Chapter 1
It is a hot summer day. Even the air is scorching. The dazzling sun hangs high in the sky, making people feel like their scalps are melting.
It is just the beginning of July now, and the rice in the fields is about to ripen. No matter how hot the weather is, no one dares to slack off. While the men are working in the fields, they are calculating in their hearts when to start harvesting the rice. While the women are cleaning their houses, they are thinking about how to improve the meals for the men in the family in the next two days when the farming season starts.
Everyone had their own things to do, so no one noticed that a strange little girl suddenly appeared in their village far away from the hustle and bustle.
Chu Jiujiu looked around in confusion, not understanding what was going on.
Lately, she'd been seeing strangers lurking around her house. Worried they might harm her, Chu Jiujiu called the police, but the officers, seeing she was just a nine-year-old, dismissed her words. Chu Jiujiu was depressed, but she refused to give up. Her parents had died in a car accident last year, and from then on, she knew she had to rely on herself for everything.
After returning from the police station, Chu Jiujiu kept thinking about how to deal with those people. As she was thinking, she fell asleep. In a daze, she dreamed of her late parents. They each held one of Chu Jiujiu's hands and led her forward. After walking for an unknown amount of time, her father suddenly squatted down and stuffed something into her coat. Her mother touched her head and said to her, "Jiujiu, be obedient and go find Grandpa."
In the dream, Chu Jiujiu didn't think about anything, but just walked forward obediently. But just after taking a step, Chu Jiujiu woke up, and then looked at the scene in front of her with a confused look on her face.
The dirt road under her feet was no more than one meter wide. On the left was a lush green farmland, one field after another, one supporting the other, like a huge staircase. On the right was a lush green and moist bamboo forest. The bamboos were towering into the sky, and were stacked layer upon layer in the brown soil. Chu Jiujiu looked up, wanting to see the end of the bamboo forest, but the bamboo mountain was too high. Even if she stood on tiptoe, it was in vain.
The sun was too strong. Chu Jiujiu was stunned for a few seconds, then she reacted and hurriedly left the path and ran to the edge of the bamboo forest. Taking advantage of the slight moisture, she walked forward hesitantly.
The path wasn't long, and at the end, rows of thatched cottages were visible. They weren't all exactly alike: some were adobe, covered with large sheets of sun-dried bamboo, while others were whitewashed, their roof tiles scattered. But regardless of whether they were adobe or whitewashed, red dried chilies and white dried mushrooms hung from the eaves, and two pairs of old, mud-stained straw sandals sat on the windows.
Poverty, stability.
This is the first impression of this village.
Chu Jiujiu's eyes widened. Even television couldn't show such images these days. There were only one or two similar pictures in elementary school textbooks, and they were cartoon versions. Chu Jiujiu didn't dare blink, and her pace quickened. Soon, she ran along the path, right next to the houses.
A line of large red characters suddenly caught my eye:
Take grain as the key link and develop in an all-round way!
Chu Jiujiu was startled by the glaring and huge exclamation mark. She couldn't help but stop and look at the line of words carefully. A woman just walked out of the house where the slogan was printed.
She was wearing a faded blue flowered coarse cloth top and carrying a bamboo basket on her arm that looked who knows how many years old. The basket was covered with a gray cloth. She walked quickly and was about to walk out of the yard in a blink of an eye. However, someone's voice was faster than hers.
"Qingwei's wife, go and bring the food."
The woman turned around and said familiarly, "Yes, Auntie didn't go?"
"It's not even noon yet. I'll go later. Hey, did you hear about what happened yesterday?"
The person talking opposite was an old lady, clinging to someone else's fence, her eyes full of brilliance. When the woman heard the gossip, she immediately retracted her steps and walked towards the old lady. Chu Jiujiu blinked and moved a little closer.
The old lady was not tall, but she had a really loud voice. She even pretended to be whispering. Chu Jiujiu felt that even if she was standing ten meters away, she could still hear her.
"Last night when you were away, the house was bustling with activity again. Even the dining table was overturned. I heard the clattering of the keys and the scolding of Old Lady Zhang, which made my ears hurt. It looked like she was determined to kick the child out!"
After hearing this, the woman laughed contemptuously, "They make such a fuss every day. I don't know why their family is so addicted. Their daughter just passed away not long ago, and they're already kicking their grandson out. They say there are no wrong parents in the world, but why is it that only their family has this kind of behavior?"
The old lady waved her hands quickly, "It's because his daughter died a slut. No one wants a slut's son living in their own home. Embarrassment is secondary. The main thing is that it invites trouble."
The woman tutted her tongue twice, her expression regretful, but all she could say was sarcastic: "Auntie, I married here a long time ago. When I was young, I also saw his eldest daughter. She was very pretty and still a high school student. At that time, people from all over the place who wanted to marry her almost broke down the door of the Zhang family. I never thought, I really never thought. What's the point of studying? After all these years of studying, in the end, you become a shameful slut, and even bring trouble to your parents and brothers!"
