When we returned to the village, it was already noon.
Naturally, the old house had no food reserves, but Jiang Yue returned to the old house from the city the first day and brought back a lot of food.
The kitchen is very simple, with only a small stove for burning briquettes, and hundreds of briquettes are stored.
After all, it is a festival, so it cannot be too simple.
The salted duck is a cooked food brought back from the city, plus a plate of stir-fried beef, a plate of braised fish fillets, and a few home-style stir-fries.
This meal was quite decent, with meat and vegetables mixed in, all in color, flavor and flavor. The three dogs whetted their appetites.
"Second brother, let's discuss something?" Sangou muttered as he gnawed on the duck leg.
"No discussion!" Jiang Yue didn't even raise his head.
"I haven't said anything yet." Sangou said anxiously.
"I know something even if you don't tell me."
"Then tell me. If you don't say it right, you have to promise me something." Sangou said with a little cleverness.
"If you want me to take you to the city, you can! Go to the middle school in the city."
Jiang Yue knew Sangou's little thoughts.
A word test made Sangou wilted like a balloon stuck by a needle.
The duck leg in my mouth suddenly tasted dull.
"Second brother, I promise to go and play for two days. Just take me to play."
There is a short holiday during the Qingming Festival, so it is not a big deal to play for two or three days. However, Sangou is a monkey, so he can climb up along the pole.
Once you agree too readily, there will inevitably be various follow-up requests. Give him some time before talking.
The three dogs didn't know what Jiang Yue was thinking and were about to bother him when someone shouted from outside the yard.
"Is anyone home?"
When the two brothers went out, they saw an old man passing by.
He wears a round bamboo hat and a green-brown raincoat, and on his feet is a pair of mango shoes that are very rare these days, covered with mud.
I was already severely hunched, and with the fish basket on my back, I looked even more rickety.
The coir raincoat was also very strange. It was much wider than the ordinary coir raincoat and had some strange patterns. It looked a bit nondescript. But overall, it could be judged that he was a fisherman.
"Brother, an old man passed by here, asking for a bowl of water." The old man had a strong accent, and his words could only be understood clearly, but it was indeed the local dialect of this hundred and eighty miles away.
"Father, why don't you come in and sit for a while?" Although Lao Jiang's family is not a prominent family, there is always a shortage of tutors. In terms of dealing with others, Jiang Yue has a rare skillful etiquette for his age.
"No, no, don't dirty the house with this mud." The old man waved his hands repeatedly.
"Three dogs, go get a glass of water for father-in-law."
The three dogs went in and poured a glass of warm water.
The old man took the cup, put it to his mouth, and shook his head again: "Country people are rotten. They can't drink boiled water in their lives. If they drink it, they will get upset. Just get some well water."
"Hey, look at your father-in-law, how can you not drink boiled water and still like to drink raw water?" Sangou complained, but his hands were not idle. He walked to the well on the edge of the yard and filled a small bucket.
Coo coo coo......
Although the old man was rickety and skinny, he drank water with great enthusiasm and in surprisingly large quantities.
He drank a small bucket of water in the blink of an eye and smacked his lips, feeling that he still had some unfinished thoughts.
Even Sangou, an all-round food and drinker, was amazed by this.
After taking the bucket from the old man, Sangou somehow remembered that he won the lottery of "another bottle" while drinking in the city that year, and blurted out: "Another bucket?"
"Another bucket?" The old man seemed to consider whether this was a bit inappropriate, and then he grinned cheerfully, "Then let's have another bucket."
Another bucket went down, and it turned upside down again.
Sangou didn't say anything, but he murmured in his heart that he had only heard of rice buckets since ancient times, but this was the first time he saw what a water bucket was.
The old man seemed to have had enough to drink this time and waved his hand to leave.
After walking a few steps, he wandered back and waved to Jiang Yue.
"Brother, I drank two buckets of water from you and I want to give you a few words."
"Father-in-law, please tell me."
"Hehehehe..." The old man smiled inexplicably. It was like a fish blowing bubbles under his throat. He seemed to mutter a few words, but didn't seem to say anything.
