He Siwei was also surprised that an old man would appear in the mountains.
She pulled away the weeds and walked over. The other person raised the hoe in his hand cautiously, but he put it down when he saw that it was a little girl.
"Little girl, why are you in the mountains?"
"Uncle, I also want to ask you why you are in this deserted place."
He Siwei walked up to him and squatted down in front of his straightened leg. Looking closer, he could see that his exposed ankle was as red and swollen as a fist.
She asked, "Is this the case?"
The old man could not move one of his legs due to injury, but his back was still upright, showing his perseverance in character.
As he spoke, he looked at He Siwei with gentle eyes, "If I wasn't careful, I would slide down the hillside above."
He Siwei stretched out his hand and moved it twice tentatively, "Does it hurt like this?"
"pain."
He Siwei picked up the bones and said that there should be no big problem, but suddenly broke them with both hands firmly and accurately, and only heard the "click" sound of the old man's foot bones.
He Siwei let go and stood up to help the old man, "The bones were dislocated. They are healed now. You can try moving again."
Appreciation flashed in the old man's eyes, and He Siwei helped him up, "Little girl, have you studied medicine?"
"My dad is a Chinese medicine practitioner and I learned some from him when I was a kid."
"Well, not bad, he has a lot of potential." The old man praised, and was supported by He Siwei as he walked back and forth for a few steps. "Although there is still some pain, the bones have returned to their original positions. It's nothing serious. Just take care of them." .”
"Uncle, do you also know medicine?"
"I understand." The old man's voice was kind, and He Siwei helped him sit down.
This time his legs could move. He bent them back and checked his ankles again. He kept talking and asked He Siwei why he was on the mountain.
"We are the newly built Zhezi Farm yesterday. I came here to look for water today, and I didn't expect to meet you. You are here alone, are you here to collect medicine?" He Siwei was on the small steep slope opposite him. sit down.
"Yeah, seeing that it's getting cold, I'll take advantage of the snow to collect some herbs and prepare them. It's hard to take medicine when you're sick in the Great Northern Wilderness." The old man's gentle eyes always sparkled with kindness. "It's a pity that because I'm old, I can't move smoothly, so I didn't collect many herbs, but I injured myself."
He Siwei smiled and said, "Don't say that. At your age, there are not many young people who can walk so far and climb a mountain alone."
Then she talked about how tired she was from climbing the mountain last night and how she almost couldn't hold on.
"People must have value. If you don't move when you are old, there is no point in living." The old man thought of something and smiled, and asked He Siwei to help him go up the slope to take down the bamboo basket.
He Siwei followed the place pointed by the old man. After going uphill, he actually saw a bamboo basket among the weeds. However, after seeing the withered herbs inside, it didn't look like the ones picked today.
When he returned to the old man and put down the bamboo basket, He Siwei asked, "Uncle, you didn't stay here all night with your sprained feet yesterday, did you?"
"Yeah, it's not just luck that I met this little girl."
The old man was calm and could laugh and talk about his experiences. Looking at the old man's chapped lips, He Siwei's heart was hit hard.
"What would you do if you didn't meet me?" He Siwei no longer wanted to know the answer.
The old man looks to be over sixty years old, with gray hair peeking out from under his green military cap, and a pair of determined eyes on his wrinkled face. His body has become slightly rickety with the passage of time, but sitting there can make you His awe-inspiring righteousness cannot be ignored.
That is the unique demeanor of a soldier.
He Siwei thought that he still had a piece of sesame cake in his pocket, so he walked up to the old man, and under the old man's gaze, he picked up the old man's hand, took out the sesame cake from his pocket with one hand, and put it on the old man's hand.
She looked solemn and said, "Uncle, you eat the pancake, and then I will help you back to our farm."
Seeing that the old man was about to speak, He Siwei interrupted him, "I'm not hungry. I brought this out to make snacks."
The old man smiled, "Okay, then grandpa won't be polite to you."
He Siwei grinned unconsciously.
