Chapter 17 17

28 Lingguang Nursery is located in a remote corner of Zhonghe Township. I passed Yingqiao according to the address and went straight down. After crossing a few streets and turning into the bottom of Nanshan Road, I saw a few red brick bungalows surrounded by a fence. The isolated place is a bit like a rural elementary school.On a scorched wooden sign on the gate, the words "Lingguang Nursery" have been blurred, and there is an inscription "Jesus Society" in the lower left corner.I entered the door, and on the right side of the front yard was an amusement park for children. There were seesaws, swings, and wooden horses. There were seven or eight children playing in it. a scarlet letter.An old man and an old lady were looking after the group of children. A fat boy was sitting on one end of the seesaw. As he went up and down, the two boys were shrieking excitedly.The two brick buildings on the left are classrooms. From the window of one building, I saw teenagers of different ages sitting in class, and a priest in a black robe was standing on the podium giving a lecture.In another classroom, there is a music class, with the accompaniment of the organ, first-rate mixed voices of boys, trying their best to sing a sad hymn that makes people feel inexplicable .Behind the two red-brick classrooms, there is a small church. The church is very old, and the red bricks are covered with green cane.It suddenly occurred to me that Mr. Guo told me that when Ah Feng was in the Lingguang Nursery, she behaved perversely and rebelliously. She often knelt and cried alone in the church in the middle of the night, probably in this Lingguang hall.

"Who are you looking for?" The door of the church opened, and an old priest of unusually tall stature came out. The old priest was wearing a long black cloth robe, a black velvet square hat on his head, and a dark robe. The square face was wrinkled and cracked. "Old Master Fu Chongshan told me to come here," I replied hastily, "He can't come by himself, he wants me to see Fu Tianci's illness and give him an apple." I held up the apple in my hand. "Oh——" a kind smile appeared on the old priest's dark face, "Fu Tianci? He is much better today. After taking the special medicine prescribed by the doctor, his fever subsided."

The old priest led me around the church and walked to another red brick building behind. "Are you Brother Sun?" I asked tentatively, and I heard the old priest's accent with a thick northern accent. The old priest turned his head and looked at me with surprise. "How do you know me, brother?" I remember Mr. Guo said that there was an old monk from Henan in the Lingguang Nursery, and he was the only one in the courtyard who loved Ah Feng.Mr. Fu also mentioned that there is an old monk from the north in the courtyard. He is very kind and takes care of the disabled children in the courtyard. He takes care of Fu Tianci who has no arms the most.

"Master Fu mentioned you to me." I said. "Mr. Fu is so kind," Cultivator Sun praised, "He is really generous to the children in our courtyard. The child that Fu Tian bestowed all these years depends on him." "Sun Xiutu, do you still remember Ah Feng?" I quietly glanced at the old priest and asked.I remember Mr. Guo told me that Brother Sun often accompanied Ah Feng, knelt in the church and recited the Rosary, trying to influence him. When Cultivator Sun heard my question about Ah Feng, he stopped, looked at me and thought for a while. "Ah Feng? Alas——" Cultivator Sun sighed, his cracked and dark face showed a sad expression, "I brought up that child, how could I not remember it?" Ah Feng is so weird that others don’t understand him. I tried my best to help him, but it was useless. After he ran out, I heard that he became depraved and suffered such a tragic end. It’s really sad. Actually Ah Feng, that child's nature isn't bad—"

Brother Sun mentioned that Ah Feng suddenly became excited. Standing under the stone steps behind the church, he recalled with me some of the words and deeds that were different from ordinary people when Ah Feng was in Lingguang Nursery many years ago.He said that Ah Feng had many strange omens when he was a baby. When he started babbling, he would cry when he was taught to call him "Papa" and "Mom".Brother Sun said that he had never seen such a crying baby, and the more he was coaxed, the more he cried, until it turned into screaming.Once he held Ah Feng in his arms. Ah Feng was only eight or nine months old, but Ah Feng kept crying for two hours. , the doctor gave him a sedative to save him.It seemed that the child was born with a stomach full of grievances, and he couldn't stop crying.In fact, Ah Feng is a child born with extraordinary talents, and his kind of understanding is also rare. No matter what he learns, as long as he puts his heart into it, he will always be several times faster than others, and he will be much higher than others.He memorized catechisms fluently, and knew the stories of the Bible from beginning to end. Brother Sun taught him Chinese, and he had just finished a story about Peach Blossom Spring.

