The dust settles

Chapter 34

I went to see Sangye Dolma and his silversmiths.The silversmith smelled of the stove, and Dolma smelled of pot water again.I told her this.Dolma said with tears in her eyes: "I told the silversmith when I came back, follow you, we all have a bright future, but..., but..., young master!" She couldn't continue, turned around and ran away.I heard the silversmith say to his wife, "But your young master is a fool after all."

I looked at the backs of these two people, feeling at a loss.At this time, a person said what was in my heart: "I will kill this silversmith." Solang Zelang stood behind me at some point.He said: "I will kill these people for you, kill the silversmith, and I will also kill the young master."

I said, "But I can't be a toast anymore. I can't be a toast anymore."

"Then I will kill them even more."

"They'll kill you too."

"Let them kill me."

"They'll kill me too. They'll say I told you to kill me."

Suo Lang Zelang opened his eyes wide, and shouted: "Master! Are you a fool, or a person who is afraid of death? If you can't be a chieftain, let them kill you!"

I wanted to tell him that I was in as much pain as if I had been stabbed.In the past, I thought it was up to me whether to be a chieftain or not, but now I understand that being a chieftain is also for others.But it's too late to say anything now.I made a big circle around Guanzhai and returned to the square.Umboisi sat again under the shade of the walnut tree.He didn't seem to be affected by yesterday's incident at all, and the expression on his face was still very rich.I sat next to him and said, "Everyone says I can't be a chieftain anymore."

He didn't speak.

"I want to be a toast."

"I know."

"Now I know how much I miss!"

"I know."

"But, can I still be a toast?"

"I do not know."

The above is what I did on the first day after that incident.

At breakfast the next day, the toast came later than everyone else.Seeing that everyone was waiting for him, he covered one eye and said, "Don't wait for me, you can eat, I think I'm sick."

Everyone started to eat.

I was a little slower than everyone in carrying the bowl, so he gave me a hard look.I thought there was something wrong with the chieftain's eyes, but the light in his eyes was fierce and bright, which is not the case with diseased eyes.He glared at me and covered his hands again.He meant to scare me, but I wasn't.I said, "Father's eyes are fine."

"Who told you there was something wrong with my eyes?"

"When your hands are sick, wherever you put your hands, there will be troubles."

It looked like he was going to have a big fit, but he finally held back.He let go of his hands covering his eyes, looked me up and down, and said, "After all, you're still a fool." Probably because he didn't need to cover his eyes with his hands anymore.The chieftain put his hands in his wife's.He looked at Mrs. Tusi not like a husband looking at his wife, but like a son looking at his mother.He said to his wife, "Shall I call the clerk?"

"Call if you decide," said the lady.

When the clerk entered, several tears fell from my mother's eyes and fell to the ground.Mrs. Tusi said to the clerk, "Remember what the chieftain said."

The clerk opened the notebook I gave him, licked the nib of the pen with his tongue, and everyone put down the bowls in their hands. Toast Maiqi took a serious look at everyone, and then grunted and said, "I'm sick." , getting old, worrying about Mai Qi's family for so many years, I'm tired, I can't live for a few more years."

I thought, how can a person become like this overnight.I asked, "Why did father get tired, old, and sick all of a sudden? Why did these things come together?"

The chieftain raised his hand and said, "Let me go on. If you weren't so stupid, your brother wasn't so smart, and I wouldn't be old, tired, and sick so soon. Your father hasn't been able to sleep for many nights." I feel it." The chieftain lowered his head very low, covered his eyes with his hands, and spoke quickly, as if once interrupted, he would never have the strength to start again.

His voice was low, but too loud for each of us.

"In short, in a word," he said, "I will give up the chieftain's position while I'm alive, and give it up to my legal heir, my eldest son Tenchen Gonpo."

