(a)

Liushutun is a small village on the Great Plains of Northeast China. After August 15, the corn harvest was over, and all that remained in the field were rows of fallen straws and dagger-like stubble. At dusk, the fiery sunset is about to set on the horizon, illuminating the fields after the autumn harvest with a golden yellow that cannot be seen at a glance. The golden afterglow was also draped over the blue-gray diagonal gown of the small-footed woman Zhao, and the silver-white bun on her head was golden and yellow.

At this time, the old lady with little feet was standing by the pond at the entrance of Liushutun Village, beckoning a group of ducks who refused to go home, and the pond was also glowing with golden waves. "Duck - Duck Duck Duck Duck Duck Duck ......" has a bright and soft voice, like singing an old song.

A horse-drawn carriage kicked up a cloud of red dust and rushed from far and near from the direction of the sun. The old lady with little feet rubbed her eyes a little dazed, and said to herself: "Where did you come from?" ”

Zhong Shulin took a carriage back to his hometown of Liushutun Village in Antai County in the second year after the liberation of Antai County, when he was 27 years old, 12 years after he left home when he was young, and 12 years ago Zhong Shulin was still called Zhong Ernian.

When the carriage stopped at the pond at the entrance of the village, Zhong Shulin called his mother with some hesitation, and the old lady with little feet rubbed her eyes that were dazzled by the sun and dust, and suddenly released two lights in her eyes, and staggered forward to meet two steps: "Two years?!" ”

After running a few steps, Putong knelt at his mother's feet, hugging his mother's thin legs wearing fat crotch pants and leg straps. The mother hugged her son's head, stroked her son's hair, and cried while counting: "Second ghost, you are still alive!" All these years have passed, and you are almost blind for your mother's eyes......" The seven-foot man couldn't help but cry, and kept saying "Son is not filial, son is not filial".

Mother and son met by the pond, cried for a long time, cried until the sun was gone, the sun set, and the ducks in the pond also returned to their respective homes. The son helped his mother into the carriage, jumped on the wheel, shouted "drive", and walked towards the village.

It is still the familiar small courtyard on the other side, or the three familiar thatched houses, and the familiar smell of sorghum rice mixed with the smoke from the straw burning.

"Chunhua, your man is back!"

Li Chunhua held a burning stick in one hand and poked her head out of the door frame with the other, and saw a tall and handsome young man wearing a cadre uniform walking into the chaimen, and his little face stained with black stove ash suddenly turned red, standing in the door at a loss.

The girl standing at the door was thin and small, wearing a red jacket with a faded back and blue and white patches on her shoulders, a small round face like a white wicker fence for rice, a long thin yellow braid dragged behind her head, and a red head rope tied at the end of her hair. Zhong Shulin was stunned in the middle of the courtyard, looking at the strange girl in a daze.

"Silly boy, I forgot to tell you, this is your daughter-in-law! Go inside the house and listen to your mother tell you slowly. ”

Sitting on the small kang, the old lady with small feet chattered about it.

One morning in the spring of the third year of Zhong's second year of leaving home, Chang Gengxing was still hanging in the sky in the east, Zhao went to the firewood stack outside the courtyard gate to hold firewood and grass to prepare for cooking, as soon as he stretched out his hand, he touched the soft things, and he slowly moved in the dark, like whose pig was lying in it to keep warm, and the black shadow swayed and slowly stood up, it was a little girl.

"Whose girl, why are you sleeping here?"

"Auntie, you can take me, I can do anything, you just need to give me a bowl of rice to eat."

The girl was crying and the chick was kowtowing like broken rice.

"My father died of illness the year before last, and my mother brought me to the northeast to beg for food, but I encountered the plague and died in the middle of the road a few days ago. Thanks to the help of well-wishers, it was buried. When my mother was dying, she told me that whoever could give me food to eat would be someone's daughter. ”

Zhao was originally a soft-hearted person who ate fasting and recited Buddha, and when he heard the girl's crying, he also shed tears, and hurriedly pulled up the hard-working girl, saying: "Girl, you don't think our family is poor, you are willing to stay, just be a companion with your aunt." ”

Zhao led the girl into the house and urged the girl to quickly take off the kang to warm up. He came to the stove, pulled up the bellows, boiled high-grain rice porridge, boiled corn tortillas, and brought two salted duck eggs in the porridge pot.

After two bowls of porridge, the girl's body warmed up and she was refreshed.

"Girl, what's your name?"

"My name is Li Eryan."

"Eryan is like a name", the small-footed woman looked up at the peach blossoms in full bloom, "You came to our house in spring, so let's call it Spring Flowers." ”

In this way, Chunhua lived in Zhao's house.