There is no traffic in the city. In this quiet mountain village, all you can hear is the chirping of sparrows in groups of three or four, and a few domesticated big yellow dogs barking when strangers pass by.
This is not an overly wealthy small village. You can see small bungalows of half mud and half bricks everywhere. Some of them are in poor condition. Straw and wooden slats are piled up, and when it rains, you have to endure the trouble of water leakage at home.
There are hanging racks in the yard in front of every house, some are planted with pumpkins, some are planted with loofahs, vines and fruits are all over the shelves, and various fruits and vegetables are planted nearby. The old houses add a bit of vitality that is not available in the city.
What a beautiful place!
Yan Chu was holding a hiking stick and carrying a hiking bag half the size of himself, standing on the dirt road not far from the village, with an inexplicable expression on his face.
"My little brother, why did you come to our village?"
An old man with white hair and crutches looked at Yan Chu with a kind face, but there was a little wariness in his eyes.
This old man is not tall, and his back is hunched. Standing not far from Yan Chu, he can barely reach the height of his chest. His face is full of wrinkles and age spots, the whites of his eyes are cloudy, his teeth are slightly yellow, and he is wearing a well-washed suit. The white sweater and big pants are the image of an ordinary old man in a mountain village.
"Master, I'm planning to come to the mountain to watch the sunrise, but I don't know if there is anyone in our village who can let me stay for a night, and I'll pay for it."
Yan Chu's current image is a tall, thin, frail young man with black-rimmed eyes. He is carrying a mountaineering bag and holding a mountaineering stick. He looks like a standard mountaineer.
Wude Village is an extremely poor village, and it is also one of the key poverty alleviation targets of the country. However, after all, the economy is so developed and the technology is so advanced. There are more than 30 households, and two households bought a small color TV. Every night, other households without TV will go to those two households to watch TV and watch the news. They also know about the donkey friends who often appear in news reports. of.
"Just you?"
The old man bowed his waist and asked Yan Chu.
"Yes, it's just me." Yan Chu smiled, looking like a cheerful big boy, harmless to humans and animals.
"The weather is not right these two days, especially it's going to rain tonight. If I want to watch the sunrise, I'm afraid I won't be able to." Hearing that he was alone, the old man became much less wary of him.
Their village is relatively remote, but because it is in the deep mountains, sometimes there will be a few children from the city who are full and have nothing to do to explore the mountains.
Those people are generous, just give them one hundred yuan for one night, and add thirty yuan for each meal if they eat, which is a lot of extra money for the mountain people whose per capita annual income is only two thousand.
In the past, the mountain people were wary of those donkey friends who came to the village, but after a long time, they found that they were really just here for fun. In this way, although the villagers still stared at the strangers from time to time, they were not as serious as before. The grass and trees are all soldiers.
There is only one son in this old man's family, and the population is not large, so he reorganized the two extra rooms in the house, painted the lime walls, and rented them out to these city people who come to play in the mountains. There are still many lands.
His son is 40 years old this year. Because the mountains are poor, girls from other villages are not willing to marry in this valley. He has to save money for his son to buy a wife.
The daughters-in-law bought by the Liu family and the Huang family in the village are good, and they have given birth to several grandchildren. After he saves enough money, he will find a daughter-in-law for the Liu family and the Huang family to buy a college-educated Lai San Daughter, I heard that the children of such a girl have good genes, that's the right word.
The old man thought that he would save enough money soon, so he smiled kindly and looked at Yan Chu with softer eyes.
"Is it going to rain, the weather forecast didn't write it?"
Yan Chu was like a young man who had just entered the society. He was very unstable in handling things. He touched his nose and said, "Master, otherwise, I will stay in the village for a few more days. The rain can't stop."
"I just came here to shoot the sunrise. Your village is too high. I climbed up the mountain for nearly two hours. I really don't want to go down the mountain until the weather is better. Don't worry, I brought money. Anyway, before going out, I told my parents to come to your village to collect folk songs, and the return date is uncertain, so they won't be in a hurry."
Yan Chu raised the video camera hanging around his neck, looking like a fool who came too fast for money.
