Chapter 42 Chapter Thirty-Six

As soon as the on-site meeting was over, Li Xiangnan and the members of the Standing Committee of the county party committee immediately went down the mountain to Fenghuangling.They stopped in front of the forest hut halfway up the mountain.In front of the courtyard of the kanlin hut, the hillside was dark and full of people.Hundreds of peasants held axes, saws, and ropes, pulled mules and horses, and stood silently in groups.Uncle Men's son, Zhao Dakui, stared at his blood-red eyes and roared, "Hand over the murderer, you guys." Behind Zhao Dakui stood a hundred young workers in blue canvas overalls that he led.

Zhao Dakui turned to Gao Liangjie who was standing in front: "What do you do as a secretary? Tell them to hand over the murderer, do you hear?" "There is no specific murderer," Gao Liangjie explained. "Don't take shelter here." Zhao Dakui roared, swung his arms like a beast, and smashed the wooden pillar nailed with the "Forest Protection Convention" wooden sign with a bang. Tick-tock down the arm. "Big Kui, calm down first. Responsibility," Gao Liangjie glanced at the crowd coldly, "We must investigate slowly. Calm down first and let the uncle treat and rescue him." He comforted.He always has the same feelings for Uncle Boring as he did for his father, and he also has brotherhood for Da Kui.

"No, there is a grievance and a debtor." Zhao Dakui turned to the farmers, stomped his feet and burst out with fire in his eyes: "Do you have any humanity? My father has planted trees for you all your life and watched mountains all your life. You are all blind Your eyes are black and your heart is dark, you just bully him and hurt him like this. Are you human or not?" The farmers stood silently with lowered eyebrows. Seeing the secretary of the county party committee and the leaders of the county party committee coming, people's eyes turned around at once. "Secretary Li, you have to decide for my father. You must punish the murderer." Zhao Dakui turned to Li Xiangnan and said loudly, tears streaming down his face.

"What's going on?" Li Xiangnan glanced at the crowd carrying axes and saws all over the hillside, and asked Gao Liangjie. Gao Liangjie's face twitched imperceptibly.He remembered his confrontation with the secretary of the county party committee at the county-wide opinion meeting.He briefly reported: "People from several villages wanted to go up the mountain to hack Fenghuang Ridge. The old man who was in charge of watching the forest stopped everyone. Everyone refused to listen and insisted on going. The old man lowered his head and rushed towards the crowd. Passed out."

"Where's the old man?" "He's being rescued in the hut. The doctors from the Dakui factory and the health station of the brigade are here." Li Xiangnan turned his head and looked at the hut: "Is it dangerous?" "very dangerous." "Why not send it to the county hospital?" "It's not right now, it's too late. The factory's hospital is in good condition, and doctors and nurses are here." "See how old old Lin is?" "Seventy-seven or eighteen years old." Li Xiangnan looked at Gao Liangjie sternly: "An old man in his 80s is fighting alone, obstructing and hacking, what are you doing, brigade secretary?"

"Our brigade is doing work." Gao Liangjie pointed to the five or six brigade cadres beside him, "All the brigade cadres have been dispatched to work in the villages, but they can't be stopped." "Why can't it be stopped?" Gao Liangjie was silent for a while with a sullen face, and said, "The current leadership of the brigade is not in name only." Li Xiangnan glanced at Gao Liangjie, and he felt the opponent's inner resistance and cold and tough character strength.He knew Gao Liangjie well. "There are so many brigades in the county that don't exist in name only, so why does your brigade exist in name only?" Li Xiangnan said calmly.

