Mom cooks the meal, beats three eggs, and puts one in a bowl.

The third uncle washed his hands, put a little rice in the three bowls, carried it to the large table in front of the shrine and set it up, and put three pairs of chopsticks on the bowls.

Three wine glasses poured "climbing wine", lit a vegetable oil lamp, took the money paper from the shrine, made three compilations to the shrine, and read while burning the money paper: "The ancestor of the Zhou family, the Bodhisattva is on top, the second son Jinting was pulled to be strong, and the ancestor Bodhisattva is blessed by the spirit of heaven, and he is safe and sound outside, and he will come back as soon as possible." ”

After burning the money paper, he drank wine and rice, repeated it four or five times, and after the offering, he took back the food, sat by the fire pit and ate smoky smoke, without saying a word.

It wasn't until my mother put on the table the meal and the dishes that the third uncle put down the cigarette stick in his hand and said angrily: "Floods, natural disasters, recruiting soldiers, distributing funds, and man-made disasters, in this era, there is a shortage of soldiers, so how can the poor live." ”

As he spoke, he picked up the chopsticks and divided an egg into two halves, coerced half to Xiao Guizhou, half to Xiao Maojing, and one to Xiao Guizhou, and one to Xiao Maojing, he didn't eat any of them, only drank three glasses of stuffy wine, ate two bowls of rice, washed his feet and went to bed.

The summer of 1949 came exceptionally early, one day, and the wind and sun were beautiful.

After breakfast, Xiao Guizhou pulled his niece Xiao Mao Jing and jumped out of the door, you chased me to the foot of the maple tree by the village to pick stones to play, and after a while I heard someone shouting: "Someone is playing monkey play on the side of the road, come and see!" Come and see! There are monkey shows on the road, which is very beautiful! ”

Hearing the shouting, the two ran towards the road.

This is a highway leading from Qingzhou County to Dingxian County, the poplar trees on both sides of the highway are several zhang high, one zhang away, and stretch out into the distance in rows.

The sun came out and shone on the poplar trees, the feet of which were shady, and the magpies on the trees were constantly chirping.

On both sides of the road, there were twenty or thirty people standing in front of the door of Jiang Sigong's house, including the first ten children.

A man in his forties, a woman in her thirties, and a girl of fourteen or fifteen years old were playing monkey tricks with four monkeys.

The chain on the monkey made a "whoosh" sound on the ground.

There were three high benches on both sides of the road, one five feet away from the other, and the man tied the iron chain to the monkey's neck, gently touched the big monkey's ear with his right hand, and pointed to the bench in front of him three times with his whip, and the big monkey ran forward, and the three little monkeys ran behind.

The big monkey jumped over the first bench, the three little monkeys jumped over the first bench one by one, the big monkey jumped over the second and third benches, and the three little monkeys also jumped over the second and third benches.

Some of the people watching the monkey show shouted hello, some clapped their hands, and some shouted: "One more!" One more! ”

The big monkey led the little monkey back to the master's feet, jumping in place, looking at the man.

The man pointed at the big monkey with a monkey whip and a small monkey with a monkey whip, and the little monkey jumped on the back of the big monkey and picked out the big monkey's ears with his hand.

The man pointed at the slightly larger monkey with his whip, and then pointed at the smallest monkey, and the youngest monkey jumped on the back of the slightly larger monkey and looked at the big monkey in front of him.

The man pointed at the big monkey with a monkey whip, and then pointed to the bench in front of him, and the big monkey jumped over the bench with the little monkey, ran back to the master's feet, and looked up at the master.

Someone in the monkey show shouted again, "Good! Good! Good! ”

Some shouted again: "One more!" One more! ”

While shouting and clapping, the applause of "whoa" rang out again and again.

No matter how people shouted, barked, or clapped their hands, the owner just didn't point to the monkey to make movements.

At this time, the woman carried a small dustpan and walked from the left side of the crowd and shouted: "Uncle, aunt are good, we are from afar, please give me some food and travel expenses after watching the monkey show." ”

The little girl grabbed the clothes in front of her hands and walked to the right side of the crowd, begging as she walked: "Grandpa and uncle are good, take pity on our family of three, please give some money if you have money, please give some food if you don't have money, let the three of us go back to our hometown!" ”

Brother Jiang and Jiang Sigong were watching a monkey show, Brother Jiang put a banknote in the small dustpan, Jiang Sigong put five banknotes in the small dustpan, Zhou Xing issued a banknote in the little girl's pocket, Jiang Sanma went home and picked up half a liter of bread and poured it in the small dustpan.

The woman walked up to the man, put the banknotes in her red cloth pocket, and said to the man, "Seven banknotes, half a liter of grain." ”

The man said happily: "This place is good, kind, let's play again." ”

"Lift the bench away!"

The woman lifted three benches, and the monkey jumped three times in succession, one of which was five or six feet high.

The male owner "horn horn" three times, a small monkey jumped on the back of the big monkey, one jumped on the buttocks, one jumped on the head, with the male owner a "run", the big monkey carried three small monkeys, three small monkeys rode the big monkey, ran quickly to the front, ran half a mile and ran back quickly.

The man pointed to the poplar tree, and the three little monkeys each kicked the big monkey to climb to the top of the highest poplar tree, and the big and small monkeys looked at the crowd below.

"Oh, oh, oh", the man said three times, and the four monkeys quickly got down from the poplar tree and squatted obediently next to the little girl.

The applause of the people watching the monkey show rang out again and again, and the shouts of "one more" rose higher and higher.

The hostess was next to the man, the daughter was next to the mother, and the three of them clasped their hands together and said in unison, "Thank you!" Thank you, folks. ”

The man said, "If there is still fate, we will meet again in the future." ”

The woman went to raise the bench and return to Jiang Sigong's house, and Jiang Sigong hurriedly said: "You have a long way, we will carry it ourselves." ”

The three young men scrambled to carry the three high benches in the bird's nest of Jiang Sigong's house, and walked back to the side of the road to watch the three of them leave.

After everyone watched the monkey show, Xiao Maojing said to Xiao Guizhou: "Uncle, my belly is so hungry!" ”

"Run home, grandma cooked porridge, and after drinking porridge, she won't be hungry."

Xiao Guizhou said while taking Xiao Mao Jing to run home, ran over the mountain beam, ran to the foot of the maple tree, Xiao Mao Jing crawled on the ground, panting and said, "Uncle, I can't run!" ”

Xiao Guizhou didn't answer, and fell to the ground, his feet on the ground, "whirring" and panting.

After a while, the two of them got up and walked towards the house, walked to the bird's nest, and saw the family eating porridge around the table.

Mom saw them at a glance, and Mom said, "Where have you gone when you two were young?" I shouted everywhere and didn't answer. ”

Xiao Guizhou said: "Mom, Xiao Maojing and I watched the monkey show on the road, the monkey jumped on the bench, the big monkey carried the little monkey, have fun!" ”

Xiao Mao Jing said, "Grandma, those monkeys climb the trees so fast!" ”

Mom took out two bowls of porridge from the cupboard and said, "Look at the two of you, everyone eats porridge with bean leaves and hudou leaves, you two are young, I will leave a bowl of white porridge for you, there is no bean leaves, you must be obedient when you eat." ”

Xiao Guizhou said: "Yes, we have to be obedient after eating, Mom!" ”

Xiao Mao Jing said: "Yes, we have to be obedient after eating, grandma!" ”