"Well, but people in our village don't like taking pictures. If you want to take pictures of the sunrise, you have to wait for the weather to clear up and go to the top of the mountain to take pictures. You are not allowed to tinker with that stuff in the village, or you will be kicked out if you are found."
The old man smiled. Farmers have their own way of looking at the weather. Looking at the current day, it is no problem to have heavy rain for two or three days. With the addition of food expenses, he will have an extra four or five hundred in income. what.
"Eh."
Yan Chu responded, and followed the old man towards his house.
When he was leaving, he glanced at the big stone tablet at the entrance of the village. The three big characters of Wude Village written on it were obviously black, but in the slightly gloomy weather, there was a faint red light.
Five virtues - loyalty, filial piety, propriety, righteousness, benevolence
Ha ha!
*****
"Old Gentou, is the young man who lives in your house alright?"
In the most luxurious compound of blue bricks and gray tiles in the village, a few old people and a few young people from the village sat together, looking a little solemn.
"I haven't been out all night except for eating, and I've been staring at it." Lao Gentou, that is, the old man Yan Chu met when he came to the village, said to the middle-aged man sitting opposite him.
"Well, pay more attention. I don't know if it's because of the weather or something. My eyelids keep twitching, and I always feel restless."
The middle-aged man, Lin Youde, the head of Wude Village, stroked his forehead and said with a sad face.
His physique is surprisingly strong, with a build of 1.9 meters, lumpy flesh all over his body, and a fleshy face. He looks like a very difficult person to mess with. In this village, he is not only the village head, but also the village overlord. The young people in the village They all looked forward to him, and because of him, the people in the other mountain villages didn't dare to compete with them, and they took advantage of it when dividing the mountain and forest land.
Also because of this, Lin Youde's prestige in the village is particularly high, no less than those elders of the clan.
"Brother, aren't you scared by that little girl?"
Others are afraid of Lin Youde, but Lin Youde's younger brother is not necessarily afraid of him. Lin Youcai and his elder brother don't look like they were born from the same mother at all. Tall, with a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks, and a wretched look.
In this village, Lin Youde is the big overlord, Lin Youcai is the second overlord, and their brothers are twins. It is estimated that Lin Youde absorbed too much nutrients in the mother's womb, which caused Lin Youcai to almost fail to support him several times when he was a child. Tell Da'er that he owes his younger brother this, and tell him to take good care of his younger brother in the future.
Lin Youde listened to his mother very much, and indeed he loved his younger brother very much. No one could go past Lin Youcai. At this time, he was ridiculed by his younger brother, and Lin Youde was not angry at all.
"Bah, I will be scared by that little girl, that is, she is too ignorant. All three sons of the old Zhangtou's family have slept with her. Why can't I sleep, and dare to beat me, damn it."
Lin Youde spit to the side, touched his face that had just shed scabs not long ago, and still had white marks on his face, recalling what happened that day.
Their village is relatively poor, and few girls from other villages are willing to marry in. However, the older generation in the village is conservative and unwilling to let their sons and daughters-in-law go out to work, for fear that they will never come back when they leave. Give them old age.
Over time, the source of daughters-in-law in the village is no longer normal marriages, but through human traffickers outside to buy daughters-in-law back.
Usually, a girl with yellow flowers asks for 30,000 yuan, and the one who has been slept with is discounted to 25,000 yuan. The price is even higher for a better-looking girl, or a college student. The most expensive daughter-in-law that has ever appeared in the village is Lin Youde. The daughter-in-law of the old Zhang family mentioned.
To buy that girl, the Zhang family paid a lot of money, a total of 50,000 yuan.
Originally, Lao Zhangtou was unwilling to buy her. Their family only saved more than 30,000 yuan in total. How could they afford such an expensive daughter-in-law? Besides, Lao Zhangtou has three sons. My son is thirty-three this year, and the youngest son is only twenty-one. I guess his mother was too old when she gave birth to him, and her brain is not working well. She drools and snots every day, and she knows how to stare at the buttocks and breasts of other people’s daughter-in-law at home. Disgusting.
