Chapter 2 Huayuankou

The fugitives rushed west like locusts, and the country roads in June were dusty and yellow. People supporting the old and the young flocked westward. The field by the road is a field of golden wheat that has just been harvested. People have no time to thresh and enter the warehouse. They have to reluctantly abandon all this. The river has submerged Zhongmu County, which is twenty miles away. It is going along the Jialu River to Tongxuhe. The Weishi area is approaching. Since ancient times, people have known that water and fire are ruthless, not to mention those who have lived by the Yellow River for generations? "Flood, drought, locust and Enbo Tang" were the four unavoidable disasters faced by Henan people in that era. It is self-evident what the rupture of the Yellow River embankment at Huayuankou means at this moment. The instinct to escape makes people throw away everything they can and flee to the west, striving to escape to a safe place before those catastrophes come.

Yinxin, who was still in swaddling clothes, faced such a catastrophe as soon as it came to this world. In her mother's arms she saw this unprecedented escape with her own eyes. The horrified refugees crowded the dusty dirt road and ran westward like a swarm of headless flies. The cries of children, the cries of parents, the groans of old people, and the cries of the livestock brought by those people combined into a huge escape symphony, which was played endlessly on the eastern Henan plain. It's really "father, mother and wife see each other off, and Xianyang Bridge is not seen in the dust", "holding clothes and stopping the road to cry, the cry goes straight to the sky."

Let's go, child, the pale-bearded old man walked tremblingly on crutches, dragging his young granddaughter in the other hand, his long silver beard fluttering on his chest, and gently supported by the breeze rise. The sunset in summer is still hanging high above the west sky. The setting sun is surrounded by a burning sunset, and the burning clouds are coiled on the top of the west mountain. Thousands of golden lights shoot out from the gaps in the clouds, turning the sky into a Incomparably brilliant, the earth seemed to be covered with a golden glow. The old man marched with his head held high in the afterglow of the setting sun, with countless children and women behind him.The children and women with smaller children in their arms walked slowly behind the old man, eager for the old man's wisdom to lead them out of this place of death. The old man's silver beard and hair fluttered in the breeze, and the wrinkles on his face like a knife had taken away the vicissitudes of the years. He roamed this boundless plain like a medieval troubadour, and from time to time, his mouth still pointed to the man behind him. The crowd cheered and encouraged. The old man's voice was slightly hoarse, which was due to running around for a long time without drinking water, but the slightly hoarse and low voice contained a very authoritative appeal.

The silver-haired old man like a minstrel used his deep voice to tell the children the stories of the past years. Those are some epic legends and legends that people have passed down from generation to generation. The story is passed down orally from generation to generation, continuous and enduring. During the tedious and long days of the long trek on the run, speaking the ancients may be the only best way to get rid of fatigue and distraction. The old man's deep voice slowly narrated the story he himself had heard from the previous generation, and now passed it on to the younger generation of the next generation.

Oh, that was a long, long time ago. When my grandfather's grandfather's grandfather was a child, it rained heavily in the sky one year. Evil dragon, walking clouds and raining there all day, causing harm to the people, so, the rain has been falling and falling. The water in the Yellow River is getting higher and higher, and the turbid river is rolling up huge waves that beat the embankments constantly. It is said that the evil dragon is making waves there. The water rose and rose, and the turbid romance came up to the embankment. The evil dragon opened its big mouth and sprayed a strong water column against the embankment. It finally washed away the embankment that people worked so hard to build, and the Yellow River broke through here. , the water rushed out of the embankment in an instant, and the place became a vast ocean. At that time, the villages on the banks of the river were all submerged. Later, the Jade Emperor sent a divine bull to subdue the evil dragon, the rain finally stopped, the flood slowly receded, and the people who lost their homes slowly returned, but the land turned into puddles, and people had to live on the embankments. The homeless were determined to block the breach. They blocked, blocked, and it took many years before the breach was finally blocked. The people who blocked the dike just lived here, people cultivated land here, got married and had children. The land silted by the river is fertile and oily, and it is a good harvest every year. People from far and near came back gradually, and the place gradually regained its former prosperity. After several years, the river water from Xingyang flowed into the Yellow River here. In this way, there are more people going from south to north, and it becomes a lively place. People named it Guijiazhuang.

People who have experienced the flood disaster will never forget that tragic history. People built a river temple by the river. A huge Zhenhe Iron Bull was cast in front of the temple. The tall iron bull was lying on the river, its black horns pierced the sky, and his eyes were staring at the Yellow River. With the iron bull, people are no longer afraid of the monstrous floods, let alone the vicious dragons, because there are divine bulls at all times have looked at them. Whenever the flood comes and the evil dragon is making waves, the divine bull will fly up from the river and jump into the water. The sharp horns and heavy iron hooves will crush the evil dragon.

Later, after an unknown number of years, a high-ranking official named Xu Zan appeared in Guijiazhuang.Xu Zan was a local official, and the money he looted was uncountable. The rich man Xu Zan began to spend money to build his own mansion, because only a luxurious mansion can honor the ancestors, and highlight the style of the wealthy and the majesty of the powerful. The newly built mansion of the Xu family is splendid, and the eaves and bucket arches are extremely luxurious. The poor villagers in the nearby dozens of miles finally have their eyes wide open, and whenever they mention the Xu residence, they all praise it. What's more, the garden of Xu's house is built beside the dry water. The garden of Xu's house is too big to see the edge. The adults who are watching the view ride on big horses. Even if they are exhausted, they can't run to the end of the garden. The garden is full of exotic flowers and plants, and you can see bright and dazzling flowers all year round. The fragrance of the flowers wafts around and drifts to the surrounding towns and villages scene. For a time, it was very lively, merchants gathered, the ferry was crowded with people from everywhere across the country, and the streets were full of all kinds of scholars, farmers, businessmen, traders and pawns. The name of Guijiazhuang is gradually forgotten by people, and people only remember the big garden, and the ferry crossing is also called Huayuankou.

People whose desire is not easy to content just like a snake wants  to swallow a elephants. The Xu family began to earn money by ferrying the ferry, digging the section where the He water enters the mouth of the Yellow River to divert the water from the Yellow River into the He river. Unexpectedly, the Yellow River swelled in summer and flooded the Xu family garden. From then on, the garden disappeared, and only the name of Huayuankou was passed down.

Heaven does evil, but it can be done, and man does evil, but cannot live! The last twelve words uttered by the old man were resentful and deep, echoing in the summer field for a long time.