The story begins in the early 90s of the 20th century, and the location of the event is in a small village in eastern Sichuan, specifically in Ningjiazhuang Village, Xishui Town, Fuxian County. Ningjiazhuang is extremely inconspicuous in the local county, and the village is pitifully small, and everyone knows that the chicken lays an egg. And because there are more than 100 kilometers of road from the county seat, there are few people in and out of the village, and Ningjiazhuang is like being isolated from the world, but the hard-working people of Ningjia Village are still living happily.

It's already late at night, the lights in Ning Guofu's house are still on, not only the house is brightly lit, even the lemon tree in their yard is also on, yes, there is a big tile bulb hanging on the lemon tree, Ning Guofu is never willing to turn on this light on weekdays, not that he Ning Guofu is stingy, Ning Guofu has worked hard for his children for most of his life, his father is the old landlord, and the family background is quite solid, but Ning Guofu was born not long after he ushered in the criticism of the landlord and overthrew capitalism. was supposed to be a young master who stretched out his hands for clothes and opened his mouth for food, but in the end, he was grinded into an old serf by the old society. But now his family's situation is different from the past, not only the yard of the family is not smaller than others, but also there is a little prestige in the whole village, which is also all made by Ning Guofu alone.

The lights in his yard were turned on tonight, and it was not necessarily true that there was some happy event to hold a banquet in the courtyard, because there was no table or bench in the yard. On weekdays, after a day's work, the whole family turns off the lights and rests at 10 o'clock at the latest. It's so late, what is the so-called thing in Ning Guofu's family?

It turned out that the people of the five teams of Ningjiazhuang gathered at Ningguofu's house, and all men, women and children came.

The winter moon in eastern Sichuan is still very cold, at this time, the snow outside has been covered with a thick layer, the bigger it gets, it seems that the first snow of the year has not retreated at all, and the cold wind does not show weakness in the face of the heavy snow, it seems that the two are competing to see who can knock people down, blowing chillingly.

They all sat around the fire pit, inside and outside a total of two floors, those women with children sat a little closer to the fire pit, including the old people they also sat on the first floor, and then the able-bodied young people crowded in the gap between the old man and the woman holding the child, everyone sat around the fire kang, the cold wind could not enter, the warmth could not get out.

The ashes from the burning of the firewood were pushed up in the kang to resemble the ancient Egyptian pyramids, and it was the largest one. "Damn the golden cabinet, dig up the ashes from the fire pit, and the dry firewood is almost finished, go to the yard and pick up some more, and remember to shake off the snow on it! It's too cold tonight," the village chief held a big dry cigarette in one hand, and spat out the saliva of the dry tobacco in his mouth from time to time. But Aunt Wang didn't seem to hear what the village chief said. Still busy making supper for everyone, she lowered her head in the kitchen and silently made noodles, her hands repeating like this, as if she had lost her mind.

In fact, everyone knows that Aunt Wang is pretending to be busy, and her heart has already flown to the hospital bed of her wife Ning Guofu.

The whole village is worried that Ning Guofu will not survive this winter this year.

And this afternoon, when Ning Guofu was sitting by the stove and roasting the fire, he suddenly collapsed, but fortunately at this time he was seen by his five-year-old grandson Lemon, at first Lemon saw his grandfather lying on the ground, his face was covered with fire ashes, and he didn't look like a grandfather, but like a ghost in a ghost story that grandpa used to tell me, he cried loudly, very scared, so he ran to the pigsty and told his grandmother who was feeding the pigs.

"There's a ghost, grandma, grandma, I'm scared," Lemon said crying.

Grandma was still wondering at first, wondering where the ghost came from in broad daylight.

Then he asked his grandson, "Where is it?"

Lemon was still crying, choking up and saying, "Next to the fire, grandpa is gone"

Aunt Wang immediately reacted, "Let's go, Ningwazi, your grandfather has an accident", Aunt Wang held the child in one hand and ran back home.

Seeing this, Aunt Wang was fortunately not burned, so she hurriedly helped him to the bed, and scolded again, "You damn old man, let you lie on the bed, you want to come out and sit, what kind of evil are you doing!"

Aunt Wang knows that her wife has been lying in bed since the day she got sick, and it is understandable that her wife came out today, she understands it very well, but she just wants to scold him in her heart, because she knows that this old man who has lived with her for decades can't make any mistakes, let alone die. Because Aunt Wang thinks that the death of her wife is far more terrifying than her own, scolding is the most direct and only way she can express her love for her wife. The old husband and wife have quarreled a lot for decades, but whenever something really happens to the wife, Aunt Wang is always the first to stand up and feel sorry for the wife, and this pure love is scolding.

