Sixty years with spring

Chapter III

The mystery of the parents' background

Che Hongxuan got up at the same time as his mother and sister every morning, and without saying a word, he picked up the dirt basket to pick up the dung.

There are herds of cattle in the team, which are released at this time of the day, and the breeders let them go to the fields to find food on their own in order to save feed.

Che Hongxuan followed the herd of cattle to wander around the wilderness, and it would not take more than an hour to pick up a basket full of steaming dung, carry it on his arm and sweat profusely, and then go home for dinner. When it's time to get to work, the manure is sent to the team's vegetable patch to be sold. It's just a few cents, but at that time, a fire spoon was only a dime, and a bunch of ice fruits was only three cents, which accumulated over time, and as an eight-year-old child, this was an income that could not be ignored.

The mother does not see it that way, she thinks that more important than money will motivate the child to be self-motivated, which is more important than anything else. It is impossible for an accomplished person to be guaranteed without a resolute character.

If you want to pick up the first pile of manure pulled out of the pen, you have to get up early, and if you go late, someone else will pick it up. Sometimes Che Hongxuan would run around in vain when he got up late, and the dung was picked up by others.

Eight or nine-year-old children can insist on working like this, and Che Hongxuan's behavior has been widely praised by the villagers.

One day, Che Hongxuan saw Wang Xiu in front of the gate of his house.

"Why did you hit someone?" Wang Xiu stared at those beautiful eyes and asked sternly.

"Don't blame me, it's him who is unreasonable."

"You're not a good person!" Wang Xiu didn't know where he got the courage, and pushed the spirited Che Hongxuan to the ground.

Che Hongxuan fell to the ground on his back with his back in the air, and it was okay to touch the back of his head, but he just knocked it. He got up and looked at Wang Xiu blankly, holding his hands at a loss.

"I'm not going to be with you!" After Wang Xiu finished speaking, he turned around and left with the joy of the victor.

Che Hongxuan stood there stupidly, without any reaction. Speaking of psychology, he doesn't want to fall out with Wang Xiu, he likes to play with Wang Xiu, in his mind, Wang Xiu is not only beautiful, but also very smart, compared to her brother, it is simply two kinds of people.

After that, Che Hongxuan still went to Wang Xiu twice, but he was not popular, and he went back.

Che Hongxuan began to play on the back street, and met a lot of children, who were very wild, and nicknamed him the little landlord.

His mother told him: "The children in the city and the dogs in the mountains are very powerful, so be careful when playing with them, don't be bullied." ”

"I'm not afraid of them, all wrestling is my defeat, no one dares to do anything to me! Mom, why do you say that a dog in the mountains must be powerful for a child in the city? ”

"Children in the city see a lot of people, so they are bold; Dogs in the mountains can't easily see people, so they bite people when they see them. ”

"Why ------"

Che Hongxuan still asked endlessly as usual, and his mother absentmindedly answered him one after another "why" while working.

One day before the Spring Festival, my mother heard that the Wang family's grandmother was sick, so she made dumplings and asked Che Hongxuan to send them over.

Che Hongxuan happily came to Wang's house, thinking that Wang Xiu should have no reason to refuse him this time. He took the dumplings, walked to Wang's house in a dignified manner, and knocked on the door "Dangdang".

After a short time, Wang Xiu opened the door, poked his head out and asked with flashing eyes, "Why are you here again?" ”

"Send dumplings to grandma."

"Huh?" Wang Xiu smiled happily, obviously forgetting the hatred, "Then thank you, Auntie, come in quickly." ”

"I smell it, do you want to taste it first? If it's not enough, I'll go home and get some, there's still some at home. ”

"Why are you so sick of water? I don't do this kind of thing! ”

"It's okay, it's not a bad thing!"

"I can't eat the dumplings for my grandma first. In this way, you give me the dumplings, and I bring them to my grandmother, and I say that my aunt sent them. ”

"I haven't seen my grandma for a long time, I really want to go and see her, and I want to hear grandma's story when it's okay!"

"However, grandma always says behind your back that you are not a good person."

"I'm not afraid. By the way, next year I'll be nine years old and you'll be eight years old, and we'll both go to school together, right? Che Hongxuan tilted his head and looked at Wang Xiu and asked.

"I'm going to ask Mom and Dad."

"Let's go to school together, I can protect you."

"I don't like you without your protection!"

Che Hongxuan was choked and stopped talking.

