I was pondering, and my mind jumped, and I remembered a past incident when my old man was still alive.

He didn't have much time at home at that time, and even at home, he didn't talk much, and he always went headlong into the study and was busy until midnight.

One summer night in the early seventies, one day when my mother was not at home, she entrusted me to the care of a neighbor's house, and when it was time for dinner, my father suddenly came back and came to take me home on a very rare occasion.

As he took my hand and walked back, I looked up at him and saw that he was frowning and his face was serious, as if he was thinking about something.

"Dad...... Dad, I'm hungry ......," I whispered.

But even so, he seemed to have sobered up from his thoughts, and responded, "Well, I'll do it for you when I go back." ”

I think it's strange that he's grown so big and I've never seen him cook.

When he got home, he rolled up his sleeves and went to the kitchen, and when I leaned against the door and looked in, he turned around and shouted, "Go play, just a while!" ”

I don't know how long I waited, but my stomach was already rumbling, but I didn't dare to urge him. Finally, I saw him come out with two bowls, beckoned me and said, "Xiao Yong, come and eat." ”

I couldn't wait to rush over to take a look, there were two bowls of tomato noodle soup on the table, and there was a poached egg lying on top of the bowl on my side, and I immediately drooled, picked up the chopsticks and devoured them.

When he saw my hungry wolf-like appearance, he smiled and said, "Slow down, slow down, don't choke......"

Although his craftsmanship is really not very good, the cooking is a little overdone, the noodles are sticky, and the salt is a little too much, but in this atmosphere, I really think that the deliciousness still makes me remember it to this day.

Because he has always been an admirer of the principle of "food is silent, sleep is silent", so after a meal, we did not say a word. But I felt that he was a little different from usual, no longer immersed in his own world as usual, but looked up at me from time to time, occasionally stroked my head, or helped me remove the noodles stuck to the corners of his mouth.

After eating noodles, he just stood up and put away the dishes and chopsticks, when suddenly a shout came from outside: "Lao Tao, the phone is all your phone!" Emergency! ”

The telephone office is next to my compound, because the old man is a military doctor, and he is often in a hurry, so from time to time there will be such a shout outside my house, and as soon as the old man hears the shout, he will stop everything at hand and go out immediately, and even sometimes he will leave home, not knowing when he will come back.

But this time, he seemed to be a little hesitant, and his mouth responded: "I know, I'll come right away!" But he stopped, and looked up at me, his eyes full of worry and an indescribable desire to speak.

I stopped my homework and looked at him, wondering what he was trying to say. The two of us looked at each other like this for a few seconds, and then he lowered his head and said, "Xiao Yong, you can come with me too." ”

I obediently stood up and followed him out of the house and towards the phone office.

I felt that the time was not early, and the crowd of people enjoying the cool had already dispersed to sleep, and we walked on the road in the dim light of the roadside outside the courtyard, when suddenly the old man said: "Xiaoyong, what do you want to do when you grow up in the future?" ”

I was caught off guard by the question he would ask and say, "I...... I want to be a scientist......"

"Hehehe." He laughed. I suddenly felt that I was so small, and it was a bit ridiculous to have such an ambition, so he reacted like this, and couldn't help but bow his head in shame.

But he went on to say, "Very well, son, do what you like and you will be really happy." ”

I was a little surprised and asked, "Are you not happy now?" ”

His face darkened suddenly, and he replied, "No, I'm very happy." ”

The mismatch between the words and expressions made me even more confused, and I was about to ask something more when the call arrived.

As soon as you enter the machine, you can see a huge machine, inlaid with various buttons, indicators, and the most prominent thing is, of course, the rows of jacks, where two or three people sit in front of the machine, wearing huge headphones, and constantly pulling some wires out of some jacks and then pumping them out of other jacks as they talk.

The phone my father was going to answer was a small, black phone with a crank next to it, in a separate room next to it.

He walked over and picked up the phone and said, "I'm Tao Jingxi, please speak." Then he took out a small notebook from his bosom, took the pen from the pocket on his chest, and recorded it in the notebook.

I stood aside and looked at him, only to hear him ask, "What are the symptoms besides fever?" Uh-huh......"

When I walked over and took a look, I saw that he wrote in the notebook: fever 39 degrees +, no sweating, body aches, cough, yellow phlegm, constipation, yellow urine......

Then I heard him ask, "How many people are sick now?" Then he wrote down a number in his notebook: 38.

Then he said, "Well, yes, quarantine first, then ......," which sounds like a simple order for disinfection and prevention.

