His brain has been used for more than seventy years.
The memories retained inside become more and more exquisite.
That is, there is less left.
When he wanted to recall his origins, a city gate would first come to his mind.
The city gate faces west, overgrown with weeds, desolate and vast, with few human traces.
There are many lonely graves hidden among the weeds. The old skeletons lie in the ground, exuding a turbid odor. At night, each one will turn bright yellow and dance, and people call them ghosts and lanterns, or fox fires.
In my memory, Xichengmen always has a sour smell that fills my nose, but I don’t feel it even after staying there for a long time.
Their family lived in a hut next to the city gate. Occasionally they would say hello to someone who was about to leave the city.
Most of the people who want to leave the city from here are those attending funerals.
The north and south gates were very different. They were important traffic thoroughfares. He remembered that the gatekeepers there were more impressive, had louder voices, and were more meaty.
Unlike his father, Simon the Gatekeeper, could not even feed himself a morsel of meat, let alone the hordes of children at home.
When he was five years old, a man came outside the house. His father immediately smiled and greeted him warmly.
The man was well-dressed and even his face seemed to be shining.
When the father and the man were talking, they would always look back at him.
He didn't feel any uneasiness at the time because he didn't know yet that it was the last time he would see his father.
In my memories, whenever I recall the sight of that man, my whole body will tremble, my teeth will be clenched, and I will tremble endlessly.
The memory suddenly became blurry here, and it quickly moved to the next scene.
The next scene was a warm room with pots of charcoal fire burning. The temperature was very high, but at that time his heart was extremely cold.
There were bursts of pain in his lower body, the pain pierced into his heart and bit at his nerves.
The man's voice came to my ears: "Don't drink water, otherwise it will hurt even more."
He remembered that two adults restrained his limbs and a sharp blade cut through his lower body.
The little thing that he liked to take out and play with in the past was separated from his body in an instant.
His little thing was buried in lime and gradually shrank into a wrinkled dry mass.
He had been in pain for many days, so painful that he would even cry out in his sleep. Seeing that he had been in pain for so long, the man in gorgeous clothes pulled away the cloth around his waist.
"Ouch," the man frowned, "it's still bleeding."
He ordered people to fetch hot wine, and then fetched the dry stuff, pounded it into powder, and mixed it with the wine.
"Take it." The man handed him the wine.
He drank obediently and drank part of his body.
In my memory, this scene passed by.
After the bleeding stopped, he was taken to a very large building. He entered through the back door of the building. The man who greeted him had no beard, a high-pitched voice, and a somewhat effeminate manner.
The man ordered him to cut vegetables, carry water, plant vegetables, and apply fertilizer every day. He was given heavy tasks every day, and he was beaten and scolded constantly.
He cried, but the result of his crying was even more severe beatings and scoldings.
Many years later, he learned that the place where he was tortured and scolded was a residence for the royal family members, which was considered a harem.
In his memory, he was always tired, never able to rest, didn't have enough time to sleep, and was always hungry.
Therefore, the mind is always groggy.
Because of this, he was beaten and scolded even more severely.
Finally, he fell. During a certain heavy errand, he felt a dark feeling in his mind. He simply fell to the ground and allowed the old eunuch in charge of him to punch and kick him. This time, he had a hard heart. Get up, no matter what, I don’t want to get up again.
"Scrapped?"
"Are you tired?"
Hearing these two sentences in the darkness, he was stuffed into a rice bag and picked up.
"As usual."
The darkness shook. He seemed to be extraordinarily awake in a deep coma, feeling his thin body bumping against someone's back.
After shaking and banging like this for a while, he was put down and heard the sound of digging in his ears.
The mouth of the bag was opened a little, letting in the cool night air, which made him feel more comfortable.
Having said this, You He felt tired, took a sip of water, closed his eyes and rested for a while.
From the first day he met You He, he had always been like this, taking a break after talking and taking a break while walking.
Because of this, Yun Kong was worried that something might happen to the old man along the way, so he would rather accompany him to walk slowly than rush.
They both want to go south. In addition to avoiding the golden soldiers attacking from the north, Yunkong also wants to visit old acquaintances along the way and return to his hometown, but You He seems to have no destination.
Today they entered Lin'an Prefecture (formerly Hangzhou), the new capital of the Song Dynasty. When they were tired from walking on the street, they sat down at a street wine tent.
This was the first time that You He talked about his origin.
In the past, I only knew that he was an old widower, but he became an eunuch for some reason. Yunkong was very interested in learning from him, because this knowledge was something he could not learn even after reading many books.
Today, Yunkong knew that Youhe was the son of a gatekeeper and was sold as a eunuch at a very young age.
"What happened next?" Yun Kong urged him to say more, "Were you buried?"
You He shook his head: "My adoptive father saved me."
"Hey! Who is it?"
After an angry shout, the sound of digging suddenly stopped, and there was a sound of running, and then there were a few more footsteps running hastily. One pair of feet broke away from the rushing footsteps and chased the fleeing people.
