June and summer in the south of the Yangtze River are the season of smoke and rain, but tonight on the bank of the Qiantang River outside Hangzhou, there is no long drizzle of tobacco wind. Tonight's rain is so urgent, it can't be resisted by a simple coat.

"Daddy, hurry up and move the jars and jars outside, such a heavy rain, quickly!" This is an ordinary fisherman's family on the riverside, as the saying goes, relying on the mountains to eat the mountains, this fisherman is naturally relying on the river to eat the river. This rare storm gave the people of the small fishing village a short rest.

The door was slammed open, the rain crackled and the wind blew into the house, and a black and thin uncle, carrying a few jars of things, walked in quickly. "You bad old man, close the door. The woman sitting in the room complained, got up and quickly closed the door. The uncle had already placed several jars, sat down and said slowly: "Such a big wind and rain, this is something I haven't encountered for several years." After hearing this, the middle-aged woman also said: "This stormy, I don't know if there is anything wrong with the children working in the city, I heard Sister Liu next door say that the city seems to have begun to accumulate water." ”

"What are you worried about, no matter how big the water is, the city can be worse than our country? Besides, have you forgotten the one recently?" said the uncle, taking off his soaked coat. The woman next to her took the coat, and when she heard the uncle mention it, she frowned and said, "Well, what is it to mention that, but it is good that my son has not come back recently." As he spoke, he put his clothes into the inner room and muttered, "I don't know when my clothes will be able to dry this day." ”

Outside, the wind and rain are still raging, and there is no intention of stopping. Long.

"Knock knock", "knock knock". Before I knew it, two hours had passed, and in the middle of the night, there was a sudden knock at the door. "Son, daddy, do you hear me?" the woman was awakened from her dream by a knock at the door, and hurriedly asked the uncle next to her. The uncle on the bed sat up suddenly, put on his coat, lit the lamp, and replied: "Mother-in-law, don't be afraid, maybe it's a passing traveler." At this time, the aunt also got dressed and sat up, and said, "I haven't heard this rain for several hours, how can there be anyone after such a long time, no, it won't be, that." ”

"Passers-by, who want to beg for a bowl of water to drink, and disturb them late at night, please forgive me. At this time, the voice outside the door clearly reached the ears of the two, "Listening to this voice, it seems to be a young man, then it is not that, son and father." When the woman heard this, she seemed to be much lighter, and she gasped.

The uncle walked towards the door while holding the lamp, and responded: "If something happens, you won't be able to eat or sleep well, don't scare yourself, don't worry, everything has me." ”

As he spoke, he opened the door, and the couple looked out of the door and found that there was a young man in a green shirt who was about seventeen or eighteen years old, his whole body was soaked in rain, but he was still standing there, and he still couldn't hide his demeanor, looking like a famous son, not like a bad person.

The woman saw clearly that it was a young man, and the last trace of fear on her face disappeared, and she got up and hurried: "Quick, come in, this rain is drenching." ”

When the young man heard this, he flashed into the house, and the uncle hurriedly closed the door, and the rain outside the house was still pouring down. After standing still, the young man said deeply to the uncle and the woman: "I apologize to the uncle and aunt again for disturbing me late at night." The couple hurriedly waved their hands, saying that it was okay, and asked the young man to sit down first.

After the three of them sat down, the young man spoke: "The junior surname is Ling, the uncle and aunt call me Xiaoling, dare to ask the uncle and aunt the surname?" The uncle hurriedly shirked and didn't dare to dare, and said: "Rural fishermen, how can there be any respect, my surname is Chen, this is my mother-in-law, Ling Gongzi, if you don't dislike it, change the wet clothes on your body first, little old man, I still have a few clean clothes, can you make do with it?"

After hearing this, the young man surnamed Ling replied: "I'm drenched and dripping, but I forgot, so Uncle Chen's house is full of water stains, don't dislike it, don't dislike it, but don't bother, just wait for me for a while." "Speaking of luck, the family passed on the internal strength, and the qi wandered around the Yangguan acupoint on the back, the Xuanji acupoint on the chest, the Wuli acupoint on the legs, the white acupoint on the arm, etc., and at half a cup of tea, the clothes and pants were dry as usual, and then a wisp of white gas slowly dissipated from the pillar of the back of the head, which had forced the hair and body moisture outward. This hand, which seemed normal to the young man, surprised the two elders around him.

"It turns out that Ling Gongzi, no, Ling Shaoxia is a person in the martial arts. Uncle Chen came back to his senses and said. Ling Shaoxia nodded, shook his head again, and said: "Well, it should be half of it, my parents are from the martial arts, but I have never walked the rivers and lakes." Aunt Chen next to her brought a pot of tea and said hurriedly: "Then Ling Shaoxia, you, on a rainy night, appear here, is there something happening around here" The tone trembled, slightly panicked.

