The rain is still falling, and the raindrops are beating on the car window, like a majestic symphony, playing for Xiaoli and Fang Wei to meet again after more than ten years, the lightning piercing the sky, and

The rolling thunder also heightened the joyful atmosphere in the car.

Fang Wei and Xiaoli were very excited, chatting happily and reminiscing about the past. They talked a lot about their childhood, and it was approaching noon unknowingly.

The heavy rain came and went quickly. The rain has stopped and the dark clouds in the sky have slowly dispersed.

The sun peeked out from the gaps in the clouds and shone into the car. It was so bright that it stung her eyes. Xiaoli looked at her watch and saw that it was almost eleven o'clock. At this time, the two of them realized that time was really passing by.

Come on, I still have the groceries I bought.

Xiaoli started the car and drove towards Fang Wei's rented place. As she approached Fang Wei's residence, Xiaoli said, "Go back and drop off the groceries and come to my house for lunch. We haven't seen each other for more than ten years, so you must go to my house today."

"

"What a coincidence. I made an appointment with some colleagues to come to my place for dinner today, and the food I bought is just for entertaining them. I won't go today, but I'll give it another day. If I have more opportunities in the future, I will definitely visit." Fang Wei explained.

Xiaoli was a little disappointed and said helplessly, "Okay, let's wait for another day. Remember, you must make time to go to our house."

"I can't forget, I'm definitely going to your family, and I also want to meet my uncle and aunt. I haven't seen them for more than ten years, and I miss them a lot." Fang Wei said in a positive tone.

As the car approached Fang Wei's rental place, he saw from a distance that several colleagues had already arrived and were standing in front of his door, looking in the direction of the road.

Fang Wei said to Xiaoli, "Look, the few people standing there are my colleagues."

"They are really active, even more active than you, the master, and they came early." Xiaoli said jokingly.

"It's already noon, do you still think they came early?" Fang Wei said with a smile.

Xiaoli said with a smile, "I don't think they should have come today. It affected our mood. It was just a joke. Don't take it seriously. I was just saying it casually."

The car stopped at the door, Fang Wei said a few words to Xiaoli, got out of the car, closed the door, waved to her, and Xiaoli drove away.

After Xiaoli left, several colleagues gathered around and asked Fang Wei, "The person who drove you is quite beautiful. Who is she? What is her relationship with you? Tell us."

"Do you still want to eat at noon? Are you bothered by asking about this and that?" Fang Wei said as he walked with the dishes in hand.

Fang Wei opened the door with the key and entered the room, followed by several colleagues who kept asking questions. It wasn't until Fang Wei started washing vegetables and cooking that the colleagues stopped.

Two female colleagues helped Fang Wei cook and stir-fry, and it didn't take much effort to prepare it. There were about a dozen dishes, including fish and meat, plus the beer and liquor brought by the colleagues, it was quite a 'hearty' meal.

The table is full.

We are all young people. It is rare to get together and there is nothing to be particular about. Everyone gathered around the dining table. Before Fang Wei finished his toast, several male colleagues couldn't wait any longer and had already picked up their chopsticks and started eating. Everyone was polite.

They didn't even need to clink glasses, so they drank a lot, ate a lot of food, talked and laughed, and had a lively afternoon until evening.

This time Fang Wei had a gathering with his colleagues. This was the longest and happiest meal he had eaten since arriving in Lingnan.

The lively party between Fang Wei and his colleagues lasted for a long time, and it was completely dark. It didn't end until someone was drunk and lying on the dining table.

Fang Wei sent his colleagues away, washed the pots and pans, swept the cigarette butts and confetti on the floor into the dustpan, opened the window, and released the turbid smell in the room. He checked the room and found that there was nothing to clean up, so Fang Wei

Wei then dragged his tired body and sat down to rest.

Although Fang Wei was very happy after a busy day, he was just a little tired. Fang Wei felt that the gathering of colleagues not only deepened understanding and enhanced friendship, it was much more valuable than spending a few small coins.

