Globe Trekker

Chapter 11 Unfulfilled Wish
The mountain road is winding, the spring is cold, the sun rises from the top of the mountain, and the remaining frost on the mountain is particularly dazzling.

Wu Ming carried two rattan boxes and a basket full of mountain goods, and followed the immortal Taoist priest Bingzhen and Chengzong in silence. Xiao Chengyuan walked closely beside Wu Ming, muttering all the way : "This place is more than two hundred miles away from the ancestral court of Longhu Mountain, and it takes three days to get there by carriage. If you want Brother Ang to go to Longhu Mountain anytime you are free, you must accompany him to travel the entire holy place..."

It took more than half an hour to arrive at the foot of the mountain, and the carriage to pick up Taoist Bingzhen and his party had been waiting for a long time.

Wu Ming declined the coachman's help, put two rattan boxes and baskets on the carriage with his own hands, stood aside and lowered his head, quietly waiting for Taoist Master Pingzhen to get on the carriage.

Daoist Priest Bingzhen sighed secretly, came to Wu Ming and said gently: "In a few days, Chengyuan's elder brother Chengzhi will lead a few people to preside over the Qizhen Temple. Chengzhi is over [-] years old, not much older than you. , not an outsider, I will trouble you to take care of it on the mountain.”

"Yes." Wu Ming's answer was low and short.

Priest Bingzhen shook his head: "Take care, if you have a chance, go to Longshan Zuting to see Chengyuan, he likes you."

"Yes." Wu Ming still lowered his head and did not meet the Taoist priest Bingzhen.

Priest Bingzhen didn't say anything anymore, he lifted the hem of his robe and boarded the carriage one step at a time.Cheng Yuan stepped forward to pat Wu Ming's arm, said in a low voice, "Brother, take care" and boarded the carriage, only Cheng Yuan tearfully grabbed Wu Ming's sleeve, talking non-stop in a daze.

Wu Ming hugged Chengyuan into the carriage, bowed deeply to Taoist priest Bingzhen, watched the carriage gradually go away, and then walked up the mountain feeling disappointed.Back at the boulder in the middle of the mountain, Wu Ming jumped onto the boulder on the side of the road and looked into the distance. The shadow of the carriage was no longer visible, but Chengzong and Chengyuan's voices and smiles were all in his mind.

In the morning of the next day, Wu Ming, who was a little hungover in the Taoist temple, was about to put on a posture to practice boxing. When he heard the knock on the door, he put away his fists and feet, put on a robe and came out to open the door.

On the steps in front of the door, a sweaty young man saluted Wu Ming respectfully.

Wu Ming looked familiar, so he couldn't pronounce his name for a moment: "Are you from Tianjia Village under the mountain?"

"That's right! I'm afraid Daoist Wu won't remember me. My name is Tian Zhenggang, and I'm the fifth in my family. Tian Zhengkui, who was rescued by the Taoist priest, is my elder brother. On the day the Taoist priest left, I toasted the Taoist priest with several older brothers." " Tian Zhenggang replied loudly, and he was obviously a simple man.

"Remember, you are..." Wu Ming pointed to the two baskets at Tian Zhenggang's feet.

Tian Zhenggang hastily lifted off the wide leaves covering the two baskets, revealing two cured hares, two knives of fresh pork, a bag of rice and a large wine jar: "This is from my father, my mother, and my brothers who are filial and respectful. Daoist, don't be disgusted."

Wu Ming grinned, and without pretentiousness at the moment, he raised his finger to the big ginkgo tree under the west stone wall: "I accept it, please send it to the big tree, brother Zhenggang, my house is there, walk along the path About two hundred steps, you can see it after turning around the bamboo forest, and I will pass after closing the door."

"Okay!" The sturdy Tian Zhenggang picked up the burden and strode away.

When Wu Ming arrived, Tian Zhenggang was curiously looking at the unique wooden house, his eyes were full of astonishment, it could be seen that he had never seen such a western-style house with such a different style.

Wu Ming climbed up the steps, pushed open the half-covered door, and politely invited Tian Zhenggang to come in. Tian Zhenggang followed with a big basket in one hand, standing in the middle of the room, looking around at a loss.

"Just put it down, come and drink some water."

Wu Ming walked to the stone fireplace, picked up the copper pot that was still steaming, and poured Tian Zhenggang a bowl of water: "You're welcome, come and sit down, it's warmer."

