One big and one small are practicing love

I learned that the grocery store owned by Sister Cao’s parents closed down two years ago. Because Sister Cao's younger brother died in a car accident while riding a motorcycle, the two old men lost interest and returned to their hometown to farm.

"Why don't you, or your sister, go on to open that store? The location is good, your home is clean, and the business is good." Liu Xiaochen remembered that the two old people in the Cao family always kept the glass cabinets spotless and put all the products on display. Gotta be neat.

"You have your children with you, and you still have to work in the fields. The father of the children has gone out to work. How can a woman do it without someone to help her? No, I started setting up a night market this year because my daughter is older and can take care of her. Only when you are young can you feel relieved."

Second Sister Cao also asked Liu Xiaochen where he went to college, what major he studied, and whether it was good in Beijing. He also said that his grades were good when he was a child, but he was not very good at math. He did not pass the high school entrance examination in the first year and should repeat the study for another year. In this way, we chatted here and there.

The taxi arrived first near Sister Cao's home. When she got off the taxi, Sister Cao took 20 yuan and forced it to Liu Xiaochen. After several attempts to shirk it, Liu Xiaochen confiscated it and left in a car.

"Girl, where are you getting off?" the driver asked.

"The back slope of Danyin Village."

"It's still a long way there, so we have to pay more."

"Okay! When you get there, please wait for me for ten minutes and I'll come back here."

"That's an extra ten dollars."

"Okay. Thank you, master."

Liu Xiaochen yawned and turned to look out the window. The sun emerged half a circle from the top of the mountain, and the cold morning light suddenly took on a warm color. The mountains are barren and the trees are dead, and uneven concrete houses are scattered at the foot of the mountains. There are a few people walking here and there on the road. More than three years after I left, this place is still the same as before.

Looking at it, I felt an indescribable loneliness and peace in my heart.

I am a low-class person and I should be like them. In order to survive, they exhausted all their strength, regardless of heat, cold, sleep, health, face, etc., and were trapped in this hopeless, lifeless, poor and backward place, struggling hard.

However, relying on Teacher Zuo, I lived a decent and comfortable life for several years without worrying about food and clothing. Why have you become so arrogant about yourself and forgotten where you came from? I moan for nothing for my little love.

Thinking of this, the emotional tangle of the past two days was mostly relieved, and I felt a little guilty. Liu Xiaochen took out his mobile phone and sent a message to Zuo Kunmin: Teacher Zuo, I have arrived safely.

As soon as I sent the text message, my phone buzzed immediately. It was Zuo Kunmin calling.

"Have you had breakfast?" Zuo Kunmin asked softly.

Liu Xiaochen replied softly: "Eat."

"What did you eat? Where did you eat?"

"At our county bus station, we drink egg soup and eat xiaolongbao. What about you?"

"Well, I just finished eating with the children." After Zuo Kunmin finished speaking, he paused and continued: "Is it cold over there at your house? Have you brought thick clothes?"

"It's a bit colder than Beijing, but it's not bad. I'm wearing thick clothes. Are you not working now?"

"I didn't have any work this morning. I was preparing to take Yanyan, Xiaoxu and Muzi to a painting class. By the way, I met Teacher Han. It's the last two classes."

……

The two of them chatted until the taxi stopped and said, "We're here."

"I won't tell you anymore, I'm getting off the car."

"You just got home?"

"No, it's a cemetery."

After hanging up the phone, Liu Xiaochen picked up a roast duck box and got out of the car with his schoolbag on his back. He gave the driver the fare and said, "Please wait for me for ten minutes."

"Okay." The driver took the money and said with a smile, "I was on the phone with your boyfriend just now!"

"Yeah!" Liu Xiaochen nodded lightly.

The driver said with a smile: "I am old. I feel beautiful when I see you young people falling in love, making phone calls, and saying a few common words." Then he lit a cigarette.

Liu Xiaochen smiled sheepishly, then turned around and trotted towards the hillside, climbing straight towards the poplar tree halfway up the hillside.

After two or three minutes, I climbed up.

There were withered grass on the three earthen graves. My father's tombstone was tilted, my brother's grave had a large section of dead branches, and my mother's grave was washed away by the rain and was extremely low. They have been away for more than three years, and no one has looked after them, and now they are in such a desolate state.

Liu Xiaochen plopped down on his knees, tears rolling down his face, and choked with sobs: "Dad, Mom, brother, I'm here to see you."

The mountain wind blew whistlingly, and the poplar leaves fell like rain. When they fell to the ground, they rolled with the wind and sand, and the rustling sound was endless.