Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After finishing Ou Jie and Ruan Lei's banquet in Nancheng, the focus of his work shifted from Ou Jie and Ruan Lei to Chen Weizheng and Liu Yi. Their wedding was in half a month.
Because of the tiring wedding, Ruan Lei's pregnancy symptoms were getting worse. After returning to Qingshan Town, she went to the county's maternity hospital for a check-up and rest. She looked at Liu Yi apologetically and said, "I don't think I can help you with anything." Liu Yi said, "With Li Jing and the others, I can handle it."
Before Liu Yi got married, he asked Chen Weizheng to help him with one thing, which was to accompany him to the most remote village in Qingshan Town, where Liu Yi's grandmother's house was. The furthest village in Qingshan Town was called Baoshi Village. It was 70 kilometers away from the county, and buses were only installed in 2001. Although there were roads before, they were too dangerous, so only a few small vans were used to transport passengers. Until today, the roads were still gravel and had not hardened. Liu Yi's grandmother's house was even further away. It was more than 10 kilometers from the village to the village. There was a road that only hand-guided tractors could travel, and even small buses could not pass through.
This village was very unique and did not fit in with Qingshan Town. First of all, the language was different. People in Qingshan Town could only communicate in Mandarin when they came to Baoshi Village. The people in Baoshi Village could not speak the official language of Gu Yi City. Their language was 30% Shaoguan dialect, 20% Hakka dialect, and some of them had an accent. The people in Baoshi Village believed that they were a unique ethnic group, an ancient ethnic group that had migrated from Nanyue. Although they were officially identified as the Han ethnic group, they did not admit that in private. They believed that they were the Li ethnic group, the descendants of Madam Xian from a thousand years ago, who had fled to the mountains to avoid disaster.
The marriages of the people here were very strange. The locals called it a contract marriage. If the man took a fancy to a woman, and both parties agreed, the man would go to the woman's house and build a thatched cottage one or two kilometers away from the village. He would open up a piece of land, plant grains, and raise chickens and fish. Without the help of any outsiders, he would be able to live normally. This way, he would be able to obtain the approval of the woman, allowing the man to have a tryst with the woman within a set time. Only when the woman was pregnant would the man be able to marry the woman and bring her home.
Liu Yi's parents were different. They were classmates from Qingshan Town High School in the 1980s. After graduation, they didn't go to university. Instead, they went to other places to work and became a working couple. A few years later, they had Liu Yi and returned to Longshan to get married. After they got married, they went to Baoshi Village. Liu Yi's grandmother's family was very unfriendly to this couple who got married without an arranged marriage. They directly drove Liu Yi's father out of the village and made him build a hut and farm outside. Liu Yi's mother felt that the way her family did things was very problematic. In addition, there were still children in Longshan who were crying piteously for food. She left Baoshi Village with her husband and didn't return to her hometown until she died.
After Liu Yi's parents died, his grandfather asked someone to send a letter to Liu Yi's grandfather, asking them to come and deal with the funeral together. There was no reply. After about half a year, he asked someone to pass a message: They were not relatives in the first place, and now they were even less relatives. The river should return to the water and the bridge should return to the bridge.
Chen Weizheng asked Liu Yi if he had any relatives there. Liu Yi said that he had three uncles and two aunts. His maternal grandparents were still alive.
Chen Weizheng asked Liu Yi if he had any opinions about the saying: "The river should return to the water and the bridge should return to the bridge."
Liu Yi said that it was the last time. Even if he was rejected, it was his last effort. Chen Weizheng said that it might be because of the gap between generations. It was hard to say that your grandmother liked you very much.
Liu Yi smiled bitterly.
The two of them took out the electric scooter that they hadn't ridden for a long time and prepared to drive to Baoshi Village. Because when they were on the road, someone told them that the road in Baoshi Village had collapsed again.
The electric scooter was very powerful. Because of its large battery, the speed of the electric scooter was not slow. Chen Weizheng maintained a speed of 40 km/h, which surprised the motorcycles along the way.
