When the young man leaves home, the old man returns. Its central realm is really not enough for outsiders.

The veteran stood at the entrance of the village for a long time, his eyes full of amazement.

If he was half old, he would still be able to take the recklessness, shouting the names of his old friends and relatives, and striding to the door.

It's a pity that this body is already in his old age, and the old garden has long been a thing. The people who are most afraid of calling have long been separated from heaven and man, and the home to which they are running has been deserted and decadent.

He could only look at the village with a gaze full of hesitation, inquiry, and hope, and at the grass and trees shrouded in the mist.

It's probably the same as it was a few decades ago.

It's just that the garden of the west family is larger, and the jujube tree of the east family is a little taller.

It is still seen that the men are laughing with farm tools, the women are gathered in the corner to talk about the shortcomings of the parents, and a few children come out of the fog and go into the alley again, leaving a series of laughter.

His gaze lingered, and suddenly stopped at an old man at the entrance of the village.

"Ah Huang?"

The veteran's voice was incredulous.

"Is that you? Ah Huang!"

But the old man seemed to be a little behind his ears, and the old soldier called many times in a row, but there was no response.

Only walked in front of him, face to face, the old man's cloudy eyes had a little brightness, and finally noticed the person in front of him.

"Dalang?"

The old man's muffled voice was like a dream.

"Yan Jialang. ”

The veteran nodded repeatedly. For a while, the two old men actually looked at each other with tears in their eyes, probably not expecting that each other was still alive.

The two recounted an old relationship.

The veteran hesitated for a moment, but asked the question that made him so nervous.

"My family is ...... Are you still there?"

The old man listened, but he stopped talking, and pointed to the depths of the village in silence.

There, where the fog is thin, the pines and cypresses are verdant.

............

In a lush pine and cypress.

The veteran stood wordlessly in front of a row of tombstones.

Long.

He pointed to two of the steles and said:

"This is my father and my mother. ”

"When I left home, they were in the prime of life. I always say that I am already dying, and the two elders must have passed away for many years, and the only regret is that I can't do a filial piety at the bedside and see the last person before I die. But in the bottom of my heart, I never thought that when I returned home, would there be two people who were even older than me? ”

After speaking, he shook his head and smiled, as if he was laughing at his "insatiable greed". He walked a few steps, pointed to the other two tombstones, and said:

"This is the Brother-in-law. ”

"When I left home to join the army, my younger brother was still a drooping child, and I always loved to chase the girl of the sheep family all day long, and I didn't think that I would really become a couple. I always liked to tease him about it at the time, but when I looked at them, I remembered me and ...... Forget it, what are you talking about? I used to think that if I could go home, the only relative I would know would probably be this younger brother. Didn't think ......"

The words turned into a sigh in vain.

He moved on to the next tombstone.

"This is my nephew I have never met. ”

"At the time of the Jingyuan Mutiny, I went north with the army to Jingjing. At that time, my communication with my family had not yet been severed, and my brother sent me good news, saying that my Yan family had a successor and that my brother-in-law had given birth to a nephew. I also bought a rattle at that time, thinking that after this battle, I would go home and give the drum to my nephew as a first birthday gift. Who knows, this time is half a life. ”

He stared at the tombstone, which was covered with moss, and whose handwriting was much blurred by the wind and rain over the years, and looked even more dilapidated than the previous ones.

"I thought that I was already old, and my nephew had grown up, so this drum would not be able to be delivered, and it was just a thought to stay around. Didn't expect ......"

He sighed and took the rattle from his bosom and placed it in front of the tomb.

"I still use it. ”

Then, he moved to the last tombstone.

The cypress trees planted on this tomb are the newest ones, but they seem to be more than ten years old.

Because of the lack of care, the tomb was covered with thatch, and the stele was covered with green vines.

The veteran took off some kudzu vines and glimpsed the name hidden behind it, but he laughed.

"It turns out that this is my tomb. ”

He nodded.

"Also, for decades, there has been no news and there have been wars in the world. Most of my hometown probably thought that I had died on a battlefield somewhere. It's good to save your family from worrying. ”

He turned his head, squeezing out an expression that couldn't tell whether he was laughing or crying.

A momentary gaffe made the Taoist chief smile. ”

Li Changan shook his head.

"It's human nature. ”

After that, the veteran led Li Changan to the next house.

It was his former home, now a deserted farmhouse.

At this time, the veteran was not as talkative as he came, and seemed trance-like and silent.

Push open the courtyard door.

The courtyard was naturally overgrown with weeds, and the artemisia grass that stretched over the waist was so dense that there was hardly a gap to settle on.

The two of them had to make a path through the grass and try to rest in the wing.

However, the veteran had just nudged the door.

The whole door panel fell into it with a "click", raising smoke and dust in the sky, and startled the birds that were nesting in the house, flapping their wings and crashing all over the house, somehow knocking off the roof tiles, "bang-la-la" fell and shattered to the ground, leaving a big hole, and the silhouette of the bird throwing itself into the blue sky.

The veteran had to retreat with a disgraced face, and smiled bitterly at Li Changan:

"But the house was so deserted, and it was really a long time to be lazy. ”

"It doesn't matter. ”

The Taoist priest rolled up his sleeves.

"Where can't anyone outside the square be able to stay?"

After saying that, the two worked together to clear a place in the yard.

The old soldier was a man who could not rest, so he removed the stone at the mouth of the well, turned out the cooking utensils from the room, went out again, borrowed some rice from the eastern, asked the westerner for some vegetables, and tossed it when he buried the pot to make rice.

