The village chief picked up the letter and said, "Third brother, I came here just to read the letter."
Shen Jianfeng had not seen their letters either. He opened the paper bag and took out snacks and gave each of the two children a piece. Looking at the two dark and thin children, he felt sad.
When a man works hard outside and his wife runs away at home, the father and the two little ones are left. You can imagine how difficult life is.
The two children held their hands behind each other and did not take it. "Take it, uncle bought it for you."
The two children still refused to accept the letter. By this time, they had finished reading the letter. Cheng Erlin was not illiterate before. He had better study in the army. Being able to write letters is already good.
Father Cheng burst into tears, "Okay, okay, as long as he lives."
The village chief patted Father Cheng on the back and said, "As long as the third brother and Erlin are fine, don't cry. Wait for him to come back and be filial to you."
"Yeah, yeah, look, I'm so excited when I heard the news."
"Xiao Liang, Xiao Jing, you two go on to have some snacks."
The village chief spoke, but the two children still didn't answer, but looked at Father Cheng.
"Take it quickly, your uncle gave it to you, not anyone else's."
The two children timidly took the peach cakes, and the first thing they did was bring them to Father Cheng's mouth.
"If you don't want to eat, I won't eat. You two will eat. Xiaoliang, after you finish eating, go boil water and let your uncle drink the water."
"Uncle, there's really no need for that."
"Yes, yes, it's not easy to come home. Let's go after dinner."
The village chief stood up and said, "Third brother, I'm going back. My comrades will go to my house for dinner at noon. I'll let them prepare now."
"The village chief really doesn't need it. There are still several letters that haven't been delivered. I'll talk about it later when I have the opportunity."
"Comrade, you can't be polite. Even if you are delivering a letter, you still have to eat. Third brother, you will take Xiaoliang and Xiaojing home for dinner later."
Shen Jianfeng stood up quickly, "Village Chief, I'm not polite. It's really a family emergency. I came back yesterday and will finish delivering the letter today."
Finally, the village chief said a few polite words before leaving.
Xiaoliang carefully ate a piece of peach cake and then went out to boil water. It was very painful to see the actions of the two children.
He did it because his wife was capable, otherwise their mother-in-law's life would have been difficult. Thinking of this, Shen Jianfeng felt full of frustration.
"Comrade, how is Erlin doing now?"
"Uncle, he was very good when I came here."
"That's enough, comrade, you can bring this money back to him, so that our third son can work and have food to eat. It's not easy outside, and we can't do it without money."
Shen Jianfeng shook his head, "Uncle, he has no place to spend money. Don't be too tired when you get the money back."
Father Cheng sighed, "How about it? I don't know how many years I can live. I just hope that I can live to see my son, so that my two children will not have no one to take care of them one day."
Shen Jianfeng frowned. He was a man who had experienced life and death on the battlefield. He had seen too much and felt that Father Cheng was indeed not very good.
Looking at Xiao Liang who came in with a bowl and the little girl clinging to the old man, "Uncle, Xiao Liang, Xiao Jing, I will tell you my home address. If we are not at home, you can go to the village chief and we will definitely make arrangements."
Take care of you, my wife will take care of the children when she comes back."
Father Cheng smiled happily, "Xiao Liang and Xiao Jing, do you remember you? Your uncle's home address."
The two children repeated it.
Shen Jianfeng nodded, "Okay, if you have any trouble, just go and find it."
After saying that, he stood up and said, "Uncle, I have to go to Zhou Jikuan's house to deliver a letter. There are several letters that have not been delivered today, so I won't leave any more."
Father Cheng grabbed Shen Jianfeng and said, "Comrade, you'd better not tell Erlin about the situation at home and just say everything is fine."
Shen Jianfeng nodded, "Okay, I understand."
Xiaoliang led him to the door of Zhou Jikuan's house.
"Uncle, it's right here."
"Well, Xiaoliang, remember that uncle's home is where you can get through any difficulties. You are the brother and you have to take care of your sister.
Now that you're older, I'm not afraid to tell you that if your grandfather dies and you can't live in the village, just go to my house. Arrangements will be made there."
"Uncle, my father will not die." Xiao Liang said firmly.
Shen Jianfeng almost shed tears after hearing what the child said. "Okay, but you still have to remember what uncle said. Go back and take good care of your grandfather and sister."
After watching the child run away, Shen Jianfeng called the door.
At this time, cooking had already started, and some family members came out when they heard the noise.
"Is this Zhou Jikuan's family?"
"Yeah, who are you?" a young man asked.
"Zhou Jikuan asked me to bring back the letter."
At this time, a woman wearing an apron came out and said, "I am Zhou Jikuan's wife."
Shen Jianfeng saw that he had no intention of going in by himself, so he popped out a letter from his arms.
The woman Hen took it casually and turned around, followed by the man.
Shen Jianfeng felt something was wrong, very wrong. He looked at a little girl peeking at him not far away and waved.
The little girl actually pointed to the corn stalks in the distance, and Shen Jianfeng nodded and walked over.
After waiting for a while, the little girl ran over.
"Who are you?"
"My father is Zhou Jikuan."
"Yes. You must be his daughter. Your father has told me about you."
"My father is still alive, right?"
"Yes, your father is still alive."
"But my mother was lying in bed with my second uncle and said that my father was dead and that the younger brother my mother gave birth to was also my second uncle's child."
Shen Jianfeng looked at the little girl in surprise, and was glad that he didn't take out the twenty yuan.
"What's your name? How old are you?"
"My name is Da Niu, and I am seven years old this year."
Shen Jianfeng nodded, "Now that you know your father is fine, what do you want to do?"
The little girl looked at Shen Jianfeng calmly: "Uncle, can I go find my dad?"
"No." Shen Jianfeng shook his head.
"Why?" the little girl asked calmly.
Shen Jianfeng felt strangely hungry. How could he feel like talking to an adult? What this girl showed was not what a seven-year-old country child should look like.
"Big girl, why are you so different?"
"You are the second person to say that about me."
"Who is the first one?" Although he is anxious, this matter still needs to be solved. The fellow countryman has been living and dying outside and cannot come back. He is here. If he knows this matter, he can't pretend not to know.
"It's my aunt. I've been living with her all this time. I heard that someone was looking for Cheng Erlin, so I came back to have a look."
"Then can you take me to meet your aunt?"
The little girl nodded, and Shen Jianfeng followed her to the northernmost part of the village. It was far away from other houses and very close to the river. It didn't feel like a house in the village.
"Auntie, someone has sent a letter from my father." The little girl called as she entered the room.
