At a high altitude above the ground, it is as if you can reach out and touch white clouds of various shapes. There are mountains around, and there is water in the mountains.

That's why it's called Tin Shui Wai.

Wu Xiu couldn't wait to climb over the mountain road and look around.

Heaven and water depend on each other.

Tin Shui Wai, which is larger than the average town, is now even bigger. The rows of houses built on the water's edge, with a unified system, white walls and black tiles, are very similar to Qingfeng Town. The wooden loft built on the mountainside farther away seems to be more comfortable to live in. He decided to build an identical house as well, according to the system of the Tingshui Pavilion of the Nanshan Inn outside the city of Xudu.

Further west, where his house once was, when he left, the earthen house was broken, but at least it still stands, but now it is only a piece of blue. Further west, at the foot of the mountain is where the farmland of the people of Tin Shui Wai is located, and now it has been reclaimed even bigger, and there is a small piece of the large rice field, which belongs to him.

Wu Xiu took a deep breath of the familiar and unfamiliar air, and exhaled again, the smell of grass, earth, rice fields and cooking smoke. At this moment, his mood was unprecedentedly calm.

He pulled a horse rope, Fang Xiaowen was unstable, and almost fell off the horse.

Fang Xiaowen asked, "How long has it been since you returned to your hometown?"

Wu Xiu was very interested, and calculated: "I was fourteen or fifteen years old when I left, and it will be seventeen years now." ”

Fang Xiaowen sighed, "It's more than thirty, you should have been married in the countryside a long time ago, right?"

Wu Xiu shook his head and said, "Not yet, this is not going back to my hometown, looking for a matchmaker, and I also want to talk about a family matter." ”

Fang Xiaowen asked again: "What are you doing? Don't you look like a knight?"

Wu Xiu glanced back at Fang Xiaowen and said, "Don't hide it, I am a soldier of Wei, a soldier of the King of Wei." ”

Fang Xiaowen was silent for a while, and then continued to ask, "Then you can be considered out of the military when you return to your hometown, right?"

Now that he has reached this point, Wu Xiu didn't want to hide it anymore, so he said what was in his heart, "I also want to tell you that in fact, I also went to kill the emperor, and I gave me the order to kill even you, and I can enjoy glory and wealth if I kill you." However, someone coveted the emperor's dragon qi and moved in advance, and you were pregnant with Liujia, and I saved you. Therefore, I think it's better to forget it, I don't have extravagant hopes for glory and wealth, but I just hope that it will be smooth from now on, and there will be no more anything to do with the temple. ”

Wu Xiu sighed and continued, "However, you can also see it. If it was for the emperor's dragon spirit, why did they slaughter more than 300 people for no reason? Now that you are the only one left, they will definitely look for you everywhere, and I have to protect you. ”

Fang Xiaowen said hatefully: "Sure enough, it was the King of Wei who suffered a thousand knives, killing the first emperor to prevent future troubles, so that he can justifiably be the lord of a country, and the emperor's dragon qi can also be obtained by his people, and it can be used for him in the future." I should have known that I would have known that I would have killed two birds with one stone!"

Wu Xiu said: "Let's talk less, I don't want to get into trouble." Besides, they are not chasing you under the banner of King Wei, so we can still mediate between them. If King Wei wants to kill you, it won't be the battle now. ”

Fang Xiaowen snorted coldly, "You can choose not to protect it, as long as you have a good conscience, go now, and watch a pregnant woman being disemboweled!"

Wu Xiu sneered: "Don't provoke me, you can't count the people I killed on the battlefield with ten hands." Zhu Xiaokui said, my murderous aura is too heavy, and I am not inferior to you. ”

Fang Xiaowen straightened her stomach and wanted to get up to argue, but she seemed to have a fetal gas, and she couldn't help but say: "You are not a good thing!"

Wu Xiu didn't bother to argue with her, so he stopped talking.

Entering from the east end of Tin Shui Wai, he kept walking along the water's edge, looking at it with a pair of eyes, but Wu Xiu didn't know any of them. More than ten years ago, nine out of ten people who fled in Tin Shui Wai are now people who have resettled. More than ten years ago, the houses were not like this, most of them were adobe houses, and now they are all blue bricks and black tiles. Childhood playmates, he remembers, but now they don't seem to be in the crowd.

After walking through a row of houses built on the water's edge, the terrain is higher to the west, and most of the roads are small vegetable gardens and wooden or adobe houses far away, and there is a small pond at the front door that is the home of his childhood friend Chen Sifeng, and now the house has doubled in size, and there is a courtyard wall around it. He still remembers that Chen Sifeng left Tin Shui Wai before him and left with his family, but he doesn't know what happened later.

