Chapter 10 Rocking the Boat and Encountering the Dead Bamboo Flute to Sacrifice the Souls of the Dead

Five miles to the west of the tea shed, under the colorful green hills, there is a small mountain village standing near the mountain, and a stream as translucent as silk passes along the village in front of the village. The stream flows leisurely through the mirror-like high and low stream rocks, and from time to time it hits some sharp stream stones, and then splashes and scatters in all directions, and the water splashes back, leaving layers of misty water vapor floating on the surface of the stream. Under the illumination of the slanting sun, the mist-like water vapor was dyed golden, like the golden pool opened in the heavenly palace, and the sparrow sent a message.

On the side of the stream outside the village is a sandy beach with fine sand and gravel, and several bamboo frames built on the sand and gravel ground on the beach are hung with fishing nets.

Not far from the stream, there is a simple low grass hut next to a slightly larger bamboo frame, a few half-dry and half-wet pine and cypress thick branches to support the top pillar, a few bamboo-made beams, and the roof of the shed is paved with several layers of thick thatch, although it is a little simple, it is also a place to shelter from the rain and enjoy the coolness. There are also a few ownerless robes hanging on the pine and cypress trees in the grass shed, which may be reserved for the fishermen to avoid the rain, and they are very thoughtful.

On the other side of the village, which is slightly higher, there are flowers and plants, broken camelina, stone dragon rui, bird's tongue grass, and caryophyllum flowers along the shore. It's just this season, only this caryophyllum is in bloom, bamboo-like flower stems, white, purple, red and pink petals, clusters floating on the green leaves, a breeze blows, windmill-like stamens seem to turn, very interesting. By this breeze, the flowers and plants on the shore all stood up in unison, swaying in the shining golden sun.

There is a bluestone slate bridge on the stream swimming, the lush weeds emerging from the cracks of the slate, the dry vines hanging down from the ancient trees on the side of the bridge, and the thick moss on the bluestone slabs, all lining this stone bridge like a simple and peaceful old man - quiet and peaceful.

The white-bearded old man under the sunset has reached his old age, and he has no intention of asking about trivial things in the world, just to keep this side of his homeland and enjoy his old age.

Not far away, a burly man wearing a bamboo hat and carrying a blue-black oar on his shoulder is walking up the path at the entrance of the village. The man was born with big shoulders and a round waist, with a beard like a halberd, and he looked like he was not close to anyone.

There was a bamboo basket hanging from the oar on the man's shoulder, and water was dripping down, and the water droplets were dripping on the man's back, soaking a large part of the gray-white linen coat. The man didn't care, it seemed to be just a common thing for him, he still strode forward with a calm expression shaking the free arm that didn't support the oars, and after the man took a few big steps and stepped on the stone bridge, he suddenly raised his head and sang loudly:

"Hey, yo~

I live in Zhuxi Rocking Boat Village, and I am drunk and dreaming of stepping on the big kun.

The immortals and Buddhas ignore the affairs of the world, and the enlightenment is laughing.

Rocking the boat guest ~ where is ~ full basket of fish and shrimp home.

The white-haired man ~ can have relatives ~ walk back to the old house alone. ”

The man's rough and bold tone was transmitted into the village along the breeze, and a black earth dog like a charcoal ball on the village road heard this tune, and wagged his tail and pulled his neck and barked a few times, as if responding to the man's tune.

The small mountain village was ignited by these dogs barking and became lively, and in a moment the chickens and dogs barked, the frogs and birds crowed, and the sounds of children calling for girls sounded everywhere. Smoke rose from the chimneys of the grass-roofed houses, and the scent of pine smoke wafted among the houses in the mountain village.

At the top of a pine and cypress tree of more than 20 zhang on the side of the road at the entrance of the village, among the lush leaves, a man was lying on his back on a thick branch, holding a wine gourd in his palm, raised his head and poured a sip, and muttered in his mouth:

"The breeze is coming slowly, and the wine bottle is rising, and the eight mountains and nine seas are 100,000 miles.

The slanting sun flashes and the sparrow comes, and the wind goes north to play the flute.

The sunset is almost over, and today I will drink in this rocking boat village, and it seems that some strange familiar flavors have wafted in. ”

With that, he sniffed, turned sideways, and fell lightly from the pine branch. After the man landed and stood still, he pinned the wine gourd to his waist, pulled out a cyan bamboo flute diagonally behind his waist with his backhand, put it on his shoulder, and walked slowly towards the village while knocking.

