Chapter Ten Unforgettable Memories

  "Yeah, but he wasn't lame before. That day we bumped into each other and he told me that on the big crooked-neck tree on East Mountain, there's a big nest with bird eggs for sure. He asked me to go dig them up with him. I said my dad said East Mountain is a burial ground and doesn't let me go. He said it's no big deal, we'll just leave after digging, and he'll give you two more bird eggs."

  "Ah," the old man sighed, "you don't know, young fellow, nowadays no matter what, white buns are for eating, and the chickens we raise at home lay eggs, which we also eat. It wasn't like that before, whoever raised a couple of hens back then would carefully keep the eggs to exchange for salt or rice at the market, who would dare give them to children to eat? And besides, those chickens back then, who had anything to feed them? They were just let loose to peck at wild food, and half of the eggs they laid were empty. Thinking about it now, those chickens really suffered..."

  This old man is either a chicken or a sheep, when will he stop talking about this? However, I didn't have the heart to interrupt him, so I patiently listened to his nagging.

  Later, I blamed myself for being greedy and followed the sheep with him. At that time, Dongshan was a chaotic burial ground. Whoever died would be wrapped in a mat and thrown there. There were many dogs waiting to eat human flesh, their eyes were all red from eating eyeballs.

  "Ah, don't even mention those dogs, they were so pitiful. At that time, people couldn't even eat their fill, who had anything to feed the dogs? The dogs were so hungry they were skin and bones, and when they walked, they would stumble. Some were so hungry they lay down at the foot of the wall, and when someone came, they couldn't even follow them anymore, but still wagged their tails. But what's the use of wagging their tails? Who had anything to feed them?" The old man let out a deep sigh.

  This time I felt heartbroken too, didn't know how to comfort him. Could only hand him another cigarette.

  The old lady laughed and said, "You two hurry up and say it. Don't smoke so much, look at the whole house full of smoke." The old man took two puffs of his cigarette and said, "We hadn't even reached that crooked-necked tree yet when we encountered several dogs with red eyes, they must have eaten human flesh. They charged towards us, and Dead Column saw it wasn't good, so he quickly climbed the tree, leaving me behind. I couldn't climb the tree, I was still herding sheep. If those dogs ate the sheep, my dad would skin me alive when we got back! But with these mad dogs, I'm really scared out of my wits, my legs are shaking."

  The old man's eyes were a bit dim. "Suddenly, I saw the dog running in the front and it looked familiar, very much like 'Lai Fu' from Old Bi's family in the west of the village. After Old Bi died at the beginning of spring, no one took care of it anymore. So I called out to it, 'Lai Fu!' It stopped and tilted its head to look at me, it still remembered me."

  "But the dogs behind didn't care, they came up and wanted to bite my sheep. I took a stick and hit them, they charged at me. Suddenly, Lai Fu barked twice, turned around and rushed towards those few dogs, biting them together with them. I knew it was protecting me. At that time, I was scared silly, staring blankly as those few dogs bit Lai Fu, later Lai Fu's intestines were pulled out, but still protected me and refused to run away. Until the end, when he couldn't stand up anymore, he still clung to one dog's neck with his teeth, not letting go. The blood, it flowed all over the ground."

  "Grandpa, why does it want to protect you?" I couldn't help but ask.

  "Ah, I think it might still remember that half bowl of mutton soup."

  "What sheep?" I asked back.

  The old man pinched out the cigarette butt with his long fingernails. "That spring when I was herding sheep, I met Lai Fu lying under a haystack by the well and couldn't get up, it was so hungry, I secretly squeezed half a bowl of goat's milk for it to drink, and it remembered. Half a bowl of goat's milk, it still remembers to this day. What a good dog! At critical moments, it saved my life. This dog sometimes has more feelings than humans, you treat it well, and it will never forget."

  "What happened later? How is Lai Fu doing now?" Now I no longer simply care about that "dragon", but start to care about the fate of this loyal dog, Lai Fu.

  "What else could I do, they were dead, those few dogs had bitten Lai Fu to death and were now rushing towards me with their teeth bared. Later, they suddenly all let out a strange noise and ran away with their tails between their legs. I was still in a daze when I felt a sudden gust of wind beside me, and a black shadow rushed towards my sheep. When I came to my senses and took a closer look, I saw the dragon, its mouth still holding one of my sheep. Zhu Zi was so scared that he let out a loud cry and fell from the tree. My sheep were all stunned and didn't move."

  "What does the dragon look like?" I asked.

  "It's about the same as a long worm. But it's bigger, really big, and it was coiled up at the time, I don't know how long it was, but it was as thick as this" The old man gestured with his hand, "Thicker than a bucket, green and shiny all over, and it had a big red crest on its head. Who knows how many years old it was?"

  "Are there claws?" I asked for details

  "I didn't see any paws, it was curled up at the time, anyway the top half wasn't there." The old man started rolling cigarettes himself, I took out a cigarette case, looked and found it empty, crushed it.

