The Tale Never Ends

Chapter 16: The old man who mysteriously disappeared

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On this day, Xiao Fengquan came to the river to play as usual. There used to be a small patch of willow trees near the construction site, about the thickness of an adult's arm. An old man connected a piece of tarpaulin to the forked parts of the willow trees to build a temporary space, with stubble (the root part of corn stalks) tied together on three sides. Farmers (usually used as firewood) built a temporary wall to store rags. These rags are not garbage in the sense we have today, but were bought by old men on the street. Before the Ten Years’ Movement, people who replaced rags were carried on bicycles. There were clay figures, clay flutes, molds, glass balls and other toys in the cage. The children from the farmers exchanged these toys with rag shoes, scrap steel, etc. During the ten years of movement, the four olds were broken and the toys could no longer be used, so the old man went down and bought them directly with change. , and then took it back and sorted it. At that time, the country had a purchasing department called a purchasing station. After purchasing, the old man packs them up and delivers them to the purchasing station to earn the price difference. He is commonly known as a rag collector. Similar to today's waste pickers, except that he did not pick up but bought.

This old man is neither from this village nor from the neighboring village (the land next to the willow tree belongs to the neighboring village). Everyone does not know his name, so when they mention him, they call him Old Man Hetuntao. This old man often teased Feng Quan. Sometimes when Feng Quan was holding something to eat, the old man would tease him, "Give me something to eat?" Feng Quan was very kind and "loose-handed" when he was a child. He would give it to anyone who asked for it, and the old man would always smile. If you open your mouth and bite, you will eat it. Since Feng Quan went there every day, the old man gradually fried some corn and soybeans, leaving them for Feng Quan. The soybeans fried by the old man were delicious and were fried with soy sauce. The old man loves to eat peppers, so Feng Quan often picks them from home for the old man, and the family does not object. This shows how important family education is to the formation of a person's character. If family members are generous, children who grow up in this environment will It’s also generous!

Then one day, the old man asked Feng Quan, "Do you learn martial arts exercises?" Feng Quan asked, "What is martial arts exercises?" The old man made several gestures there. Feng Quan had seen older children doing radio exercises. Quan was young and thought this was what his brothers and sisters were doing. He thought it was fun, so he followed the old man's example. When he went to school, Feng Quan learned broadcasting exercises. When he found that it was different from what the old man taught him, he went back and asked. The old man said, "I am old-fashioned." So Feng Quan was proud that he could do both. What a child, so fooled! By the time he reached his teens, he knew more and read more books. Feng Quan tried reading "Water Margin" and "Three Kingdoms" and understood that what the old man taught was martial arts. At that time, children in rural areas had to work as teenagers, such as cutting grass, picking wild vegetables, collecting firewood, picking wheat ears, picking cotton, etc. Every time they went out with a basket, Feng Quan would go to the old man's place to do some mischief. The old man would always "play some games" with Feng Quan when he left. He also said, "Whenever you can kick me, I will leave." However, Feng Quan always failed to kick the old man. I don't know if it was Feng Quan's subordinate. Even after removing the feet, I really can't find any flaws in the old man's skin.

There was an earthquake in 1976, and the village was in chaos. Rumors spread everywhere. Some people said that the Qiuzhuang Reservoir collapsed. The Qiuzhuang Reservoir was about a hundred miles upstream of the river. If it collapsed, the returning river would flood. , so every household hugged their quilts and ran to the river, which is the highest point in the village. For a moment, the big one cried and the little one screamed, and it was a mess. Feng Quan was already 15 years old at this time. He kicked open the window and escaped during the earthquake. When he arrived at Hedi, the first thing he used to do was look for the old man. The strange thing was that the old man was not there! All the items were there, but the people were not there. He thought: If there is a flood, this place will be the first to be flooded. I don’t know where the old man is...

Later, the reservoir did not collapse, but the old man never appeared again. When someone in the village talked about him, the adults said, "Maybe that person is gone (passed away)!"

Three years later, Feng Quan was admitted to university. Originally, Feng Quan went to school late because there was no school in the village at that time. During the Ten Year Movement, Feng Quan was frightened again, and his grandmother was worried about letting him go to a neighboring village to study. Later, a school was built in the village, and Feng Quan was already 9 years old. The school system at that time was five years of primary school, two years of junior high school, and two and a half years of high school. Because the college entrance examination was moved from the beginning of the year to the summer, Feng Quan’s enrollment in college was By then, he was already 18 years old. As we said before, Feng Quan still sometimes dreamed of "Xuan Er Shu" in college, which often turned from warm to nightmare and woke him up crying, but the frequency was much less.

