Father's Land Mother's River

Chapter 45 That Kind of Smile

The next morning, Liu Xiaonan rode his bicycle and went to Fuzhou City to visit Teacher Yue Zifan.

If Gu Yu planted a dream seed for him, Mr. Yue was the gardener who cultivated the soil and watered it. It was Mr. Yue who injected nutrition into his dream and bulged the sail for him.

Before resuming classes and leaving school, Mr. Yue said that if you want to realize your dream, you should tell him as soon as possible. If you fail to realize your dream, you don’t have to see him again.

I haven't seen Teacher Yue for more than two years. Is his temper still so hot, like a white-haired lion king?
Before leaving the house, my father poured a plastic barrel of homemade rice wine made from big yellow rice, weighing ten catties, and asked him to bring it to his old classmate.My father said that when Mr. Yue was persecuted for labor reform, many old problems remained in his waist and legs, and drinking rice wine in winter was good for his health.

In a small alley behind No. [-] Middle School, Liu Xiaonan found the house number his father had told him.Two iron gates painted with dark red anti-rust paint separate the courtyard from the outside, but the situation in the courtyard can be seen at a glance, preventing gentlemen from villains.

The courtyard wall is as high as half a person, a small but neat courtyard, three old tile-roofed houses with small doors and windows, and iron railings on the windows.The morning sun in winter only illuminates half of the small courtyard, one side is bright and the other is dark.

The iron gate was bolted inside, and Liu Xiaonan stood outside the iron gate and shouted: "Is Teacher Yue at home?"

After a while, the door opened from the inside, and a girl in a red down jacket walked out.Liu Xiaonan felt a little familiar for a while, and when she got closer to take a closer look, it turned out to be Yue Xuelian who had only met once and published her debut novel at the same time.

Liu Xiaonan was stunned. Could it be that she is Teacher Yue's daughter?This is too coincidental, right?He was deeply surprised, and asked through the iron gate, "How could it be you?"

Yue Xuelian didn't seem surprised, she hugged her shoulders and said calmly: "Why can't it be me?"

The face of the duck egg is as clear as the moon, with thick black eyebrows resting on the slightly protruding forehead, the refreshing eyes are calm, the upper lip is covered with a layer of sparse yellowish down, the pair of small canine teeth are hidden Between the thin and tight lips.

Liu Xiaonan looked carefully this time. He felt it was necessary to reconfirm. He glanced at the house number and asked, "Is this the home of Mr. Yue Zifanyue?"

Yue Xuelian pulled the latch to open the iron door, and answered rigorously and briefly: "Yes, my father just mentioned you, come in."

Liu Xiaonan pushed the bicycle into the yard, got on the ladder, and picked up the barrel of rice wine.Under Yue Xuelian's polite and indifferent courteousness, he walked into the room ahead of him, his back was always chilly.

Yue Zifan was sitting on the top of the kang, with an old padded jacket on his body, a small quilt on his legs, and a periodical in his hand.Liu Xiaonan bowed respectfully, raised her head and said, "Mr. Yue, Happy New Year!"

"Okay, okay! Liu Xiaonan, you are also good." Yue Zifan recognized his student at a glance, tightly held the hand extended by Liu Xiaonan, and said happily: "Much stronger and more energetic than when I was in school. Young It’s good! Look at me, the root of the old disease that fell from the past, I dare not stand on the cold ground for a long time in winter, so I have to sit on the hot kang.”

Liu Xiaonan put the rice wine on the edge of the kang and said: "This is the rice wine my father asked me to bring to you. He brewed it himself and said it is good for your waist and legs."

"My old classmate still understands me." Yue Zifan unscrewed the lid of the wine barrel, sniffed it closely, and took a deep breath with joy on his face: "Wine is not intoxicating, everyone is drunk, and there is a fresh fragrance of grain, which is soft and long. Your father will brewing?"

Liu Xiaonan said in an incomprehensible tone: "My father wanted to be an agricultural expert. He learned it from books. After doing it alone, the family grew a lot of miscellaneous grains. My mother originally wanted to keep rhubarb rice to make zongzi, but it became my father's experiment. Taste and make rice wine."

Yue Zifan stroked the gradually thinning white hair on the top of his head, laughed and praised: "Whatever you do, you must do it to the extreme and do your best. Your father still maintains that groping spirit for new things. Xuelian, take a cup." Come, let me taste the rice wine brewed by my old classmate."

Yue Xuelian came out from the inner room, took off her red down jacket, and put on a high-necked white sweater, looking even more proud and flawless.She carried the barrel to the tea table, poured half a glass and handed it to Yue Zifan.