After Aunt Wang appeased her wife,

He told Lemon Qianqian and Wan to say, "Don't go out later, just play at home, grandpa will call me in the radish field if there is something to do, don't delay, you know?" ”

Lemon took an iron ring and played with Po in the next yard in the big yard of his house. Lemon replied while playing, "Go ahead, you must come back early!"

Grandma watched her grandson have a lot of fun with Po and didn't say anything more, she also knew that Lemon was only five years old and should give him some time to play, so she carried a basket on her back and went to the ground!

Although Aunt Wang is not worried, her wife can't bear to leave her five-year-old grandson alone at home before dark. But what can she do? He clearly knows that people have to eat, pigs have to eat grass, his wife is sick, and his children have to go out to work to earn money, and this family has to survive.

After a while, the gray sky in winter gradually lost that layer of gray, and the rest was pure black, and the pure black reflected in the five-year-old lemon's heart was not only unable to see the distance, unable to see the road that grandma walked when she went out, but also deepened the loneliness and coldness in the heart of lemon. Lemon felt very scared in his heart, and he was a little angry with his grandmother, and he didn't know what to do when he was in a hurry. Suddenly Lemon found that the dog in the yard barked, and a beam of light reflected on the door, Lemon found that it was snowing in the air through the light, Lemon opened the door, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was the village chief.

"Where's your grandmother? The village chief asked and turned on the light when he entered the door and found the house dark. Lemon pouted, "In the radish field, I haven't come back yet, Grandpa Wang, I'm scared alone." ”

The village chief sighed, "Don't shoot, Lemon, I'm here to accompany you and wait for grandma to come home." The village chief held a lemon in one hand and a flashlight in the other hand to shine a flashlight on the radish field in the distance to see if Aunt Wang had come back, there was no figure in the distance but found that the snow was getting heavier and heavier, the village chief was also anxious at this time, he felt that Guofu was still bedridden now, and nothing could happen to her, so he took the lemon to the field to find it. As soon as I walked to the nearby field, a huge black shadow appeared in the far distance of the village, closer and closer, closer and closer, it did not look like a figure from a distance, like a shadow cast by a dark cloud in the sky, until it was closer, I found that it was Aunt Wang, her thin body carried a large basket of radishes, and a huge bundle of dried rice and grass was added to it. Pressed her thin body unseemly.

When Aunt Wang saw that there was light on the ground, she lowered her head and stepped step by step, each step on her feet was slow and powerful.

Lemon also saw that it was grandma, so she cried and shouted "grandma, grandma......" Aunt Wang heard the voice of her grandson and the village chief, she struggled to raise her head to look at them, but the radish and dry grass on her back were too heavy that he had to lower his head and say, "Village chief, why are you here?"

The village chief said angrily, "Look at you, it's dark, what are you busy doing outside? Can't you do any more work tomorrow? I just went to your house and saw Ning Wazi crying at home alone, how can I leave the baby at home alone in this dark day!"

Before the village chief's voice fell, Aunt Wang said, "Village chief, you don't know, the old man insisted on coming out to roast the fire today to breathe, I thought he was getting better, so I agreed to let him get out of bed, and the last time he fainted in the fire", thanks to the fact that Ningwazi found it early, otherwise he would be burned alive today if he was not tortured by the disease in the future, I didn't want to prepare the pig food and cow grass for the next two days, so as to take him to the town to see a doctor"

The village chief said helplessly, "Okay, let's go home quickly, the snow is getting heavier and heavier." The three of them went home with flashlights, the body of a giant at the front, followed by the village chief and lemon.

