Bai Jiaxuan reappeared in the streets and alleys of Bailu Village, and the villagers almost didn't recognize him, his straight waist as a rafter fell down, and he bent into a ninety-degree angle from the tailbone, and his buttocks pouted high; He carried a truncated cane in his hand, and when he spoke to people, he raised his face like a dog; When he looked up and raised his face to talk to someone, the eyes turned up as hard as they could, and the bulging eyeballs became more prominent, and the whites of the eyes became more dazzling. The corners of the two mouths are pulled downwards oppositely, and the wide mouth is skimmed into a curved bow, showing an unwavering and almost stubborn spirit. He answered the concerned men and women in the streets and alleys in short words, and only stopped for a short time, almost without stopping to move his crutches, and followed Lu San, who was pulling the ox and carrying the plow, out of the village alley.

It is the end of autumn and the beginning of winter, and the days are so short that it is difficult for the daughter-in-law to cook three meals. The sun fell into the plain slope of the western part of the White Deer Plain, and a shy glow rose over the western plain. Bai Jiaxuan stood on the ground with crutches in both hands, watching Lu San, holding the plough stick in one hand and raising the whip in the other, leisurely ploughing the plot left for cotton fields, the yellow-brown soil rolling on the ploughshare; The backs of Lu San and Niu gradually blended into the glow of the west, and they rushed to him from the glow of the glow from afar. Bai Jiaxuan's palms itched, his legs and feet itched, and his throat was itching, he wanted to grab the smooth handle of the plough stick, he wanted to trample on the rolling soil, and he wanted to let go of his throat and shout at the livestock. When Lu San ploughed again and returned to the ground to plow and adjust the oxen, Bai Jiaxuan threw away his crutches, grabbed the handle of the plow with one hand, and snatched the whip with one hand, and said, "Third brother, you smoke a bag of cigarettes!" Lu San muttered loudly and innocently: "The sky is so short that it won't turn back and forth a few times!" In the end, he reluctantly put down his whip and plough stick, and reluctantly squatted down to touch the cigarette pack. He watched Bai Jiaxuan insert the tip of the plow into the ditch and shouted, and hurriedly rushed forward to grab the plow stick: "Jiaxuan, you don't dare to plow, your waist ......" Bai Jiaxuan put away his hand and shouted again: "Get up!" The bullock dragged the ploughshare forward. Bai Jiaxuan turned his face to Lu San and said, "I want to test the fire!" Lu San walked side by side with Jiaxuan holding the cigarette pouch that had not yet been loaded into the cigarette powder, worried about if there was a mistake. Bai Jiaxuan said unhappily: "I'm uncomfortable for you to follow me." You go away, you go smoke your cigarette!" Lu San reluctantly stopped, his eyes were firmly fixed on Bai Jiaxuan, who was gradually melting into the glow, but he still couldn't remember to fill the cigarette with his empty cigarette pouch.

Bai Jiaxuan only looked at the ground where the ploughshare was advancing, the yellow-brown soil rolled under his feet, and the smell of fresh wet soil overflowed from under the ploughshare, moistening his empty and anxious chest, and he heard the sound of the bones on his arms and legs clattering and twisting. He leisurely shouted the concise words of dispatching the bullock, which seemed to be a kind of soothing lyricism. He ploughed until the end of the cotton field fell over the plowshare, and when he turned over to the east with the glow on his back, he roared in the Qin dialect: "Han Suwu is ...... in Beihai" ploughed back and forth, Bai Jiaxuan was already sweating profusely and panting, his body was weak after all, but the boring and depressed life of sleeping on the kang for more than three months was finally over. After finishing work and going back that day, Bai Jiaxuan threw the crutch into the grass shed where the firewood was stored, stood in the courtyard and took the copper basin for washing the face brought by the fairy grass and said, "I tried the fire later, I'm okay!"

