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“What, what happened?”

Not only the lights in the house, but also the lights in the cave outside seemed to be out.

Li Yu groped his way out of the house. It was pitch black in the cave and he could not see anything. Only a ray of moonlight drifting in from the cave entrance allowed Li Yu to know that he was in a cave.

Fortunately, the village chief’s house was very close to Li Yu’s house. Li Yu relied on his memory during the day and groped his way there.

“Bang!” Li Yu’s head hit the wall of the cave hard.

“Oh, damn it.” Li Yu rubbed his head as he walked.

After a long while, he finally found a house.

“Village chief, village chief, is this the home of village chief Gao?” Li Yu said, patting the bamboo door of the house.

“Is it Teacher Li?” The village chief’s voice sounded from inside.

“Village chief, why is there no electricity?” Li Yu asked.

“Oh, Teacher Li, I forgot to tell you that there is only one generator in our village. If it breaks down, there will be no electricity. So at 9 o’clock in the evening, we stop the generator and let it rest at night.” The village chief replied.

“9 o’clock? Is it so late?” Li Yu raised his hand and looked at the fluorescent watch on his wrist. It was indeed 9 o’clock.

“Oh, I know, but village chief, can you take me back to my house? I guess I can’t find the way back.”

After the village chief sent Li Yu back, he lay on the bed and couldn’t fall asleep.

In the city, going to bed at 12 o’clock at night has become a habit. Now he has to go to bed at 9 o’clock, and it is difficult for him to fall asleep.

“How is it possible? How can Teacher Xu want to stay here in such a short time? What made him make a 180-degree turn?” Li Yu couldn’t figure it out no matter how hard he thought. He wanted to continue reading the diary, but without the light, Li Yu had to endure it for the time being.

The next day, the village school started. Li Yu spent the whole day busy and returned to his room at night.

After dinner, Li Yu picked up the diary again and continued reading yesterday.

“July 21, sunny

“Garbage, garbage, everything in the past was garbage. Today I finally know what a man is. All those things in the past were garbage. It’s great, so great! I want to thank Village Chief Gao. Oh no, now I should call him…”

“It seems interesting. The mystery will be solved soon.” Li Yu turned to the next page.

“Teacher Li, is Teacher Li here?” The voice of the village chief came from outside the house.

“Come in.” Li Yu quickly put away the diary and said.

“How is it, Teacher Li, are you used to it?”

“It’s okay, it’s okay.”

“Our village conditions are relatively poor, definitely not as good as your big city, Teacher Li, please be more tolerant!”

“It’s okay, anyway, I’m not here to travel and enjoy, I’m here to support the west! Haha… It doesn’t matter. “Although you may not think so in your heart, you must say it nicely.

Then the two chatted about everything. Although the village chief rarely left the village, he had some understanding of the outside world through the only TV in the village. The two of them forgot the time when they chatted.

“Oh, by the way, Teacher Li, how long do you plan to stay in our village?” The village chief suddenly asked Li Yu this question.

“This question…” As soon as the village chief finished speaking, Li Yu immediately remembered what he saw in Teacher Xu’s diary yesterday, and now he faced the same question.

“Well… I think, as long as conditions allow, I can stay anytime.” Li Yu’s answer was very vague, making the village chief confused about what he meant.

“That…”

“Pah!” It was dark again.

“Just chatting, it’s already 9 o’clock.” Li Yu looked at the watch and said.

“Then I won’t bother Teacher Li, let’s talk tomorrow. “The village chief finished speaking and walked out of the house.

“Ten years ago, Mr. Xu and I faced the same problem, so he decided to stay here two days later. Then two days later, maybe I will stay in this village too? Haha… This is impossible. I will definitely leave. Although not now, it will definitely be next spring.” Li Yu lay on the bed thinking and slowly fell asleep.

In the middle of the night, a burst of urine woke Li Yu up from his sleep.

The night in the countryside is very different from the night in the city. The most obvious one is that the night in the countryside is extremely quiet, so Li Yu tiptoed carefully to the outside of the cave, for fear of waking up other villagers.

“Shh… comfortable. “At the edge of the field, Li Yu shook himself after releasing himself and put the treasure into his pants.

In order to find the way back to the house in the dark, Li Yu hung his fluorescent watch on the door when he came out, so that it would be easy to find. But when he walked back, he found that in addition to the fluorescence emitted by his watch, there was a ray of light flickering in the dark, which seemed to be the village chief’s house.

Li Yu walked carefully, afraid of making any sound, and came to the back of the village chief’s house little by little, peeking in through the cracks between the bamboos.

In the middle of the village chief’s house, a thick red candle was placed on a bamboo stool. The light that Li Yu saw just now was emitted by the flickering light of this candle.

