One day in the winter of 1982, after lunch, Ding Yong, the 28-year-old leader of the production team of Jingkou Village, informed Zhao Yajun to summon the villagers to the team headquarters for a meeting.

In the countryside of the northeast, most of the meals in winter are called lunch and afternoon meal, and the afternoon meal is about six o'clock, and the days are short in winter, and it is almost dark at this point.

The township demanded that the reform of the rural land contract responsibility system from the production team to the household production system be completed by the end of the year. Even though Ding Yong is a sturdy young man who has gone to school for several years in the village, and the township has also preached the benefits of the household contract responsibility system, a small number of people who are accustomed to eating big pots of rice, including Ding Yong, have an indescribable feeling in their hearts at the moment.

At this time, Zhao Yajun was just 13 years old and in the fifth grade of primary school. In the first two months, my father accidentally broke his leg while working, and he has been recuperating at home, and he didn't like to study, so he simply dropped out of school to replace his father and became a laborer, which was common in those days. Because he was young, Ding Yong often instructed him to do some errands, for fear that he would be thin and tired from work.

Jingkou Village is very small, and Zhao Yajun's legs and feet are sharp and his voice is bright, shouting while running:

"Captain Ding told everyone to go to the brigade for a meeting!"

The young man was full of anger, and in the winter, the cotton clothes and pants he put on were too heavy, but his face was red after only these two laps, and a little beads of sweat oozed from the tip of his nose.

After a while, the villagers were in groups of three or five, and they all arrived unhurriedly, and as soon as everyone sat down, there were endless chats with parents, and for a while, the originally quiet brigade headquarters became lively.

Ding Yong saw that everyone was all there through the door glass in the back room, so he bent down and picked up the kettle on the ground, poured hot water from the teapot, and then deliberately cleared his throat, pushed open the door of the inner room, walked out, faced the villagers, sat on the podium with his buttocks, his left leg on his right leg at will, his upper body leaned slightly to the right, and his right hand was straightened and supported on the table.

The happy villagers who were chatting heard that Ding Yong had come out, so they stopped talking, and the house instantly returned to quiet, only a few sounds of swallowing melon seeds still did not stop, which was particularly loud at this time.

According to the requirements of the township, this year is the last year of collective production, and other provinces have already implemented it. In the future, our land will be contracted by everyone, more work, more work, no work, I think, this policy is very good, I hope everyone will cooperate with the township work, and people from the township will sign the contract for us after the year......" Ding Yong said.

"Wait a minute, captain, this division of land is a good thing, we also know, but what kind of division is this, who has more and who has less, and don't give me the land in Mopanlingzi, what can be grown in the old sand land..."Li Kun's daughter-in-law said.

Li Kun's daughter-in-law is a famous beauty in the village, who ever wanted to marry Li Kun, an honest man, everyone is outside the male lead, this Li Kun's family is a daughter-in-law Zhang Luo, she also relies on her own good looks, competing in the men's pile, everyone also let her, in terms of taking advantage, she has never lagged behind.

Hearing her say this, everyone started talking.

"Yes, how can this land be divided, don't you have to let his own family row the land in the dam, and I don't want to ...... it for me."

"The ox cart in that place in Da Changlong can't go, as soon as the spring is too muddy, the cow is stuck in half a leg, and it has to be dragged by people, I don't want this broken ground..."

......

For a while, the brigade headquarters was in a mess, everyone either discussed loudly, or muttered quietly, everyone had their own calculations, Ding Yong sat in front and watched the heated discussion of everyone, and had to smile bitterly, as a farmer, how could he not know, the problems they were worried about, how could he not be worried?

"Don't worry, the township said that we will be divided according to the population, and there are a few people in the family and a few land, but there is no land for the second child, and the second child is not encouraged. You don't have to worry about this problem, the technicians from the township will give us a grade and give us an equal score, don't worry, everyone!"

"It's good that it's like your family, the first child is a big child, like our family, and the third is a kid, so don't I suffer!"

"Whoever makes your daughter-in-law not angry, and only wants a kid after giving birth, raise it yourself!" said villager Liu Sanqi.

"You still say that I'm sorry, your family doesn't even have a cub, but you can save money, you don't have to raise a baby" Wu Laosi shot back.

"You ......" Liu San blushed, not knowing what to say.

Immediately, everyone burst into laughter, and the tense atmosphere just now was eased a lot, and Ding Yong suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.

