"The sky and the water are connected, and the boats are endless. Who can shrink the earth, and who has the skill to divide the wind? The dew contains deep ink, and the morning sun baths in tender red. The four mountains are thousands of miles away, and it is difficult to get the same with the sunshine. This is the poem of the Song Dynasty Liu Chu, chanting Chaohu Lake surrounded by mountains, jagged and contrasting, beautiful scenery, thousands of postures, but there is another mystery in it, this is the next word.

At this time, Chaohu Lake was shrouded in heavy snow, and the sky and the earth were misty. This day is the second day of the lunar month, but a village named "Border King" on the shore of the lake is full of lights, and the sound of firecrackers is endless, obviously there is something happy.

The rain and snow darkened early, and the lights were already on in the evening, and the lights of the king's house in the village were even more brilliant. Wang Yuan is nearly fifty years old, the eldest of six brothers and sisters in the family, and four daughters under his knees. As he got older, his desire for a child gradually faded, but at the beginning of the year, his wife Wang Li was unexpectedly pregnant and gave birth to a son on the second day of the winter month. When he was old, Wang Yuanwai climbed to the mountain behind the village, facing Chaohu Lake, sometimes bent his knees and bowed his hands, sometimes raised his head and beat his chest, and he was already in tears.

Today's child is full of moon, Wang Yuanwai set down three tables early, all the heads of the village have arrived, congratulations and firecrackers are endless, more lively than the New Year. The wine was hot, and Wang Yuanwai was even more happy, holding up the wine glass and saying loudly: "Fellow villagers, I have six brothers and sisters, five men and one woman, and they are prosperous. However, after us, there were more girls and fewer boys, and I didn't have a son until today, which is really insulting to my ancestors. With that, he drank all the wine in his glass.

Everyone also raised their wine glasses, and someone responded loudly: "Outside, you are highly respected in this neighborhood and village, and now you have a big fat boy, which is indeed what everyone is looking forward to." ”

Wang Yuanwai laughed: "I don't dare to be, I don't dare to be, it's just that I have a wish in this life, and I don't have any other thoughts." Today, the villagers are carrying love, and everyone is drunk happily. The crowd responded.

"Big brother, what is the child's name?" The questioner was Wang Suoli, the third brother of Wang Yuanwai, who looked like a gentleman, thin but very energetic, and was the only talent in the village.

"Third brother, I'll not tell you, I've thought about a lot of names, but they don't sound good, and I'll leave this name to you, the third brother."

Wang Suoli put down his wine glass: "Big brother, I've been thinking about what to name my child these days, I Ching said, Tianxingjian gentleman is self-improving; The terrain is a gentleman with virtue. Big brother, the child takes the thick character in the word 'Houde', how about calling Wang Hou? ”

Wang Hou...... Later, the Wang family has a queen. Okay, that's the name! ”

Most of the people didn't know what the terrain was and what kind of virtue was loaded, but when they saw that the king was good, they all clapped their hands. Inside, everyone comes and goes, frequently raising their glasses and drinking, and the atmosphere is more and more cheerful. Outside, the snowflakes dance happily, and the ground is not covered with enough snow, shining in the light, as if to show the beginning of a new life to the heavens and the earth.

At this moment, the door was suddenly slammed open, and a cold wind swept the snowflakes into the room. Everyone was stunned and stopped their cups and stared at them. I saw a person on the side of the door lying on the ground, this person was only wrapped in a shabby cotton jacket and a ball of wraps in his arms.

Wang Yuanwai stepped forward to take a closer look and couldn't help but be surprised, but the upper corner of the package revealed the face of a baby, and through the light, it could be seen that the baby's face was red and his eyes were closed. The man leaned sideways, his face turned blue, but he did his best to protect the package. There was also a figure on the ground, about three feet long, wrapped in a strip of blue cloth, and I don't know what it was.

"Save ...... The boy ......" the man moved, groaning.

Wang Yuanwai hurriedly beckoned everyone to come forward, and someone picked up the child and carefully inspected it under the light. The baby was about seven months old and breathing weakly, but fortunately he was wrapped in a very thick quilt and his close-fitting cotton clothes were not wet. The man was lifted up, leaned him back on his chair, and held the stove close to him.

The effort was not great, Wang Suoli brought a bowl of steaming fish soup, carefully fed the child with chopsticks, the child seemed to have not eaten for a long time, instinctively sucked, after a long time the red on the face receded slightly, and everyone relaxed slightly. It's just that the man leaned on the chair, clinging to the stove, no matter how everyone moved, his eyes were still closed, and he seemed to faint.

Wang Suoli frowned and looked at him, then stretched out his right hand and two fingers on his wrist for a moment, and said, "Big brother, this person may be too tired, let him rest for the night, and talk about it tomorrow." ”

Bianwang Village is located near the mountain and lake, the location is remote, the village is not large, there are only more than 30 households, and there are few outsiders in ordinary times. The residents of the village are half farming and half fishing, the people are simple, what has happened tonight, they are a little at a loss, listening to the words of the king, everyone nodded yes.

