The train driver in the courtyard

Under the dark night.

Dots of firelight moved slowly in the valley.

It was the villagers holding torches, and they gathered into a line of hope, lighting up the road ahead.

Accompanied by a creaking sound, the bullock cart moved at the front of the team.

Li Aiguo sat in a "suspected carriage" made of wooden boards and chatted casually with Wei Zimin, the head of Weizhuang Village.

"Village Chief Wei, thank you for your help this time."

"Look at what you said. Don't say that you got into trouble because you were sending tea bottles. Even if you meet a stranger, we have to help."

Although Wei Zimin is old, his eyes are bright and clear. He held a long whip and swung it lightly, making a crisp sound.

"Come and have a cigarette." Li Aiguo gave a circle of cigarettes to the villagers next to him, and handed another one to Wei Zimin.

Wei Zimin waved his hand: "The cigarettes are boring. We older people are not used to smoking this stuff."

As he spoke, he took out the copper pipe pot hanging from his waist, lit it with a flint, and took two puffs.

Only then did Li Aiguo remember that the last time he was in the driver's building, Wei Zimin also took a cigarette but did not smoke.

However, the old Liu Tou from the supply and marketing cooperative was quite happy with it.

The two-centimeter cigarette butt lingered in Li Aiguo's mind.

"Village Chief Wei, is Mr. Liu from your village's supply and marketing cooperative a native of this village?" Li Aiguo asked casually, pretending to be unintentional.

"No, they are from the capital, and they seem to be related to the leaders of the district supply and marketing cooperative."

Wei Zimin mentioned Lao Liutou and gave a thumbs up: "That man is a capable person and can read and write. Many children in our village were named by him."

"Yeah."

This is Kung Fu.

A truck had already appeared on the dim road ahead. Li Aiguo jumped off the ox cart and ran over.

Zhang Tieniu and Yan Jiecheng saw the torch and knew that Li Aiguo had brought someone over.

"Driver Li, the two of us thought we were going to spend the night here."

"Yeah, you don't know how scared I am, there are wild wolves around here."

Li Aiguo introduced Village Chief Wei to the two of them.

After learning that a few people had actually hunted two wild wolves, a young man in the crowd stumbled out and held Yan Jiecheng's hand tightly.

"Comrade, thank you for avenging me."

Hearing this, Yan Jiecheng was a little confused, but he still pointed to Li Aiguo and said: "The main reason is that driver Li put in a lot of effort, and I helped a little."

The young man turned around and bowed deeply to Li Aiguo. Then he seemed to remember something sad, and the grief hit his heart and was difficult to suppress.

He turned around and walked away, his shoulders shaking weakly.

Yan Jiecheng said with some curiosity: "It is said that men do not shed tears easily. This young man looks strong and strong, how can he look like a mother-in-law?"

"Don't talk nonsense." Li Aiguo reminded Yan Jiecheng.

At this time, Village Chief Wei sighed and explained: "That boy's name is Wei Dazhu. He is a good worker and is at the forefront of our village and even the entire commune.

This summer, his wife gave birth to a baby boy.

During the autumn harvest not long ago, everyone in the village was busy working in the mill until midnight.

Wei Dazhu and his wife returned home and found that the window was broken and there was blood on the window sill.

When they opened the door and entered the house, they both panicked.

Where are the children on the fire bed?

That night, all members of our village and three or four nearby villages went out.

After searching on the mountain for half the night, the child was not found. Only a pair of torn pants was found in the trench.

Those pants belong to the Wei family's son."

Having said this, Village Chief Wei's cracked lips drooped at the corners, forming a miserable arc, and he could no longer speak.

Li Aiguo already knew the result.

In recent years, wild wolves often enter villages and steal children.

Wild wolves want to eat people.

Yan Jiecheng also remained silent.

“The wild wolves in this mountain are more cunning than other places. They seem to understand human nature and hide when they see large groups of people going up the mountain or hunters with guns.

