Anxiang

Chapter 1

1.across the ocean

In 1900, the Strait of Malacca.

In the dark sky, the unscrupulous rain poured down, and the storm stirred up the sea waves roaring and colliding in all directions, looking for creatures that could devour blood like demons.April is the season of tidal return in the Strait of Malacca, and the storm at this moment makes it a hell on earth.

A piggy boat is driving in this hell. It bumps up and down against the waves, swings from side to side, and may be swallowed by the waves at any time.

At that time, some people said that when they walked out of their homes, they would see a golden mountain. Because there were too few foreigners, they asked the Chinese to help dig it.Cheng Daquan and his family left their hometown in this way. At that time, Cheng Da was only 12 years old and became one of the tens of thousands of Chinese laborers.

The waves were getting bigger and bigger, and everyone shouted and ran towards the place they thought was safe. At this time, there is no safe place for this boat!Cheng Da curled up in a corner and didn't dare to run around. When a wave hit just now, he saw several people being thrown into the sea with his own eyes, and disappeared without a trace in a blink of an eye.

"Cheng Da..." Parents' familiar and friendly voice came through the noise.

Cheng Da got up and approached his parents.At this time, a wave hit, the wooden boat tilted sharply, and a mother with a baby slipped into the sea from the side of the boat.Cheng Da slid out and grabbed the baby, but the baby's mother fell into the sea.Cheng Da hugged a mast and stabilized his body. He looked into the sea, and the dark green water was rolling, but the mother was swept away.

Cheng Da held the baby and looked at the sea in surprise. He didn't expect that life would disappear in an instant.The baby in his arms didn't cry, but looked at Cheng Da blankly, Cheng Da was heart-piercingly heavy.

After traveling thousands of miles away from their hometown, Jinshan did not see them, but the bursts of "water mountains" made them suffer enough.

A man rushed over, snatched the baby from his hand, lay on the side of the boat and yelled towards the sea.

It will never be called back, those once fresh lives are fleeting like meteors.

At this moment, Cheng Da understood the meaning of living, which is to cherish what he has, including those sufferings and sorrows.He hugged the mast tightly, looking at the people running around in the rain, his vision gradually blurred...

After an unknown amount of time, the wooden boat began to stop shaking.The thick dark clouds were torn open by the white light, and the sky slowly lit up.People who have experienced life and death sit scattered on the boat, looking tired and insensitive.

Cheng Da snuggled up to his parents, looking in the direction of Nanyang with his dark face, is there really our beautiful life there?
"Look, everyone, there is land! There is land! We are saved!" A middle-aged man shouted hoarsely.The dull cabin became noisy, people flocked to the bow, and the white coastline appeared in their vision.The cabin cheered, and everyone forgot the danger just now, hugged each other and jumped up.There is nothing more exciting than seeing hope.

The middle-aged man who was the first to shout looked at the coastline with a smile, and his body lying on the ship's side slowly slid down...

Just when everyone was ecstatic, a warship approached them, and someone on board shouted at them in English: "Don't dock! Don't dock!"

"We suspect that the ship is infected with the plague!"

"Last warning!"

The deterrent shouts sounded repeatedly, and the people on the wooden boat looked at each other, and someone asked: "They seem to be saying something to us, who can understand?"

A young man said with a smile: "Maybe he is saying welcome us!" The people on the boat burst into laughter.

The wooden boat ignored it and continued to drive towards the shore.At this moment, a cannonball exploded around the wooden boat, causing waves to pour down, and the wooden boat shook violently.

People rushed around with their heads in their arms, shouting: "What are they doing? Why are they shooting at us?"

The shells fell one after another, thick smoke rose, and the people on board fell into panic again.

Cheng Da was shocked, he turned back to pull his father, but saw his father lying on the ground with blood on his head. "Father! Father! What's the matter with you?" Cheng Da shook his father desperately, but his father said nothing.Cheng Da shouted in panic: "Mom! Mom! Where are you..." Cheng Da's childish voice was drowned out by the chaotic bow.

