Chapter 62 61

Like sleeping but not sleeping, Ruixuan lay down all night.In a daze, he heard his grandfather and mother coming back.In a daze, he heard Yunmei and Mrs. Liu talking in a low voice, (they were sewing mourning clothes.) He didn't know the time, and couldn't figure out what everyone was doing.He even forgot about the funeral affairs at home.His heart seemed to be placed at the junction of dream and reality. It must have been around five o'clock, and he woke up completely as if he had been startled.He suddenly saw his father, not the gentle old man, but a dead body lying by the river.He sat up hastily.After casually wiping his face with cold water and rinsing his mouth, he went out to find Sun Qi.

The extremely cold wind was blowing against his face and gently blowing into his clothes, making his empty stomach and heart that had vomited blood feel cold together, and his whole body shivered.Holding on to the street door, he collected himself.No matter, no matter, no matter how uncomfortable he is, he must dig a hole for his father.This is his unshirkable responsibility.He opened the street door.The sky is not very bright yet, but the stars are already unrecognizable. This is the alternation of night and day, neither night nor day, everything is uncertain.He went to call Sun Qi. Cheng Changshun got up early every day so that he could buy rags and paper.Hearing Ruixuan's voice, he went to gently wake up Sun Qi, but did not dare to come out to greet Ruixuan.He is busy, he has his own concerns, and he has no time to help the Qi family, so he feels embarrassed to come to see Ruixuan.

Sun Qi, last night he drank a lot of wine, and told himself when he went to bed: wake up early tomorrow!However, the wine and the dream were connected together, so that his cry only awakened others, but did not call himself.Hearing Chang Shun's voice, he sat up very quickly, put on his clothes, and then hurried out.Still smelling of alcohol in his mouth, he followed Ruixuan in a daze, unable to think of a word.As he was walking, he was twitching and hiccupping happily.After a few hiccups like this, he started to feel better.He immediately wanted to talk. "Shall we go out of Deshengmen or Xizhimen?"

"It's almost the same." Ruixuan was still silent in his heart, and really didn't want to speak. "Let's go out of Deshengmen!" Sun Qi didn't have any special reason, but just to show that he can judge and choose, so he decided.Seeing that Ruixuan didn't say anything, he went to the front to lead the way, in order to show his enthusiasm and bravery. When we arrived at the gate of Deshengmen, the morning light illuminated the gate tower.Here is the most unseemly place in Beiping: there are no bright asphalt roads, no golden plaques, shops with large glass windows, and no cars.The stones on its road are all up and down with sharp points, and the lumps and lumps seem to have chilblains.There is often a little ice or hoarfrost on the sharp corners of the stones.These cold edges and corners make people feel that even the road seems to be thinner.Its vehicles are only clumsy, dilapidated, large open carts driven by countrymen, which do not move fast, but rattle and clatter.Even the foreign cars here are not beautiful, they are all worn out, old antiques that seem to be blown away by a gust of wind, and are only used for pulling things, not people.Between the carts and rickshaws, there are donkeys that are skinny, squawking and quite powerful, and camels, who seem to have hated life for a long time and have to force it, so they have to walk very slowly. .These scenery, together, make the great city tower lose its dignity and magnificence, and look old, desolate, and even a little sad.Here, people will not think that this is the place where Dr. Mei Lanfang was cultivated, the May 4th Movement was launched, and green grasshoppers that can still chirp in winter are produced. Instead, they can see the desolate place at a glance. The impoverished, loess-covered countryside.This is an area where the city and the countryside are closely connected; if Beiping is a fine horse, this is its long and shabby tail.

Even so, as soon as the sun hits the tower, everything seems to have spirit.The donkey raised its neck and blew, and the hoarfrost on the camel's neck shone, and even the icy stones on the road were a little brighter.Everything is still old and old, but everything is illuminated by the sun and has strength, with obvious outlines, colors, functions, and life.No matter how old and sick the Peking Elephant may be, he will never die.Sun Qi led Ruixuan to a soybean milk stand.Ruixuan's mouth felt bitter, and he really didn't want to eat anything, but he didn't refuse the bowl of boiling soy milk.Holding the bowl, his hands felt warm; the hot air rose up and touched his face, which was also very comfortable.Especially his dry eyes, which were swollen from crying, felt as if they had been injected with eye drops when they touched the heat.After shushing for a long time, he couldn't help but move his lips to the edge of the bowl, sucking the white, boiling hot juice in mouthfuls.The heat went all the way to his body.This is not soy milk, but new blood, which makes him warm and stops his shivering.After finishing the bowl, he handed it over again.