Fang Wei was lying on the bed, thinking that in the past few months, although he was busy, his life was quite fulfilling.

Fang Wei and Xiaoli met by chance, and he was indescribably happy. The more he thought about it, the more excited he became. He lost all sleep, and felt that there was God's will in the dark.

Due to the rush of time, Xiaoli did not leave her phone number and address, which Fang Wei felt sorry for. Some people must ask how Fang Wei and Xiaoli got to know each other, which started more than ten years ago;

It is an ordinary village under the Taihang Mountains, where Fang Wei was born. The village is surrounded by mountains to the east, a small river to the south, and endless farmland to the northwest, with canals extending in all directions to ensure a good harvest.

Fang Wei's hometown mainly produces wheat, corn, and some minor cereals; barley, soybeans, beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc.

The majestic Taihang Mountains stretch for thousands of miles. In spring and summer, the trees are green, the birds are singing, the flowers are fragrant, the water is flowing, and the clouds are shrouded, just like a fairyland.

Autumn is the harvest season. All kinds of wild fruits on the mountain; mountain grapes, mountain leeks, mountain leeks, etc., exude an attractive aroma. Chinese medicinal materials are all over the mountain; five bean seeds, coptis, wolfberry, Bupleurum, and some other forgotten ones.

name.

There is a kind of fruit that splits automatically every year around the middle of August on the lunar calendar, revealing the purple-red flesh inside. It is very sweet and delicious. It looks a bit like a banana, much thicker than a banana. It is commonly known as '

"Fried in August". Every year in this season, children follow adults into the mountains to pick. They are very happy and have a full harvest every time.

In winter, heavy snow covers the mountains and villages, and the villagers are idle and have nothing to do. The mountains have become hunting grounds for hunters; hares, wild boars, and roe deer leave long series of footprints in the snow.

On snowy days, there is very little food in the mountains. Animals sometimes go to mountain villages to find food. Fang Wei has encountered wild boars coming down from the mountains many times, running around in the village. Hunters can easily find them by following the footprints on the snow.

prey.

In the evening, women and children stood at the entrance of the village, waiting for the hunters to return. People could not eat meat only a few times a year, so the game provided by the mountains was a feast for the eyes.

At that time, the awareness of protecting wild animals was relatively low. No one cared about hunting in the mountains. People who liked hunting had guns at home. They were earth guns. After loading gunpowder, they loaded iron sand and pointed the mouth at the prey.

, there is no need to aim at all, just raise your hand to hit, and hit a large area.

There are also a few people who hunt with rifles. Rifles can shoot farther than guns, and are more effective at hunting large prey at long distances, such as wild boars, roe deer, wolves or foxes. Rifles cannot be owned by private individuals. At that time, the village militia companies were equipped with them.

Firearms are kept by a designated person and can be borrowed for hunting.

Snowy days have become a carnival for hunters. Groups of hunters go into the mountains to hunt. Hunters can judge based on experience where the prey may be and the path it will take. They can lay an ambush in advance, release hunting dogs or use people to kill the prey.

The prey is driven over.

The hunters' marksmanship is very good, and they almost always hit the mark. When they catch prey, the hunters think it is a gift from the mountain god and should be shared with their neighbors, so that everyone can get a piece of meat.

Fang Wei was about eight years old. One Sunday, he and a few friends were playing near the village. There was a rumbling sound near the hillside. Several friends ran over following the sound and saw a bulldozer collapsing.

The earth wall was being bulldozed, and a soldier in his forties was walking back and forth next to him, gesturing constantly to direct the bulldozer driver to operate.

Fang Wei was young at the time and didn't know what the purpose of pushing the wall was. Later, he heard from adults that the land was being leveled, and many houses and some cave dwellings in the east of the village were to be demolished, all the way to a large piece of farmland under the east mountain, which was also being bulldozed.

Sunjiapuzi.

Xiaoli shouted for her father and ran towards the soldier wearing a five-pointed star hat. The tall soldier bent down and picked up Xiaoli, kissed her on the face and whispered a few words in his ear. He took something out of his jacket pocket.

