Mantra

Chapter 57

The bouncing shadow quickly disappeared in a flash.

But the dog in Zhao Hong's hand continued to roar in Bai Ying's direction as if he had gone crazy, as if he had been greatly provoked.No matter how Zhao Hong pulls, the black dog still barks wildly, charging at the white shadow.

Facing the inexplicable thing, my mind turned quickly. Although I only saw a shadow, that thing was enough to be cautious.Because the moment the shadow flickered... I'm sure I saw a fox's face.

That face was smiling provocatively, the eyes were as bright as a dead gray cat, but it was full of playfulness.

The three of us stood in a daze facing the position of the phantom, dumbfounded by this wave of unrest and strangeness, and our nerves were a little numb.

Zhao Hong grabbed the dog's chain desperately, and said to me blankly: "How do you explain the fox face...is it fake?"

While speaking, his voice trembled obviously, and the cigarette butt at the corner of his mouth fell to the ground.

I could tell that Zhao Hong's mood was too unstable. Under the double stimulation of myths and real crises, he had been forced to the verge of nervous breakdown.

I looked at his face that was about to cry, and suddenly realized that I must never take such an emotionally unstable oil bottle on the road again, otherwise, I would be harming him and myself in a disguised form.

So, seeing Zhao Hong's emotions about to lose control again, I didn't answer him directly, but after thinking for a while, I borrowed a sentence that the old squad leader once told us: "Old Zhao! Do you still remember..." I was suspicious , Fear arises from the heart.' Remember? At the shooting range, the things we encountered were even more difficult! Didn’t you survive? You are also a soldier... Think back carefully! What our old squad leader said back then! "

"The heart comes from doubting death, and the fear comes from the heart", this simple but quite Zen-like saying also contains the connotation and energy that only us cooks can understand.

This sentence can pull Zhao Hong back from the abyss of ghosts and ghosts to rational memory.

In the blink of an eye, I was also reminded of that "spiritual" memory by my own words...

That's the story of when I was in the army, on the shooting range.

When I served in the army, the company was stationed in the mountains of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, surrounded by mountains on three sides and surrounded by green forests of moso bamboos. As far as the eye can see, the entire camp area is soaked in the sea of ​​bamboo green, and the scenery is peaceful. And pleasant.

But even so, there is one exception in the camp where no bamboo grows, or even any weeds grow... That is our shooting range.

The shooting range of the company is not a good place. As soon as I joined the army, I heard from the seniors that there was a mass grave before the founding of the People’s Republic of China, and counter-revolutionaries were shot and killed during the Communist Party.It is said that there were more people who died there before than our entire company had ever served as soldiers.

Maybe that's why, I always feel that the place is dark and unlucky, so I avoid it in broad daylight. Except for two or three times a year for shooting and special training, I almost never set foot on that broken ground.

But what I didn't expect was that, after all the dodging and hiding, the bad luck in this shooting range still couldn't be avoided.

In the second year of being a soldier, the company had to level the ground of the shooting range before the special training of the whole army. The cooking team had less combat preparation work, so the order was assigned to the shooting area for preparation, and was responsible for digging deep in the shooting range to "report the target" trench".

This is a hard job, and all the comrades in our cooking class are unwilling to do it in their hearts.Not to mention the tiring work of digging trenches for newspapers, we also had to take care of the food for the company. We had to grasp with both hands, and we couldn’t make mistakes. This made us who are used to a relatively leisurely life very difficult.

Because of this, everyone in the class changed their faces and rushed to participate in the task of "fire duty" in the cooking class that everyone in the class avoided.

After all, compared to working outdoors under the scorching sun, cooking and taking a nap in an air-conditioned cooking class is much more relaxing and comfortable.

But later, our "false positiveness" was quickly seen through by the deputy company commander, and the company deputy was very shameless, and publicly criticized our fake attitude at the "company regular meeting".

Our company deputy is a hot-tempered Northeast guy. At that meeting, he got angry and became more and more excited as he talked. , Lian Lian waved his hand again, and handed over the task of "reporting for the target during the special training period" to us.

This sentence is equivalent to completely driving us from hell...to the eighteenth level of hell.

During the half-month training period when the special training began, because of the "care" of the company deputy, we had to go to the training ground to serve as logistics soldiers all day in addition to cooking in the cooking class every day. Same as the third grandson.

That kind of life is very difficult, even if you are facing the sun and the bullets whistling in your ears, those who are not on the wheel have to be responsible for making tea and pouring water, loading magazines and wiping the wires, we are busy when others are resting, and we are also busy when others are busy , It is no different from the waiter.

After a whole day, everyone in the cooking class was exhausted and out of breath because of running at both ends.We can't leave until the sun goes down, and we have to wait for everyone to leave in a team before we can withdraw.

This kind of life is very hard on people's emotions and physical strength. After a few days, several people in the cooking class suffered from dehydration and mild heatstroke to varying degrees. They also felt limp when walking.