The road was tall and straight with pine trees growing on the slopes. When the wind blew, the sound of pine trees could be heard. The road kept circling around the mountains. Liu Yi told Chen Weizheng that they had to go over two mountains. The first mountain was 16 kilometers to the top and 16 kilometers to the bottom. The next mountain was 20 kilometers to the top and 20 kilometers to the bottom. That was Baoshi Village. Chen Weizheng asked Liu Yi if he had been here before. Liu Yi said no. There were students from Baoshi Village in the medical school. He heard it from them.
The closer they got to the top of the mountain, the colder the wind was. Chen Weizheng took out two fully enclosed motorcycle caps from the storage space and put them on. He also took out two windbreakers and put them on. Liu Yi sat at the back and wrapped his arms around Chen Weizheng's chest to prevent the cold wind from blowing into Chen Weizheng's clothes.
When they went over the second mountain, they saw the site of the collapse. There were no cars parked at the two ends of the collapsed road. Everyone knew that there were no road maintenance workers to maintain the road. They didn't know when the road would be opened again. They might as well go home. Someone had put down a few pine trees at the collapsed road. The motorcycle could be pushed over carefully. After Chen Weizheng pushed the motorcycle out, he looked back and asked Liu Yi, "Can we fix the road?"
Liu Yi nodded. Chen Weizheng saw some leftover stones from the road repair work. He used the storage space to collect about twenty to thirty stones and threw them at the collapsed road. He then put some mud on the stones. In less than ten minutes, the collapsed road was repaired.
Seeing that Chen Weizheng easily fixed the road, Liu Yi said, "Honey, if we had known it would be so easy, we would have driven a car here. We wouldn't have to ride a motorcycle to be blown by the wind."
Chen Weizheng said, "I was just trying. I didn't expect it to work. It's not bad to ride a motorcycle once in a while. "
It took more than two hours to get to Baoshi Village.
From Baoshi Village to Liu Yi's grandmother's house, there was still more than ten kilometers of mountain road. He asked the people of Baoshi Village how to get there and whether the motorcycle could go in. The locals were very enthusiastic. They used a strange Mandarin and said very clearly, "Although the road is small, the road is very good. The motorcycle can go in."
Chen Weizheng bought a few bottles of wine in the village, cut a piece of pork weighing five to six kilograms, weighed some ordinary candy and put it in the trunk as a gift. The trunk was not big, and he didn't want to put too much. He still didn't know what would happen inside, so there was no need to waste.
It was the first time that Chen Weizheng drove a motorcycle on such a small road. He felt very satisfied. The motorcycle was very slow, but it felt very fast. He turned calmly, but it felt like he was drifting. It was really interesting. Chen Weizheng said, "Now you know the benefits of an electric motorcycle! If you drive a car here, you can only walk here. "
After driving for nearly an hour, they arrived at a small village called Hengtang. Liu Yi said, "This is the place."
Liu Yi got off the motorcycle and asked the passerby, "Excuse me, how do I get to Xian Debao's house?"
The passerby looked at Liu Yi from head to toe, and told her the specific location. Liu Yi thanked the passerby, pointed to a house halfway up the mountain, and said, "That's the house."
The motorcycle continued to go around the mud road, and finally arrived at the house halfway up the mountain. Hidden in the green bamboo forest was an old-fashioned half-mud-and-half-story house. The first floor was a mud house, and the second floor was a balcony. It was all made of wood, and the roof was covered with blue tiles. It was built very closely and was very solid. The downstairs was very clean. There was no chicken and duck feces that were commonly seen in farmers' houses, and there was no dog barking or chicken crowing. There was a slanted building on the west side. The slanted building was full of firewood, which showed that the owner of this house was very diligent. As the saying goes, "If you bend your back when you go out, there will be firewood in the house."
Seeing that someone had come, a person in the house came out to welcome them. It was a girl of 13 or 14 years old. She was a very delicate girl with big eyes, big facial features, a thin face, and a thin body. She was very similar to Liu Yi a year ago.