Gao Liangjie straightened his 1.8-meter tall body and remained silent.He never gave in to pressure of any kind.Silence was his most subtle form of resistance. "Secretary Li, you can't blame Liangjie for this matter, he really took care of it." The cadres of the brigade said each other. "Liangjie, Secretary Li is talking to you, why don't you say anything?" Long Jinsheng criticized lovingly.This also reveals some kind of unconscious protection for Gao Liangjie.Li Xiangnan felt it. Gao Liangjie is not Pan Goushi.For many years, he has been hard-working, upright and honest, and in the eyes of quite a few cadres in Guling County, he is a rare good cadre, and was once hailed as the "brigade secretary with the most political level".His present silence also contained self-awareness and assertive confidence in his own influence and power.Li Xiangnan frowned and glanced at the brigade cadres, then set his sights on Gao Liangjie.In the Fenghuangling brigade run by the "most politically qualified" cadres, there is now a situation of great chaos and destruction in which the mountains and forests have been hacked down.

"Secretary Li, don't talk to him." Zhao Dakui yelled loudly, waving his hands, "My father wants to file a complaint with you, and he has been waiting for you since yesterday. They don't care if he files a complaint with the brigade or the commune." "Did you hear that?" Li Xiangnan pointed at Zhao Dakui and criticized seriously. "We can control everything we can, and we can't control some things now." Gao Liangjie said expressionlessly. "The power of the brigade is in name only, isn't it?" Li Xiangnan became a little annoyed, "You think the power is too small now, don't you think it's gone? How much power do you want?"

Gao Liangjie was silent.The crowd was also silent. "Now the county committee does not exist in name, right?" Li Xiangnan calmed down a little, "Now the county committee standing committee members are all here, supporting your management. You can solve the hacking incident on the spot now. Then, let's talk about other things." Li Xiangnan pointed Looking at the crowd all over the hillside, "Can you take care of this?" "Yes." Gao Liangjie glanced at Li Xiangnan and answered with a stern expression. Gao Liangjie moved his burly body slowly, and took a few steps forward to the clustered farmers.He stopped.The whole crowd felt Gao Liangjie's huge presence at this moment.With gloomy eyes, he slowly scanned the dark crowd all over the hillside.Pieces of human heads were cut off by his gaze and hung down.Gao Liangjie instantly experienced the sense of authority he was familiar with in the past.He knew that the peasants were now morally oppressed by the danger of Mr. Men's life, and faced with the scorn of the county party committee leaders, they now had enough fear.Their awe and obedience to him, Gao Liangjie, have not been completely forgotten, and what they have forgotten must be restored now.He's now going to crack down on anarchism sternly.He had conflicts with Li Xiangnan behind him, but when he faced the anarchic peasant masses at this time, he felt his political impulse to centralize more instinctively. Prove before us that you are still strong.

He saw a young man with thick eyebrows and tiger eyes in the crowd at a glance.That was Zhang Suozi, the leader of the young people in Xiaozhai Village. "Suozi, why did you take the lead in cutting down trees?" he asked seriously. Suozi lowered his eyes under Gao Liangjie's gaze.Everyone in the Phoenix Ridge Brigade knew Gao Liangjie's great kindness to him.Ten years ago, when a cannon was fired up the mountain to blow up rocks, a squib exploded. Gao Liangjie threw himself on fifteen-year-old Shuozi and saved his life.Gao Liangjie himself broke his left arm.Gao Liangjie seized Zhang Suozi again this time as a breakthrough point.

