If they had not seen it with their own eyes, Li Muye and others would never believe that such a place could exist in this era.
The entire village is located in a huge cave. All the more than 1,300 people in the village live in the cave. Although each family has a house, they are all very simple wooden structure houses. It can be said that they are truly facing each other day and night, and the chickens and dogs hear each other.
It was morning when Li Muye and others followed Wu Runtu here, and everyone in the village was digging canals. Out of curiosity, Lu Shaofen asked Wu Runtu to lead the way to the construction site. Everyone followed Wu Runtu from the cave and trudged along the steep and rugged mountain road for several kilometers, and finally came to an alpine lake surrounded by mountains deep in the mountains. Sure enough, we saw many villagers digging along the steep cliffs.
Among these people were octogenarians, as well as little children who didn't even have to wear pants. Everyone is working hard, sweat is flowing on their faces, and blood is soaked in the tattered gloves between their fingers. They walked on the narrow cliff paths, risked their lives, endured difficult conditions that ordinary people could not imagine, and worked tirelessly. However, Li Muye and others saw only hope on their faces and no blame.
The moment he saw this scene, Lu Shaofen completely forgave Wu Runtu.
"This is a place where the soul can be sublimated." Li Muye said with emotion.
Wu Lanzhu took out a box of biscuits from her backpack, put it to her mouth and just ate one, when she suddenly noticed a bare-butt little boy in front of her looking at her with envy. He was stunned for a moment and handed the box over. The little boy hesitated for a while, then jumped over quickly, took the box, bowed respectfully to Wu Lanzhu, then turned around and ran away. I saw him running up to an old couple and handing the biscuits to the two old people to eat.
Li Muye watched all this silently, feeling a little moved in his heart.
Poverty and hardship have not made them poor. At least in this village, they still inherit their noble virtues.
He turned his head and glanced at Wu Runtu beside him, and whispered: "I think you don't want them to know what you are doing outside."
Wu Runtu frowned and replied unexpectedly: "Of course I will let them know what they have done. In our village, there is nothing that cannot be said."
Li Muye found a flat stone and invited the others to sit down together. Wu Runtu came over and said expressionlessly: "You have seen everything you want to see. Has our deal been concluded?"
"Don't be anxious, sit down and speak slowly." Li Muye patted the place next to him and said, "I want to see more than that, and there may be more to do. Now I can only assure you that I have no objection. Your unfavorable thoughts.”
Wu Runtu said: "As you can see, we have nothing to lose."
Li Muye said: "What I see is that you need a lot of things."
Wu Runtu took a deep look at Li Muye, rolled his eyes, and said against his will: "Only those who live in poverty can be happy. What we have is beyond your imagination."
If you were really so noble, you wouldn't go out and do such a shameful thing. Li Muye did not expose him and said: "Obviously, the pain caused by poverty beyond the bottom line is beyond your imagination, so that you have to go out and help the tiger to solve the problem."
"Anyone who has done something wrong must be punished. Those who harm others will be punished, and those who kill others will be killed. It is the law of heaven and justice." Wu Runtu said very firmly: "When I made a mistake, I was already prepared to bear the price."
"Then what?" Li Muye stared at him: "You paid such a high price just to lead them to live like this?"
Wu Runtu said: "To be honest, I don't think there is anything wrong with living like this. In today's world, the strong are strong and weak, the masses are robbing the few, the rich bully the poor, the nobles are arrogant and the lowly. Instead of joining the same trend, it is better to stay here in poverty and happiness, and maintain My own nobility.”
"But you failed to keep your nobility after all." Li Muye said: "Do you know why this is the case?" Without waiting for his answer, he continued: "It's because this world lacks a righteousness that can stir up the turbid and promote the pure. , your escape is not only to be alone, but also a kind of connivance in this filthy world. Sooner or later, you will be forced to join in the filth, and by then, it will be too late for you to stand up and stir up the filth. .”
"Promote the benefits of the world and eliminate the harms of the world." Wu Runtu said: "In the era of cold weapons, we here have people who have come out to support justice in every dynasty. However, in this legal era, guns and artillery are rampant, and we have long lost the skills to kill the enemy on the battlefield. It is incompatible with the entire era, and the reputation created by our ancestors in the past has become a fleeting thing."
"What a way to bring advantage and eliminate harm!" Li Muye praised: "As long as you have such ambition, it will never be outdated in any era."
Wu Lanzhu and Lu Shaofen watched intently and listened with concentration. Lu Shaofen couldn't help but whispered to Wu Lanzhu: "Brother, what you said is great!" Wu Lanzhu pursed his lips and smiled, leaning against her ear. Said: "Brother is here to recruit troops."
Wu Runtu was obviously not that easy to recruit. He pondered for a moment and then said: "Mr. Li is determined to retaliate and is ruthless in his actions. He doesn't look like the old-fashioned and warm-hearted person."
Li Muye asked back: "In this world, how much can a person like you say accomplish?" He added: "I never claim to be a good person, but at least I can still abide by the moral spirit of others not to offend me and I will not offend others. Of course , I am indeed not the kind of chivalrous and righteous person who has been killed by thousands of people. To be honest, I am at best a person with bad personal ethics and an eclectic approach. I cannot simply summarize it as good or bad, but there is one thing. I am much better than a good person like you, that is, I can make money and do good things in this world."
These words were spoken from the heart, and Wu Runtu listened carefully, sometimes confused and sometimes enlightened. Hearing this, he interjected: "Of course you can do bad things."