The more she spoke, the more indignant she became. Finally, the woman paused, then lowered her voice and asked the old lady, "Auntie, do you know the name of the man she eloped with?"
The woman asked this because she didn't know, but when the old lady heard her tone, she thought she even had such explosive news, and she immediately became excited. The light in her eyes became brighter, and she moved her feet quickly twice, and her whole body pressed against the fence. She was about to urge the woman to speak quickly, but suddenly, her eyes turned and fixed behind the woman.
The old lady was stunned and pointed at Chu Jiujiu: "Whose girl are you?"
The woman also turned her head. She was in her thirties, but had the look of someone in her forties, with dark skin from working in the fields. Her eyes were sharper than the old woman's, and she could tell at a glance that Chu Jiujiu was no country girl. She was too fair and too beautiful. Even city dwellers didn't wear clothes as good as hers. The woman's forehead jumped, and she thought to herself, Oh no, could it be that some leader is coming over?
Thinking of this, the woman quickly smiled. She just took a step forward and before she had time to get close to Chu Jiujiu, she saw that her eyes suddenly became alert, and then she ran away like a rabbit.
Woman: "..." Why are you running? I won’t eat you!
——
Chu Jiujiu ran for a long time until she could no longer see the row of houses, and then she gradually slowed down.
It was summer here, but spring where she lived. Chu Jiujiu was so shocked that she hadn't even noticed she'd been wearing a coat. It was a double-breasted, European-American princess-style coat her mother had bought her when she was still alive. It was a patchwork of red, fruit green, and khaki, with a three-dimensional bow tied at the back. It was both a coat and a skirt, stylish and cute, and very pretty.
She hadn't noticed how out of place this dress was with this area and even this era. She just felt very hot, but after hesitating for a while, she still didn't take off her coat.
She didn't know where she was, nor did she know if she was still dreaming. There were too many questions. Just in case, she'd better keep some clothes on.
Questions in her mind popped up one after another, but Chu Jiujiu couldn't think of an answer to any of them.
Where exactly is this place? Is she still dreaming? Who were those two women talking about, and what does "slut" mean? Grandpa died a long time ago, so why did Dad send her to this place to find him?
Chu Jiujiu was confused. She was only nine years old and couldn't handle such a complicated situation. As she walked along, she met many people. Like the old lady before her, they all wanted to know who she was, but Chu Jiujiu avoided them all. Before she could figure out where she was or what was going on, she didn't want to talk or interact with them.
Chu Jiujiu walked forward unconsciously, with the word "grandfather" all in her mind.
Her grandfather passed away when her father was still young. Later, her impression of her grandfather all came from her father's description. According to her father, her grandfather suffered a lot, raised her by himself, worked hard in a lonely and helpless place, started a family, and established his own career. No one knew how much hardship he had suffered in his life, but when he was about to enjoy happiness, he died.
It's simply miserable.
Her family had a photo of her grandfather, taken when he married her grandmother. The man in the photo was cold and silent, with an aura of fierceness that lingered, and he didn't look like a groom at all. Chu Jiujiu kept turning the photo over and over in her mind, not realizing where she was.
There were fewer houses around, and the green mountains that seemed out of reach just now were now right in front of me. At the foot of the mountain stood a huge locust tree, and next to the locust tree stood several boys who were dressed similarly and were about the same age.
They were in a one-on-many situation, and it was obvious that they were using their numbers to bully the few.
Chu Jiujiu took a casual glance and then looked away. She was about to move forward, but before she took a step, she suddenly reacted.
Chu Jiujiu shook her head quickly and looked at the boys. To be more precise, she looked at the boy who was bullied by the majority.
Although he is a few sizes smaller, judging from his facial features, it is definitely my grandfather!
It turns out that her father did not lie to her, there really is a grandfather in this place!
While Chu Jiujiu was so shocked she couldn't speak, Chu Shao stood there indifferently. The man opposite him was smug: "Now you know how powerful I am, right? You live in my house, so you have to listen to me. Otherwise, I'll have grandma kick you out. You all just watch out, this is what happens if you mess with me."
The phrase "a villain's success" was vividly expressed by this half-grown child. He glanced to both sides, and after seeing the reactions of the people around him, he snorted threateningly twice, then shook his head and continued, "Now, Chu Shao is mine..."
"grandfather!!!"
A sharp and surprised voice instantly interrupted his words. After a moment's hesitation, he instantly became angry and turned around to curse: "Which bastard——"
As soon as he cursed these words, a cloud of dust rose up, making him covered in dirt. He finally got the sand out of his eyes, and when he opened his eyes again, his jaw almost dropped.
A little girl with red lips and white teeth, who was countless times prettier than the New Year pictures, hugged Chu Shao's waist tightly and finally finished the second half of the sentence: "Grandpa, I finally found you!"
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