Chapter 191 Wang Hu
The old green train rumbled through the wilderness.
Luo Yang sat by the window, looking out at the passing scenery. This reminded him of the time when he took the same train to the Great Northern Wilderness many years ago. He was still a young man full of vigor and enthusiasm, full of longing and expectation for going to the countryside. He was on the train with his friends who went to the countryside together. Everyone laughed and sang in the carriage. But so many years have passed in a flash. Now, looking around in the carriage, everything has changed, and there are only ordinary passengers.
Nearly a week had passed since Luo Yang left Yanjing. During this week, he had traveled to many places, almost to several provinces near Yanjing. It could be said that he had spent almost the entire week on trains, cars, and even ox carts.
As he got closer and closer to the Great Northern Wilderness, Luo Yang's thoughts couldn't help but go back to many years ago, to his youthful days...
The train started and stopped from time to time, and arrived at a small northern station in the morning one day later. Luo Yang got off the train carrying his luggage. He looked around. The dilapidated platform, the rusty iron gate, everything looked so familiar and so kind.
This is a small station, so small that it cannot be found on ordinary maps. After leaving the station, there is a small county town with a permanent population of only 70,000 to 80,000. Compared with the county towns within the Great Wall, it is at best the size of a town.
At this season, even in Yanjing it's a bit hot inside the Great Wall, but here the weather is still like spring. In addition, there is a big temperature difference between day and night. The lowest temperature at night can drop to five or six degrees. Add to that the occasional sharp wind, and you can't go out if you don't wear enough.
Luo Yang changed his clothes specially for this trip. He wore ordinary blue clothes and pants, an old military coat on the outside, and a hat on his head. If you didn't know him, it would be hard to imagine that this was Luo Yang at first sight.
After leaving the station, there was a bus station not far from the train station. Luo Yang was very familiar with the area, so he walked over, asked about the departure time and bought a ticket.
There was still more than an hour before the departure time, so Luo Yang simply found a place to sit down in the shabby waiting room of the station, took out the dry food he brought from his bag, and started to eat with the water in the kettle.
After taking a few bites, Luo Yang felt as if a pair of eyes were watching him. Following the gaze, he saw a child about three or four years old wearing a gray cloth jacket. The child's face was dirty and it was impossible to tell whether it was a boy or a girl. Its two big round eyes kept staring at the steamed bun in Luo Yang's hand.
"Baby, are you hungry? Do you want to eat?" Seeing the baby, Luo Yang smiled. He walked over and squatted in front of the child and asked. The child took a step back slightly, but still looked at the steamed bun in Luo Yang's hand reluctantly. Although he did not speak, the answer was revealed in his eyes.
Luo Yang broke off half of it and handed it over: "Here, eat it!"
The child hesitated for a moment, but could not resist the temptation of the steamed bun. He stretched out his little hand to take half of the bun, then put it to his mouth and took a small bite. After this bite, the child's eyes suddenly lit up, and then he ran away and ran directly to the side.
"Dad! Dad!"
"Where did it come from?" A middle-aged man was dozing off. When he was woken up by the child, he was stunned to see that the child was holding half a steamed bun in his hand.
"Over there, my uncle gave it to me." Wawa stretched out his hand and pointed in the direction of Luo Yang. The man looked at Luo Yang, only to see Luo Yang smiling and nodding at him.
Seeing Luo Yang, the man hesitated for a moment, then picked up the child, stood up, and walked straight towards Luo Yang.
"I'm sorry, the child didn't understand just now..."
"It's nothing. I've already said it's a child. It's lunch time, so giving the child half a steamed bun is nothing." Luo Yang said with a smile.
" Thank you..." The man grinned, touched the child's head, then looked at Luo Yang carefully with a strange expression on his face.
"You...you are Luo Yang, right?" Luo Yang never expected that this strange man would actually call out his name. Luo Yang was stunned for a moment.
"You...?" Luo Yang looked at the other person carefully in confusion, and suddenly felt that the other person looked familiar, but for a moment he couldn't think of where he had seen him before.
"It's really Luo Yang! I'm Wang Hu! Your brother Hu! Do you still recognize me?" Wang Hu took off his hat and looked very excited. When he looked at the other person carefully again, Luo Yang finally recognized who he was.
"Wang Hu? Brother Huzi? Brother Huzi!" Luo Yang suddenly became excited and grabbed the other person's shoulders with both hands and asked anxiously.
"It's me, it's me!"
"Brother Huzi, how come you have aged so much? How come I haven't seen you for a few years...?" Luo Yang couldn't help but let the tears fall from his eyes. If the other party hadn't recognized him first and told him who he was, Luo Yang really would not have recognized that the person standing in front of him was Wang Hu.
