Chapter 458 Yunlai Town
Zhou Yi's grandparents are still alive. They are authentic farmers who have made a living by farming in the countryside all their lives.
The old couple had five children, three daughters and two sons. Zhou Yi's mother Zhang Qiuxia was the eldest daughter, and she had two younger brothers and two younger sisters.
In the early years, rural areas and cities were different. Rural people cared more about having more children than urban people, because population is labor force. The most primitive way of thinking was to have more children and plant more land. Having few children in the family would be looked down upon.
So five children in the Zhang family is not considered a lot. Zhou Yi heard from his grandmother that the most children a family in the village had were nine.
Fortunately, Zhou Yi's generation implemented family planning, otherwise there would be even more people in that family.
My grandmother lives at the foot of Yunxia Mountain, in Xiaguan Village, Yunlai Town, Yunshan County.
My grandfather said that when he was a child, this place was called Xiaguang Village, which is a nice name.
Later, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, when registering information locally, the person in charge of registration did not know how to write the word "Xia", so he wrote it as Xiaguan Village, and it has been used until today.
This made Zhou Yi feel very sorry, after all, Xiaguang Village was such a nice name.
He told Lu Xiaoshuang about this on the way, and Lu Xiaoshuang also felt very sorry because the name Xiaguang Village was too vivid.
"It's okay. In the countryside, people believe that it's easier to keep a humble name." Zhou Yi said.
"But I think your aunt's name is very nice, Qiuxia, the sunset glow in autumn."
"Xia is because of Yunxia Mountain. What do you think Qiu is because of?"
Lu Xiaoshuang thought for a moment and asked, "Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter? In that order? That doesn't seem right. You said Auntie is the eldest daughter, so according to the order, she should be called Chunxia."
"My aunt's name is Zhang Chunxia."
After Zhou Yi said this, Lu Xiaoshuang understood: "It's based on the season. Your mother gave birth to you in autumn, so she's called Qiuxia."
"Smart! My mother's name is Zhang Qiuxia, my second aunt's name is Zhang Dongxia, and my youngest aunt's name is Zhang Chunxia. You can tell in which season they were born just by listening to them. So it seems nice, but in fact it's still the logic of rural naming."
"What about your two uncles? What are their names?"
"Guess what."
Lu Xiaoshuang thought for a while and said, "If the daughter is named with the character 'Xia', then I guess the son should be named with the character 'Yun'."
Zhou Yi smiled but said nothing.
Lu Xiaoshuang's confidence suddenly increased, and she continued to guess: "Since your aunt and the others named their children after spring, summer, autumn and winter, then your uncles should follow a similar logic. So your two uncles might be named Zhang Qiuyun, or Zhang Yunxia, or something like that?"
"Is that right?" Lu Xiaoshuang asked.
Zhou Yi smiled and shook his head: "You're half right. Their names do contain the word 'cloud', but the other word has nothing to do with the season."
"What's it called?" Lu Xiaoshuang asked curiously.
Zhou Yi said: "My eldest uncle is Zhang Yuncai, and my second uncle is Zhang Yunbao."
Lu Xiaoshuang recited it silently, then burst into laughter: "So it means to attract wealth and treasure."
"Yes, it means to attract wealth and treasure."
The long-distance bus soon arrived at the county seat of Yunshan County, and then the two took a bus to Yunlai Town. When they arrived in the town, Zhou Yi's uncle would drive a tractor to pick them up.
Zhou Yi's two uncles and two aunts, except for his younger aunt who married in the provincial capital, the other three are all in Wuguang.
My second aunt married someone from the next village, and my eldest uncle stayed in the local area to drive a tractor to transport goods, mainly hauling bricks for the kiln factory in the town.
After graduating from junior high school, my uncle followed the villagers to work in the city. Later, he started a fishery business and settled down in the city.
The salted fish that Zhou Yi threw away when he moved was given to him by his second uncle.