Li Muye smiled and continued: "Water can carry a boat and also capsize it. When used properly, deception and abduction can be a clever strategy. If used improperly, unparalleled martial arts are nothing more than a means of killing. You can't say anything. Sometimes, when one's conscience is lost and trapped, one still has to help others to do evil."
Wu Runtu's face turned red and he said, "I will definitely give you an explanation for that matter."
Li Muye nodded and said: "I believe you will, but I don't agree with you doing this. It is enough to know the mistake and be able to correct it. This is the fundamental purpose of punishment. If the person who made the mistake can recognize the mistake and make up his mind to correct it, , I think there is no need to accept punishment.”
Wu Runtu said: "Rules are rules, just like the laws outside. Once they are formulated, they must be implemented to the end."
"It's up to you." Li Muye said: "Going back to the previous topic, you think it's good for you to stay here and live a decent life according to the old rules, but the real society is increasingly unable to tolerate you continuing. On days like this, this time we are building a reservoir and building a power plant, but if the next time it is not maintained, we will develop tourist attractions and ask you to move away. What will you do then?"
This sentence spoke to his heart. Wu Runtu lowered his head in silence and pondered.
Li Muye continued: "Don't think about it. There is no pure land in the true sense of the world. If there is such a place, it is in accordance with the Buddhist saying. The spiritual mountain is only in your heart. There is no clear mirror in the heart. Why? Isn’t everything dirty?”
These words are thought-provoking and chewy.
"Yes." Wu Runtu suddenly raised his head and said: "What you said makes sense. Our place cannot be undisturbed forever. Times are developing rapidly and the outside world is changing too fast. In the past, our place was isolated from the world, and one man was responsible for everything. Fu Mokai, now, those engineering equipment can easily break through the natural chasm."
"Our ancestors came here to live in seclusion because they refused to succumb to the Yuan Tartars, but they never asked future generations to stay here forever." Wu Runtu said: "The reason why we have stayed here and passed it down from generation to generation for many years, is that It’s just luck.”
Li Muye heard the loose meaning in his words and asked with interest: "Why do you say that?"
"There are three main surnames in our village, namely Wu, Yang and Zhang. Originally, there were only Wu and Yang. Our ancestors were generals under General Yue. They came here to avoid the war and settled down to carry on the family lineage. In the early Ming Dynasty, they were planning to serve in the mountains. Zhang's family came here to avoid disaster, but they were descendants of Zhang Shicheng, who was strictly controlled by the imperial court at that time. When the ancestors learned about this, they had already intermarried with this family. Blood is thicker than water, so their way out of the mountain was cut off. After three hundred years of the Qing Dynasty, everyone followed the instructions of their ancestors and stayed in the mountains to practice martial arts and study. Then came the Republic of China. The days of warlord rule and turbulent times were not as good as in the mountains... "
Li Muye suddenly interrupted him and said in a deep voice: "The village can stay in the mountains, but we can't live like this anymore!"
Wu Runtu groaned, looked at Li Muye blankly, and said, "What do you mean?"
Li Muye said: "I say you can't continue to live like this. The spirit can be noble, but it should not be an obstacle to pursuing better material conditions."
At this point, it has been very clear and thorough.
"It's easier said than done." Wu Runtu no longer pretended to be lofty and Taoist, and said realistically: "We are too out of touch with the outside world. There is only one private school in the village, which teaches knowledge that is completely unused nowadays. Within a radius of more than ten kilometers in the entire area, we can All the land used for farming is used, and at best it is self-sufficient. How can we develop the economy and improve living conditions?”
"Yes." Li Muye said solemnly: "People are resources!"
"People?" Wu Runtu smiled bitterly and said, "You may not know the specific situation here, but I'm not afraid to tell you the truth. No outsiders have joined us in this place for almost 20 years."
He continued: "Before liberation, we relied on people who fled here to increase the population. Later, when there were unrest outside and many people who had no food to eat came in, we finally ensured the reproduction of the population. However, in the past two decades, our place has become We are the poorest village in the area. No one from the surrounding villages and towns knows about our place, and no one is willing to marry their daughter. However, many girls in the village have been married off. Until now, the village is full of unskilled bachelors who can look at sows. Gou Gou, all rely on practicing the posture to vent excess energy."
Wu Lanzhu couldn't help but smile when she heard this.
Wu Runtu glanced at her and said seriously: "Don't laugh, I'm not telling you a joke."
Wu Lanzhu stuck out her tongue, waved and said sorry.
Wu Runtu said: "For you, such days may be a bit unbelievable, but this is the current situation here. There are too many young people who cannot find wives. To tell you the truth, my wife is twelve years older than me. She She was originally my sister-in-law. She married into our family when she was eighteen years old and basically watched me grow up. Later, my brother was bitten to death by a poisonous snake while sleeping in the field, so my sister-in-law became my wife. I am quite lucky. At least I have an aunt to sleep with, give birth to, cook and live by.”
Lu Shaofen said: "Then what did you say before that you don't think there is anything bad about living like this?"
Wu Runtu scratched his head and said, "I can see that Mr. Li wants to use us. Due to the ancestral teachings, we need to do some testing of Mr. Li's personality and purpose first."
Li Muye said: "If you are in trouble, don't be a bandit. If you are in poverty, don't be evil. What I want is a hero like this."
Wu Runtu's eyes lit up, he looked at Li Muye and asked, "What are Mr. Li's plans?" (End of Chapter)