Chapter 16 Chapter 15 Cause and Effect

1955. Longzhou City in midsummer.The weather in the afternoon was extremely hot, and the simple streets were deserted, with few pedestrians. A man in his thirties walked through the shade of trees by the side of the road without haste.He is not tall, but his waist is tall and straight, and his clothes are simple and decent. Although his expression has shown a little tiredness, his eyes are still shining brightly. He carried a pair of drawing boards on his body, and when he walked out of the shade of the tree, he raised the drawing boards above his head to block the venomous sunlight.His gaze was always straight ahead, which is usually the hallmark of a strong-willed person.

Sitting under the locust tree not far in front of him was a boy about ten years old. He was dressed in rags and was dirty all over. He could be seen as a little beggar living on the street.Before the man arrived, he had been crying with his head down.Beside him lay a little dog who had just died, and that was what caused him to cry. Maybe he was tired from crying, maybe it was his masculinity that attracted his attention, in short, when the man passed by him, the little boy raised his head and looked at him with tears in his eyes.The man keenly caught this gaze, he turned his head and looked at the little boy.As it was destined, something indescribable in the boy's eyes moved him immediately, he stopped and walked in front of the boy, and a grievance spanning decades began.

"Child, why are you crying?" He asked with interest. The little boy shivered and moved his body: "My dog... my dog ​​is dead..." "Oh." The man squatted down and fiddled with the dead dog. It was a five or six-year-old black-and-white dog. The last partner in this world. The man bowed his head and pondered for a moment, as if he had made a decision. "Come with me, I can make your puppy come alive." After speaking, the man got up and left on his own. The little boy looked at the man's back, hesitated for a moment with tears in his eyes, then he picked up the puppy's body and followed the man.

The man glanced back from the corner of his eyes, with a smug smile on his face, but he didn't slow down at all. After walking like this for more than 20 minutes, the two of them crossed the street, walked into the alley, and finally came to a bungalow under the shade of green trees. The man entered the house and moved a stool out, then sat down at the door.The little boy stood five or six meters away, looking at him expectantly and timidly. The man set up the drawing board, and the painting tools in his hands spread like colorful butterflies and flowers.At this moment, he was completely immersed in his work. His expression was so focused that any sound or movement around him seemed to be in a different time and space from him.

Finally, he finished dancing on the drawing board and returned to the real world.The little boy seemed a little puzzled and impatient at this time, but he was unwilling to leave. The man smiled and waved to the little boy: "Come here." The little boy walked forward hesitantly, the man turned the drawing board, and a vivid little flower dog appeared in front of the boy. The boy's eyes were wide open, and the puppy in the painting looked forward, its ears drooping and its tail wagging, as if it was about to jump off the paper.He couldn't help reaching out, wanting to stroke the soft fur on the puppy.

The man suddenly removed the drawing paper from the drawing board, and then tore it into pieces in front of the boy. The boy looked at him in amazement, the joy just now disappeared without a trace, and tears began to swirl in his eyes again. "Want a puppy like this?" the man asked. The little boy nodded eagerly. The man smiled imperceptibly, stuffed the paintbrush and painting utensils in the little boy's hands, and then walked away. About three hours later, the man picked up his daughter from the kindergarten.When the father and daughter came to the door of their house, the little boy was lying on the ground, and his side was covered with drawing paper. On each piece of paper was a puppy with immature brushwork, and he was still drawing. .

"Father, there's a little beggar over there." The girl said as she tugged on the man's skirt. "No, he's not a beggar." The man looked at the drawing paper on the floor, his eyes showing unconcealable excitement, "He will be my apprentice from now on." This middle-aged man is Wu Jianfei, and he is at the first peak of his artistic career at this time.The moment he met the little boy's eyes, he felt the flashing aura in the other's eyes.The puppies on the drawing paper proved his judgment, and the tenacity and unremitting character displayed by the boy made him feel that this is a rare talent.

