Since ancient times, there have been many strange things in the countryside!

This sentence is not what I said, but the consensus of everyone. If you don’t believe me, you can just pull out a person from the village and tell you a lot about the strange power and chaos.

There is something like this in our village that happened in the mountain temple where the incense had long been broken. The temple was dilapidated, with moss crawling on the eaves. Even during the day, it was yin and erect.

In this dilapidated mountain temple, there is an old scholar in his eighties and nineties. His surname is Chen. Everyone in the village calls him "Chen Xiucai".

Chen Xiucai liked to wear goatee beards, wear long jackets from the Republic of China, and sometimes even spoke with them.

No one knows where Chen Xiucai came from, no one knows Chen Xiucai's real name, only knows that his surname is Chen. He seems to have been married when he was young, but he ran away from marriage.

The Mountain Temple is Chen Xiucai's home, and no one knows how Chen Xiucai lives. The kind-hearted villagers will give him some food every now and then. It's not that they pity him, but that they respect him! Because Chen Xiucai has a good fortune in this Shuipu Village!

The village chief's ancestors, because when Chen Xiucai first entered the village, he looked up the cemetery of Fengshui treasure land for the village chief's ancestor. After burying people, they would be rich for three generations. The villagers said that the old scholar had the survey, and the village chief's family had only developed a fortune. Moreover, the villagers had a headache and fever and had no money to hire a doctor, and they would go to Chen Xiucai to ask for "shen water". Drink it and cure all diseases. It would be really cured!

So no matter how sloppy Chen Xiucai looks, everyone still believed him. But one thing that no one would agree is to let his children be his disciples. Because at that time, it was popular all over the country to wipe out the four old things and break superstitions. It was not easy for Chen Xiucai to be reported.

But in the end, Chen Xiucai found his apprentice, and that apprentice was me!

My name is Xiao Jiu. I was born in the mysterious and barren land of Xiangxi. Since I was born, I was a freak.

When I was born, I didn't make a sound, and I looked dull, like a fool, neither crying nor making a fuss.

On the day of the full moon, my father caught two flower hens laying eggs and went to the town dozens of miles away to buy two bottles of good wine. He hung the wine around his waist and carried me with a basket on his back. He went straight to the mountain temple at the east end of the village.

The temple gate opened, and my father knelt down with me on his back, handed over two bottles of good wine, and asked Chen Xiucai to help me take my pulse.

It is said to be good wine, but in fact it is just a bottle of liquor that costs more than 20 yuan per bottle. However, in that era, compared with our poor mountainous areas, more than 20 yuan was the living expenses of many people's households for a month, so the value of two bottles of liquor was very high at that time.

Chen Xiucai was addicted to alcohol and could not live without alcohol for three meals a day. The villagers all knew his habit, so they could not help but send two bottles of good wine to ask Chen Xiucai for help.

When Chen Xiucai heard my symptoms, he rolled up his long sleeves, used his dry palm as dry as tree bark to take my pulse, and said a strange sentence: "The living dead man lacks a soul, and this life is from heaven but not from man!"

My father was panicked at that time and kowtowed to Chen Xiucai, begging him to find a way to save me. I am the only bloodline of the Xiao family. My mother finally got pregnant with me, so she can't just say that and she'll lose it!

Chen Xiucai helped my father up and asked me about my birth date. He suddenly looked surprised. He paced back and forth in the dilapidated yard with his hands on his back. Then he stopped and sighed to the sky: "Forget it, saving a life is better than building a seven-level pagoda. I can save your life, but I have a requirement!"

My father was determined to save me. Not to mention one request, even a hundred requests, he would agree without hesitation.

The request made by Chen Xiucai was very strange, and he asked me to go to him when I was eighteen years old.

My father also found it strange and asked Chen Xiucai tentatively. Chen Xiucai waved his hand and was quite domineering: "Be my apprentice! Stay with me!"

After a pause, he added: "Otherwise he would not live to be eighteen years old!"

Chen Xiucai was guarding a dilapidated temple. What kind of thing could he do with him? But my father helped me save me for Chen Xiucai's sake, so he agreed to Chen Xiucai's request at that time. He didn't know what would happen in eighteen years. He even beat him up in his heart. Chen Xiucai was in his eighties and nineties. Can he live for another eighteen years?

Chen Xiucai wrote my birth date on a piece of yellow paper, and then asked my father to go back and prepare a small coffin. The coffin only needs the size of a palm, and then come to the mountain temple to find him in seven days.

My father thanked him for leaving. When he got home, he invited the best carpenter in the village to create an exquisite small coffin that could be held in his palm.

Seven days later, my father carried me on his back and couldn't wait to arrive at the mountain temple.

