In the northern land, in the rainy season of the valley, Nanji Village:

At dusk, the sun sets on the mountainside, and the slanting sun pours down like golden threads, and the whole village is shrouded in gold.

In the gate compound at the east end of the village, the gate is closed, an old yellow dog sticks out its tongue, lying listlessly next to the door, it sniffs the surrounding breath with its nose from time to time, and there is not even a little wind in the air, it is as hot as a steamer.

At this time, from the dirt road outside the door, a middle-aged man hurriedly came, this person came to the door of the compound, grabbed the door knocker and buckled three times, the old yellow dog in the door heard the sound and barked, and suddenly there were several dog barks in the village, and the barking sound was continuous.

The door creaked, and a middle-aged woman with delicate skin pushed the door and came out of the hall, and she trotted all the way to the door, turned her head and scolded the yellow dog, and the yellow dog lay on the ground again and did not ask about the world.

The woman opened the door, saw the person outside the door, and greeted her with a smile: "It turns out that the second brother is back, come into the house and talk, everyone is waiting for you." ”

The middle-aged man glanced at the woman silently, nodded slightly, and walked straight to the inner courtyard.

The lobby in the room is very spacious, there is a table of eight immortals in the middle, and there are five or six people sitting around the table, all of them are pale and white-haired, and their appearance is close to the age of antiquity.

A red-faced old man sat in the middle of the leader, and when he saw the middle-aged man returning, he bowed slightly, and said, "The second child of the Li family, I've bothered you this time, how is the matter?" Several other people also focused their eyes on the middle-aged man.

Li Lao Er pulled a chair with his hand, found a vacant seat to sit down, and said to everyone: "Uncles and elders, please don't be impatient, this time we are finally saved, and the real person from the five parties said that he would like to help us ask for rain." ”

The old man's face was relieved when he heard this, and he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's just ......" Li Lao Er hesitated a little and didn't continue.

Everyone frowned again, and the one next to Li Lao Er said: "Li Lao Er, if you have something, why do you have to swallow it, now that the valley rain season has passed, if you can't farm this year, I don't know how many people will starve to death." ”

Li Lao Er's face was full of hesitation, and said: "The real person said that the drought here is a drought, and it is necessary to use living people to sacrifice to heaven to relieve the drought, and he asked us to prepare three boys, and three days later it will be the auspicious day of the zodiac, and we can cast spells to ask for rain......"

After that, Li Lao Er swallowed his saliva, and asked everyone tentatively: "I'm afraid this kind of hurtful thing is inappropriate......

When all the old men heard this, they were all shocked, and they did not speak, and the air in the room seemed to freeze, and they fell silent for a while.

After a while, the red-faced old man led by him coughed with phlegm, broke the silence, and said: "Everyone, in today's world, there is a shortage of wars and chaos, and there have been droughts for many years, I think everyone knows that there were no less than 20 people who starved to death in my Nanji Village last year, Lu Lao Liu, your village is not less than us, right?"

Lu Lao Liu didn't seem to have slept well last night, he kept his eyes closed and listened, listening to the elder ask him, he already knew what he was thinking, only to see him say slowly: "Yes, the people who starved to death in our village last year, the old, the young, the sick and the disabled, a total of thirty-three people, aren't they just three boys, one from our village", said it, and continued to close his eyes and remain silent.

"Hmph, don't think that the village is great, since they can produce one in Qiancun, our people in Liu Zhuang are not dead, and there is also one", the old man surnamed Liu who was sitting opposite said with a displeased face;

"Elder Zhang, our five villages and six villages have always respected you, and inviting real people to help us pray for rain is also to make a living for the people of our five villages, since we want three boys, your Nanji Village will definitely not stand idly by, right?"

The red-faced old man led by the original surname was Zhang, only to see Zhang Lao smiled slightly, and said: "Brothers, this matter is very important, now the people of our five villages are grasshoppers on a rope, within three days, I will definitely prepare people, let's go here today, everyone go back and prepare for their own preparations, remember, don't leak the news, disperse." ”

After the group left, Zhang Laoyi raised his hand to stop Li Lao Er and said, "Virtuous nephew, you stay here...."

The next day, the warm sun was still there, at the east end of Nanji Village, in the dilapidated mountain temple:

An eight or nine-year-old little beggar had just woken up, yawning and stretching, he looked down at his thighs, the inch-deep wound was still leaking blood, recalling the experience of being chased by a dog last night, he was still very scared in his heart, otherwise he would not have run into this broken temple in a daze.

He got up, patted the dust off his body, and limped out of the temple, putting his hands on the pergola, and looking around.

I saw that the sky was cloudless, the sun was scorching, the trees in the mountains and forests were withering, and the green grass was wilting everywhere; not far from the temple, a dry riverbed had long since disappeared, and under the sun's exposure, cracked mud tiles had been formed.

The little beggar scolded: "This ghost weather, it's really hot and abnormal."

After that, looking to the west, not far from the ruined temple, there is a village with more than 100 households.

Seeing this, the little beggar's belly gurgling, he has been hungry all day since noon yesterday, and if he can't get food to eat, he is afraid that he will starve to death.

Thinking about it, the little beggar dragged his injured leg and limped towards the village...

At this time, a person came from the dirt road in the south, this person had a sad face, and cursed vigorously in his mouth: "Just give this little money, and let Lao Tzu buy a boy, you can figure it out because of your old Zhang Tou, you fucking ......" Isn't this person Li Lao Er who ran errands for everyone yesterday.

When he was cursing, he raised his eyes and saw a lame little beggar walking towards this side, Li Lao checked the scattered silver taels given by Zhang Lao, and suddenly, a flash of inspiration flashed in his mind, as if he thought of something, so he walked forward quickly...

Coming to the little beggar's approach, Li Lao Er tidied up his clothes a little, bent down and asked with a concerned face: "Little baby, where are you from, where are you an adult?"

When the little beggar heard this, he hurriedly turned his head to look, only to see a middle-aged man in his early forties standing behind him, with a simple and lovely look on his face.

Although the beggar is still young, he has seen a lot of people begging for food over the years, and he can naturally distinguish between good and bad.

He suddenly showed a pitiful look on his face, and whispered: "I, I haven't eaten for a day, and I want to go into the village to beg for food......

Li Lao Er grinned and said, "It's not easy to survive in these years, poor little baby, it's right for you to meet me today, go, take you to dinner." ”

With that, he bent down, took the little beggar in his arms, and walked towards a portal compound in the east of the village......