This is a true story that took place in a small mountain village in Jiangbei in the last years of the Qing Dynasty.

It is said that this small mountain village is actually only two families, nestled in a mountain col, with woolen firewood at one end and good firewood at the other. Their lives depend on the men collecting firewood for a living. Haochai lives with his deaf old lady. and his honest brother in his 40s, but his brother took the peach blossom luck last year, and that day his brother picked up a stupid woman who escaped from the desert on the way back from selling firewood. Naturally, she became a good chai's sister-in-law.

Good firewood is actually not called good firewood, his original name is Wangcai, I heard his mother say that a year before he was born, his father could make a lot of firewood every day, and the year was very smooth. And almost all of them can be sold at a good price. So when Wangcai was born, his father said with certainty that this is a prosperous family. He chose such a meaningful name, hoping that he would bring good luck to his family. However, he did not bring any good luck to the family, and they continued to repeat the same day after day. When his father was not yet ten years old, he was collecting firewood on a cliff in the back of the mountain and accidentally fell off the cliff, and since then their brother has become a fatherless child.

Why did he call it good firewood again, although there is no good food to eat in this wangchai, but the natural food in the mountains has also raised him to five big and three thick, a body of brute strength, a body of strength to beat firewood is naturally a thick firewood every time. So, everyone called him good firewood.

It's the end of the sixth month of the lunar calendar.,It's very hot.,Since the rainy season has passed.,It's not raining here.,This ghost weather.,I'm afraid it's going to rain tonight.。 The door was not closed, so he lay down on the bed. In a daze, he was woken up by the barking of the dog, it was the dog of the Mao Chai family, what was going on, what did Rhubarb eat tonight, he barked in the middle of the night, barked wildly at the dark night sky for a while, whimpered and whispered at the back mountain dock for a while, and occasionally there were a few poignant howls like a dead mother. The voice was hoarse. When you are in the interval between its rest, before its sleepy eyes can close, it screams as if it has been stung by a hornet, and it is so cold that it wants to jump.

How annoying is this, I can't sleep after tossing and turning. The brother and sister-in-law in the next room are afraid that they were also woken up by the sound of the dog's barking, saying that it is the next room, but it is actually a wooden plank apart, so all the sounds in the brother and sister-in-law's room can be heard clearly without supporting their ears. He could distinctly hear them awake too.

Alas, forget it, simply don't sleep. Let it be called. Hao Chai thinks like this, and then thinks about the two bundles of firewood he made during the day, then he is called good firewood. The roots are as thick as a thumb, and there are so many that the saliva of Mao Chai is about to flow out, jokingly saying that the eyes of good firewood are thief's eyes, big and bright, staring at the stout firewood on the mountain. Thinking of this, Hao Chai is happy in his heart, he will definitely be able to sell it at a good price tomorrow, and he will save it, and marry a woman, thinking of this, he faintly fell asleep.

Oh, oh, oh. The crowing of the rooster woke the rhubarb again, and they sang happily to each other. The irritable good chai simply got up and went to the door, sat on the threshold, and shook the banana fan and shook the mosquitoes. The sky was pitch black, there were not a few stars, and the col opposite was dark. There are fireflies, flying towards this side, flashing and flashing, Haochai opened his eyes and looked carefully, and the light was gone. Hey, hell, I'm still there. The rhubarb came out of nowhere, screaming in the direction of the bright light. Suddenly, a cold wind rushed towards the good wood, and he couldn't help but snort. Cut, something, he took a sip and got up and went back to bed. The brother and sister-in-law next door were probably also impatient with the dog's barking, and they all knew about it. Then she heard the moaning of the silly sister-in-law and the gasping of the eldest brother, and the creaking of the broken bed board made Haochai feel inexplicably excited again, which he had never felt so strongly, and he couldn't help but prick up his ears and eavesdrop. I only felt that I was hot for a while, and the urge to urinate came one after another. This can break these thirty-odd men, I was expecting to make more money this year, and even the matchmaker thought about it, so I called Granny Zhang in the back mountain. Her mouth, if she has money, she will definitely do it. Hao Chai also thought about it, no matter what, as long as it was a woman, he thought about his age, he was thirty-six years old, and he didn't feel gloomy.

