Chapter 17: To My Father
"Hukui! The forest rangers in the mountains are gone, and our people have been looking there for a long time but have not found them. I didn't see anyone alive, I didn't see a corpse dead! How many years have I thought I could be stable forever, but who would have thought that those people would come again!" the village chief knocked on the cigarette pouch and told Father Hu what had happened.
"Did you tell his family? What will happen to the orphans and widows? If those people come, we'll have to let the kids hide it!"
"Lao Huang's daughter-in-law also knew, and we told her as soon as possible. Her temper is known to everyone in our village. Except for one daughter, who was locked in the house, she had to go into the mountains every day like crazy to find her. Alas, we couldn't stop it! We went to the ranger house earlier, and we didn't find anything unusual there, except that people didn't know where to go. The village chief lit a dry cigarette and took a hard puff!
Hu Che's father remembered what the village chief told him that day. They are well aware of the responsibilities of the rangers, but they never let the children know about these things, and they are never allowed to go up the mountain. Dad Hu shook his head and brought himself back to reality.
"Child, have you encountered something?" Hu Kui tried to ask his son.
"I haven't encountered anything! I've been learning kung fu from people recently, what's this? Those who practice martial arts will inevitably bump into each other!" Hu Che really didn't encounter anything, after all, those people were solved by Chu.
"You really haven't encountered anything?" Dad Hu was still not at ease.
"Really not!" Hu Che looked at his father helplessly.
"But you're just practicing martial arts, how can you have so many scars?Also, how did you think of asking about the forest ranger?"
"Isn't that harder than others? You touch, touch my arm, look at my chest muscles. How porcelain I am now, isn't this fist very strong? I think who dares to call me Hu Fat Man now! Forest ranger, the children in the village have sung nursery rhymes. Yingying said that his father was a forest ranger. ”
Hu Che was even deceived, and Hu Kui was also suspicious. couldn't stand the endless care of his parents, so Hu Che decided to go to sleep in the house. Hu Kui and his wife had no choice but to tell him to have a good rest.
The next day, it was getting late, and the three of them came to Huang Yingying's house again, and they sat boredly on the steps looking at the sky! Huang Yingying's face showed a trace of exhaustion and worry. "Mom came back late during this time, and every time she came back, she was very tired. Sometimes, she still has a wound on her arm!"
"Why didn't you say it earlier?" Chu and Hu Che glanced at each other, and each understood what was going on.
"Actually, I've wanted to tell you about it for a long time. However, I knew that Mom must have gone to find Dad. Dad hasn't been back for a long time, and I miss him too. However, I feel that he may be far away from me. He could 。。。。。。 It's gone. Huang Yingying's eyes swirled with tears, but she refused to shed.
"Ahem, get up and walk, my legs are numb. Activities, come on, let's do activities together!" Hu Che turned his head, not daring to listen to Huang Yingying's words anymore. He got up and ran to the courtyard and walked back and forth, always with his back to the two of them.
"You've seen him?"
Huang Yingying is definitely a smart girl in Bingxue, and she felt that she had guessed correctly when she saw Hu Che's abnormal performance. She looked at Chu and wanted to get an answer from his mouth. However, Chu hesitated and refused to speak!
"Hu Che, tell me, don't say you don't know. Some time ago, we went to the deep mountain courtyard together. At that time, Chu must have told you a lot of things, and you also saw a lot of things. Actually, I'm not that vulnerable, I just want an answer. Huang Yingying's voice trembled a little, it was the sound of trying not to cry, and it was distressing to listen to.
Hu Che remained silent with his back to her.
Huang Yingying continued: "Although you really want to be calm, your eyes can't deceive people. Shocked, scared, worried, hesitant! However, it didn't take long for you to make up your mind to practice martial arts with Chu. You must have encountered something again, which made you make up your mind. ”
Hu Che is really not a person who can lie, he can neither fool his parents nor Huang Yingying.
"If you don't say it, I can feel it. My father is getting farther and farther away from me, and lately he can't even get close to me every time I dream. However, his appearance is becoming clearer and clearer. Huang Yingying clasped her hands on her knees and buried her head in her legs. She began to choke, sob, and then howl. She was crying so sadly! It was a kind of 。。。。。。 Scream!
Chu and Hu Che both returned to her side. They sat on her left and right, silently accompanied.
"Is he already gone, can you take me to see him? You don't have to lie to me, I can feel it here!" Huang Yingying pointed to her chest, it was a heartache feeling, that feeling could not be described in words, but it was like a boulder pressing on it, very heavy. She calmed down, her voice trembled, her face haggard, and the two tear streaks were particularly clear on her tender little face.
