In the blink of an eye, in December, Wu Yang called Wu Dao one morning, saying that Wu He was dying, and asked him to hurry home to see him for the last time. Wu Yang also specially instructed Wu Dao that Wu Yisheng was too young, so let Shi Qingqing stay in Fangzhou to take care of the child, and their mother and son did not have to go back.

Wu Dao thought that Wu He had never seen Wu Yisheng, although this child was not the blood of the Wu family, but Wu He didn't know about it, he must have wanted to see his "biological" great-grandson very much, so he asked Shi Qingqing to take the child back to Qicheng together.

Back in Xiaohuangzhuang, Wu Dao saw Wu He lying on the bed, he was panting heavily, but he was already exhaling more and inhaling less, and at a glance, he knew that life was already in the dark of the day. Yang Chengzhi said in Wu He's ear:

"Dad, Xiaodao has come back to see you with his daughter-in-law and children."

Wu He turned his head vigorously and saw Wu Dao's family of three, and used all his strength to make a hoarse "ah" word.

Wu Dao burst into tears in an instant, he didn't want Wu He to see him crying, so he walked outside the door. Shi Qingqing followed and walked outside with the child in her arms. Wu Dao asked Li Mei at the door:

"Mom, when did Grandpa become like this?"

"He fell out of bed the night before, and he was like that when we came to see him in the morning." Li Mei said.

"Why don't you take it to the hospital? If you don't have the money to see a doctor, you should tell me. I still have some money, and I take it all out to help my grandfather see a doctor. ”

"I've already called 120, and when the doctor came, he saw that this was the case and said that there was no help, and there was no need to send it to the hospital again, so let's hurry up and prepare for the future. It's unlucky here, let Qingqing and the child go to another house. With that, Li Mei took over Wu Yisheng from Shi Qingqing.

"Grandpa hasn't seen my child yet, so I'll take Yisheng and let him see it." Wu Dao wiped his tears and said.

"Let's meet then." Li Mei said.

Wu Dao carried Wu Yisheng back to the house, and when he arrived at Wu He's bed, Shi Qingqing also walked over. Wu Dao said to Wu He:

"Grandpa, this is your great-grandson Wu Yisheng, we are back to see you." said to Wu Yisheng again, "This is your grandfather." ”

"Grandpa, we're back to see you." Shi Qingqing also said.

Wu He said the word "ah" again, and he beckoned Wu Yang with his hand and motioned for Wu Yang to help him sit up.

However, as soon as Wu Yang helped Wu He up a little, he gasped even more severely, and his whole body trembled, like a machine that was about to fall apart. Wu Yang hurriedly put Wu He down again and let him lie flat.

Looking at the scene in front of him, Wu Dao understood, what the doctor said was not false at all, Wu He was beyond the power of manpower to save, if he was to move, not only could not save him, but would accelerate his death. Wu Yue next to her said to Wu Dao:

"Go out with the child in your arms, don't scare the child."

Wu Dao gave the child to Shi Qingqing and asked her to go out with the child. Thinking of what his grandfather had just seen, Wu Dao's tears flowed down again, and he also walked outside the door.

After composing himself for a while, Wu Dao returned to the house and sat on a stool.

Throughout the day, Wu Dao's mood was very heavy.

Wu He couldn't eat any food, and he couldn't drink a drop of water, and the entire Wu family was waiting for the arrival of death. Witnessing a loved one step by step towards death without any way to save him is too cruel.

At night, Wu Dao, Li Mei and Wu Yue stayed behind to take care of Wu He.

At first, Wu He was still gasping for breath, but at eleven o'clock in the night, he suddenly raised his arm and kept waving it in the air, as if to greet others. Wu Yue walked to the side of the bed and said to Wu He:

"Dad, what do you want?"

Wu He looked at the roof, his eyes were motionless, and he did not answer. Wu Yue sat back on the stool and said to Li Mei:

"Dad's eyes are already wandering, and he doesn't know if he can survive tonight. I heard that when a person is dying, he will see people who have died in the past, and I don't know who my father saw, maybe my mother came back to pick him up. ”

"I also feel bad to see my father suffer like this. "Why do men die?" you say? I don't know who set the year for 365 days, but if only the year was 10 days, then we would all be able to live for thousands of years and not die. Li Mei said.

"Sister-in-law, no matter how many days it is a year, the total number of days a person can live is still so much. Dad can live to be eighty-five years old, which is more than 30,000 days, which is already a long life, and we may not be able to live so many days. ”

"How nice it would be if people didn't grow old and didn't die! We're all almost sixty years old. When the previous generation dies, it's our turn to die next. ”

Listening to the conversation between Wu Yue and Li Mei, Wu Dao couldn't help but think of how good it would be if people could live forever! How many literati have lamented that life is short and changeable, but who can escape the call of death?

Wu Yue and Li Mei talked for a while, and became more and more sad, so they stopped talking.

In the second half of the night, Li Mei asked Wu Dao to go to the next room to rest, Wu Dao saw that Wu He's arm was still waving in the air, and he expected that his grandfather would not have an accident before dawn, so he obeyed the arrangement and went to the next room, lay on the bed with his clothes on, and fell asleep after a while.

At five o'clock in the morning, it was still very dark, Wu Dao suddenly heard the sound of talking from next door, which was mixed with crying, he suddenly had an ominous premonition, so he quickly got up and walked over, only to see Wu Yang and Yang Chengzhi were already in the house, Wu He was still lying on the bed, but his arms had been put down, and he was not breathing, and there was no sign of life at all.

Wu Dao realized that Wu He, who kept waving his arms at night, was back to light, and he couldn't help crying, Wu Yang said to him:

"Now is not the time to cry, stop crying."

