On the southwest border of the endless Desolate Moon Continent, the rolling green mountains formed an undulating criss-crossing line. The sun was setting, the night was getting darker, and dim oil lamps were lighting up in the villages at the foot of the mountains. , the leaves of several old locust trees at the head of the village were rustling in the wind. From time to time, a few barks of dogs could be heard far away from the village. At this time, more dogs would bark in response, until they slowly died down.
The oil lamp shines on the cracked earth wall in the house, and a few blurry figures are reflected on the wall, diagonally.
"My dear, let's just settle this matter. If you serve as a soldier and eat food, at least you won't starve to death. If you are lucky and get along well, you may still be able to make a career." The old man sitting next to the door and leaning against the door frame has an old face, and his skin is rough from years of toil. His back is a little hunched when he is sitting. He is holding a pipe in his hand. There is a yellowed and black pipe hanging under the pipe, and he is sucking on it. , "Pah, pah", but the sound was very loud and crisp in the quiet room.
"But Fifth Brother, he is only fourteen years old, so young..." The old woman sitting on a simple, short chair, her clothes were shabby, and there were many wrinkles on her face with tears streaming down her face. said.
The old man said: "There has been a locust plague for two consecutive years. Not to mention our family, more than half of the families in the village have no food. Those who can go to the city to work, those who can travel far, those who are soldiers, those who can be soldiers, the third child's legs." I have been injured from working over the years and have become disabled, so I can’t do much when I go out. Lao Wu’s body is said to be only 16 or 77 years old, but it seems hard to believe it. Now when he is a soldier, he can at least get a subsidy in advance. Send it to him, and in the future when he is stable, if he is willing, he can send some back every month." After saying that, he nodded and smoked cigarette again. The old woman in the room lowered her head and continued to sob.
Outside the door, a figure squatted against the wall, but faced the distance. He stared blankly at the outline of the mountains in the distance in the dark night. He remained silent for a while, wondering what he was thinking. In the silence inside and outside the house, time passed slowly.
After a period of silence, the figure outside the house stood up, turned around and walked into the house. He was a half-grown man, about sixteen or seventeen years old, but a little thin, with a dark face, a very ordinary appearance, and his clothes were worn in many places. Old coarse cloth with holes in it.
He said: "Father, mother, you don't have to worry. Many people in the village have gone out, and now the harvest at home is only enough to barely feed them. Although the village chief leads some people to hunt animals in the mountains occasionally, after all, the depths are deep. No, I can only occasionally hunt some pheasants and hares, which are not enough. I also want to go out and have a look. I have a third brother and a fourth sister at home who can take care of you."
The half-grown boy is only fourteen years old in real life, but he has been hunting in the mountains and plowing fields outside the mountains all year round. He has grown faster, but due to insufficient nutrition, he is very thin. The boy's name is Li Yan. He is usually taciturn. He has been attending a private school for six or seven years with the old scholar in the village and a group of children of similar age. Later, after the old scholar passed away, he had less and less time to study, so he often I followed the adults in the village to hunt on the outskirts of Daqing Mountain. At first I just ran out secretly, but after a long time, my hiding place was exposed. When I came back, I was often beaten and scolded by my parents. But children in mountain villages are like this. That is not the case. Growing up in the sound.
As Li Yan grew older, he also began to follow hunting teams into the mountains. He gradually became familiar with the habits of some wild animals, and gradually participated in the hunting of adults. As he ran and jumped in the mountains and rivers all year round, his body grew taller and stronger. , but the locust plague in the past two years has greatly reduced the main grain harvest. The family can only eat half a meal at a time, and is no longer as strong as before, and the body has become thinner.
Li Yan has five brothers and sisters. The eldest sister and the second sister were married away when he was ten and twelve years old respectively. The fourth sister Li Xiaozhu also found a good husband's family. However, due to the locust plague in the past two years, her husband's family itself is not a wealthy household. For a while, I couldn't get the dowry to get married. However, they promised to collect the dowry as soon as possible, so it should be possible within one or two years. A few years ago, the third brother Li Wei accidentally injured his ankle on a plow tool while going to the fields. Due to the lack of money at home, his treatment was delayed and he became lame.
