Stage [Republic of China]

He said to him: "Our brothers left early in the morning before dawn. As for me, I have some things to deal with later; secondly..."

Secondly, it was naturally because of his illness.

Although Uncle Wang hadn't finished speaking, Shui Jiu lowered his eyes and understood every sentence, every word.

"That's it, Mr. Ruohua, don't worry." With the pipe in his mouth, Uncle Wang seemed to have gained some confidence, and suddenly his voice became louder. "I'll have brunch later, and I'll be on my way. Anyway, the place we're going, you know. When you find the place, when will we meet again. At that time, drinking and bragging is fine, hahaha! "

As Uncle Wang said, he laughed awkwardly for a while, and the laughter was very dry.

Shui Jiu raised her eyelids and glanced at Uncle Wang lightly.He reluctantly raised the corners of his lips, and wanted to have a laugh with Uncle Wang, but unfortunately he squeezed the shuttle too tightly, cut his finger, and blood dripped out.

The bright red blood beads rolled into the barren yellow land one by one.

In the end, Shui Jiu couldn't keep up with Uncle Wang, nor could he keep up with Hei Wuchang Shuanzi.It was only six o'clock that day, and several women in Guijia Village started to arrange meals.Around ten o'clock, Uncle Wang ate his breakfast and lunch and set out on the road with his pack on his back.

Uncle Wang was still dressed as he was when he came, and he walked neatly.At the entrance of the village, he waved and laughed at everyone. "Go back, don't send them away!"

Uncle Wang left with great enthusiasm and joy.

These were all told to Shui Jiu vividly by the women of Guijia Village when they came back.Shui Jiu was weaving fishing nets in the yard, and he just lowered his eyelids and smiled when he heard this. Although he is a man, he looks like a young girl when he is here.

He can only be asked to help a few widows in Guijia Village.

Shui Jiu laughed self-deprecatingly.That night he still tossed and turned, unable to sleep, with his pair of clear and phoenix eyes open, silently counting the days in his heart.Everyone is gone, what should he do?

After another seven or eight days, there were only widows and children left in Guijia Village, and it was inconvenient for Shui Jiu to mix in with a man's family.Although he can live alone in an empty house, every time the women call him to rest and recuperate at home, Shui Jiu feels that he is a waste, even worse than these orphans and widows.

He was so thoughtful, he was recuperating from his illness like this, not only failed to heal well, on the contrary, he became weaker and weaker.

"It's not a problem to go on like this."

One night, while adding firewood to the stove, several women said to Shui Jiu, who was chopping firewood outside, "Mr. Ruohua, why don't you go too? Let's get together and pack our clothes. I still have it. It’s the entanglement..."

Shui Jiu was stunned, put down the axe, and raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead.He was tall and thin, with fair skin, and the rough work of chopping wood always felt weird everywhere.

During the period of recuperation, he didn't have any other hobbies, but he inherited a shell cigarette from the widows of Guijia Village.It is said that in the past, the men in Guijiawan had to go out in groups to cut rice and wheat for others every autumn harvest season to earn some food rations.I've been away for a long time, I don't have any ideas, before I leave, I must bring a crock pot of boiled shell smoke from home.Shui Jiu took a sip and said it was shell smoke, but in fact it was more like ointment smoke boiled with tea juice and added with some betel nut powder.The first mouthful of astringent tongue was almost tied, and Shui Jiu almost coughed up half of his life.

The women of Guijia Village took this shell of cigarettes very seriously, and when they packed Shui Jiu's baggage, they stuffed this shell of cigarettes into it again.Shui Jiu had no choice but to smile and said: "If you want to leave, you have to go early in the morning. Sisters-in-law don't need to be so polite!"

"Hey, I'm not being polite, nor are we driving you away." The oldest widow in Guijia Village is seventy-three this year. According to the people in Guijia Village, Shui Jiu also called her Aunt Gui.Aunt Gui is still in good spirits, but her eyes are not working well, she can only see Shui Jiu vaguely, and she always stretches her hands forward habitually when speaking. "Mr. Ruohua, you are a noble person. I heard them say that you are also good-looking, and you will definitely become a rich and noble person in the future. There is nothing to commemorate in our Guijia Village. It is just this shell of cigarettes. In the past, our Guijia Village All the men in the village have to take this with them when they go out."

As Aunt Gui said, she solemnly pumped the shell cigarettes into Shui Jiu's blue cloth fur wrap.

Shui Jiu left Guijia Village at dawn the next morning. Like the rest of the Jiangnan rebels who had boarded here, he also waved his arms when he left, and rushed to Guijia Village, which had been helping the old and the young to the mouth of the mountain. The widows in Jiacun waved and laughed: "Don't give them away! I'll come back to see you when I have some free time."

Aunt Gui sighed, her old face was full of wrinkles, her lips were tightly pressed together.

There is a young daughter-in-law who has always been aggressive, and seeing that everyone is not in a good mood, she continued, "This is a mess, even if Mr. Ruohua really comes back to look for it in the future, maybe even Guijia Village will be gone. Where can we find us?"