Suddenly, there was a roar from the eldest brother next door, and the blood of the good wood seemed to be rushing from the soles of his feet to the door of his head, no, he was going to pee out, as if there was a breath about to spray, he quickly got out of bed, ran to the door with the pair of broken shoes, and urinated the pyre, after peeing, he sat on the threshold like a shoulder of firewood, leaned against the door frame, and the sleepiness hit again...... The wind, a gust of wind, suddenly blew a soft and cold gust of wind, like a quick and powerful slap of someone's hand from his ear, and he stumbled and fell off the threshold. He didn't feel a little dizzy, damn, he cursed in his heart, returned to the hall, scooped a gourd scoop of water from the water tank by the faint starlight, drank it, and went to the door to wipe his face with cold water, and with the light in the distant sky, he took the two bundles of thick firewood as thick as his thumb yesterday and walked towards the water mill outside the mountain.

Shuibei is the place where rice was milled in that era, because there is a fair scale that everyone recognizes, so everyone picks firewood there to weigh it, and they also have a bottom in their hearts. So, early in the morning, it was the most lively there. Although it was not yet dawn this morning, this small sheep intestine trail, Haochai was still very familiar, and soon, he arrived at Shuijie. He put down the firewood and walked into the water mill, just entered, startled him, he couldn't help but sigh, because he saw a person squatting at the door, to be exact, a woman, like a nap, and like cold, curled up, with long hair unkempt on her forehead and shoulders, hearing a cry of good firewood, her drooping head shook slightly. After all, this good firewood is a man, he boldly walked over and asked, "Hey, what are you doing here?" Where is your home? Why don't you go home? She raised her head, at this time, the sky was a little white, he saw a snow-white bloodless face, but the facial features were very delicate and beautiful, wearing a shabby blue background floral placket clothes, and a resentful light shot out of her eyes. The hair was black and shiny, and Haochai was a little puzzled, it was said that in these years, in this hard life, how could there be such good hair. She didn't answer Hao Chai's question, ah, ah, screamed, her voice was as sharp as a clear spring in the valley, she was a mute, Hao Chai suddenly burst into joy, he was startled by this feeling of his own, how could there be such a feeling of joy?

He looked around, and it was silent, with the occasional croaking of frogs, and there seemed to be a low whimper of rhubarb in the distance. The firewood seller has not yet come. He thought of his stupid sister-in-law, remembered the red-eyed and heart-wrenching voice he heard from his brother and sister-in-law, and couldn't help but get hot again, and walked straight to the woman, with a lewd and fierce light in his eyes, he stretched out his rough and powerful hands to pull the woman up, and held her in his arms. The woman looked like a wandering and hungry person, but Haochai seemed to have touched a soft human stunner, and the whole person was crispy. He gasped for breath and was about to untie her clothes with one free hand, when the woman said it was too late and too fast, and gave him a slap in the face, and suddenly there was a familiar cold wind, well, like the one when he had just leaned on the threshold and snoozed, but it was faster and more bitter than the wind, and his face ached with a piercing heart. The blow made his eyes shine with starry eyes, and he almost fell, and he had to let go of his hand to cover his hot face. The face immediately swelled. And the woman also spoke, you blind, don't touch me, get out. Blind? Who is blind? Hao Chai scolded the past, but muttered in his heart, how could I be blind? I don't know if he was provoked or provoked by the beauty of this woman, Haochai came out of nowhere with a brute force, and just as he was about to attack again, the rhubarb that came rushing at some point pushed him to the ground. When he stood up, there were no people, let alone women, nothing, and there was a faint sound of trotting footsteps and the rustle of leaves in the distance. Blind, blind, this voice came one after another, and Haochai heard it very clearly.

The day is gradually getting brighter, and the firewood sellers are coming one after another. Looking at the swollen half of Hao Chai's face. Everyone couldn't help but laugh at it. When everyone finished weighing firewood one after another and continued to pick up the bazaar, Hao Chai finally supported his tired body to weigh firewood, his face was swollen and painful, he could only squint his eyes and look down at the little star flower on the scale pole, just as he was looking hard, the rope of the scale was suddenly broken, and the scale rod was naturally lifted up, and it was hitting Wangchai's eyes, and a gurgling blood suddenly gushed out like a spring.

Since then, Wang Chai can no longer beat firewood, and he has really become a blind man.