When he came out of the backyard, Bao Xiaoxing inadvertently looked back and saw the green rhizome of the soup flower (also known as purple jasmine). All these years she had a thought outside, which was romantic and ethereal, comforting and sentimental for her countless dark nights. She wants to plant the mausoleum at home with the soup flowers that her grandmother and mother liked, so that the graves of several close relatives will not be lonely and cold because of her memorial and visit. Imagine a green tomb in spring, a fragrant midsummer dusk, and seeds buried in the soil in autumn, moistened by winter snow, and a greener patch in the next spring. Thinking of this, looking at the seeds all over the ground is simply homesick. Hyosung strode over to pick up the black seeds that had fallen from the soup.

"Xing'er, what are you doing?" My cousin-in-law couldn't find her, so she saw her squatting on the ground in the backyard.

"I'll pick up some flower seeds." Hyosung looked up and replied with a smile.

"What are you doing with that? This flower attracts quickly, and if you are not careful, you will grow a place in summer, and you will be holding ... Do you still have a place in the city to raise these flowers? "My cousin-in-law doesn't understand.

"Nope. I went to our village tomorrow to sweep the graves of my mother and them, and wanted to plant some soup flowers on the graves. ”

"Oh......" My cousin was stunned for a moment and said, "Then I'll pick it up with you." ”

The two of them were in the south and the north, in the palm-sized flower pond, reaching into the loess with one hand to pick up seeds in the shape of black beans.

"Your aunt loves this flower, planting and raising it every year, and eighty people are carrying a large bucket to water the flowers, and they are not too tired...... hehe" The cousin recalled with a smile.

"I know. My mother-in-law (grandmother) loves this flower, so my aunt and my aunt both love it, which attracted my mother to love this flower too, and now I also love to burn soup flowers. I've never seen it in the yard since I went to the south. ”

"Yours are purple there, and this one on mine is golden, the two varieties, should the seeds be separated?"

"No, when the time comes, you can mix the seeds and grow into whatever they want."

"Well, that's fine. After a few days, your aunt will go to the grave, and I will also order two trees behind her grave. After the cousin-in-law, the two laughed slowly, and that smile traveled through time.

After picking up the seeds, Hyosung hurriedly returned to the hot kang to warm up his body, and soon a lot of people came to the house, and it was the cousin's fellow villagers who came to help deal with the aftermath. Those who dig the tomb discuss what type of tomb to make, the kitchen doctor discusses how many people to invite, the cleaning of the house has already started, and those who go out to purchase are also ready to go out...... Hyosung can't help, she doesn't know the people who come and go at home, and she has to be distracted by her cousin to take care of her stay here, so it's better to go to her aunt's side early. After talking to her cousin, her cousin called her son Kiryu to send her to her aunt's house in Nianqiao Village.

After packing up their things and getting on the road, the two of them went out of Nanguo Village, passing by several villages all the way towards Beixiao, familiar village names and unfamiliar scenes. The village is still big, but it is no longer the original house - the white walls of the house, the red lacquer, gold and copper auxiliary heads, the two- and three-story western-style buildings, the cement floor in front of the door is no different from the city, and the cauliflower planted at the door still retains the rural atmosphere...... Bao Xiaoxing has been here many times, but now he is daunted.

Skirting a village, crossing a yellow canal, and crossing a steel bridge, the only thing you see is an empty space. Hundreds of acres of loess slipped neatly and neatly; The mountains in the distance are undulating, the ravines are vertical and horizontal, the pines and cypresses can be seen, and occasionally there are a few soft calls of wild birds and old sheep, and dozens of geese are in the air... Strange-shaped cars on the asphalt road pass through the street, looking inclusive and vibrant; The white light and breeze on both sides of the road, the yellow grass and green trees, and the white powder and gray eaves of the slippery walls are good-looking; The autumn trees of the village passing by, the green smoke is endless, the fence at the entrance of the village, the hut in the field, the bird's nest on the tree, and the yellow leaves on the roadside...... is autumnal, a little wild, Bao Xiaoxing sits on a motorcycle and looks demented.

In the autumn of her hometown, she should not have seen her for more than 20 years.

Along the way, there are villages where there is thick shade, and steep mountains where there are trees. Bao Xiaoxing sincerely envies the villagers who were born in the countryside, they are steadfast and free.

