My surname is Shen, I am from Sichuan, and my family makes a living by selling traditional Chinese medicine.

The shop is located in an old street in an urban village, with two floors above and below.

In the '90s, I was in a city like every city.

In addition to the bus station and railway station, most of the women who have lost their feet in those stations and streets are distributed in the urban villages.

There are many small alleys in my house, and as long as it is dark, you can see scantily clad women standing on the side of the street, beckoning customers to come and go.

There are two types of people who are most popular with these stumbling women.

One is the guest.

Another kind of person is called Ma Laosan.

As his name suggests, Ma Laosan has a pockmarked face, and normal people can't stand it if they look at him a few times, and they have to be forced out by him if they don't have dense phobia.

But it's strange to say, Ma Lao Sanyi has no money, two has no color, and three has no power, but he is especially popular with those women who have lost their feet, and even a large number of women who have lost their feet are willing to post it to him.

As for why, I'm afraid no one will believe it.

This leper is also a businessman, and the fortune-telling parlor he opened is just a hundred meters away from my house on the street, and he usually makes a living by criticizing people for eight-character marriage, but what can really make him taste the benefits is to help the women who have lost their feet to "urge marriage and charming eyes".

According to many young ladies, Ma Laosan needs three things to urge marriage.

One is the birthday of the young lady herself, the second is the filthy (menstrual) blood of the current month, and the third is a few eyelashes of the young lady.

Wrap these three things together, put them in the stomach of a little straw man with a charm on it, and then burn the straw man to let the ashes dissolve in the water, which is called Fu Shui, and that's done.

Every time before the lady does business, she takes out a little talisman water and applies it to the "affected area" at will.

As long as this is done, most of the men who have dealings with the young lady will never forget it, and even come to take care of her business every day, which shows how effective the runic water is.

In the final analysis, Ma Laosan is not a good thing, and it is not an exaggeration to describe it as a demon in color.

He once let those ladies say that.

"If you are my wife for a month, I will give her two months of talisman water for free."

Since the day he spoke, there has been no shortage of women in Ma Laosan's family, and there are no less than three young ladies who enter his house every night.

I have to say that many male neighbors are very envious of Ma Laosan, not because of his boundless beauty, but mainly because of that person's "special ability".

Many people are muttering behind their backs, Ma Lao is so debauched every day, how did he survive? Are you really not afraid of dying in bed?

For this kind of question, Ma Laosan once came forward to explain, patting his waist and telling the neighbors.

"The kidneys made of iron waist plates and steel, which can you turtle sons compare?"

Since Ma Lao San moved to Lao Cai, the business of my family's Chinese medicine shop has basically relied on him to make a lot of money.

At the end of every month, he would come to my shop to buy more than a dozen fixed herbs, the most expensive of which was the four-flavor medicine.

Deer antler velvet, Ganoderma lucidum, cordyceps, tiger bone powder.

You can feel from the cheerfulness of his money to buy medicine that this turtle son has made a lot of money, at least much richer than my family.

But the strange thing is that Ma Laosan is obviously the God of Wealth in my pharmacy, and it is too late to warmly welcome and hold stinky feet, but the old man is very annoying to him, every time he sees him, he has to scold a few words, and even his temper comes up and he goes out to pick people up.

was scolded by the old man, Ma Laosan was not angry, apologized with a hippie smile, took the medicine and left, did not argue with the old man at all, and did not seem to dare to argue with him.

Although I don't know what's going on, the reality is like this, and I also asked the old man, why does Ma Laosan seem to be a little afraid of him?

"Evil is invincible, can he not be afraid of such an upright person as me?"

The old man gave me a serious answer, and then in the next second, he overturned the mahjong in front of him, and looked at the old partners and laughed wildly: "Lao Tzu touched himself and quickly gave money!" ”

The pace of life in Chengdu is slow, and the pace of life in urban villages is even slower, and it seems that nothing will change for anyone.

But I never expected that Ma Laosan's death would break the ten-year tranquility of the old street.

I remember that it was the end of March in 1990, and it was the day when Ma Laosan came to the store to buy medicine.

Since the old man likes to play mahjong, most of the time, I come to receive Ma Laosan, the God of Wealth.

At noon that day, Ma Laosan rushed to the Chinese medicine shop on time according to the previous time, raised his hand and patted it twice on the counter, and motioned for me to come over.

"Xiao Shen, where is your grandfather?" Ma Laosan asked me.

