My mother said that she would come back to see her father often, and she didn’t have to move all her belongings. Pots and pans were easy to break on the road, and it wouldn’t cost much to buy new ones in the county town.
More than a dozen sheep and more than 30 chickens were sold to the old Hou family, a big farmer in the village. My mother only kept dozens of eggs, three big hens and a big rooster to hatch the chicks.
On the early morning of the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, all the young girls in the village, who had grown up playing with willow roots and willow branches, heard that the Liu family was moving to the county town, so they all came to help. Food and heavy objects were pulled by donkey carts, and other lighter items were pulled by donkey carts.
Household items are carried on the shoulders of others.
Although the family was poor, they still had a lot of things. Twenty or thirty young men and girls, plus two donkey carts, headed for the countryside on the ice and snow on the mountain roads.
My mother had inconvenient legs, so she and Liu Zhi were sitting on a donkey cart. Mother and daughter were holding chickens in their arms, and their legs were covered with quilts.
The younger girls roared to Xintianyou, and their songs echoed among the barren mountain ridges.
In the countryside, Liu Gen hired a farm truck, entertained the enthusiastic young girls at a mutton steamed bun noodle restaurant, and then set off towards the county town.
"How happy it would be if dad were alive." Liu Zhi suddenly thought of her dead dad, her nose became sour and she shed tears. She and her mother were sitting in the cab of the car.
"After your father fell ill, he hasn't been to the city for many years." Mother also felt sad, hugged Liu Zhi into her arms, stroked her black hair and said, "Liu Zhi, from now on, our mother and daughter will
, Don’t let your brother be dragged down. This province is important. The county is not as expensive as ours. My mother grows vegetables and raises chickens, which is enough to support my mother and I. It doesn’t cost your brother’s hard-earned money.”
Then Liu Gen in the back carriage said to Xiangzi: "From now on, every month, at least I have to send a thousand and a half to my mother and Liu Zhi. I can't let my mother work as hard as in the village anymore. I have lost my father and can't do it anymore."
Because of money, I also asked my mother to leave me... The two of us will make more money, save money, and wait until Liuzhi graduates from high school and is admitted to college. At that time, we will take my mother to live in Nanhai."
"Brother Gen, even if we open a restaurant, we must be mentally prepared to not make any money for the first few months." Xiangzi said with a trembling voice.
"I thought about this, but I can't lose the money I give to my mother and Liu Zhi every month just because of this." Liu Gen did some calculations. He could earn a thousand yuan a month for his work in the anatomy room, and every month of the football team
With a monthly subsidy of 800 yuan, I can earn more than 1,000 yuan a month by carrying a dead person. If I open a restaurant, I no longer have to eat in the canteen. I can save several hundred yuan in living expenses every month. I can send money to my mother and Liuzhi every month.
, there is no problem, but if the business cannot make any money in a year and a half, what he will use to supplement it is what he is most worried about.
However, Xiangzi has his own plan. Even if he loses money for a year and a half, he is ready to make up for the loss, but he doesn't want to tell Yanagan now.
The car drove directly into the gate. When my mother saw such a big yard, she said: "It's bigger than our land!" When the three brothers and sisters moved the things in the car into the house, my mother surrounded them.
After walking around the three floors, he came back and said to Liu Gen: "How come you built a chicken coop for such a big house? You can raise hundreds of chickens in those empty rooms."
When Yanagi Gen and Xiangzi heard this, they thought, yes, only two rooms and a kitchen were renovated on three floors. There were more than a dozen rooms left, and they could all be used to raise chickens.
What my mother is most concerned about is the eggs and hens she brought from her home in Gangou Village. She found some thatch in the yard, chose a room, made three nests for the chickens, and placed the eggs in the nests.
, put the three hens to work.
The building was not as warm as the cave dwelling. Liu Gen plugged in the electric heater and asked his mother to stay in the house. Liu Gen and Xiangzi went to the street and bought pots and pans. Liu Zhi started cooking in the kitchen, burning briquettes.
At least we have settled down at home.
"Mom, Xiangzi and I will return to Nanhai on the tenth day of the lunar month." Liu Gen said to his mother while eating: "Tomorrow I will take you to the hospital and let the doctor take a good look at your feet. It is time for injections and medicine. You must insist on treatment without delay.
Well, good days are waiting for you in the future. Liuzhi, you have to supervise your mother to cure the problem on her legs. After school starts, you can bring Jia Hehuan to live here. We will take care of each other and treat her like a biological sister.
Before going to bed at night, remember to close the door...and keep a vicious dog to guard the house..."
"It's not easy for you two brothers outside. Don't worry about things at home. The conditions here are better than those in Gangou Village. As long as my mother can still walk around, she won't be hungry... From now on, there is no need to send money back to Liuzhi.
"It's gone..." A mother is worried when her son travels thousands of miles away. As a mother, who doesn't feel sorry for her children, but she can't always keep them by her side.
My mother has rheumatoid arthritis, which is the root cause of the disease caused by years of hard work. She mainly focuses on reducing pain and keeping warm to prevent it. It is not easy to cure the root cause. Liu Gen made a pair of knee pads from sheepskin and asked her to tie them.
I also bought an electric blanket for my legs and knees and spread it on my mother’s wooden bed.
After Xiangzi went to work at a government agency, he went out alone for an afternoon to apply for a new land and property certificate and gave it to his mother to keep.
After settling in with their mother and sister, on the evening of the tenth day of the lunar month, Liu Gen and Xiangzi ate the mutton-filled dumplings made by their mother and went out with the white flour pancakes made by their mother (this time, my mother specially used white flour).
Continue the journey to Nanhai City.
It was very different from the last time the two of them went out to the South China Sea.