So our commune organized several hunts, but found nothing. "

Village Chief Wei emptied his pipe and pot and continued.

Yan Jiecheng suddenly became happy: "So, I have made a meritorious service?"

Village Chief Wei didn't know why.

Li Aiguo explained: "He is a bait."

Yan Jiecheng: "."

Make some small talk.

Seeing that it was getting later and later, Li Aiguo began to arrange rescue arrangements.

Since Wei Zhuang does not have the tools to repair the water tank, we can only use a few cows to pull the truck back to the village. We will meet in Beijing tomorrow to ask the comrades in the maintenance workshop of the locomotive depot for help.

The truck was in neutral, with Zhang Tieniu holding the steering wheel.

Li Aiguo greeted a few old scalpers while continuing to chat with Village Chief Wei.

"Old man Liu from the supply and marketing cooperative doesn't seem to be from the capital, right?"

"That can't be done!"

Village Chief Lao Wei waved his hand quickly: "I saw his letter of introduction back then, and it stated that he was from the capital.

Because their children died in the war, only the old couple were left. They were heartbroken and came to our Wei Village. "

"Do you still have the letter of introduction?"

"What, do you think there is something wrong with Old Man Liu?"

Village Chief Wei's face became serious and he looked at Li Aiguo with doubtful eyes.

"That's not the case, I feel like Old Man Liu looks more like a distant uncle of mine.

But during the war, my grandfather got separated from him.

The old man has been in poor health these years and has been talking about him. "

Li Aiguo rolled his eyes and said with a smile: "As a junior, I should always fulfill the wishes of the elderly."

"Yes, if you don't understand this kind of thing, you can't go directly to ask." Village Chief Wei himself has a simple and honest temper, and can understand Li Aiguo's difficulties.

"The letter of introduction should still be there. It's stored in the cabinet. I'll find it for you when I get back to the village."

When Lao Niu pulled the truck to Weizhuang, it was almost eight o'clock in the evening.

The already quiet small village suddenly became excited.

The truck was parked in the grinding yard at the end of the village, and many young people and children gathered around to watch the excitement.

Touching the shiny headlights and touching the black wheels, everyone's eyes revealed surprise.

The older people in the village were more interested in the two wild wolves.

But no one said anything.

These two wild wolves were hunted by people from the locomotive depot.

If anyone dares to speak, Village Chief Wei will definitely deal with him.

Li Aiguo pulled Zhang Tieniu aside and discussed: "Tieniu, thanks to the help of the members, we pulled the truck back this time.

I think these two wild wolves will treat the big guys to a good meal. How about that? "

"I think it's okay. You hunted both wild wolves, so you can make the decision." Zhang Tieniu had no objection.

After all, this thing is an unexpected harvest and does not belong to the maintenance department. It can be distributed by itself.

Yan Jiecheng felt it was inappropriate. The two wolves had nearly 70 to 80 kilograms of meat, which was worth at least more than 100 yuan.

It's such a shame to just give it to someone else.

He kept muttering beside him, but Li Aiguo ignored him.

"Village Chief Wei, when we came to your village this time, we disturbed many people.

Now that everyone is here, let's just hold a wolf meat convention to treat everyone to a meat addiction. "

"Oh, this can't be done. This is your prey, how can we take it?" Village Chief Wei waved his hand quickly as if he had touched a red iron.

"We workers and peasants are one family, Comrade Village Chief, have you forgotten?"

"This"

Village Chief Wei turned to look at the members.

Although now everyone has a big meal to fill their stomachs.

But it is still difficult to eat a meal of meat.

His Adam's apple rolled up and down, trying to swallow the emotions that were about to pour out, but a few tears overflowed from the corners of his eyes.

"I, Old Wei, will take advantage of you this time!"

Seeing Village Chief Wei nodding, the members suddenly became excited.

The plowshares on the old sapodilla tree at the entrance of the village were clanging, waking up the village shrouded in darkness.