At this time, a shell hit the wooden boat, and the wooden boat that was on the verge of falling apart could no longer withstand the bombardment of the shell, and scattered like fragments...

The sea surface returned to calm, and the scattered pieces of wood rippled with the waves.Life is inseparable.

The sun rises from the sea, the wind is beautiful, the rose-purple clouds contain golden light, the sea is blue, and the beach is white.The sea water washes the beach over and over again, lest it is not clean enough.

The waves kept rushing up some debris, and a ragged figure was caught in the debris and was washed up by the waves. The man's face was buried in the sand, he was wearing men's clothes, with long braids, and he could tell it was from the Qing Dynasty. Chinese coming.He lay motionless on the beach for a long time, and a few vultures landed not far away, looking at him greedily, not daring to go forward for a while.

A wave of waves came over, and the sea water poured into his nose and mouth fiercely. He coughed loudly, and followed the waves to climb desperately towards the shore.He washed the sand off his face with sea water, and his vision became clearer.He is Cheng Da who narrowly escaped death.

Cheng Da lost his parents and was thrown by the waves on a small island in Kuala Lumpur. He was alone and began his legendary story.

The streets of Kuala Lumpur are buzzing with activity, a town with a British flair.There are makeshift houses everywhere, and the streets are dirty and chaotic.There are languages ​​from various regions, such as Foshan dialect, Hokkien dialect, Hakka dialect, screaming Malay, half-understandable English, mixed with shouts of selling noodle tea and curry rice, but it seems to be full of vitality.

Among the low buildings, there are occasionally two or three gorgeous buildings, the mansion of a British official with a sky balcony like a garden, a church with a cross, and a bank with a lion squatting at the door.In front of such a building, British policemen wearing tall hats and Indian assams wearing red buns are patrolling.

A Malay woman holding a baby is breastfeeding the baby, and at the same time uses a bamboo tube to blow the fire at the bottom of the stove to make breakfast.The Malay coolies and Chinese piglets waiting to go to work sat silently on the side of the street, looking at the emaciated Cheng Da walking on the street with dull eyes.It took Cheng Da a whole day and night to walk here from the beach. He was exhausted from exhaustion and hunger, and he stumbled as if he would fall to the ground at any time.

The owner of the noodle tea stand held a spoon in one hand and a bowl in the other, raised the noodle tea high, and sang in a Hokkien dialect: "Noodle tea! Noodle tea! A big bowl of noodle tea! The living have a life, the dead have a road, tea, tea!"

Cheng Da followed the cries to the noodle tea stall, looked at the noodle tea in a daze, and swallowed.He unbuttoned his coat, revealing a chest like short ribs. There was a golden coin hanging on his chest. He hesitated, pulled it off, and handed it to the noodle tea boss.

The boss took it, gritted his teeth, and served him a bowl.

Cheng Da was sitting by the booth drinking, and there were many Chinese laborers drinking noodle tea beside him. side.

Cheng Dazheng was drinking his noodle tea happily, when a Chinese who drank too much broke in from behind and knocked him almost to the ground.The man held the wine jar, slapped the two paper notes on the desk of the letter writer, and yelled: "Just write it like this. Insert your mother! Do you think I sleep on a golden bed and a golden quilt here? My life hangs in the mine, if I don’t die, I’ll be buried, it’s not bad if I can get my life out of it! If you dare to instigate me, I’ll go back to Foshan, and I’ll fix you three times a day! Do it!”

Cheng Da stared at him dumbfounded.

The pen writing the family letter on behalf of others is really fast, and it was finished immediately. He read aloud: "The good wife, the words are as good as the face. I haven't seen you for many years. I miss you a lot. In the dream, there are all good wives. Duomeng good wife serves the two elders. A certain person is ashamed and has no land in a foreign land, so he has to work hard to make money, and he will repay each other with a grass knot in the future. The word husband."

The man became frustrated after hearing this, waved his hands and said, "That's what it means." He turned and left with the letter.

Cheng Da finished his noodle tea in a few sips, chased after him, grabbed the man, and begged, "I want to go to work, and I want to dig for gold."

