"Ruiming Homeland has arrived, eight yuan." Ah Mao was pulled back to reality by the driver, and when he opened his eyes, the lights outside the car were still bright, and the big white legs all over the street were still shaking.

Ah Mao paid the money and got out of the car, entered the community and returned home, and as soon as he entered the door, he saw his father sitting on the sofa watching TV: "Dad, I haven't slept yet, what about Mom?" ”

Uncle Zhang was watching the program of the fishing channel and was fascinated, so he casually responded: "I went to play mahjong." ”

Ah Mao sat down on the sofa opposite and whispered, "Today, I saw Uncle Ling." ”

"Who'???" Only then did Uncle Zhang move his gaze to Ah Mao's face: "Uncle Ling opposite our hometown??" ”

Mao nodded.

Uncle Zhang leaned back on the sofa, sighed, took out the remote control and paused the show: "After so many years, you have grown up, that child should have come out of that incident!" ”

Uncle Zhang paused, looked at Ah Mao, and said, "You were still young at that time, and I didn't tell you too much about this, for fear that it would affect you; Now that you are an older single dog, I will tell you about your Uncle Ling and pass the time for you. ”

This came from the sudden blow of his biological father, Ah Mao almost didn't fall, and listened to Uncle Zhang start to tell after a smile.

It turned out that Uncle Ling had a serious illness when he was ten years old, and the old man of the Ling family ran around the nearby county and city hospitals with Uncle Ling and did not get better, just when the family was desperate, a passing Taoist priest from the countryside saw Uncle Ling who was dying, and said: "If I hadn't passed by from here, this child would have three days of life." ”

Old Man Ling didn't care whether this Taoist priest was true or false at the moment, seeing that Uncle Ling was angry, he could only use a dead horse as a live horse doctor, and the family knelt down towards the Taoist priest: "Ask the Taoist to save this child, our Ling family is willing to repay the Taoist chief with all his wealth!" ”。

The Taoist priest waved his hand, helped Old Man Ling up and said, "Save people first." After that, he came to Uncle Ling, who was dying.

Old Man Ling thought that this Taoist priest was going to fiddle with some magic weapons or build an altar or something, or take out some talisman water or something to drink, but who expected that this Taoist priest only took out a yellow talisman from his pocket cloth bag, held it with two fingertips, and ordered to close the doors and windows so that the sun would not shine in.

Then the Taoist priest pressed the fingertips holding the yellow talisman against Uncle Ling's eyebrows, leaned down and approached Uncle Ling's ear, and said softly: "If you come out by yourself, this way will send you into reincarnation, otherwise, ......" At this time, the Taoist priest quickly pinched a few fingers with his other hand, and said sharply: "The soul is scattered!" ”

Seeing this Taoist priest's rude and simple performance, the old man Ling on the side was suspicious, but when he was about to speak, the Taoist priest snorted: "It's still an acquaintance!" After that, put away the yellow charm, fold it and tie it with a red thread and put it in a cloth bag.

The Taoist priest turned around and instructed Old Lady Ling: "Just eat and drink normally, bask in the sun more, and you can get out of bed in about three days." ”

Old Man Ling was even more suspicious after hearing this, he didn't believe that it was so simple, at this time, the Taoist priest seemed to know Old Lady Ling's doubts, and laughed: "Why don't I live in your house for three days and ask you for a few days to eat?" ”

Old Man Ling looked embarrassed and smiled: "What did the Taoist chief say, this is as it should be, when the child is well, I will ask him to kowtow to you." ”

Unexpectedly, it was only two days, Uncle Ling's face was as pale as ever, he could get out of bed and walk around, his family was surprised, and on the third day, his appetite increased greatly, clamoring to eat fish and meat, this old man Ling was happy, and told Mrs. Ling to go out to buy chickens and ducks, and shouted to the good neighbors to live at home to celebrate together, including Ah Mao's grandfather.

After three rounds of drinking, the Taoist priest put down his chopsticks and said to Old Man Ling: "This child was born with a yin physique, not strong yang fire, and was born at the time of the day when the yin qi is the heaviest, so it is very easy to be covered by dirty things; This time I passed by to save him by fate, but if there is a next time, there may not be someone destined to rescue him. ”

After the Taoist priest finished speaking, everyone looked at each other, and they put down their chopsticks and looked at Old Man Ling.

