After many twists and turns, the ferry finally docked at Zhenjiang Pier in Qiu County. Zhang Shaofei and his son got off the boat with their luggage and walked towards Taizhen Village in the afterglow of the setting sun.
Back then, Zhang Shaofei's mother and son left their homeland and went to the West Sea to join Pei Zhong. Zhang Shaofei was still a weak child. In the blink of an eye, six years passed by and Zhang Shaofei had reached the age of adulthood when his hair was tied back.
The nearly two to three miles of homecoming mountain road is winding and winding, going cross-country through mountains and gorges. The setting sun seemed to have stopped at the Western Mountain, illuminating the way Zhang Shaofei and his son returned home.
After crossing the foot of Taishan Mountain, we entered the field path. The rice in the field is already golden and bends heavily, as if chanting a harvest song in the gentle evening breeze, or more like nodding to greet the return of Zhang Shaofei, mother and son.
The setting sun finally put away its last afterglow.
As night falls, the lights of every house in the village are turned on one after another. The stars above the field paths and the lights in the village complement each other, making the scene full of poetry and exceptionally Zen-like and warm.
Ah, we finally reached the edge of the village!
A cold moon hangs in the sky, and its silver moonlight shines on the sleeping Taizhen Village.
Wang Shaoxiang looked at this familiar village with emotion. Everything here easily aroused her reverie...
Suddenly, the huge longan tree next to the river in the village came into view...
This clear river, this huge longan tree... Wang Shaoxiang didn't feel unfamiliar at all. The touching scene reminded her of the passing years spent here...
The curtain of memory slowly opened, bringing Wang Shaoxiang back to the days and nights she spent here...
After Zhang Jinzhao was demoted back to Taizhen Village at the foot of Taishan Mountain in Qiu County, he became depressed and became ill. When Zhang Shaofei was four years old, her husband unfortunately drove away from Hexi...
Wang Shaoxiang is an orphan and a widow, living with her husband's property. However, he aroused the jealousy of Huang Tianlei, a rich man in the village, and made things difficult for him in every possible way.
Fortunately, the respected local master Lu Xueru came to mediate and the incident was ensured.
Lu Xueru was an old scholar. He was born as a Jinshi and had no intention of pursuing an official career. He ran a private school in his hometown and devoted himself to teaching the Holy Words. He was a famous private school teacher within dozens of miles. He married Mrs. Chen and gave birth to five golden flowers: Lu Tai, Lu Zhen, Lu Hua, Lu Xiang and Lu Lan. The four daughters Tai, Zhen, Hua and Xiang are married. Lu Lan is still young and is waiting to be married.
In the autumn when Lu Huilan was four years old, she followed her fourth sister to the river to wash clothes. She was accidentally bitten by a poisonous snake and was rescued by Zhang Shaofei. From then on, the Lu and Li families began to have friendly exchanges.
Lu Huilan's father went to school to teach, and she stayed at home with her mother. Sometimes she saw her mother sitting in front of the loom and busy weaving, so she sneaked out to play with Zhang Shaofei.
Wang Shaoxiang saw that Lu Huilan was smart and lovable, so he did not stop her.
When Lu Huilan's parents found out, instead of trying to stop her, they asked the little girl to invite Zhang Shaofei to come over and play when she had time.
Lu Xueru knew that Zhang Shaofei was his family's benefactor, and his little daughter liked to play with him. Maybe this was fate.
Lu Xueru had no children, and his youngest daughter was two years younger than Zhang Shaofei, so she was of the right age. It would be a good thing if he betrothed her daughter to him as a son-in-law.
…
The past events came to Wang Shaoxiang's mind.
The night in the mountain village is quiet, and except for the "rustling" of the longan trees in the wind, no other sounds can be heard.
At some point, a hazy farmhouse in the distance in the village, followed by a few dog barks, and a dark shadow attached to the silver moonlight, loomed into Zhang Shaofei's sight...
As the black shadow moved forward, Zhang Shaofei couldn't help but be a little surprised, and then his hair stood on end!
"Ah, is there a ghost?" Zhang Shaofei screamed subconsciously.
At night, I don't know whether it was cold or fear, Zhang Shaofei stood there, shaking a little.