Shui Jiu smiled brightly on purpose, and comforted her, "The mountains don't turn around, there will always be a day when we meet again."

"Hey, that's what I said!" The eldest Aunt Gui coughed again, interrupting the little daughter-in-law's complaint. "Going out to ask for a compliment, Mr. Ruohua has traveled a long way this trip, take care of yourself along the way!"

"Ah, Aunt Gui, take care too. My sister-in-laws, take care too."

Shui Jiu bid farewell to the widows of Guijia Village one by one, carrying the burdens that the widows of Guijia Village had arranged for him, and holding a walking stick made of half a dead branch in his hand, he planned to go to the gravel beach first to see if he could get there today. ferry.

Everyone in the Jiangnan Rebels took this section of the road to Jingxi Mansion, and they had already walked for many days. If Shui Jiu wanted to catch up with Shuan Zi or even Uncle Wang, he could only take this fastest road, from the gravel beach ferry.Before he went back and forth, I don't know how many times he got it, the ferry was empty, only the officers and soldiers of the garrison were seen.

But Shui Jiu has always been careful, although the boat did not sail, he discovered a strange thing.

When he went to the teahouse for the last time to find out the news, he found a group of shabby men in ragged clothes, leggings and overshoes coming from all over the gravel beach.This group of people may be in groups of three or four, or a group of more than a dozen people. After sitting down in the teahouse, they do not drink tea, but take out rotten dry steamed buns and eat and drink with cold water from the call.Every time a group of freshmen arrived, they would ask the owner of the teahouse anxiously: "Why isn't the ferry going?"

Several people came to ask questions every day. Later, the owner of the teahouse was so annoyed that he directly hung a sign at the door of the teahouse, which read: The government requisitioned the ferry.

But most of this group of non-local men are illiterate, they gather around the door of the teahouse and point at the sign every day.Someone also begged Shui Jiu to come and see it, so Shui Jiu knew about it and hadn't had time to tell Uncle Wang the day before yesterday.

Today, when the women of Guijia Village handed him shell cigarettes, they mentioned again that in the past, the men of Guijiawan also went out in groups to thresh wheat and harvest grain for others in this season.The speaker had no intention but the listener intended, the words of the women reminded Shui Jiu suddenly.This group of ragged men from other places were probably threshers from various nearby counties.This is indeed a good way!There are always crops of wheat in the field, and someone has to harvest them, not to mention the wars every year, and the shortage of food.

At most, the officials will only delay the investigation for a few days, and they will always let this group of people cross the river to thresh wheat grains.

With this in mind, Shui Jiu went straight to the teahouse.Today, by coincidence, as soon as he arrived, he saw a commotion outside, about seventy or eighty men in sloppy clothes were pushed forward there, each of them was wearing hemp rope, one by one, Just like fried birds.Another dozen or so soldiers with guns were shouting impatiently: "What are you shouting about, what are you shouting about! You said you won't be allowed to cross the river, what's going on now, and you still want to make a lot of money from you guys. You don't want to watch it even if you die!" Watch the day!"

"Master, Lord, we, we are all responsible!" One of the men just pleaded, but was kicked over in an instant.

Shui Jiu arrived just at this time.He also changed into leggings and galoshes on the way, because he was born with cold, white and fine skin. He was afraid that the group of people would not believe that he was also going to threshing wheat, so he wiped his face and arms with mud in advance.Before leaving Guijia Village, he secretly hid some pot ashes and spread them evenly on his face.He originally had a neat, crew-cut haircut, but after traveling all the way from Jibei City, he was sick again, and no one shaved his head for him. Now his hair is uneven, and he looks somewhat sloppy.

Shui Jiu stood outside the crowd with her burden on her shoulders, looking around on tiptoes, her neck stretched out.

Immediately, a soldier saw him and stared at him fiercely. "Look at what! Where did it come from?"

Shui Jiu pretended to be timid and replied, "He's from Xinxiang County, and he's going to cross the river to thresh wheat."

He has lived in Guijia Village for many days, but he has also learned the dialect of this place, and he has learned a lot about imaging.The main reason is the tone, the country atmosphere, and it looks like a countryman nearby when he speaks.

The soldier poked him impatiently with the butt of his gun. "Really a thrasher?"

Shui Jiu staggered from being poked, jingled and clanged, and dropped the pack of loosely held cigarettes from his arms.Keeryan was originally a must-have for threshers, but when the soldier saw Keeryan, he no longer doubted his identity, tilted his head, pouted and said: "Go to the back and line up."

"Row, row what line?" Shui Jiu retreated on her toes, and bent over while trying to pick up the shell cigarettes that fell on the yellow ground, making a pitiful face. "Officer, I, I did nothing wrong!"

"If you want to cross the river, let's go together and line up at the back." The soldier smiled with his mouth tilted. "If you don't want to go, it's up to you."

"Hey, in the past, in the past!" Shui Jiu picked up Keer Cigarettes, and looked back timidly.