As far as the eye can see, Zhang Shaoyu didn't see a decent house, and among the more than 20 houses, none of them were red brick houses, all of them were built of earth with walls and thatched roofs. If it weren't for the fact that there were still a few intertwined wires in the village, Zhang Shaoyu would have doubted whether he had returned to the primitive society.

Along the way, he didn't see a single young man or woman, all old people and children.

Following behind Tang Kui, he turned two village roads paved with Magu, and what entered Zhang Shaoyu's eyes was a thatched mud wall house built on the slope by the mountain.

The house is not small, covering an area of more than 100 square meters, surrounded by lush mountains and forests on three sides, and only an open area on the south side. The windows are all papier-mâché, and the vermilion lacquer door is also peeled off.

Climbing the small winding steps made of gravel, and crossing the sunning flat where several old hens were pecking, Zhang Shaoyu saw an old man wearing a ragged jacket sitting on the threshold of the hall gate.

The old man leaned on the door frame, as if he was sleeping, looking so lonely.

"Grandpa, grandpa, my brother is back. Tang Fang shouted loudly from afar: "Mom, Mom, my brother is back." ”

The old man seemed to be a little behind his ears, and he didn't hear Tang Fang's greeting, until Tang Fang walked to the door and shouted loudly in his ear, Fang opened his old eyes that were a little cloudy.

Tang Kui walked up to the old man, knelt down on his knees with a "porphy" at the old man, lowered his head and said, "Grandpa, Kuiwa has come back to see you." ”

Grandpa's demeanor seemed very calm, squinting at Tang Kui, looking up and down a few times, a kind smile appeared on his old face full of deep wrinkles like knives, touched Tang Kui's head and said, "It's good to come back, it's good to come back." ”

Tang Kui got up from the ground, helped his grandfather up from the threshold, and walked towards the house, asking as he walked, "Grandpa, how is your old man doing lately?"

"Hehe, the coffin is almost old, what's so good, Kuiwa, go into the back room to see your mother, the family is all supported by her alone, and the iron beaten people will also be tired!" Grandpa said with a sigh.

After Tang Kui helped his grandfather to sit down on a dilapidated bamboo chair, he glanced back at Zhang Shaoyu.

Zhang Shaoyu gestured with his eyes and asked Tang Kui to go into the house to see his mother, don't just greet him.

Tang Kui nodded and walked briskly towards the inner room to the east of the hall.

At this time, Zhang Shaoyu carried the few bags that Tang Kui had just thrown on the ground to the old Eight Immortals table in the hall, and looked around at Tang Kui's home.

Modern household appliances, you can't find a shadow in this house, the house is surrounded by walls, these four words are used to describe this home, it is not an exaggeration. In the hall of more than 20 square meters, in addition to an old table and chair of the Eight Immortals, there are only a few small benches, and there are two and only three legs.

On the west wall, there is a pair of clothes that Zhang Shaoyu has only seen in film and television programs, and there is a yellowed portrait of Chairman Mao posted on the north wall.

"Is this guy a colleague of Queva, or is it a ......?"

Grandpa Tang's words made Zhang Shaoyu retract his gaze. He looked at this old man with a thin face, and smiled politely: "Grandpa Tang, I am Kuizi's colleague and a good brother. My name is Zhang Shaoyu, you can call me Shaoyu. ”

Grandpa Tang led his right hand and motioned for Zhang Shaoyu to sit down, the old man looked at the gift bags on the table, shook his head and said: "Rely on your parents at home and rely on your friends when you go out, Kuiwa has a few taels, and I can't be clearer about being a grandfather." It seems that he has been taking care of you a lot these days outside. ”

"Grandpa Tang, Kuizi's ability is great. Zhang Shaoyu Zhengse said: "He is now a signed artist of a very large film company, and he will soon be able to make a lot of money." ”

"Brother Zhang, is what you said true?" Tang Fang looked at Zhang Shaoyu suspiciously, and asked, "Can my brother enter the film company?"

"Of course it's true, Xiaofang, don't you know how powerful your brother is? The kung fu he practiced since he was a child was not practiced in vain!" Zhang Shaoyu replied.

Grandpa Tang's eyes froze, staring at Zhang Shaoyu with a blazing gaze, and asked in a deep voice, "You mean that Kuiwa is using his fists and feet to mix up and eat?!"

