Pulling out the white handkerchief that had not been washed for two months from the cuff, it had already turned brownish, and rubbing his eyes, Master Tong sighed softly.

Is he crying?

In fact, he never cried except for his eighty-year-old mother, who howled once when she lost her breath. When he was eighteen years old, his fiancée's family was killed by the rogue, and he was forced to hand over half of the land when the Ming Dynasty was founded.

The death of two younger brothers who have the opportunity to revitalize the lintel, but the younger brothers after the separation may not be of much help to their own family, so that is nothing; Ten years ago, the boat his wife was riding capsized and dragged away his two well-behaved grandchildren. In recent years, he has successively accepted several concubines and added two grandchildren, and the past is not in his mind.

This year, the fields were sold out, the people were scattered, the mansions in the county were also sold, and the family road was ruined to this point, and Master Tong did not shed half a tear, because he still had an endless hope, that is, the third son had been trained to become a famous man of the country.

He had given up many vulgar children of the family, and finally painstakingly created outstanding talents, so that the family property was ruined, but the living property was completed, and the overall estimation is that there is really nothing to be sad about, and the interest on the living property is so large that it is impossible to calculate.

Although the third son has never returned home since he entered the Guozijian and has to go overseas every year, there is a letter of comfort to his father every year, saying that he is in good health, his studies have increased, he has increased his experience outside, and he has also met some famous people.

That's good, Master Tong endured the current pain and waited with all his heart. In short, an old man who is generous and far-sighted will not cry.

In the quiet of the night, the dog in front of the door barked.

"Someone's knocking on the door?" Master Tong tilted his head and opened his eyes.

The eyes of the whole family widened, but for a long time, there was no sound outside the door.

"Alas!" Old Man Tong let out a long sigh, and then used the hand that had just touched Whitebeard. Pull out a handkerchief and wipe your eyes.

The house was again plunged into darkness and coldness, bottomless emptiness, insignificance, unbearable tatters, and poverty. Thinking of his own miserable experience, just sitting and waiting is not the way, the old man Tong got up tremblingly, patted his robe, leaned on the chair and said, "It's not early, go to sleep." ”

There was a slight commotion in the living room, and the old man said not to light it, but the candle was still lit in the hands of the second son. Master Tong followed the firelight into the wing room for a while. The firelight came back, and then the second daughter-in-law who was holding the child followed the firelight into the room, and after a while, the firelight came back.

The second son blew it out in one gulp, and still put it on the table to relax, and the guest hall entered darkness and dead silence as usual.

The eldest son sat down on his father's chair, took out the leaf smoke he hated the most, took a deep breath, and thought about it for a while. I remembered a big event, "Tomorrow morning, the big one in the pen will be fed two more scoops, and the butcher shop will come to weigh it." ”

The eldest daughter-in-law herself understands. Didn't answer. Tong's house is located in the depths of the compound, even if no one is responsible for locking it, the gate is as unlocked as always, and he is not afraid of sneaking in. Suddenly, the dog barked a few times, and the cousin, who lived in a hut nearby, came in without knocking.

He walked around the house and saw the cold fire and smoke. There was nothing to eat or drink, so I dispelled my interest in sitting down and talking, stood for a while, and went.

After all, someone came, and a ghost-like person appeared in the dark, only Master Tong.

"Who came before?"

"Nope. It's the fifth brother of the hall who came, and it's fine. Dad, what are you up for? It's the middle of the night, and it's cold again. ”

"It doesn't matter. I said, "You should sleep too." ”

"Got it."

In a few words, he pushed his father back, and felt sad about the eldest son who had not been able to sleep late at night recently, and shook his head in a low voice: "Alas! What should I do, my father doesn't know about it, right? ”

The second son whispered, "I don't know, no one has ever sued him." ”

"Be careful, and don't mention it to anyone in the future." The eldest son said softly, "Even if it is published in the city newspaper, the village knows little, and they are all tight-lipped, but they can't make the chickens and dogs in the family uneasy." ”

The second son said: "I don't care, what are you afraid of?" I don't know anyone in the village, so my father is in the dark. ”

The eldest daughter-in-law said: "The deaf are not afraid of thunder, what is the use? Now let's live by strength, although the people in the village are ruthless, there is room everywhere, there are thirty acres of land left, four pigs, a cow, and more than a dozen sheep, which is enough for our family to live, as long as you two brothers are willing to contribute. Don't call the child to school, look at the second child of the third uncle's family, who has just graduated from school, just waiting for him to make money and come back, it is not the end as soon as he goes to sea, and he can't even find the body, and the third child of our family. ”

"The woman's family is not knowledgeable, and the third child is also trying to get ahead." The eldest son retorted: "My second son and I are working hard to farm, and we can't make our family rise again if we are tired, we still have to go out, I don't believe it." ”

The eldest daughter-in-law was overjoyed, what she was afraid of was that her husband would collapse, as long as she could cheer up, one had read and the other had graduated from the martial arts school, why couldn't she find a job as a businessman? Farming is the last way out without a way, and he hurriedly said: "The day before yesterday, the third aunt went to Huanggu Temple to make a wish, I asked her to ask for a sign, and she came back and said that it didn't matter, the Bodhisattva blessed the future with peace." ”

Outside, the dog barked one after another, barking more and more fiercely, and then the door rang, and the dog kept chasing in, chasing to the door of the guest hall.

