Chapter 136 136

Jiang's father and mother didn't know what happened, why the three children didn't come back.

If he hadn't seen Jiang Bo selling clothes in Shuibu Town before, he would really think something happened to them.

He thought that even if they didn't come back on the 29th of the lunar year, they would come back on the 30th of the lunar year, because the 30th of the lunar year was the day to worship the ancestors. It was the busiest day in the village. All the boys from all over the country would go to the mountains together. Various firecrackers and sixteen bangs would completely break the silence of the mountains and forests. This bustle would continue until the third day of the lunar year.

In the past, every year, he and Uncle Jiang would go together, bringing his uncle Jia Guoliang and Jiang Song, and sometimes, he would also call Jiang Liu.

He is one of the few parents in the village who is willing to bring his daughter to

worship the ancestors. In the village, female family members are generally not allowed to participate in the worship activities, unless they are newly married daughters-in-law. In the first year of marriage, young men and women will bring their new daughters-in-law to the ancestors to show them, saying, "Ancestors, look, you have someone to take over again." In the second year, the daughters-in-law will be busy at home preparing for the New Year. Although it is just housework, it is not easy.

From cleaning the whole house to dusting, from making the stove king cake, to boiling sugar syrup, making rice candy, and rice flour, from making various kinds of pounded meat, to rolling various radish balls, lotus root balls, meatballs, preparing various dishes to be eaten during the New Year, it is really a big project.

The men are responsible for writing and pasting couplets, and carrying a load of rice to the next village to make rice cakes using machines.

Even when he returned home and didn't see his children around him, he was still actively preparing. But on New Year's Eve this year, Uncle Jiang came to call him, and Father Jiang said again and again: "Wait a moment, maybe Songzi and Baizi will be back soon."

The quieter the Jiang family was, the happier Uncle Jiang was. His three sons, a daughter-in-law, and a little granddaughter were all at home. He was so happy. It was almost noon, and Uncle Jiang took the fragrant leek oil dumplings made for him by Aunt Jiang's wife and asked Father Jiang: "Are

you still waiting for Songzi, Baizi, and Liuli?" "Look, what's the point of reading to them? Just like Guoan and Guoliang, they won't come back after they finish reading." The aroma of the leek oil dumplings in his hand was very strong, and the outside was fried golden brown, and it tasted very fragrant.

He squatted on the stone pier of his yard wall, looked at Jiang's father, and said with a smile: "Why don't you come to my house for the New Year, so that you two don't have to stay at home and cook a table of food, and it's so lonely."

Jiang's father looked stubbornly in the direction of the ferry: "Songzi and Baizi must have been delayed by something."

Uncle Jiang said with a smile: "Forget about Songzi and Baizi. After all, they are boys. They are not afraid of suffering losses outside. Even Lingling doesn't come back. The others must have run away with someone, right?"

This sentence made Jiang's father feel bad. He scolded: "Lingling is in class in school. She is a second year of high school. Every winter vacation in No. 1 Middle School, students are detained in school?"

He was really angry, angry that Uncle Jiang was talking nonsense.

Uncle Jiang saw that Father Jiang was really angry, so he didn't dare to say anything to Jiang Xi. Instead, he looked up at the ferry and said, "Why didn't the old man come back today? Did something happen to him?"

In their minds, the only reason why Jiang Bo and Jiang Xi didn't go home on New Year's Eve was probably that something happened to the old man, which prevented them from going home in time for the New Year.

Father Jiang obviously thought of this, and his original frustration about his children not coming home on New Year's Eve turned into worry about Grandpa Jiang.

He went to the brigade headquarters and wanted to borrow a phone to call No. 1 Middle School to ask, but the brigade refused this time, saying, "The brigade headquarters' phone is a public phone. We are cracking down on it this year. We can't let you call privately from now on. Otherwise, if you get caught, we will all be in trouble."

All the cadres in the brigade headquarters went home to celebrate the New Year and worship their ancestors. Only one person was left who had no job but lived in the brigade headquarters all year round and was responsible for cooking, cleaning and guarding.

Jiang's father didn't suspect anything and went back anxiously.

Uncle Jiang couldn't wait any longer and said, "Oh, hurry up, everyone will be gone soon, and we'll be the only ones left. Songzi and Baizi didn't come back, and they didn't come back either. The Red Army and Red Soldiers are the same to them. Our ancestors saw the Red Army and Red Soldiers and they are the same! Calling him Guoliang, aren't they satisfied with so many descendants?"

Since the generation of Jiang's father, they no longer named according to generation, but according to the characteristics of that era. For example, Jiang's father's generation all named "Guo", Daguo, Guoping, Guoan, Guoliang, and their peers, such as the "fourth brother" behind the house, was named Jiang Weiguo.

Uncle Jiang's sons also named "Red Army, Red Soldiers, Jiangjun", which was very characteristic of the era. It

was indeed a long wait. Father Jiang looked back at the ferry, expecting his sons to show up soon, while carrying a basket to look for Jiang Guoliang.

