Cao Guojun (Mongol)
Xia Xiaoyu saw the beautiful chicken when he turned that sharp bend.
Whether the chicken is beautiful or not does not matter to Xia Xiaoyu, what is important is that the chicken is pacing leisurely in the middle of the road, and the brakes are too late.
With a "bang", a beautiful piece of chicken feathers flew up in front of Xia Xiaoyu's car, and this beautiful piece of chicken feathers quickly floated over the sides of the car and flew backwards.
Xia Xiaoyu went from the mirror until he saw the colorful chicken feathers drifting into the ditch on the side of the road, and then he remembered that it was time to get off. Seven or eight people had gathered on either side of the car. Xia Xiaoyu saw clearly that on both sides of the road was a small village of more than a dozen families, the jagged houses were all hidden in the poplar forest, and the surrounding mountains were like a tile pot, collecting the dozen or so families like potatoes in it.
Did you kill my chicken? An old man with a wrinkled face and half squinting eyes looked up and down at Xia Xiaoyu, and his voice was as old as walnut peel. Xia Xiaoyu fought a cold war, because he saw a bright and cold light shooting out of the old man's half-squinted eyes.
This is a bad old man.
be. Xia Xiaoyu glanced at a few yellow and white chicken feathers on the bumper of the car and answered the old man succinctly. He wanted to see what conditions the old man had put on him.
Come inside and say. The old man said.
Does this still need to be said in the house? You say how much it costs, right? Fifty or a hundred? Xia Xiaoyu did not want to enter the house that the old man said, he knew that the house said by the old man was the old man's home, and the problem of entering the house might be complicated.
How can you solve the problem without entering the house? This is not something that can be said clearly in a sentence and a half. The old man was very persistent, and after saying that, he went straight ahead, without the slightest worry that Xia Xiaoyu would suddenly drive away. Xia Xiaoyu also knew very well that he could not run away, because his car had been surrounded by some people, although some people were watching the liveliness, not to mention that it was difficult to see a "lively" closed mountain village in a year!
Xia Xiaoyu followed the old man into the home that the old man called the house.
The house was spacious, with sofas, a TV, and a refrigerator in the corner, topped with a white cloth embroidered with flowers in the middle. Xia Xiaoyu knew that it was dustproof. It seems that the old man's home is not difficult, and it is very exquisite. The old man opened the refrigerator and took out a bag of things, and Xia Xiaoyu saw clearly that it was a bag of tea leaves. The old man squeezed it into a large glass, turned around and wrapped the tea leaves and put them in the refrigerator.
Tea this thing can not be placed on the outside, easy to dry. The old man said as he poured water into the big glass, as if he were talking to himself, because this tea had nothing to do with Xia Xiaoyu. But the old man did say it to Xia Xiaoyu, there were only two of them in this room. Oh, Xia Xiaoyu kind of understood, the old man told him that the tea was well preserved, or very good tea.
The old man entertained him with good tea leaves.
Let's talk about it. The old man poured him a cup of tea and sat down on the sofa opposite Xia Xiaoyu.
Xia Xiaoyu first took a sip of tea, it was indeed very fragrant, and then looked at the old man and said, how much do you say? Fifty or a hundred, or two hundred?
Chickens cannot be resurrected when they die, which is the same thing as people who cannot be resurrected when they die, and it has become a habit to balance compensation with money. But this money can't be indiscriminate, it has to be based, you say? The old man also took a sip of tea and said in a very calm tone.
The old man was still a man of understanding, and he had no intention of blackmailing anyone. Xia Xiaoyu sighed darkly and thought: I said that fifty yuan is too much, so I said that I will give you fifty, no need to find a basis.
You're wrong, I don't mean that. The old man spit the tea stalk in his mouth into the ashtray on the coffee table, paused and said, according to the still need to find, I will tell you little by little. This chicken was born last year, and today it is a little more than a year, just laid eggs. Let's first calculate the first account, how much grain has this chicken eaten today? Millet and other miscellaneous grains are fed relatively little, and they are ignored, mainly corn. On average, I have to feed it two or two corns a day, six catties a month, seventy-two catties a year, corn is now priced at seven cents per catty, and seventy-two catties is fifty-four yuan. Let's calculate the second account, just now I said, this chicken has just laid eggs, according to the six eggs a week, a month is twenty-four eggs. This is a stupid chicken, is what you people in the city say wood chicken, its eggs are small but the price is expensive, the purchase price is eight yuan per kilogram, then according to two and a half pounds is twenty yuan, a year according to the egg laying period of ten months is two hundred yuan, this chicken has a long life, I do not calculate much, according to six years is not much, then two hundred yuan multiplied by six is how much? It's twelve hundred dollars, right? I'm a conservative estimate! We're deducting the cost of feeding it. The old man said this, stood up to add water to Xia Xiaoyu and himself, and then said you drink some water first, I went to ask the old woman to come back and cook for us, things to make it clear, the meal still has to be eaten. Xia Xiaoyu soaked in the old man's tent, and before he could react, the old man had already left the house. The door shaft of the door may have been out of oil for a long time, and a creak sounded, calling xia Xiaoyu back from the mist.