Zhang Shaoyu was stunned by the old man's gaze, but quickly deduced that Grandpa Tang must be worried that Tang Kui would take the crooked road with his kung fu, so he immediately replied solemnly: "Grandpa Tang, why can't kung fu be used as a skill to make a living? Kuizi doesn't steal, he doesn't rob, and he doesn't fight, he relies on what he has learned, through film and television art processing, to show the world the breadth and profundity of our Chinese martial arts, do you think this is also wrong?"

Grandpa Tang said stubbornly: "I have warned Kuiwa since I was a child, not to show your kung fu to the outside easily, it seems that this little animal is taking my words as the wind in his ears!

"Grandpa Tang, it is because of your old man's instructions that Kuiwa will be beaten to the head and still refuse to fight back, if I hadn't happened to meet him at that time, I guess you wouldn't be able to see him now!" Zhang Shaoyu remembered that Tang Kui was bullied in the Internet café, and couldn't help but feel a little unfair about the old man's stubborn thoughts, and said solemnly: " How much hardship has Kuizi suffered since he was a child to practice this hard kung fu, why did your old man teach him kung fu in the first place, is it just to fight back, scold and not fight back, and pretend to be a grandson through and through?"

Grandpa Tang didn't expect Zhang Shaoyu to have such a big reaction, and said in a stunned voice: "I didn't ask him to fight back or scold back! I just taught him to endure, and when it was really unbearable, when it was time to make a move, of course he had to do it." ”

"Grandpa Tang, you're right to think so. Zhang Shaoyu said with a smile: "In this world, people are good at being bullied, and horses are good at being ridden, so being a man, when you should be ruthless, you have to be ruthless, of course, we must not do evil, we can only rely on the various skills we have learned, and seek survival without violating the premise of human dignity." ”

"Uh-huh! Hearing you say this, it really makes some sense, Shaoyu, it seems that you are a learned and knowledgeable person, and my old man is relieved that Kuiwa can have a friend like you. Grandpa Tang nodded and said: "I'm just worried that he is young and frivolous, careless, and takes a detour, I understand his fist and foot attainments, and that will hurt people if he shoots!

"Grandpa Tang, don't worry, Kuizi is an honest man, he won't take the initiative to make trouble. Zhang Shaoyu said seriously.

Grandpa Tang sighed and said, "I hope that my old man has taught his brothers and sisters to practice boxing and feet since he was a child, and he didn't make a mistake." ”

Tang Fang suddenly interjected on the side and asked, "Brother Zhang, is my brother specializing in kung fu movies in the film company?"

Zhang Shaoyu smiled: "Well, but he still learns how to be an actor for the time being, but there will definitely be a day when he makes kung fu movies." ”

At this time, as soon as the door of the inner room opened, Tang Kui helped a middle-aged woman with a sickly face to walk out.

"Mother, this is Brother Zhang I just mentioned to you. Tang Kui brought his mother to Zhang Shaoyu and introduced Zhang Shaoyu to him.

"Thank you for taking care of our family, Queva. The middle-aged woman said and wanted to bend down to Zhang Shaoyu and salute.

Frightened, Zhang Shaoyu hurriedly helped this virtuous rural woman and said in a loud voice: "Auntie, look at what you said, you are not feeling well, so you should stay in bed more." ”

Saying that, Zhang Shaoyu glared at Tang Kui and said: "Kuizi, what the hell are you doing, you don't help your mother into the house to rest, you are too ignorant, have you asked the elders to come out to meet the juniors? If you want to see me, I will go to the house to ask my aunt to say goodbye! I see that your kid wants to fold my yang longevity!"

After helping Tang's mother back to the back room with Tang Kui, when he looked at the bed, Zhang Shaoyu almost had a sore nose and was about to burst into tears.

Although this bed has the appearance of a bed, it is covered with thatch, and it is covered with a thin black naked quilt without sheets!

At this time, Tang Fang also obediently came over to help help Tang's mother to lie on the bed, and covered the tattered quilt that made her feel cold when she looked at it, and there was a strong smell of Chinese herbal medicine in the whole room.

Tang Fang used the teacup with a missing tooth at the edge of the bed, waited for her mother to drink a few sips of cold water, and then sat on the edge of the bed and gently beat her mother's legs until Tang's mother fell asleep quietly.

The three of them crept out of the back room, and Zhang Shaoyu asked Tang Kui solemnly, "What kind of disease does your mother have?"

"It's not a serious illness, it's just overwork, and the body is a little weak. Tang Kui bowed his head and replied.

