Solstice Secrets

Going up the creaking stairs, a wooden door appeared at the end of the stairs.The wooden doors and stairs were originally made of light-colored original wood, but they have been used for too long and have been stained into different shades of yellowish-brown by dust and oily smoke.

Just as Ling Dongzhi was about to knock on the door, he heard a low voice from inside, "Come in."

Ling Dongzhi pushed open the door, and walked in with Zhuang Zhou, cats and dogs.The three cats looked around curiously, while Brown Sugar sniffed around with a look of vigilance.

Langya stood beside the dilapidated window, looking out at the street with dark eyes.Looking under the light, he was at least older than Ling's father.His thin body was slightly shriveled as if it had been sucked dry by the land.His hair was long and unkempt, and the strands at the temples had turned a mottled gray.

"Find a place to sit by yourself." Langya looked up and down the two young people who had just entered and the cats and dogs beside them, and casually pointed to his room.This is a bedroom of less than [-] square meters. There is a small stove in the center of the room. Apart from a single bed and a few simple pieces of furniture, there is no decoration.The furniture is also old things more than ten years ago. It seems that the old man's inn is not well run.

After sweeping around, Langya's gaze landed on Ling Dongzhi's body, a strange light flashed in his slightly muddy eyes, "Can I see your things?"

Zhuang Zhou frowned slightly, but Ling Dongzhi had already pulled out the stone from his collar and handed it to the old man.

Langya took it almost greedily, and rubbed it over and over against the light, and after a long time, reluctantly handed it back to Ling Dongzhi.Ling Dongzhi reached out to take it, gently stroked the smooth surface of the stone with his fingertips, and asked lightly: "You have one too? Can you show it to me?"

Langya hesitated for a moment, got up and walked to the bed, opened the drawer of the bedside table and took out a palm-sized photo frame, looked at it cherishedly, turned and handed it to Ling Dongzhi.

"It's not in my hands right now." Langya's tone hesitated, "Maybe I'll let you see it later."

Ling Dongzhi didn't say anything, and reached out to take the photo.In the photo, Langya is holding a child in his arms, smiling so hard that his teeth can't be seen. The background seems to be a playground.The collar of the light-colored shirt on his body was open, revealing a dark green stone the size of a quail egg.The photo was very old, and the corners and corners were even a little faded, but Ling Dongzhi could still tell at a glance that the stone was almost exactly the same as the one in his hand.Ling Dongzhi tightened his fingers holding the photo frame, his voice trembling slightly, "Can I ask where you got it from?"

Langya was silent for a moment, then asked him, "Is there really a mountain god in that mountain?"

"I don't know if there are any mountain gods in the mountains." Ling Dongzhi looked straight into his eyes and said word by word, "but there is a group of mountain people called the mountain gods. They live in the deep mountains and don't want to get close to outsiders. Living their own lives in peace and contentment." Ling Dong Zhi added in his heart: If there hadn't been an accident, they should still be living in peace and contentment there now.

Langya sat down on the chair, with his eyelids drooping, he was thinking of something.

However, Ling Dongzhi felt impatient with his silent and almost evasive attitude, "I want to know how that stone of yours got here, can you tell me?"

Langya seemed startled by his voice, raised his head in a daze, and then asked again: "Where did you come from?"

"I've had it with me since I was born." This sentence is not a lie, at least that's what the two tribesmen who left themselves at the door of their aunt's house meant. For twenty years.Ling Dongzhi sensitively noticed that after Lang Ya heard this, there was a subtle change in his eyes, and there seemed to be more eagerness than before.

"how?"

Langya shook his head covertly, "Nothing."

Ling Dongzhi sat up straight and looked at him seriously, "Then can you tell me how you got your things now?"

Langya asked him back, "Do you know what this is?"

Ling Dongzhi was slightly taken aback.

"There is a mineral vein with very little output in the back mountain of Shiliu Village. Not many people know about it." Langya lifted the lid of the kettle on the small stove next to him, looked at the water in the kettle, and put the lid back with a little regret, " People of the Mountain Gods should like this kind of ore very much, they polished it into delicate plates, cups, toys for children, and jewelry worn by women." Speaking of this, Langya got up and took out a Pushing the cardboard box in front of Ling Dongzhi, "These are things I collected one after another... from that village."

Looking at the things he took out, Ling Dongzhi felt an inexplicable agitation in his heart.In fact, there are not many things in the box. Two palm-sized jade tablets are engraved with the shapes of a deer and a wolf respectively. The lines are simple but lifelike.There are also several plates, bowls, and teacups, all handmade with dark green stone.Although the workmanship is rough, there is a kind of simple and profound implication in it, just looking at it is enough to make people excited.

Ling Dongzhi suddenly felt an indescribable pride.People of this family have already mastered very good hand-made techniques. If this technique and this unique handicraft product can be known to more people...Ling Dongzhi looked at these things over and over again, and the eagerness in his heart slowly slowed down. Cooled down.He knew that he was thinking left. If he wanted more people to understand this technology, then this clan would inevitably have to deal with people from the outside world frequently. It might be difficult to keep their own secrets.

