An old man next to him saw Feng Bai cursing, took out his water bag, and opened his mouth carefully.
"Master, it's not like this. Your palms are bleeding. Rinse them with water quickly. Otherwise, pus will develop if the dust gets on them."
"Thank you."
After Feng Bai took the water bag, he poured the water into his hands and rinsed it until it was empty.
When handing back the water bag, Feng Bai suddenly noticed that the old man's lips were extremely chapped.
"You...why don't you drink?"
"Young man, I'm not thirsty." The old man smiled honestly, took the water bag back and put it on his waist, and continued to swing the hammer.
Feng Bai was both confused and stubborn: "You've been drinking for two hours and haven't received any water. Why don't you drink water?"
"It's not urgent. It's not urgent. The water tanker hasn't been pulled over yet. It's delayed the opening of the mountain. I don't know how much money I will lose. I don't dare to delay it."
Feng Bai laughed dumbly. He was not a person who would not eat minced meat. He understood that people were willing to risk their lives for reward.
Pointing to the basket on the ground, Feng Bai said: "If you drink your water, the reward for the stones in this basket will be credited to you, but I have a request. You can rest for a while."
"It's impossible. The stone old man doesn't want it. It's rare for the government to sincerely save people, but the villagers have to work hard to dig."
Feng Bai's face changed slightly: "How do you know that the government was not sincere in saving people before?"
"The little old man is old, not stupid."
The old man spat and snorted: "When we left the city, Mr. Wang Dashan said that if we work for a day, we will be rewarded. This is not a waste of people's lives. If we want to get the reward, the villagers have to dig unconscionably and keep delaying. , If you have a conscience, you won’t get a reward, but even if you don’t want a reward, you just want to save people, it’s difficult, it’s difficult.”
"What do you mean?"
"Why can't the military master understand that Wang Dashan's intention is to let the villagers delay digging the mountain? The longer they delay, the more rewards they will get, and the more rewards they get, the more the villagers in Changyuan will die. A lot, this money is stained with blood."
Speaking of this, the old man's face was full of sorrow: "As old as I am, I am not afraid of getting into trouble by talking too much. The military master is from Beijing. You don't know. This is the government of our Xun County. Dog Both the official and the good man Wang are damn beasts, especially the good man Wang, who is called a good man. He does all evil things. His mouth is the most powerful. When he opens his mouth, he can read the Five Books and Eight Classics. Folks They didn’t understand, so they were punished in a daze, and their houses were broken down and their families were destroyed.”
"The good man Wang you are talking about must be Wang Kunliang."
"It's that bitch. The county magistrate is bad. There is a saying before a bad person dies. Looking at the good man Wang, he calls the black one white and the dead one alive. But what can the villagers do? They can only kneel down. , listen, next to him, who calls him a scholar, a scholar's mouth, a murderer's knife, the folks all say that whoever can pull out that bitch's tongue will be a good person who will become a Buddha in thousands of families, but... but who dares Now, who dares to pluck out the scholar’s tongue?”
Feng Bai's expression was incomprehensible: "No matter how bad Wang Kunliang is, he still wants to be punished according to the law. With the evidence of his crime and the irrefutable evidence, he can still escape the blame."
"Criminal?"
The old man grinned with joy: "Who will punish him, the county magistrate?"
"Catch him in Beijing and punish him. He used money to deceive you, delayed disaster relief, and harmed the people!"
"Jingzhong?" The old man looked at Feng Bai as if he were looking at a three-year-old child: "If he can be punished when he gets to Jingzhong, the little old man will take off his head and give it to you. When he gets to Jingzhong, he will definitely say that he is Out of kindness, we used our own money to reward us and ask us to save people, but we kept delaying in order to get the reward money. Finally, we put the blame on the villagers and called us unruly people, disorderly people, and ignorant people. The money-minded beast opens and closes his mouth, and the fault is all ours. Who in the capital can punish him? It's too late to praise him."
"But...but...but he is indeed harming the people."
"What can he do if he harms the people? He is a scholar and his mouth is the most powerful. What can you do, Master Jun, what can you do?"
Feng Bai was speechless, muttering at a loss for words.
The old man shook his head slightly and continued to swing the tool, with a look of sorrow on his face again: "This crime, the law, it's not all the beasts like Wang Dashan who have the final say, just open your mouth, the crime, the law, all are safe There is no one who can control the people. If the people who can control them can control them, how can this mountain wait until today to open? Master, don't you think so?"
Feng Bai held it in for a long time and then blushed: "But if you pull out his tongue, it will be an abuse of lynching. What is the law of the court?"
"Hey, the law, the little old man doesn't understand the law."
The old man was delighted: "If such a great hero breaks the law and plucks out the beast's tongue, the old man will kneel down and kowtow a hundred times, and he will be a cow or a horse for him in the next life."
Several people nearby were also happy.
"If he breaks the law, we will protect him with our lives."
"A life is worth a life, a tongue is worth a tongue. I don't want this tongue anymore, I will pay it to the court."
"That's right, I don't need my tongue anymore. If I pull out that stupid tongue, I don't know how many villagers will die unjustly. If we exchange our tongues for his tongue, it's a good deal."
The people around him happily agreed, just smiled and then fell silent again, continuing to mine rocks without any expression on their faces.
Feng Bai was stunned on the spot
Because he couldn't feel anything, couldn't feel any emotions, only numbness.
The people around him were already numb. They knew that no one would pull out Wang Kunliang's tongue. There would be no such person, not yesterday, not today, not tomorrow.
Subconsciously, Feng Bai shouted: "Someone really pulled out Wang Kunliang's tongue. I won't lie to you, it's true."
Everyone remained indifferent and continued to do their work.
The old man laughed dumbly: "If there really is such a person, he must be crazy. It's impossible."
Feng Bai said angrily and funny: "To you, Wang Kunliang is a local bully, but to us, he is just a little person like a fish and a shrimp."
"As the military master said, if someone really pulled out his tongue, he would be a great official, but this doesn't make sense."
"Why?"
"Why do high-ranking officials from the capital stand up for us common people? Officials who stand up for the common people have long since died. How can they become high-ranking officials?"
The old man flicked his wrist and murmured: "You must be crazy to stand up for the people. The poor people will not give him money. If a high official is short of money, he can just rob us and he will not be punished. He will be convicted only if he stands up for us, so what if he is not crazy?"
The wind is white as if struck by lightning.
In my mind, I couldn't help but recall Han You's appearance when he just "given the order" and cut off his tongue, looking calm and calm.
Originally, Han You looked extremely domineering and arrogant in Feng Bai's eyes.
But now, Feng Bai felt that there was only some indescribable sadness in Han You's eyes at that time.