After the old man had eaten the cake, He Siwei supported the old man and walked towards the farm. She slowed down considering that the old man's ankle was still swollen, but the old man disagreed.
After arguing with reason, he finally saw that He Siwei was really angry, so the old man slowed down.
But by the time they built a new site, the sun was already setting in the west, and wisps of smoke were rising from the camp.
Seeing that He Siwei didn't come back, Wang Guizhen took the initiative to steam multi-grain steamed buns and make soup with a head of cabbage and more than ten potatoes.
Seeing He Siwei coming back, she happily came up to him and said, "Siwei, you are finally back. If you don't come back, I will go find you."
"Who is this uncle?"
"This is Grandpa Shen, who is from the company below Tangyuan Farm. He injured his leg while collecting herbs in the mountains here." He Siwei handed the bamboo basket to Wang Guizhen, "I'll let you cook alone. Thank you for your hard work."
On the way, He Siwei already wanted to know that the old man's surname was Shen, and he was sent here because of some problems many years ago.
Wang Guizhen followed the two of them holding a bamboo basket, "It's so hard, cooking is so tiring."
In August, it was very cold in the mountains. To build a new stove, we just dug a hole in the ground and placed a large steamer on it, so that everyone could gather around and warm up.
He Siwei helped the old man to the stove, turned around and got into the tent, put some oil tea noodles in the tea jar he brought, washed it with hot water heated by Wang Guizhen, and handed it to the old man's hand.
"Grandpa Shen, drink something to warm yourself up."
He Siwei was lucky that the old man was in good health, otherwise he would have been killed by mosquitoes if he had stayed in the mountains for two days without eating or drinking.
I don’t know how the old man survived last night.
Shen Hongwen said, "Drink it yourself. You are young and need nutrition. Just a piece of sesame cake is enough."
He Siwei couldn't help but put the teapot into his hand, "Forget it normally, your body's resistance is weak now, you need to take good care of yourself first."
Shen Hongwen smiled.
Wang Guizhen heard that she needed nutrition and said, "Siwei, would you like to serve some food to Grandpa Shen?"
Before He Siwei could say anything, he saw several female educated youths emerging from the woods. They had been working for a day. Their faces looked tired, but they were in high spirits. They were talking as they walked, and laughter could be heard from time to time.
Someone among them spotted Shen Hongwen and said, "Who is this?"
He Siwei explained to them how they met Shen Hongwen. When they heard that Shen Hongwen was from the Yamashita Company, the female educated youths also felt guilty.
"Fortunately nothing happened to anyone."
"I haven't gone back for two days. Why hasn't anyone from the company come to look for me?" someone asked.
"I'm a lonely old man. As long as the company can give me some rations to keep me from starving to death, it's fine. It's autumn harvest time now, so we can't delay the harvest because of me."
Shen Hongwen did not say it directly, but the five female educated youths also understood the identity of the old man, who was devolved.
After knowing this, he lost his previous enthusiasm and found excuses to leave.
He Siwei felt very heavy when he saw this scene, "Grandpa Shen, it's not light after dark, everyone is busy washing up, don't think too much about it."
Shen Hongwen smiled and said, "I'm fine, little girl. I've caused you trouble."
"It's no trouble. You can rest assured and heal your legs. Then I'll discuss it with the field director and send you down the mountain."
Such veteran soldiers should be respected.
He Siwei felt dissatisfied with several snobbish female educated youths.
Sun Xianghong, who came back after them, saw an old man, and his face looked a little more serious.
She directly asked He Siwei to go aside to talk, "The rations for our new establishment are all divided according to standards. At that time, the rations we brought were only for twenty people. You and Wang Guizhen came later, and the food was saved from everyone's mouths." Yes, everyone is already dissatisfied, but when you receive the rations next month, you can make up for this month's rations, so everyone did not express their dissatisfaction on the surface. Now that there is an additional old man, it will definitely cause conflicts. Think about it yourself. Deal with it.”