Wu Xiu decided to take a look.

The courtyard walls were only half a person high, and the courtyard was empty, but the clothes drying on the ropes indicated that the house was inhabited. The courtyard door was locked, and the family should have gone out to work. Wu Xiu had no choice but to stop staying and continue to walk west.

When Wu Xiu turned around, a little girl ran from the river in the distance, about seven or eight years old, and she shouted in the local dialect as she shouted: "Are you doing it?"

Wu Xiu couldn't help but be stunned, both familiar and unfamiliar hometown dialect, he hadn't heard or spoken it for more than ten years, and now he didn't know much about it, he coughed his throat and wanted to use the dialect, but he still couldn't help but say the official dialect, "What's your name?

The little girl stopped far away from Wu Xiu, and looked at Wu Xiu and Fang Xiaowen who was sitting on a horse with a strange expression, as if she didn't understand. Wu Xiu had no choice but to prepare to brew and ask again in his hometown, but the little girl was the first to speak: "Who are you looking for?"

Wu Xiu returned: "I am also from Tin Shui Wai, and I have just returned to my hometown. May I ask if this is Chen Sifeng's home?"

The little girl nodded with wide eyes.

Wu Xiu slapped his fists excitedly, "Where's your father?"

The little girl looked a little unhappy, "My father is dead." ”

"Huh, you, your father is dead?" Wu Xiu asked with a frown.

"My father has long since died, what are you doing with my father?" the little girl asked.

Wu Xiu was stunned for a long time, and he didn't know how to ask, and Fang Xiaowen immediately asked, "Is your father's name Chen Sifeng?"

"Chen Sifeng is my brother, are you looking for my brother?" the little girl asked again.

Wu Xiu breathed a long sigh of relief, of course he remembered Chen Sifeng's father, he was a man who didn't talk much and liked to beat his wife, a famous second pole in Tianshuiwei, even he didn't suffer from Chen Sifeng's father's cigarette pouch back then, Wu Xiu asked, "What about your brother?"

The little girl pointed to the foot of the mountain to the west, "The fields are threshing weeds." ”

"Quick, take me there. ”

The little girl stared at Wu Xiu for a while, and then nodded slowly, "Wait a minute, I'll take Xiaohu with me." ”

Saying that, the little girl ran to the water's edge, where a group of children got together to play, and after a while, the little girl led a little boy who was about three or four years old, and the little boy seemed to be reluctant, and he was about to cry at any time, and the little girl was also a powerful master, and slapped the bald little boy's buttocks, which scared the little boy, but it did work, and the little boy who was about to cry just pursed his mouth and let the tears roll in his eyes, but he didn't even snort.

The little girl pulled the little boy to walk fast, the little boy's legs were too short, the front feet that were pulled couldn't keep up with the back feet, and he was about to fall, Wu Xiu was helpless to watch, so he had to remind: "Little girl, don't worry, what's your name?"

The little girl slowed down at this time, "My name is Chen Sidao." ”

Wu Xiu smiled: "So, Xiaohu still calls you aunt?"

The little girl mumbled and nodded. The little boy who had just taken a breath was about to look back at the strange two people behind him, but was pulled up by the little girl again.

Wu Xiu's head was big for a while, so he had to look at Fang Xiaowen, but Fang Xiaowen also looked at him helplessly.

When they arrived in the field, the little girl went down to the field to call people, Wu Xiu and they waited on a ridge, the little boy was tired and panting, still not forgetting to be naughty, he became interested in the butterflies flying on the side, and chased the butterflies with his fleshy little hands, but he couldn't catch them.

Wu Xiu stretched out his hand and grabbed the dragonfly that had been covered in bright red. He still remembers that when he was a child, every summer afternoon, when the parents were taking a lunch break, they would fix the bamboo strips on the bamboo poles, preferably oval, and then find the spider webs under the eaves and on the pyre, and turn around the spiders, and then make a set of dragonfly tools. They will compete to see who has the most sets and the ones who have the least will be punished.

He remembered one time, Chen Sifeng set the least, and a few big children who were not afraid of things punished him for ordering the haystacks in the rice field, and that afternoon, the haystacks were burning one after another, and the owner of the burning haystacks cried and shouted to the earth, scolding his father and mother.

Then that day, Chen Sifeng was severely beaten by his father.

