The next day, before dawn, grandpa's parents got up and prepared breakfast.
The millet soup was simmered slowly over firewood for a full hour, until a layer of rice skin appeared in the pot, and the rich aroma of rice spread throughout the room.
In a corner of the yard, some spring onions are planted. The multigrain pancakes baked with fresh spring onions are very delicious.
"It's been a while since dawn, go call Lao Li for breakfast."
Grandpa's father walked to the cave door next to him and patted the wooden door. There was no movement in the house. His father thought that Lao Li didn't hear it, so he patted it harder a few times, but there was still no movement in the house.
At this time, grandpa's mother also walked out of the yard. She didn't know what she thought of, screamed, and pushed open the door of Lao Li's room.
The two of them finally breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Zhengxiang's grandfather lying on the kang, his face turning rosy and sleeping.
Grandpa's mother looked at his father with a rare hint of embarrassment on her face. During the war years, people were everywhere, and people often heard about kidnapping children, although it had never happened in the small county town.
Lao Li was not seen in the room, but seeing his grandfather's current appearance, the two finally believed that Lao Li was a real master. Grandpa, who was dying yesterday, began to look rosy overnight.
"Mom and Dad, where is this? It's not our kiln. I'm hungry."
Grandpa woke up and looked at the unfamiliar rooms around him. He was a little confused. He touched the back of his head and asked doubtfully.
"Are you awake? Just wake up! I'll go get something to eat right away."
Just as Grandpa's mother was about to get up to serve the rice soup, Grandpa's father stopped her and said she would wait a while for Lao Li to come back and let's have dinner together.
"Mom, who is Lao Li? Is there a relative at home?"
Grandpa jumped down from the kang, and fell to his knees on the ground as soon as his legs became weak. He felt that he had no strength all over his body. Grandpa looked out the window and saw that the sun had not risen yet.
"Mom, didn't you say that you get cramps after sleeping for a long time? The sun hasn't risen yet, why am I so weak?"
Grandpa didn't know that he had slept for three days and three nights and hadn't eaten anything.
The two people who were startled were a little bit dumbfounded when they heard what their grandfather said. The mother held her grandfather in her arms and teased him, saying that he must have been too crazy to disobey and was too hungry to have any energy.
At this time, the wooden door of the yard squeaked, and Lao Li came back, but behind him was a dirty child.
The child was about the same height as his grandfather, but much thinner than his grandfather. He was wearing tattered clothes with mud everywhere. The grandfather frowned when he saw the child.
"Stop looking and serve the food. This little brother is the key to saving Qin De's life."
After Lao Li finished speaking, he took the dirty child and walked into the house regardless of the confusion on his grandfather's face.
While eating, Grandpa's mother looked at the child who was devouring it. The more she looked at it, the more familiar it seemed. Suddenly she remembered that she had seen this child on the roadside when she was going to the market. He was a little beggar.
Seven years old is an age when he has just become sensible but doesn’t understand anything. What Lao Li said to his grandfather’s parents made his grandfather feel confused.
Lao Li told his grandfather's parents that his grandfather was not ill, but possessed by an evil spirit as the saying goes. The child he brought back had basically the same birth date and birthdate as his grandfather.
He had already set up a formation in this courtyard to block evil objects. As long as Qin De stayed in this courtyard for seven days, he would be able to survive this disaster, provided that he could not see the coffin during these seven days.
Lao Li said that he deliberately found such a remote village. There are only five or six households in the whole village. Normally, there is no such thing as a coffin within seven days.
After dinner, Lao Li took his grandfather and another child to the yard and asked his grandfather's father to help move a table out.
Lao Li took out a writing brush and a round box from his pocket. When the box was opened, there was red liquid inside.
He casually took out two more long strips of yellow paper, dipped his brush in red liquid, and filled the yellow strips with symbols.
Grandpa recognizes this kind of yellow paper. There is a similar piece of paper on the beam of the old house at home. The adults call it talisman paper.
After drawing the talisman paper, the grandfather pulled the child next to him and poked the child's index finger with a needle. The child cooperated without any resistance, and a drop of red blood dripped onto the talisman paper.
Lao Li then pulled Grandpa over and poked Grandpa's finger with a needle. Grandpa burst into tears. A helpless smile appeared on Lao Li's face and he said that this apprentice was far worse than he thought.
After two drops of blood dripped onto the talisman paper, Lao Li threw the talisman paper into the air, but no movement was seen. The talisman paper made a "bang" sound, emitted a burst of fire, and disappeared into the air.
Grandpa was stunned when he saw this scene, and his expression was also noticed by Lao Li.
There was a smile on Lao Li's lips, he reached into his pocket, took out a few copper coins, and threw them into the air.
Several copper coins collided with each other in the air and made a crisp sound, then flew in several directions. After falling to the ground in the yard, they did not fall asleep, but kept spinning.