The man waved his hands and said impatiently: "Go, go!" Ignoring Cheng Da, he staggered forward.

Cheng Da followed the man step by step.When he came, his father told him that he was here to dig for gold, so Cheng Da felt that only digging for gold was the purpose of his coming to Nanyang.

Cheng Da followed the drunk man and walked towards the mountain. The man hummed a little tune and swayed in front of him. Cheng Da followed behind unrelentingly. The drunk man in front of him was Cheng Da's hope.

Suddenly there was an earth-shattering loud noise, followed by the ground shaking.Cheng Da stood there at a loss, not knowing what happened.The man turned his head and pressed him to the ground. The thick smoke quickly spread to them like a flock of driven out sheep, enveloping them in an instant.When Cheng Da raised his head again, the man's drunkenness also woke up, and Cheng Cheng shouted: "Silly boy, it's exploding the mountain! Are you going to kill yourself?"

Cheng Da was tongue-tied. He looked around, and at some point, a dozen torches suddenly appeared, dotted in the dense fog. They carried baskets on their backs, and dumped the contents of the baskets into a large pit at the foot of the mountain.

The man stood up and greeted the torchbearer with a smile: "Lynx, have you found the ore?"

Shan Mao said angrily: "Little Sier and Little Liuer are gone. Fucking golden toad, man-eating toad! Then who is it?"

The man touched Cheng Da's head, which was still in shock, and said, "I picked it up." He turned to Cheng Da and said, "Call me Fifth Brother!"

Cheng Da called out timidly: "Fifth Brother."

The man laughed.

Cheng Da leaned over to the group of workers carrying baskets to see what they were pouring.Finding that it was full of broken human limbs and internal organs such as hands, feet, and intestines, Cheng Daban knelt on the ground and retched.

Fifth Brother turned around and shouted to Cheng: "Boy! From now on, follow Fifth Brother to dig for gold! Haha!"

Cheng Da happily responded and followed Fifth Brother.Fifth Brother brought him to a place, several men took off his clothes, Cheng Da covered his clothes and smiled foolishly.A man grabbed a handful of white powder and sprinkled it on Cheng Da.Cheng Da was startled and quickly dodged.Brother Wu laughed beside him and said, "Boy, this is lime water, it's for you to disinfect, wash it yourself, and put on your overalls."

The 12-year-old Cheng Da started his life of digging gold in this way. This was the beginning of his beautiful dream and also the beginning of his nightmare.

At that time, the gold mines in Nanyang did not have the support pillars and deep excavation of today. Basically, they were dug inwards and downwards in a cave.The cave is very deep, and you can only see the light and shadow vaguely if you are a little farther away.Workers use picks and drills to hammer down the stones. After the stones are finished, they push a bucket-shaped iron cart out along the track, and then push the empty cart back through the curved track.

Cheng Da is not as tall as a pickaxe, and he is desperately using the pickaxe to chisel the rock wall. How can a 12-year-old child do such hard work?After a while, several blood blisters appeared on his hands, which made him gnash his teeth in pain.Slowing down a little, there was an overseer waving a whip and yelling behind him.Cheng Da had no choice but to keep busy.Fifth Brother kicked him twice from behind, and he stopped, looked at Fifth Brother blankly, and asked, "What's the matter? Fifth Brother! Am I still too slow?"

Brother Wu said in a low voice: "Silly boy, don't work so hard, take it easy. Do you know how many people will die of exhaustion here in a day?" Cheng Da thought of those people who were thrown away, and felt a little uneasy.

"Come over to eat!" Fifth brother pushed Cheng Da, Cheng Da staggered, and quickly supported the stone next to him, the sharp stone touched the blood blister on his hand, Cheng Da screamed, heartbroken pain.

Fifth Brother supported him and asked, "What's going on?"

"No...it's nothing..." Cheng Da subconsciously put his hands behind his back.

The fifth brother pulled Cheng Da's hand and saw the blood blisters on his hand. He sighed: "It's been like this for a long time, be careful! It will be fine after this time." He patted Cheng Da's hand lightly. head and said, "Let's go eat."