The meals were good, a plate of scrambled eggs, a plate of salted meat fried with green onions, a plate of marinated wild vegetables (not to name it), oh my God, and a plate of chicken stewed vermicelli. Xia Xiaoyu couldn't help but look at the cool clothes rope in the courtyard, and the chicken he had killed was hung there by the old man.
Don't look at it, this is not the chicken, it is the old woman's newly slaughtered rooster, the rooster that does not lay eggs, it is slaughtered for you, you just eat it. The old man saw through Xia Xiaoyu's thoughts and clipped a chicken leg into Xia Xiaoyu's bowl. Xia Xiaoyu glanced at the old man and said this... When things are done, the meal still has to be eaten. Don't you people in the city also have a hospitality work meal? This is also the working meal we say when we eat, eat, eat, drink two mouthfuls no? The old man raised the wine jug in his hand. No, no, Xia Xiaoyu quickly shook his head, driving is not allowed to drink. The old man said nothing more and shouted to the courtyard: "Old woman, serve food to the guests."
It was a bowl of rice and bean rice.
Last year, there were few beans produced, usually we are reluctant to eat, think you are difficult to eat in the city, just eat a fresh bar, there is nothing better in the mountains. The old man clipped the other chicken leg into Xia Xiaoyu's bowl again.
Xia Xiaoyu suddenly had a desire to cry. When his grandparents were alive, every time he went back, it was like this to make him something fresh to eat, and it was done in a different way. But he still endured, today he is not going home, it is a stranger's home, he hit and killed the chicken that was about to lay eggs, he is solving the problem of compensation. Another piece of chicken fell into the bowl, yellow and tender.
Xia Xiaoyu ate very full, strictly speaking, passively. The old man went to make tea again, which meant that the negotiations were about to begin again. Sure enough, the old man poured him a cup of tea and sat down across from him solemnly.
Xia Xiaoyu said, I went to the toilet.
The old man waved his hand, and I drank tea first.
About ten minutes later, Xia Xiaoyu returned to the house, looked at the old man with a strange look in his eyes, and said gently, Uncle, you say a number, I am not difficult for you. This was the first time that Xia Xiaoyu called the old man Uncle, even when the old man gave him a dish, he did not call ah.
No, no, it's better to figure it out. The old man did not waver in the slightest because Xia Xiaoyu called him Uncle. I just talked about how much it costs to raise this chicken, right? Or according to the calculation of two or two corns per day, a month is six catties, a year is seventy-two catties, six years, the old man paused, it is four hundred and thirty-two catties, seven cents per catty. The old man got up, pulled open a drawer, found a calculator, clicked a few times, oh, it was three hundred and two dollars and four corners. The total income of eggs is 1,200 yuan, deducting costs, and the remaining 897 yuan is hexagonal. You don't have a problem with this income, do you? The old man put the calculator back in the drawer, took a sip of tea, and asked calmly.
Xia Xiaoyu thought about it, and within the range that he could bear, he nodded.
Well, write down this number first. The old man poured tea for Xia Xiaoyu and himself again. Let's calculate the third account. As I said earlier, the chicken you killed was only a little over a year old, and its mother, the old hen, is still alive and has not yet returned from foraging, so it does not yet know that its child is dead, but at the latest in the evening it will know, and it will be grief-stricken. Whose child doesn't feel pain? You don't know the kind of pain that pierces your heart! The old man wiped his eyes, and his voice was somewhat hoarse.
If the chicken were alive, it would always be around the old hen, and they would eat enough of the family's food and go out together to find food, and this mountain and land were their home. The old man's voice suddenly lowered, and Xia Xiaoyu became more and more panicked.
But dead is dead, can not be resurrected, so what about the old hen? As I said, it has become customary to balance compensation only with money. How much compensation is appropriate? That's the main topic of our discussion. Because the amount of money used to support and comfort is a point of contention. You say, such a good mountain, such a good water, such a good spring and summer scenery, this chicken can no longer see, how much money should be given?
Xia Xiaoyu had completely fallen into a state of aphasia, and he felt that he was listening to an old man tell him about the night. But it is indeed not a fantasy, he is the perpetrator, the main party. He can't listen to stories, he has to deal with them as accidents. Story and accident, the two words just reverse the position, is a world of difference.
Say the number.
Three hundred dollars. Not much, right?