Ling Dongzhi sighed, feeling a bit of desolation and bitterness in his heart, "Can these things be transferred to me? You can set the price."

Langya shook his head, "I don't own this thing alone, we need to discuss it. You can leave me a call."

Ling Dongzhi rubbed the jade token in his hand, and reluctantly put it back into the box, "Now, can you tell me something you know?"

The water on the stove boiled, Lang Fang stood up, took out the tea bucket from the cabinet and made a pot of tea.The aroma of tea leaves mixed with the rising water vapor, adding a touch of warmth to this dilapidated room.

Langya took a sip of tea and said lightly: "I was about ten years old when I first came to this small town. I don't remember where I lived or who I lived with before I was ten years old. I Here I begged along the street, did petty theft, and later joined a gang of thieves. During the crackdown, the gang leaders were all arrested. I was just a young man and sent to a labor camp. After three years, I came out and worked as a kid in a restaurant. work."

Ling Dongzhi opened his mouth to speak, but Zhuang Zhou pulled the hem of his clothes from behind, so he wisely didn't make a sound.

Langya didn't notice this detail, and said self-consciously: "A restaurant, all kinds of guests come and go, sometimes we meet some strange guests and talk about some business that I don't understand. It would be traded on the spot. Pelts, taxidermy, animal horns, bones, even teeth."

The old man was silent for a moment, and a mocking look appeared on his face, "I didn't know there was such a thing as poaching at that time. They said it was hunting, and I was so envious. Men, who doesn't like to touch guns?"

"Later, the restaurant couldn't continue to open, so the boss closed the shop and went back to his hometown in Hebei. I lost my livelihood again, so I set up a stall in the market to sell some gadgets. After half a year, I met again. I saw a man who had been to the restaurant. He was also in touch with a few people in the market, driving a car, and doing a lot of business. When he saw me, he asked me if I would do it with him. They had guns, six or seven personal."

"Later, I followed them up the mountain. The guide knew the way, and took us for three or four days to walk in the mountain, and arrived at a small valley. According to him, that was the area with the most foxes. We set up an ambush outside the valley. .Foxes are ghostly spirits, and they can see them if they are not careful."

"I just joined the team, and they were worried about doing important work for me, so they sent me to clean up the place where I stayed overnight. It was the first time I entered the mountain, and I lost my way when I went around in the valley. Unfortunately, I fell again. I hurt my leg and lay in the snow and couldn't move. Then... I met a man." Langya paused for a moment, with a pensive expression on his face, "A very strange man, very beautiful." Speaking of Here, he couldn't help but glance at Ling Dongzhi.

Zhuang Zhou frowned, wondering why the old man looked so dishonest.Ling Dongzhi felt that what he was looking at was not himself, but someone similar to himself.

"He bandaged my wound and gave me a bottle of shochu." Langya smacked his lips, as if he was still relishing the taste of that shochu to this day, "But he didn't say a word, just smiled at me and left After he left, I found out that he was accompanied by two leopards."

Ling Dongzhi's chest was pounding, "What happened next?"

"Later," Langya sighed, "for some reason, all the foxes caught were released. Boss and the others caught the person who was against them. That person called for help. They also had shotguns. Later, shots were fired from both sides. After those people retreated, the boss found out that his brother was injured. It was winter, and we were in the mountains again. Our group rushed down the mountain quickly, but we still couldn’t save him. Boss At that time, I went crazy, and I must take revenge."

Ling Dongzhi leaned against Zhuang Zhou's body, feeling a little breathless.Although these things happened many years ago, when he thought that among those people were his biological parents and clansmen who sent him to the village, he felt pain in his heart.

"That day should be the winter solstice." Langya thought for a while, "The boss brought a group of people gathered at the foot of the mountain to touch the mountain again. This time, the boss spent a lot of money to hire a guide from Houshan Village, and directly touched the mountain. The lair of those people. When they entered the village, they found it somehow, and the two sides fought again. The boss had a gun, bullets, and a lot of soil bombs. A few bombs were thrown in the past, and the whole village was almost It was blown over."

"At this time, a lot of animals appeared out of nowhere, leopards, wolves, etc., all of them were fierce... Several of our brothers were injured by them. Later, more and more animals gathered, even deer, rabbits, and argali Everything came out. The guide in Houshan Village said that the animals were running out, and it looked too evil, so it must be an earthquake. But before we ran out of the mountain, there was an earthquake."

"Boss and most of his subordinates were trapped to death in the mountains, and only two or three young men ran out. We were also afraid, and we made an appointment with each other and no one would tell this matter to the outside world. When they fought, they snatched it from them."

When Langya said this, a bit of shame finally appeared on the old face.

Ling Dongzhi pursed the corners of his lips.He thought a little dazedly, no wonder the person who sent him to the village was wounded.Under such circumstances, if you don't send him away, you may not be able to survive if you stay in the village.Maybe other children were also sent out?In any case, it is impossible to have only one baby in a village, right?

Ling Dongzhi's throat couldn't help but tighten, "What happened to that village?"

"Most of them died when the two sides pinched each other, and then there was an earthquake..." Langya shook his head, his eyes full of sorrow, "It's all destroyed, there's nothing left. Everyone's dead too."