This is a small county town that is not big, and according to legend, it was once one of the ancient capitals of Pakistan in history, and like the city where I grew up, it is also a city where two rivers meet and are built on the mountain. This area is rich in a pickled food called mustard, and ordinary rape heads are pickled in brine and spices to become a delicious dish to accompany rice.

Since I had never been to this place, everything was very foreign to me. The political struggle here seems to have been relatively mild, and although there are occasional gangs of young people on the streets, and the occasional obstacles and checkpoints set up, on the whole, the people here are still less radical, and people walk the streets without the signs of being timid and passing quickly.

I hadn't eaten breakfast yet, so I inquired about a supply and marketing canteen, bought some fritters and soy milk to eat, and when I was eating, I found out the letter Meng Dongxue gave me and asked the people at the next table how to get to this place. The fellow was also very enthusiastic and told me how to go, but because I was a foreigner, he was afraid that I would not find it, so he drew me a simple map with a pen and paper.

That place is Meng Dongxue's home. Although Meng Dongxue and I have a little unsuspecting relationship, I think Meng Dongxue should never have told her family about these things. So I waited to see her family, and I couldn't let them know because it would be embarrassing. But this is a good opportunity for me to show favor to the elders of Meng Dongxue's family. Maybe after I took good care of her father this time and made a good impression on her parents, it would be much easier for me and her to develop further in the future.

Meng Dongxue's home is located in the west of the city, near the suburbs, next to the train station. However, this railway station is not connected to the train from the place where I grew up, and the trains here are all freight vehicles used to pull coal and goods, and it is a small station, and the line is said to be not long. I learned from Meng Dongxue's mouth that her parents are railway workers, her mother is a clerical worker, and her father is a technician in railway maintenance. There is also a little sister at home, and it is precisely because it is a family of two children that Meng Dongxue will be asked to go to the mountains and go to the countryside.

The address on Meng Dongxue's envelope is home, the kind of staff dormitory allocated by the factory, and there are about seven or eight families in a corridor. Meng Dongxue told me that my father had been staying at home since he fell ill. My little sister is still in elementary school, and my mother has her own job, so she needs someone to take care of her. And the time when I arrived was actually quite embarrassing, because Meng Dongxue's mother and sister should not be at home now. I knocked on the door of Meng Dongxue's house with apprehension, and the door was opened by a middle-aged man wearing autumn pants on the lower half of his body, and a dark blue labor protection uniform on the top half of his autumn coat, but his hands were not on his sleeves. His hair is a little messy, his face is full of scum, he looks sad, and he has no energy.

I knew that this was Meng Dongxue's father, so I greeted him very politely, Hello uncle, I am your daughter's friend, and I have sent you a letter. When I said this, I was standing at the door, Meng Dongxue's father had just opened the door and hadn't let me in yet. His eyes were a little suspicious, and after looking me up and down, he said, "You said that you are a friend of our Xiaoxue, but why do you look so much older than her?"

I smiled awkwardly and said that it was actually Meng Dongxue who joined the queue to live in our house, and she received a letter from your lover a few days ago, knowing that you were not in good health recently, so she was anxious and cried for several days. I want to come back to take care of you, but the policy is against discipline, so I can't come in person, it just so happens that I recently came to your county town to do something, this is just over, I came to see you, brought your family letter, and a little bit of our aunt's heart.

After speaking, I mentioned the chicken in my hand, and I said that this is a rural running pheasant, rich in nutrition, and the meat is tender, hahahaha! After saying that, I didn't know why I laughed, but I didn't actually want to laugh, but the atmosphere was a little awkward, and I tried to use my hearty laughter to dispel Meng Dongxue's father's vigilance.

Then I handed Meng Dongxue's letter to Uncle Meng and asked him to open it first. When Uncle Meng saw the photo of his daughter, a knowing smile appeared on his face, but when he saw the photo of me and her, the corners of his mouth twitched a few times. Seeing that the situation was not good, I hurriedly said to Uncle Meng, Meng Dongxue, this little girl is really good, she can sing and dance, she knows how to care about others, and she has a good relationship with me in private.

Uncle Meng's expression finally relaxed, so he said with a smile on his face, Since you are Xiaoxue's friend, please come in, our house is narrow and a little messy, don't be weird, young man. I breathed a sigh of relief in my heart, it seems that I have passed the first hurdle of entering the door. Judging from Uncle Meng's tone and demeanor, it was obvious that he was pretending to be worried, but in front of outsiders like me, his behavior was quite normal, but he felt a little anxious. I sat down after entering the house and began to look at the place where Meng Dongxue grew up.

