Chapter 54 Comrade Runaway﹡

Wufeng Village is above Putong Village, covered by wider mountains and forests, and the roads are more rugged and steep.There is also a "deserter" left over from the war years - we don't know his name, so we can only call him that.To be more polite, call him "Old Escape" or "Escape Wife".In formal occasions where township cadres are present, people may call it "running away from comrades" with a slip of the tongue. Judging from the man's accent, he was from Sichuan or Yunnan, but he couldn't tell where he came from, or even his name, age, and family situation.He was probably blown mad by shells on the battlefield and lost his memory.Such people cannot be deported.It was the arrangement of the county People's Armed Forces Department to stay here for a while and have a bite to eat.

Lao Fang stayed for forty years and became a legal villager of Wufeng Village.Although he is a bit stupid, he is loyal and responsible, and he works hard. He is good at digging tea mountains or repairing aqueducts, and he has learned to speak the local dialect.It's just that after getting old and weak, there are no relatives or reasons here, and the evening scene is a bit bleak.One day a few years ago, when he was chopping firewood in a snowy day, he fell and suffered a stroke. His whole body was paralyzed, and it was difficult for him to even find water to drink.At that time, the people's commune was disbanded, and the fields were divided and the mountains were divided. The only difference was that a few public houses were demolished and divided into bricks and tiles, and each family cleaned the snow in front of their own doors.A paralyzed man, and a nameless paralyzed man, which family is willing to take him in?

The village head, Lao Yang, was so anxious that he didn't sleep well all night. He rushed to the carpenter's house early the next morning and said, "You are a cowhide, saying that you can make anything?" The carpenter said it was true.The village head said: "Well, you can make me something." The carpenter asked what you want to do.The village head said: "This kind of thing has several uses: it is a stretcher when it is lifted, a chair when it is lowered, and a bed when it is opened." The carpenter didn't understand what the other party wanted this for.The village chief said, "Don't worry about it. Just do it well."

After a lot of thought, the carpenter finally invented a multi-functional stretcher three days later.Lao Yang summoned the whole village to look at the new equipment: You all know that the fugitive is paralyzed.He has no descendants, as you all know.The old team said that it is the way of heaven that orphans, widows, and disabled people can be cared for.What's more, we are still socialism.So from now on, everyone has to extend a hand.Deserters have to eat food in rotation in the village, starting from my house today.I made it clear that there are three rules to be established: one is what the host family eats, he will eat what he eats.The second is to carry him into the house every day and not let him sleep on the bed.The third is that each family will take care of the delivery, but it must ensure that the person is clean and odorless when sending it off, otherwise the family below may not pick it up.Did you hear me clearly? ...

Two or three people were not very happy, but they muttered for a while, seeing that the rules treat everyone equally, they couldn't say anything. Since then, Lao Fang has been paralyzed for more than two years, and he has eaten Baijiafan for more than two years. He is not hungry or cold, and his body does not smell too bad. The villagers have been serving him until the last moment.Before he died, he stared wide-eyed, looked around, looked at the person beside the stretcher, took his last breath, stiffened his neck, and refused to die. Others said: "Your shroud is ready, don't worry."

There was no reaction in his eyes. Others said: "Your material (coffin) is also available. What else do you worry about?" He opened his mouth wide, unable to speak, and his face was flushed with suffocation. This stumps everyone.Some people said that he was afraid he was looking for Old Man Yang?Everyone felt like this, so they hurriedly sent someone to find the village head.At that time, Lao Yang was engaged in the timber business in the county seat. After hearing the news, he rushed back late at night. He grabbed the deserter's hand as soon as he entered the door without even bothering to wipe his sweat.Sure enough, when the deserter saw him, his eyes trembled slightly, and then turned soft and serene.He didn't say a word, but as he kicked his feet vigorously, his eyelids slowly closed, leaving a gap that Lao Yang had to wipe.

His final expression was not like that of an old man, but that of a child, as if he was a little afraid of the upcoming journey, and he had to hold his parents' hands to feel at ease. The village sewed a suit of clothes for him, beat the coffin, and set off a string of firecrackers to let him die peacefully.It's just that the tombstone cannot be erected, because no one knows his name or how old he lived.Whether he came from the Red Army, the National Army, or bandits, no one knows.Can't we just engrave the word "deserter" on the tombstone? ——————————————— ﹡I learned this story from Yuqiu.Like many orphans and widows in the local area, Yuqiu also envied the deserter, and often repeated the old saying of "deserter" this "deserter" in front of me, which caught my attention.What he meant was that he himself was in his late 60s and 70s, so he would have to be treated as a deserter in the future, right?Three generations of his family were poor peasants, so he might not even be inferior to a deserter?