In Haizhou Bay, Lianyun area, about 50 kilometers away from Lianyun Port, there are the first three islands composed of Cheniushan Island, Dashan Island and Pingshan Island.

Ever since Japan launched a full-scale war of aggression against China and issued a declaration of "blocking navigation" with the intention of blockading all of China's territorial waters, the former three islands have become the target of Japanese aggression in an attempt to use it as an outpost for invading Lianyungang. On 13 September of that year, due to the negligence of the officers and men defending the island, and the strong firepower superiority of the Japanese navy, the first three islands were soon occupied by the Japanese invaders. After that, the Japanese Itagaki Division deployed strong troops here to carry out a tighter blockade of the Lianyungang area.

It was almost Mid-Autumn Festival, and the weather was quite cool. Since the Japanese completely blockade Lianyun offshore, Zhu Guanglian's maritime business has really stopped a lot, and Shizhu took advantage of these few days of leisure, rode his uncle's horse, and ran all the way back to Guwei's hometown.

When he arrived at home, Shi Zhu told his grandmother Shi Yushi about visiting Feng Qingyun in Jining some time ago, and took out the thorn dragon dagger given by Feng Qingyun to Shi Yu's family.

After Shi Yushi heard about this, he said directly to Shi Zhu: "Zhu, don't you ask me about such a big matter first?" You're away alone, what if something happens? This road is not smooth, if you really have three long and two short, when I get over there, how can I explain to your father and the ancestor of the Shi family! Don't think about revenge. ”

Shi Zhu saw that his grandmother was really angry, so he hurriedly went up and said with a smiling face: "My grandmother, don't be angry, I know that you are for my good, you see, I'm not good!" I also know that if you don't take revenge on me, I won't tell you first. I'm seventeen now, I can't be like a child, I have to be followed, I have to go out alone. ”

"Then you should at least tell me first!" Shi Yu's tone still carried a hint of reproach.

Shi Zhu still smiled and said, "Well, my grandmother, don't worry, next time if I go out again, I will tell you first." ”

Shi Yu continued: "But you are not allowed to take revenge again, it is better to work at your brother-in-law's place in peace!" ”

Shi Zhu said: "My grandmother, if you don't let me be a soldier, I can listen to you, but I must avenge my father's revenge!" No matter how much time it takes, I must find Liu Fulong and kill him! It's useless to tell me about this! ”

Shi Yu's heart also knows that "son" is a big deal, now that his grandson has grown up, there are some things that he can't manage if he wants to, and Shi Zhu is now resolute about revenge, if he continues to talk about it, I'm afraid that both of them will have trouble in their hearts. So, she turned to the stone pillar and said, "Pillar, let's not talk about this for now. You haven't been back for a few days, tell your grandmother, you plan to stay home for a few days this time, how many will you go back? ”

"I plan to stay at home for a few more days, and then go to my uncle's side after half August." The stone pillar replied. Then he took out some things from the package he brought back and said to Shi Yushi, "Look, my grandmother, I have brought some moon cakes, apples, and sweet pears for you to taste." Then, Shi Zhu took out another tin can, "Also, this is a crisp cake bought by my uncle, let me bring it to you to taste, but it is delicious, fragrant, sweet and crispy." With that, he took out a piece and handed it to Shi Yu.

Shi Yushi took the cake and looked at it, she was naturally very happy that her grandson had this filial piety, to be honest, she hadn't eaten this for many years. Shi Yushi looked at the crisp in her hand and remembered a lot of old things, but she still said in her mouth: "Zhuzi, you can come to the house with me for eight and a half months, what are you buying these things for, it's a waste of money." Keep some money for yourself and marry your daughter-in-law home later! Give birth to a few more babies, and a whole family will have a lively reunion festival, how good it is! ”

As soon as he heard about marrying his daughter-in-law, Shi Zhu blushed a little. "How old is this, it's still early!" He said sheepishly.

Shi Zhu told his grandmother some interesting things in the port, and Shi Yu also told his grandson some things at home. Shi Yu asked Shi Zhu to take a break and cook by himself, but Shi Zhu was used to doing things with his grandmother since he was a child, so he said: "My grandmother, I'll cook with you, I'll go and make a fire." ”

The two came to the pot house and got busy together. The houses in the countryside are basically built with soil tendons, and there are only landlords like Mr. Ding and Mr. Liu, and the half-person-high part of their houses is built with stones as the foundation. Although this pot house is a little dilapidated, and cracks can still be seen in the corner of the wall, the inside is very clean, and the pots and pans are neatly cleaned. Two earthen stoves are set up near the side of the pot house, one is a large pot for cooking, and the other is a small pot for stir-frying. The fire under the two pots is connected to a chimney that leads to the roof. At this point, only a small number of people can afford to make a fire and smoke from cooking.

