Chapter 5: The Little White Grave
A decade later my grandmother had six children, my father being the youngest, and the talisman was carried in a purse and hung on him at his birth. After a few more decades, the talisman was passed down to me. I was naughty as a child, I was only five or six years old at the time. Simply do not take this charm seriously, well wrapped in a purse and with several red rope hanging around the neck did not lose, in the end, I still cherish the purse, just a time greedy, with the purse and the neighboring children's qu fat man exchanged for a bag of jumping candy. Home was my old man found, my old man is not ambiguous, directly to me after a beating personally took five dollars to the fat man in exchange for the purse. To come back directly after the bolt to my neck and told me, if I lose it again, then beat me to death.
Originally I wanted to say to my old man, he spent the wrong money, a bag of jumping candy only 50 cents, but looked at the old man's angry face, I froze did not dare to speak. Thus, more than ten years passed. My grandfather passed away when I was in my junior year, and I went to high school, I remember that was when I was seventeen years old, just the second year of high school.
Because I do not study well, all day know to textbooks scribbling, dad see me like this, after graduation simply let me to our county a vocational high school to read art class. Originally to the vocational high school to study are some of the same as I heard the school on the cry of the Lord. Come to this school is just want to mix a diploma, or better luck to get a second-rate university and so on.
The reason I went to high school is that I always fantasized about the short skirts the girls wore in high school in the summer, heh heh heh. That is I believe there are a lot of my peers and I think about the same, because the power of adolescent teenage angst is powerful, always doing rose-colored high school full of * rotten three years of life.
But when you really get to high school you realize that often a lot of things don't work out, beautiful women are there and they are not in the minority. You have to come to terms with the fact that good daughters-in-law are other people. I waited to understand has also been a sophomore in high school, I realized, like me no money, and not handsome, if I can find a not really good-looking nor ugly chick to experience the first love should already amitabha. But I lowered the conditions, but still a bachelor.
To talk about this matter is really quite a cup, to know that I am in the art class is a total of eleven students. There are only two men, in addition to me, the buddy, talking also cross the orchid finger. He was nicknamed the yin-yang man. Even so, I did not get an object, you say I am more unlucky, even if I look very popular and very common, belong to the kind of stand in the pile of people can not be recognized that type, but the ratio of nine to two froze not a look at me.
Luckily, my two art teachers are quite righteous, the first time I met the teacher who let us smoke in class was these two, the old Jia who is the master of drawing and the old Zhang who is the master of color. They were almost ninety years old, but they still got drunk every day and gave us cigarettes when they were drunk. One time in the afternoon drawing class, the principal passed by our studio and found that we were getting high while drawing, while Old Jia was drunk and reading "Plum in the Golden Vase", which he had taken from the school library. The principal asked him to come into the corridor to talk to him, but the drunken Lao Jia went out and slapped him in the face before he could say anything to the principal. The principal was stunned. Asked Lao Jia why he hit him, Lao Jia only said, "I'm not used to you playing calves!" Said back to the house to carry a stool on the way out. Fortunately, the principal ran fast plus we pulled the old Jia, told him not to impulse to smash their own rice bowls, the old Jia cursed and went into the house to continue to read his "Plum in the Golden Vase", but he sobered up after the fear. Had to harden his head to take the initiative to find the principal to apologize, said the principal seems to be scared of him, see him to apologize also went along with his step said nothing, the old JIA heard nothing, the heart of the great joy. Have to ask the principal to drink, but the principal said nothing to go, presumably for fear that the old Jia drunk again beat him. Since then the principal never came to our studio. We are also happy to get away with it.
So we had to admire our own benefactor for being so spontaneous. It made me feel that although I didn't have a girlfriend, I was also happy to live a life of leisure.
That is a summer, this morning Lao Jia and Lao Zhang told us eleven people, today one day to go to the countryside sketching. I heard on the happy, learned art people know, generally speaking, summer and fall is very suitable for outdoor sketching season. But the nominal listing sketching, in fact, is to go to the mountains to play with the water to eat, drink and have fun. In the summer there are watermelons in the countryside, we will go along with a few, in the fall there are corn in the countryside, we will go along with a few roasted. But there are not many real painting, this is just to be lazy not to class to find a grand excuse. Hear the news after the studio girls happy chatter, the old Zhang and I Yang Xu, that is, nicknamed the yin and yang man that buddy. Called out, gave us money to let us both empty the painting bag to buy some white wine, peanuts, sausages, spices and so on loaded to the noon to drink a good meal.