Even the old man didn't seem to want to let go of Aunt Wang, wanting to overwhelm her, how could this thin body be so heavy, and suddenly the village chief stopped Aunt Wang, "Xiuzhen, stop down, I'll help you carry the dry grass, the snow road is slippery, I'm afraid you will fall, and the family still has to rely on you." When Aunt Wang heard the sentence "The family still depends on you," it seemed to poke her heart, and she thought of her old wife and five-year-old grandson lying in the hospital bed. Her always stubborn character didn't dare to be strong at this time. Aunt Wang found a high place, put the basket on it, and said, "Village chief, then I'll trouble you." The village chief was a little angry and said, "Xiuzhen, if you say this, you will see the outside, my relationship with Guofu is equivalent to a brother, and now that he is sick, isn't this what I should do?" When he was a child, the village chief's family was very poor and almost couldn't eat, but Ning Guofu was a child of the landlord's family, and he didn't have to worry about food and clothing, at that time Ning Guofu looked down on other children in the village, and felt that they were wearing tattered clothes and very dirty, and his father did not let Ning Guofu play with the children of the serf family, and his father felt that these children had not entered a private school, and he was afraid of taking his son badly. But when Ning Guofu was a child, he played well with the village chief, and often stole white rice and big white flour steamed buns from home to the village chief's family. Now that Ning Guofu is sick, the village chief has also helped his family.

Now think about the reason why Ning Guofu once helped the village chief, and now it can be regarded as a good result.

The village chief took the large bundle of dry grass and scraped off the thick layer of snow on the dead grass with his hands. Then he put one hand on his shoulder, and the village chief has been used to farm work since he was a child, so his movements are very skillful.

After Aunt Wang unloaded the dry grass, she was not idle with the light radish on her back, but quickened her pace, brisk and resolute, and she said to the village chief, "You walk slowly with lemons, and the road is beginning to freeze, be careful, I will rush home to cook porridge for the old man." Although she is not many steps away from going home, she still wants to hurry home to see her wife, not at ease, because Aunt Wang came back so late today is also for her wife, and wants to take her to the countryside to see a doctor in the next two days, but if something goes wrong tonight, won't it be a waste of her previous efforts? She has to hurry home to take care of her wife. The land was covered with snow, and the roads were white. Because the sky against the white snow didn't seem to be as dark as before, Aunt Wang's footsteps also accelerated. The backward village chief looked at Aunt Wang in front of him while walking, he saw Aunt Wang walk to the door of the house, put down the basket, and went directly to his wife's room......

Thinking that something must have happened to Guofu, he immediately threw down the withered grass on his shoulder, and the village chief pushed open the door to see that there was a large pool of blood under Ning Guofu's bed, and it was obvious that Ning Guofu's illness had another attack, and Aunt Wang didn't respond no matter how she called him, lying unconscious on the bed. Anxious, Aunt Wang's eyes were red, she held a lemon in one hand, touched her wife's pale face with the other and cried and said, "Don't scare me, dead old man, you wake up with me, the big house you worked so hard to build and the big yard you have not had time to enjoy, what are you doing for most of your life, if you die, I won't live." The village chief heard Aunt Wang say that she didn't want to live anymore, so he comforted and said, "Xiuzhen, don't say that, the child is here, don't cry, I'll go back to the next village right now to find Doctor Huang in the next village to show Guofu, he will definitely get better." Aunt Wang's emotions had not yet come out, she stared at her wife, and the village chief was very worried when she looked at her haggard face. So he said, "Tomorrow I have to go to the village to call Yuanqiang to inform Yuanqiang, his old man is so sick and still working outside, it's time to come back." After speaking, he pulled the door out, and the village chief walked on the road, thinking a lot along the way, "Originally, I wanted to ask Aunt Wang's family to eat pig killing rice tomorrow, but the old brother encountered this situation, what kind of pig did he kill?" He clearly knew that his brother Guofu might not survive the harsh winter of this year, and Ning Guofu's son and two daughters were not at home. Now the first thing is to inform them to come back as soon as possible. It was already 8 o'clock in the evening, and the village chief was holding a flashlight in one hand and covering his nose in the other, and the purpose of his trip was to go to the village headquarters to use the only phone in the village to invite the old doctor Huang from the next village and the three children who informed Ning Guofu. The village is the place where the whole village office, with the house of the landlord's house that was criticized a few years ago, in the fourth team of Ningjiazhuang, the village chief walked from the fifth team to the fourth team for about 20 minutes at the earliest, he pulled up the sleeve of his hand and made a move to see the time, the village chief who was over half a hundred years old found that he could not see, so he took out the flashlight in his pocket while walking, it was obvious that his hands were frozen red, shivering with the flashlight, he saw that it was now half past 8 o'clock, he did not dare to slack off, he accelerated his pace again, and suddenly he thought that there was a shortcut on the way to the fourth team, and the dry smoke from Bao's house went straight down the ridge for two or three miles and finally crossed the small river ditch。 The snow has covered the entire Ningjiazhuang, on the rooftops, on the treetops, There is no place that is not white, the village chief walked to the dry tobacco field and took out his own cigarette holder made of bamboo on the waistband of his trousers, and then took out a small leaf cigarette, he rolled it, because his footsteps did not stop, so he did not roll out the way it should be and put it directly into his mouth, lit the cigarette, he tasted, and then spit out a wisp of smoke, and then thought of the seriously ill Ning Guofu last month to give him dry tobacco scene, at that time Ning Guofu was so spirited, now sick in bed, unconscious, it will inevitably make people sigh about life。 When the village chief walked to the small river ditch, he found that the water on the river had begun to freeze, and the temperature at this time was only one degree at most, and he began to worry about his brother Ning Guofu on the hospital bed, because he clearly knew that Ning Guofu was infected with wind and cold diseases. Afraid that death is going to give his brother an ultimatum, the village chief he doesn't dare to think about it, because the more he thinks about it, the more terrible it becomes, Ning Guofu has not seen his son for two years, that is, Lemon his father, he has gone to the city to work, he must call them back, otherwise how can he be blind after his brother leaves? The village chief decided not to think about these things anymore, and when he came back to his senses, he found that he had gone to the back of the village headquarters, and there seemed to be a little looming light in the house in front of him. Yuan Bo, "What are you still busy with?, have you eaten?," the village chief said, "Well, it's Lao Liu, eat, my daughter-in-law sent it to me, isn't there a few households here that haven't done the subsistence allowance yet, I'll sort it out again, tomorrow you and I will go to the town and help them do it, Ning Guofu's subsistence allowance has been issued, since you are here, you will help him bring it back." The village chief hurriedly replied, "I can't go tomorrow, Ning Guofu is going to die, lying in bed, it's very dangerous, I came to call his children and asked them to come back early, otherwise they really won't be able to see each other." Li Yuanbo replied, "Why is it so sudden, then you should notify me quickly, and I will go over with you to take a look when you finish calling." The village chief dialed the phone, knock, knock...... rang for almost half a minute, and finally connected, "Hey, Yuanqiang, I'm your second uncle,"