"But—but—" Cultivator Sun hesitated, his eyes full of confusion, "That child, somehow, does something, but he is always so perverted, rebellious, and unreasonable, just like us The dean said that the child was sometimes bewitched and possessed. Over the years, when I think of his tragic end, I can't help but feel sad. I often pray for him, praying that his soul will be blessed by the Lord, and that he will be blessed. peaceful--" The old priest became a little sad, shook his head and sighed: "Old Mr. Fu told me that he had seen Ah Feng the day before the accident. It was really unexpected."

Cultivator Sun led me to the door of a dormitory, but stopped, looked at me, and asked with a kind smile: "And you, child, what's your name?" "Li Qing." I said. "Oh, Li Qing," the old priest nodded, pointing to the apple in my hand and said, "It's such a big apple, Fu Tianci will be very happy." The children in the dormitory are all disabled children, there are five in total, one has no legs at all, sitting on an armchair with only half of his body left.There are two big morons, sitting on the floor playing with building blocks, yelling all the time.The other one was older, about a dozen steps away, but his head kept tilting to the left and then bounced back. This movement was extremely fast, constantly rising and falling, as if a spring was installed on his neck, and he obviously couldn't control it. He moved, with a look of pain and helplessness on his face.There are three old ladies in the dormitory who are taking care of these disabled children.Mr. Fu told me that these old men and women in the nursery are all voluntary to help, some are church members, some are not, and their children feel lonely at home when their children grow up.

Fu Tianci was lying on the bed. He was a six or seven-year-old, very frail child.He was wearing an old sky-blue short-sleeved shirt on his upper body. Because he had no arms, the sleeves of the shirt hung down empty. He probably just had a fever, and he was still very weak, his face was blue, and he had no blood at all.Mr. Fu sometimes talked to me about Fu Tianci at home. He said that the child was congenitally deficient. is suffering. "Grandpa Fu asked me to come and see you, Fu Tianci." I stood in front of Fu Tianci's bed and said to the child lying on the bed with nothing in his sleeves, "Have you recovered from your illness?"

The child stared at me curiously with wide, deep-set eyes, his mouth was tightly closed, and he didn't make a sound. "It's not burned at all." Cultivator Sun stepped forward and touched the child's forehead with his hand and said. "I just ate a bowl of oatmeal, and I have a good appetite." An old lady next to me interrupted with a smile. "Where's Grandpa Fu?" The child suddenly asked. "He can't come today, he wants me to bring you apples to eat, you see." I took out two apples from the plastic bag, the apples were more ripe after a night, with a sweet fragrance.I put the big bright red apple next to the child's pillow. The child moved his body vigorously, turned his head, and sniffed the apple on the pillow with his nose.

"Is it fragrant?" Brother Sun bent down and asked. The child nodded and smiled. "Look at your gluttonous appearance, I ate something just now," the old lady interjected with a smile, "After eating later, grandma will cut it for you." "When will Grandpa Fu come?" the child asked again. "He will come to see you in a few days," I said. "Oh—" the child replied, he breathed a sigh of relief, but closed his mouth tightly again, refusing to make a sound. Because I was worried about Mr. Fu and wanted to go to President Shi Pai Rong, I bid farewell to Brother Sun and Fu Tianci.Brother Sun sent me all the way to the gate of the orphanage. When we passed the classroom, the orphans inside were still singing those sad hymns, and they sang so hard and so unevenly.

