"Dongzhu, Shitou, Shunzi, the three of you go to the city early and come back early. There are still drinks waiting for the wedding banquet. There is also a theater troupe coming to perform, but your little Nan brother paid a lot of money to invite them."
The early morning wind is pleasant to the human body. The three teenage boys driving the donkey cart were bathed in the morning sun and excitedly pulled the reins to say goodbye to the village elders.
Today is Brother Xiao Nan's big day. The bride is from her own village, and she is the most beautiful one in the village. When people in her own village hold weddings, it will naturally be lively. Every household has provided meals, dishes, tables, chairs and stools.
Dongzhu also took up the errands, got up early, fetched water to wash up, put on new clothes worn only during the New Year, and together with Shunzi and Shitou, who were playing well, drove a donkey cart to Tongshan to buy drinks.
It's hard to say that he could sneak some drinks on the way. After all, he is an adult now and his family is preparing to marry him. If he could marry a woman like Brother Xiaonan, Shitou and Shunzi would be envious.
It was almost noon when he got the drinks for the wedding at a wine shop in the city. Although it was the cheapest and he was laughed at by some drinkers, the aroma of the wine made him forget his anger, and he went with Shitou and Shunzi.
The two happily pulled the donkey cart back to Zhuangzi, maybe the troupe would have arrived too.
After the wedding banquet, and then watching a lively drama with everyone, it would be even more comfortable than during the Chinese New Year.
In the afternoon, there were many policemen wearing yamen clothes on the road, which made Dongzhu feel envious. When they were approaching the village, the roadside was full of people. The policemen who passed by them before were chasing people away.
Let the onlookers come closer.
For some reason, Dongzhu's body was trembling. As he walked forward, the voices of the people around him became a buzzing sound. The stones beside him must have been the same as Shunzi's.
Dongzhu squeezed through, but in fact there was no crowding. The onlookers were all from nearby villages. When they saw the three of them, they consciously moved out of the way.
What came into view was a group of people lying on the ground motionless, as if they had fallen asleep, just lying on the ground and falling asleep.
However, Dongzhu understood what it was. His whole body was shaking like chaff, and he suddenly collapsed and sat down on the ground. His vision gradually became blurred, and he looked at the government servants with knives on their shoulders and the police officers walking around in the village.
He saw Brother Xiao Nan being carried away and placed with his father and the bride.
I saw the elders in the village being put down from the stone mill by the government servants.
I also saw my parents being carried out of the house and placed on the ground... They were still wearing new clothes that they only wore during the New Year, and they said they were going to watch a big show together today.
However, it was gone after all.
Time turned around, and in the dim candlelight, low words told stories that Chen Yuan had never heard before.
"What did the government say?"
Dongzhu sniffed and raised his face, his eyes were blurred with tears.
"... I just said that the whole village was suffering from a serious infectious disease... Shitou, Shunzi... couldn't bear the blow, and he hanged himself soon... Sir, if I say everything is true, I just want... Brother Xiaonan, Sister-in-law Xiaonan
, there are many fellow villagers who have thoroughly enjoyed this banquet and watched the opera. But no one dares to come here. After hearing about it, even the opera singers in the city are unwilling to come... Sir, I really have no choice.
."
Only then did the fat Taoist suddenly realize.
"No wonder the host said why Shitou and Shunzi haven't come back yet. It turns out that they have died separately for ten years. They must have gone to the underworld a long time ago. Then why don't you leave here?"
Dongzhu wiped his tears, pursed his lips and took a deep breath, but the tears fell down again.
"...My parents are still here. Every year at this time...I can see them, just like when I was alive...asking me why I don't wear clothes...I have grown thin again...although the words are the same every year
, but I always feel that they and the villagers are still alive. I just want them to finish the show well..."
In the dim shadow, Chen Yuan walked out and silently helped the man up. Suddenly he turned around and walked out the door. The fat Taoist hurriedly followed him and asked where he was going.
What is returned is two simple words.
"start!"
The fat Taoist walked out of the room tremblingly, and saw the figures standing silently in front of the round tables in the sunba. Chen Yuan, who was in his field of vision, walked straight over.
He suddenly raised his sleeves.
The carriage opened with a loud bang, and the wooden planks on the bottom of the carriage flew out one by one, and a simple stage was set up in the open space. The wood carvings that were originally stained with incense also lost their power at this moment, and became ordinary, weird old students, niche students, Hua Dan, etc.
The Lao Dan puppets also look as usual.
