Some people were born in Rome, and some were born to be cattle and horses.

And others,

If you want to be a cow or horse, you can't be a cow or a horse, you can only be a mud under the feet of a cow and horse.

……

Li Ping'an got up early in the dark to cook, so that the old man could stutter when he came back from his busy work in the field.

Breakfast was gruel.

Put more rice, eat this even at noon, beat an egg, pour some soy sauce and sesame oil into the porridge, and wash some pickled sauerkraut, which is enough for the two of them to eat two meals.

"It's good not to be hungry."

Li Ping'an, who was hungry when he was a child, understood how rare it was to be able to eat a full meal, and thanked the country from the bottom of his heart. After all, as poor households, if there is no help from the state and a monthly quota of 1,170 yuan, I am afraid that they will starve to death.

As for the mother......

Dead, dead when he can't remember.

The old man didn't want to mention it, and he didn't dare to ask.

It was only from the occasional gossip in the village that his mother was mentally ill and ran to the public pond to drown when she was sick.

The above family background has developed Li Ping'an's withdrawn and reticent character, and he is a little sloppy, and no one wants to play with him since he was a child.

Li Ping'an sometimes thinks that if he is like other people's families, he has a mother to shout at, a house to live in that does not leak wind and rain, a TV to watch when he comes home from school, a mobile phone and various toys to play with, and meat to eat.

It's a pity that you can only think about it.

The reality is that he can only huddle with the old man in this pigsty-like adobe house, which is dim and cramped, with mosquitoes in summer and freezing in winter.

Li Ping'an loves school.

Because the school classrooms are spacious, bright, and fandom, there are many students of the same age.

Although none of them like to play with him.

The teacher is also very good, at least he doesn't hate him. Of course, it's not about liking.

After all, Li Ping'an is not smart, he has inherited the old man's woodenness, and it would be good to pass the exam.

Who would be impressed by such a student who has nothing to show for himself?

The old man said that he would try to let him finish junior high school, but he would stop high school, he was not the material for studying, and his family did not have the money.

When Li Ping'an heard this, he just silently picked up the gruel in the bowl.

He wanted to read.

If life goes on like this, Li Ping'an will probably go out to work after finishing junior high school, like many children from rural areas. Find a black factory, work 10 hours a day, and get a salary of two or three thousand. Although it is less than others, it is also better than just receiving a subsistence allowance.

"Maybe I can save some money and buy two mobile phones, one for me and one for the old man."

He dreamed about it.

But God, this fucking thing often doesn't get you what you want.

The old man is dead.

Dead in the ground.

I went out to work under the sun, and I was planted on the ridge of the field, and I couldn't get up again. When they were discovered, they were already frozen.

Li Ping'an howled and cried, and after crying, he guarded the old man's corpse in a daze, looking at his dark and thin wrinkled face, gray hair, severely crooked spine, and closed eyes.

said that it was his grandfather, and others believed it.

Anyway, my dad is gone.

The funeral was very simple, after all, Li Ping'an didn't have much money to do it, so a few elderly cousins took him to bring the ashes back from the crematorium, found a feng shui master and chose a cemetery, buried it, and covered it with soil.

Looking at the round soil bag, Li Ping'an didn't know what to say.

"Study hard, at least finish junior high school, and then let Brother Hui help you find a job, at least to support yourself. Although your dad doesn't say it, he always hopes that you will live better than him in the future. He told me that he was a useless person, an old age, he would not know anything, and he could only turn over this acre and two cents of land in his life, and it was the proudest thing in his life to be able to raise you......"

Li Ping'an listened to the uncle's chatter in silence.

The children of the cousin's family hid in the house under the scolding of their mother, and looked at him as if they were avoiding snakes and scorpions.

……

Books still have to be read, and life has to go on.

Just boiled egg porridge later, only one person ate it.

"Do you want to go boarding at school?"

The old village chief came to ask.