"Did you take the lead?" Gao Liangjie asked again. Shuo Zi still lowered his head and remained silent. "Why don't you say anything? It's not you, who is that? Tell me." Gao Liangjie said gently but not against it.No one obeys him, and Shuozi will not disobey him. "No." In the silence, Shuo Zi replied in a low voice. The dark crowd all paid attention at once. Gao Liangjie was surprised unexpectedly.There was a tremor in my heart, and the grace of saving my life was now equal to zero.He stared sternly at the lock, and at the same time felt the hollow sleeve of his left arm drop so heavy and straight. "It's against the law to cut down trees like that, you know?" he asked. There was a moment of silence, only the sound of hooves of mules and horses in the crowd was heard. "Didn't you lead the terraced fields to cut down that mountain tree in our small village? Isn't that against the law?" The young man raised his eyes and said in a low voice stubbornly. Gao Liangjie was at a loss for words. "The tree was cut down, but the crops never grew." Suo Zi whispered again. There was a slight commotion in the crowd.Li Xiangnan quietly watched the development of the situation. "Now is not about discussing the lessons of the past, but about dealing with the current incident." Gao Liangjie said to Suozi, "Do you know that this violates national policy?" "Don't keep asking me." Suozi said with downcast eyes. "I'm going to ask you now. One cannot be disorganized and undisciplined..." "I don't want to talk to you anymore." Suozi suddenly raised his head and said loudly.The audience was silent.Under Gao Liangjie's gaze, Shuozi lowered his head again. After a while, he raised his face and said excitedly: "You saved me when you fired the cannon, I know. I should obey you for the rest of my life, right? You don't care." After so many years, it has made us more and more bitter, and it’s not enough? My father killed his own sheep and killed them in hiding on the mountain. Suozi trembled a little with excitement, and could hardly continue, "You saved me by blasting rocks, why did you blow up rocks? Isn't it just to build that big slogan." In the distance, you can see the big slogan on the opposite hillside that has been washed away by the flash flood: "Add...unified leadership." He waved his hand violently: "We have had enough of your unification." The crowd was completely silent, and Gao Liangjie looked at Suo Zi coldly.Shuo Zi glanced at him, his eyes slid down the empty sleeve of his left arm, and then lowered his eyes again. "So, you don't want me to take care of it?" Gao Liangjie looked at the crowd and said, "Don't let me take care of it. I can do it from today on." "Suozi, Liangjie saved you by mistake?" Luo Qingshui, the head of the brigade, spoke. "Our mountainous area has always been poor," Luo Qingshui said to the crowd, "Liangjie didn't want to work in the city these years, and shared weal and woe with us. We shouldn't be realistic? Without Liangjie, does our Fenghuangling brigade have electric lights? Canals? In the two years of cooperative medical care in our village, at the beginning, Liangjie didn’t come up with his own transfer fee, can it be done? Now, Liangjie is a disabled person, and his life is not more difficult than us? " "Stop talking, there's nothing to say." Gao Liangjie waved his hands sullenly, "Leave me alone. I, the branch secretary of the brigade, can resign." "In other words, such a brigade should have someone as tough as Liangjie in charge, or it must be messed up." An old man with a white beard in the crowd said slowly, "But Liangjie, your management is not good. What's right. Either hold it all in the palm of your hand, or just throw it away and share it to the end." "Liangjie, you can take care of it." Another short old man said timidly as if he was afraid of things. "Master, that's your own opinion," Gao Liangjie said, "It's not the opinion of everyone." "Everyone thinks the same way. If the Phoenix Ridge Brigade leaves you, who can take care of it?" The short old man turned to face the crowd, "Everyone said, right?" "Yes." Several people in the crowd said. "No." Immediately, several people shouted. "No." More people raised their arms and shouted. "No." A piece of people yelled. Gao Liangjie looked around the crowd calmly, then turned his head and said, "Secretary Li, I will submit my resignation to the county standing committee." "You Liangjie," Luo Qingshui was angry and anxious, and he yelled towards everyone: "You don't want Gao Liangjie to be the leader, who do you want to take care of? You choose someone, who can manage Fenghuangling?" The