The painting bag is loaded with a drawing board, a bag loaded with a dozen bottles of beer is very easy, so the two of us will go to the school near the warehouse to buy purchases, shopping properly after carrying a bulging bag to the carport to pick up the bike after riding to the school gate, the girls in the studio and two old guys have been there waiting for us. Our group then rode towards a scenic river near a dam on the outskirts of town.
Speaking of the river, it's called the Eight Forks River, a tributary of the Yalu River, which as its name implies has many tributaries of the river itself. Not far downstream is the Nenjiang River. Because of the clear water, until now there are still people there to release turtles to accumulate virtue, but most of those who release is just to find an excuse for themselves, because they release in the upper reaches of the lower reaches of the fishermen will spread the net again to those turtles in one net. Then they will sell them to those who want to release them here. The river also has a local name, "Little White Tomb". The old man told me that in the Republic of China, there was a drought one year, and there was not even a drop of rain until July, and the water in the Eight Forks of the river was on the verge of bottoming out. The people's crops, not to mention, basically a year of no play, I do not know how many people will leave their homes to flee the famine. One day in August, there was a thunderstorm in the sky, followed by a white dragon falling down. It was said to have caused quite a sensation, and all the villagers from ten miles and eight villages came to see it.
It is said that the dragon was already dying when it fell to the ground, and at that time there came from nowhere a capable person wearing a yellow hat, saying that the dragon was originally the water god in charge of this area, but had violated the rules of heaven and was relegated down. Has not been able to live, said he let everyone take more grass mats dipped in water to cover it first. Strangely enough, when people covered it, they found that they could not cover it at all, and the more they covered the dragon's body, the longer it grew. The capable person hurriedly said, don't cover a head, start from the head and tail, both ends of the cover. Sure enough, the dragon was covered this time, and after it was covered, the dragon died. The man said again, "This dragon is a god, even if it is dead. Even if it is dead, we have to bury it in water. So everyone beat the gong and drums to send the dragon into the drying up of the Eight Forks River. Strangely enough, as soon as the dragon entered the river, the sky began to darken with clouds, and then it started to rain heavily. The water level soon rose to cover the dragon's body. The people rejoiced that these were saved, and looked for that able man again. But can not be found, and then people rumored that he is a fairy, came down to guide people through the difficult times.
Because this river once buried a small white dragon. So from then on, the people will call this river "small white grave". This is indeed a magical river, there are many stories about this river, but this is a later story, allow me to slowly say later.
The air in the countryside is very fresh, riding a bicycle, both sides of the highway is a green, unknown wildflowers at this time is the most beautiful, the fragrance of the flowers mixed with the smell of the soil to the face, feel comfortable.
I listened to the side of the yin and yang people are chatting with those chicks hot, and the old Jia and the old Zhang is calculating the night to go to which massage time, thought, this bunch of scenery stuff, if now I have an object how good, sitting on the back of my bike, hands holding me, with this scene, it would be more soulful. But when I came back to reality, I realized that there was only a heavy painting bag behind the seat.
About nearly noon, we arrived at the eight forks of the river. Lao Jia and Lao Zhang said to us: "What, the girls pack up and clean up, can paint the first painting for a while, do not like to paint on the dismissal, free activities. Don't go into the water, don't go far. The men pack up and get ready to cook."
Hear him say this sentence I and Yang Xu is not happy, damn, in this class in addition to the two of us as slaves simply do not have a little bit of being a man's privilege. So I said to Old Zhang with a serious face, "Mr. Zhang, we are not here to sketch, in such a beautiful nature, I also want to draw ah! Can you appreciate how strong my pursuit of art is at this moment?"
Old Jia was not ambiguous, he kicked me in the ass, "Painting my ass, which time did you paint? I still don't know you. Hurry up and catch a toad for me!" Old Jia cursed and said.
I have nothing to say, covering the buttocks and Yang Xu began to look for the stream by the river. In my heart, I thought, "So there are times when Old Jia isn't stupid. Surprisingly, it was so easy to recognize my trick.
The toad that Lao Jia asked us to catch was not a toad. Rather, it is a kind of frog in the stream next to the river on this side, and it is very tasty and tender when caught and roasted over the fire. It's perfect for wine. June and July is the time for them to breed. There are so many of them. To catch them there is a trick, is to take off your shoes and walk into the water after the water, the creek or blisters after so, suddenly the water becomes muddy, hiding in the rocks or sand frogs are frightened after drilling out, then do not do it first, but rather wait for them to be quiet, look at the quick shot, basically foolproof. After catching the frogs, you can throw them to the shore and kill them.
