On the fourth day of the journey, in the early morning, the east was slightly reddened.

Shen Yun ascended to a high ground, and a familiar small village in front of him jumped into view.

Although many years have passed, I still recognize this place at first glance how many times I have been haunted by dreams.

Hometown!

Xishen Village!

I'm finally back!

A sense of tension hit, and Shen Yun, who was dusty, stood on the slope and stopped.

Looking at the small mountain village from afar, my heart is full of thoughts.

Xishen Village is not big, and there are more than 100 households in the village, most of which are surnamed Shen.

Childhood memories suddenly fill my mind, and I immediately recall most of the things I had when I was a child.

In this village, most of the people who live in this village are from their own families. I remember that when I was drooling, there was a man in his thirties with a daughter-in-law and a baby, calling himself Uncle Yun......

There are many people who say that Shen Yun looks like a mother, it is said that his eyebrows, eyes, and mouth are all similar, but unfortunately Shen Yun doesn't remember what his mother looks like at all.

No matter how hard I try to remember, I can't remember my mother's face, the only thing I remember is that when I was very young, I sacrificed my mother with my father.

"Sooner or later, I'll remember. Shen Yun's eyes were slightly red, and he muttered, "Maybe I'll remember it if I cultivate a little higher." ”

Probably due to the timidity of his hometown, he stood on the high ground, half loud, motionless.

"Daddy, mother. The child is home!" Shen Yun said softly in an inaudible voice. Then he mustered up his courage and strode towards the village.

The village, which is crossed by a wide and straight bluestone avenue, divides the village into two parts, north and south.

As soon as the sky was hazy, the whole village was immersed in the misty morning mist, and although the villagers who had already gotten up early were busy, there was not a single pedestrian on the road.

Near the village, roosters croak and dogs bark incessantly.

An ancient and wide building, towering at the entrance of the village, is the ancestral shrine.

Walking into the entrance of the village, I saw that the gate of the ancestral hall had not yet been opened, and there was a big mahogany plaque hanging above the door, with four vigorous and powerful golden characters of "Shen's ancestral hall" written on it.

On the left and right sides hangs a couplet, "A vein flows from the ancestors of the world, and the hall is full of brewing Taihe Spring".

In the ancestral hall of the Shen family, there are two main halls, a small courtyard in the middle, and several side rooms on the left and right sides.

When I was a child, I often went to the outer hall and the wing room to play, the shadow wall in the center of the outer hall was hung with the calligraphy and paintings of the ancestors of the family, and even the beams and pillars were hung with all kinds of couplets, and there seemed to be two middle-aged uncles living in the wing room, guarding the ancestral hall.

I went to the inner hall once, and it was still before I fled with my grandfather, and I worshiped my ancestors once in the past.

In the inner sanctum, there is a huge ancestral tablet niche, which is divided into many layers, densely filled with tablets.

Shen Yun looked at the door of the ancestral hall with a complicated expression, it was a pair of stone lions that were more than two people tall and mighty, and the moss on the stone lions seemed to tell the vicissitudes of time.

Over the past few hundred years, the ancestral hall has been repaired several times, but only this pair of stone lions and the three-foot-wide stone steps at the entrance have not been moved, which is said to have been made during the first generation of ancestors until now.

A little more past to his hometown, the impression of his own blue brick house, at that time in the village was a relatively new house, but after so many years of living in, I'm afraid it has long been dilapidated, right?

Not long after walking to the south of the village, I turned a few corners and finally came to the door of my memory.

The hometown reflected by the rising sun is not much different from the memory.

An earthen half-man tall brown fence, a flat mud yard, three green brick houses, some dried corn cobs hanging under the eaves, and other miscellaneous grains.

The door was open, the couplet on the door was slightly shabby, the door of the chicken coop had been opened, and seven or eight local chickens were pecking on the ground......

"Huh, who lives in it?" Shen Yun looked at the clean courtyard, a little stunned.

Scratching his head, he never used his divine sense to investigate.

Even if there are people living in it, they must be people of the same clan and clan, otherwise the patriarch will not agree to them moving in.

"I'd better go and worship my parents, and leave now!" Shen Yun shook his head, he didn't plan to stay for a long time when he went home this time.

Just as he was about to turn to leave, he saw a village woman in her thirties walk out of the gate, dressed in ordinary clothes and black trousers, and holding a dustpan with some grain in her hand.

Seeing Shen Yun, the village woman was obviously taken aback, and took a closer look. I found that the fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy was also looking at him in a daze, and his eyebrows and eyes were vaguely familiar.

The boy was dressed in a blue shirt and carried a gray cloth jacket, his clothes were wet with dewdrops, and his body was covered with mud and dust.

