In the year 890 of Tianyuan, there was a mountain village in Dengzhou.
In early spring, at the second watch, the weather suddenly changed, strong winds rose, and dark clouds gathered.
Changsheng was originally lying next to Lao Huang. When he heard the howling and harsh wind, he hurriedly stood up with his arms, limped to the door, opened the firewood leaf of the shabby house and looked up at the sky.
Seeing that the storm was about to change, Changsheng had no choice but to turn around and go back to the house. He took off the raincoat and bamboo hat hanging on the wall and prepared to go out. But when he turned around and saw Lao Huang lying on the haystack, he hesitated again.
Lao Huang is not a human, but a ox. He doesn’t know how old Lao Huang is. He only knows that Lao Huang just gave birth to a calf when he was picked up. Uncle Wang used Lao Huang’s milk to revive him. He will be born this year. Fourteenth, Lao Huang has also grown a mouth full of teeth. He is already very old. Recently, Lao Huang has been in very bad condition. He has been lying down for a long time and has not had any water or grass for seven or eight days.
Changsheng was worried about leaving Lao Huang alone at home, but he had to leave because there would be thunder soon, and he could not stay in the village during thunder.
Just when Changsheng was hesitating, a woman's voice came from outside the house, "Little cripple, why are you still dawdling? Things have changed, so hurry up and get out."
"Brother Changsheng, it's going to thunder again. Go out and hide." A young female voice said.
"Brother, brother, how many times have I told you, stay away from that broomstick," the woman scolded loudly, "Wang Mazi shouldn't have picked up the bastard who can't find his parents, the evil thing. When he comes back, not only has he been beaten to death, but he has also caused us to suffer as well..."
Hearing the yelling outside the house, Changsheng had no choice but to walk out of the house and closed the door behind his back. Without looking at the mother and daughter, he held his coir raincoat and bamboo hat and walked eastward with his head lowered.
He and Lao Huang's house was at the eastern end of the village, with mountains and woods to the east. He walked from the front, and the woman came from the back crying and shouting, "Oh my God, they say that every injustice has its owner, and every debtor has its owner. You are going to split it." Just chop it accurately, and don’t bother us anymore..."
Chang Sheng did not retaliate against the woman's curse, not because he was timid, but because he felt guilty because the woman had not wronged him, and his arrival had indeed brought disaster to the village named Wang Jiakuang. Wang Mazi picked him up, and the peace and tranquility of the village was broken. He had lived in the village for fourteen years. During these fourteen years, the village was struck by lightning many times, as many as seven or eight times. , and each lightning strike was near his house. Not only he and Wang Mazi were unlucky, but the surrounding neighbors were also repeatedly affected. No one was killed or injured, but the walls of the house were damaged, and chickens, ducks, geese, and dogs were also damaged. Many died.
Just as Changsheng was walking with his head down, a girl's scream suddenly came from behind him, "Ah!"
Hearing the girl's scream, Chang Sheng hurriedly turned around and looked back, only to see the six or seven-year-old girl next to the woman pointing towards the back of the house with a frightened look on her face.
The woman was also startled by the girl's sudden scream, and scolded her without complaint, "Damn girl, what's your name?!"
"Eyes," the girl said in fear, "two big red eyes, right behind Brother Changsheng's house."
Hearing the girl's words, the woman and Chang Sheng moved their gazes to the back of the house at the same time. Although the sky was dark, it was not so dark that they could not see anything. However, they looked intently but found nothing.
"If you dare to lie again, I'll tear your mouth apart." Although the woman didn't see anything, she was still a little flustered. She dragged the girl to the west, "Let's go back to the house quickly."
The girl staggered as she was dragged by the woman, "Mom, I didn't lie. I really saw two big red eyes, as if they had jumped into the woods to the east."
The woman didn't answer and dragged the girl into the west courtyard.
After the woman closed the courtyard door, Changsheng looked away, put on his raincoat and walked into the woods.
Anyone else would be scared to leave home in the middle of the night, but he is not afraid. He has become accustomed to it. Although lightning does not happen every time there is thunder, just in case, he will hide out every time it is windy or rainy these years.
As the saying goes, a long-term illness makes a doctor. After many experiences, Changsheng has learned to look at the sky. Normally, when it rains and thunders, the dark clouds are usually higher than the ground, but the dark clouds that cause lightning strikes are much lower, as if they are directly above the head. .
Sensing that tonight's situation was the latter, Chang Sheng sped up his walking speed. When he was seven years old, his left leg was broken by a piece of masonry struck by lightning. The mountain village lacked medical treatment and was unable to receive timely treatment. As a result, It didn't heal well, and I had a slight limp when walking. The faster I walked, the more obvious the limp was.
Entering the woods, the first thing he saw was a tomb, which was the village cemetery. But his destination was not the cemetery, but a cave three miles northeast of the cemetery.
The cave is located on the mountainside. As soon as Changsheng climbed into the cave, heavy rain began to pour down. Along with the heavy rain came dazzling lightning and rumbling thunder.
The cave was not big, no more than five feet deep, and could barely provide shelter from the rain. Changsheng leaned on the stone wall, looking at the heavy rain outside with worry.
What he is worried about is not himself, but Lao Huang at home. Various signs indicate that Lao Huang is in his final years. He is afraid that he does not have much time left. He is afraid that it is impossible to extend Lao Huang's life. The only thing he can do now is to find ways to give him Huang gets some fine food.
But there was a severe drought last year, and the harvest was not good. Now it is the early spring, and there is no harvest. More than 30 households in the village can only rely on grain chaff and wild vegetables to satisfy their hunger. Even people are starving to death. Where can they get Lao Huang fine food? Eat.
