Let Wu Jialei drive back and take his parents back to prepare some things, while Xia Zekai and the others follow behind and return along the original road.
On the road, I saw many people driving towards this way. When someone saw him, they stopped the car, lowered the car window, and said hello to him happily.
Many people shouted: "Brother Kai, let's have a drink after we finish our work."
It was obvious that there were quite a few people in Xiajiazhuang who wanted to give him a sip of wine.
There are many people in the 'Xiajiazhuang WeChat Group' who had originally planned to travel, but now they have given up their plans.
There were also some people who had already set off, and they were still in the group, shouting to go back, and they must take this opportunity to get Xia Zekai drunk.
After turning onto the main road, Xia Zekai also said: "Daughter-in-law, do you feel cold? Why do I feel a bit chilly? Many people look at me with wrong eyes. These things are going to eat me."
"Well, if I chop you up and put it in the pot, can I get 100 kilograms of meat?" Luo Xiyun teased him.
Seeing Xia Zekai chasing her, Luo Xiyun ran forward quickly.
It was obvious at this time that it was very wise for her to wear flat sneakers. If she wore high heels, she would not be able to run.
Behind, Yatou and Qingyu covered their eyes, and the two sisters shouted: "Mom and dad are already so old, and they are still flirting, so they are not afraid of embarrassment."
Jing Ling said: "Sister, what do you know? This is the brilliance of dad. Look at mom, she didn't escape from his grasp."
"Get out of here, you little brat, you know nothing." Tongtong suddenly raised his leg and kicked him lightly on the butt, causing Jing Ling to run forward several steps.
But Jing Ling didn't care at all. He said: "Sister, I'm not bragging to you. When I was looking for a girlfriend, you..."
"It's really not possible!" Jing Ling let out a look of contempt.
His sister is so beautiful, but no boy pursues her. What a waste!
Let's say that Xia Zekai and Luo Xiyun were having a fight. When they passed one of the houses, Xia Zekai suddenly stopped and stopped running.
He turned his head and looked at the figure that had just passed by the door next to him, and fell into deep thought.
"Zekai, what's wrong?" Luo Xiyun, who was running ahead, couldn't hear the movement and looked back at him.
"Daughter-in-law, I seem to have seen an acquaintance. You take them home first, and I'll go in and say a few words." Xia Zekai said.
He turned around and walked towards the open door next to him.
Unlike other small two-story houses, this family still has the original bungalow building. However, the house has been renovated and looks quite good. It is just that there is no decoration and the exterior wall is still cement gray.
What I saw along the way with Xia Zekai always seemed a bit out of place.
The next moment, Xia Zekai stepped in and shouted: "Gao Yong, are you at home?"
He was afraid that he had identified the wrong person and was not sure.
In my memory, Gao Yong and he were classmates in elementary school. The two even competed for class president, but they had a good time in school.
At that time, Gao Yong was cheerful and optimistic.
Later, when everyone was working, Xia Zekai returned to Xiajiazhuang and met him by chance. He remembered that Gao Yong was also a energetic young man at that time, and even dragged him to drink at home.
But the man Xia Zekai just saw was unkempt and had long hair. On an April day, when he should have been wearing a singlet and short sleeves, he was still wearing a cotton coat.
Afraid of admitting the wrong person, Xia Zekai shouted again.
"Gao Yong, I'm Xia Zekai, is it you?" Xia Zekai shouted again.
This time an old lady was called out, and Xia Zekai recognized her, Gao Yong's second aunt.
At this moment, Xia Zekai confirmed that the person just now was Gao Yong.
"Who are you? What's wrong?" the old lady asked him.
Xia Zekai hurriedly said: "Aunt, I am Xia Zekai. I am here to see Gao Yong. He is probably at home."
"Xia Zekai, why do you sound so familiar to me?" The old lady muttered for a while, then remembered it, and forced a smile on her face: "Oh, it's you, the child of brother Wei Cheng's family, you and our Gao Yong are classmates.
Right, we used to go to school together."
"Yes, yes, aunt, what happened to Gao Yong?" Xia Zekai asked quickly.
"He?" The old lady sighed, her tone full of sadness: "Hey, he was stimulated. His second uncle passed away a few years ago, and his father also passed away two years ago. He can't bear the blow."
The old lady pointed to her head and said, "The doctor said he's a little messed up here, but he's fine."
"Kaikai, you are his classmate. Go in and persuade him. Tell him what to do if he is still so young." The old lady felt powerless.
Too many things happened at home, which were a blow to her, but the only nephew left to depend on became like this, so she had to be stronger.
"Auntie, let me go take a look." Xia Zekai followed the house pointed by the old lady and entered the door.
When he opened the door, he smelled the rancid smell of long-term air suffocation. He also saw a dark figure curled up on the only bed in the room.
