The dust settles

Chapter 10

8. White Dream
White exists widely in our lives.

Just look at the people's dwellings and temples—stone and clay buildings—on the land of Tusi, and you will know how much we love this pure color.There are crystal white quartz on the doors and windows; the surroundings of the doors and windows are outlined with pure white.On the tall gable walls, patterns such as bull's head and King Kong, which can exorcise evil spirits, are painted in white; inside the house, on the walls and cabinets, the eye-catching sun and moon shine together, and the continuous patterns of blessings and longevity are drawn with pure white wheat flour.

And I saw another kind of white.

Thick white, drop by drop, oozes out from each poppy fruit, gathers, trembles, and falls.The poppy squeezes its white milk like the earth weeping.Its teardrops will not fall, and they will hang on the small, shiny green fruit in a state of falling, silently choking.What a moving sight that was.In the past, people who harvested wheat with a sickle and a smooth bone knife cut a small wound on the green fruit of the poppy, and the white pulp oozes out.Little by little, it accumulates silently between the heaven and the earth, and weeps silently in the wind.When people went down to the ground again, they had an extra horn cup in their hands. The white juice formed a huge drop under the wound of the green fruit, and was scraped into the arms of the horn by the bone knife.

Make a new wound on the green fruit, so that tomorrow there will be another thick drop of white juice for people to collect.

Commissioner Huang sent people from Handi to process the white pulp.They built a wooden shed not far from the official village, set up pots and stoves, closed the door, and processed poppy pulp like boiling medicine.As long as a little bit of the breath wafting out of the refining room gets into the nose, it will immediately send people flying to the sky.Maiqi Toast, the great Maiqi Toast liberates people with something unprecedentedly wonderful.Such a elixir can make a man forget the sufferings of the world.

At this time, Lama Menba, who had been neglected for a while, had a new explanation about the earthquake.His point of view is completely different from that of Living Buddha Jiga.He said that such a wonderful thing can only be possessed by the gods in the sky.Only the boundless blessing of the chieftain brought this thing to the black-headed Tibetans in the lower realm.And the earthquake is nothing more than the anger of the gods who have lost their precious things.Lama Meinpa claimed that the gods had appeased their anger after his meditation.The chieftain took a deep breath of the intoxicating aroma in the air, and smiled at Living Buddha Jiga.The living Buddha said: "If you, Chieftain, believe what Lama Menba said, then I'd better go back, go back to my temple."

"Oh my God, our living Buddha is angry again. But I know he's telling lies. If he's telling the truth, I'll keep him." The chieftain spoke as if the living Buddha was not in front of him.

"Who does the chieftain want to listen to? What does that have to do with me?" The living Buddha also said in a tone that he couldn't see the chieftain in front of him: "My God, the master told me before that what is destined by heaven cannot be stopped."

The chieftain smiled and said, "Look, how smart our Living Buddha is."

The Living Buddha said: "Let Lama Monpa accompany you, you trust him."

The chieftain didn't want to say anything more, so he picked up one of the several bells at hand, shook it, and the crisp ringtone called the housekeeper.The butler limped downstairs and brought the Living Buddha to the door.The housekeeper suddenly asked: "Living Buddha, do you think this fruit will really bring us bad luck?"

The Living Buddha opened his eyes and saw the worried expression on the man's face, so he said, "Is there still a lie? Am I making a living by deceiving people? Just wait and see the result."

The housekeeper said: "The living Buddha must recite the scriptures carefully to protect our master's career."

The Living Buddha waved his hand and walked away.

On the vast land, people continue to harvest poppies.The white sap was refined into a black ointment.An unprecedented fragrance wafts around.The mice came out of their hiding places one by one, and lined up to the opium refining house, where they squatted on the beams and enjoyed the intoxicating aroma.My mother was in a good mood and hadn't had a headache for a long time. She took me to a place that ordinary people couldn't get into.There, when Commissioner Huang's men were working, there were always gunmen guarding the door.My mother said: "You" don't let me in, why did the special commissioner give me a bong?
The guard thought for a while, then closed his gun and told us to go in.