Uncle Meng is right, this place is indeed quite narrow, that is, one bedroom and one living room, and that room is also divided into two rooms because of the large number of people in the family. Meng Dongxue and her sister live in one room, and her parents live in the same room. Since Meng Dongxue cut the line, her sister has occupied the entire room. And this living room is actually very narrow, with a sofa and dining table, and a small cabinet against the wall. On the cabinet were teacups, kettles, and a radio. There are a lot of awards won by Meng Dongxue and her sister on the wall, as well as some photos of family members.

From the moment I entered the house, I found that they had built a simple stove in the hallway for cooking in the hallway. The toilet can only be accessed on both sides of the passage, with the men's toilet on one side and the women's toilet on the other. Judging from the things at home, although Meng Dongxue's family is not the kind of rich and noble, it is not poor, her parents are both workers, but workers were iron jobs in that era, and everyone wanted to enter the factory as a worker. So I guess that Meng Dongxue should have not suffered any hardships since she was a child.

When I looked around, Uncle Meng had been sitting on the sofa reading Meng Dongxue's letter, with a smile on his face from time to time. It is not difficult to see that this is a father who loves his daughter, if Meng Dongxue comes back in person this time, I think he will be so happy that he will forget everything. After reading the letter, Uncle Meng said to me, "Young man, is your name Situ Shan?"

I quickly sat down and replied yes. Uncle Meng said, the surname Situ is rare in our local area, right? I said yes, according to my family, my ancestor used to be a local official hundreds of years ago, he was a northerner, and his surname was Sima. But later, after returning to his hometown, he no longer used an official surname like Sima, and changed his surname to Si. It wasn't until about the time of the Republic of China that the compound surname was restored. I smiled and said, maybe my ancestors made a mistake and regarded Sima as Situ, so from my father's generation, the surname was Situ.

Uncle Meng also smiled and said, the name is just a code name, nothing important. I see my daughter mentioned in the letter that you are here to help her take care of me, is that true? I quickly stood up and said yes, Meng Dongxue is very good to all of us, and it is also appropriate for us to help her do something, I hope I don't cause trouble to my uncle. I don't think your house is very convenient for people to live in, so don't worry about me, I'll just find a place to live nearby. Uncle Meng was probably because I was more polite, and he was also full of smiles, and he thanked me, saying that he was completely worried about his illness, and that he didn't have any symptoms in his body, but he couldn't think about it.

I told Uncle Meng that I know that my little sister has to go to school, my aunt has to go to work, and you are at home all day and you are in a bad mood, so I will accompany you, cook for you, talk to you, play chess, no matter what worries, forget about it for the time being.

That afternoon, I talked a lot with Uncle Meng, and he also inquired about my background, maybe it was the relationship between low self-esteem and fear, I didn't tell him my occupation, nor did I tell him that I went to the mountain village because I fled, because I felt that even if I wanted to talk about these things, they should not be in the moment. And Uncle Meng gave me the feeling that it was still a little different from that of ordinary workers, he didn't want to be the kind of person who had no cultural knowledge, and he was very measured in all aspects of his conversation, and he could see that he was a knowledgeable person.

At about four o'clock in the afternoon, someone opened the door and came back, it was Meng Dongxue's little sister, a ten-year-old girl, delicate and cute, carved out of a mold with Meng Dongxue, seeing that there was a stranger at home, the little sister asked Uncle Meng who I was, I told her first, I am your sister's friend, come here to visit your father, and I also brought a photo of your sister, which is in that envelope.

As a person like me, in fact, it is difficult to deliberately flatter other people in my life, but in the face of the people of the Meng family, I did it, and I did it comfortably. Maybe there was always an idea in my heart at that time, that is, Meng Dongxue and I would eventually come together, and I would always have to face this family, so it was the key to lay a good mass foundation as soon as possible.

After Meng Dongxue's little sister looked at her sister's photo, she only went back to her room and closed the door to do her homework. After a while, Meng Dongxue's mother also came home from work. So I had to stand up again to introduce myself, but unlike the previous reactions of Uncle Meng and Meng Xiaomei, Meng Dongxue's mother did not show that happy look, such a person who was not sick showed a hesitant look, and after greeting me politely, she was busy cooking.

I'm a sensitive person and I'm very good at reading things because it helps me professionally. But in the face of Meng Dongxue's mother's reaction, I was a little apprehensive, thinking to myself what the situation is? Isn't I welcome?