The day of fortune-telling for the dragon

The Yao family is not far from Hua Jue's fortune-telling stall.When Hua Jue heard people coming from outside, she was staying in her shed with Xuan Long and Xiao Fenghuang, quietly discussing some guesses and plans with each other about these recent events.Today it was Hua Dabao and Wumei's turn to look after the house, so they didn't follow.

It was windy outside, Hua Jue first saw a cracked crutch covered with plaster, and then saw a crooked old man with silver hair, he knocked on the door with some embarrassment, and wanted to use his hand to hang it on the person's face. The curtain was removed, but the old man was physically inconvenient, so he raised his hand several times, but he could only peel it off tremblingly for a moment, and then slid down again after a while, which seemed a bit funny.

Hua Jue was heartbroken, and rushed to help lift up the curtain, then helped her in slowly, and asked in a low voice, "Mother-in-law, are you here to tell your fortune?"

Xuanlong on the side also recognized that the person in front of him was Yao Feimeng's mother. When they went to Yao Feimeng's old residence that day, none of the group spoke, but he made a sound.In order to avoid arousing Aunt Yao's suspicion, he turned into a dragon shape and quietly stood high on the broken bookshelf beside him, looking down at Hua Jue slowly helping the old man in and asking her to sit down.

The so-called bright willows are probably like this.Hua Jue was worrying about how to lure Aunt Yao into the dreamland of Judgment Pen, but the other party took the initiative to find her.

He poured Aunt Yao a cup of hot tea, and asked earnestly, "Mother-in-law, what dream do you want to interpret?"

The old man said: "I dreamed of my son."

After saying this, the old man paused, and turned his cloudy eyes around, as if to confirm where Hua Jue was.Hua Jue hurriedly said: "I'm listening, you go ahead."

Then the old man continued: "My son...Young man, you don't know. If he can live to this day, his son should be as old as you. After so many years, I am 62, and he is still 16 He died of typhoid fever at the age of [-]. His name was Feimeng. At that time, an old half-immortal told me that my child was a little exiled immortal who came down from the Immortal Mountain in Huangliangmeng. That's why I named him. , which means it’s not like in the story, he is auspicious, safe and smooth. He has a good temperament and good academic performance... But his life is short. Hey, he has a bad memory when he is old. Let me talk too much, Mr. Xiao Blame it. I dreamed that he came back to find me."

Hua Jue listened quietly.The old man talked nonsense, but he memorized everything. Although his tone was not sad, after all, nearly four or fifty years had passed, and he had already been freed from the pain of losing his son. But the mother was a mother after all. The child can't help but talk more, like offering treasures to outsiders, saying what a good child he was.

What Aunt Yao dreamed was the night when she buried her son in the coffin, her son was pale and thin like a dry reed in winter.She hadn't had this dream for many years, but the blurred son's face suddenly became clear. In the dream, Yao Feimeng seemed to be asleep. When she lingered in front of the grave for a long time, she cried repeatedly. She: "Mother, why did you lock me up here? Mother, my son is cold. My son doesn't want to die."

The old man rubbed his dry and withered hands, and asked, "Did my son suffer some kind of grievance in the underworld? I am also about to enter the age of the coffin, and I never thought I would still dream of my son, sir, can you tell me?" Say, what is this omen?"

She almost panicked when she asked, Hua Jue quickly comforted her, "I dreamed of sending a child into the ground, this is a big—" Halfway through, he remembered what he was going to do, and abruptly retracted the conversation: "Mother-in-law , I probably want to take a closer look at your dream and cast some small spells. Can you give me a drop of blood so that I can plant a parent-child relationship so that I can see the relationship between them?"

Hua Jue had never lied to anyone like this before, and she almost stuttered.Fortunately, Aunt Yao didn't suspect him, so she asked Hua Jue to take out a silver needle and prick it lightly on a certain acupuncture point on her palm, and some traces of blood ooze out.Hua Jue wiped it carefully with the toilet paper, then whispered: "I'm sorry."

The old man smiled cautiously: "It doesn't hurt, it's okay."

Hua Jue put away the straw paper, and continued what she said before: "Dream of sending your son into the coffin is a sign of great auspiciousness, but if your son had a cold illness back then, this image will be discounted. , from auspicious to half-bad. This dream has nothing to do with your son. According to what you said, he has passed away for many years and should have passed away long ago, so don’t worry.”

Hua Jue took out the judge's pen, wrote the word "Ping An", held it in his hand, and said cautiously: "Grandmother, it's easy to overcome this half evil, I'll give you a piece of talisman paper, you just need to keep it in place safely." By your side, just don’t destroy it. From then on, you will be safe in your old age.”

Aunt Yao shook her head: "No need, my old body is half fierce and half fierce. I buried it in the soil earlier, so as not to be disgusted by others."

Saying that, she put down a string of hanging money on Huajue's table, and was about to get up and walk back.Hua Jue was helpless, picked up the hanging money and rushed back, followed Yao Dashen and said: "I don't charge money for the first hexagram every day here, mother-in-law, you are the first hexagram here today, and this talisman doesn't charge any money." Take the money, you just accept it."

