all the way

As New Year's Day was approaching, Liu Xia was already looking forward to returning home. The letter he received from his family after New Year's Day made him even more eager to take the exam on the same day, and go home with all the subject exams in one day.

Mao'er's letter is still less than a hundred words.

Uncle:

Grandma said, tomorrow is the twelfth lunar month, and the twelfth lunar month is about to celebrate the new year. Why don't you come back?Aunt Hua from the third uncle's family has come to our house on vacation, why don't you have a vacation?I look to the east road many times every day, I really miss you, come back soon.

Sincerely,

salute

Willow bank

198*.12.30

Liu Xia's soft heart was startled by "Aunt Hua from the third uncle's family", and hurriedly put down Mao'er's letter first, and opened Liu Kui's.

'Flower Aunt' and 'Hua Niang' are the local names for daughters-in-law who have never been married to uncles and uncles. After marriage, only the youngest uncle's wife still retains this title. Others are the same as outside. Maoer's words represent Yanagawa The object of the marriage has officially come to the Liu family to recognize the family, which means that both families have recognized the relationship between the two, and the next step is to talk about marriage.

After reading a few lines, Liu Xia patted the bed and shouted, "Okay, third brother, you actually blocked the news from me, and I'm still your matchmaker!"

Aunt Hua in Maoer's letter is Su Xiaohui.

Liu Kui said that a week ago, Liu Chuan brought Liu Changqing and Sun Chang'e to Rongze, and secretly looked at Su Xiaohui. Gift went to the Public Security Bureau to meet the two elderly people.

Before that, Su Xiaohui's parents and elder sister had secretly seen Liu Chuan, and they were very satisfied with Liu Chuan himself. Su's parents were a little worried about Liu's family being in Nanshangou, but Su Xiaohui said that she didn't care. I especially want to live in cave dwellings in the mountains.

Su Xiaohui's father was a middle school teacher in the village, a very open-minded old man. When Liu Chuan officially visited their home, the Su family didn't raise any excessive conditions.

Su Xiaohui took advantage of the extra day off on New Year's Day, and went back to Liujialing with Liu Chuan. Although she had walked dozens of miles on the mountain road and had a few blisters on her feet, she didn't have any complaints. She made dumplings and chatted with Xiumei. The whole family likes her cheerful and generous personality.

The relationship between Liu Chuan and Su Xiaohui has been formalized.

Liu Xia was particularly happy for Liu Chuan. The age of the third brother, let alone in Liujialing, is not too young even in Rongze. To be able to confirm the marriage, it is Su Xiaohui who he thinks is very good. Liu Xia himself has let go of a concern a feeling of.

He read Mao'er's letter several times, and then flashed the letter and said dissatisfiedly: "Little smelly cat, as soon as I went home, I called Aunt Hua, and called you to make out, huh!"

In his heart, he wished he could go home now, and he also thought about Mao'er terribly. The image of Mao'er standing on the edge of the slope watching him leave school had been circling in his mind.

Mao Jianyong and Yun Jian, who skipped classes frequently, have been gloomy these days. Although they heard that it has become common for college students to fail courses in the past two years, they don't want it to happen to them.

This year's solar term is early, and the Spring Festival will be celebrated on January 29, and they will start the exam one week after New Year's Day.

So once New Year's Day passed, the campus reappeared the gratifying scene of all the people falling in love with the library when the school just started.

However, no matter how you say it, the exams in college are much easier than in high school, and everyone is still joking and laughing amidst the tension of cramming.

The day before the exam, Liu Xia received a letter from Liu Hai.

Liu Hai decided to follow Zeng Guangtong's advice and apply for art students to study fine arts.

This is a question that Liu Hai has been struggling with since he registered for the college entrance examination in November. He wanted to apply for the military academy very much. Zeng Guangtong suggested that he first check the enrollment situation of various military academies in the Central Plains Province over the years.

After inquiring, the situation was indeed not good, the number of places was very small, and the requirements for scores were very high. Liu Hai's favorite naval academy had no places in the Central Plains Province at all.

Zeng Guangtong wants Liu Hai to be admitted to an art school. This is not to say that art schools are easy to take. On the contrary, art schools have fewer students and more stringent conditions. For example, Zeng Guangtong’s National Academy of Fine Arts enrolls only a few dozen students a year. People, sometimes not recruiting students for a year or two, only recruiting those who have shown excellent talent in art through special channels.

