At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, due to the monopoly problems caused by the shortcomings of capitalism, as well as various extreme and diversified political phenomena, mankind eventually entered a cruel era of war. The world became chaotic, and "people's livelihood" reached a bottleneck.
1928. On January 9, Chiang Kai-shek made a comeback and was reinstated as Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Army. On the same day, Stalin drove the opponents, including Trotsky, out of the Soviet Union; by January 22, Zhu De and Chen Yi led the Shonan Uprising; on February 2 On February 9, Chiang Kai-shek once again monopolized the power of the Kuomintang party, government and military; on February 9, the Comintern issued new instructions to the CCP, and the revolutionary martyr Xia Minghan died heroically on that day; on March 30, the chairman strictly controlled the army, and on April 28, he and Zhu De The rendezvous at Jinggangshan was a crucial step that led to the gradual and steady strengthening of China's national power from the grassroots to the top, and from the countryside to surrounding the cities; on April 16, Japan once again sent troops to Shandong, and the wave of "breaking into Guandong" remained high. For three consecutive years, the number of people has exceeded Millions of People; On June 4, Zhang Zuolin was framed by the Japanese army and bombed to death in Huanggutun; on June 20, Norwegian polar explorer Amundsen was killed; on July 3, television began to become popular in the United States; On July 5, Sun Dianying robbed Dongling.
And I was born on July 5, 1928. According to my mother’s recollection, that day, dark clouds filled the sky and hail fell violently. She almost died in childbirth due to premature rupture of her amniotic fluid. Grandpa said it was God’s presence. Prevent me from coming to earth. My parents begged him to give me a name, but he was unhappy instead of worried. He shouted like crazy that the end of the world was coming. He even robbed me several times and wanted to throw me to death!
My parents had just lost their flesh and bones, so how could we let the old man do what he did? Three days later, my grandfather Guo Dingtian came to visit with a stupid hen and a basket of eggs. He called my father out and said he had thought of a name for me. There is a single word for burial, and the name is Guo burial. Normally, people would never give their children such an unlucky name, but surprisingly, my father was so pleased with it that he immediately ran out to buy wine for my grandfather.
My grandfather is very tall, so it’s not a bad idea to call him Guo Dingtian. I remember when I was about seven or eight years old, according to the old man, in 1860, which was the tenth year of Xianfeng in the late Qing Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty gave up the "Longxing Land" that it had always coveted. Due to various factors such as difficulty in controlling the country's civil strife, it was repeatedly awarded The strict order was invalidated, and the closed "Shanhaiguan" gate began to open to refugees mainly from Shandong, Hebei, Henan, Shanxi, and Shaanxi.
As for my family, in my great-grandfather’s generation, we also brought our whole family from Shandong to Guandong. The first stop was Fengtian City. That place was very prosperous at the time. My great-grandfather took my grandfather, second grandfather, and The third grandfather started a large car shop business. People came and went, and over time, he made quite a profit, earning a few small bags of silver dollars.
But who would have expected that the civil wars in the three northeastern provinces were frequent, and then the Japanese invaders and the Japanese interfered with each other. The people of Fengtian had a hard time, and they carried baskets and took many risks. They began to hide in the deep mountains and grasslands in the northwest, and my grandfather It was also in this migration trend that I rushed into the depths of Inner Mongolia and started to make a living in a sparsely populated town called "Wutonghua". I mainly made a living by plowing fields, selling tea and walking in salt. After several years of hard work, I was considered to have reached the level of a well-off life at that time. I had no worries about food and drink, and lived a life far away from the hustle and bustle.
In name, Wutonghua is a town, but in fact it is a village of forty or fifty households. It is surrounded by mountains on the north and south sides. A large flooded ditch in the middle divides the village into two parts: South Village and North Village. This ditch has some Years have passed. When grandpa came here, this big ditch already existed. It just attracted some crows and owls that kept croaking at night. The old village chief took a shotgun, put gunpowder and fired a few times, and everything was safe. Let him sleep till dawn.
The village is hundreds of miles in radius, and it is mainly populated by people in the Northeast, mainly from Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang provinces. The Mongolians are still in the great north, and are generally rarely seen. There are mostly black donkeys, Mongolian horses, Sanhe horses and Shandan horses here, and of course there are also a lot of mules. Therefore, the villagers of Wutonghua sell tea and sell salt in spring and winter, and are busy working on crops in summer and autumn. Although the war outside is getting worse, everyone is in peace.
And I was born here and in the blink of an eye, I became a seventeen-year-old young man with a strong body and very friendly relationship with the villagers. Ordinarily, at my age, I should be old enough to marry a wife, but many old people in the village are very taboo about my name, saying that it is unlucky to be from the Ke family. Girls from all over the country do not dare to have any romantic feelings for me. After all, In this day and age, the orders of parents must not be violated, and the words of matchmakers come second.
My father and mother have two heads and two heads each. The big family of the old Guo family is giving birth to girls one after another. My brother is the only one who has a lot in such a large family. Looking at the buddies who grew up together, They all have families and careers, but I am also filled with sadness and lamentation.
I asked my old man why he gave me such a name. He would scold me every time with his cigarette stick and kicking his feet. He told me to work hard, memorize his old books, study his experience, and write a post every time. I showed him these ten boxes of old books. I count on my fingers that I have been memorizing them for ten years now. Most of the people in our village are illiterate, but I am considered a scholar in the mountains in troubled times.