The old man couldn't help saying "Thank you", and put all the things Hua Jue brought into his sleeves, but he insisted that Hua Jue accept half of the money: "My child, you came out to do fortune telling at such a young age. This is what your mother-in-law gave you this year." The New Year's money, take it well, ah."

The gentle ending of the exhortation reminded Hua Jue of her grandmother, and her eyes were sore, but she couldn't resist the old man's insistence, so she took half of it, and then slowly walked back to the small shed.

Xuanlong got down from the bookshelf, took the straw paper in front of him, then changed back into a human form, and held his hand.

"Don't be sad, if you sympathize with her loneliness in her old age, after this incident is over, we can visit her often." Xuan Long knew the thoughts of the people around him and comforted him softly.

Hua Jue nodded.

The original goal has been accomplished, so follow the plan.Hua Jue looked at the paper with a little blood on the table, and did the same thing, pricked herself in the tiger's mouth, and squeezed out a small drop of blood.Then, he took Xuanlong's hand, dipped the judge's pen in clear water, and lightly tapped it.

It didn't take a moment for the two of them to step into Aunt Yao's fantasy dream, which was the life of Yao Feimeng's mother.

Since Hua Jue met the judge last time, she has learned how to control the flow of time in the illusion.Like a shadow lamp, he slowly found the pictures he wanted to see, and saw the life of an ordinary woman.

Without the enviable and calm past of Taoist Huhua, Aunt Yao's life was very ordinary.When I was young, I listened to my parents' orders and the matchmaker's words to marry an honest man. The family was poor, but I was able to enjoy myself in hardship.A few years later, Aunt Yao became pregnant, but the man died in a flood, and Aunt Yao did not remarry afterwards.

But the place was not in Jiangling at that time, and Hua Jue couldn't recognize her. She could only guess that when the war broke out later, Aunt Yao came to Jiangling with her unborn child. This also confirmed the record that Yao Feimeng was a "black household".

Xuanlong said: "You can go back a bit and watch the part where Yao Feimeng is."

Hua Jue followed his words.

Many scenes passed quickly like a revolving lantern, and the surrounding scene was dilapidated. Hua Jue walked behind Xuanlong. If he hadn't recognized Jiangkou not far away, he couldn't believe that this was Jiangling in the past: "It feels so old here, It was many, many years ago."

The season should be spring.Aunt Yao was busy in the house, heating up the oil in the pan, frying out a plate of golden and puffy eggs, and bringing it to the table.Suddenly, a little child ran over from outside the door, carrying a sewn and clean book bag, and called out, "Ma'am."

Hua Jue frowned: "Madam? Why don't you call me mother?"

Xuanlong said: "I used to read books, and I know that there are several places near Hangzhou, where mothers are called wives. In other places, many people use these two words to refer to the daughter-in-law of the master's family, and some people call grandma or grandma's grandparents madam. , they are probably from Hangzhou.”

Hua Jue carefully looked at the child who had washed his hands and obediently helped his mother serve the dishes. He saw a fair and delicate face, big bright eyes, and red lips. He was a boy who looked like a girl. Such a moving color after the big queen.Probably a person from a water town in the south of the Yangtze River. It is white and juicy, and it is as tender as a white-skinned soup dumpling just out of the pan. It makes people want to take a bite, it is very cute.

"Come over for dinner." Aunt Yao leaned over and hugged him onto the wide bench, and gave him a pair of chopsticks, "After eating, do your homework, and then go to bed, remember?"

Little Yao Feimeng obediently agreed: "Remember."

After eating, the child did his homework obediently, recited the book with a shake of his head, then boiled water to wipe himself, washed himself, climbed to bed and fell asleep.Aunt Yao faced the bed, moved the lamp to her side, and embroidered stitch by stitch until midnight.After sleeping for several hours, when the rooster crowed in the sky, Aunt Yao woke up the sleeping child on the bed, gave him a pancake that had been baked a day earlier, and encouraged him to go to the private school.

Xiao Yao Feimeng blinked: "Madam, can you take me there?"

"Go by yourself, don't be squeamish, children from poor families can't be squeamish." Aunt Yao patted his head, "Let's go, baby, sir will praise you."

Hua Jue wanted to go out with Xiao Yao Feimeng, at least to see what the private school he attended was like, and whether his classmates who had been murdered now had any enemies, but after he stepped on the small stone steps in front of the courtyard, , was lifted back by Xuanlong's collar - the front was gray, like bottomless stagnant water.

They actually came to the edge of this illusion.

Or is it that Aunt Yao has been imprisoned in this small courtyard all her life?

In the first half of his life, he hoped that his son would grow up safely and have a bright future, but he had to wait and do embroidery all day until his waist could no longer stand up.In a few years, when the white-haired man sends the black-haired man, she will still sit in the same position to embroider; she wants to live, but she becomes alone.

Hua Jue and Xuanlong watched and watched, the days passed like running water, even revealing the same boredom.Even Hua Jue, who has a similar upbringing experience, finds it a bit strange: "They live here with no neighbors, and Yao Feimeng never sees her friends home. I was in school at the time, and I would bring people home every now and then, and grandma would still do it." Sugar cakes for us to eat, when we don't come, grandma will go out to play, and don't care about me."