In the smoke-filled village, a gentle breeze blew, removing a thin layer of smoke. Under the smoke of cooking, in a roll-up stove with a canopy of grass on the roof of a shed, a little girl of 18 or 9 years old, wearing a light red cardigan and combing two sharp buns, was sitting at a square table that had been around for some years, supporting her little white round face with one hand, and asking the old woman who was busy in front of the stove with a sparrow-like voice:

"Grandma, uncle is back, and my father and mother are coming back soon, right?"

The old woman, dressed in a brown linen shirt, grabbed the handle of the fir pot lid, gently covered the steaming pot, and wiped the stove next to the pot with a rag. Then he moved a few steps to the bench in front of the table, sat down next to the little girl, and said:

"Ping'er is hungry, the dishes are ready! When my father and mother come back, we will start the meal, your uncle must have brought you back a little fish boy, you little glutton, you have a good mouth." ”

After that, he scratched his finger on the tip of the little girl's nose, and the little girl stuck out her tongue and said:

Uncle is happy these days, in a few days the Double Ninth Festival will be able to open his jars of chrysanthemum wine, grandma, you listen to the tune that the uncle just sang, and before you drink it, you will be drunk and dream of stepping on the big kun. ”

The old woman squinted and smiled:

"Haha, little girl, it's your daily pleasure to make fun of your uncle, and your aunt will definitely like you if she is still there. ”

Ping'er tilted her head and asked curiously:

"Who is Auntie? Ping'er hasn't seen it. ”

The old woman lowered her head and sighed:

"Hey, what are you telling you about, you go and see where the gnocchi goes, don't go out and bite someone's chicken again

Duck, I've been eating chickens and ducks for more than a month, and I'm unappetizing. ”

When Ping'er heard the old woman's words, she jumped down from the bench like a rabbit and crossed her waist and said:

"Well, if it bites, I'll beat it flat with a burning stick. ”

After that, he took a burning stick standing against the wall and ran out, and just a few steps out of the door, he saw the man carrying the oars coming down the slope with a smile, followed by a charcoal ball-like earth dog.

Ping'er grabbed the burning stick and hit it on the ground, stomped her foot and pointed at the earth dog and said:

"Okay, you are a gnantlum, it turned out that you went to pick up the uncle, seeing that you are so well-behaved today, then I won't beat you. ”

The charcoal pimple saw that this little girl was domineering, and she was still holding a burning stick in her hand, so she hid behind the man with her tail and secretly looked at Ping'er, and let out a miserable "woo" twice in her mouth.

The man looked sideways at the gnantax, moved his steps and asked with a smile:

"Ping'er, hasn't my father and mother come back yet?"

Ping'er shook her head, leaned forward to look at the charcoal lump behind the man, grabbed the burning stick in her hand and shook it at the charcoal lump. The charcoal pimple looked at Ping'er's posture, lowered his head lower, shrunk into a ball and hid behind the man, and the man laughed:

"Haha, don't scare it, without this charcoal bump, where do you get the chickens and ducks to eat every day. Uncle caught a small fish for you, and quickly brought it up to grandma to fry it for you. ”

After that, he took off the bamboo basket on the oar on his shoulder and handed it to Ping'er, and set up the blue-black oar against an old locust tree in the yard, and muttered a few words to himself with his palm on the old locust tree, Ping'er looked at it from the side, and couldn't help asking:

"Uncle, does this old locust tree also like rowing?"

The man was stunned, patted the old locust tree lightly, and whispered:

"I'll love it. ”

Ping'er saw that the man was in a trance, so she said "oh" as if she didn't understand, and then jumped towards the stove house with the bamboo basket.

After half a cup of tea, the man seemed to come from a dream, looked around, and saw the charcoal lump squinting his eyes and lying leisurely on the side, so he walked over and squatted down and rubbed its chin, and then got up and walked towards the stove house, shouting as he went:

"Mother, I'm back!"

When the old woman saw the man enter the stove house, she answered:

"Okay, Ding'er is back, sit down and rest first, and I'll be back later." ”

The man walked to the low bamboo stool at the mouth of the stove and sat down, stretched out his hand and pulled a few from a pile of dead branches beside the stove, broke them and stuffed them into the stove, and looked at the beating fire in the stove with his eyes:

"Mother, today is..."