Sun Qi only drank a bowl of oatmeal, but ate countless fried dough sticks.As if to uphold justice, he must teach the pulp seller to crack Ruixuan's second bowl with two eggs. After eating, they walked out of the city gate.With food in Sun Qi's stomach, he forgot about his sorrow and cold.He would like to go to the cemetery in one go - it is not easy for people who live in the city to get a chance to take a walk in the countryside, besides, the weather is so good today, and there are so many fried dough sticks in his stomach.However, today he is Ruixuan's protector. He not only knows that Ruixuan is a scholar and is not used to walking, but also knows that he has vomited blood, let alone overwork, so he can't trust his own will and just go on like this. "Shall we hire a car?" he asked.

Rui Xuan shook his head.He knew what a sin it was to ride in a car.He still remembers that when he was young, he and his mother went to the grave in a car to burn paper, how many corners and pimples appeared on his head. "What about hiring a foreign car?" "It's all dirt roads, you can't move them!" "How about riding a donkey?" Even though Sun Qi's short-sighted eyes did not see the little donkeys on the street, he could still hear their bells. Rui Xuan shook his head.People in the city are afraid of livestock, and even a donkey is afraid of being subdued.

"Let's go! It's warm and free!" Only then did Sun Qi speak the truth. "But, can you walk that far? It's not fun to be tired!" "Walk slowly, okay!" Even though he said that, Rui Xuan didn't walk slowly on purpose.In fact, he was very anxious, and wished he could reach the cemetery in one step. After leaving the customs room, they walked on the big dirt road.The sun has come up.The sun here does not have to turn over many eaves and corners to shine on everything like in the city, but it shines from the nearest to the farthest place as soon as it comes out.Looking down, they saw their faint shadows on the loess; looking up, they saw the boundless yellow land, all illuminated by the sun.At that point, the morning wind had stopped, and the sun was very red and low, as if winter was about to turn into spring soon.The air was still cool, but it was dry, clean, and pleasant.Ruixuan raised his head involuntarily.This emptiness, coolness, and brightness seemed to open his heart, and he could not help being excited.

There are almost no pedestrians on the road, only occasionally a big car, and one or two children or old men picking up dung.Wherever you look, there is a yellow field. There is not a single green grass or a small tree. It is just so flat and yellow, like a dry sea.There are a few leafless trees in the distance, and there must be a small village behind the trees, maybe only three or five families; the smoke from the kitchen is straight and round, slowly rising beside the trees.The crowing of roosters and the barking of dogs came from the village, faintly, yet clearly, to the ears of passers-by.In the small village near the main road, there were also sharp human voices shouting at cows, horses or children, most of them were women's voices, which were so sharp that they seemed to cut a gap in the blue sky.There, there are also girls or women in red jackets pushing mills outside the fence.There is no water anywhere, everywhere is dry, and the carts coming from a distance kick up a puff of yellow smoke from a long distance.The ground is dry, there is no cloud in the sky, and there is no moisture in the air. Even the small villages near and far seem to have no humidity or warmth. The yellow earth walls, yellow fences, and gray tree trunks are all the same. Dry, as if just painted with colored chalk.

Looking at it, Ruixuan's eyes were a little dazzled.Those monotonous colors seemed to stab into his eyes under the extremely bright sunlight, which made him feel sad.He put his head down.But the hard yet flying loess under his feet was still glaring, and the overturned fields on both sides of the road made him dizzy again.It is not a row of fields, but some kind of desolate, monotonous, soil waves.He was not as happy as before.He half-closed his eyes, neither looked at the distance nor looked at his feet, and just walked with one deep foot and one shallow foot.He has stepped into the monotonous North China wilderness. Although he is a few steps away from Beiping, he seems to have reached the barren desert.The further you walk, the heavier your feet will be.The soft loess seemed to grab the soles of his shoes, and he couldn't pull them out without great effort.He was sweating.