The chieftain announced that he was going to abdicate!
He said that because of well-known reasons and reasons in his own heart, he was going to abdicate and give up the chieftain's seat to his wise eldest son.The chieftain was talking and talking, talking and talking, and raised his lowered head.In fact, most of what he said was for himself.The chieftain who is about to give up his position tells the chieftain who does not want to give up his position.Sometimes a person's heart is split in two, one half wants this and the other half wants that.There are also two voices ringing in a person's head.The chieftain is using one voice over another.In the end, he said, it was absolutely right to choose the eldest son as heir.Because he is the eldest son, not the youngest son.Because he is a wise man, not a fool.

Toast Maiqi wanted to comfort his youngest son. He said, "Besides, the youngest son of Maiqi's family will become Chieftain Ronggong in the future."

Tana asked: "If someone who is not worthy of being Maiqi chieftain is worthy of being Ronggong chieftain?"

Mai Qitoast has nothing to say.

No one expected that the clerk who was able to speak just yesterday suddenly said: "The chieftain is right, the eldest son should be a chieftain. But the chieftain is also wrong. There is nothing important to prove that the young master is a fool, and there is nothing important What happened proves that the young master is a smart person."

Mrs. Toast looked at the clerk with her mouth wide open.

The chieftain said, "Everyone knows that."

The clerk said: "Some time ago, you asked me to write down that the son of a fool is not stupid, and the things he does are unimaginable to smart people."

The chieftain raised his voice: "Everyone says he is a fool."

"But he's smarter than smart people!"

The chieftain sneered: "You have a tongue growing out of your mouth again? Are you talking again? You will throw away the tongue that just grew out."

"You are willing to throw away a good toast, but I am not sorry for half my tongue!"

"I want your life."

"You're going to be fine. But I see that the Maggie family's foundation is about to be shaken because of your stupidity."

The chieftain yelled, "What does our family matter have to do with you?"

"Didn't you ask me to be a clerk? A clerk is history, history!"

I said: "Don't talk about it, just write down what you see, isn't it also history?"

The clerk blushed and shouted at me: "Do you know what history is? History tells people what is right and what is wrong. This is history!"

"You only have a small tongue left." The elder brother, who is about to officially become chieftain of Maiqi, said to the clerk: "I also need a clerk to write down what I have done, but you should not Quick to let me know there's still half a tongue in your mouth. Now, you're going to lose your tongue."

The clerk took a serious look at my brother's face, and then at the chieftain's face, knowing that he was about to lose his tongue again.He also looked at me.But he didn't make the expression that he lost his tongue because of me.The clerk's face became whiter than paper, and when he spoke to me, his voice became hoarse: "Master, have you lost more or have I lost more?"

"It's you, no one is dumb twice."

He said: "There is no one who everyone thinks is a fool. When everyone thinks he is going to be a chieftain, he loses his chance because of the stupidity of his smart father."

I have nothing to say.

He said, "Of course, you were made because of the stupidity of smart people. Because of your brother's stupidity."

While we were talking, the executioner was already waiting downstairs.I didn't want to see him tortured again, so I said goodbye to him upstairs.He said to my beautiful wife in a voice that everyone could hear, "Ma'am, don't worry about your husband. Don't feel hopeless. People who think they are smart make mistakes!"

This sentence was said when he went downstairs to be tortured.He said something else afterward, but a gust of wind blew it away and we didn't hear it.The elder brother followed him downstairs, and after the wind passed, the people upstairs heard his elder brother say to him, "You can choose to die, too."

The clerk stopped on the stairs, turned around and raised his face and said to the complacent guy standing on the upper step, "I won't die, I want to see you die in front of me."

"I will execute you now."

"You are Chieftain Maggie now? The chieftain only said that he would abdicate, but he hasn't really abdicated yet."

"Okay, take your tongue first, and I will kill you as soon as I become chieftain."

"At that time, you won't be the only one who wants to kill me, right?"

"Yes."

"Tell me who you want to kill? I'm your clerk, sir."

"You'll know then."

"Your brother?"

"He's a guy who doesn't want to be a fool."

"Mrs. Toast?"

"That's when she'll know who's smarter."

"Where's your brother's wife?"

The elder brother smiled and said, "Damn, what a beautiful woman, prettier than a goblin. I dreamed about her last night."

