The incense candles in the middle of the night were blown out by this biting cold wind, and the warm sun of the day was simply extraordinarily luxurious compared to the cold of the night, and the two children regretted not wearing more clothes. Dew dripped from the leaves of the yellow fruit tree, and the cold moisture on the ground rose upward. Fu Shun felt that Shufen, who was thin, was trembling like him, and he was about to take off his coat to Shufen several times, but this sister refused.

"Make a fire, right? Elder brother! The little girl looked at the dark night, and even the stars that went to night were obscured by the dark clouds, not to mention the lovely first quarter moon, which was long gone. Fu Shun touched the match in his pocket and got up to find some firewood. Shufen felt that her brother was about to get up, so she hurriedly got up and grabbed the corner of Fushun's clothes, but the terrible night, the fluttering red cloth strips and the terrible pile of paper money and ashes, coupled with the sound of running water in the ditch, and the howling of the dog who didn't know who was not full—the little girl didn't dare to stay alone.

"Brother, why don't you go to your third uncle's house?" Shufen was a little reluctant—on the slope where she couldn't see her fingers, she could see any firewood.

"Don't go, Shufen, don't be afraid, I am very familiar with this place, just now I saw a pile of grain and straw stacks over there, let's wrap a torch......" Fu Shun thought that it would always be better to have a torch.

"The grass torch will burn out in a moment, shall we go home?" Shufen suddenly missed Yangjiawan's home, in fact, Fushun also missed that home at this time.

"No, I haven't burned paper for my father and mother yet." Fushun's answer was categorical.

"Oh!" The little girl grabbed her brother's clothes and groped forward, and there was a cliff dozens of feet high on the side, and under the cliff was the fast-flowing Shiqiao River. Fu Shun cautiously tried with his feet, reached over with his right hand and grabbed Shufen's cold left hand tightly, and slowly approached the grain haystack on the edge of the cliff - the grain haystack of the stone bridge was erected on the trunk of the tree in the field, stacked layer by layer, and carried it home when needed. Fortunately, there was no danger, but Shufen was scared into a cold sweat.

Fu Shun pulled the dry straw in the middle of the haystack and handed it to Shufen, he drew a match and lit the straw, ah, how beautiful his sister's face was under the firelight, a stack of wet hair stuck to his forehead, long eyelashes jumped with the closure of his eyes, his white face could not find a single flaw, and his purple lips embellished the whole face more beautifully-but Fu Shun couldn't find any words to describe his sister's beauty, and he didn't know that there was a poem in his sister's book, "Clear water comes out of hibiscus, and natural carving" is a verse. Fu Shun held his sister's hand tighter, how glad he was that his sister came with him today, where are these strangers with the same surname in the muddy ditch his relatives? The one in front of him is his sister, or more hopefully the person Yang Jiawan hates, what the rumors say, how good it would be to be his Liu Fushun's wife!

"Brother, let's go, the grass will burn out in a while!" Shufen pulled her brother into the woods on the slope. Poor Fushun suddenly forgot the pain of the eldest brother and the rich family saying goodbye.

Fu is compliant, he expects this little girl to follow him for a lifetime, or for him to follow her for a lifetime, but what about Gui Ying? The young man was narcissistically entangled, and he always thought that Shufen was also like Gui Ying, thinking of willingly staying with him. But in that ignorant emotional world, which thought is true, and which thought will later become true?

Shufen, who was carrying a torch, used another handful of straw in her hand to refill the fire, and Fu Shun had already picked up a large bundle of firewood, which was too easy for him. The two men continued to the foot of the yellow fruit tree, which was the closest place to them to take shelter from the wind, and where they had a few stone slabs to sit on. Fu Shun took the back basket hidden in the forest at noon, called Shufen, put three incense sticks on the sacred tree, and burned some paper money. "Shufen, kneel and make a wish, this tree can be fulfilled!" In the middle of the night, I lit incense and made wishes, except for Westerners who saw meteor showers and cut birthday cakes, I am afraid that these two children were the precedent of Shiqiao back then. The two children's wishes turned out to be the same - that is, in his lifetime, Fushun can be reunited with his relatives.

Fu Shun lit the firewood with grain grass and set up a herringbone shape, and the two children's faces were hot roasted by the blazing flames.

"Brother, what are your plans?" Shufen is worried that Brother Fushun will not be able to think about it because of the disappearance of his relatives.

"I don't have any plans! Shufen, don't tell my father and mother about the money given to me when my house is sold. Fu Shun calculated, this money is not a small amount, and the fat pigs that the family raises silkworms for a year can't buy this money.

"Well, I know, don't talk about it, brother, I think the eldest brother and younger brother will definitely come back," Shufen comforted.

"Hey......" Fu Shun let out a long sigh and took a deep snot again, "Do you say that my brother dislikes us, whether I am a brother or not, and which mother am I born to?" His distress came back to his heart, and his heart was surprisingly uncomfortable.

