Back to 1984: I built a chicken farm on a barren mountain.

Han Laosi's high fever subsided, and he finally got a good night's sleep.

He was a team leader in the production team. He got up early every day and was always the best at taking the lead. He was always elected as the team leader. The villagers gave him the nickname "Tumbler".

For him, he felt uncomfortable if he didn't get up from the kang (a heated brick bed) early every day, so Han Laosi was always the first one to open the courtyard gate in the morning.

But this time he overslept. In the morning, Li Dahua got up and opened the courtyard gate. When the gate was opened, there was a piece of yellow paper stuffed in the crack.

The yellow paper was folded into a triangle. When Li Dahua unfolded it, she saw that it was covered with handwriting in fountain pen, with the title written on the top line:

"A letter from the Queen Mother of the West".

The content is as follows:

"Heaven panicked, earth panicked, the Queen Mother of the West descended from heaven."

A letter from home travels far and wide, and devout men and women listen attentively to its contents.

One should be kind, filial to one's parents, and respectful to one's elders.

Brothers and sisters-in-law should yield to each other; neighbors should live in harmony and not be domineering.

Do not steal, rob, or lie; do not bully the weak or the good.

Those who accumulate virtue and do good deeds will be blessed by Heaven, while those who commit many evils will suffer calamity.

Floods and plagues descended from the sky, and even the wicked could not escape their fate.

Good people are protected by Heaven, and will turn misfortune into good fortune and enjoy peace and health.

Do not forget this letter; make ten copies and pass them on to your neighbors.

Send one copy to protect the area, and prevent disaster from reaching your door.

If you don't believe me, just try it and you'll see your family destroyed, your loved ones gone, and your heart breaking with regret.

The Queen Mother of the West personally issued a decree, which all living beings under heaven should remember.

The letter ended with a clear curse: failure to deliver it would bring disaster. Even worse, at the end of the letter, in slightly larger letters, it stated:

"Copy and forward this, or your family will be ruined!!!"

Li Dahua immediately became furious. Who was so heartless as to leave this at her own doorstep?

She held the letter in her hand, unsure whether to throw it away or keep it.

At this moment, Han Laosi came out to use the restroom, slipped on his shoes, and saw Li Dahua standing at the door in a daze. He cursed:

"Standing in the middle of the gate so early in the morning, are you trying to summon a ghost?"

Seeing her husband get up, Li Dahua quickly went over and handed the yellow paper covered with writing to Han Laosi. Han Laosi read it carefully, then went out for a walk, returned, closed the courtyard gate, and told his wife to go back inside, saying:

"They're on the utility poles, the small stage, at the village entrance, and at the well. It seems someone spread the word."

People were somewhat superstitious back then, Li Dahua said:

"Should we still write it or pass it on? It might not be good if we don't pass it on."

Han Laosi laughed. This letter had come at just the right time. Yesterday's plan could be used as a pretext, and he said:

"Spread it! Why not spread it? We need to spread it like wildfire! The more we spread it, the more money we make! Go to the general store and get my pen and paper, quick!"

......

When Chen Wenfeng learned of the letter from the Queen Mother of the West, it was already noon. He had been busy at Jiming Mountain for the past few days, responsible for the feed, water, and management of 400 chickens. He could collect nearly 300 eggs every day. Because there were eggs on the mountain, he had to reduce the frequency of going out to buy eggs.

When Zhou Zhiming brought the letter to the mountain, Chen Wenfeng took the letter, glanced at it, and immediately understood what was going on.

He had experienced many such rumors in his past life: today the Queen Mother of the West would bring disaster, tomorrow there would be an earthquake, the day after tomorrow there would be a war, and so on.

There are only two ways to break the curse: one is to copy it, which is relatively simple, and the other is to pay money to avoid disaster.

For example, eating canned peaches, buying red thermal underwear, and even more so, stockpiling salt.

Chenjiazhuang was still in a small-scale agricultural economy, and many daily necessities could be produced by themselves. Even if the village did not have them, neighboring villages could exchange them. However, they did not produce salt, so whenever something happened, everyone would habitually hoard salt.

After listening to Zhou Zhiming's account, Chen Wenfeng said:

"Is this a case of stockpiling salt or...?"