Seeing him come in, the figure subconsciously curled up tighter and subconsciously covered his head with his hands.
Some incomprehensible sounds came from his mouth.
Xia Zekai never expected that his former classmate and childhood playmate would turn out like this.
"Gao Yong, I am Xia Zekai, the Xia Zekai who competed with you for class president in the first grade, do you still remember it?" Xia Zekai shouted.
"Uh huh..." Gao Yong shook his head, trembling all over and looking a little scared.
Xia Zekai took two steps back and said, "I am your old classmate. I won't hurt you, so don't be afraid."
"Gao Yong, remember when you came back from Jicheng, you invited me to drink when we met, do you still remember?"
"Hey, drink, drink!" Gao Yong, who was curled up on the bed, suddenly jumped off. He searched all over the room and finally pulled out a box of beer from the end of the bed.
He took two bottles of wine and pulled out an apple. One bottle of wine and one apple were handed to Xia Zekai, while the other bottle of wine was kept for himself.
With a silly smile on his face, he looked at Xia Zekai and shouted with a smile: "Drink, drink, drink!"
As he spoke, he bit open the bottle cap with his teeth and drank from the mouth of the bottle.
If he didn't look like this, he would look particularly free and easy when drinking like this.
"..."
Xia Zekai couldn't figure out how the energetic young man in his impression and the somewhat silly and sloppy middle-aged man in front of him merged into one figure.
But he didn't care about the dust on the bottle, he also held up the bottle and said: "Gao Yong, we were very good friends when we were in elementary school, and we were classmates at the same table. Teacher Wang asked you to be the monitor. I refused to accept it and made you
The squad leader was robbed."
"I don't know if you still remember me, but we had a drink together, and it wasn't the same time. I'll have another drink with you today."
After finishing speaking, Xia Zekai wiped the mouth of the bottle twice and opened the cap with his teeth. He gestured to Gao Yong and said softly: "I did it too!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Xia Zekai drank the bottle cleanly.
At the end, he held the wine bottle upside down and said, "Gao Yong, I drank."
"Fruit, fruit, eat it!" Gao Yong pointed at the apple in Xia Zekai's hand and said with a smile.
Xia Zekai held the apple and stretched out his hand: "I'm not hungry, you can eat it."
"Eat, eat!" Gao Yong pushed his hand back again.
The dust on Gao Yong's hand got on Xia Zekai's hand, leaving an obvious black mark.
After Gao Yong saw it, he was a little panicked. He quickly put down the empty wine bottle and reached out to help Xia Zekai clean it, but the more he wiped it, the dirtier it became. Finally, he became a little anxious.
Xia Zekai held his hand and said, "It's okay, just wash it off and it'll be fine."
"Hehe, hehehe!" Gao Yong heard him say this and it became like this again.
Xia Zekai couldn't persuade him at first glance. Seeing that the expression on Gao Yong's face didn't change much, he came out holding an apple and two empty wine bottles.
When he saw the old lady waiting outside, Xia Zekai asked: "Auntie, can Gao Yong's condition be cured?"
"I went to the hospital and the doctor said he was irritated and gave him an injection. He was so scared that he pulled out the needle and stuck it on the doctor. He didn't dare to stay there anymore, so he came back," the old lady said.
Xia Zekai said "Oh" and just when he was thinking of saying something, someone called him from outside: "Dad, are you done? Everything is packed. Let's go to Grandpa's grave."
Tongtong came in through the doorway.
When she saw the old lady, she called out "grandma" obediently.
"Oh, you are such a beautiful girl, wait a minute, I will wash the apples for you to eat." The old lady turned around and went to Gao Yong's house.
Xia Zekai suddenly raised his hand and looked at the apple in his hand. Based on what the old lady just said, he suddenly realized one thing. This might be the best snack in their house.
"Are you all here?" Xia Zekai asked her daughter.
Tongtong said "Hmm" and said, "We are all waiting in the car at the door. Dad, let's go."
"Leave now!" Xia Zekai didn't stay any longer. He glanced at the yard, walked to a chair, put the apple in his hand on the chair, and put the wine bottle at the gate. There were many bottles.
He shouted into the room again: "Auntie, I'm leaving first. When I'm done, I'll come over to see Gao Yong."
"Wait a minute, eat an apple first!" After hearing this, the old lady came out with a yellow-skinned apple in her hand. The apple looked shriveled and shrunk, and the skin was full of wrinkles.
When she looked again, there was no one in the yard.
Gao Yong, who was hiding in the room, was looking out through the window glass in a daze at the moment, not knowing what he was thinking.
…………
Xia Zekai got into the car, still thinking about what happened just now.
Wang Yi drove directly towards Xia Zekai's grandma's grave.
After running with Xia Zekai so many times, he already knew the way.
