Hometown
The Du family's hometown is Lihua Village.
Shi Shi asked the children in the village about Longjing Village, her parents' hometown. It was said that the shortest mountain road from here takes 40 minutes.
After completing the procedures here tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, her father said he could take her back to his hometown to visit. He said he hasn't been back for many years.
She was not familiar with anything here. The only person she was familiar with was Du Lin, but as the eldest grandson, he was the busiest person in the whole place.
There was no extra expression on his face and his movements were very stiff.
Shi Shi didn't bother him.
It was not until the last day, when she was sitting at the same table with the Du family, that she spoke to him again, just a few simple greetings.
Her father and Uncle Du seemed to have endless things to talk about.
She sat aside, listening attentively to every word, without missing a single one.
They talked about how they met and knew each other when they were young.
Their experience of working hard in other places together.
They were doing pretty well at that time. After achieving some success, they started families in that city one after another.
Then I heard them mention Awu.
Shi Shi finally heard what she wanted to hear and listened even more attentively.
"Awu couldn't go out with us because of his mother's illness. The disease required money all the time, which forced him to do nothing. He was the one who suffered the most." Du Qiming sighed when he mentioned his good friend and brother.
"Auntie's illness was almost cured by then, and he was almost back on his feet, but fate plays tricks on us." Feng Yun recalled the past, lamenting on his brother's unworthiness. "Those people didn't want to let him go, and besides... she was married."
"He was so desperate, he just focused on making money, not caring about the source. When he realized what was happening, he couldn't leave. He knew so much, how could anyone be willing to let him go?" Du Qiming sighed as he talked about the past, and then thought of another person, and said in a complicated tone. "Wen Xue was also heartless. She just threw away the relationship they had had since childhood. She really wanted to find someone, there were so many capable people out there, but she chose the one named Zeng. Do you think Ah Wu could stand it? It was because of her that he was so confused and didn't care about anything during that time. Hey, I heard she changed her name later. It was a hard name to pronounce, what was it, I can't remember it right now."
"She changed her name to Ma Aili, and she's divorced from her husband," Feng Yun replied. "She goes to the hospital to watch over Ah Wu whenever she's free." But if someone was abandoned when they were healthy, what's the point of watching over them now? It's too late, and there's no point in regretting it.
"Forget about her." Du Qiming thought of Ah Wu's current situation and suddenly felt depressed. He didn't want to talk about it anymore, and he didn't know what to say. "Let's get back to us. You said our luck isn't that good either. So what if we work hard? It's like the popular saying now, ideals are full, but reality is skinny. After all the hard work, the fruit can only be picked by others. As the old saying goes, a strong dragon can't defeat a local snake. What kind of dragon are we? At most, we are loaches."
"It's our fault for not being vigilant enough and trusting people too easily. We should have been vigilant, but I don't know why we thought he was reliable and trustworthy back then. We didn't expect to fall into such a big trap."
What can they do no matter how unwilling they are? They are powerless in the face of reality and can only exit in disgrace.
The drunk man was spouting out his inner thoughts in a bunch of words, and Shi Shi, who was sitting next to him, felt dizzy listening to him.
The next day, after saying goodbye to the Du family, Shi Shi sat in Feng Yun's car and followed him back to his long-lost hometown.
Longjing Village looks much like Lihua Village. There are few young people left; most have gone to work elsewhere, and most of those who leave never return. Now, there are only a few elderly people left behind, and a few children. As they age and grow older, the old and the new alternate, leaving the village with a touch of life, but it's not bustling. It feels empty, with only memories left.
A stranger entering the village, driving a car, naturally attracted the attention of the villagers.
A group of people gathered together, looking at them warily and curiously.
It wasn't long before someone recognized Feng Yun.
"Feng Yun, it's you." Seeing a man about the same age as Feng Yun approaching, he reached out and patted his shoulder. "Long time no see."
So they greeted each other warmly, and the people around them seemed to remember something and came forward one by one to join the conversation. When Feng Yun introduced her, she who was standing aside also responded.
Finally, she stopped talking and Feng Yun led her to a clean brick house.
"A few years ago, someone demolished the house and rebuilt it. Your grandparents wanted a house like this." Feng Yun introduced it to her, took out the key, unlocked it, and invited her in. "It's been built a long time ago, and this is my first time seeing it. Come in and take a look."
The house was not big and the furniture inside was not very new. Shi Shi guessed that it was the furniture used by her grandparents.
There are two photo frames hanging on the wall. The two people in the black and white photos look very young.
"I was only 6 years old when your grandparents passed away." Feng Yun noticed Shi Shi's gaze, looked at the two photos, and said slowly.
"After that, I lived with my uncle and uncle, and I still had enough to eat." Feng Yun has been reminiscing about the past these past few days. When he talked about this, the scenes in his memory appeared in front of him at the right time. In a few words, he lightly passed over his past. It's like this, when I was a child, I thought the things were big things, but now looking back, they are all in the past.
The two of them sat down and rested for a while. When they came out again, Feng Yun locked the door and handed the key to Shi Shi.
"If you remember the way, you can come over anytime and stay for a few days. Your grandparents will definitely be very happy." Shi Shi didn't refuse and put it away solemnly.
Feng Yun took Shi Shi out for another walk and stopped on the road. He pointed to a few small houses not far away and said to Shi Shi.
"Your grandparents live there, as well as your uncle's family. Do you want me to take you there to meet them?"
"No thanks." Shi Shi shook her head and refused. They were just her mother's relatives, not hers. That family had never liked her before, so she could just treat them as strangers forever.
Before lunch, Feng Yun took Shi Shi away and rejected the invitations of several familiar villagers.
This brief stay, apart from awakening Feng Yun's long-buried memories, did not make him feel reluctant at all. He left the place where he was born again without looking back.
I don’t know when I will come back next time.
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