Yinsi guest

I don't know how long it took, but the door was pushed open again with a "squeak". I sat up in a daze, the sun was dazzling, and I squinted my eyes. I vaguely saw my little grandpa standing at the door, with his back to the sun and waving to me.I thought my mother was bringing food, so I struggled to get up, but it seemed that the alcohol hadn't passed, and my whole body was weak, and I followed my grandpa downstairs as if I couldn't touch the ground.Stumbling downstairs, the little grandpa suddenly turned to the corner under the stairs and stopped, pointing there.I leaned forward curiously, only to see the little grandpa pointing to the innermost corner of the stairs and making gestures, and then suddenly ducked down, got into the innermost corner and tapped.

I saw my little grandpa kept groping inside, thinking that something had fallen into it, so I quickly got in to help, but that place is where the stairs meet the floor tiles, there is only a small angle, and I used to hide and seek once when I was a child. Now that I have grown up, I can only lie on my stomach.

I squeezed in with great difficulty, and after searching for a long time, there was nothing, so I wanted to ask my little grandpa what was missing, but when I turned my head, I almost stuck him face to face with my little grandpa.Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly realized that this face was not that of the little grandpa at all.This one looks like an inverted triangle, with an oversized mouth above the pointed chin. Compared to the mouth, the nose is too small. It seems that there are only two nostrils, no nose bridge at all, and it is flat on the face. .The two eyes are narrowed into a slit, but the yellow-brown eyeballs are bare. It is clearly a dimly lit corner, but I can clearly see the appearance of this person.A coolness came from that person, and even though I was wearing a thick down jacket, I felt a chill down my back.

I opened my mouth in astonishment, but found that I couldn't make a sound, but the man opened his huge mouth, showing a smile that made my heart skip a beat, pointed to the place where I lay on my stomach, and said four words Hoarse words: "That's right there!"

Looking at his terrifying smile, cold sweat dripped down from his forehead.I tried my best to push him away, and the biting coolness woke me up.

"Ah!" With a loud cry, I stood up immediately, and the feeling came back again. I was still lying on my grandpa's bed, but I didn't know whether it was the alcohol or the dream just now. My whole body was sweating, and my clothes felt uncomfortable .

Downstairs, the young grandpa and father were still drinking, as if time hadn't passed at all.It's uncomfortable to lie down, so I'd better get up and chat with them.The alcohol seemed to be excreted from the body with the sweat, and the discomfort was completely gone. I walked downstairs quickly. The dream just now was too realistic. I walked down the stairs, but I still couldn't help but look into the corner.

It doesn't matter if you don't look at it, but after looking at it, there is another yellow light flashing in the dark corner.what?My heart tightened, and I approached slowly and carefully, a black mass coiled in the corner, could it be the hemp rope used by my grandpa?I bent down and touched it with my hand. It was a thick rope, and my hands were cold.No, the rope can still move, it's not hemp rope, it's a snake, a snake with thick arms.

I hurriedly shook my hand and bounced like an electric shock.With a bang, he hit his head on the stairs.

"What are you doing?" the little grandpa asked, "Is it because you're still drunk?"

I said tremblingly, "Little Grandpa, there is a big snake in the corner of the stairs, come and see it!"

"What nonsense, how can there be snakes in the winter?" Father and grandpa came together.

"Let me take a look, don't be in a hurry." The little grandfather picked up the pole against the wall, reached into the corner to pick it up, and the snake was dragged out.I didn't see it clearly just now, but when I saw it now, I was shocked again. Not only was the snake thick, it was nearly two meters long, and it was snow-white all over, as if it was almost transparent.

"Don't be afraid, I know this snake." The little grandpa said calmly: "It lived here before me? We are old friends, and they eat a lot of my eggs every year, ha ha!"

The snake didn't run away, it seemed that it wasn't afraid of us hurting it, and it slowly coiled up on the pole, winding up round and round.The little grandpa said to me: "Come and give me a hand. It's fate that you can see this snake. Let's carry the pole to the yard. Don't be afraid!"

So my little grandpa and I lifted the pole lightly, one by one, and went to the sunny place in the yard to put down the white snake.As soon as the pole fell to the ground, the white snake let go of the pole and slid down slowly.The little grandpa quickly opened the courtyard door, bent down, and said to the white snake, "Go well! Go well, go well!" After the little grandpa finished speaking, the sluggish white snake seemed to understand, and slowly From the door of the room, he dragged his cumbersome long body out of the courtyard like a big man with a big belly.After a while, we went outside the gate of the yard to see that it had disappeared without a trace. Where did such a big snake go?

"Grandpa, where did the snake go?"

"Don't ask too much, that snake has spiritual energy. It has been in this old house for so many years. It should be the house fairy of this house!" The little grandfather was very respectful.

Zhaixian is the respectful name given to some spiritual animals in our area who often come and go in and out of folk houses.There are also many types of house immortals, among which the most noticeable one is the snake.Domesticated cats, dogs, and animals may also have spirituality and become house immortals, but because they are raised by people and are usually very common, it is easier for people to ignore their supernatural side.Snakes seldom appear in people's sights, so when they are found in the house, they are often particularly eye-catching, especially some old and huge snakes, people are even less afraid to hurt them. You can only respectfully invite them to go out.