Tian Zhenggang moved over timidly, took the hot water from Wu Ming with both hands and drank it with his head up, wiped his mouth and carefully placed the empty bowl on the low table in front of him.

Wu Ming added another bowl for him, went out with the copper pot to fill it with water, and set it on the stone outside the fireplace when he came back, picked up a piece of firewood and lightly pushed the fire aside, adding wood to start the fire in a leisurely way: "Your brother Do you feel better?"

"It's much better. After the Taoist priest rescued him, the Taoist priest Chengzong came home every three to five days to change the medicine and prescribe a prescription for my brother. The half-foot-long wound has already healed, but he still can't bear the force. It may take another month to recover." Go to the ground." Tian Zhenggang saw that Wu Ming didn't have the slightest airs, so he slowly let go.

Wu Ming was very happy when he heard this: "That's good. Although my life is saved, I'm afraid it will be difficult to return to normal walking in the future. Zhenggang, how old are you this year?"

"After the new year, you will be eighteen." Tian Zhenggang also smiled, with a simple and honest face.

"Then I'll call you brother, are you hungry?"

"Not hungry, not hungry!"

"Anyway, I'm going to have dinner. I'm glad to see you today. The priests have left. I'm the only one on the mountain to look after the house. Let me have a drink or two with you. Just drink the jar of wine you sent. You take a rest to warm up. I'm going to get some food."

"I'll come, I'll come, you sit down."

Wu Ming didn't wait, but started with Tian Zhenggang, and it didn't take long before the charcoal fire was put on the hot pot in front of the fireplace.

The simple and industrious Tian Zhenggang had already relaxed a lot, and took the initiative to use a bamboo tube to fill two bowls with wine from the big wine jar, and the room was immediately filled with the tempting aroma of wine.

Wu Ming picked up the bowl and took a sip: "Good wine!"

Tian Zhenggang was overjoyed: "This wine is made by my mother. No one in a radius of several tens of miles can make as good wine as my mother. My second brother and the others said that you drink well, so they probably like our wine."

After a few bowls of wine, the relationship between the two heated up.

Wu Ming asked about the current situation of the village, and Tian Zhenggang said it was difficult. Years ago, officers and soldiers searched everywhere in the city and outside the city for the gangsters who killed officials and robbed guns, and sent more than a dozen officers and soldiers to the village to inquire. The ten brothers from the clan who were drawn by lottery after the year were conscripted into the army, and the family cried together; a few nights ago, the cunning wild wolf on the mountain came into the village again, killing the sow in the village chief, Uncle Gan’s house, yelling When a sheep walks away, the dogs in the whole village are too frightened to bark.

Wu Ming knew that the villagers had no weapons, so he asked why they didn't dig traps or set traps to deal with the wolves?Tian Zhenggang immediately talked eloquently, saying that wolves are the most cunning beasts, and they will go around if they feel wrong. Traps, traps, wooden cages and other mechanisms are useless to it. Before his elder brother was injured, he was a well-known hunter. In my life, I can get wild boars, wild sheep, roe deer, and muntjacs, but I have never shot wolves, unless I have a good gun in my hand.

Wu Ming, who was determined to leave this place, thought for a while, approached Tian Zhenggang and asked, "Zhenggang, if there is a rifle made in Hanyang, would you dare to go to the wild wolf?"

Tian Zhenggang also drank so much that he opened his clothes, revealing his strong copper-colored muscles, and met Wu Ming's eyes without any timidity: "Brother Wu, if you can really get it made in Hanyang, I, Tian Zhenggang, will definitely give you some good wolf skins! "

"Good job! But just now, as you said just now, the officers and soldiers entered the village to search everywhere years ago. It can be seen that if you have a branch made in Hanyang and let outsiders know, it is very likely that you will suffer disaster. Therefore, the eldest brother wants you Keep it a secret, you two brothers can't reveal a single word to outsiders about everything we say today, can you do it?" Wu Ming looked at Tian Zhenggang with a smile.

Tian Zhenggang was stunned for a moment, puffed out his chest and became extremely solemn: "Brother Ang, you are my family's savior, how could you harm you? I swear, I will never tell what happened today. I have to die!"

"This is what I said, elder brother can trust you, you are as good as your elder brother! I heard from the folks that your brothers are all men who value love and loyalty. If your elder brother hadn't stepped forward that day, there might be deaths and injuries in the village." More."

