Father's Land Mother's River

Chapter 10 The Friendship of Young Boys

After school, Liu Xiaonan and Gu Yu went to the mountain to catch mung bean bugs.

A few days ago, Gu Yu's father suffered from high blood pressure and was dizzy and weak.There are no better medical conditions and measures in the countryside, and the two half-baked barefoot doctors can do nothing but stand up.

Gu Yu's mother heard that eating turtle meat and drinking turtle blood can cure high blood pressure and is also good for the body.But where can I find the old turtle?Although there are so many old turtles in the river, it is not so easy to catch one or two.

Gu Yu said to Liu Xiaonan: "I'll give you a chance to show off. Didn't you say that you had caught an old turtle before, and you should find a way to catch another one, so I'll admit that you're not bragging."

It is a rare thing to catch an old turtle when fishing.Every day after school, Liu Xiaonan and Gu Yu squatted by the river with fishing rods in hand, and only returned home after dark. They hadn't harvested anything for a few days.

In order to prove that she was not bragging, Liu Xiaonan had to find another way.He only has a dozen or so fishhooks in his hand, and he is reluctant to take them all out and put them in his mother's empty powder box to prevent them from rusting.Now I have to use them all.

Liu Xiaonan thought of a clumsy and trouble-free method, and filled the river with hooks, planting widely and harvesting little.He found a few thick screw rods from Dad's toolbox, tied them to the nylon ropes on the soles of Mom's shoes, and wrapped them around a small piece of wood.Each set of fishing line is more than ten meters long, and five hooks are attached to one end of the screw rod. A total of five sets of fishing lines were made.

When it was getting dark, he and Gu Yu came to the river, and carefully selected a few places where old turtles could haunt.Tie one end of the fishing line firmly to the heel of the willow tree, hang an earthworm on it, throw the fishing line into the river one by one, wash your hands and go home, and wait for the old turtle to take the bait.

The next morning, I went to collect the fishing line, and I had a good harvest. I caught a few big catfish, but there was still no sign of the old turtle.

Liu Xiaonan thought it was probably a problem with the bait.When the hook is lowered into the river, the small fish will eat up all the earthworms first, so naturally the old turtle cannot be caught.It is necessary to find a bait that cannot be eaten by small fish, so that it is possible to wait for the old turtle to take the bait, and the big, fat and thick-skinned mung bean worm becomes the first choice.

Grasshoppers, earthworms, and corn cake skins can be used as bait. This is the first time to experiment with mung bean worms, and there may be unexpected gains.After school, he took Gu Yu straight to the back mountain.

Liu Xiaonan wondered if it meant that she would no longer have to secretly read "A Pair of Embroidered Shoes" in the future.

A few days ago, Gu Yu took Liu Xiaonan to a secluded place outside the courtyard, looked around and whispered mysteriously, "I'll show you something, the premise is that you must keep it secret, so that people can't say that I gave it to you."

Liu Xiaonan agreed and vowed never to be a traitor.Gu Yu took out a damaged notebook from her schoolbag and handed it to Liu Xiaonan. The content inside was the manuscript novel "A Pair of Embroidered Shoes".This is a forbidden book.

Gu Yu said that she had read it. It was a thrilling and complicated anti-special novel. She didn't understand how such a good-looking novel that showed the courage and cunning of police soldiers would be listed as a banned book?She believed that Liu Xiaonan would definitely like it.

She also took out a fresh diary and handed it to Liu Xiaonan, telling him to copy it quickly and then read it carefully.

Liu Xiaonan spent more than a week at night, neatly transcribing that "A Pair of Embroidered Shoes".He was deeply attracted by the thrilling and bizarre plots in the novel, and read it several times.He wondered how nice it would be to get the original books.

Several years later, when "A Pair of Embroidered Shoes" was officially published and made into a TV series, he learned the ins and outs of this underground novel.Therefore, he firmly believes that as long as it is an excellent literary work, it will always glow with lasting artistic light and charm.

