Yang Zegui had lunch, did not play long cards or chess, chatted with the seventh brother about the county for a while, and returned home with the "People's Daily" and regional daily newspapers in recent days. Fourth sister-in-law Yang and other sisters-in-law chatted at the sister-in-law's house.

Yang Laosi fed the little pig, and took out a dusty letter from a locked black wooden box, the last time he read these familiar handwriting was six years ago:

Brother Zegui, Zhan Xin is good. It has been six years since I parted, and I learned that you were disabled for life when you returned home to participate in the collective production, and I felt very painful, and I got up several times to prepare to visit, but I was also sick from a bad illness and was sick in bed for a long time. I don't know why, why are you and I so kind people. After you were transferred to Yangjiawan, Yanhong fulfilled all the responsibilities of being a wife and mother, not only gave birth to a young man and his child, I called Fushun; Later, he also had a son with me, who was called a rich family; Yanhong takes care of the housework, does not overstep the rules, and treats my eldest son as her own; It's a pity that after giving birth to a child, he was also called by the king of Yama, and when he was dying, he hoped that I could raise the child to adulthood. I was depressed and sick, and the husband who saw the doctor said that it was probably an incurable disease. I have long put life and death aside, but I am afraid that my three children will suffer, and the eldest son is also sensible, but the situation is chaotic, I am afraid that I am young and vigorous, and I will affect my two brothers. Because I insisted on marrying Yanhong and losing my job, I have been working as a carpenter to make a living in recent years, and my family has no property. I know that you have no successor under your knees, and if you want to succeed Fushun to you, I have nothing else to ask for in Yanhong, I just wish the child a safe life. I know that you are also poor, and you have learned some crafts to support your family, and if you are really unable to continue, try to find Fushun's biological father. This son is very smart, a little training can become a big tool, if the search for relatives is fruitless, my brother also likes, can be accepted as a son-in-law. Brother Guorong of the same door wrote in hand, wishing a good luck. October of the year of Aoi Chou.

When Zegui received this letter, Yanhong had been gone for four years, and Brother Liu had also been gone for two years. Yang Zegui, who had all kinds of feelings in his heart, lit the lighter and burned these letters. The two best classmates have passed away for many years, that year, he was transferred back to Yangjiawan without even drinking a glass of the two people's happy wine, fate played tricks, this broken leg made it difficult for him to walk to the stone bridge, and the long mountain road actually separated them for a lifetime. He looked at the blue flames and sighed, Brother Liu, bright red, let's hide this secret forever, I may have let you down, the child didn't go to school for a day. But now that the world is better and the land is distributed to us, the children's hard-working hands will definitely create a better future. I asked two children to come to your grave and burn a handful of paper, may you be at peace in heaven!

Fushun gradually woke up, lying on the bed of the third uncle's house, and heard Sanniang saying: "It's really unlucky to come to someone else's house to cry and pass out for the New Year!" Shufen was holding a bowl of brown sugar water, looking at this poor brother, he really wanted to drop the bowl and quarrel with that "vicious" Sanniang. However, he saw Fu Shun who woke up: "Brother Fu Shun, you wake up, drink some sugar water again!" The third uncle also entered the back room, helped Fu Shun up, and told him not to worry, he would stay for a few more days when he came. Fu Shun didn't want to live for a moment, he drank half a bowl of water in one go.

"Third uncle, can I go back and see our old house?" Fu Shun struggled to sit up, struggling to shove his bare big toe into his patched semi-galoshe. Shufen took a hand, "Brother Fushun, you can sleep first!" ”

"Fushun, you stop and talk, we are all going to go over, and your Uncle Guohong is also coming." The third uncle said that this time Liu Guoyu should pay off the debt he owes to the child.

Fu Shunjing walked out with his shoes on, ignoring the words of Li Shufen and the third uncle. He didn't call Sanniang, who was teaching his cousin a lesson, and walked across the threshold to his former home, when the sky was already hazy. The one named Liu Guoyu sat on the eaves of the steps and smoked a dry cigarette, leisurely in the clouds and mist, and when he saw the child coming, he got up and called: "Fushun, this child, he disappeared in the afternoon, where does he not enter the house and sit down?" ”

Fu Shun didn't pay attention to the young man of this uncle's generation, and stood in front of the threshold of the hall solemnly, the shrine of the "Heaven and Earth Monarch Prince" is still dedicated to the ancestors of the Liu family, but the undead do not have the names of their loved ones - they have already been replaced by other people's offerings! That year, the portrait of his father and mother had been replaced by a photograph of another old man. "Well, that ......" Fu Shun didn't remember the name of the stranger of his uncle's generation at all, "I want to go in and have a look." ”

"Come in, come in and sit." Liu Guoyu had already gotten up and entered the hall, he looked at this skinny boy, the New Year's Eve is over, don't faint in my house!

