Chapter 9 Chapter nine

Plague and pestilence arose.In countless ages, plagues and plagues have never ceased, because a large number of plagues were kept in the pocket of the plague god.In the legends of the village, the God of Plague is a strange man covered with a scarf, who walks around with a plague bag, and spreads the plague insects with the bag to disperse the plague, just like folks sowing seeds with a bucket. There is a fixed number, how many plague ghosts should be released, it is clearly recorded in the desk book of Lord Yan, if there is one less, it will be compensated, and if there is more, it will not be accepted.The more desolate and ineffective, the more frequent the plague god will go. It seems that if the desolation does not add plague, the gate of hell will be left in the cold, and there will be fewer pedestrians on the road to Huangquan.

No one has ever seen plague insects, plague gas, plague ghosts, and calamity ghosts. What people have seen are cholera fever, rotten throat, water drums, lumps, ghost-possessed malaria, osteoma, Cracking bones, hot and cold fried cheeks, pinched monkeys, hooded sweating disease, big head plague, smallpox, these can be regarded as flying plagues falling from the sky, (Note: It means contagious.) There are also some rats with swollen, lumpy backs, elephants, etc. Skin swelling, sporadic small malaria, red and white ringworm, ringworm, impetigo scabies, dry scabies, prickly skin leprosy, fish scale leprosy, red and white dysentery, unknown poison, mad dog disease.

Plagues and plagues arose, and God of Plague took a step from north to south, and the plagues and plagues rolled southward like a head of water.After the water, the plague started on the south bank of the Beisan River. Some people said that when the water was flooded, they heard the ghosts crying, and the plague should have started from the ground. The Wu family said that if the wind blows on the ground before the flood, the plague should be scattered from the sky.When Wen went to one place, there was a bang of gongs in one place, screaming: "The God of Plague has opened his bag!"Every household, take a broom and sweep the plague into the air!And the plague cannot be swept away, just like a starved crow looking for a pile of wheat grains, and then it falls down with its wings crooked.

The method of preventing plague is ancient: to deal with cholera patients, people only have yin and yang water mixed with wheat bran and bitter vinegar to boil and swallow, and put salt grains on the knife edge to burn red and swallow.The vomiting and diarrhea could not be stopped, the patient rolled his eyes, and the relatives at home should not cry, so take a rhubarb basin, turn the mouth down, wrap it around the face of the dead three times, and read: cholera, cholera, plague god Catch it yourself!If the three souls don't enter the Yan Luo Palace, quickly identify the door and go home. If someone suffers from head sweating, the best local medicine is green bamboo leaves, reed root, big raw ground boiled water to drive away heart fire, and subdue heart demons.The patient is placed on the big mat, and he is allowed to talk nonsense from the fever. When he sweats, the demons will escape, and the patient will tremble violently. He has to hold his head and press his legs to prevent him from moving. The heart demon is so vicious that he has to lock the ox bracelet.In case the sweat doesn't come and the heart is dead, the relatives at home have to grab a bowl in a hurry to prevent the demon from getting out of the body with the fire.If someone suffers from ghost malaria (note: it comes every three days, commonly known as three-star malaria, and there are ghosts in the northern folklore.) then you have to find a place to hide from ghosts. He went out with a big copper coin in his mouth, found a new grave with no grass, walked around three times, plucked out a small handful of his hair without making a sound, punched a dead heel through the money hole, threw it on the grave, and walked away without a word. You are not allowed to turn back after entering the house; if you fail to do so, the ghost must be a very vicious ghost, and you have to beat it with a toilet broom, cover your head with a crotch cloth, and force the ghost to leave with extremely filthy filth; Seeking the ghost sword and spells from the Witch family.Those who have smallpox should go to a dark room, lie in a sandpit, or sleep in a nest of ashes. No matter how itchy they are, they are only allowed to roll and not scratch.Those who have been bitten by a mad dog are hopeless no matter how serious they are.The iron chains were worn through the eyes, and the patient's home was locked, and he was left to be hungry and crazy. After death, he was carried out of the door in a coffin, and the coffin was set up with dry firewood and cremated.But the only major plagues introduced into the swamp were cholera and sweating.

Before the outbreak of the plague, the gongs of various villages also rang, the brooms also danced towards the sky, and the old god with white beard was also carried to the Temple of Fire to offer incense, but Han Bing didn't find anyone else, but the old god. Elderly people can't stand a high fever, and their eyes will turn white before sweating.In the swamp, everyone else died, but the old gods couldn't die. People couldn't tell what their heads were, they just thought the old gods were a big pillar, talking and acting, and stabilizing the disaster-prone land and the broken sky for them.No matter how frightening the plague was, people from all over the marsh, including the huts, rushed to the millhouse for his funeral.

Xia Futang was far behind, once the old fairy Xia died, and there was no one left in the Xia family, Er Hei'er locked up the Sihetou house.The oil mill has been closed for a long time, and only two or three oil workers refused to leave. They are doing long-term work and taking care of the crops all year round. Father Shi was here, and Er Hei'er made it clear: My father ate food from Xia's family all his life, and I grew up in Xia's family. No matter what, I will support this family for Uncle Xia until he comes back.Unless I, Er Hei'er, died of plague! The oil worker Biantou interrupted him: One person will die from the plague, but if the plague does not kill everyone, we will continue to work. When Uncle Xia comes back, we will not miss him a grain of grain, a piece of half a brick!

