After nearly three hours of journey, we finally arrived at the small village where An Lan's father lived since childhood.
After leaving the county town, there is a cement road in the countryside. Although this road is paved with cement, it is very narrow. The road is full of dust and has potholes. It has obviously not been maintained.
Some crops were piled on both sides of the road, drying in the sun, making the already narrow surface even narrower.
Farmers working in the fields can be seen everywhere in the fields, and this place is a typical Guizhou mountain, all the way up and down the mountain.
The 20-kilometer journey from the county seat to the village took more than an hour, and it was already 4:30 in the afternoon when we arrived at the village.
Our car did not drive directly into the village because the road was impassable. The end of this cement road was still a long way from the village, which is enough to show how poor this place is.
We had to get off the car and walk to the village.
Looking up, a large jujube forest spreads in front of me. The jujube forest is shrouded in hazy mist, and the branches are covered with red dates, which are bent.
In addition to jujube trees, most of the land in the jujube forest is planted with peanuts, and there are also sporadic plots with a few vegetables.
The red dates look particularly beautiful against these green leaves.
The empty terraces stretch out section by section to a distance as far as the eye can see. The air is clear and cool, there is no noise of the city, and there is no sight of the rushing traffic and traffic.
There are several men and women in the fields. The women are growing peanuts in the fields, and the men are leading buffaloes to plow the fields.
Everything is so peaceful and beautiful!
After getting off the car, An Lan stopped and stared at the picturesque scenery in front of him for a long time.
Until Xiaoman shouted: "Mom, look at the cow."
An Lan finally came back to his senses, hugged Xiao Man, and said with a smile: "Xiao Man, this is the place where your grandpa was born, doesn't it look good?"
"Well, there are cows and cows, and there are flowers." Xiaoman's childish voice sounded in this beautiful village, which seemed very harmonious.
So we followed An Yifeng and walked towards the village.
An Yifeng reminded: "Sister, brother-in-law, please be careful where you step. It rained a few days ago and this road is not easy to walk on."
This village is really poor, making me feel even poorer than the Yulin Village where I was before.
At least there are good roads in Yulin Village. As the saying goes, if you want to get rich, you must first build roads.
But this village is really hard to describe. It is surrounded by mountains on all sides, and there are also huge mountains that can't be seen at a glance.
The houses in the village are mainly made of earth. Those with a little bit of stone are considered relatively wealthy in the village, let alone brick houses.
There are also very few people in the village. As An Yifeng said, the village is dominated by the elderly and left-behind women.
Young people are basically invisible, but there are quite a lot of left-behind children. It is estimated that young people have gone out to work to earn money.
An Lan couldn't help but asked An Yifeng: "Yifeng, the village is so poor, why didn't the county find a solution?"
An Yifeng sighed and said, "What can we do? Our county is the poorest county in the city, and the county can't do anything."
I took the call and asked, "What about you? Are you also working outside?"
An Yifeng smiled and said: "I was working outside a while ago, but I came back after my father fell ill."
"So, you have been taking care of your second uncle in your hometown?"
"Well, my father is sick and needs someone to take care of him. My mother died in childbirth when she gave birth to me. There is no way. There must be someone in this family to take care of him."
When An Yifeng said this, he didn't say it in a complaining tone. Instead, he said it with a smile. He is quite optimistic.
"Don't you have a sister?" An Lan asked again.
"My sister is married and has her own family."
An Lan said "Oh", she looked a little lonely, maybe because she saw this poor mountain village, or maybe she thought of her father.
After walking for more than ten minutes, we finally arrived at An Lan's father's hometown. It was not a big house, just a very ordinary farmhouse. Fortunately, it was built of stones.
The whole farmhouse looks unremarkable and ordinary, but the yard is quite clean and there are some poultry.
After An Yifeng took out the key and opened the door, he said: "Sister, this is where my uncle used to live, but this house was newly renovated by us. It used to be an adobe house."
An Lan didn't say anything. She walked around the yard solemnly, looking here and there, her eyes full of worries.
"Mom, what's wrong?" Xiaoman asked me, tilting her head.
"Your mother, I guess she misses your father."
"Grandpa?" Xiaoman asked.
"Well, Xiaoman, your mother misses your grandpa very much. This is the place where grandpa was born."
"Oh." Xiaoman doesn't understand anything, but this girl is quite clever.
She immediately ran towards An Lan, grabbed An Lan's hand, and shouted: "Mom, mom, don't be sad, you have Xiaoman, Xiaoman will always be with your mother."
An Lan laughed immediately, and his eyes turned red when he smiled.
She picked up Xiaoman and said, "Okay, our Xiaoman is the best behaved. Mommy will give you a kiss."
I followed An Yifeng to the back room. The furnishings in the room were also very simple, so simple that you can feel poor at a glance.
I even wonder if this is the place where An Jiahua grew up?
If so, then when An Jiahua became so rich later, why didn't he want to change his hometown?
Even if you don't change your hometown, you still have to give some benefits to your biological brother. As the saying goes, if one person achieves enlightenment, chickens and dogs will become immortals.
After An Lan held Xiao Man's hand and walked around the house, she asked An Yifeng: "Yifeng, are you and your second uncle the only ones in the house now?"
"Yes, my dad can't work anymore after he gets sick, so I'm taking care of everything at home."
"By the way," An Yifeng suddenly paused, as if he remembered something, and then said hurriedly, "Sister, let me show you a photo from when you were a child."
"From my childhood?" An Lan asked in surprise.
I was also surprised, so I hurried over.
An Yifeng rummaged through the cabinet and took out a well-preserved but obviously very old photo from the back of the cabinet.
An Yifeng pointed to the child in his arms in the photo and said, "Sister, this is you."
The moment An Lan saw the photo, she immediately cried.
I knew why she was crying, because there was her father and Min Nolan in the photo.
An Yifeng sighed softly and said, "I wasn't born yet, and my mother hadn't passed away yet."
"Yifeng, can you develop a copy of this photo for me?" An Lan said chokingly.
An Yifeng said directly: "Sister, you can take it if you want."
"No, this photo is very precious. I will take it to the city to have a copy developed, and then I will give you the original."
"Anything is fine." An Yifeng nodded.
An Lan kept looking at the photo, and his expression became tender.
I wanted to give her some space, so I called An Yifeng, and we went outside to the yard and started smoking.
I asked An Yifeng without saying a word: "Yifeng, when your uncle was so rich, didn't he support the family?"
An Yifeng replied while smoking: "Yes, my uncle is a very good person. He not only supports the family, but also supports the village and wants to change the village."
"Then why is it still like this?" I couldn't help but ask doubtfully.