830: A sense of foreboding flashed through my mind
Xu Ying looked at the desolate yard and couldn't help muttering:
"Why is the house in such a state of disrepair and no one is taking care of it? What's wrong with these old couple? I haven't seen them for a few years. Have they become lazy?"
Yu Xiaoye looked at the desolate courtyard and noticed something was wrong:
"Hey, why do I feel like no one lives in this yard? Look, Aunt Jinhua used to have a few chickens at home, but now there are none left, and the chicken coop is deserted."
Yu Jiahui and Xu Ying looked towards the chicken coop together, and sure enough, they saw that the chicken coop was also buried in the weeds.
A sense of foreboding flashed through the three people's minds, and Xu Ying said in panic:
"Go to Widow Wang's house!"
The three of them hurried to Widow Wang's house again. When they saw Widow Wang's yard from a distance, it was exactly the same as Sai Jinhua's yard, with the gate closed and overgrown with weeds.
Xu Ying's face turned pale all of a sudden:
"It's over. Why are these two houses empty? Look, Widow Wang always loved raising chickens. She always had dozens of chickens at home. Now there's not a single chicken in the chicken coop. How come she has no chickens at all?"
Yu Jiahui pondered:
"That's not right. Look at how tall the grass is in this yard. It's been abandoned for at least two or three months. But I received a letter from Lao Pu over a month ago."
"What's going on? Why are both of these families gone?"
The three of them stood outside the closed gate, all at a loss as to what to do.
At this moment, someone next to him suddenly screamed:
"Hey, isn't this Lao Yu, Lao Xu, and Xiao Ye? Oh my God, am I seeing things?"
When the three heard the shouting, they quickly turned around and saw a middle-aged woman in the next yard standing in the fenced yard holding a winnowing basket and looking at them in surprise.
They thought about it carefully and realized that this was Tie Niu’s mother.
When Tie Niu's mother saw that they were looking at her, she was sure that she was not mistaken. She dropped the dustpan in her hand in surprise and leaned on the fence to ask:
"Why are you and your family back?"
Yu Jiahui didn't bother to answer Tie Niu's mother's question, and stepped forward and asked:
"Tie Niu's mom, let me ask you, where are Widow Wang's family? And why are Sai Jinhua and Lao Pu also gone? Where did they go?"
Tie Niu's mother glanced at the empty courtyard:
"Oh, them. I heard that the Kaixing Lake Fishery was short of people to look after the fishery, so they transferred these two families over there to look after the fishery."
Hearing this answer, Xu Ying breathed a sigh of relief, his legs weakened as he said:
"Oh my god, I was so scared. I thought something happened to them, but it turns out they went to the fishing grounds."
Yu Jiahui felt that the situation was a bit strange and asked again:
"How long have you been gone?"
"I guess it's been three months, right?"
Yu Jiahui frowned. This wasn't right. He had clearly received a letter from Lao Pu a month before, and the letter didn't mention that their two families had been transferred to look after the fish farm.
"What about Widow Wang's two children, Xiaochuan and Xiaoyuan?"
"These two children attend junior high school in the county town and usually live on campus, not at home."
Yu Jiahui still felt something was amiss, but he didn't show it:
"Okay, I understand. Thank you very much."
"Old Yu, when did you become so polite? Come, come to our house and stay with us tonight."
Yu Jiahui looked up and saw that it was getting late. Although they were thinking about Sai Jinhua and Widow Wang and wanted to rush to Kaixing Lake Fishery to find them early, it was getting late and they didn't dare to travel at night. If they traveled at night here, they would really encounter wolves, so they discussed with each other with their eyes and had to stay at Tie Niu's house first, and wait until the next day to go to Kaixing Lake Fishery to find Sai Jinhua and the others.
When they arrived at Tie Niu's house, Tie Niu's mother treated them warmly as if they were royal relatives.
Not long after, the farm finished work and the people in the team heard that Yu Jiahui and the others had returned, so they all rushed to Tie Niu's house to visit them.
The people in the company are all familiar faces. In recent years, people have only left and no one has come in, so they are all people they know.
All the educated youth had left, and those who were undergoing labor reform had also left. Hong Cheng was the last one to leave.
Hong Cheng was reformed through labor here in his early years, and continued to work here after his reform, for more than ten years.
Half a year ago, his case was overturned and his innocence was restored by the higher authorities. He finally left here and returned to the provincial capital, where he transformed himself into a cultural celebrity and Peking Opera master in the province.
Moreover, because he had suffered injustice for more than ten years and became a persecuted hero, he is now even more famous and respected than before.
After Hong Cheng returned to the provincial capital, he wrote a letter to Yu Jiahui who was far away in Beijing, saying that he had finally been cleared of all charges and could finally live a clean life without having to fear other people's eyes. Yu Jiahui specially wrote a letter to congratulate him and said that if he had the opportunity to come to Beijing in the future, he would definitely come to his home for a visit.
Hong Cheng's death was within the expectations of the Yu family because it was a historical inevitability.
But now Sai Jinhua and Widow Wang are missing, leaving the family feeling empty-hearted. They came all the way here only to find nothing, and they feel very bad.
The family stayed in the company for one night, and the whole company was as lively as during the Chinese New Year. Every family spontaneously brought wine and food, and several tables of banquets were set up in the team office. A group of old friends ate and drank, and the party lasted until midnight.
Xu Ying was in no mood to make a fuss. She was anxious for daybreak to come quickly so she could go to the fishery to look for someone. The more she thought about it, the more she felt that it was not that simple for those three people to leave the yard and run all the way to the fishery. Something must have happened.
They spent the whole night like this. The next morning, they got up at dawn and had breakfast at Tie Niu's house. Before leaving, they gave some of the snacks they brought from the capital to Tie Niu's mother. Then Captain Yang specially sent a carriage to take them to the field headquarters.
After arriving at the farm headquarters, I hurriedly met with some acquaintances there, and then set off for Kaixing Lake Fishery.
After almost a day's travel, we finally arrived at Kaixing Lake Fishery in the afternoon.
The fishing ground used to be very prosperous, but now it has gradually declined. There are not many people here now. Only in winter when there are winter fishing activities, can the former bustling and busy life be restored.
At the edge of the endless lake, we found the fishery headquarters, a low
Lahe braided earthen house.
The doors of most houses were closed, and from a distance, only one chimney was still emitting smoke.
Xu Ying couldn't wait to stride towards the direction of the smoke:
"Go and ask around to see if Sai Jinhua and the others are here!"
Yu Jiahui followed closely behind, and Yu Xiaoye also jogged all the way.
The three of them ran all the way to the Lahe braided earthen house with smoke coming out of it, just like the old men and women in the supermarket who were getting free eggs.
Xu Ying was the first to rush to the door and saw an old woman standing by the stove making pot stickers.
Xu Ying screamed:
"Sai Jinhua!"
When Sai Jinhua heard someone calling her suddenly, she was startled. When she turned around and saw who was coming, the pancake she had just made in her hand, which had not yet been put into the pan, fell directly onto the stove.
Sai Jinhua stared blankly at the three people standing at the door, blinking, thinking she was dizzy.
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