Shi Yu's family is usually reluctant to eat rice at home alone, almost only eating some stick noodles and cakes, reed noodles, and then dried potatoes, ground eggs, etc., and the vegetables are also cut and put a little salt in the pot, and it is difficult to see the slightest oil star; In the morning and evening, she only had a little pickled red mustard greens, dried turnips, or pickled leeks, and she could eat enough anyway - but she ate better than many people in the village, and at least she could eat enough. When Shizhu came back today, she made a dry rice for one person, and steamed some dried potatoes together, and kept them for herself.

Shi Zhu sat by the pot to light the fire, Shi Yu sat next to him to choose vegetables, and the grandfather and grandson still chatted about family things from time to time. When the rice is cooked to eight minutes cooked, Shi Yushi opens the lid of the pot and stirs it to prepare the rice soup - this according to personal preference, if you want to eat soft dry rice, you can leave more rice soup to steam, and if you want to eat hard dry rice, you can leave less rice soup to steam, and by the way, you can also make a layer of pot at the bottom of the pot. After the rice soup is finished, you have to steam it slowly over low heat for a while, and then stuff it in the pot after the fire is extinguished, otherwise the rice will be easy to paste. When collecting potatoes and eggs, children will throw a few potatoes or eggs into the pot when they are cooking, and they will be cooked after a while, and then they will be picked out with a fire fork, and they will taste fragrant.

Soon after eating, the second grandmother of Luo on the village came to walk the door again, and Shi Yushi entertained her with crispy noodles. This Luo's second mother's surname is Wang, and it's pitiful to say, her man is the second child of the Luo family, but it's a pity that she married a few years ago, and the man went to join the revolutionary party and died in the vicious battle with the Qing soldiers. Later, she and her son depended on each other, but she didn't expect her son to get acne when he was seven years old, but in the end he couldn't survive it and died.

Her mother's family hated him Kefu and Kezi and didn't give her back. There is no way, Luo Erma can only live alone in the village. Some people persuaded her to remarry, but at that time, the concept of "three obedience and four virtues" was deeply rooted in women, and Luo Erma couldn't afford to lose this person, so she has been widowed for nearly 30 years.

Shi Yu's is a few years older than Luo's second grandmother, and she is also at home alone when Shizhu is studying or going out, and both of them are widowed, so she and Luo's second grandmother usually move around a lot, often walking each other, just enough to chat and chirp together. It happened that Shi Zhu came back today, and Shi Yu told Luo Erma about Shi Zhu's trip to Jining, and some interesting things about the port, and the two of them chatted with each other. Shi Yu's second grandmother only ate one piece, and she has always praised the pillar for her filial piety and promising, she also knows that this snack is not easy to get, it is not easy to get it, although she often comes to walk the door, it is inconvenient for her to eat too much.

Shi Zhu came back this time to stay at home for a few more days, so he walked around the village friends' houses, and occasionally took a few teenage "little minions" to touch some fish in the ditch, catch some crabs in the field, and even catch a snake. At that time, the countryside did not know what chemical fertilizers and pesticides were, and although the crops could not be harvested much, the water quality was good, and the fish in the water were old and fat.

When he passed by the door of Zhang Banxian, an old teacher in the village, Zhang Banxian was smoking a big cigarette pouch there. He was over half a hundred, and his words seemed to have become less, and Shi Zhu only heard him say, "You child, it's a pity not to go to school!" ”

Shi Zhu looked at Zhang Banxian and said, "Mr. Zhang, it's not that I don't go to study, the normal school has stopped." Besides, in this world, what is the use of studying! In fact, there is another reason why Shizhu does not go to school, he sees that his grandmother is getting older and older, and he is worried that if he goes to study in Banpu, the county seat, if something happens to his grandmother, I am afraid that he will not be able to take a photo. However, Shi Zhu never told anyone about this, lest his grandmother find out that she was a burden.

