It is only a three- or two-hour drive from Jinmen to Tangshan, which is not a very long journey, but Xu Yunjian is endlessly whispering in Lu Li's ear: "Don't you say that this is not a shadowless thing?" It's hard to get out, and you have to dive headlong into it, isn't this your own guilt? Besides, if you want to be burdened yourself, why do you have to pull me? ”

Lu Li ignored him at first, but finally was annoyed by his muttering, and turned around and reprimanded: "If you are not happy to go, you can buy your own ticket to Beijing (Beijing) when you get off the train!" I don't need you to follow. It's not that without your rotten eggs, I wouldn't be able to make trough cakes! ”

Seeing that he was a little angry, Xu Yunjian lowered his head like a bone, "I'm not saying that I don't want to work, the problem is that it has nothing to do with us?" People who have sons and daughters-in-law who are fighting against Japan want your help? ”

Lu Li was really helpless against him, the two of them had been old friends for many years, and he asked himself if he knew too much about Xu Yunjian! This guy is not a bad person, but he has a strong sense of fear about dealing with people and things, in short, he can hide and dodge, and he is most happy not to contact the outside world for a lifetime. "Xu Yunjian, this kind of thing, you have to do it in the future, do you really plan to know us for the rest of your life? You ignore any of the people outside? Don't mention it, if you and that Xiao Xue are partners, you won't be able to meet, greet or sit together and chat with her family? You, the more frightened you are about this kind of thing, the more timid you become, so that now you have become a daughter who can't go out of the door. ”

"What? I'm not like that! I just don't think it's going to work. Yes, Shang Kang treated you well back then, but you didn't treat him badly? In the past two years, you have been sending him money and writing letters all the time, haven't you? What about the end? He didn't even reply to you. Right? ”

"He ......, maybe it's not convenient to ask for someone, right?"

"What's inconvenient?" Xu Yunjian rolled his eyes, and there was a notice from the conductor in his ears that Tangshan Station was not far away, and the two packed their luggage and followed the flow of people to get off the train. Then take the suburban county bus line to Chengguan Town first. When I went to Dongangzhuang and stood on the loess road at Zhuangzikou, it was already more than four o'clock in the afternoon.

The environment here is not unfamiliar to Lu and Xu, who lived in the merged Zhuangzi for three or four years after the earthquake, so they talked and laughed all the way, and went straight to the village house where they lived back then.

It is located behind the office area of the village brigade branch, and the two are closely connected. In the same way, the brigade headquarters also often comes and goes, and when he walked to the door, Xu Yunjian pushed open the door, looked at the unchanged doors and windows, and the small courtyard, and sighed with satisfaction, "Mother, I can't imagine that I can come back to see?" ”

Luli didn't have time to say a word yet. As soon as the door of the side room opened, a woman walked out. They looked at each other a little familiarly, but Lu Li recognized them first, "It's the second girl of the Chu family, right?" ”

The woman heard him speak, and she also recognized it, opened her thick lips and smiled, and a Tangshan accent came out. "Hey, isn't this the eldest brother of the Lu family? This is the Xu brothers, right? Why are you here? ”

Hearing this familiar voice, Xu Yunjian's heart was hot for no reason, and he stepped into the small courtyard, "It's been a long time." Are you alright, second girl? ”

"Okay, all right." The woman smiled and agreed, and beckoned to the room, "Hey, come out?" ”

"Who?" Xu Yunjian asked.

"Our family."

Xu Yunjian's eyes widened in surprise, "Are you married?" What a business? I remember you were a few years younger than us. How can it be so ...... Got married? ”

The woman of the Chu family smiled shyly, and when the door opened, a man walked out with an infant baby in his arms, this person Xu Yunjian didn't know much, but Lu Li could see at a glance that it was Shang Jiazhi! That is, the eldest son of Shang Anti-Japanese! Unexpectedly, the two of them became a couple? "It's Brother Shang, right? Remember me? I'm Little Lu,...... Lully. ”

"Huh?" Shang Jiazhi also recognized him, and his swarthy face changed color a little, "Yes...... Is it Xiao Lu? Are you here to ...... Looking for someone? Or is there something to do, go to the brigade headquarters to talk, right? ”

Lu Li didn't think about it, and shook his head with a smile: "I'm not going." Brother Shang, Xu Yunjian and I came here this time to see the old branch secretary. Is he okay with the old man? ”

"Good, good! It's all good, it's all good......" Shang Jiazhi snorted a few times without smiling, took the baby from his wife's arms, nodded to them, and went into the house.