Chen Xiucai took out a clay man from his pocket. The clay man was so ugly that he squeezed it. Chen Xiucai told my father to put the clay man in the small coffin and find a proper place to bury the coffin. This clay man is me, I am this clay man. The clay man must not be broken, and must be buried properly.

After burying the clay man, I burned the talisman paper with my birth date and horoscope written on it with fire. The paper ash was melted into the water and poured into my mouth. Finally, I patted it gently on the back of my head and I could make a sound.

My father followed Chen Xiucai's instructions and did it one by one, burying the clay man in my backyard so that he could protect him every day.

After the bowl of talisman water was poured into my mouth, my father raised his hand and patted it gently on the back of my head. A crisp cry rushed into the sky of the sky, and I finally made a sound!

My father hugged me and cried with joy, carried a basket of eggs, came to thank Chen Xiucai again, and asked Chen Xiucai to help me get a name.

Chen Xiucai grinded his long nails on the bluestone slab, without raising his head, and said lightly: "Just call him Xiao Jiu!"

My father knelt down and thanked him for leaving. Looking at my father's departure, Chen Xiucai's voice came faintly with the wind: "Remember, eighteen years later, let Xiao Jiu bring the coffin to find me..."

For the past eighteen years, I have been the same as normal people. I can eat, drink, run and jump, and my body is still a bit strong.

The only difference is that the lifeline in my left palm is actually black.

I know that Chen Xiucai is my life-saving benefactor. During the holidays, I will bring two bottles of wine and place it at the entrance of the mountain temple.

I rarely see Chen Xiucai. Even in a village, sometimes I can only see him for a year or two, but as long as I see the empty wine bottle placed at the entrance of the Mountain Temple, I know that Chen Xiucai is still alive.

Eighteen years have passed, and Chen Xiucai is over 100 years old and still lives a healthy life.

After failing the college entrance examination, I returned to Shuiwa Village and silently celebrated my 18th birthday.

My father told me that he had an agreement with Chen Xiucai, asking me to find Chen Xiucai after I was eighteen and become his apprentice.

But, I didn't go.

On the second day of my birthday, I quietly left Shuiwa Village with my parents on my back and carrying the only two or three hundred yuan.

I love this mysterious land of Xiangxi, but this land is too poor and I can't spend my whole life here. I want to go out to work and make money. The old houses at home are leaking. My biggest wish is to make money and come back to repair the house for my parents.

Shuiwa Village is in the mountains and is named after its geographical environment resembles a puddle. I have to rush to the town first, and then take the county town to the county town. The county town has to transfer to the city before the city can catch the train.

I am determined to go out to work. I have all the strength to move bricks on the construction site, it is better than staying in Shuiwa Village and waiting to die.

The twenty-mile mountain road was not difficult to walk before, but today I don’t know why, but I always feel that I can’t lift my strength. After walking for a few miles, I have to stop and rest for a while. I am sweating and panting. And I am surprised to find that the black lifeline in the palm of my left hand is rapidly shortening.

I felt a stern in my heart, and I remembered my father's advice. When I was eighteen years old, if I didn't bring the clay man to find Chen Xiucai, I would die!

Will I really die?

No! I live a good life, I won’t die!

While comforting myself, I was energetic. When I arrived in the town, I felt weak and powerless. The whole world was spinning and fell straight at the entrance of the town.

When I opened my eyes again, I found myself lying in a dim temple, with a few oil lamps lit around me, which looked mysterious.

My father and mother stood aside, held my palms, and shouted in surprise: "Wake up! Jiuer is awake!"

Then, a face as haggard as tree bark came into my eyes, and I recognized that this old man with crane hair and chicken skin was Chen Xiucai. I should be lying in the mountain temple in the east of the village now.

Dad scolded with a hint of reprimand: "Jiu'er, haven't I told you that I'm going to come to the mountain temple after I was eighteen years old. Why do you want to run away? You'll die, do you know?"

The corners of my mouth twitched, and my voice was weak: "I want to go out to work and build a new house for my family!"

My mother stroked my cheek and sobbed in a low voice: "Silly child, as long as you can be safe, it doesn't matter if your father and I live in a cave!"

"Eighteen years ago, I used the clay man to renew your soul. Eighteen years later, the clay man has failed. Look at the lifeline in the heart of your left hand. Is it about to disappear?" Chen Xiucai said while opening the small coffin. What was surprising was that the clay man in the coffin turned into a pool of black water and flowed out.

I raised my left hand tremblingly, but I saw that the black lifeline in my palm was already empty and seemed to be about to disappear.

My father and mother knelt down with Chen Xiucai, grabbed Chen Xiucai's long jacket, begging Chen Xiucai to save me no matter what.
Chapter completed!