Standing on the protruding hills, at a glance, in the low-lying fields, the breeze swayed the fiery red ears of sorghum, and the heavy ears of sorghum sparkled with the autumn waves, jubilant and exuding a mellow aroma of rice. The joy of people's work is swaying and drifting with the breeze blowing the valley, drifting away, the white clouds drifting lightly, and the geese flying into the human line, just like a pair of ink and blue for the jubilant autumn, adding a thick ink and light color.

The grandmother has a long cigarette pouch in her mouth, and the dry tobacco stick of red sandalwood is shiny; The sterling silver inlaid cigarette bag pot is always bright and bright; The white jade cigarette holder is particularly transparent, and it is wiped with a bamboo skewer wrapped in snow-white cotton every day; The standard three-inch nasturtium has lotus flowers on the upper. It is said that she is the daughter of a large family in Changchun, married to the eldest lord, the eldest aunt married is the grandmother's companion maid, but unfortunately the aunt's stomach is not angry, did not give birth to a son and a half daughter, congratulations is that the grandmother gave birth to three sons and a daughter, four children only the second full hall looks like a grandmother, not tall, but the appearance is a top handsome.

The grandmother insisted on coming to the room of Mantang (grandfather's name) by herself, despite the inconvenience of walking with her deformed little feet tightly wrapped in the footcloth. Looking at the big fat grandson in front of him, he couldn't close his mouth, and smiled at his daughter-in-law Ren Fushi and said, "Look, let me say it, I gave birth to a big fat boy in the next year."

When Ren Fushi (called grandma) saw his mother-in-law coming, he quickly got up and said, "Mother, why are you here?" I'll let Cui'er take the baby to you and take a look. ”

"Don't get up, daughter-in-law, don't stand the wind. Is there enough milk? This little egg will definitely be edible. The eldest grandmother couldn't wait for a reply, looking at the eldest grandson giggling, honey-sweet.

"Mother, don't worry, you can't finish the milk." The daughter-in-law replied with a smile.

"Xiao Cui'er, go and tell the kitchen that you will put some soybeans in the pig's trotters at noon, stewed and rotten, delicious, and the milk is good." The mother-in-law is heartbroken, and the daughter-in-law loves her grandson even more. At this time, there was a quarrel in the courtyard.

"The second young master shot the cow I was herding and beat me." The six boys of Yang Wude's family in the same village cried and complained to Steward Liu. Steward Liu was worried that Ren Fushi would hear it, so he hurriedly pulled Yang Xiaoliu to the wing room to inquire about the situation.

"Six boys, don't shout, be careful of scaring the doll. Where is the second young master now? You take me to see the cows. Steward Liu didn't allow the sixth boy to speak, so he pulled him out of the compound.

The eldest grandmother looked at the panicked daughter-in-law and comforted: "It's nothing, don't be alarmed, the milk is gone."

The daughter-in-law laughed and said, "Mother, don't be angry with him, you're angry."

The two women rushed into the courtyard as they were talking, shouting as they walked: "The dog bites Lu Dongbin, and he doesn't know the hearts of good people." Who's that, a cow with mad cow disease is biting cattle everywhere, and if I hadn't shot it to death, I don't know how many evil things have been done. ”

Steward Liu also followed into the courtyard out of breath, and said as he walked: "Fortunately, the eldest master is not at home, otherwise, after listening to Yang Liuzi's false accusations, the second young master would have to be whipped again."

In the evening, when the eldest man came back from Changchun to hear about the incident, and learned that there was a mad cow in the village, he said to Steward Liu: "Don't let the livestock out of the family during this time, and sprinkle more lime inside and outside each circle."

During dinner, the eldest man praised his son and told him: "Use your brains more when you encounter problems, you are already a father."

Mantang nodded while eating and said, "Well, I remember." Dad, you can name the baby. ”

The eldest man smiled so hard that his eyes narrowed and said, "Please ask Mr. Zhu to get up tomorrow."

He said to his father with a pleading look, "Dad, you should give me a name."

The eldest man pondered for a while and said, "Your daughter-in-law's maiden name is rich, and this baby is called Dianfu." ”

Mantang's eyes lit up when he heard this, the corners of his mouth rose with joy, and he said happily: "The name given by my father is too good." "Everyone at the dinner table applauded.

