Chapter 382 The Way of Dragon and Snake

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Another series of low and hoarse coughs. The old man looked so weak, as if this cough could take his life. Like a fish on the shore, his mouth kept opening and closing, greedily grabbing every breath of oxygen from the world to keep him alive. He waited for a little while to recover, and then he completely shrank into the quilt. The quilt had not been dried and washed for who knows how long. The green quilt cover was shiny and glossy, and many places were damaged. The old cotton inside was turned out, and the strong smell of old oil came from the quilt.

The old man ignored the shining blades in our hands, turned around, and turned his back to us: "Go to the city and tell that good-for-nothing that I really have nothing here. If you think my life is useful, just take it away. If you don't want to get involved in a murder lawsuit, then you can just look around in this room. Take whatever you like. Don't disturb my sleep. I'm very tired..."

Hearing this, my heart moved, and I reached out to stop Brother Yaozi and Wushuang who couldn't hold back, and a smile appeared on the corner of my lips.

Interesting!

I thought to myself that the old man must have recognized the wrong person. Although he didn't elaborate, his words and deeds had already expressed it clearly. He had a good-for-nothing son, who should be like most of the young people in Xia Village. They all went out to make a living, and they were not doing well. They became second-rate people. Every now and then, someone would come to the door to collect debts, and they had already squeezed him out of his bones and marrow. There was nothing left.

Under the nervous eyes of Brother Yaozi and the others, I sat down on the edge of the kang without any hesitation. I was close to the old man through the quilt. I could feel his arched spine like a bent iron rod, which showed that he really didn't have much meat on his body.

I waved to Brother Yaozi and the others, asking them to put away their weapons. Under their puzzled eyes, I slowed down my voice and whispered, "Old man, we are not here to ask for money. We heard that something unclean happened in this village. We are here to help you."

The old man shuddered obviously, and tremblingly lifted a corner of the quilt, revealing his face. There was no light or candle in the room, and it was all maintained by the flashlight in our hands. Under the pale light, the old man's face became paler and almost transparent. Indistinctly, there were wisps of green air surging on his face. His eye sockets were sunken and shrouded in shadows. I couldn't tell the whites of his eyes from his pupils. I could only see two dark holes. It was indescribable weirdness, but he didn't have any hostility. He twisted his head as if he was observing me, and then turned back and whispered, "Child, you can't control what's happening here. Go quickly, or you won't be able to leave."

"Hey, since we are here, it means we are here to do this. Are you afraid of explaining?"

Old Bai's brain was active. He understood it at this time. He sneered and said, "Besides, we are here. We are involved in the cause and effect. We can't escape. Your place is as poor as the refugee slums in feudal society. The blind date people around are unwilling to get close to you. Only people like us who are devoted to seeking the truth will care about your life and death. Could it be that someone who wants to save your life is here, and you just leave it alone and let us wait for death in confusion? Old man, if you still have a conscience, you might as well sit up and tell us what happened!"

These words finally made the old man a little lively. At least his eyes moved and he struggled to sit up. I saw that he was really struggling, so I reached out to help him. When I touched his body, I felt that he was like a piece of ice.

The old man was completely unaware, leaning against the wall weakly, his eyelids drooping as he said weakly: "Thank you for your kindness, you are right, these twenty or thirty invaluable lives in Xia Village, only you are willing to look at them."

I smiled and interrupted, saying that human lives are not divided into high and low, even if the family is penniless, it is still a human life, not a pig or a sheep, Taoists can't see the rich and the poor, they can only see the common people.

The old man smiled, but his face was stiff, and when he smiled, the corners of his mouth twitched, which was indescribably weird and gloomy. He sighed deeply and told everything he knew.

This matter has to start from more than two months ago.

Life is not easy for people living along the Yellow River, especially in Xia Village. Although they are guarding a rushing river, it is flooded. There is a good piece of land not far away, which is extremely fertile. When the land was divided, it was indeed possible to grow crops there. At that time, Xia Village was also a rich village. Who knew that this mother river was sincere and did not want to give its children who depended on it a way to survive? In 1950, the land was divided during the land reform. In 1952, there was a sudden flood. The river water rushed into the land and destroyed all the crops. Since then, the curtain of disaster for this village has been completely opened. No matter what is planted in the land, every time it is harvested, the land will be washed away, and all the crops in it will be swept away.