The two walked to the side of the orchard on the hillside and met their uncle Liu Zhitai.The apples are already ripe, Liu Zhitai is looking at the mountain, he warns Liu Xiaonan and Gu Yu not to play too late, don't you know there are spies on the mountain?
Liu Xiaonan told her uncle that they came to catch bean worms.Liu Zhitai said that there are jujube thorns on the terraced fields beside the orchard, so don't run up the mountain.

The two caught more than twenty medium-sized mung bean worms, put them in a box, and were about to go home when Gu Yu suddenly pulled Liu Xiaonan's sleeve.

Following Gu Yu's surprised and nervous eyes, Liu Xiaonan saw a piece of curled paper in a bush.

The two squatted down, not daring to approach but couldn't restrain their strong curiosity, their hearts were pounding, they clasped their hands and touched their heads, they tilted their heads and looked at it for a long time, but they couldn't see why.

Look around to see that there are no idlers, and the two look at each other.The trusting eyes of each other prompted the two of them to make up their minds, squatting down and moving over step by step.

Liu Xiaonan bravely picked up the piece of paper, shook the soil and spread it out.The paper is thick and smooth, and the photos on it are scenes of criticizing bullfighting, ghosts, and snakes.Liu Xiaonan casually threw the flyer into the grass.

On the way back, Gu Yu said, "My father was criticized like that before, and that's why he got sick."

Liu Xiaonan said: "Don't worry, I will definitely catch an old turtle and cure your father."

After returning home, he put down his schoolbag, took his fishing line and came to the river. Liu Xiaonan re-selected several locations, hooked mung bean worms, and threw all five fishing lines into the river.He secretly hoped that he could gain something tomorrow morning, otherwise, he would really be looked down upon by Gu Yu.

The sky was getting dark, and the two teenagers seemed to have completed a major task, and left the river bank full of expectations.After walking for a while, Gu Yu suddenly remembered something and said, "I don't believe your uncle is a hooligan, so what's going on between him and Liu Erya?"

Liu Xiaonan said: "I don't really understand, I only know that my uncle and Liu Erya are the best friends just like the two of us. Later, something happened in the adult world. call it a hooligan."

Since childhood, I slept with my uncle on the same kang, and I often saw my uncle staring at Wuba in a daze.Liu Xiaonan understood a little bit about her uncle's thoughts.

"They should be a typical example of opposing feudal ethics."

"I don't know if they are doing the right thing. I can only be sure that my uncle is still thinking about Liu Erya. I can see it."

Gu Yu was silent for a moment and asked, "If one day I left Liuzi Street, would you miss me?"

Liu Xiaonan said: "There is not a day when you don't bully me, so I won't think about you."

Gu Yu took Liu Xiaonan's hand and said, "This is not your sincere words, is it? I know you will definitely miss me."

Liu Xiaonan said: "I will keep you in my heart, so there is no need to think about it."

"I believe it's true." Gu Yu hugged Liu Xiaonan's shoulders and jumped, almost jumping onto Liu Xiaonan's back.

The two teenagers held hands, swung their arms wildly, and went home bouncing and laughing happily.

The next morning it began to rain lightly.Liu Xiaonan put on a piece of plastic sheeting, Gu Yu wore a raincoat, and came to the river in the light rain, and put away the fishing lines one by one.

On the first four fishing lines, two to three large catfish were caught. Using mung bean worms as bait was still successful, but the old turtle could not be caught.The last set of fishing line couldn't be pulled, the fishing line was stretched very straight, and it still didn't move when it swayed from side to side.

Liu Xiaonan suspected that the fishing line was entangled on the rocks at the bottom of the river. He couldn't bear to part with the five hooks on the fishing line. Regardless of Gu Yu's objection, he took off his clothes and went down into the river, groping along the fishing line.

The fishing line was almost at the end, and the fishing line became loose, followed by a big old turtle, which was about the size of a washbasin, and was desperately trying to plunge into the water.Amid Gu Yu's screams, Liu Xiaonan carefully dragged the big turtle ashore.