Zhou Yi asked about the bus departure time, and found out that the bus passing through Xiaguan Village would not depart for another half an hour.
Seeing that the sun was a bit strong, Zhou Yi found a shady spot, put the woven bag on the ground, and let Lu Xiaoshuang sit for a while.
Lu Xiaoshuang watched him run towards the nearby convenience store. After a while, he ran back with two popsicles.
"Come, have a popsicle." Zhou Yi tore open the package and handed a popsicle to Lu Xiaoshuang.
Lu Xiaoshuang was sitting and Zhou Yi was standing. The two of them were enjoying the breeze under the shade of the tree. No one spoke. People were coming and going around them, but this moment made them feel so peaceful.
After a while, Lu Xiaoshuang said, "I think of my dad. One summer when I was a kid, he took a passing car to town to buy something. When he came back, he brought me a popsicle. To prevent the popsicle from melting, he even brought an old winter jacket. He wrapped the popsicle inside the jacket, tied it tightly with a rope, and hid it in his arms."
"He walked over ten miles back under such scorching sun. When he unbuttoned his cotton-padded jacket, the popsicle was still warm." Lu Xiaoshuang smiled. "I've never tasted such a sweet and delicious popsicle in my life. I didn't understand it when I was little, but I realized what that popsicle meant when I grew up."
The childhood story told by Lu Xiaoshuang touched Zhou Yi and reminded him of Xu Liu.
Everyone is born as a blank piece of paper, and the paper will take on the color it is placed in depending on the environment.
"After watching the sunrise and returning to Hongcheng in two days, I will take a leave to accompany you to visit your parents." Zhou Yi said.
Lu Xiaoshuang nodded.
Accompanied by a burst of laughter, Zhou Yi and Lu Xiaoshuang saw a group of young people coming from not far away. There were both men and women, all dressed in bright and beautiful clothes. Compared with the simple environment around them, they were somewhat out of place and obviously not locals.
They look to be around 20 years old, so they must be here together to play.
Apart from Yunxia Mountain, there is nothing else to do here.
Although Zhou Yi would stay at his grandmother's house for ten days or half a month almost every summer vacation before going to college, he had never climbed Yunxia Mountain once.
This is mainly because the Yunxia Mountain tourist attraction was developed in less than five or six years.
When he was a child, there were not many tourists visiting Yunxia Mountain because there was not even a proper hiking trail. Those who went up the mountain were usually local hunters and herbalists.
Later, the local government began to invest in the development of the Yunxia Mountain Scenic Area, which started to gain popularity in the vicinity, and gradually more and more people began to come.
However, due to the limitations of the times, the current Yunxia Mountain Scenic Area is still relatively primitive and simple, and has not formed an industrial structure.
Because more than ten years later, after information was able to spread rapidly through the Internet, Yunxia Mountain Scenic Area quickly became a famous tourist attraction in the province.
Xiaguan Village at the foot of the mountain has also begun to make a living from the mountain. The villagers no longer farm, but open small shops, homestays, sell local specialties, etc., making a village that was almost without young people prosperous again.
Zhou Yi's two uncles later made a living by doing this.
But now, Xiaguan Village is still an ordinary rural village.
Zhou Yi saw a tall boy among the group of young people who ran to the station to ask for directions. He seemed to be the team leader, and then came back to tell the others how to get there.
Judging from the situation, I guess I will have to ride in the same car with them.
Sure enough, when the bus from the starting station arrived, Zhou Yi and Lu Xiaoshuang got on the bus first, and then the group of young people followed.
When they got on the bus, Zhou Yi counted and found that there were eight people.
They all sat at the back and started chattering as soon as they got on the bus, eating snacks and gossiping.
From their conversation, Zhou Yi learned that they were all students from the same university and came together to climb Yunxia Mountain during the summer vacation.
There are two couples here, and two men and two women who are not in a romantic relationship.
