Author: Shu Nanze

A small mountain village under the lofty mountains.

There are trees surrounding the village, old wooden bridges, and green grass beside the clear stream. A few shepherd boys rolled up their pants and went into the water to fish over rocks. Occasionally they yelled and ran and splashed water to chase the fish. Low thatched houses, fences, chickens and dogs were scattered along the stream.

I heard that butterflies and bees are busy collecting nectar in the yellow flower fields, and the remote and poor places that cannot squeeze out two ounces of oil are like a paradise.

The old man Yu slowly walked into the village carrying a bamboo basket on his pole, greeting the farmers working in the fields from time to time.

Occasionally, I would quickly hide on the side of the road and watch the rough guys racing across the street.

After the warriors had gone away, Old Yu walked home quickly with a pole on his shoulder, and with a troubled expression on his face, he walked across the wooden bridge and returned to his courtyard.

Usually I go home from the market and rest for a while before working, but today the old man was acting uncharacteristically.

I went back to the low thatched house and sat in a daze, as if I had something on my mind.

I sat there from the hot noon until the sun set. My son and daughter-in-law, who were working outside, came home. The grandson who was herding cattle came into the yard wearing a straw hat and riding a buffalo. He was carrying strings of frogs, river fish and a few birds on straw ropes in his hands.

He yelled that he was hungry and wanted to eat.

Smoke rises from every house.

He was poor in the countryside and only had two meals a day.

My son who was busy in the courtyard saw the bamboo baskets beside the wall.

"Dad, no one bought bamboo baskets at the market today. Farming will be busy in two days. It shouldn't be..."

The old man Yu, who was thinking about something in the room, rubbed his head and said nothing. He got up and walked to the outer room, took out a brand new hatchet and handed it to his grandson.

"The blacksmith in the town asked grandpa to give it to your Uncle Wang. Grandpa is tired. My dear grandson, please go for a run. Don't fall."

The tough-minded grandson picked up the hatchet and ran outside, shouting at the Wang family's friends to come out quickly.

Old Man Yu glanced at his daughter-in-law who was cooking on the fire, then returned to the back room and continued to sit there, sometimes feeling happy and sometimes feeling sad.

It gets dark very quickly in the mountains.

In order to save money, the villagers basically did not light the lights. After dinner, they went to bed when it got dark. When the grandson fell asleep after playing all day, the old man Yu greeted his son and daughter-in-law to talk. The room was dark, and he could barely see blurry shadows through the little moonlight outside the window. He was sleepy.

The tired young couple were more filial, enduring their sleepiness and waiting for their father to speak.

The old man first leaned against the window and looked out for a while to confirm that everyone in the village was asleep.

My son, who was tall and thin, was so sleepy that his eyelids trembled.

"Dad, did you pick up some money at the market today? If you don't talk about anything at dinner, you have to wait until the evening to talk about it."

His wife pushed him and forbade him from talking to the old man like this. My father-in-law was a prudent man and he must have something important to say.

The old man Yu sighed, his son is honest and honest, and he is lucky to have a good wife.

"Don't say anything for now. Listen to me. There is something more joyful than picking up silver. Gold and silver touch people's hearts. You must cover your mouth to avoid death."

The old man's few words scared the young couple to the point where they no longer felt sleepy. They were not afraid of hardship or tiredness, but they were afraid of death.

Ants are still greedy for life. Survival is the instinct of living things. Ordinary people just want to live a good and peaceful life. It may be ordinary and boring. Generation after generation repeats the path traveled by their ancestors. Who would want to die if they can live peacefully, let alone have children at home.

The young couple did not dare to make a sound. With the help of the weak moonlight, they saw their father digging a hole in the house. Years of life had hardened the soil in the house, making it extremely laborious to dig. While digging quietly, the old man Yu told him what he had experienced at the market.

"I went to the market today and saw many outsiders coming to the town."

"The famous landlord Hu in the town was dragged out like a dog. Group after group of people rushed into the compound and rummaged through boxes and cabinets to find things. Even the house was torn down. Everyone in the landlord's house was almost beaten to death."

Hearing this, the young couple's eyes lit up, "Well done! It would be best if all those domineering guys who were sitting on top of us were dead!"

The old fish man continued.

"At that time, I was wondering what those outsiders were looking for. It turned out that the Tuxian family in the city had offered a reward for finding stones with words on them."

I dug and threw away the hoe, and my palms touched the rotten wooden board.

"That's not an ordinary word. It's shining with golden light. The Tuxian family is offering gold as a reward for the stone."

Without any effort, the rotten wooden board broke into pieces with a gentle tug. At the same time, there was a smell of rotten wood. When the old man tore the rotten wooden board into pieces, the young couple saw a glimmer of gold, but they were quickly disturbed by the soil rolling down around the pit.

Covered, the two of them were stunned. There was a baby at home?

His old, calloused hands peeled away the soil, and with great effort pulled out a piece of gravel about a foot long.

I don’t know if I was just dazzled, but the stones now don’t have any golden light, they are ordinary and no different from the stones used to build walls.