The boy was already fascinated by the painting, until Wu Jianfei and his daughter walked up to him, he didn't notice it. "Is this puppy dead? It's so pitiful." The little girl saw the little flower dog lying on the ground. The silver bell-like child's voice reached the boy's ears. He raised his head and saw Wu Yanhua for the first time in his life. Wu Yanhua was wearing a white dress, against her delicate skin, she was as delicate and lovely as a porcelain doll.The boy stared up at her blankly, feeling that the other party was an angel from a different world. Before meeting Wu Jianfei and his daughter, the boy had been wandering for a long time. He was used to this kind of life and never thought about where he would stay.But now, even if you beat him, you can't beat him away, and he never wants to leave this girl again.

Wu Jianfei, who was in excitement, did not see the change in the boy's heart.When he asked the boy to be a teacher, the boy readily agreed, which made him very happy, and he felt more and more that there was some kind of extraordinary fate between himself and the boy. Since then, this boy named Hu Junkai has become a member of their family.Whatever the original purpose of his stay, he did become fascinated by the art of painting and showed an extraordinary talent.Under Wu Jianfei's guidance, his painting skills improved by leaps and bounds, and he quickly entered the art. In a sense, Wu Jianfei is not an easy person to get along with.Cold addiction, stubbornness, and irascibility are all shortcomings in his character.But he and Hu Junkai got along very well.Maybe because he wandered around since childhood and suffered too much grievance, Hu Junkai has already learned to hide his temper in his heart.Wu Jianfei can bear his scolding calmly, he listens to what makes sense, and doesn't make excuses when it doesn't make sense.In this way, the two personalities reached a wonderful tacit understanding.

For Wu Yanhua, Hu Junkai is a very good playmate.Years of wandering have taught him many interesting survival skills.He knew about animals, which insects could be eaten and how to eat them, which was a skill that fascinated children at the time.It didn't take long for the two to become inseparable partners, and their simple friendship grew with each passing day. After Hu Junkai's painting skills reached a certain level, he no longer needed Wu Jianfei's overly troublesome guidance.So Wu Jianfei successively accepted two more apprentices: Zhang Bin and Chen Jian. Since Hu Junkai came first, Wu Jianfei had high expectations for these two apprentices at the beginning, but it is regrettable that they are far from Hu Junkai in terms of artistic talent.Disappointed, Wu Jianfei's bad temper completely vented out. His beating and scolding Zhang Bin and Chen Jian became commonplace. The two children dared not speak out their anger. After a long time, it was inevitable that there would be grievances in their hearts.