At this moment, Feng Chun, the commander of the militia company, ran in out of breath

"Captain, the lamb given by our commune, there is no one of them, there is blood on the ground, if it goes on like this, why will you give everyone meat this year!" Feng Chun is a 22-year-old young man, with strong blood, and he stomped his feet when he said this.

"Do you know what you stole it?" Ding Yong frowned.

"It's like a wolf, and you've been hearing it howl lately. Zhao Yajun interjected.

Ding Yong glanced at Zhao Yajun and nodded in agreement.

Zhao Yajun's eyes suddenly lit up and straightened his waist.

"This is just the biggest sheep in our village...... Feng Chun said unwillingly.

"How long has it been since you took it, do you know?" asked Ding Yong anxiously.

"It should not be long, I feel that the blood is hot" After speaking, Feng Chun raised his left hand, and there were indeed red blood stains on the tips of his fingers, which had not yet coagulated.

In that era of planned economy, I couldn't eat fine grains, and the staple food at home was basically corn flour cakes, which were golden and hard in my mouth, and the slag fell straight out. Catch up with the production team for the New Year's festival to send some flour and meat, and everyone happily takes the meat stuffed dumplings at home, which is the most promising thing of the year.

"I'm afraid it's going to snow heavily, the wolf cubs come down to beg for food, it's not good for these animals to keep an eye on, look, the little lamb left, I can't keep it right away..."

Lao Sun Tou twisted the cigarette pouch pot in his hand as he spoke, and after compacting, his left hand trembled and took out a box of Yanbian matches from his pocket, and put it at the mouth of the slightly inclined cigarette pouch pot, and took a few sips with his mouth, the old man was over seventy, and there were not many teeth left.

He squinted his eyes and took a sharp puff of the cigarette pouch and pot in his hand, but he didn't see him spit out the cigarette, as if he had digested the cigarette directly, and whispered:

"I think it was also at this time, my family's seven-year-old Jianjun was gone, there was nothing, and when we found out, the snow had already begun to fall, and I chased along the blood mark for more than 100 meters, and I couldn't see anything..."

The old grandson wanted to say something, but in the end he just opened his mouth, slowly lowered his head, and said it so many times, maybe he was tired of talking about it......

The atmosphere suddenly became solemn, no one spoke anymore, the sound of swallowing melon seeds was gone, and the big guys stared at Ding Yong in unison.

Ding Yong walked to the window, it was already getting dark outside the window, and sporadic snowflakes began to hit the glass in front of him, the window creaked, Ding Yong felt the cold wind crawl down the crack in the window into the house, burrow into his cuffs, and crawl all over his body along his arms......

"Feng Chun, organize a few people, let's feel along the road to see if we can find this wolf cub, if we don't restrain it, I'm afraid everyone will not dare to let their children go to school in the future." ”

Ding Yong thought of his family's Xiao Mancang, who is also seven cents old this year, and he and his daughter-in-law Feng Ying are busy with the production team, Xiao Mancang walks with the big brothers and sisters in the village every day to go to the primary school three miles away to go to preschool, and he is also a little afraid.

"No matter how many there are, you must get rid of them, otherwise the children will ......," Ding Yong thought.

"That, let my family Li Kun also go with him, he is timid, look at him angry, just let him follow to practice his courage" Li Kun's daughter-in-law finished speaking, blushing and glancing at the village butcher Zhang Fa, Zhang Fa has a beard, a big man of about one meter eight, and as soon as he opened his voice, the people sitting next to him felt shocked, he did the work of killing pigs and cattle in the village, and he was also a good hand at working in the production team.

Zhang Fa looked at her and looked away casually, all of this Ding Yong saw in his eyes, in fact, everyone in the village had long rumored that the relationship between the two was not ordinary, Ding Yong saw that this sentence was not groundless.

He thought about the character of Li Kun's daughter-in-law, but if she decided, if she screwed it up and didn't let people go, I was afraid that Li Kun would have to be bullied again tonight, he thought about it for a while, and then had a plan, and then said:

"Zhang Fa, you can remove the meat, you bring a meat knife from home, let's slaughter the wolf back and share the wolf meat with everyone. ”

"This ......" Zhang Fa knew in his heart that since the captain had spoken, this involved the collective interest, how could he be embarrassed not to go. "Okay, then I'll go home and get ready. ”

After speaking, Zhang Fa hurriedly left the team headquarters.

"I'll also go back and tell my house, Li Kun is ready to prepare......" Li Kun's daughter-in-law twisted her ass and walked out quickly.