Rustians don't have a strict sense of time. The phrase "what time is it" is more like the opening line of a pick-up, no one here is anxious about time, no one is afraid of being late. Time is also tolerant and kind to the peasants, just like the wrinkles on the cousin's face. Light has lost its place here, it is only a dispensable decoration in the life of the peasant, after all, the work of agriculture follows the god of eternity, the sun, not the slave of man, the light. There is no depression here, because there is no mildew in the sun-shining places, and there is no stagnation in the plains where the wind blows smoothly in all seasons. Compared to the monks in the city temples, the peasants' labor in the sun looked more like a pious penance. Even though there is no gossip here, every time the sun rises, all demons and monsters will instantly disappear into nothingness, and birth, growth, harvesting, and hiding are the truth and true mounds on the earth

Cities that focus on terms, order, numbers, and efficiency have lost their barbarism and savagery, while the countryside, which is not far from the city and is not close to each other, has taken into account the joy of advocating civilization and order, and retaining both barbarism and barbarism. The countryman is free to wander between two pleasures, looking for the most comfortable place between the two extremes. When they need to be wild, they take off their expensive suits, change into old cloth shoes and tattered cotton clothes, sweat like rain in the dirt, hunt birds and rabbits in the hills and valleys, or compare wine in the barren meadows; When civilization is needed, they groom vulgarity, cover up barbarism, wear pleated skirts, cloth shoes, lace tops with ruffle sleeves, put on popular makeup learned from the Internet, wear politeness and etiquette, and go out in broken steps.

Rustlings are free because they have a choice—they can choose to follow the vanityal, utilitarian and hollowed-out tide of society, or they can choose to stay in their hometown and play the role of a pious ascetic. They are happy, because they can not only take a car to the city to see the life in the city, or work to earn money to integrate into the real city life, but also can chase a newborn butterfly in the field, tease a stupid caterpillar, tease a goat, and fight a wild boar...... Countryside people may not have extensive information, professional knowledge, and rich insights, because the down-to-earth and abundant rural life does not need these bells and whistles to disguise anything. If there's one they need, a little effort will get it. What is the premium that can be obtained by spending money? What is so easy to pick up and what is precious or wise?

The nearby valley is as clear as makeup, and the distant Gaoling is bleak as sleep; Half of the fields are planted with fruit trees of various colors, and half are fallow for autumn and winter; Passing through the village, the wind is empty, the door is not closed, and the population is sparse but the smoke is curling. Bao Xiaoxing, who has not returned to his hometown for many years, seems to have been suddenly knocked to the ground by what he saw and heard on this ride.

Twenty-three years of urban sand, how much emptiness, floating, anxiety, restlessness, depression, and now back to his hometown, those mental dirt, unhappiness in the chest, psychological darkness were instantly selected, washed, and dried.

It's nice to be back home.

Bao Xiaoxing regrets that she didn't return to her hometown earlier these years, and it sounds like all kinds of unshirkable reasons are dragging her back - her daughter was born, the child is too much, the store is inseparable, her son is born, her daughter has taken the high school entrance examination, her son can't go to school, her daughter is in her third year of high school, and her daughter is in college...... In the final analysis, there are various reasons, one is that there are no parents in my hometown, and the other is that I don't want to go back. If I had returned to my hometown earlier, and come back sooner to see her, I am afraid that she would not be the person she is today.

It didn't take long for Kiryu's motorcycle to arrive in town. Today, as luck would have happened, she happened to meet a gathering in the village, and Hyosung was curious to ask Kiryu to stop, and she wanted to take a walk around the market. At eleven o'clock in the morning, it is the most comfortable time in autumn and winter, the air is half warm and half cold, sunny and cloudy, the main road of the market is full of traffic, the sound of people is boiling, the two sides of the main road that twists and twists for several miles are densely filled with agricultural goods, and the villagers on the narrow aisle are flashing their bodies and walking forward. Kiryu couldn't ride, so he made a detour to wait for his aunt at the end of the north head, while Hyosung walked slowly and leisurely by himself.