"Of course not, it's just because of ......", "Coo", as he was saying, Ling Shaoxia's stomach rang out inopportunely, and his face was slightly red. "Haha. Uncle Chen laughed and said: "It's our negligence, Shaoxia is late at night, I guess I haven't eaten yet, mother-in-law, hurry up and fill Shaoxia's stomach with something." "No, don't bother. Ling Shaoxia was busy, and Uncle Chen interrupted: "That, Shaoxia, don't worry, don't bother, we are poor, you want us to trouble, we don't have anything for you." ”

"That's it, Shaoxia" said, Aunt Chen had already taken two plates of side dishes on the table, "Wait a minute, you can't eat rice just after the rain, I'll help you heat the rice, you have a good taste this time, Lao Chen Tou fished a few days ago, and happened to get two handfuls of wild rice, and my aunt made you wild rice to eat." Let you taste our Jiangnan flavor. Ling Shaoxia was puzzled and said: "Wild rice? Aunt Chen said curiously: "Hey, Xiaoling, do you still know this?" Ling Shaoxia smiled slightly and said: "My mother has many friends, from all over the world, and I heard a lot of stories when I was a child. ”

After a while, Aunt Chen brought up the hot mushroom rice. Ling Shaoxia was indeed hungry for a long time, and saw the pickles on the plate, yellow as beeswax and green as moss. It is made of lotus root or callus white. The other disc, but he didn't know what it was, Ling Shaoxia asked Aunt Chen, "Aunt Chen, what is this disc? Uncle Chen next to him replied: "It's tempeh, a country snack, it's normal for Shaoxia to have never eaten it, crush the soybeans to petals, peel off the bean skin early, select melons, apricots, ginger, cinnamon and other ingredients and stir them together with the juice of brewing tempeh in the watercress, and it's made." "I see. Ling Shaoxia thought to himself: "When I turn around, tell my mother and let her do it for my father and me." ”

After Ling Shaoxia finished eating, he thanked him: "Thank you uncle and aunt for your hospitality, thank you so much." My parents came to Hangzhou to meet friends, I followed here, because I have never walked alone in the rivers and lakes, and yearn for the Jiangnan style, I took a few days off with my parents, came out to play, these two days of heavy rain, suddenly wanted to explore Qiantang at night, but lost the direction in the wind and rain, hungry for most of the day, fortunately met my uncle and aunt's family, Jiangnan simple people, and the name is well deserved. ”

Aunt Chen neatly cleaned up the dishes, Uncle Chen got up and added new tea, and said: "Jiangnan, the water is good, the people are good, this Hangzhou is even better, the harvest in the past two years is not bad, fortunately, the imperial court taxes are not too harsh." ”

Ling Shaoxia took the tea bowl and said: "By the way, the younger generation has always been puzzled, I searched all the way and found that there is always a gourd in front of the door of every house in this village, is this a local characteristic terroir?"

Hearing this, the husband and wife instantly lost their smiles on their faces, and after a long time, Uncle Chen replied: "Evil, the wind and rain have been smooth for many years, but, but this year, I don't know which plague god offended the Bodhisattva." Aunt Chen also beat her chest and said: "Since the beginning of this year, there have been people in the nearby villages who have been asked for their lives by the drunkard Bodhisattva, and since last month, our village has also been targeted by the Bodhisattva. After hearing this, Ling Shaoxia stood up and said slowly: "What is the drunkard Bodhisattva, how can he harm people if he is a Bodhisattva?"

After hearing this, Uncle Chen walked into the inner room and took out a cyan gourd, which Ling Shaoxia took and looked at carefully, and found that the gourd was all cyan, but it was rough and ordinary, and there was no speciality. I only heard Uncle Chen say: "The young man doesn't know, this drunkard Bodhisattva asks for his life, the horror is abnormal, ordinary people will die of redness and swelling all over the body, and the corpse exudes the fragrance of wine, which lasts for a long time, and for many days, I don't know how to resolve it." Later, in the neighboring village, I heard that the silver money was put into the gourd every day and placed outside the house every night, and the Bodhisattva took the silver money, so he would not ask for his life. ”

Ling Shaoxia stroked the gourd, and after thinking for a while, he said: "Does this drunkard Bodhisattva come to collect the silver money every night?", Aunt Chen replied next to her: "This is not true, most of the silver money in the gourd will be collected by the Bodhisattva every seven days." ”

Unconsciously, the wind and rain outside the house gradually stopped, and Ling Shaoxia asked: "May I ask Uncle Chen and Aunt Chen, where are the families of those families who have been asked for their lives?" After hearing this, Uncle Chen hurriedly dissuaded: "Young man, don't, if you collide with the Bodhisattva, it will be a disaster." Aunt Chen hurriedly stopped her: "This, if you offend anything, you must not offend the gods." ”

"The two of you misunderstood, I just want to see for a long time, and I will not do anything disrespectful, please rest assured, I bother to tell the location, I haven't seen the gods or the Bodhisattva or anything. Ling Shaoxia insisted. Uncle Chen next to him saw that after repeated dissuasion to no avail, he could only reluctantly inform Ling Shaoxia of the location of those households.

"Meet tonight, it's mostly fate, thank you two for your hospitality, the wind and rain outside have subsided, juniors, this is goodbye. Ling Shaoxia said, turned around and went out the door, and then disappeared into the vast night. Inside the house, Aunt Chen looked at the two taels of silver left on the table, looked outside the house, and sighed: "Alas, what a good boy, I hope nothing happens to him." ”

On the banks of the Qiantang River, the dark clouds have left at some point, and the long-lost moonlight is sprinkled, and everything seems to have returned to calm. Ling Shaoxia, unfold the door to climb the clouds and ride the dragon light gong, all the way to the next village, he has never believed in the ghosts and gods, so the heart is firm, the ghosts and gods must be the scum of the rivers and lakes to seek money and kill the life, he has listened to his parents and uncles and aunts since he was a child to tell about the martial arts style, his parents when they were young chivalrous demeanor is even more fascinating, but he went down the mountain alone, the chivalrous battle is the first time in the past 17 years. It made Shaoxia's heart uncontrollable excited.