The old woman nodded, wiped the back of her hand from the corner of her eye, and said:

"Well, just think about it in your heart, you can move this square table to the courtyard, and we will eat together under the old locust tree in the courtyard today. ”

The man nodded in response, got up and lifted the square table and walked out, saying as he walked:

"Okay, then you can rest for a while, and I'll cut up the little fish cub and fry it for Ping'er to eat." ”

The old woman moved to the wall, stretched out her hand to hold the door of the stove, and with the other hand bent down to carry the bamboo basket against the wall, and when the man crossed the threshold, he put the bamboo basket on the threshold and went to work in front of the stove.

After the man set the square table in the middle of the courtyard, he went to the threshold and lifted the bamboo basket, walked to a well in the courtyard, poured the little fish in the bamboo basket into the bucket after fetching the bucket of water, lifted the bucket with both hands and shook it, and then opened his palm and stirred it lightly in the bucket a few times.

The man lifted the bucket of small fish boys, found a low bamboo stool and sat down, then drew a small sharp knife from behind his waist, pinched up the small fish boys and gently cut the belly of the fish, and squeezed out the internal organs. Wash it carefully and throw it into a wooden basin next to it.

After processing the little fish, the man took another bucket of water and poured it into the wooden basin, and after washing it carefully, he pressed the edge of the wooden basin with his palm and drained the water. Only then did he get up with a wooden basin and walk towards the stove house, and as soon as he arrived at the mouth of the stove house, he saw Ping'er rushing out of the firewood house next to the stove house with the burning stick and shouting:

"Charcoal bump, come with me to the village entrance and wait for my father, come quickly!"

The charcoal bump wagged his tail and ran all the way behind Ping'er, and the man grinned:

"Ping'er, slow down, don't fall!"

Ping'er let out an "oh" in the distance and ran in the direction of the village entrance.

After the man took the wooden basin into the stove house, he handed it to the old woman in front of the stove, and after the old woman took the wooden basin, she grabbed a handful of salt and sprinkled it evenly on the little fish, cut a few slices of ginger and threw them in the wooden basin, took a pair of bamboo chopsticks and stirred the pot of fish a few times, and then turned sideways to the man and said:

"Ding'er, let's take the dishes and chopsticks to the courtyard first, after the fish is marinated, wait for the two of them to come back and fry it in the pot. ”

"Well, here we go. ”

After the man nodded in response, he went to the cupboard against the east wall and took a few pairs of chopsticks and walked towards the courtyard.

The man walked into the courtyard with a few strides with chopsticks, and saw a man with a cyan bamboo flute stuck obliquely behind his back under the old locust tree, and the man looked up at the yellow leaves on the top of the old locust tree and shook his head. After hearing the footsteps, he turned around with his hands around and smiled at the man, who put the bowl of chopsticks on the table, hurriedly bowed and said:

"Meet Loe..."

Before the word Luo came out, the man flicked his fingers lightly, and the man only felt a soft wind on his face gagged his mouth, so he had to swallow the unspoken word back. The man waved his hand, walked straight to the bench next to the square table and sat down, took the little finger of his right hand into the ear hole, and grinned at the man:

"Zhang Ding, don't be polite! The world is wonderful, and I met you here for six years. ”

The man opened his arms, supported the two corners of the table with both palms, shook his head slightly, and after sighing, he looked sideways at the old locust tree behind him and continued:

"This fragrant locust tree that means to keep peace was carried by Zhang Kai from Shuiliucheng, and there are only a few old locust trees that have lived to be more than 100 years old. ”

Zhang Ding stood up straight, took a light breath and calmed down:

"Exactly, when his wife was alive, she liked to eat locust cakes, and when the old locust trees bloomed during the rainy season in the past few years, my mother would pick some of them to make some locust cakes to worship his deceased wife. ”

The man nodded, looking at the wooden doorway at the entrance of the stove house:

"Aunt Lu, aren't you going to come out to see my old friend?"

When the old woman heard this, she came out of the hidden wooden door, and said to the man:

"Don't dare, woman, I know you're also lacking in skills. How dare I blame you, being able to rest here for so many years is also a blessing for you. ”

The man untied the wine gourd from his waist and put it on the square table, snorted and said:

"Aunt Lu, let's bring out the sticky chicken stewed in the pot first, I haven't eaten this bite for several years. The way of the world is changing, so you can live here with confidence. ”

After Zhang Ding heard this, he pulled out the bench on the other side of the square table, helped Aunt Lu to sit down, and went to the stove to bring a steaming coarse porcelain bowl and put it lightly in front of the man. The man looked at the chicken nuggets in the bowl, and saw that the surface of the chicken nuggets had a hint of oily luster, the skin was brown, but the chicken was golden in color, and the oil juice at the bottom of the bowl was bubbling with a hint of tea fragrance rushing up to his nose, the man sniffled and took a sharp breath and asked:

"This is a three-oil sticky tooth chicken?"

