After chatting with Qiu Yuqing for two hours, the gloomy mood after setting off from Jiangcheng was slightly reduced, and he fell asleep unconsciously by the car.

When I woke up again, I was awakened by the bumps in the mountain road, and when I opened my eyes and looked out the window, the sunset was about to set, and the afterglow of the sky was sprinkled with golden colors all over the mountain.

"Where?" I sat up and opened the window and asked, the cool breeze suddenly made me feel refreshed.

"This is Dacang Mountain, I followed Xuejun to his hometown to hunt a long time ago, and I will be able to reach his family's old house in half an hour, I remember that there are almost more than 20 acres of mountainous land at the door of his house that are navel oranges planted by Xuejun's parents!"

"Are they still planting now?"

"It should be planted, in fact, Xuejun's parents have a pension, they are not short of money to spend, live in the countryside to be quiet, I remember Xuejun's father is still very healthy!"

I nodded, leaned on the window of the car and looked at the vast field of vision, at this time the car was halfway up the mountain, and the tender green in the field had just sprouted, and it seemed full of novelty among the withered yellow green hills and fields, which meant that the new vitality had recovered from the cold winter of last year.

After about twenty minutes of walking on the bumpy mountain road, I came to my senses, and then the car stopped as I passed a navel orange mountain.

Last year's winter fruits have not yet been picked, and we can vaguely see a lot of yellow navel oranges still on the branches, and the birds and finches are alarmed by us and fly away from between the branches and leaves.

"It's here!" Qiu Yuqing turned off the engine and pushed the car door, then stood between the mountains and stretched his waist to his heart's content, stretching his toned body.

I followed Qiu Yuqing's footsteps for a few minutes, and suddenly Qiu Yuqing's footsteps stopped, and I looked at the white-haired old man who was shaking a piece of new soil in the ground with a hoe not far away, and shouted: "Xie Bo...... Is that you? ”

The white-haired old man stopped his hoe, suddenly turned his head to look at Qiu Yuqing, seemed to be stunned for a moment, and then greeted with a smile: "Yuqing, right?" I remember your name, here? ”

Qiu Yuqing looked at the old man over there, and suddenly covered his mouth and trembled, his eyes were red for a moment, and he choked with tears: "You...... How do you ......?"

"I'm old, am I?" Xie Bo smiled bitterly, "When people reach age, it is inevitable that they will grow old, why are you crying this child?" It's not as good as me, an old man! ”

Xie Bo comforted Qiu Yuqing, picked up the hoe on his shoulder, and shouted towards a house on the slope not far away: "Old woman, the comrades-in-arms of the Xuejun are here, you can prepare dinner-"

Qiu Yuqing wiped her eyes vigorously, and walked over quickly to carry the hoe off Xie Bo's shoulder, but she couldn't resist Xie Bo's stubbornness!

"I can still carry it, I don't need the help of young people!" Xie Bo smiled as he glanced at me and asked, "Is this also your new teammate?" ”

Qiu Yuqing stopped and introduced: "This is our new team leader, Yang Yan...... This is Xuejun's father, Xie Bo! ”

I walked over and looked carefully at the old man's white hair and the deep wrinkles and furrows on his face, thinking to myself, is this what Qiu Yuqing said about a healthy old man?

At this moment, I finally understood why Qiu Yuqing burst into tears in an instant.

The most tragic thing in this world is white hair and black hair, and what can make a healthy person in a person's impression suddenly grow old to this point is not the unspeakable pain of losing a child?

"Such a young team leader?" Xie Bo stared at me, a hint of resolute scrutiny flashed in his eyes, then nodded and sighed, "Xuejun is going out on a mission with you, right?" ”

I couldn't help but bend down and bow deeply to the old man!

Xie Bo sighed, and then carried the hoe in front, we followed, he did not go in the direction of home, but walked dozens of meters, to an open field in the navel orange orchard, where stood a new grave, the tombstone was engraved with the name of Xuejun, and a photo of him in a heroic and upright military uniform-

Looking at the tombstone, I took out a pack of cigarettes from my pocket, handed one to Sheber, lit one myself, and then took out three and lit them and put them in front of the grave.

Xuejun doesn't smoke, but I did it anyway.