The gang of old women and young wives rushed to the grinding yard with their children.

Soon the place was filled with people.

Seeing that people had almost arrived, Village Chief Lao Wei shouted at the top of his lungs: "Today, the workers from the Qianmen Locomotive Depot hunted two wild wolves on Dongling Mountain. They decided to donate the wild wolves and treat them to a good meal. pause.

We fellow members must remember this kindness.

In future agricultural production, we must work hard and strive for the upper reaches.

Use a bumper harvest of food to repay the kindness of the worker brothers. "

There was a round of warm applause.

Everyone cheered immediately, and the laughter and laughter were lively.

Most of the club members are grateful and excited, and it is inevitable that there are a few greedy people who are confused.

Two little-footed old ladies carrying baskets hurriedly walked up to Village Chief Wei, stared at the two wolves unwillingly, and said at the top of their voices: "This wolf meat now belongs to the village, so it belongs to the big guy.

I won’t eat any more wolf meat at the convention, I just need to divide it into ten or eight catties of meat. "

"Sister, what you said makes sense. What's so delicious about stewed wolf meat? It's better to put it in a jar and add some salt and pepper. You can eat it for a few more days!"

Hearing this, Village Chief Wei's face darkened.

The pipe pot banged against the tree trunk, making a loud banging sound, which made the two old ladies with little feet tremble all over.

He said in a deep voice: "Now our village has been transformed into a commune, and we eat from a big pot!

Besides, these two wolves were given to the village by the workers from the locomotive depot, not to your Huang family.

There are still packs of wolves in the Dongling Mountains. You just need to hunt a few to share with everyone.

I am the master of the family, and I will also share ten or eight pounds of meat among you Huang family.

What's wrong, you don't dare to go into the mountains?

How about asking your son to go? ! "

Village Chief Wei's eyes widened, and he pressed the two little-footed old ladies with a few words and became speechless.

Their heads were drooped and they could only stare at the tips of their shoes.

The bad habit of bound feet is actually not as common as you think.

Only relatively wealthy families would bind their daughters' feet.

After foot binding, women have difficulty moving, which affects their labor, so poorer families will not bind their daughters' feet.

In this remote village, two old ladies with small feet suddenly appeared, which was very strange.

Wei Dazhu saw Li Aiguo and others looking puzzled.

The person beside him explained in a low voice: "These two old ladies are both the wives of the Huang family landlord.

After liberation, although Landlord Huang went through the formalities for a second room, the family still lived together.

Landlord Huang's son was unsatisfied. He didn't go to work every day and couldn't earn any work points. He was considered to be the worst-off family in the village. "

This year Weicun started to eat from a big pot, and members of the commune did not have to pay for meals.

But some industrious families can still live a good life by opening up a piece of private land in the fields or going up to the mountains to pick some wild products.

For people like those who lived by sucking blood before liberation, it would be even harder for them to rely on their own labor to make a living.

Now that I have the opportunity to eat meat, I want to be clever and take advantage.

Nature is hard to change!

At this time, the pig butcher in the village disembowelled the wild wolf.

Wild wolves are full and hungry in the mountains, and they are all skin and bones.

Peel the skin and bones of two wild wolves, and then dig out the guts and heads. It would be good to get 70 to 80 kilograms of clean meat.

Village Chief Lao Wei asked the pig butcher to select more than ten kilograms of good clean meat, chop it up, hang it on three hemp ropes, and deliver it to the truck.

"Driver Li, two comrades, take these back to your family for a taste." Li Aiguo didn't give in, and called Zhang Tieniu and Yan Jiecheng to accept them.

Yan Jieben thought that he would not be able to take advantage this time, so he was so happy to get the wolf meat that he couldn't close his mouth from ear to ear.

Yan Jiecheng hid the meat in the truck, looked at Village Chief Wei, winked and said, "Village Chief, do you want to exchange for national food stamps?"