Hu Junkai assumed the role of the elder brother in this family-style group. Although he was favored by the master, he never used it to suppress his two juniors.He won the respect of Zhang Bin and Chen Jian with his painting skills, and at the same time won the trust of them with his sincere care.Therefore, although Zhang Bin and Chen Jian were very dissatisfied with Wu Jianfei's attitude towards the three people's different treatment, they did not put this resentment on Hu Junkai's head. Days passed like this day by day, and in the blink of an eye, in 1960, Hu Junkai had grown into a fifteen-year-old boy. At this time, Hu Junkai's painting skills have faintly formed a trend of his own.The communication between Wu Jianfei and him is no longer just a relationship of guidance and learning. In many cases, they are discussing with each other about artistic feelings, and the relationship between the two has become closer because of this.In that summer, they often talked all night, and when they were tired, they slept together.Over time, some subtle changes began to take place in Wu Jianfei's heart, which may be difficult for ordinary people to understand. Wu Jianfei once had a beloved wife, but she died of illness shortly after Wu Yanhua was born.Lost things are always the best. With deep love for his wife, Wu Jianfei has never had any contact with any woman since then.For more than ten years, he has been alone and endured the torment of loneliness silently, which is also the main reason for his eccentric personality in the future. The most primitive instinct of human beings cannot be suppressed after all, and Wu Jianfei's desire to reject women has sprouted from another direction.He began to pay attention to Hu Junkai's increasingly tall and straight figure and handsome face. The long-distance spiritual communication and frequent physical contact became the catalyst for the breeding process of this desire. Finally, on a scorching summer night, Wu Jianfei's desire broke through the shackles of reason.The ignorant Hu Junkai endured all this in a daze but flusteredly. Since then, the relationship between the master and the apprentice has entered a new situation. It should be said that Hu Junkai was not very resistant to such a relationship at first. He lost the care of his relatives since he was a child, and he also had a deep attachment and gratitude to Wu Jianfei.Under the wrong guidance, this kind of feeling naturally develops in an unusual direction. After another two or three years like this, Hu Junkai's mind gradually matured, and he began to realize the absurdity of this relationship.At the same time, another emotion began to invade his life, one that no adolescent can resist. At this time, Wu Yanhua has grown into a young girl whose beauty and innate classical temperament make almost all the boys who have seen her obsessed.But those boys are destined to be sad. In her heart, she can no longer tolerate anyone except her childhood sweetheart, Hu Junkai. Hu Junkai was at the age when he was just beginning to fall in love, and Wu Yanhua had always been the angel in his heart, and his emotions could not be stopped and leaned towards Wu Yanhua.He began to consciously keep a distance from Wu Jianfei, pursuing his normal and beautiful future life. Wu Jianfei felt Hu Junkai's changes, and he also realized that as the other party grew up, it was impossible for him to control him like before.And Wu Jianfei himself has a deep sense of guilt for the relationship between the two, so he also acquiesced to this change, and only hopes that this matter can be hidden forever. The relationship between Hu Junkai and Wu Yanhua became hotter and hotter, and soon reached the point where life and death were inseparable.However, Hu Junkai still has some scruples about Wu Jianfei, and the relationship between him and Wu Yanhua has always been carried out behind his master's back.But the more this is the case, the more sweet feeling can be produced between the two. Finally one day, the daughter couldn't help pouring out the love in her heart to her father.Wu Jianfei, who had been kept in the dark, was taken aback. For him, his daughter was the most precious piece of jade in his life. He really couldn't accept Wu Yanhua's emotional involvement between the two of them. Dissimilarity is an absurd behavior that borders on incest. Wu Jianfei immediately forbade the communication between his daughter and Hu Junkai, Wu Yanhua was heartbroken.For her, her father's words were irresistible. Although she didn't know why, she still painfully broke the emotional connection with Hu Junkai. Hu Junkai still endured all this silently as he did when he was a child, without making any excuses or protests.In his life, Wu Yanhua is more important than anything else, he will not make unnecessary fights, but in his heart, he will never give up. In this awkward and depressing atmosphere, the three maintained a delicate relationship until the turbulent days began and the balance was broken. Wu Jianfei, who originally possessed absolute majesty, lost all his status at once. He was locked in the cowshed and became a prisoner of the young revolutionary generals. Zhang Bin and Chen Jian, who were full of resentment, waited for the opportunity to vent. Their childish revenge and distorted social environment