Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 251 If life deceives you
"You're a weird guy. Why did you come here? We're so poor. The city is so good. My classmates and I want to go to the city in the future." Next to the fire pit, a little boy who was only ten years old asked, holding a bowl.

On the tripod above the fire pit was an iron pot that had been burnt completely black. Yellow sour soup was bubbling in it. The soup was filled with duck meat, bacon, corn and some mushrooms, and the aroma was everywhere.

On the curved table surrounding the fire pit were placed green vegetables, cabbage, radish, tofu, and a jar of rice wine.

Hearing the little boy's question, Zhang Chao did not answer in a hurry. Instead, he carefully scraped off all the corn kernels on the corn segment with his front teeth, then took a mouthful of glutinous rice into his mouth, feeling the aroma of glutinous rice, corn and sour soup rushing and bursting in his mouth, and then he swallowed it with satisfaction.

Zhang Chao scooped up another piece of duck meat from the pot and put it in the bowl, then said, "Maybe it's because I'm crazy."

The little boy hugged the bowl a little tighter when he heard that, but the young man in front of him was just a little paler, and dressed more fashionably than the primary school teacher in the town, and he didn't look crazy, so he felt relieved.

But he still muttered, "I'm not afraid of you even if you're crazy. My father is the strongest in the village. He can even knock down a mad buffalo!"

Zhang Chao looked at the middle-aged man who was eating and watching them chatting at the same table. Although he was dark and strong, he didn't look like he could knock down a buffalo. So he laughed and said, "Boast!"

The little boy got angry, put down his bowl and was about to yell something, but the woman next to him slapped him on the head, and he dared not say anything anymore. He just picked up the bowl and continued eating.

The woman gave him an apologetic smile in the same innocent way, without saying anything. The man raised a small cup filled with rice wine to him and said, "Shu!"

Zhang Chao knew that this meant "cheers", so he didn't refuse. He also raised his small cup and drank it all. After his rebirth, he never drank alcohol. One reason was that he really didn't like drinking, and the other was that he was afraid of saying something wrong after drinking.

But here, there is no such concern. Besides, what we drink now is glutinous rice wine (laozao), which has an alcohol content of only about 3 to 5 degrees and is sweet, so it can be considered a beverage.

The adults in this family could neither speak nor understand Mandarin, but only Shui and some Hakka. The little boy had been in school for a few years, so he spoke Mandarin quite well; his sister, who was not yet old enough to go to primary school, also could not understand, and only stared at Zhang Chao with her big black eyes.

Seeing that Zhang Chao noticed her, the little girl shyly turned her head away and pretended to eat seriously.

This is Shilei Village in the mountainous capital of Yunnan and Guizhou, a Shui ethnic village hidden deep in the mountains that still retains much of its original features. The village is divided into two villages, the upper and lower villages, with a large expanse of terraced fields in between.

After saying "What I don't believe in is love", Zhang Chao left Yanjing that day, leaving only the signed authorization documents and seals to Huang Jiefu and others.

When he received several calls, some familiar and some unfamiliar, asking to "help" Zhang Chao teach the Wang brothers a lesson, and even asking Zhang Chao if he was interested in dividing Huayi, he felt a great sense of unreality and fatigue about the life in front of him.

These complex feelings intertwined together, like a few ropes that tightly bound his mind, making him want to escape from the bizarreness before his eyes, even though he was a part of it.

Where can I go?
Fu Hai might be the best choice. But things are different now. After he returns, he still can't avoid the gazes and the chaotic interpersonal interactions. But he appears on TV every other day. How can he go without being recognized?
So Zhang Chao came to Shilei Village.

In his previous life, Zhang Chao drove through this place by mistake due to a navigation error when he was traveling in Yunnan and Guizhou. Even in 2022, Shilei Village is still sparsely populated by tourists. Apart from Zhang Chao himself, there is only one other couple visiting here.

Zhang Chao lingered here for a day, deeply feeling the solitude and silence that was isolated from the world. The villagers were working and the children were playing, not paying any attention to what he, an "outsider", was doing.

Zhang Chao remembered this feeling, so when he was looking for a place to calm down, Shilei Village suddenly emerged clearly and vaguely from the corner of his memory.

Without any hesitation, he packed his luggage as quickly as possible, explained various things, changed a new mobile phone card, and took a plane to Yunnan and Guizhou. Then he took two days of tossing and turning in large and small cars, and finally arrived at Shilei Village by talking and gesturing to a van driver.

Zhang Chao was too impulsive to think that the asphalt road was so new when he drove here in his previous life, which meant that the traffic conditions here must have been worrying before. As expected, the winding dirt road of more than ten kilometers before entering the village made him vomit twice.