After entering the house, Che Hongxuan put the dumplings in front of his grandmother, opened the drawer covering the dumplings, and a fragrance spread. He knew that his grandmother must have known that he was coming, because he could distinguish his own footsteps.

Wang Xiu said to her grandmother, who was sitting on the kang, "The little landlord next door has brought you dumplings." ”

Grandma asked angrily, "Why are you still playing with him?" ”

Wang Xiu didn't expect her grandmother to be so faceless, and retorted: "I didn't, I just opened the door for him!" ”

Grandma viciously faced Che Hongxuan and reprimanded: "You are an ungrateful villain, why are you embarrassed to enter my house?!" ”

Che Hongxuan was also angry and asked rhetorically, "Why am I ungrateful?" If my mother hadn't asked me to deliver dumplings, you thought I would come? ”

Grandma was blind, and according to herself, she could feel the light every day when the sun shone on the window. During the day, she will mostly face the bright window when she talks and tells stories, and she will only face you unless she can accurately find the location of the person she is talking to. Her hearing is particularly good, and every time Che Hongxuan walks into the yard, she can clearly distinguish it.

Grandma was even more angry, and tilted her neck at Che Hongxuan and scolded: "Your ancestors are not good at roots, they are born with a beard, if it weren't for the sake of the neighbors, no one would take care of you!" ”

"I'm ignoring you!" Che Hongxuan was angry, picked up the dumpling basin and turned around and left.

When he returned home, he was busy with his mother outside, and the dumplings in his hand smelled fragrant, he couldn't refuse this temptation, and secretly ate one, ah, it's so fragrant! He ate the second one unceremoniously, one at a time, and by the time his mother came in, there was already an empty basin and a drawer of cloth for the dumplings.

"The dumplings were delivered?" Mom asked casually.

Che Hongxuan knew that he was in trouble, and his eyes widened and he was silent.

"What's going on?" Mom got angry and glared at him.

"Grandma Wang's grandmother doesn't want it, it's eaten by me."

"You kid, you're too ignorant!"

Seeing that the situation was not good, Che Hongxuan hurriedly ran out and slipped away.

Mom did pick up the broom and was ready to hit him, but with the lesson of the last time, Mom didn't chase him out.

Che Hongxuan ran out, afraid that his mother would chase him out, so he ran to the gate of Wang's house and sat down next to the wall, so that he could find his mother coming out. Seeing that there was no movement, he began to scold the Wang family's grandmother over and over again for being a "blind old lady".

This was heard by Wang Xiu, who was listening to the situation in the gate, she went back to the front of the house and moved a ladder to climb the courtyard wall to look at the Che's house, and when the Che's mother came out, she cleverly shouted: "Auntie, Auntie." ”

When the Che family's mother saw that it was her, she was startled, and immediately waved her hand and said, "Go down quickly, don't fall." ”

"Auntie, I'm fine, Hongxuan is scolding my grandma outside the door!"

"Good boy, I'll hit him later!"

"Auntie, don't say I told you."

"Good boy. You wait, and then bring grandma a bowl of dumplings. ”

"Okay, Auntie, I'll wait for you."

After receiving the dumplings, Wang Xiucai gloated and got off the ladder, sent the dumplings into the house, and quietly walked out of the door to find Che Hongxuan, ready to watch the excitement.

When Che Hongxuan saw her coming, he naturally stopped scolding, stood up and said mysteriously: "There are a lot of fish along the Nanhe River, and you can catch them by opening the ice hole." ”

Wang Xiu knew that this might be lying, and replied with a pout: "Who are you fooling, I don't believe it!" ”

"I'm not fooling you, really, when I was picking up dung, I saw fish swimming in the ice, some of them are so long," he gestured with his hands, "Let's go, let's take a look." You wait, I'll go home and get a pickaxe and a churner, and we'll catch the fish. ”

"I don't believe what you say is so big, there can only be such big fish along the South River when the water rises, how can there be such a big fish in winter?"

"When I walk on the ice, I can see the fish whizzing under the ice, lightning fast, if we knock on the ice, it will burrow into the mud and sand, and we can catch it when we open the ice."

"Didn't the fish run away when you opened the ice hole?"

"It's already scared, where can it run away? As soon as we stir it with a stirrger, the water will be muddy, and the fish will follow the muddy water, and we can catch it. ”

"Okay, I'll go with you and have a look." Wang Xiu said in disbelief, and then stood there waiting for Che Hongxuan.