  "What happened afterwards? Did it bite you?"

  "No, I just stared at it blankly, and it gnawed on the sheep without looking at me. Its two eyeballs were white, almost the same color as a stone egg. I don't know how long it took, but with a 'whoosh' sound, it left, and you could see the trees in the distance splitting apart with a loud crackling sound. The force was not ordinary."

  "What's next?" I felt like there was still something left unsaid.

  "After that, I came to my senses and went to support him against a pillar. His leg was broken, and he had urinated on himself. I also urinated. Supporting him, we drove those sheep back to the village. We told them we encountered a dragon, but the adults didn't believe us. My father called several adults from Upper Village to go up the mountain together to find the sheep. I wouldn't let them go, and they thought we were lying and wanted to go anyway. I had no choice but to tell them that if they saw Jiaofu, they should bury it. My father slapped me and said he would bury me when we got back." The old lady and I both laughed. "What happened next?" I wasn't satisfied yet.

  "After that, nothing much happened. My dad and the others didn't come back until nightfall, but they couldn't find the sheep. However, they did find Lai Fu burying it. When we got back home, he didn't hit me, just looked at me gloomily and told me never to go to East Mountain again."

  "When is your father's face not gloomy?" The old lady jumped out from the side. I guess the relationship between this old man and his daughter-in-law was not very good when they were young.

  "When your father died, he wasn't gloomy." The old man isn't a good guy either.

  "What else is there?"

  The old man thought for half a day, "Nothing else, it's just that from then on, he fell ill and had a lingering disease, urinating in the bed, until she got married and slowly recovered. Scared, all scared."

  "After that, have you guys seen it again?" I want to know more details about it.

  "Never, no one has ever seen it again. Then the Japanese devils came and sealed off the mountain. The National Army drove out the devils, and later you Communist Party drove out the National Army."

  I didn't have the nerve to correct his term "National Army", let him call it whatever he wants, as long as I know it's the Nationalist Party.

  At this time, the old lady who had been quiet all along spoke up, "Haven't you seen? Haven't you seen how Hu Sanwang has gone mad?"

  "Who is Hu San?" I asked.

  The old man rolled me a dry cigarette, cut off the mouth, handed it to me, I lit it and took a puff, choked to death, the strength was really great.

  "Hu Sanwang is a fisherman from our village, and he's a fellow clansman of mine." Oh, I just found out that the old man's surname is Hu.

  The old man rolled another one for himself, lit it up and continued to say: "Hu Sanwang's real name is Hu Kunshan. He was great at catching fish, throwing his net three times a day would always catch some fish. After a long time, nobody called him by his real name anymore, everyone just called him Hu Sanwang."

  "In the sixties, there was a natural disaster and everyone was starving. Sanwang couldn't bear to see others starve, and he had six children to feed himself, so every day he went down to the river to cast his net, catching fish and keeping some for himself while giving most of it away to the people in the village. The first few years were okay, but later on, there really wasn't much to catch, so he thought of a small lake on the east mountain that hadn't been visited in years and must have plenty of fish. So he jumped over the wall into your military base - back then, there weren't any electric fences yet."

  I smiled and didn't say anything, it's clear that our troops have surrounded the mountain, and the local people still have some opinions about it.

  "He didn't dare go during the day for fear of being caught and shot, so he went at night."

  I shook my head with a wry smile, jumping over the wall to catch a fish and getting shot, that's even more exaggerated than stealing a cabbage and being bombed.

  As a result, in the middle of the night, he returned to the village, wailing and crying out loud. We came out to take a look, and he was naked, his clothes were gone, and he still held onto half a fishing net. He knelt at the entrance of the village, facing the east mountain, constantly kowtowing, saying that he had caught too many fish and committed a sin, and the Dragon King wanted to punish him, and he would never dare again. We sent him back home, and the next day he went mad. As soon as someone mentioned fish or dragon, he would have an episode. Although he was crazy, everyone still remembered his kindness, and they would give him food from time to time. Also, those days were better than the previous years, so his family didn't starve to death.

  I was just about to fall asleep when I suddenly heard a familiar horn sound.

  "Hey young man, your unit has fallen asleep!" The old man's ears were still quite sharp despite his advanced age.

  I listened again and it was indeed the curfew bell, so I hastily bid farewell to the old man and once again entrusted them with taking care of my dog, then rushed back.

  I lay in bed and sorted out the conversation I had with two old men last night, and found that there were three major gains.

  I'm almost certain now that the thing I met in the tomb on East Mountain a few days ago was a "dragon". Even if it wasn't a dragon, it should be an old snake-like animal, but not a python. Firstly, the northern climate is not suitable for pythons to survive, and secondly, pythons do not have crowns! Also, there is no record of it intentionally harming people.

  Two, kindness will be rewarded, whether it's towards humans or animals!

  Three, getting married can cure bedwetting!