Linxia

Chapter 118, Lifting the Lantern

There are two dishes for dinner at the Fang family tonight: steamed pork with pickled mustard greens and scrambled eggs with tender bamboo shoots. They are steaming hot and fragrant.

During the meal, Fang Lin asked, "Dad, Mom, Sister Xuan, have we also stockpiled food?"

He knew the personalities of Fang's father and mother, and they would have started hoarding food long ago without being reminded.

As expected, Fang's mother said happily, "We stockpiled grain. I think our family was one of the first to stockpile grain in the city. Guihua was the first to notice the signs and told Xiaoqing and me... When we bought it, the price of grain was still more than 5.9 cents per stone."

"Yes, my mother and I ran around for several days and stocked up several cabinets full of food, enough for our family to eat for a year or two!" Tian Xuan gestured and said.

"With food in hand, there is no need to worry." Fang's father affirmed the actions of Fang's mother and Tian Xuan. The family is much better off now, but even cash cannot compare to the peace of mind that food brings.

"That's good." Fang Lin nodded slightly, feeling that it made sense. After seeing how Sister Guihua had endured for years planning for revenge, dealing with Bai Bao, and dealing with the people from Old Chen's family, it was not surprising at all that she was able to see the big picture from the small details.

To be honest, at that time, his mind was all on Master Zhuo San and the intrigues, so he didn't really pay attention to these things.

"By the way, the Xin family's general was stolen. That was a good chicken. What a pity. Those people are also wicked."

Fang's mother sighed as she talked about this. She also liked the 'General' very much. Every time she caught a bug while picking vegetables, she would feed it. "This time, Man Gensheng did a good thing by identifying the chicken thief... Speaking of which, Man Gensheng seems to have changed a lot. Sometimes I saw him sitting under the eaves holding his hair and staring blankly."

That strand of hair was the one that Chuntao left behind when she cut it off before she left - in this era, there was an indispensable procedure on the wedding night, called tying the hair, where a strand of hair of the couple was tied together to represent their eternal union, hence the saying "tied couple". When Chuntao cut her hair, she severed the affection between husband and wife.

Fang Lin listened and commented secretly: "People are always like this. They don't know how to cherish something until they lose it. They may realize the truth and turn back only after they hit the wall."

……

Late at night, every household fell asleep. Suddenly, a bang was heard in their sleep. It was late at night and the sound was particularly harsh.

Fang Lin was awakened by the shock and thought that there might be a thief.

When he came out, Fang's father, Fang's mother, and Tian Xuan had all put on their clothes.

"It's not our family, it's Manchu's family."

"It doesn't sound like the Man family. The sound is not right. We need to go a little further. Could it be the Xin family or Master Ou's family?"

"Let's go and take a look!"

Fang Lin also thought of this, picked up a stick, and hurried out with Fang's father, Fang's mother, and Tian Xuan.

Many houses in the alley also turned on their lights and came out one by one.

Mr. Ou’s home.

"It's so loud, is there thunder outside?" asked Mrs. Ou.

"It doesn't seem like it."

The old couple got up and lit a lamp.

A man was lying on the edge of a water tank and struggling hard. His head was inside the house but his feet were still outside. He could neither go in nor go out, and the bamboo tube he used to scoop water fell to the side.

It turns out that every household in the alley has a large water tank, buried underground against the wall to hold water. The water level is half the height of a child above the ground. A wooden stick is nailed to the side of the tank, and a bamboo tube with a handle is hung on the stick to scoop water. Some water will drip from the bamboo tube. Over time, this area of ​​the ground is very wet, and even the mud brick corners next to it are wet. Thieves choose to dig holes in such places and crawl into the house to steal.

The previous sound was the sound of the man crawling in and accidentally knocking the bamboo tube onto the stone slab while digging a hole.

The Xin family came the closest and arrived the fastest. Xin Youduo had received a lot of favors from Master Ou. When he saw the situation, he knew it was a thief and picked up a stick in his hand to hit him. Master Ou quickly stopped him and said, "Don't hit him, help him in."

"Hmph!" Xin You pulled the man over.

I saw that the man was about fifty years old, with some gray hair on his temples, and was wearing patched linen clothes. After he was helped up, he walked with a hopping movement - it turned out that he was a big lame man, with a pair of feet of different lengths. When he walked, one of his buttocks was raised high, and he walked with great difficulty.

After coming over, he stood in front of Master Ou with his neck stiffened, not moving, looking as if he was ready to be killed or cut into pieces at will.

At this time, Fang Lin's family also came over. Seeing that Mr. and Mrs. Ou were fine, they all breathed a sigh of relief. Other neighbors also came over one after another, looking at the thief and talking about him.

"The Xin family just had their chickens stolen, and now another thief is stealing tonight!"

"This thief actually targeted Master Ou's family. Master Ou is such a good family, how could he have the heart to do that?"

"Let's secretly kidnap this thief and send him to the government tomorrow."

……

"All right."

Master Ou asked everyone to be quiet, and then he looked at the man's temples. Finally, his eyes fell on his legs, and he suddenly said, "At your age and in this state, you still want to steal. There is always something we can do."

This sentence made the man burst into tears. He said, "My name is Zhang Dagou. I was doing labor service to repair the levee, and one of my legs was crushed by a big rock... A few days ago, my wife fell ill, and we pawned everything we could, but she still wasn't getting better. We had no rice to cook, and our five children were starving... I was looking for a job today, but there was no job available at the dock. I couldn't make any money, and I couldn't buy rice. I was too embarrassed to go back, so..."

"Did you bring a bag of rice?" asked Master Ou.

"I brought it! I brought it!" Zhang Dagou nodded repeatedly.

Mr. Ou took the bag, walked to the rice jar, picked up the gourd ladle, and scooped rice into it one ladle at a time until it was full, which was more than 20 pounds. Mrs. Ou also helped, and took out two pieces of bacon that the students had handed over from another jar.

Finally, Master Ou gave the man all the food and said, "Go back quickly. Your family is waiting for you."

Zhang Dagou burst into tears: "I asked around and found out that you two old people live here..."

Snapped!Snapped!
He slapped himself hard in the face and said, "They say Master Ou and Madam Ou are good people, and it's true. If I met someone else, I would be beaten half to death. I will never forget your kindness."

"It's okay, sorry to bother you guys, let's go back!"

Master Ou asked the neighbors to disperse and sent Zhang Dagou out. It was pitch black outside.

"Wait." He said suddenly.

Zhang Dagou thought that Master Ou was going to go back on his word, so he tightened his grip on the grain bag, but he didn't run away.

Master Ou went in, took out two lanterns, gave one to the other person, and stood at the door holding the other one, raising it above his head to light the way.

Zhang Dagou took the lantern, picked up the food, looked back frequently, walked a distance, then turned back, put down his things, kowtowed, and kept saying, "I will never be a thief again, and I will never steal again!"

Here, Fang Lin came back with Fang's father, Fang's mother, and Tian Xuan. Before entering the house, he looked back and saw that at the door of the Ou family, Master Ou was tremblingly raising the lantern over his shoulder, illuminating a light in the darkness, which was meager but firm.

'This world may be tattered, but there are always people willing to mend it; this world may be dark, but there are always people willing to hold up a lamp to illuminate others. That beam of light may be small and meager, but it can penetrate the darkness and bring unspeakable comfort and touching to people. ' He looked at this scene, and his eyes were slightly moistened with inexplicable emotion in his heart.

(End of this chapter)