Sun Qi was also sweating.He originally wanted to talk nonsense with Ruixuan, so that Ruixuan would not focus on the funeral.However, he didn't dare to say more, he had to preserve the body fluid in his mouth.Everywhere is dry, and there are no small teahouses near or far.He regretted not forcing Ruixuan to hire a cart or ride a donkey. Silently, they walked forward.The fine yellow soil with the smell of horse urine fell on their shoes, penetrated into their socks, filled their clothes folds, nostrils, and ear holes, and even entered their throats.The sky was bluer, and the sun was brighter and warmer, but they felt that they were put into a very large and small, extremely bright and extremely dim, earthen nest. With great difficulty, they saw the earth city—the one that had been forgotten in the time when the Tartars ruled China, and only a few small earth hills remained, Beiping.Seeing Tucheng, Ruixuan quickened his pace.On the other side of Tucheng, he will see the cutest old man - Second Master Chang.With tears in his eyes, he will tell Chang Erye how his father died and how badly he died.To others, he is not happy to complain about grievances casually, but Chang Erye is neither a casual friend nor a heartless person.Chang Erye was, in his opinion, a good man who could be placed in the same category as his father.He should, must, tell Second Master Chang everything. Before he turned around Tucheng, he had already seen the residence of Second Master Chang in his heart: there was a small, long, bright courtyard in front of the gate; There are two willow trees, and there is a stone mill under the tree; the short fence is only as high as one person, so from a distance, you can see the golden corn and several bunches of red hot peppers drying on the roof.He also imagined the appearance of Chang Erye's house, not only the appearance, but also the ubiquitous smell of firewood smoke, which is not very pleasant, but it makes people feel warm.In that room, the warmest thing is of course Second Master Chang's voice and laughter. "It's almost here! Just turn around Tucheng!" He told Sun Qi. Turning around Tucheng, he rubbed his eyes.Ok?Only those two willows are still there, the rest are gone!He couldn't trust his eyes, and forgetting to be tired, he started to run forward.A few feet away from the willow tree, he stood still and saw clearly: there was only a pile of ashes there, not even the millstone. He froze, as if nailed there. "What's the matter? What's the matter?" Sun Qi asked inexplicably. Ruixuan couldn't answer.After being stunned for a long time, he looked back at the cemetery, and then walked slowly.Since the Japanese occupied Beiping, he hadn't been to his grave.Even so, he was very relieved, he knew that Second Master Chang would always make the grave round, and he would not be lazy because no one came to burn the paper.Today, the mounds of those graves are neither as high nor as neat as before.Decayed grass was crawling over the mound, and a lot of soil had fallen down.He stared blankly at the few unseemly ones, missing a piece in the east and missing a piece in the west, which might be gradually wiped out by the wind and rain, piles of dirt.After watching for a long time, he sat on the dry and loose land. "What's going on?" Sun Qi also sat down. Ruixuan unconsciously kneaded a little loess in his hands, and simply told Sun Qi that he understood. "Oops!" Sun Qi was anxious. "Without Mr. Chang to make a hole, who shall we turn to?" After being silent for a long time, Ruixuan stood up and looked at the two willow trees in Chang's house.A few arrows away from the willow tree, he saw Ma's house, also small, but with many trees, and one of them was a pine tree.He remembered that Second Master Chang had knelt at the gate of the city as punishment when he entered the city, just to buy Liushen Pills for the young master of the Ma family. "Try Majia!" He pointed to the pine tree. Walking to the willow tree, Sun Qi picked up a willow stick, "The dogs in the country are amazing! Take something!" As they said that, they heard dogs barking—the countryside is vast and sparsely populated, and the dogs would bark for a long time when they saw a shadow in the distance.Ruixuan seemed to ignore it, but still walked forward slowly.The two coats were ugly, and the dog, who thought he was brave and great, was neither yellow nor gray, came forward.Ruixuan still walked in a hurry, walking towards the dog.The dogs gave way to Ruixuan, and charged at Sun Qilai, because he had a willow stick in his hand. Sun Qi displayed his martial arts skills and played the stick very cleverly, but he not only failed to fight off the dog, but also knocked his knee so painfully.He yelled, "Chirp! Hit! Look at the dog! Is anyone there? Look at the dog!" A group of little