Li Wei, who was half-kneeling in the room and supporting his mother, looked at Li Yan gratefully and said, "Lao Wu, Third Brother..."
"Third brother, you don't have to say anything. I need you to take more care of the family in the future." Li Yan smiled softly at the third brother and interrupted, "Maybe I can become a general or something in the future, and then I can take you all to enjoy the happiness." ".
Li Wei looked at him, and after a while he sighed softly, then looked at his mother who was still sobbing softly while being patted on the back by the fourth sister, and said comfortingly, "Then the fifth son of the Li family may be able to bring glory to the ancestors."
In fact, Li Wei and Li Yan had heard from their father and the villagers who went to the city to sell wild animal meat or furs, or to buy daily household items in the city, that they were a border town, with the Mongolian country to the south, and the chance of a border war was still very high. Big, wars have broken out from time to time in recent years. Therefore, they have often recruited soldiers here over the years. In the past, recruitment required each village to write a letter of guarantee, proving age, identity, history at home, etc. Now, as long as the village chief sends you, you can join the army. This is also because the emperor of the current dynasty rules the world with culture and ethics. The victory of culture in the court has led to the decline of military power in the court, which has caused surrounding countries to be ready to take action, and wars have broken out from time to time. In recent years, not only There is war in this direction, and wars are breaking out on the border in other directions. Therefore, the garrison dispatched by the Central Dynasty cannot meet the needs of the local defense forces. The local garrison can only recruit troops on the spot to supplement the supply of troops.
However, some local people know that there is a higher chance of joining the army and participating in the war, so the enthusiasm for joining the army is not very high. Due to the current emperor's laws and regulations governing the world with culture and ethics, the local defense army cannot force recruitment, so these few As long as you join the army in the year, you can get a sum of money to give to the family members of the army, which is actually a settlement allowance, to stimulate the enthusiasm for joining the army. Once this method came out, it also caused many farmers to send their children to join the army. Of course, this is basically They are from poor families, but wealthy businessmen cannot.
However, these situations are not something that women in the village can know. In this world where men are superior to women, men rarely tell their mother-in-law and daughter-in-law about these situations. However, these things can be used as conversation topics at the head of the village or in the fields, especially for them. This mountain village is more than 200 miles away from the county seat. There are only 12 or 3 families in the village. Not one of them has enlisted in the army for many years, but brothers Li Wei and Li Yan can listen to the music while working in the fields or following the team on their journey into the mountains. owned.
Then, the room fell silent again. After a long time, Old Man Li banged his pipe on the threshold a few times and said, "Then I'll go find the village chief. You can rest." After that, he walked towards the village under the dark moonlight. After a while, the figure disappeared into the early autumn moonlight.
The moonlight was scattered on the pit from several wooden window panes with torn paper holes. Several tattered quilts with exposed cotton covered the two of them. Li Wei and Li Yan were lying back to back.
"Lao Wu, when encountering trouble in the army, you should be calm, endure what you can tolerate, and don't push forward."
"Um".
After a period of silence, "If, if there is a war, if no one sees it, don't rush ahead and fall a few steps behind."
"Um".
After another period of silence, he said, "You don't have to worry about your family. With your allowance for joining the army, I will take good care of your parents at home. You can buy more meat for yourself with your monthly salary."
"Well...Third brother, do more work in the fields. My parents are getting older."
"Okay, as long as I'm here, my parents won't be hungry."
"...", the silence and occasional words continued.
The moonlight is like water and the night is cool.
In the middle of the night, there was a soft knock on the main room door, and the two brothers stopped talking. Then the low and inaudible voices of their father and mother were heard in the side room. Soon after, the low sobs of the fourth sister and mother were heard. , it seems that the fourth sister has been accompanying her mother.
Li Yan still turned his back to his third brother, staring blankly at the wall in the dark night. Under the dim moonlight, the cracks on the wall resembled the voices of relatives at home, each past event, from the beginning to the heart. Spread away.
