Chapter 17 Chapter 15 Terminal Illness

A child lost his way in the mountains and forests, and the sound of pines opened his hungry mouth.A king cobra was swimming towards him, spitting blood-red snails.The jackal smelled the boy and came after him.He also heard the low roar of the leopard and the howling of the wild boar.He was surrounded by great dangers, but he was not afraid at all. He sat on a dead log, biting the sweet leaves in his mouth. He listened to the singing of the birds in the woods. He thought that someone would take him home . This was a dream Heizi had one night. Heizi thought, who could that child be? Li Yuanxin told Heizi that he was going to drop out of school.Li Yuanxin told Heizi the news under a tallow tree on a bloody evening in the setting sun. There was a cloud slowly drifting in the sky, and they couldn't hear the footsteps of that white cloud.

Heizi thought Li Yuanxin was joking with him.He punched Li Yuanxin, "Brat, what are you kidding!" Li Yuanxin was about to shed tears, "Heizi, what I said is true." A gust of wind blew, and Heizi felt the coolness. There was a rustling sound, as if a flying insect had suddenly bumped into his eyes. Heizi asked, "Why?" Li Yuanxin lowered his head, turned and left.His shoulders trembled, and he walked very fast. Heizi didn't know what the expression on Li Yuanxin's face was at this moment. Li Yuanxin's voice drifted over with the wind: "Heizi, I won't go to school tomorrow." Heizi Standing under the tree in the autumn wind, he felt lost, and he didn't know who would lead him home.

Sure enough, Li Yuanxin didn't go to school anymore.The school was very peaceful, and no one asked such questions: "Why didn't Li Yuanxin come to school?" The teacher was also very calm. He was not like the old days when he found out that students who hadn't showed up during the roll call would ask why they didn't come to school.The teacher skipped over Li Yuanxin during the roll call. It seems that the teacher already knew about this.Li Yuanxin is such a jerk.Why didn't you tell Heizi earlier that they are the best friends in Quliu Village.Heizi didn't know the exact reason why Li Yuanxin didn't come to school.Heizi was sitting in the classroom, the teacher's voice was very far away, but the teacher's voice writing on the blackboard was so sharp that it almost pierced Heizi's eardrum.

After school, Heizi didn't go home directly. He came to the door of Li Yuanxin's house. Li Yuanxin's grandmother was picking soybeans in the yard.She put the big and plump soybeans in a basket.People in the village pick and choose in this way. Good soybeans can be sold at a good price in the market, and poor soybeans are kept to make tofu for Chinese New Year.Li Yuanxin's grandmother picked carefully, she didn't notice Heizi standing at the door.Heizi called out, "Grandma." Grandma finally raised her head, her eyes were cloudy, and the corners of her eyes were still sticky with gum.Grandma wiped her eyes and said to Heizi, "Heizi, come in." Then Heizi walked in.His footsteps were heavy today, and Li Yuanxin's home suddenly became so strange.Li Yuanxin's home is deserted, and he has lost the laughter of the past.Heizi took a low stool and sat beside grandma, helping her pick up soybeans.

"Grandma, where's Yuanxin?" Heizi asked. Grandma didn't seem to hear, and didn't answer Heizi for a long time. Grandma was sitting in front of him, but she seemed to be far away from him. Grandma is the only one in Li Yuan's new home. Heizi sat for a long time, but did not notice any movement inside.It was almost noon, and many people were ready to eat, but they didn't even have a fire in their house.Where did Li Yuanxin go, where did his parents go?Heizi stood up and said to grandma, "Grandma, I'm leaving." Grandma just said "oh" and looked up at him, as if feeling very sudden.Grandma lowered her head after "Oh".Heizi walked out of Li Yuanxin's house in a daze.He saw a group of wild geese flying tragically across the sky in front of him in a herringbone shape, and the hooting of the wild geese was very empty.

For several days, he didn't see Li Yuanxin, nor did he see Li Yuanxin's parents. Heizi felt empty in his heart. Li Yuanxin's family should be happy. He is different from Heizi. He has an optimistic, almost playful father, and a kind and loving mother.No matter how difficult the years are, Heizi can find a real and vivid smile from Li Yuanxin's house. But their home is so quiet now. When Heizi walked into Chimao Granny's house carrying water that evening, he met Li Yuanxin's grandma.She sat cross-legged on the futon with the red-haired granny, chanting something. Heizi would not bother Chimao Grandma when she was meditating and chanting scriptures.He poured water into the water tank of Chimao Granny's house and went out.

Li Yuanxin walked in from the entrance of the village with his father on his back. Li Yuanxin's father had a towel covering his head, and his mother followed behind him, expressionless and haggard. Li Yuanxin also had no expression on his face, his eyes were sunken, but the eyeballs were still so energetic.His beard has also grown.When Li Yuanxin passed by Heizi with his father on his back, he didn't say hello to Heizi, nor did Li Yuanxin's mother, who was usually very kind to Heizi.As they passed by in a hurry, Heizi smelled a strong smell of medicine. Heizi suddenly understood what was going on.

