Toad holding gold in its mouth
Yinsui changed into the old clothes he had left at home. The long cotton-padded jacket with a silver-blue pattern covered his knees. When he squatted down, he used one hand to tuck the hem of the jacket in, and his fingers pressed out wrinkles in the soft fabric.
"This stew should be delicious."
The hen that was pecking at the grass in the direction of her finger suddenly felt its life in danger and its feathers stood up. It ran to hide among the chickens, but it couldn't escape being caught by Ji Lin who came running at the noise in two steps.
Ji Lin ignored the shrill crowing of the chicken, raised his arm, weighed it carefully, and praised it happily, "This fat one, it will be delicious if stewed with some dried mushrooms. This is it, we'll make it for lunch, just in time to entertain our guests."
The guest, Ji Xunjin, was bending over and washing vegetables with Qiong Qing at the spacious sink.
From the outside, he seemed to have completely blended in with the environment. He was wearing a leather jacket that was neither new nor old, which should have been a very standard "men's wardrobe" style. However, combined with his appearance, he wore it to suit the situation and looked like he was just wearing leather boots and riding a motorcycle on the street, as if he was rubbing the handlebars instead of the green vegetables just picked from the ground.
The clear flowing water creates winding lines, and the morning sun shines obliquely upward, spreading its brilliance.
The emerald greens, like sails, spun in circles for a moment before hitting a reef and toppling over. The reef began to rise, unfurling from the underwater obstacle into a net. Then, a pale face suddenly emerged from the rippling net, its features slowly becoming clearer as the current flowed. The mouth on its face opened slightly, and a voice came from the side.
"Thanks for the hard work. Maybe today, or tomorrow at the latest, it will be over."
Ji Xunjin threw the last green boat ashore and turned his attention to the big yellow dog guarding the back door.
Its whole body was pressed sickly on the cement floor, with only half of its leg resting on the large nest made of blankets and old clothes. It stared stubbornly at the vegetable washing water that poured down from high to low, as if it wanted to follow it into the narrow and dark sewer and never see it again.
"it……"
"It started refusing to eat yesterday." The family members, who were familiar with the big yellow dog's living habits and aging process, understood that its time was up.
Yinsui, who seemed impatient, scooped half a bowl and placed it near the dog food bowl when the aroma of chicken fat filled the room.
I threw a piece of meat to it first, fearing it would waste it if it didn't eat it: "You really don't want to eat it?"
The big yellow dog moved its head slightly, as if raising its head consumed too much energy. It just rolled its eyes upwards so that it could see its little master's face clearly, glancing at him with a wronged and pitiful look.
I thought about it, but I couldn't swallow it.
She carefully stroked its completely dull but still warm fur. The dry, straw-like dog hair passed through her fingers, inseparable, just like their fate that was tied to each other.
They are compatriots with no blood relationship in destiny, staying together in the stagnant river of time, enduring the erosion of their own changes.
Ji Xunjin stood not too far away from him and asked, "Are you unhappy?"
"I can't say." Regret or congratulations, or maybe both.
It's not good to dwell on the sadness of death.
He made up an excuse to interrupt: "Or else, bring the chicken soup somewhere else. Dahuang's mouth is watering. Don't make it difficult for the old dog family. Besides, the soup is getting cold."
Yinsui came to his senses as if waking from a dream and returned to the kitchen.
"Would you like some?" She lifted the bowl for a second, realizing it was a bit offensive to ask someone to drink soup that "even dogs wouldn't drink," so she added, "I'll pour you another bowl. Grandpa and grandma are used to eating three meals a day on time, so they won't mind such a small thing."
She filled a new bowl, but the remaining one was too heavy to handle for a while. The advantage of raising chickens at home was that they were healthy and plump, but the disadvantage was that they were too fat. The old man didn't have the habit of skimming the oil when stewing the soup, so the surface of the soup was covered with a layer of yellow fat, which made her feel a little uncomfortable.
Fortunately, the other party took the initiative to help and relieve the burden.
"It's a pity that the lotus flowers have faded in autumn, and the plum blossoms by the pond are not in season yet. But if you want, you can touch the small fish or scallops. The autumn shells should still be alive." She mentioned uncertainly.
Following Uncle Liu up and down the sky and into the earth, through mountains, snow-capped peaks, deserts... Ji Xunjin, who had passed through all kinds of remote and majestic places, immediately showed great interest. Going out for a walk is always better for relaxing the mood than being trapped in a corner.
"Well, the smell of stagnant water is a bit unbearable. The remains of various insects and plants piled together have a foul odor."
The lotus flowers have bloomed and are hopelessly collapsed. Their heads have either been picked or shrunken and fallen off, leaving only the earthy brown stems and leaves that have collapsed and wrinkled. The ruins of the lotus flowers and their bases are intertwined, and ash-like curled leaves float on the water.
"The lotus flowers are gone, but there are still lotus roots underneath. The lotus roots here should be quite delicious, as they haven't been sprayed with pesticides much."
"I remember them being really delicious, but even though they were delicious, no one dug them up. They couldn't be sold, so there was no profit to be made. Plus, digging them up was a hassle, so apart from the owner who occasionally dug them up to make soup, almost no one patronized them."
Ji Xunjin was about to respond when Yin Sui changed the subject: "Will your salary be docked for wasting so much time? I thought about it yesterday and have something insignificant to share with you. We can talk about it here."
"How can someone without a salary influence their salary? But if you're willing to talk, I'm always here to chat."
"I'm not happy about it. I won't waste my breath if I don't need it."