As soon as the old fairy Xia entered the soil, the sweat disease fell on Biantou, and he lay on the roller with straight legs and straight feet. It took three days to sweat profusely. Taking care of him saved Bian Tou's life. The plague spreads in the swamp wind The women whispered to each other worryingly, someone in a certain family was stiff, someone in a certain family was sweating, the whole family of a certain family was vomiting and diarrhea, a certain person was sleeping in a coffin, and his family had to send all the meals, and they said they were afraid of death. The move was slow, and the whispers were cut off. I saw some people who were holding back their tears went to the back of the house to bury Huang Yu.The wilderness died in the plague, and from morning to night, only the hoarse cry of the old cicada was heard.

It spread like a plague, burning up dry grass like a big fire, carrying out matted corpses one by one from each door, buried them in pits and buried them on the wasteland, and the early yellow leaves danced on the new graves one after another .Liuzhier Guilong rode a donkey around the villages all day long, and all he could do was help carry the buried corpses.What kind of day is this? !The sun is just a dead white, which draws out the fantastic shadow of people. Today I am digging reed roots and picking bamboo leaves. Maybe I will get sick tomorrow morning and become a zombie in the dark.The high autumn clouds cling together, turning the deep blue sky into a huge wellhead, and the swamp sinks into the well of death, unable to climb or attach to anything.Corpse-eating ants burrowed into the newly erected mounds, busily forming countless hillocks the size of copper coins on the surface of the mounds.What kind of day is this? !Sorrow floated in people's bewildered eyes, there were no tears, and they couldn't cry, as if everyone was imprisoned by a terrible spell, nestling in the house in a daze, waiting for the black hand of death to stretch out from the door Come in and snatch whoever you want!No one can save anyone, and no one can hold anyone back!A shanty who escaped from Peijiawei, the whole family of seven died in three days, and only one woman was left at the end. She guarded the six corpses silently, broke a handful of willow branches in her hand, and slowly licked the corpses of the dead. There were flies flying over her head, and the old willow leaves couldn't help waving, and they fell off one by one, but she still held the bare branches and kept beating.When Er Hei'er brought people into the shed to move the corpse, the woman was stubborn, lying on top of the smelly corpse, and refused to be transported for burial.Shi Qi pulled her away, and she bit Shi Qi's calf, forcefully biting off a piece of meat.Someone said: Sister-in-law, they died a long time ago, and the dead are not buried, waiting for maggots to grow?The woman was stunned for a long time before she howled and said: My God!I didn't eat or drink for several nights, waiting for them to sweat. Later, someone saw her body floating in a stagnant pond covered with green moss.

Mr. Lei Er from Leizhuang, a few days ago, rode a donkey to the sick households to deliver medicines, and advised people to chew more wild garlic, saying that the smell of garlic can drive away pests.Within a few days, he himself fell ill, his whole body was scorched, and he told people to feed the large group of pigeons carefully.A psychic white pigeon crashed into the door and landed on his chest cooing, his eyelids had already covered his eyeballs. Guilong returned to the Fire God Temple at night, and Yinhua waited at the intersection to ask him for news, but he couldn't tell, and he couldn't remember how many people were buried in a day.The body of the sweating dead body was swollen and stiff, with fiery red and black all over, as if it had been scorched by a fire, with half-open eyes, and taut lips bruised with blue blood.The corpses of those who died of cholera were shriveled and thin, with wrinkled skin, mouths and eyes closed, like chickens scalded in boiling water.

Oh he could only close his eyes and shake his head feebly. The plague is a chaotic, yellow mist that covers the sky and the earth. Day and night, it turns into a horrible green in the eyes of people, like a blazing will-o'-the-wisp, making people unable to remember the month, day and time.During the day, the dogs howled towards the whirlwind, and the mourning sound was very long, like wolves howling in the moonland.The night owl who gloated at other people's misfortune was also abnormal, the sun was shining on the forest, and it just closed its eyes, grinning strangely, as if pretending to be aware of the disaster outside the forest.