Village Chief Lao Wei: "."

He felt that the style of the young worker in front of him was a bit different from the other two.

He looks like a profiteer before liberation!

But the national food stamps are useful.

However, there were no local food stamps in Weizhuang, so Village Chief Lao Wei exchanged the price of thirteen eggs for ten kilograms of national food stamps from Yan Jiecheng.

In the capital, one pound of national food stamps can only be exchanged for twelve eggs.

Looking at the basket full of eggs, Yan Jiecheng grinned to the back of his head with excitement.

Just where to hide so many eggs?

Yan Jiecheng was in trouble.

After searching around in the driver's building for a long time, I finally found a good place to hide.

The commune's cook was from Weizhuang. He took several commune members to the commune and brought the big iron pot.

"Old Cao, this is a gift given to us by the worker brothers. You have to work hard on it." Village Chief Wei excitedly patted the chef on the shoulder, and almost knocked him down with a slap as big as a cattail leaf fan.

Chef Cao couldn't feel the pain now and grinned: "Don't worry, I will definitely bring out the ancestral skills this time. I'll treat you all to spicy wolf meat today."

Chef Cao raised his neck and laughed loudly. His face was red and full of energy, and he repeatedly ordered the members to get busy.

Although the commune has plenty of food now, it only consists of dried sweet potatoes and corn cobs. If he can no longer eat oil and water, he will lose all his fat.

Li Aiguo was very happy when he heard this. Is it possible that there is a descendant of a famous chef in this small village?

When I took a closer look, I suddenly burst out laughing.

Cut the wolf meat into pieces and throw it into a large iron pot.

The radish was stomped into chunks and thrown into the big iron pot.

Fill up half the bottle of soy sauce.

Throw in two pounds of chili peppers.

That's it.

When the lid of the pot was closed, Chef Cao shouted: ‘Fire up! ’

Li Aiguo gave a thumbs up in his mind and added two kilograms of chili peppers to the pot. It was indeed spicy enough.

The members of the commune were ordered to hunker down in front of the stove and just light the fire in front of the stove.

At this time, the wind suddenly picked up in the grinding yard.

The wind pulled at the clothes and made a "wow" sound, shaking the locust trees. The wind seemed to be blowing on the treetops, causing the soil on the ground to fly up.

None of the members in the grinding yard left, they all gathered around the stove waiting to eat meat.

After moaning for an hour, until everyone's saliva was dry, Chef Cao put down his pipe and pot, stood up, and carefully opened the lid.

The moment the lid was opened, a rich and thick fragrance suddenly filled the grinding yard with hot steam.

The scent was like a big hand reaching down the throats of the club members, squeezing their stomachs into a ball, and rubbing them fiercely.

It smells so good and I’m so hungry!

However, Li Aiguo felt that the fragrance had a slightly fishy smell.

The wolf meat is cut into small pieces in advance, and each member of the club gets a small piece.

Li Aiguo and Yan Jiecheng, as well as Zhang Tieniu.

Yan Jiecheng stared straight at the porcelain bowl, picked up a large piece of sauce-red, trembling wolf meat with his chopsticks, and stuffed it into his mouth without caring whether it was hot or not.

"It's so spicy, but it's so spicy."

It seemed that before he could taste it, a large mouthful of meat disappeared at the bottom of his throat.

A large pot of wild wolf meat was served to hundreds of commune members. Each member was given a piece. Almost in the blink of an eye, everything was eaten.

The soup in the pot was also shared by the Huang family's old ladies.

Li Aiguo was originally looking forward to wolf meat, but after trying it, he was no longer interested.

Wolf meat tastes like fried pork.

Moreover, eating wolf meat is a laborious task, and you can’t stop biting it no matter how hard you try.

Even after simmering for an hour, it was still chewy.

It's just that being able to eat such unpalatable meat is a good thing in this day and age.

Li Aiguo swallowed the wolf meat into his stomach one bite at a time.

