The canteen of the sanatorium has been vacated. The chef cooks ginger soup in a big pot, and steams the steamed buns in a steamer next to it.
After such a thrilling night, everyone was cold and hungry, quietly drinking ginger soup and chewing steamed buns.
Only the old man Chen, who had come to his senses, cried and howled my cow from time to time, and was stopped loudly by the people around him.
"Your cow, your cow, why don't you let the stone smash you, you can go to accompany your cow, and almost dragged Uncle Cai down."
"You have to thank God, the stone will stop next to you and Uncle Cai, and no one will be hit."
"That's Uncle Cai's good deeds. When God blesses Uncle Cai, he also took care of old man Chen. He got his life back because of Uncle Cai's blessing."
Old man Chen whimpered twice, trying to defend himself, but before he could open his mouth, he met the sight of the little boy next to Mr. Cai, and shut his mouth immediately.
He recognized Lu Rong, and saw that the usual soft ball child was looking at him with hatred, and it seemed that if he said one more word, he would rush forward.
The old man Chen realized that he almost hurt his grandfather just now, and felt guilty in his heart, he looked away embarrassingly and shrank into a ball, not daring to speak out again.
On top of the two stone lions at the entrance of the hall, a chicken lay on one side, and pigs, cattle and sheep were driven into the hall on the ground floor.
These beasts seemed to know that they had encountered a catastrophe, and they all lay quietly on their stomachs, surprisingly obedient. Even those rebellious pigs behaved a lot, just staring at the people around them coldly.
Cai Ye looked much better, sitting on a recliner to rest, seeing Lu Rong glaring at old man Chen from time to time, he patted his head and said in a low voice, "Baby, leave him alone."
"Then you still want to take care of him?" Lu Rong was still a little scared when he thought of the scene just now, and his eye circles were also red.
"Grandpa is the village chief, that's his job." Cai Ye explained patiently.
Lu Rong pouted aggrievedly: "Then don't be the village head."
"Understood, grandpa will not be the village head soon." Cai Ye said.
Lu Rong didn't expect Mr. Cai to say this, and after a moment of stunned, he asked, "Really?"
"real."
"Aren't you going to plant medicine with someone, and don't go to other villages to do business?" Lu Rong asked pleasantly.
The rich man smiled and said, "I won't go, I just stay with my grandson."
Lu Rong didn't ask any more questions, and slowly lay on Cai Ye's lap, allowing him to stroke the back of his head.
I thought that grandpa was too tired every day, and it was great that this village head was wrong.
In the silence, there were snoring sounds in his ears. Lu Rong couldn't help but follow the sound, and saw Master Hong sleeping on a bench covered with monk's robes, with a few chickens with wings lying on his feet.
When he saw Master Hong, he remembered the matter of marrying Shen Jize, and he hid beside Cai Ye with a guilty conscience.
Finally someone calmed down and began to count the items he had brought out from home. Others followed suit, and there were whispered inquiries and rustling noises in the cafeteria.
Seeing this, the rich man also asked: "Have you brought out the notebook I gave you?"
Lu Rong took off his coir raincoat and schoolbag, and was about to take out the passbook inside, but the rich man stopped him and said, "Just do it, don't take it out, or you might lose it."
But Lu Rong still reached in, found the passbook and a pile of loose tickets, and then reached into the mezzanine to touch the money order Shen Jize sent him.
When his fingers touched the hard paper, he stroked it lightly, feeling that it would be good if his brother was by his side now.
He misses his brother very much.
Danwa's group of children had already recovered from the shock. They didn't know the pain of losing their home, and they only got together excitedly to talk about the thrilling scene when the mountain began to collapse.
"Lu Rong, come here." A child waved to Lu Rong.
Lu Rong quickly shook his head.
"Go, go play with those dolls." Seeing that he was not in a good mood, the rich man also persuaded him.
"I don't want to go." Lu Rong took out his hand from his schoolbag and lay on Cai Ye's lap again.