Wu Xiu looked at the small and cute, brightly colored dragonfly, they called it Little Pepper when they were children, Little Pepper flies faster than ordinary dragonflies, the number is scarce, and one can be worth ten ordinary dragonflies. He smiled, and now he could grab it with just a stretch of his hand. Wu Xiu handed the dragonfly to Xiaohu, who had been staring at him without blinking, and asked, "How old are you?"

Xiaohu clenched the dragonfly in his fist, smirked, and stretched out four fingers with his other hand.

Wu Xiu touched his head. It's all sweat.

A short time later, the little girl came up from the field, and behind her was a dark-skinned man with a straw hat. He walked up to the ridge and looked at Wu Xiu with a surprised expression, and Wu Xiu also looked at him.

Yes, it's Chen Sifeng, there is no doubt.

Wu Xiu couldn't help but laugh and didn't speak.

After a long time.

Chen Sifeng pointed at Wu Xiu and asked, "Great Expedition?"

Wu Xiu nodded excitedly, "Kuroko!"

The two of them opened their arms at the same time and hugged each other heavily.

Punch each other and smash each other's backs.

It was not possible to separate for a long time.

"You're alive, you're alive!" Chen Sifeng shouted.

"Yes, I'm alive, I'm alive!" Wu Xiu nodded vigorously and shouted loudly.

The two parted, pinching each other's arms. The two big men looked at each other with tears in their eyes, and then laughed.

The more I laughed, the more tears came out of my eyes.

It's already a hot summer, and the two of them sit on the ridge and talk about each other, with no rules at all, they can say whatever they want, they have too much to say, but they can't find the theme.

"Let's go, follow me home!Let's eat dumplings at noon!" Chen Sifeng patted Wu Xiu's shoulder, but when he got up, he saw Fang Xiaowen sitting on a high horse, he was slightly stunned, and then said with a smile: "Ouch, you see I have forgotten the existence of my sister-in-law, I'm really sorry, I'm really sorry, let's go and go, go home and rest." ”

Wu Xiu wanted to say something, but Chen Sifeng pulled his arm up, "Go, go home!"

It seems that it is better to find a chance to explain well in the future, Chen Sifeng said: "Sidao, go and call your sister-in-law home, just say that there is a distinguished guest at home, hurry up and let her come back to make dumplings!"

The little girl went down to the field again without saying a word.

Chen Sifeng's home is simple but warm.

Xiaohu is playing with a simple handmade toy on the side.

Fang Xiaowen's hungry stomach growled, but she could only sit and drink boiled water.

Chen Sifeng poured down a glass of water, secretly glanced at Fang Xiaowen, and secretly scolded in his heart, damn it, it is really a thousand times better than my mother-in-law, he put down the cup and asked quietly, "Okay, how many months?"

Wu Xiu almost choked on a mouthful of water, but before he could explain, Chen Sifeng whispered again: "Such a beautiful daughter-in-law, your kid is not shallow?"

Wu Xiu put down the cup and wanted to make his words clear, but Chen Sifeng stood up and said with a smile: "Sister-in-law, you and Da Zheng will rest first, and I will go to the butcher Cao at the head of the village to cut a few catties of meat, and I will come back in a while." ”

When Fang Xiaowen heard the meat, her eyes were a little excited that she couldn't hide, and her stomach began to rumble again, she didn't explain, she bowed slightly, and only said, "I'm tired." ”

Chen Sifeng turned around and squeezed his eyebrows at Wu Xiu and went out.

Wu Xiu felt that his head was big, and he glanced at Fang Xiaowen, but Fang Xiaowen lowered her head and only cared about drinking water.

Not long after, a woman walked in from outside the door, a very simple woman, she rolled up her sleeves, took off the straw hat that was still on her head, wiped the sweat with her wrist, she glanced at Fang Xiaowen more, and twisted: "The house is too narrow, you sit, you sit." ”

Chen Sifeng trotted all the way back, took a piece of three or four catties of pork belly, walked to the yard and smiled at Wu Xiu, then turned around and went to the kitchen, only to hear him say, "Xue'e, make dumplings and eat at noon today!" Come on, come, I'll introduce you." ”

Chen Sifeng led the woman into the main house, Wu Xiu and Fang Xiaowen stood up, Chen Sifeng pondered for a while, and said: "This is my insider, Zhang Xue'e, we met when we fled, we were still young when we met, and when we returned to our hometown eight years ago, we became relatives." ”

Wu Xiu said: "Heizi, you are younger than me." Then I should call my brother and sister. As he spoke, he solemnly hugged his fists, "I've seen my brother and sister." ”

Zhang Xue'e lowered her head, her face was slightly red, and she bowed slightly.

