The Complete Works of Lu Xun's Novels

Chapter 32

"Damn King Zhou, as soon as he was defeated, he ran to Lutai," said the wounded soldier who was probably returning. "Damn it, he piled up the treasures, sat in the middle by himself, and lit the fire."

"Ah, what a pity!" This was clearly the voice of the gatekeeper.

"Don't panic! I only burned myself to death, but the treasure was not burned. Our king took the princes and entered the Shang Kingdom. Their people greeted them in the suburbs, and the king asked the adults to greet them and said: 'Good luck!' They They all kowtowed. They kept going in, but they saw two large characters on the door: 'Submin'. The king's car went straight to Lutai, found the place where King Zhou committed suicide, and shot three arrows..."

"Why? Are you afraid that he is not dead?" asked another person.

"Who knows. But after shooting three arrows, he drew out his light sword and cut it, and finally took the yellow axe. Crack! Cut off his head and hang it on the big white flag."

Shu Qi was taken aback.

"After that, I went to find the two concubines of King Zhou. Huh, they were all hanged already. The king shot three more arrows, drew his sword, and chopped them. Then he took the black axe, cut off their heads, and hanged them. On the little white flag. In this way..."

"Are those two concubines really pretty?" the gatekeeper interrupted him.

"I don't know. The flagpole is high and there are many people watching. I was still in pain at that time, so I didn't squeeze close to see it."

"They said that the one named Daji was a vixen, only two feet were not human, so they wrapped them in cloth strips: really?"

"Who knows. I didn't see her feet either. But there are a lot of women over there who make their feet look like pig's hooves."

Shuqi was a decent person, when he heard that they were talking from the emperor's head to the woman's feet, he frowned, covered his ears, and ran back into the room.Boyi was still not asleep, and asked softly:

"Have you gone to practice boxing again?"

Shuqi didn't answer, walked over slowly, sat on the edge of Boyi's bed, bent down, and told him what he just heard.After that, both of them were silent for a long time, finally Shuqi sighed with difficulty, and said quietly:

"Unexpectedly, King Wen's rules were completely changed... You see, it is not only unfilial, but also unbenevolent... From this point of view, the food here is unbearable."

"So, what should I do?" Boyi asked.

"I think it's better to go..."

So the two discussed a few words, and decided to leave the nursing home early tomorrow morning, not to eat the big cakes from Zhou's family; they didn't take anything with them.The two brothers went to Mount Hua together and ate some wild fruits and leaves to send their dying years away.What's more, "the way of heaven has no relatives, and it is always with good people" ①, or there may be such things as Cang Zhu and Poria cocos.

After making up my mind, my heart is very relaxed.Shu Qi repeatedly undressed and lay down, and not long after, he heard Boyi talking in his sleep; he also felt very interested, and seemed to smell the fragrance of Poria cocos, and then fell into a deep sleep in the fragrance of Poria cocos.

four

The next day, the two brothers woke up earlier than usual. After washing and grooming, they didn't bring anything. In fact, they didn't have anything to take with them. They only had an old sheepskin robe, which they still wore, and they took a stick, and left After eating pancakes, I pushed them for a walk, and walked out of the gate of the nursing home; thinking in my heart, I will be farewell from now on, so I seem to be a little nostalgic, and I turned my head to look a few times.

There were not many people on the street; all I met were sleepy women drawing water from the well.Near the outskirts, the sun has risen, and more people are walking. Although most of them look up and feel complacent, when they see them, they still give way as usual.There are also more trees, and new shoots are sprouting on the unknown deciduous trees, which look like gray-green light smoke at a glance, with pines and cypresses sandwiched between them, which still look very green in the haze.

Eyes full of openness, freedom, and good looks, Boyi and Shuqi felt as if they had grown younger, their steps were easy, and their hearts were also very comfortable.

In the afternoon of the second day, they came across several forked roads, and they decided not to decide which one to take, so they checked an old man who was walking on the opposite side, and asked him kindly.

"Oh, what a pity," said the old man. "If you had been earlier, you would have run with the team of horses that passed by earlier. Now you have to take this road first. There are many forks in the road ahead, so ask again."

Shuqi remembered that at noon, they did encounter a few scrap soldiers, driving a large number of old horses, skinny horses, lame horses, and skinny horses, rushing up from behind and almost trampling them to death. Ask the old man what the horses are going for.

"Don't you know?" replied the man. "Our king has already "respectfully performed the punishment of heaven", and there is no need to mobilize the people, so he put the horse at the foot of Huashan. This is "returning the horse to the sun of Huashan". Do you understand? We are still "herding cattle to peaches." Lin Zhiye' ① miles! Scary, this time everyone really wants to eat peace."