Wu Ming stood up, went to the head of the bed, removed a huge wooden pier, uncovered the planks on the floor, took out a well-polished rifle and came in front of Tian Zhenggang: "Authentic Hanyang made, at least [-]% new, The rifling is not worn out, so I guess it hasn’t been fired many times, so you can fiddle with it, don’t worry, it’s not loaded.”

Tian Zhenggang was stunned. He stood up, rubbed his eyes in disbelief, stared at the spear in Wu Ming's hand for a long time, and then took the rifle with a trembling hand: "My God! It's true..."

Wu Ming looked at Tian Zhenggang in a daze, and said very seriously: "Zhenggang, whenever I think of the brothers who were hurt by wild boars in the village, I feel sad. At the beginning, I thought, if you had a real guy in your hand, you wouldn't have that day. Misfortune."

"Isn't it!" Tian Zhenggang exclaimed excitedly.

Wu Ming put his hand on his shoulder: "Just now I heard you talk about the wild wolves at Old Ganshu's house, and I feel even worse. It's not easy for the folks to raise big pigs and big sheep. If you don't get rid of those who don't know When will the wild wolves and wild boars that scourge come again, there is no guarantee that one day people will die in the village. I have been thinking about this for a while. When there were no real ones earlier, everyone could only watch their families and villagers suffer. Now there are It’s time to stand up and eliminate harm for the people!”

"Brother Ang..." Tian Zhenggang trembled slightly with excitement, his Adam's apple twitched a few times and he was speechless, his long and thin eyes were flushed.

Wu Ming pulled him to sit down: "No hurry, sit down and talk."

The two sat down again, filled the wine and held up the big bowl, touched it heavily, and drank it proudly.

Wu Ming wiped his mouth and put down the bowl, and said to the blushing Tian Zhenggang, "Zhenggang, I will leave this place for a long journey in a while, and before I leave, I want to do something for the folks in Tianjia Village. Take it easy. I wanted to do it by myself, but I was not sure, and I felt scared. Now that I have you, I can rest assured. After I leave, I will leave this gun to you, and there are more than 100 bullets. You can keep as many as you want. You can just hide your gun quietly, this world is getting more and more chaotic, and the days to come will not be peaceful, so if you have a gun for self-defense, you should be more courageous."

"Brother Ang, why are you leaving? My whole family hasn't repaid your kindness yet, so I can't leave. I don't want the gun!" Tian Zhenggang stood up anxiously.

"What are you in a hurry for? Sit down and talk, but I didn't say to leave immediately." Wu Ming hiccupped: "Just now, there is no banquet in the world that never ends. Big brother, I owe more favors than you That's a lot! You don't understand even if you say it, let's put it this way, a person's life is long, and there are some things, just write them down here."

"I still don't understand." Tian Zhenggang was puzzled.

Wu Ming said with a smile: "It's okay if you don't understand now, I won't miss you, I'm committed to you brother, haha! Zhenggang, brother, I drank too much, so I can only talk about the wolf beating tomorrow. Also, you too I have to go back and talk to my family, and see if I can find an excuse to sneak out and take me into the mountains for a few days. You are better at this than me. I have never hunted or even killed birds when I grow up. , I am not familiar with the surrounding mountains, and I have to rely on you to help me fulfill this wish, so that I can feel more at ease when I leave."

"Brother Ang, I'll go back right away. I'll be here early tomorrow morning, and we'll go into the mountains together!" Although it's not a good season for hunting, the honest and trustworthy Tian Zhenggang agreed without hesitation.

"Okay! Then I'll wait for you." Wu Ming stood up unsteadily after speaking, walked to the bed and fell asleep on the bed.

Tian Zhenggang hastily went up to help Wu Ming take off his shoes, hugged his legs and put him on the bed, covered Wu Ming with a quilt, went back to the low table, picked up the spear, looked at it, felt it, and put it back to the original place reluctantly. After putting up the boards and moving the wooden pier back to its original position, I calmly cleaned up the table, finally filled the fireplace with firewood, and quietly went out to close the door carefully.

An hour later, the two women appeared in front of the quiet hut. They heard the even snoring sound coming from the room. After discussing in low voices, they worked up the courage to walk up the steps and gently knocked on the concealed door.

(End of this chapter)