Next to the big tree at the entrance of a remote mountain village, young Agen was carrying a bundle of firewood and staring blankly into the distance.
At the end of the sight, on the other side of the mountain, it is said that there is a very large city.
Early tomorrow morning, he will go to that place and start working hard for his life.
The young man's mood was very complicated, full of hesitation and reluctance, but also a trace of expectation.
It is the choice of many young people to go to distant cities to find a job that can make money to support their families.
The barren and sparse land cannot support many people. In order to survive, young people in the village have to leave their homes.
Young people who left the village all said they wanted to return home in fine clothes, but after so many years, no such person has appeared.
The vast majority of young people who leave the village have fewer and fewer contacts, until eventually they are no longer heard from.
Whether he rose to prominence or died in a foreign land, no one knows.
The young man has many brothers in his family, and now it’s time to go out and make a living.
Although the parents were reluctant to give up, they had no choice. The family property could only be passed on to the eldest son, and the other children had no property to divide at all.
Agen knew almost nothing about the outside world.
The boy has never left home since he was a child, and rarely even sees people outside the village.
With a gentle sigh, Agen was ready to go home and prepare for tomorrow's trip.
As soon as he turned around, he froze on the spot.
Under the century-old tree at the entrance of the village, a strange man appeared at some point and was looking at him quietly.
The black robe on the strange man was made of unknown material, flowing and falling like a waterfall in the mountains.
The face was covered by the hood, and it was impossible to see clearly, but he could feel that the other person was looking at him.
Agen couldn't feel a trace of anger from the other party, and felt a faint sense of fear in his heart.
He immediately withdrew his gaze and prepared to return to his home.
Unexpectedly, the man in black robe suddenly floated in front of him like a paper man.
The young man's legs were so frightened that he could not help but tremble.
"What are you going to do?"
The young man looked at the man in black robe and asked with a trembling voice, his dirty face full of fear.
At this moment, his mind was filled with legends of all kinds of monsters and ghosts. Stories about mountain spirits and ghosts taking human lives had scared him so much that he dared not go out to urinate at night more than once.
The man in black robe looked at Agen and slowly stretched out his hands, holding two things.
A stack of colorful large-denomination banknotes and a stack of yellow contract paper with red patterns were all handed to the young man.
When the young man was confused, another bony arm stretched out from under the black robe.
Three hands...
Such a strange sight made the boy's scalp numb. How could an ordinary person have three arms?
The man in black robe in front of him must be the legendary ghost, and he is trying to take away his life at this moment.
When the young man was extremely nervous, the man in black robe suddenly said: "Touch the contract with your finger and pay ten years of life, these things will all belong to you.
Your humble fate will also be reversed. "
The gangster's tone was full of temptation, but Agen's heart was at a loss.
The young man didn't have a clear idea about Yangshou, and he only wanted to escape from danger.
As long as he lets himself go, he can agree to any conditions.
The young man didn't recognize contracts and banknotes at all.
It's funny to say that Agen has never seen a large banknote since he was a child.
He has never been to school and does not know a word.
Therefore, he did not know that one note from the pile was equivalent to his family's annual income.
According to the request of the man in black robe, the young man signed the contract in a daze.
The moment his fingers touched the contract, a piece of information flooded into his mind, allowing the young man to understand his gains and losses.
His heart was full of surprises, but he had no time to pay attention to it. He was preoccupied with getting out of the crisis.
After the contract was signed, the young man's eyes blurred, and the man in black robe disappeared without a trace.
On the grass in front of him were banknotes and blank contracts.
The banknotes worth nine years of life and one hundred blank contracts in exchange for one year of life now belong to the young man.
Holding the banknote in his hand, Agen looked puzzled.
He felt that these colorful papers were not money, but that the man in black robe was deceiving him.
How could such a large sum of money be given to others casually? He would not believe it even if I beat him to death.
But he didn't want to show it to others, lest it cause trouble for himself.
The young man made up his mind to secretly leave one when he leaves home tomorrow and tell his mother.
If it is really money, it can be regarded as a filial piety.
After hiding the things secretly, the boy returned home and pretended that nothing happened.
Early the next morning, the boy slung his backpack across his body and prepared for a long journey.
There are several young men in the village. If you want to leave with him, you can have a companion on the journey.
An intermediary is responsible for guiding the villagers to the labor market in the city and helping them find jobs.
As a thank you, the villagers have to pay the other party a sum of money.
In nearby villages, young people basically have to go through this process when they go out to explore.
The traveling teenagers, under the watchful eye of their families, joined the team that appeared at the entrance of the village.
Young people from other villages also carry large and small packages and are also going to make a living in distant places.
The intermediary sitting on the bullock cart urged impatiently, and the young people said goodbye to their families in a hurry.
Together with young people from other villages, they formed a team and followed the ox cart slowly forward.
In the next time, they will walk more than 200 miles until they reach the city.
"Agen heard my mother say, don't fight with others outside, suffer a little loss, put in more effort, and you can get peace."
My mother kept urging her, tears wet her eyes.
The father lowered his head and sighed from time to time, and a group of brothers and sisters also looked worried.
Agen forced a smile and nodded vigorously.
"Mom, don't forget to go to the landlord's house, I put things there!"
A young man named Agen loudly reminded his mother at the last moment before leaving the village.
The mother was still wiping her tears and wondered if she heard her son's words.
Others didn't care and didn't think that a poor mountain village boy could leave anything good to his mother.
The villagers quickly dispersed and began to go about their own business.
Similar farewells happen every year, and the villagers no longer care.
One less person in the family will make life easier.
Agen's mother returned home and remembered what her son told her, so she came to the landlord's position.
In the position of a cross, there is a piece of dry bark placed in the hole, and something seems to be rolled inside.
A smile appeared on the mother's face. No matter what this was, it was a thought left by her son.
Pulling out the bark and untying the straw rope, the mother saw what was wrapped inside.
Then her smile settled on her face.
It took more than ten seconds before he came back to his senses, grabbed the things in his hands and rushed to the backyard.
"Master, look quickly!"
The man who was working looked at the items in his wife's hands and fell into a sluggish state.
When he came back to his senses, there was a trace of panic on his expression.
"Where did you get such a big ticket?"
The man had seen these banknotes with the largest denominations before, but he didn't expect them to appear in the hands of his own woman.
His first reaction was not surprise, but some fear that it would bring trouble to his family.
"This is what Agen left behind. He asked me to go to the landlord to look for it. I didn't expect it to be so much money..."
When Agen's mother said this, tears burst into her eyes again. She didn't know the origin of the money and was afraid that her child would do something stupid.
The father held a few bills and hesitated for a long time, and finally stamped his foot hard.
"Forget about this and don't mention it to others. If someone comes to your door one day, you won't be able to admit that you saw the money even to death.
With this money, the eldest son can marry a wife, and the eldest girl’s dowry should also be more beautiful..."
As the man spoke, his voice became lower and lower, and finally he let out a long sigh.
Suddenly receiving a large amount of money, a poor couple was indeed happy, but more importantly, they were deeply worried.
(End of chapter)
