In the spring of this year, I returned to the land of Shiqiao Township earlier, the sun warmly shone on the lazy Mao'er Mountain, and the winding stone road hung down from the top of the mountain like a white line, and it seemed to put a free zipper on the beautiful green clothes.

The busy Yangjiawan suddenly became leisurely, the old people played chess with dry tobacco, the young people played long cards around the Eight Immortals table, and the children enjoyed the joy of wearing new clothes, immersed in the "greasy" of "big fish and big meat", squandering each red envelope or eight cents, or two cents, or at most four cents of New Year's money. Fu Shun gave Shufen all the New Year's money sent by his uncles and asked her to buy her favorite diary. Shufen didn't buy much, saved some money, and asked her classmates who lived in Chahe Town to bring back some books - there was not even a bookstore in the tiny Shiqiao Township, and of course she brought back "Geometry" and "Solid Geometry" that Fushun liked.

In the first month, Fushun, who did not have to do farm work, hid in this independent thatched hut, and Fushun made a trapezoidal table out of a lot of discarded wooden planks and a chair that was not strong. He always drew all kinds of geometric figures on this table with the back of the old book that Shufen gave him, and sometimes even Shufen couldn't understand it, Fushun always said that a reasonable structure can make an irregular thing stable. None of this has been sued by him, nor is it seen in any book. Fu Shun told Yang Guiying about these ideas, and Guiying felt that he was simply whimsical! But Shufen didn't think so, Shufen said that a man named Archimedes said, "Give me a lever and a fulcrum, and I can pry the earth." Fu Shun didn't know who Archimedes was, but he suddenly became interested in this awkward name, took out five cents from the drawer of the alien table, and begged the second sister to buy a book about Mead.

Fushun didn't forget for a moment about returning to the mud ditch! But how should he go back, his silent adoptive father had already prepared for him to make his own bamboo straw paper (a kind of paper money), poor child, looking at this pile of straw paper, how should he find his way home, even if he went back, could he still find his father's grave? There are also the graves of my mother and stepmother, whose graves are scattered in different places!

I hope that what the carpenter said is false, and that the elder brother and the younger brother are still at home, as when the father waited for them to come home, and sat together on the eaves of the stairs in anticipation, but what should he bring home for the younger brother? Oh, there are still some glutinous rice cakes in Yang's mother's cabinet, and my younger brother likes to eat glutinous rice cakes the most, so be sure to bring some. And those books, books about geometric figures, my brother must like it, right? There are also uncles and third uncles...... Never mind...... It must have been this that they instigated, otherwise how could his brother, who loved him so much, send himself here?

It's been almost six years, and Fushun feels that he is living, how many beatings, how many scoldings, and how many people's eyes have he suffered? But the kind-hearted child is still grateful to the Yang family for keeping him alive, so that he has gradually changed from a child to a "man" who can carry water and chop firewood, plow the field, go down the weir to release water, and open mountains and build roads. He is grateful to have a kind poor child like Gui Ying to treat him as a friend, and a sister like Shufen to let him know the charm of knowledge. A fourteen-year-old child has let go of all his hatred, and if he really wants to leave completely, he is really a little reluctant.

Shufenniang called over the two children and held back her tears - it was unlucky for someone in the family to cry in the first month. She said that eight years ago, she took Fushun to take a detour, deliberately detoured a long way, in fact, the mud ditch is not far, to the Shiqiao Commune along the Shiqiao River all the way upstream to walk four or five miles, Fushun's Liu family compound is not in the ditch, and has to walk along the ditch to the dry field ridge for a short distance. He said to Fushun: "Shun'er, I know that you don't want to call me mother, our family has no interest, not only did you not read the book, but also suffered so many crimes, our Yang family is sorry for you, you go back and take a look, maybe your eldest brother is out now, then you don't want to come back!" Fu Shun lowered his head and did not speak, and looked at Yang Shuzi, who was sitting on the eaves with his broken legs. In fact, both of them understand that Fushun's eldest brother may really not be in Shiqiao, otherwise, how could they have never been inquired about for so many years. Her mother then pulled Shufen aside and said: "You and your brother go all the way, be polite when you see the Liu family, you will also kowtow to Fushun burning paper, you will come back with him all the way when he wants to come back, he doesn't want to come back, you will live there for a few days, and if he doesn't come back in three or five days, you will come back by yourself!" ”

Shufen nodded. In fact, this girl understands in her heart, how could Brother Fushun not come back, since she was letting him go, her parents must have already inquired about the situation of the Liu family, and she went with her because she was afraid that Brother Fushun would not be able to stand the blow, so she comforted her!

After breakfast, her mother put some paper money, fragrant wax, wheat biscuits, a long bamboo cup, boiling water, and a box of matches in the small back basket, and sent the two children on the road. Shufei shouted that she was going too, but was stopped by Yang Shuzi's loud shout!

