Father's Land Mother's River

Chapter 48 Heroes Return
The next morning, Liu Xiaonan accompanied her uncle and aunt to the rural market.

My aunt has retired, my uncle has retired to the second line, and the work he is doing has been declassified, so I have time to return to my hometown.

In a sense, this is a return of the soul.Visiting the rural market and experiencing the local customs and customs of the hometown can bring the emotion and distance closer to the hometown that has been alienated for decades.

Liu Xiaonan hopes to meet Teacher Cheng Yi and tell his students that they have started to pursue their dreams.

Today is the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, the last market before the year.The weather is sunny and warm, the flow of people is surging and crowded, and the farm products are also very rich, and the shouts are one after another.

My uncle and my aunt want to buy Spring Festival couplets. The printed Spring Festival couplets lack the flavor of the New Year. It is best to write them by hand.Liu Xiaonan wanted to say that she could write, but she didn't have a brush and ink with her, so she might be able to borrow it from Teacher Cheng Yi.

In a temporary straw hut, Liu Xiaonan saw the long-lost teacher Cheng Yi.A wooden table was placed in front of the thatched shed, covered with red paper, and placed with pens and inks. In the thatched shed were hung a few samples of Spring Festival couplets with blessing characters.

Teacher Cheng Yi was wearing a half-worn military overcoat, sitting carelessly behind the desk, with a calm demeanor, waiting for customers to ask for words.People who go to the market may go to buy food and items for the New Year first, and few people buy Spring Festival couplets.

Liu Xiaonan stepped forward, stretched out her hand and said, "Mr. Cheng, do you remember me?"

Teacher Cheng stood up, held Liu Xiaonan's hand after only one glance, and said, "Of course I remember Liu Xiaonan, who is in the [-]th class and wants to be a writer."

Liu Xiaonan took out the special issue of her debut work, opened the title page, picked up the writing brush on the table, and wrote down the words that Teacher Cheng Yi gave to their graduates that year: Learning is endless and sticking to dreams.Write another line of small characters below: follow the teachings and be a teacher for life!Liu Xiaonan offered Teacher Cheng Yi as a souvenir.

After finishing writing, Liu Xiaonan handed the publication to Teacher Cheng Yi with both hands, and said excitedly: "Mr. Cheng, your student's debut work has been published, and your image is also included in it."

Teacher Cheng Yi took the publication and said overjoyedly: "Okay, the student writes a biography for the teacher, I will take a look at it."

After finishing speaking, he sat down and buried himself in the novel.Someone came to buy Spring Festival couplets, but Teacher Cheng Yi didn't even raise his head: "No time."

The man was very displeased: "How do you do business? I bought the Spring Festival couplets you wrote because I valued you, and even picked up the handle."

Teacher Cheng Yi ignored it.Liu Xiaonan expressed his willingness to write for him, but the man shook his head in disbelief.

Liu Xiaonan said to the man: "I'll write a copy first, if you like it, buy it, if you don't like it, feel free."

Liu Xiaonan borrowed teacher Cheng Yi's pen, ink and paper to write a Spring Festival couplet.The man was a little surprised after reading it, and added two words of blessing to a couplet, cleverly thinking that Liu Xiaonan was the son of Teacher Cheng Yi.

Teacher Cheng Yi said proudly: "He is my student. A pair of Spring Festival couplets is one piece, and the word "Fu" is [-] cents each."

Under the admiring eyes of her uncle and aunt, Liu Xiaonan wrote and sold Spring Festival couplets for Teacher Cheng Yi.When there were no customers, the uncle asked him to write twenty pairs of Spring Festival couplets with twenty blessing characters.

Liu Xiaonan looked at the eldest aunt suspiciously, the grandma's house and the other two uncle's houses don't need so many Spring Festival couplets.The eldest aunt just nodded slightly to him, the meaning was very clear, and all these Spring Festival couplets could be used.

The uncle and the aunt took the Spring Festival couplets and went back to grandma's house first.Liu Xiaonan also wanted to talk to Teacher Cheng Yi, and wanted to know about the teacher's life recently.The teacher is reduced to the point where he sells calligraphy for a living, and there must be unspeakable bitterness in it.