Soon, someone finally couldn't hold on anymore.

On the fifth day of the special training, the third squad of the company conducted a live ammunition shooting. I remember that it seemed to be shooting at a [-]-meter target in a prone position, with ten bullets per person.After the shooting is over, the target announcer signs the target, the company commander records it, and then changes the target paper to continue...

But after the shooting ended, the field was quiet. The company commander and the company deputy raised their binoculars, but they couldn't wait for the target reporter to raise the flag.

In this abnormally calm atmosphere, people immediately sensed that something was wrong with the "banner soldiers" hidden in the target trench.

After the company commander noticed something strange, he immediately ordered the company deputy beside him to lead the people to see what was going on.After the company deputy nodded, he led the nearby Mongolian soldier Baturu to stop the training, and the two trotted to the ditch of the reporting target.

At the time of the accident, Zhao Hong and I were pressing bullets into the clips, so we didn’t see what happened in the target pit for the first time, but we found out later that Batulu and the company’s deputy hurriedly sent the bullets to the magazine. The target's comrades in arms were dragged out, and the person they were carrying was already unconscious.

The soldier who fainted was called Zeng Hongbing. He was not yet eighteen when he came to the cooking class. He was a short Sichuan soldier. Because he was small and loved chili, our cooking class used to call him "Little Pepper".

At first, we didn't pay enough attention to Xiaojiali's coma. After the inspection by the health team, they naturally came to the conclusion of heat stroke and dehydration.

But what no one expected was that Xiaojiao couldn't sit up after being dizzy.

After Xiaojiao infused the liquid for a long time, his eyes opened, but he couldn't sit up, and his thinking was very sluggish. When Zhao Hong and I went to see him, we felt that Xiaojiali's behavior after waking up was very evil. It's fine to foam at the mouth, but there are still some vague words in your mouth, like "plum", "plum", etc. Do you want to eat plum?Or, what is the name of someone?
According to our verbal guesses, Little Pepper spent another two days half asleep and half awake.

On the third day, the old squad leader couldn't stand it any longer, so he took me and Zhao Hong to the infirmary, cut Chili's pulse, and secretly became a "local doctor".

After the old squad leader cut Chili's pulse, his face visibly twitched, but he immediately regained his composure.

After the squad leader withdrew his hand, he calmly said to us: "He's suffering from 'Apoplexy'. Make him a bowl of 'Resurrection Soup' at noon today, and feed him. I'll take care of the rest."

Later I learned that the so-called "bardo" is the entry of evil qi into the body due to the unevenness of heat and cold. This disease is mostly caused by seeking shade and coolness in the extreme heat. At first, it is similar to the symptoms of sunstroke, but it is not. Contrary to the principle of heatstroke, once misdiagnosed, it can kill you.But Huan Hun Decoction is a unique panacea for this disease.

At first, I didn't know what a revival soup was, but after the old squad leader cooked a bowl in front of me, I suddenly realized that this revival soup was actually ginger soup with black donkey's hoof powder added!

The old squad leader made Huanhun soup, and he also vowed to us that ginger can drive away cold and evil, and it is the most yang thing in the world, so Taoists also call it "Ziyang". The body is full of diseases", which is an excellent thing for treating yin deficiency.

As for the black donkey's hoof, it is even more amazing. The cook of the Wuzang Temple called this thing "Kirin Finger". When it is done, it has the nourishing effect of donkey-hide gelatin.

When talking about this, the old squad leader reminded me: "Don't underestimate this common ingredient like ginger. In the hands of a good cook, he can exert the effect of ginseng."

The words of the old squad leader were obviously suspected of exalting myself, and I was influenced by my family at that time, and I always thought that cooking was a profession that could not be put on the table.Therefore, the answer to the old squad leader was only a slightly contemptuous smile.

After all, even the diners can't see us in the back kitchen, so what's the use of making food comparable to ginseng?Are you going to be a doctor?At most, it's just a local doctor.

The old squad leader looked at my disdainful attitude and didn't reprimand me. He told me for the first time indifferently: "There is no distinction between food and medicine, and... eating can lead to life, and it can also lead to death. Cure ghosts and chaos."

At that time, I didn't know what his last sentence meant, but in the next few days, I really saw the old squad leader's ability to treat "ghost chaos".

It's just that it's not luck, but a kind of fear and surprise.Also because of what happened later, I began to pay more and more attention to the knowledge of the old squad leader, which is the so-called "hidden rules" in the cook circle.

Since every day at noon, we added a bowl of Huan Huan soup to Xiaojiao, Xiaojiao's illness has improved a lot, and he was completely cured within three days.On the fourth day, he happily ran back from the health team and continued to cook and go on duty.

But after he came back, we suddenly felt that this little pepper... seemed to be different from him before.

(End of this chapter)