crowd was silent. "Whoever you think you can manage, you can stand up yourself." "You can manage Luo Qingshui." Someone in the crowd shouted. "I can't, the few of us can't do without Liangjie." Luo Qingshui pointed to several brigade cadres and said loudly. Li Xiangnan waved his hand to the crowd and stood up: "You offered to resign?" "Let whoever can lead lead." Gao Liangjie said.Everything is extreme.When the time comes for him to resign, the peasants will understand that Gao Liangjie is indispensable.Apart from him, no one can manage these dozens of hills.In his pathos, he was as hard and calm as steel again. Li Xiangnan looked at him and said peacefully: "I personally agree with you to resign as brigade secretary. Your determination is right." A faint twitch passed across Gao Liangjie's expressionless face. "You can go to the Party School of the County Party Committee to study for two years. The specific decision will be determined by the Standing Committee of the County Party Committee and the Party Committee of the Commune." Li Xiangnan looked at the empty sleeve of Gao Liangjie's left arm, and a complex emotion rose in his heart, "Are you You have worked hard for ten years and worked hard for ten years. But you have seen the reaction of the masses just now, which has evaluated and tested your work. Most people voted against it. You have a profound lesson to sum up. That is your personal lesson, and it is also a lesson of history. I hope you can complete this summary as soon as possible." Gao Liangjie slightly lowered his eyes. Li Xiangnan looked at him again, then turned to face the dark crowd of farmers: "Gao Liangjie failed to exercise his leadership function and stop deforestation. The county and social party committees can consider accepting his resignation and removing him from his post." He said. After a pause, "As for who to appoint to take over, it won't be a very difficult issue." He paused, and slowly scanned the crowd, "Isn't it a crime for you to go up the mountain with an ax to chop down trees like this? ?Do you know that according to ancient books, before the Han and Tang Dynasties, our Guling County still had sixteen characters: "beautiful mountains and rivers, luxuriant trees, good weather, and rich people's livelihood." The famous nine-story building in our Guling County The wooden pagoda is made of Huanghualiang wood from the Huanglong River in the valley of the Fenghuangling Brigade. In the past, the trees in this area became forests, covering the sky and blocking out the sun. Now, is there still a Huanghualiang?... For more than a thousand years, The emperors built palaces and cut them down, the princes cut and burned in melee, and then the imperialists came and cut and burned, and the soil erosion in Guling County has become more and more serious, and it has become a poor place with nine droughts in ten years." He raised his voice. , "Now, we planted some trees ourselves, and chopped them down with an axe. Isn't this a crime?" The crowd was silent. "Today, Yang Maoshan, the secretary of your commune, was dismissed by the county party committee at the Wujiling site meeting just now because of his ineffectiveness in stopping deforestation. The punishment for Gao Liangjie, the secretary of the brigade will also be dealt with soon." Li Xiangnan pondered for a moment, "But what about you? You committed a crime, do you want to deal with it?" The crowd was silent, and he frowned and scanned the crowd. "The county party committee will send a working group here to assist the commune and the brigade to gradually investigate and deal with the specific situation. Today, I am only announcing a few items on behalf of the county party committee. First, anyone who coaxes the felling of trees in state-owned forest farms must voluntarily confess and withdraw from the forest farm. Timbers will be dealt with leniently. In the future, if you commit any crimes again, you will be strictly punished. Second, the hacking caused by unclear forest rights must also stop immediately from today. Collective forests, how to manage them in the future, how to divide them, rights, responsibilities, and benefits, It will be resolved through consultation by the masses of the villages under the leadership of the commune and the brigade. Generally, the division of forests into households is not carried out. It is advocated: evaluation and conversion of shares, unified management, professional contracting, and profit sharing. Third, barren beaches and slopes can be contracted by individuals. Develop tree planting. The contract will remain unchanged for 30 or 50 