But Zhou Yi couldn't tell which school they were from because they didn't mention the specific school name or address.
There were two single girls sitting behind Zhou Yi and Lu Xiaoshuang. One of the girls accidentally dropped her hairpin on the ground, and it happened to fall at Lu Xiaoshuang's feet.
After Lu Xiaoshuang picked up the hairpin and returned it to the other party, the other party took the initiative to chat with Lu Xiaoshuang and handed her a small snack.
"Is this your boyfriend?" The long-haired girl sitting behind Lu Xiaoshuang looked at Zhou Yi and asked.
Lu Xiaoshuang nodded softly.
"He's quite handsome, but he looks a little older."
Zhou Yi didn't want to join in at first, because this group of people started chatting and eating as soon as they got in the car, and the noise was giving everyone else a headache.
But the first half of the sentence is praising himself, so why does the second half become insulting?
Even if I was reborn and my mental age is a little older, my body is still 23 years old. How can I be considered old?
The girl asked again: "Are you also going to Yunxia Mountain?"
Before Zhou Yi could speak, Lu Xiaoshuang seemed a little unhappy and said lightly: "No, we are visiting relatives."
Then they just ignored each other.
The girl seemed to notice the change in Lu Xiaoshuang's attitude, said "oh" and turned to chat with her friends.
Lu Xiaoshuang came over and whispered in his ear: "Officer Zhou, don't listen to her nonsense. You are very young, not old at all."
A smile appeared on Zhou Yi's lips.
It took the bus more than 40 minutes to get from the county to the town. This group of college students obviously lacked life experience. They were laughing and joking in the first half of the bus and ate a lot of food. As a result, the road was too bumpy and they became sick halfway through the bus. They were all embarrassed and didn't speak.
Two of them even couldn't help but jump out the window and vomit.
Zhou Yi shook his head helplessly, little brat.
After finally arriving at Yunlai Town, as soon as the ticket seller opened the door, the group of people couldn't wait to clamor to go down and breathe fresh air.
A boy even bumped into Zhou Yi, but he didn't even apologize or look apologetic.
After they all got off, Zhou Yi took Lu Xiaoshuang out of the car and began to look around for his uncle.
At this time, he heard the college students talking nearby.
"Yao Li, you vomited like this just by riding in a car. Your health is really too bad."
"That's right, how can you go exploring with us like this? Why don't you stay at the foot of the mountain so as not to burden us later?"
Several young people were arguing with a boy who had just gotten off the bus and vomited so much that his face turned pale.
The boy was obviously embarrassed. He wiped his mouth and said in defense, "I ate too much in the car, and the road was too bumpy, so I vomited."
A handsome boy said with some disdain, "Shen Chunlin ate more than you, but she didn't vomit. You're just making excuses. We're climbing an undeveloped area, and you're really holding us back."
The pretty girl next to the handsome boy tried to reconcile them by saying something nice, asking everyone to stop talking and ask how to get up the mountain first.
Zhou Yi looked around but couldn't find his uncle. When he heard the conversation between these people, he couldn't help but frown.
I didn't want to get involved, but I was afraid that something might really happen, so I walked towards them.
"Classmates, are you planning to climb Yunxia Mountain?"
The handsome boy glanced at Zhou Yi and asked warily, "What are you doing?"
"I see there are a lot of you, so I want to tell you that there are special tour guides in town. You can hire a tour guide to accompany you. They have a car to pick you up and can also buy tickets to the scenic spots and stay at the hotel. It's a one-stop service. You can try it."
Several young people said "oh", and only the beautiful girl said "thank you".
Seeing their indifference, Zhou Yi could only remind them again: "Let me give you a suggestion. When you go up the mountain, it's best to take the scenic route. Avoid undeveloped areas. It's very dangerous."
Hearing this, the handsome boy immediately got angry and said with a gloomy face: "No, brother, who do you think you are? A policeman, why do you care about us?"