What about being independent from the world, what about living in solitude, what about the quietness of being recognized by no one...all those feelings were completely wiped out.

After vomiting, Zhang Chao rinsed his mouth with water while cursing, "Artistic youths are really all idiots!" Then, under the sympathetic gaze of the driver, he got on the driveway again and said, "Let's go!"

You have to pretend to be artistic, even if it means crying!
However, after a few hours of bumpy ride, when Shilei Village with its rows of wooden buildings and endless golden terraces stacked along the mountain appeared before Zhang Chao's eyes, his previous frustration and regret disappeared in an instant.

The driver took Zhang Chao directly to a wooden building at the entrance of the village. There was a sign on it indicating that this was the village committee of Shilei Village. The driver said in barely comprehensible Mandarin: "The village chief is here."

Then he walked up and knocked on the door. A man in his 50s with gray hair and glasses came out and looked at the two of them with a puzzled look on his face.

The driver pointed at Zhang Chao and chatted with him for a while. Then the man laughed, walked up to Zhang Chao, shook his hand and said, "Welcome to our Shilei Village!" He spoke Mandarin, and although there was still an accent, there was no problem in communication.

Zhang Chao took out the agreed 100 yuan and handed it to the driver. The driver smiled with satisfaction and once again said to Zhang Chao with gestures, "I have explained everything. Don't worry, stay here." Then he drove away.

The village chief introduced himself: "My last name is Wei. In this village, everyone has the last name Wei or Liang. Our Shilei Village means 'the village at the foot of the rock' in Shui dialect..."

As he spoke, he asked Zhang Chao to put his backpack on the stairs and took Zhang Chao to tour the village.

Shilei Village in 2006 was very different from the last time Zhang Chao came. There were no newly built wooden buildings outside the village, and the ground in the village had almost no trace of cement hardening. In addition, there were almost no public facilities in the village.

Almost every wooden building had pigs raised on the ground floor and people living on the upper floors; chickens and ducks were raised freely in every household, wandering around pecking at grass seeds and insects. The air was filled with the smell of pig and chicken and duck manure, mixed with the faint fragrance of rice flowers.

Zhang Chao didn't mind. His family lived in Changfu County, but he also had a "hometown" in the countryside, which was also mountainous and hilly, with wooden buildings and livestock, but not as steep and remote. When he went back to the countryside for a short stay as a child, the smell of the air in the village was similar to that here.

Although the villagers were curious about Zhang Chao, they all smiled kindly when they saw Village Chief Wei was with him. Village Chief Wei said, "We are very remote here, but you city people come here from time to time.

This summer, a few university students studying architecture came here to measure our house. Occasionally, a few tourists like you with backpacks come to our village by accident. ”

Then he pointed to the rice fields that looked like a golden ocean and said, "This is the late rice of this year. The harvest will start in the next two days. If you want to experience the work of farmers, you can help harvest them.

If you don't want to, just walk around the village, or go to the nearby forest. But don't go too far, or you'll get lost..."

Village Chief Wei kept talking, Zhang Chao responded with a grunt, and after a round, they returned to the village committee's wooden building at the entrance of the village. Village Chief Wei then asked, "How long are you going to stay here with us?"

Zhang Chao thought for a moment and said, "Maybe a few days, maybe a few months." Then he said, "I can pay for accommodation and food. How much a day, you tell me?" Village Chief Wei looked Zhang Chao up and down, as if he was calculating his ability to pay. After a while, he hesitated and said, "Including food and accommodation, or...50...30 yuan a day?"

Zhang Chao was not too surprised when he heard this. When he came to Shandu County in 2022, the luxury suite of the most expensive "Vienna International Hotel" in the county cost less than 300 yuan a night.

Now it is 2006, and in such a remote rural area, it is not surprising that Village Chief Wei asks for 30 yuan a day.

Zhang Chao smiled and said, "50 yuan a day is better. I want to eat better." He came here to seek quietness and had no intention of living a simple and frugal life. As for being more generous than the current limit, it would be unsafe for him, and it would be difficult for the village chief to decide how to entertain him.

Village Chief Wei then smoothed out the wrinkles on his face, nodded repeatedly, and then said, "As for where to live, you can live in our village committee. There is a room on the second floor. The bed and bedding are clean. It is for cadres who go to the village and can't go home at night to stay occasionally."

Zhang Chao nodded to indicate that it was no problem, and then asked, "What about eating?"

Village Chief Wei smiled shyly before saying, "None of us has much rice and bacon left, and you can't afford to eat them every day. So you can just eat at a hundred families' meals in our village, and I'll change families for you every day.

Don't worry, we Shui people are hospitable, you are our honored guest! We will make sure you have a good meal!"