The eldest son got up and lit the lamp, ran out to drive away the dog, recognized the person in the dim candlelight, and said, "Ah, fourth cousin, have you come back from the city?" ”

"Well, I'm back."

The fourth cousin, who had never been taken seriously by the brothers before, walked into the house and smiled at the second son, who was smiling when he got up: "I haven't slept yet!" ”

The second son asked, "When will you be home?" ”

"I'll be home in the morning, and I don't have time to come." The fourth cousin sat down and held a letter in his hand, "Mr. Li asked me to bring a letter, saying that it was the third brother." ”

"Ah, the letter of the third child? It's true? The eldest son raised his head, a little frightened, but also a little surprised, stretched out a trembling hand, took the tattered letter, held it tightly, reluctant to see it immediately, first toasted the guest a cup of tea, called the second child to light the fire, and then found his father's reading glasses in the drawer of the coffee table, wiped the glass lens with his hand, rubbed his eyes, and then unnaturally embedded it on the bridge of his nose, nervously muttered: "The third child sent it back, let me read it first, let me read it first." ”

Brought the candlestick over, brought the crumpled letter to his eyes, looked up and down the envelope, the eldest son carefully pulled out four pages of the letter, his haggard face was floating with a cry not a smile or a smile, his hands were trembling and disobedient, tears were flowing, his chest was rising and falling, and his mouth was intermittently entertaining: "I will be home in the morning?" Okay, how many good things did you bring this time? ”

In fact, the guest did not listen to a word of his reply, and his mouth was struggling to gnaw every word on the letter.

The word is indeed the third child's handwriting, it is not difficult to recognize, but I always feel rusty, although in previous years I was used to seeing this kind of half-literate and half-white sentence, but now it is like driving a cow, and the plow does not move.

The second son next to him also threw the guests aside, glaring at his brother very anxiously. The fourth cousin couldn't stay up late with the brothers, got up and said goodbye, the eldest son raised his head and said a lot of sorry words, and when the second brother sent the guest back, he didn't have the heart to finish reading the letter, took off his glasses, and tears flowed for a long time.

After a long time, the eldest son smiled bitterly and said, "I can't hide it, let's go." ”

The second son was silent carrying the lamp, and the eldest son took the letter and glasses and staggered to the wing.

"Yes, that's the one coming?" Master Tong had already opened the tent and poked his head out, but his son had not yet entered the room and sent the words out.

"Good news, Dad, good news." The eldest son said with a wry smile.

"Good news? What's the good news? The good news for the third child? Master Tong suddenly smiled, his whole body was hot, staring at the letter in his son's hand, like a dream, he suddenly jumped up quickly, flipped the quilt to the side, twisted his hand on his face, with an indescribable good mood, haha laughed: "In the end, I guessed it, I still have a son who is angry, and my Tong family is finally extremely Tailai." Ha ha! I want revenge, I want those dog things to know that my Tong family is not easy to bully. Hahaha! Boss, have you seen it from beginning to end? Let's talk about it. ”

The eldest son Mu Ran said: "Don't get cold, your old man puts on his clothes and comes to see for himself." ”

"Is it a county order?" The old man slowly put on his clothes, and said to himself without a word, "It's unlikely, could it be that he is a staff member for the minister?" Did you enter the East Palace? Oops, isn't that just around the corner? Haha, it's great that the Chinese New Year is about to get this kind of good news, in the locality, all the relatives and those neighbors, I want to see what kind of face they will have towards us! ”

The second son put the lamp on the table in front of the bed, ran back to the living room in a few steps, picked up a towel, collapsed on the back chair, and covered the towel on his face.

After the old man Tong got dressed, the eldest son tilted his head sideways, for fear that his father would see his face, stretched out his trembling arms, and handed over the letter and glasses.

The comfortable old man put on his glasses, calmly browsed the envelope, nodded with a slight smile, and hurriedly began to read the letter, every word, every sentence was like a candied date and lychee, nodding with a smile from time to time, or touching his beard, but halfway through reading, his expression was already stunned, his hands were shaking, his head was stretched longer and longer, and his tearful eyes were widened and unclear.

Gradually, the letter slipped from his hand, his body collapsed and fell backwards, and he lay on the bed with his chest on his chest, breathing rapidly, and after a long time, he howled like a wild beast.

"Third child, why are you so confused! Attached to the king of Han, intending to rebel, he wandered to the border for ten years. Ten years! Ten years! I don't know if I'll ever live to see you.

Yes! You unfilial child. ”

At this time, the contemplative and far-sighted old man Tong really cried in pain. (To be continued......)