When Wu Xin and Hu got up in the morning, a row of washed socks were placed in order on the balcony.
The bed of the last-place student was neatly made, but Student Hu looked like he had seen a ghost. He kept yelling for a long time but couldn't utter a word.
The cafeteria gave each student an egg for breakfast, which is a special treatment for college entrance examination candidates.
After breakfast and their first sweat, the candidates entered the examination room.
The school was quiet inside and outside, except for the cicadas, which were crying at the top of their lungs due to the heat, and their voices were long and drawn out.
There was a man pacing anxiously at the school gate. The old man at the gate, fanning himself with a palm-leaf fan, asked, "What are you doing, little brother? It's only the second day. Can you come pick me up tomorrow?"
"Hey, uncle, help me find someone, his name is Wu Xin."
Qiuhua felt uncomfortable in her head when she woke up in the morning, as if someone was pricking her temples with a thin needle.
It was still early, but no one was home.
The three little ones should still be sleeping. What’s strange is that I didn’t see Mom, Dad and Dahua.
Just when she was wondering, the gate opened and her mother came back in a hurry and grabbed Qiuhua's hand.
"It's bad!" she gasped. "Wu Xin, his father fell into the lime pit last night."
Qiu Hua was startled and asked hurriedly, "Where is he now?"
Mum grabbed her hand tightly and said in shock, "It was already bad when we found out."
The bad news suddenly exploded in Qiuhua's head, and her ears buzzed, followed by a sharp voice.
Lime pits can be seen everywhere in the countryside, all of which are prepared for building new houses. After Wu Xin got engaged, his aunt dug a pit, unloaded two carts of lime, and waited for the weather to cool down before building the house.
Wu Asan would drink until midnight every day before going home. At night, the lime pool appeared white under the moonlight, and he was so drunk that he thought it was a road.
"Qiuhua! Qiuhua!" Mum woke her from her trance. "This is not the issue now. Wu Xin's elder brother, that fool, wanted to go find Wu Xin. Look at this critical moment. His aunt didn't allow him to go. She beat him and scolded him, and before she knew it, he sneaked out!"
It's broken! It's really broken! Will Wu Xin still be able to take the exam after knowing this?
Dahua also came back from outside and went straight to push his bicycle.
"Come on, Qiuhua, let's go stop that idiot!"
Qiuhua reacted immediately and jumped on the back seat, while Dahua rushed out the door on his bicycle.
"How long has his brother been out?" Qiuhua asked.
Dahua stomped on him a few times and said, "Well, I don't know how long it's been. It is said that when he was about to wipe the body and change clothes, he looked around and found that the person was gone!
Did that idiot deliberately prevent Wu Xin from taking the exam?
Well, there's really no way around this. If I don't tell him, Wu Xin won't be able to see his father for the last time. If I tell him..."
From the beginning, Qiuhua's heart was beating wildly, there was constant noise in his ears, and his head started to hurt again.
She paused, calmed down for a moment, and said, "Brother, don't worry, I guess Wu Xin already knows it now.
If they were going back, we'd always run into him on the road.
Regardless, I respect his opinion."
"But his aunt said that he couldn't come back and wanted him to take the exam first."
Qiu Hua sighed and said, "With such a serious incident, forcing him to stay and take the exam will probably have an impact. It's better to listen to what he thinks and respect his thoughts."
Dahua stopped talking, rode the bike a little lighter, and the bike moved forward steadily.
Wu Li waited at the door for a while. The bell for the end of the exam rang. The old man walked inside with a palm-leaf fan, and soon he saw Wu Xin coming out.
When Qiuhua arrived, Wu Xin and Wu Li were standing at the door.
"Qiuhua, why are you here?"
He forced a smile, his face looking even paler under the scorching sun.
He stood tall and straight, like a standing birch tree, and everyone who passed by him couldn't help but look sideways.
Qiuhua looked at him from afar, as if he could see through the holes inside the birch tree. Rain and snow over the past twenty years had seeped into the holes. He would occasionally lift the bark to look down at them, then cover it up as if nothing had happened.
"Wu Xin." Qiuhua walked over and grabbed his hand.
The sun was scorching and his hands were cold.
"Wu Xin, come back with me quickly and see your father for the last time." Wu Li didn't dare to look at Qiu Hua.
Wu Xin nodded, Dahai looked at Qiuhua and chose to remain silent.
He squeezed Qiuhua's hand so hard that her knuckles turned white. She squeezed back, smiling calmly.
"Okay, let's go back together."
"good."
Ever since he was old enough to understand, Wu Xin knew that his mother and father did not have a good relationship.
He saw his mother staring at the wooden box countless times, secretly shedding tears.
She looked down on her father and didn't even want to say a word to him.
As he grew older, his mother spent more and more time in a daze, and his father's temper became worse and worse.
Sometimes while eating, he would smash a bunch of bowls;
Sometimes when Wu Xin was sleeping, he would be woken up by the sounds of yelling and cursing.
However, Wu Asan did not turn his anger towards him.
Wu Xin grew up with fair skin, a high nose bridge and thin lips.
Wu Asan and Wu Li, however, have dark skin, flat noses and thick lips.
But Wu Asan didn't care. He continued to support Wu Xin as usual. He even knew in his heart that he was not worthy of her.
Now when a person passes away, no matter whether he is beautiful or ugly, educated or illiterate, a city dweller or a farmer in the countryside, he is just a stiff corpse placed on the door panel, waiting for people to come and pay their last respects.
When Wu Xin arrived at the door, the person had already been carried out. A white cloth curtain was hung on the door, covering it, and a straw mat was placed inside the threshold.
He knelt down and kowtowed three times.
My aunt came out from inside upon hearing the noise, fell to the ground and cried, "My poor brother, my poor child, why have you come back? Everyone has left, and you are still ruining your future?"
He knelt with his head down, not saying a word. His aunt's eyes were red and tears were streaming down her face.
She hugged Wu Xin and cried for a long time, saying, "Good boy, good boy, your father didn't raise you in vain. You must have fulfilled his wish by sending him off."
Someone handed him the mourning cloth, and my aunt put it on his head and covered it with hemp.
His entire face was covered, and Qiuhua only then saw his shoulders shaking slightly.
This was the first time Qiuhua saw him cry, silently and sadly, like a stream flowing in the dead of night, flowing through the four seasons, and no one knew where it would stop.
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