There was a letter in the basket of the baby, Ma Suifeng had not had time to open it. After Li Lao Er left, he opened it and took a look. The letter said: This child is born to an ordinary family, but due to years of famine, they were unable to raise him, so they abandoned him by the roadside, hoping that a kind-hearted person would adopt him and raise him to adulthood.

  The letter had the childs birth date, Ma Suifeng pinched his fingers and calculated that he got a gloomy and withered spirit. The five elements of this childs eight-character original palace all belonged to Yin. He was shocked in his heart. Was this child the person he had been searching for bitterly for several months?

  In the northwest of Zhejiang Province, there is a village called Wulipu, about ten miles away from Hongcun Village. There lived a couple with the surname "Zha". The husband and wife made a living by farming, the man was honest and the woman was kind, they had been married for over ten years but still had no children.

  This day dawned misty, the man got up early to prepare for going down to the fields, his wife was at home making rice cakes for lunch. Someone knocked on the door outside, and when he opened it, a stranger stood there.

  The man was carrying a basket, and in the basket, an infant was sleeping, sucking on his own fingers, looking like he was extremely hungry. The peasant woman saw this and quickly opened the door to welcome him in. On the mans back, there was also a cloth sack, which he took off as soon as he entered the yard and said: "Sister, I have a child here, and some grain in the bag. Can you make some rice porridge for him? This child is probably starving."

  The host and hostess lifted the cloth on the basket, and oh my, that child had big eyes, long eyelashes, and a rosy little face that was extremely cute, they were delighted.

  After feeding the child half a bowl of rice porridge, it fell asleep in the farmers wifes soothing voice. Ma Suifeng then pulled the master of the house to one side and said: "I am a monk and also an unrefined person. This child was picked up from outside, Im afraid I myself cant raise him well. Would you two be willing to take him in?"

  The family was overjoyed and immediately agreed, asking the man to choose a name.

  Ma Su saw that the child was born with a clear and elegant appearance, and there was a hint of heroic spirit between his eyebrows. He said: "I hope this child will be both literary and martial in the future, so Ill give him the character Bin. But he should have more literature than martial arts, so add another Wen character. In my opinion, lets call him Wenbin."

  The heavenly solitary star, the god of destruction, the two pillars of calamity are adjacent, the husband is punished by the wife, the son is punished by the daughter, the father is lost and remarried, the wife is lost and remarried, none can escape, marriage is difficult to achieve, late years are miserable, lonely and helpless, six relatives have no fate, punishment of relatives and friends, solitary old age. Although there are noble people in the pillar who assist without hindrance, they cannot avoid being injured all over, punished and killed.

  Since the child was not born to Mr. and Mrs. Cha, he couldnt be considered a close relative, so Ma Su thought of finding a family to adopt him, and when he grew up to his teens, he would take him in as an apprentice to transform his evil spirit with Taoist teachings.

  The next day, the village received a notice that the "Great Leap Forward" steel production campaign had come to an end, and the focus of life shifted to grain production and restoring social order. As a result, the people of Hong Village also stopped excavating for "iron nuggets", and the place where the child was discovered collapsed on the second day, with half of the originally steep mountain crumbling down, burying the Generals Temple at the foot of the mountain by half.

  From then on, Ma Su lived in the Wulipu area, built a thatched hut, and did not reveal his identity. Except for drinking wine, he also ate some plain food, no different from ordinary farmers.

  I was born two months apart from Cha Wenbin, and it is said that when I was born, my grandfather held his old almanac to look at the eight characters of my birth date, saying that a name that matches the eight characters should be given. My father couldnt stand this kind of thing and didnt pay attention to it. Coincidentally, on the day I was born, there was thunder and lightning outside, and heavy rain poured down. My father looked at the sky outside and said: "Born on a rainy day, lets just call him Xia Yu."

  But when my grandfather heard that he had given me this name, he was even more anxious. He said that I have a water sign in my destiny chart and if the name also has a character with "water", it would mean that I will suffer from disasters in the future. My father didnt care about his superstitions and turned back to scold him: "I gave birth to my son, Im in charge, so hes called Xia Yu!"

  Grandpa was at his wits end, so angry that he stamped his foot and pointed at my fathers nose, scolding: "In the future, you will regret this one day, this name will bring harm to my grandson!"

  Whenever the sky turns dark and changes, the village women will shout loudly while running: "Its raining! Its raining! Hurry back to collect your clothes!"

  Every time I encounter this situation, I always rush out of the house and shout loudly towards the village: "Hey, whos looking for me?"

  When I was a child, I had no connection with Cha Wenbin. All I knew was that there was a crazy Taoist priest in the neighboring village of Wulipu who would often pass through Hongcun to buy wine. When I was young, I and other children would follow him from behind and even throw stones at him, but the mad Taoist wouldnt blame us. Instead, Li Er Ye from our village would often chase us away and then respectfully escort him home.

