In order to avoid extraneous branches, Lu Zhong quickened his pace, and there was an oil bottle hanging behind him, no matter what he did, it would get in the way, and he would wait for Ren Zhe to be delivered safely in advance. After walking for a long time, when I looked back, I didn't see Ren Zhe. Lu Zhong was shocked, other people's bad luck is blood mold for eight lifetimes, you have been here for several lifetimes, your fate is still so bad, how much evil you did in the beginning.

Lu Zhong hurriedly turned around, followed the way he came, and finally saw Ren Zhe by the stream at the bottom of the road. It turned out that Ren Zhe ate dried instant noodles in the afternoon, and walked for most of the night, so he was so thirsty that he wanted to stop Lu Zhong to go down to the stream to drink some water, but Lu Zhong was in a hurry and didn't hear his voice at all, so he had to go down to the stream alone to drink water.

Even in June, the stream water at night was still a little cold, and when Lu Zhong called the flashlight to Ren Zhe, he just clumsily put a handful of water to his mouth and sucked it into his mouth.

It is not as clear and sweet as I remember, but bitter and astringent, and there is a faint smell of fish.

"This water ......," Ren Zhe said, pointing to the stream, "No." ”

Lu Zhong walked down the mountain road to the stream, and also scooped a handful of water and licked it with his tongue, there was indeed a problem.

"Don't drink it, let's hurry first." , Lu Zhong said that he would pick up Ren Zhe and go on the road.

There were no words all the way, and it was already midnight when I arrived at Lingshi Village, and there was a first quarter moon hanging in the sky. In the past, if there were people in the village in the middle of the night, every dog would bark incessantly, but now the village was surprisingly quiet, as if even the animal was as sleepy as the summer worm on the way.

Standing in front of Niu Genbao's street and knocking on the door for a long time, Niu Genbao answered in the hall: "Who~", and his tone seemed to be a little uneasy.

Ren Zhegang wanted to speak, but heard Lu Zhong answer loudly: "Lu Zhong." There was no more talk in the room, and the five-watt light bulb in the main hall of the courtyard came on. It seems that Niu Genbao knows Lu Zhong.

Immediately, the dilapidated wooden door that was not painted was opened, and Niu Genbao appeared at the door.

"Oh, old brother, it's really you, come in, come in." , Niu Genbao glanced at Ren Zhe as he spoke, and staggered to let out the place in front of the door, obviously not recognizing him.

"See who this is?" , Lu Zhong smiled and didn't move, and pointed to Ren Zhe beside him with his eyes.

Niu Genbao helped his broken glasses, and only spoke after a while, "Ren Zhe? He was a little incredulous, "You...... Why is this happening? ”

Ren Zhe smiled shyly and didn't speak, and he couldn't speak. Niu Genbao didn't entangle, welcomed the two into the house, and called the old woman to get up to make a fire to cook, eating the fried fish that the locals are best at.

There was no dish, mixed with some locally produced red pepper noodles, and after eating a meal, Ren Zhe was already sweating profusely, but this sweat forced the terrification out of his body, and Ren Zhe's heart slowly settled down at this time.

"How did you two come together?" Niu Genbao waited until they finished eating, and finally asked the question in their hearts.

"Ahem, it happened to come together." , Lu Zhongdao.

"That's a good dare, a few years ago, Xiao Ren just left, and you came, it looks like you are quite fateful." , Niu Genbao said with a smile.

Ren Zhe glared at Lu Zhong, this is called fate? No matter how you look at this old guy, it looks like it's premeditated.

Lu Zhong also gave Ren Zhe a roll of his eyes.

"Teacher Niu, this time seems to be very different from before, the water is wrong, and the village is not right." , Lu Zhong put down the dishes and chopsticks and filled Niu Genbao with a cigarette, and lit one himself.