Zhang Shaofei stared at the black shadow nervously, and gradually he discovered that it was a strong and fierce black dog.
As a result, Zhang Shaofei's entire nerves immediately calmed down from the moment of terror.
Soon, the big black dog rushed in front of Zhang Shaofei and his son, barking "woof".
The barking of the big black dog brought Wang Shaoxiang from the lingering memories of the past back to the scene in front of him.
The big black dog stopped in front of Wang Shaoxiang and his son, sniffed a few times, and identified the two strangers as villagers.
The big black dog circled Wang Shaoxiang, mother and son, three more times, wagging its tail and nodding as if it was saying something.
The big black dog jumped a few times and then walked towards the village wagging its tail.
It turns out that this big black dog was a puppy that belonged to the village rich man Huang Tianlei's family six years ago. Now he has grown up and has become the "guard" of the village by relying on his power.
Wang Shaoxiang looked at the big black dog disappearing under the dim moonlight, rubbed his eyes with his hands, and looked up at the night sky. Half of the bright moon hung low over Taizhen Village, as if he was saying hello to her on behalf of the villagers: "I walked out of Taizhen Village." Zhang Shaofei, mother and son, welcome you back to your hometown...
As the saying goes: Pigs come to poverty, dogs come to wealth. Wang Shaoxiang couldn't help but suddenly woke up! Could this be God's will? She looked at the big black dog in the distance, her heart beat wildly, and the blood in her body began to boil. All kinds of reveries were like the night mist in front of her, gently and softly, floating in the air. Her mind wandered. Now, in the depths of her mind, it was difficult to tell whether it was an illusion or not, causing her to forget everything and myself in a moment of trance, and she suddenly fell into the clouds and mist for five miles...
Finally arriving at the door of his home, Zhang Shaofei took the key from Wang Shaoxiang and walked to the door. He saw a spider web as big as a sieve hanging from the eaves of the door. A pair of male and female spiders were spinning silk in love on the web.
Zhang Shaofei bypassed the spider web, opened the lock with the key, and pushed the door hard. The spider web on the eaves of the door broke and dust flew everywhere.
Zhang Shaofei pushed the door open and entered. The door hinge "squeaked" twice, and the door opened. A stream of silver light followed the gap of the door from narrow to wide, gradually swaying from the floor of the hall to the shrine of the shrine.
There was a spiritual tablet standing on the shrine, with the name of his late husband Zhang Jinzhao written on it, which caught Zhang Shaofei's eyes.
The small table in front of the spiritual tablet was covered with a thick layer of dust. This means that no one has come to the house to offer incense and burn paper for a long time.
Seeing this scene, Wang Shaoxiang burst into tears, choked with sobs and mourned.
After Wang Shaoxiang mourned, he stood silently in front of Zhang Jinzhao's spiritual tablet, took out the ingots, candles, and incense from the drawer of the altar, lit them and inserted them into the incense burner placed in front of the spiritual tablet.
Later, Wang Shaoxiang asked Zhang Shaofei to kneel on the futon and light the money.
In the blink of an eye, the money burned. At this moment, a gust of wind suddenly blew in the house, making a rustling sound.
The burned money turned into black ash and swirled around the room, eerie and gloomy, as if it was the underworld. But Zhang Shaofei had no fear, because he was worshiping his father, and his father would protect him and his mother-in-law.
Wang Shaoxiang knelt on the futon, facing her husband's spiritual tablet, and sobbed in a low voice as she told her husband how she and Fei'er had been away from home in the past few years...
The cries, which started out softly, gradually became louder, echoing in the house, drifting out through the cracks in the door, and echoing in the silent night sky of Taizhen Village.
Zhang Shaofei's mother and son returned to their home after many years of absence on a moonlit night. When they saw Zhang Jinzhao's spiritual plaque on the hall's work array and the thick layer of dust on the small table in front of the hall, they couldn't help choking up and mourning. They burned incense and paper and burst into tears.
The sound of crying alarmed the neighbors in the village.