temporarily turned them into demons. They tortured Wu Jianfei in various ways. It exploded at this moment.But fortunately, Wu Yanhua and Hu Junkai were somewhat hindered in the middle, otherwise Wu Jianfei's situation would have been much more miserable. Without Wu Jianfei's supervision, the relationship between Wu Yanhua and Hu Junkai quickly returned to its peak.On a moonlit night, Hu Junkai took Wu Yanhua's hand and formally proposed to his beloved for the first time. "Will you marry me?" he said, "Stay with me forever, and I will always be nice to you." Wu Yanhua bit her lip for a long time, and said in a low voice, "As long as my father agrees, I will agree to you." Hu Junkai hugged Wu Yanhua in his arms and didn't say anything else. The next day, Hu Junkai came to the bullpen where Wu Jianfei was imprisoned, and proposed to him his marriage request with Wu Yanhua. Although his status is not what it used to be, Wu Jianfei's character will only make him more hard as a rock in such an environment. "Absolutely not." There was no room for negotiation in his words, "As long as I am alive, you will never get together!" Hu Junkai was silent for a moment, then turned and left.As before, he didn't resist for the time being, but that didn't mean he had given up. Wu Yanhua was very disappointed with her father's answer, but in her heart, her father was always the most important thing. No matter how much pain she endured, she would never disobey her father's wishes, especially at this time, when her father was enduring extreme pain. great suffering. As the "Cultural Revolution" continued, Wu Jianfei's suffering continued to deepen.With a stubborn personality, he never showed the slightest retreat in the face of all kinds of torture and humiliation, which annoyed those young revolutionary generals very much. strengthen.After a few rounds, Wu Jianfei was haggard and suffered great physical and mental damage. Faced with this situation, Wu Yanhua couldn't stand it anymore, and she wanted to save her father from suffering.It is obviously impossible to do this by relying on her own strength. She found Hu Junkai, who is the only person she can rely on at present. Hu Junkai agreed to Wu Yanhua's request, and the two worked out a plan to rescue Wu Jianfei: take advantage of Hu Junkai's rotation to guard Wu Jianfei to launch an operation. It was a moonlit night.Hu Junkai took Wu Jianfei out of the cowshed, and the two of them chose a remote and quiet path all the way to the suburbs of the city quietly.There, Wu Jianfei and Wu Yanhua, father and daughter, met for the last time. This is a moment of farewell.No matter how delicate the relationship between the three of them is, they are the closest people to each other. After Wu Jianfei's father and daughter confided in each other about their family affection, it was finally time to shed tears to say goodbye. According to the plan, Hu Junkai will take Wu Jianfei to the mountain households in the Nanmingshan area next. At this time, Wu Yanhua still didn't seem to have finished speaking. After much hesitation, she finally opened her mouth: "Father, I have one more thing... I want to ask you..." "What's the matter?" Seeing his daughter's hesitant expression, Wu Jianfei quickly understood, his eyes swept over the two of them, and then shook his head stubbornly, "I will not agree to your marriage, if you If you want to take this opportunity to intimidate me, then send me back to the bullpen right now." Wu Yanhua lowered her head, tears of grievance rolled in her eyes. "Forget it, let's put these things aside and talk about it later when the master comes back." Hu Junkai smoothed things over indifferently, and then Wu Jianfei and his daughter made the final farewell in such a slightly awkward atmosphere. Hu Junkai took Wu Jianfei to the deep mountains. At that time, the mountain roads had not been repaired, and the villages in the mountains were almost isolated from the outside world.When Hu Junkai was wandering in his early years, he lived with a porter for a period of time, so he was quite familiar with the terrain in the mountains and other related conditions. The mountain road was rough and difficult, and Wu Jianfei was very weak. Although Hu Junkai helped him along the way, after an hour or two, he obviously couldn't hold on anymore, and asked for a break out of breath. "Hold on for a while longer." Hu Junkai pointed not far away, "There is a platform on the mountainside in front, let's have a good rest there." Wu Jianfei nodded, gritted his teeth for support, and climbed another sixty to seventy meters, and finally came to the platform Hu Junkai mentioned.At this time, he was already exhausted, and he sat down on the ground, not wanting to move anymore. At this time, the empty mountain is quiet, the moon is dim, there is an occasional breeze, and the shadows of the trees are whirling, which has a special charm. After Wu Jianfei's aura gradually calmed down, he couldn't help but be fascinated by the indifferent and elegant atmosphere. He stood up, walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down the mountain. He saw that the valley was lush with lush branches and vines, full of vitality. "Do you know what's down here?" Wu Jianfei asked with great interest, "The scenery is very nice. You can come and collect some scenery