Chen Sifeng pointed at Wu Xiu, "Xue'e, this person's name is Wu Xiu, and his nickname is Da Zheng, this is my playmate who peed in the mud when I was a child, and he is also a native of Tianshuiwei, just returned to his hometown, you call him Brother Wu." ”

He pointed at Fang Xiaowen again, "This is my sister-in-law, by the way, I haven't asked my sister-in-law's name yet?"

Fang Xiaowen smiled slightly: "My name is Fang Xiaowen." ”

Chen Sifeng clapped his palms: "Okay, we all know each other." Sidao is my sister, and Xiaohu is my son. You've all seen it. All sit, all sit. Xue'e, go ahead, wrap the dumplings with thin skin and thick filling, let's pick up the wind for the big expedition!"

Fang Xiaowen stood up, "Brother Chen, I'll go help." ”

Chen Sifeng immediately said: "No, no, you are pregnant, you are still resting, resting." ”

Wu Xiu sat down, his face helpless.

Inside the house, Wu Xiu and Chen Sifeng were chatting, and Fang Xiaowen sat and looked at the east for a while, and looked at the west for a while. When the little girl led the little tiger home, the house began to be lively, the little girl always inadvertently peeked at Fang Xiaowen, Fang Xiaowen beckoned her over, found a comb, and combed the little girl's hair.

"Heizi, how did you come here back then?" Wu Xiu asked.

Chen Sifeng sighed, "We ran all the way to Xudu, but Xudu City does not accept refugees, and we can't enter." I wanted to be a soldier, but my dad wouldn't let me. Later, in order to avoid the feudal king's arrest of strong men everywhere, my father took us to live in the mountains, and this stay was five years. That's when my mother died. After the war, we didn't want to come back at first, and lived in the refugee city outside Xudu for a few years, and then the refugee city was forcibly dismissed by the government, so we returned to our hometown, and my father died shortly after he returned. ”

Chen Sifeng continued: "In fact, it was okay if we didn't run back then, it was just a famine, the main fear of the common people was that the king of Fancheng of the clan caught the people to be soldiers on the grounds of raising troops, and ran alone, and ran away with the people of Tianshuiwei, and we came back to hear that the king of Ding raised troops less than a year, and he surrendered to the king of Shu. When you come back, you also see that you have a field and a family, so you live honestly. ”

Wu Xiu put down the cup, "It's good to be alive, compared with those who unfortunately died on the way to escape, we are lucky." ”

Chen Sifeng asked, "What about you, how are you?"

Wu Xiu said that he fled to the territory of the King of Wei and became a Wei soldier.

Zhang Xue'e was busy in the kitchen alone for a long time, and after a while, several large plates of dumplings were brought one after another, so Wu Xiufang, Xiaowen and Chen Sifeng sat around the table of eight immortals, and Zhang Xue'e took Xiaohu and Chen Sidao to the kitchen. There are many rules in the countryside, so Wu Xiu didn't say anything.

Fang Xiaowen was hungry, and she didn't care about being elegant or unsightly, so she ate one bite at a time.

Chen Sifeng smiled all over his face and said that sister-in-law is not polite, there is still a kitchen, there is still a kitchen.

Wu Xiu asked, "What about the fat man, Vientiane, Sanqian and Maoshan, and how are they?"

Chen Sifeng put down his chopsticks and said, "The fat family is now." Lived in Fancheng and rarely came back. Vientiane married a Yao girl and went to live in Yao Village. Sanqian is also in Tin Shui Wai, I just asked someone to find a daughter-in-law, you came back just in time, and we will drink wine together in a few days. Maoshan is now amazing, he became an official in Chengdu County, Shudi, and came back with great fanfare a few years ago. ”

Wu Xiu nodded with satisfaction, "Good thing, good thing." What about the others, Zhang Erniang's family in the west, Fengjun's family, and Aunt Chen's family in the east?"

Chen Sifeng shook his head, "Back then, we were ordinary children, but now we are in Tin Shui Wai and Liu Sanqian, only the father of the older generation is still alive, and the others, some died on the road, and some died after coming back." Now Tin Shui Wai is bigger than before, and there are dozens of more families than when we were children, all of whom have moved from other places. ”

Fang Xiaowen's plate was already empty, so she had to look at Wu Xiu pitifully, Wu Xiu had no choice but to push his plate over, Chen Sifeng immediately got up: "You see that I am talking so much, I have forgotten my sister-in-law, I will go to Sheng." ”

Chen Sifeng went to the kitchen and brought another plate of dumplings, Fang Xiaowen's stomach seemed to be a bottomless pit, the speed was not fast or slow, one for three, Wu Xiu had no choice but to squeeze her eyes at her, she tilted her head, lowered her head and continued to eat, as if she couldn't see it.

