Guard Jia was carrying Tao Abao on his back, and I was clearing the way in front. People in the county said that villagers from Dashanrenfen rarely went out to the mountains, and only one person was sent out a year to buy salt, needles, and thread. People who go shopping in the county seem to be mute. They rely on pointing and gestures to buy things, and they don't negotiate the price. The boss or the store clerk never pays attention to him.
Therefore, people in the county know the village very well, but they think the villagers are mysterious and very "isolated".
Such a secluded village is a good place for seclusion.
We climbed over mountains and ridges and finally came to Dashanrenfen Village built in a mountain valley.
The mountain road is steep and difficult to walk, and it can be seen that few people usually walk on it.
I roughly counted the number of houses in the village on the hillside, and there were about thirty households.
Every house has a fenced yard, and free-range chickens roam the village. Dogs bark from time to time, and the barking gets louder and louder as we get closer.
There were very few outsiders in the village. As soon as we arrived at the entrance of the village, two young men stepped forward and stopped us.
"Who are you?" The young man's dark skin was shiny and he stared at us with unkind eyes.
"Visitors from afar, please go to the village to find someone." Guard Jia replied: "You two brothers, do you know an old man named Tao Qing? Oh, maybe you call him Tao Ba Ye."
"There is no such person."
"do not know."
The young man replied at the same time without thinking.
"He has disabled legs and is in his early sixties," I added.
"never seen it."
"have no idea."
The two denied it in unison.
"Well...it's getting dark today. We finally got here. If we go back, we'll have to climb the mountain in the dark. It's too dangerous. Is there a place to stay in the village? Don't worry, we'll pay for food, drink, and accommodation." Guard Jia smiled and said from He took out a piece of broken silver from his pocket and handed it to the young man.
There was only one piece of silver, but there were two people in front of him. One of the young men was still unmoved. The other reached out and took the broken silver and said, "Come to my house."
His 'money-grubbing' behavior earned him glares from his companions.
Seeing that there was a breakthrough, the guard Jia immediately started talking. He turned around and said to Tao Abao: "This is a poor baby. There is really no one in the family. His grandfather is Tao Ba Ye's brother. If Ba Ye doesn't care, then this baby will I can only live on the streets begging."
Poor children easily arouse people's sympathy. Tao Abao is young and cute. If he lives on the street begging, whether he is dead or alive, it will be pitiful.
"Then who are you?" The young man led the way, and his companions were always watching us behind with vigilant eyes.
"If you meet a passing businessman, please help me. If you want to take in an orphan and provide him with food, it's not that my young lady can't afford it, but after all, blood is thicker than water. No matter how much outsiders sympathize with him, they can't help him." It’s better to have relatives with your own elders, right?”
The young man nodded and said yes. He actually agreed with Guard Jia's statement.
The guard Jia got closer step by step, and by the time they reached the door of the young man's house, the atmosphere of chatting had calmed down.
The young man called "Mother" outside the door, and a blind old woman walked out of the house holding on to the door frame.
"Ayi is back?" The old woman followed her familiar route and groped her way to the courtyard.
The young man hurriedly opened the courtyard door and walked over to help the old woman. He spoke in a much softer tone: "Grandma, there are two passing businessmen staying at our house for the night."
"Old man, excuse me!" Guard Jia also stepped forward. Regardless of whether the old man could see it or not, he raised his hands and saluted.
"No need to disturb, please come in quickly." The old woman asked the young man to pour two bowls of sugar water. She said embarrassedly that they did not have tea to entertain the guests, and asked us to drink some sugar water and rest.
Guard Jia's specialty was to make peace with people. He put Tao Abao down, and when the young man went to pour water, he helped the old woman sit back on the bed.
Their house only had two rooms, and there was a single bed made of wooden boards beside the old woman's bed.
It seems that the old woman was blind, and her grandson was afraid that it would be inconvenient for her to get up at night to drink water, so he built a simple bed next to her bed.
The other room was probably where the young man originally lived. There was only an empty bed board and no bedding on the bed.
It can be seen that the life of the old and the young is very poor. Nothing in the house is not shabby, and the quilt has as many patches as hundreds of quilts.
One of the legs of the bench was replaced with a thick branch, most of the wall covering has fallen off, and the water tank is also missing a big hole.
A penny stumps a heroic man. No wonder the young man accepted the money from the guard Jia and became a 'traitor' in the eyes of his companions.
The young man who was originally walking behind us did not follow us into the courtyard. He went to the courtyard next door, which should be his own home.
Without saying a few words, the guard Jia made the old lady laugh and asked her grandson to treat us with the best things.
The good stuff was actually just a few eggs, presumably saved by the grandson and grandson to exchange for money or give as gifts.
After another meal, Guard Jia gained the old lady's trust and decided that we were good people.
Of course, Tao Abao also contributed to this. He politely called out "Hello, mother-in-law" and thanked the old man sensibly for letting us stay overnight.
The old lady thought that we must not be bad people by taking such a cute and sensible child out.
And Tao Abao doesn’t look like he was kidnapped by the two of us.
After the meal, guard Jia helped clear the table and inquired about Tao Baye's news.
The old lady nodded and said, "Yes, there is a repairman named Tao in the village who has wooden feet on his legs."
When the guard Jia told what happened to Tao Abao, the old lady wiped her tears and said that it was really pitiful that the baby had suffered so much.
She asked her grandson Ayi to lead me to the repairman named Tao.
Ayi led me to the door of a house. It was getting a little dark now, and a fire was lit in the yard. An old man was sitting by the fire, repairing a broken barrel.
His feet are wooden feet carved from wood. The wooden feet only wear shoes but no socks, so they can be distinguished at a glance.
It's not unusual for people who are good at magic to make things like mechanisms.
Some magicians also create life-like puppets.
"Master Tao Ba? My surname is An. Something happened to Master Tao Wu. I sent his grandson Abao to visit his relatives." The courtyard door was not closed, but I still stood outside the door, announcing my home address and expressing my intention to come.
"How did you find this?" The old man didn't stop what he was doing, or even raised his head to look at me.
"A Bao's longevity lock was opened by someone, but I took it back first. The man didn't see the note inside the lock. The note said the grave of a great benefactor, so I took A Bao to find it."
"who are you?"
"A businessman who planned to open a shop in Huacheng accidentally passed by Taojia Village. He found that the Tao family was in trouble and the village was massacred. Only Abao escaped and hid in the mud in the field. He was rescued by me and my entourage. When we rescued him, he was covered with blood. Just wear the longevity lock."
"A businessman who knows martial arts?"
"I'm tired of fighting and killing. I'm just a charlatan who wants to give up fighting and go into business."