Zhang Shaoyu turned his gaze to Tang Fang's face and asked, "Is that the case?"

Tang Fang nodded and said, "That's what the doctor at the township health center said. Said that just rest more, eat some nourishment, and you can get better. ”

Zhang Shaoyu walked to the table of the Eight Immortals, turned out the three boxes of Red Peach K Blood Replenishing Oral Liquid that he had bought for Tang Kui at that time from a large pile of bags, handed them to Tang Fang, and said, "Stay for a while, your mother will wake up, let her eat this first." ”

Tang Fang didn't answer, but looked at Tang Kui.

Tang Kui nodded and said, "Sister, listen to Brother Zhang." ”

Tang Fang then reached out and took the three boxes of supplements, walked to the back room to put them away, and soon walked out again, and said to Tang Kui: "Brother, you and Brother Zhang shouldn't have eaten lunch yet, I'll go and eat it for you." ”

"Kuizi, don't let your sister do it alone, go, let's do it together. After Zhang Shaoyu finished speaking, he followed Tang Fang and walked towards the stove house.

It's not so much about cooking lunch as preparing dinner. Because by this time, it was already three o'clock in the afternoon.

Tang Kui went to the house of Zhang, a butcher who sold meat at the entrance of the village, weighed two catties of meat, and when he came back, he slaughtered an old hen with his own hands. I picked a few greens from my home-grown vegetable patch and scrambled a few eggs.

Because he didn't feel hungry, Zhang Shaoyu suggested that it would be better to wait for Tang Kui's youngest brother to come back from school, and everyone would have a reunion dinner together.

In the mountains, it gets dark early, and by the time the meal is ready, it's already nightfall.

Zhang Shaoyu sat by the firewood stove, looking at the firewood slowly extinguishing in the stove and was stunned.

Tang Kui thought it was cold, and Brother Zhang was warming by the stove, so he didn't call him. Instead, he took Tang Fang to see the new clothes and stationery he bought for her.

Although Zhang Shaoyu had long known that Tang Kui's family was poor, he never thought that he would be so bitter.

"Should I do something?" Zhang Shaoyu pondered in his heart.

At this time—

"Sister, I'm back. A child's voice came from outside: "One, two, three, four...... Sister, why is there one less chicken in our house? Did you go to someone else's chicken pen, I'll look for ......?"

"Little brother. This is Tang Kui's voice.

"Brother, when did you come back, did you bring me new clothes from the city?" Tang Jin, Tang Kui's younger brother, shouted excitedly.

"Of course, my brother bought me a lot of things. ”

"Let me see! I seem to smell meat...... Brother, I finally have meat to eat!Ahh......h Our mother was so sick that she was reluctant to eat it, saying that she wanted to keep the eggs and sell them at the market...... Woowoo...... Who killed my chicken......"

Through the tattered window paper of the stove house, Zhang Shaoyu saw a thin boy of seven or eight years old outside, standing in front of Tang Kui. The little boy was wearing a blue cloth cotton jacket that was very large, which was probably the only piece of clothing that Zhang Shaoyu saw without patches at Tang Kui's house, but the cotton pants that the little boy wore were heavily patched at both knees.

The little boy carried a canvas schoolbag that was almost white, and wore a pair of liberation shoes that were one size smaller than his feet, and his little face, which was not much bigger than a slap, was full of tears, and even snot flowed out.

"Little brother, my brother killed him. We have a guest here, so we have to cook a few more dishes, and Brother Gai Ming'er will definitely compensate you for ten......" Tang Kui's voice was a little choked.

"Then you'll have to talk and count. Tang Jin said angrily.

"Brother, don't mess around, you're not ashamed, I'm ashamed, come into the house, wash your face and eat!" Tang Fang walked over and pulled Tang Jin towards the house.

Zhang Shaoyu knew that this guest of the Tang family, who else could there be besides him!

"Kuizi, Kuizi, you're so fucking ignorant, we don't have anything to eat in Chengdu, you have nothing to kill! Let's eat less fucking meals and we'll die!" Zhang Shaoyu sighed in his heart.

In ordinary people's homes, eating a chicken is not a matter at all, but in this kind of remote and poor mountainous area where the annual income of a person is less than 300 yuan, if you can eat chicken, you have to celebrate the New Year's holidays, and you have to save money to do it.

Tang's mother was so weak that she was reluctant to slaughter a chicken to make up for it, so Zhang Shaoyu understood how much weight this chicken had in this impoverished family.