years. The county party committee and the commune will come forward to guarantee it. Fourth, from today, all underground timber markets in Guling County will be closed. Just these four items. Do you have any opinions?" "No." Someone shouted. "If not, we will implement it." Li Xiangnan said, "Why can't Gao Liangjie deal with today's incident? Why are everyone dissatisfied? Because the forest rights are chaotic, and the management direction of the forest is chaotic. First of all, he let it go." He looked at The crowd paused for a while, "Today, you did not cause the deforestation, and you will not be held accountable for this. But why did you avoid crimes today, have you ever thought about it?" The crowd was silent. "It was watching old man Lin collide desperately to stop you. The old man is lying in this hut now. Are you guilty of facing him?" "I took the lead, I am guilty." Suozi said in the crowd. "Donggou Village is my leader." "Xigou is my leader." "Ge Jialing is me." ………… Several people in the crowd admitted loudly one after another. At this time, someone hurried out of the hut and reported in a low voice to the leaders of the county party committee and the brigade cadres: "Uncle Men may be very dangerous." "Think about it, everyone, what should we do?" Li Xiangnan looked at Zhang Suozi and the others and said, then turned around and waved to the cadres, "Let's go and see Old Man Lin." People walked quickly towards the forest hut. "What's the old man's name?" Li Xiangnan asked. "Uncle boring." Several brigade cadres replied. "Uncle Boring? What's his last name?" Several brigade cadres looked at each other: "It seems that the surname is Zhao. I haven't been called by my name for decades, so I can't remember it." "Surname Zhao?" "By the way, his surname is Zhao, and his name is Zhao Xiaomen." "Zhao Xiaomen?" Li Xiangnan stopped suddenly. "Yes, it's Zhao Xiaomen, that's right." Li Xiangnan looked left and right and quickly looked at several brigade cadres. "What's wrong, Secretary Li?" "It's nothing." Li Xiangnan stared at the talking brigade cadre, "I've been looking for him." He waved his hand down and walked quickly towards the hut. In the evening, Li Xiangnan ate and chatted with his father and the whole family at the rich dinner table. This is when he returned to Beijing to visit his father before he left for Guling County to take office. "Xiang Nan, I've told you everything else, let's not talk about it." Father looked at him and said, "When we arrive at the ancient tomb, help me find someone." "Who?" "His name is Zhao Xiaomen. He rescued me more than 40 years ago in the mountains around Fenghuang Ridge." "That time you were seriously injured?" "yes." "Father, I haven't heard you mention this person?" "You went to Guling, I just remembered it again. When I arrived in Beijing, I wrote to him, but I didn't receive a reply from him. But I still remember him." "How old is he?" "If he is still alive, he is almost eighty? If you find him, say hello to him. He will definitely remember me. If he has any difficulties in life, you can write to me." It was dark in the hut, and a lantern was lit.The old man was lying on the bed, gurgling crazy words.Doctors and nurses are busy under the light of flashlights.Numerous figures swayed on the dark wall.In addition to the doctors and nurses in white clothes, Zhao Dakui's wife and son Haihai were also guarding the bedside.With these dozen or so people coming in, the room seemed a bit crowded.People stood aside a little and kept quiet. "How is it?" Li Xiangnan asked a woman in a white coat, who seemed to be a nurse. That woman was Gao Liangjie's wife, Shufen, who worked in the brigade's health center. She was whispering to Gao Liangjie who had just come in about the situation of the old man.She raised her eyes to look at Li Xiangnan, then turned to look at a male doctor next to her.The doctor looked at Li Xiangnan, frowned and shook his head.Li Xiangnan walked to the bed. The old man was lying on his back with his eyes closed, still cursing intermittently: "You have machine guns...you cut down trees...I'm not afraid..." There was a big basket next to the bed, and a firewood sickle beside the pillow. Li Xiangnan slowly picked up the firewood and sickle, put it in the back basket, and prepared to move it to the side. "Don't take it away, grandpa won't let you take it away." Haihai raised his crying red eyes and said. Li Xiangnan held the backpack with both hands and looked at the people suspiciously. "Yes, Mr. Men wants to put it by the bedside." Li Xiangnan gently put the basket and firewood back to their original places.He