He stared blankly at them home. Someone was pointing and whispering to them.Heizi hates those who gossip behind their backs.He gave them a hard look! After picking up water, he secretly took a dozen eggs, wrapped them in a piece of cloth, and entered Li Yuanxin's house. Li Yuanxin was chopping firewood in the yard. He didn't have to do this work before. His father would let him study or play instead of doing this work.He was chopping firewood, sweating profusely. He saw Heizi enter the yard and stopped, "Heizi, are you here?" Heizi saw that Li Yuanxin, who had only dropped out of school for a few days, seemed to have matured. , he must have his own reasons for not telling Heizi the truth.Heizi asked, "Where's your father?" Li Yuanxin whispered, "He's asleep." Heizi handed the egg to Li Yuanxin, "Yuanxin, let's make up your father's health." Li Yuanxin accepted it, and he put down the hatchet Into the back room.Heizi picked up the hatchet and chopped the firewood steadily one by one.

Li Yuanxin's mother was cooking, and when she heard that Heizi was coming, she hurried out, with a plausible smile on her face, and she said, "Heizi, stop, how can I let you do it!" Heizi said "Why are you so polite today? Isn't it just chopping firewood? It's nothing." Li Yuanxin's mother blushed.Li Yuanxin came out, and he said to Heizi, "My father is awake, and he let you in." Mother Li said, "Heizi, you can go in." Heizi entered Li Yuanxin's father's bedroom.Under the oil lamp, Father Li was half lying on the bed, covered with a quilt.His face was pale, and there was no expression on his thin face.But his smile was so real, he raised his voice and said, "Heizi, sit down."

Heizi said, "Uncle, take a good rest, nothing will happen, it will be fine after a period of rest." Father Li smiled and said, "Silly boy, what can be the matter, you don't need to comfort me, I know that too. Heizi, although Yuanxin won't go to school anymore, you still have to come here often, you are good friends." Father Li's face didn't have a trace of the melancholy pain of a patient. He still smiled so brightly. Although he was a little tired after illness, he did have an infectious power.Heizi smiled, "I will come here often." Father Li said, "That's right."

