one person wraps his trouser leg around the rear wheel of a bicycle, the person pushing the bicycle will inevitably look back, and the other person can steal the bag in the front basket. If you steal alone, you can throw some change on the ground and "say that you have lost your money", and the person will definitely look down and pick up the money, at which point you can take the opportunity to reach into his pocket.

After learning the basics, and then advanced, the king of thieves taught the lockpicking technique in detail, he can open the security door with just chewing gum, open the handcuffs with paper money, and use the doctor's stethoscope to crack the code and open the safe.

Among the three, Shi Yanxin and Shui Yanzi are the most proficient in learning, and they are better than the blue.

The thief's cape is still young, playful all day long, often absent-minded, and has not learned much theft techniques.

A few years later, the king of thieves died without a problem, and the process of his death was very bizarre. He took the bus to a place where he sat down with a very honest-looking peasant, already asleep, with a bulging pocket, and he couldn't help but steal the man's wallet. As a result, it turned out to be his own wallet, and the honest farmer who fell asleep next to him was a colleague. He stole a wallet, and the money on him didn't add a single cent.

He seemed to understand something, laughed three times, and died after laughing.