"Mother, when will my father come back?" A childish voice, with sweet sadness.

"Soon, look, you and your mother have counted the bread in this box together, and your father will come back!"

"You lie, I counted them all yesterday and put them all in the box here, mother, why hasn't my father come back?"

"Begonias, how many have you counted?"

"There are seven hundred and thirty-nine in this small box!"

"My little begonia is so smart, she can count from one to a thousand, right? However, this is not the case with this rice package, and it can't all be reversed at once. You have to be like your mother, you can only take one here every day! Who would have thought that this woman in her early twenties was already the mother of a four-year-old child!

"Mother, I'm going to turn it all up at once, I'm going to do it! So my dad will be back tomorrow! Wow......" Little Begonia burst into tears, "they said...... Saying that my father was a murderer and had his head cut off......"

"What nonsense! Mother go and tear her mouth! Shufang hugged her little daughter who was crying and held back her tears, "Begonia, your father didn't kill anyone, he just went to make money for our little Begonia to buy candy!" ”

After Shufang finished speaking, she gently put the little begonia on the bed, got up and took out a fruit candy from the cabinet, "Begonia, look, this is the sugar candy that your father bought, how sweet it is!" ”

Begonia burst into tears and smiled, put the fruit candy in the palm of her hand, then crossed her fingers to her nose, closed her eyes, and smelled the fragrance of the candy between her fingers. "Mother, it's so fragrant, does Daddy also have this smell?"

"Sister!" Shufen suddenly rushed in through the door.

I knew that I was in the back of the house and shouted in a long and short voice, "It's going to die of heat...... Will die of heat...... "The scorching sun scorched on the green tiles on the roof, and Shufang shook the pu fan in her hand to drive away the overwhelming heat. It was the third pole of the sun, and the peasants hid in their houses, throwing the mulberry leaves they had picked back early in the morning into the silkworm dustpan - no one wanted to be the iron plate of the earth on this hot day!

"Second aunt," Xiao Haitang wiped away her tears, this strong little girl rarely shed tears in front of outsiders, "Second aunt, where is my grandmother?" ”

Shufen threw a lotus leaf on the ground - the shading tool had been wilted! Then he picked up Begonia, who was wearing a small floral shirt, and kissed her on the face. "Grandma is at home!"

"Why are you here with such a big sun?" Shufang took a puff fan from the mat, and there was a hint of surprise in her eyes, followed by panic that could not be concealed. How afraid she was that something would happen to the hot and aquatic maiden house in Yangjiawan!

Shufen looked at the little begonia, and then looked at the eldest sister. Shufang hurriedly leaned down and said to her daughter: "Begonia, go to your mother-in-law's side to play a ha, and my mother and second aunt will set up a dragon gate array!" ”

"Hmm!" Xiao Haitang carefully handed the fruit candy in her palm to her mother, "Mother, help me put Daddy's candy away!" Then I went to my grandparents' house.

Shufen fluttered and shook her fan, "Sister, Uncle Seventh brought a letter, saying that my brother-in-law is going to be released early, and he may be coming out in the next few days!" ”

Shufang was cleaning up the corn on the bed and putting the corn kernels scattered on the bamboo mat into the iron box. Hearing the news brought by Shufen, the box she had just packed in her hand fell to the ground, and golden grains of corn were scattered all over the ground. She stayed where she was, tears pouring out of her eyes like corn kernels still beating on the ground.

"Sister...... Sister ......" Shufen put down the fan and squatted on the ground, and picked up the corn one by one into the box with her sister. Shufang suddenly hugged her sister tightly, and the sisters cried together.

He ...... When is he closing the house? ”

"Said that he would come out next month, and Uncle Seven said that he would pick it up. It should be twenty or thirty days at most! ”

Shufang hurriedly found a broom and a dustpan from the corner of the wall, and swept the corn on the ground into the dust. Then he found a rag and wiped the dusty mirror on the cabinet - this dark, thin woman had forgotten what she looked like!

"Shufen, look, my hair is too long, come, help me cut it!" Shufang found a pair of rusty scissors.

"Oh, sister, my brother-in-law will be back for more than twenty days! In a few days, we'll go to the barber shop on the street and cut it and ask him to give you a wavy curl! ”

"Well, cut the begonias too! This one who suffered a thousand knives was blessed with a great life, and he came out of the labor camp after three years...... Three-year ...... I've counted 1,000 and 58 of all the grains! Shufang tugged at her shrunken and patched shirt.