in the future." Hu Junkai was silent for a moment, then said in a calm voice: "That place is called 'Death Valley'." "Death Valley?" Wu Jianfei frowned, not understanding why this seemingly vibrant place had such a terrifying name. Seemingly infected by this strange place name, Wu Jianfei suddenly felt a little uneasy, and a cool feeling appeared on his back. He turned around and wanted to retreat to the platform. Hu Junkai didn't know when he came silently behind him, looking at him with strange eyes.Wu Jianfei was caught off guard and almost faced him face to face.He was short of breath, his eyes were wide open, and his forehead was covered with veins. In the silent night, he looked down at Wu Jianfei, making him shudder. "What's wrong with you?" Wu Jianfei asked anxiously. Hu Junkai didn't answer, and took another step forward, forcing Wu Jianfei to the edge of the cliff. Wu Jianfei was startled, realized something was wrong, turned sideways to avoid Hu Junkai, and escaped from the dangerous situation. Hu Junkai suddenly stretched out his hand and pushed Wu Jianfei to the direction of the cliff.Wu Jianfei swayed his weight, and stepped into the cliff with one foot. He was shocked, and subconsciously stretched out his hand, taking advantage of the opportunity to firmly grasp one of Hu Junkai's arms.Hu Junkai staggered and fell on the edge of the cliff, while Wu Jianfei completely lost his support, only relying on holding Hu Junkai's arm to form a posture hanging outside the cliff. "What are you doing!" Wu Jianfei's initial panic and fear had completely turned into anger. He stared at Hu Junkai's eyes and scolded in a hoarse voice.In any case, he never thought that, as one of the closest people in his life, Hu Junkai would do such a cruel thing to him! Hu Junkai avoided the other party's gaze, and frantically snapped Wu Jianfei's finger on his other arm with his hand. "You are alive, Yanhua and I cannot be together...you are alive, Yanhua and I cannot be together..." He repeated these two sentences in a terrifying voice that seemed to be whimpering and howling, These two sentences support his current behavior, and all other things, all the kindness between the master and the apprentice seems to disappear at this moment. In an instant, Wu Jianfei understood everything.The disappointment, pain and anger in his heart far exceeded the fear of death. After a wry smile, he let go of his hand. Hu Junkai raised his head blankly, and watched Wu Jianfei's body falling like a leaf into the death valley full of evil vitality. At that moment, Wu Jianfei's eyes were forever burned in his mind, and the gushing anger was like a cold stabbed into his heart like a sword.Twenty years later, whenever he recalled this gaze again, he would have a feeling of being immersed in flames all over his body. After everything returned to silence, Hu Junkai returned to the platform, his mood fluctuated like waves, and he was entangled by an indescribable complex emotion: Dazed, scared, guilty, and even a little bit excited... Gradually calming down his mood, Hu Junkai began to think about the next plan.In fact, he has already made arrangements, this will be a perfect plan, and so far, everything is going smoothly. At dawn the next day, Hu Junkai came to Lindong Village in the mountains and hired a porter who was similar in age and figure to Wu Jianfei.He paid the porter three months' wages, and then took the porter to Huangjia Village, which is deeper in the mountains.Here, Wu Jianfei found the honest and kind Huang Deming and his wife, and entrusted them with his "master" to take care of him and take good care of him.Wu Jianfei paid the couple's living expenses for three months at one time, and the "master" settled the bill on time for the rest of the money. There is hardly a better job for a porter than this.You have food and shelter, and you don't have to worry about anything.According to the agreement with Hu Junkai, when the three-month period is approaching, his work will be over.He only needs to pack his luggage secretly and leave Huangjia Village. Hu Junkai arranged all this and returned to Longzhou City.Facing the suspicion and interrogation of the young revolutionary generals, he seemed to have welded his mouth together without saying a word.Wu Yanhua firmly believed that her father was out of danger, and seeing Hu Junkai suffered a lot of grievances for this, her gratitude and attachment to him grew deeper in her heart.Finally one day, the two made a vow to each other that no matter what happened in the future, they would never be separated again. After those days passed, Hu Junkai and Wu Yanhua began to discuss marriage.Wu Yanhua offered to get married first, and then bring her father back.Hu Junkai knew it was pointless to do so, but since Wu Yanhua had the heart, he agreed accordingly. After marriage, the two went to Huangjia Village to find Huang Deming and his wife. Just as Hu Junkai planned, the simple couple told them that the "master" had left alone a long time ago and his whereabouts were unknown. Although Wu Yanhua was disappointed, she didn't think too much about it. The truth seemed to be hidden.But what Hu Junkai didn't expect was that Wu Jianfei who fell into the "Death Valley" did not die, but the porter unexpectedly died in the well of Huang Deming's house.