Based on this, Zhou Zhimo came up with what he just said to Old Fangtou.
With the village chief's assurance, Old Fangtou's mood eased a bit.
He turned around slowly, entered the room, and took out the tools he introduced to Zhou Zhimo and the others last time.
He took that bamboo basket from his father and carried it for half his life.
He kept carrying it, within a radius of a hundred miles, year after year, day after day, and delivered all the fat pigs that had been raised fat and white into people's stomachs.
Although every time before doing something, he would sincerely look into the pig's eyes and pray silently: "In the next life, don't be reincarnated as a pig again."
But when he was walking on the road, he never felt that this bamboo basket was as heavy as it was today, as if it was going to collapse his waist.
Liang Yinuo took the bamboo basket from Old Fangtou's hand and whispered to him: "You should lock the door and come with us."
The village chief said to him: "Go, I will take care of your home."
Old Fangtou turned around silently, locked the door, walked over, and handed the key to the village chief: "Keep the key and help me take care of the house."
The village chief nodded, looked at him and said, "Don't worry, I'm at home."
As he walked out, Old Fangtou began to feel a little anxious and uneasy. But after the car left the village, he kept looking outside in a daze, looking much calmer and not affected at all.
Soon after returning to the unit, they questioned Old Fangtou according to the procedure and asked him to carefully recall the last time he saw Huang Juhua.
Old Fangtou said in a deep voice: "That day, when it was getting dark, I thought it was going to be cold. I wonder if there is enough firewood in her house?"
"I just wanted to go over and have a look and ask her if she needed any help."
"When I went there, Li Laosan was sitting there. At that time, Li Laosan looked at Huang Juhua with a smile and wanted to touch her hand. Huang Juhua avoided it and asked me to sit down."
"I sat down next to them. Just after a while, Zhao Hongsheng also came."
"As soon as he arrived in the yard, he saw the three of us sitting there. Huang Juhua didn't get up, she just smiled and asked him to sit down."
"Zhao Hongsheng looked very ugly. He pulled a straight face and sat down next to Huang Juhua."
"Li Laosan is restless. Seeing Zhao Hongsheng holding back a belly full of will-o'-the-wisps, he insists on lighting a fire."
"He deliberately tried to hold Huang Juhua's hand and touch her face in front of Zhao Hongsheng, and looked at Zhao Hongsheng with a smirk on his face."
"He also said that this girl's hands are easy to touch."
"Zhao Hongsheng couldn't bear it any longer and started attacking like a rabbit whose tail was blown off by a firecracker."
"Soon, the two people struggled with each other. Huang Juhua also panicked and yelled for them to stop."
"But the two people who were so jealous couldn't listen to her words. They even wanted to fight for a winner in front of her so that she could take a high look."
"In the end, Li Laosan's head was bleeding. Huang Juhua put her arms around Zhao Hongsheng's waist and held him back."
"Soon, the village chief arrived. Maybe there was too much noise from the fight, so people passing by told the village chief."
"Those people always like to stare at the door of Huang Juhua's house every day when they have nothing to do, trying to see which man has gone to her house."
"He turned around and ran to the door of the store and started spreading rumors about who Huang Juhua was sleeping with."
"The village chief told us a lot that day. He advised us: We are all old and we are the elders. We must lead the children well and don't let the young people hold their heads up."
"He said: If this continues, Huang Juhua's reputation will be completely ruined. People must live a pure life. If we really do it for Huang Juhua's good, we shouldn't let so many right and wrongs appear in front of her door."
"The village chief also said that Huang Juhua's life will not be easy and she is a hard-working person."
Old Fangtou sighed: "What he said that day spoke to my heart."
"Huang Juhua is different from other women in the village. She never talks about others behind their backs."
"Even those women in the village who kept saying bad things about her, she just smiled and walked over to say hello to them, as if nothing happened."
"I don't argue with them in person, and I never say anything bad about them behind their backs."
"Her capacity and heart are unmatched by those women in the village. I have only seen such a unique woman like him in my life."
Old Fangtou sighed softly: "But she is indeed just like the village chief said, her life is miserable."
"Find a man who died in an accident at the mine within a few years, leaving her young and alone as a widow and being bullied."
"The child she left with her man disappeared without a trace. I don't know whether he is dead or alive."
"For such a thing, other women would either go crazy or cry to death every day. How could anyone laugh like her?"
"But others don't know that she smiles at everyone during the day. When she is alone at night, she cries like a child."
Old Fangtou continued, recalling the past: "That year, I went to the next village to kill pigs and came back."
"It was the twelfth lunar month, and when it was so cold, Huang Juhua knelt down alone in front of her man's grave, burning paper, and burst into tears."
"I hid behind her and listened to what she said in front of her man's grave. Only then did I realize how painful and wronged she was."
"After my wife left, I just wanted to be nice to Huang Juhua."
"But the words of the village chief that day woke me up and made me realize the problems that I had not thought of. By doing this, I may have harmed her instead of doing her good."
"Besides, Zhao Hongsheng and Li Laosan are both younger than me. It would be better for either of them to accompany Huang Juhua."
Old Fangtou said calmly: "They are strong enough to help him work. They are young enough to chat and laugh with Huang Juhua, and they can stay with her for more than a few decades."
Old Fang lowered his head: "Unlike me, I am too old to walk. It will only harm her."
"So after I came back that day, I never went to Huang Juhua's house again."
"I was at home every day, I didn't go anywhere, and I never saw her again."
"A few days later, Zhao Hongsheng came over, with a straight face as usual, and said to me coldly: Huang Juhua went out to work. After saying that, he left."
"If you hadn't told me today: Huang Juhua was killed."
Old Fangtou paused for a moment: "I was still thinking that she was working outside to earn money."
Tears shed from the corners of Lao Fangtou's eyes, and his voice was choked with sobs: "But, how could she be harmed by someone when she was a good person?"