"Sister, take the begonia home to eat pears! Today I came to tell you about my brother-in-law in a hurry, and I forgot to pick a few pears! ”

"What are you eating! If you don't eat it, you have to sell it for money, this year is the first year of fruit, you and your father and mother are tired and tired to make such an orchard, Fushun Hukou picked up again, sericulture and land are less, just rely on that little fruit wood to make money! ”

"Sister, when my brother-in-law comes back, you can also plant some fruit trees! I didn't expect the varieties that Secretary Nie sold me to be really so good, this year I have to collect six or seven hundred catties of pears, and the first one is sold on the street, two corners and five catties, and these fruits are also one or two hundred yuan income! Next year, the corners of the house will also bear fruit, and they will sell even more! ”

"Well, when he comes back, let's tidy up your house first, look at you, a white and clean girl, tanned to the dark, which one wants?"

"No one wants to be right, I'm living with the pear tree!"

"Say yes, how are you and that Wang Guangwen?"

"Sister, did you say that you didn't talk about it? What do you mean? ”

"Okay, good, don't say, don't say! It's been placed here, and you don't have any food? ”

"Eat, sister, don't care about me! By the way, that day you were saying that your silkworms were always bitten by mosquitoes, so why should I go and see it? ”

Shufang took her sister's hand and walked towards the silkworm room......

※※※※※※

Wang Guangwen stood on the bank of the Xiaoshui River, holding a fishing rod made of spotted bamboo. The Xiaoshui River, which is rolling eastward, has been rising due to the recent heavy rains, and the floats floating on the water surface have been pulled deeper than before.

The float tapped slightly. Guangwen stared intently at the water, holding the bamboo pole intently, expecting the sinking of the float. Perhaps it was the illusion of the turbulent current, but the fish did not take the bait.

Behind him, a lush orange grove exudes a faint fragrance. These orange trees were purchased by Guangwen from a loan from a credit union in Linmu Township. When the orange trees were planted last fall, they were half a man's height, and the artificially grafted branches scattered in all directions, and in the spring new shoots sprouted and grew wildly.

The green little fruit is already hanging on the branches, and in a few months, it will be yellow and red, and the trees that are absorbing nutrients in the sand by the river will be full of sweet oranges!

Guangwen's heart did not ripple with joy with the branches swaggering in the wind. At the end of the orangery is a hut that is the residence of this grower. And by the inlet not far from him, there was a dilapidated tin boat, which was his means of travel. He had nothing but orchards, huts, and broken boats. No, he still owes the credit union fifteen hundred dollars in loans.

Behind the thatched hut, there is a familiar path, over two mountain beams, where his dearest father and mother live. Say "dearest", that was a year ago! At this time, this "closest dear" still exists in the bloodline that is difficult to cut off.

A year and a half ago, Guangwen was slow to go to school. His father Wang Dongsheng found an abnormality, this is the second month of the lunar calendar, this doll neither goes to school nor goes to internship, and runs to his aunt's house all day long. Guangwen first explained his thoughts to his aunt, but he didn't expect the news to quickly spread from Shiqiao to Chahe.

"Wen Wazi, do you want Lao Tzu not to go to school or work, and want to come back to engage in agriculture? Lao Tzu spent so much money, you took it to Lao Tzu. "Wang Dongsheng is going to smash this unsuccessful loser with a hoe!

Guangwen Niang also coughed up blood and cried and grabbed his father. "Wen'er, tell your father quickly, you are talking about playing, you want to study, you want to eat! Isn't it a few months before I graduate, listen to my mother, go to Jiangyun! ”

"Father, mother, I really want to come back. You believe me, in the countryside will not earn less money than food supplies, Dad, you are too tired to work alone, I can help you when I come back! ”

"Lao Tzu doesn't want your help, I get up early and be greedy for darkness, your mother is sick like this, you pour it good for Lao Tzu, don't read a sentence if you don't want to read it!" Lao Wang picked up his mother-in-law, "Get out, you get out of Lao Tzu!" If you don't go to study and eat, or you don't want to beg for food, I don't have your son! ”

Guangwen Niang suddenly fainted. Guangwen was just about to go over to help, but was forced to retreat by the hoe wielded by his father. He knelt in the dam for three days and three nights, and only when his mother woke up did he turn to leave.

He didn't return to Jiangyun because he applied for a job last semester and moved his hukou back to the village. This young man, who had just turned 18 years old, went to the police station to register and apply for an ID card, and went to the credit union to take out a loan.

I heard that there are few people in Xiaoshui Village, which is eight miles away. Guangwen found the village chief and contracted this small dirt slope that was uncultivated at a price of 80 yuan a year.

The float finally sank heavily and then resurfaced. Guangwen gently pulled the fishing rod, the fishing line was straightened, and there was a heavy feel, ha, it must be a big guy! Sure enough, a carp weighing more than a pound was pulled to the shore. Guangwen put it in the bucket and put away the fishing rod.

The blood-stained red sun has fallen from the West Mountain, leaving "a remnant sun in the water". He lifted the bucket of fish, untied the chain of the tin boat to the shore, and rowed vigorously upstream—around the sharp bend, more than three kilometres further up to the home of his general—and almost every day he rowed the fish back to the tank in the eaves of the stairs.

Because, there, there is his dearest father and mother!