In the southwest border of the endless barren moon continent, the undulating green mountains are connected into an undulating criss-cross line, at this time it is already sunset, the night is getting thicker, the village at the foot of the mountain has been lit up with dim oil lamps one after another, a few old locust trees at the head of the village, the leaves blown by the wind are rattling, and from time to time a few dog barks come far from the village, which will cause more dog barking to echo and sound, until it slowly stops silent.

The oil lamp shone on the cracked earthen wall of the room, and a few vague figures were reflected on the wall, obliquely.

"Child, this matter is so decided, when you are a soldier and eats food, at least you won't starve to death, if you have a big life and mix well, maybe you can still have a chance." The old man sitting by the door and leaning against the door frame had an old face, his skin was rough due to years of labor, his back was a little hunched, and he held a cigarette gun in his hand, and a yellowed and blackened cigarette pouch fell under the cigarette gun, sucking, "Bangda, Bangda", but in the quiet room, the sound was very loud and brittle.

"But, fifth, he is only fourteen years old, so young......," said the old woman, who sat in a simple, low chair, with tears streaming down her face in shabby clothes and many wrinkles.

The old man said: "This has been a locust plague for two consecutive years, don't talk about our family, more than half of the families in the village have no food, those who can go to the city to work, those who travel far away, those who serve as soldiers, the third child's leg was injured from work a few years ago, and he was disabled, and he can't do anything when he goes out." Lao Wu's body bones say that he is only sixteen or seven, but it looks like no one can believe it, and now when he is a soldier, at least a subsidy can be sent down in advance, and when he comes down in the future, if he has the heart, he can also send some back every month." After speaking, she smoked again, and the old woman in the house lowered her head and continued to sob.

Outside the door, a figure squatted against the wall by the door, but facing the distance, looking at the silhouette of the mountains in the distance in the dark night, not speaking, not knowing what to think. In the silence inside and outside the house, time passed slowly.

After a period of silence, the figure outside the house stood up, turned and walked inside, it was a half-sized man, about sixteen or seventeen years old, but a little thin, with a dark face, a very ordinary appearance, and dressed in old coarse cloth clothes with several holes.

He said: "Dad, mother, you don't have to worry, many people in the village have gone out, and now the harvest at home is only enough to barely eat, although the village chief leads some people to hunt animals in the mountains occasionally, but after all, the depths are not enough, and you can only occasionally hunt some pheasants and hares, which are not enough, I also want to go out to see, and the third brother and fourth sister at home can also take care of you."

The real age of the half-sized child is only fourteen years old, but he hunts in the mountains all the year round and plows the fields outside the mountains, and grows faster, but because the nutrition cannot keep up, he is very thin. The young man's name is Li Yan, usually few words, since he was a child, he followed the old Xiucai in the village with a group of children of about the same age to study in a private school for six or seven years, and later after the old Xiucai died, the reading time became less and less, and he often followed the adults in the village to hunt in the periphery of Daqingshan, and at first he just ran out privately, but after a long time, he was exposed to hiding and came back, and he was rarely beaten and scolded by his father, but the children in the mountain village were like this, and he did not grow up in the beating and scolding of his father.

As Li Yan grew older, he also began to follow the hunting team into the mountains, and slowly became familiar with the habits of some wild beasts, and participated in the hunting of adults little by little.

Li Yan has five brothers and sisters, the eldest sister and the second sister were married when he was ten and twelve years old respectively, and the fourth sister Li Xiaozhu also found a good in-law, but due to the locust plague in the past two years, the in-law itself is not a wealthy family, so it can't get together a dowry to marry for a while. However, the other side promised to make up the dowry as soon as possible, and I think it should be over in this or two years. The third brother Li Wei accidentally injured his ankle when he was plowing the land a few years ago, and he was lame because of the lack of silver at home.

Li Wei, who was half-kneeling in the room and supporting his mother, looked at Li Yan with a debt and said, "Fifth brother, third brother ......"

"Third brother, you don't have to say anything, the family needs you to take care of it more in the future" Li Yan smiled lightly at the third brother, interrupted and said, "Maybe I can be a general or something in the future, and take you all to enjoy the happiness at that time."

Li Wei looked at him, sighed lightly after half a ring, and then looked at his mother who was still sobbing quietly by the fourth sister on the back, and said comfortingly, "Then the Li family may be able to glorify their ancestors in the fifth year."

In fact, Li Wei and Li Yan had heard from their father and the villagers who went to the city to sell meat or furs, or went to the city to buy daily household goods, said that they were border towns, and to the south was Meng, and the probability of border wars was still very high, and wars broke out from time to time in recent years. Therefore, they have often conscripted soldiers here over the years, and in the past, conscription required each village to write a letter of guarantee, certifying age, identity, and history at home. Now as long as it is sent by the village chief, you can join the army, which is also due to the fact that the emperor of the current dynasty controls the world with literature and morality, and the literature and military decline in the court, which leads to the surrounding countries are ready to move, and there are soldiers from time to time, in recent years, there are wars in more than this direction, and there are wars on the border in other directions, so the central imperial garrison can not meet the needs of the local defense army, and can only be recruited by the local garrison to supplement the source of troops.

Some local people know that the probability of enlisting in the army is greater, so the enthusiasm for joining the army is not very high, and the local defense army is hindered by the current emperor's law of the world with literature and morality, and can not be forced to conscript, so as long as you enlist in the army in recent years, you can first get a fee to the family members of the army, in fact, it is a settlement fee, in order to provoke the upsurge of joining the army, this law comes out, but it can also cause many farmers to send their children to enlist in the army, of course, this is basically a poor family, but the rich businessmen will not.

But these situations are not known to the women in the village, in this world of male superiority and inferiority, men rarely tell their mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law about these situations, but these things can be used as a conversation in the village and in the fields, especially in their mountain village more than 200 miles away from the county seat, there are a total of twelve or three families in the village, and there will not be one who has been in the army for many years, but Li Wei and Li Yan brothers can hear it when they work in the fields or follow the team into the mountains.

Then, the house fell silent again, and after a long time, Li Laohan knocked his cigarette pouch on the threshold a few times and said, "Then I'll go to the village chief, and you can rest." After saying that, he walked towards the village in the dark moonlight, and after a while, his figure disappeared into the early autumn moonlight.

The moonlight was scattered on the pit from several wooden panes with broken paper holes, and several broken quilts with exposed cotton covered the two of them, and Li Wei and Li Yan lay back to back.

"Old five, you must be calm when you encounter problems in the army, endure where you can endure, and don't be strong. ”

"Hmm".

After a moment of silence, "if, if there is a fight, if no one is watching, don't rush ahead and take a few steps."

"Hmm".

After another period of silence, "At home, you don't have to worry about it, with the money you paid for enlisting in the army, I will take care of my father and mother at home, and you can buy yourself more meat to eat every month."

"Hmm. ....... Third brother, you can do more work in the field, your father and mother are old."

"Okay, as long as I'm here, my father and mother won't be hungry."

".......", continued to be silent and occasional words continued one after another.

The moonlight is like water, and the night is cool.

In the middle of the night, there was a soft knock on the door of the hall, and the brothers stopped talking, and then the low, inaudible conversation of the father and mother sounded in the side room, and soon after, there was a low sobbing sound of the fourth sister and the mother, it seems that the fourth sister has been with the mother.

Li Yan still turned his back to the third brother, opened his eyes lengly, and looked at the wall in the dark night, the cracks on the wall were like the voices of relatives at home under the hazy moonlight, and the past spread from head to heart.