After dinner, in the old lady's room of the landlord's house, Bai Jiaxuan temporarily decided to convene a gathering of all family members, Xiaowen and the third son Xiaoyi were called by him, and the second daughter-in-law was told by Xiancao that Lu San, as an informal but indispensable member of the family, was personally invited by him to the horse, and was courteously invited to a simple Taishi chair on the other side of the table, and the two daughters-in-law sat on the edge of the kang where the mother-in-law had begun to simmer. Bai Jiaxuan said: "My waist is better. He turned his head to look at his two daughters-in-law and said, "I have been curled up on the kang for a full hundred and seven days, and you two, the eldest sister and the second sister, have suffered and done your filial piety. The two daughters-in-law were praised by the elders of the family but felt frightened, and rushed to confess that this was completely the filial piety of the younger generation, and so on. Bai Jiaxuan interrupted them with a wave of his head: "You still don't know what I'm most afraid of in my life?" I am not cowardly of crooked people, nor am I afraid of bandits and thieves, I am not afraid of hardships, I am not afraid of contribution, I am not afraid of going to bed late and getting up early, I am the most afraid thing...... is to lie stiffly on the kang, let people wait, boil soup and decoction, serve food, drink, and pour and urine. The family was silent, only the old mother Bai Zhao moved her feelings on the kang: "You are a sinner!" Bai Jiaxuan continued: "I'm a sinner, I can't do it, I love to suffer, I can't help it, I can't help it, it's born to suffer, I work all over my body; If I don't work for two days, my arms and legs will be weak, and my heart will be confused and annoyed......" Bai Jiaxuan paused here, and then solemnly said what he wanted to tell every family member: "What I mean by these words in front of me is that from tomorrow onwards, you will no longer revolve around me. Do what each of you should do, spin the thread that the people in the house should spin, weave the cloth, sew the cotton clothes, and do the work in the field that the people outside should do. The calves feed the animals left on the trough, and they push the soil to dry the soil, save enough soil for the winter washers, and be careful to cover the snow. As soon as the ground froze, I hurriedly set up a car to deliver manure. Spend all this work on it, and the ginning machine will go off. In a word, how did the original days pass from tomorrow onwards. I'm - good!"

The sad and panicked atmosphere that shrouded Bai Jiaxuan in the courtyard after he was smashed by the bandits has been cleared, and the rigorous and diligent life and production order before the catastrophe have been completely restored. Not only recovered, but all the adults in the family were surprised to find that the self-confident "I am okay" parent had undergone a major change, he got up earlier than before the hunchback, and when the sky was thin, a majestic cough sounded in the courtyard, which often embarrassed his daughter-in-law who opened the door late and poured urine with the urinal; His steps are not difficult, but more agile, hunched back, swinging his hands and legs, in the front yard, the horse number in the backyard, the cowshed, the pigsty, and the latrine in the backyard, he has nothing to do to check around; In addition to the work of having to use both shoulders or one shoulder to carry the burden through the cart, he is not taboo in all farm work operated with both hands and legs, ploughing cotton fields, turning rice fields, turning grains, rotating sieves, palming dustpans, sending manure, stomping on ox carts, stomping on ginning machines, etc., he and his son Xiaowen Changgong Lu San work together; His words were fewer, more concise, and more precise, and useless nonsense, and false entertainment were completely and cleanly omitted from his mouth. Xiaowen and Lusan were always worried that he was tired, and repeatedly persuaded him to take a break when he did it, and it was best to rest for two days a day, at most two days in the morning and evening and a break at noon; If you follow them three days a day like this, sooner or later there will be chaos. Bai Jiaxuan turned a deaf ear, and only cared about doing the work in his hands or feet, and he became impatient when he was annoyed by their aggressiveness: "You two are quiet, don't say that again." I don't like to hear it. There are only those who are idle, and there are no things that are broken. ”

The whole courtyard is like a ginning machine that has been idle for a summer and autumn, and in the winter it is running with a clatter. At this time, a fatal blow followed, and Bai Jiaxuan discovered Xiaowen's secret. The blow was almost devastating.

It was the evening when the first heavy snow fell in winter, Bai Jiaxuan stepped on the ginning machine for a long time, and Xiaowen dragged him down. He wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead, put on cotton clothes and pants, walked out of the enclosure for raising cattle and horses, did not enter the courtyard diagonally opposite the door, turned around and walked along the west lane. The snow melted down, and the lanes were muddy. Bai Jiaxuan walked into the streets of Bailu Town, which was connected to the village lane, with his hands behind his back, and pushed open the door panel of Mr. Leng's Chinese Medicine Hall. Mr. Leng poured him a cup of golden tea, untied a packet of cigarette leaves wrapped in creamy yellow oiled paper, spread it on the small table, pointed to a teacup and said, "You are in a hurry, this tea is brewed with the snowflake water you just received, taste it." Bai Jiaxuan took a sip of tea, the fragrance was fragrant, the hot stream gurgled and rolled down his throat, and he suddenly felt that his intestines were full of air, but his mouth deliberately said coldly: "Snow water is not water!" I drank it no different. As he spoke, he took out a very well-cut piece of cigarette, tore it elegantly and freely, spread it onto the cotton trousers on his knees, and then took a short piece of broken cigarette and sandwiched it evenly, then wrapped it up, twisted it repeatedly between the two thick palms, and used the tip of his tongue to sip a little saliva on the open piece of cigarette to make a beautiful cigar. He picked up the fragrant fire that burned silently from morning till night from the table, lit it at the cigar tip, and let out a long puff of heavy blue smoke.