"If you live in the school, you don't have to worry about leakage in the dormitory, and there are fans, so you can make friends even though you live with other students."

I'm afraid that if he stays alone for a long time, he will be prone to problems.

Alas, no matter how you say it, they are all from their own village, and they are all a family for several generations.

It's a little bit to be able to help.

"Don't worry about money, you are an orphan, I will tell the brigade and your principal, and ask them to help apply for a waiver of tuition, accommodation fees, tuition and miscellaneous fees, etc. If you can be admitted to high school and university, you can continue to study, and there will be bonuses in the village if you have a bachelor's degree. ”

"Your family's land is reserved for you, and when you work and save money, you will be able to use it if you want to come back and build a house one day. Uncle will help you watch it, and you won't let people take it up. ”

The old village chief talked to him a lot before leaving.

……

Li Ping'an finally chose to move to the school, but he didn't move completely.

He was reluctant to let the old man go.

Rest in the school dormitory at noon, come back to sleep at night, and cook at home and take it to school.

At night, lying on a simple wooden bed, he would talk to himself about what happened in school during the day, such as who made the teacher angry, and who was mischievous and scribbled on the exercise book of other little girls.

It seems that the old man is still around.

If life goes on like this, Li Ping'an will grow up day by day, and one day he will stop studying, and he will come out of society to find an ordinary job to make a living, learn to save some money, and build a house and marry a daughter-in-law in the future, which is also very good.

But, oh my God, this fucking thing often doesn't get what you want.

I don't know from which night, Li Ping'an felt a little unwell.

It's a stomachache.

To be precise, it was the upper right abdomen, under the ribs, and the pain was so painful that he couldn't sleep at night.

At first, I thought it was a gastrointestinal problem, so I went to the pharmacy to grab some medicine, but it still hurt after eating, it hurt at night, and it started to hurt during the day.

"Just bear with it."

It's not that he doesn't want to go to a big hospital, a big hospital costs a lot of money to see a doctor, and he has never entered the gate of the county people's hospital when he lives so long.

Li Ping'an became thinner and thinner, as thin as skin and bones, and began to lose his hair.

The uncle asked him if he didn't eat.

Actually, no, Li Ping'an was hungry when he was a child, and he would eat it every day, but what he ate didn't seem to be useful.

Until one day, he passed out in the classroom, startling everyone.

The cousin hurried over and, together with the teacher, put him in the ambulance.

The test results came back, liver cancer was advanced.

You say that a 14-year-old child, how can he have advanced liver cancer?

Everyone can't figure it out.

"I'll ...... later. Is there no book to read? ”

Li Ping'an stared blankly at the birds flying outside the window.

The cousin was silent.

Terminal cancer, everyone who has heard it knows what it means.

Li Ping'an only stayed in the hospital for two days before returning home.

The cousin helped him pack up his school stuff, especially his books, and then called in sick.

"When I get better, I'm going to study."

Li Ping'an barely stood up, sat down in front of the simple table and chair, and slowly flipped through his books in the dim light.

The words are so ugly, I knew that I would have asked Li Fang how to write the words well.

I can't do this question, I wish I had been bold and asked the math teacher.

What does this passage mean? It would have been nice to know that I wouldn't get distracted in class.

……

"Teacher, why didn't Li Ping'an come to class?"

Finally, a classmate couldn't help but ask.

Although Li Ping'an has no sense of presence in the class, and everyone is not happy to deal with him, the people who come here to study are all children from several nearby villages, and they know each other well, and they have also heard of Li Ping'an's family situation.

"Li Ping'an is sick, and when he recovers, he will naturally come back." The head teacher squeezed out a smile.

It's a pity that when the new semester starts in the spring of the next year, everyone can't wait for the black, thin, thin and silent teenager.

When I graduated, the whole class took a group photo together, but I didn't see the teenager.

Juvenile him......

Probably going to be a carefree bird.