"Well, we'll take you tomorrow!" Chu still decided to tell Huang Yingying.
"Don't tell your mother yet, she'll be very sad!" Huang Yingying stubbornly almost wiped the tears on her face, but she couldn't wipe them clean. The more she wiped, the more anxious she wiped, the more she wiped, and finally she cried helplessly!
"Don't worry, we won't say it!" Chu carried Huang Yingying, who was tired of crying, into the house and put her on the bed. He put a thin quilt over Huang Yingying's body. It wasn't until she fell asleep that Chu returned to the steps at the door. He and Hu Che sat quietly, like two door gods, guarding the elves in the house.
Huang's mother was late when she came back, and she saw the two people on the steps barely smiling. She was so tired that she walked a long way every day to look for the figure that had not been seen for a long time, but she could not find even the slightest trace.
"Child, Auntie is tired and can't cook for you today. Huang's mother had a bruise on her forehead, her leg was also injured, and her legs were not able to walk coherently.
"Auntie, we've already cooked the meal. Yingying is asleep, you can eat something and rest quickly, let's go back first!" Chu got up and patted Hu Che on the side.
"Thank you, good boy, Auntie, thank you!"
They left and returned home with infinite melancholy, and they couldn't imagine how sad and heartbroken Huang Yingying would be when she saw her father's tombstone! Hu Che still remembered that the place where Chu took him to the beginning, and how sad it was for an outsider who had no blood relationship to squat there and cry! It was also from that time that he exercised himself like crazy, covering his body with scars, but he never said the word "pain."
The rain in the early morning came a little unkindly, wetting Hu Che's coat and Chu's hair. Huang Yingying walked out in a raincoat, took another oil-paper umbrella and handed it to Chu. The three of them gradually walked towards the mountains in the sound of the early morning drizzle.
Strawberry came to Huang Yingying's side, and it seemed to be able to feel the sadness in her body. It licked Huang Yingying's arm obediently, and let out a few low roars from time to time. Huang Yingying rode on its back and slowly disappeared into the "field of vision" of the village.
They passed by the small courtyard and took Tianmei and Tianzhu with them. They walked up to the mountainside and took the foraging bears with them. They walked through the mountain spring, and a huge Haidongqing appeared in the sky. Finally, they walked to the top of the hill and saw the lonely grave and tombstone standing on the top of the mountain.
Every time she approached a distance, Huang Yingying's face became a little paler, and a few tears would slip down. It wasn't until she came to the front of the lonely grave and saw the words on the tombstone that Huang Yingying exhaled a long breath of turbidity.
Hu Che took the oil-paper umbrella handed to him by Chu, opened it, and propped it up on top of Huang Yingying's head. Chu handed the yellowed notebook into her hand. "This was found in the stone house, and I have never dared to give it to you. Now, open it up and take a look. ”
Huang Yingying gently opened the notebook, cautiously! She opened the notebook, tears kept dripping on the paper, but she stubbornly did not make a sound. Reading and reading, she slowly crouched down, from one knee to both knees, and then curled up there. She began to sob, and gradually her voice grew louder and louder, until she wailed and cried throughout the forest.
The black bears and wolves all buried their heads under their feet. They let the rain wash away, regardless of the mud, and they also mourn the human who they have never met. Huang Yingying squatted on the ground, crying more and more sadly, like a mournful bird playing a miserable lament song to the entire mountain forest!
As time passed, the strawberry's front paws were gradually submerged in the dirt. Qingli's feathers were also wet, and it landed on Chu's shoulder and kept taking care of it. Finally, Huang Yingying stopped crying. She was helped by Chu to the back of the strawberry. After a while, Huang Yingying raised her head, and she told Chu that she wanted to go home. Chu nodded, and then beckoned everyone to return together. He looked at Huang Yingying on the back of the strawberry, and a poem he had read sounded in his head.
You see it, or you don't see it, I'm there, not sad or happy. If you read it, or if you don't read it, the love is there, and it doesn't come or go. You love, or you don't, love is there, not increasing or decreasing. You follow, or you don't follow, my hand is in your hand, and I will not give up. Come into my arms, or, let me dwell in your heart, silently, in love, in silence, in joy!
Their journey back was also long, but they walked more slowly because of their heavy hearts. Huang Yingying sat on the back of the strawberry and gently read the words she wrote to her father:
I come to you,
Like the rain of the mountains falling into the bosom of the earth,
I can't see your face
But soft and warm.
I heard your story,
Like a longing chick,
Imagine an eagle flying in the sky;
Like a squirrel,
Or the mountain hare,
With reluctance and nostalgia stationed in this green meadow!