The old man took a few puffs of cigarette in his hand, his hand trembled violently, and then squatted down and stared at the photo inlaid on the tombstone and said bitterly: "When he died, was he with you?" ”

I squatted next to him, followed him to look directly at the picture on the tombstone, nodded and sighed: "Yes, we were together at the time, and we were surrounded by hundreds of people in a black hospital in Mexik, and he sacrificed his life to protect me and rushed out!" ”

The old man nodded, nodded calmly and said: "I know my own son, although he is upright, but if he doesn't think you are worthy of his death, he won't be so stupid, so don't feel sorry, life is like a traveler in the world———— who can escape the word 'death'?" He died a well-deserved death! ”

He didn't cry, but my eyes were red!

Where would a father say the words 'die well deservedly' in front of his son's tombstone?

I suddenly remembered Xie Xuejun's stupid big man, it turns out that his 'stupidity' is hereditary, people are indeed inevitably dead, and the old man did speak calmly, but who is his gray hair and trembling hands for?

I slowly knelt down and said bitterly: "I'm sorry for him, I'm younger than them, I said I would come back alive, but I broke my promise......"

Xie Bo turned his head to look at me, and there was a loneliness in his eyes that could not be concealed: "When a person dies, there is no meaning in anything, he is here, we just treat him as if he can't speak, and I don't know that in a few years, I and his mother will go to accompany him, in fact...... It's just a reunion in another way! ”

He ...... I have never been ashamed of anyone! The old man's eyes were finally moist, his emotions finally fluctuated, and his lips trembled slightly, "A man has never been ashamed of anyone in his life, how can we blame him as parents?" He's a man! ”

Qiu Yuqing couldn't cry beside her, constantly wiping her tears.

The three of us stayed silently in front of Xuejun's tombstone for a while, the old man's hand was out of smoke, and he trembled even more, I wanted to hand over another one, but he sighed and stood up and wiped his red eyes, stood up and picked up the hoe and sighed: "Go back to dinner, don't tell the old woman that we came here, she ...... Help! ”

My nose was sore, and my eyes couldn't help but redden!

Following the old man's slightly stiff back and walking towards the old house at the bottom of the slope, and when he entered the small courtyard surrounded by bamboo fences, when Qiu Yuqing saw the old woman who was also hunched over with silver hair, she knelt down in front of Xuejun's mother again and shouted, 'Auntie, I'm sorry for you'.

The old woman hurriedly went to help Qiu Yuqing up, and muttered while shedding old tears, "You haven't forgotten Xuejun, my wife is very pleased", Xie Bo couldn't hear these voices, and scolded the old woman: "I'm tired of crying and crying, hurry up and cook, people are hungry when they are in a hurry!" ”

"We're not hungry......," Qiu Yuqing choked up.

But Xuejun's mother listened to Xie Bo's words and returned to the stove to continue stir-frying.

The light inside the house was dim, and the sky outside was also dark, my vision became blurry, and I couldn't help but grit my teeth and go outside the house, and I smoked another cigarette and squatted in the yard to smoke!

In the corner of the fence, a few old hens are pecking at food, I grew up in the mountains, looking at these old hens know that they are old hens that have been raised for at least more than a year, the old people in the countryside always like to raise chickens, but they are reluctant to eat, always think about waiting until the children come home once a year to kill the old hens for the children to eat......

"Xuejun...... I silently stared at the old hens who had escaped, gritted my teeth tightly and swore an oath, "I haven't forgotten - revenge!" ”

The night in the mountains is extremely cold, I myself grew up in the mountains, and I have long been accustomed to the bitter life in the mountains, but when I saw the rooms of the two old people, I couldn't help but think to myself, how should they survive this cold weather?

For this old man, every day from now on, there will be no four seasons, only a cold winter, right?

It is said that men don't flick when they have tears, but they haven't reached the place of feeling.

I wiped the corners of my eyes, silently thinking about many things, since Xuejun can also die, since the white-haired and black-haired Xie Bo can grit his teeth and face the bones buried under the green mountain, what is the pressure on my shoulders?

Life is a lifetime of grass and trees, how many people have no meaning in this world?

Qiu Yuqing asked me if I was tired of living like this?

Now I think of how to answer - the world is really hard, but I can only feel that I am living steadily when I am tired.

This is the life of that fool in Xuejun!