The strong and thick country accent infected Bao Xiaoxing, and she couldn't help but probe left and right, as if she was a child. Home-grown dryland tobacco leaves, bundles of fruit tree seedlings with mud, bamboo baskets and carts with large cloth sheds, spread red paper and put a horse to set up a stall to tell fortunes, thick coats for men and women that conform to the dual aesthetics of urban and rural areas, big hens that are sold in cages, clay pots and pottery pots that are not stained with paint, pottery pots and pottery pots that are not stained with paint, big red potatoes that are dug in wet soil, round radishes and coarse yam spinach in late autumn, fried oil cakes and fried oil cakes by the elderly, hoes and shovels used in the field, thick flavors and big ingredients unique to the hometown, and cool skin that smells sour. The steaming big iron pot mutton soup, the sweet variety of knotweed candy, the different thicknesses of the stone buns, bags of melon seeds and peanuts, the well-made old-fashioned broom, the old-fashioned craft of firing iron on the spot, the selling of stools, chairs and furniture, the ready-made mutton dumplings, the various colored beans in a row of hemp bags, the large yellow pears grown by the family full of tricycles, and the freshly steamed buns in several large steamers......

At this moment, walking here, Bao Xiaoxing, who had swallowed saliva all the way, could no longer be reserved.

She bypassed the man who was holding the pole and shouted for the sugar gourd, and walked to the steamer to buy her favorite tofu bun. While eating, I walked back, walked back past the women who were pushing bicycles to the market, walked to the craftsman who shaved his head and beard on the street, and bought two catties of horseshoe cakes and two catties of crystal cakes. Continuing to walk backwards, she walked to the vicinity of the man in the leather jacket with a long pipe in his mouth, and she ordered a bowl of vegetable tofu and hurriedly finished eating. Then we headed north, passing an old woman in a red satin embroidered red flower on a tricycle, near a shoemaker surrounded by women, who entered the shop and ate a bowl of spicy gnocchi. Out of the mausoleum, it was already twelve o'clock, and the woman who felt that her abdomen was super full stepped up in the direction of Kiryu.

When looking at the middle-aged man carrying the old-fashioned prop scales, Bao Xiaoxing saw a shop selling wontons behind the middle-aged man, swallowed his saliva, patted his bulging belly and continued walking. Pass by the old lady guarding a box of baby red tiger shoes, the old man who is bargaining with four fingers like dead wood, or the villagers who wrap square scarves or wear ** hats or thick horse coats...... In front of a bicycle stall, Hyosung saw a persimmon seller, Huang Gui persimmon cake, Zhuangli He'er cake - she also bought two catties. When he paid for Zhang, Kiryu's phone call came, and Hyosung was still unsatisfied, so he put away a happy and happy childlike heart and rushed to join Kiryu.

"I bought some food, let's eat something and then let's go!" Hyosung came in a bag.

"Didn't you just eat breakfast?" Guo Tongsheng, who was born in the countryside, didn't feel anything new about the things in the market, he was used to seeing and eating them.

"My aunt hasn't come back for many years, I want to eat everything when I see it, I have just eaten three things, this is for you, eat it while it's hot! These are bought for your aunt (Bao Xiaoxing's aunt, Guo Chaoyang's aunt)! ”

"Auntie, I'm really not hungry, why don't you bring it all to my aunt!" The young Kirilla had a pair of honest thick eyebrows on his face.

"Come on."

The two gathered their good things and continued to Beixiao, not long after they arrived at the aunt's house in Nianqiao Village, they learned that the star was coming, and the sixty-six-year-old aunt was waiting at the door with a cane. The old man in the black cloth narrow-legged pants walked up and down in the sun at the door, looking from side to side, and looked at the intersection on both sides again and again, his face so happy that a dark fold seemed to be missing. The cataract in the old man's left eye had long been useless, and when he squinted his right eye, he saw a motorcycle from afar, and his heart immediately lifted, and his bare and toothless mouth laughed out of a black hole. Hyosung also caught a glimpse of her aunt from afar, and when she saw the old woman waving happily at her, her heart had already softened.

"Aunt—" Before the motorcycle could stop, Hyosung waved and shouted from afar.

"Hey!" The short old lady raised her crutches in greeting.

"Auntie!" Kiryu stopped the car and called politely.

"Kiryu, good, good!"