Teacher Cheng Yi finished reading the novel, closed the magazine and put it away. After a long silence, he said to Liu Xiaonan: "After I was dismissed from middle school, the village asked me to continue teaching in elementary school. When I think about it, teaching will always be run by the private sector for the rest of my life. The more you teach, the more you will go downhill, so it is better to stop this thought as soon as possible. I cultivate more than ten acres of contracted land and do a small business, and my life is more relaxed than being a teacher. I came out to sell Spring Festival couplets before the year. One last touch."

Teacher Cheng Yi's words were full of self-deprecation. Although he was still optimistic and confident, what Liu Xiaonan felt was more helplessness and nostalgia for his career as a teacher.

A good and conscientious teacher just fell to the people like this, Liu Xiaonan saw the ugly face of fate mocking human beings, mischievous and ruthless, he had nothing to say.

Teacher Cheng Yi stood up, faced his former students, and put forward his warning for the last time: "The fate between you and me as a teacher and student is over, and I will give you one last sentence: Do not forget the original intention, and you will never forget it. You have taken the ultimate goal of life." An important first step. When you encounter hardships in the future and want to give up your dreams, I hope you will think of me and think about the importance of a few full meals and dreams. I will keep your debut work well , but I would rather read your novel."

The market gradually dispersed, and Liu Xiaonan helped Teacher Cheng Yi tidy up the stall before parting ways.

Back at grandma's house, uncle and aunt wanted to keep Liu Xiaonan at grandma's house for the New Year.Liu Xiaonan also wanted to have an in-depth conversation with his aunt, but he promised Uncle Yu that he would think about going home to write Spring Festival couplets for the villagers at any time, and left after lunch at grandma's house.

Throughout the Chinese New Year, apart from visiting relatives and friends to entertain relatives and friends, Liu Xiaonan has been immersed in the stories told by her aunt.The heroism and romantic feelings of the uncle and the aunt and the mental journey after peace made him see another side of the war, and he often fell into meditation.
After seeing off the recruits, my aunt was always in joy and excitement, and personally led people from door to door to hang mahogany plaques of "Glorious Military Members" on the door lintels.

She imagined how proud she would be when she received news of meritorious service forwarded by the troops one after another, and the festive scene where the villagers rushed to tell each other and rejoiced.Of course, she wanted to see her uncle's certificate of meritorious service. After the bad boy with pitted face left, her heart became restless.

He saved her life, and she was grateful, but that wasn't love.Does he know what revolutionary love is?The promise before enlisting in the army was neither serious nor serious, like a child's play, the reason why he agreed to him was just to encourage him.

However, when he really made meritorious service and received an award as a battle hero, one day he suddenly stood in front of him, what should he do?
With the full development of the Liaoshen Campaign, the village received death notices one after another, and the cries of the lost son sounded twice in three days.

The eldest aunt suddenly became vulnerable, and she could no longer face the eyes of the villagers calmly.Every time she took off the mahogany card of "Glorious Army" and replaced it with the mahogany card of "Glorious Martyrs", she felt that she owed a love and a debt to the village. What should she use to repay it?
Fortunately, at this time, she received good news of meritorious service from her uncle and second uncle, which somewhat offset the accumulated mental pressure, and she was not on the verge of emotional breakdown.

The Northeast was liberated, and the four fields entered the customs to fight; the army crossed the Yangtze River, occupied Nanjing, and liberated Guangzhou. My aunt can only judge according to the good news of my uncle's meritorious service, where the army of my uncle is fighting.

The Republic was proclaimed, but there was no news from my uncle for a long time.injured?disappeared?Army covert operations?The eldest aunt kept guessing, worrying and worrying for no reason in her heart.

During this period, the superior transferred my aunt to work elsewhere, but she politely refused.Of the dozen or so young adults she mobilized to join the army, only her uncle and second uncle were left alive. She felt that she owed a lot to this small village, so how could she just walk away?

The aunt anxiously looked forward to it.

Half a year later, my aunt suddenly received a letter from Guangzhou, with crooked handwriting on the envelope.Opening the envelope, a photo slid out first, it was a full-body black and white photo of my uncle in full armor.