In his memory, Wang Hu was always the handsome young man wearing a leather jacket, holding a hunting rifle, walking with vigor, laughing loudly, energetic and handsome. But now, the Wang Hu standing in front of him had a face full of memories of the vicissitudes of life. He was wearing a patched gray cotton jacket like an ordinary person, a military cap without a badge on his head, and no hunting rifle in his hand. His waist was not as straight as before, and his back was slightly hunched. He looked ten years older than his original age.
"People in the mountains age quickly. This is what happens after going out in the wind and rain every day..." Wang Hu said with a smile, and then said to the child in his arms: "Gou Wa, this is your uncle Luo Yang, hurry up and call him!"
"Uncle Luo Yang..." Gou Wa was eating half a steamed bun given by Luo Yang. He stopped eating, looked up and shouted at Luo Yang, then gave Luo Yang a bright smile.
"Brother Huzi, is this your son?" Luo Yang asked.
"Yes! My son! His nickname is Gou Wa, his real name is Wang Zhenlin, and he is three and a half years old this year." Wang Hu said proudly while touching the child's head.
"Wang Zhenlin? What a great name! It's so impressive!"
"Haha, you agree too, right? I specially asked the old branch secretary to help me come up with this name. My name is Wang Hu, and I originally wanted to name him Wang Xiaohu, but the old branch secretary said Wang Xiaohu was not a good name, so we simply called him Zhenlin, as in, a tiger roars in the mountains, so Zhenlin Zhenlin, that's the meaning." Wang Hu said happily.
Wang Hu is the son of a hunter family. Hunter is a very ancient profession. It can be said that the profession of hunter has existed since the emergence of human beings.
Wang Hu's father, Old Man Wang, was the best hunter within a hundred miles of Luoyang Countryside. Wang Hu's grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-grandfather were also hunters. His family had lived in this area for many years, and their ancestors had made a living by hunting.
Wang Hu is older than Luo Yang. If Luo Yang remembers correctly, Wang Hu should be 28 years old this year. When Luo Yang first came to this place from the countryside, Wang Hu was still a young man in his early twenties. But now, in the blink of an eye, the young man has become a veteran.
"Luo Yang, didn't you go back to the city? Why are you back this time?" Wang Hu was very happy to see a familiar person. Back then, Wang Hu and Luo Yang had a very good relationship.
"I've been back for several years, and I've always been thinking about this place, so I took some time to come and take a look." Luo Yang said with a smile.
"Yes, it's been a few years in a flash. Time flies." Wang Hu nodded and said with emotion: "In the past few years, the educated youth left one by one. I saw that the number of people was getting smaller and smaller day by day. Not to mention the old branch secretary, even I felt uncomfortable. Many times I thought about the time when you were here. It was so lively!"
"Is the old Party Secretary okay?"
When Luo Yang asked about the old branch secretary, Wang Hu sighed and shook his head: "He didn't make it through last winter. You know he has always been in poor health. He can't breathe in the winter. This time... Oh."
Luo Yang's heart suddenly sank. The old Party secretary was gone? This old man with a bad temper, a stubborn temper, a love for scolding but a warm heart was actually gone? This made Luo Yang feel empty inside instantly.
"Many people have gone there in recent years. My father passed away two years ago, but at least he saw his grandson being born, so it's not a big regret." Wang Hu said with emotion.
Old Man Wang is gone too? Luo Yang's eyes couldn't help but become moist. He didn't expect that these two elders whom he respected had passed away one after another. If it weren't for them and Wang Hu who sacrificed their lives to save him, he might have been dead long ago.
When he thought of the fresh faces of the old branch secretary and Old Man Wang, and their loud laughter seemed to still ring in his ears, but now he would never have the chance to see them again, Luo Yang felt a little regretful for coming so late.
While waiting for the bus, Wang Hu talked a lot with Luo Yang, and also let Luo Yang know some of the situations after he left.
With the large-scale return of educated youth to the city, the original educated youth sites have now been abandoned. Among the parts of the farmland that these educated youth reclaimed with their own hands that have been returned to the commune, a lot of it has been abandoned due to lack of manpower.
Some old people passed away one after another. As time changed, the lives of local young people also changed, just like Wang Hu. As a hunter, Wang Hu originally lived in the forest and made a living by hunting. Before Old Man Wang died, the policy was adjusted and the country had other regulations on hunting. So the old branch secretary took the opportunity to help Wang Hu get a position as a forest ranger in the forest farm, which was barely considered a government salary.
Wang Hu got married not long after Luo Yang left. His wife was a woman from a nearby commune, whom Luo Yang did not know. However, from Wang Hu's story, it can be seen that Wang Hu loves his wife very much and the couple has a good relationship. This time he came to the county town because his wife was pregnant and about to give birth. Since Wang Hu is a forest ranger, he still lives in the forest on weekdays. Giving birth is a big deal for women, so for safety reasons he sent his wife to the county hospital in advance to be taken care of by her family for a few days. Now that Wang Hu has settled down, he will take Gou Wa back first and come back when the time is right. After all, people are indispensable in the forest.