Li Changan didn't go to help, only let the donkey graze in the yard by himself, leaning against the door and looking at the characters in the village.

The fog had not yet dispersed, and it swirled around every corner of the village.

To be honest, the Taoist priest walked all the way from Yuzhou, and what he saw along the way was either a terrified dock fort or a dilapidated and withered deserted village. It is rare to see such a "lively" village in front of you.

Merely.

The men carrying the tools walked back and forth several times, never returning home or going to the fields, the women got together and talked for a long time, but their words were always vague and even intolen, and the children, over and over again, ran out of the fog, playing, laughing, and burrowing into the fog, always repeating the circle......

Li Changan was looking at it.

"Dao Chief. ”

The veteran brought out the soup and rice.

"It's time to eat. ”

He rested his food on a large stone pier in the middle of the courtyard.

The stone pier was flat and similar in size to a table, with several small stone piles scattered next to it. It can be guessed that every summer evening, when the stars are shining, the family sits here to play and enjoy the coolness.

The veteran was obviously also a man of sight, immersed in the old days, and for a long time, he turned red in the corners of his eyes.

"Coarse tea and light rice, don't dislike it. ”

Panicked and put up the soup and rice.

"Please use, please use. ”

However, the Taoist priest never picked up the chopsticks, but said:

"Uncle, I can't eat your meal. ”

The veteran was stunned.

"But the food is poor?"

Li Changan replied to the question and sighed.

"Don't you remember?"

The veteran was puzzled.

At this time.

The sun finally crossed the ridge and hung high in the sky, the midday sun casting its head.

And the mist that lingers in the village is like thin ice that melts when it is heated. As soon as the hot sun shone down, a large piece was peeled off.

Suddenly.

The quiet and peaceful pastoral picture outside the door seemed to have been torn off a corner, revealing the bleak truth underneath.

Overgrown roads, desolate and dilapidated houses, and unrelenting bones.

"This ...... Taoist ...... This?"

The veteran's eyes widened and he spoke incoherently.

He raised his eyes to look at the other side, but saw that the Taoist had compassion on his face, pinched the mantra in his hand, and recited softly:

"The Heavenly Venerables of the Ten Directions, their numbers are like dust. ”

When the veteran heard this, he suddenly felt a trance in his mind, and he vaguely remembered his childhood.

At that time, the family ran a wine shop in Xiaoshui City, and they played on the street on weekdays, and they were kind to the daughter of the next store, Amei. It can be regarded as a childhood sweetheart, and the two little ones have no guesses, but later the family's business changed, and they sold the winery and returned to the village.

"Transfiguration of the Ten Directions, Puji to the world. ”

He remembered his youth again.

At that time, he was young, he didn't like to read, and he was used to flying eagles and horses. One day, I was shocked to hear that the thieves were in turmoil, and they actually occupied the county seat. On the one hand, he was worried about Amei, and on the other hand, for the sake of the blood in his chest, despite the dissuasion of his family, he insisted on joining the army to fight for thieves, and wanted to have a wife and son.

"Gather merit and save orphaned souls with one voice. ”

He remembered his prime again.

The dreams of the past have long been shattered, and the secession and rebellion above have never stopped for a moment. The family was cut off, and the friends around him also died one after another, leaving him alone in a muddy and turbid world.

"The fire turned into a clear office, and the sword tree turned into a sword. ”

He thought about his old age again. Above the battle array, the captured arrows are like sand. The majestic and majestic figure ignited the long-lost blood in his chest, and he rose up to his old body and swore to die. It wasn't until he broke the triple formation that he found that there was a heavy arrow stuck in his waist and abdomen.

"Go up to Zhuling Mansion and go down to the mourning gate. ”

It's still the swallow flag.

Under the flag, the green flags swaggered, and the yellow paper money in the sky was swept into the north wind, fluttering and sprinkling to the south.

Clothed shamans danced strange dances, muffled tones echoing through the wilderness.

"The soul is gone!

......

Sing the scriptures.

The veteran slowly woke up from his trance.

"So ......," he muttered, "am I already dead?"

He looked up blankly.

The fog had lifted, and the quiet and peaceful village had vanished like a dream, leaving weeds in the wreckage and bones, rustling in the wind.

Look at the soup and rice on the stone pier.

It's just two bowls of muddy yellow mud soup and a plate of rotten grass blades.

The veteran patted his head in annoyance, stood up, and bowed sincerely to the priest.

"I'm tired of the Taoist chief, and I tossed it with me, a foolish worm who didn't know it. ”

"It's not a trivial matter. The Taoist priest returned, "When I arrived at the netherworld, I also brought peace to Brother Yan." ”

The veteran bowed in response, only to suddenly squirm.

"If the Taoist chief went to Xiaoshui......"

His old face was actually slightly red.

"Can you go to the Chengdong Yu family residence store and help me with a word...... Hey, it's just that, so old. ”

As he spoke, his time in the world gradually ended, and his figure and face gradually faded.

He restrained his demeanor again and said solemnly to the Taoist priest:

"The village is so deserted that there are no bones all over the place, and I don't know what the county town near the left looks like? ”

Li Changan nodded.

"I know. ”

"Precious. ”

"Precious. ”

That's it, the veteran's figure disappeared completely, and only a broken armor was left and fell to the ground.

Li Changan picked it up, brushed off the dust, took it into the pine forest, and put it in front of the veteran's grave.

He drew his sword again and cut the vines off the tombstone.

But I saw that the stele was engraved:

The Tomb of Yan Song.

In the second year of Changqing, the deceased Amei set his clothes here.