I didn't pay attention to how they refined opium in large cauldrons.I saw a string of skewered meat hanging in front of the tiger stove, just like the thrush I brought the little house slaves to hunt.I was about to ask them to take one to eat, when I heard a squeak, and a mouse fell from the beam.The opium cook put down the thing in his hand, and gently opened the mouse's hind legs with the knife. The mouse squeaked, and with more force, the whole piece of leather fell off like a piece of clothing, and the knife flapped again. His lungs and beating heart were ripped out.Roll it in a pot full of seasonings, and the mouse becomes a mass of meat hanging in front of the stove.

Mrs. Toast smiled and said, "Don't scare my son."

Those people laughed.

They said, "Madam, would you like to try it?"

The wife nodded.The smoked mouse meat is roasted in the stove until it squeaks with oil.The scent is no less than thrush.If I didn't accidentally look up and see so many bright-eyed mice squatting on the beams, maybe I would also enjoy some Han food.I felt these sharp beaks biting my stomach, while my mother was tearing at the rat with her white teeth.Regardless of the fact that I was staring at her dumbfounded.While tearing it with her white teeth, she looked at me like a cat and said, "It's delicious, it's delicious, my son should eat some too."

But I would throw up if I didn't eat.

I fled to the door.Some people used to say that the Han people are a kind of scary people.I never believed it.My father told me not to believe those lies. He asked, is your mother scary?
He replied again, she is not scary, but just has a temper that is different from her ethnicity.My brother's opinion is, which person has no faults of his own.Later, when my sister came back from England, she answered this question and said, I don't know if they are scary or not, but I don't like them.I say they eat rats.My sister said that they also ate snakes and a lot of strange things.

After the mother finished eating, she looked satisfied and licked her lips with her tongue like a cat.It is very bad for a woman to make a cat gesture unintentionally.So, what Mrs. Toast did terrified me very much.

But she smiled and said, "They gave me opium. I haven't tried it before. Now, I'm going to try it." Seeing that I didn't speak, she said, "Don't be unhappy. Opium is not Well, it's not particularly bad."

I said, "If you don't tell me, I don't know that opium is a bad thing."

She said: "For people without money, opium is a bad thing, but not for people with money." She also said, isn't Maggie's family the richest family in hundreds of miles around?Mother reached out and grabbed my arm, her long nails digging into my flesh.

I screamed as if bitten by a mouse's fangs.The mother also saw the frightened expression on her son's face, so she knelt on the ground and shook me: "Son, what did you see? You are so scared."

I cried and wanted to say: "You ate the mouse, you ate the mouse."

But just pointing to the sky.The sky was empty, with some clouds in the middle.Those clouds all have a shiny, white edge, but the center is a bit dark.They seemed lost in an empty space.It doesn't float because it doesn't know which direction to float.My mother followed my hand and looked at the sky, but saw nothing.She wouldn't find those clouds interesting.She only cares about earthly things.At this time, the mice on the ground were moving towards the place emitting a special fragrance.I don't want to say this.As long as there is a little ruler's blood flowing in his body, a fool also knows that it is good to hold more secrets of others.So, I had to point to the sky.As a result, my mother was also afraid.She hugged me tightly, and her pace became faster and faster. After a while, we had arrived in front of Guanzhai.

In the square, the executioner Eryi was tying people to the execution stake. When the executioner saw us, he bowed his family's slender body and called out, "Master, madam."

My body stopped shaking immediately.

The mother said to the executioner: "You have a murderous look on your body, and you have scared away the unclean things on the young master. From now on, tell your son to spend more time with the young master."

I don't know when, the executioners of chieftain Maiqi have been called the same name from generation to generation: Eryi.If they were all alive, it would be impossible to tell who was who.Fortunately, there were only two generations of them alive.When the father executes and kills, the son grows up slowly and learns various execution techniques.It was Da Eryi who killed the man, and Xiao Eryi was waiting to take over.It can be said that the Eryis are the most frightening and loneliest people in the world.Sometimes I suspect that little Eryi is a mute.So, after taking a few steps, I turned around and asked the executioner, "Can your son speak? If not, teach him a few words."

The executioner bowed deeply to me.

Upstairs, my mother lay down.She asked her maid Dolma to take out the bong given by Commissioner Huang from the box and light a small lamp.She took out a lump of soot like wet mud from her bosom, rubbed it into the size of a pill, put it on the bong and set it on the flame of the lamp, and her body softened.After a long time, she woke up and said, "From today onwards, I am not afraid of anything." She also said, "The silverware sent by the special commissioner is not as beautiful as that of Maiqi's house."

