Grandpa Luo mentioned the year 1969. To Old Huang, 1969 was very unfamiliar, but everyone's growth seemed to be inseparable from the various strange and colorful stories told by the older generation.
Therefore, Old Huang seemed to remember that something big had happened in 1969.
Plague!
Yes, it was a plague!
Old Huang remembered that when he was very young, his grandmother used to tell him some old stories.
Although the most common story at that time was about fighting the Japanese, she often mentioned the plague in 1969.
"Not long after the spring of 1969, probably after the Qingming Festival. During the Qingming Festival, we have to go to the graves on the mountain to light up the lights. The Junshan Reservoir is surrounded by the ancestral graves of the nearby villages. At that time, the people of several villages invited each other to the mountain to worship their ancestors. During the day, many people said that they couldn't light the candles.”
"It's like…it's like you finally lit a candle, and suddenly a mouth blew out the fire beside you. Wasn't there a television drama that had the slogan 'someone lights a candle, the ghost blows out the light'? It was exactly the same as the beginning of the incident that year!”
"However, in the end, everyone lit candles. However, when the sky darkened, everyone in the stockade village saw that the ancestral grave mountain was brightly lit. If the grave-sweepers were late, it was normal for the candles to be lit at night. However, many of the candles that were lit after lunch were still lit!”
"The candlelight on the mountain could be seen jumping from the village. At that time, all the villages within ten miles were shaken. No one knew what happened. At that time, it was from the evening until late at night. The secretaries of several villages felt that this was abnormal, but at that time, we had to walk a long way from the county town. The mountains were high and the emperor was far away. Basically, small matters were decided internally.”
"A few village secretaries gathered together. After discussing it, they organized two laborers from each stockade to go up the mountain to investigate. At that time, he was really afraid that the candlelight would burn the mountain. If they burned all of them, many people would starve to death according to the situation back then. Therefore, those young and strong men were also filled with blood, not afraid of what had happened on the mountain.”
"There were about twenty to thirty people in total. They went up the mountain in the middle of the night. Every few people went to a mountain. If it was really a candle flame and not a ghost fire, they would blow it out. The mission was simple. Climbing the mountain was not difficult. A group of twenty to thirty people went up the mountain, but the people in the stockade did not rest. They were all watching and waiting for them.”
"About half an hour later, a group of people went up the mountain and blew out the candles. Seeing the grave mountains turn dark, the people in the stockade felt much more at ease. Later, the candles on the mountain were extinguished one after another, and the people on the mountain began to come down. At that time, everyone felt much more at ease. The strong men on the mountain had also come down. The few villages even gathered together to cook supper and drink wine.”
"That year, it was even more lively than the previous New Year's, but after dawn, the people almost dispersed. The arrival of the second day was a new beginning for everyone, but 1969 was a nightmare for our neighborhood. First, it was Yang Laosan. On the second day of the Qingming Festival, he began to grow a bump on his hand. At that time, he did not take it seriously. After that, Yang Laosan could no longer move, followed by Wu Ming, Li Changkuan, Fang Sihai…”
"Everyone's hands started to grow bumps. At first, the bumps were only the size of a fingernail, but later on, they became the size of a fist. It started to fester, and in less than a day, it started to rupture. In the end, its entire body began to grow. Every pustule looked like a human face after it was broken. Whether it was Yang Laosan, Li Changkuan, Wu Ming, or Fang Sihai, they all went to see a doctor, especially Li Changkuan's family who was in a good condition and went to other provinces to see a doctor.”
"However, no one survived. Li Changkuan even died outside. The corpse couldn't be pulled back and was buried on the spot. Later on, more and more people had face sores, and almost every village had one. Only when seven or eight people were infected did they realize that these people who were infected with the sores were the people who went up the mountain to extinguish the candles on the night of Qingming!”
Elder Luo couldn't help but cry as he spoke. He held Old Huang's hand tightly and cried,"Twenty to thirty young men, twenty to thirty families. They were all dead, not a single one was left! After they died, someone calculated that there would be crows crying in the direction of Junshan Reservoir at night for a total of 49 days.”
"Caw…caw…caw, caw, it's as if the gates of the netherworld have opened. It was so tragic…so tragic. I went to see everyone when they died. His hands and feet were propped up, like…like a drowned person. The arms and legs were stretched out and couldn't be broken!”
Elder Luo's voice was no longer sad, but was filled with fear.
What happened in their area in 1969 was very scary and tragic. Even Jiang Ye was shocked. It was not because he was afraid, but because he could not believe that such a shocking incident had happened in the countryside deep in the mountains 50 years ago!
"Grandpa, where were those people buried? It can't be Junshan Reservoir, right?" Old Yellow asked.
Elder Luo lowered his head and clenched his fists."My grandfather was the secretary of the Luo family village at that time. After the young and strong men who went up the mountain died, he said that they couldn't be buried. It was too strange. If they were buried like this, who knew what would happen in the future, so he told a few village secretaries to burn them with peach wood branches. After burning it, it would be buried again, just like the current cremation.”
"He was still buried in the Junshan Reservoir area. It can't be helped. That's the ancestral grave mountain. There's no place to bury him!”
After Elder Luo finished speaking, Old Huang was so shocked that he couldn't close his mouth.
"Then why have I never heard of such a strange thing? When my wife told me, she only said that there was a plague and many people died.”
"Someone from the higher-ups told me not to say anything. They only said that it was a plague. Moreover, no one dared to say it, afraid that they would also get face sores if they said it. Gradually, everyone tacitly agreed that it was a plague. It's just that my grandpa couldn't bear the condemnation of his conscience. On the Qingming Festival the next year, he found a rope and ran to Junshan Reservoir to hang himself!”
Elder Luo let out a long sigh as he finished his last word.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。