In the late autumn of 1984, the mountainous areas of northwest Zhejiang were covered with a layer of hoarfrost in the morning, and there was a town of Ma'an about 40 kilometers away from Hongcun. At that time, Anxian County was known as the Tibet of Zhejiang, and this Ma'an Town was probably the Tibet of Anxian County, which was extremely remote, and the traffic was inconvenient, and the villagers had to walk more than 20 miles on their feet to see the highway when they had to catch a market. Of course, this was Ma'an Town at that time, and now Ma'an Town is already a famous tourist attraction.

Ma'an Town used to be very famous a few decades ago, and when I was a child, my friends often heard two rumors, one was that adults intimidated disobedient children: If you quarrel again, you will be thrown to Ma'an Town, and there is another rumor that people from Ma'an Town have come to such and such a village......

From these two rumors, the big guy probably understands a little, this place must not have a good reputation, otherwise how can it scare the bear children? According to the county records of "Anxian", Ma'an Town was originally uninhabited, and in the early part of the last century, there was an outbreak of a large-scale infectious disease caused by leprosy bacilli in China, that is, leprosy, which was extremely contagious. Under the medical conditions at that time, leprosy often meant death and infection, so the government stepped forward to put leprosy patients in remote places for centralized management, which was actually isolation.

At that time, there were such isolation zones all over the country, leprosy was a chronic infectious disease, which did not cause immediate death, and the epidemic was extremely contagious, and the number of leprosy patients in various places was very alarming, and these patients died and died in the quarantine area, and slowly formed a "leprosy village".

When it comes to leprosy villages, the name is not unique to China, and before the advent of BCG, there was no effective control of the virus in the world. Leprosy villages in almost the world are isolated, and lepers who run out of them are killed as murderers, deprived of their social identity, as well as deprived of their freedom and dignity. In short, the leprosy village is a minefield where outsiders will not enter and those inside will not come out.

In the thirties, a European missionary came to the northwest of Zhejiang, and in the years of war and chaos, the foreign missionary believed that his God would favor the poor lepers, so he brought the Bible into the town. There, lepers, who had lost hope, found spiritual support through religion, and the town of Ma'an had its first church in the northwest of Zhejiang.

I heard that it was a two-acre double-story stone and timber building, with a Nordic-style pitched roof and arched stained glass, and a tall cross often rested on a passing eagle, and whenever someone died, the missionary would recite holy songs for him.

According to the records of the "County Chronicle", more than 130 people were imprisoned in the leprosy village at that time, and it was only after the liberation that the outside world began to have contact with the leprosy village for the first time in order to unify the place name and census. I heard that by 50 years, there were only more than 30 people left in the leprosy village, and these people may have antibodies, or they may still be in the incubation period, including the foreigner.

Because of the involvement of foreigners, New China naturally has its own policy towards foreigners, but the missionary said that he would not leave for a day if he was quarantined here, and he said that the Lord would not abandon his followers, nor would he abandon the villagers here. Probably because of the great international revolutionary friendship of this missionary, the local government turned a blind eye and did not report the situation of this foreigner, and no one would go there anyway.

In the mid-fifties, when the new China was attacked by leprosy, people naturally thought of the leprosy village deep in the mountains, so the government once organized people to go in to investigate. Only this time, when I went in, the whole village was empty, and according to those who participated in the investigation, a cemetery was found behind the church, and about a hundred crosses were counted, and it was estimated that all the lepers had died. They didn't find the missionary either, and they didn't know if the foreigner had finally left, or if he had died of illness together, leaving only a huge empty village and the lonely cross.

Another five years passed, and in the early sixties, Anxian County was still relatively backward at that time, especially the Anxian People's Hospital was being renovated, and there was a serious shortage of beds. At that time, the most headache in the hospital was the psychiatric department, and people with this disease could not stand the noisy environment, and patients were very easy to sneak out to make trouble. After several accidents in quick succession, the hospital finally decided to separate the psychiatric department and find a place to watch over the patients who were hospitalized. But where are the dozens of patients? After thinking about it, it was suggested that the leprosy village had been vacant for a long time, and I heard that the foreign missionary had built a lot of facilities there, so he should simply move that place for a while.