She pointed to the silver plate that held the smoking utensils, a small kettle, and two or three skewers for pickling the bubbles.

Dolma hurriedly said: "I have a friend who is very good at crafting. Ask him to make some more."

Mother asked, "Your friend? The guy down in the yard."

Sangji Dolma blushed and nodded.

The sun was setting.It was late autumn outside, and under the reflection of the setting sun, it was even more golden.It was visibly dark in the room.

The darker the room, the brighter Mrs. Toast's eyes.Reminds me of the mouse eyes I saw in the opium refining house.I touched Dolma's hand, but she fell away.She threw my hand back on my chest.She told me to beat myself up.I called out.The sound expressed both pain and fear at the mother's flickering eyes.Both women hurriedly asked me what happened to the young master.

Dolma also put her arms around my head with her gentle hands.

I walked to the window with my hands behind my back and saw the stars jumping up the blue sky one by one, so I said in a voice that changed my voice: "It's getting dark, light up the lights!"

Mrs. Toast scolded: "It's getting dark, and the lights are still on!"

I still look at the night sky.Did not turn around to look at them.A pleasant smell of gunpowder permeated the air. It was the maid who lit the match.light is on.I turned around, grabbed my wrist and said to Dolma, "Little Hoof, you hurt me."

As a result, Dolma's eyes turned to me again, she knelt on the ground, held my hand, and breathed the aroma from her mouth.The painful place became itchy, and I laughed.The maid turned to her mother and said, "Ma'am, I think the young master looks like a young master today. If he looks like this, maybe he will be the magi chieftain in the future."

It was a pleasure to hear that.Although I can't be the chieftain of this territory.Even if I am not a fool, the future chieftain will not be me.The look on her mother's face showed that the words had served her well.But she scolded: "What kind of words don't know the depth!"

The chieftain came in and asked, "What kind of words don't know the depth?"

The mother said: "The two children are talking nonsense."

The chieftain insisted on hearing what nonsense the two children had said.The charming expression that the maid made to me just now appeared on my mother's face: "I'll tell you if you're not angry."

The father sat on his wife's cigarette couch, put his hands on his knees, and said, "Speak!"

Mrs. Toast said what Dolma praised me.

The chieftain laughed, beckoned me to come to him, and asked, "My son, do you want to be a chieftain?"

Dolma walked up behind my father and shook my hand, but I still said loudly, "I want to!"

Like a soldier answering the officer's question loudly.

"Okay."

He asked me again, "Didn't your mother tell you to think this way?"

I touched the heels of the chieftain like a soldier, and said loudly: "No, she forbids me to think that way!" The chieftain gave his wife a sharp look, and said, "I would rather believe a fool. Sometimes, a wise man is too wise." If there are too many, it makes people feel uneasy." He then said to me: "You are right in thinking, and it is also right that your mother forbids you to think."

My mother told Zhuoma to take me back to my room: "Master, it's time to go to bed."

While undressing me, Dolma grabbed my hand and put it on her chest, where she was dancing violently.She said, young master, you scared me to death.She said that I am a fool.I said I am not stupid, a fool would not want to be a toast.She pinched me hard.

Later, I buried my head between her breasts and fell asleep.

All along, my dreams are white.This evening was no exception.I dreamed that the white was surging.It's just that it's not clear whether the source is a woman's breast or the berries of a poppy.The white waves rolled around my body and floated up.I screamed and woke up.

Dolma hugged my head and asked, "What's wrong, young master?"

I said, "Mouse! Mouse!"

I actually saw a mouse.In the middle of a patch of pale moonlight streaming in through the window.

I am afraid of mice.

Since then, I have never dared to walk alone in the stockade.

9. Disease

I am afraid of mice.

They said the young master was ill.

I'm not sick, I'm just afraid of those squeaky little things with bright eyes and sharp incisors.

But they still insisted that I was sick.There's nothing I can do to keep them from thinking that way.All I can do is, when my mother comes, I hold Dolma's hand tightly.Every day, the housekeeper asked the little slave Suo Lang Zelang and the little executioner Eryi to wait at the door.As soon as I went out, two servants who were the same age as me followed behind me every step of the way.