gently patted Haihai's head, and silently looked at the dark hut.He saw a row of more than a dozen awards, old and new, on the cabinet, and his eyes slowly scanned them one by one. "When did Uncle Men go to the mountain to plant trees?" He asked the brigade cadres on the left and right. "1952." Shufen said. Li Xiangnan looked at the "nurse" in surprise. "She is Liangjie's wife." Long Jinsheng introduced from the side. Li Xiangnan understood and nodded: "Why did he come up the mountain alone?" "His wife died that year, and the government gave him 150 yuan in relief. He buried his wife, put Da Kui at a relative's house, and went up the mountain alone." Li Xiangnan looked at Zhao Dakui who was squatting on the bedside to change the cold water towel on the forehead of Mr. Boring, and nodded slightly. Uncle Men grunted twice, coughed, and spit out a mouthful of phlegm.He opened his eyes and woke up. "Father, how are you?" Zhao Dakui quickly wiped the corner of his mouth with a towel. "Better." Uncle Men replied clearly.The exhaustion and madness had gone from his face, and his expression became very peaceful.The lantern was moved to the head of the bed, and the bright yellow light shone on his face.He looked at the people standing around the bed. "Father, this is Secretary Li of the county party committee. He came to see you." Zhao Dakui said. "Secretary Li." Uncle Mu raised his hand tremblingly. "Master." Li Xiangnan held the old man's hand with both hands, and smiled comfortingly, "We were talking about when you started planting trees on the mountain." "In 1952, the seventh day of September..." the old man said slowly. "The mountain you went up to on the seventh day of September?" "On the seventh day of September...the government gave me a relief...one hundred and fifty." Li Xiangnan was slightly shocked.Thirty years later, the old man still remembers the day when the relief money was issued to him. "Tian Lao Wu, Zhang Faxi, Lin Dashan..." The old man slowly counted out the names of a dozen people one by one. "Father, I remember it, I haven't forgotten it. When my mother died, they all helped." Da Kui squatted aside and said. "Master, you have a really good memory." Li Xiangnan said. "Now that I'm awake, I can see everything... Everyone's facial expressions are real." Uncle Mu looked up, as if looking at a distant place in the sky through the roof, and murmured.The horse lights danced slightly, illuminating his bald and wrinkled forehead, peaceful and serene, "At this moment...you can see everything." "Master, do you still remember someone?" Li Xiangnan asked. "I remember everything... Really... That year, when it snowed, I begged for food, and whoever gave it to me, I remember it all..." "Do you remember Li Haishan?" "Li Haishan?" "He is my father. More than 40 years ago, he was seriously injured. You rescued him in this area of ​​Fenghuang Ridge." Uncle Men shook his head in a daze. "If you think about it again, you must remember. You took care of him for more than a month. He even wrote to you after liberation." The old man stared blankly at the distant place, then slowly shook his head. Looking at the old man, Li Xiangnan couldn't help feeling sad.He has forgotten the people he saved. "Father, you didn't even take a sip of the chicken soup that was brought to you yesterday. I just warmed it up for you, so you can drink some." Zhao Dakui took a bowl of soup from his wife, squatted and brought it to his father, crying Said with a full face. Uncle Men slowly pushed the bowl away with his hands: "Give it to Haihai." "I want grandpa to eat." Haihai said on the bedside. Uncle Men touched his grandson's little hand, pointed to the wall and said to Zhao Dakui, "Go, bring it." On the wall was a birdcage made of wattle.Zhao Dakui got up and took it off. "Haihai, the cage, I gave it to you... You asked grandpa to catch a bird, but grandpa didn't catch it... The bird is alive and cannot leave the mountain..." the old man said, and suddenly his breath became short of breath. Then, finally breathing weakly, eyes closed. "Grandpa." Haihai cried. "Father." Zhao Dakui also called. The doctors gathered around again.Uncle Mong opened his eyes slightly again. He looked at people in a daze, and said, "Ghost... Sorrow... Jian... Ghost... Sorrow... Jian..." "Master, what do you think happened to Guishoujian?" people asked. "quick……" "Father, I know what you said," Zhao Dakui stood up and said with tears in his eyes, "Just wait, I'll go." "you go……" Zhao Dakui put the basket on his back, turned around and opened the door and went out.The lantern might be running out of