In the end, she was young, she forgot about the complaint, and happily went with Che Hongxuan to catch fish.

That winter, there was little snow, and it was a warm winter, and because the river was full of water, the ice was only a foot thick.

There is no snow on the ice surface, and it is transparent and shiny, and you can see the fantastic world under the ice. The scaly sand at the bottom of the river bears the marks of clams, and occasionally small fish do run by.

The happy Wang Xiu clapped his hands and applauded, chasing the fish flying under the ice everywhere.

Che Hongxuan told her: "Be careful, don't fall if you skate." ”

"It's okay, I'm not afraid. It's so beautiful under the ice, it's a wonderful world! ”

Che Hongxuan smiled happily, waved his pickaxe to the ice, and heard the sound, there was indeed a fish in the sand, stirring up a cloud of muddy water, but the muddy water was quickly washed away by the flowing water, and a small pit appeared where the fish got in.

At this place, Che Hongxuan opened his posture and began to make ice holes. It took him a lot of effort to get through, but he didn't expect the clear river water to gush out like a spring, and there was no way to stop it. He continued to wield the pickaxe, because the hole in the ice was nothing more than a fist-thick ice hole, and the scooper could not go down. The falling pickaxe made a splash of water, splashing all over the body, and the shoes were already soaked with blisters.

In order to avoid the splash and the water flowing from his feet, Wang Xiu ran away.

Che Hongxuan was so tired that he was covered in sweat, and it took a lot of effort to stretch the agitator into the water, stir it vigorously for a while, take it out with great expectations, and go to the place where there is no water to pour out the results of the net. It's just a few match-sized fish and a few lean shrimp the size of a grain of bud that are bouncing around.

Wang Xiu smiled happily: "These fish haven't grown up yet, and these shrimps haven't grown up yet, so it's unlucky to meet you." ”

Che Hongxuan's soaked clothes were already frozen, and his shoes were frozen on the ice, so he finally lifted his feet with the help of Wang Xiu.

Wang Xiu said: "Hurry up and go home, no matter how late it is, your clothes and shoes will freeze hard, and you won't be able to go home." ”

Che Hongxuan also felt cold, wet inside and out, and the best thing to do was to go home.

Che Hongxuan resisted the pickaxe, Wang Xiu resisted the stirring, and the two walked home dejectedly under the sunshine of talking.

Seeing him like this, his mother was amused and angry, and asked, "What's wrong with you?" ”

Wang Xiu said: "He insisted that there were fish along the Nanhe River, and tricked me into going with him to catch fish, and he got his clothes and shoes wet, so he caught a few small fish and shrimp that he couldn't pick up." ”

Mom found clothes for Che Hongxuan to change, and then asked, "Did you scold grandma?" ”

"No, I didn't!"

Wang Xiu said angrily: "Nothing, I heard everything!" ”

"I'm not swearing!"

Mom said, "Don't lie at a young age, or I won't be able to spare you!" ”

"I'm not scolding anyway!"

Mom raised her hand to hit.

Che Hongxuan still insisted: "I didn't scold. ”

Wang Xiu was afraid that Che Hongxuan would be beaten, so he had no choice but to say: "He said that grandma is a blind old lady, but in fact, it is not a scolding." ”

"You have to understand the respect for the elderly, do you hear?"

"I hear you."

Mom put down her hand and went to take out a bowl of dumplings for Wang Xiu to eat.

Wang Xiu ran home happily after eating the dumplings.

After Che Hongxuan finished changing his clothes, he came out to find his mother and asked with wide eyes: "Mom, why did the grandmother of the Wang family scold me for being wrong, saying that our ancestors were born with beards?" ”

My mother stopped what she was doing and said angrily: "No wonder it is said that relatives come from afar to beat the wall with neighbors, this is not false at all!" ”

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's that the neighbors are looking forward to it, and the relatives are looking forward to it."

"I understand, the neighbors want our family to be unlucky, and the relatives want us to be well."

"That's what it means."

"Why does Grandma scold me for not having the right roots?"

Mom thought for a while and said, "Don't listen to her nonsense, she's all confused." ”

"Mom, tell me about it, I want to know."

Mom couldn't stand Che Hongxuan's stickiness, and still nagged intentionally or unintentionally. Che Hongxuan pricked up his ears and listened while helping his mother work.

His mother told Che Hongxuan about her and her father's life experience, which remained forever in his childhood memories.