Luo Erfang, who was with the stone pillar, also echoed and said, "Yes, Uncle Zhang, what's the use of studying?" Look at me, I haven't studied, and no one in my family has studied, so don't you live well! People, just be able to work and eat well. ”

Luo Erzhu is the nephew of Luo's second grandmother, a few years older than Shi Zhu, because his second mother is closer to Shi Zhu's grandmother, so he and Shi Zhu can also play, and he will always help Shi Zhu talk when he encounters anything.

When Zhang Banxian heard this, he took a deep breath of cigarette, and seemed to talk more: "I said that you babies are still too young, and when the world was not good, you relied on 'martial arts', and when the world was too peaceful, you had to rely on 'literature'." Don't look at the country is in a panic now, the little devil is bouncing, I look at that, the little devil is such a big place, can he catch up with the Mongols and Manchurians back then? Outrageous! They can't eat China, in the past, the Qing Dynasty was too weak and took advantage of small Japan, but now I estimate that in a year and a half at most, the national army will drive the Japanese away, and the country will soon settle down. After speaking, Zhang Banxian smoked confidently again.

Shi Zhu only said simply: "Mr. Zhang, I don't know about these national affairs, I just estimate that the little Japanese devils have been preparing for many years in order to eat us, and it is not so easy to run away." Then, he politely asked Zhang Banxian to pay more attention to his body, and then left.

When Shizhu came back this time, there was another thing that made him feel very strange: he was originally a general friend with many people in the village, or a nodding friend, but in the past few days, the people in the village seem to have become more polite than usual when they see him, and even the families of Master Ding and Master Liu will greet him when they see Shizhu and say: "Oh, Shizhu is here to play!" "This has never happened before, these landlords, except for Liu Shanxiu, the youngest daughter of Master Liu's family, basically no one else will take the initiative to pay attention to him. Shi Zhu always felt a little confused, and he didn't know what kind of medicine these people were selling in their gourds.

On this day, Shizhu happened to meet Liu Shanxiu on the road, and the two went to school together when they were young, and the relationship was good, Liu Shanxiu saw Shizhu, and asked with a face: "Brother Zhuzi, why don't you come back to play with me this time?" You don't think of me as a friend anymore! With that, she pinched off the shoulder of the stone pillar.

Shizhu was often pinched by Shanxiu like this, and he was used to it, so he rubbed his pinched shoulder and said, "I want to go to you too, but I don't dare to go to your house, and you won't let us in, for fear of being kicked out by your big wolf dog." You don't come out, how can I play with you! ”

"Haha, I've forgotten it, school just started in the past few days, I'm in the school, and I'm on vacation today. Then I don't blame you! Liu Shanxiu said.

"How's school now? What are your plans for the future? Shizhu asked Liu Shanxiu.

"I don't know, I'm afraid I won't be able to finish middle school next year! I said that my daughter's family is so much useless, I am not allowed to study anymore, and said that I should get married early, and my mother also said that I should marry early. Speaking of the later "marriage", Liu Shanxiu lowered his head shyly, and then raised his head and glanced at Shi Zhu gently, seeing that Shi Zhu had no reaction, Liu Shanxiu diverted the topic and asked Shi Zhu: "Brother Zhuzi, I heard that you took the train to Jining alone?" ”

Shi Zhu looked at Liu Shanxiu and said, "Well, I went to Jining a while ago for some business, and I took the train." I arrived in Xuzhou first, and then transferred to Jining the next day. ”

"Isn't it fun to take the train? I haven't ever ever made a train when I'm so old, Brother Shizhu, you're amazing! ”

"The train was running really fast, and it rushed over all of a sudden, and it could drag a lot of people in one car. It's just that the car is a little bumpy, and the sound is loud. ”

"I'm going to take the train and go far, far away to play!" Liu Shanxiu just dreamed about it casually, but a few years later, she really realized this "dream", but she didn't go to a distant place to play.

Shizhu and Liu Shanxiu always had endless conversations, and it was not until a long time later that Liu Shanxiu was called home by her father, and the two said goodbye and separated.

Early the next morning, many people in the village squatted at the head of the village and chirped - at that time, the countryside did not know what electricity was, and ordinary people could not afford foreign oil, and even candles had to be spared, so they went to bed early at night and naturally got up early in the morning. It was not yet fully dawn, and most of the women were busy cooking at home, and those who had nothing to do took advantage of this time to gather together and chatter.