Fu Shun did not sit, he walked through every corner of this familiar place: the cellar of the hall, where he could remember, the red lotus in his own field was collected and stored in the cellar, and his mother would not let him go to the cellar, always saying that there was a big wolf in it; The bed in the back room had been replaced with a new one, but how could he forget the place where the bed had been placed, and it was in that place that poor father and mother had left them; The bedroom between him and his brother and brother was still the same, and he caressed the carved flowers on the wooden bed that his father had made for them, and he and his brother fell asleep in the winter. The clay stove in the kitchen is still like that, Liu Guoyu's women are busy with dinner by the stove, and their children are setting up firewood on the other side of the stove like they did back then...... Coming out of the side door of the kitchen, there was still half a tank of water in the big stone water tank, which should have been picked up by my brother back then!

He looked up into the distance, the night was getting deeper and deeper, Liu Guoyu had already lit the kerosene lamp and beckoned Fushun to go in for dinner, in fact, it was more important to entertain Liu Guohong, the leader of the village group, the "production captain" who gave the eldest brother the highest honor was the notary who sold the old house by Fuqiang. The third uncle and the eldest uncle also came to the house of this "new neighbor" in the courtyard to accompany the wine. Fu Shun and Shu Fen sat in the second seat stiffly, and the sumptuous dinner was not too appealing—even though the two children had not eaten for most of the day.

"Come, welcome Fushun back, the little ones have grown into adults!" The "captain" raised his glass and drank it all, sandwiched a piece of bacon in his mouth, and the corners of his mouth were still dripping with oil. The others should be reconciled, and the third uncle sandwiched a piece of meat for Fushun. "Yiha'er Guoyu gave the money to Fushun. This money is specially explained by Fuqiang, and no one will give it except you! Liu Guohong took a sip of his own and continued, he looked at Fushun's uncle as he spoke. Fu Shun thought to himself, what if I don't come back, are you going to give this money out? How much he misses Fuqiang, where is this big brother who makes him angry and loved? And that poor brother, who was adopted?

Liu Guohong raised his glass and toasted one by one, on the one hand, he welcomed this little guest, and more importantly, he wanted to thank his brothers for their support to his work. With an abacus, I vaguely calculated the accounts with interest over the years - no more, no less, exactly four hundred yuan.

Shufen on the side was not idle, staring intently at the abacus beads, "No, uncle, it should be four hundred and thirty-eight yuan, two cents and eight cents." Shufen hurriedly corrected. Shufen thought to herself, such a big four-room house is also connected to a pigsty and furniture, which can be regarded as a relative of the "captain"!

"Uh," Liu Guohong blushed a little, "I'll do the math again." After speaking, he used the abacus to fiddle and calculate again, "That's right, the little girl is so clever, and the 'iron abacus' is well taught!" The "captain" realized that this child was Accountant Yang's daughter.

"A total of four hundred and thirty-eight yuan, two cents and eight cents, Guoyu, take the money, the money earned this year, I'm afraid it will be given to Fushun!" Liu Guoyu's cousin is naturally a little distressed, but this old house is worth it all in all, not to mention that the ground is paved with rare bluestone slabs, and the wood of this house alone is also worth this price!

The uncle and the third uncle, who were a little drunk, did not speak, and watched Liu Guoyu take out the money from the back room and put it on the table, Guoyu's woman came out and ordered it again. Fushun also asked Shufen to help count it, and after confirming that it was correct, the "captain" handed over a pen and paper and asked Fushun to write a receipt, "Can you write?" Fushun, do you need me to write it and you can press a handprint? The "captain" who could write looked at the little cub with calloused hands.

The little cub still didn't speak, took the pen and paper and looked at Shufen, Shufen nodded vigorously, Fushun held the pen for a while and wrote it and handed it to the notary. Liu Guohong couldn't help but be a little surprised when he looked at this powerful stroke, but he didn't make a sound, took out a small box of red ink from his pocket and asked Fushun to press his handprint, and asked Liu Guoyu to look at it and put it away.

As soon as the formalities were completed, there was a small chat, and at the beginning I asked Fushun about his life in Yangjiawan, Fushun looked at the beams of the hall blankly, and Shufen helped answer. Later, several men played long cards, and Fushun, who was shivering with cold, looked at the dark night, and he didn't know where to go tonight, because no one beckoned them to spend the night.

Shufen knew that the people in this courtyard were hopeless, he pulled Fu Shun, didn't say hello, and walked out of the door of the Liu family's compound, although Fu Shun was still so reluctant to give up his thoughts with complicated thoughts. In this dark night that was about to devour people, where did the two children dare to walk the mountain road, they spent the night under the yellow fruit tree with incense and candles burning at the pass, at least there was some temperature. In the middle of the night, the uncles reacted that the two children were gone, and they called a few times in the yard with torches, and then went home to sleep.