The puppy wagged its tail beside it and slapped the poncho, only then did Lu Rong remember that it was still covered with a plastic bag, so he quickly peeled it off.
All the other dogs in the village have become drowned dogs, shivering at the feet of their masters. Only the little dog is dry and looks particularly energetic.
"Uncle, what should we do?" A middle-aged man with a sad face approached Cai Ye and asked.
He was afraid of being heard by others, so he kept his voice very low.
"Don't worry, the government will take care of us." Cai Ye said.
"When will the government take care of us?"
The rich man thought for a while and said, "Soon, I guess it will only be these two days."
As a result, before noon, a convoy drove into the sanatorium, and several soldiers jumped from above.
The soldiers only assembled for a while, and trotted to the village under the leadership of the young village cadres.
The leading leader asked Cai Ye for details, and the rest of the people went to the car to unload the goods, and moved down the big bags of supplies.
When the villagers saw the army coming, they were not so panicked at once, they calmed down a lot, and they also had the mind to whisper to each other.
"This is the government coming, maybe they will build a house for us."
"Okay, okay, will you make a set of that furniture?"
"I think it will make up the money..."
"My rosewood furniture is handed down from my ancestors, so I can't pay for it like your furniture."
"Go away, Boss Jiang, those unwanted belongings in the ancestral hall have become the rosewood furniture handed down by your ancestors?"
"He doesn't even know what red sandalwood is. He only knows the wild apricot tree in the back mountain. Every year, he picks the apricots while they are still green."
"The lazy donkey has good teeth."
"Who is the donkey? Who are you calling a donkey?" Boss Jiang jumped up.
"Can't I call the donkey over there a lazy donkey?"
"Okay, okay, stop arguing, it's good to be a donkey, you don't have to worry about anything."
…
In the afternoon, the rain stopped.
Tents for disaster relief were set up on the construction site, and some people used the pots and pans they brought out to cook in the open space, and white smoke rose everywhere.
No matter what happens, people always have to eat first. Moreover, the villagers feel that it is inappropriate to eat from the canteen on the construction site for free. The instant noodles brought by the team are good or not, so they should cook by themselves.
Lu Rong and Cai Ye ate in the cafeteria, because the workers knew them and had eaten the bacon sent by Cai Ye, so a small stove was specially prepared for them.
After the rich man thanked him again and again, he pulled Lu Rong to sit down.
After dinner, Mr. Cai chatted with a group of workers. Lu Rong couldn't sit still, so he went outside to play.
In the house, a worker comforted the rich man: "Uncle Cai, it won't be long before Longquan Village is rebuilt. Don't worry, there is a government."
The rich man sighed: "Longquan Village will not be built."
"It won't be built?" The workers looked at each other.
The rich man said quietly: "Longtan Mountain is going to be developed into a tourist attraction, and Longquan Village is within the scope of the reconstruction plan. The government has already asked us to move out, but many people have lived here all their lives and don't want to leave."
A worker was stunned and said: "Isn't it good to move away? Seriously, Longquan Village is too poor, and the villagers should be allowed to go out and have a look. We have lived here for several months and are not used to it, but the project We're almost done, and we're leaving."
The rich man put down the chopsticks in his hand and continued: "Isn't it? It's not convenient anywhere in our village. Young people don't want to come back when they leave the village. All the old and young are left. There is no way to make money in this place." , relying on planting some medicine. The government originally said that they all moved to Yulu Village, which is next to the town. The land and climate are suitable for planting fruit trees, and experts can be hired to teach them. But many people have lived here all their lives, and they don’t want to leave.”
The worker filled the wine glass in front of him and said, "Now that the village is gone, they must go down the mountain, right?"
Cai Ye was silent for a long while and then spoke, with a sense of wistfulness in his tone: "I have been doing ideological work for the villagers for the past few years, but the relocation work can't be done no matter what, this time I should really leave this place."