The eldest master was also very proud, he looked at his eldest son Chuntang next to him, and asked, "How is the book of Dianwen read?" You have to ask diligently, and it is time for Dianwu to enter a private school. ”

Chuntang put down his chopsticks and replied, "That's what Dad said." Dianwen, this kid is smart, the day before yesterday, Mr. Zhu praised him, and said that Dianwu, this kid is not easy to train. ”

The eldest man sandwiched a piece of pigeon meat, and then said, "Your son, you can't expect Mr. Zhu to train you for everything. Then he pointed to Mantang and said to Chuntang: "Your second brother also has a son, and he should learn to do the affairs of the oil mill in the future." You also have to help your third uncle take care of the wine shop and the oil mill more. ”

The third old man Desheng hurriedly responded with a smile: "The eldest brother is right, I also want to talk to the eldest brother about this." In the past two years, most of the things in the wine shop have been taken care of by Chuntang, and the things in the oil mill are also easy, and Master Meng and Master Ma are also old, do you see if it is ......"

Without waiting for the third master to finish speaking, the eldest master's face became gloomy, and he reprimanded with anger: "I didn't learn to walk, so I wanted to run, didn't I." Want to fire Master Meng and Master Ma, huh? A Master Ma and a Master Meng followed our grandfather from Shandong. Our grandfather took them to open up the wasteland and occupy the grass here, settle down in this deserted place, and earn the ancestral family business. The Ma family and the Meng family have never left our family. In the past, we have encountered several famine years, and our grandfather has never abandoned them, and none of you should have this idea in the future. ”

Seeing that the eldest brother was angry, the third master hurriedly stood up and said, "What the eldest brother said is right, I am wrong."

Chuntang, Mantang and Lao Sanqingtang saw that their father was angry, and they also hurriedly stood up. He bowed his head and promised: "Yes, Dad is right, we remember."

Several cows in the village near Ren Xiaopu were also infected with mad cow disease, and everyone panicked for a while. Yang Liuzi's behavior in the past few days has also been abnormal, walking staggeringly, standing unsteadily, and unable to herd cattle. Seeing this, Yang Wude was worried that his six sons would infect his family, so he locked him in the cowshed, and took out the only one-year-old calf in the cattle pen and tied it up in the yard, which was fostered by the Li family.

One night, Xiao Liuzi wailed like a wolf in the cattle pen, and his head kept hitting the stake of the ox, and the blood stained the stake red. Yang Wude saw that his son was in such a situation, there was no way, the family was surrounded by walls, poor, and the family of ten could not eat enough, how could there be money for treatment, so he could only wait for death. Sanbao's daughter-in-law washed her tears with her face all day long, and there was nothing she could do.

When Mantang heard about this, he took out 10 taels of silver from his small house money and asked Steward Liu to send it to Yang Wude, and Yang Wude thanked him and said, "Thank you, second young master." If it weren't for the second young master killing the mad cow, I'm afraid that the cattle in the whole village would suffer. This saved the life of the sixth son, how can we thank him. ”

Steward Liu said: "Our second young master has always been squandering money and fighting righteousness, don't say this." Let's get a car and go to the county to see a doctor. ”

Yang Wude had sharp-beaked monkey gills, squinted thin eyes, and looked malnourished. He borrowed a rickshaw from a neighbor's house, spread a bundle of wheat straw on the car, put Xiao Liuzi on it, and pulled the cart to Taipingshan Township alone. As soon as he walked out of the courtyard, he seemed to remember something, stopped the car and walked back with a limp over, and when he came out again, he had an extra broken shovel in his hand, and the short and emaciated figure limped and pulled Xiao Liuzi and disappeared into the village.

The eldest lord had not been to the casino in the west of the village for a few days because of the plague, and he was holding the big red sandalwood tobacco pouch in the courtyard and watching the long-term workers scatter white ash into the courtyard, and someone was holding wormwood in the house and smoking the horns.

Man Tang came to his father and said, "Dad, the plague in Changchun City is almost uncontrollable, the dead people on the rotten dead post are piled up, no one is buried at all, and the wolves and wild dogs are fighting for food. I'm worried that Liuzi may not have mad cow disease. ”

The eldest man frowned, and said heavily: "Ring the nine-tone bell and gather in the courtyard." I'll go. ”

The courtyard beating man and dog leftovers struck the bronze bell of the field nine times in a row, and then hit nine times after the interval. The nine-tone bell is only activated when there is a particularly serious incident. The neighbors knew that the township chief had something important to tell everyone. Everyone rushed to the scene, some were panting, some were sweating, and at a glance they knew that they were in a hurry to come back from the earth, and the 200 or so were all men, without a single squeak, and the whole yard was very quiet, quiet as if the air was condensed.

The eldest man sat on a bamboo chair on the stage, and the mountain tiger and monkey six stood behind him. The eldest man said with a serious face: "There may be someone who knows about the plague death in Changchun City." In the past half a month, someone from someone in the family has gone to Changchun and stood on the right. If I don't tell it, if I find out, I will seal your door immediately. ”

The prestige of the eldest lord is famous, he is a man who is squandering money and fighting righteousness, he is brave and decisive, and he never bullies his neighbors. The neighbors obeyed the chief, and six people stood on the right side one after another. The eldest lord verified the time when these six people went to Changchun, and the five people went for a long time, and only one person said: "Township Chief, Yang Xiaoliu and I went four days ago." Drove back a cow. The cow was vaccinated at the time. ”

Mantang said to the man: "That's right, Xiaoliu may not have mad cow disease, it is likely to be ......" Before Mantang finished speaking, everyone's faces became frightened.