I'm afraid, Brother Guilong.Yinhua trembled from her eyes: You move corpses and bury people all day long, so you won't get sick Guilong stretched out his arms to embrace her.There had been no net between her and him since the plague fell on the swamp.Let it go, Yinhua, you are destined to be infected with the plague, and you can't escape.Those who shut their doors and stay out of the house still got the plague. I'm just afraid.Yinhua said: I pray to God every night: If you deserve the plague, let me die in your place.She stopped suddenly, regretting that she had said the ominous word of death. I will not die.Guilong said: If the vengeance is not reported, Lord Yan will arrest you with the soul arresting card, and I will not go either!You are weak, so be careful. However, Yinhua finally suffered from sweating disease.He wrapped her in a single quilt and hugged her on his big bunk. He had never taken care of the sick, and he never thought that Yinhua would suddenly fall ill and let an unmarried young man serve his unmarried daughter-in-law. I've heard of such a thing in the world, but it happened to me. Let me die. On the first night when Brother Guilong had a fever, her eyes were still clear, filled with a deep, dark, impenetrable affection. She was like a flower that is about to wither, grinning towards the sun that will shine on her on the last day. With dry and cracked lips, a cold smile was pulled out: I am willing to suffer this disaster on your behalf The small flame of the boiled oil dwindled, flickered and then went out. In the hut that smelled of tar, Yinhua's face and her farewell smile were still swaying in front of his eyes. He suddenly became terrified and stretched out his hand to touch her. Her forehead, her face and lips, murmured: Promise me, promise me!Yinhua promise me where are you?A soft warm hand rested on the back of his hand, Yinhua's voice was extremely weak, as if it came from another world through a distant space. what do you thinkHe said. There was hot damp in her nostrils. Are you crying? Her head shook gently under his palm.But he himself was crying, he didn't make a sound, and he didn't twitch, but the tears rolled out of his sockets.He lives in the world, in the boundless void, he has nothing but silver flowers, now, the oil is dry, the lamp is out, he can't see her, he's really afraid that she will escape in the darkness, he Pulling out the hand that was pressed by her, he held her hand tightly. I don't mind Yinhua said: you go to sleep He didn't move, just guarding her in the dark.Death is a strange thing, like a black eagle squatting in his heart and trembling.Those who are torn apart by swords and guns are not uncommon. Of course, life will be expelled from the broken corpses, but the plague is different.When he was young, squatting on the square field under the sun, he patiently watched a brood of plague-infected chicks die one by one. Those cute chicks had soft and dense feathers, shining brightly in the sun. , They were still fluttering their wings, pecking at their fur, and squeezing each other as usual. Suddenly, one of them choked, jumped up and fell to the ground as if shocked by something, its bright yellow legs twitched twice, and a long string of long legs followed. The long trembling cord, when the trembling cord stops, life is gone; the rest of the chicks clung closer, opened their dark eyes wide, and uttered a very low chirping sound, life was revealed in their bright eyes, and they sang. There was no shadow; soon, two or three died like that, and all the struggle was just a slight twitching trembling cord, and the trembling feeling stayed in his heart for a long time.Tonight, that feeling came back through time and space, and he was really afraid that Yinhua would be snatched away by the invisible hand of death just like that.He watched for a long, long time, he heard her spit out a string of indistinct ravings, heard her rapid panting, the fear gradually disappeared, he let go of her hand, went to the stove to pick the oil pot, the oil pot When it was empty, he thought of how to light a lamp. He opened the door and went out. He found a white-flowered Piper longum on the other side of the poplar tree (Note: The name of the plant, the stem is three or four feet high, commonly known as flat.), and picked a bunch of Piper longum. When the seeds of the longicorns came back, they broke off a reed stick from the eaves, and put them on the longan kernels one by one. When he lit the lamp made by Pi Long Ren'er, Yinhua opened her eyes once, her eyes were blank, but her black pupils looked very deep at him, she stretched out her hand to him again, subconsciously Grabbing his cuff, as if stubbornly resisting the plague that tore her internal organs. I'm here, Silver Flower. There was a smile on the corner of her mouth, and two tears welled up in the corner of her eyes.A butter gourd bug squatted in the stove wall and kept squeaking.Time passed by in a blur.He ignited another string of Pilong Ren'er, and never took his eyes off Yinhua's face.The pimento kernel exploded, spitting out a small green flame, and reflected his