The potholed trail looked even more muddy after a spring rain, and a few small trees made the sky unduly unbright. Although the sky was not yet full of light, a father and son were busy in the fields next to the ancient road, the old ox was slowly ploughing the ground, and a thirteen or fourteen-year-old boy with unkempt hair yawned while leading the old ox who did not say a word.

"Dad, our family is almost finished plowing those few acres of land, what are you busy with, you haven't woken up early in the morning" The young man said complainingly, his eyebrows and eyes were clear, and his skin was slightly dark. Tightened the thin and old clothes on his body with his hands, the weather was still very cold at this time, and he didn't think about anything when he couldn't sleep peacefully last night. The young man's name is Yang Qing, he is fourteen years old this year, and his father Yang Dazhi is helping to plough the land behind, Yang Dazhi is about Chinese New Year's Eve years old today, but his face is already carved with wind and frost, as old as forty or fifty years old.

"You little baby know what, honestly lead your cow" Yang Dazhi casually reprimanded, did not raise his head, and seriously fiddled with the wooden plow in his hand, sometimes left and right, and sometimes pressed or lifted it with his hand. His name is Yang Dazhi, and he has great ambitions, but I think his father and mother have a lot of expectations for him. But his life is extremely dull, in the past 30 years, he has not been to a small town dozens of miles away a few times, and every year he goes to the town to do some New Year's goods, only Yang Qing and his mother He Xiu go alone.

"Dad, Dad, why don't you even have a school in our village, I can't even write my name now" Yang Qing's eyes were worried, and he said to himself.

"Well, well" Yang Dazhi coped with it a little impatiently, Yang Qing, this kid always asked some inconsequential words, and he couldn't answer, "Go to school, which of our ten miles and eight villages has a school, which teacher can come to our poor place, I think only the children in the town can go."

"Hey, Dad, you said the people in that town ......"

This has a conversation that disturbs the sun in the early morning, stretch your waist, the sky is bright, and the people in the village also come to the field, greeting each other, the east and the west are short, they are very concerned about the situation of other people's families, and their own homes are all picked up.

"Click, click, click" A tall jujube red horse galloped on the muddy ancient road, splashing pieces of muddy water, this jujube red horse is as handsome as it is in Yang Qing's eyes, and its own old scalper is incomparable to it.

"Isn't this old, is the Li family grandiose back?" the busy croppers in the field all raised their heads and greeted the handsome young man who was about to be twenty years old.

"I'll go home and send some silver to my father and mother" Li Hongwei pulled the reins in his hand, smiled and replied cordially, "Second uncle and aunt are free, let's talk"

Li Hongwei and the people in the field greeted each other one by one, waved the horsewhip in his hand, and the shiny horse ran hard, getting smaller and smaller in Yang Qing's listless eyes.

"Seeing how magnificent the people are, they are a soldier in the town for an old man named Wang or something, isn't this another gift of silver to his father, Lao Li, give birth to such a son and enjoy the blessings" The second uncle and aunt who were called sighed and said.

Yang Qing leaned sideways, his eyes unblinkingly watched Li Hongwei riding a red horse and gradually moving away, with a deep envy on his face......

"I also want to go to the town, and I also want to earn a lot of silver to honor my father," Yang Qing squinted his eyes, thinking silently in his heart, casually holding the old scalper who lowered his head and was indifferent to the outside world.

......

Dusk came, the sky darkened, they all began to pack up the farm tools and go home to eat, Yang Dazhi and his son ate some dry food at noon, and now they are already hungry, if Yang Qing, who is usually diligent in his hands and feet, would have spread his feet and run home, he just can't wait to make the ox cart home to eat, but today he is sitting on the ox cart, with his head down, and he doesn't know what he is thinking.

It was dark, and the smell of rice wafting from the three somewhat dilapidated low mud houses let Yang Qing know that he had arrived home, and saw his naughty younger brother, who was eight years younger than him, waiting for them at the door.

"Mother, mother, father and brother are back, let's start the meal quickly" A chubby child happily waved his hand to Yang Dazhi and his son, and ran into the house while shouting.

Yang Dazhi watched lovingly, the originally cowardly eyelids lifted, the fatigue of the whole body gradually subsided, the father and son unloaded the ox cart, took the cow into the shed, let the cow drink half a bucket of water, mixed some forage, and casually rinsed his hands into the steaming house to eat.

Yang Qing's mother, He Xiu, was dressed simply, with some dry skin covering up her youthful appearance, and an apron tied around her waist was neatly preparing dishes and chopsticks

Dinner is a freshly cooked cake, yellow and fragrant, stewed with potatoes, radishes, and a plate of homemade pickles.

The four of them sat down, Yang Song first took a cake and started their dinner, the rough meal was very fragrant for several people, Yang Qing did not gobble up as usual, his expression was hesitant, and he always wanted to say something.

"Dad, mother, I also want to go to the town to find a living or learn some crafts or something" Yang Qing seemed to have a lot of determination, and after speaking, he looked at his father and mother with a look of hope.

"What's the matter, what's the matter, Li Hongwei, the red-eyed family" Yang Qingniang He Xiu swallowed the food in her mouth, her face was full of surprise, and she didn't understand what Yang Qing's child was doing.