But who made the girl brought by Lai San this time be the prettiest girl, her skin is whiter than tofu, her eyes are big and watery, which is rare to see, that girl is quite young, she seems to be only ten She looks like six or seven years old, but it doesn't matter, such a big girl can already have children in the village.
Many people in the village who want to buy a daughter-in-law have taken a fancy to that girl, but Lai San's asking price is too high. Later, the three sons of the old Zhang family wanted this girl desperately. I bought a daughter-in-law for the second and third children, and the three brothers simply wanted a daughter-in-law.
That girl looks good, even if she is a joint wife, they recognize her.
Old Zhangtou thought about the same thing, anyway, he was his son, and his grandson was born, so he gritted his teeth and spent a lot of money, among which more than 10,000 yuan was borrowed from Lin Youde.
Lin Youde also liked that girl, and he only asked Lao Zhang's family to lend money, that is, to sleep with the girl once after their three sons had slept with the girl, and then he agreed to borrow money.
After discussing with his three sons, Lao Zhangtou agreed.
What's the girl's name? People in the village don't know, but the girl was stubborn. After she was sold to the village by a kidnapper, she begged them to let her go, and her family would give them a lot of money. She didn't say anything else. I won't let her go, just the suffering in the pure day and the curse.
They called her the daughter-in-law of the Zhang family. On the day of the wedding, the girl was tied up. She screamed so shrillly that the whole village heard it.
All the daughters-in-law bought in the village come here in this way. For the villagers, they are used to it. As long as they give birth to a child, they will take root in the village, and not only in their village, but also in many villages at the foot of the mountain. Families who can't afford a daughter-in-law also look for their acquaintances to buy a daughter-in-law. In such a closed small county, everyone has relatives and stories. Everyone knows about buying a daughter-in-law. Help recruit people.
As long as he guards the station in the county, sooner or later he will be found.
When they got back, they were beaten severely, and those women became more and more numb as they failed to escape again and again.
More than three months ago, Lin Youde went to the old Zhangtou's son on the second day of his marriage. The old Zhangtou didn't dare to repay the debt, so he asked his son to send him there. Who knew that when he saw his wife again, It's already a cold corpse.
Lin Youde said that the girl scratched his face with her hands and scratched his face. When he got angry, he pushed her. Who knew that his head hit the cabinet on the kang, and the blood flowed all over the floor, and he died immediately. up.
The daughter-in-law bought at a big price is gone. Lao Zhangtou and his three sons will definitely not do it, but who made Lin Youde the tyrant of this village? Finally, we will discuss and help Lin Youde next time when Lai San comes. When they buy a daughter-in-law, of course they can't buy the best one, and they don't have to repay the money they borrowed before.
The old Zhang's family recognized the dumb fault, and that night a group of men threw the girl's body into a deep mountain. There were wolves in their mountain, and they let those beasts chew up the body to pieces, and then pretended to buy it. The illusion that the daughter-in-law sneaked away and was attacked by livestock.
Only they knew about Lin Youde's murder.
Lao Gentou and the others didn't know about this, they only thought that the girl died after being slept by Lin Youde and sneaked into the mountains, and when they heard Lin Youcai and Lin Youde's jokes, they just smiled.
"Let him go as soon as possible. After a while, it's time for Lai San to deliver new products."
Lin Youde didn't believe in ghosts and gods. If there were ghosts, those women who bought them and couldn't think of committing suicide in the early years would have come to seek revenge from them. Isn't their village still alive and well now
In the final analysis, it was that the girl didn't know what to do, and she deserved to be slept by several people, and she deserved her death because of her hypocrisy.
"Don't worry, Lai San won't take people up the mountain when it's raining. Then the young man came to watch the sunrise, and he left as soon as the weather cleared up and took pictures. He couldn't run into Lai San."
Lao Gentou smiled very honestly, showing a mouthful of yellow teeth.
The people on the side also laughed. The arrival of Lai San means that there is a new daughter-in-law in the village. Is it far away that the daughter-in-law has grandchildren? The incense in the village is passed down from generation to generation, and they have the face to meet their ancestors after death. .