"Hello, is this Xian Debao's house?" Chen Weizheng asked.
"Yes, why are you looking for my grandfather?" the girl replied.
"There is a small matter. Is your grandfather at home?" Chen Weizheng asked.
"Grandfather is in the back garden. I will help you call him." The girl turned and walked into the house.
Chen Weizheng found a flat place to park the motorcycle, and walked to the front of the house. He looked up and down at the old house. The door was not big, but there was a very high door sill. The door sill was bumpy, and it was unknown whether it was the traces of time or man-made damage. The house was made of mud, and it was not very flat. There were some hoes and other farming tools and a big wooden barrel. In the middle was the ancestral tablet of the house deities. It said that it had not been updated for a few years, and it looked a bit broken. There was an incense burner on the tablet, and it was full of dust.
Entering from the left side of the tablet was the back room, which was generally used as a storeroom. Entering from here was the backyard. On the right was the kitchen, on the left was the wing, and there were two back rooms. The whole house was so big. Oh, there was a pigsty and a outhouse in the east.
Chen Weizheng looked around, and Liu Yi was very uneasy. What would happen when he came to his grandfather's house for the first time?
An old man walked out from the back room. He was quite old, and his face and hands were very dark and rough. He was very thin, and his whole body was shrunken. He did not have a beard, but he had a lot of white hair. He had long sideburns, and his hair was split at the ends. He looked malnourished, and it seemed that he was not doing well.
Liu Yi obviously had the urge to cry. Chen Weizheng gently stroked Liu Yi's back and patted him.
"Hello, old man." Chen Weizheng greeted.
The old man stuttered something, and the girl from before came out and said, "My grandfather doesn't understand Mandarin. He only knows how to speak Gem Dialect. He can understand a bit of Gu Yi City's official language. Big brother, what do you want to say? I will help you translate."
Chen Weizheng looked at Liu Yi. There was actually such a thing!
"Hello, little girl. How should I address you?" Chen Weizheng asked.
"My name is Xian Dongshuang."
"Is Dongshuang still studying?" Chen Weizheng asked.
"Yes, in the second year of middle school."
"Studying at Gem Middle School?"
"Yes!"
"Dongmei, I want to ask you. You have an aunt called Xian Guomei. Do you remember?" Chen Weizheng asked.
"I know there is such an aunt, but I have never seen her. I know that she passed away a few years ago." Xian Dongshuang said.
"Did your grandfather talk about her?" Chen Weizheng asked.
"He did. My grandfather had six children, and my aunt was his favorite. He sent her to school until she graduated from high school. Later, she went out to work and married outside. My grandfather did not blame her. He only blamed that uncle a little. He said that he was a human trafficker. He was lazy and didn't know how to farm. My aunt would only suffer if she followed him. After my aunt died, my grandfather said that it was good that she died. She wouldn't have to suffer if she died. "
"What about your grandmother?" Chen Weizheng asked.
"My grandmother is in Gem Village with my uncle. My uncle built a house there and did business."
"Why didn't your grandfather go?" Chen Weizheng asked.
"Grandfather said that he wanted to wait here for my aunt's family. He said that one day, my aunt's family will come. He can't let my aunt's family come and not be able to find her home. "
Hearing this, Liu Yi could no longer control his emotions. Two lines of tears flowed out of his eyes. He walked in front of the old man and knelt down with a "plop".
Old Man Xi was shocked and looked at the girl kneeling in front of him in surprise. Xian Dongshuang also looked at Liu Yi in surprise and looked at Chen Weizheng inquiringly.
"She is your cousin, your aunt's daughter. Her name is Liu Yi." Chen Weizheng said.
Xi Dongshuang quickly translated the words to his grandfather. His grandfather was immediately stunned. After a long time, two drops of turbid tears squeezed out from the wrinkles in the corners of his eyes. The old man tried to say something, but no sound came out.
The room was very quiet. After a long time, Xian Dongshuang broke the silence. "You are my cousin-in-law! So handsome! "
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