Yang Dazhi still lowered his head to eat and didn't say a word, as if he was not surprised by Yang Qing's inexplicable thoughts.

"Brother, do you also want to ride a big horse like Brother Hongwei" The chubby Yang Song opened his mouth wide, and the cake that had not been chewed in his mouth almost fell out.

Li Hongwei came back in the morning, causing quite a stir among a little kid as big as Yang Song, this small village with only a few dozen families, and there are not a few people in a year, and the whole village knows about it as soon as the children say this.

"What's red, I just don't want to eat in this field for the rest of my life, and I've never seen anything of the world in my life" Yang Qing hurriedly said his thoughts, the fourteen-year-old boy was still very naïve, full of yearning for the outside world.

"What can you do when you go out, little brat, you can't do anything, you can't understand the land now" He Xiu glanced at him angrily, obviously disagreeing with Yang Qing's idea.

In her eyes, Yang Qing was still young at this time, and there were also young people in the village who went to the town to break through. Among these people, Li Hongwei is like a person, and most of the others come back with a dirty face, making everyone laugh for half a year.

"I don't know how to learn, which one is born and will, why can't I learn what others learn," Yang Qing said sharply, and then looked panicked.

"It's just you, you can't even talk outside, you talk a lot at home" He Xiu couldn't help but smile, and his voice couldn't help but be a little higher.

Yang Qing was a little red by what his mother He Xiu said, and it was true that Yang Qing was not very clever in the eyes of his fellow villagers.

"If I go to the town, I will definitely study hard, I will definitely learn" Yang Qing straightened his neck, a little stubborn.

"You kid, do you think the outside is really as good as you think, I see, it's more bitter than farming, you can bear this bitterness" He Xiu was still persuading, "Besides, what can you do, there is no relative in our town, and you can't ask for food when you go to the black."

"I can eat any hardship, isn't that work done by people" Yang Qing refused to admit defeat and retorted. At the age of ten, he followed his father to work in the fields, and let his mother feed pigs and dogs, wash and cook at home. In the past four years, he has done most of the work in the field, like a little adult.

"Okay, I'll discuss it with your mother again tonight, this matter, I really can't let your kid mess around" Yang Dazhi said with a serious face, his expression heavy.

"Well" Yang Qing was a little unhappy, and stood up with the unfinished cake in his hand, "You guys eat, I'll go out to see the cow"

After saying it in a rough voice, he turned and went out, biting the bread vigorously as he went.

"You kid, why are you so ignorant" He Xiu said with hatred and helplessness.

"Eat, eat, starve him" Yang Dazhi was expressionless, did not look up, and said casually.

"Little cub, you eat yours, don't worry about your brother"

......

Yang Qing's chest was slightly depressed, and he knew that what his mother said was reasonable, but in his eyes, the rich and prosperous world outside deeply attracted him, and he felt a little irritable at this time, so he added a few handfuls of forage to the old cattle, and after a while in the yard, he found a place to sit down and sat there alone in a daze, and forgot to eat the cake in his hand.

The village is quiet at night, with only a few dog barks occasionally. The evening breeze is cool and cool. I don't know how long it took, but every family also turned off the kerosene lamps and worked day and night, and life in the countryside was almost the same every day.

Yang Qing looked at the cold cake in his hand listlessly, lost his appetite, broke it and threw it into the cow trough, went into the house to sleep with his head stuffy, and went to plow the land tomorrow morning, and if he slept late, he would be tired for a day.

When he returned to the house, Yang Song was already asleep, rubbing his nose with his fleshy little hands, and he didn't know what kind of dream he was having, and he could vaguely hear the sound of conversation in the next room, it seemed that it was Yang Dazhi and his wife discussing their eldest son's trip to the town, Yang Qing pricked up his ears expectantly to hear what the result was, but he couldn't hear it clearly.

Lying on the warm earthen kang did not feel sleepy at all, turning over and over his eyes like lanterns, Yang Qing did not have such an idea today, when he saw those young men from the same village going to the town, he began to think in his heart, until from there, he often thought crankily, and when he fell asleep in a daze, it was dawn, and he was going to go to the plow with his father.

The deliberately muffled conversation in the next room has not disappeared, but it is always more women's words and fewer men's words, and sometimes a few quarrels.

Yang Qing was apprehensive, uneasy, and yearning, and he didn't know what he was thinking, and he only felt that today's quilt was so short that his feet were cold.

"The quilt is horizontal, hey" Yang Qing said absentmindedly, the warm earthen kang made him inexplicably hot.

I don't know what my father and mother discussed, what if my father and mother don't agree, what if I agree, what can I do in the town, whether I should go or not, I have to follow my father to work in the field. Yang Qing himself became a little hesitant, the more he thought about it, the farther he thought, and he didn't know where to think of it, let alone how to fall asleep.

Yang Dazhi and He Xiu are just ordinary peasant couples, they have never seen much of the world, and they don't know much. As parents, they always hope that their children can live well, hoping that their sons will become dragons and their daughters will become phoenixes. I hope that my children can have a future and shine on the lintel. They are more afraid of their children being harmed, they want to keep them under their wings, and they think that no one will be better than them. Yang Dazhi and He Xiu are the same, they are torn between the two, and they lose their sense of proportion for a while.