There are many large and small villages near Ziwu Pass, among which there is a small village called Nanwei, and most of the villagers make a living by striking iron.

In fact, many villages in this vicinity live by striking iron and forging swords, after all, this place is at the junction of the border between the two countries, and the demand for weapons is very high.

There are two big roads in the east and west of Nanwei Village, and there is an old locust tree surrounded by three people at the east intersection, and some old people and children play under the tree for many years. The west road is facing Ziwu Guanguan Road, and most of them are middle-aged people in the village who buy and sell weapons.

"At the beginning of man, his nature is good, and the horn is a big villain!"

"Sex is similar, Xi is far away, no father and no mother are cared for!"

"Hahahahahaha~"

Under the locust tree, a group of half-grown children held hands and surrounded a short and fat boy in the middle, smiling and insulting the short and fat boy in a different way.

"I'm not a bad guy! I have parents! My dad is a big hero!"

The stocky young man's stocky cheeks flushed, and he retorted loudly at the top of his voice.

"Your dad is a big hero of fart, my dad said, your dad is a deserter!"

A fair-skinned boy in a mink fur coat with a rosacea nose pointed at the stocky boy and jokingly said.

"That's it! My mother also told me, saying that your mother is a vixen, taking advantage of your father's military service at the border and can't go home, the village is full of hooking up with wild men!"

Behind the rosacea-nosed boy, a little girl with two pigtails leaned out half of her body, pinched her waist with her hands and looked at the short and fat boy with a smile, her expression was full of disdain and disgust.

Looking at these playmates in front of him, who had grown up together, the short and fat boy clenched his fists tightly and sat down on the ground, "Mr. said, we are all classmates, we must cherish the friendship of classmates, and we can't fight and insult each other! Besides, didn't you ask me to come out to play? Why do you want to humiliate me together?"

Speaking of this, the short and fat boy shed tears very uncompromisingly, and his flat nose also flowed out of two sticky lines, which was weak.

"Wang Horn, you have it! Who is the same student as you little bastard? Don't pee and look at your nest of virtues!"

The rosacea boy smiled evilly at the short and fat boy, not relenting at all, and his eyes were even hotter.

"Wang Lang, you, you're too much!"

The short and fat boy called Wang Horn raised his hand and pointed at the rosacea tremblingly, and his voice was full of tears.

Wang Lang is also a child after all, and it is inevitable that he will be a little weak when he sees the sad appearance of the short and fat boy, but he is unwilling to admit his mistakes, so he can only laugh a few times, and continue with courage:

"Come on, trumpet, trumpet, trumpet, do you know what trumpet means in our village? It means mongrel! That's why your grandmother named you Trumpet! You're a little bastard!"

A few children on the side hurriedly echoed this, and then laughed again.

"I don't want you to say that about my grandma!"

The short and fat boy finally couldn't control his emotions, got up and grabbed Wang Lang's collar and pressed him to the ground, raised his fist and smashed it towards Wang Lang's head.

Seeing this, the children rushed up, and soon pushed the short and fat boy to the uniform, and pressed him to the ground for a burst of punches and kicks.

When the half-grown children had vented their anger and walked away, the short and fat boy silently got up from the ground, patted the dust and snow on his padded jacket, and limped towards the village.

All the way to a dilapidated courtyard without a fence, the young man paused, turned into the courtyard, pushed the door open.

In the hut, beside the oncoming pot sat a thin old woman with gray hair, dressed in a thin indigo coat, with shriveled cheeks and hair like frost and withered grass.

"Grandma, I'm back. ”

The short and fat boy greeted the old woman with a smile, and did not mention the other party's talent at all.

The old woman raised her head when she heard the voice, and stared at the short and fat boy with cloudy old eyes for a long time, and then opened her toothless mouth, and said in a dry voice: "Oh, it's the horn back, go outside and bring some firewood back, grandma will cook you eggs to eat today." ”

As he spoke, he trembled and took out a native egg from his arms, carefully held it in the palm of his hand with two shriveled palms full of ravines, looked at the egg in his hand and continued to chatter:

"Today, your neighbor's fourth aunt sent an egg, and after eating it, you will definitely be able to write ten more big characters when you go to the private school tomorrow. ”

When it came to "writing ten more big characters", the old woman's bone-like skin spasmed twice, as if she wanted to laugh, but she didn't mention her strength.

The short and fat boy glanced at the egg in the old woman's hand, and said in a somewhat reproachful tone: "Grandma, it's so cold, why didn't you make a fire earlier, beware of the wind chill again." ”

The old woman just laughed when she heard this, but didn't answer...

I went outside and got firewood to light the stove, and the boy added some water to the pot and boiled the sticky paste.

As for the precious egg, he placed it on the inside of the pot and carefully buckled it upside down with the bowl.

"The fifth day of the next month is grandma's birthday, so let's leave the eggs for her to eat. ”

The boy muttered to himself.

The old woman was blind and not blind, and although she did not see her grandson's movements clearly, she still guessed something about it, and tried to persuade her, but she endured it.

After dinner, the short and fat boy silently washed the dishes and chopsticks, turned over and squatted on the bench next to the pot, and looked at the windless and swaying dim butter lamp on the pot table in a daze, and was silent.

On the big kang in the inner room connected to the pot table, the white-haired old woman sat with her legs stretched out in a broken quilt, a pair of cloudy old eyes looked at the short and fat boy through a small window frame above the pot table, with a slight smile on her face covered with ravines.

"Grandma, my mother... My mother..."