dolls ran out from the Ma's house, both male and female, all equally filthy, the dirt on the little clothes was shining brightly in the sunlight, as if they were wearing iron armor. After the children yelled for a while, they called out a young woman—probably the wife of Young Master Martha.With a sharp and slender cry from her, the dogs were stopped from barking.The dogs dodged a little, fell on the ground, looked at Sun Qi's legs and wrists, and made a low-pitched woo-woo-woo demonstration. Ruixuan said a few words to the young woman, and she understood the matter.She knows the Qi family because she often hears about Second Master Chang.She must invite guests to sit in the house, she has a way, digging holes is not a problem.She led the way, Ruixuan, Sun Qi, the child, and the two dogs all followed behind.The room was dark, dirty, messy, and smelly, but the sincerity and politeness of the young woman made up for all these shortcomings.She apologized, and she moved here and there to clear the obstacles and find seats for the guests.Then, she ordered the tall male dolls to burn firewood and boil water, and taught the oldest girl to wash a few pieces of sweet potatoes to satisfy the hunger of the guests: "Oh, you have to suffer when you come to us! There is nothing to eat, nothing to eat. Have to drink!" Her Peiping speech was authentic and loud, more simple and melodious than the speech of the people in the city.Then, she ordered the younger children, who could not operate, but could run, to find the men in the family separately—some of them went out to pick up dung, and some chatted in the neighbor's house.In the end, she kicked the two dogs out of the house, which made Sun Qi feel a little more at ease. The boy quickly lit the firewood, and the room was immediately filled with smoke.Sun Qi couldn't stop sneezing.The smoke has not faded, and the tea has been boiled.Two big yellow sand bowls, full of light yellow soup - tea is made from young jujube leaves.Then the girl carried several large pieces of freshly washed red-skinned sweet potatoes in her skirt, and she didn't dare to pass them directly to the guests, but walked around in the room. Ruixuan didn't have time to think about anything, but tears couldn't help but come to his eyes.This is Chinese, Chinese culture!The things in the whole house are probably not worth dozens of dollars.These children and adults could probably starve, freeze, or be killed by the Japanese at any moment.However, they are still polite, warm-hearted, willing to help others, and not dejected.They don't have anything, not even a piece of clean clothes, or tea leaves, but they seem to have everything.They have their own lives and thousands of years of history!They seemed not to be alive, but to be struggling with a responsibility and a mission they did not understand.Strip off their tattered and dirty clothes, they will be as holy, great and strong as Yao and Shun! An old man in his fifties came back first, followed by two young men.Old Ma agreed immediately, and he and his sons immediately went to dig a hole. Ruixuan drank a bowl of yellow soup.Then he took a piece of raw sweet potato, he didn't want to eat it, but to reassure the young woman and children. The old people and young people found all the tools to dig a hole, Rui Xuan and Sun Qi followed them to the cemetery again.Behind, the boy was carrying a big sand pot and two sand bowls, and the little girl was carrying sweet potatoes, and they all followed. Ruixuan, as soon as he designated the location of the pit, he asked Old Man Ma: "Where is Second Master Chang?" Old Man Ma was stunned for a while, and pointed to the west.There is a new mound there. "Death—" Ruixuan only said such a word, and his chest felt a little itchy. Old Man Ma sighed.Leaning on the handle of a shovel, he stared at Chang Erye's grave and was stunned for a long time. "How did you die?" Ruixuan asked while rubbing his chest. While shoveling the soil, the old man replied: "Good man! Good man! Good man can die a miserable death! That time, he went to buy medicine for my son, didn't he—" "I know!" Ruixuan wished to teach the old man to speak more simply. "Yes, you know. After returning home, he lay in bed for three days and three nights. He didn't think about tea or food! His here," the old man pointed to his heart, "is hurt here! We persuade Hey, I’m trying to persuade him, but he couldn’t untie the button in his heart. He kept asking me: What’s wrong with me? Would the Japanese punish me to kneel? Gradually, he got up, but he still didn’t eat much. We all persuaded him to find some medicine, and he said he was not sick at all. You know how hard his temper is. Slowly, he lay down again, with blood in his stool, blood in his stool! We didn’t know, he didn’t Ken told us. Back and