"Second uncle, Yuanqiang is still working overtime? I'm Xiaomei, what's the matter with you?"

"Xiaomei, your father is no good, he vomited blood today, and now he is unconscious, you and Yuanqiang should come back quickly"

"Second uncle, I know, when Yuanqiang comes back, we will discuss"

"Okay, then you must come back quickly, I will take care of it for the past two days, and I will inform you of anything as soon as possible."

"Then it's troublesome for the second uncle!"

After speaking, the village chief quickly hung up the phone and made another call to Dr. Huang in the next village.

"Yuanbo, I have to go back quickly, it's so late, it's so cold, you better come over tomorrow to take a look, otherwise your daughter-in-law will have to worry about you," Li Yuanbo took out a few hundred yuan from the drawer, handed it to the village chief and said, "It's okay, you take Ning Guofu's subsistence allowance back, I'll come over tomorrow morning, Uncle Liu, you slow down on the road, it's cold and the road is slippery." The village chief put on the big ear hat and hurried away, he still walked the same way, along the way he found that the snow mark he stepped on when he came was gone, God paved it again, and soon arrived at the fifth team, the village chief looked at the courtyard of the rich family of Ningguo on the ridge in the distance, and the lamp on the lemon tree of his house was also turned on, and this scene seemed to have something going to happen. The village chief saw that it turned out that the people from the fifth team of Ningjiazhuang had come to see the critically ill Ning Guofu, the whole house was crowded with people, everyone saw that the village chief was back, and hurriedly gave him a vacant seat, come and roast, Uncle Liu, what are you frozen, the village chief walked outside and shook the snow on his body, and then said to Aunt Wang, "Don't worry, the Yuanqiang will be back in two days, I asked Huang Lao Yi to wait and show Guofu, don't worry." Aunt Wang said politely, "Village chief, how embarrassing is this, you see that such a heavy snow still makes you run up and down for our family's affairs." The village chief looked at Aunt Wang in front of him and gave a look not to say that, and neither of them said anything more. Lemon heard that his parents were coming back, and he seemed to be very happy, he was playing with Juanzi and Er Fat in the yard, while the adults were anxiously waiting for the arrival of the doctor in the house, and the atmosphere in the house seemed unusually quiet, there was no sound of everyone chatting usually, and there was also the sound of firewood burning.