Luo Xiyun saw something was wrong with her husband's expression and asked him: "Zekai, what happened?"
"I just met an acquaintance." Xia Zekai briefly told his wife.
His father Xia Weicheng, who was sitting behind him, suddenly said: "I also heard about this when I was talking to people in the village on the phone. His second uncle died of gastric cancer, and his father seems to have died of esophageal cancer."
"Fucking tuberculosis, it's been going on for more than ten years!"
"Hey, dad, what do you think this is called?" Xia Zekai felt very complicated after hearing this: "The hemp rope is specially cut at the thinnest places, and bad luck only seeks out the poor!"
"Zekai, are you okay?" Luo Xiyun reached out with some worry and held his hand, turning a blind eye to the dirt and dust on his hands.
Xia Zekai shook his head and gave his wife a reassuring smile: "It's okay, don't worry!"
Wang Yi drove and arrived at the place in less than twenty minutes.
I don't know if it was a coincidence, but when they came over, they happened to meet my aunt visiting a grave here.
Zhou Yun was also stunned when she saw the car that suddenly appeared and the second sister, brother-in-law and Xia Zekai's family who got out of the car.
"Sister, brother-in-law, when did you come back?" Zhou Yun asked quickly.
She then greeted Luo Xiyun and several children.
Xia Zekai was talking to his uncle Zhang Jun and cousin Zhang Peng.
"Don't tell me in advance when you come back. Don't leave at noon. Come to my house for dinner." Uncle Zhang Jun said directly.
Xia Zekai looked at his uncle's old face and white hair, and realized that they were all older.
He smiled and said: "Uncle, I don't plan to leave either. I'm just thinking of having a meal with you."
Cousin Zhang Peng said: "Dad, why don't we go to a restaurant in town to eat? It's more convenient."
"That's okay, we'll go straight over when we finish our work later," my uncle said.
Xia Zekai and the others can do whatever they want.
After finishing their work, they went to town together.
Xia Zekai had originally planned to go to his aunt's house for a visit, but now that it happened, he no longer had to make a special trip.
In a hotel in the town with the name 'Fuxing Hotel', my cousin Zhang Peng went to ask for a private room and came in with a plastic-wrapped menu.
He asked his uncle and second aunt to order a few dishes, and then asked his younger brother and sister-in-law Luo Xiyun and a few children to order a few dishes. He simply ignored Xia Zekai and made up some of the best dishes in the restaurant.
While waiting for the food to be served, they started chatting.
We haven’t seen each other for more than two years. When we occasionally video-recorded, the beauty in the videos concealed their old faces. I didn’t realize it at the time, but today I saw that my uncle and aunt had half their hair gray.
Age is evident everywhere.
Mother Zhou Yinghong held her aunt's hand: "Yun, why do you have so many white hairs on your head?"
Zhou Yun looked at the white hair on the second sister's head and smiled: "Second sister, aren't you the same?"
"Don't even look at how old you are." Zhou Yinghong pinched the five fingers of her right hand together and said, "I'm already seventy, what else do I want to think about."
Aunt Zhou Yun shook her head and stretched out her hand. She put it in front of Zhou Yinghong, turned it over and let Zhou Yinghong look at it again, and said: "Second sister, your skin is much better than mine. Take a look."
This is my hand."
Zhou Yinghong also picked up her hand and put it together with her sister's. The difference was obvious.
Zhou Yun's hands have many chapped areas and calluses, which are left over from work.
Although it is indeed profitable to grow dried fruits, the alternation of hot and cold weather throughout the year, as well as exposure to wind and sun, can easily leave traces of time and make your skin look rough.
But Zhou Yinghong has not worked for more than ten years. At most, she only cleans the house and occasionally cooks meals.
But as soon as the nanny at home saw her working, she immediately rushed to do it, and the rest were done in advance, without giving her a chance.
But Zhou Yun is different.
After her husband Zhang Jun retired eight years ago, he followed her in tending the dried fruits in the fields. The old couple worked together. They were a little tired, but their income was high year-round, and they even bought a house for their son in Jicheng.
But if you gain something, you have to give it. The calluses on your hands are the result of giving.
Despite this, my aunt and uncle were still very happy.
Grain already costs just over 1 yuan, but dried fruits cost more than 10 yuan per pound. This difference can be seen at a glance.
"Nowadays, life is getting better and better. In our village, there are many young people who are no longer willing to work outside. They came back and built a second-story house at home. The decoration of the home is no worse than that of the buildings in the city. It is really better than the other.
enjoy."
"You're such a fool as Brother Peng. You can't tell the difference between good and good, and you still have to work as a reporter in Jicheng. You can't make much money all year round, and you don't dare to have a second child." My uncle said with disdain.
He simply looked down upon the little money his son earned from working in Jicheng.
