The sun rises in the east, just like the sun that the old village chief walked in yesterday.

Qin Forget had just returned from a hard time in the back mountain, and for months, he had not stopped even when he was hungry and injured. Especially in this cold winter, it is the best time to build a foundation, and he is even more unwilling to let it go easily. Since breaking through the bottleneck last time, Qin Forget obviously felt that his physical fitness had risen to a big level, he used to be able to hold on for an hour at most, but now he was almost able to hold on for an hour and a quarter of an hour, which made him excited.

Happily insisting on quickly splitting 1,100 knives in an hour, Qin Wanghastily wiped the sweat on his body, put on his leather jacket, and hurried to the village. Looking at it from a distance, the village was still so quiet, Qin Forget relieved his heart slightly, but he couldn't erase the uneasiness in his heart.

"Forget my brother, finally, finally find and find you!" Seeing Qin Qing running in a hurry from a distance, seeing Qin Wang, Qin Qing stopped, she crossed her waist with her hands, frowned, and tried to suppress the violent wheezing, her face was flushed, and there was a layer of fine beads of sweat on the tip of her snow-white nose.

"Qing'er, don't worry, take a breath." Seeing Qin Qing coming in such a hurry, Qin Forget knew that something was wrong, and although he was in a hurry, he still comforted Qin Qing gently.

"The village chief, he, he, he went." Qin Qing patted his little chest vigorously and said intermittently.

"Go? What do you call going? Qing'er, make it clear! Qin Forget grabbed Qin Qing's shoulders with both hands and asked urgently.

"The village chief and the eldest lady are dead, and they committed suicide." Qin Qing's voice was already full of crying, and his eyes, which were already red from crying, were moist again.

This is a kind girl, even when the whole village scolded the old village chief one-sidedly, she couldn't bear to say a cruel word to the old village chief, and she didn't put on a face.

Qin Forget was stunned for a moment, he finally knew where his uneasiness came from, and grabbed Qin Qing in a daze, his expression was blank, as if he had lost his soul.

"Forget my brother, it hurts." Qin Qing looked at Qin Forget's lost consciousness and reminded weakly.

"Oh, I'm sorry Qing'er." Qin Forget hurriedly let go, "You walk slowly in the back, rest for a while, I'll hurry up and go to the village chief's house to have a look." Qin Forget didn't wait for Qin Qing to agree, and ran forward like the wind.

The walls around the village chief's house decayed as quickly as the village chief's people, and there were cracks on all four walls. The room, which had been kept spotlessly clean, was also covered with dust. The paint on the dwarf table, which was familiar to all the people in Qinjia Village, completely peeled off, revealing the color of the light yellow wood inside. The table top was also covered with a thick layer of dust.

What a sight it has been over the past few decades. Which of all the big and small things in Qinjia Village was not decided on it? Now it can only be aggrievedly thrown aside in a corner. The room was even darker and colder because no charcoal fire was lit, and the icy wind whirled around the room. In the air, there is a smell of death that can only be found in cemeteries or funerals, and the smell makes people's chests feel stuffy.

The old village elder and his wife lay quietly on the bed, their peaceful faces as if they were asleep, and the old village chief still had that serious and resolute face, just like the expression he had when he was surrounded and scolded by a group of women last time, but he only revealed a sense of relief and relaxation. Wearing the gray fox fur hat from yesterday, the white old goatskin coat, and the dark blue cotton pants, it still looks so incongruous. At this time, people realized that this was the old village chief's longevity clothes.

The old couple's bodies were already cold and cold, and there was a thin layer of ice on their eyebrows, which looked even more vicissitudes and desolation, and even the folds on their faces were frozen hard.

The village elder's wife was lying on his side on his left chest, and the old man had a faint smile on his face. This is an ordinary old lady in a mountain village who can no longer be ordinary, who has been husband and children all her life, regards her man as the sky, and takes her husband's joys and sorrows as her own joys and sorrows, and her husband's pain as her own pain. She has always been kind and kind-hearted, and she has never blushed with anyone in the village, let alone bullied others by relying on her wife being the village chief. Even if her wife was so misunderstood and insulted by the villagers, she never had any disputes with others, but just cried and begged everyone to let her wife go, although her son was also one of the young and strong.

Qin Forget still remembers the taste of maltose she made when she was a child, at that time the village was quite wealthy, and the Qiyan War that had just started had not yet hurt Yan Guo, and the exploitation of the imperial court was not serious, plus a few years of good weather, the people of Qinjia Village were doing quite well.

During the Chinese New Year, she would fry a dustpan of malt candy, coax the children to call grandma, and give one to whom, and then laugh for a while. Qin Forget has been stubborn since he was a child, and the more the old man asked him to call him, the less he screamed, but the more he wanted to eat and was unwilling to go away. The old man would laugh and scold him for being a stubborn donkey, and at last he would grab a handful of maltose and stuff it for him, more than any other child, and he still remembered the burnt smell of the maltose.

Now, the old man is gone, and he can no longer eat her fried maltose.