Grandpa and another child looked left and right, staring at the spinning coins, and even their breathing became quieter. In fact, not only Grandpa, but Grandpa's parents were extremely shocked at this time.
Grandpa stared at Lao Li's face seriously. It turned out that this old homeless man who had been to his home was so powerful.
"Is it fun? Do you want to learn?"
Lao Li touched his grandfather's head and asked with a smile.
"Want to learn!"
Unexpectedly, grandpa nodded in agreement without even thinking about it.
Lao Li was stunned for a moment, looked at his grandfather's parents, and nodded slightly. Master and apprentice are destined to be masters and apprentices, that's it, everything will fall into place.
Grandpa's parents were called into the house by Lao Li. When they came out, Grandpa's father had a cloth bag in his hand. The bag was heavy and there was a sound of metal hitting inside.
"You two go back to the county town first and prepare enough things before you come back. Today I will look after these two children. Tomorrow I am going to Yan'an to meet someone."
Grandpa's parents drove away in a carriage, leaving Lao Li and his two children in the yard.
After his parents left, grandpa became more reserved and didn't talk much.
Lao Li did not take the initiative to speak to the two children, but just arranged a chair from the room and placed it next to the table where he had previously drawn the symbols.
Lao Li tore off a page from a torn book he was holding and folded a paper airplane. He didn't know how he used it, but the paper airplane flew up and kept hovering over the yard without landing.
"Master, I want to play too!"
Not long after, Grandpa began to feel itchy and spoke to Lao Li.
"Call me master, or Lao Li, but you can't call me master."
"Master, I want to play too."
When Lao Li heard his grandfather calling him master, he smiled and said yes with a big smile. Then he tore two pages from the old book and handed one to each of his grandfather and the child.
When grandpa told this story, his tone was full of regret and pain.
It turns out that the torn book that Old Li tore up was the "Ma Yi Shen Xiang" that my grandfather had always treasured and hid at home that even I couldn't bear to read. It is said to be a manuscript left behind by a certain dynasty, and it is the only one in the world.
Book.
And the pages that were torn out when I was a child are said to be not for reading fortune-telling, but for telling ghosts.
Later, Grandpa asked Master, why did he tear up such a precious thing so casually? Master smiled and said that this part of the content had no connection with Grandpa, and even if he didn't tear it up, Grandpa wouldn't be able to see it.
Lao Li told stories to the two children for a day, and the first day passed like this. At the end of the day, grandpa no longer recognized Lao Li, and when they were playing around, he would climb on Lao Li's back and pull his white beard.
When grandpa's parents came back, the carriage was pulling a cart full of food, including a whole bag of flour, a piece of pork, and some vegetables.
Grandpa’s impression is that he has never seen so many dishes even during the Chinese New Year.
Early the next morning, Lao Li changed into clean clothes and put on a workman's hat.
After breakfast, Lao Li told his grandfather's parents to leave for Yan'an immediately. If it's quick, he'll be back in three to five days, if not, it'll take a week. He asked the couple to take good care of the child in the past few days, and remember not to let the child go under any circumstances.
Go out of the courtyard gate.
When Lao Li went out, he touched his grandfather's head and also touched the head of another child.
"Li Jun, do you still remember what you promised me?"
The boy, who had never spoken much, nodded and replied. He will stay in this yard for seven days, and Lao Li will take care of his food and shelter, and also buy him clothes.
Lao Li smiled and nodded with satisfaction, and would buy new clothes for Li Jun when he came back.
It was calm for five consecutive days, and Grandpa and Li Jun became good playmates. Apart from eating and sleeping, the two of them would play in the yard every day.
Grandpa’s father dug out a small shovel from somewhere and threw it to the two children to play with. The two children dug some soil with the small shovel in the corner of the yard and made several houses, a river, and two
It was a lot of fun playing on the hill.
On the seventh day, the weather was particularly good, cloudless and the sun was high in the sky.
After lunch, grandpa's parents cleaned the house as usual, told the two children not to go out, and took a nap.
Grandpa and Li Jun squatted in the corner as usual and continued to build their small town. Compared with the previous two days, there were a few more houses, they also made some clay figures, and the river was dug long and deep.
"Li Jun, you go to the house to get some water, and we will pour some water into the river. This will make it more like a small county town."
Li Jun nodded, picked up the bucket and walked to Lao Li's house. There was also a large water tank in the house where Lao Li lived.
There was also a water tank in another room, but the two of them did not dare to go there to steal water, because the water in the water tank was brought back from the entrance of the village by grandpa's father on a pole.
Grandpa saw that Li Jun hadn't come back for a long time. He was sitting on the ground bored, playing with the small shovel.
At this time, there was a "ding-dong-dang" sound and a suona sound coming from outside the yard.
Every year on the 15th day of the first lunar month, when Yangko is performed on the street, the masters play the suona very happily. Every time my grandfather comes home after watching the yangko, he will make the shape of the suona with his hands and put it to his mouth to make a cry.