trembling shadow on the earthen wall at the end of the bed.His eyes stared at Yinhua stiffly, and his whole heart left the body and sank into Yinhua's eyes, but part of his consciousness was still awake, feeling the blue cloth printed bamboo leaf curtain fluttering, and the stars outside the small window. In the blink of an eye, just like that, the dark night slipped away, and the morning light illuminated the hut. In Guilong's eyes, light and darkness no longer have any meaning, he just put his whole heart on Yinhua, filled with an illusory confidence in his heart, and fought against the god of death to prevent Yinhua from being snatched away.He went to the reed pond to dig firewood roots, plan the ground, pick young leaves from the bamboo shoots, boil water to feed her, and he waited for her to sweat. After waiting around the clock until the third day, he was so exhausted that he nearly passed out.The night before, Yinhua was still turning over in a high fever, moaning, and uttering a series of indistinct gibberish. On the third night, she became stiff and her face was as red as coals. The fire was burning from her heart, but was The tightly sealed sweat pores were blocked, only her skin was burning red.She seemed to be dead, he reached out to touch her forehead, and felt the burning heat on her face an inch away.Now, the only thing he has to wait for is her breath. He opened his eyes and dreamed that colorful grimaces were swaying here and there. It grew up again, turned into a grimace again, bumped into him, rushed at him, bit him, entangled him, and landed on the edge of the mat like a fly, crying.roll roll roll!He screamed loudly: She is not dead, she is not dead!She was about to break out in a sweat, and suddenly burst out from the terrible hallucination, the small flame of the chimpanzee lamp lengthened, dragging out a fluffy tail of light, bursting out strings of sparks like blue bubbles, surging Rising, swaying, disappearing above the beam.Yinhua, Yinhua, there is an endless voice in his heart that is overturning: Sweat!Sweat!I don't know how long it took, but the crowing of the rooster woke him up. Through the quilt, he saw the heat steaming on Yinhua's body. Here, Yinhua closed her eyes tightly, and her breathing changed from urgency to relaxation to a faint peace. Only when he leaned against her nostrils could he feel a breath of breath. caught.When I woke up again, I saw the sunlight coming in from the small window, falling on a piece of quilt, the quilt was completely soaked, and clinging to my body!Her round body was revealed, sweat rolled on her head, and dripped on the big mat with a patter sound, the freezing in his heart melted away with the sound of sweat dripping, and he felt tired and peaceful.Her face turned from red to white, and became thinner with sweat, her eye sockets and cheeks were deeply sunken, but there was a vivid brilliance between her brows, her lips squirmed, and ravings came out from between her lips , she finally lived. Silver flower!He cried: I am here, you are sweating! Her lips squirmed a little bit, but she couldn't make any sound. Her palms found him like a blind man groping for a wall, and pinched his clothes feebly.He jumped out of bed, scooped a spoonful of bamboo leaf tea into the small tea mug, held her head up to feed her, and Yinhua opened her eyes as if waking from a dream. The sinking world rose up again in her eyes, and for the first time in his life, he felt the sun was so bright, as if it was a golden fluid that was about to fill all emptiness and darkness.She opened her mouth, about to spit out something, but he stopped her with a wave of his hand, changed the quilt for her, and went to the stove to make porridge. Yinhua really came back to life. She sweated profusely for a day and a night, which made her exhausted and trembling. After several days of nursing by Liuzhier Guilong, she was able to get out of bed. Her pale face appeared in the sun. When she knelt on the futon and worshiped the gods, Guilong heard her praying: "There should be a plague, the believer girl Yinhua has suffered it, please God of plague, stay away from the house, there should be two plagues, and I beg the Bodhisattva to return to the letter." Don't plague others on women And the great plague is still hovering over the swamp. The Bodhisattva didn't listen to her prayer, and cholera hit Guilong again.At the beginning of September, he got sick in the evening, so violent that he couldn't lift his trousers.At the beginning, he still resisted tenaciously, trying to restrain the plague with his determination, but that determination collapsed almost immediately, he vomited violently, as if he wanted to vomit out all his heart, liver, spleen and stomach.In the middle of the night, everything around fell into the water, shaking in his eyes, the light shaking, the shadow shaking, the white barrier, the foam rose and burst into the net of water waves.All the shaking is fantastic, irregular, and constantly deformed, becoming snakes and earthworms.At first it was just some meaningless ignorance, his dull eyes fixed and looked straight.Sometimes