The uncle in the photo has been reborn after the baptism of war.Wearing a new military uniform, with an armed belt around his waist, and a short gun slung over his shoulder, he has a majestic and dignified demeanor, calm and calm eyes, and there is no trace of the bad boy in the countryside.

The eldest aunt pulled out the letter paper excitedly, and it was indeed written by the uncle.My uncle said in the letter that he was drawn out by the army to study cultural knowledge, and he wrote this letter only after half a year of reading.The handwriting is not good-looking, so let's just wait and see.

The letter was very short, only half a sheet of letter paper, introducing his study situation, and asked her to convey his greetings to his relatives at home.

It's not easy, I can write a letter.The eldest aunt wrote back to the uncle, encouraging him to continue to study cultural knowledge hard, and told the family that everything was fine.

After the letter was sent, my aunt began to wait for a long time. After waiting for more than half a year, I still didn't get a letter from my uncle.Unexpectedly, is it possible that the troops have been mobilized again?
On this day, the eldest aunt was working in the village, and a tall and straight figure stood in front of her.When she looked up, it turned out that it was her uncle who had descended from the sky. He was still dressed in the same outfit as in the photo, but without a weapon, and his eyes were fixed on her.

The aunt became flustered for a moment, speaking incoherently, not knowing what to do.For some reason, she suddenly remembered the agreement between them before her uncle joined the army.

The uncle was very calm, and put a third-class merit certificate obtained by studying culture in front of the aunt, looked straight at the aunt with sharp eyes, and said step by step: "Look, I am also educated now. People, we are equal. The revolutionary soldiers mean what they say, and you are more enlightened than me when you joined the revolution, so naturally you won’t regret it.”

My aunt almost didn't laugh out loud. After studying in the army for a year, she dared to claim that she was educated. That's pretty good.After laughing, she fell into unspeakable embarrassment. She shirked that she was still young and had so much work to do. She had never thought about getting married. Let her think about it first.

The uncle said that he only has half a month's vacation, and there will be major changes in work, and he can't wait for too long.There is no room for maneuver, this posture is to force the marriage.

The most important thing for my uncle to visit relatives is to ask my aunt to accompany him to visit the families of those who died in the village. Every time I visit a family, my uncle will solemnly pay a military salute to the parents of that family.Otherwise, he felt sorry for those brothers and comrades in the same village.They fell, and he was lucky to be alive, and he was burdened with a never-ending debt in his heart.

The eldest aunt was deeply touched, and she thought about marrying him. If she didn't marry him, she might not feel at ease for the rest of her life.Marrying him is equivalent to marrying this small village, life and death are people of this small village.

The wedding of the uncle and the aunt is simple and plain.On the wedding night, the eldest aunt pressed the uncle, why did he think of proposing with the third-class merit certificate for studying culture, and who gave the idea.

When the uncle was proud, he forgot to keep the secret. He said that the head of the army told him that chasing women is the same as fighting a tough battle, and he must carry forward the fighting spirit of pursuing and fighting bravely.

My aunt almost fainted when she heard this, but on the second day, she put the third-class merit certificate for studying culture in a photo frame with her own hands and hung it on the wall of grandma's house.

Not long after the marriage, the uncle and the aunt left the small village.Uncle will go to a secret base to engage in security work, and his family members must be with him, and he will be gone for decades
Liu Xiaonan gradually understood the uncle from the aunt's narration.This time when they returned home to visit their relatives, they still visited the family members of their comrades who died in the past.Some old people are no longer alive, and some people still have the wooden sign of "Glorious Martyrs" on the lintel of some people, but it is seriously faded and the handwriting is blurred.

They chatted with the old people who lost their sons, feeling infinitely sad, but there was nothing they could do, they could only buy Spring Festival couplets and send blessings for the New Year.

Here, in this situation and in this situation, how can my uncle easily and freely talk about the life and death in those combat experiences?

Liu Xiaonan imagined herself as an uncle, placed in the cruel environment of war, and let her soul experience the test and baptism of bullets and bullets.

(End of this chapter)