Dad's Pastoral Life

Chapter 2 Whereabouts
It was almost noon at this time, the village was very quiet, and no one was at home.

The villagers who stay at home rely on farming for a living, and they usually don't come back until dark, and they are busy in the fields at this time.

Only the sound of some children playing in the distance brought a little vitality to the quiet old village.

They were all seven or eight-year-old children. When Cheng He left, they were probably still in their infancy, and they didn't know each other at this time.

I haven't been back for several years, and the village has largely remained the same, but it seems that everything has changed.

Cheng He couldn't help chuckling, wondering if they would "laugh and ask the guest where he came from".

The Taohua Village area, no, or the rural areas of Nanshan City, basically have the architectural style of one household and one courtyard.

Holding the child in his arms, he passed through one courtyard after another, making many turns and turns, and finally arrived in front of his own courtyard.

On the gate of the courtyard, the pair of door gods that had been affixed several years ago are now exposed to the wind and rain, leaving only a few debris, and the original appearance cannot be seen, but it is like an old book, recording the bits and pieces of the past.

Here, once recorded the joy of his childhood, is now dilapidated.

After six or seven years, he came back again.

"Father." Cheng Xinxin, who was being hugged, gently tugged Cheng He's face, called out softly, and looked at him with cute big eyes.

She didn't understand what happened to her father, he stood at the gate of the courtyard but didn't go in.And the serious and vicissitudes of life on his face were also unfamiliar to her.

Cheng He came back to his senses, stabilized his mind, took out the key, and opened the dilapidated door.

There are two trees planted in the yard, one is a jujube tree and the other is a ginkgo tree.

The ginkgo tree was planted by himself when he was a child, and now it is almost as thick as a thigh.

The big yellow dog walked beside him, wagging its tail, just like it did many years ago.Cheng He squatted down, stroked it gently, and recalled the past at home.

"Father, what kind of tree is that?" Cheng Xinxin asked crisply.She is just over three years old, and she has never seen many things.

"That's a ginkgo tree, which my father planted before." Cheng He replied softly.

He stood up and walked towards the tree with his daughter in his arms, gently stroking the long and thick trunk.It was not as thick as his arm back then.

Cheng Xinxin also followed his example, gently stroking the tree trunk.

The yard is almost the same as when he left, except that it is more dilapidated and has accumulated a lot of dust over the years.If you want to live, you must at least clean it first.

He put down his daughter, went to find a broom, and prepared to clean.

There was a well in the yard. After looking at it, there was still water in it, and it was not deserted, so he dug some and poured the yard first before cleaning it.

After Cheng Shi sent them back together, he put down Cheng He's luggage, went back to his home and took two big bags of things, walked in and said, "Heizi, I don't think you brought anything back, some temporary things. Use it first."

Simple mattresses, and emergency daily needs.

His house is just behind Cheng He's house, and he can hear shouts across the yard, so it doesn't take him time to go back and forth.

Exactly!

Although there were still some things left in Cheng He's house, they hadn't been used for a few years. At least they had to be washed and dried before they could be used.

He took it and said with a smile, "Thanks."

"Thank you!" Cheng Shi said, "Why don't you have dinner at our house later, we haven't seen each other for so many years, let's talk about it!"

Although the two haven't seen each other for several years, they grew up together, went to elementary school together, junior high school and high school together, fished and caught shrimp together in summer, and hunted rabbits in the mountains together in winter. Now that they meet, they won't be unfamiliar where to go.

Cheng He looked at the simple luggage bag he brought back, and there was only some bread and milk in it, so he said without pretense: "Okay, I've finished cleaning, first go to the mountain to worship, and then go to your house."

"Then... let me help you. No one has lived here for so many years, it may take a long time for you to do it alone." After Cheng Shi finished speaking, he started to help.

See which ones are broken and unusable, and help throw them away.

While working, chatting about interesting things in the village in recent years.

Compared with the run-down of his family, Nanshan City has not changed much, it is almost the same as five or six years ago - except for the soaring prices.

Taohua Village is a very ordinary small mountain village. It is a mountain village in the true sense. It is surrounded by mountains. The only road into the mountains was only built in recent years.

Originally, a place like this had no economic projects to speak of.

It wasn't until recent years that self-driving tours became more common, and people in big cities wanted to come to this kind of mountain village without environmental pollution to relax and relax, which brought some vitality to their small mountain village.

There is no other income in Taohua Village, only some people have opened farmhouses, but this is already a very good improvement compared to before.

After tidying up the house, it is almost ready for people to live in. Cheng He planned to go to the mountain to pay homage to his parents, and Cheng Shi went back first.

I haven't come back for several years, and I haven't paid homage to them. In fact, Cheng He has been escaping, can't bear to come back, and has been lying to himself that they are still alive.

After such a long time, he can finally face it calmly.

He wanted to take the child with him, so that the parents could also see her, the granddaughter they hadn't met.

The ancestral graves of Taohua Village are on the mountain behind the village. Cheng He walked heavily, and it was the first time in several years to pay homage to them.

When I got there, I couldn't help feeling guilty.Because he didn't come back, the graves of his parents are overgrown with weeds and messes, and it is almost impossible to see the original appearance.

He put the child down to pull up the weeds and add more soil.

"Baby, sit here and don't move, be good." Cheng He put her on a big rock with shade and sat down.

It may take some time to watch the weeding, afraid that she won't be able to sit still and run around, Cheng He took out his mobile phone, found a cartoon she liked, and showed it to her first.

It can be said that the grass here is taller than him.

But maybe because it rained not long ago, the ground was soft and easy to pull out, so Cheng He started pulling weeds.

The ground is wet, and if the pulled grass is placed on the spot, it will survive immediately, so it should be thrown on a rock a little farther away, so that it cannot take root and will be dried directly.

Cheng He took the trouble and moved it one after another.The daughter sat on the rock, watching the cartoon obediently, it is better to laugh.

That pure and crisp laughter is the best medicine in the world, which can cure all sorrows.

Only when he sees her can he feel that everything in life is worthwhile.

Just as he carried a large pile of grass and walked to the edge of the rock for the last time, he felt that he stepped on something, probably a frog or something, and then slipped and fell out.

This fall doesn't matter, the next step is a big steep slope, the kind of 60 degrees.Cheng He fell down before he could call out.

The slope of more than 60 degrees is tens of meters deep. If you fall down and hit your head on a rock, you will die.

Cheng He slid down at a high speed, his hands were constantly grabbing, hoping to catch something, but the slope was too steep and the speed of the slide was too fast, so he couldn't catch anything.

In the blink of an eye, he had already slid down more than [-] meters, and Cheng He felt his head hit a rock, and his eyes were filled with stars.

Strangely, the Venus did not disperse.It is only the size of a little finger, and the golden light is soft, like a firefly.It dances in the air.

Immediately afterwards, the golden star slammed into Cheng He, hitting his bleeding head.

Cheng He felt as if he was hit by a strong electric current, and his whole body was numb.

Then, he felt that his body was not controlled by his brain.He couldn't feel the weight of his body, and instead of falling, he floated up...

(End of this chapter)