The young man's hair was tied very casually, hanging on the back of his head, his big eyes were very bright, there was a maturity that did not match his age, and there was an indescribable temperament.

"The more you look at it, the more you look like who's coming?" the village woman looked puzzled.

Shen Yun was also carefully recalling that he seemed to have seen this woman.

"Xiaoyun, is that you?" the village woman asked tentatively, her eyes suddenly lit up.

Hearing the voice, Shen Yun also remembered, and hurriedly smiled and greeted: "The little nephew has seen the fourth aunt." ”

"Oh, it's really a little cloud, it's all grown so big, come in and sit. The fourth aunt didn't care about feeding the chickens, so she casually threw the dustpan on the ground, stepped forward quickly to open the courtyard door, and welcomed Shen Yun in, but her expression was slightly unnatural.

"I said how early this morning, the magpie kept calling. The fourth aunt was full of smiles and shouted into the house, "Boss, come out quickly, and see who is coming." ”

Shen Yun smiled slightly, and there were a lot of sparrows in his heart.

After a while, a middle-aged man with an honest face walked out quickly, and when he saw Shen Yun, he was stunned.

"Yun'er has seen the fourth uncle!" Shen Yun hurriedly bowed and saluted, his father was the eldest, and the second uncle died early, this is the fourth and only uncle, it can be said that he grew up watching himself grow up.

"It's really Yun'er!" The fourth uncle suddenly became excited, his eyes were red, he grabbed the young man's shoulders, looked at it carefully, and said with a tearful smile, "I've grown a lot taller." ”

"Fourth Uncle ......" Shen Yun was in a stirring mood, and he had the impression that he was an honest and good person.

The fourth uncle suddenly looked around and asked, "Yun'er, didn't my father come back?"

Shen Yun's nose suddenly became sore, his eyes turned red, and his tears couldn't help rolling down anymore, shaking his head and crying: "Grandpa is gone......"

Then he asked, "Where is my father?"

Shen Yun held back his sadness and said briefly.

I heard that my father was buried thousands of miles away, and the honest man couldn't cry even more.

"Boss, stay fast. The fourth aunt saw that the uncle and nephew were crying, and hurriedly came over to persuade, "Please invite Xiaoyun into the house to drink tea." ”

The fourth uncle wiped away his tears, gently patted Shen Yun on the shoulder, and sobbed to himself.

The fourth aunt persuaded again, but the fourth uncle stopped and invited Shen Yun in.

As soon as she entered the door, the fourth aunt brought a chair and put it next to the small square table near the gate, and hurriedly ran to make tea: "Master, I'll inform the patriarch that you will accompany Xiaoyun first." ”

As he spoke, he sighed softly again and hurried out.

Shen Yun sat on the edge of the small table, and was indeed a little thirsty, picked up the hot tea cup, blew twice, and took a small sip gently.

While chatting with the fourth uncle, he looked around.

I saw a picture of "Shoubi Nanshan" hanging in the main hall, a couplet hanging on the left and right, and a table of eight immortals and two brown Taishi chairs below......

It's a pity that the tables, chairs and furniture have been replaced with new ones, and they are no longer what they remember.

As the uncle and nephew were talking, they saw a little girl of eight or nine years old running out of the back room, and a boy of five or six years old.

"Girl, bring your brother over and call your brother. When the fourth uncle saw a pair of children come out, he immediately beckoned with a smile.

The little girl was wearing a big red jacket and several small braids on her head, she looked at Shen Yun with wide puzzled eyes, and shouted timidly: "Brother." "I don't seem to understand, why is there suddenly an extra brother?

Shen Yun had seen this little girl, but she was still breastfeeding at that time.

The boy looked honest, and when he saw that his sister shouted, he was stunned and shouted.

Shen Yun responded with a smile, stretched out his hand and rubbed the heads of the two dolls.

Suddenly, a white shadow flashed, and Xue Ling jumped onto the table, tilting her head and looking curiously.

"What is this?" the fourth uncle was taken aback.

The two dolls looked at Xue Ling with a curious face.

"Her name is Xue Ling. Shen Yun smiled and said, "Yes...... I raised ...... Small animals. ”

He also instructed the little fox: "Xue Ling, play with them, don't hurt them." ”

"Chirp!" Xue Ling looked reluctant.

When the two dolls heard that they were raised by Shen Yun, they immediately stopped being afraid. In addition, Xueling's fur is snow-white and bright, and the plush is like a ball of thread, which is extremely cute, and the two little babies want to grab and hug.

If Xue Ling is not happy, how can he catch it, but Xue Ling is also a fun-loving character, and after a while, he will be happy to play with the two children.

After a while, an old man in his seventies came to the door, and I saw that his beard was white, but he was in good spirits. The fourth aunt followed behind the old man, holding a small brown wooden box the size of a jade pillow.

