Early in the morning, before dawn, Xu Qingzhi went out for a run.
At five or six o'clock, I met many children on the road, carrying heavy schoolbags, rushing to school in groups of two or three under the dim light of the sky.
When Xu Qingzhi was in elementary school, he went to Daji Village for grades 1 to 4. It was closer to Taoshui Village and only took ten minutes to walk.
At that time, many places did not have complete access roads, and children from farther away had to travel over mountains and ridges to study.
Later, when she was in the fifth or sixth grade, she had to go to Qingquan Village, a little further away, to finish elementary school. She originally rode a bicycle to finish her elementary school education, but then she fell on a downhill slope because her brakes broke, so she had to live on campus in the sixth grade.
Now when I see these children rushing to go to school, I always have a very special sense of time passing.
There were a few bold children on the road who took the initiative to greet Xu Qingzhi in dialect: "Sister, are you going to study too?"
Xu Qingzhi shook his head and said: "I have graduated and am running to exercise."
"Why don't you get up so early if you don't study? My brother has to sleep at home until noon every day. He is such a lazy pig." Another child started to complain about his own brother with a disgusted look on his face.
Children's emotions are always displayed on their faces, even the expression of disgust makes people feel innocent and vivid.
Xu Qingzhi smiled.
Far away, several dogs barked.
The three children immediately grasped each other's hands.
"It must be that dog again!"
"I'm so scared, what should I do? I don't dare to go there."
"The last time I passed by, this dog ran after me, which scared me to tears."
The children started chatting with each other, and even the pace of walking forward began to slow down hesitantly.
Xu Qingzhi looked forward and saw a big dog standing at the intersection of the small road leading to a house and the main road.
The house at the end of the road was dimly lit with dim lights. This dog must be a guard dog. It rushed over when it saw someone.
Xu Qingzhi stood in front of the children, and the dim light from the sky slanted her shadow down, covering the children.
She said warmly: "Don't be afraid, I will send you there."
The next second, her left hand was timidly pulled up by a small hand, and Xu Qingzhi's palm felt warm.
"Sister, that dog is very fierce and can bite people." The child's eyes became timid, and he passed on the secrets taught by his parents: "My parents said, don't look at the dog when you pass by it.
, if you look at a dog, the dog will bite."
Several children were so scared and moved behind Xu Qingzhi.
The big dog was "barking, barking" vigorously one second, but Xu Qingzhi glanced at it the next second. Halfway through the barking, his voice turned into a whimper, and he hurried home with his tail between his legs.
When the children saw the dog running away, they breathed a long sigh of relief and hurried on faster.
Xu Qingzhi was also afraid of dogs when she was a child. Many of the dogs in the village were off-leash. When she passed someone's house while riding her bicycle to school, the dog jumped at her, scaring her so much that she almost fell off the curb. Later, every time she passed by that house, she would always worry and think, that dog must not be there, and then she would cycle faster.
If unfortunately the dog is there, the dog will always chase her for dozens of meters, as if it is happy to hear her cry out of fear.
Because once she looked back with tears in her eyes, the smelly dog stood there and smiled at her back, wagging its propeller-like tail excitedly.
Xu Qingzhi looked at the children in front of him and took out a few pieces of candy from his pocket.
"Here, I'll give you something delicious to eat to calm down the shock."
This is a candy made from honey in space. It is much more delicious than all the messy additive candies on the market.
Xu Qingzhi doesn't eat it often, and only takes one occasionally.
The children were not wary of strangers at all, so they happily took it and said thank you, sister.
Xu Qingzhi happened to be taking a walk, so he simply followed them all the way to school, passing by Daji Primary School. Several children had not stopped walking.
She asked them curiously; "Aren't you going to school? Aren't you going over there?"
A child looked at the direction Xu Qingzhi was pointing and said, "The school over there disappeared a few years ago. We all have to go to the primary school in the town to study."
Xu Qingzhi's eyes dimmed.
Town, how far is it?
She didn't go to town to study, she just rode a tricycle to pick up the express delivery. Just riding a tricycle took dozens of minutes.
I'm afraid I won't be able to walk to school until dawn.
Xu Qingzhi accompanied them all the way to the school. Many students came to the school gate, and many parents also sent them on motorcycles.
Times are progressing, and more and more young people are going to cities to develop, and they are also bringing their children into the city.
There are not as many children in the village as there were when Xu Qingzhi was a child, and there are no schools. The few left-behind children who are forced to stay at home have to go to schools farther away in order to study.
Careful parents will also give gifts to their children. If there are only grandparents and there is no transportation at home, there is no way to give them away.
Xu Qingzhi remembered how she was afraid of running into a dog countless times when she was a child. She cried so hard that she came home and told her parents that she had run into that dog again.
Perhaps, she can also do some meaningful things in her retirement life.