After thinking for a long time, I finally remembered that there were still a few kilograms of beans at home, but those few kilograms of beans were originally reserved for spring plowing. If they were eaten, there would be no seeds during spring plowing.
While he was thinking and worrying, there was a sudden thunderbolt from outside. The lightning strike happened right above the cave where he was hiding. The violent lightning strike shook the surrounding mountains and made the immortal in the cave tremble with fear.
Before he could recover, there was another loud boom, followed by another, one after another, one after another. The violent vibrations caused gravel to fall in the cave and dust to fly.
Although Changsheng had experienced similar situations before, this was the first time he encountered such a violent lightning strike tonight. Just when he was worried that the cave would collapse and wanted to get out of the cave to dodge, there was a loud bang. It came again, and the violent vibration and impact knocked him unconscious.
I don’t know how long it took, Changsheng Youyou woke up. After waking up, he only felt a splitting headache. He covered his head and turned over to sit up. He turned and looked outside the cave. He saw that it was still dark outside, but the wind had stopped and the rain had stopped. , the air after the rain is filled with a faint earthy smell.
After a moment of breathing, Changsheng came to his senses and stood up with his arms raised.
At this moment, I suddenly found a round object on the ground. I reached out to pick it up and walked out of the cave to take a closer look. I saw that the object was about the size of a palm and was irregularly round. I could not see clearly at night and seemed to be blue-black in color. , it's cold in the hand, and the texture is hard but not heavy.
He had been to this cave countless times before and had never seen this thing before. Someone must have been there before and left it here.
Because he was anxious to go back and take care of Lao Huang, Changsheng did not stay in the cave any longer. Before leaving, he casually stuffed the piece of armor into the stone crevice on the right side of the cave entrance.
It was already five o'clock when he returned to his residence. What Changsheng didn't expect was that Lao Huang had swept away the sluggishness of the previous few days. When he saw him pushing the door open, he actually stood up and came to greet him.
Seeing that Lao Huang had regained some energy, Changsheng was overjoyed. He hurriedly jumped onto the earthen kang, found the bag of bean seeds from the basket hanging on the beam, fetched water from the well, and ground the soy milk on the stone mill in the yard. .
When Changsheng was grinding soy milk, Lao Huang also walked out of the house. He had been living with Changsheng these years. To be precise, Changsheng had been living with him, because this house was originally a cowshed.
After Lao Huang came out, he walked straight to the east wall of the yard, sniffed the plowshare hanging on the wall, and then touched it with his head.
There were not many beans, and half a column of incense was ground up, leaving only half a barrel of soy milk. Raw soy milk cannot be used to drink from cows and must be cooked, otherwise the cows will become bloated after drinking it.
While Changsheng was lighting the fire to cook, the sound of a plow falling was heard in the yard.
Hearing the sound, Changsheng looked outside and saw that it was Lao Huang knocking the plowshare off the wall.
"It's not the first lunar month yet. It's not time to plow the fields. Why are you tinkering with it? Come back quickly." Changsheng called.
Hearing the call of immortality, Lao Huang turned his head and whispered softly at him.
Seeing that Lao Huang did not enter the house, Changsheng did not call it again. The morning air was very fresh. Lao Huang lay in the house for several days and it would be best if he could get some air.
After a while, the pot started to heat up, presumably because of the aroma of soy milk. The little girl next door ran over, stood at the door and looked in.
The girl's name was Er Niu'er. She was only six or seven years old. She was his neighbor and one of the few people in the village who was friendly and close to him. When he saw Er Niu'er, Chang Sheng waved her in and filled him with a bowl of soy milk and She drinks.
"Brother Changsheng, did you see the red-eyed monster last night?" Erniu held the pottery bowl.
"Where did the monster come from?" Changsheng said with a smile.
"I really saw it, her eyes were red and red." Erniu looked nervous and had lingering fears.
Changsheng laughed it off, and after she finished drinking, he served her another bowl.
"It smells so good, Brother Changsheng, what day is it today? Why are you willing to cook soy milk?" Erniu raised her head and asked.
Before Changsheng could answer, a woman's yelling came from the west courtyard. Erniu heard her mother's voice and hurriedly drank the soy milk in the bowl, put down the pottery bowl and hurried away.
After Erniu left, Changsheng brought the wooden bucket, scooped the soy milk in the pot, and carried it to Lao Huang.
At this time, Lao Huang was still standing under the east wall, touching the plowshare that fell on the ground with his head. Changsheng brought soy milk over, but it didn't even smell it.
At first Chang Sheng thought the soy milk was too hot, but after waiting for a long time, the soy milk had cooled down completely. Lao Huang still refused to drink it, but eagerly touched the plowshare with his head, eager to pull the shaft to the ground.
Changsheng has lived with Lao Huang for many years, getting along day and night, and is familiar with its temperament. Lao Huang's behavior at this time is very abnormal. Although it goes to the fields to plow every year, and will take the initiative to couple, but that is in March during spring plowing, and It's not the first lunar month yet, and it's not time to plow the fields.
One person and one ox were in a stalemate until Chen hour. Finally, Changsheng gave in and helplessly put a plowing noose on Lao Huang.
Lao Huang put on the lasso and walked out of the house slowly. Changsheng put on the sickle, carried the plowshare, and followed behind with half a bucket of soy milk.
Lao Huang's abnormal performance made him very worried. If Lao Huang's condition really improved, it would be impossible for him to stop eating. There was only one reasonable explanation for Lao Huang's current performance, and that was the legendary return to light...