Xia Xiaoyu thought about it, the money in his pocket was enough, he nodded numbly, thinking that this time it should always work, right?
Well, the comfort fee is three hundred yuan, and you are still a happy person, so the problem will be solved much easier. Let's calculate the fourth account, what should be the alimony. The old man's eyebrows are raised, the old hen, that is, the mother of the chick you hit and killed, it will get sick due to excessive sadness, once it is sick, it will not lay eggs again, it may not be able to create income again, and it will cost medical expenses, I can not always fall into the well, in case it loses its child, it will kill it, right? I can't do that kind of thing. So I can only keep it, which involves the issue of alimony. I think you'll understand.
I, I, Xia Xiaoyu suddenly felt that her lower abdomen was swollen badly, and there was a feeling that it was about to burst. He blushed and said, Uncle, I still have to go to the toilet.
Well, well, this tea should also be changed. The old man waved his hand very atmospherically and got up to pull the refrigerator door.
The old man's tea leaves were soon brewed, but the summer rain had not yet returned. He sat down and squinted his eyes and waited for Xia Xiaoyu. The old man did not have the habit of smoking, but it was estimated that he also had the kung fu of two cigarettes.
The door of the house squeaked open, and the old man opened his eyes and said: "Come back."
Xia Xiaoyu snorted, and sat in the position just now, looking at the misty aroma of tea and thinking: This old man is really meticulous!
The old man took a sip of tea, paused and said: I see that you are also a little tired, let's put aside the advance just now, and say something else.
Xia Xiaoyu nodded, waiting for the old man's next words.
Do you know what I don't want to see the most?
Xia Xiaoyu shook his head.
I don't want to see a car the last time.
Why?
Looking at him, I was troubled, and it cried out more abominable than a wolf howl.
But it also brings us convenience and comfort?
You're only half right. It brings convenience, but I don't think it is a good thing, it brings us far more harm than it brings us convenience, crushing so many lives, not to mention, and making this mountain start to get noisier and noisier.
Uncle, this topic is too big, we are not clear.
Well, let's change the subject. Are you a native of the city?
Xia Xiaoyu shook his head and said that it was the city that my father had entered.
Oh, that's a lot easier to understand. The old man did not wait for Xia Xiaoyu to reply, and then asked again: Do you say that the lives of the people in the city are more precious than the lives of the people in the countryside?
Xia Xiaoyu was stunned, and sure enough, he asked this question, and it seemed that the aunt in the courtyard was right to tell him.
No, it should be the same. Xia Xiaoyu was a little flustered, this question was still a little esoteric for him, his age and living environment had no reason to make him think about this question that sounded a little strange!
Should it be the same? What should be the same? Xia Xiaoyu saw the old man's somewhat cool gaze again.
I mean it should be the same, but sometimes it can be different.
When is it different?
I, I, I can't say when it's different, sometimes it may be different. Xia Xiaoyu wanted to say that when the time was different, I said it didn't count, but I was afraid that the old man would be angry, so I changed the statement.
Yeah, you're still a kid, don't understand! The old man sighed and narrowed his eyes. Tears oozed from the corners of his eyes, cloudy like unprocessed coarse brine.
Quiet in the house!
Let's talk about the chicken. The old man was silent for a moment and wiped the corners of his eyes. Where did we just say that?
The old hen is the alimony of the mother chick.
Oh, you see my memory, it's really old. The old man took a cup and took a sip of tea gently. The old hen, the mother of the chick, was not old, just three years old. The old man paused, according to the six-year life cycle, it can still live for three years, just calculated, every year have to feed more than seventy pounds of corn, the total amount of about fifty yuan, just according to the fifty yuan calculation, three years, is one hundred and fifty yuan. That is, not counting the income it creates for me, it costs one hundred and fifty yuan to support it for three years, do you have any objections?
Me, no. Xia Xiaoyu nodded numbly and thought to himself: I don't have that much money to kill me. This car is borrowed from a friend, I am not a "rich second generation", see what you old man can do to me.
Oh, and you're such a sensible kid. The old man seemed to be a little happy, stood up to add hot tea to Xia Xiaoyu and himself, sat down again, and said that we were all done on the face, and the following problem was more complicated, because it was just my stupid idea.
Stupid idea? Or is it just that? Xia Xiaoyu's eyes widened, what idea is stupid? Just a chicken?!
Xia Xiaoyu suddenly remembered something that a classmate had told him. Classmates said that he had killed a farmer's dog in a small mountain village, which was originally an ordinary puppy, but the owner of the dog said that it was a valuable pet dog, and as a result, he lost 10,000 yuan. Shouldn't the old man say that his chickens will hatch noble pet chickens in the future?