Lu Li realized that something might be wrong, and looked at his wife, the woman also looked helpless and embarrassed, "That, Brother Shang is older than me, so let's call you sister-in-law, right?" Sister-in-law, does the old branch secretary live with you now? ”

"Well, sometimes we live together, sometimes we don't."

"So, are we living together now?"

"No, no, I'm busy in the fields, and the old man has now moved to the old house in the west of the village."

"Oh." Lu Li knew that something was wrong, but here, he really couldn't ask what was going on, and Xu Yunjian said goodbye and went straight to the west of the village. This is the westernmost village house in Dongangzhuang, with more than 20 adobe houses, most of the people living here are lonely old families in some villages, most of them are because of a natural disaster in 76 years, lost their children, unattended men and women, a special area to take care of each other.

Here is 76 years later, by the business anti-Japanese and production captain Lao Chu officially initiated the construction, a very main reason is that the old man himself feels less, many people because there is no one behind them, crying day and night, so that a Dong Ange Village at night, it becomes like a ghost cemetery, it sounds scary! But this order was resolutely opposed by Lully," ...... These people have no sons and daughters in the first place, and now the brigade doesn't care about them, but separates them to live, isn't this to add insult to injury, deliberately sprinkling salt on the wound? To put it mildly, these people are lonely, living there, and if they die, the corpses must rot in the house, and outsiders will not know about it? ”

But his opinion was not heeded, and the adobe house was finally built; As it turned out later, the situation was not as bad as Luley said, but it was also quite bad! Because the erosion effect of adobe houses is much higher than that of other brick houses, they are renovated every autumn and before winter. It was to re-paste the mud on the walls - but it was such a necessary project, and it was an impossible task for these lonely old households. Therefore, every winter, the houses here are cold to the bone, and the youngest and strongest young men will freeze for less than ten minutes and their faces will be blue and white, and they will shiver. Don't mention the old people who are already in their last years. In the winter of 1977, as many as 14 elderly people froze to death in the house!

In view of this, the brigade decided to let these people go back to the village in the winter, and send them to the west of the village for the other three seasons. As a first-hand witness, Lu Li certainly knew about these things, but what he didn't understand was why Shang Yanying also moved here?

Random thinking. The two of them arrived at the edge of the village, the only advantage here is that it is very close to the field, the nearest one, when you go out and turn around, there is an endless wheat field, the wheat harvest is over in June, after work, you are really tired like a leper dog, and what you want most is to find a place to sleep beautifully. At this time, the adobe house at the west end of the village became a good place for people to speak in the countryside. The ugly wife is close to the treasure of the family, that's what it says.

I went here to look at the door by door, and soon found Shang Anti-Japanese, the old man was struggling to put down the bucket, beat his old waist with his backhand, and stood up straight to catch his breath. Then he picked up the water scoop, scooped up a scoop of water from the bucket, and before he could reach his mouth, he heard someone behind him, "Uncle? ”

Shang Kang turned his head in astonishment. Tears welled up in the dim old eyes, "Little ...... Small? ”

"Uncle." Lu Li stepped into the proposed fence made of wooden fences, and looked at Shang Anti-Japanese up close, he seemed to be more old than more than a year ago, an old face was like a dried orange peel, full of wrinkles, burnt yellow and dark complexion, how ugly and ugly, he was born in 1931, and he is only 50 years old this year, but he looks like he has passed 70 years old! "Uncle, how are you ...... I...... Hey, look, do you still know him? ”

Xu Yunjian's heart is also very uncomfortable, of course he is not as deep as Lu Li's relationship with Shang Anti-Japanese, but everyone has compassion, watching the old man fall to this step, the tip of his nose is also a little swollen, "Uncle, I am Xu Yunjian?" Do you remember me? ”

"Remember, remember." Shang Yanying smiled, "Why don't you remember?" You guys...... Tiny, you ......"

"We have something to do, so stop by to see you. What are you...... What's wrong? ”

"I ......"