Although good things don't go out and bad things go thousands of miles, but in this era when the news is relatively closed and few people go out, whether it is a bad thing or a good thing, in addition to the ignorant children and the deaf king in the village, and then the cats and dogs don't know, but whenever there is some wind and grass in the village, it will spread all of a sudden, and it can chew on the mouths of more than 1,000 people in the village for several days.

The first to start was Ercha's father, Luo Laosi, "I heard Ertu's second mother say that the pillar went to Jining and made a train?" I don't know if it's true or not! ”

At this time, Lao Qutou grabbed the words and said: "My woman took the soles of her shoes at Mr. Liu's house yesterday night, and I also heard the little girl of the Liu family say that the pillar went to Jining a while ago, and it seems that she brought a lot of good things back!" ”

"Well, since the Liu family has said so, it is estimated that this news will not be fake!" ......

Next, everyone said that Jining is good, everyone has money, eats and drinks well, some say that it is really great for the pillar to go to that big city to play, and some say that the stone pillar will be prosperous in the future. What makes the big guy most interested is that Shizhu went to Jining to take the train: many of them have been to the county seat Banpu at most in their lives, and few people have even been to the Haizhou City Gate and the Xugou, as for the train, let alone sitting, they haven't even seen it. Shizhu took the train at a young age, which is really enviable.

At this time, Shizhu also happened to come over to join in the fun, and everyone hurriedly made way for him to continue chatting. The stone pillar suddenly became the focus of everyone, and he was a little restrained. In short, in addition to praising the stone pillar, everyone is concerned about whether the train will catch fire when it runs, whether the train is fast, whether the train is scared, etc., and the stone pillar will tell you 1510.

When the sun came out and the morning fog slowly cleared, everyone dispersed and went home. Shi Zhu looked at the mist on the ground that had not yet dried up, and looked up at the sun again, the doubts in his heart were finally solved, and he finally understood why the people in the village seemed to be a little respectful when they saw him in the past few days.

Finally in August and a half, after all, this day is a big festival, Shi Yushi grabbed a chicken and let Shizhu slaughter, she went to buy some tofu, fried a plate of green vegetable tofu - this is a dish that Shi Yushi must make every New Year's holiday, "Green vegetable tofu is safe!" That's what she always said. Shizhu went to the ditch and caught a few fish, there was no oil at home, only put a little salt, star anise, boiled with water, sprinkled a layer of coriander after the pot, and then poured it with fish soup. In this way, a rare luxurious meal is ready.

In the evening, when the moon comes out, according to the custom of the village, every family will move the table and four stools outside to make a simple moon worship ceremony: a few apples, pears, moon cakes and a bowl of tea are placed on the table, and some families will also put freshly wrapped sugar cakes with sesame seeds in them, which tastes fragrant and sweet. People with slightly better conditions will put a very short whip at this time, only to hear a few rapid sounds of "pop ......", and then it will return to tranquility, far less than the whip put by the owner of the land such as Ding and Liu, and scared the cats and dogs of each family to drill into the house. There will also be a few lanterns hanging on the door of the landlord's house, and after the whip is released, the children can also play with a few two kicks, small fireworks and other things, so that the children of the poor family are greedy.

At this time, Shi Yu would always look at the bright moon in the sky and tell Shi Zhu the story of Chang'e running to the moon and Wu Gang cutting Gui. Whenever he talked about the place where Wu Gang cut down the osmanthus tree, Shi Yu would point to the moon in the sky and say, "Look, that black place is the osmanthus tree, and there are rabbits pounding medicine next to it!" ”

Shi Zhu has listened to his grandmother tell mythological stories such as Nuwa mending the sky, Kuafu chasing the sun, the little white dragon visiting the mother, the cowherd and the weaver girl, Houyi shooting the sun, Chang'e running to the moon, and the tengu eating the moon, and so on, and he listened very carefully every time, and never got tired of listening to them. But Shi Zhu looked at the bright full moon tonight, and where was the osmanthus tree he saw from the dark shadows of the moon, it was clearly his grandfather, who was looking at himself from the moon.

