1999

Looking at Hu Da's appearance, Wu Jiusheng was speechless.

He had guessed this possible outcome, but after listening to Huda himself, he still felt uncomfortable, as if the deceased was a relative of his own blood.He desperately wants to do something for Huda, but in this situation, what kind of comfort can reach the bottom of a person's heart?That is the past that belongs to Huda. It cannot be changed or denied. Life and family are the most important things in the world. Let's go" came the light words.

Wu Jiusheng walked over and squeezed Hu Da's fingers.

You still have family, not everyone has left you, you still have me.

He felt that at least this meaning, Huda should have received it.Because in the rising dust, Hu Da turned his face, glanced at him with a glint in his eyes, and gently held Wu Jiusheng's hand back.

They spent the night on a bunk bed in the back room, covered with newspapers, covered with bedding they brought, and slept with only their clothes on.

Early the next morning, Huda got a new door lock from outside, repaired the twisted bolt of the door, went to the backyard to chop wood, and started a fire in the ruins as if by magic. some light and heat.

He took a large pot and boiled hot water for Wu Jiusheng to wipe his face and neck, and he dug out a bag of things that had been prepared and tightly bound from the luggage he brought.Now that he opened it, Wu Jiusheng realized that it was a stack of yellow paper, and there were some small things like paper-folded ingots.If Hu Da hadn't dug it out in front of his face, he wouldn't have known that the two of them carried those things on their backs across half of China during the Chinese New Year.

It is reasonable to say that the New Year's Day is to worship the ancestors, but few people have heard that they actually go to the graves in front of the tombs on the top of the mountain, which is a bit strange.

Hu Da came over and asked Wu Jiusheng if he minded, if so, he didn't have to go.He is the only son and grandson of the Hu family, so he can go alone.

Wu Jiusheng felt a little uncomfortable, and the complaint was written all over his face.

"Why do you still need to ask?" He pouted and said, "What kind of only son and only grandson, just to keep me out, so I don't count as a member of your family."

Hu Da originally thought that he had committed a taboo, but he didn't expect the young man to be more vigorous about that statement, which was a bit unexpected.

"How could it be?" He shook his head sincerely, "It's windy, damp and cold in the mountains. I'm afraid you won't be able to bear it."

"How did your family put the ancestral grave in such a place?"

Didn't you check Feng Shui first, at least choose a sunny side.Just as Wu Jiusheng was about to say that, he suddenly remembered that Hu Da's grandmother had a bleak late life. She probably walked away alone and had no relatives by her side. How could anyone care to choose a good place for her to be buried.As soon as he thought of this, he knew that Huda must be uncomfortable again, so he pursed his mouth tightly and said nothing, just grabbed Huda's clothes without loosening them, as if you couldn't get rid of me today, I'm with you Go to the established posture.

So after a simple tidying up and a rest, the two walked around the dirt road to the end of the village and entered the mountain.

Huda is not lying. In such a terrible season, it is indeed cold in the mountains, especially where there is stagnant water. Inexplicably, he stepped on it, causing a handful of soft mud to stick to his feet. The shoes and socks can be completely damp. Wet, take two more steps, it's like walking on ice, you can't even feel your toes.

Hu Da carried Wu Jiusheng on his back for a while. He was afraid that the young man would be bored, so he tried to find some topics to talk to him about his childhood.It is said that there are several big black dogs raised in the village, one of which is the dog king, who can be recognized at a glance when walking on the road, and has fought with dogs in a radius of ten miles, and has never lost.I also talked about naughty boys. I heard the old man in the family recall that when he was starving, he even ate all the cores in the corn cobs, so he stole the corn cobs and peeled off the outer layer of good grain. Put it into a large mill, grind it into powder, fry it in a pan, and then put it in your mouth to chew dryly. The chewing is so spicy that your throat looks for water to drink.There are also competitions in small ponds, squatting barefoot on the shallows of the river bank to move stones, catching small crabs in the crevices of stones, fishing for crayfish, looking for screws...

Hu Da grew up in the era when rice, flour, grain and oil were supplied by ticket. In his life, he had never even eaten baby milk powder, and he didn't know that there were so many good things in the world for children to have fun. His childhood was happy. Very wild, a picture, a few stones on the side of the road can be regarded as novel and rare things, and it was only when he was a teenager that he read the first manga and knew about Akira Toriyama and Dragon Ball, but by then he had passed for a while At an age when he was interested in those things, he became a rebellious young man who was no longer willing to simply dream, and only wanted to make a lot of money to get ahead.

The only person who knows him in this world is his grandmother. She probably already saw Hu Da's restlessness and restlessness. Long before Hu Da left his hometown and went south as an adult, she called Hu Da to her side and gave him the look of her dowry. A gold bracelet and a pair of silver earrings.

Those two items came from the war years, and they were the treasured objects of her life. The earrings were made by Yuan Datou, the only piece left at home during the escape, and found a silversmith. To the grandson, I originally wanted him to bring it and give it to his sweetheart in the future as a dowry gift for the Hu family to marry the granddaughter-in-law.

Maybe a peaceful and virtuous woman can stabilize the impulsiveness of a kid, let his heart settle down, find a place to return to, a home.

It's a pity that the old man's good intentions are not understood by the young and energetic young people.Hu Da hid the remorse in his eyes with a wry smile, and told Wu Jiusheng how ignorant he was at the time. After arriving in Shenzhen, life was very difficult. Before starting a small business from scratch, he found a random shop in order to have some cash on hand. Pawned the bracelet and earrings.