"Don't worry, uncle, let's talk later." Lu Li lifted two buckets into the house, poured water into the tank first, took it outside, and threw it at Xu Yunjian, "Go, fetch water." ”

Xu Yunjian didn't say a word, took the bucket and the flat shoulder, turned his head and left the hospital. Only then did Lu Li take a step closer and hold Shang Yan's two arms, "Uncle, why did you come here to live?" What's going on? ”

"I ...... I'm not...... Is this close to the ground? Shang Zhan lowered his head, like a child who had done something wrong, and explained in a snort.

"Pull it down, how far can you get from home to here? Do you think I don't know? What the hell is going on? Lu Li asked: "Besides, uncle, you live here alone, ......, why don't you ...... with Brother Shang and sister-in-law, is the second girl of the Chu family not allowing you?" ”

"No, no, she's fine."

Lu Li was so shrewd, he immediately heard the question in his voice, "So, is Brother Shang not allowing you?" Let's just say that he wasn't your own, but can't you do that? You always raised him, huh? ”

It's just that if you don't mention it, once you mention it, you can't help but cry! He wept and complained to Luli. It turned out that, as Lu Li guessed, the girl of the Chu family was still filial to this father-in-law who had no real blood relationship, but Shang Jiazhi did not have deep feelings for her stepfather. When my mother was alive, we could always maintain a polite respect for each other, and when my mother died in a natural disaster, he asked himself that he had nothing to do with the anti-Japanese business! Therefore, whether in life or working in the fields, he didn't care about the old man at all, and even married the Chu girl, if it wasn't for the old prince, he wouldn't even want to invite the business to resist Japan to attend the wedding!

Shang Anti-Japanese is not very old, and the work in the fields is difficult for him, so even without Shang Jiazhi's care, life is enough to get by, but an incident not long ago made the old man completely chill! At that time, the mother-in-law of the Chu family's daughter-in-law came to visit the door, and her daughter wrapped fennel-filled dumplings together, the Chu family girl always had a mind to respect the old and love the young, after cooking, she wanted to send it to the father-in-law who lived opposite, who knew how Shang Jiazhi would not let go, the little couple quarreled a few words, he raised his hand in front of his mother-in-law and gave his wife a mouth, and the woman also cried, and the dumplings were scattered all over the place, and the mother-in-law made a lot of noise, and took her daughter back to her parents' house overnight.

Shang Zhan Zhan heard clearly in the wing room opposite, and the next day he rolled up the cover roll and went to live in the adobe house at the west end of the village, and he swore to himself in his heart: I will freeze to death this winter, and I will never go back!

Lu Li's forehead was beating with green tendons, and for a long time, he was just panting there, unable to say a word! He really wanted to go over now, pull that grandson out of the room, and break his dog's leg in public! But this is just a thought of a moment, and it quickly came to naught: don't say that this is a crime, even if you don't break the law, you beat him yourself, and then leave, Shang Anti-Japanese will definitely vent his anger on the old man, and when the time comes, when he is not around, the old man is afraid that he will suffer even more. But if you don't care about it, and you really can't rest assured, what can you do?

"Uncle, don't worry, the work in the field, Xu Yunjian and I will help you do it! Isn't it just harvesting some wheat? I did it back then, and it's not a big deal to come back. Before I leave, I'll leave you some money, and you can buy whatever you like,......"

"No, Xiaoxiao, don't leave me any money. I haven't spent all the money you left me last time. Now that Xiaochu has it, I think, when the child is born, all this money will be left for the child to spend! ”

"Uncle, don't think about these big and small, look at it, Shang Jiazhi is this...... People, you don't even recognize that you single-handedly pulled him up, and you still keep money for his children? ”

"Then he is also surnamed Shang, he is my wife's blood after all. What else can I do? ”

"The old cat sleeps in the room, from generation to generation! Isn't he just disobedient to you? He also has an old man, and by that time, he will not be as good as you! Just wait and see. Luli sighed, he knew that such a thing would not help at all, but for now, he could only say this.

Shang Kang also sighed and bowed his head deeply.

Lu Li's mind turned, and he suddenly thought of a way, "Uncle, let's do it, after the work in the field is done, I'll talk to him once, well, don't worry, I won't beat him, I'll talk to him well, and promise to make him respectful to you, how about it?" ”

Shang Kang's eyes lit up, he always knew that Lu Li's brain was good, if he said that there was a way, then there must be a way, "Xiaoxiao, what are you going to do?" ”

"Well, you're in charge. I have an idea anyway. Whether it's okay or not, I'll talk to him first. (To be continued......)