After the daughter-in-law of the second son Xiaowu passed through the door in the first month, the relationship between him and Mr. Leng underwent profound changes, from the generational friendship of the fathers to the family of children and daughters. Thanks to the careful and sincere treatment of his in-laws, he finally walked back to the streets and alleys of Bailu Village after 100 days, instead of becoming a dead and paralyzed waste on the kang. He never visited the door before, but now he doesn't visit the door, but after some days or a rainy and dreary time, he comes to the Chinese medicine hall of Mr. Leng, his in-laws, to sit and chat. Mr. Leng's Chinese medicine hall has become a vent for Luo Guo Jiaxuan to know the dynamics of Bailuyuan. The people who seek medical treatment and take medicine pass on the abnormal events that occur in various villages to the Chinese medicine hall in time every day, and Mr. Leng screened the complicated events and picked out those things that are worth talking about to Bai Jiaxuan, and the two of them then discussed and commented on the matter. Sometimes the two of them sit and drink tea and smoke, each person has a bamboo fan in summer, and guards a pot of charcoal fire in winter, Mr. Leng doesn't talk much, and Bai Jiaxuan is not easy to play his tongue, so the two of them just sit like that and don't even say a word of gossip. Both of them know in their hearts that in fact, only a truly trusting relationship can achieve this state of eliminating hypocrisy and preserving truth. Bai Jiaxuan sipped the tea washed down by the snow water with a peaceful and happy attitude, and found that Mr. Leng was extraordinarily eager to add tea to him, and a little too politeness caused discomfort and awkwardness; He looked at Mr. Leng attentively, and finally noticed that the eyes that were usually cold were dodging and dodging, and there was a ray of false light. He said bluntly: "Brother Leng, you are blind. Sit down and smoke your cigarette. I will pour tea, I will roll cigarettes! Do you think you have something on your mind? I'm not here for any reason, so I'll leave. Seeing that he was self-defeating, Mr. Leng hurriedly grabbed Bai Jiaxuan's hand, and couldn't turn the corner anymore: "Brother, sit down, I have something to tell you......"

"Are we brothers talking like this?"

"I heard a gossip—"

“……”

"It's just a gossip, but it's not an ordinary gossip."

"Uh, I haven't seen you for a few days, your straight intestines are twisted! Forget it, you don't know. I'll go back to sleep!"

"I'm afraid you won't be able to entertain this gossip. Brother, don't be angry when you hear this gossip. If you don't say this gossip, you can't do it, and I'm afraid you won't be able to resist it......"

"My yellow and white goods were robbed by the bandits, and my waist was broken, I don't look like a dog like a human, I didn't even scold a word or stepped on my ginning machine; I don't believe that there is any 'gossip' in the world that can make me angry and bring me down? It's just trying to settle my food bill!"

"Brother Jiaxuan...... I've heard people gossip about Hyo-wen......"

"Hyo-wen? What gossip can Hyo-wen have?"

"It's the ...... with the rotten kiln at the entrance of the village."

"Uh......"

Mr. Leng saw that Bai Jiaxuan's reddened face suddenly became like a yellow sheet of paper, and his rickety body trembled violently, squeezing the cigarette between his fingers into a bend, and his eyes widened to the point of loss of concentration in that moment. None of this exceeded Mr. Leng's expectations, Bai Jiaxuan was fortunate to be out of breath at the moment without his enthusiasm. He finally uttered this unspeakable gossip. Bai Jiaxuan quickly recovered, and asked with a cold face: "Big brother, according to you, this is a real thing, or is someone smearing on my face?" Mr. Leng said, "I don't think so. Gossip, you just listen to gossip. Bai Jiaxuan asked again: "Who did you listen to?" How did that come about?" Mr. Leng said lightly: "As the saying goes, 'dew has no seeds, gossip has no shadow'." Bai Jiaxuan shook his head and said, "All gossip has a shadow!"