Yue Zifan took a few sips, smacked his lips, nodded and said, "It's the taste, very authentic, and I haven't had it for decades. Put a pot of rice wine on the heat, and the three friends will sit on the hot kang. It's not very interesting. "

Liu Xiaonan said, "My father made a big vat of rice wine. I'll give it to you when you finish drinking it."

Yue Zifan looked up at the two young men in front of him, put down his cup and said, "I heard from Xuelian that you two have met before, but I still want to introduce it solemnly. Liu Xiaonan, my student, I share a cup with your mother." The son of an old classmate; Yue Xuelian, my only daughter, will graduate from college in half a year."

Yue Xuelian took the initiative to extend her hand: "It's a pleasure to meet you again."

"Me too." Liu Xiaonan lightly shook the small white hand stretched out in front of her, feeling her palm was warm, soft and moist, completely different from her usual outward expression.

Yue Xuelian poured a cup of hot tea, brought it to Liu Xiaonan and said, "Sit down, it's hard to serve standing guests."

"Thank you!" Liu Xiaonan took the hot tea and sat on the edge of the kang opposite Yue Zifan.Thinking of the purpose of my trip, I put down my teacup, took out the special issue of my debut work, and handed it to Yue Zifan with both hands: "Teacher Yue please comment and advise."

Yue Zifan took the publication and showed Liu Xiaonan another one from the kang, which was of the same issue.He said: "Yesterday Xuelian came back and took this publication and asked me if there was a student named Liu Xiaonan. I said yes, she was surprised, and I said why I can't have a student like you. I have read your You were discussing the work with Xuelian before you came, and she gave you a high evaluation."

Yue Xuelian interjected: "Dad, your students are asking you for advice. Are you off topic when you say these digressions?"

That day in the editorial department, Yue Xuelian did not finish reading Liu Xiaonan's "The Teacher".As a novice writer, she dismissed other people's works, and only read them symbolically in order to save the face of Teacher Zhao Guangzhi.

She was only attracted by his novel handwriting, so she didn't know that the last teacher he described was her father.

After Liu Xiaonan's novel was published in the same issue as her essay, she carefully read the novel with the first title.After reading it, I was a little surprised. The experience and image of the last teacher were quite similar to my father, so I went home and asked my father.

The father and daughter were discussing, when Liu Xiaonan came to visit suddenly, which caught her by surprise.She hid in the back room and calmed down for a while, and her father called her before returning to normal and coming out to meet guests.

Yue Zifan lowered his face and asked Liu Xiaonan solemnly, "What do you think?"

Liu Xiaonan glanced at Yue Xuelian and said: "It's still very naive, and the description is still not in place. Some people commented that the three teachers I respect didn't wear clothes, and they didn't write about the characteristics of different eras and characters. .”

Yue Zifan waved his hand and said: "This is just a matter of skill. You can gradually improve it by writing more, practicing more and observing. What I want to say is that you haven't mastered the fundamental things. No one is perfect. The three people you described The teachers are all high-ranking images, do you think it is true? I will not comment on the other two teachers, but I will talk about myself, am I as perfect as you wrote? I am full of stinky problems, you don’t know, Why don't you write it out comprehensively and objectively?"

Liu Xiaonan said: "I dare not desecrate the teacher's image."

"Wrong, big mistake!" Yue Zifan sat up excitedly, his messy white hair seemed to stand up again, and waved an arm vigorously in front of Liu Xiaonan, saying, "You lack the spirit of criticism. Courage, when you are young, you will only please, you will only follow the crowd, you will always hover outside the gate of literature. Where is the heroic, courageous and creative spirit of young people? Let the dogs eat it? Huh?"

Liu Xiaonan broke out in cold sweat, speechless, as if on pins and needles.

Yue Xuelian said from the side: "Dad, he is a novice writer, and it is very rare to write such a novel. Don't be too harsh on him. He is your student. You should say more words of encouragement and appreciation. A blow to his self-confidence?"

Yue Zifan yelled at his daughter: "Let others say the words of encouragement and appreciation. This is a matter of direction. If you go in the wrong direction, it may be difficult to turn around."

Yue Zifan turned to Liu Xiaonan mercilessly, and said in a slightly calmer tone, "Isn't it a bit ecstatic after the novel is published? It must be, and that's understandable. Your father once told me about you, that you were rebellious and even wanted to After running away from home, this is caused by the difference between two generations, and I can understand it. What I want to say is that your spirit of exploring new things is far behind your father. As soon as you enter the door, you say your father Want to be an agricultural expert, I can hear the sarcasm in your tone, don’t deny it. Think about it, what you lack is this kind of never-ending spirit of exploration.”