, stuffed it into Xiaoli’s hand.

Xiaoli ran over jumping up and down and said, "Let's go and buy something delicious!" Upon hearing this, several friends wanted to buy food and lost interest in watching the bulldozing, so they followed Xiaoli.

The son ran towards the village.

At this point, I have to say that the village where Fang Wei lives is called Fangcun, which is also the seat of the township government. There are hundreds of households in the village with more than a thousand people, basically all surnamed Fang, and it is within the jurisdiction of Fangcun Township Government.

Within, Fangcun is the largest village.

Fang Village is composed of four forts, namely; East Fort, West Fort, South Fort, and North Fort. Fang Wei's family lives in the North Fort. There are not many families with surnames other than Fang, and they are all migrant households.

Inside the collapsed earthen city wall, the family that lived there had all the surname Sun. Since it was a foreign surname, they could only stay away from the village and build a house near the corner of the mountain, forming a self-contained fortress.

I don’t know how many years later, it is said that a child was eaten by a wolf on his way home from school. Later, people gradually moved in, and the Sunjiapuzi became abandoned. The only ones that survived were

They are the foundations of the houses in the fort and the collapsed earth walls.

Xiaoli's parents were pioneers in the third-line construction. They had no dormitories or a place to live. Basically, the group of people who came with Xiaoli's parents rented accommodation in Fang Wei's village.

With the arrival of family members, schooling for the children became a problem. After negotiation between the factory and the local government, the problem of the children going to school was quickly solved.

The third-line construction is a national project, and the local government is very supportive. It sent dozens of children of the pioneers to Fangcun School and divided them into various classes according to their age. These children are better dressed than local students, and their schoolbags are almost all the same.

Military satchel.

The schoolbags of rural children are made of homespun cloth of various colors. Some children do not even have schoolbags, and their clothes are tattered and dirty.

Most of the pioneer children look down on rural children, never play together, walk with high ambitions, and have a sense of superiority. There are a few exceptions, and Xiaoli is among them.

They eat much better than the children in the village. They always bring zero snacks with them to school. Some of the snacks are not even seen by the children in the countryside, let alone eating them.

The house where Xiaoli's family lives temporarily is not far from Fang Wei's house. Fang Wei is a little older than Xiaoli, about one or two years older. Children from the city go to school early, and Xiaoli and Fang Wei study in the same class.

In the area where Fang Wei lived, there were very few girls of the same age as Xiaoli, so she would play with Fang Wei's sister after school. The two girls were always inseparable and often went to Fang Wei's house. As time went by, Xiaoli started calling Fang Wei's sister "Fang Wei".

Fang Weiwei, Xiaoli calls her more affectionately in Mandarin.

About half a year later, Xiaoli's local dialect was the same as that of people in the village, and there was no difference. Fang Wei treated Xiaoli like a younger sister and cared about her very much.

Fang Wei is considered the leader of a group of boys, and Xiaoli is protected by Fang Wei. No child in the village dares to bully her. In return, of course, there are delicious snacks in Xiaoli's schoolbag.

At that time, food was quite scarce, especially in rural areas. They were relatively poor, had no money, and lived a very hard life. Children in rural areas could not eat delicious food at all.

Every Sunday after school or during summer vacation, Fang Wei is always followed by a group of children, running around, climbing up and down, including his younger sister and Xiaoli.

Zhang Wei led a group of friends to play in the fields and catch grasshoppers. When no one was watching, they would steal melons and watermelons from the fields. Sometimes they would climb over the wall and steal fruits from other people's trees.

There is a river that flows all year round in the south of the village. Fang Wei often takes his friends to fish. Fang Wei remembers one time most clearly. Several boys caught a big fish and were very happy. They walked along the mountain path.

He quickly ran towards the village.

Several girls were chasing after them. The path was full of gravel. Xiaoli accidentally slipped and fell into a ditch more than ten feet deep. Suddenly, several girls were frightened and cried. Sister Fang Wei cried.
Chapter completed!