The workers consoled and said: "It is a good thing for people to move living trees and kill them. Besides, Yulu Village is close to the town, so the dolls should be studying in the town primary school. The quality of teaching in the town primary school is several grades higher than that of the village primary school, and it is convenient to go to school. You don’t need to run all over the mountains. Besides, your village is backed by mountains, so it’s not safe even if it’s rebuilt, what if something like today happens again?”
"That's it, that's it." After Cai Ye finished speaking, he picked up his wine glass and drank it down.
The spicy wine entered his throat, and he frowned and closed his eyes, as if he was being burned. The worker hurriedly brought him food: "Eat the vegetables, eat the vegetables quickly."
Cai Ye closed his eyes and waved his hands, meaning no. The worker wanted to persuade him again, but the people around him poked him, and then pointed their mouths in the direction of the rich man.
Cai Ye supported his forehead with his hands, his lips were trembling uncontrollably, and a string of teardrops welled up in his eyes, rolling down the ravines on his skin.
He kept raising his hand to wipe his tears, and said with a smile as if explaining, "This wine is too spicy."
"Yes, yes." The workers fell silent.
Lu Rong walked out of the cafeteria gate, and the puppy who was chasing with other dogs saw him and ran over.
Lu Rong knelt down and combed the messy fur on its back with his fingers.
"Little baby, where's your man?" A familiar voice suddenly sounded beside him, making Lu Rong froze.
The hem of the dark brown monk's robe appeared in the field of vision, Master Hong also squatted down to pet the puppy, and continued to ask: "Has your man returned to the city?"
Lu Rong tried his best to bury his face, pretending that he recognized the wrong person.
"Don't hide, I recognized you a long time ago, Uncle Cai's grandson." Master Hong scratched the puppy's chin: "The village is gone, can your man find you when he comes back? The young couple will break up."
Lu Rong looked up suddenly: "Why can't I find it? The village will be repaired again, and he will come to see me during the winter vacation."
Master Hong said: "It's hard, there are so many good-looking babies out there, he will forget about you."
Lu Rong got up angrily, and shouted: "Puppy, go, ignore him."
The puppy squinted his eyes comfortably, but when he heard that, he shook off Master Hong's chin scratching hand, and quickly moved closer to Lu Rong.
"You are in a hurry." Master Hong said.
"No."
"You're hollow."
"No."
Lu Rong turned back to the cafeteria, stopped after taking two steps, ran back and whispered: "We won't break up, and he won't forget me."
After thinking for a while, he said, "I look better than those babies."
Master Hong just closed his eyes and said: "Amitabha."
His appearance was too irritating, Lu Rong snorted and went into the room on his own.
Only then did Master Hong stroke his bald head with a smile, then took out a porcelain basin from his bosom, and began to beg for alms next to the tent.
"... Donor, take two more slices of meat from that bowl."
Lu Rong entered the cafeteria and saw Master Hong's chickens lying under a bench with their wings bound. He rolled his eyes, caught the chickens, untied the cloth strips from their wings, and drove them out of the cafeteria.
The chickens were free and ran happily among the tents. Lu Rong clasped his hands around his mouth and yelled, "Master Hong, no, no, all your chickens have run away."
Master Hong turned his head and looked, and he didn't care about the alms, he put the porcelain basin on the stone pier next to him, scolded Lu Rong for being a bad boy, and went to catch those chickens running around.
Lu Rong grinned and watched for a while, seeing him scratching left and right in embarrassment, finally felt relieved.
In the next few days, everyone lived in tents and went to the cafeteria for meetings every afternoon.
In the beginning, the leaders who came to provide relief, the leaders from the county, the mayor of the town, and the village chief, Mr. Cai, gave speeches. After that, the villagers spoke freely, and sometimes fierce disputes occurred.
Lu Rong was squatting on the ground to play with ants, when he saw the old lady of the Wang family rushing out of the cafeteria with a bundle in her arms, shouting that she would die on the ruins of the old house, and was dragged away by others.