Shi Zhu clearly remembers that the last time he saw his grandfather in the moon was ten years ago. It was the thirty-fifth day after his grandfather's death, and according to the custom of his hometown, he had to look forward to five or seven. At that time, it was the middle of the sixth month of the lunar calendar, although it was only a few days to the fifteenth, and the moon was not as round as tonight, but the moon at more than three o'clock in the morning was particularly bright, and the silver moonlight was sprinkled on the ground, and the surrounding scenery could be seen clearly. If you are not an early riser, it is really rare to see this scene in normal times. After returning from looking at Wuqi, the stone pillar raised his head and looked, the moon was hanging alone in the western half of the sky, and his grandfather was clearly on it, watching them......

Shi Zhu thought about this as he looked at the full moon tonight, and after looking at it for a long time, he suddenly felt that the moon was much bigger than usual, and the stars around it also dimmed, or even disappeared. For a moment, it was as if the moon had turned into land, and his planet was floating in mid-air, and he would accidentally fall from the earth and fall into space. Just when he seemed to be about to fall from the earth, his heart suddenly startled, and this brought him back to reality.

Shi Zhu planned to go to the port the next day after the Mid-Autumn Festival, so Shi Yu lit a candle to help Shi Zhu pack up his clothes - in fact, it was just a few warm clothes, some dried vegetables, and a few sugar cakes for Shi Zhu. After everything stopped, Shi Yu told his grandson some heavenly myths, and when he saw that it was not too early, the grandfather and grandson went to sleep.

It was surprisingly quiet that night, except for the intermittent insect chirping and the occasional "zizi" mouse call, even the barking of dogs in the village was not heard all night, and the stone pillar slept very sweetly.

The next morning, after the rooster crowed a few times, Shi Yushi got up and was busy making breakfast, in fact, she didn't sleep much at night, and her grandson was going to work at the port tomorrow, and she didn't know when she would come back to see her next time, she always felt lost in her heart. I kept thinking about it, and I didn't know when I fell asleep, and I felt that as soon as my eyes were closed, the sky was already bright as soon as I opened them. When the stone pillar got up, the sun had already come out, and there was no fog in the morning, and as soon as the sun shone, it was bright everywhere.

While eating breakfast, the stone pillar suddenly heard a continuous "rumbling" sound from the north sky, like a burst of thunder, all the way to the west. Shi Zhu looked hard at the sky to the north, although there were only a few small black dots, and he couldn't see anything clearly, but he knew that it was a Japanese plane, and there were at least three or four of them, and he didn't know where to "lay eggs" again.

Second Grandmother Luo knew that Shizhu was going back to the port today, and she also came over early after breakfast to send Shizhu. In her heart, in addition to a few younger nephews and nephews of the Luo family, she also treated Shizhu as her own grandson, and brought a pair of cloth shoes to Shizhu before leaving, which she had taken out in the past few days. The stone pillar was not easy to refuse, and after thanking Luo Erma, he accepted the shoes.

Shizhu went to the port this time, and wanted to go to Zhuzhuang to see his uncle and grandmother on the way, so he chose to take the route from Banpu to Nancheng, Houzui, and then to Xugou. Since the death of his parents, only his uncle Zhu Guanglian on Shizhu's mother's side is closer to him, after all, his mother died early, and after a long time, he has gradually become estranged from the relatives on the Zhu family's side, but occasionally he will go to see it.

Shizhu brought some crisp to the old man, only stayed for a while, and left Zhuzhuang to the north without even drinking water.

When he arrived at Banpo, Shizhu saw many people on the road hurrying to the west, so he dismounted and asked an old man in his fifties what had happened. The old man said: "Young man, it was not long before the little Japanese plane dropped a few bombs, many houses were on fire, and several people were killed. I wanted to go over and see if I could help. These little extinct species are not going to die well, and one day we will shoot their planes down! ”

When Shi Zhu heard this, he thought of the sound of airplanes he heard at breakfast, and presumably the bombs dropped by those planes. He asked again: "Old man, do you know if little Japanese planes have bombed the port?" ”。

The old man thought for a moment and said, "I don't know about the port, but I heard that a few days ago, the plane bombed the Xinpu side, and many people were killed, but unfortunately, those people were killed before they caught up in August and a half!" I think the port is closer to the east, and those planes are all flying from the Japanese sea, so I guess the port has been bombed. ”

After hearing this, the stone pillar flew on his horse and headed straight for the harbor, without stopping for a moment. He was very anxious along the way, not knowing what was going on in the port or if his uncle was fine, he only prayed that everything was safe.