Once, the school held a sports meeting, and all classes lined up around the playground to watch. They were in a semi-disbanded state, and there were few games. A classmate who knew martial arts practiced boxing in the open space outside the track, attracting a large number of students to watch. This classmate has practiced Dahong Fist, which is the "Southern Fist" among the "Southern Fist and North Legs". After practicing, the classmate looked around at the crowd. Perhaps he could tell from Feng Quan's eyes that he knew something, so he walked over and said, "You should come twice, too!" The classmates all booed, and Feng Quan Quan stood up and practiced what the old man taught. As a result, everyone laughed and said, "It's so ugly!" The classmate who was practicing boxing also gestured and said, "You will be knocked down by me with one punch like this!" Feng Quan made a gesture with his fist, but the classmate's intention was hypothetical, not a real fight. Unexpectedly, Feng Quan instinctively hooked his hand and raised his leg, and kicked the classmate down with "Bang!" He himself was startled at the time and hurriedly leaned over to rub his classmates. It seemed that the kick really hurt, and the classmate grinned for a long time. If you ask people who practice martial arts, you will know that the facing bone of the calf is the hardest to practice, because there is almost no muscle, just a layer of skin, and the bones underneath. It hurts very much after being kicked. That's what Feng Quan learned. Things, most of them greeted this place with their feet!

Later, this classmate got bad, and some of his fellow students came to the dormitory. They all came from the same area and belonged to the same sect. The classmate encouraged several fellow students to fight Feng Quan, but they all got kicked and their legs were swollen. Some of his fellow apprentices came from martial arts families. Later, when he wrote to his family, he drew schematic diagrams of some of Feng Quan's distinctive movements and asked his family what kind of martial arts they were. Reply from home: Judging from the picture, there are at least two martial arts that are the same as it, one is called Tuck Kick, which is also called Shipa Kick in the industry, and the other is called Stab Kick, both of which are the north leg of "South Fist and North Kick". This kind of martial arts emphasizes that the hands are two doors, and you only hit people with your feet! Study hard from others, strive to learn it during college, and come back to teach your brothers and sisters. In this way, during the four years of college, Feng Quan learned Hong Quan from them, and they learned kick skills from Feng Quan. Whenever we have free time, we make strokes together.

Four years after graduation, Feng Quan was assigned to work in a state-owned enterprise. He is 30 kilometers away from home. Fengquan rides his bicycle home every Saturday and rides to work again on Monday morning. That year, the movie "Shaolin Temple" was popular, and a craze for martial arts arose across the country. Feng Quan would compete with some martial arts colleagues when he had nothing to do. Two years later, one Saturday, the leader arranged for Feng Quan to wait for a business customer to deliver equipment, but the car encountered some problems halfway and was delayed. It was already evening when I received the device. After Feng Quan arranged to unload the car, it was already dark and he would not be able to ride home that day. Coincidentally, there is a power outage in the dormitory, so unit maintenance usually takes place when employees are on vacation. On the one hand, the maintenance workers can get overtime pay, and on the other hand, the power outage is conducted when everyone is away, so as not to cause inconvenience to everyone.

Because there was no electricity, Feng Quan could not do anything but sleep. Maybe it was because I slept for a long time this time, but I had a dream. I dreamed about "Xuan Er Shu". For the first time, this time it didn't turn into a nightmare. "Xuan Er Shu" in the dream stroked Feng Quan's head, with a familiar and kind face, and said with a smile: "The little bad guy has grown up. I didn't come to see Xuan'er Shu either..." After waking up, Feng Quan's face was still full of tears and he blamed himself. Even though he grew up, he never went to pay homage to Xuan'er Shu's grave. But, come to think of it, I am really ignorant! Since I'm going home this morning, why not go to the county town and pay homage to "Xuan'er Shu". So Feng Quan bought two wads of paper money from a stall outside, clamped them on the back rack of his bicycle, and rode out of the county town.

After passing the county seat, Feng Quan rode in the direction he remembered, asking questions along the way. Because the "Xuan'er Harvest" incident was famous, many people still knew about it 18 years later. A farmer gave Feng Quan detailed instructions on how to move. When he arrived nearby, he saw from a distance that it was a righteous land (a public cemetery that was collectively opened during the commune period and is still used in rural areas today). He didn't know which grave was collected by "Xuan'er", so he asked an old man herding sheep again. After hearing this, the old man looked at Feng Quan with a strange look, "What day is it today? Why are you asking about his grave! Did you see it? There is someone burning paper in front of you, that's it!" Feng Quan felt a little strange, and also Has anyone asked about the grave of "Xuan'er Shu"? He didn't think much at the time and went straight to the man who was burning the paper.

As we got closer, there was a very low tomb in front of us. It had obviously not been repaired for many years. It had sunk into a small earthen bag and was surrounded by humus. Feng Quan climbed onto the "earth bag" and was burning paper. At this time, the person burning the paper noticed someone coming and turned to look this way. The moment he saw the other person's face, Feng Quan's heart almost jumped out of his body!