"Playing mahjong." As I spoke, I helped him grab the medicine: "You have something to do with him?" ”

"It's kind of ....... I have something I want to ask him........" When Ma Laosan spoke, his voice was obviously trembling, as if he was afraid, and there was a hint of nervousness in his tone.

Hearing Ma Laosan say this, I couldn't help but look back at him, and said in my heart that you are usually afraid of the old man and are not afraid of this, what is wrong today?

When I looked back, I was stunned.

Ma Laosan didn't know what was wrong, his face was much whiter than when he first entered the store, his head was full of sweat, and his hands holding cigarettes were trembling.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked cautiously.

"It's fine." Ma Laosan grinned, laughed unnaturally, and subconsciously took out the cigarette case and wanted to send me a cigarette.

Seeing this, I hurriedly waved my hand and said no.

"Brother Mazi, you forgot that I can't smoke?" I asked him funny.

"Dog, I haven't had enough brains lately, and I'm busy and dizzy........" Ma Laosan smiled awkwardly and patted his head: "You pack the medicine, and by the way, do my brother a favor, go find your grandfather, and say that Mazi has something to ask him." ”

I was just about to nod my head in agreement, but I saw my grandfather holding a cigarette and slowly walked in from outside the door, as if he heard Ma Laosan's words, and said very unceremoniously: "If you are in trouble, please ask God, please have a fart." ”

The moment he saw the old man, Ma Laosan's face immediately changed, as if he had found a savior, and his pale face turned red with excitement.

Immediately, without the slightest hesitation, he knelt on the ground with a plop, his forehead pressed against the ground, and shouted to Master Shen to take a hand, otherwise he would die.

"Brother Mazi, what are you doing?!" I hurriedly ran over to help him, but he refused to get up, and pushed me and motioned for me to leave it alone.

"I only sell medicine here, and I don't mix other things." The old man smiled, walked into the house by himself, pulled over a chair and sat down, and looked at Ma Laosan: "If you finish buying medicine, you can go back." ”

"Master Shen!! If you don't save me!! I'm really going to give my life!! Ma Laosan was so anxious that tears flowed out, and he kowtowed three times in a row: "You just have mercy to help me!" Please, Master Shen!! ”

"Master, don't be in a hurry to refuse." I played a round game: "Listen to Brother Mazi first, and see what he wants from you." ”

The old man took two puffs of cigarette, looked at me silently, lowered his head and looked at Ma Laosan, and said, "I listen to my grandson, what do you say, I listen to a lively ...... Xiaoyi, you go out! ”

"I'm out?" I was stunned.

"Bring it to the door and close the door." The old man nodded.

As soon as I heard this, I obediently walked out of the store and closed the door.

Actually, I'm curious about what Ma Laosan is asking the old man for, but in this case, he obviously doesn't want me to know, so ....... So I'm getting more and more curious!

Ma Laosan talked with the old man for a long time, until it was more than four o'clock in the afternoon, and Ma Laosan opened the door and walked out, his face was extremely pale, and his eyes were full of lifelessness.

When I saw him, I subconsciously said hello to him, but he ignored me, drooped his head and left.

"Master, what is he asking you for?" I entered the house and asked, curious.

"It's your business." The old man seemed a little impatient, and waved his hand: "Close the door early today, Lao Tzu will take you to the whole hot pot and shake off the bad luck." ”

"Bad luck?" I scratched my head.

"The dying man came to the store to buy medicine, didn't he bring me bad luck, right?" The old man smoked a cigarette and said expressionlessly: "I estimate that Ma Laosan will not live until tomorrow." ”

At that time, I thought that the old man was joking, that is, casually cursing people, and there was not much meaning in it.

But what I didn't expect was that Ma Laosan, as he said, really didn't survive tomorrow.

The next morning, shortly after I opened the shop, I heard sirens sounding in the old street, and many old neighbors were running behind the police cars, as if they were going to see something lively.

By the time I followed the huge crowd, the police had already sealed off the surroundings, and no one could get close to the fortune-telling parlor opened by Ma Laosan.

But standing in the crowd, I can also see the pockmarked man hanging outside the gate.

Unlike ordinary hanged people, Ma Laosan was hanged standing alive, his feet on the ground, and his neck was strangled and deformed.

Not only that, Ma Laosan's right hand was still clenched into a fist, and there were still a lot of blood stains on his hands.

At that time, I was still thinking that he seemed to be holding something in his hand, which was a little different from the ordinary fist clenching action.

It wasn't until the police put his body down and broke his palm that I saw that he was holding half of his tongue.