Not caring about being drenched in water, Liu Xiaonan put on his clothes, tied the old turtle's four paws with a fishing line, lifted it up with Gu Yu on a short wooden stick, held the catfish strung on wicker in his hand, and happily went to home rush.

A few days later, Gu Yu's mother came to thank her in person, saying that Gu Yu's father's condition had improved significantly.

At noon that day, many strangers came to Gu Yu's house, and Gu Yu didn't go to school in the afternoon.After school, Liu Xiaonan went up the mountain alone to catch bean worms, and he also wanted to catch another old turtle for Gu Yu.When he got home, Gu Yu was waiting for him at home.

Gu Yu's father has been rehabilitated, and the official has been reinstated. The family will return to Bincheng tomorrow morning.She collected all the books of her brothers and sisters, and gave them to Liu Xiaonan together with her wooden box of comic books.She only asked Liu Xiaonan for the manuscript "A Pair of Embroidered Shoes" as a souvenir.

Liu Xiaonan went to hook in the river, and Gu Yu wanted to follow.Liu Xiaonan roared angrily: "You are leaving tomorrow, why are you still following me?" After speaking, she ran towards the river without looking back.

Gu Yu was frightened, it was the first time she saw Liu Xiaonan wanting to eat people.She felt that she had been greatly wronged, and turned back to her home.

Liu Xiaonan didn't return home until it was completely dark.He threw the fishing line into the river indiscriminately, and sat on the bank of the river for a long time in a daze.He had a premonition that Gu Yu would return to the city sooner or later, but it was still hard to accept when things came to an end.He felt that Gu Yu's departure would take away a lot of things from him, and his heart was very empty.

Until the next morning, when Gu Yu calmed down and figured it out, Liu Xiaonan was reluctant to part with her.She went to find Liu Xiaonan, wanting to say goodbye to him alone.Knowing that Liu Xiaonan had gone out early in the morning, he stood on the street and waited for him to come back.

Waiting and waiting, delaying and delaying, the two cars that came to pick up Gu Yu and his family had already driven into the courtyard, but Liu Xiaonan was still nowhere to be seen.Under the repeated urging of her parents, Gu Yu got into the car with deep regret.

The car drove out of the yard, turned a corner and was about to drive onto the road. Gu Yu, who had been looking out, suddenly saw a familiar figure of a young man running from the river, waving his arms while running.Gu Yu hurriedly yelled to stop, got out of the car and ran towards Liu Xiaonan.

Liu Xiaonan was wet all over, her lips were purple with cold and shivering, and she was holding a dozen river crabs in her hand.

Gu Yu said hurriedly, "I've been waiting for you all morning, why did you come back?"

Liu Xiaonan said guiltily: "I wanted to catch another old turtle for you, but unfortunately I didn't catch one. I can't let you go empty-handed. Thinking of your love for crabs, I went down to the river to touch some for you."

"You are stupid! In such a cold day, can you go down the river early in the morning?" Gu Yu stretched out his arms with tears in his eyes, wiped off the water droplets on Liu Xiaonan's head and face with his new sleeves, and said choked up: " For a few river crabs, what should I do if I get sick from the cold?"

"It's okay." Liu Xiaonan handed the river crab in his hand to Gu Yu, and said tremblingly, "I'm happy in my heart."

Behind him came the urging sound of a car horn.Gu Yu looked back, reached out and stroked Liu Xiaonan's icy cheek, and said, "I have to go, I can't talk to you anymore. You just remember my words, work hard to become a writer, or go to university, In that case, we may still meet in the city."

Gu Yu trotted back to the car with the crab in his hand, and kept waving through the window.The car raised smoke and dust and gradually drove away, disappearing in Liu Xiaonan's teary eyes.

In this way, Gu Yu faded out of Liu Xiaonan's youthful life.

(End of this chapter)