Seeing the other party's attitude, Zhou Yi instantly became too lazy to pay attention to them. Good words could not persuade the damned ghost.
Turn around and walk away.
At this time, the beautiful girl chased over: "That..."
Zhou Yi turned his head and asked indifferently: "What, is there anything else?"
"I'm sorry, my boyfriend has a bad temper. I want to apologize to you on his behalf."
Seeing the girl's good attitude, Zhou Yi's expression softened. "You don't need to apologize, but I advise you to have a good talk with the other students. Don't take risks, don't use ignorance to prove your courage, and have a sense of awe for nature."
The girl bit her lip, nodded, said thank you, and turned back to the boy.
Zhou Yi could vaguely hear the boy complaining about something in dissatisfaction.
Zhou Yi returned to Lu Xiaoshuang, who asked, "Brother Zhou, are you okay?"
Zhou Yi glanced at the group and said, "I hope everything is okay."
"Zhou Yi! My eldest nephew!" Suddenly a voice sounded from a distance.
Lu Xiaoshuang looked in the direction of the voice and saw a fat, bald uncle running towards them with a happy face, shouting as he ran.
When Zhou Yi saw him, he immediately smiled and said, "He's my uncle."
He immediately waved his hand and shouted, "Uncle!"
Zhou Yi's uncle Zhang Yuncai is only two years younger than Zhou Yi's mother. He is the second child of the Zhang family. However, due to years of working, his skin is dark and he is bald, so he looks older than Zhang Qiuxia.
"You must be getting impatient waiting." The uncle asked with a smile, "Oh, this is the girl your mother was talking about, her name is... Xiao..."
"Hello uncle, I'm Lu Xiaoshuang."
"Yes, yes, Xiaoshuang. Zhou Yi, you are so lucky. It's just like what you said, she is so beautiful."
Lu Xiaoshuang smiled embarrassedly.
"Uncle, we just arrived too, it's just right." Zhou Yi said.
"Here, give me the stuff. Your grandma and grandpa got up early in the morning to kill chickens and cook." The eldest uncle said as he reached for the two large bags on the ground. "What is this? It's so heavy."
"One bag contains the things we're going to take to the mountain to watch the sunrise, and the other woven bag contains mainly the sausages and bacon my mother asked me to bring. Uncle, let me do it."
"It's okay, it won't sink."
From Yunlai Town to Xiaguan Village, after walking on a cement road for a while, it becomes a gravel road, and then after walking on for a while, it becomes a dirt road.
Zhou Yi and Lu Xiaoshuang sat on the back of the tractor, which made a "thump thump thump" sound and the body of the tractor shook.
"Niece's wife, although my car is used to transport bricks, I wiped it when I came here, so it's not dirty." The uncle who was driving in the front shouted loudly.
You can't drive a tractor without being loud because the noise is so loud that you have to shout at the top of your lungs.
"Uncle, it's not dirty. My parents are educated youth. My home is much more remote than yours. I grew up rolling in the dirt." Lu Xiaoshuang said loudly.
"Okay, okay, it's good to have a girl who can endure hardships. She is down-to-earth." The uncle said with a laugh.
Zhou Yi said: "When I was a child, every time I came to my grandmother's house, my uncle would pick me up in a tractor. It was so wobbly that sometimes I would fall asleep in the tractor. When I opened my eyes, I would be at my grandmother's house."
Lu Xiaoshuang looked at the happiness on his face when he spoke, as if she saw the young him sitting on this tractor.
She began to hum softly the nursery rhyme from Grandma Bay that her mother had sung to her when she was a child.
"Rock, rock, rock to Grandma's Bridge."
"Hello, grandma, hello, grandma, grandma is smiling at me."
"Shake, shake, shake..."
Many years ago, on the same road, on the same tractor, a young boy seemed to hear the echo of a nursery rhyme...
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