The short and fat boy turned his head to look at the old woman, his expression was complicated, and he finally didn't have the courage to ask what he was thinking.

The old woman seemed to see through his thoughts, lowered her head and rubbed her knees with her two dry hands, sighed, and said quietly: "Alas, actually.... Your mother is a very virtuous daughter-in-law and a very good mother. ”

"But, but Wang Qiao's mother said that my mother is a fox spirit!"

The short and fat boy finally couldn't help it, his stocky face turned red, and his tone was a little complaining.

He hadn't seen his mother since the day he could remember, and all the news about his mother had only been heard occasionally from his grandmother.

In my vaguely remembered childhood memories, my mother liked to wear a pink skirt very much, and often held a rattle to make herself happy lying in the cradle.

But what she looks like, whether she is tall or short, fat or thin, the young man has no impression at all.

"Bastard!"

The old woman's weak body let out a deafening roar, stared at the short and fat boy with cloudy eyes, stared for a moment, his face gradually slowed down, and said quietly:

"Alas, grandma used to think you were still young, so she didn't want to tell you about those things, but now that you are fifteen years old, it is time to tell you the truth of the year. ”

The short and fat boy looked at the old woman with wide eyes, not daring to disturb, his eyes full of anticipation.

The old woman frowned, as if she was trying to figure out where to start the narrative.

Just when the short and fat boy thought that his grandmother was holding back again and refused to tell him, the old woman's shriveled and weak voice finally sounded again:

"Fifteen years ago, when you were just born, the Jin State on the opposite side sent a lot of soldiers to be stationed outside Ziwu Pass, and those military camps and tents were black and oppressive, and you couldn't see your head when you stood on the top of the mountain... So, Ziwu Guanli began a large number of conscriptions, and your father was also pulled by them to be a forward soldier, and only your mother and our grandchildren were left at home, I had rheumatism, and it was inconvenient to walk, so your mother went to the Wang's mansion in the east of the village to be a maid in order to support me and you, who was still in infancy. ”

The old woman's emotions were a little out of control, and her hoarse and weak voice trembled, and she said hatefully:

"But Wang Dongsheng, the old man of the Wang family's mansion, is really not a thing, he covets your mother's appearance, and one day he wanted to plot against your mother while his wife was away, and your mother resolutely chose to commit suicide by throwing herself into a well in order to keep her reputation. Wang Dongsheng relied on his reputation and status in the village to beat him upside down, saying that your mother seduced him and threw himself into the well in shame, but fortunately all this was seen by your sister, who was a maid in the Wang family's mansion with your mother, that is, your neighbor's fourth aunt, and she ran back and secretly told me the truth... But this Wang Dongsheng covered the sky with one hand in Nanwei Village and said nothing, and grandma had no way to hide the truth in her heart and refused to tell you, just because she was afraid that you would not be able to suppress your anger and go to him to settle accounts... If that's the case, we'll be the ones who will suffer in the end!"

The old woman thought she couldn't cry, and kept thinking in her mouth: "The horn is so bitter... Horn miserable..."

The short and fat boy also had tears in his eyes, and he choked up and asked, "What about my father, why didn't he come back to avenge my mother?"

The old woman looked up at her grandson, shook her head and sighed:

"When your father left, he said that unless he died on the battlefield, he would definitely come back to pick up our family and go to Ziwu Pass. Now that more than ten years have passed, your father is only afraid..."

Speaking of this, she no longer has the courage to continue, her son knows that if he didn't die on the battlefield, how could he abandon his wife and children for ten years and refuse to come back to take a look?

The short and fat boy listened to his grandmother's narration, and was not as angry as he imagined, or went to the Wang family's mansion with a firewood knife to find Wang Dongsheng desperately, just sat quietly on the bench, looking at the dim oil lamp without blinking, and no one knew what he was thinking in his heart.

————

Out of the mountains of Yeyun Mountain, Ye Feng rushed all the way in the direction of Ziwu Pass.

On this day, the boy came to a small village and planned to borrow some needlework and thread to mend his padded jacket, and by the way, buy some food to continue his journey.

"Hello, may I ask if this is Nanwei Village?"

Walking under a big locust tree at the entrance of the village, Ye Feng asked a short and fat young man sitting under the tree reading.

"Are you talking to me?"

The short and fat boy was a little surprised, and hurriedly stood up from the snow, looking at Ye Feng with a flattered expression.

Ye Feng had a black line on his face when he heard this, turned his head to look around, and pointed at the short and fat boy and himself uncertainly, "Here, it seems that there are only two of us, right?"

The short and fat boy was a little embarrassed, scratched his head, and smiled innocently: "I'm sorry, I... I didn't react just now, this is Nanwei Village, is there anything wrong with you?"

"Oh, I'm looking for a place to spend the night and buy some dry food for the road. ”

Ye Feng smiled and answered truthfully.

"Okay, okay, if you don't dislike the shabby, go to my house to live, and I'll take you to the village shop early tomorrow morning to buy some dry food. ”

The short and fat boy answered, his eyes a little expectant.

Seeing this, Ye Feng couldn't refuse, so he nodded and motioned for the short and fat boy to lead the way.

"What's your name?"

Ye Feng asked politely.

"My name is Wang Trumpet, the trumpet of the big trumpet, you can call me Trumpet, what is your name?"

"Leaf maple, maple leaf of maple leaves, maple of maple leaves. ”

"What a nice name. ”

“.....”

"How do you read in the snow in the winter?"

"Oh, I'm here waiting for my dad to come back!"