But Zeng Guangtong dared to let schools like Liu Haibao, but it was definitely not just talking about it or planning to go through the back door completely, but Zeng Guangtong had already started to make serious plans for him on the first day he arrived in Beijing from Liuhai. In the past two years, he also I have been tutoring Liu Hai in painting.

And Liu Hai has 11 years of solid calligraphy foundation, calligraphy and painting are of the same family, Liu Hai has a feeling when he picks up a brush.

Liu Hai felt that Zeng Guangtong's very casual guidance and advice were very rare among outsiders and Zeng Guangtong's students.

Zeng Guangtong's guidance to Liu Hai in painting seems to be loose, but in fact he is very attentive, systematic and meticulous. He just doesn't want Liu Hai to take the pressure of the college entrance examination to study painting. And drawing on the confidence of a good savvy.

Of course, there is also Zeng Guangtong's own status in the art world.

He can guarantee that as long as Liu Hai passes the cultural class, no one can replace Liu Hai's quota. He guarantees that Liu Hai can enter the university, even if it is not the National Academy of Fine Arts where he is, it will be an art student from a better university in Kyoto. faculties.

Liu Xia felt in his heart that a man should be a soldier or study science and engineering, but since Liu Hai was willing to learn painting, he did not object.

Although Liu Xia is young, he has experienced Liu Ling's disappointing college entrance examination and the twists and turns and hard work all his family put in for him and Liu Hai to enter university, so he knows that the most important thing is to enter university first and become a commodity household.

He wrote back to encourage Liu Hai to earnestly learn painting from Uncle Zeng in the next few months. He was very confident in Liu Hai's culture class. He had heard that art students had very low grade requirements for culture classes. Liu Hai could pass that score with his eyes closed.

The day before the exam, the school contacted the people at Jiangcheng Railway Station to book train tickets for the students. Liu Xia, Yun Jian and several other students along the Beijing-Han Railway booked tickets for the No. 13 night. It was past five o'clock in the morning in the city, and it was most reasonable for Liu Xia to take this bus home, without wasting any time.

When Liu Xia came back after booking the ticket, he got Liu Yu's letter.

One thing written in Liu Yu's letter caught Liu Xia's attention for a long time: Niu Dun'er's sister, Niu Huaping, died and committed suicide by jumping off a cliff while pregnant.

Liu Yu wrote:

At the beginning, Sister Huaping was unwilling to change relatives, and everyone in the village said she had no conscience. As long as a sister can change a wife for her brother, she should be happy even if she dies. What is wronged?Not with whom to spend a lifetime.

Sister Huaping persisted for more than a year. Later, her uncle and mother scolded her and disliked her. Only Niu Dun said that she would not let her marry that man, and he himself was determined not to marry that woman.

But later, someone told Niu Dun several times about the matchmaker. When the other party heard about his family's situation, he was unwilling. Niu Dun's mother kept scolding and cursing her all day long, and she couldn't live in her own house. He gave up, and agreed to exchange marriages.

I haven't seen Niu Dun since I went to work in Mazhai. I heard from Liu Miao and the others that Niu Dun'er didn't sleep with his wife after he got married, but went to sleep in the firewood kiln by himself every night.

When I went home today and went to see Niu Dun with Liu Miao and Liu Sen, I realized that his wife had been taken away by her natal family.

Sister Huaping died, and after she didn't stay with that family, his wife's family wouldn't let her give birth to Niu Dun'er's family. His wife didn't want to leave, so she ran to the other side of the river and hid, but she was found. The daughter-in-law couldn't do it on her knees and begged her uncle, so she wanted to run into the mountains again, but her uncle and her brother tied her up and carried her away.

Sister Hua Ping went back to her mother's house once before she died. She didn't mention her pregnancy to anyone. She cleaned the house and cleaned up her mother's feces and urine before leaving.

After she died, Niu Tun saw her letter under her bedding. She said that she originally thought about living like this for the rest of her life and forgetting about dying when she was old, but she never thought she would become pregnant.

She doesn't know whether she is pregnant with a boy or a girl. If it is a girl, she will be like her when she grows up. She would rather not have a child in her life than let her child live like a livestock like her. .