At this time, a group of children would stand and watch with curiosity on their faces until they were chased away by their parents. Lu Rong didn't want to go catch chickens and dogs with them, so he walked back and forth with the puppy.
After two days of quarreling, when he passed by the cafeteria again, he saw that the villagers had calmed down a lot, and they were asking the leader what to do with the fields.
When he came back after turning around a few times, he saw everyone writing on a piece of paper and still talking about resettlement fees and the like. The expression looked quite satisfied, and some people were still smiling and spreading cigarettes to the people around them.
But he was not interested in these, and went back to the small tent where he lived with Mr. Cai in boredom.
After ten o'clock in the evening, he collapsed on the floor and fell into a deep sleep. He didn't even know when the rich man would come back from the meeting.
The next morning, Lu Rong was awakened by a loud noise.
That was the roar of several cars, someone calling for their children, and pigs, cattle and sheep neighing twice from time to time.
The puppy had woken up a long time ago, lay on the floor beside the bunk with its ears up, and stared at the tent door.
He got up quickly, and found that it was not yet bright outside, and he was the only one in the tent, and the rich man didn't know where he had gone.
Lu Rong hurriedly put on his clothes and shoes, and got out of the tent.
I saw a few more passenger cars on the open space at some point, and the villagers were queuing up to get on the cars, and soldiers were driving livestock to the trucks.
Danwa rubbed his eyes and passed by, Lu Rong called to him: "Brother Dan, where are they going?"
Eggy Wa said, "I don't know, my grandma woke me up and said that I'm going to live in the town soon."
"... Oh." Lu Rong seemed to understand.
He saw the busy Cai Ye in the crowd, directing people to get into the car separately, so he didn't panic, he stood in front of the tent and watched.
At the entrance of the cafeteria, a worker brought two steamed buns and called him, "Lu Rong, come and have breakfast."
Lu Rong turned around: "I haven't brushed my teeth and washed my face yet."
"Why are you so particular about this kid? Then go to the head of the house, where there is a sink."
The other workers laughed: "Lu Rong is going to be the town's baby soon, of course it's important."
"I don't have a toothbrush, and the toothbrush is still at home." Lu Rong said again.
The chef in the cafeteria took out a new toothbrush: "Here is a new toothbrush, go wash it."
Lu Rong stood in front of the sink and brushed his teeth, thinking about what the worker said. Why did he say that he was going to be the baby of the town soon? Is the village gone
Lu Rong stopped brushing his teeth, staring at the white sink in a daze.
Passenger cars left the construction site one after another and went down the mountain along the winding road. Every time a car passed by the entrance of the village, there would be crying in the car, and everyone looked at their former home with tears in their eyes.
Buried in the ruins were their childhood memories, the sweetness of the bridal chamber wedding night, and the joy of having a new bride. It's not a pile of rubble, it's their whole life.
Even the strongest people in normal times are crying out of breath at this time.
The rich man sent the last bus away, and after dealing with the follow-up matters, he called Lu Rong. He knelt down and said, "Rong Rong, although Grandpa's roots are in Longtan Mountain, but now the roots are gone, we are going down the mountain." Touching Lu Rong's feet, he smiled and said, "My baby's roots are gone."
His face was facing the sun, there was water in his eyes, and there was a suppressed sadness in his old eyes.
Lu Rong looked at Mr. Cai, put his arms around his neck, and pressed his face to his face. After a while, he whispered, "Grandpa, I have roots. Wherever you are, my roots are there."
Cai Ye seemed to be stunned for a while, slowly hugged the small body in his arms, and shook his head with a smile after a while: "Rongrong, grandpa has lived a long time, and he is not as good as a doll like you."
After speaking, she stood up holding Lu Rong in her arms, kissed him on the top of his head, and said: "My baby is right, where your grandpa is, your roots will be there. As long as my baby is there, grandpa's roots will have soil. As long as we are together, anywhere can be home."