This year is 1945. The drought is very serious. In previous years, the harvest has been bumper. It happened to be July 5th. The black donkey of Geerraizi's family was sunburned to death. However, when the donkey was skinned, the donkey's internal organs were found. It actually disappeared, and after checking the donkey's body, no wounds were found. This strange incident exploded in our village.
Come on, I don’t want to celebrate my birthday. We are all fellow villagers, so we have to collect baskets of eggs to express condolences. Our village has a small population, and there are only a handful of surnames. Our old Guo family is considered a single household. , some of the remaining batch were in Shandong, some were in Fengtian, and there were a few households in the next village. They were the queens of the second grandfather and the third grandfather. There used to be some correspondence between them, but now that World War II is approaching, slowly No news.
Others include Lao Li's family, Lao Gao's family, Lao Ma's family and Lao Shi's family. The only family, Lao Ge's family, is considered the poorest family in the village. Only Ge Erlaizi and his old mother are dependent on each other. His father was killed by bandits when he was a child, and his mother wouldn't let him go out to do business with others, so she kept the black donkey at home and farmed peacefully. But who could have imagined that this was the backbone of the family and the largest labor force? , the black donkey died inexplicably!
When my grandfather and I went there, the big open-air hot yard was crowded with people of all ages and all ages in the village. Ge Erlaizi cried heartbrokenly, shouting that life was over, and the villagers were all standing by. One word of advice from me.
My grandfather usually knew some medical skills in Feng Shui and traditional Chinese medicine. He often chose cemeteries and designated homes for other people’s families to see doctors, so he was named Guo Daxian’er. When everyone saw my grandfather coming, they all parted ways. The village elder Gaotou hurriedly came over to help my grandfather, "Oh! Mr. Guo, come here. We are all waiting for you to make the decision. Please open your eyes. I think this black donkey is dead. You can do it." Just say something so that I can give the second-rate scoundrel an explanation."
My grandfather fanned himself with a straw hat and looked at the dead donkey for a while. The donkey was very fat. Although the crop fields were not covered with manna, our wells were not dry. It was obvious that the black donkey did not die of thirst.
I knew I was about to strike, so I handed the egg to Ge Erlaizi. Sure enough, my grandfather waved to me and said: "My son, come here, you and the second-rate man will open up this donkey's chest, and I'll see what's going on."
I sighed, rolled up my sleeves, and went to open the black donkey's chest with my second-rate son. The villagers didn't all watch, but a few young and strong men with good eyesight helped to open the black donkey's belly. , and suddenly a nasty stench rushed out, and everyone took a few steps back. Logically speaking, the donkey had just died, so no matter how hot and poisonous the weather was, it would not smell like this.
Old Man Li, known as Tieguai Li, pointed at the black donkey's belly in shock and shouted: "Guo Daxian'er, I am very familiar with this smell. This... this seems to smell like the dead!"
As soon as I said these words, a cold breeze felt behind me. The faces of the villagers turned purple and they all talked about it. The village elder Gao Touer clicked his tongue and cursed at Tieguai Li: "What a shame!" Old Li Tou, don’t let Hu Qiba tell you that there is a kid in this yard. What’s the point of being frightened? I won’t be able to let you go in the first place, old man.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Ge Er Laizi's mother, with white hair on her head, picked up a hoe and staggered over, wiped away her tears, pointed at Tieguai Li and cursed: "Brother Li, my Er Lai Zi sometimes doesn't..." You're sensible, but I haven't offended you, Brother Li, so what do you mean by saying such vicious things! You can clear things up for me and my mother-in-law through my father and fellow villagers!"
The scene suddenly became tense. My grandfather felt that something was going on here, so he smoothed things over and said, "Old village chief! Ge family's niece! Speak carefully. With me here, I'm a fool!" Just don’t make a fuss about anything! I’m making the decision for you, so why are you so afraid?”
Then grandpa asked Tieguai Li: "Brother Li, what is the smell of dead people? I am also curious, please explain it to everyone!"
As soon as Tieguai Li heard this, his face suddenly turned purple, he limped forward two steps, and said in a loud voice: "Great Fairy, I, Old Li, can say anything, please." Just believe me. As everyone knows, our old Li family was the old landowner of Wutonghua here before you all came here to settle down. There is no place within a hundred miles of our old Li family. It's clear! I remember that my old man told me when I was a child not to go to Heigou Gang, forty miles to the west, because there were monsters there! I was timid when I was a child! These words of my old man were frightened. When I was sixteen years old, I was supposed to get a wife, ride a Shandan horse in Zhuangtou Village, and wear red flowers to pick up my mother. But when we passed Heigou Gang, my mother and I smelled it. This smell soon spurted out a flood of mud from the deep ditch leading to our village. It scared all the horses in Shandan and ran away! Then more water came out of the ditch. There were dead bodies coming, and their bellies were all as shriveled as this donkey! Just when my child and I were in a daze, a black dog with two heads jumped out of nowhere and bit me on the leg. Now, my mother and I were so scared that we ran back home, only to find out that the dog's mouth was poisonous! My... this leg will be... useless!" Speaking of this, Tieguai Li patted his own. Thighs, heaving a long sigh.
After hearing this, my grandfather hissed and said with blazing eyes: "Is it possible that the 'Two-Headed Crow' is here?!"