On the stage, Hua Dan's puppet waved her green sleeves, and a simulated female voice with magical power sang a song.
"White birds are fluttering, green water is surging, and butterflies are flying around the beauty's fan. The wind is blowing, and the reeds are ringing in the hall, and the sky is green and the clothes are cold..."
There is a touching female voice, clear and graceful, echoing in the dark night.
Outside the quiet Zhuangzi, torchlights snaked along the official road. The sound of eager footsteps spread towards this direction. When they heard the sound of music, they stopped one by one and looked at each other in confusion at Zhuangzi with a red lantern hanging in front of them.
"Why is there Zhuangzi again?"
"There are still people singing songs... just go back."
"Let's take a look first."
The old farmer picked up his hoe and felt a little angry when he thought of the young man who didn't listen to his advice today. But when he led the people to the entrance of the village, he saw round tables placed there. Directly in front of him was a small stage.
Children's voices are singing from the mouths of Huadan puppets on the stage.
"Li Zheng, why is there no one?"
"Although I can't understand what's being sung, it sounds really good."
"Don't go in!"
The old farmer quickly grabbed the man who was trying to enter the village entrance, looked at the tables and chairs, and whispered: "There is no place for us inside, just stand here and don't go in."
"Isn't it still empty inside..."
The man stopped talking, as if he was dazzled. The originally empty seats in his field of vision were filled with vague figures standing or sitting, looking at the stage quietly.
"The living can die, and the dead can live. Things in this world cannot be accomplished in this world... A little affection, three-quarters of shallow soil, half a wall of the setting sun, dreams are just dreams when they last, what year comes and goes!"
The short song sounds sad, but also contains touching hope.
It’s just a song, followed immediately by a martial arts scene, with puppets carrying swords and weapons on stage, acting out the plot, singing dialogues, fighting, swords and guns shouting...
…
The sky gradually turned white, and the faint sound of cockcrows could be heard from the distant villages.
The performance on the stage stopped, and gloomy figures slowly floated over at the banquet. Sun Zhengde was so frightened that he hid behind Chen Yuan.
"Brother Xiaonan..." Dongzhu couldn't help shouting when he saw the villagers and parents coming, "Mom and Dad!"
A couple with gray buns looked at him with smiles on their faces.
At this time, Chen Yuan stepped forward, raised his hands and said to the figures coming one after another: "I have asked this party to send you a message, you can go on your way."
next moment.
There was the sound of iron chains clanking outside.
A group of people at the entrance of the village felt a biting underworld blowing past them, and their consciousness was relaxed and they fainted on the ground. In the field of vision that they could not see, a slender figure covered in mist, dragging an iron chain, stood among the crowd.
Behind the villagers.
Silent figures, one after another, looked at Chen Yuan and bowed gratefully, then followed Yin Cha and drifted out of the village without saying a word.
'Mom and dad are leaving... Dongzhu, you have to live a good life in the future...' The couple looked at their son who was already in his twenties with a smile, and followed the souls with a smile before the first ray of sunshine came down.
, drifted away into the distance.
The sunlight pushed Qing Ming's edges and wrapped Zhuang Zi inside.
The surrounding houses and wine tables gradually disappeared, leaving only a tomb with a tomb, a withered old tree, and unburned incense candles and yellow paper on the ground.
Chen Yuan waved his hand, dismantled the stage and loaded it into a bullock cart, walked to the tearful man, and together they looked at the place where the village entrance once stood.
"What are your plans for the future?"
"Stay here...perhaps, sir, you will pass by here again in the future and you will see the new Liuzhuang."
Chen Yuan laughed: "I'm afraid it will take a long time."
"Not afraid."
Dongzhu looked at the smile that seemed to see his parents again, and said again: "Don't be afraid, I will live a good life."
After a long while, there was no reply from the person next to him. He quickly turned around and saw that the bullock cart had left the cemetery. He quickly caught up and said, "Sir, Dongzhu hasn't asked for your name yet."
What answered him was a hand stretched out by the bullock cart and waved at him a few times before heading north on the official road.
…
Bang Bang~~
The wheels rolled over the potholes and the rickety cart made the fat Taoist feel full of doubts.
"My boss, when did you hire the undercover guy?"
"Haha... when I went to the toilet!"
Chen Yuan laughed, shouted back, cracked his whip, which made the old cow roll his eyes, but he still stepped forward, yelled "moo", and pulled the carriage away quickly.
The sun rises above the clouds.
Soon after, the ox cart drove past the landmark erected on the roadside, and saw the town named Yongxiang in the distance.