Jiang Guoan never came back every year, and spent the New Year at his father-in-law's house, so there was no need to wait for him.

This was the first time in so many years that Father Jiang went up the mountain alone to worship his ancestors without his two sons or even his youngest daughter.

Although Jiang Song was not at home last year, at least Jiang Bai was there.

This made Father Jiang silent the whole time. Many people on the way said to him, "Big guy, I heard that your son was admitted to Shanghai University?"

"Your family is really full of literary talent!"

"I heard that your youngest daughter is also amazing. She won the first prize of the province. The whole city of Wu has heard about it. Even my son heard about it. Come back and tell me!"

Everyone's eyes were full of envy.

I asked him how he was doing outside this year. He should have been very proud. He made a lot of money, which these people may not make in two years. But he didn't even want to talk. He was exhausted. When I

returned to the village in the afternoon, Jiang Song and Jiang Bai still hadn't come back. Grandpa Jiang and Jiang Xi hadn't come back either.

Both Jiang's father and mother couldn't get excited. If they hadn't come back in previous years, Jiang's mother would probably have scolded them, saying, "Unless they died outside!"

But this year she didn't dare to say anything. She didn't dare to say anything unlucky on New Year's Day, especially since Jiang Song hadn't come back for two New Years. She was afraid that what she said casually would really come true.

So the couple was very silent.

Mother Jiang was kneading lotus root balls with meat and lotus root, while Father Jiang kept looking outside.

Their children were not at home, so they could not even muster the energy to work, but they were still busy. What if the children came back when it was time for the New Year's Eve dinner?

Other families were bustling with activity, but theirs was the only place that was cold and deserted.

Father and Mother Jiang drank in silence until the food was cold.

As they drank, Jiang's mother started to cry and said with sobs: "What's the point of sending children to school? One by one, they graduate and never come back. Guoan and Guoliang are like this, Jiang Bai and Jiang Xu are also like this. If I had known earlier, I would not send them to school. The Red Army soldiers in my sister-in-law's family are like this. They are bricklayers at home. Who knows how good it is. Maybe this year they can find a marriage partner for Songzi, and next year they can bring their daughter-in-law back. In two years, they can hold their grandchildren."

Jiang's mother cried and complained to Jiang's father: "It was you who made them study and said that they should go to college. Jiang Bai got in, but what's the use? He doesn't even have wings. "He is so strong, he spends the tuition we paid for him, eats the living expenses we gave him, and he doesn't come back in just the first year." Thinking of Jiang Guoan who never came back to the village all year round, she cried sadly: "I guess he will be like Guoan in the future, a son raised by others, what's the point of giving birth to him?"

Thinking of how she lived in fear all day long in order to give birth to these two little ones, fearing that she would be caught by the Family Planning Commission and have her abortion aborted, hiding in the mountains, not even daring to live in the small houses in the mountains, but living in a shed in the tea mountain. For these two little ones, she hid in the mountains every day, not daring to go home, until she gave birth, she gave birth in the mountains.

But she was trembling all day long, and it would be better if she didn't give birth to two children.

Dad Jiang ate a fried meatball, drank a sip of wine, and said, "We saw Baizi selling clothes in the town that day. If nothing special happened, he would not fail to come back. None of the three of them came back, and I was afraid that something had happened to the old man and the two children couldn't leave." Mom

Jiang hadn't thought about this before, but now it seemed possible: "Then he has to come back for the New Year, right? You don't know how badly the villagers say that."

Dad Jiang said, "After the New Year, I'll settle the issue of the homestead, and then I'll go to Wucheng to see what happened."

Jiang Bai had the money from selling clothes during the New Year, so he wasn't too worried about him having no money. He was just worried about his grandfather's health.

Grandpa Jiang had never had such a comfortable New Year. He now knew that this was not a dream, but the whole house was heated.

Grandpa Jiang was not from the north. There were neither kangs nor heating in their place. In the words of many people in later generations, the cold winter here was a magical attack, especially in the place where they were, with mountains behind and water in front. In summer, the temperature was generally two or three degrees lower than other places, which was quite comfortable. But in winter, the temperature was also two or three degrees lower than other places. Although it was only two or three degrees, the temperature difference was like a lot of degrees lower for Grandpa Jiang in the mountains. Every winter was the most difficult time for him.

But he still had to patrol the mountains. Whether it was the dew in the morning and evening or the frost in autumn and winter, Grandpa Jiang walked in between. His upper body was fine, but his lower legs were often frozen to the point of almost losing feeling.

He was not actually a strong person. He was even a little weak and cried a lot. But he was his father's eldest son and the eldest brother. He had to carry a family on his thin and tender shoulders. No one ever asked him if he was tired or in pain. He was always cheerful and never cried out that he was tired or in pain. He thought that no one would ever know that he was tired or in pain.

But now he knows that there are people who care about him.

It seems that all the suffering he had endured in the past few decades has now been smoothed out by his granddaughter.