"Someone actually tried to bury a body!" A rough voice yelled from outside the bag, and then the bag was opened, "It's still a child corpse!"
A hand reached out of the bag, and its rough, calloused palm touched his chest: "No, it's still warm. Maybe he can be saved."
It was a cold and emotionless voice.
The man still wrapped him in the bag, leaving only his head exposed to protect him from the cold.
Then, he felt a fine wind blowing into his ears, and someone blew wind into his ears in turn. Suffering from these stimulations, he gradually touched a glimmer of light in the chaos.
Suddenly his scalp hurt, and a few hairs were pulled out. His hair was set on fire, and there was a pungent burning smell. Suddenly his mind became clear, and the original darkness suddenly became brighter.
He twisted uncomfortably and heard the man say: "Wake up."
Then something cold came close to his lips, and he realized that it was a bowl.
A warmth flowed into his throat and immediately spread throughout his body, warming him up quickly.
The bowl of soup had a cool fragrance, which was cold from his mouth and nose to his brain. He suddenly became more conscious and felt very comfortable. He just wanted to lie still like this.
You He picked up the gourd hanging on his waist and poured out a ball: "This is Suhexiang Pill."
Passed it to Yun Kong.
Yun Kong took it and sniffed it: "Sure enough, it wakes me up."
Then put it back into You He's palm.
"This is an indispensable thing for your work," You He carefully put the meatballs into the gourd, "I also carry wine with me," You He patted a thick bamboo tube on his waist, "mixed the wine with Suhexiang pills, it can save the nightmare. This is how my adoptive father saved me from death.”
"But, don't you do autopsies on weekdays?" Yun Kong asked curiously, "With so many styrax pills, you won't use them often, right?"
"Of course it is commonly used. We most often use it to eliminate bad odors. When we encounter a rotting corpse, we will take a pill."
"I see."
The two of them were stunned.
Because this sentence is not what they said.
The two of them were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn't notice someone sitting over and listening to their conversation with great interest.
This is what this person said.
The two of them took a closer look and saw that the man was almost as old as You He.
Normally Yun Kong would be respectful when seeing the old man, but when he saw this old man, he couldn't help but feel a trace of hatred.
"Who is your Excellency?" You He asked feebly.
The old man had a fleshy face and a fat body. Surrounded by crow's feet and thick bags under his eyes, he had a pair of malicious eyes that smelled of blood.
"I have some connection with you." The man grinned, which made Yun Kong feel even more disgusted.
"Oh?" You He blinked.
"My surname is Chen. I was a head catcher in the capital. I have an unworthy reputation."
"Chen Captou." You He clasped his fists, "I'm here to show off my embarrassment. I hope you won't laugh."
"No, no, I used to wonder why Wu Zuo wasn't afraid of the smell of corpses. But when I heard it today, I realized that was the case."
"Could it be," Yun Kong frowned and said, "It's Chen Daguo?"
Chen Captou's face immediately darkened, veins bulged on the back of his fists, and the air around him suddenly felt stuffy.
He is indeed Chen Daguo.
Because Chen Daguo hates people calling his name Chen Daguo the most.
Chen Daguo, a famous policeman whom he had heard of when he was young, unexpectedly met here. Yun Kong felt a chill in his heart, knowing that he had said the wrong thing.
Because he still remembers that Chen Daguo has three major characteristics: he has a very good memory and has a photographic memory; he is very sinister and plots everything; he is very narrow-minded and doubles his revenge.
Yun Kong offended him this time.
"Chen Captou," You He said softly, "Young people are ignorant, give me face and let him go."
Chen Daguo still had an angry look on his face: "Why do you want me to give you face based on my status?"
"Speaking of which, we are all tenth-rank officials and servants of the yamen. I am not talented. People from the capital know a little about You He's name."
As expected, Chen Daguo opened his eyes and said in awe: "Are you You He?"
You He nodded.
"Your Excellency Guidao's voice is shrill. I didn't expect it to be You He." Chen Daguo cupped his fists and bowed, but rolled his eyes at Yun Kong, "What a coincidence, you came at just the right time."
"How to say?"
"Something happened in Lin'an Mansion recently. Eight people died. There is no one here who can do anything, and the cause of death is completely unknown."
You He frowned and sighed tiredly. Sure enough, he couldn't just retire.
Chen Daguo continued: "Actually, I have taken refuge here. I am no longer on official business, but I still have contacts with the Yamen and have gone through dead bodies. As expected, there are no scars at all."
"How did it happen?"
Chen Daguo smiled crookedly and looked at You He proudly, as if he was very happy to arouse his interest: "Eat more, and I will take you to have a look."
After saying that, he immediately called the owner of the wine stall, ordered a plate of two big buns, cut a plate of meat, pushed it to You He proudly, and started eating it by himself.
Only Yunkong has no share.