The first time Xiangzi left Qiong County was to escape. At that time, his future was uncertain and his life and death could not be known. Now he has a pursuit and a purpose. With Liu Gen by his side, Xiangzi has great ambitions and great pride.
And Liu Gen is no longer the silly boy who came to the provincial capital for the first time. There is a little more manly fortitude and decisiveness in his unruly eyes. The burden in his heart to support his mother and sister has given him more.
A bit calm and melancholy.
Early the next morning, I arrived at the provincial capital train station and queued up to buy tickets. The tickets for the day were sold out and there were only standing tickets for the next day. Although the scalpers had a lot of hard-seat tickets, Liu Gen was still reluctant to spend more money to buy tickets.
I bought it from a dealer and used my student ID card to buy two standing tickets for the next day. I just had time to go to the Second Labor Camp to see Jia Hekai.
Liu Gen had already inquired about the address and the bus he wanted to take. After buying the ticket, it was still early. The two brothers took their luggage and bought it at the bus station to a place called Huangping on the outskirts of the Second Labor Camp.
It's a bit far from the city, it takes more than two hours by car.
Huangping is a town, and the largest unit is the Second Labor Reform Farm. Liu Gen and Xiangzi easily asked about the location of the farm.
The two of them chewed their mother's cakes and walked two or three miles. When they arrived at the farm headquarters and asked, they found out that the place where Jia Hekai was reforming was the third team, which specialized in herding sheep and cattle. It was at the foot of the mountain more than ten miles away.
Vehicles could only come and go on foot, and it took more than an hour to arrive. However, Jia He and others had gone to graze their cattle and were not there. They had to wait until the sun was about to set before returning.
Liu Gen didn't want to wait that long, so he asked Jia Hekai where he was grazing, left his bag in the office of the labor reform team, and walked with Xiangzi halfway up the mountain.
This is indeed a good place to rehabilitate prisoners. There is no human habitation around. On the hillside, withered grass trembles in the cold wind, and cattle and sheep can be seen everywhere gnawing on the dead grass.
Jia Hekai and six other prisoners, responsible for more than 200 sheep and more than 50 oxen, sat on a sunny hillside to bask in the sun.
Armed policemen carrying a slight charge on their backs lazily guarded the main road on the hilltop. The prisoners looked after the cattle and sheep, and the armed police looked after the prisoners.
The arrival of Yanagine and Xiangzi alerted the leading lieutenant, who came down from a hill to stop them: "Stop, what are you doing?"
Liu Gen handed the note from the team headquarters to the second lieutenant. The second lieutenant was wearing a military coat, cotton hat and cotton gloves. He took a look at the note Liu Gen handed him and shouted through the intercom: "Bring Jia Hekai to me.
There are relatives and friends visiting." Liu Gen and Xiangzi were not allowed to go up any further.
Ten minutes later, Jia Hekai and an armed police soldier came down the hillside. They were more than ten meters apart. The soldier did not hold a gun behind Jia Hekai, but just followed him down.
Jia Hekai was wearing a gray cotton coat and trousers, covered with dust, and a black woolen hat on his head. He crossed his hands and inserted them into his cuffs. He saw Liu Gen and Xiangzi from a distance, and recognized Liu Gen at a glance, but he didn't
I was so excited that I ran down, but walked slowly to a few meters in front of me, stopped, stood at attention, and reported.
"Report to the captain! Jia Hekai has been ordered to report to you!" Jia Hekai said loudly with his hands close to his legs and his head raised without squinting.
"Jia Hekai, your relatives and friends are here to visit. You are allowed to talk for half an hour. Dismiss!" the second lieutenant ordered loudly.
"Yes! Thank you, captain!" Jia Hekai put his feet together and bowed to the second lieutenant, then faced Liu Gen and Xiangzi and ran over with a smile.
"Liu Gen..." Jia Hekai shouted: "How are my father and sister?"
Liu Gen held his hands tightly with Jia Hekai's and looked him up and down for a while before replying: "Much stronger. Your sister and my sister Liu Zhi are very close and live together. My sister said, your father's
My body has recovered and I can work."
Jia Hekai had tears in his eyes: "Thank you, Liu Gen. I have more than half a year to be released from prison. My positive performance has reduced my sentence by ten months."
"This is Xiangzi, a good brother of mine." Liu Gen introduced to Jia Hekai: "Xiangzi, this is the Jia Hekai I told you."
"Hello, did you leave the scar on Brother Gen's face? Haha... When you are released from prison, I will also leave a scar on your face!" Xiangzi doesn't like Jia Hekai very much. That's because Liu Gen
Scars on face.
"Don't leave me a scar, even if it kills me, I, Jia Hekai, have nothing to say." Jia Hekai patted his chest and said.
His words made Xiangzi feel a little admiration in his heart: "What you said, Brother Gen and I did not make this trip in vain!"
The three of them sat down on the ground, and Liu Gen asked: "It's more than half a year until you are released from prison. What do you plan to do after you are released from prison?"
"I have already thought about it. After I am released from prison, I will go to Nanhai to work and be with you." Jia Hekai didn't even want to answer.
"Okay, I'll wait for you." Liu Gen smiled and glanced at Xiangzi: "In the future, Xiangzi, you will have a good helper!"
"How many cattle and sheep do you raise? Are all the cattle and sheep in this mountain farm?" Xiangzi asked, looking at the cattle and sheep around him.
"There are thousands of sheep and thousands of cattle. Every year, cattle and sheep traders come to the farm to buy them in batches and make a lot of money for the farm!" Jia Hekai replied.
"Have any prisoners escaped?" Xiangzi glanced at the armed police not far away and asked in a low voice.
"The herders are those who have committed relatively minor crimes or are about to be released from prison. No one will escape. They are quite free!" Jia Hekai replied.