Chen Sifeng sat down and said, "Let's simply eat some dumplings at noon, call three thousand at night, and a few of our brothers will drink." ”

Wu Xiu asked, "It won't bother you too much, right?"

Chen Sifeng waved his hand, "It's a bit out of sight when you say this! But then again, what are your plans to come back this time?"

Wu Xiu said with great interest: "I also want to be like you, to be an authentic farmer, and to seek a safe and stable life." However, I may be going out again after a while, and I will build the house before I go out, and when the business is done, I will come back and live without leaving. ”

Chen Sifeng said: "I have picked up and planted all your fields, and they are also barren. Building a house is easy to do, I learned the craft of a bricklayer in Xudu Refugee City, and after returning to my hometown, I would go to Yaotai Town to find work. ”

Wu Xiu took out a silver ticket of two hundred taels, "Heizi, before the house is built, I will have to trouble you during this time, and it will cost you money to eat and live in your house." ”

He glanced at Fang Xiaowen and turned around: "There is a pregnant woman next to me who is about to give birth, and I am also temporarily troubled to take care of my younger siblings, cut more meat at night, buy more wine, and go to Yaotai Town to buy some decent clothes for the children another day." ”

Chen Sifeng's face was a little gloomy, "Do you look down on me? Or do you think you can send me away with money? Besides, I don't want so much money." ”

Wu Xiu had no choice but to say: "Don't you know me yet, let you take it, you will have to worry more about building a house in the future, and it will cost you money to buy materials manually." ”

Chen Sifeng looked at the silver ticket, "It's written on it for two hundred, where did you get so much money as a soldier?"

Wu Xiu stuffed the silver ticket into Chen Sifeng's hand: "What so much nonsense, take it!"

Fang Xiaowen ate two plates of dumplings raw, there were more than forty of them, and she wanted to burp, for fear that it would be indecent, so she quickly covered her mouth, but she still made a real sound, Wu Xiu rolled his eyes and sighed.

Chen Sifeng smiled and asked, "Sister-in-law, the taste is okay, right?"

Fang Xiaowen put down her hand and nodded with a slightly red face.

After eating, Chen Sifeng cleaned out the room on the east side where the sundries were placed, saying that the couple slept just right in this room. Today, Chen Sifeng's family did not go to work in the fields, and the family prepared a sumptuous family banquet in the evening. Chen Sifeng invited Wu Xiu to buy meat, and found Liu Sanqian by the way.

Liu Sanqian is the youngest of their childhood playmates, and now he is only twenty-six or seventeen years old. In the countryside, if he is not married at the age of twenty-six or seventeen, he is considered an older youth, but fortunately, his family is quite wealthy, and there are many people who tell him matchmaking.

Liu Sanqian didn't have a proper line when he was a child, and he had to wear open crotch pants when he was ten years old, and now he still looks like a hanger, when he saw him, he was playing peek-a-boo with a group of children with big farts, and he couldn't recognize it as Wu Xiu after looking at it for a long time, Chen Sifeng had to say Wu Xiu's nickname.

"Brother Da Zheng, it's impossible, right?" Liu Sanqian scratched his head and said.

Wu Xiu had no choice but to say, "Little three thousand, the bird has flew!"

Liu Sanqian patted his head, "I can't fly now!"

Wu Xiu hugged him and patted Liu Sanqian on the shoulder, "I've grown up, I'm taller than me!

Liu Sanqian said: "It's all good." ”

The three of them laughed all the way, and when they arrived at Cao Butcher's house, Chen Sifeng cut seven or eight catties of meat, and went to the grocery store at the head of the village to buy a few jars of soju. The hospitality of the countrymen is generally to let you eat the meat well and drink the wine well, so that they are satisfied.

In the afternoon, Fang Xiaowen led Chen Sidao and Xiaohu to walk by the river, while Zhang Xue'e commanded three helpers, chopping bones for chopping bones, chopping wood for chopping wood, and burning fire. When the sun was about to set, the table of the Eight Immortals in the courtyard was full of various dishes based on meat, except for Xiaohu who was too short to have a seat and could only hold a wooden bowl around the table, everyone else had seats.

The three of them chatted about the past and drank spirits. It didn't stop until the second half of the night.