Aunt Lu responded:

"Well, tea oil, chicken fat, lard. ”

The man picked a piece of chicken and said while nibbling on it:

"The old man who rode the pig has been here too?"

Zhang Ding came over with a jar of wine from the stove house, slapped open the mud seal and put it on the square table and said:

"Well, I've been here two years ago, and the taste is definitely not as good as what his old man made. ”

The man was busy talking, but he didn't answer, and after a while, he gnawed the bowl of sticky chicken clean, grabbed the jar of wine on the table, and poured a sip and said:

"The phoenix marrow and dragon liver are not as good as this! This old man riding a pig is running around all day long, because he still thinks that the world is not chaotic enough. ”

Zhang Ding stood aside, and when he looked at him with a smug appearance, he shrugged his shoulders helplessly. The man wiped his mouth and continued:

"Zhang Ding, I won't take you away the chrysanthemum wine under the locust tree. ”

Zhang Ding shook his head and smiled, moved to the firewood room and carried a hoe to the bottom of the tree and gently turned it up, turning over and saying:

"Don't get in the way, let's give you a jar, your temperament of grabbing wine has not changed, and your tone is a lot more polite. ”

The man raised his head and poured another sip of wine, and when he saw that Zhang Ding's new mud was revealed, three altars with thick cloths were exposed, and he opened his mouth and laughed:

"Haha, the amount of your five gentlemen, I don't care if I have two altars, and I don't care about one altar, is there another altar?"

Zhang Ding squatted down, carefully brushed away the mud and sand along the edge of the mouth of the wine jar, took a piece of wood and stuffed it along the edge of the wine jar, and pried it slightly hard with a circle. After seeing that the wine jar was loose, he held the mouth of the wine jar with both hands and turned it around gently, and after lifting it up from the soil with a little force, he got up and picked up the tablecloth on the square table to wipe the dust on the altar and said:

"That jar is bitter locust wine, I'm afraid I won't be able to drink it in this life. ”

The man got up and put his palm on Zhang Ding's shoulder and patted it, and pulled out the cyan bamboo flute behind him and said horizontally:

"There are good tips everywhere in this world that have been sucked and can be drunk. I won't be incense today, so let's blow a song to your deceased wife. ”

The sound of the flute was euphemistic, like a clear spring in the valley flowing slowly, flowing through the fence, flowing through the smoke, flowing through the sound of calling for children, flowing through the old stone bridge at the entrance of the village, like a trickle of spring flowing into the rouge sunset on the horizon.

After a pause, the man put the cyan bamboo flute obliquely behind him, folded his hands and bowed deeply to the old locust tree. Turning around and seeing Aunt Lu with two lines of tears on her face, she was about to say a few words of relief, but Aunt Lu got up and bowed to him, and turned her head sideways to Zhang Ding, who was full of tears:

"Ding'er, return the gift quickly. ”

Zhang Ding gritted his teeth and endured tears, bowed down and bowed deeply to the man:

"Remember the great grace, what you fall short in this life will be repaid in the next. ”

The man took out four ingots of gold from the placket and placed them on the square table, sucked the jar of chrysanthemum wine with one palm, strode across the bench, and turned his back to Aunt Lu and Zhang Dingdao:

"Everyone only lives one life, why should we care about all these sorrows, if there is really an afterlife, I think you and I will still be the people of the city, and how can we repay our kindness. If you have something, come to the monk's scripture pavilion to find me. ”

With that, he waved his hand and walked towards the path in front of the house.

Zhang Ding looked at the figure in the red robe farther and farther away, and asked Aunt Lu in a calm tone:

"Mother, do you want to move a place?"

Aunt Lu sighed and shook her head, put away the four ingots of gold on the table and said:

"The character of the person who looks at the food and gives the silver has not changed! There is no need to move, without him, the few of us are gone. Now, if he goes to stay at the monk's door with clear soup and little water, we must also take care of him, and tomorrow we will go to the Sorrowful Harbor to buy a few more jars of good wine to bury, and do not go to see him empty-handed. ”

Zhang Ding nodded, then went to the old locust tree to pave the new mud that had just been turned over again, squatted down and gently pressed it on the mud surface with both palms, picked up a large handful of fine sand on the side and sprinkled it on the mud surface, and said in a distracted manner:

"The white bones are pumped with good buds, and they can stop their murderous intentions. ”