Bao Xiaoxing got out of the car and strode towards her aunt, then grabbed her aunt's left hand with her right hand, and held it tightly, and the two of them hung their heads and wiped their tears. At this moment, I really want to hug my aunt and hug her tightly, but hugging her in the Chinese countryside is particularly difficult and embarrassing. The people in the house came out one after another, the elderly and thin uncle, the aunt's only son Zhang Qigong, Qigong's daughter-in-law, and a girl who was the same as Xuemei. After not seeing each other for many years, everyone greeted each other.

Guo Tongsheng unloaded the things on the car, said goodbye to everyone, and then rode home to work on his grandmother's funeral. Everyone gathered around Hyosung to enter the house, and after Hyosung gave the gift, he sat next to his aunt. The two looked at each other while chatting, and it didn't take long for Pets to finish chatting about his body, children, and work, and he was speechless.

"Is this Qi Gong's daughter?" Bao Xiaoxing pointed to a beautiful girl of eighteen or nineteen years old and asked her aunt.

"Nope! Qi Gong his baby goes to school. This is...... This is your uncle's granddaughter's granddaughter, named Mai. Mai come here, Jiang... Jiang..."The old man will not be able to convert this complicated relationship for a while.

"Call my aunt!" Zhang Qigong handed over.

"Aunt!" The big girl with a ponytail sweetly and innocently calls Hyosung her aunt.

"Oops!" Hyosung was embarrassed and glanced at his aunt and uncle. My uncle's ears have been bad for the past two years, and he can't hear the loud shouts at all.

Hyosung looked back and said to the girl, "Mai is so handsome, about the same age as my Meimei!" What about Qihong (aunt's daughter and Bao Xiaoxing's cousin)? How is she now? ”

"That's it! Hey, okay, okay, she will definitely come over after your aunt's funeral, and your sisters will be able to meet and talk about it then! Gu replied with a smile.

Qigong's daughter-in-law and Mai went to the kitchen to prepare lunch, leaving their aunt and nephew in the house, and there was a strange strangeness between asking back and forth, maybe they hadn't seen each other for more than ten years. After the two chatted, a group of children at home talked about the elderly, some of them were still there, and they were sad for a while when they talked about Hyosung's parents.

When talking about Mai, he talked about most of the boss, and Bao Xiaoxing only then knew Mai's life experience. It turned out that Mai Zaigu's house was not as simple as a guest. When Mai was 10 years old, his parents were digging in a coal mine and the kiln collapsed, and both of them died at once. Mai's grandfather died at an early age, her grandmother was sick, and her grandparents' family was not in good condition, so her grandmother was ruthless and sent Mai to her only brother's house. Grandma Mai's younger brother is Bao Xiaoxing's uncle. Since then, Mai has lived with his uncle, aunt and Qigong. Within two years, Grandma Mai died of illness, and Mai completely lived with her uncle, and even her household registration was transferred. After graduating from high school, Mai was admitted to a vocational college, but she didn't want to go to school in other places, and wanted to plant fruit trees with her uncle and aunt. The family is unwilling, hoping that she will have a good prospect, and they can't stand the girl's assertiveness when she grows up, and she can't listen to anyone's words.

Cousin Zhang Qigong is eight years old Chinese New Year's Eve today, and he mixed in the city in his early years, but he didn't become famous. Later, when his father fell seriously ill, he took his daughter-in-law back to the village and took over the family's land. Zhang Qigong, who has a big heart, planted 15 acres of fruit trees in one go in the first year, and only sold them at a price three years later. After taking over the land of the Mai family, the land of the two families combined was dry, watery, on the slope, and in the ditch - more than 40 acres, which was enough for two people to work every year. Relying on growing fruits to raise a large family is not much rich, at least more than every year. Qigong's two sons go to school in the town, the eldest is in the second year of junior high school and the fourth grade of the old school, both of them have top grades, and the key brothers love to learn. Seeing this situation, Qi Gong had the intention to send the two children out, and if he couldn't get into the graduate school, he would at least take a first-class bachelor's degree, unlike him, who had no ability all his life and could only stay in Nianqiao Village, which had only four alleys in the east, west, north and south. In this way, the family's land will only depend on wheat in the future. Therefore, the couple almost spared no effort in teaching Mai to plant fruit trees, and thanks to Mai's helper, Qigong and his daughter-in-law were somewhat relaxed.

