It seemed like it was going to rain, the clouds blocked the bright sunshine, and people on the street hurriedly ran past the low eaves.
As soon as we entered the town, the antique eaves pillars and hollow railings exuded an old-fashioned atmosphere. The birds gathering on the upturned eaves looked curiously at the oxcarts driving into the long street, with the rolling wheels pressing down on the dirty streets.
The road was moving slowly, and Sun Zhengde was driving his vehicle, calling out to passers-by to pay attention from time to time.
Beside him, Chen Yuan looked at both sides of the street. After a while, he jumped out of the car and asked a waiter in a wine shop.
"Brother, please excuse me, is there anyone named Chang in this town?"
"Yes, there are, but there are also two or three households. I wonder which one you are looking for?"
The guy didn't refuse because Chen Yuan was just asking for directions. Instead, Chen Yuan was stunned for a moment. Unexpectedly, there were two or three more people, and he thought of a key point: "I moved here from Tongshan."
"Moved from the city?"
The clerk was young, and things that happened twenty or thirty years ago were indeed a bit difficult for him, but there were still coins put into his hands, and a smile suddenly appeared on his face, "My lord, wait a moment, I'll go in and ask the shopkeeper."
After saying that, he put seven or eight copper coins into his sleeves, turned around and ran to the counter of the store. Over there, a chubby old man raised his head, listened to the waiter's words, and glanced at Chen Yuan who was handing over at the door.
Then I had a few words with the clerk, who then came out.
"The shopkeeper knows that it's the one at the east end. All you have to do is turn right at the intersection in front and walk all the way to the end. You'll see a plum tree at the door. But..."
The clerk looked around and lowered his voice, "The shopkeeper said... that family is in bad luck. They are on bad luck. They owe a lot of foreign debts. The guest officer is going to go. Be careful not to let the creditor see it. I can't ask you for anything."
Woolen cloth."
Chen Yuan frowned.
"Why do we owe foreign debt? Gambling?"
The guy curled his lips and shook his head: "How does this little guy know?"
"Thank you, brother, and say thank you to the shopkeeper for me!" After saying that, Chen Yuan went back to the car and asked Sun Zhengde to drive to the address mentioned by the store clerk. On the way, he was also thinking, if it was just a debt,
If the amount is not large, just repay it on behalf of the other party, even if the kindness is offset.
Soon, I turned east at the intersection, only twenty or thirty feet away, and saw the plum tree the waiter had mentioned. Several children were noisily holding long poles to pick up the green and yellow plums. They saw a strange-looking bullock cart.
Stopped at the door, dragged the long pole and dispersed.
The gatekeeper of the small courtyard with black tiles and white walls was tightly closed. Chen Yuan got out of the car and knocked for a while before footsteps came over. The door creaked open a crack, revealing half of her face. It was an old woman with a navy blue turban.
, her hair was almost completely white, and she looked at the strange young man outside the door warily.
"Who are you looking for?"
"I am traveling around to perform wood carving plays. I am passing by here and want to find a house to stay for a few nights..."
"I don't want to stay at my house." When the old woman saw Chen Yuan reaching into her sleeves, she immediately knocked on the door: "...No money is needed!"
"Old man!"
Chen Yuan thought for a while, then immediately changed his explanation, and hurriedly knocked on the door and said: "Actually, I came here to repay the gift for my father. When my father was favored by Chang Weng, he specifically asked me to find him when he was dying. I went to Tong
Shan County, after asking for many days, I found out that your family has moved to this town."
squeak~
The courtyard door opened again, and the old woman looked straight at Chen Yuan: "How did you meet my husband?"
"Actually, I don't know. I just heard from my father that he went out to do business and fell into the hands of bandits. In the end, he was rescued by an old man. The old man simply said that he was a common man..."
Of course, Chen Yuan couldn't say that he knew Chang Weng from the story he read in the book, so he made up a story at random. Sure enough, the old woman's eyes suddenly turned red and she cursed: "This old guy just likes to seek Taoism and seek immortality."
, I don’t care about my family..."
Listening to the old woman's words, Chen Yuan roughly understood that the family had no idea that Chang Weng had already entered into spiritual practice. They were just traveling on the pretext of seeking Taoism and seeking immortality, which made people feel that they were not doing their job properly.