However, it was actually a bucket of cold water, which caused both of them to shudder at the same time, but they remained calm, thanked the old man, and walked towards the road indicated by him.Reluctantly, this "returning horses to the sun of Huashan Mountain" actually trampled their dreams, and made the two people's hearts feel a little up and down from then on.

I was apprehensive, so I didn't say anything, but I still left. At dusk, I approached a low loess hill with some woods and a few earthen houses on it. They agreed on the way to stay here for the night.

There were still a dozen or so steps away from the foot of Tugang, and five burly men sprang out of the forest, with white cloth on their heads and rags in their clothes. The leader was holding a big knife, and the other four were all wooden sticks.Once at the foot of the hill, they lined up, blocked the way, nodded respectfully together, and shouted loudly:

"Hi, sir!"

They both took a few steps back in fright, Boyi trembled, and Shuqi was more capable, so he simply stepped forward and asked who they were and what was the matter.

"The villain is Xiaoqiongqi, the king of Huashan Mountain ②," said the one with the knife, "I brought my brothers here, and I would like to ask you to give me some road money!"

"We have money there, Your Majesty." Shuqi said politely. "We came out of a nursing home."

"Ah!" Xiao Qiongqi was taken aback, and immediately respected him in awe, "Then, you two must be 'the elders of the world'①. The little people also follow the teachings of the ancestors and respect the elderly very much, so I invite you I left some souvenirs..." Seeing that Shuqi didn't answer, he waved his sword and said in a raised voice: "If you still want to be modest, then the villains will have to respectfully search the sky and pay homage to your old body. Already!"

Boyi Shuqi immediately raised his hands; a man with a wooden stick came to untie their leather robes, cotton jackets, and small shirts, and searched them carefully.

"Two paupers, really have nothing!" He turned his head with a look of disappointment on his face, and said to Xiao Qiongqi.

Xiao Qiongqi saw that Boyi was trembling, so he went up to him, patted him on the shoulder respectfully, and said:
"Old man, please don't be afraid. The Shanghai school will 'skin pigs'②, we are civilized people, and we don't do this stuff. We don't have any souvenirs, so we have to count ourselves as unlucky. Now you just have to get out of here!" "

Boyi had no words to answer, and he didn't even have time to put on his clothes. He and Shuqi took big steps, looked at the ground, and ran forward.At this time, five people were already standing beside them, making way for them.Seeing them walking in front of them, they respectfully lowered their hands and asked in unison:

"You're gone? Haven't you had your tea?"

"Don't drink, don't drink..." Boyi and Shuqi walked away and said, nodding their heads continuously.

五

"Returning horses to Huashan Zhiyang" and the king of Huashan, Xiao Qiongqi, both made the two righteous men afraid of Huashan, so they discussed again, turned north, begged for food, took a night trip, and finally arrived at Shouyang Mountain③.

This is indeed a good mountain.Neither high nor deep, no big forests, no worries about tigers, wolves, and robbers: it is an ideal place for seclusion.The two of them went to the foot of the mountain to have a look, and they saw tender green leaves, the land was golden, and some small red and white flowers bloomed in the weeds. It was really pleasing to look at.They were full of joy, lit the mountain path with their sticks, and went up step by step. They found a rock protruding above it, which looked like a cave, and sat down, wiping their sweat and panting.

At this time, the sun had already set in the west, and the tired birds returned to the forest, chirping and chirping. It was not as quiet as when they went up the mountain, but they felt that it was still fresh and interesting.Before he spread the sheepskin robe and was about to go to bed, Shu Qi took out two big rice balls and ate a full meal with Boyi.This is the remnants of food they begged for along the way, because the two had agreed that "not to eat millet for the week", so they had to start implementing it after entering Shouyang Mountain, so they ate it that night, and from tomorrow onwards, they must stick to the doctrine and never eat it. Accommodate.

They were woken up early in the morning by the crow, and then fell asleep again, but it was already morning when they woke up.Boyi said that his back was sore and his legs were sore that he couldn't stand up; Shuqi had to walk around alone to see if there was anything to eat.After he walked for a while, he found that the mountain was neither high nor deep, and there were no tigers, wolves or thieves. Although it was its strong point, it also had its shortcomings: Shouyang Village was just below, so not only old people or women chopping firewood often appeared, And there are children who come in to play, and they can't find any edible wild fruits, probably they have picked them long ago.

He naturally thought of Poria.But although there are pine trees on the mountain, they are not ancient pine trees. It seems that there may not be poria cocos on the roots;Then he thought of Cangzhu, but he had only seen the root of Cangzhu, he didn't know the shape of the leaves, and he couldn't pull up the grass all over the mountain to have a look, even though Cangzhu was growing before his eyes, he couldn't recognize it.As soon as my heart became irritable and my face was hot, I scratched my scalp randomly.