oil, the flames were dancing on the bedside of the old man, shrinking and dimming little by little.Zhao Dakui rushed back panting, and he knelt down at the head of the bed with the basket in his hands. "Father, I picked it up for you again." In the back basket was Uncle Men's tattered clothes. "Father, I picked it up for you from Guishoujian, and I will never throw it away for you again. If you want to wear it, you will wear it. Father, wake up." Zhao Dakui said with tears all over his face. said loudly. Uncle Men slowly opened his eyes again. He seemed to raise his hand, but he didn't. "Box...box...zi..." His lips moved slowly. "Father, you mean to take out something from the box?" Zhao Dakui asked. The old man closed his eyes and answered. Zhao Dakui stood up, opened the box, and rummaged through things: "Father, is this the padded jacket?" The old man shook his head slightly. "Is it these pants?" Uncle Men shook his head slightly again. After turning over all the things, the little wooden box was finally taken out: "Father, is this the box?" The old man answered by closing his eyes.Zhao Dakui carried the box over. "Turn...on..." Uncle Mu ordered his son in a barely audible voice. The box was opened, and it was a red cloth bag, and the red cloth bag was opened, and it was butter cloth, and several layers of oilcloth were opened, and everyone was stunned: it was money.A large pile of ten-yuan bills, a large pile of five-yuan bills, two-yuan bills, one-yuan bills, corner bills, steel coins... "Father, is this the money you've saved for thirty years?" Zhao Dakui knelt down beside his father's bed with his hands shaking while holding the money. "yes……" "Why are you saving it if you don't eat or drink?" Zhao Dakui said loudly with tears in his eyes. "Five thousand... three hundred... thirty... three hair..." "Your total is 5,330 yuan and 30 cents, isn't it?" The son understood his father's words. Father nodded slightly again. "Father, just say whatever you want." Zhao Dakui said. "Building... room..." "You're going to use the money to build a house, aren't you?" The old man closed his eyes again. "Where are you going to build it?" The old man looked up at the thatched cottage. "You're going to build on this mountain, aren't you?" The old man closed his eyes. "How many rooms will I build for you?" The old man shook his head slightly. "Cover me?" The old man shook his head again. "Give Haihai cover?" The old man opened his eyes and seemed to shake his head again. "Who are you covering for?" The old man's mouth moved slightly, Zhao Dakui listened closely, but still couldn't hear. "Father, whoever you want to cover, you just take a look." The old man looked up with his eyes open, motionless. Li Xiangnan leaned down beside the old man: "Master, do you want to build some good houses on this mountain for people who will watch the forest in the future, don't you?" The old man closed his eyes once and then again. Li Xiangnan felt his nose sour, and tears welled up: "Master, don't worry, we will definitely cover it." The old man's mouth moved silently again. This time Zhao Dakui understood: "Father, are you talking about the baskets? ... What happened to the baskets? ... You asked to sell the baskets you made up and add money to them, right? " The old man closed his eyes again. "Father, what else do you want to say?" The old man's mouth moved slightly, and he was speaking silently in words that he only understood: "Sheep...don't let it go...sheep...don't...let it go..." "Father, you are talking about sheep, right?... Sheep, what's wrong?... What kind of sheep?" Zhao Dakui asked with a sob. The old man opened his eyes, still speaking silently, his mouth moved less and less.The sheep, his Phoenix Ridge ibex, don't let it go.Every bird and beast in Fenghuangling, don't let them scare you away.He was talking, but no one could understand, no one knew his secret.The movement of his mouth has completely stopped, but his eyes are still open, unwilling to close their eyes.His eyes were still speaking his secret.The lantern above his head, which had illuminated his life's memories just now, was now trembling, slowly dimmed, and went out.It went out, jumped again suddenly, turned on, and finally went out, with a lingering smoke, and finally even a lingering smoke disappeared.What it leaves behind is the little world it once illuminated. "Father." Zhao Dakui threw himself on the old man and cried bitterly. "Grandpa." Haihai threw himself on the old man and burst into tears. "Father." The daughter-in-law knelt on the bedside, holding the blue-and-white porcelain kimchi jar containing