Looking at the stewed chicken in the big iron pot that was hot in the gap, Zhang Shaoyu never felt that such an ordinary poultry could make him feel a sense of heaviness in his heart.

A child is a child after all, Tang Jin was pulled into the house by Tang Fang, and after seeing the table full of gifts, he immediately threw the sadness just now out of the clouds, and ran to the back room with new clothes and new shoes to sell to his mother.

"Brother Zhang, let's go to the hall and sit down, and the meal will start immediately. Tang Fang went into the stove house and brought the prepared meal outside, "As soon as this hot meal is in the stomach, it won't feel cold." ”

Zhang Shaoyu said "um", got up and helped take the dishes and chopsticks out.

Sitting around this table of eight immortals with the Tang family, Zhang Shaoyu felt like sitting on pins and needles for the first time, and felt very uncomfortable, the reason why this was so was because in the rice bowl in front of him, Tang's mother personally sent two chicken legs over.

Tang's mother may be in a good mood, or maybe because she drank two hearts before the meal, and her face looks not as pale and weak as before. She had a kind smile on her face, looked at Zhang Shaoyu, and said: "The family is poor, there is nothing to entertain, Shaoyu, Kuiwa is in the city to take care of you, I represent our family, thank you." ”

Xiao Tang Jin sat beside his mother, even if it was time to eat, he still hugged the gift bag full of clothes that Tang Kui bought for him tightly, as if he was afraid that if he was not careful, these things would fly away from the bag.

The little guy's two eyes stared at the two chicken legs in Zhang Shaoyu's bowl, swallowing saliva from time to time.

"Auntie, Kuizi and I fell in love at first sight, although we are not biological brothers, but our feelings are closer than our own brothers, and you treat me as an outsider. Zhang Shaoyu stood up, gave the two chicken legs to Tang's mother and Grandpa Tang, and said: "As the saying goes, it's not a family, if you don't enter a family, if you enter a door, it's a family, auntie, Grandpa Tang, you are elders, so this chicken leg should be honored for you to enjoy." ”

After speaking, Zhang Shaoyu glanced at Tang Kui.

Tang Kui nodded ashamedly, and said to his mother: "Mother, grandpa, don't be polite to Brother Zhang, Brother Zhang will not meet our family, otherwise, he will not walk so far to come to our house." ”

After some pushing, in the end, Zhang Shaoyu made up a lie that he never ate meat with wings, so he sent the chicken in the bowl out.

Tang's mother is so weak, but she is still not willing to eat more chicken, but the best chicken thighs and chicken wings with the most meat are divided into the bowls of Tang Jin, Tang Fang, and Tang Kui.

Zhang Shaoyu felt sour in his heart, he suddenly thought that chicken soup was actually the most nourishing, so he hurriedly helped Tang's mother fill a big bowl of chicken soup, and said with a funny smile: "Auntie, we are all eating meat, you can also drink some soup!"

"Okay, okay, I'll drink and I'll drink, Shaoyu, you eat more, you don't eat chicken, eat more meat." Tang's mother said as she put a lot of lean meat in Zhang Shaoyu's bowl.

This home-cooked meal lasted for half an hour, and all the dishes, even the soup and residues, were eaten cleanly.

It is too dangerous to walk on the mountain road at night, so Tang Kui suggested that he should spend the night at home and rush back to the county seat early tomorrow morning.

Zhang Shaoyu did not object, that night, he and Tang Kui slept in Tang Jin's grass bed and broken quilt, Tang Jin slept in the same bed with his grandfather, Tang Fang had to take care of his mother and sleep with Tang's mother.

I slept in a hotel last night, but now I am lying on the thatched bunk where fleas are jumping everywhere, covered with a musty naked quilt, and the cold can be offset by physical fitness, but those annoying fleas really bite Zhang Shaoyu can't sleep.

Looking at Zhang Shaoyu's hands scratching everywhere on his body, Tang Kui said embarrassedly: "Brother Zhang, you have been offended......

"Damn, Kuizi, why don't fleas bite you like this, only bite me! Is it because this is fed by your family, so you don't bite your own family! Damn, it's itching me to death. ”

"Hehe, I've been bitten by them since I was a child, and I'm used to it. ”

"Damn, don't sleep, go out for a walk with me. ”

Zhang Shaoyu got up from the bed.

Both of them lay down in their clothes, got up and put on their shoes, and went out lightly.