In the 1980s, in an inconspicuous small village in the Northeast, people worked at sunrise and rested at sunset. At that time, the production team had just been disbanded, and the state assigned responsibility fields to each villager household for farming.
Due to the vast territory and fertile soil in the north, each household was allocated land of varying sizes based on population. If you raise some chickens, ducks, geese and small poultry, lay eggs and sell them for some pocket money, your life will be manageable.
There is a big family named Li in the village. The population of the family named Li accounts for one-third of the village's population. It's that big. It is said that the family surnamed Li has the fourth eldest son, Mr. Li.
Fourth Master Li is in his fifties, a short, dry little old man. There is a wife at home, Grandma Li Si, and an only son.
Mr. Li is not very popular in the village. The reason is that his life is too rigid, and he digs wells in stove pits and opens doors on roofs. The husband and wife live a careful life. Let's put it this way, they have to eat oil drop by drop, and they have to pick up every bean dropped on the ground. They will never buy some meat for no reason all year round. Even the sunflower seeds produced in their own fields are not willing to be fried and eaten until the end of the year. According to the couple, if you eat too much of a good thing, it will be wasted. Don't know its scent anymore.
With such a way of living, do you still expect him to show any favors? Maybe it was because they ate too little oil. From the oldest to the youngest, the whole family looked dry, with no luster on their faces.
As his son grew up, because he was not very popular in the village, his son Li Changyou was almost twenty-five years old and no matchmaker came to propose marriage. This made the old couple very anxious. .
In the 1980s, in rural areas, it was a big headache for parents if a boy who had not yet married a wife at the age of twenty-five was known as having passed his age. So the old couple decided to make some money together, gritted their teeth, bought some pork and fruits, and went to the house of Aunt Zhang in the village who was good at keeping matchmakers.
Aunt Zhang was also a quick and neat person, so she took Changyou into her heart at that moment, and soon after, she actually found a wife for Li Changyou. The girl's family is from Shandong. Her father died early, and a widowed mother brought the girl here to live with her relatives. With Aunt Zhang's efforts, a marriage was established.
This saying goes that one family does not enter the same house, and it really comes true in Mr. Li’s house. This daughter-in-law lives the same way as Master Li's family. She is careful, hard-working and filial to the elderly.
At that time, every daughter-in-law was arguing about separating from the old man and living alone, but the fourth master's wife never made a fuss or even mentioned it, which made the fourth master and his wife feel happy.
The neighbors all envied the fourth master's family for marrying a good daughter-in-law. The new year's daughter-in-law added a fat grandson to the fourth master's family. It was a joy for the whole family and their life was a nourishing one.
In the blink of an eye, the child is three years old and can run all over the place. Thanks to the hard work of several members of the family, life has improved and we have some money for activities.
Fourth Master Li saw that many people in his neighborhood had built brick houses. When he looked back at his three dilapidated adobe houses, his mind became more active.
But if you think about it, the little money you have is still far from enough to build a house made of bricks. I thought to myself, if I can't build a brick house, I'll build a head office with two brick warehouses first.
It was built as soon as it was built, and within a few days a brick warehouse stood on the east side of Mr. Li's three low and dilapidated adobe buildings. Mr. Li put his hands behind his back and squinted his eyes. He just walked around this brick warehouse, turning left and right, and the more he looked at it, the more beautiful it became in his heart!
On this day, his son Li Changyou came back from working in the fields as usual. As soon as he entered the house, he complained of a headache and fell asleep with his head on the kang. The whole family didn't pay attention, thinking that it was too hot and maybe they were suffering from heatstroke, and it would be fine if they took a nap.
But the next morning, as usual, I got up at four or five o'clock as early as possible and went to pick up manure with a manure basket on my back. At that time, most families used chemical fertilizers to fertilize their fields. Only the fourth master's family was still there. Collect manure and fertilize all year round. But this morning Changyou didn't get up. His wife prepared a meal and asked him to get up and eat. Changyou said he felt uncomfortable but couldn't get up.
Thinking that if Chang is not feeling well, let him lie down and rest. The family will leave Chang alone at home and take the children to the fields to tend the crops.