"Brother Feng, how do you know everyone is hoarding salt! I don't know who spread the rumor, but the more salt a family hoards, the better the disaster relief effect!" Zhou Zhiming replied.

Holy crap, I guessed right.

Chen Wenfeng said to Zhou Zhiming:

"I'll tell my family when I get home, whatever you do, don't hoard it."

What he was really thinking was that he had hoarded salt once in his previous life, and it hadn't been finished even after more than ten years. The salt itself didn't expire, but the salt bag had rotted.

Zhou Zhiming said:

"So, Brother Feng, do we need to copy this letter? It sounds pretty serious."

Do you believe it?

"I don't believe it, but..."

Seeing Zhou Zhiming's hesitation, Chen Wenfeng understood his mindset and said:

"If you have nothing better to do, then go ahead and copy it. I'm not copying."

Old Sun came over, saw the letter, smiled, and said nothing.

Old Sun was usually a man of few words. Since arriving at Jiming Mountain, he had been busy with various tasks. In addition to managing the chicken coop, he picked up stones and built up the unsealed western part of the Fangdong Cave. After finishing the work, he went to sleep inside.

Chen Wenfeng asked him to move to a two-bedroom apartment on the east side, but he refused, saying he couldn't sleep with young people.

Chen Wenfeng then told him to move the bed from the stone house in the watermelon field over, and found him a mattress. Anyway, it was hot, so he wouldn't get cold. He could just let him be.

Because he was worried about home, Chen Wenfeng asked Old Sun to pick out a chicken that wasn't laying eggs from the coop, and then took the chicken home in the afternoon.

After finishing lunch, Chen Shouyi and Wang Guizhi sat on the kang (a heated brick bed), facing each other, staring at each other without saying a word.

Chen Wenfeng rarely saw his parents giving each other the silent treatment, so he joked:

"What's wrong with the air in the house today? It feels strange!"

When Wang Guizhi saw her son return, she quickly began to complain to him about Chen Shouyi:

"Look at your old man, he's such a grown man, and he's still so superstitious. Isn't everyone in our village spreading letters about the Queen Mother of the West? It's obviously something someone who's just looking for trouble did, but he actually believed it. He wrote several letters in half a day and is even going to deliver them to other people's houses! Wenshui and Xiaofang came back at noon and told me about it. The school teachers also talked about it. They said not to be superstitious and not to copy or circulate these letters."

Chen Shouyi knew he was in the wrong, but he was worried that it might be bad for his family if he didn't copy the text, so he remained silent after listening to Wang Guizhi's scolding.

Chen Wenfeng handed the chicken to his father, Chen Shouyi, and said:

"Well, this matter is a matter of belief; if you believe it, it exists; if you don't, it doesn't. So what if I copied it? This matter is over. I don't think there's any need to spread it to other people's homes and make them uncomfortable. I'll take it with me when I go back to the mountain and recite it to those hundreds of chickens."

Hearing their son say this, Chen Shouyi and Wang Guizhi both laughed.

Chen Wenfeng then said:

"Dad, now that you've written the letter and your worries are gone, kill the chicken and stew it tonight. Add the chestnut mushrooms I picked earlier to the stew too. Have a big meal, and everything will be alright. Oh, and save the chicken blood for me."

Chen Shouyi also wanted to eat chicken stew with mushrooms, so he went to boil water and slaughter a chicken.

Wang Guizhi brought out the mushrooms that Chen Wenfeng had picked earlier and said:

"The mushrooms you picked the other day were drying outside, but the sun wasn't strong those days, so many didn't dry properly. It's a bit of a shame!"

Chen Wenfeng comforted him:

"Mom, these were all picked from the mountains, so there's no cost involved and nothing to regret. If the weather is bad again next time, we can put the mushrooms on the kang mat to keep them warm."

"Hey, that's a great idea!"

The mother and son were talking when they suddenly heard the village committee's loudspeaker broadcasting:

"Chen Wenfeng, Chen Wenfeng, come to the brigade headquarters! Come to the brigade headquarters! Someone's looking for you! Someone's looking for you! It's urgent, come quickly!"

Chen Wenfeng was a little puzzled; who was looking for him?

Actually, the person who came to see him this time was none other than the village chief, Chen Youwei.