But he immediately calmed down, and seemed to have an idea, and then he walked to the side of the pine tree, picked a bag full of pine needles, found two stones by the stream, smashed off the green bark of the pine needles, washed them, and smashed them finely It was like bread, so I found another thin piece of stone, and took it back to the cave.

"Third brother, do you have anything? I've been gurgling for a long time because of my hunger." Boyi asked as soon as he saw him.

"Brother, there is nothing. Try this thing."

He picked up two stones nearby, set them up, put pine needles on them, gathered some dead branches, and lit a fire underneath.It took a lot of time to hear the creaking of the wet pine needles, but there was also a little fragrance, which made the two of them swallow.Shu Qi was so happy that he smiled. This is the way Jiang Taigong heard it at the birthday feast when he went to pay his respects on his 85th birthday.

After it becomes fragrant, it foams. Seeing that it dries gradually, it is just a piece of cake.Shuqi wrapped his hands with the sleeves of his leather robe, and brought the stone piece to Boyi with a smile.Boyi blew and bent, and finally he broke off a corner and quickly stuffed it into his mouth.

The more he chewed, the more he frowned, straightened his neck and swallowed a few times, then spit it out with a loud wow, looked at Shu Qi as if complaining and said:
"Bitter...rough..."

At this time, Shuqi really seemed to be in a deep pool, with no hope left.Shakingly, he also bent a corner, and chewed it, but it really didn't look like it was edible: bitter...rough...

Shuqi suddenly lost his spirit, sat down and lowered his head.But still thinking, struggling to think, as if climbing out of a deep pool.Crawling and crawling, only forward.Finally, it seemed that he had become a child, still Mr. Guzhu's eldest son, sitting on the nanny's lap.This nanny is a countryman, and she is telling him stories: Huang Di beat Chi You, Dayu captured Wu Zhiqi, and country people ate weeds in famine years.

He remembered how he asked Wei Cai again, and he had seen this thing on the mountain.He suddenly felt that he had strength, and immediately stood up, stepped into the grass, and searched all the way.

Sure enough, these things were not too small. After walking less than a mile, I took off half of my pockets.He still washed it in the stream before taking it back; he still used the stone slices on which the pine needle noodles were baked to roast the weeds.The leaves turn dark green as they ripen.But this time, he didn't dare to respect his elder brother first, so he picked up a plant, put it in his mouth, closed his eyes, and just chewed.

"How is it?" Boyi asked anxiously.

"Fresh!"

The two came to try the roasted weed with a smile; Boyi ate two more pinches because he was the eldest brother.

From then on, they picked weeds every day.In the past, Shuqi went to pick it alone, and Boyi cooked it; later, Boyi felt stronger and went out to pick it.There are also more methods: Wei soup, Wei soup, Wei sauce, stewed Wei, stewed Wei buds in original soup, raw and sun-dried tender Wei leaves...

However, the welts near the ground are gradually exhausted. Although the roots remain, it is difficult to grow for a while, and we have to travel a long way every day.After moving a few times back home, the result was still the same.Moreover, it became increasingly difficult to find a new residence, because it required a lot of weeds and a nearby stream. Such a convenient place was really rare on Shouyang Mountain.Shuqi was afraid that Boyi would be too old and would suffer a stroke, so he tried his best to persuade him to sit at home and still cook alone, and let himself pick weeds alone.

After Boyi Xun gave way for a while, he agreed, and since then he has been more at ease. However, there are people on Shouyang Mountain. He has nothing to do, and his temper has changed. From silent to talkative, he can't help but strike up a conversation with the child , and talk to the woodcutter.Maybe it was because of a moment of joy, or because someone called him an old beggar, but he actually said that the two of them were the sons of Mr. Guzhu in western Liaoning, he was the eldest, and the other was the third.In Japan, my father said that he would pass on the throne to the third child, but after his death, the third child would definitely give up to him.He obeyed his father's order, saved himself trouble, and escaped.Unexpectedly, the third child also escaped.The two met on the road, and they came together to find Xibo, King Wen, and entered the nursing home.Unexpectedly, the current king of Zhou actually "killed the king with his ministers", so he had no choice but to flee to Shouyang Mountain without eating Zhou millet, and eat wild vegetables to survive... When Shuqi found out that he was blamed for talking too much, it had already spread. Law saved.But I didn't dare to complain about him; I just thought in my heart: my father refused to pass on the position to him, but I couldn't help but say that he had some good eyesight.