Wang Yuanwai said: "The empty room in my backyard, everyone helped clean up and carry this person over." The child will be taken care of by the third brother tonight, and will be sent over after dawn. ”

Everyone started to clean up the empty room in the backyard a little, set up the bed and bedding, and moved the man along with the stove. At this time, it was already the middle of the day, and the snow was as big as cotton wool, and it was falling densely, and it hurt badly on the face.

The snow stopped at some point, and the sun came out from the east. From afar, I saw that the mountains were covered with snow, undulating and undulating, and the lake was empty of sails, and the ice and snow shimmered with dazzling light under the sunlight. In the village, the ground, haystacks and roofs are covered with layers of snow, and the bare black locust trees, the branches of which are dotted with bunches of white flowers are blown by the wind, and a few magpies are chirping to welcome the new day.

In the backyard of Wang's house, the man was lying on the bed and still not moving, his worn cotton jacket was on the back of the chair, and the snow water soaked in the cotton jacket was steamed by the stove. Wang Yuanwai and the third brother sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the man without saying a word, for a long time, Wang Suoli called softly: "Brother, brother......"

The man's eyes suddenly opened: "What about Ping'er?" Where is this...... Wang Yuanwai hurriedly said: "Brother, this is my home, you passed out last night, and the child is now being taken care of." The man struggled for a moment, but snorted softly, and finally closed his eyes weakly, and fell asleep again.

Wang Suoli stayed on the side until the evening, the man woke up again, opened his eyes and looked at the roof, slowly looked around, and after seeing Wang Suoli, he was stunned for a moment, as if he remembered something, and asked, "Is it Engong who saved me?" What about Ping'er? ”

"The child is in the big house over there, don't worry, I'll ask the eldest brother to bring him over."

The man moved his body and wanted to sit up, but Wang Suoli held it down gently: "You are too tired, don't move, I'll come in a while." The effort was not big, Wang Yuanwai came over with the child and the third brother, the child was still wrapped, but a layer of quilt was added, his eyes turned curiously, and he saw the man crying "Yaya".

The man turned his face and stared at the child for a moment, then turned his head away, tears streaming from the corners of his eyes.

Three days later, the man was able to sit up, his face returned to normal, and he thanked Wang Yuanwai: "Thank you for saving your life, I can't bow, please don't blame." ”

Wang Yuanwai waved his hand again and again: "Where is the benevolence, the villagers here call me eldest brother, brother, if you don't dislike it, call me eldest brother Wang." "It turned out that this man's name is Zhu Zhi, a native of Zhujia Village, Gushi, Henan, a month ago, Zhu Zhi was chased and killed by the enemy, three people in the family died, he desperately escaped, all the way south, poor only six months old son Zhu Ziping, was held in his arms, but also bumpy all the way, eating and sleeping in the open.

Seven days ago, Zhu Zhi finally got rid of the enemy in Luzhou, stood on the edge of Chaohu Lake, looked at the vast lake, and didn't know where to go for a while. I wanted to hire a boat to continue south, first, to avoid the enemy, and second, to recover from my injuries, but there were no boats along the way, and after inquiring, I learned that there was no southbound ferry here. In desperation, he found a cave, recuperated for two days, and when his body improved slightly, he continued to bury his head south along the lakeside after identifying the direction.

Unexpectedly, after a few days, there was not a single family on the road, and it snowed heavily the day before yesterday, and the white snow was even more difficult to distinguish. The dry food on his body has been eaten, and there is not much left in the child's goat milk bottle, and after covering it closely, he barely let Ziping cry less. Knowing that he couldn't stay, Zhu Zhi could only grit his teeth and move forward, and finally collapsed at the door of Wang Yuanwai at the moment of exhaustion.

Zhu Zhiyan stopped, bent down and buried his head in the quilt, his shoulders twitching slightly. Wang Yuanwai sighed and persuaded: "Brother Zhu, don't think about it, it's a blessing to be able to escape." As the saying goes, 'Stay in the green mountains, don't be afraid of running out of firewood.'" What matters now is to heal your wounds and raise your children. ”

Wang Suoli looked at the gray sky outside the door and wondered, "Why was this person hunted down by the enemy?" Obviously, he didn't say it all; And that strip of wrap is still hidden under his pillow, what is inside? I couldn't open it that night, but what could make him so tired and reluctant to throw it away? What's more, he was originally seriously injured and had not taken any medicine for three days, but now he seems to be weak, but he is fine, what is going on? ”

It's Chinese New Year's Eve. In the morning, all households in the village were busy worshipping the ancestral graves, and the sound of firecrackers could be heard from time to time on the hillside behind the village. Zhu Zhi stood in the courtyard, looking up at the mountains in the distance, and became more and more sad in the sound of firecrackers. At this time, Wang Yuanwai came over and asked softly, "Brother Zhu, are you homesick?" ”