Dream Guide

In a chaotic urban village on the outskirts of the city, thick white smoke rises from a stall selling kebabs. The smell of chili powder makes passers-by cough. The roadside stalls were filled with people eating late-night snacks, shouting and punching, and telling cool stories about people in the market. From time to time, someone who had drunk a few cups of cat urine would walk into the dark alley. A girl in the alley wearing cool makeup would welcome him in with a smile, and then close the rolling shutter.

A crow flies over people's heads like a bat in the dark night. Anyone who sees it will spit, shout "bad luck", and drink two sips of beer to calm down the shock.

The crow lingered in the aroma of roasted lamb for a long time, and finally flew into a secluded corner in the distance with a long croak, and stopped on the top of a laurel tree outside the window of a rental house.

Jiang Deguan sat on the shabby sofa with his eyes closed, the cigarette on his fingers almost burning his fingernails. At this time, a strange crow came from outside the window, which made him tremble and throw the cigarette to the ground.

Seeing that the ground was covered with advertising paper and plastic bags, he had to pick up the still burning cigarette butts and put them out in the ashtray.

Jiang Deguan glanced out the window. The night was dark, and the light from the low street lamps in the distance shone. The jagged shadows of the sweet-scented osmanthus trees swayed in front of the window, and the leaves rustled in the wind, like the laughter of ghosts.

There wasn't even a shadow of a bird on the tree.

But he clearly heard the crow. Could it be that the crow followed? He guessed suspiciously.

Just now, in the spacious courtyard of the old power plant, he had arranged everything, but a crow appeared out of nowhere and croaked at them, and his people suddenly became crazy. , even his own mind was confused and he didn't know what happened.

Of course he didn't believe that crows had any magical powers. He just felt that today was extremely unlucky.

Tuk-tuk-tuk, someone was knocking on the old wooden door of the room.

"Come in." Jiang Deguan said.

The subordinate walked in and called Master Jiang, but he hesitated to speak.

"If you have anything to say, just say it." Jiang Deguan said weakly.

The subordinate said: "All of our people...were taken over by Huang Ziqiang."

"Huang Ziqiang?" Jiang Deguan shook his head, "No way, he is not that capable."

"The news from Huang Ziqiang's people is that he was just helping out and cleaning the battlefield today. The one who really went to help was..."

"who is it?"

"It's Li Wei from the Xia family and a young Chinese named Quai Wolf from Canada."

"Who?" Jiang Deguan felt incredible, "Impossible, impossible..."

He said a dozen times that it was impossible, then raised his head and asked his subordinates: "We have checked it out, are you sure?"

The subordinate nodded: "OK."

Jiang Deguan sat down on the sofa slumped. No wonder such a perfect layout was easily broken today. With the help of the Xia family and the North American Hong family, his hope of revenge has almost disappeared. Moreover, after this battle, he, Jiang Deguan, could no longer gain a foothold in the Sanwu and Shenzhou areas, and even going to the United States became unrealistic.

Jiang Deguan waved his hand feebly: "You all go, there is still some cash in the basement, take it and share it with the brothers."

The subordinate opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but in the end he just said: "Then take care of yourself." Then he went out.

Jiang Deguan heard the sound of the door closing and felt the air gradually condensing in the room. The whole room was like a coffin prepared for him, and everything became lifeless.

Another crow came from the window.

Jiang Deguan slowly closed his eyes. Everything around him became dark and then gradually became brighter again.

A clear creek meanders, along the bank are rows of brick bungalows, and a high arched stone bridge connects the homes on both sides. The stone steps behind the house go straight to the bottom of the river, and moss is sparsely crawling on the stone steps. Occasionally, when a ship passes by, the water waves rush to both sides, lapping at the embankment and making a splashing sound.

The woman squatted on the stone steps, pounding her clothes, and used a wooden stick to beat the clothes spread on the stone surface. A child jumped into the water with a loud sound from the shore. The splash wet the woman's clothes, causing the woman to curse.

The children in the water were laughing and joking. After playing for a while, they rushed to the shore and shouted: "Brother, come down and play!"

There was a small table at the back door on the shore, and an older child was working at the desk. Hearing the child's cry, he smiled into the river and said, "No more playing, I want to review my homework."

The child plunged down suddenly and came up. He picked up a clam in his hand and threw it towards the shore. It hit the small table with a bang and wet the book.

The big boy stood up angrily, looked at the woman on the stone steps who was bending over to wash her clothes and looking at the child in the river with a smile. Then he sighed and sat down, wiped the wet book and continued writing.

The child in the water burst out laughing.

Suddenly, the river rose suddenly, and the waves rolled like an angry white snake, rolling toward the shore.

Many people came out of the houses on the shore, shouting: "The flood is coming, run for your life!" People rushed to tell each other and fled in all directions.

The upper reaches of the river were so gray that it was difficult to tell the difference between heaven and earth. Suddenly, a yellowish-brown tide appeared. The tide, several feet high, surged over the sky, like thousands of horses galloping, making a rumble that made even the earth tremble. Incessantly.

The big boy pushed the small table and the books fell to the floor. But he ignored the book and rushed down the stone steps to pull the woman: "Mom, run!"

The woman cried and pointed to the undulating black shadow in the middle of the river: "Your brother...go and save your brother!"

The older boy jumped into the water to find his younger brother. After searching for a long time, I finally pulled my brother ashore, but the woman was missing.

After the flood receded, everything was devastated. Except for the ancient stone arch bridge, which still sat there intact, as calm as an old man who had seen the vicissitudes of life, the entire village had been razed to the ground.

The brothers cried and searched for traces of their home among the ruins. Finally, they found the dying woman.

"Take care of your brother." These were the last words left by the woman.

"Mom!" The big boy burst into tears. This was the last time he called the woman "Mom."

He dragged his younger brother along the muddy road, begging in every village, and was looked down upon. They walked into the city from the countryside. Among the tall buildings, the younger brother asked his older brother in fear: "Will we die?"

The elder brother looked up at the building towering into the sky and said, "No, we will not die. I will let you eat the best food here and stand on the top of the tallest building to enjoy the scenery."

Years later, my brother fulfilled his promise. He took his younger brother to eat at the only Michelin three-star restaurant in the city, and watched the city's night view from the top of an 88-story building.

"Take care of your brother."

My brother always thinks of what his mother said before she died.

However, he saw the charred corpse, and the smell of burnt meat skewers filled the air.

He heard the woman scolding: "Why are you so useless? You can't even take care of your brother!"

A crow call came from nowhere.

Jiang Deguan burst into tears, covered his face and cried.