At night, I still couldn't get up, and the family was a little panicked. But when I touch my long forehead, it doesn’t feel hot! But he didn't dare to delay.
The village is very close to the township, and there is a health center in the township. The fourth master and his daughter-in-law dragged Chang You to the health center. The doctor checked his body temperature and listened to his heart rate. He shook his head and said there was nothing wrong with him. He might be too tired and rested for two days. Maybe he would be fine.
That night, Changyou's wife was awakened by her husband's muttering in her sleep. She sat up and pulled the light cord to see that Changyou had taken off all her clothes, even leaving no underwear. What was he muttering while twisting his naked body?
The wife pushed Chang You, "Dad, wake up, wake up, what's wrong with you?" Chang You stopped twisting, opened his red eyes and glanced at his wife, then suddenly sat up, grabbed her and smacked her away. The kang head was thrown to the top of the kang.
ah! The daughter-in-law's screams woke up the sleeping child, crying loudly and calling for mom and dad… There is a daughter-in-law who doesn't care about the pain in her body for fear of scaring the child. She picks up the child to comfort the child and turns on the light to sleep.
The next morning he grew taller, put on his clothes without saying anything, and went straight to the countryside with dull eyes. The whole family didn't know what he was doing. You looked at me and I looked at you. It was the busy farming season, and the crops and weeds in the fields didn't wait for anyone, so they didn't care where they were.
Make a fire and cook as usual, then go to the fields to do farm work after eating. Before the meal was finished, Chang You came back and came into the house with a large piece of pork in his hand. There are hawkers in the countryside who specialize in butchering pigs. Every morning early in the morning, they will bring the newly killed fat pork to the stall to sell, so I often go to buy meat.
Seeing that his son had at least five or six kilograms of pork in his hands, the fourth master felt distressed, "You are a prodigal son. You are usually reluctant to buy so much pork even during the Chinese New Year. What kind of evil have you committed today?" ! This is going to ruin the family!" The Fourth Master angrily squatted on the ground and smoked a dry cigarette.
Chang You didn't answer, turned back, threw the pork into the pot, filled it with water, burned firewood in the stove, and cooked the meat. After a while, the fragrant aroma of meat spread throughout the room. Before the meat was fully cooked, I opened the lid of the pot, fished it out, and ate it.
The whole family was stunned, and the children drooled as they watched their father eating the delicious meat. He opened his little hands and came to Changyou to ask for meat. Chang Youyi acted as if he hadn't heard and ignored her at all. The child looked at his mother with aggrieved eyes and burst into tears. When the wife saw this, she quickly hugged the child and turned around with tears in her eyes.
The Fourth Master angrily took off his cloth shoes and slapped Changyou with the soles of the shoes, but no matter how hard you beat him, Changyou still ate his meat as if he didn't feel anything. When he was almost done eating, he burped, threw down the meat in his hand, and went back to the house to sleep.
From then on, not only did his temperament change drastically, his eyes became dull and silent, and he slept naked all day and all night. When I wake up, I go to the countryside to buy delicious food and come back to eat. After eating, I go to sleep.
The rural atmosphere is simple, and there is an unwritten rule among villagers that if you don't have money, you can go on credit and settle the accounts together after autumn. After a while, Chang Youke accumulated a lot of debts on credit.
Looking at the long-standing debts, Fourth Master felt pain in his bones. He thought about how he had been frugal all his life and ended up with such a prodigal son when he got old. Hey! What a day!
Although he always eats meat, he is getting thinner day by day. He is shaking when he walks. He ignores everyone and seems to not exist. He kicks his wife and children out of the room and starts sleeping by himself. .
The villagers began to talk a lot, and they began to say everything. Some said that they had attracted a ghost, and some said that they had committed something. When the people from the Li family saw it, they were so embarrassed that they had to take care of it.
So the family members came together to have a business meeting and decided to find a god to see if something was really taboo. The next day we invited a godly man, a tall and thin old man in green clothes with three strands of long gray beard, who looked a bit like a fairy.