"Who says it's not", Niu Genbao lit a cigarette and took two slender fingers between his hands and took a hard breath, "Since the copper mine was found in the mountains the year before the fight, nothing is right." The waters became bitter, the mountains became poorer, and the people became bad. ”

"Oh?" , Ren Zhe and Lu Zhong glanced at each other. At this time, Aunt Niu on the side interjected: "In the past, the mountain spring water was so sweet, but since this copper mine, the water has become bitter and astringent, and there is a strange smell, and the livestock tremble when they eat it." There was no way, so the villagers had to go outside the mountain to fetch water to eat. When it's hot, you have to make two trips. ”

"There is a way to do it when the water stinks, but there is really no way to do it when people get stinky." Niu Genbao took over and said, "In recent years, there have been a lot of people in the village who have gone to work in the mines, and there are also many people from outside. ”

"Bet on it?" , Lu Zhong was not surprised at all.

"Well, first gambling became common in the mines, and then it spread to the village, and finally even the people in the society got involved, and a good village became a miasma. Until now, there are gambling, pyramid schemes, fraudsters, pimping, and women in the village who steal men, and they almost suck D. This year, many people in the village who had made a fortune fell into the stove again, and the creditors came to the door every day, and the houses were closed every night, and you see that even the dogs in the village were not surprised and did not bark. ”

Niu Genbao sighed as he spoke, and when he saw Ren Zhe bowing his head and meditating, he diverted the topic, "It's a pity for Xiao Ren's body, why haven't you seen this for a few years?" ”

"Food poisoning," Ren Zhefeng said lightly.

"Is there any cure for that?" , Niu Genbao said regretfully, "What a good guy...... By the way, what about Chow Dawei who came with you? The boy was naughty, but he had a good heart, and I remember that he always asked about herding sheep and marrying a daughter-in-law. ”

Shu Dongzi is the second fool in the village, the fool who is mature but the brain is not developed has a special obsession with his daughter-in-law, Zhou Dawei promised Shu Dongzi to mail him a set of naked wall calendars, and finally I don't know if the mail was opened. Thinking of Zhou Dawei, Ren Zhe was a little sad, and finally said softly: "He is dead." ”

The dead are the greatest, and when the people in the mountains hear that the person is dead, most of them will not ask more, Niu Genbao sighed again and shifted the topic to Lu Zhong.

"Mr. Lu is a miracle doctor, Xiuying's blood collapsed back then, fortunately he was able to save two lives by his side, why don't you let Mr. Lu take a look?"

"Huh?" , Lu Zhong also seemed to be pondering, and when he heard Niu Genbao mention him, he looked like he was contemplating. Ren Zhe also looked at Lu Zhong, he didn't know that Lu Zhong could still treat people, but if Niu Genbao said, he could stop the hemorrhage in this place, I am afraid that there will be two hits, you must know that such a thing as hemorrhage may not be able to save people even if the medical conditions are available.

"Of course, the cure is the cure, but his situation is a bit special, and whether he can be cured depends on luck." , Lu Zhong put on that unfathomable look again, in Niu Genbao's eyes, he seemed to be a wonderful rejuvenation, but in Ren Zhe's eyes, he still looked like a charlatan.

…………

The next day, Niu Genbao got up early in the morning and took Ren Zhe and Lu Zhong to find the old sheep herd Uncle Bao in the village. There were no students in the village two years ago, and Niu Genbao hadn't gotten up so early for a long time, but he had to get up early today. He wanted to find the old man before Uncle Bao drove the sheep into the mountain.

The first dose of medicine prescribed by "Dr. Lu" to Xiao Ren was to follow Uncle Shepherd Bao to herd sheep. In his words, it is to bitter its muscles and bones, and to discharge toxins from the body. Ren Zhe was suspicious of Lu Zhong's words, but he was very concerned about herding sheep. After thinking about it all night, he felt that if he came, he would be safe, anyway, he was a waste person, and he would be the same wherever he went, but he must not wait for death in Niu Genbao's house, so Lu Zhong's arrangement has his reasonableness, although he can't do anything else, it shouldn't be a problem to follow the sheep, so he can eat with his own labor, and Uncle Bao is getting old and wants to find someone to accompany him.