"That child Fu Tianci is very happy today," Brother Sun smiled at me standing at the gate of Lingguang Nursery. "I'll tell Mr. Fu when I get back." I said. 29 When I arrived at Rong Zong, Mr. Fu was not in the ward, but the master was sitting in the room. He said he was waiting for me. He had something to say, and Mr. Fu asked the nurse to push him out for an examination. "The old man's illness is very dangerous," the master said straight to me, "I asked Dr. Ding in the morning, and he said that the old man's hypotension reached 125, and his blood pressure fluctuated violently. An accident happened. You stay here and don’t leave even a single step. I asked the nurse that I can set up a bed here to accompany the patient at night. You have worked hard these two nights and don’t sleep. I’ll call Xiaoyu and the others to change your shift during the day.” The master took another two thousand yuan out of his pocket and handed it over to me. "The matter that the old man entrusted to me, I have to do it for him immediately. Our Anle Township is turning upside down again, and I can't leave. If there is something here, you can call the bar right away .” After the master left, I took the opportunity to eat a plate of fried rice with eggs in the restaurant below.Back in Ward 305, the nurse had sent Mr. Fu back to the room. The curtains in the room were drawn down, and it became dark, like night.There was an extra oxygen tank beside the bed. Mr. Fu was lying quietly with his eyes closed. I didn't dare to disturb him, so I sat on the chair at the foot of the bed to accompany him.In addition, the patient lying on the bed is also a retired veteran officer.It is said that it was a cerebral hemorrhage, and he has been unconscious for several days. His family members kept shifts to watch over him, and relatives and friends sent many flowers, which filled half of the house.The scent of flowers mixed with the smell of medicine and the filth of the patient's excrement made the air in the room even more turbid. It was around six o'clock in the evening when the nurse brought dinner and woke up Mr. Fu.Dinner is a bowl of stewed beef and carrot soup, two slices of stewed chicken breast, greens (same as "beans") and a small ball of white rice.Mr. Fu's hands trembled, and he couldn't hold the bowls and chopsticks steadily.I picked him up, wrapped a napkin around his chest, took a spoonful of beef soup and fed him half a bowl of beef soup, then cut the chicken breast into thin strips with a knife, and held it into Mr. Fu's mouth.After only two bites, Mr. Fu stopped eating.After the nurse took away the dinner plate, a young resident doctor came in, took the pulse and blood pressure of Mr. Fu, tried the oxygen tank next to him, and asked Mr. Fu about his condition as usual.The comatose old general in the next bed, the resident doctor only felt his pulse and left.I went over to cover the bed sheet for Mr. Fu, and took the opportunity to briefly tell Mr. Fu about going to see Fu Tianci at Lingguang Nursery in the morning. "Fu Tianci also asked the old man when to see him." I laughed. "Oh, that child is the most worrying thing," Mr. Fu sighed, "I leave all my things to him and the children in Lingguang Nursery." Mr. Fu looked at me and said again: "Ah Qing, I'm afraid the old man doesn't have anything good left for you—" "What's the old man talking about!" I stopped. "Bring the chair here." Old Fu ordered me. "It's time for the old man to rest. Let's talk tomorrow if you have something to say." "While I'm still fresh, I have something to tell you." Mr. Fu insisted. I saw that Mr. Fu seemed to be more energetic and his voice was not as weak as before, so I pulled the chair to the bedside and sat down beside his head. "I heard that someone is going to make trouble in Anle Township?" Mr. Fu asked. "'Chunshen Evening News' is a lousy reporter who wrote a boring article and recruited some curious people to watch the excitement—after I read it for a few days, it returned to normal." "I'm afraid you won't be able to stay in the nest of 'Anle Township' for long!" Mr. Fu said regretfully, "I'm afraid you children will have to divide your things again and start wandering. Children like you, these ten Over the years, before and after, I have helped a lot. Some managed to climb up by themselves, but some fell to the bottom, sinking deeper and deeper, and I could do nothing. Let's go, Ah Qing——" Mr. Fu stretched out a trembling hand from under the quilt, and I went up to meet him, holding Mr. Fu's withered hand with both hands. "I know, my end is not far away. When Yang Jinhai comes in the morning, I will explain everything to him. I don't want to drag others down. I keep everything simple. But I'm afraid there will always be some unfinished business, and I need someone to come End it for me. You have been with me these days and you have figured out my temper, so you should consider taking care of it for me. Like that child Fu Tianci, when you are free in the future, go to Lingguang to see him for me. " "Okay, old man, I will definitely go." I replied. "Ah Qing," Mr. Fu squeezed my hand tightly, "I have been very restless for the past two nights. As soon as I closed my eyes, I saw Ah Wei. He seemed to be in pain—" Under the dim light of the desk lamp, I saw two wet tear stains suddenly appeared on Mr. Fu's