The little boy thought for a while, glanced inside the curtain before lowering his voice and said, "No, it's just my father, he ...... He went out. ”

"Out? Where did it go? Ran Linzong asked strangely, but he regretted it a little, he had never been a person who liked to find idle things, why was he so interested in other people's affairs today?

In the years that followed, whenever Ran Linzong recalled this matter, he felt that it was the fate that God had brought to them, and it was God who asked him to ask so many words.

"I don't know ...... either" The little boy's voice lowered, his hands clasped with each other, and his smart eyes also appeared a rare dullness at the moment, looking at the pile of hay in the kitchen in a daze.

Ran Linzong felt that something must have happened to this family, so he took the little boy's hand and comforted, "Your father must have gone out to run errands, and he will come back when he finishes his errands, you don't have to worry about ......"

"He's not coming back!" The little boy replied categorically, and Ran Linzong was stunned and didn't know what to say.

"Daddy has been gone for more than two years, and at that time there was no locust plague in the village, and we still had food. It's just that my mother was sick at that time...... Dad has to scold my mother all day long...... After that, he went out often, but sometimes he would come back, until two years ago, when he left, and he never came back! Mother said that it was because she was sick that her father would not come back......" The little boy clasped his hands and muttered, Ran Linzong only felt that his eye sockets were a little hot, and he gently held the little boy in his arms.

For a while, Ran Linzong was speechless, but unexpectedly, the little boy showed an innocent smile, he raised his head and said to Ran Linzong, "It's okay, my mother and I are waiting for him here, and he will come back when he has walked enough." ”

There was black dirt hanging on his innocent face, like a flower cat, and there was an indescribable expectation in his flickering eyes, which made Ran Linzong feel distressed.

"Now that there is a disaster, what will you and your mother eat?" Ran Linzong suddenly remembered the black thing on the stove, and the little boy sighed, "Mother hasn't eaten for several days......

"Didn't you ask Lang Zhong to see your mother's illness?" Ran Linzong suddenly wanted to smoke himself, he obviously saw this dilapidated home that couldn't even eat, how could he still have money to invite Langzhong?

"There is no Lang Zhong in the village anymore, and even if there is, we don't have any silver...... "The little boy was rarely shy, he buckled the corners of his clothes that had been broken with several holes, Ran Linzong looked down, and only then did he find that the man's shoes were even more rotten, and almost only the bottom was left.

"What about you? What do you eat? Ran Linzong lowered his body, he looked at the little boy, "Me? The little boy hesitated, he went to the stove and picked up the bowl, the black thing in it swaying from side to side as the little boy walked, "I'll eat this ......"

"This ...... What is it? Ran Linzong asked.

"This is Guanyin soil." The little boy smiled, and suddenly Ran Linzong looked at the thing in the bowl in a trance, no wonder he didn't know what it was, because he never thought that thing could be hungry.

"Can I eat this?" Ran Linzong asked.

"Yes...... It's not easy to find, I've eaten all the neighborhoods, and now if I want to eat again, I'll have to go far, but I'm worried about my mother's ......" The little boy glanced through the curtain again.

Ran Linzong suddenly felt that he was a little too cruel at the moment, why did he keep asking things that he didn't need to ask. Blaming himself for his recklessness and remorseful for his cruelty, he took the little boy into his arms and asked softly, "How old are you?" ”

"Master, I'm eight years old!" The little boy blinked, Ran Linzong couldn't believe it, in his eyes, he was only four or five years old, but he was eight years old!

Although he is not ignorant of the suffering outside, there has never been a time when Ran Linzong feels that he is facing poverty like this. At that moment, he suddenly thought of his daughter who didn't know where to go, and wondered if she was doing well? Are you full? Is it warm to wear? Is it still in this world? If so, then she should be about the same age as him, right?

No one can truly understand the heart of a father, let alone the heart of a father who has lost his own child! Ran Linzong seemed to have a feeling of being pierced by ten thousand arrows at this moment, he only felt that he was in pain everywhere, unbearable pain, tears crept over his face, the little boy looked at him silently as if he had seen through his heart, his dirty little hand crossed Ran Linzong's face, and Ran Linzong's tears were on the quilt.

In this world, almost no one can see Ran Linzong's tears, and the little boy in front of him is indeed an unexpected existence.

Later, with the help of the little boy, Ran Linzong fed his horses, drank a few bowls of water himself, and when he hugged the little boy to spend the night on the firewood and grass pile in his house, no one thought of their future.