Xuan Long smiled and said: "People are different. Our grandma lives a transparent life. She lives for you and for herself, but others may not be as transparent as her."

Hua Jue pouted and said jokingly: "You might as well say that grandma doesn't spoil me and doesn't care about me."

After a while, he murmured again: "The hearts of parents in the world are actually the same."

Hua Jue was overwhelmed, and found a stone in Yao's small courtyard, enough for him and Xuanlong to sit side by side.After the day-to-day repetition of life, Yao Feimeng also grew up to 14 years old.

On this day, Yao Feimeng, who went out to school every morning and didn't give Hua Jue any chance to follow her, got sick and rested at home for a day.The little boy had a fever, and his cheeks were flushed. When Aunt Yao was making medicine for him, he struggled to get up, and suddenly said, "Madam, I don't want to go to school anymore."

"What did you say?"

"I said I don't want to go to private school anymore." Yao Feimeng shrank obviously, his voice hoarse.His eyes were nervous at first, but seeing that Aunt Yao didn't make a sound, he slowly turned into expectation and pleading, hoping that his mother would agree to what he said. "I... I won't go to school anymore, I will work with others as a carpenter, is that okay?"

"Being a carpenter... What is the job of being a carpenter, what is the job of a scholar, you don't read if you say you don't want to, have you weighed the importance?"

Aunt Yao finally spoke out, as if she had finally come to her senses. She stood up from the stove abruptly, and her voice raised a lot unconsciously: "Why don't you study? You little bastard, you..." Her voice was also trembling. After a while, the voice changed sharply, so sharp that it hurts the eardrums, "You are trying to piss me off, you unworthy descendant!"

With a bang, the medicine jar shattered into pieces.Aunt Yao stopped talking, squatted down to clean up the hot residue from the crock pot, and wiped her tears while cleaning up.Yao Feimeng was flushed all over, and stayed on the bed for a long while, at a loss, struggling to get up to help his mother, but was waved away: "Go back, if you don't study, you will never enter this house in the future. "

Yao Feimeng looked shocked, his big eyes were bloodshot due to staying up late and suffering from illness, and finally a pool of light tears flowed out.He crawled back into bed silently.

No sleep for one night.

The next day, another incident happened to the Yao family.The reason is that Aunt Yao made a batch of embroidered shoes and sold them to a family in the east of the city, but the owner of the warehouse wanted to lower the price and insisted that Aunt Yao used the worst hemp thread, which would collapse after passing through a stream of water. Stitch, threatened to report to the government.

There are many people on the opposite side, and the one bullying is that the Yao family has only one woman and one child who is still in school.Aunt Yao knew that her arms couldn't move her thighs, so she could only kneel on the ground, begging the other party to give her a little money, but when the other party came to Yao's courtyard, she just laughed and made some vulgar and obscene jokes , and then threw a few old copper coins to Aunt Yao, and walked away.

Yao Feimeng hid behind the door and witnessed all this, trembling.Aunt Yao didn't scold him harshly the day before, as if nothing had happened, she just said softly: "It's okay, it's okay, my wife will get you some medicine, you go back to bed and rest."

In the evening, when Aunt Yao came back, she sat by the bed and made medicine for Yao Feimeng.The thin young man turned his back to her, shrugged his shoulders, tears slowly soaked the pillow, his eyes were already swollen from crying: "I...study, ma'am, I will go back to private school tomorrow. I'm sorry, what I said yesterday, I won't do it anymore. Stop talking."

Aunt Yao slowly mixed the medicine, and said in a gratified voice: "Good boy." Then she put the medicine into the pot to boil, turned her back to wipe her tears silently, and kept wiping away, then went to the yard, carried the medicine on her back. Watching Yao Feimeng sob.

Yao Feimeng seemed to be stimulated by the scene he saw during his illness, and he did what he said the next day, supporting his sick body to go to school.However, it may also be because of this eagerness for success that his body and bones were not fully recovered in the next two years.

Sometimes, when he came home, he was still in a shaky, trance-like state, but he didn't say anything about the hardships of going to school, he just pursed his lips tightly, and never said a word of giving up.

Hua Jue began to feel that this was a bit strange. Once, he saw obvious red marks on Yao Feimeng's wrists, and a large piece of flesh was scratched, but he still didn't say anything, just squatted by the sink and washed his hands vigorously until Wash the bleeding point.

"Did he study too hard, is he a little crazy?" Xuanlong asked, "Hua Jue, I have never seen a school in the world, tell me, is this possible?"

Hua Jue studied at the age of ten. Although he has always been the apple of the eye of Mr. Private School, he dropped out of school at the age of 16 to tell fortunes.He replied: "There is such a thing. There are such things every year in Beijing. Some people fail to pass the exam, and when they come back, they go crazy or commit suicide."

He carefully looked at the thin back of the man who was washing his hands by the sink: "But at this time... he shouldn't have even passed the childbirth exam, right? He's still so young, he can't pass the childbirth test, and there are many people in his 50s and [-]s." , this is really unreasonable. Maybe he pushed himself too hard."