Strangely enough, the land is a distance away from the Yellow River. It is really a miracle that it was washed away. No one believes this kind of thing. When everyone comes to see it, the river water has receded and the fields are fertile. Therefore, the blame becomes the people of Xia Village. They all say that it is because they are lazy and do not plant good land.

The people of Xia Village could not survive and had to flee. The current desolate situation can be imagined. A group of farmers who dig for food in the soil, without the fields they depend on for survival, starved to death!

Not only the fields suffered, but also their drinking water became a problem! !

As long as you dig a well in the village, you can get water at a short depth, but the water is muddy and turbid, just like the water of the Yellow River. It can't settle and can't be drunk at all. Tap water can't be supplied here, so the whole village can only rely on a well on the back mountain for water.

The mountain behind Xia Village is Mingtiaogang!

That well is also an ancient well. The old man can't tell the specific period. Anyway, his ancestors who can be traced back have been drinking the water of that well. Because the ancient well is made of stone, they call it a stone well.

They would never have thought that two months ago, even this stone well dried up!

If they had nothing to eat, they could fish in the Yellow River. There was a wasteland behind the village, which was very barren, but they could still grow potatoes. They could grow potatoes for a year to produce grain, and grow alfalfa for a year to nourish the land. In winter, if they had no grain, they could only go out to beg, which would at least keep them alive. But what if they had nothing to drink? The stone well was dry, and if they wanted to get water, they could only go to Xinmiao, which was the nearest village, more than 20 miles away! !

The people who stayed here finally broke out. They had to earn a living anyway. They organized a few young and strong people to go down the stone well and prepare to grab water again.

Unfortunately, the water was not grabbed, but a man named Wang Si'er dug out a medicine that looked similar to Ganoderma lucidum from the well, which was the nine-ear mushroom!

Needless to say, the following things have been connected with the clues we know. Wang Si'er should be a distant relative of Fatty Wang. He called Fatty Wang to ask for help, and Fatty Wang told the news to Huang Lao Xie!

Then, Huang Lao Xie came in a hurry.

Wang Si'er was a scoundrel. Otherwise, any young man with a little ambition would have gone out with his family to make a living. Who would live here shamelessly? Scoundrels may not have any skills, but they have very good eyesight. Perhaps they have trained themselves by spending time and energy in contact with people. They are very good at judging people. At a glance, they can see that Huang Lao Xie is determined to get this thing.

If others are determined to get it, you have to raise the price.

This is the rule of doing business.

Wang Si'er immediately pulled the Nine-eared Mushroom into his arms, stretched out a hand and said to Huang Lao Xie, "Five hundred thousand. If you don't put down five hundred thousand, don't think about leaving this village with the Nine-eared Mushroom."

Five hundred thousand is already a sky-high price for a person like Wang Si'er, but to be fair, he actually wants very little. What's the concept of something that even the emperor in ancient times couldn't ask for? Five hundred thousand is really not much, but it is a pity that although Huang Lao Xie has some savings, it is still difficult for him to take so much.

This man also has a way. He rolled his eyes and said that everyone in the village knew about Huang Lao Xie's ability. He didn't have five hundred thousand, but he could help the village change its feng shui and let the village have a way to survive from now on! !

Wang Si'er certainly didn't do it, but the nine-ear mushroom grew in the well. Many people were there at the time, and everyone saw it. It was just that he was quick to take it. To put it bluntly, this thing is not his alone. It's okay if he doesn't know the value. Since it is so valuable, Wang Si'er can't make the decision. On weekdays, he shows off his power and everyone gives in. But it is related to everyone's livelihood. Who can let you do whatever you want? Cut off someone's life, some people will kill you with a knife and throw you into the Yellow River, so everyone rushed up and beat Wang Si'er until he was left with only one breath. Some old people came forward and promised Huang Lao Xie that as long as the water would not rush into the fertile fields from now on and clear springs would come out of the wells, the Nine-eared Mushroom would be given to him for free!!

Huang Lao Xie wanted the Nine-eared Mushroom, of course he had to work hard. He had been doing feng shui here for several days and said that there was something in the river that had set its eyes on their one-third acre of land. Every autumn, it controlled the water to harvest the crops. He called the thing in the river the River God. It was very simple to solve this problem. Just change the Feng Shui pattern, and then choose an auspicious day to offer three animals to the River God. With the offerings and incense, the River God would no longer control the water to rush into the fields.

So Huang Lao Xie paid for the three animals and five grains out of his own pocket, and set up a big show. He also said that after the offerings were made, there would be a good harvest this year, and there would be no problem offering sacrifices to the River God every year in the future.

