Today there was a man who rode a fast horse into the town and kicked up dust all the way. The man was wearing a six-rank heron official uniform and quickly raised the whip, and the horse that sat down had already used full speed, but the man was particularly dissatisfied, and still waved the whip vigorously, and the horse neighed. In front of an old house, the man took the reins, sat down and raised his forefeet high and let out a long roar, and the horse's hooves stomped heavily on the ground and the dust flew up, leaving a deep hoof print.

The man was also in a hurry, so he jumped off the horse before the horse landed, carried his official uniform, and rushed into the house.

The room is dim and there is little light, only a flickering candle, the candle flame trembles and shakes slightly, as if it is about to be extinguished at any time, next to the candle is a wooden Guanyin Bodhisattva with a charitable face, the Bodhisattva holds a treasure bottle, there is a willow on the bottle, and it has been some years at a glance. Beside him, there was an old man with a thin face, only a skinny face, lying on the bed, the old man stared wide-eyed, looking at the roof of the house, and refused to close it for a long time, as if waiting for someone to arrive. This person is Grandma Gu.

"Mother, mother!" the man shouted, knelt beside the bed and held Grandma Gu's hand, which was so thin that only a skeleton remained, crying bitterly, "Mother! The child is not filial, the child is late!"

Grandma Gu regained consciousness a little, grabbed the man's hand, and said in a weak voice, "Nian Gu, you are here." ”

This person is the only son of Grandma Gu in this life, Zhou Niangu, who is an official outside.

Zhou Niangu wiped his tears and said, "It's me, mother!" ”

Grandma Gu raised her hand and patted his hand and said, "What are you crying for, this is fate, no one can escape." Mother's age has lived enough, it's enough. ”

Zhou Niangu didn't speak, just buried his head in a choked up.

Grandma Gu put her hand on Zhou Niangu's head again, just like when he was a child, she would touch his head with her hand every time he was sad, and at this time he would stop crying, "Mother is an ordinary person in this life, there are no big ideals, no big ambitions, the happiest thing is to meet your father, although your father left early, but the days with your father I still think about it, my heart is as sweet as eating honey, after your father dies, my only thought is to raise you, no matter how hard and tired I have to watch you grow up." ”

Zhou Niangu choked up and said, "The child knows, the child knows!"

Grandma Gu continued: "I still remember that you had a fever when you were young, and you had a fever for several days and nights, and the family had no money to look down on the doctor, so my mother could only watch your painful face continue to lose weight, and there was no way, my mother was really tormented in her heart." How good it is now, my family has grown up and become a big official, so I don't have to suffer this anymore, and your father will be very happy to know it underground. ”

Back then, Grandma Gu looked for someone to borrow money from, but a widow's family was really not welcomed, and when she returned to her parents' house, the people in her mother's family directly said viciously, "I wish this child was dead, the province dragged you here, and I couldn't find a new family." ”

She was unwilling to go to the pharmacy to ask for medicine again, knelt in front of the doctor and pulled the doctor's trouser leg, begging to save the child, saying that she would definitely return the money in the future and return it twice. But how can it be so easy, the doctor looked at her shabby clothes full of patches and the sallow face that was completely out of age, and directly overturned her to the ground and said: "We are all in the same town, don't you know if you can't afford it, listen to my persuasion to give up the child, forget it, save more worry when the time comes!"

Then they kicked her out of the drugstore, and only she sat on the ground clenched into fists, crying silently, tears sliding down the furrows on her wrinkled face.

In the end, a circle of people begged for light, and everyone refused to help her, all of them disliked her for being an old widow and would not come out in the future. There is no way, she can only take care of the child by herself, every day every half an hour to check the child's situation, during that time did not sleep a good night, the already old face is even more yellow and thin, saying that the child is emaciated, she is not even more serious!

But she still felt that it was not enough, and only hated herself for why she couldn't transfer the illness to her and let her endure the pain. Every day, he burned incense and bowed to the wooden bodhisattva on the table, hoping to make the child get better quickly, and kept swearing, and the oaths he made were very poisonous, what was willing to go to the eighteenth layer of hell to suffer, willing to live forever and not be reborn, willing to give up his life for a life, and so on. It's the kind that doesn't leave a little way for himself to live, but all he asks for is that the child can get better and grow up healthy.

Zhou Niangu, who was lying on the bed, listened to them all, but he was helpless about his illness, he was only eight years old at that time. Until one time his mother came to say, "The child is dead, and I won't live anymore!". He began to be ruthless in his heart, a child who was only eight years old knew at that time that he must not die, he must live!

Fighting against illness every day, no matter how painful it is, I don't give up, gritting my teeth and persevering, and slowly the fever subsides at a speed visible to the naked eye, and I actually got better when everyone was not optimistic, and a group of people exclaimed miracles. His mother worshiped the Buddha and begged for immortals, and she was even more diligent, thinking that it was the Bodhisattva's manifestation.

So at that time, he was not afraid of anything, what he was most afraid of was getting sick, starving and freezing or something, he never said a word of bitterness, but only for the matter of getting sick, he was very afraid, and he was afraid that if he got sick again, his mother would follow him.