Around the candle, in addition to the village chief, there were also the “elders” of the village who the village chief took him to see that day.

“Xiao Gao, have you asked Teacher Li? “One of the elders said to the village chief.

“I talked to Teacher Li today. He was very vague. It seemed that he wanted to stay for a long time, but it also seemed that he wanted to leave immediately. I don’t know.” The village chief replied while smoking his pipe.

“Then you go and test his attitude tomorrow. If he is willing to stay in our village, then… if he disagrees, send him away quickly. Okay?” said another elder.

“I understand. I will ask him tomorrow.” said the village chief.

“What secret do they have?” After returning to his room, Li Yu lay on the bed and thought.

“It seems to be quite important, otherwise they would not have held a meeting in the middle of the night. But the elder spoke vaguely and did not make it clear what it was about.”

“Yes, when Village Chief Gao comes to ask me tomorrow, I will say that I am willing to stay in this village forever and be a member of this place. I want to see what the secret of this village is. “Li Yu, who had made up his mind, fell asleep in anticipation and excitement.

The next day, Li Yu’s classes were again fully scheduled. He had to teach all the courses from the first grade of elementary school to the third grade of junior high school. The tension can be imagined.

In the evening, the village chief came to Li Yu’s room at almost the same time as the first day.

“Teacher Li.”

“Ah, village chief, please come in, please come in.” Li Yu, who was mentally prepared, was not surprised at all, but the village chief was a little embarrassed.

“Sorry to bother you again, Teacher Li.”

“It’s okay, I like chatting with you, Village Chief Gao!” Li Yu said.

Just like the first day, the two began to talk in a roundabout way, and no one got to the point.

“By the way, Teacher Li, I want to ask you a question, please don’t think I’m annoying. Our village really needs a good teacher. You have seen the situation in our village. Although we have no worries about food and clothing in this mountain, every family is not very rich. It is far behind other villages in the county! Although I am not well-educated, I also know that in order to become rich, we must learn more knowledge. Only when everyone has knowledge can the village become rich. Teacher, please stay in our village. We really need people like you! “The village chief grabbed Li Yu’s hand and said.

From his eyes, Li Yu could clearly see the desire, the desire for Li Yu to stay.

“I came here to support the west. As long as our Dongzi Village needs me, I will not leave and will always teach children to read here.” Li Yu patted his chest and said.

“Okay, great, thank you Teacher Li. I, well, there are some other things, I’ll leave first.” The village chief left in a hurry.

“It seems that I will know the answer soon. “Li Yu thought proudly.

“As for the diary, I won’t read it for now. After all, it’s not fun to know the answer first. Only when you experience the real answer yourself can you feel excited. Hehe…” Li Yu didn’t know what kind of excitement he would experience.

That night, Li Yu got up again. People with this habit usually get up at the same time.

Like the night before, Li Yu saw the light coming out of the village chief’s house when he went back. Li Yu hid behind the village chief’s house again and eavesdropped.

“I talked to Teacher Li today. Teacher Li said he is willing to teach the children in the village to read for as long as he wants.” The village chief was reporting to the elders.

“That being said, who knows if he is sincere!” said an elder.

“Then, how do we do it?” The village chief looked at the elder and asked.

“Let him swear an oath. In the ancestral hall, swear to the ancestors. If he dares to swear, then we believe him. If he doesn’t dare to swear, I think it’s better to forget it. “The elder said.

“Well, then we have to find a reason. It seems that asking people to swear for no reason…” The village chief said worriedly.

“Just say it’s the tradition of our village, passed down from the elders, and it can’t be changed.”

“Then I’ll try it tomorrow, I hope they are willing.” The village chief finally said.

“You have to swear again. This game is getting more and more fun.” Li Yu thought secretly after returning to the house.

The night passed quickly, and Li Yu slept well.

In the morning, Li Yu packed up and went to the village school to prepare for class.

“Teacher Li, can you please come over first?” The village chief stopped Li Yu when he was about to enter the school.

“What’s the matter, village chief? “Although Li Yu had guessed that it was something that happened last night, he still pretended to know nothing.

“I have something to discuss with you… That, Teacher Li, do you remember what I told you yesterday?” asked the village chief.

“Yesterday, what happened yesterday?” Li Yu asked knowingly.

“You said you would stay in our village forever and teach the children here forever.” The village chief reminded.

“What’s wrong? I always keep my word. Don’t you believe me?”

“No, it’s not. There is an old rule in our village. If outsiders want to join our village and become a member of our village, they must go to our ancestral hall and swear to the ancestors. Teacher Li, I’m sorry, can you…”

“You mean I should go to the ancestral hall in your village to swear?” Li Yu followed the words.