Of course, Chang Weng was already dead, and they probably didn't know that.
Or, the other party has been regarded as dead outside, after all, he has not been home for more than 20 years.
"Old man, can you please let me in..." Chen Yuan was talking when suddenly there was a noise in the courtyard, as if someone was smashing things and shouting. The old woman couldn't even close the door in time and was leaning on crutches in a hurry.
rushed over.
Chen Yuan asked the fat Taoist and the master to wait for him in the ox cart, then pushed the door open and followed him in. With a flick of his fingers, a wisp of breeze wrapped around the old woman's slow feet, and the latter became a little more agile as she walked.
The small courtyard is not big. The plum tree outside the wall stretched out its branches and leaves and covered half of the courtyard. The noisy voice stopped for a moment, and a man in shabby clothes rushed out of the house. There were two children beside him.
A man and a woman followed behind them, shouting, "Second uncle, be obedient," and "Second uncle, come back to the house quickly."
However, the man who rushed out ignored the two children and ran around in the courtyard like crazy. He even took off his clothes and rolled around on the floor. The anxious old woman rushed over and beat him with a cane.
"The tree is moving...it wants to eat me!" "Mom, what are you holding in your hand?! Don't come over here."
"Ah...that tree ran into the yard."
Ignoring the pain of being beaten, the man pointed nervously at the plum tree that stretched into the courtyard, and backed away on the ground. Chen Yuan turned her head and looked at the plum tree, which was slowly dancing in the wind, swaying with branches full of plums.
Without the aura of becoming a demon or a spirit, this is just an ordinary tree.
'His madness is probably even worse than Master's.'
Chen Yuan quietly held out two fingers and flicked away a ray of green energy. The crazy man calmed down, closed his eyes, stumbled to sit on the ground as if he was tired, leaned back and fell asleep.
The two children had long been accustomed to it. When they saw their second uncle sleeping, their slender arms tried hard to drag the man into the house. Chen Yuan couldn't see it, so he stepped forward to help and carried the other man to the bed in the house.
"Oh, thank you very much." The old woman no longer had the indifference she had shown just now. The room was narrow, so she moved two stools and invited Chen Yuan to sit under the eaves outside.
He even asked the two children to bring him two glasses of water. The family was in a tight situation, so of course there was no tea, but the courtesy in treating guests showed that the family was once rich.
"Old man, that one just now was... your youngest son?"
The old woman shed tears and nodded.
"He was originally a good-natured person, but since his elder brother disappeared, he has become like this."
"What's going on?"
Mostly regarding Chen Yuan as someone to talk to, the old woman was silent for a while as Chen Yuan asked softly about the pain she was holding back in her heart: "I and my husband have two sons. The eldest son somehow failed to speak even a few words ten years ago.
He ran away without staying.
After being gone for several years, my daughter-in-law couldn't stay any longer, so she left her two children and ran back to her parents' home. The younger son was so angry that I wanted to look for his elder brother... Two months later, he was discovered by someone on the road outside the town for some reason.
At that time, he was already crazy... I tried my best to ask famous doctors for treatment, but it didn't work. Instead, my madness became worse and worse... The family doctor had no money and owed a lot of debt, and the second daughter-in-law also ran away soon."
Mrs. Chang wiped the corners of her eyes, sniffed, and suddenly smiled and said, "It will work for you."
"Whenever someone encounters difficulties, the old man can just call me Chen Yuan. I happen to know some medical skills, why don't I show you your son's symptoms?"
The old woman's eyes suddenly shone with light. Just as she was about to stand up, she quickly sat back down and said, "Mr. Chen, I don't have money for your consultation at home."
"No need. Chang Weng saved my father back then."
Chen Yuan smiled, patted the back of the old woman's hand to reassure her, then stood up and walked into the room, pretending to reach out and put a hand on the wrist of the sleeping man on the couch.
How could he see a doctor? He didn't use some magic power to try to find out the cause of the disease. Unfortunately, nothing was found. When he withdrew his magic power, Chen Yuan became curious about the crooked handwriting on the messy paper on the dilapidated table next to him.
He reached out and took it out.
It looks like random handwriting and some weird words.
"...The mountain wants to eat me..."
"Brother walked into the mountain...the mountain opened one eye...he was staring at me..."