Although he kept listening and did not speak, Liu Xiaonan still felt his mouth dry. He gulped down the cup of tea and said in shame, "I let the teacher down."

"You didn't let me down." Yue Zifan patted Liu Xiaonan on the shoulder and said, "On the contrary, I saw hope in you, that's why I said those harsh words to you. I would greatly appreciate mediocre people. Me and Your father's generation has suffered a lot and discarded many dreams, so they pin their hopes on your generation. How about meeting the girl who planted your dreams?"

"Not yet." Liu Xiaonan couldn't avoid Yue Xuelian's surprised and curious eyes, and said frankly: "As you said, I have only taken a small step on the road of my dream, and the best time to meet is not yet."

Yue Zifan encouraged Liu Xiaonan in this regard: "It takes courage to chase dreams, and even more courage to chase love."

Liu Xiaonan smiled foolishly: "Mr. Yue, I am not qualified to chase love."

The teachers and students talked happily.Near noon, Liu Xiaonan got up to say goodbye, and had to go back to Bincheng to work in the afternoon.Yue Xuelian saw off the guests on behalf of her father and sent them to the courtyard, Liu Xiaonan asked her to stay.

Yue Xuelian said: "My father still regards you as a middle school student, he is that kind of person, don't take his words too seriously."

Liu Xiaonan said: "Why can't you take it seriously? It's so deafening, I will keep it in my heart."

Liu Xiaonan pushed the bicycle to leave, and Yue Xuelian suddenly said: "Actually, we used to be very close. When my mother was working in the mine, she told me when she came home that her old classmate, Uncle Liu, had an uncle who was the same age as me. I was born as a boy. The distance between Liuzi Street and Fuzhou City is only [-] miles. I never imagined that I had no chance to meet each other when I was young, but I unexpectedly met in the editorial department when I grew up."

Liu Xiaonan said: "You took a smooth road, but I took a detour, so we are far away."

Yue Xuelian said: "Maybe literature will bring us closer. Are there any new works recently?"

"I wrote a love story, and it was handed over to Teacher Zhao just before New Year's Day."

"Write about the girl who gave you dreams?"

"No. There was a female worker in a textile factory who married a rural youth when she went to the countryside. She was forced to divorce in order to return to the city, but she did not abandon her husband and still lived together. Although life was hard, the relationship between husband and wife was still strong and deep. .”

"Yes, I must read it when the time comes."

"I hope to criticize and correct as always."

Yue Xuelian turned her head to one side, and said childishly, "Do I dare to criticize? I just talked about my opinion objectively, and you came to my father to complain. I found that you hold a grudge."

Liu Xiaonan smiled shyly and said, "This is not a complaint, let alone a vengeance. It's actually a thank you. If it wasn't for your reminder, I wouldn't have realized the lack of writing in that aspect."

Yue Xuelian smiled calmly, the smile flowing quietly in her eyes, the smile lines spread silently from the corners of her curved mouth, and the two small canine teeth showed her true face again: "I hope it is the truth."

A smile is too precious, and a smile is like a hibiscus emerging from water, light, clean and elegant.With this impression in mind, Liu Xiaonan pushed the cart outside, stopped after walking out of the iron gate, turned her head and said to Yue Xuelian who followed by the iron gate: "There is something I have never understood. That day outside the editorial office , Why do you seem to be suddenly angry while talking?"

Yue Xuelian put away her smile and said, "You really don't know?"

Liu Xiaonan said, "I really don't know."

"You said that I was still a female college student wearing a sack sheet."

"Isn't that a metaphor?"

"Metaphors are not acceptable either. Is there any way to describe girls like that? You are a novel writer."

"I'm sorry! I really didn't mean it. It can only be said that my literary accomplishment is still not good enough. I'm used to talking rudely. Don't mind me. I just want to make my mouth happy, and I didn't take your feelings into consideration."

The fresh smile rippled like autumn water again, and Yue Xuelian's high profile became more peaceful: "For the sake of you being my father's student, I forgive you."

After waving goodbye, Liu Xiaonan left Fuzhou City on a bicycle and headed home, thinking to settle a worry, and to find Teacher Cheng Yi when he had time.

He had inquired with the children in the village who were studying in junior high school. Because the relevant policies did not allow private teachers to exist in middle schools, Teacher Cheng Yi had been dismissed from the middle school, and he did not know what kind of job he had gone to.

(End of this chapter)