  That summer when I was seven years old, it rained for a whole month, and the water in the river overflowed onto the highway. After liberation, a reservoir had been built above the village, but ultimately failed to withstand the floodwaters and burst its banks, releasing a vast amount of water that rushed down, followed by all the fish from the collective fish farm in the reservoir, including huge carp as big as children.

  My home was relatively high at that time, and the entrance was a tea garden. In front of the tea garden, there was an embankment about two meters high, and below it was the riverbank. When the reservoir burst its banks, the water flooded into our tea garden, and I only remember seeing big fish being washed into the tea garden and getting stuck in the tea tree clusters as I stood at the entrance.

  I couldnt resist the temptation, and I rushed in barefoot to catch fish with my hands. The fish were alive, so they would run away. The muddy water mixed with sand gushed down, and the fast flow of water made the fish feel hypoxic, making them float half-submerged on the surface. The fish ran ahead, revealing their black backs, while I chased after them, surrounded by water everywhere, unable to distinguish where the road was or where the river was.

  I only remember that I took a step forward and sank down as soon as one foot didnt land firmly.

  Later, I dont remember much, only that in a village about one kilometer downstream, I was scooped up with a net. Its said that they thought I was a big fish and after rescuing me, they pressed on my body for a while until I woke up, saving my life. However, I didnt have time to thank them.

  Some things are just like that, destined in the unknown, no one can say clearly, no one can explain. The person who saved me was washed away by the floodwaters the next day, and his body was never found, but I only remember that his name was Ah Fa.

  In my fathers eyes, my fall into the river was just an accident, but in my grandfathers heart, it was a calamity.

  My grandfather said that he had calculated my fate, and this year at the age of seven, I would have an accident, and if it wasnt for good luck, I would be gone. The accident was related to water. He said that originally, this time was supposed to take me away, but the person who saved me made a substitution for me, which was a debt from the previous life that he had to repay in this life. If I still dont change my name, in the next seven years, there will be another accident.

  His words, when I was young, always sounded like they made some sense, even if they were a bit mysterious.

  Although Father still didnt believe it in his words, he was a little scared in his heart, so he changed my name to Xia Yi.

  Many people will find it strange that my father, who is actually a rough man, gave me such a literary name. In fact, he had no choice but to save face.

  Because in the pronunciation of Zhejiang dialect, "rain" and "summer memory" are extremely similar, he is just using this way to continue fighting with his father, at least he still shouts "rain, rain", not losing face for my grandfather.

  By the time I was old enough to attend school, a new schoolhouse had been built on the site of Old Qis burned-down house. The land had been leveled and a bright five-star red flag fluttered in the wind from the central flagpole. The classrooms, painted half white and half green, with their black tiles, were filled with the sound of children reading aloud, which had long since made people forget the tragic events that had occurred there that year.

  The location of schools is often meaningful, although this is an era that emphasizes atheism, many buildings still refer to Feng Shui when choosing a site.

  The location of Hongcun Primary School was determined by my grandfather. My grandfather was the only person in the village who got along with Old Man Li, and Old Man Li was a lonely old man with no children, very thin, and they often played chess together and chatted, occasionally also seeing that crazy Taoist priest with them. It is said that there are treasures underground in Hongcun, some people say that a long time ago an emperor was buried here, others say that there used to be a royal palace here, at least during those years, people were more concerned about food and clothing, as for those legends, they were just topics of conversation to pass the time after meals.

  Although Grandpas relationship with Father was very poor, Grandpa was still a man of high moral character in Hong Village. In those years, whether it was building a house or repairing a tomb, people would look for him to examine the foundation, and even the planning of our village was done by him.

  He chose that place for elementary school because his grandfather hoped that the positive energy of reading books could suppress the tragic event that occurred that year, and the location was in the center of the village, so it couldnt be abandoned.

  Rural people tend to follow tradition, and the rules left by their ancestors are many. Places where people have died always have some taboos. Building a schoolhouse allows children to be lively, and over time they will forget.

  Dont believe me? You can go back and ask around, but any school with some history, especially those built after the founding of the country, most of them were originally either burial grounds for unknown corpses or execution grounds for beheadings.

  My father had fought in battles and been wounded, so he could have had any identity back then without a problem. After being demobilized and returning home, the county government originally arranged a job for him at the supply and marketing cooperative as an accountant, which was considered a pretty good position at that time. Unfortunately, my father was a hot-blooded man who couldnt stand those leaders showing off their power inside and secretly colluding to do some underhanded things, so he got into a fight with the director and was fired.

  My home, the house built by my father, is located on a small hill at the east end of the village. Three sides are surrounded by mountains, with a large flat area in the middle. From a distance, this mountain looks like an armchair, and my home is right in the center of this chair.