When you walk to the col, you can still see the "three stars", and Uncle Bao is ready to go out. The summer nights were short, and the old man couldn't sleep, so he drove the sheep out early. As the saying goes, horses have no night grass and no fat, sheep is also a truth, in recent years, the wolf has long been seen in the mountains, and it is very safe to herd sheep at night, so in the days of big days, sheep herders like to let sheep out at night.

The old shepherd had a swarthy face and a deep furrow, but he had a pair of eagle-like eyes. In the dark sky, he could accurately distinguish who the person was.

What made Ren Zhe stunned was that the old man could recognize him at a glance who even Niu Genbao couldn't recognize. He not only recognized Ren Zhe, but also Lu Zhong.

The people in the mountains are straight-tempered, Niu Genbao is not polite, and a few sentences with Uncle Bao explain the intention of Ren Zhe and Lu Zhong.

"Okay, yes. My old man is the rarest and the next generation lied to lire. "The mountains are sparsely populated, and shepherds have wandered alone in the mountains all their lives, with a simple mind and a natural affinity for people.

"It's not enough to just lie, you have to control their eating and drinking." , Niu Genbao said.

"I just don't know what to do in the wage production team." , Uncle Bao said and glanced at Niu Baogen.

"Don't be paid, just give a stutter." , what Lu Zhong said is cheap, as if he came to escape the famine.

"That's no problem, now the policy is good, and you can eat well." The old shepherd's face was full of folds and huddled together, revealing a row of uneven teeth.

As he spoke, he followed Uncle Bao to drive the sheep into the mountain, and walked for a long time, before the sky gradually brightened, and the north-south mountain could not see the rising sun in the valley, so it was darker than outside the valley. A large flock of sheep stops and goes, eating and walking, so the speed is not fast. Uncle Bao took out a steamed bun from the blanket and gave it to Ren Zhe and Lu Zhong, and they also ate while walking, and half a steamed bun was considered to pass the breakfast. By the time the sun peeked out of the gaps, the sheep had already climbed the hillside, and the people followed them.

Watching the huge shadow on the mountain in the west shrink smaller and smaller, and finally the light of the sun sprinkled on his body, Ren Zhe felt an indescribable heartiness in his heart, and couldn't help but want to shout a few times in the face of the ethereal mountain, this feeling was categorically absent in the low mountains and hills of his hometown.

He raised his eyes and looked into the distance, brewing emotions, but before he could open his mouth, the cry was stifled alive.

In the distance, at the end of the line of sight, there was devastation.

A huge bare mountain wall is as ugly as the scars of a mountain, and a few years ago, Ren Zhe remembers, it was still a dense pine wave. Almost in the same position back then, Ren Zhe and Zhou Dawei were lying on the hillside, looking at the neatly arranged pine trees, and thought that someone had planted them with a tape measure, but Niu Wenwen said that it was a primeval forest, and he couldn't help but sigh in his heart at the magic of nature.

At this moment, there are no traces of the past in that pine forest, only the blue-gray rocks are carved like axes and axes.

Ren Zhe stretched out his hand and pointed there, Lu Zhong understood, and poked Uncle Bao, "When did the bald head break into you?" ”

Uncle Bao looked confused, how do you know who the bald head is.

Lu Zhong thought that he had said a witty remark, but in the end he was bored, so he had to change the channel: "Then why is the big forest gone?" ”

"Oh, you said that", Uncle Bao also looked at the mountain from afar, "it collapsed the year before last, and a whole mountain slid down the forest, fell into the river, and dammed the river, and then somehow the river opened again, and washed the trees and stones down." ”

Uncle Bao's face was calm, and people of this age seemed to be unfazed when they talked about anything.