“Yes, yes, Teacher Li is a really smart person. If you swear, then you will be a member of our village, and then…”

“What will happen then? “Li Yu is most concerned about this.

“Oh, nothing, nothing. Teacher Li, I’ll take you to the ancestral hall!”

It has been a few days since I came to Dongzi Village, but Li Yu never knew that there was a small cave next to the big cave where he usually lived.

Perhaps the dense vines at the entrance of this small cave completely blocked the entrance, so Li Yu usually didn’t pay attention to it.

The scale of this cave is far different from the cave where the villagers live. The entrance is about two meters high. Li Yu, who is 180 cm tall, felt that his head almost touched the top of the cave when he walked in.

After walking in, it was relatively large inside, but the highest point was only five or six meters. There is no electric light in this cave, instead, there is a perpetual oil lamp.

Li Yu entered When I went there, I found that almost all the men in the village had come to this small cave, including the elders. The space was not very large, but it was almost full. There were a few portraits on the innermost wall of the cave, but the light was not very good, so I couldn’t see them clearly. Below the portraits was a table with many spirit tablets on it. The elders sat in the innermost part of the cave, in front of the spirit tablets of their ancestors.

Under the leadership of the village chief, Li Yu came to the elders.

Seeing the village chief and Li Yu coming, the elders put down their pipes.

“Teacher Li, you are here, welcome, welcome. “One of them stood up and welcomed Li Yu.

“Hello, Mr. Zhang, Mr. Wang, Mr. Zhao, Mr. Liu…” Li Yu greeted all the elders present.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Li, I called you here today. Xiao Gao has said everything that should be said. You kneel here and kowtow to the ancestral tablets. From now on, you will be a member of our Dongzi Village. However, if you break your oath, you will be struck by lightning and die a miserable death!” An elder said to Li Yu.

“Okay, I swear that I will always teach the children in Dongzi Village to study. If I break my oath, I will be struck by lightning and die a miserable death.” Li Yu swore.

“Anyway, I am studying archaeology and I don’t believe in gods and Buddhas at all. If I don’t fulfill my oath, there will be no retribution.” Li Yu thought to himself.

“Okay, Mr. Li is really straightforward, but I have one more thing to say. Teacher Li, no matter what you see, hear, or do in our village in the future, you must not tell anyone else! “The elder seemed to be worried and said.

“Okay, I swear again. If I tell others what I saw, heard, and did in Dongzi Village in the future, I will not die well.” Li Yu said.

“Okay, from today on, Teacher Li is a member of our village!” Village Chief Gao came up first to shake hands with Li Yu.

Then, every man in the village came up to shake hands with Li Yu.

“That’s all, nothing else.”

Li Yu was always expecting something, but the answer he got was: “Nothing, that’s all. Teacher Li, I won’t bother you anymore, you can go back to class.” The village chief said.

“No… No way, could it be that my predecessor, Teacher Xu, was moved by this simple ceremony and decided to stay? That’s unlikely, right? “Li Yu had a big question mark in his heart.

“Oh, forget it, just think of it as me playing house with a bunch of grown men!” Li Yu shook his head and went back to school to continue his classes.

But…

After a day of classes, Li Yu dragged his tired body back to his room, put down the textbooks, and came to the kitchen next to the room.

“Oh, I still have to cook by myself. Why is this fire so hard to light!” Li Yu, who has lived in a big city since he was a child, has never used firewood to light a fire. Every time he cooks, there is smoke everywhere.

“Cough! Cough…” This time Li Yu was choked by the smoke from the fire he made.

“Teacher Li, Teacher Li, what are you doing?” The voice of the village chief came from outside.

“Village chief, I’m cooking!” Li Yu replied.

“Hehe… Teacher Li, you don’t have to do it yourself, look who I brought to you. “The village chief said as he walked into Li Yu’s small kitchen.

Li Yu escaped from the thick smoke in front of the stove and saw the village chief and the people he brought with him.

“Xu Ling, Xu Yu.”

Li Yu knew these two little girls without the village chief’s introduction, because they happened to be his students. Of course, due to the short time he had been here, Li Yu was not able to know all of his students, but a pair of beautiful sisters was always unforgettable.

“Teacher Li, you don’t have to do it yourself, let these two girls help you!” The village chief said, and pushed the two girls.

The two sisters ran to the stove and started to make a fire and boil water.

“This, how can this be done! They are still children, how can they be allowed to do this job!” Li Yu hurriedly stopped him. Li Yu still clearly remembered that one of the two sisters was in the third grade and the other was in the third grade.