freckled face and his thin cheeks. "Old man, you can sleep well tonight," I gently put old man Fu's hand back into the quilt, "I won't go back, I will stay here with you." I turned off the lamp by the bed and pulled the chair back to its original position.I took off the military jacket left by Ah Wei, covered my chest, and sat in the dim ward, waiting.The night in the hospital is very long, every minute and every second seems to be extended many times, and it is also very quiet. Occasionally, a night nurse walks by in the corridor outside, and her footsteps are also light.I leaned on the chair and tried my best not to fall asleep, while listening to Mr. Fu's heavy breathing on the hospital bed.Around midnight, I heard a change in Mr. Fu's breathing, and it started to be a little rapid. After a while, there was a rattling sound in my throat. I hurriedly got up and turned on the lamp.Mr. Fu opened his mouth, saliva flowed out, white foam came from the corner of his mouth, his eyes were wide open, he looked at me, but he couldn't speak, he just yelled twice with his tongue hard, his face pale. Big change, turning blue.I turned on the warning light with one hand, and ran out to find the night guard. The nurse ran in, immediately turned on the oxygen tank, and put on the oxygen mask for Mr. Fu.The resident doctor also hurriedly brought in two other nurses, and immediately gave Mr. Fu an injection. He directed several nurses to push them to the emergency room with a push bed and an oxygen tank.I waited outside the emergency room for two hours before the doctor came out sweating and said that Mr. Fu's condition had stabilized, but he was in a coma. Mr. Fu has been in a coma and has never woken up. He dragged on very hard.His face was covered with an oxygen mask, a syringe was inserted into his arm, and he was constantly dripping injections. His whole body was covered with rubber tubes. In the morning, the master brought Xiaoyu Wu Min and the mouse, and brought the primitive man Axiongzai.Everyone stood quietly around Mr. Fu's hospital bed, not daring to make a sound.Ah Xiongzai froze, his mouth dropped and opened wide.I whispered an outline of what happened last night in the master's ear. At the most dangerous time, Mr. Fu's high blood pressure dropped to seventy, and his low blood pressure was close to zero.Dr. Ding came to see it in the morning, and he made it very clear that it would only take three to five days at most.The master immediately assigned work, he asked Xiaoyu to replace me, and asked me to go back to rest and take over in the evening. He took Ah Xiongzi to see the coffin, order mourning clothes, make shrouds, and prepare for Mr. Fu's funeral. Wu Min and the mouse still returned to Anle Township go. Sure enough, as Dr. Ding expected, Mr. Fu died at ten o'clock in the morning on the fifth day after coma. When he died, the master brought A Xiongzi and us all in the room. Everyone surrounded Mr. Fu and stood Both sides of the bed.Doctor Ding announced the death of Mr. Fu, and the nurse turned off the oxygen tank and lifted the oxygen mask covering Mr. Fu's face.Mr. Fu's face was already darkened, and he probably was panting in pain at the end. His eyebrows were tightly wrinkled, his mouth was crooked, and his whole face was distorted and distorted, as if he was still struggling.The nurse pulled up the white sheet and covered it over Mr. Fu's head, and under the white sheet was covered Mr. Fu's curved body. We welcomed Mr. Fu's body back home that day.In the past few days, the master has made good preparations for Mr. Fu's funeral. The coffin has been bought the day before and brought home, tied up in the center of the living room, and placed on two benches.The master said that Mr. Fu told him to have a light burial, no obituary announcements, no attendance at the funeral parlor, and all religious ceremonies exempted, and he specifically ordered a coffin made of rough materials and cheap.The coffin was made of Chinese fir, and the workmanship was very rough. The surface of the coffin was not polished, it was uneven, the paint was just dry, it was dark, and it had no luster at all.The coffin was a standard size, long and horizontal in the living room, with its head and tail raised.When we returned to Mr. Fu's house, the first master ordered us to cleanse Mr. Fu and change his quilt.I went to the kitchen and boiled a pot of hot water, then poured it into the bathtub, soaked in cold water, and adjusted it to moderate heat.We put Mr. Fu's body on his bed. His body was cold and stiff.We took off the nightgown that he was wearing outside, but it was not easy to take off the round neck sweater that he was wearing underneath, because Mr. Fu's arms were already frozen and he had to pull them up with difficulty.I went to find a pair of scissors and cut the undershirt from the front to the middle. Xiaoyu helped me slowly take off the two halves of the undershirt from Mr. Fu. We also took off his underwear. We haven’t done anything for Mr. Fu these two days. Changing clothes, the underwear was stained with spots, I asked Wu Min to wrap up the dirty underwear with a nightgown and take it out.Xiaoyu and I, I lifted my upper body, Xiaoyu lifted my lower body, and carried Mr. Fu into the bathroom.Both Xiaoyu and I rolled up our sleeves and began to scrub Mr. Fu with