The old man walked around the fourth master's house several times, and finally stopped at the newly built brick warehouse that was the proudest work of his life. The old man nodded while stroking his white beard. Then he turned back to a group of villagers who looked at him with admiring eyes and said, "This barn is a taboo. Your barn is built too far out and is pressing down on the dragon's feet. That's why your son is so sleepy and unconscious." Living in a dream."
After hearing what the old man said and everyone thinking about it, it seemed to make sense. It turns out that the Fourth Master's house is directly adjacent to the village's north-south road. When building the warehouse, the Fourth Master had his own ideas and occupied a little more outward, which meant that he could occupy a little more in his mind. land.
Then listen to the man of God and tear it down! For the sake of his son and this family, the Fourth Master squatted down with tears streaming down his face and watched his proud work being torn to pieces. This felt so painful in his heart!
As the saying goes, it is easier to invite the gods than to send them away. I dare not neglect it. A good meal of good wine, good meat and good entertainment sent this old man away with good food and good food.
After sending the old man away, he thought that if the warehouse was demolished and the root cause of the disease was eliminated, his son's illness would be cured and his life would return to what it was before.
Everyone was wrong. As time passed, the long-standing illness not only showed no signs of improvement but also became more serious. It's reached the point where I can't even get up from the bed, and I'm as skinny as a stick. Every day I would lie there naked with my eyes closed, talking to myself from time to time, unable to understand anything I said, and my body would twist in waves…
Someone said this, why do you still believe in gods and immortals? Why don’t you go to a big place and take a look when people are about to disappear? As soon as the fourth master and his daughter-in-law got together, the chief was carried on a stretcher and got on the bus and came to the county seat. After various examinations at the county hospital, I was surprised to find that I didn't have any disease.
The fourth master was dumbfounded. How could this person, who had no disease, become like this? The doctor shook his head and said that he couldn't understand it either. Why don't you go to the city and have a look. The fourth master gritted his teeth and carried his son and daughter-in-law to the city again. After several attempts, he still didn't notice any illness.
The fourth master and his daughter-in-law had no choice but to carry Changyou back. It looked like the air was coming in but not coming out, and the eye sockets were hollow. The strange thing was that after returning from the hospital, the belly got bigger day by day, and she looked like a pregnant woman.
Someone from the village came to see this and took the fourth master aside. "His fourth master is a ghost husband . In my opinion, you need to find a goddess to take a look at it. I think the symptoms are so similar to someone in my mother's family." ! That man was chosen by a female ghost to become a ghost husband and finally died with a pregnant belly. I think he looks a bit like this."
"What? Chosen by a female ghost? Ghost husband ? Dead?" The fourth master panicked and mobilized his neighbors and relatives to quickly invite another goddess. The goddess, who was in her fifties, bumped her fat buttocks and came to Changyou's house. She only took one look and turned around to leave.
This guy grabbed the goddess and said, what's going on? Now that this person is here, let’s take a look at it! The goddess shook her head, "It's too late, it's been a hundred days, and the gods can't save her. She was captured by the female ghost and made her husband. It seems that she still has a few days to live at most. You guys hurry up and prepare for the funeral." Bar."
Three days later, amid the mournful cries of the family, Chang You left his wife, children and children behind and died. Changyou died, but life still had to go on. After Changyou's funeral, Changyou's wife and children did not leave the fourth master and his wife behind, and the family lived happily.
Less than a month after the peaceful days, the fourth master, who had always been in good health, suddenly fell ill. The patient, who showed no signs of illness and was heavy, kept shouting his name, and touched the nose of the Lord of Hell just before he saw it.
The fourth grandma saw that her son had just passed away, and the old man was acting like this again. It was hard to tell whether it was because of a burst of fire or something else that he fell to the ground. She left first.
The day after Fourth Grandma left, Fourth Master also left, and it happened that the old couple had their funeral together. After the funeral, his wife took her children and turned around, crying, and left this frightening and sad yard.
The whole family was scattered and scattered within a month, leaving only the three lonely adobe houses standing there eerily.
People in the village felt panic. No one dared to go out at night. Even during the day, they would walk around the fourth master's house. After so many years, the three adobe houses of Fourth Master's house are still standing dilapidated among the grass in the courtyard.