One afternoon in September, a middle-aged man with a disheveled face, a tattered body, carrying a canvas bag came to the head of the village, and when he got closer, some older people recognized, "Isn't this a stone, haven't you come back for several years?" The stone showed its white teeth, and smiled wistfully, which was an answer.
This stone, surnamed Zhang, has not yet gotten a wife in his forties, and the children of his younger siblings have gone to high school. Speaking of stone is also strange and pitiful, stone's father is old Zhang, family conditions are not good, did not go to school, forty years old hard to find a wife with mental disabilities. Old Zhang was born grumpy, slightly unhappy, just beat his wife, like a common meal, in the long run beat his wife crazy, the brain is even more abnormal, all day long with Lao Zhang, let her do whatever she wants, slow down Lao Zhang will raise his arms, the face is vicious to beat her, standing smirking when nothing happens. Lao Zhang had no money and did not give her medical treatment, and her mother's family came forward several times to say it, but it was all gone.
In this way, after two years, he gave birth to the eldest, called Stone, and in the next few years, he gave birth to a girlfriend and two boys. Genetically, Stone and a few younger siblings have also been a bit silly since childhood, but fortunately they can understand normal speech. Several children began to work with Lao Zhang from the time they could walk, except for the second eldest who attended primary school for several years with the support of his uncle, and the other few did not enter the school door for a day.
Stone walked to the house at the west end of the village, he pushed open the fence door, stepped on the yard full of leaves, looked, a few chickens ran around, the yard was as no wall as when he left home, scattered peach branches were fenced, the southeast corner of the yard had a shed supported by four wooden sticks, there was a stove below, two bowls on a board, and a water tank next to it. Across the courtyard were three hall houses, the paint on the doors had exploded, the bottom sides were rotten, and the windows were nailed with plastic paper. Pushing open the unlocked door, the third elder reclined on the bed in the hall, raised his head, and jumped out of the two words for half a day: Here!
The four brothers and sisters were more pitiful than the other, and they had not had enough to eat, clothe or warmth since birth. If it were not for the tight management of family planning, pulling Lao Zhang to ligature, it is estimated that he would still have to give birth. However, Lao Zhang can only cultivate land, has no money to buy pesticides and fertilizers, and is not diligent, the harvest is the worst in the village, and every year the relief grain in the village has Lao Zhang. Several children have not worn new clothes since childhood, they are sent by neighbors who do not wear them, and the uncles and uncles of the ben family often take care of them, but just like this family of six, they are still often hungry and full. I don't know what old Zhang thinks, he can't afford to have so many children, maybe he is influenced by the traditional concept of having many children and many blessings, but he hasn't thought about what to do when the children grow up?
The third old man was called Mingming, and when he was ten years old, Lao Zhang and his wife, who were left with four walls of disciples, died of illness one after another. The clan members discussed sending the old third to the family of the family who had no children and no daughters ten miles away, and gave six thousand yuan, the only request was not to contact the child again, and the money was kept by Lao Zhang's brother first. But I don't know why the old three ran back to see it and left. After five or six years, the family sent the third elder and asked him not to go back. Later, Lao Zhang's brother took charge of it, and used the original six thousand yuan to make up a little more, demolished Lao Zhang's broken earthen house to build three brick and tile houses, and told the three brothers whoever married his daughter-in-law first would belong to whomever owned the house. Stone said I don't want to, the next day I went out to work and left, and I didn't come back for four or five years. The other three children also went out to work on their feet, the girlfriend met a partner in the nearby brick factory and got married, the second followed the people from the neighboring village to Guangzhou, and the third went to Sichuan.
Three years later, the third elder returned with a beautiful Sichuan daughter-in-law and gave birth to a girl at home. After two years, he got angry with the third elder and returned to his mother's house with the child, and it was not long before the third elder went to find her. A year later, suddenly one day the local prison informed the village to bring the third elder back, and the daughter-in-law also returned. It is said that the third elder had a conflict with the local workers, maimed the person, had no money to lose, and the other family beat the third elder and sued the official. For some reason, the third elder also had a nervous disease after he returned, and like his mother, he smirked from time to time, sometimes had a terrible headache, rolled on the ground with his head in his hands, and took him to the hospital without finding out a reason. Some people speculate that perhaps the third elder was disobedient in prison and was beaten out of the way.
Later, the daughter-in-law found out uremia again, treated it for a period of time, borrowed all the money that could be borrowed, or did not get better, went home and lay down, and left after half a year. The aunt took the little girl to raise, there were only three people left in the family, and when the head did not hurt, she followed the construction team in the village to work for a short time, and the salary was basically to buy medicine. The second brother comes back every Spring Festival, puts some money in the department store in the village, and says that the third brother will pay the bill when he comes to buy something, and it is not enough to remember first. After arranging for the new year, I left, and I didn't know if I had a family outside.
Looking at the old third like this, the stone snorted, and there was nothing to say. Went out to find a broken water scoop, scooped half a scoop of water in the water tank and drank a few sips, swept the yard again and went out. When I went to the street to shave my head, I bought back two bags of noodles, two bags of rice, and some pork and oil, salt, sauce and vinegar, and gave old Trinity money.
This time the stone came back, I don't know how to stay for a few days, it is estimated that after a month and then gone, each time walking less than two or three years, more than five or six years and then disappeared, where to go to no one to say, come and go without a trace like a ranger. Listen to him say that he has been to many places, Karamay, Chifeng, Kunming...; Ask him how much money he made, he said it was a lot, two hundred a day, and then asked him about the money, he said it was spent. Privately, they all said that the stone brain was not good, could not calculate the account, and at the end of the year the money was deducted by the foreman, or cheated by others. It is rumored in the village that one year Shi took a taxi to know a driver, and people used his ID card to make a loan of 100,000 yuan, and when it was due, the bank called the stone to repay the money, and the stone said that he had not borrowed money. Someone asked him if he had a family, and Shi Shi shook his head and said, "It is good for a person to eat enough for the whole family and not be hungry." Maybe the stone doesn't want to be like Lao Zhang?
Half a month later, before dawn, the stone carried the canvas bag and left...!