"I can't!" Lu Zhong said, "There is no heavy rain on the mountain, and I haven't heard any major earthquake from you, so how can a large area of the mountain slide down?" ”

"Although it is not an earthquake, it is almost the same, the mountain is fired every day, and the mountain earthquake has already broken up, and a hydropower station has been built on the barrage, and the burden on the mountain is too heavy." Uncle Bao stretched out his hand and took out a piece of neatly cut waste newspaper the size of a finger from the blanket, and took out a jar of eight-treasure porridge with the paint off, buttoned the lid and pinched out a small handful of dry tobacco from it, twisted it a few times and spread it on the paper, rolled a cigarette roll familiarly, stretched out his tongue and licked it on the edge of the cigarette roll, and a Mohe cigarette was made.

"One?" , Uncle Bao handed the cigarette to Ren Zhe, and he hesitated for a moment to take it.

People's state of mind, at this time and that time, Ren Zhe has always hated the smell of smoke, not to mention this kind of cheap Mohe cigarette that burns like a smell of feet in it, but at this time, he wanted to smoke one, so he didn't refuse.

I lit the cigarette with a windproof lighter, and inhaled the small half of the wind with my mouth half-open, and a strong smell of tobacco rushed down the trachea into my lungs, and it was a heartburn sensation, as strong as high alcohol.

Ren Zhe was choked with red faces, bent over and coughed a few times, but when he straightened up and tasted it, he felt comfortable, it was a kind of pleasure after the destruction, and he took another breath......

Lu Zhong also rolled up one, and chatted with the old shepherd again.

"How far can this lamb go?"

"Perhaps, when the grass is fertile, it will be eaten nearby, and in the winter, when the grass is dry and tasteless, the sheep will run deep into the mountains, arching out the grass that has not had time to dry up from under the snow."

"Have you ever been in the mountains?"

"When I was young, I went to Zanglonggou with people to pan for gold for a few years, oh, it's the place where the mine is now, and then when I got older, I honestly herded sheep in the production team, and I haven't been in it for more than ten years."

"Gold? Is there still gold in the copper mines? Lu Zhong's eyes lit up when he heard the gold.

It's terrible to be uneducated.

Ren Zhe secretly despised him again in his heart, causing Lu Zhong to look back at him.

"At that time, we were digging in the river, and there was not much gold, so I don't know what the copper mine is about." , the old man said.

"Then have you ever encountered any wild beasts or strange things in the mountains? Tell you a long insight. ”

"That's a lot." As soon as the old shepherd mentioned the experience of the year, the whole person began to radiate, as if he had changed as a person.

"Do you know the rules in this mountain?"

"I've heard a lot, which one do you refer to?"

"Take the matter of putting a dry dung egg in your mouth before entering the mountain. Now people don't like this, but if you put it before, you won't be a dung egg when you go into the mountain, and you won't be allowed to enter the mountain at all. ”

Ren Zhe remembered, when he and Zhou Dawei were going to play in the mountains, some people also said this rule, Zhou Dawei was naughty, others only said that they wanted to take a dry dung egg, but did not say what kind of dung, he didn't want sheep dung and eggs all over the mountain pass, he had to give Ren Zhe the whole donkey dung and eggs. After looking around, he finally saw a pile of donkey dung on the road, he took the biggest one and had to feed it to Ren Zhe, Ren Zhe said What kind of ability do you have to let me eat, if you have the ability, I will serve you if you have the ability to come first. Zhou Dawei made a gesture to stuff it into his mouth, and his mouth opened up, but the dung and eggs only reached between his teeth and stopped entering. Who would have thought that Ren Zhe would unexpectedly put a grip on his chin - Zhou Dawei actually didn't care, dry donkey dung and eggs, what could he do if he bit it. But who knew that the donkey's dung and eggs were scorched on the outside and tender on the inside, and the donkey might still be a little loose......