he felt vomiting, a sticky and hot puddle, sticking to the mat under him.Who's wiping that filth?Yinhua's voice floated in the clouds, and a red-rimmed cloud swirled above his head. The voices fell, cool and moist like autumn rain, and suddenly turned into gold flakes, falling into nothingness one after another.Eyes closed, a spark danced into a rapid oblique arc, brushing and whipping the darkness, in the dizzy flash, the floating shadow of a dead tree without leaves stood upright, the flash shook, the spark hid in the tree hole, Two halo balls of dark green rolling with flames, the center of the ball is black, surrounded by a halo, it rolls over the clear blue, over the dark purple, over the blue, over the green, over the space composed of countless dark patterns .The voices dripped down in strings like soft rain, I don't know what to say but full of gentle meaning, sweet meaning.Yinhua is on the other side of a black mountain, the wind is howling in the black, the wolf is whimpering, the strange-shaped gully is rushing, the black mountain is on the right, the black mountain is on the left, and a series of voices are dripping dimly. Facing the sun suddenly, the sun dazed in the thick fog is just a piece of orange red, countless fog particles absorb the light, like dust dancing in the beam of light penetrating into the window in the morning, the fog particles wrap him, and the world of dark patterns disappears from the eyelids It turned into a horizontal strip of light-colored light, and a square of fantastic blue squares danced in the horizontal strip.Rustling, rustling, the dew seeped into the skin, into the stinging eyeballs, into the dry blood vessels, into the honeycomb-like bone marrow, squirming and biting.Damp and hot, dizzy, tired, depressed, on the pus and blood dripping ground, at the edge of the swamp, in the swamp, in the rotten grass, in the tree hole, boiling, swelling into countless cancerous tumors, hanging like bunches of grapes.Black Mountain spits out eye-catching lava-like flames, and the strong blue, yellow, red, and purple horizontal stripes turn into a trembling river of light, with gossamer spurs, making malicious noises, and then fleeing into the boundless chaos. The arrowhead that pierces the sky, hurry up!Hurry up!The spinning disk was smashed, the disk vibrated, the hum expanded, and the pain was spasming. Arrowheads!Arrowheads!arrowhead CD!CD!CD The endless meditation continues, the waves of fear and horror rise and fall from time to time, there is no time, no day and night, no thinking, life is a strand of gossamer, drawn in the wind, sometimes sticking to the body, sometimes hanging outside the body, Can't get away. The bitter and salty liquid poured into his throat, and the gentle rain wept on his chest, and he wrapped the weeping sound with that strand of gossamer.The flame of consciousness will be extinguished, but it is still shining on the forehead.I'm going to die, I'm going to die There's a whisper on the flames.The voice is pathetic, with unwilling resentment.The image of the grave spread out, and death howled among the graves.Flapping blackbirds cast huge phantoms in the corners of their eyes.live!live!live!The echo came back, but turned into resistance. Gentle rain seeped into the ground.The feeling of being barefoot buried in the soft and moist soil.The gentle rain penetrates the roots of the black dead trees.Something was turning him over.Through the paralyzed epidermis, a hard object was gently scraping, and a spine was scraped back into consciousness by the hard object.The gossamer of life is weak and powerless, it just exists and cannot pull anything, not even eyes, fingers and lips.There is power to turn him over again, pinching his brows, throat, and shoulder blades on both sides, the flames are beating, the black mountain is shaking and flashing, the gossamer is floating, and the feeling is gradually increasing.But wrapped in a shell of death, the inner flow cannot overflow. At the same time, Yinhua with disheveled hair was almost desperate; for two days, she had used up the legendary earthen remedy for cholera, feeding him, irrigated him, but could not stop the violent disease at all, he vomited, he diarrhea, he sifts chaff like chaff The trembling of the rope returns to a weak slumber.She took off his underpants without hesitation at all, fetched water to wipe off the meal-like filth on the banquet, and covered his deformed body with the washed quilt.Her petals were loose and flung over her shoulders, and her eyeballs were swollen like walnuts from excessive sobbing.She looked at him and called him thousands of times, but Guilong didn't respond, and there was a faint light in his eyes that could not illuminate everything.She was sobbing, spit out a lot of words like crazy.Oh My God!My loved ones!She yelled in confusion, trying to pull his life back from somewhere, but it was also in vain.Finally, she thought of the method of pinching Sha and scraping the spine with copper coins. She scraped and pinched him in the morning when the red light reflected on the wall at dusk. Trembling with fear, she kept scraping