The next morning, Ran Linzong woke up very early, but the little boy next to him had long since disappeared, Ran Linzong opened the curtain and looked at the room, the woman was still lying there, her breath was quite weak, maybe only when she was sick and coughed could she find that she was still a living person.

Ran Linzong fetched some water in the well and hastily washed his face, and this deserted village appeared clearly in front of his eyes for the first time. No wonder the little boy said that nine out of ten people in the village who could move went out to escape the famine, even if there were the old, weak, sick and disabled in the village, there were few left, at this moment, at this dawn and ten o'clock, he more clearly realized the cruelty in the little boy's words.

The sun was still warm, and the air was mixed with the fragrance of grass, but unfortunately, such a fragrance could not fill people's stomachs at all. As he stood in the courtyard and looked around, the little boy appeared in front of him, his face dirtier and his body covered with mud, holding a handful of seemingly precious things in his hand, and his innocent smile still on his face.

"Where have you been so early?" Ran Linzong asked.

"Give! This is what I went to find for you early in the morning, fresh, you eat! The little boy handed it to Ran Linzong with both hands, the black soil, if it wasn't for the little boy and Ran Linzong to explain, he must have thought that the child in front of him was crazy. Ran Linzong trembled and took the precious food sent by the little boy, his heart trembled, he didn't eat it, it wasn't that it was difficult to swallow, but he wanted to leave this thing to this child.

Because there was still something important that day, Ran Linzong had to leave, and before leaving, Ran Linzong left some silver for the little boy, but he knew that for this village that had been empty, leaving silver might not be able to buy anything, but at least, it was still his heart.

thought it was just a passing between the two of them, but when Ran Linzong finished his own affairs, his heart was concerned about the little boy. So he bought a lot of food, took some food, hired a car, and went to the little boy's house, but unfortunately the little boy and the sick woman were no longer in the dilapidated house. An ominous premonition came to his heart, and Ran Linzong decided that he must find that filial child.

So, Ran Linzong and the driver who drove the car began to look for the whereabouts of the little boy in front of and behind the village, and Ran Linzong especially regretted that he had spent the night with the child and didn't even ask his name.

When Ran Linzong found the woods next to the village, he saw the little boy, who was digging hard with his hands to dig the dirt on the ground, next to his deceased mother......

Ran Linzong silently helped the little boy bury his mother, from beginning to end, the little boy did not cry, not even a little sad, he silently did everything he thought he should do. When Ran Linzong thought that the child was frightened by the unexpected situation in front of him, the little boy suddenly said to Ran Linzong, "My mother is not dead, she just went to a better place, where you can have food, clothes to wear, and you won't get sick." My mother said that if I can't hold on anymore, I can go to her......"

When the little boy said this, Ran Linzong's heart trembled suddenly, and he grabbed the little boy's arm suddenly, "You are a man, you can't be so cowardly, there are many ways to survive in the world, you can't choose to die like this!" The little boy was obviously frightened by Ran Linzong's madness, he looked at him blankly, and then said timidly, "Actually, I don't want to, but I can't ...... it."

"Will you follow me, then?" Ran Linzong asked.

"Following you? Be your servant? The little boy blinked.

"No, be my son! Your father is gone, your mother is gone, if you want, I can be your father, if you want, there is still your mother in my house......"

"Are you really willing to take me in?" The little boy blinked, "I'm a man who never lies!" When he saw Ran Linzong nodding seriously, the little boy laughed, and then howled, he knelt on the ground and kowtowed frantically towards the newly added tomb, his forehead was bloody, and he didn't care, he called out in his mouth, "Mother, did you hear that?" I don't have to go to you! You can go with peace of mind! ”

That scene has been indelible in Ran Linzong's heart for a long time, that little boy is Ran An in front of him now, this is the name and surname given to him by Ran Linzong, An, which means that everyone will be safe and secure in the future.

For Ran An's future, after staying in Ran Mansion, Ran Linzong asked him to learn culture, and because he was malnourished all year round and short in stature, Ran Linzong asked him to practice martial arts. Ran An, a child, is very obedient, and he learns things quite quickly, and he has become Ran Linzong's right-hand man in a few years. At the beginning of this year, due to the fierce competition in the silk market, Ran Linzong asked Ran An to look around for a place to raise silkworms and reeling silk.