The brother and sister hesitated to walk towards Shiqiao Township, Fushun looked back at the broken tiled houses and thatched houses more than once, he seemed to hear the old ox "......moo" howling, he stood on the edge of the big stone field, looking at the mess of gravel that had been beaten by himself, and the wheat seedlings and bean seedlings that had just sprouted in the field. "Shufen, why don't you ...... Why don't we go? Fu Shun looked at the second sister and asked hesitantly.

Shufen didn't know how to answer, looking at Brother Fushun, she knew the desolation of "the young and the eldest who left home", although he has not yet "decayed his sideburns", but after more than five years, who knows what the former hometown has become? What's more, from the "Great Revolution" to "Package Production to Households", the countryside of Shiqiao has long since changed. "Let's go and have a look, brother, I'll be back in the afternoon!" Shufen cheers her brother up.

"Hmm...... But......" Fu Shun swallowed back what he was going to say, "but I'm afraid I won't find the way." ”

Shufen knew that Fushun was more afraid of returning to that familiar place, but he became unfamiliar at every turn, and the familiar person had long since disappeared. "Ask, what are you afraid of, ask all the way, it's easy to do when you get to the commune, we know the way to the commune, my mother said, go to the commune and go to the river."

Fu Shun lifted the basket on his shoulder, and then walked towards the stone bridge. The stone bridge is not a fair, but the streets of the New Year are as lively as a market, and people close to the market come to the street to see the excitement. The lion dance team greets the merchants and pedestrians who open in Shiqiao from the first day to the fifteenth day of the new year, the theater has a troupe invited from the county town to sing Sichuan opera, and the government canteen has a color TV set, which is crowded with people watching this strange thing. The brother and sister did not linger on the streets. First, they are afraid that the lion dance team will come to pay their respects, and when they open their mouths to please, they will not be able to get money in their pockets; Second, their new coarse cloth clothes looked a little out of place compared to the cotton clothes of the children who "ate and supplied" the streets.

Along the Shiqiao River to the west, Fushun has some memories. It must have been when he was two or three years old, and his father took him and his brother by the hand to rush to the scene, and my father always had endless food stamps and cloth stamps to exchange some delicious cold powder and pot helmets, as well as flower cloth clothes. But the road is vague, whatever, keep walking, my mother said that there are four or five miles, you have to walk for a while!

Thinking of the food stamps, Fushun was a little hungry, so he sat on the side of the road and unscrewed the bamboo tube, and handed it to Shufen along with a flour cake. The second sister took a sip of water and looked at the sun overhead, "Brother, it shouldn't be far away, one of our classmates is from the muddy ditch, he said that it didn't take a long time to walk, we have been walking for a long time, you see that there is the end of the river"

Fu Shun nodded, in fact, he couldn't figure out how far it was, and a group of relatives happened to come over, "Xian Xian, let me ask, is there still a long way to the big courtyard of the third team of the Liu family here?" ”

"Follow this slope and you'll be there!" An aunt in her forties and fifties replied.

Hearing that it was coming, Shufen swallowed the cake in a few bites, but Fushun slowly sorted out his back, and he was still hesitating. "Brother, let's go, hurry up, I'll be there soon." Shufen was much more excited than Brother Fushun.

"Oh." Fu complied, and walked towards the mountain with heavy steps, he seemed to see the eldest brother holding the red treasure book and grinning, wasn't the captain just announcing that the eldest brother was an "advanced person" in that courtyard?

As soon as Qiē really became unfamiliar, where is there still a shadow of "rotten" in the fields of the muddy ditch? After the production was delivered to the household, each family strengthened their fields with stones, and the malt in the fields in this ditch was greener than that in Yangjiawan! Fushun couldn't tell which one was which, there were newly built big tiled houses everywhere, and there were fruit trees and mulberry trees in front of and behind the houses. However, the big yellow fruit tree called the sacred tree at the pass is still there, and the old tree of the New Year is covered with red cloth strips of blessings, which flutter with the breeze and look particularly dazzling in the sun. He knew that if he climbed over this hurdle, he would be able to see the Liu family's compound!

Fu Shun couldn't remember too much, his pace suddenly accelerated, and at this moment, he suddenly wanted to see the familiar courtyard house and his dear brother soon. Shufen was panting and rushing up in the back, tired and sweating.

I finally saw the courtyard that had appeared in my dreams countless times: the lonely yard stood alone in the middle of the mountain, the bamboo forest behind the house was more dense, the green tiles had been covered many times, the white walls had mottled the traces of time, the ridges of the main hall house were still so dazzling with the pattern of countless lotus flowers combined with tiles, and the white chimneys of the three families were emitting green smoke - ah, that was my home, the home of my dreams, my real home! Fu Shun cheered, it's all fake, it's all liars, my house hasn't collapsed, my eldest brother is already cooking on the stove, the rich family must follow the other children to play in the yard!

"I'm home!" Fushun shouted in the direction of home with tears in his eyes. Shufen, who had just climbed uphill and hadn't come back to her senses, was startled by him.