Dolma said: "The young master is not a chieftain, but he is more powerful than a chieftain."

I said, "I'm afraid."

Dolma got impatient and said, "Look at your stupid look." But her eyes kept slipping to the silversmith.The silversmith also looked up at us from the courtyard.I couldn't help laughing when I saw him hit my hand with a hammer.I haven't laughed for a long time, and those who haven't laughed for a long time know that laughter makes people very comfortable, even more comfortable than being a woman.So, I just lay down on the ground and laughed; everyone who saw it said that the young master was really sick.

For my illness, there was another competition between Lama Monba and Living Buddha Jiga.

They all claim to cure my disease.Lama Monba was close to the water, chanting sutras and prescribing medicines, mainly chanting sutras, supplemented by medicines, but it didn't work.When it was Jiga Living Buddha's turn to play, he used similar methods, mainly using medicine and supplemented by chanting.I don't want these two guys being cured - if I'm sick at all.When I take the medicine, I close my eyes and I can see the medicine go down from the mouth into the stomach, and then slide into the intestines.In other words, the medicine can't reach the place where the rats are afraid of, they always slip past through a layer of stomach wall.It was hilarious to see two guys so precious about their meds, so serious about it.The medicine of Lama Monba is always a kind of black ball, packed in a beautiful box one by one, which makes people think that it is not medicine but something like gems.

The Living Buddha’s medicine is all powder, which is wrapped in paper first, and then there are many layers of yellow satin. His fat hands lifted layer after layer of seemingly endless silk, and I felt that the whole world was about to pop out of it. , it turned out to be a little gray powder.The Living Buddha chanted words to them and made a very precious look, and I also wanted to laugh where I was afraid in my stomach.The powder was poured into the mouth, like a herd of wild horses running across the dry land, the stomach became cloudy, and the dust immediately flew up in front of the eyes.

Ask two magical doctors what is wrong with me.

Lama Monpa said, "The young master has come across something unclean."

Living Buddha Jiga also said the same.

They say something unclean has two meanings.One is obscene and the other is evil.I don't know which one they're talking about and don't bother to ask.Solan Zelang could imitate the voices of the two doctors so vividly, he said, "Master, I think you have touched something unclean." After speaking, Solan Zelang and I laughed heartily together.The future executioner laughs silently.His smile is a little sheepish.Suo Lang Zelang's laughter sounded like water being poured from a large basin.Look, I like both boys.I said to two people, "I like you guys. I want you guys to be my ass forever."

I told them I didn't touch anything unclean.

When we're together, I'm always the one talking.Solang Zelang didn't have anything to say, so he didn't speak.Xiao Eryi has a lot to say in her heart, but she doesn't know where to start.People like him are suitable to be sent to the temple to study classics.But he was born to be our executioner.Two boys followed me, walking in the open autumn field.The autumn sky is getting higher and higher and bluer.The smell of poppy fruit permeates everywhere, and the whole earth seems to be drunk.I suddenly said to Xiao Eryi: "Take me to your house to have a look."

Xiao Eryi's face turned pale, he knelt down and said, "Master, there are some things over there that are more frightening than mice!"

As soon as he said that, I went even more.I am not for the faint of heart.I wasn't afraid of mice in the past either, only my mother knew what it was for.So, I insisted on visiting the executioner's house.

Solang Zelang asked Xiao Eryi what was scary about their house.

"The instruments of torture," he said, "are all stained with blood."

"What else?"

His eyes looked around, and he said, "Clothes, bloody dead man's clothes."

I said, "You lead the way."

Unexpectedly, the executioner's house was more peaceful and serene than any other house.

There are some herbs drying in the yard.Executioners, with their special knowledge of the human body, are the true surgeons of the land.Xiao Eryi's mother could not accept the fate of marrying an executioner, and died shortly after giving birth to her son.The woman in the executioner's house was Xiao Eryi's 80-year-old grandmother.After she knew who I was, she said, "Master, I should have died long ago. But no one takes care of your two executioners. Men need women to take care of them. I can't die."

Xiao Eryi told her that the young master did not come to kill her.

(End of this chapter)