They brought their own meals, wrapped in a towel.Cheng Da didn't, and watched the miners gobble up.

Brother Wu opened the towel and saw Cheng Da standing there motionless, and greeted him, "Didn't you bring any food? Eat this from me."

Cheng Da looked at the curry rice in Wu Ge's towel bag, embarrassed to eat it, and just smirked.

Brother Wu laughed and said, "Ming people don't speak in secret, brother, you owe me half of the first month's wages. Eat."

Cheng Da seemed to have received some kind of guarantee. He took the rice bag and took a few mouthfuls, almost chewing the towel.

Brother Wu said, "After I've finished work, I'll find you a place to live. The rent will be paid on credit first."

Cheng Da nodded respectfully.

Fifth Brother looked at Cheng Da for a long time, then patted him on the head, "Boy, be smart and live two more days!"

This is Cheng Da's first real contact with life. Originally, his life was difficult, but he did not expect that it would be more difficult and dangerous when he came here, and death hovered around him all the time.He thought of his dead parents and how they gave their lives to be here, and he couldn't help crying.

There are too many dreams, which look glamorous on the surface, but are actually full of bitterness and helplessness.This is the deepest feeling of the young Cheng Da at this time.

2.chance encounter

There is a shack on the street where these miners live.Two or three Chinese women were busy cooking, and a bunch of children with runny noses were fighting with swords cut from calamus leaves.

The fifth brother led Cheng Da into a thatched hut, and said to the two women: "Fourth sister-in-law and sixth sister-in-law, I will show you a way to survive. This, the fourth oldest, just started work today, and his name is Cheng Da. Take the fourth sister-in-law. The house is given to him, and the rent will be credited first."

Fourth sister-in-law turned her head and looked Cheng Da up and down.The fourth sister-in-law and the sixth sister-in-law looked like widows at first glance, with black gauze wrapped around their heads, hemp belts around their waists, and a robe that was neither white nor gray.

Cheng Da bowed to them and said hello, but they ignored him.

A few children made a fuss at Wu Ge's feet. Wu Ge picked up one of them to play with. When he saw the realgar buns on their chests, he suddenly realized and shouted, "It's May Festival? Damn it! I can't eat zongzi, and I can't drink realgar wine! Digging for gold, digging for gold, digging out his mother's life!" Fifth brother put down the child and left cursing.

Only Cheng Da was left in the room, standing between two women and a bunch of children.The shack was low, and he always bowed his body.

Fourth sister-in-law glanced at him, hooked her hands, and asked Cheng Da to follow her out.There is another small shed at the door, like a triangular kennel, covered with straw mats, this is where Cheng Da sleeps.He said thank you, and the cat crawled in. The exhaustion of the day made him exhausted, and he fell asleep after lying down.

Cheng Da dreamed of the scene at sea, which was thrilling and life-or-death.The ship full of people rolled and screamed in the sea, rain, and storm.The bloody father, the mother who fell to the ground, the rumbling guns...

"Mom! Mom! Mom..." Cheng Da yelled like a nightmare, his legs were kicking wildly on the mattress, his face was covered with water, and he didn't know whether it was sweat or tears.

The fourth sister-in-law next door heard the cry and came out with a lantern. She opened the shack where Cheng Da lived and saw Cheng Da rolling on the bed in pain.The fourth sister-in-law knocked Cheng Da hard on the instep, and Cheng Da stopped panting heavily. He said to the fourth sister-in-law with tears all over his face: "Sisister-in-law, I saw my parents! They are still on the boat!" The fourth sister-in-law did not speak, but patted him, gently put Cheng Da on the bed, and walked out without saying a word.Cheng Da watched the frail back of the fourth sister-in-law disappear. He knew that the fourth sister-in-law also had a lot of pain. His husband and the fourth child were crushed to death by falling stones while digging, leaving only her and the half-grown child.Everyone living in the shack has a history of blood and tears.

(End of this chapter)