One big and one small are practicing love

I have to pull weeds, straighten tombstones, clean up debris, and want to stay with them for a while longer.

Let the taxi go. Liu Xiaochen placed his schoolbag and roast duck under the big tree, rolled up his sleeves, and bent down to work.

The grass in late autumn and early winter is often withered and withered, with deep roots and rough and tough leaves. Liu Xiaochen pulled the grass with his bare hands, and within a short while, blood of different shades was drawn from the tiger's mouth and palm.

Feelings of sadness and guilt surged, and I couldn't care less about those little stings and pains. Liu Xiaochen was always bending down to pull weeds.

When he finished pulling the weeds, the sun had already risen in the sky, and Liu Xiaochen broke into a thin sweat. He took off his jacket and took out the remaining half bottle of mineral water from his schoolbag. Sit under the shade of a tree, drink water, rest, and take out your phone to watch.

No calls or messages from him.

The mountain breeze blew, the leaves rustled, and the tree shadows kept swaying. Liu Xiaochen sat quietly under the shade of the tree, listening and watching, feeling a deep sense of peace in his heart. The emotions, disturbances, entanglements, and longings of the past few days disappeared briefly at this moment.

After a short rest, Liu Xiaochen got up and continued working, straightening his father's tombstone.

The stone is deep and deeply crooked, so it is necessary to excavate the soil first, loosen the stone tablet, and then straighten it and fill it with soil. It's not like pulling weeds, you can do it reluctantly with your bare hands despite the pain. Digging hard loess requires tools.

Look around. Find a thick branch, break it with your hands and feet, and make it sharp at one end and thick at the other. I also found an angular stone. Using these two tools, start digging.

It's harder than imagined. The hardness of the wooden stick is limited, so it is okay to dig the loose soil on top, but it is difficult to dig deep into the tight and wet soil. He then switched to using a sharp stone chisel, which was slow and laborious. He hit his hand several times and was so painful that he burst into tears.

The grind became more difficult, my patience gradually waned, I felt frustrated, and I thought of Zuo Kunmin again.

You obviously agreed to come back together, why didn't you come? He goes to Phoenix Mountain twice a year to see his family. Every time, she was by his side. After more than three years, he only promised to accompany her this time, but in the end, he broke his promise.

After all, it was because he was not important enough in his heart.

I was convinced of this again. Although I was sad, my heart calmed down and my depression slowly subsided. Stand up and continue digging. Sometimes I use stones and sticks to dig, sometimes I use my fingers to dig. No matter the pain or fatigue, I try my best to endure it.

After an unknown amount of time, the stone tablet finally came loose.

I found some gravel and put it under the stone monument. I moved and adjusted laboriously until the tombstone was straight. Then he knocked the gravel under the stone tablet firmly, and finally filled the dug hole and stepped it firmly.

After doing this, Liu Xiaochen knelt tiredly in front of his father's grave.

"Dad, Mom, my daughter is unfilial... I haven't come to see you for three years. I'm sorry!" After choking up his words, Liu Xiaochen burst into tears. His palms and forehead touched the ground deeply, and he kowtowed silently.

Just when Liu Xiaochen was unable to contain his grief, his cell phone rang. I didn’t want to answer it, but the vibration continued, and in the silent mountains, the sound was particularly disturbing.

He stood up, took out his cell phone from his schoolbag, and saw Zuo Kunmin's number. After taking a few deep breaths and adjusting my emotions, I was about to pick up the phone. The phone prompts for low battery and automatically shuts down.

Plug the phone into the power bank but not turn it on. At this moment, I am tired, in a bad mood, and don’t want to talk. I just want to spend some time quietly with my father, mother, and brother.

Drink all the remaining mineral water, wipe your hands with a wet wipe, then open a roast duck box and break it into pieces. Place two duck legs in front of his brother's grave, split the duck body from the middle, place the more duck legs in front of his father's grave, and the smaller duck legs in front of his mother's grave.

"When we were watching "Love Through Time" together, we saw the emperor eating roast duck and thought it was very delicious. At that time, we said that we would go to Beijing to eat roast duck together in the future. Today, I brought it to you. You guys Over there, are you hungry? Are you cold?" As he spoke, his eyes turned red again.

Tired of crying, I sat down against the tree trunk, looked at the three earthen graves from a distance, and thought of them silently.

Inexplicably, I remembered the adobe house I lived in when I was a child. Next to it is a stage, where children often play hide-and-seek, kick keys, and catch chickens with an eagle. On the other side is a temple, where you can always smell incense, always see smoke, and the statue of Guanyin Bodhisattva with kind eyes.

The adobe house was small and dark. The old wooden lattice windows were a little crooked and covered with a layer of paper to block the wind. However, there were often holes exposed, allowing cold wind to penetrate. There are small round holes of different depths on the wall, which I and my brother dug with small wooden sticks.

My parents carried their burdens and sold snacks in the streets. Liu Xiaochen jumped up and down behind him, shouting loudly, "They sell snacks, cold noodles, rice noodles, jelly..." The back of the head is very hot from the sun in the summer, and the cold hands and feet hurt in the winter, and it is wet and muddy after a day of walking in the rain and snow. shoe.

These memories are fragments, but profound.

On the day they left, it rained heavily all day. People in the village sent a message to Liu Xiaochen. Her parents asked her to go home from school and not go to the restaurant.

Liu Xiaochen came home in the rain, changed into clean clothes, and did his homework. After finishing my homework, I cooked a bag of instant noodles and ate them, then I leaned on the sofa and watched cartoons happily. I didn’t have to do tedious housework, I didn’t have a younger brother to compete with me for the remote control, and I was happy watching the news broadcast.

Unknowingly, I fell asleep on the sofa. I vaguely heard the thunderstorm and the sound of the door opening. I opened my eyes dimly and saw my parents and brother coming in, all wet.

"You're back." Liu Xiaochen muttered softly. Knowing that they were back, he turned over and continued sleeping peacefully.

The next day, before dawn, Liu Xiaochen heard a rapid knock on the door. When I opened my eyes, there were no parents or younger brother in the room, so I slept alone all night? He stood up and opened the door in a panic. He saw Sun Xinxin's father and mother standing at the door and said in panic: "Something happened to your parents and brother." ’

They drove the tractor home in the rain, and when they fell into the cliff together with the vehicle and people, they were discovered. All three people have died.

……

The sun made people feel sleepy and their hearts were at peace, so Liu Xiaochen fell asleep unconsciously. I don't know how long I slept before I woke up automatically. Looking up at the sky, the sun has set on the top of the western mountain.

Liu Xiaochen stood up, patted the dirt on his body, picked up his schoolbag, and went home.

Walking towards the setting sun, the orange light shines on the hills and treetops, and flocks of birds fly to their nests. There were only a few passers-by, and occasionally I saw a few old people walking slowly with their mules or donkeys holding their hoes. The cool breeze blows for a while, and the crickets chirp.

Walking here, Liu Xiaochen felt as if something heavy had been lifted from his heart, making him feel light.

Reminds me of the saying, "Tired birds return to their nests and people return home. The soft light and the fragrance of tea make people comfortable."

In this way, walking in the mountains step by step, from the sky full of orange clouds to the deep dusk. There are no street lights in the mountains, let alone dazzling billboards. I saw the dark sky, with a thin crescent moon and stars all over the sky. The farmhouses built scattered along the foot of the mountain lit up with a faint warm light.

After more than three years, I am finally home.