"Remember, remember."
The old man left a strange smile on his face and staggered away.
"Sangou, did you hear what he said clearly?"
"Second brother, you didn't hear clearly? The smelly old man wasn't playing tricks on us, was he? He obviously didn't say anything." Sangou was annoyed and wanted to catch up and argue.
Jiang Yue held him back and shook his head: "Forget it, the old man is so old and only has two buckets of well water."
The two brothers returned to the house angrily.
Before they even reached the main room, the two brothers noticed something unusual in the corridor.
"Eh? Second brother, what is written on this corridor?!"
There are three lines of large characters in the corridor, and the writing is like dragon and snake, which is quite impressive.
The first and second lines have ten characters each, and the third line has twelve characters.
Who wrote it?
The back door was closed and there was no one in the house. The two brothers had been outside the courtyard, so it was impossible for anyone to come in through the courtyard door.
Moreover, it is very unscientific to write so many words in such a short time.
The strangest thing is that this word is actually written with water marks.
It is common in the city for Jiang Yue to write big characters in water.
In parks and even in open spaces in communities, there are often old men who like calligraphy who love to show off their skills like this.
To say it is weird, the weirdness lies in four points.
First, this word appears in an extremely strange way. The handwriting is calm and there is no sense of rush. In such a short time, it is difficult to complete it with normal hand speed.
Second, the yard is so big. They are standing at the door, and there is only seven or eight meters between them and the corridor. Even if someone secretly writes so many words, it is impossible not to make a little noise.
Third, generally when writing large characters with water, they will melt as soon as you write, and the traces will slowly fade until they disappear. However, the traces of water marks seem to be thicker than ink, and there is no sign of gradually fading away.
certainly--
The weirdest thing is the content of these three lines!
The white tiger fights the green dragon, and the sky and the earth poke holes.
Suzaku's spine is broken, and there are many troubles in the world.
The land of right and wrong is full of right and wrong, so don’t stay too long.”
If Jiang Yue was just guessing and hunching before, these three lines suddenly appeared, completely breaking the last bit of luck in his heart.
Those previous premonitions may really come true.
After all, Sangou was only twelve years old. He had not yet graduated from elementary school and could not understand these convoluted words, and he was unable to figure out the deeper meaning behind them. He grabbed the hatchet leaning against the door and rushed into the house.
After searching inside and out, I finally walked out frustrated.
Shaking his head: "The back door is closed, and there's no one in the house."
"Follow me." Jiang Yue realized something and walked quickly outside the yard.
"That old man from before was going this way, right?"
Jiang Yue took the three dogs and pursued the old fisherman in the direction he left until they reached the end of the road and stopped near a small stream.
Jiang Yue dug through the grass and found a fish basket and a pair of worn-out shoes inside.
Once you get to the stream, it's a dead end unless you wade across it. However, it rains a lot during this period and the water in the stream is very deep. It's absolutely impossible for an elderly man, even a man in his prime, to wade across it without the help of tools.
And even if you cross the stream, there is no reason to throw away the fish basket that is used to eat.
"Second brother, look, there is something in the water!"
The three dogs have sharp eyes, pointing at the water and barking.
Sure enough, twenty or thirty meters downstream of the stream, there was a living creature floating and sinking in the water, then swam away in the water.
The thing had a head, limbs, a shell on its back, and patterns on the shell.
It was an old turtle.
After Sangou saw it clearly, he sighed and felt deeply regretful: "It would be great if there was a net. Such a big turtle is a great supplement. If you sell it in the town, it will be worth hundreds."
This is when the advantage of being younger comes into play.
If you are young and ignorant, you are ignorant and fearless, and you don't know how to make blind assumptions, so you don't have any confusion.
All the way back, Sangou couldn't stop complaining about the old man who borrowed water for a drink. He felt that he must have some accomplices and was deliberately playing tricks on them to tease them.
As for the motive, Sangou attributed it to bullying the two brothers because they were young and the adults were not at home.
Jiang Yue didn't explain. There was no need for a twelve-year-old child to bear such a surprise.