Someone said: "In the middle of noon today, I saw Yang Wu dragging his six sons to Taiping Mountain." ”

Another person said: "Township chief, Mrs. Wang has been sick for several days, she is so thin that she can't look good, and her green muscles are bursting up." ”

Others shouted, "Will the lime we sprinkle work?" ”

Everyone was talking about it, and there was a person standing at the gate of the courtyard who attracted the attention of the whole house, and he shouted loudly to the person: "Yang Wude, don't go inside, just stand there and talk." How is Xiao Liuzi? ”

Yang Wude lowered his head and said, "The doctor won't let me see it, let me bury it." ”

The old man said, "Go back." One will ask people to sprinkle more white ash outside your courtyard, and you can burn more wormwood distributed to you, and scatter more white ash in the courtyard. ”

Yang Wude said with a sad face: "There is not much white ash wormwood left. ”

Mantang said: "I know, you go home and wait, don't let the family come out, and tie a red cloth strip to the door of your house." ”

The eldest man said to everyone: "Since I got the news of the plague, I told everyone as soon as possible to go to Changchun as little as possible." Now no one can leave the village without my permission, and every household should not run around. The intersection of the east and west ends should be guarded by additional personnel, and outsiders should not be allowed to pass through the village. If you encounter a wild dog, you must kill it. In addition, once someone in the family is infected, no matter what the disease, the red cloth must be hung at the door, and the family will wait for Langzhong to come to the door for treatment, and once someone is found to have left the village without authorization, the whole family will be expelled from the village and will never return. ”

Everyone shouted in unison: "Good ......." ”

Steward Liu and Mantang selected 50 people from the crowd according to the instructions of the eldest master, and asked them to go home to pick up their luggage and food and live in the shed of the yard, and they were guarded in shifts day and night, and they were not allowed to go home.

Mantang took the strong men in the village to replace the shifts, and the village was strictly protected, and my aunt and grandmother went back to her mother's house in seven rooms not long ago, and now she wrote back and said: "Auntie and grandma have asthma and want to go back to the village."

The eldest man refused: "Tell her to come back after the epidemic." ”

Mantang took 50 taels of silver from his daughter-in-law and handed it to the visitor, and also told the man what the old man said. According to later reports, my aunt and grandmother died of the plague, and the eldest lord let her burn it locally, and later held a shadow burial for her after the epidemic and buried it in the family's ancestral cemetery.

The cholera was so ferocious that the city of Changchun was out of control, and the incompetent Manchu government could not mobilize the active participation of the people, and some bad doctors who were greedy for life and fear of death pretended to be sick and did not go to work, and the doors of personal medical clinics were closed. Officials cannot stand up for it, and the people have nothing to do but try to protect themselves. There are also some dignitaries and nobles who are crazy about purchasing ginseng, and for a time ginseng is as expensive as gold, and in some places it is even difficult to find ginseng. In several neighboring townships in Changchun, the white-haired people sent the black-haired people without the sadness of the past, and everyone lived in terror. In some villages, no one survived the infection, and the corpses were rotting in the house and no one went to the house for more than 20 days, until a neighbor worried that his family was infected and reported to the police. There are more than 10 people in some families, and only one or two people remain, which is miserable and tragic and appalling, which is embarrassing.

Almost half of the people in Zhangjialou Village, which is closest to Ren Xiaopu, died, and the eldest lord heard that no one had buried the dead in their village, so he threw them directly into the wilderness, exposed to the sun, and the wild dogs with many corpses could not eat. When the eldest lord learned about this, he was very angry, and sent someone to tie up the eldest son of Zhangjialou's Zhang Township Chief's family, and forced Township Chief Zhang to take the villagers to burn the body.

Mantang sent a cart of lime to Zhangjialou according to his father's instructions, and sent back the eldest son of Township Chief Zhang. The neighbors followed the example of Zhangjialou and pulled the corpses into the wild to be burned to avoid the spread of the plague in a large area.

In this plague, there were almost no dead people in Ren Xiaopu, and it is said that Yang Wude did not pull Xiaoliu to see Langzhong at all, he directly pulled Liuzi to Yedianzi and buried him alive. Wang Shanzu buried his sick wife alive on the night of the meeting. I don't want to condemn them, but I feel sorry for those who have been buried alive with the plague. What is human nature? I think kindness is human nature, and at the beginning of human beings, nature is good.