This is definitely a decision to pat the head, the Anxian County Psychiatric Hospital began to be listed, and in order to eliminate the doubts of the family, the name of the place was specially changed to Ma'an Town. It took a while to eliminate the poison, and the government encouraged some people to move there, saying that there was a lot of cultivated farmland and mountainous land waiting to be planted. At that time, people were simple in character, and where there was a call, there was a need, and there were great proletarian revolutionaries.

So, a group of people went over, because there was everything, houses, land, and even the necessary farm tools. In the 60s, having land meant having food, and many poor people who had brothers and sisters in their families who couldn't live for many days were in the past. After the establishment of the production team, the agricultural machinery team was sent above, the pumping machine was dispatched, the seeds were given fertilizer, and there was a hospital at the doorstep.

With the continuous increase in population and the continuous development of wasteland, several villages were formed around the original leprosy village, and then it became a small town.

In the third year after the church was listed as a psychiatric hospital, the hospital was withdrawn, and I heard that it was because the new hospital in the county town was built, at least its task of "attracting investment" was successfully completed. I have also heard some people privately say that there have been accidents in the hospital for several years, and I have heard of several suicides of patients, and the news of doctors and nurses constantly resigning.

The vacant church was also damaged during the Cultural Revolution, and some people went to set fire to burn down part of the building, but the theme of the church is still there, but the cross that was originally inserted on the top has been replaced by a red five-pointed star, and people have turned it into an assembly hall again, and the original weekly service has become a propaganda and revolutionary meeting, and the missionaries standing on the podium have become the directors of the Revolutionary Committee wearing Mao suits and holding red books.

People who live in this town always feel that something is looking at them from the window every night, and some people say that these are the mentally ill people who ran out of the town, and those mentally ill people hide in the mountains and forests behind the town during the day, and come down the mountain to steal food every night. They painted a vivid picture of the mentally ill people's dress, saying that their hair was messy and long, and that their clothes were like rags for wiping the table. Some people also say that it is not a person at all, but those lepers who died unjustly more than ten years ago, they have been wandering here, those who live in the first batch of emigrants in the old house will hang a mirror on the door, and offer shrines at home, in short, the night in Ma'an Town is very quiet, very few people will come out to move, even if there is something, they will make an appointment with a few neighbors around them, this habit has never changed over the years.

In short, Ma'an Town is a legend, a legend that everyone in An County knows. In the early years, because of the large land and small population, the conditions in Ma'an Town were still good, but since the end of the Cultural Revolution, Ma'an Town has gradually become the most backward place because of its geographical remoteness, and very few girls are willing to marry into that ravine, and young people are increasingly choosing to find a job in the city.

Bao Dafu's family was very inquired, and Cha Wenbin didn't spend much effort to find the steamed bun shop, there was a row of storefronts facing the street outside the fence of Ma'an Primary School, and there was a briquette stove in front of one of them, and the hot water in the pot was steaming. A middle-aged man wearing a white apron is a little chubby, busy fishing noodles from a pot for diners.

Bao Dafu is also worthy of his surname, the buns he makes are very famous, the locals call them Dafu buns, shouting catchy, thin skin and big meat filling, a bite down, the soup inside squeaks and slides into the mouth, and the hot fat man smacks his lips again and again.

He stuffed it in his mouth, and waved his hands and said, "Boss, five more buns!" Plus a bowl of salted soy milk! ”

Cha Wenbin looked at this person carefully, with a Chinese face, messy hair, burnt yellow cheeks, and pit in his eyes, although his business looked very good, but he didn't have a happy expression at all. Making steamed buns, steaming baskets, delivering plates, and collecting money are all mechanical expressions, and at first glance they are on their minds.

When the meal was finished and the fat man called him to come over to settle the bill, Cha Wenbin said: "Dare to ask the boss is Bao Dafu?" ”

He was stunned for a moment, these people seemed to be quite raw, Ma'an Town is located in the middle of nowhere, they are all old acquaintances here, these young students have never seen it, he asked, "Who are you?" Is there something wrong with me? ”

"My name is Cha Wenbin, and I heard that you went to my house to find me."

When Bao Dafu heard this name, he immediately turned around and entered the house, and immediately pulled out Cha Wenbin's arm and said, "Mr. Cha, you wait first, let me take this stall, you wait, don't go......"