soap.Mr. Fu's body was thin and shriveled, and his rickety back looked even more bony and tall. His lower body was covered with feces. We changed a basin of water before washing it off.The mouse found two towels, and the four of us worked together to dry Mr. Fu's body. Xiaoyu combed his messy white hair neatly with a comb, and then we carried Mr. Fu back to the room.The master has already gone out to take back the shroud, and also bought incense candles and flowers.The shroud is a set of Tang suit clothes made of white silk.We put on the shroud for Mr. Fu, supported by several people, and buried Mr. Fu's body in the crude fir coffin. We set up a simple mourning hall in the living room, found a pair of earthen jars from the kitchen, filled them with rice, inserted a pair of candles into them, and used them as candle holders.We put the earthen pot on the altar table in the living room, at the bottom of Mr. Fu's military uniform photo, and lit the candles.The master originally bought benzoin, but I think Mr. Fu is used to using sandalwood on weekdays and still has some at home, so he still lit sandalwood in the incense burner.The flowers are ginger flowers. I changed the water in the vase, put the flowers in, and offered them between the two candles.The joss sticks were slowly lit, and we all sat down around Mr. Fu's coffin and began to guard the coffin for Mr. Fu. The master sat facing the head of the coffin on the armchair that Mr. Fu used to sit on, lowered his voice, and explained to us about the funeral. "According to the rules, you should go to the temple to chant sutras before sending the old man up the mountain. But the old man repeatedly reminded him, so all the ceremonies were exempted, and he didn't want to stay at home, so he buried it in the ground immediately. The old man's birthday grave was wrapped up a long time ago. On the top of the mountain in Liuzhangli Jile Cemetery. I went up the day before yesterday to see that everything is ready-made and there is no need to bother. I think we can send the old man up the mountain tomorrow." The master also said that there are more and more miscellaneous people in Anle Township, and the police will be called in soon. "We, Anle Township, will be temporarily closed from tonight." We were all silent for a while, and the master continued to assign work. "Tonight's wake, I will take Ah Xiong to sit at the first watch, Xiaoyu at the second watch, Ah Qing at the third watch, Wu Min at the fourth watch, and the mouse at the end, and sit at the fifth watch—a candle and incense, be careful not to fall asleep." Before it was his turn to sit, he first went to Mr. Fu's room and my room to rest.I went to the kitchen and boiled a pot of porridge for everyone to eat when they were hungry. I made a bowl in the kitchen first, and I planned to finish the watch before going to bed. After the second watch, Xiaoyu also went to the kitchen to eat a bowl of porridge, then went back to my room, and I took over his shift.I sat alone in the living room, in the flickering candlelight, facing the two portraits of Mr. Fu and Fu Wei on the wall.Mr. Fu is wearing a general uniform with a diagonal belt on his chest. He is majestic. The portrait of Fu Wei next to him is equivalent to Mr. Fu's 20 years younger. He has the same square face and the same firm mouth. Lieutenant's uniform with a stripe pinned to his collar.But Fu Wei's eyes were shining with a strange look, a wild and unrestrained arrogance, which was not in the eyes of Mr. Fu.I suddenly remembered that Mr. Fu told me that night that after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, he took Ah Wei to Qinghai for inspection.Each of them, father and son, got a famous horse, "Looking Back at the Moon" and "Snow Lion".At the moment when Fu Wei rode the snow lion and galloped across the green grassland, winning the applause of the officers and soldiers present, the joy and pride in Mr. Fu's heart probably reached its peak.The lower the candles on the altar, the more intense the sandalwood scent.The tiredness of the past few days suddenly came out, my eyes were sore and dry, and the photos on the wall became more and more blurred.In the dimness, I seem to see two figures sitting on the armchair in the living room, one is Mr. Fu, who is still sitting on his usual chair, and the other is Wang Kuilong.The posture of the two of them facing each other was exactly the same as that day.Mr. Fu was wearing moon-white clothes, and his back was so high that it seemed to be covered by a small mountain.Wang Kuilong was dressed in black. His eyes were piercing, and he was eagerly confiding to Mr. Fu. His mouth opened and closed, but there was no sound. Mr. Fu waved a signal.With a sad face, Mr. Fu stared fixedly at Wang Kuilong, without answering.The two of them confronted each other like this, and there was no sound at all for a long time.I walked over, and Wang Kuilong suddenly disappeared, but Mr. Fu stood up slowly and turned his face away.When I saw it, it wasn't Mr. Fu, but my father!His short, wire-like gray hair stood on end, and his bloodshot eyes stared at me, spouting anger.I turned around and ran away, but my feet went limp and I fell down. I woke up with a sound of oops, opened my eyes, and broke out in cold sweat. The sweat on my back dripped down one by one. black coffin.