"Come on, Driver Li, let's make one. Our village's home-brewed sweet potato roast." Village Chief Wei finished eating the wolf meat and took out an iron-shell kettle from his pocket.

Li Aiguo took it, and the strong spicy wine entered his mouth, dispersing the fishy smell.

A wave of heat flowed down the throat and stomach, rippling through the limbs and bones, as if there was a sudden surge of strength.

"Wolf meat must be paired with strong alcohol!"

Village Chief Wei took a swig, wiped the remaining wine from his beard, and said with a smile: "Driver Li, let me discuss this with you."

Li Aiguo greeted Yan Jiecheng and Zhang Tieniu to distribute thermos bottles and enamel jars to the members, while nodding and saying: "Old village chief, please tell me."

It turns out that Village Chief Wei is going to marry his daughter soon.

In these days, the bride's family must return all the betrothal gifts sent by the man.

Any act of selling a girl for a bride price will be despised by the villagers.

The groom's family sent three dollars and a piece of floral cloth, and Village Chief Wei wanted his daughter to make new clothes for her uncle.

But there was no cloth ticket.

In these days, rural commune members had no way to obtain tickets.

"I have some cloth tickets at home, but I don't have them with me. If you need them, I'll bring them to you on the next day off."

Village Chief Lao Wei waved his hands quickly: "That's impossible. I can just get it from the capital when the time comes."

Li Aiguo told Village Chief Wei the address of his home.

At this time, Village Chief Wei's wife also came to the grinding yard in a hurry, took out a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Village Chief Wei.

"Old man, these are all old things. What do you want with them?"

"what do you know?"

Village Chief Wei glared at him, "This is black and white, you know? Even if the sky falls, it won't change."

"Okay, okay, a village chief, see what you can do.

I won’t tell you anymore, Mrs. Wang is still waiting for me to go back and sew quilts! "

While talking, my wife left in a hurry again.

"Driver Li, I made you laugh. My wife's ideological consciousness is not high." Village Chief Wei was a little embarrassed.

"You're welcome." Li Aiguo looked at the piece of paper and said, "Is this the letter of introduction?"

"Ah. Yes, yes, yes."

Li Aiguo took the letter of introduction, glanced at it casually in the faint light of the fire, and handed it back.

Village Chief Lao Wei looked at Li Aiguo curiously and whispered, "How about it? Are you a relative of yours?"

"No."

Li Aiguo said with a slightly regretful tone: "The address is different and the name is also different. I must have recognized the wrong person."

Village Chief Lao Wei was also slightly disappointed.

I ate other people's wolf meat and entrusted them with buying cloth tickets. I owed them too much.

If you can help find long-lost relatives, it can be considered as some repayment.

Pity.

"Driver Li, don't worry, good people have their own destiny, and your second uncle's family far away will definitely be safe and sound."

Li Aiguo stood up and looked at the darkness in the distance with a serious expression: "Yes, he will definitely be safe."

Late at night.

The members who had eaten wolf meat discussed the taste of wolf meat and dispersed in twos and threes.

Li Aiguo, Yan Jiecheng and Zhang Tieniu were assigned to a small warehouse in the commune to deal with them overnight.

The small warehouse is in dilapidated condition and the tiles on the roof are incomplete. When you look up, you can feel the so-called starry sky ceiling.

It rained recently, and the rainwater dripped from the holes, forming puddles of water stains, exuding a damp and decaying smell.

In a corner of the warehouse, a bush of weeds grew tenaciously, adding a touch of life to the dilapidated warehouse.

Perhaps the only difference between living here and living in the wild is that you don't have to be afraid of earthquakes when you live in the wild.

There were no mobile phones in these days, and earthquake warnings were even less likely.

"Conditions are limited, please be patient."

Village Chief Wei also felt that he had treated his friends a little badly, so he asked Wei Dazhu to bring firewood and build a bonfire.