stewed chicken, weeping uncontrollably, "You didn't even have a mouthful of soup." Li Xiangnan and the people present bowed their heads in silence. It was Gao Liangjie's mother who tremblingly pushed the door open.She was trembling all over, pointing at Gao Liangjie with her crutch: "What a crime you have done." Gao Liangjie stood bent over beside the washbasin, biting the towel between his teeth, twisting it with difficulty with his only hand.The empty sleeve of the left arm hangs down straight. "Go and kneel down to Uncle Men." Mother poked him hard with her crutches.The old man was dazzled, his hands trembled again, and the crutches poked Gao Liangjie's ears, and blood dripped out. "Let me twist it." Shufen came up and stretched out her hand. Gao Liang Jack suppressed his grief and shook his head.He gripped the towel between his teeth and wrung it dry.He walked to the head of the old man's bed, knelt down on his knees, and wiped the white foam from the corners of the old man's mouth with a towel, and wiped the old man's forehead and face.On a snowy day more than 30 years ago, it was the warm chest of this kind old man that warmed a little life that should have lost its right to live.Gao Liangjie lowered his head vigorously, tears fell down in big drops and landed on the ground that the old man stepped on.Gao Liangjie's mother also fell back and forth by the bed and cried loudly. More than a dozen farmers poured into the house, and they all knelt down in front of the old man and cried bitterly.There are people who have been rescued by Uncle Mu with herbal medicine, people who fell unconscious in the mountain stream and were carried home by Uncle Mu for twenty miles, and there are all kinds of people who have been rescued by old people.Now, after Uncle Men passed away, they all regretted this old man who had been kind all his life.A farmer knelt there beating his chest and weeping bitterly: "You died for our descendants. Uncle Men, we are sorry for you." However, the old man lay quietly and could not hear anything. Li Xiangnan walked out of the small cottage silently with the members of the Standing Committee. The dark crowd stood silently in front of the small thatched cottage, and a huge atmosphere of solemnity, guilt and grief shrouded it.Several people were tied up and stood at the front of the crowd, among them was a lock. "Let's deal with us," Zhang Suozi said. "You guys told everyone to tie them up?" Li Xiangnan asked. "yes." Li Xiangnan looked at them gloomyly, and then looked back at the few brigade cadres who followed out of the hut: "Your brigade consider how to deal with it." He led the standing committee members of the county party committee away.They walked silently before thousands of peasants.Silently passed through Guichoujian.Silently passed through the V-shaped valley filled with thorns and thorns.The emerald green Fenghuang Ridge unfolds in front of you peacefully and freshly.Li Xiangnan and the members of the Standing Committee stopped.Facing the majestic green forest full of life, they could not utter a word.Something huge and holy hung over them and moved them.The green pines all over the mountain exude a cool and moist fragrance.The birds chirped and chirped, making the whole forest even more peaceful.This Fenghuang Ridge is connected with the life of Uncle Men.Now, the old man has left this world without complaint or hatred, without anyone's gratitude, but he has left behind this green Phoenix Ridge. This is the continuation of his life. Li Xiangnan turned his head slowly and saw the girl with particularly dark eyes.She followed them all the time.He looked at her darkly, and she looked at him silently. "Are you a reporter?" "I'm from Xinhua News Agency, and my name is Huang Pingping." Li Xiangnan looked at Fenghuang Ridge in front of him with gloomy eyes. "This uncle saved your father?" Huang Pingping asked. "But he has forgotten." Li Xiangnan didn't turn his head, his eyes were in a trance. "How do you evaluate him?" Huang Pingping paused for a while, then asked again. Li Xiangnan stood gloomy and silent like a stone statue. "What do you think of Uncle Men? He should be the most noble person, right?" Li Xiangnan turned his head suddenly, angry: "We have no right to judge him. He is the soul of this ancient and poor land." Huang Pingping looked at him silently, at the excited county party secretary. Li Xiangnan turned his head and stared at the forest.From a distance, he saw a bright red spot appearing on the emerald green hillside, jumping, and quickly approaching, it was a girl who was running. He recognized it, it was Xiaoli.