Chapter 61 Chapter 61 Part 2
No, where on earth did you get a camera?
Why is there still the matter of stinky orchid?
Then Uncle Caracal and Choulan performed a "magic trick" in front of her: Choulan's long leaves instantly rolled up the dirty military coat outside the door, and the long leaves stretched out, actually propping up the coat. Then thunderclouds rose from under the feet of Uncle Caracal and flew to the place of his head.
Lin Xinghuo was despairing to discover that the red headscarf she'd used to cover her shaved head had reappeared. Oh my god, people wearing bright red headscarves and green military coats... Lin Xinghuo couldn't even imagine how frightened the people who were approached by them to 'exchange' their cameras would be.
"Where are the pants? Where are the shoes?" You have to say that the little fairy is a thoughtful person. After just a moment of thought, she felt that the outfit was incomplete.
The caracal said nonchalantly, "It's through the window. What do you care about pants and shoes? Just look like a human being."
"Who did you ask to 'replace' it?" Lin Xinghuo asked with his last breath, his mind racing, thinking about how to remedy the situation if something went wrong.
Speaking of this caracal, he was quite proud, "Director of the County Cotton Textile Factory No. 2!"
This was still the aftermath of the incident two months prior, when many young people were incited to join the "anti-Confucius movement" led by Team Leader Qu. Besides the students, the largest number of participants came from the young workers of the two cotton mills. Later, the working group clashed internally, leading to a series of scandals. As the site of the incident, the provincial and municipal governments were required to investigate and address the situation. The two cotton mills, with their poor education and management, bore the brunt of the consequences. The old director of Cotton Mill One had retired due to age, but the new director of Cotton Mill Two, still under fifty and exceptionally resourceful, somehow managed to get the district to protect him. He is now temporarily staying home, taking sick leave, hoping to return to his position as head of Mill Two once the situation calms down.
Ever since Wei Layue said that it would be great if she could take a picture of Lin Xinghuo and the other furry creatures sleeping soundly on the day when everyone was picking fruits in the mountains, the caracal has been interested in it. It has no time to run around outside without Lin Xinghuo, but the sable has a team of mice under its claws. No one is better than mice at finding things, especially things hidden by people.
But the little mice were limited in their intelligence, and they dug out so many strange things that the sable was busy trying to confirm them first. He finally found them at the end of last month.
The caracal originally planned to tell Lin Xinghuo to find an opportunity to call her back after the New Year, but this meant that both the caracal and Lin Xinghuo had new clothes. Especially since the caracal had never seen Lin Xinghuo look in the mirror for such a long time, he must have really liked the clothes. As for clothes, the first time you wear them, you feel especially different. So the caracal picked up Chou Lan and together they did something big:
How unlucky the director of the No. 2 Cotton Mill was. At around 8 o'clock in the evening, he happily drank two taels of wine with the braised large intestine given to him by his nephew who worked in the meat processing plant. When he was thinking of having another child with his wife while he was drunk, there was a knock on the window at home. A voice that could be suppressed very low told him that they wanted to buy him a camera.
The factory manager was furious and immediately denied it. He even yelled and tried to open the doors and windows to see who had the audacity to come into his yard. However, the doors and windows were welded shut and wouldn't open at all. Through the frosted plastic sheeting, he could see a very tall man wearing a turban.
The winter nights in Song County weren't dark. The snow, which hadn't melted all winter, cast a shadow. The factory director's wife squinted her eyes and carefully examined the man, realizing he was wearing a red headscarf, a rare sight for women. In these days, when even exotic clothing wasn't common, a tall young man wearing a woman's red headscarf? He was a thief, clearly mentally ill.
The factory director's wife not only stopped pulling the door, but also quickly pushed aside her husband, who was tug-of-war with it, and bolted it shut. "Don't make a sound! Don't alarm our eldest and second sons." This was a large courtyard divided into three separate yards, with the two sons living on either side. What if one of them climbed over the wall to catch the thief and got beaten by these two fools? Anyway, as long as the couple didn't go out, they stayed in the warm house like this, and the man outside would freeze away.
The factory director and his wife had just sat down on the south kang, ready to force their way in, when the man outside spoke up: "I want to trade for your camera, which is hidden in the west room, at the end of the old woman's kang. It's the second row from the outside, and the third box from the top, wrapped in tattered clothes."
"Who are you?" his wife called out first. No one except the couple knew that the old lady's kang in the west room of their house, though seemingly built along the north wall, was actually partitioned off in the middle. When the kang was heated, only the front half would heat up. The back half consisted of only the outer layer of bricks, with no seal at all. It was made of three specially made wooden boxes stacked together to form the kang surface, where the hidden treasures were hidden. This was much better than hiding them somewhere else. The old lady had bad legs and feet, and she spent years crouching on the kang. Who could possibly ask her to come down and turn over her kang mat?