Lying on the straw with the help of warm firelight, Li Aiguo narrowed his eyes slightly and didn't know what he was thinking.

In the distance, a few wild dogs wandered aimlessly, barking from time to time, adding a bit of vitality to this silent land.

In the supply and marketing cooperative at the entrance of the village, a faint light suddenly lit up.

"Old lady, have you found out the details of those people?"

Old man Liu put on his cotton-padded jacket and opened the door with a kerosene lamp in his hand.

Seeing Aunt Liu standing outside the door, he asked eagerly.

"puff"

Aunt Liu quickly blew out the kerosene lamp and glared: "Why are you lighting a lamp? I'm not afraid of being discovered by others."

She entered the house and carefully closed the door, shutting out all the noise.

"I just went to Village Chief Wei's house to help sew quilts, and I asked again carefully before I figured it out. The little driver thought you looked like a distant relative of his, so he wanted to adjust your letter of introduction."

"Distant relatives? In the wars and chaos of the past few years, many people were indeed separated. It seems that I was too worried." Old Man Liu breathed a sigh of relief.

Aunt Liu lit the kerosene lamp again, sat down on the chair, lit a dry pipe and started smoking.

The left leg was crossed on the right leg, and the toes were shaking slightly. After a few sips, the whole person felt relieved.

With her splayed posture, she looked more like a bearded woman than an old rural lady.

She glared at Old Man Liu and said, "Thankfully you are still a big boss. Seeing how nervous you are, didn't they just look at you a few more times and scare you like this?"

I don't know why I was blind at the time, so I left the rich lady alone and hid in a poor ravine with you.

Now I have to pretend to be a grandson and live like a human being but a ghost. "

"Isn't the situation different now? Our team has broken up and all the old brothers have joined in. The two of us have also registered there. If someone finds out, can we get some benefits?"

Only in the dead of night can Old Man Liu's back straighten, and the fierce light looming on his honest face.

The honest salesman from the supply and marketing cooperative that I had friends with during the day was completely different from him.

"If you are really scared, those people live in a small warehouse. Let's go and kill them now."

As she spoke, Aunt Liu took out a handful of dick from her waist and slapped it on the table.

The long seedling box pistol flickered coldly under the dim kerosene lamp.

"I think back then, when we encountered the security team, we were not afraid.

I, Sai Yinghua, am holding two guns, one for each. Didn’t we escape?

Can you be afraid of three young boys? "

"Yinghua, you must not do it. The murderous movement was too big, and we had a hard time hiding it." Old Man Liu quickly stopped her: "Tomorrow morning, I will go to Old Wei to find out more about him. If they really don't find anything, We can’t be meddlesome.”

Sai Yinghua put away her pistol with some disappointment.

She felt that this kind of life was never too much.

"go to bed!"

After blowing out the kerosene lamp, Sai Yinghua got into the cold bed.

In the darkness, Old Man Liu's cold words came: "If it doesn't work, you can let Hong Tao'er take action, so that we won't be implicated."

"Hey, you finally let go of that little vixen!" Sai Yinghua suddenly became more energetic, "Anyway, she is of no use to Wang Stutter.

But just in case, I'd better wait until tomorrow to find out more information before making a decision. "

Talking about murder and arson, the fire in Sai Yinghua's heart was rekindled.

"I think back then, no matter who mentioned me, Sai Yinghua, from all over the country, I would be so scared that I would pee."

"Don't worry about having a beard. You can live in a high-rise building in the concession; you can eat delicious food and visit cellars. You can put a gun behind your waist and spend money like water. You are really freer than a god!"

“If you don’t have a beard, you won’t be an official; if you don’t have a cellar, you won’t be a wife.”

"The old days were really good days!"

Sai Yinghua's eyes flickered with evil light, and a sinister smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.

Old man Liu turned his back, sighed deeply, and ignored her.

The night is getting darker.

The lights in Wei Village were extinguished one after another, and darkness enveloped the entire village.

(End of this chapter)