Who can imagine that a nineteen-year-old girl knows what to do, can drive a harvester, repair a motorcycle, steam flower rolls, roll dough, make steamed buns, select seedlings, pollinate, and negotiate prices with fruit farmers...... Almost everyone in the entire Nianqiao Village is full of Mazan. When Mai was seventeen years old, someone had already come to the door to kiss him, and even matchmakers from the town and city came to visit, but Mai just had a place to belong this year. The girl's eyebrows danced, and the praise was overflowing. Listening to Gu Kuamai's non-stop boasting, Bao Xiaoxing was really curious about this girl of the same age as her daughter Zhong Xuemei, and wanted to talk to her about being half-baked.

In the afternoon, Bao Xiaoxing wandered around at his aunt's house. The vines she planted were still there, and now a grapevine covers the whole yard, and the dense branches cut the autumn overhead into broken glass, which can be imagined as the flourishing of its spring and summer leaves. When I got to the backyard, I saw a piece of roasted soup flowers in the corner of the west wall, which looked very similar to what I had planted in my childhood backyard, and I was sad for a while, and my nose was sore. Seeing an old photo frame hanging on the old wall of the old house in the backyard, Bao Xiaoxing took a closer look and found the wedding photos of his parents and the old photos of himself holding a baby when he was more than ten years old. Hyosung touched the two-inch-size, jagged black and yellow photo with jagged edges, and tears rolled down his sleeve for a while.

After holding back her tears for a long time, she carefully adjusted the angle, took each photo with her mobile phone, and then sent it to her sister. That's right, the baby is his sister Tang'er. I also posted a lot of farmland photos, market photos, and photos of my aunt from these two photos......

At four o'clock in the afternoon, Bao Xiaotang saw the photos sent by her sister during the work break, a little inexplicably happy, a little nostalgic and sad, she flipped through them one by one, and was very surprised when she turned to the baby photo of herself, and watched it for more than 20 minutes.

"Eh Xiaotang, on Saturday we will climb Maluan Mountain and see Longtan Waterfall, do you want to go together?"

As soon as Xiaotang raised his head, he was in a trance, and he didn't answer in a daze, his eyes widened.

"We plan to go to Dameisha at night, eat barbecue, play games, and rent a tent to sleep on the beach at night! What do you think? Do you want to go together? It turned out to be Tang Zheng, the cashier, who was smiling while quickly tapping the palm of his left hand with a pen.

"It's a little cold!" Xiaotang didn't want to go.

"It's November in Shenzhen, more than 20 degrees, it's okay! At this time, there are few people on the beach, and it is not hot to climb the mountain, which is neither a statutory holiday nor a time when there are the most people in midsummer, so it is best to go at this time! You believe me, Brother Tang is very experienced in travel! Tang Zheng was triumphant, and his right leg trembled proudly.

"Forget it, I'm not going, it's a bit of a family matter." Bao Xiaotang remembered her sister who was hugging her just now, and her heart was moved, her sister was better than her mother. Thinking of her sister's entrustment before returning home, Xiaotang promised and believed that she could take care of Xuecheng on the weekend.

"Oh...... It's a family affair! Na...... Did you still work overtime that night? Tang Zheng's bright smile was intermittent.

"Add it today! There's so much work that you have to add! Xiaotang clenched his fist cutely.

"Okay, let's go out to dinner later, I just happen to be working overtime tonight!"

"Okay!" Xiaotang put away his thoughts, turned his head and continued to stare at the computer to work.

Tang Zheng walked away.

After such a big set, how can you not lose it if you don't get into the target person. With such a big beauty across two rows of desks, how could the thirty-six-year-old Tang Zheng not be tempted? The innocent Bao Xiaotang was like a lighter, which ignited the raging fire in Tang Zheng's heart in an instant. Tang, who has been single for too long, is just as happy as encountering a life-saving straw, a life bole, and a great opportunity that is rare in a thousand years, how can he let go of the prey that is close at hand? Lack forced him to lunge forward like a wolf, and he looked for every possible opportunity to get close to her, to please her, to show himself, to make connections—lunch, dinner, overtime, weekends, small talk......

Thirty-six - this number coerces him to have no time to think about what kind of person the other person is, whether such a person is suitable for him, and what kind of temperament he needs to be the life partner. His age prevented him from being elegant, even though he knew that such behavior would go against the department's stated rules forbidding love.