Old Yu was panting heavily from the exhaustion of moving rocks, and planned to catch his breath before continuing.

Maybe after a while, maybe in the blink of an eye.

The surface of the stone covered with wet soil flickered again, and the young couple could see clearly that it was indeed golden light.

It feels like an oil lamp that has run out of oil and is about to go out. The weak flame in the wick is struggling to flicker. The golden light is suspended on the surface of the stone. Besides the golden light, there are other shapes. It is too dark in the room to see clearly.

The dark room was very quiet, and the only thing that could be heard was the cub grinding his teeth.

Old Yu, who had recovered slowly, seemed to be reminiscing about the past.

"A long time ago, when your grandparents were still here, it rained for several days and there were floods in the mountains."

Thinking of that terrible flash flood, I couldn't help but shudder.

"Oh, it's so scary. The flash flood is higher than the jujube tree outside the door. Our village originally lived on the barren beach, but we moved here because of the flood that washed away the houses and farmland. Many people died in the flood.

We can’t even find the body, so only those who run fast will survive.”

There are rumors in the village about flash floods, and the young couple has heard it many times. In the past, the land in Huangshitan was fertile and was the best farmland.

"The farmland soil was washed away, and many rocks and big trees were washed down from the mountains. The beasts that were washed down screamed and moaned. Many people even saw big snakes as thick as rocks. After the flood, there were dead beasts everywhere."

The old hands stroked the stones and wiped away the soil bit by bit.

"One day I went to the barren beach to graze cattle and secretly went to catch fish in the water. When I turned over the stone, I saw a golden light on the downward side of the stone."

"I told your grandpa about this when I got home, and the whole family secretly moved home in the middle of the night."

"Why is this stone glowing with gold? I can't understand the things painted on it. I worry about being found out all day long. The lame family in the neighboring village dug a glowing grass in the mountains and took it to the market to sell for money. Who knows what those things are?

Not only did the villain not give him the money, he also killed the lame man’s whole family. Alas, he had to bury the stone. It’s been so long that I almost forgot about it.”

Obviously, what happened to the lame family in the neighboring village was no secret, and the young couple were also afraid.

The son swallowed hard.

"Dad, why don't you bury the stone back? If you really can't, throw it away far away."

The old man Yu was stroking the stone and struggling in his heart.

He was sure that the figures on the broken stone on the notice looked familiar, and were very similar to the figures on the stone in his hand. Everyone knew about the reward in the notice, and the price of gold was ten taels or a hundred taels. Gold, it is said, can buy blockbusters.

There is gold in the courtyard of a large family with good farmland, but he has not even seen silver in his decades of life. How can he not be moved by it, but the old man Yu is afraid of death.

He scratched the instep of his feet, and the skin scratched by his nails made a rustling sound.

"If we really exchange stones for gold, I'm afraid we won't survive more than three days and end up like the lame family in the neighboring village."

However, he had an inexplicable feeling that this stone could bring benefits to him, his son, his daughter-in-law, and his grandchildren. Perhaps he could become a big landlord. In the eyes of Old Man Yu, being a landlord was the highest level he dared to dream about. From then on, he would have enough food and clothing.

good days.

"Maybe... we can change it to something else."

The old man Yu, who had been timid all his life, said to himself.

"Our village and town do not belong to the Tu family, and we will not get any benefits if we leave it to others. We have been content for the rest of our lives. Old man, I want to play like the gambler Wang Er and use this stone to go to the Tu family to exchange for something to support the family. Age

When he gets older, it doesn't matter how many years he dies early or how late he dies. If he does, our whole family will move to the Tu family's territory."

"father……"

My son and daughter-in-law are anxious. Why take risks when they are living well?

The old man Yu waved his hand and said that there was no need to say more. He also wanted his grandson to wear the same clothes as the landlord's grandson and no longer wear tattered trousers.

"That's it, you guys should do whatever you want. If I don't come back, it will be treated as if I went into the mountains and was picked up by wild animals."

Old Yu is very stubborn and no one can change his decision.

The young couple didn't sleep well that night, but the old man Yu had a good sleep and had a dream. He dreamed that on a rainy day, there was a strange white creature with long claws in the sky, swimming around in the clouds.

He somehow felt that it was a dragon...

The next day, the old fish man walked out across the wooden bridge with his pole and carried the smelly dried fish out.

A few more days passed.

In the underground secret room of the restaurant in the city, Tu Yue, who was waiting anxiously, got clues related to the gravel. There were too many false news, and this time the clues sounded true.

A shopkeeper in charge of local affairs hurried into the city and led an old man who was shocked by the city to ask to see his immediate superior. Soon he met Tuyue in the box on the second floor. The empty-handed old man tremblingly made a condition.

Instead of gold, he asked for dozens of acres of land and three brick houses on the condition that the family move to Tu's territory.

The gold reward could buy a lot of land and big tile-roofed houses, but Old Yu didn't dare to ask for it, and Tu Yue didn't expect that the old country man could resist the temptation and make the right choice.

It was just a few pieces of farmland and houses, nothing worth mentioning to the monks.

Tuyue readily agreed to Old Man Yu's conditions.
To be continued...