The appearance of the house fairy is a good thing for us.Because the house fairy is a symbol of protecting the house and keeping wealth in the hearts of the elders, if the house fairy really appears in any house, the elders will go up to congratulate, and the owner of that house will prepare cakes to greet everyone.After nightfall, joss sticks will be lit, and cakes, chickens and ducks will be placed on the table to worship the house immortals and pray for the safety of the house.So in our area, things like snakes entering the house and birds entering the house are good things. Not only will people not harm them, but they will carefully protect them from harm.

There is a story circulating in the village about Zhai Xian:

The story happened more than 40 years ago, when a group of educated youth came to us from Shanghai.At that time, every household was not well-off, basically there was nothing to eat and drink, and it was good enough to eat enough.Those educated youths were all eighteen or nineteen years old, and they were half-children. They were the age of poor old men, and the food distributed in the cafeteria couldn't keep them full.They don't know whether they are starving or they are already good at it. Anyway, those in the water, in the sky, in the ground, and those who can live in front of them are caught to improve their food. The local people also feel very sorry for these city children. Don't bother with them.

At that time, several male educated youths lived in another big house in the village. The house was built by a local landlord before liberation.Those educated youths lived there in peace, but one day they caught a big black snake under the main room.According to the memories of the old people, the snake really caused a sensation at that time, because the snake was as thick as a human arm, more than three meters long, and about the size of a boa constrictor.

At that time, the seven or eight male educated youths caught the big snake, and they told the rest of the educated youths to come to the mansion to eat snakes. Twenty or thirty youths crowded the main hall in black, and there were many villagers watching the excitement outside the door.There was an old man in the village who knew something about geomantic omen. Hearing about it, he came to watch the excitement. When he arrived at the mansion, he knelt down and said that the snake was an oolong, which was the house fairy of the house. If he couldn't eat it, he would suffer retribution.

But those educated youths didn't care about these things, they took out the quotations from **, shouted in unison, "Down with ghosts, monsters, and feudal superstitions", and then held down the big snake and ripped open its belly.Peeled the skin, cut it into strands, found a jar of pickles, threw them all in, found some rice wine and white vinegar, oil, salt, ginger and onions to add flavor, poured half a jar of water, set up firewood and simmered snake soup .

Seeing that the matter had come to this point, the old man yelled that he had committed a crime. He packed up the snake skin and snake head by himself, carried them to the house and dug a big pit to bury them.People in the village would not dare to eat those snake meat and snake soups, and they all entered the stomachs of the educated youths, so there seemed to be no problem at all.

Unexpectedly, that night, all the educated youths vomited and diarrhoea, and went to the hospital one by one, and countless rats appeared in that house overnight, biting all the clothes, bedding, and food of the educated youths.Everyone in the village said that the big snake came back to take revenge, but the educated youths did not believe in evil, and continued to live in the house after returning, but during the day, a mouse was clearly missing, and at night, the bedside, the corner of the table was covered with mice, and they gnawed on whatever they saw. After a few days, the educated youths all moved out of the mansion due to the disturbance.Not long after this incident, one night the mansion suddenly caught fire and burned down completely.Some people said that the educated youth set the fire, and some said that the mansion caught fire without the protection of the Zhaixian. Anyway, since then, people in our village have become more respectful to the Zhaixian.

In fact, speaking of Zhaixian, when I was only five or six years old, I heard from my parents that there was a black snake more than one meter long in my yard.The snake perches between the bluestone slabs under the elm tree, but it rarely comes out, at least I have never seen that snake.So much so that I have no memory of its appearance at all, but my mother often reminds me that there is a snake in the yard. If I see it, don't throw stones at it.

I have tried hard to find its trace, but it seems that I have not found it many times. I suspect that my mother told lies to scare me.But after a while, I can always hear the conversation between my parents, saying that I saw a snake by the well or under the elm tree, which made me feel very mysterious, and I dared not be alone in the yard for a long time Play.In fact, thinking about it now, many rural people have snakes in their yards.There are always places where snakes can hide in small yards such as brick piles or haystacks. The main food of snakes is mice. After the crops in the field are put into storage, the mice will also come to farmers’ homes to find food. , which greatly facilitates the predation of snakes.

Because there are snakes, there are fewer mice in the farm, so the food loss is reduced. It is interesting to say that snakes are house immortals, and they can protect the house and keep money.Because they can protect the food, farmers naturally love snakes more, and the reputation of house immortals spreads after they come and go.In today's terms, it is ecological rodent control, using the habits of snakes to eliminate rodents, and the bigger the snake, the stronger the predation ability, it is not surprising that it is said to be supernatural.

"Then why do big snakes come out in winter?" I still couldn't believe Zhaixian's statement.

"It's sunny today, and snakes come out to bask in the sun in winter. It's not unusual!" the father continued.

The little grandpa squinted his eyes, looked at me and said, "Maybe it was because of fate that I came out! Over the years, I haven't seen it a few times, and every time I passed by in front of my eyes, this is the first time Look at it clearly! Xiaoye, it's a good sign, so don't be nervous."

Everyone closed the courtyard door and went back to the main room. My mother's food hadn't been delivered yet, which showed that I really didn't sleep for a long time.The little grandpa and my father continued to drink, and I did not dare to drink anymore, but I still couldn't help but look under the corner of the stairs, there was no light at all, it was dark, but I always felt that the dream was too real I can still hear the hoarse voice in my ears: "It's here, it's here!"