until a purple bloodstain appeared on the outside of her spine. She rolled over his body, and when she pinched his brows, purple Sha marks the size of broad beans bulged out, and Guilong woke up for the first time, his frozen eyes were filled with waves, and a cloud of white rose from the other side of the waves, When the waves converged, he saw Yinhua's strange face, like a residual flower that had fallen into the swirling water, facing him haggardly and shriveled.I'm going to die, I'm going to die, there is a faint voice in his heart: Yinhua, Yinhua names one after another, rising like bubbles.The white flowers are floating, drifting away!No!A void cry is strong: live!live!The white flowers were drifting, his consciousness was chasing after him, and he was extremely difficult to condense the light in his pupils. It was also the first time I felt dusk, a small piece of red velvet sticking in the air, holding Yinhua's face transparently, motionless, frozen there for a long time, her affectionate and sad red eyes, her shining eyes The disheveled hair, her staring through the space, all appeared in a clear moment.His eyes were frozen like that. Desperate light emerged from Yinhua's mournful eyes, and Guilong's fixed eyes made her have a premonition of death. She had heard rumors about the situation of the reflection of the light, and the legend was in contrast to the scene in front of her. At this last moment, she was extremely persistent, unwilling to let death snatch Guilong away, and she deeply realized the relationship between him and her life and death. There was an unconscious smile on Guilong's face, it wasn't an illusion, it wasn't red velvet, it wasn't sunset glow, it was a bonfire on the low ground, flickering flames in the bamboo cage, the air smelled of wine, The smell of smoke and fresh leather, he and she first met by the campfire, her face was covered with a layer of fire and night, just like in the past.Consciousness falls in peace, green and black waves cover people, a dead wasteland spreads out, no sound, no other colors, just gray-green mist, everything is dead, dead trees , dead standing stones, dead weeds, appearing, footsteps stepping on silently, the image becomes nothingness, is that death?Is it dead?The sudden shock brought him back into the circle of consciousness.This time he heard Yinhua's chanting, a desolate, slow lament Cholera! Cholera Sha God of Plague, catch it yourself! The three souls do not enter the Hall of Yama, Quickly recognize the door and go home The yellow pot swayed around his face, and the sound of Yinhua was like an evening bell that was just beginning to tickle. It was far away but clearly crashed into the bottom of his heart.He knew that this last rescue was a silent farewell, maybe he was really going to die, and the green and black waves interrupted his swaying thoughts, making him float and sink in the gray and hazy state of death. After an unknown amount of time, a sharp pain pierced into his chaotic feeling, and he regained consciousness.This time it was a kind of steady sobriety, all illusions receded completely, and he saw the face of Uncle Crooked Hu Manny, with a ray of newly awakened sunlight in the middle. Don't move!Guilong!Crooked Hu Lai'er said: "You just lie down!"I came late, last night you opened your eyes and saw no one, but I gave you an injection and kept watch over you for the middle of the night! Guilong shook his head: I can't do it anymore Crooked Hu Manile couldn't hear what he said, only saw his lips trembling, nineteen slender silver needles were burning in his acupuncture points, and the strange feeling when the needle tails were twisting brought him back into contact with life. His blood was surging, his chest was hot, and the hairspring of life was firmly nailed in his body. He fell into a deep sleep, and when he woke up, he uttered a clear word, he said. That was the first time he had uttered a sound. He finally survived death!Waihu Lai'er said to Yinhua: He got cholera, vomiting and diarrhea dried up the water, his blood vessels were weak, and his heart was constricted. Eight out of ten people would not survive. It is really rare for him to survive the critical moment. Yes, Liuzhier Guilong survived death and stayed in embarrassing weakness for a few days.Crooked Hu Lai'er tied the white horse in the temple, helped Yinhua chop wood, carry water, manage the house, and cook the stove, as if he were at home. I said, Uncle Crooked Hu, what's wrong with you?Do you want to stay in the plague land?Once infected, no one can cure it The God of Plague told my brother, Waihu Lai'er, "In my hometown, I had cholera when I was eight years old. I got sick every year, and each time it got lighter. I got sweat like someone else's cold. It's nothing serious!" Where did you learn acupuncture?Guilong said: Unexpectedly, these fine needles can cure plague. Acupuncture?ancestral.Crooked Hu Lai'er said: My old man specializes in this field, I'm not good enough, I just learn a little superficially.Thousands of years ago, the ancestors used it to cure all diseases, including plague. Guilong never dreamed