Shuqi's prediction was not bad: the result was very bad, not only the village often talked about them, but also people who went up the mountain to see them.Some treat them as celebrities, some as monsters, and some as antiques.They even followed to see how to pick, surrounded to see how to eat, gesticulated, and asked questions, which made people dizzy.And you need to be humble when dealing with it. If you are a little careless and frown, it is inevitable that someone will say "lose your temper".

However, public opinion is still positive.Later, even the lady and wife came to see it, and they shook their heads when they went home, saying it was "not good-looking", and they were fooled.

Finally, Xiao Bingjun, the first-class expert in Shouyang Village, was attracted.He was originally the godson-in-law of Daji's uncle, who was making sacrificial wine, and because he knew that his destiny would return, he brought fifty carts of luggage and eight hundred servants to join the Ming Lord.It's a pity that a few days before the meeting in Mengjin, the soldiers and horses were busy, and it was too late to make a proper arrangement, so they left him with 750 carts of goods and [-] slaves, and gave him two hectares of fertile fields under Shouyang Mountain to study gossip in the village. study.He also likes to engage in literature. Everyone in the village is illiterate and doesn't understand the introduction to literature. Make a book of poems.

However, after talking, he shook his head as soon as he got into the sedan chair, and when he returned home, he was quite angry.He thought those two guys couldn't talk about poetry.The first is poverty: How can one make good poems when one has no time to make a living?The second is "something to do", which loses the "honesty" of poetry; the third is that there are discussions, which loses the "gentleness" of poetry. ③ What is especially debatable is their character, which is full of contradictions.So he said categorically and resolutely:

"'Under the whole world, is it the land of the king'④, isn't the weed they are eating from our sage!"

At this time, Boyi and Shuqi were also losing weight day by day.This is not for busy entertainment, because the number of visitors is gradually decreasing.The trouble is that the weeds have gradually decreased, and it takes a lot of effort and a lot of walking to find a handful every day.

However, misfortunes never come singly.When it fell into the well, another big stone came from above.

One day, the two of them were eating roasted weed, and it was not easy to find, so the lunch was already in the afternoon.Suddenly came a woman in her twenties, whom she had never seen before, looking at her, she seemed to be a maid in a wealthy family.

"Did you eat?" she asked.

Shu Qi raised his face, smiled quickly, and nodded.

"What is this thing?" she asked again.

"Wei." Boyi said.

"How do you eat something like this?"

"Because we don't eat Zhousu..."

Just as Boyi said it, Shu Qi quickly gave him a wink, but the woman seemed to be very smart and understood.She sneered, and then she said firmly and decisively:

"'Under the whole world, is it the land of the king', the Wei you are eating, isn't it from our sage!" ①
Boyi and Shuqi heard it clearly, and at the last sentence, it was like a big thunderbolt, which made them faint; when they woke up, the crow's head was gone.Wei, of course, didn't eat it, and couldn't eat it anymore, and she was shy even to look at it, and couldn't lift her hand even to move it away, as if it weighed hundreds of catties.

六

The woodcutter accidentally found Boyi and Shuqi huddled together and died in a cave behind the mountain about 20 days later.It's not rotten. Although it's thin, it can be seen that it didn't die long ago; the old sheepskin robe was not padded, so I don't know where it got it.As soon as the news spread to the village, a large number of people who came to see it were stirred up, coming and going, and making noise until night.As a result, a few troublesome people buried them with loess on the spot, and they also discussed erecting a stone tablet with a few words carved on it, so that it can be used as a historic site later.

However, no one in He Village could write, so he had to ask Mr. Xiao Bing.

However, Xiao Bingjun refused to write.

"They don't deserve me to write," he said. "They're all dicks. It's okay to come to the nursing home, but I don't want to be detached; it's okay to come to Shouyang Mountain, but I still want to write poems; it's okay to write poetry, but I still want to publish it." Feeling, unwilling to keep one's place, 'art for art's sake'. You see, such a poem is permanent:

Go to the western mountain to pick its weeds,
Bandit to replace bandit, I don't know what's wrong.

Shennong Yuxia passed by all of a sudden, where should I go?

Alas die, doomed bad luck!

"Look, what is this? Poetry is what is gentle and honest. Their things are not only 'resentment', they are almost 'swearing'. There are no flowers, only thorns, and it is not good, let alone only scolding. Even if you let go of literature Talk about it, they left their ancestral property, they are not filial sons, and they are here to ridicule the government, and they are not like a good citizen...I will not write!..."

The illiterate people didn't quite understand what he was talking about, but when they saw the menacing voice, they knew it must be against him, so they had no choice but to let it go.The funeral of Boyi and Shuqi has come to an end.

(End of this chapter)