Chapter 192 Sacrifice
The bus departed on time. The distance from the county town to the educated youth point was not short and took more than three hours. However, with the company of Wang Hu and Gou Wa along the way, Luo Yang did not feel lonely.
Along the way, they talked about many past events, some of which Luo Yang had even forgotten vaguely. But when Wang Hu mentioned them, Luo Yang instantly recalled them one by one in his mind as if a movie was playing back.
Finally they arrived at the place and got off the car. After the car drove away, Luo Yang looked forward and could see from a distance a small black dot on the empty plain in the distance. This black dot was the educated youth site where Luo Yang had stayed for several years while working in the countryside.
Looking ahead, Luo Yang felt an indescribable mixture of emotions: excitement, anticipation, nostalgia, and pain...
"Luo Yang, it's too late today. The educated youth point is now abandoned and there is nothing. Come with me first and stay at my place for one night and come back to see it tomorrow?" Wang Hu said from the side. Luo Yang nodded silently and followed Wang Hu in another direction.
Wang Hu’s ranger hut was actually Wang Hu’s previous home. Luo Yang had been to this place several times before. When he saw this hut, many memories buried in his heart came flooding back.
The hut is not very big, with one front and one back. The front is for living, and the back is for storing miscellaneous items.
There is a small vegetable garden on the left side of the cabin. The winter in the north is long, and this vegetable garden can be used to grow vegetables and grains. After the vegetables are harvested, in addition to daily needs, they can be dried into pickles, sauerkraut, etc., or stored in the cellar for the winter.
We had dinner at Wang Hu's house. Although Wang Hu was now on the government payroll, the salary of a forest ranger was not high. Plus, his sister-in-law didn't have a job either. Apart from helping Wang Hu patrol the forest, she also farmed and took care of the children.
So in addition to his daily patrol work, Wang Hu had to pick up his old job of hunting. Of course, hunting now is not the same as before. In the past, people could hunt anything in the forest without anyone caring. But since last year, there have been new regulations, and many things cannot be hunted. Even if they want to hunt, they have to do it secretly. As a forest ranger, Wang Hu can't break the law knowingly, so the most he would do is happen to catch a rabbit or a pheasant during his patrol.
As for food, there are quotas. The Great Northern Wilderness is not as good as Beijing. There are more coarse grains than fine grains throughout the year. In addition, the salary of forest rangers is not high, so it is a big problem for the three people in the family to eat food, so Wang Hu's family rarely eats fine grains. In addition, Wang Hu's wife's belly has gradually grown these days. For her health and the baby in her belly, all the good things in the house are left to her. In addition, going to the hospital for delivery is also a big expense, so they save more. This is also the reason why Gou Wa, who hasn't eaten white flour buns for a long time, is happy to see them.
Ordinary people always think that being a hunter is a very good profession, where they can eat the prey with their mouths full of grease. In fact, the life of a hunter is far from as good as imagined. Real hunters also have to go hungry one day and eat the next. Especially after the heavy snow in winter, hunting is almost impossible to do. Without prey, there is no harvest, and they can only live off their savings.
In addition, the saying of "mountain and sea delicacies" is just talk. When people in later generations hear about hunters and fishermen, they think of eating big fish and meat. In fact, this view is wrong. Not to mention the difference between hunted and raised animals, the meat is not oily, and it is old and dry. If you really want to make it delicious, you have to rely on seasoning and ingredients. To put it in an unpleasant way, you only see the thief eating the meat, but you don't see the thief being beaten. This is rough but true.
Luo Yang brought a lot of dry food, all of which were white flour buns he bought when he got on the train. After all, he had been here for many years and knew what the situation was like here.
The dinner that day was dried vegetables stewed with bacon and white flour steamed buns. In order to entertain Luo Yang, Wang Hu specially cut a large piece of bacon left over from the Spring Festival, and then cooked a large pot of dried vegetables and dried mushrooms that he made himself. Originally, Wang Hu wanted to go to the woods to see if he could get something else, but Luo Yang refused. After all, he knew Wang Hu's family conditions, and it was about to get dark, and he was not an outsider, so there was no need to do these things.
It got dark early in the woods. They were tired from the journey, so they chatted for a while and then lay down to sleep.
Luo Yang slept on a bed made of door panels, with a new mattress on it and hay underneath.
Lying on the bed, smelling the familiar scent of grass , the tired Luo Yang fell asleep quickly. But he woke up in the early hours of the morning and could not fall asleep again.
There was a rustling sound of wind blowing in the woods outside, and from time to time there was the chirping of unknown birds.
Luo Yang got up, put on his coat, and walked out of the house. He took a breath of the slightly cold air outside, stood in the open space outside the wooden house, and looked up to see the brilliant Milky Way.
Staring blankly at the sky, Luo Yang felt a sense of peace in his heart. It had been so long since he had felt this way that Luo Yang couldn't remember exactly how long it had been.