that Waihu Manile saved him and made him escape from death. His temper was as dull as his father, and he didn't even say a word of thanks.After ten days of recuperation, he felt that his body had recovered, so Waihu Mangyer let him go out. After the Great Plague, the swamp changed again. Many eye-catching new graves were added here and there in the open field.The westerly wind in September was cold, and picked off the leaves of the forest, piled in the east, and scattered in the west, fluttering and fluttering; the gray-white cumulus clouds were horizontally coiled on the top of the forest, reflecting the jagged branches. Ke's shadow.Even the white horse could feel this chilling scene, facing the wind from time to time, let out a mournful long neigh, wild smoke was floating on the graves by the side of the deserted road, and some women who survived the dead wiped their ankles cry. Su Da bastard is a boat without a rudder!Crooked Hu Lai'er said: He plucked up the piles and dumped water, which caused severe floods and plagues. I will put this account on his head!I said Guilong, look at how I dealt with the devil Erhuang, you may think I am cruel, and say you don't believe it, in the early years in my hometown, I never thought of killing people!Now I think differently, if killing one person can save thousands of lives, I will let go and kill!As long as he does evil to that point, he will die!If the crime is in my hands, I will never keep him!People like Shan Yao and Su Dahuner have a natural wolf nature, so they must be killed. I know this.Guilong holds the donkey: My father often said before he died: We are a big country in the sky, and we are not stingy. If the devils stop attacking China, no one will kill them all!He is a kind of ghost, he commits crimes and some people say, why did he turn his head to harm people from the east of the lake because he was born and bred in Su Da? Fanbalu was not beaten by people at all!Crooked Hu Lai'er said: Believe in his mother's theory of foreign countries, talk about communism and common wives, and a mantra says: What is mine is mine, and what is yours is also mine.If a man has a wife, he also wants to pull it together!You are only allowed to share with him, but he does not share with you!There is a knife hidden in the smile, extremely poisonous! Just pull the gun, you crooked uncle!Guilong said: "Everyone in the east of the lake trusts you. As long as you say something, five or seven hundred guns can be easily pulled up, and no one can bear it!"You pull the gun, I'll do it with you! Crooked Hu Lai'er shook his head: "Guerrilla realism doesn't matter how many people there are. Even if I can pull up five or seven hundred guns, there will be too many people and your legs will be slow. If the devils attack you, the eight roads will drag your legs behind you, and then there will be more people." No amount of strength will do!It's up to him to pull guns and gather people. I only want three or five men to support him! Anyway, this time I will go with you!Guilong said: My father was robbed and died. Yinhua and I have not consummated the marriage. I can't stay at home. I will fight devils with you. Take your time to discuss!Crooked Hu said: Wait until I help the Zedi people, and we'll get rid of this plague first. With the change of seasons, the great plague in the swamp finally passed.Two or three hundred new graves were added to those who died of the plague one after another. A great plague seemed to shrink the world, and the guns, horses and swordsmen from outside the sky did not invade the plagued area again. What people saw was only a peaceful death.Guilong accompanied Waihu Lai'er to various villages, gathered the survivors of the catastrophe, buried the corpses, cleared the house, and cleaned the courtyard.Erhei'er from Qingshiwu, Biantou, an oil worker, Daddy Shi from Tubao, and Lei Laogu from Leizhuang, were all overwhelmed by Crooked Hu's spirit, as if he had drilled his head out of the center of the earth and chased away the plague god. It's better to live than to die, Crooked Hu said: People live in troubled times, their eyes should look towards the place of life, and don't patronize the crying dead.right?Papa Stone.Now the world is going dark, big disasters and small calamities, wave after wave, endless!Although you want me to die, I will not die!Otherwise, there is no way to live again!I have traveled across counties in every state, and have been to many places, but I have never seen any family with a complete population! That's right, crooked fool!Father Shi sighed and said: After the devils come, they will rob all directions. It is not a matter of one family. We can't live a life when we are sad and crying. We have to wipe away our tears for several days and months, as usual. Su Da bastard broke the embankment and turned over the weir to cause this disaster!Shi Qi of Tubao said: We can't forget it!Even if you are not in the swamp, Mr. Crooked Hu, we will gather our guns and settle accounts with him. There was a strange brilliance in the crooked mangy's spunky eyes.He has fallen in love with this wild land since