On the night of November 9, 1998, the late autumn wind blew through the Security Bureau compound with a hint of chill.
At this time, Xu Jianguo was sitting in the study, reviewing the recent project report of Longyao Group, and the dim light of the desk lamp shone on his focused face.
"Ding-ling-ling~"
Suddenly, a rapid telephone ring rang out, breaking the tranquility of the night. Xu Jianguo put down the documents in his hand and picked up the receiver.
But before he could open his mouth, Li Mancang's tearful voice came from the other end of the phone: "Jianguo, your grandfather Dashan is gone..."
These words were like a bolt from the blue. Xu Jianguo's hand holding the phone froze instantly. The voice in the receiver seemed to come from far away. His mind went blank. After a long while, he came back to his senses and squeezed out a few words with difficulty: "Uncle Mancang, what did you say just now?"
Li Mancang on the other end of the phone obviously heard the shock in Xu Jianguo's tone, so he repeated his words in a crying voice. Only then did Xu Jianguo have to accept this cruel fact.
Afterwards, the two of them remained silent for a long time. After a while, Xu Jianguo finally said, "Uncle, I will rush back as soon as possible!"
He slowly put down the phone, leaned weakly against the back of the chair, staring at the ceiling with empty eyes. The voice and smile of old man Li Dashan flashed through his mind like a movie.
He remembered that he had just been reborn in Sandaliang Village. He took a gene-enhancing drug without any preparation and fainted by the woods. It was the old man who saved him in a ox cart. Otherwise, in this area surrounded by mountains, if a carnivore ran out of the woods at that time, Xu Jianguo's journey of rebirth would have come to an end.
Afterwards, he thought of the time when he was in the village and the two brothers Li Jinlong and Li Jinhu targeted Xu Jianguo, it was the old man and Li Mancang, Li Erniu and others who were the first to stand up to defend themselves.
It was not until he joined the army later that his grandfather asked him to help find the whereabouts of his comrades' relatives, just to be able to return a letter from home and military medals to them.
The memories in his mind kept flashing like slides, and Xu Jianguo's eyes gradually became red.
According to his recollection, Mr. Li Dashan should be 96 years old this year, which is definitely a long life.
Although Xu Jianguo often asked Fu Bo to send him some century-old medicinal wine and Tai Sui nutrient solution, it was ultimately only a temporary solution and not a fundamental solution. Many of the old injuries the old man suffered on the battlefield had already damaged his foundation due to untimely treatment.
Old man Li Dashan himself knew this, which was why the last time Funiu and Shitou got engaged, their whole family returned to Sandaliang Village. When they went to visit the old man, he would hold Xu Jianguo's hand and tell him that he could eat and sleep now, and even drink a couple of glasses of wine every day. He would not change for such a life even if a god came. He was already very content. Even if he left tomorrow, he would have had enough in this life.
Just as Xu Jianguo was sitting in a chair recalling every moment he spent with the old man, the door of the study was pushed open from the outside, and Wen Sitian walked in holding a plate of fruit.
As soon as she entered the room, she noticed something was wrong with Xu Jianguo. She quickly put down what she was holding, walked over to him, and asked, "Jianguo, what's wrong with you? What happened?"
Xu Jianguo turned his head, looked at Wen Sitian with red eyes, and said in a hoarse voice: "Uncle Mancang just called and said that Grandpa Dashan passed away!"
When Wen Sitian heard this, her eyes suddenly turned red and tears began to fall.
At this moment, she also recalled the scene when she and Xu Jianguo went to Sandaliang Village for the first time to celebrate the New Year after they had secretly decided to spend their lives together.
At that time, she celebrated the Spring Festival together with the families of Xu Jianguo, Li Dashan, Li Mancang and Li Erniu. Since her mother passed away, she has never had such a lively Spring Festival.
Although decades have passed, the scene at that time seems to have happened just yesterday.
Wen Sitian, with tears in her eyes, hugged Xu Jianguo in her arms and patted his back gently, trying to comfort his sad mood.
After a while, when Xu Jianguo's emotions had stabilized, he picked up the phone on the table and called Liu Yang, asking him to immediately book four direct flights to the agency.
Liu Yang, who received the call, heard that Xu Jianguo's tone was wrong. After asking for the passenger's identity information, he hung up the phone.
Just a short while after I finished talking to Liu Yang, the phone rang again.
Xu Jianguo picked up the phone and Funiu's voice came from the receiver.
Obviously, Li Mancang should have told Li Lei the news of Li Dashan's death.
However, Xu Jianguo did not plan to take them back to Sandaliang, because in September of this year, Funiu, who had been pregnant for ten months, successfully gave birth to a girl.
Li Lei started discussing naming with Xu Jianguo two months before the child was born. So during that period, the brother-in-law and brother-in-law would get together and whisper whenever they had time, just to come up with a nice name for their unborn baby girl.
Finally, after the two of them looked through the Xinhua Dictionary, they finally decided that the child's full name was Li Anran and his nickname was Nuomi.
It was less than two months since the child was born. Originally, the three of them lived in the compound of the Security Bureau, but today the child was getting vaccinated, and the couple had not returned to their own home since Funiu became pregnant, so after taking the child to get vaccinated, they said they were going to go back and stay for the night.
Because Funiu had just finished her confinement and the baby was still young, Xu Jianguo was not planning to take them back to Sandaliang.
On the phone, Funiu's voice was clearly filled with tears, and Xu Jianguo could also hear Shitou's voice comforting him.
Xu Jianguo simply comforted him and said that when Xiao Nuomi grows up a little, she and Shitou will take the child back to the village to worship.
Funiu also knew that the child was too young and it would not be a good time for him to attend the funeral. She originally planned to let Xu Jianguo take the stone back to Sandaliang, but Xu Jianguo refused.
Seeing that there was really no other way, they could only give up.
After finishing the call with Funiu, Xu Jianguo called Chen Jin again, told him what happened, and asked for three days off.
At this time, Chen Jin was already past retirement age, but the old man had not retired yet, and his body was still very strong, so naturally he stayed by his side.
After receiving Xu Jianguo's call, Chen Jin agreed without any hesitation, and comforted him with a few words before hanging up the phone.
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