"Meet the patriarch grandpa!" Shen Yun hurriedly got up and saluted.

"I've seen the patriarch!" the fourth uncle also got up and saluted.

"No need to be polite! No need to be polite!" The old patriarch waved his hand, glanced at the little fox casually, came over first to support Shen Yun, and said with a smile, "Good boy, you are back!"

Looking at the kind old man, Shen Yun suddenly remembered his deceased grandfather, and responded enthusiastically with red eyes.

The fourth aunt put the box on the table, beckoned the patriarch to sit down, and hurried to make tea.

The old patriarch carefully looked at Shen Yun for a while, and saw that although his clothes were dirty and dusty, he was full of energy, and said with a smile: "Yes, it seems that the family has grown into a man again." ”

"Yun'er. Seeing the patriarch and Shen Yun sitting still, the fourth uncle suddenly blushed a little sheepishly, and muttered, "The heavy snow collapsed my house that year...... Please tell the patriarch to stay in your house for the time being......"

He took a deep breath and plucked up the courage to say, "I'll vacate a room for you to live in first, and then I'll go back and rest the old house and move out as soon as possible." ”

"Well, that's right!" the old patriarch nodded and twisted his beard.

"Boss, how can we have silver!" The fourth aunt on the side was anxious when she heard this, and looked at the fourth uncle with tears and cried.

When the old patriarch heard this, his face suddenly became ugly.

When the two dolls saw their mother crying, they didn't care about playing with the little fox, so they all came to the fourth aunt and cried together. Xue Ling looked at them inexplicably, not knowing what was going on.

"Fourth uncle, fourth aunt! Shen Yun groaned slightly, and said, "I only plan to come back to worship my parents, and I will leave in the afternoon, this house, I will give it to you today." ”

In fact, when I saw that the layout of my home had changed, I didn't like it. After thinking about it, my parents have passed away, so what's the use of keeping it as it is? If I give it to my fourth uncle to settle down, my parents will probably be pleased.

The fourth aunt suddenly stopped crying, her face was full of shame, and she turned her head to coax the two little dolls to play with Xue Ling.

"It seems that the baby has a future. "The old patriarch who originally saw the appearance of the fourth aunt and had a very unkind face was relieved when he heard this.

The fourth uncle hurriedly got up and thanked him, smiling awkwardly.

"There's no reason to leave when you come back today, vacate the girl's room at night and stay for a few nights. The fourth aunt said with a smile.

The little girl who had just stopped crying, heard that she was asked to leave the room, and she cried again, and the fourth aunt hurriedly shut up and coaxed the dolls to go to the yard to take the little fox.

"That's right, seeing that you are covered in dust, it is not easy to come back, so it is better to stay a few more nights to wash the dust. The old patriarch glared at the fourth uncle first, then turned to Shen Yun and smiled, "In this way, let your uncle and aunt entertain you for lunch, and eat dinner at my house, and stay there at night, I have many guest rooms." ”

Shen Yun thanked the patriarch first, and then excused himself a few more words, but nodded in response: "I will go to worship my parents in a while, and I won't come back for lunch, and I will trouble the fourth uncle and fourth aunt for dinner." ”

"No trouble, no trouble!" the fourth uncle waved his hand again and again.

"Okay, okay, I'll go grocery shopping, be in charge, you can accompany Xiaoyun well. The fourth aunt agreed, and then told the patriarch a crime, and got up and left in a hurry.

Shen Yun groaned slightly, thanked the old patriarch again, and said, "I plan to live in the family temple at night and accompany the ancestors." ”

The old patriarch persuaded a few words, and when he saw that the other party was resolute, he no longer insisted, and nodded in response.

Then he took the wooden box on the table and said to Shen Yun: "Xiaoyun, this box was given to me by your grandfather before leaving, so that I can have the opportunity to pass it on to you in the future, can you read?"

Shen Yun's eyes shot a look of sadness, and he nodded and took the wooden box.

The old patriarch took out a gray cloth bag from his bosom and said, "This is the letter and note left by a person who came from afar to find your father a few years ago, and I will also give it to you, so I have time to read it." ”

Shen Yun took it together.

The three of them chatted a few more words, and the old patriarch got up to say goodbye, not forgetting to tell the fourth uncle: "Xiaoyun came from afar, treat him well." ”

The fourth uncle nodded in agreement, and Shen Yun also got up to bid farewell to the patriarch.

The old patriarch laughed and turned to go.

"You read the letter first, I'll kill a chicken. When the fourth uncle saw Shen Yun sitting down and looking at the wooden box, he got up and said with a smile, "Our uncle and nephew have a good drink at night, I remember when you were a child, you loved to gnaw on chicken butts." ”