The clerk smiled and said, "There is nothing unexpected about what you, a smart man, will do."

"Speak, if it makes you feel better before your execution."

The mild-mannered clerk uttered foul words for the first time: "Damn, I'm a little scared."

These are the last words we hear him leave in this world.

Tana had never seen a dedicated executioner perform an execution, nor had she seen someone cut someone's tongue, so she got up and went downstairs.Mrs. Chieftain spoke, and she said to Chieftain: "You haven't seen another Chieftain torture people, why don't you go and see?"

The chieftain shook his head with a pained expression on his face.He wanted people to know how much pain the man who made the decision to abdicate endured.

Mrs. Chieftain ignored these and said: "If you don't go, I will go. I have never seen a person who has not officially become a chieftain exercise the power of a chieftain." After finishing speaking, she went downstairs.

After a while, the whole building was empty.

The toast faced the foolish son with a more painful expression on his face.The pain in my heart was ten times and a hundred times greater than his, but nothing could be seen on my numb face.I looked up at the sky again.There was a wind in the sky, and one after another white clouds quickly slid past the blue sky in the window frame.I didn't want to stay with the toast who was about to step down, so I turned and went out.I took one foot out, and my father suddenly said behind me: "Son, don't you want to stay with father for a while?"

I said, "I can't see the clouds in the sky."

"Come back and sit in front of me."

"I want to go out, there are clouds in the sky outside, I want to see them."

The chieftain had no choice but to follow him out of the house, and stood with me on one of the multi-storey corridors in the official village, watching the clouds in the sky for a while.In the square outside, it was not as noisy as usual when someone was being tortured.The strong sunlight fell on the crowd, like a shiny metal cover.The crowd under the cover was silent, making no sound.

"It's so quiet." The chieftain said.

"It's like there is no Maggie's family in the world."

"you hate me?"

"I hate you."

"You hate yourself for being a fool?"

"I'm not stupid!"

"But you look silly!"

"You are stupider than me, and he is stupider than you!"

Father's body began to shake, and he said, "I'm dizzy, I can't stand up."

I said, "Go down, you are useless with the new toast."

"God, you heartless guy, are you my son?"

"Then are you my father?"

He stood up by himself, sighed, and said, "I didn't want to do this. If I passed the throne to you, your brother would definitely start a war. You have done things a hundred times smarter than him, but I am not sure that you will always be wiser." .I'm not sure you're not a fool."

There was something touching in his tone, and I wanted to say something to him, but couldn't remember how to say it.

A dark cloud floated from somewhere in the sky and covered the sun. At this time, the crowd in the square sighed in unison: "Heh!" It made people feel that the entire official village was shaking by the sound.

I have never heard so many people sigh loudly as the executioner raised and lowered his knife.I think that even the chieftain has never heard of it, and he is afraid.I think he's about to change his mind.I went downstairs, and he followed me and asked me to tell him honestly whether I was a smart person or a fool.I turned around and smiled at him.I'm glad I turned around and smiled at him like that.He should really value the smile I gave him.He spoke again, standing three stairs higher than his stupid son, and said emotionally: "I know you will understand my heart. You heard it just now!"

The people sighed, as if the earth was shaking?They carried you up and ran like crazy, and when they flattened the wheat field, I was scared, I was really scared.Even your mother is scared.That was the day I decided to pass the seat to your brother while I was alive.

Watch him sit still, and watch you be safe under his hands.

At this time, a thought suddenly came to my mind, and my tongue hurt like a needle.I knew the clerk had lost his tongue again, and the pain was coming from him.So, I said, "I don't want to talk anymore either."

As soon as the words came out, the pain on the tongue disappeared immediately.

37. I don't talk
I suddenly decided not to speak anymore.

My friend Boissi has lost his tongue again, that is, forever.He lost his tongue because of me.No matter what kind of miracle happened in the sky again, it was impossible for Weng Boyixi to speak for the third time.This time; the executioner pulled out his tongue by the roots.When I walked onto the square, the dark clouds in the sky had dispersed, and the sun illuminated the earth again.The clerk lay under the walnut tree with Eryi's family's unique hemostatic medicine in his mouth, staring at the sky motionless.I walked up to him and found that he was sweating, so I moved him into the shade.I said to him: "It's better not to talk, I don't want to talk anymore."