"Grandpa, where did I come from?"

At night, the old horse lay on the bed snoring and smoking, and lay on his brother's desk to do his homework. Suddenly, Zhou Kai asked such a question.

"Hmph......" The old horse secretly laughed a few times, then looked at the flower board, thought for a moment and replied: "Your mother picked it up on the mountain." ”

Hearing this, Yangyang's two eyebrows furrowed deeply, his head tilted vigorously, and his black eyes glared hard—that expression was far beyond the constraints of age.

The old horse glanced at it, couldn't hold back, scratched his face and smiled at the wall for a long time, laughing and coughing and wheezing. After calming down, he cleared his throat and replied solemnly, "You—your mother gave birth to you." The man and the woman are married, and the lord sees that the couple is very good, and then he will quietly give them a child. You were sent by the master! ”

"Who is the master?"

"Immortals, immortals."

"Why do men marry women?"

"The master is so determined, how can the master know! Only when a man and a woman are married, will the lord give him a child. ”

"Can't a woman and a woman get married?"

"Of course not! This will be struck by lightning! The old horse was obviously frightened by this question, and his words were heavy, and he spewed a lot of spittle.

"Can that person marry a god?"

"Oops...... This one...... Yes, you have to touch the gods! Not everyone can easily meet the Weaver Girl, Chang'e or Agarwood. ”

"Can that ghost marry a god?"

"You know the ghost! Aren't you afraid of ghosts? ”

"I'm afraid! But as soon as my dad sings Happy Birthday, the ghost is gone! ”

"Hey! That's a good idea! The old horse nodded in agreement with the cigarette holder in his mouth.

"Grandpa, are there really ghosts in the world?"

"Nope! Adults scare children, but if the child is disobedient, adults can't help it, so they scare him with ghosts. Ye has lived to seventy and has never seen a ghost - do you have a ghost? Old Ma Wan rolled his eyes and asked.

Yang Yangnu nodded, lowered his head and copied a few words, and after a while, he looked up and asked, "Grandpa, if I am not me, then who am I?" ”

"Hmph...... What's the problem? What kind of question are you asking-I don't understand. ”

"What if...... It is...... I'm not called He Yiyang, so who am I? ”

"Uh...... You're grandpa's baby! Who are you? You don't call him Yiyang, you're still you! Homework Tanhua! ”

"Uh...... All right. Obviously, Yangyang was not very satisfied with this answer, but she couldn't find fault with it.

After a while, the man asked again.

"Grandpa, will I grow up to be pretty?"

"Huh...... How old did you grow up? That's your brother's age? Or are you the age of your parents? Or did you grow to the size of your grandfather? If you grow to the age of grandpa, it is estimated that you will be more stumbling than grandpa! Think like this - you still don't grow up, I love to see what you look like now, how handsome! The old horse smiled and spat out the smoke.

"Huh?" Yangyang didn't get the answer she wanted, or she didn't understand what Grandpa was saying at all.

"Don't do it, hurry up and do your homework! Why is it so annoying that you write your homework and keep asking, and you need to drink water and go to the toilet for a while? Your mother is so trouble-free, how can you have so much to do! The old horse pretended to be angry.

"Grandpa, was my mother pretty, or was I pretty?" It seems that Yangyang has long been accustomed to the old man's tone, and he is not afraid or annoyed at all.

"Oops...... Your mother was white and fat, and you looked at you in the mirror, and it was exactly as black as your father! Your mother is well-behaved, she giggles when people tease her, you put her on the kang and she plays alone, and has fun! Your mother was very solid when you were so old, how could you be like you, crying at every turn, crying at every turn......" Lao Ma recalled Gui Ying's childhood, his eyes shining with a warm light.

Yang Yang listened to her grandfather, she was dark, ugly and crying, and suddenly she was unhappy, and she stared at the old man fiercely with her face sideways.

"Hey, don't stare at me! When you grow up, when you are seventeen, put on makeup well, draw beautifully, and you will definitely be more beautiful than your mother when you grow up! Your mom is ugly, fat and ugly now! ”

"Don't speak ill of my mother!" The child stretched his face and became angry.

"Gotta get it! Hurry up and do your homework! "The old man was also annoyed.

One by one, they stared at each other and pulled their faces in a hurry.