The life of the village was afraid that he would be named by Ding Yong, and they were all scattered, leaving only Lao Sun Tou and Zhao Yajun sitting and not leaving.

"Xiao Yong, you come with me, I'll give you a guy to defend yourself. The old grandson took Ding Yong and Zhao Yajun followed, and the three of them came to the old grandson's house. The old grandson took off his shoes and climbed onto the kang, rummaged through the kang cabinet, and after a while, he took out an object wrapped in a black cloth more than half a meter long.

"In the early years, the army and the police station came down to collect shotguns, and we had a certificate, so I didn't hand it in, thinking about when I would avenge the founding of the army. But since then, this wolf has not come, and now that I am old, I can't walk anymore, and I want to help me avenge the revenge of the army!" Speaking of this old grandson, he was in tears, beating his chest, I don't know whether to blame myself or feel distressed.

"This is also the marching tent I bought in the early years, you take it, you must help me kill these animals!"

Ding Yong took the shotgun and the only two bullets, he knew that this thing could only be hit in the face, and it couldn't cause fatal injuries to the wolf if it was far away, but this tent was really good, and in the weather tonight, I really had to use this thing.

He was just about to say something, when he suddenly heard someone shouting his name, and when he heard Feng Chun's voice, he thought it was time to go, so he hurried away, walked to the door and looked back at the old grandson.

Ding Yong, a swaying god, felt that he was laughing, his shriveled lips seemed to sink into his mouth, and the folds on his face became more obvious, and he couldn't see his eyes or even his facial features, leaving only a slightly open black hole at his mouth.

It's terrifying......

Ding Yong took Zhao Yajun to the front road to meet Feng Chun, Zhang Fa and Li Kun, and before he got close, he heard Feng Chun muttering:

"None of them are willing to come, they are all grandma's grandchildren, and when we come back, they will not give them meat to eat. ”

Ding Yong shook his head with a wry smile and said:

"What did you all bring with you?"

"I didn't bring anything with me except a flashlight, and I kept calling for people to come. Feng Chun said.

"A knife, a pack of matches, wolves are afraid of fire, I don't want to be taken away by these fucking animals. Glancing at Li Kun, Zhang Fa said.

"One rope, two bud rice cakes per person, no ......," Li Kun said.

"What's the use of the rope, girls, playing skipping rope?" Zhang Fa said angrily.

"Okay, let's not say a word, let's hurry up and take a look at the sheepfold, and by the way, find something to defend ourselves, let's go." Ding Yong said.

"Then what should I do?", Zhao Yajun said at this time.

"You're too young, go home and stay. Ding Yong said.

"No, I'll go with everyone, I can explore the way for you, I have good physical strength......" Zhao Yajun was about to continue to say something, but was stopped by Ding Yong.

"Go to my house now, and bring a message to your aunt and your brother for me, saying that we will go to find the sheep, and we will go and go back, this is a task, and you must complete it." Ding Yong's tone is irrefutable.

"Okay," Zhao Yajun said, "then you guys be careful." ”

The four of them didn't say anything more and walked straight to the direction of the sheepfold at the brigade headquarters.

Zhao Yajun ran to Ding Yong's house, the village was too small, and he soon ran to Ding Yong's house. Feng Ying was telling a story to Man Cang, and Man Cang, who was about to fall asleep, heard his brother coming and sat up as well.

"Auntie, my uncle asked me to tell you that he went out to look for sheep and will be back soon," Zhao Yajun said.

"Lost the sheep again, did your uncle go by himself?" Feng Ying asked.

"No, there are also Company Commander Feng and them, there are several, don't worry, auntie, I'm going too." ”

Feng Ying saw that Zhao Yajun was in a hurry to leave, and didn't ask anything else, but just told him to pay attention to safety, Zhao Yajun grabbed a handful of raw melon seeds in the corner of the house, and ran away.

Every time she comes, she will rub something to eat, Feng Ying has long been surprised, she looked out the window, the snow is getting heavier and heavier, and countless white dots are spinning, crashing, and rotating in front of the window......

The wind blew the plastic sheeting of the chicken rack in the yard and rattled......

It must have been a heavy snowfall, a heavy snow that has not been seen in many years.

"Mom, I'm sleepy, let's not wait for Dad, Dad will come back when I wake up," Mancang said.

Who would have thought that this farewell Ding Yong would never come back......

It was really a snowfall, and all the truth, all the sins, were covered up.

It's really a lot of snow.