Zhang Chao said, "That's great!" He took out his wallet, counted out 500 yuan in front of the village chief and handed it to him, then showed the empty wallet with only a few cards in it, and said, "This is all I have left. Pay the money for 10 days first and keep it.

If I stay less than 10 days, it will be counted as 10 days. If it is more than 10 days, I will go to the credit union in town to withdraw some more money. This money will be given to you!"

Village Chief Wei quickly declined, "It doesn't make sense to collect the money first. Besides, you can just give them the daily food money directly..."

Zhang Chao insisted on putting the money into the hands of Village Chief Wei, saying repeatedly: "You arrange it! You arrange it the best!"

Village Chief Wei then put the money away, and tried his best to control his smile, his eyebrows trembling, and said to Zhang Chao: "I'll take you to the second floor to put down your luggage first."

After Zhang Chao made the bed, he went downstairs and saw a stranger with muddy feet in the village committee office. He was carefully counting the 500 yuan he had just handed to the village chief, and then recording something in an account book.

Seeing Zhang Chao coming downstairs, Village Chief Wei grinned and said, "It's time to eat. I'll take you to the first one."

The little boy's family was the first one Zhang Chao ate at after he moved into Shilei Village. The head of the household was Wei Guangli, who had three children, and the eldest son went to work in the county town.

Village chief Wei brought Zhang Chao to Wei Guangli's home, explained the situation in a dialect that Zhang Chao could not understand, then took out three 3-yuan bills and stuffed them into Wei Guangli's hands in front of Zhang Chao.

Wei Guangli was anxious, mumbling something, and stuffed the money back in. Village Chief Wei had anticipated this, and firmly blocked Wei Guangli's hand, saying a few more words, which made this simple and sturdy middle-aged man put the money in his arms with embarrassment.

Village Chief Wei turned around and said to Zhang Chao, "We Shui people are not allowed to ask for money when entertaining guests. But your situation is different since you are staying for such a long time. I told him that if I don't charge you, you will be embarrassed to eat at their house."

Zhang Chao knew that this was actually Village Chief Wei's way of seeking benefits for the villagers, so of course he would not object. Instead, he nodded repeatedly to show his agreement.

Wei Guangli went into the house and gave some instructions to his wife and son. The woman swiftly untied a piece of bacon from the beam, and went out with a knife in hand... After a while, the screams of ducks were heard at the door.

The little boy ran out with the basket and came back more than half an hour later. When he came back, the basket was full of mushrooms that Zhang Chao didn't recognize.

Village Chief Wei was not lying. Wei Guangli really treated Zhang Chao as an honored guest and served almost all the best food in the house on the table. However, he still asked the little boy who could speak Mandarin to apologize to Zhang Chao: "You came too hastily today, so I didn't prepare fish and couldn't make 'fish wrapped in leeks'. Originally, this must be served when an honored guest comes..."

After dinner, it was dark. In October, deep in the mountains of Yunnan and Guizhou, the nights were as cold as water, and it was unbearable without a coat. The lights in the village were lit sparsely, but it made the place even more lonely.

Zhang Chao looked up at the unreal dark sky, the bright yellow moon, and the twinkling stars hiding in the corner of the mountain. Only then did he truly feel that he was far away from that impetuous world.

There are no cell phone rings, no endless interviews, no endless novels to write, and no endless scheming. Zhang Chao exiled himself to this secluded place and finally gained the first peace in a long time.

After guiding the little boy with his homework, Zhang Chao returned to the village entrance under the moonlight, went up to the second floor of the village committee, and prepared to rest.

Zhang Chao slept well on his first night in Shilei Village... In fact, he didn't fall asleep at all in the first half of the night.

There is no cell phone signal here, and the only way to contact the outside world is the landline in the village committee office downstairs; there is no TV here either, so if you want to watch TV, you can only go downstairs to the village committee office.

The only lighting here is a 5-watt incandescent lamp, which flickers from time to time, showing the fluctuations in voltage.

Zhang Chao was accompanied only by the overly noisy chirping of cicadas, frogs, and the calls of unknown owls. After 9 o'clock, the last light in the village went out, and even the faint human voices disappeared.

All sights and sounds are filled with nature.

An old poem suddenly came to Zhang Chao's mind, and he murmured:
"If life deceives you,
Don't be sad, don't be impatient!
Calmness is needed on gloomy days:

Believe it, happy days will come!
Xin'er always yearns for the future;

Now it is often melancholy.

Everything is fleeting, everything will pass;

And what has passed will become a fond memory. "

The poem now seemed very vulgar, but for some reason, it fit my current mood very well. Zhang Chao muttered to himself, and then fell into a deep sleep.

(End of this chapter)