"—But there are bonuses. The reward varies depending on the importance of the information you provide. There might be a chance to get perfect attendance."
She picked up a lotus stem and fiddled with the tilted leaves, splitting a path through it, revealing the dense weeds growing vigorously beneath the leaves. The various weeds swayed endlessly, clumsily imitating the missing river water.
"It started a long time ago. Anyway, it's the past of my mother's ancestors."
The only event that has been settled without any debate and can never be deflected by the mighty hands of the future.
Yinmu's home is far away from Songshui Village. Her ancestors were wealthy. In order to show off their wealth, rich families in every era seem to like to collect some strange and bizarre antiques, the older and rarer the better.
The ancestor had just opened a shop and was thinking of finding a lucky item to put on the counter to show off his wealth. After opening a shop, something with the property of attracting wealth would be more suitable.
He got a sculpture of a stone toad holding gold in its mouth from somewhere. His aunt said it was a gift from a traveling Taoist priest, and his second uncle corrected him by saying he bought it from antique dealers. Anyway, the relatives who called to ask about it had different opinions, so it was impossible to make a final conclusion. However, it was indeed of some age and seemed to have some good meaning.
After all, there was real gold inside, and in order to prevent idle and thieving passers-by from seeing and stealing it, the ancestor temporarily placed the sculpture that was originally intended to be placed on the top of the counter on the empty layer at the bottom. Not only that, he also thoughtfully turned it around to show it to the public on its ordinary stone back.
As we all know, gold will always shine, and even if it doesn't shine, it will reflect something.
Grasshopper! Grandpa Yinsui, who was still young, shook the empty jar vigorously, and the grasshopper he finally caught disappeared without a trace.
Where did it go? At my feet... not there, under the table... not there, don't step on it, don't step on it, everyone walking by, please watch where you are going! Oh no, if I can't find it, I'll have to collect the body of my beloved baby.
The half-grown boy simply sat down on the ground, turned over and crawled on the dusty and trampled ground. As soon as his head got close to the cabinet, he started sneezing. Pah, pah, pah, it's been a long time since it was cleaned.
In the dim afterglow of the setting sun, the sand hung high in the sky, glittering and colorful. All the light and dust obscured the true splendor deeper inside, trying their best to confuse the eyes and ears. However, with the child's sharp perception, he accurately caught the gold nugget embedded in the porcelain vase in the corner.
What? What is it?
I want.
With the new toy, the missing katydid was immediately forgotten. He stretched out his hand and grabbed the thin porcelain bottle in front of him. The golden color that had been stagnant for a long time suddenly moved.
Looking for katydids thus turned into looking for gold. With his small stature, he could easily move in and out of the bottom of the cabinet to search back and forth. Finally, he felt the hard and cold metal, which protruded from the rough stone and must have been polished smooth.
Fingers thinner than those of adults could fit into the gap between it and the stone next to it. Grandpa touched it hard and hard, and found that the gold was much longer than he had imagined. It was not a round gold coin. It was just that our ancestors could only infer the wrong overall shape based on its curved bottom.
The joint is unexpectedly soft inside, like the mud in the middle has not dried into a block yet, and is full of moisture. The initial hardness is like a gate, and it is easy to touch once you step over it.
When he thought it was almost possible to pull it out, grandpa pulled it out.
A long, thin gold plate with curved upper and lower semicircles stretched out from the stone toad's mouth like a tongue, and the whole thing was taken out.
Even in the dark, the brilliant golden color was still dazzling, making him reluctant to let go. The more he looked at it, the more he liked it. He stuffed it directly into his trouser pocket. As luck would have it, just as he put the gold in his pocket, the katydid jumped from the side to his hand.
Gold is indestructible, but if the katydid is stepped on to death, you can't play with it. He knew this clearly. Thinking of this, grandpa got up and ran out of the door to play with the katydid on the steps at the door.
As for the gold medal, it was not taken out and stuffed under the pillow until before going to bed at night.
Strange things tend to attract strange things. That night, he heard the clear croaking of frogs, which sounded briefly and then sounded again after a minute or two.
It didn't seem like the croaking of frogs. Grandpa, who had just woken up, listened carefully and thought it was similar to the other sighs that his father had suddenly made.
The older man with a rough voice closed his mouth and sighed from his throat, one breath after another, each breath stopping abruptly.
Why was there an old man in the room? No, definitely not. It was a frog. Where had it gone? Underground, just like the katydids during the day. Grandpa bent down and groped for it. Back then, even the fuel needed to light the night was too expensive for a child to play with. He could only grope in the dark.
After searching for a long time without finding it, he started to throw a tantrum and stomped his feet, which seemed to have startled it. The frequency of the sound increased significantly, and the location of the sound source was finally revealed - on the bed behind him.
And it didn't sound like a frog's croaking anymore. He thought, maybe it was a toad, and he had disturbed the toad today.
Grandpa, who had never heard of a toad's cry, thought the new guess was correct. The stone toad resurrected at night to ask for the stolen treasure back.
Big deal, give it.
Staggering back to the bed, he stretched out his hands to search under the pillow, but felt something like a cracked stone, with large and small pieces covering the softer interior. Going down, there were more soft areas, just like a real toad struggling to get out of its mud shell. Touching again, he found a row of hard, angular things like small, neat grids inside the two pieces of soft and dirty flesh.
A mouth, a human mouth, suddenly emerged from the body of stone and toad, and exhaled a breath of cold air.
The blood in his body suddenly ran cold, and he stood still, not daring to move, and instead turned into a new stone.
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