A woman raised her head and saw the people on the pond. She rubbed her eyes and loudly reminded the woman next to her.
The women followed the sound and saw a tall and thin young man carrying a bundle, head buried, and walking hurriedly past the pond.
"It's really Jiang Xianjun. Has he been released from prison?" someone asked.
"That should be it. Look, he's so thin. I almost didn't recognize him."
"Life in prison is what people live, it would be strange if they didn't lose weight."
"I haven't shaved my beard yet. At first glance, I thought it was Jiang Er who was alive again. I was shocked." The woman who spoke raised her hand to pat her bulging chest, but received a blank stare and ridicule from the person next to her.
"It's been Jiang Er's 100th day, are you still thinking about him? Jiang Xianjun looks like his mother, okay?"
"I'm worried about you, don't talk nonsense."
"I'm not lying. I heard that you discussed marriage with Jiang Er when you were young?"
"Oh, don't mention it. If you mention it again, I'll be in trouble with you!"
The two women had long gone off topic, and the other women were also in groups of three and five, looking at Jiang Xianjun's back as he walked away in a hurry, talking about it.
"Aren't you in jail? How can you come back?"
"He didn't kill the person, why can't he come back?"
"What about his mother? Can she come back?"
"She killed Jiang Er, and she must pay for it with her life. Why did she come back?"
"Oh my god, isn't she going to behead her head?" The woman who asked raised her hand and gestured towards her neck.
"It goes without saying that if you murder your husband, you will not pay with your life. Can the Jiang family let her go?"
"It can't be considered murder, it's manslaughter, careless..." A woman weakly said something to Jiang's mother.
Their natal families were in the same village, and they were somewhat related, so when others said this, the woman couldn't help but say something.
"Tsk, tsk, even if it's a manslaughter, it's still a kill!"
The woman who spoke earlier immediately launched a counterattack, "Before Jiang Er died, Xian Junniang scolded him like a dog and didn't give Jiang Er any face."
"Now that Jiang Er is gone, she should accompany him to death. Who let her dominate Jiang Er?"
The woman who spoke earlier smiled awkwardly and said no more.
If you continue talking, you will get yourself involved, which is really not the case.
The second room of the Jiang family.
Jiang Xianjun opened the door and walked into the yard. The jujube tree in the yard that he had grown up with died, and its leaves fell to the ground.
Things are staggered here and there in the yard, and you can see the traces of his father's death.
The chicken pen in the corner of the yard was empty, with a few chicken feathers scattered around, and the chickens didn't know where they were.
Passing in front of the kitchen, he saw the thin wooden door of the kitchen making a clanking sound from the wind, as if there was someone inside.
A long-lost familiar feeling came to my mind, as if he had come back from outside all those years ago and opened the kitchen door. My mother was wearing an apron and standing behind the pot cooking, and my father was sitting at the mouth of the stove helping my mother put firewood...
He walked over and pushed open the kitchen door. The pots and pans on the pots and pans were also in a mess. A layer of green mold covered the dishes and chopsticks. Several mice ran around stepping on the dishes and chopsticks.
He slammed the kitchen door shut, looked pale, bit his lip and strode towards the main room.
With trembling hands, he took out the key and opened the door. Behind him was the warm sunshine of late autumn. The main room was dark and obscure, and a pungent dust mixed with a musty smell rushed into his nostrils.
In the main room, there are still things on the table that were used for his father's first birthday, including burnt incense candles, moldy uncooked rice, rotten papyrus coins...
Tables and chairs were overturned in various places on the ground. The ground was so dirty that it was impossible to stand on it, and the top of the head was covered with cobwebs.
The sun is bright and lively outside, but the house is dark and quiet.
The bundle on Jiang Xianjun's shoulders fell to the ground, and he lifted a nearby stool with his stiff body and sat down.
He raised his head and looked around, bits and pieces of the past flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern, but in front of him was this desolate and deserted place.
"father,"
"mother……"
He lowered his head, buried his face into his knees, and gradually tightened his arms to hug his legs.
I don't know how much time passed, but someone tapped him on the shoulder, and he suddenly raised his head.
Seeing a familiar face come into view, he was stunned for a moment, as if he didn't know where he was.
"Xianjun, when did you come back? Why don't you go to your uncle's house?" Jiang Dawen's gentle questioning voice brought Jiang Xianjun back to his thoughts.
"Master, uncle!"
He called out twice, hugged Lao Jiangtou's waist, and cried loudly.
Lao Jiangtou leaned over and held Jiang Xianjun's shoulders, also bursting into tears: "It's good to be back, it's good to be back!"
…
After Jiang Xianjun was settled, Jiang Da, under Old Jiangtou's instructions, took the time to come to Yang Huazhong's house to inform him.
Cong Gong, Yang Huazhong is Li Zheng. If there are people who have been released from prison in the village, their families must come to Li Zheng to report.
Yu Zi, the relationship between Lao Yang's family and Lao Jiang's family... it is also necessary to come and talk about it.
"Counting the days, it's almost time to come back." Yang Huazhong picked up the tea bowl and used the bowl lid to brush the tea foam on it, but his brows were furrowed together.
"When I come back now, I must feel uncomfortable seeing the state of my home." He added.
In this regard, Jiang Da could only smile bitterly.
"It's hard to feel good, but my dad and I didn't know he was back until the woman who bathed in the pond came to tell him."
"When we went to find him, there was a man sitting in the main room crying until he fell asleep. Oh, it makes me heartbroken just looking at him. He is a good person, but he doesn't know what kind of evil he has done!"
Yang Huazhong also shook his head, "My father is gone, and my mother is still in prison waiting to pay for her life. The family doesn't feel like home, so it's hard for him."
Jiang Dadao: "Who asked him to have a mother like that? Even if the second child was paralyzed, the family is still intact."
"It doesn't feel like home now. It's enough for him to go back to the house and not even have a mouthful of hot tea!"
Yang Huazhong could only sigh again to express his sympathy.
But I can't express too much sympathy, because after the incident, he chose to protect his mother.
Although Jiang Er was killed by Xianjun's mother by mistake and had nothing to do with Jiang Xianjun, Jiang Xianjun was the first person to know.
What he did after knowing the truth made everyone who heard the incident feel angry and sympathetic to him. He chose to cover up his mother. What about his father who died in vain?
"Where will the man settle now? In his own home? Or in your home?" Yang Huazhong asked again.
Jiang Da said: "I wanted to take him to my house to live for a while, but he refused to go and now he is staying with his father in the old house."
"It's good to live with his father. At least you're not alone and don't have anyone to talk to." Yang Huazhong added.
"Uncle Jiang, tell me what's missing, and I'll think of something," he added.
Jiang Da smiled gratefully, "Jiang Er is gone, and I, Jiang Da, will take care of my father!"
Yang Huazhong nodded happily, "Of course I know you are a filial son, but every family has its own difficulties, especially the floods this year and your family also suffered a disaster... If you are missing anything, tell me, just for our two old men. Don’t let me get away with our friendship!”