That day, Huang Lao Xie set up an altar by the river, slaughtered cattle and sheep, and offered blood to the river, muttering something. Just as he was doing it, the villagers who were watching suddenly became noisy. Huang Lao Xie looked back and saw a huge black python coiled on a huge rock by the river!

To be precise, it should be a black snake, but it was too big, even bigger than a python. The snake stood up, and its eyes were staring at the three animals and five grains on the altar.

Everyone had never seen such a big snake before, and they were all scared and silent.

Only Wang Si'er, with a bruised face and nose, suddenly shouted: "What a big snake!!"

Huang Lao Xie was originally frightened by the black snake and his legs were like playing a pipa. When he heard Wang Si'er's ignorant shouting, he immediately became furious. He jumped down and kicked Wang Si'er, and roared: "What kind of snake is this? It's a dragon! ! See, it's a dragon, you open your eyes and take a good look, this is a dragon, tell me again, is it a dragon or a snake?"

Wang Si'er didn't know the depth of the situation, was stunned, and muttered to himself: "It's obviously a snake, not a dragon!"

However, when he met Huang Lao Xie's murderous eyes, he immediately changed his words: "Yes, it's a dragon, it's a dragon!!"

Unfortunately, it was too late!

With a loud rumble, a thick thunderbolt suddenly fell from the clear sky, hitting the black snake. The black snake cried out, fell on the boulder, its skin torn and smoked. It jumped up from the boulder and disappeared into the Yellow River.

Huang Lao Xie went to the stone to check carefully. Seeing that the stone was broken into pieces and the blood of the black snake was everywhere, he said, "It should be dead. There won't be any big problems!"

Then Huang Lao Xie told the villagers that the problem was solved, but the villagers said that if there was really an autumn harvest this autumn, they would hand over the nine-spiced mushrooms.

Huang Lao Xie also agreed, and then went home happily.

About a month and a half after that incident, the black snake appeared again, coiled at the entrance of the village, and shouted "Wow" at Wang Si'er. Black air rolled, and Wang Si'er's eyes became cross-eyed. He leaned back and no longer responded.

There were a few brave people nearby. When they saw the black snake coming back to harm people, they thought that there was no way to resolve the grudge. They took the opportunity to kill the black snake. They picked up hammers and sticks and chased it. They chased it all the way to the stone well on Mingtiaogang. When they saw the black snake crawling into the well, they retreated in disappointment.

The black snake came, and the villagers were not experts in exorcising demons, so they could only ask Huang Laoxie again.

Huang Laoxie came to Xia Village for the second time with a bamboo basket on his back because Jiusui Mushroom was very concerned about Xia Village. After asking about the situation, he went directly into the well.

He came back safely. He only said that there would be no taboos from now on, and then he staggered away. Everyone couldn't stop him, and the unconscious Wang Si'er never woke up again.

After a while, Wang Si'er suddenly died! !

While unconscious, his belly suddenly bulged up, and then with a "bang" his belly burst open, and his entire body was blown to pieces, with moss all over his body.

"Yesterday, two officials in white coats came to check Wang Si'er's body, took away some moss that popped out of his body and left."

The old man sighed, "I always feel that this matter will not end, and the black snake will come back sooner or later!!"

I looked at the old man with a strange look in my eyes. His memory was still when the autopsy was just finished, which made me more certain of my guess. I smiled and asked, "Then what?"

The old man asked in confusion, "Then you came..."

Lao Bai knew from my appearance that there was no result if he asked more questions, so he looked at the old man with a smile and said, "Isn't it right? The snake must have come for the third time, and what happened at that time was the most terrifying, right? Think carefully, what happened at that time!!"

"Absolutely not!!"

The old man, who was weak just now, sat up with a "swoosh" at an amazing speed, and said loudly: "Although I am old, I am not confused. I remember everything that happened two months ago clearly. How can I not remember what happened yesterday?"

"You don't forget, you don't want to remember."

I looked at the old man and said word by word: "For a dead person who still thinks he is alive, how can he remember what happened before he died? After all, if he remembers those things, he can't deceive himself!"

The old man's eyes flickered like ghost fire, and he gritted his teeth and said: "What do you mean by this!"

I jumped down from the edge of the kang, pulled some distance from the other party, and then smiled and said: "Old man, don't you really understand what I am saying? You are dead, and have been dead for several days. Your body is now in the salt jar in the main room. If you don't believe me, go and take a look to see if you are dead or not! "