The neighbor, Uncle Zhao, was just getting ready to go to bed when he suddenly heard a faint sound like "Yi" opening the door from the isolation house. He thought he heard it wrong at first, so he went to bed without paying much attention. In the haziness, there was another burst of choking and mourning. So, I got out of bed and saw a fire in the isolation room. I thought it was Wang Shaoxiang and his son who were back.
Uncle Zhao stepped forward and knocked on the door and shouted, "Is Mrs. Zhang back?"
When Wang Shaoxiang heard shouts outside the door, he stopped crying and mourning. He walked out and opened the door. When he saw his neighbor in isolation, Uncle Zhao, he said embarrassedly: "Uncle Zhao, we haven't seen each other for several years. How are you all? How are we? Mother and son have just come back, so they don’t dare to disturb the villagers since it’s already dark.”
Uncle Zhao complained a little: "Sister-in-law Zhang, you are out of touch when you say this. Distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors..."
Uncle Zhao looked at Zhang Shaofei who was standing next to Wang Shaoxiang, looked at Wang Shaoxiang, and asked: "Sister-in-law Zhang, is this Shaofei?"
Wang Shaoxiang replied: "Uncle Zhao, he is Fei'er."
Zhang Shaofei stepped forward, bowed to Uncle Zhao, and said respectfully: "Hello, grandpa."
Uncle Zhao lovingly stepped forward and took Zhang Shaofei's hand, and said with emotion: "We haven't seen each other for a few years. Fei'er has grown so tall. You guys came home so late and you haven't eaten yet, right?"
"Yeah." Zhang Shaofei nodded honestly.
"Come to my place to get some food first." Uncle Zhao said with concern.
Wang Shaoxiang said sheepishly: "It's already midnight, why do I have the nerve to come to your house and disturb you..."
Uncle Zhao said without hesitation: "Sister-in-law Zhang, don't go out. Besides, Fei'er is growing now. Don't starve your body. Let's go quickly."
Wang Shaoxiang saw that Uncle Zhao was still enthusiastic. The two families were neighbors and everyone would share half of the good food. In addition, Fei'er had been loved by the whole family since he was a child, so he was embarrassed to reject it anymore.
…
The next morning, Wang Shaoxiang got up and opened her luggage bag. She wanted to take out the souvenirs (biscuits, candies and other foods) she brought back from Hepu and distribute them to the villagers to taste. Unexpectedly, her hand touched the luggage compartment. Feeling something strange, I opened it and found a small yellow bag containing something.
Wang Shaoxiang thought: She seems to have never seen this bag before. What is it?
When she opened it and took a look, she couldn't help but exclaimed: "Silver!"
This bag of silver was secretly placed in Zhang Longxing's luggage by his wife Xu.
A feeling that was not family affection but rather family affection, mixed with the feeling of parting, hit her heart like a tide...
Wang Shaoxiang felt hot and hot all over his body. Living in such troubled times, there is still true love in the world!
…
When the folks in the village heard that Zhang Shaofei and his son were back after an absence of many years, they all came to say hello.
After hearing the news, Lu Xueru, his wife and their daughter came over with salt, oil, rice and vegetables, expressing their sympathy for the family...
Zhang Shaofei, mother and son, successfully returned to Taizhen Village after many years of absence. Whether we are close or not, we are from our hometown; whether we are familiar with each other, we are from our hometown.
Wang Shaoxiang saw that this old house that had not been inhabited for a long time was really dilapidated and dilapidated. The roof had been blown open by the big phoenix and it was really uninhabitable. So he took out the bag of money given by Xu, bought building materials, and demolished the original house. Take an old house and build a new one.
With the help of the villagers, the new house was quickly completed, and Wang Shaoxiang chose an auspicious day to enter the house.
In order to thank the neighbors for their help and care, on the day when the new house was moved into the new house, Wang Shaoxiang invited all the villagers to come and drink wine at the house free of charge. Of course, Lu Xueru and his family are indispensable.
The villagers who didn't know the inside story looked at Wang Shaoxiang's newly built new house and such a big feast, and thought that Wang Shaoxiang had been away for several years, made a lot of money and returned to his hometown in fine clothes!
And who knows the inside story?
After the banquet, after paying for the building and banquet, there was not much money left in the bag.
