Li Bing was pondering how to answer Aunt Zhou's vigilant question, and Shi Liya had already stood up from behind with a smile and said, "Aunt Zhou, we are not bad people. That's right, I'm a reporter from the provincial capital, my name is Shi Liya, and several of them are my assistants. We are here because I was commissioned by the newspaper to write a few articles from the Cultural Revolution in the mountain villages. ”

Aunt Zhou's nervous expression relaxed at this time, and she regained her enthusiasm and said, "It turned out to be a big reporter from the city!" It is a blessing for our village to be able to come to our small mountain village. ”

She changed her words, sighed, and said with some sadness: "You came here to inquire about Wenyuan, presumably to find out how she committed suicide back then, right?" ”

"Suicide?" , the four of them almost all shouted in unison.

Aunt Zhou asked in surprise, "What?" Don't you know that she committed suicide? ”

Shi Liya hurriedly replied: "Auntie, we really don't know. She rolled her eyes and thought in her heart, "What should I do?" How do we tell Aunt Zhou how we know the name of Wenyuan? It must not be said that we broke into the Wang family's house at night, fought with the female ghost and found the female corpse, and learned the name of Wenyuan from the bullet shell pendant on the female corpse's chest. ”

When a few of them didn't know how to answer, they only heard Aunt Zhou say a little sadly: "What a good girl, when she and another girl came to us to cut the line, the whole village treated them like fairies. No one expected that she would not be able to think about it and commit suicide, grieving the whole village for several days. ”

When Shi Liya heard this, she suddenly realized that she immediately understood that this Wenyuan was a young man who went to the mountains and went to the countryside in that special era.

She hurriedly said with a smile: "Aunt Zhou, we really don't know, because the newspaper didn't have any information about the year, only an old reporter, and I vaguely remember that there was a young man named Wenyuan, so we asked Aunt You." ”

Aunt Zhou sighed, put down the bamboo basket, found a mountain rock to sit down next to her, and briefly told Shi Liya and a few others what happened.

In the 60s and 70s of the last century, during the Cultural Revolution in China, Chairman Mao issued instructions that "the countryside is a vast world, and great achievements can be made there" and "it is very necessary for young intellectuals to go to the countryside and receive re-education from poor and middle peasants".

Xiangyang Village, originally called Wangjiazhuang, was changed to Xiangyang Village in that era.

Because Xiangyang Village is relatively poor and backward, the scale of the village is not large, so only two female intellectuals from Shanghai were divided. One of the female intellectuals is Wenyuan that Shi Liya asked, and the other is called Qu Lili.

Xiangyang Village is a typical mountain village, not like the plain area, where the households are connected, but each of them is a basically independent mountain village built along the mountain.

The two female intellectuals, because of their beauty and cultural level, were loved by the simple villagers in Xiangyang Village.

Who would have expected that at the end of the movement to go to the mountains and go to the countryside, a large number of educated youths returned to the city at the same time, Wenyuan was found by the villagers and committed suicide in the house where she lived, and another female educated youth, Qu Lili, also mysteriously disappeared soon after.

Li Bing couldn't help but interject and asked, "Aunt Zhou, after Wenyuan committed suicide, how will her aftermath be handled?" ”

Aunt Zhou's eyes were red, and she muttered: "After Wenyuan committed suicide, the whole village felt sad and regretful. After someone from the county came to inspect it, they found Wenyuan's suicide note, confirming that she died by suicide. ”

Wenyuan's parents were criticized to death during the Cultural Revolution and have no relatives. Therefore, the people of our village buried her in the front mountain. ”

Li Bing couldn't help asking, "Aunt Zhou, why did Wenyuan commit suicide?" Is it because of the death of both her parents? ”

Aunt Zhou shook her head, her eyes were red and she said, "No, she received a letter from her boyfriend who stayed in Shanghai." In the letter, her boyfriend told her that he was going to start a family. Wen Yuan couldn't stand the blow all of a sudden, so he committed suicide by drinking pesticides. ”

Li Bing and Zhang Yuanshan looked at each other, and a mystery in their hearts was suddenly solved. It is no wonder that most of the bones in the bones of Wenyuan, which were burned to ashes, turned black, and it turned out that he died of poisoning.

But Li Bing faintly felt in his heart that this suicide case might not be so simple, and he was determined to find out.

Shi Liya sighed when she heard this, and asked, "Aunt Zhou, how did this Qu Lili disappear?" ”

Aunt Zhou sighed and said, "Qu Lili is also a quiet and beautiful girl, and she is not lost to Wenyuan. That year, Qu Lili got the opportunity to return to her hometown to visit relatives during the Chinese New Year. After opening the year, I didn't see her back. At that time, both the commune and the village sent letters to Shanghai to inquire about them, and the reply was that Qu Lili's parents had been sent to Jiangxi to work on a farm, and there was no one in the family. ”

Later, I learned that Qu Lili's parents, when they were in labor reform, couldn't stand the grievances and committed suicide. The people in the commune estimated that after Qu Lili, who returned to Shanghai, heard the news, she probably couldn't stand the blow, so she never returned to Zhiqing Point to report, and she didn't know where she went. ”

Li Bing asked politely, "Aunt Zhou, can you please take us to pay homage to Wenyuan's tomb?" ”

Aunt Zhou nodded: "That's good, she has been dead for so many years, and no one has come to visit her." You big reporters, it would be better if you could put incense on her and burn some paper. What a poor girl! ”

Li Bing hurriedly said, "Thank you, Aunt Zhou!" I'll tell you now, and we'll have something to pay homage to her when we get back. ”

Aunt Zhou wiped away her tears and walked briskly towards the front mountain where Wenyuan was buried.

Although Aunt Zhou is fifty or sixty years old, she is still walking fast, but she is almost tired of following Li Bing and a few other young people.

Finally came to the front mountain, in a place overgrown with weeds that almost impossible to see the grave, Aunt Zhou brushed away the weeds with her hands, and said sadly: "Miss Wenyuan is buried here, you come tomorrow and help clear the weeds on her grave!" ”

Li Bing nodded, stepped forward, and saw a small stone tablet standing diagonally among the weeds, engraved with a few words that were vague but still distinguishable: The Tomb of the Educated Youth Wenyuan!

Li Bing respectfully shook the tombstone a few times, looked back and said to Aunt Zhou: "Aunt Zhou, we don't know the situation, we came in too much hurry today." Tomorrow we will buy incense, candles, and paper money to worship the girl Wenyuan, and we will definitely repair this tomb. In addition, I have to ask Aunt Zhou for one thing, tomorrow we will prepare a free house, and we will pay, because Sister Shi writes articles and may have to live for a while. ”

Aunt Zhou glanced at them in surprise and said happily: "This is no problem, in the village, many people have gone out to work, and there are empty houses." The old man of my family is the village head, let him help implement it, and the money will not be needed. We mountain people are very hospitable, and it is an honor for our village that you have come to us from the city! ”