Heizi said, "Uncle, can I come and help Yuanxin with homework every night?" Father Li looked at the melancholy Li Yuanxin, "Yuanxin, what do you think?" Li Yuanxin said: "Forget it, forget it, forging copper is to earn a living, forging iron is also to earn a living, it's okay if you don't study, it's pretty good to plant the fields well, isn't it true that my father has never read a book, no Be happy all day long." Father Li stopped talking. He was still smiling, maybe he was tired and didn't want to talk.Heizi was a very sensible boy. He said to Father Li, "Uncle, lie down well. I should go back to eat." Father Li smiled and nodded, and Heizi left.He and Li Yuanxin agreed to go to the embankment at night, and Li Yuanxin agreed to him. The autumn wind was rustling, and the whimpering sound of the great river came. Heizi and Li Yuanxin sat on the embankment, looking at the empty distance, which was pitch black.Occasionally there are meteors falling.Heizi thought, if there is a star in the sky and a person on the ground, someone must have fallen. Heizi asked, "What disease does your father suffer from?" Li Yuanxin said, "It's a terminal illness." Heizi said, "Your father is still so young." Li Yuanxin said: "My mother said that it was fate. Some time ago, one night, my father suddenly rolled on the bed with his stomach in his arms. He had a stomachache that lasted all night. We all thought it was just a stomachache. It got worse every day. My mother and I took my dad to the county town to see a doctor, and the doctor said it was terminally ill, so let’s go home and wait for the funeral, it’s hopeless. We just came back.” Heizi picked up a stone and threw it into the distance. Li Yuanxin said: "But my father is always cheerful as if nothing happened. He doesn't know that he is only a few days away. The more cheerful he is, the sadder we feel." Li Yuanxin started to cry, "Heizi, I don't know what to do. If my father leaves, what should I do!" Heizi's tears also fell, and he didn't dare to let himself cry out. He put his arms around Li Yuanxin's shoulders and said, "Yuanxin, don't cry, it's useless to cry. Yuanxin, don't be in your If you cry in front of Dad, you have to laugh, you have to laugh out, and let him feel that you are also very happy, as if nothing happened." Li Yuanxin nodded in the dark. Father Li can get out of bed now.This is exciting news.Father Li walked out of the room and walked into the village. He walked back and forth on the familiar village road between the villages.As long as he meets people, he will take the initiative to greet them with a smile on his face.When he meets someone who usually has something to talk to, he will stand there and talk to them for a while.He spoke loudly, and his laughter was hearty and contagious. People say that Father Li's illness is about to recover. Father Li met the production team leader. The production team leader said: "You can come out and walk around, take a good rest, don't be tired." Father Li laughed out loud: "Captain, I'm not bragging, I'll be able to start work in a few days." The production captain smiled, "Okay, as long as you work, I will give you extra points." Father Li said: "There is no need to add work points. When I tell jokes, just don't say that I am a foreign worker." The production leader said: "You guys know how to be funny, well, I promise you anything." The news that Father Li was walking around the village spread quickly.People really thought that Father Li was getting better and nothing would happen. Yes, if anyone passed by Li Yuanxin's house now, they would hear the laughter coming from inside.Father Li is a person who likes to joke very much, even when he is working, he often tells some jokes to make everyone laugh and hurt their stomachs.Heizi had heard his jokes in the fields.It was summer, and the commune members sat in the shade to rest after cutting the rice. Father Li told such a joke.He said that a woman took her three-year-old son back to her natal home to visit relatives and met her former lover.The lover had just killed his wife, so he invited her to his home.The two of them rekindled their old feelings as they talked.At this time, the child fell asleep, and they had the opportunity to put the child on the bamboo bed, and then got into the bed in the house.They were working hard when the little boy opened the door and came in and asked, "Uncle, what are you doing?" The man was quick to think, and slapped the woman's buttocks a few times and said, "Your mother did something wrong. Her ass." The child believed it, because his mother would spank his ass after he did something wrong.Later, the woman returned home with her son.After seeing each other for a few days, the couple couldn't hold back anymore, and they started doing that as soon as the child fell asleep.In the dim light, the child sat on the corner of the bed, opened his eyes wide and asked, "Dad, did Mom do something wrong and you spanked her?" When the husband heard this, he quickly asked, "What spanking?" The child said : "Mom did something wrong a few days ago, and an uncle spanked my mother in the same way." After the joke was told, everyone laughed like crazy. Heizi and the others laughed like hell. Heizi also hoped that Father Li would get better. He is not only a person who can bring laughter to others, but also, if he gets better, maybe Li Yuanxin can go back to school.Because one day, Heizi was in class when he suddenly found a head sticking out of the window, looking into the classroom with fascination, that was Li Yuanxin. Not long after, Li Yuanxin's father died.Li Yuanxin killed chickens every day in those few days.Heizi also helped him kill.Father Li likes to eat stewed chicken.Heizi was surprised that Li's father was dying of illness and could eat a chicken at a time. Heizi saw Father Li eating a chicken slowly and with great relish, and he said cheerfully while eating: "It's delicious, delicious." Drank it, drank profusely.Seeing how he was eating like that, Heizi gulped down his saliva, he was not watching a dying person eat at all.At that time, Heizi was still thinking that if he could eat so much, he would definitely recover from his illness.After eating, Father Li would smile and say, "It's so beautiful, it would be nice to have another one." Li Yuanxin smiled and said, "Father, don't worry, you will still have chicken tomorrow." Li Yuanxin's chickens were all slaughtered. Li Yuanxin's family had already used up all the money to buy chickens for his father. Li Yuanxin and his mother were in distress, no matter what, they had to make sure that their father had a chicken every day.At this time, grandma called Li Yuanxin into the house. She took out a pair of silver bracelets from an old box and asked her grandson to sell them and exchange them for chickens. Li Yuanxin really came back with a few chickens. Father Li ate the chicken again. Li Yuanxin and his mother had no choice but to sell everything that should be sold. What should we do?Li Yuanxin found Heizi.Heizi went home and told his mother about it. Mother left the two laying chickens, and gave Heizi the rest of the chickens to send to Li Yuanxin's house. Before the chickens were finished, Father Li died without any pain. Father Li ate a whole chicken, and suddenly, he laughed.He called his son to him, who was already dying.The son put his ear to his father's mouth.Father said: "Remember, don't cry after I die, laugh, laugh at any time, don't cry, remember." The son nodded, "Remember." he laughed. Grandma smiled at him at the door. Li Yuanxin's mother also smiled at him. Li Yuanxin also smiled at him. Suddenly, he stretched out a hand and touched Li Yuanxin's face, and his smile froze. As soon as he left, crying came from the Li family, and it was a loud cry.Father Li couldn't hear him anymore. He died with a smile on his face. He left while watching the smiling faces of his relatives. Later, Heizi found out that Father Li had bowel cancer. Think about it, how much pain a person with bowel cancer has to endure if he wants to eat a chicken and insist on eating a chicken every day for such a long time!In his last days, he never cried out in pain, but smiled instead.Heizi later understood that Father Li ate chicken to keep his family members from being sad, and to be happy at all times, even though he did not bring happiness to the family. Father Li treats death like coming home. Who brought him home?