Both of her sons knew that their father had been trying to find it over the years. Her daughter-in-law even took advantage of the Spring Festival cleaning opportunity to search through all the boxes and cabinets, and even scooped up dust from the kang hole more than once. As a result, her eldest grandson is now old enough to carry a vinegar bottle, but he still hasn't found it. But now, an outsider who came from nowhere suddenly pointed it out.
When the people guarding the doors and windows outside began to count the money, watches, antique porcelain and gold they had hidden like they were reporting an account, the couple became even more panicked. The factory director begged the people outside to stop talking. The factory director's wife pushed open the door of the west room and called the old lady up. She pulled down the bedding and the kang mat, and with sweat on her forehead, she looked for the camera that the man had mentioned.
It was in the box he'd mentioned! In fact, the factory director's wife couldn't remember where the other things her husband had brought back were hidden, except for the money and gold. The more she thought about it, the more frightened she became. The factory director handed the camera out like a plague, and the door that had been so difficult to open just now opened a crack. But now, the factory director and his wife didn't dare to open the door anymore, nervously holding it against the door, afraid that someone outside would come in.
The camera that was pushed through the crack in the door disappeared in a flash, and the moment they closed the door, a gold coin was thrown in. The couple was terrified, and they lay on the door and listened for a long time, then put the plastic sheet on the window and looked out: it really was someone who came to exchange the camera, and then he disappeared in a flash.
But when the two men cleaned up the mess, they were actually grateful to the weirdo - they thought the wooden box they had hidden well had been eaten by rats at some point. If they hadn't discovered it in time, all the money they had saved for most of their lives would have been eaten by rats...
Lin Xinghuo was speechless. He grabbed the caracal's ear and didn't know what to say. It turned out that there was Sable as an intelligence officer. It was really the caracal, the head of the family, who was leading the way in doing bad things.
The old man let her pull his ears, looking like a scoundrel who might as well take a photo since he had done nothing else.
Lin Xinghuo checked the camera, which turned out to be a foreign product. There was film inside, but he asked, "Where are the photos? Do you know how to develop them, or do I?"
The caracal, who had only taken a quick glance at a camera when passing by a photo studio in the county town, was stunned.
The photos were taken anyway. The whole family, big and small, were included, both group and individual photos, but the film was used up, and the photos would have to wait a few years before they could be developed.
The caracal's proud little ears were completely erect, and Lin Xinghuo was both angry and amused. The next day, he carried the cat to a photo studio in the county town to have a picture taken. The photographer at the state-owned studio had never encountered such a customer: a beautiful young woman, dressed in brand new clothes, who didn't want to be photographed with her boyfriend, but instead came to have her picture taken with a silly big cat.
That was fine, but the girl was quite a bit more finicky. She would sit while the cat sat, hold the cat, hold the cat high, have the cat squat on her shoulders and hold her head... She even used his shiny, polished bicycle as a prop. By the end, the photographer was worried she wouldn't have enough money to pay the bill, so he stopped taking photos.
Twenty photos cost eighteen yuan, all in black and white. But Lin Xinghuo saw a note on the wooden table that said "Hand-colored, ten yuan each," so he said, "I want one set of black and white photos, and one set of hand-colored photos. Expedited. Can I come pick them up before the New Year?"
The photographer didn't dare to take her money, but just looked her up and down. He hadn't looked at her so carefully when he took the photo just now. After a while, the photographer asked, "Girl, do your parents know that you are such a troublemaker?" Nowadays, the monthly salary of an ordinary female worker in a cotton mill is only 30 yuan. What kind of family must be able to spend more than 200 yuan? Even if both parents are level 8 workers, the combined salary of the two is not enough to take this photo.
Lin Xinghuo repeatedly assured her that no one from her family would come to collect the photos, and only then did they agree to pick them up on the 29th. The studio closed on the 24th, but the artist came in for a while on the 29th, waiting for Lin Xinghuo to arrive. Hand-coloring is difficult, otherwise Lin Xinghuo would have received the photos the next day.
"Thank you for your help." Before leaving, Lin Xinghuo took out a small cloth bag of flour from his backpack and stuffed it into his hand: "Uncle, make some dumplings for New Year's Eve."
The old master opened it and saw that it was indeed pure, bran-free flour. His hands began to weaken as he tried to resist. The county was experiencing a shortage of supplies, so even whole grains, not to mention white flour, were hard to come by. The old master gritted his teeth, emptied his pockets, and stuffed three pounds of food coupons into Lin Xinghuo's hands before accepting the bag of flour. After Lin Xinghuo and the caracal left, the old master locked up the photo studio, hid the flour in his arms, and hurried home. His wife was surprised, "Even a hard worker like you can be lazy sometimes? What's wrong? No one's taking pictures?" But when the flour bag was revealed, the old woman was overjoyed, like a rat in a jar. She quickly hid it in the jar and placed it in the back of the kitchen cabinet. The cabinet, which hadn't been locked for years, was now under guard again.
*
On the 29th day of the first lunar month, a period-themed wooden frame was placed on the main wall of Lin Xinghuo's main hall, directly below the portrait of the leader. In those days, large prints weren't allowed, so they were all printed in small, six-inch sizes. However, the coloring skills of the artist at the state-owned photo studio were quite good, and the photos were quite authentic.