"Don't talk nonsense, brother, no matter which mother is born, it's always a father's birth, no matter what, the three of you are brothers!" Shufen hurriedly corrected it.

"Hey, yes, so you must keep the money for the house a secret from me for me, I hope this matter won't spread to Yangjiawan, hey......" He sighed again, "I should give this money to my eldest brother, at least not just me." ”

"Well, store it away, I won't talk about anyone." Shufen replied to Fu Shun again affirmatively, "I'm sleepy, brother." ”

Fu Shun and Shufen were back to back, head on each knee, and slept in a daze under the yellow fruit tree until dawn, the firewood had already burned to ashes, and their hair and clothes were full of dew.

After all, the clever Fushun remembered the location of the three graves, which, as his adoptive father said, were already overgrown with weeds. On the small dirt slope to the south of the ravine is the grave of the carpenter and his ex-wife, the woman's grave is more like a solemn tomb than the man's grave next to it because of the carpenter's careful construction and previous care, the wide tombstone is also engraved with the woman's name, and the curved grave is a head higher than Fushun. My father's grave was much smaller, and the conditions at that time were so limited that my uncle and eldest brother had not carved any tombstones at all, and the grave made of gravel had collapsed, and the weeds had obliterated the way in front of the grave, and it seemed that no one had been here for many years. Fu Shun plucked the weeds around him one by one until his hands were covered with blood, and Shufen helped carry the weeds to the edge of the dirt slope. Fu Shun put on the incense and burned the paper, kowtowed a few long heads deeply, and did not shed a single tear, he thought, every year in the future, he must come to the grave of this dear person to sweep the grave and worship.

The grave of another mother is on the north side of the ravine, so similar to the grave of the carpenter's ex-wife, but the lonely mound has long been overgrown with weeds, looking desolate at the pair of lovers on the other side of the river, she rests in this shade site that she chose before her death, and looks at the man opposite and her wife in the true sense of the word, Fushun repeats the previous action, forgetting the pain of his hands, and carefully protects a wild red bean tree at the head of the grave, and the small fruit on the top is growing bright red, like a red hat, as if the beautiful red mother is looking at herself, Look at another pair of children who are far away.

After a busy morning, it was already noon, and the two children rushed to the street of Shiqiao to eat some pot helmets, and after a while, they rushed back to Yangjiawan.

Shufei was bouncing up and eating the sugar rice cakes bought by her brother and sister, Shufen helped her mother to slaughter pigweed, and Fushun put down his back and locked himself in a thatched hut. Yang Shuzi sat in the eaves of the stairs and read the newspaper, he had read this article more than once about the central government's issuance of the No. 1 document jiàn to establish the "household contract responsibility system", this he had called for and advocated, Shiqiao farmers and Anhui Xiaogang Village farmers risked their lives to try, the provincial party committee encouraged Shiqiao to try the first trial of the production method finally through the central document jiàn determined, he still excitedly shook the cigarette stick, carefully stacked that issue of the newspaper - what kind of pride is that?

"Shufen, how is the muddy ditch?" The father put the newspaper aside and asked his daughter about the place that had once made him happy and miserable.

"It's all right, it's not as thin as the muddy soup you said, I think it's better than the fields in our bay!" Shufen described, "I think it's more convenient than us, and I don't have to climb the mountain to Shiqiao Street over there!" We climbed up the mountain and down the river. ”

"Oh, their old house is still there, wow?" My father also thought that the old house he once lived in had really collapsed.

"It's still there, but it's been sold to someone else!" Shufen continued to answer, "I don't know how much I bought, anyway, his eldest brother and younger brother haven't been there for years!" Shufen hurriedly added, almost saying that she had missed the money.

"Oh, his parents burned paper in front of their graves, right?" His father inquired about his concerns.

"It's burned, three graves, let's pull out all the grass on the grave together, Brother Fushun kowtowed, and I stood and made a move." Shufen also answered her father's concerns one by one.

Yang Zegui let out an "oh" and looked into the distance deeply, hey, if his leg wasn't broken, at least he wouldn't be so poor, and he could also support these children in the Liu family's yard, at least not let them be displaced!

Fu Shun carefully wrapped a stack of banknotes in the house, except for the integer of four hundred yuan, the rest of the dozens of yuan he planned to give all to Shufen, although it was impossible for her father to let Shufen continue to go to school, but at least, she could buy the books she wanted to read, what if she went to school, hehe, didn't she go to school for a day, didn't she still know how to read and write? He should support this sister as much as his sister supported him in building roads.

Fu Shun walked out of the house, looked at Mao'er Mountain opposite, and he thought, what does that side of the mountain look like? It can't be all mountains, right? Shufen said, the earth is round, the Chinese version of the image of a rooster, oh my God, I want to go to the outside world to see!