"Early this morning, the fat aunt saw that the old village chief and the old aunt had not come to receive breakfast for a long time, and when she came to see, she found that this was it." Aunt Xiu whispered in Qin Wang's ear.

Qin Forget nodded slightly, there was not much sadness in his heart, but a lot more complicated emotions.

He was unhappy, and the decision of the whole village to go hunting was made by the old village chief, but it was like this in previous years, and no one would have thought that something would happen this year. The village chief alone bears everyone's anger, but if you think about it a little, what does it have to do with him? You know, his only son hasn't come back either! So he was uneven, and he was unfair for the old village chief.

He was distressed, the pain of losing his child, and the accusations of the whole village, but he persevered without saying a word and accompanied everyone through the most difficult time. Now that life is finally good, he has broken himself, is he being chilled by the villagers? Or is it grief-stricken by the death of his son? Qin didn't know, but in the dead of night, what kind of mood should he have to fall asleep! He was distressed, and the village chief had suffered too many grievances.

He admired, no matter how hard it was, the old village chief never frowned, some time ago, even if everyone blamed him and insulted him, he still insisted, insisted on leading everyone through the difficulties, until he found himself, he felt relieved of the successor, and then let go.

He was sad, the first hunter of Qinjia Village, who was once unsurpassed, the idol worshiped by the middle and young generations, and the monument that Qinjia Village had been proud of for decades, collapsed in people's misunderstanding, or committed suicide by poisoning in humiliation. He was sad that the old village chief was a hero in the twilight of his life, and he could not die well.

He was grateful, the old village chief might have gone home after announcing the succession, and then went home on a dead end, right? He is using his life and his wife's life to apologize to everyone, although those so-called sins were not committed by him at all, the old village chief is using his life as a stepping stone for himself.

But who is to blame? It all seemed to be the fault of the villagers, and it didn't seem to be their fault.

After all, we are all a group of poor people.

There was a low sobbing sound all around, and heaviness and sadness filled everyone's hearts, and only then did people realize how much damage they had done to the old man. He was atoning for his sins, but what was his sin?

"Your biggest sin is that you are the village chief." Qin Forget gently brushed the ice and snow from the old man's brow, "You don't have to be like this, and, thank you." ”

Or the pine forest in the back mountain.

Not far from the clothed grave of Qin Wang's parents, a new grave was added. It's just that this tomb is much larger, and the two lines of names on the wooden tombstone show that this is a joint burial tomb.

Qin Forget took everyone in Qinjia Village to stand in front of the tomb, and the crowd continued to let out bursts of crying sounds, and the sad emotions permeated the entire pine forest. In the past few months, the people of Qinjia Village have seen a lot of life and death, but it is the first time that they have been forced to death by everyone's gossip like the old village elder. While being sad, everyone is more guilty.

"I knew this earlier, I wouldn't have been like that to Uncle Huai before, what did I do? It's really lard. Aunt Shi said with annoyance

"Me too, after Lao Duan left, I blamed all the fault on the old village chief, now think about it, what's wrong with him? He also let the young men go hunting for everyone's sake, not to mention that his son also died. Aunt Duan took over the conversation, and this strong woman couldn't cry anymore.

Hearing the words of the two people, the others were silent, and the death of the old village chief unceremoniously said that everyone here has a share. Even if it was Qin Wang, he asked himself, didn't he blame the old village chief a little bit in his heart? If not, why has he ignored the old village chief in the past two months? You must know that he used to have a lot of respect for the old village chief, and even called the old village chief grandpa. The deeds of the old village chief when he was young are also what he has always admired, and he knows very well that he also blames the old village chief in his heart.

At this moment, his heart was also full of guilt.

However, he still has to thank the old village chief, in such a special period, the old village chief has become the object of everyone's venting. If it weren't for him as an outlet for everyone's sadness, anger and other emotions, if it weren't for the old village chief who carried the black pot and diverted everyone's attention, everyone might not be able to withstand the previous sadness and despair, and the consequences would be unimaginable.

"Forget brother, the old village chief just let go, this village will depend on you in the future, you have to take care of your body, don't be too tired." Aunt Xiu saw Qin Forget kneeling in front of the old village chief's tomb without saying a word, and said with concern, for fear that Qin Forget would not be able to think about it.

"I know, Aunt Xiu." Qin Forget glanced at Aunt Xiu gratefully, "It's just that I'm still too young, and I don't understand many things very well." Aunt Xiu, in the future, if I don't understand, you and your aunts must teach me more, we must live well and build Qinjia Village better, otherwise I am really sorry for the spirit of the old village chief in the sky. ”

"Don't worry, forget my brother, it's just that we are all women's families, with long hair and short knowledge, so we can't afford to be a big deal. In the future, it is up to you to make decisions, and you are also responsible for external affairs, and our group of old ladies are responsible for taking care of the village. Aunt Xiu nodded and agreed.

"Okay, let's go back, but I want everyone to remember that the old village chief died for the whole village and for everyone, and the old village chief will always be our village chief, and the entire Qinjia Village owes him." Qin Forget cheered up, stood up and shouted loudly to everyone.

Hearing Qin Forget shout, everyone quietly put away their tears and responded one after another.