I don’t know how long it had been, but Luo Yang, who was immersed in the silence, was brought back to reality by the noise behind him. He turned around and saw that it was Wang Hu.
"Brother Huzi."
"What? Can't sleep?"
Luo Yang nodded, took out a cigarette from his pocket and handed it to Wang Hu, then lit one for himself and took a deep breath: "To be honest with you, Brother Hu, after I went back, I often dreamed of the scene in front of me, the Great Northern Wilderness, the educated youth camp, the black soil, the forest... and my former educated youth comrades... This place has left me with so much, I will never forget it in my life."
Wang Hu patted Luo Yang on the shoulder and said nothing, but in his heart he understood what Luo Yang meant by his words.
"Wait till dawn to go to the educated youth point and take a look?"
Luo Yang shook his head: "Let's go to the educated youth point later. Let's go see Hongqi and the others first. This time I came back mainly to see them..."
"It's good to take a look. You'll feel relieved after you finish watching it. I'll go with you later."
"Thank you, Brother Huzi."
"What are you thanking me for? This shouldn't be like this." Wang Hu said, took a few puffs of his cigarette and went back into the house. Luo Yang was the only one left outside the house. He sat in front of the door in a daze, not knowing what he was thinking.
After daybreak, the three of them had a simple breakfast, packed up the things they needed to take, and then Luo Yang, carrying his bag, walked towards the other end of the forest, accompanied by Wang Hu and Gou Wa.
After walking for about half an hour, the forest ahead became sparse, and the soil on the ground was slightly different from the previous forest, with obvious signs of a fire.
In this somewhat sparse forest, there are also young grasses and saplings growing, but it is obvious that these grasses and saplings have only grown for a few years. In addition, in many places you can see charred dead branches and broken trees.
After walking forward for about half an hour, we saw a few tombs standing in an open space in front. These tombs were built very simply. The tomb mound was just a slightly raised mound of earth, and the tombstone was not a good one either. It was just a long stone strip made of rough granite standing up.
When he saw these graves, Luo Yang suddenly stopped. His face was covered with tears and his hands trembled slightly involuntarily.
Zhou Hongqi, Jiang Aiguo, Ma Xiaojun, Liu Lan, He Yuanjun...
Looking around, familiar names were engraved on the tombstones. Each name represented a life that was once vibrant, but they left this world at the best moment of their lives. At this moment, Luo Yang seemed to see them standing in front of him, smiling at him, greeting him warmly...
"I... I'm here to see you..." Luo Yang said softly in a hoarse voice. He walked forward slowly, squatted down in front of Zhou Hongqi's tombstone, gently stroked the dust on the tombstone, and big tears fell uncontrollably.
At first it was soft sobbing, which soon turned into uncontrollable crying. Luo Yang cried so sadly, as if he was pouring out everything that had been buried in his heart.
Looking at Luo Yang like this, Wang Hu sighed. He did not go up to disturb Luo Yang, but just waited quietly. After a while, when Luo Yang's emotions stabilized a little, he took the tools he brought and went forward to help clean up.
Luo Yang, Wang Hu and Gou Wa also came to help. They spent some time cleaning the grave and removing the weeds and dust. When they were done, Luo Yang took out the things he had brought from his bag one by one. There were flowers he had picked just now, cakes he had bought in advance from Yanjing, some good wine he had brought along the way, and some other items he had brought with him before coming.
Luo Yang placed these things in front of each tombstone one by one, and then filled all the cups with wine. Finally, he picked up the cup in front of him, stood up and poured it on the ground, muttering, "I came to see you. I wanted to come earlier, but I never made it. I didn't expect so many years to pass in the blink of an eye. I came late. Don't blame me."
"Before coming here, I visited your family and have been taking care of them all these years. Don't worry over there. As long as I, Luo Yang, am here, your family will never lack for food and clothing. Your parents are my parents, and your brothers and sisters are also my brothers and sisters. I will always take good care of them..."
As he spoke, Luo Yang filled his glass with wine, raised his hand to the sky and drank it all. Then he knelt down facing the grave and kowtowed three times. On his knees, he continued in a sobbing voice: "Originally, I should have been here like you, but back then I... I was a deserter..."
Luo Yang cried and spoke many of his innermost thoughts to the grave. These words had been in his heart for too long. He drank as he spoke, as if only alcohol could make him feel better.
"Dad, what happened to Uncle Luo?" About ten meters away, Wang Hu was sitting on a tree stump, with Gou Wa standing Gou Wa's big round eyes looked curiously at Luo Yang, who was crying, talking and pouring wine into his mouth. He looked up and asked his father in confusion.
"Uncle Luo is tired and sad. Don't disturb him. Just let him cry for a while..." Wang Hu said softly. Gou Wa didn't understand what his father meant, but he understood that his father didn't want him to disturb this crying uncle. The confused Gou Wa leaned quietly beside Wang Hu and obediently asked no more questions.