I was very impressed by what he said next, because his voice suddenly rose up: "...... Yes, this flavor medicine is a bit troublesome, but it has to be in place, it has to be in place! ”

I didn't know what the other party said, the old man suddenly became angry, slapped the table and shouted: "If that's the case, you are just dying and not saving!" That's all fate, not to give it to the enemy on the battlefield, but to be ruined by the cowardice of your own people? ……”

As soon as he slapped it, the notebook and pen on the table fell to the ground, and I quickly ran over to help him pick it up, and by the way, I glanced at the notebook, and saw that he had written two big words heavily and conspicuously under the pile of symptoms......

"What are we going to say when it's time for a while?" Rui's questioning pulled me back from my memory to reality. Looking up, we were already walking uphill, very close to where the villagers were living outside.

I thought for a while and said, "Don't alarm the others, call Daddy Yan out first." ”

When I got to the hut that was assigned to us, I asked Rui Wei to wait for me not far behind, and walked to the side of the shed and whispered, "Daddy, are you sleeping?" ”

"Stinky boy, you're back!" Daddy's hoarse voice sounded, and the voice was getting closer, and it felt like he was about to walk out of the shed. I hurriedly said, "Don't come here!" ”

"What's wrong?" He asked, stunned for a moment.

I looked around, but no one was moving, and probably the villagers were already resting, so I approached the side of the shed, across the wall, and told him something in as little voice as possible.

He finally asked me, "Are you sure you want to do this?" ”

I replied, "Yes, but this is a matter of your help." ”

He smiled and said, "Well, I'd like to see what else you kid can do." ”

After a while, he came out of the shed, looked at us, turned and hurried down the hill.

I turned back to Rui Wei and waved my hand and said, "Let's go, let's go see the village chief." ”

But I heard Wang Shaoting's voice from inside the shed: "Wait a minute! I advise you not to go! ”

"Why?" I asked.

But I saw that he had come out with a wooden pole on the side of the straw hut, and he was only a few feet away from me.

I quickly took a few steps back and exclaimed, "Why did you get out?" Don't be afraid ......."

He smiled faintly and said, "Life and death are fate, what's so scary?" Listen to my advice, don't meddle in this matter, let's catch up with Uncle Yan now and leave here overnight!" ”

I thought to myself, what does Bacheng Wang Shaoting know that we don't know, right? He immediately asked: "Human life is at stake, you just say it directly, why don't you let us take care of it?" ”

He leaned against the pillar beside him and said, "Do you know what will happen if the government knows that there is a plague here?" ”

This...... I really don't know if the government of the Eastern Han Dynasty has an epidemic prevention department, but seeing his heavy face, I didn't expect anything good, so I guessed casually: "Could it be...... Let those sick villagers die? ”

Wang Shaoting turned his head, looked at me with a cold gaze and said, "More than that." ”

I was stunned and muttered, "Is it ...... It will ...... even these healthy villagers."

I saw Wang Shaoting turn his head to look at the grass huts where the villagers lived, and said, "Then what if these people learn that an outsider has discovered the secret they are desperately keeping?" ”

When I heard him say this, I was stunned on the spot for a while, and I couldn't speak for a long time.

I suddenly realized that I didn't expect what he said not only because I lacked understanding of this era, but also because I lacked some insight into human nature. The so-called civilization that I understand and believe in is possible that it may be completely subverted in this world.

But I really don't want to believe that these villagers would watch their relatives die like this, and if I showed them that I had the opportunity to help them, maybe they would be willing to cooperate?

But do I really have faith that I can save them?

I don't know why that memory suddenly popped up in my head at this time.

When I was a young man and put the notebook and pen that had fallen on the floor back on the table, I heard the old man who had been yelling at the phone for a long time suddenly fell silent, and I looked at him strangely sideways, and saw that his face was pale, his eyes were wide, his lips were moving, his breath was short, and one hand on the table was trembling slightly.

After a while, he seemed to calm down, turned away, and said in an extremely firm voice, "Yes, I am responsible." ”

He was now facing away from me, his tall back filling my entire vision like a solid wall.

After a while, he hung up the phone, looked back at me, squatted down and put his hand on my shoulder and said with a smile: "Xiaoyong, Dad is going on a business trip again, you study hard at home and take good care of Mom." ”

I had never seen him so gentle and kind, and I was speechless for a moment, and at the same time, I felt his hand on my shoulder, and I still trembled slightly......

Two months later, when it was time for autumn to be cool, he came back again, without saying a word about what he had done on this business trip, and returned to his previous indifferent and busy appearance. Only once, when his mother was packing his luggage, he turned out a rolled-up pennant, and I saw the words "epidemic prevention hero" written on it.

The memories came to an abrupt end. I looked up and saw that Wang Shaoting and Rui Wei were both looking at me with a look of concern and curiosity.

I immediately put on my signature grinning face and replied, "Don't worry, I'm in charge." ”