Up to now, people in the village are still saying that there is no pity for Sister Huaping to die. A woman, knowing that she is dead, may make her brother's daughter-in-law and child lose their lives and commit suicide. What's the use of living? It was just a waste of time, if I knew it, it would be better to put it in the urinal and drown it when I was born!

Sister Huaping was not allowed to enter the ancestral grave at her mother-in-law's house, and the daughter who left the house was not willing to be buried at her mother's house. Niu Dun brought back Sister Huaping's body, but his uncle refused to let him enter the village, and Uncle Niutuo tried to persuade him. No, I came to my uncle and my elder brother. My uncle went over and scolded Niu Shao. In the end, a few men came out of the Niu family to dig the grave. My uncle and elder brother decided to bury sister Huaping in Pheasant Ridge.

Pheasant Ridge is the westernmost mountain of the Liujialing Brigade. After passing Pheasant Ridge, it is the boundary of the neighboring county.

Liu Xia put down the letter, and a figure of a ten-year-old girl appeared in his mind. She was wearing clothes that could not be broken any more. After school, she ran home with her books in her arms. She saw Liu Changqing waiting for Liu Changqing to attend a meeting When he met Liu Xia, he would slow down and smile with him, then speed up and run away.

She has a paralyzed woman at home, and she has to go back and change her shitty diaper.

At that time, the villagers would say: "If it wasn't for Niu Shao's daughter-in-law who was paralyzed, I would ask my Nier to change marriages with his family. Whoever marries Huaping will be blessed, good-looking and hardworking."

Liu Xia was depressed, and several people in the dormitory felt it. Zhang Fusheng asked Liu Xia what happened. Liu Xia gave him Liu Yu's letter, and after he read it, he gave it to several others.

Hei Deqing said: "A few years ago we also had this kind of marriage change over there. In the past few years, life has improved, and there are very few of them."

Yun Jian said: "Fuck me, isn't this Niu Dun'er a woman? If the son wants to marry a wife to live, the daughter is not a human?"

Zhan Wei said: "Liu Xia, don't you belong to the Central Plains? It's not in the mountains in the northwest and southwest. How come this kind of thing still exists?"

Liu Xia murmured: "Our county seat is only 30 kilometers away from the original city. The original city is the provincial capital. It's like two worlds with ours. It's the townships to the north of Rongze. I heard that there are no relatives. It's just us. There are a few mountain communes over there... We are poor there..."

Sha Yonghe said: "Poor and lowly couples are sad about everything. If people can't even fill their stomachs, dignity, love, etc. are all bullshit. Only the two instincts of procreating offspring and eating a full stomach will be respected."

Mao Jianyong shouted angrily: "Wouldn't she run away? Go out to work. There are factories everywhere in our place, as well as in Shenzhen. Isn't there a way to survive if she runs out? She dared to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff, why didn't she dare to run away?"

Liu Xia raised his head in confusion, he had never thought about this question before, Niu Huaping was not the first woman among them to seek death because of marriage, why were they not afraid of death, but dared not run out to find a way out?

He told Liu Ling about his doubts, and before the final exam, he received a reply from Liu Ling:

Because of fear?The fear of the unknown outside world may be more terrifying to them than death.

A hukou imprisoned us in a poor and closed place. Decades of living in a prison made us lose contact with the outside world. Even though the world has opened its doors today, many of us do not know how to integrate into the outside world. up.

We went to Wangning every day, and we heard my uncle, eldest brother, and third brother often talk about the outside world, but when I went to Yuancheng for the first time to participate in the composition competition, no one knew how panicked I was.

Fear of everything outside that I don't know, uneasy about my every move, every word and deed, for fear that my inappropriate behavior will cause humiliation in public, that feeling is really inferior to the bottom.

Niu Dun and Hua Ping don't go out of Liujialing once in a few years. They don't know what it's like outside. Even if they know, do you think their hearts that have been closed for more than 20 years have the courage to face the vast and complicated world outside?

But a bigger possibility is that the long-term isolation has made them forget that there is a vast world outside, and Liujialing and Shitougou are not the whole world.

Liu Xia immediately thought of Mao'er, Liu Wei, Liu Rui and the others. Would their hearts be cut off by the mountains and only have room for that small world?