"While Dad's body is still soft, hurry up and change him into a shroud." Yang Chengzhi said.

"Yes, let's change into a shroud first." Wu Yue said.

Wu Dao wiped his tears, and together with Wu Yang and Yang Chengzhi, he changed Wu He into a longevity coat that he had already bought. Seeing Wu He's skinny body, Wu Dao couldn't help but shed tears again, he wiped it with his hand and asked Li Mei:

"Mom, when did Grandpa not exist?"

"At three o'clock in the night, your grandfather's hand was lowered and did not move, but there was still breath. By half-past four, there was no sound, and your aunt and I didn't dare to go over. When your father and your uncle came over, they found out that your grandfather was gone. Li Mei said.

Wu Dao stopped talking, he regretted that he shouldn't have gone to the next room to rest, so that he could accompany his grandfather until the last moment, but time is irreversible, and it is impossible for him to do anything he wants.

Yang Chengzhi drove Wu Yang and informed the Wu family's relatives and friends, including Wu Guodong, of Wu He's death.

Wu Yang didn't want to make a big funeral, but Yang Chengzhi said that Wu He lived to die at the age of eighty-five, which was a happy funeral and should be grand, so he spent money to invite a funeral band to perform, and also called his friends to let them come to mourn.

The band's performance seemed like a clown to Wu Dao, but the onlookers liked it very much.

Yang Chengzhi's friends in banks, governments, and various factories came to mourn, and they all paid hundreds or thousands of dollars, and also spent money on programs, which made Yang Chengzhi feel particularly face-saving, and the onlookers also praised Wu He's funeral for being pompous.

Wu Dao didn't like such a scene, but he thought that Wu He liked to be lively the most during his lifetime, and he also liked to talk about pomp, if he knew that his funeral was so lively, he would definitely be very happy, and everything would be arranged.

On the third day of Wu He's death, his body was going to be cremated, Wu Dao wanted to follow him to the crematorium, but the Wu family said that it was unlucky, and in the end it was Wu Yang who went.

Seeing the ice coffin containing Wu He's body being carried out, Wu Dao could finally cry without scruples, and no one stopped him anymore.

After Wu Yang came back with Wu He's urn, Yang Chengzhi scattered the ashes in the coffin, and the neighbor ordered the coffin lid, and then carried it to the field.

After Wu He was buried, Wu Dao returned to Fangzhou. Before Wu He died, Wu Dao often felt that his grandfather was a little annoying, and he bragged everywhere to disgrace himself. However, after Wu He died, Wu Dao saw him in a dream for several days, he was so kind and kind, he was the best grandfather in the world.

One day, Wu Dao dreamed of Wu He again, and when he woke up from crying, he suddenly realized that he should write an article to commemorate his grandfather.

That morning, Mr. Wu brought his laptop to the school library, where he reminisced about the decades he had lived with Mr. Wu and wrote a memoir essay of more than 2,000 words, which he sent to the Fangzhou Evening News.

Seven days later, Wu Dao's article "My Grandfather" was published in the literary supplement of the Fangzhou Evening News. Several colleagues and some students saw the article and learned the news of Wu He's death, and they all expressed their condolences to Wu Dao. Xin Shaoqing said to Wu Dao:

"Mr. Wu, your article is so well written, sincere, to be honest, I cried after reading it, and I also thought of my grandfather and grandmother. Life is like this, you can't understand it when you have it, and you have lost it when you understand it. Life and death are impermanent, you still have to mourn. ”

After the article was published, the newspaper sent five newspapers to Wu Dao. When he returned home during the Spring Festival, Wu Dao deliberately took a newspaper, which he wanted to take to Wu He's grave and read it to him.

Returning to Xiaohuangzhuang again, Wu Dao found that the Wu family that had lost Wu He was no longer the Wu family at the beginning. Although Wu He's existence has no financial significance to the family, and he has been paralyzed for more than a year before his death, the Wu family will not be separated as long as he is still around.

Seeing that the room where Wu He lived was now empty, Wu Dao's heart was also empty.

According to the customs of Qicheng County, on the afternoon of the thirtieth day of the Chinese New Year's Eve, each family would place the portrait of the dead old man in the main house, send people to bring incense to the ancestors' graves and light them, and ask the ancestors to "go home for the New Year". After Wu Yang took out the portraits of Wu He and Yang Xiuxiu, he asked Wu Dao to go to the grave to ask the ancestors to "go home".

Wu Dao took three sticks of incense, a lighter, and the newspaper. Wu He and Yang Xiuxiu's graves are next to each other, next to the graves of Wu He's adoptive parents, distant relatives he defected to when he was young.

Wu Dao didn't have any impression of Wu He's adoptive parents, so he couldn't say that he had any feelings. He came to the graves of Wu He and Yang Xiuxiu and said:

"Grandpa, grandma, I'm back to see you. Today is the thirtieth day of the Chinese New Year's Eve, and I have come to invite you home for the New Year. Grandpa, I wrote an article reminiscing about you, which was published in the newspaper, and I read it to you. ”

Wu Dao took out the newspaper from the pocket inside his clothes, found the article, and began to read:

"I live in a family of four generations, although this four generations came ......a little late."

After reading the newspaper article, Wu Dao said again:

"Grandma, don't be jealous of grandpa, my love for you is the same as my love for grandpa. When the Chinese New Year comes next year, I will definitely write another article reminiscing about you and bring it here to read to you. ”

Wu Dao used a lighter to light the newspaper and the three sticks of incense he had brought with him. Watching the newspaper burn to ashes and be completely extinguished, Wu Dao said to the graves of Wu He and Yang Xiuxiu:

"Grandpa, grandma, come home with me for the New Year."