He looked at me with two big tears streaming from the corners of his eyes.I dipped my finger in and tasted the salt in it.

The two Eryis were packing up the instruments of torture.On the other side of the square, my brother and my wife stood talking in the huge shadow cast by the stone wall of Guanzhai.The young master whipped the flamboyant hemp in the corner of the wall; Tana also looked a little disturbed, and kept stroking the other with one hand.Are they exchanging ideas about watching someone lose their tongue?I don't want to talk anymore, so I won't join their conversation.Mrs. Toast might be interested in their topic and walked over to them.But the two men walked away and went upstairs without waiting for her to approach.My wife didn't even glance in my direction before going upstairs.It was my mother who looked at me.The way she looked at me was the same as the way I looked at Weng Boyixi at this time.

At this time, I saw a furtive face protruding from the corner of the thick stone wall in the official village.I think I see something in that face.Yes, looking at this face, you can tell that he hasn't talked to anyone in a long time, and he doesn't even talk to himself in his heart.This face lonelier than the moon poked out from the corner again, and this time, I saw the hatred beneath the loneliness.Immediately, I remembered who he was.He is the feud of the Maiqi family, and he came to avenge his dead father.This man has been on the road since I was on the border, and for some reason is not here until today.Mother was about to walk in the gate, and she turned to me again.But since I decided not to speak, I don't have to tell her the news of the killer's arrival. Anyway, the killer will not cause any danger to the woman.

Sitting under the walnut tree, I watched Guanzhai cast deeper and deeper shadows in the afternoon, and looked at the bright autumn mountains.At first Umboisi was by my side, then two executioners took him away.Finally, the sun went down, and the wind was blowing in the mountains, and many returning birds were flying in the wind like pieces of rags.It was time for supper, and I went straight to the dining room.

The whole family was in the dining room, and everyone smiled kindly at me.I think it's because I've become a harmless fool again.Everyone was scrambling to talk to me, but I had made up my mind not to say a word.My brother spoke to me, but turned to Tana who was sitting next to me: "Brother, if you don't speak again, even Tana will think you are a fool." He said to his beautiful sister-in-law, "Idiots! The anger is all in the heart, and I won't say it like we do."

There was a green fire in Tana's eyes. I thought it was aimed at my brother who was overwhelmed, but those eyes turned to me: "Now, you can no longer say that you are not a fool, can you?"

I thought about the past from beginning to end, and I couldn't think of a time when I told her that I was not a fool.But I have decided not to speak.

My father said: "He doesn't want to talk, so don't force him. He is also a man from the Maiqi family. He has done things for the Maiqi family that none of us have ever done. I feel very sad when he is like this." Later , everyone got up and left, but I sat still.

The father didn't move either. He said, "My wife didn't call me when she left. Your wife didn't call you when she left."

I said nothing.

Father said: "I know you want to go back to the border, but I can't tell you to go back. If you are stupid, it is useless to go back. If you are not stupid, it is not good. Maybe the two brothers of the Maggie family want to go back to the border." Fight with your best weapons."

I do not speak.

He told me, "The lame housekeeper sent people to fetch you back, and I sent them back." He said, "I dare not trust you with everything, you have done some beautiful things, but I'm not sure You are a smart person. I would rather believe that it is a miracle, that God is helping you, but I will not rely on miracles to make decisions."

I got up and left, and left him alone in the dining room. The toast buried his head deeply, and buried him.

In the room, my beautiful wife is combing her hair in front of the mirror, her long hair shining faintly under the light.I try not to show myself next to her beautiful face in the mirror.

She smiled at herself in the mirror and sighed at the face in the mirror.I lay quietly on the bed.Later, she spoke, and she said, "You've been away from me all day."

The wind was blowing outside the thick stone wall, and the fallen leaves and dead grass were flying in the wind.

(End of this chapter)