The old man caracal liked it very much and sat on the eight-immortals table under the photo frame to watch it for half an hour. The fox cubs who loved to play in the glass house in the backyard didn't notice it at first, but the caracal squatted on the table like a lighthouse. Not to mention the clever little foxes, even the silly big yellow dog understood that the two parents at home were taking pictures secretly without it.
When Lin Xinghuo returned to her mountain retreat from the brigade headquarters with her basket, she was met by a carpet of pitiful spirit beasts, their ears drooping. That was the look of the caracals that day, with their ears drooping and listless! Big Fox, in particular, mimicked them so well that he practically made Lin Xinghuo laugh.
The caracal faced the wall in front of the photo frame, its big furry tail swinging back and forth, as if everything had nothing to do with it.
Lin Xinghuo walked forward, gently picked up the photo frame, turned it over, and turned the other side, where the claw marks left on the paper by the spirit beasts when they made trouble, faced outwards.
"Bang!" The cat also collapsed, his ears and tail wilted.
Lin Xinghuo: “…” Okay, here comes another one!
"Spark!" Wei Chunfeng came in with a basket of malt sugar, smiling, "Hey, what's going on?"
Clamping the uncooperative caracal, Lin Xinghuo pressed down its furry paws as it tried to flip over. Wei Chunfeng, clever enough, lifted the photo frame slightly. "A color photo! Wow, it's a great photo!" Why was she flipping it over?
Lin Xinghuo had no choice but to wink at her, asking Wei Chunfeng to take a look at the guys who were acting like cheaters in front of the door.
Wei Chunfeng couldn't hold back her laughter and nearly spilled the malt sugar in the winnowing basket. The tigers and foxes in the fairy's house had all become spirits.
She pointed to the door curtain hanging in the main hall, the plain wall on the south kang in the east side room, and most importantly, the picture of the leader embroidered by Lin Xinghuo herself on the frame, and asked, "You are such a good embroiderer, why don't you embroider a picture?" She also wanted to embroider as big as she wanted, how great!
The cat's dissatisfied struggle suddenly stopped, and Lin Xinghuo himself was also stunned. The man and the cat looked at each other, and he felt that the word "stupid" was written all over the other's forehead: he was led into a ditch!
On the night of New Year's Eve, a large family portrait was finally hung on the wall of the east room. The furry kids in the room squatted on the north couch, looking up at it, and everyone thought they were the most powerful!
Lin Xinghuo also embroidered a picture of her and her master, put it in the box with the new clothes, and took the food box to Lotus Peak.
The caracal was wearing a green vest and, for once, didn't let Lin Xinghuo carry him on her back as she went up the mountain with him.
"Will Master open the door?" The three-layered food box in Lin Xinghuo's hand was covered with a cotton cover and was still warm.
The caracal understood that the door Lin Xinghuo was referring to was the fox pine. He jumped onto a rock and cast a glance at the half-hopeful human. Then, with a single paw, the caracal stomped on the thundercloud and disappeared in a few seconds. After a while, Lin Xinghuo, who was climbing up the mountain mist step by step, heard the caracal's voice: "Come quickly!"
Lin Tusun's eyes lit up, and he immediately jumped up to the Lotus Peak. Sure enough, he saw a still green fox pine standing on the edge of the mist. A small red purse was hanging on the branch, and a familiar yellow talisman of infinite life and blessing was pressed by a stone on the root of the tree.
Inside the small purse was a handful of vibrant coral beads. Lin Xinghuo counted them and found they were enough for everyone in the family to share one. "Master's family is truly wealthy."
"Ouch!" The young disciple was hit lightly by the fox pine branch just after making a joke. Lin Xinghuo hurriedly handed over the food box and clothes box with both hands and respectfully wished a happy new year to his master. The fox pine branch then slid back. Lin Xinghuo touched it with interest, as if talking to himself: "Master, can you hear me talking through this pine tree? Can you see it?"
As if to confirm her guess, the stone on the root of the fox pine suddenly rolled down, and the yellow talisman with words written on it was blown up by the wind. Lin Xinghuo gently pinched it with two fingers. At this moment, white mist suddenly surged up, and the fox pine and Lin Xinghuo's filial piety disappeared without a trace.
"Master, she is really..." She is ungrateful and ungrateful.
The caracal jumped onto her shoulder, urging its human to go home and stay up all night, but found that Lin Xinghuo was looking at the yellow talisman in his hand, his expression gradually becoming solemn.
"Master asked me to dig out the ashes of that family of three and send them to the capital someday?"
On the ninth day of the first lunar month, the birthday of the God of Heaven, the heavy snow that had fallen for three days finally stopped. As every household in the village went out to plow the snow off their roofs, Lin Xinghuo, wrapped in a sheepskin coat, quietly went to the hilltop where the Jinjiayao Brick Factory was located, to look for the grave that would only be exposed after the heavy snow.
The tomb of the monk mentioned in the master’s letter.
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