Later, he was imprisoned and released, and he opened a small restaurant. After his life became stable, he briefly thought about whether to entrust him with a relationship, find the pawnshop owner of the year, and see if there is any hope of finding his grandmother. relics.But every time he was about to try to do that, he hesitated in his heart.

He understood his grandmother's wishes.For the elderly, the most important thing is probably not one or two accessories, but the granddaughter-in-law that she longs for as an elder.Those are the descendants of the Hu family, the roots of the Hu family, and they should be passed on from generation to generation without end.

But Huda didn't do it. Even if he recovered those dead objects, he knew that he had let his grandmother down.

That being the case, it would be better not to look for it.Don't think about it, don't go to see her, if you don't go back to your hometown for more than ten years, it seems that as long as you keep avoiding, you don't have to face such difficult embarrassments.

But not now, he came back after all.

Squatting in front of the grave on the Shanyin side, Hu Da burned a whole wad of paper money.He was a little choked up, suppressed it, grabbed the hand of Wu Jiusheng who was standing beside him, and said to the stone tablet in front of him:

"Grandma, this is Xiao Jiu. I'll take him back to have a look. Look, he's pretty good. Really, he's not bad at all."

It's just that she can't be a daughter-in-law, can't give you a child, can't leave the descendants of the Hu family to continue the blood, Wu Jiusheng thought sullenly, he has already said all that Hu Da didn't say in his heart.

"I'm sorry..." He also faced the stone tablet and bowed deeply apologetically.

That night, neither of them fell asleep.

It took more than half a day to go up and down the mountain. I didn't rest for two consecutive days. I was very tired. I was cold and didn't eat well. My legs and feet were sore and weak. I was guarding the dark room with no heat. I just felt that my eyes were raw. pain.Small places and small villages don’t pay much attention to celebrating the New Year. There is no such thing as disturbing the people. Every household sets off whips. It's time to turn the calendar to the new year.

The window panes seemed to be shaking, the bed boards seemed to be shaking, there was no peace in the world, the mountains were shaking and the ground was shaking, and it was impossible to sleep at all.

Wrapped in a big cotton coat, Wu Jiusheng got up from the bed, grabbed a branch by the wall, opened the door and walked towards the kitchen.Apart from the main house where the people live, apart from the firewood room and the stove room, there are two small rooms in the yard. I don’t know what they are used for. Wu Jiusheng wanted to open the door in the middle of the night and walk around.

Hu Da didn't know where he got the desire to explore the secrets at night, and chased the young man down the ground, trying to get him back.

"I chopped the firewood this morning. There is fire in the stove and water in the pot. There is no work for you. What are you doing in the yard?"

"Familiar with the environment." Wu Jiusheng said without turning his head, "I don't know how to use the wood-burning stove in your house, I have to learn how to use it, at least I have to learn how to cook with it. Bar."

"I'm the one who cooks, so what are you worried about?" Hu Da laughed, unable to figure out what was going on with the sudden diligence and persistence in the young man.

Wu Jiusheng didn't take it seriously.

"Sooner or later, it will be used." He replied, "I can't give you a child. You don't have a child. When you get old, you have to take care of it. If you are too old to walk, you want to return to your roots." When I go back to my hometown, I have to learn how to live in this room. I have to cook for you, light a fire for you, wash your clothes for you, and find someone to go up the mountain to show you Fengshui. You will be cold and cold like that in the future, and I don’t need to walk such a long way every time I visit you, the journey takes too long, so I won’t be able to visit you often..."

While the young man was talking, he himself fell silent first.He knew why he didn't want to talk about the following words, it was the details about the future that he had been unwilling to think about——

No matter how good Huda was, at his age, he would always go ahead of himself.After he left, he was bound to live an unaccompanied life for a long time.Now Wu Jiusheng can't imagine how painful that kind of loneliness will be.He could only persuade himself to divert his attention and concentrate on thinking about how to take care of Hu Da in his later years, turning that suffering into the mission of guarding the ancestral house and family for Hu Da.

Huda has no offspring in this life, only him.He must be strong and able to do things better.

Huda's eyes were red.He wondered how he could have forgotten.When he was looking at the young man, he was always worried. The most worrying thing was that he could not spend enough time with him.

Wu Jiusheng has become too sensible recently, he seems to grow up and understand a lot overnight, so that Hu Da will forget that he is actually so young.

Too young, how could he leave the youth alone with peace of mind.

In the darkness, two people were leaning against the wall near the door.They silently leaned against each other, getting closer and closer, and finally developed into a dense and lingering hug for some unknown reason.They hugged each other tightly, so tightly that there was not even room for breathing in their chests, they kissed, in the dark, eyes were not eyes, nose was not nose, nothing could be distinguished, only heavy breathing The air, and the warm and humid face, it is not clear whether it is the saliva from the kiss, or the tight fit, the body is too hot, and sweat is wrung out.

It's Chinese New Year, tomorrow will be the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, and it will be the fifteenth day in a blink of an eye, and it will be another year in a blink of an eye.

The days go by so fast--

"I really want to live a few more years and be with you all the time..." Hu Da unconsciously blurted out that sentence.

Wu Jiusheng punched him.What did he say? It wasn't a terminally ill patient who was about to die.

But he still sniffed and touched the tip of his nose with Huda.

"You keep your word..."

He wanted a promise, as long as Huda gave it, he was willing to write a letter.

"You promised me, then what I promised you will definitely be done, and I will do what I say."