forth, he—what a tough guy—had become a bone frame. When he was dying, he called us all, and in front of everyone, he asked his son, Big Niuer, what are you doing? Is there a bone? Is there a bone? Revenge! Revenge! Until he died, his mouth kept saying, sometimes with sound, sometimes silent, those two words—revenge!" The old man straightened his waist , and took another look at Chang Erye's grave. "Da Niu'er has a tougher temper than his father, and he remembers the word revenge. He mutters in front of the grave all day long. We are all terrified. What do you mean? If he really wants to kill a Japanese, huh, this All the houses within five miles had to be taught to the Japanese to burn them all. We broke and crumbled them and persuaded him, almost kneeling before him, but he refused to listen; he said he was a man with bones. When the crops were harvested, the Japanese People sent people to watch us, and even recorded how many catties of straw we collected. Then, they came to the cart and pulled away the wheat, even the straw. They told us: After pulling away , send it back to us, don’t worry. How can we not be in a hurry? Who believes what they say? Da Niuer keeps asking those people calmly: Will the Japanese come? Will the Japanese come? We I know, he is waiting for the Japanese to come, so he can do it easily. Man, Uncle Qi, it is a strange thing! We know that if we teach them to take away the food, we will starve to death sooner or later, but we are still afraid that the big cow will cause trouble, so we don’t know. It seems that if the big cow is honest, we can live!" The old man smiled bitterly, and drank a large bowl of jujube tea.Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he continued: "Da Niuer sent his wife and children to her natal home, then made some wine, and invited those people who robbed food to the house. We can guess: he didn't want to wait The Japanese are gone. Let’s clean up a few people who are helping the Japanese to relieve their anger. They drink until the sun goes down. At the beginning of the shift, we saw the light of the fire. The fire burns up quickly, very quickly The fire was completely wiped out, leaving only the two willow trees. The smell is very smelly, and we know that those people must have been burned inside. Did the big cow die inside, or did he escape? I know! Our hearts were clenched, fearing that the Japanese would come to massacre the village. However, they have not come to this day. I guess, the few who died were probably Chinese, so the Japanese did not Take it to heart. What a nice family, it's over, over, like a dream!" After the old man finished speaking, he straightened up and looked at the two willow trees and the grave mounds on both sides.Ruixuan followed the old man's eyes to look left and right, but he didn't seem to see anything; everything, everything will become empty and die, the whole earth will become a piece of paper, not even a blade of grass!Everything is empty, and he himself is also empty, has no effect, has no choice but to die quietly, and die together with everything! It was almost noon, the pit was dug, Ruixuan gave old man Ma a little money, but the old man would not accept it, until Sun Qi swore: "If you don't accept it, I'm a little dog!" The old man took half of it.Ruixuan stuffed the other half into the hands of the boy carrying the teapot. Ruixuan never returned to Ma's house, despite the old man's sincere persuasion.He went to Chang Erye's grave, kowtowed three times with tears in his eyes, and muttered: "Second Grandpa, just wait, my father will come to accompany you soon!" Sun Qi had an idea, and suggested to take the west road instead, because they could go to the Three Immortals to have a look.Old Man Ma sent them all the way before turning around and going home. In Three Immortals Temple, there are already several close relatives of the Qi family accompanying Ruifeng, waiting for the Qi family to arrive at Qihao for burial.Ruifeng had already put on his filial piety clothes, and chatting with everyone with red eyes, he kept complaining that his father died unjustly and wronged, not because his father died at the hands of the Japanese, but because the funeral was simple and unseemly.He talked back and forth, which also showed that he was not responsible, because Ruixuan was in charge of the housework, but also had a temper of a foreign devil. He didn't know how to fight for dignity, but only knew how to put money on his ribs.Seeing Big Brother and Sun Qi coming in, he yelled even louder, for fear that Big Brother wouldn't understand him.Seeing that Ruixuan ignored him, he wept bitterly again, and then tried to buy good cigarettes, tea and wine for his relatives and friends, as if he had a grudge against money. At half past four, Tianyou was buried.