My mother said: "Your grandmother's family is a well-known family in Sanli and five villages, and your grandmother is a person who eats fasting and recites Buddha. I also have two older sisters, your two aunts. At that time, our sister was a well-known lady, not only beautiful, but also able to read and hyphenate. ”

"Was there a school back then?"

"The gentleman (teacher) hired by my own family taught us to read since we were young. Your aunt and second aunt both married in a big city, and after they got married, they never came back, only your grandfather and grandmother know about their situation. The reason why my family can be so rich does have something to do with your two aunts. At that time, there was a saying, "Drought is afraid of cloudy days, rich people are afraid of thieves, and rich people are afraid of beards. ”

Che Hongxuan's eyes widened and asked, "What do you mean by being a thief?" What does beard mean? ”

"A thief is a person who steals, and a beard is a person who robs a house or a house or robs something with open fire."

"Why is it called drought, afraid of cloudy days, rich and afraid of thieves?"

"The drier it is, the more afraid it is of cloudy weather, and when it is cloudy, there is not even dew; Only rich people are afraid of being robbed, who will rob you if you are so poor? ”

"Mom, you can tell me about grandma and grandpa, and I can remember it."

"At that time, people often threw big bags and small bags of things into my yard in the dead of night, and those were the work of your two uncles-in-law, and even your grandfather didn't know who they were. One year, I don't know if it was introduced by your eldest aunt or your second aunt, a teaching couple came to my house, with a boy of the same age as me. They said they were going to teach in a big city, and they had to put their children in my house for the time being. Who wants the two of them to be gone forever, and they don't know whether they are alive or dead. The boy stayed at my house like this. Fortunately, the boy is in good health and diligent, and can do any job, so your grandfather simply treats him as his own family. ”

Che Hongxuan nodded and said, "I understand." ”

"Because there has been no news from that couple, and the boy can't have no name or surname, your grandfather remembers in a trance that his parents confessed that his surname was Che, plus he likes cars all day long, and he tinkered with any small donkey cart and big carriage, so he simply named him with your grandmother."

"I understand Mom."

"yes, it's not important anyway. That winter, the snow was very heavy, the flat ground was knee-long, it was very cold, and it was a year of great disasters when the war was in chaos, and God was all visible. Your grandfather and your grandmother saw that the situation was not good, and no one dared to raise a girl as big as me at home. ”

"Why?"

"This is an old concept, the big girl is easy to cause trouble during the war, so when the war is together, the girl must be married. At that time, I was exactly twenty-nine and eighteen, and I was old enough to get married. Your grandfather and your grandmother searched and searched but couldn't find the right person, so they wanted to marry me to that long-term worker in a hurry. Where would I agree, didn't me off. But there was no other way but to resign to fate. Fortunately, your father is in good health and hardworking, and we have been living until now. ”

"I see."

"When I got married to your father, your grandmother and grandfather were picked up by your aunt, and I don't know where to go. The family will be left to us, and your father will have to take over the management of a large mess. Your father's background is unknown, and although he is a poor peasant, there are still people in the background who think that he is a bearded descendant. The grandmother of the Wang family scolded you for not having the right roots, and this is the reason, and the existence is nothing. ”

"I know what Grandma Wang said must be a lie."

"Unfounded, unfounded. Later, your dad and I bought a house here. When you played Jinzhou, your father was the first to sign up to go to the front of the branch, and it was because of this that everyone praised him for his tiger energy and called him Huzi. What I didn't expect was that your father actually used a big cart to pull back several wounded people, and one of the leaders stayed in the place, and he introduced your father to work in the grain depot and do pre-support work, because your father was simple and capable of working until now. ”

"Dad is really amazing!"

"You have to remember what your grandfather used to say, save money to urge ghosts, make friends and protect yourself. Be generous with your money in front of your friends, and your mother won't make it difficult for you. I've already discussed with your dad that we're going to have nine out of ten ribs for you to study. Now is the era of peace and prosperity, all kinds of waste are waiting to be rebuilt, if you are that piece of material, maybe you have the opportunity to become a pillar. If you're not that material, you can at least do something, even if it's an accountant in the squad. Next year, your mother will send you to school in the spring, you must study hard, accumulate skills, and be a person like Yue Fei who is loyal to the country. ”

Che Hongxuan said: "Mom, don't worry, I will definitely remember your words and be a useful person." ”

Since then, Che Hongxuan has asked his father many times about his background. At this time, his father told him about the battlefield, and never mentioned his own life experience, because his father also knew nothing.