Yes, stupid idea, because there is no reality. The old man was very calm, and the tone of his speech did not change at all. Let's talk about the first stupid idea, this old hen, it knows that its child was killed by you, will it be anxious to faint? Will you be sick for a long time? Will I need a medical fee? How much should this medical expense be?
Xia Xiaoyu was dumbfounded.
Let's talk about the second stupid idea. The old man took a sip of tea and continued, as you may have heard, that is, the problem of chickens and eggs, eggs and chickens. You see, if this chicken is not killed by you, it will lay many eggs, and if there are eggs, it can hatch chickens, and these chickens can produce many eggs when they grow up, and these eggs...
These eggs can hatch many chickens, and it is possible to hatch noble chickens, right? Such a sharp idea or a stupid idea? Xia Xiaoyu snatched the old man's words.
Yeah, so that's just a stupid idea. The old man did not care about Xia Xiaoyu robbing him, and stood up again to add hot tea to Xia Xiaoyu and himself. Then he took a sip lightly and quietly watched Xia Xiaoyu.
A brief silence.
Let me tell you the truth, sir, I only have twelve hundred dollars, and I still have to go back to the city. Also, this car is not mine, it was borrowed from a friend. Can you see if it can be counted? Xia Xiaoyu felt that this brief silence was like a hot air balloon, tightly covering him. He couldn't hold back, he wanted to take a breath and stand up, and said excitedly: Otherwise, I will go back and buy you one, no, buy ten chickens to pay you okay?
Hahaha, the old man suddenly laughed. Boy, when did Uncle say he was looking for you to come with money?
Xia Xiaoyu was stunned, so who are you?
I'm saying that its life is gone and it can never come back. The old man's smiling face was covered with tears. Although it is a native chicken and what you call a chai chicken, its life is also fate, and it is also golden.
A touch of sunset afterglow came in like a sudden wind, wrapped around the old man's face, the old man's face was like a layer of gold powder, only the tear crystal lit up. The old age presented by this face made Xia Xiaoyu begin to tug at her heart. He saw in the mirror on the wall behind the old man that the sunset that turned the old man's face golden was like a salted egg yolk, slowly falling into the folds of the mountain.
I understand. Xia Xiaoyu said.
What do you understand about the child?
Uncle, you remind me of my grandfather. Tell you about my grandfather. Xia Xiaoyu did not directly answer the old man's question.
After my grandmother died, my grandfather lived alone in the country, my grandfather died last year, before my father and I picked him up several times to let him come to the city to live, and he refused each time. Grandpa said I had to farm, where is the land in the city? 83-year-old grandfather, persistently planting a vegetable field very close to home, two buckets of water seventy or eighty pounds of burden he can not pick, let us buy each can only hold 20 pounds of water in a small bucket, so Grandpa again and again from the side of the canal to carry water slowly walked through, he took care of the emerald green vegetable garden in his hometown, green onions, zucchini, beans, cucumbers, accompanied by Grandpa's last years, Dad said, these vegetables are closer than us and Grandpa. A steady stream of fresh vegetables was brought to the city, and the rest of the grandfathers were scattered to the neighbors. Every time we went back we gave Grandpa money, and Grandpa rarely stayed. Grandpa always said, you are not around, I want money to use ah.
Uncle, I know you don't need my money, but you should keep it. It's not much, but it will come in handy. Xia Xiaoyu shoved the only twelve hundred yuan in his pocket into the old man's hand. For some reason, my heart was hot, and the tears couldn't help but flow down.
In the middle of the night, the old man stood up. Children, the elderly who suffer in the countryside are like this, they are short of money but they are afraid of money, where to spend their money? Uncle never thought about asking for your money, and you nagged to tell you that you should drive slowly in the future. A chicken, say it's dead, right when it flies into the sky. Uncle this is old, why can't you even understand this? The old man patted Xia Xiaoyu's shoulder, scaring you, right? It's not too early, Uncle's words are finished, you can also return.
The old man shoved the money on the table into Xia Xiaoyu's hand.
Uncle you accept it, so that I will feel better. Xia Xiaoyu pushed and shoved.
Why don't you obey, child? Uncle has money, when the girl died, they gave 60,000, they said that if a city person can lose 120,000. The old man patted Xia Xiaoyu's shoulder, the sun is about to set, hurry up, uncle still have to thank you, since the girl was hit by a car, no one has said so much with me. You are a good child, listening to uncle nagging for most of the day, uncle's heart opened up a lot, why does uncle want your money?
Xia Xiaoyu left the old man's home, sat in the car, and did not rush to leave. He glanced out carefully, and in the distance, there was a small wheat field, and the green wheat was spitting out ears; nearby, the cooking smoke of dinner had wrapped up the village, and in the faint smoke, the sound of chickens and dogs could be heard...