the horses crossed the swamp, although the desolation of the red grass is different from the desolation of those rocky mountains in his hometown.Earlier, I joined the standing brigade to fight in the East, and traveled all over the desolate east coast, the yellowish black sand pits and dry rivers, the gray blue foaming sea, some cloud trees in the distant sky, some wormwood in front of me, and my eyes are full of desolate and lonely scenery , Marching, assaulting, trampling wasteland and wading day and night, dealing with the well-equipped Japanese devils is not to start fires, but to entangle them desperately.For several years, apart from the ambush with three or five guns, and the assault in one and a half squads, all the troops and devils faced fire, and they never won a single time.Once, an infantry company was nested in a sand ditch with dead heads, surrounded by devils and starved of shells. After a day and a night, none of the corpses looked like a human being!Another time, the Eighth Route Shandong Column secretly sent people to instigate rebellion, saying that the central government has long since abandoned your ragtag team. There is no guns, no food and no salary. What is there to do? It is better to bring Maban over and immediately promote you. Captain, drive home to fight devils!Earlier, when I listened to Dagushu, I sang that Ha Michi had no nose, so I showed my nose and left a human nose.Such a wicked, sweet-mouthed swindler, if you keep him, not only will you lose the devil, but you will also lose your fortune!Later, seeing that he had grown stronger, he forced the little troops left in the center to leave the east coast. scrape. (Note: War horses are most afraid of scratches. Because horses have the habit of rolling sand, the bigger the wound, the more likely it will be inflamed. Especially in hot weather, the severity of the scratches far exceeds that of the piercing wounds on the limbs.) Everyone has gambled on the blood curse, and if you have the breath to beat the devils, you will never let go!What is frustrating is that the countless villages in the north are all fascinated by sweet-talking liars. They only talk about the old eight roads. They rarely hear about the old central government. !Many hearts have been fascinated, causing them to lose their footing everywhere.Now, seeing people waking up from the disaster in the wild land in the east of the lake, they will no longer listen to rumors that maliciously slander Commander He. piece of land!He must help He command this lone army and take root here! This time I decided not to go!Crooked Hu said: I want to stay here and hold the back door for Commander He of Wu Dazhuang. No one knows what year it will be considered as the first year, but such a weird hero as Waihu Manile stayed in Zedi, which brought a kind of encouragement to Zedi.Disasters have been tormented one after another, making the living silent, and the desire to survive is burning more intensely.大瘟去後，人們的眼睛是乾的，亮的，深涵著忍耐和等待正是他們腳下多災難的土地所具有的，他們是生長在土裏的樹，自然的學會了這種大地的精神。 一支農民的槍隊拉起來了，那不是什麼隊伍，也不是游擊隊之類的軍事組織，他們根本沒有什麼組織，番號，也沒有訂什麼守則，立什麼法條，他們是許多風暴裏的樹，對於生存的熱望，本能地把他們緊緊壓聚在一起，用根鬚抓緊泥土，並相互挨擠著，藉以抗拒風暴。保衛生存的農民們，對於悲劇的抗爭是沒有什麼預想結果的，如果有，那該是換一種比較悲壯的抗爭方式去接受死亡。 六指兒貴隆加入了槍隊，歪胡癩兒送給他一支三膛匣槍，外釘五十四發槍火。在這之前，他連廣造槍也沒摸過，甭說連響的短槍了。學著點，貴隆，歪胡癩兒拍著他肩膀說：這好比你們燃著火走黑路，拿它防狼一個樣兒。你若早生三年五年，當兵吃糧，離了家窩去見見世面，扒彈坑，喝血水，看鬼子的母雞下鐵蛋，夜來晚上，掄刀踹進鬼子營，砍頭當瓜切，那倒是痛快事兒！如今不是那回事了，在你們，算是拚命保命，這兒跟中央大軍接不上，保家就是衛國，這方那塊，全能豁命保家鄉，不上偽捐偽稅，遇上機會殺邪驅鬼，弄得他們睡不得安穩覺，就夠了！ 六指兒貴隆弄不清這個，其餘的人也照樣弄不清這簡單的道理，一種模糊的，固執的直感裏面蘊藉著所有，為那種直感終生支配著他們的一切行為。人類原始的靈性，荒緲的傳說，加上眼前的環境，形成了那種直感，懵懂中閃亮著神的眼睛，內在的灼耀足以照亮他們，使他們不經由理解、語言、感悟或其它什麼去弄清比較複雜的事象，那些事象經過他們的眼，複雜也成為單純。春來了，他們就說：春來了！秋去了，他們就說：秋去了！沒有人離開傳說，單獨而深入的推究一個問題。太陽為何照光？季節為何推移？自然祇把祂的真實面貌顯示給他們，自然從不告訴他們那些事象的本源。沒有人曉得國界，沒有人背得天下十三省（註：北方有些農民一直以為天下十三省）的名字。空間也沒有參差，時間也沒有參差；凡是外地都是遠的，遠的，千里迢迢的，漢朝的猛張飛跟唐朝的李元霸該拜一拜把兄弟。衛國求存的道理空洞得很，若換成杉胛清鄉，蘇大混兒放水就落實了；說抗日反共，也不怎麼切合實際，說打杉胛，打蘇大混兒就落實了。 槍隊就是這樣拉起來的；槍有七十多條，能扛的也不過四五十人，石倫老爹把西大院連房騰空了，打上連床的草鋪，歪胡癩兒就當了頭兒。槍隊拉起來之後，除去人口較多的雷莊之外，散居的棚戶，夏家泓附近的孤莊子，青石碾房各處的人，全紛紛的遷進土堡來尋求翼護。 那座高聳的土堡被修葺了，加上尖頂的排木護蓋，圩口的柵門改成巨大的甬道，莊頭的曠地上，新蓋起幾排木架草頂的平屋，露天的角樁上，拴著牲畜。 歪胡癩兒脫掉衣裳，幫一家人搭蓋畜棚。六指兒貴隆坐在一截木段兒上，使歪頭小斧劈樁。石老爹啣著煙，這裏那裏打轉。一個瘦癟了的女孩披著沒領沒袖的百衲襖兒，蹲在歪胡癩兒旁邊，半歪著頭，拖著結了餅兒的焦黃頭髮，癡癡的望著他。 銀花不搬進堡來嗎？歪胡癩兒吐口吐沫在手掌心搓了搓，掄起打樁的榔頭。 貴隆搖搖頭。 我央石老爹替你們作個主，成家算了！歪胡癩兒說：兩人各撮把香去拜拜墳，兩家老人在地下，只怕眼全盼大了！ 我沒那個心腸，貴隆說：我這條命決意押上了，賭蘇大混兒那個腦袋。我萬一輸了，總不成害她一輩兒？ 這一注，我來押！歪胡癩兒笑著：趕明年，你替你爹抱個白胖的孫兒罷！他抬頭看見那個瘦癟女孩的眼，扔下榔頭來，感觸的抱起她，死了這一代，還有下一代呢！What's your name? 女孩不說話，只管拿眼看著他。 不要多想明天的事，貴隆。他說：明天還沒來呢！ 這樣勸說著，而明天在歪胡癩兒的心裏是悲哀透明的，明知悲哀，但總把悲哀壓住，他不能向誰宣述那些，甚至也不會在靈魂裏述說給自己聽。他和所有的農民一樣，有著他自己的原始的直感，有著他自己的岩山兀立的天地，但被風暴捲出來，使他經歷了十多次死亡，經歷了新異廣大的世界。抗戰是什麼？是無數血，無數火，加上無數的死亡；不僅在投落下燒夷彈的城裏，不僅在硝煙如雨血肉橫飛的戰場，這血這火這死亡充塞在每一角落，今天，明天，今年，明年，無時無刻，槍在響，血在流，火在燃燒，人在死亡，除了求存的保衛能沖破它，再沒有任何力量能抗拒它了。他經歷過，頭一回在突擊中掛彩，他昏迷了三天三夜，總夢見魯南的老家山，被劇痛刺醒時，恐懼像蛇一般盤踡在心裏，惟恐死了，失去那樣的夢境。後來負傷時，什麼恐懼也沒有了，活呢，就這樣活下去，死呢，就這樣心安理得的死掉好了！花名冊上的張得功、李得勝、趙明標、馬得亮，不愁沒人自願來頂。嘴裏勸旁人是好死不如賴活，心裏想的是賴活不如好死！如今悲哀浮現在這不知名姓的女孩的眼裏，死亡是不會挑選的，自己滿心想走進去，閻老西關門不收；婦孺們該活下去，偏偏要收他們下土。澤地的槍隊翼護不了什麼，正如自己空有滿身力量也翼護不了什麼一樣，但即使翼護今天翼護不了明天那也夠了，總比束手去等死要強。他不能把悲憫的情緒流露出來，在澤地人們的心上蒙一層黯影。 在那一剎，沒有人曉得他曾浸在女孩的眼神裏。 貴隆終在石老爹的主張下成家了，他和銀花穿起孝衣回火神廟去拜墳，哭著把孝衣脫在老癩子的衣冠塚上，歪胡癩兒替他們點火焚了。兩人就沖著墳塚，拜天，拜地，再拜死去的雙親。新房設在石家土堡的平頂草屋裏，新婚的頭一夜，貴隆和銀花抱頭哭到天亮。