Later, he grew up overnight, gave up all the tricks that children of that age loved to play, just helped his mother do farm work every day, or exercised, and went to eavesdrop on Mr. Academy's lectures, at that time Mr. Academy was not Zhang Shi, but he was also a kind old man, every time he found out that he eavesdropped on it, he didn't say anything, just smiled.

In the end, his talent was favored by Mr. Academy, and he was willing to accept him as a disciple without fees, that is, his fate changed in that moment, and his talent in learning was extraordinary, and he endured hardships, and it didn't take long for him to gain fame, and finally became an official. In fact, with his talents, he can be a four-grade official, but his mother is unwilling to live with him, no matter how he persuades him, he doesn't agree, so he chooses a place close to Jewel Town to be a six-grade petty official in order to take good care of his mother. Of course, even if it is Liupin, it is a great official in this jewelry town.

For a while, those who used to ignore their mother and son, and even spoke ill of each other, came shamelessly, he wanted to scold them all and let them go, but was stopped by his mother. His mother said: "It's all from the villagers, and it's better to be harmonious." He has always listened to his mother's words and followed her, but he never wanted to say a word to those people, and his mother was always greeting.

But there are still a group of people who don't even want her mother to let her into the house, he asked, but his mother didn't say. Later, he learned that the group had cursed him when his mother went to ask for help, hoping that he would die sooner.

His mother has always put him first, and she only cares about such a son from beginning to end. She can not care if someone says that she is an old woman, that she is a broom star, that she is a widow, but she does not allow anyone to speak ill of her son, she does not allow anyone to curse her son!

So in Zhou Nianggu's heart, his mother will always be the first, even his wife can't be compared!

"I still remember that when you were a child, you were the most able to endure hardships, and you looked the most serious when you read books. Grandma Gu patted Zhou Niangu's hand and said slowly, angry.

At this time, Zhou Niangu stopped crying, he collected his tears and smiled as happily as possible, and said: "At that time, I was thinking about gaining fame, and I must let my mother live a good life, and I don't need to suffer from those." ”

He really thought this way back then, but in winter, there were no warm shoes at home, so he could only rub his bare feet under the table to keep warm, making a sneering sound, until his mother brought him a pair of cotton shoes to put on. At that time, I didn't know where the cotton shoes came from, and later I learned that his mother cut off her jacket to make such a pair of cotton shoes, who can stand it without a jacket in the winter, but his mother did survive like this, and he never let him find out.

Grandma Gu suddenly pointed to the drawer under the table next to her and said, "You take out the contents of the contents, I have something to say to you." ”

Although he was puzzled, Zhou Niangu quickly took out the contents of the contents, which were a handful of candy and a pair of gloves.

"I met a kid in the town named Da Niu, and he gave me this glove. Grandma Gu pointed to her gloves and said, "It's also a hard-working child, who wandered here without his father and mother." You don't know how similar he is to you, it's just you when you were a child. Very smart, very quick to learn those crafts. These gloves were sewn by him himself, sturdy and warm, and I haven't taken them off all these years when the weather is cold. ”

"It's also very intimate, once I had a bad throat, he went to the river to catch a lot of whitebait, said that it was specifically to moisten the throat and clear the lungs, and sent it many times in a row, until I was in good health, I didn't send it again, and always came to help me sell vegetables, and chatting with me was a long time with me. ”

Grandma Gu spoke short and continuously, mostly interrupted by gasps and coughs, but she still spoke without stopping.

"It's a good person with a good reward, a few years ago, he was taken in as an apprentice by the town's carpenter Zhang, and he finally lived a stable life. Half a year ago, I went out with Master Zhang, saying that I would come back for a while. ”

"Before leaving, I thought about this candy, saying that I didn't eat enough last time, and I wanted to eat it again, and I originally wanted to give it to him personally, but now I think that there should be no chance, so let you give it to him. ”

Zhou Niangu looked at the handful of candy in his hand, squatted down, put it on the old man's hand, and said with tears, "No! ”

Grandma Gu smiled slightly, moved the wrinkled skin on her face, and said, "Don't make trouble, stupid child, do you want your mother to die without turning a blind eye?"

Zhou Niangu put the candy in his hand again, nodded in agreement and said, "The child knows, the child will definitely put it in his hand with his own hands." ”

"That's right!" Grandma Gu withdrew the hand held by Zhou Niangu, her eyes were confused, her eyelashes trembled slightly, and she said in a subtle voice, "Niangu, you will always be the pride of your mother, and your mother is worth it in this life!"

In a blur, the old man saw a handsome man appear in front of him, and he himself became a young girl.

The man stood on top of a stone bridge, waved at her, and shouted, "Old Gu, hurry up!"

She replied with a sneer in the back: "Don't keep calling old Gu, if you call again, you will be really old." ”

The man replied with a hippie smile: "Does it matter?

She hurriedly sped up, caught up with the man, and took the man's hand, "Oh, you are good to grow old together, but you are not allowed to cheat!"

......

In the room, a sweet smile appeared on the corner of the old man's mouth, a drop of hot tears slipped through the corner of his eyes, his lips trembled slightly, and his voice was faintly audible, "Brother Zhou, I'm here!"

The candle flame was extinguished instantly, and the old man was gone.

Zhou Niangu bit his lip and refused to cry a little, tears couldn't stop flowing, for fear of disturbing this old man, this old man who had worked hard for half his life and now finally died.