The exam went on for almost a whole week, Yun Jian and Mao Jianyong lamented that they might have to make up the exam every time they came out of the exam.

Liu Xia is also quite stressed about the exam. He is not worried that he will fail the exam. He thinks that the other students were genuinely admitted in the exam. Only he was lucky to get into this university. The grades are at the bottom, although there is no such thing as repeating a grade now, but it is always a bit embarrassing.

But this kind of worry did not affect Liu Xia's excitement about going home. He had to take out the ticket several times a day to look at it.

After finishing the last test, they still have one afternoon to go shopping in 219.

Mao Jianyong said to everyone: "Again, don't act like a fly sees blood as soon as you see something you like. Today I want to let you really see the high-tech content of bargaining and the huge benefits it brings."

Zhang Fusheng first set his sights on a gray-brown duck down jacket (in fact, the inside is silk cotton), and before it was Mao Jianyong's turn, he was collectively rejected by everyone: old-fashioned, ugly, useless, and old-fashioned.

Zhang Fusheng finally bought a big gray-blue cotton-padded jacket, and the crowd picked dark maroon for him, but he refused to take it. Mao Jianyong went to buy him the 35-yuan cotton-padded jacket for 13 yuan with a face full of contempt.

There are very few shops selling children's clothes, so Liu Xia still picked out a few from the shop where he bought clothes for Mao'er last time.

He bought the cat a pair of brown trousers with giraffe embroidered on the bottom, a lotus-colored sweater with a cute pig's head on the chest, a pair of small gloves connected by a rope in the middle, and a pair of small red cotton shoes.

Liu Xin was still young, so he didn't know how big to buy, so he didn't buy one; he bought a pair of trousers for Liu Wei and Liu Rui, Liu Rui's was blue, with two white stripes on the outside seam, and Liu Rui's were trouser legs The ones with two horizontal stripes embroidered on the bottom are very beautiful.

All in all it cost 11 yuan.

Mao Jianyong felt very humiliated. The sweater was worn out by him, and it was not sold for less than five yuan. He planned to get it for three yuan.

On the way back, they entered the department store again, where Liu Xia wanted to buy a radio.

Liu Xia took a fancy to a gray and white one, the same size, other brands cost about ten yuan, only this Panda brand cost fifteen, department stores don’t ask for prices, Liu Xia bought it, and bought four of the most expensive batteries .

There is no radio in Liujialing, and if it breaks, no one will fix it. Of course he wants to buy the best quality one.

For products like radios, even Mao Jianyong agrees with the saying that 'you get what you pay for'.

In the rush of packing their luggage, their winter vacation came, a whole month of vacation, which made Liu Xia very happy.

This was Liu Xia's first Spring Festival travel experience. Many years later, he still remembers many details of that time: the flow of people like a wave, people who were stuck at the door of the carriage but no one would give in because of the competition, people who were squeezed and cried The child, the noise caused by taking someone else's place and refusing to get up, even fisting each other, the thin young man curled up on the luggage rack...

Liu Xia got in through the car window, and he and Yun Jian were scattered by the crowd.

Yun Jian has rich experience and got into the car first. When Liu Xia arrived, the car door was blocked by many people. He heard Yun Jian shouting his name and ran over. Yun Jian pushed all the windows up. Liu Xia and another The classmate got in through the car window and was yelled at by the staff on the platform a few times, but there were too many people and the staff didn't have time to pursue them.

It was difficult to move an inch in the carriage, Liu Xia was very thankful for his decision not to drink water after breakfast.

For many years to come, Liu Xia maintained the habit of not drinking water about ten hours before boarding the train, and only eating a little hard food, so as not to go to the toilet on the train.

And this habit of his made the person who was the most important in his life and who was by his side his whole life feel distressed.

At Yuancheng Station, he still came down from the window, and the staff at Yuancheng Station didn't even have time to yell at him, because they were working together to push passengers who couldn't fit onto the train like sacks.

Liu Xia and the others were seated in the middle of the carriage. If he didn't jump out of the window, Liu Xia probably would have to be dragged to Kyoto.

As the flow of people walked out of the station, the winter morning had not yet arrived. In the neon-flashing morning mist, a familiar local accent came: "Rongze Rongze Color Gold Factory, start driving soon..."

Liu Xia seemed to smell the familiar smell of home, he strode away and ran towards the bus stop.