It turned out that day, the old man returned home from other places, and just got off the boat, and before he had walked a few steps, he saw a person standing at the head of the bridge to the far bridge, and the man was holding a basket in his hand, and there was a baby in it, and he was sleeping soundly in the basket.
When the man saw the master, he knelt down and begged him to take the child in, he said that he was a fishman, and his people were about to face a catastrophe, and none of them would survive, and in order to protect the only bloodline in the clan, he must find a family for the child who was willing to raise her and raise her as an adult.
In return, he took out a box, opened the lid, and the treasures inside were jingled by the rain, and he stuffed the box to the master, his eyes were full of anticipation and worry.
The old man only glanced at the box, and then put it on the ground, but his eyes fell on the baby girl in the basket, and his eyes showed a mixture of joy and sorrow.
After a long time, he took off his hat and put it on top of the basket, "Although she is a fishman and is not afraid of rain, she is still a child, and it is always inappropriate to be watered by the rain for so long." ” Hearing him say this, the fishman knew that he had found the right person, he kowtowed to the old man a few more times, and reluctantly glanced at the baby girl with tears in his eyes, and then rowed along the bridge deck of the far bridge into the Jade River.
That night, the heavy rain poured, and the jade river set off a stormy wave, and the next morning, the wind and rain stopped, and a brilliant rainbow rose on the river.
The boatmen who went out in the morning noticed that the water had turned red, even thicker than the color of the rainbow.
Some people once saw a dragon tail with scales swinging up and down in the river at night, tossing the fishmen high and swallowing them into their stomachs.
Since then, the fish people have never appeared again, but the Leng family has an extra baby girl waiting to be fed.
The old man did not hide it from others, he told the villagers that the baby girl was the orphan of the fish-man clan, and named her Leng Yu.
I watched Leng Yu grow up little by little, her growth is no different from ordinary people, there are fathers and mothers who love themselves, and there are also partners who do knitting girls together.
She knows that she is a fish-man, but she never thinks of herself as a fish-man, she happily and simply blends into the human world, and she is not seen at all.
If it weren't for the incident that happened later, I don't think Leng Yu would have seen through the other side of us, she thought that all the people around her were like herself, not to mention that they were beneficial to others, at least they were harmless.
She doesn't know that there is a boundary in our hearts, that is, ourselves, if we do not touch our own interests, all beings will be happy, but if we cross this line, even if it is just a little bit, we will be mercilessly attacked.
In the year of my father's death, the village was hit by a drought not seen in many years, and as I told you, it lasted for three whole years and drained all the life of the village.
To add insult to injury, tuberculosis began to spread throughout the Central Plains along with the drought, and the people in the village were not spared, many children and old people were infected with this disease, so everyone used the remaining pearls at home to make a decoction, hoping to cure the serious illness, but most of the pearls were sold, and there was not much left, plus the disease was infected one by one, often this one was cured, and the other got it, and it could not be cured at all.
Leng Yu was very anxious, in her heart, the people in the village were no different from her relatives, she was an orphan who was taken in, and each of them had great kindness to her, so she must do her best for everyone.
She used to keep herself in the room for one night, and when she came out, she would have a basin full of pearls in her hand.
At that time, I had already left the Leng family, but the old man had left a last word, let me take more care of Leng Yu, so I often went to visit her, one morning, I saw her come out of the room, two eyes were overflowing with blood and tears, it turned out that she in order to treat the villagers, forced herself to cry all day long, and finally dried up the tears.
I snatched the pearl-filled basin from her hand, "Are you dying?"
The master asked me to take care of you, and you have ruined yourself like this, so how can I explain to him in the future. ” Leng Yu smiled, her smile was a little simple, and she said, "Uncle Xi, do you know?
With this bead, Bai Qi'er was saved, he was the last child in the village to be knocked down by tuberculosis, and if he was cured, the disease would be eradicated. ” I looked at her white face, and my heart suddenly "thumped", and I knew that I was just venting my care for her through the mouth of the master.
I also suddenly understood the reason why I hadn't married for many years, with such an innocent fawn-like girl by my side all the time, I couldn't tolerate anyone else anymore in my heart.
But I don't know when it began, a rumor began to circulate in the village that was unfavorable to Leng Yu and him, I don't know who the rumor came from, maybe it was just an innocuous sentence in the chat, maybe someone deliberately mentioned it, but it spread quickly, and it didn't take long for the whole village to associate this rumor with the drought.
They said that the reason why they did not see rain for three years was because the villagers offended the Dragon King, that year, Lord Leng took in Leng Yu, so the Dragon King blamed the people of the whole village, no rain for three years, if you want to calm the anger of the Dragon King, the only way is to hand Leng Yu back to the Dragon King.
What a ridiculous rumor, right, Leng Yu has lived in the village for nearly twenty years, and it is not without a year of good weather that there is no rain, why did she put the reason for the lack of rain on her alone when she encountered a major drought?
I didn't take this rumor to heart, thinking that the rumors were all rootless and unfounded, and everyone would pass when they talked about it, but one day, I had a few drinks with Old Man Yan and a few of them, but I found that this rumor had taken root in people's hearts.
Halfway through the wine, a few people began to be angry, led by the old Yantou, he said to me, I said something ugly, don't you mind, the old man of the Leng family for his own selfish desires, actually brought such a big disaster to the village, now the seedlings are drought, next spring is destined to be no harvest, the lives of the old and young in this village are on his Leng family.
I wanted to retort a few words, but the words turned into a few dry laughs.
That night, I went to Leng's house, found Leng Yu, told her the rumor, and advised her to be more careful recently and not to trust anyone too much.
She didn't take my advice to heart, she made a basin of hot water to wash my face, "Uncle Xi, you think too much, Tian'er's illness was cured by me, at that time, Uncle Yan thanked me a thousand times, and sent me a big fish, how could he harm me?"
Presumably he drank too much wine, so he just talked casually.
As she spoke, she dipped a towel and handed it to me, "Wipe your face, this water is what I saved today, and you are also drunk, sober up with hot water." ”