When Old Man Ling was at a loss, the Taoist priest said, "That's it! This is also my fate with this child, I will accept this child as an outer disciple, teach him some fur things, and when there is a disaster in the future, I can resolve it, are you willing? But this thing is not so easy to learn, and it will take eighteen years before he can be let go home. ”

"Stop! Stop! Stop! Ah Mao interrupted his father, who was telling about the past: "I said Dad, can I believe what I said is so evil?" You're a party member, is it appropriate to promote feudal superstition like this? ”

Uncle Zhang smiled: "I also listened to your grandfather, I had just been born at that time, but later when your Uncle Ling came back to take care of Old Man Ling's funeral, he was already thirty years old, and I saw it with my own eyes." ”

Uncle Zhang took a sip of tea and continued: "Actually, when the grandfather of the Ling family asked the Taoist priest to take you Uncle Ling away, he was also not at ease, for fear that after the Ling family was broken off, he gave birth to your second uncle Ling after just two years of taking it away, and this is why Zhanyang was born." ”

When Ah Mao heard his father mention Zhanyang, his heart sank, and he lowered his head and sighed softly.

Uncle Zhang glanced at Ah Mao: "I also know that you two brothers have a good relationship, but it's a pity that ......" and then told the past.

On the night of the accident in the Mid-Autumn Festival of 95, Uncle Zhang took a few neighbors to ride a 28-bar bicycle to the County People's Hospital. What happened on the way home? ”

Zhanyang sat on the hospital bed, with a drip hanging on his right hand and a plaster cast on his left hand, his face was full of abrasions, his expression was dull, his empty eyes looked ahead, and he did not respond to the police's questioning.

Several neighborhood women who came with them saw Zhanyang's thin figure so miserable, and couldn't help but pounce on Zhanyang and cry: "Poor child, what can I do about this!" ”。

Later, Uncle Zhang learned from the police that on the way back in the evening of the Zhanyang family, an accident occurred when they passed a road called Changhe Dam on the outskirts of the county, and I don't know why Uncle Ling would ride on the five-meter-wide dam road and plant the dam with people and cars.

It was the dry season, the water of the long river dried up, revealing the riverbed, the riverbed was full of pebbles of different sizes, and later the nearby residents heard the children crying at the bottom of the river, and they found them by shining a flashlight, so they hurriedly shouted to go down to save people.

Uncle Ling and his wife fell to death on the spot, and Zhanyang was picked up from Uncle Ling's body and rushed to the county hospital; The police judged that in the process of falling, Second Uncle Ling desperately hugged Zhanyang to save his life.

Early the next morning, Zhanyang's grandfather, aunt and other relatives rushed to the county hospital, and all kinds of heart-rending wails were not mentioned for the time being.

Uncle Ling arrived at the hospital from out of town in the evening of the next day, lying on his brother's corpse and crying bitterly; Later, after asking the doctor and getting the answer that Zhanyang was fine except for the external injury, he sent Zhanyang to his grandfather's house overnight to stay temporarily so as not to continue to be irritated.

In the following days, with the help of neighbors and relatives of his brother-in-law, Uncle Ling buried the two uncles and his wife and personally presided over a ceremony; Due to the hot weather, it could not be left for a long time, and after parking for three days, a piece of soil was bought near the tomb of the old lady Ling on the hill in the west of the city.

After the first seven days, Uncle Ling set up a few tables of wine and food to thank the neighbors who helped, and Zhanyang did not appear during the entire funeral and funeral until this day.

After the banquet, Uncle Ling said goodbye to the neighbors, and handed over the key to the door of the Ling family to the director of the street office, and gave some money to take care of the Ling family's house.

Before leaving, Uncle Ling came to Ah Mao's house, squatted down and patted Ah Mao's head: "Xiao Mao, goodbye!" Uncle Ling is going to take Zhanyang away, you kid study hard, don't get into trouble. With that, he stood up and walked out of this old street.

"I remember the last thing Uncle Ling said to me back then," Ah Mao sighed and said to his father.

Uncle Zhang got up and turned off the TV, and patted Ah Mao on the shoulder: "Don't think too much, there are too many gains and losses in life, you too, and so does Zhanyang; Now that you're back, go find them and talk to them, and you should untie a knot in your heart. Rest early. ”

"Hmm."