After breakfast the next day, the rich man put Lu Rong on his gloves, hat and scarf, and then carried him into a bamboo sling and sat down.
A blue-flowered bundle was squeezed at the feet, containing a dozen boiled eggs.
The rich man carried Lu Rong on his back and walked towards the entrance of the village. A group of children gathered around and asked questions at one go, and followed them all the way.
Walking to the place where he met the big black dog yesterday, Lu Rong couldn't help holding on to the back with both hands, sticking his head out and whispering in Cai Ye's ear.
"Grandpa, there are big dogs here."
This is the second time he has spoken since last night. The rich man was stunned for a moment, and said with a smile: "Not afraid, grandpa is not afraid of big dogs."
Having said that, Lu Rong still looked around worriedly, but luckily he didn't see the big black dog again.
A person came to meet him, exchanged a few words with Mr. Cai, and stopped him when he knew he was going down the mountain. He said that the road in front of the pass had collapsed, and the road class would not be able to pass, so people would not be able to go down the mountain.
When the man left, the rich man turned his head and asked Lu Rong: "Rongrong, what should I do if I can't go down the mountain?"
Seeing that Lu Rong was silent, he said again: "Grandpa will carry you to take a look."
Lu Rong was carried onto the road from the country road on his back. After walking for a while, he saw that the entire section of the road in front of him collapsed, and a long section was broken, obviously unable to pass.
The rich man stood far away and asked Lu Rong: "We can't make it through, can we find our parents in a few days?"
Lu Rong murmured that he didn't have parents, and the rich man asked again: "We can go down the mountain after the road clears up, can't we live with grandpa for a few days?"
After waiting for a few seconds, Cai Ye heard a small hum from behind.
"What a sweetheart." He laughed.
On the way back, Mr. Cai teased Lu Rong without saying a word. Lu Rong put his arms around his neck, and from the beginning, he only uttered a single word, and then he talked more and more.
"I'm afraid the teacher won't give me the little red flower." His voice was still very small, softly.
"What?" Cai Ye didn't hear clearly.
"I didn't go to school today, the teacher will scold me." Lu Rong felt a little scared when he thought of this.
Cai Ye smiled and said: "Don't be afraid, the teacher will definitely not scold you when you go home."
Lu Rong struggled for a while, and finally said: "But I don't have a home, and Wang Tu doesn't allow me to go back."
"Who is Wang Tu?"
"It's my brother."
"What about your parents?"
"I don't have parents. Wang Tu said they are in the sky. I have Uncle Bai."
Lu Rong was brought up by Wang Tu in that villa and had never seen any outsiders, but a few times when he woke up in the middle of the night, he found a tall uncle sitting beside the bed, looking down at him.
He would be trapped by nightmares every once in a while, unable to get out of it. But he didn't panic at all, because the uncle would always appear in the dream, leading him forward.
As I walked, I woke up from the dream.
At the first moment when he opened his eyes, he called out to the person sitting by the bed with infinite attachment: "Dad."
After a while of silence, the man said, "Rongrong, I'm not Dad, I'm Uncle Bai. Wang Tu is the person I sent to take care of you. He will watch over you and I will visit you often."
But Uncle Bai rarely came, so Lu Rong was scared and happy in the dream, because he could see Uncle Bai when he woke up from the dream.
He thought a little sadly, maybe Uncle Bai didn't know that he was here, what should he do if he couldn't find him in the villa next time in his dream
Cai Ye was silent for a while, then stopped and asked, "Rongrong, where did Gao Chenggang find you? It was the person who brought you here, where did he take you away?"
"On the street."
"Then do you know the name of that place?"
"Street."
The rich man asked again: "Where were you before Gao Cheng just took you away?"
"I'm in the trash."
Lu Rong scratched at the edge of the back with his hands, feeling even more sad than when he thought of Uncle Bai.
He didn't want his grandpa to continue asking, and felt like crying, but fortunately, grandpa didn't ask any more.
A gray rabbit appeared in the snow by the roadside, standing dumbfounded with its ears fluttering.
Lu Rong looked at the rabbit with tears in his eyes, watching it hop and run away, as if he forgot his sadness again.
"That's Bunny." He couldn't help explaining to his grandfather, with a baby-like cry in his voice.
"Wow, Tutu, Fluffy is so powerful, I can recognize Tutu."
Lu Rong said: "Tutu loves to eat carrots and cabbage, and his eyes are red."
The rich man put down the strap, carried him out, looked at the child's red eyes, patted the back with his hand, and said: "The rabbit has red eyes, not only eats carrots and cabbage, but also likes to eat eggs. "
When Cai Ye returned to the village with Lu Rong on his back, those children surrounded him excitedly, sending them back like stars.
Cai Ye also explained to those adults who asked: "The road collapsed, and the Taoban's car can't go down the mountain."
The grown-ups laughed and said, "Uncle Cai, you are alone anyway, so it's just a matter of time for this doll to stay with you for a few more days."
When the rich man arrived at the village committee, he lit a small iron stove, asked Lu Rong to sit beside him, and patted the head of the microphone covered with a red cloth on the long table, "Hello, hello, hello."
Lu Rong heard a distant echo from outside: "Hey, hello, hello..."
"Ah, um, let me tell you something. The Yakou Highway collapsed, and the road was blocked by stones. The road class cars can't get through. Don't go down the mountain for the next two days. Also, there is something about buying dolls in our village. At 7 o'clock in the evening, every household sends out individuals to the village committee to hold a meeting... "
Lu Rong stretched out his hand to warm the fire while listening, and saw a few balls of pompoms rolling by from the open door.
It was the little yellow dogs he saw yesterday.
He stood up reservedly and walked to the door, holding the corner of the rich man's clothes by the table, pretending to look out indifferently.
The big yellow dog turned his head, and he quickly retracted. After waiting for more than ten seconds, he secretly looked at the puppies again.
"... Anyone who wants to hide the news of Gao Chenggang, he will be locked up in the warehouse, and if the road passes, he will be sent to the police station!"
Cai Ye suddenly raised the volume in a stern tone, and the loudspeaker on the tall tree also raised the volume. The little dogs trembled in fright, and ran towards the big dog in a panic.
Lu Rong stared intently.
After speaking on the loudspeaker, the rich man locked the door of the village committee, carried Lu Rong on his back and walked to the canteen at the entrance of the village.
"Li Zheng, bring me two pairs of baby boy socks, the thicker the better."
"Do you want to wear this doll on your back? That's why he's so small. Only girls are so small."
"Then take the girl's one. Anyway, you wear it inside your shoes, and you need a toothbrush for children."
After washing her feet at night, Lu Rong put on a pair of pink socks with yellow flowers on them.
After watching cartoons on the black and white TV for a while, he didn't fall asleep as quickly as last night because he wasn't too sleepy when he went to bed, and began to think about Wang Tu.
After thinking for a while, she huddled under the quilt and shed tears silently, rubbing her wet face against the pillow.
A pair of hands suddenly patted him lightly through the quilt, and Lu Rong heard Grandpa's voice: "Good boy, sleep well, and go down the mountain when the road is repaired."
Warm and rough big hands fell lightly on his body, bringing a calming sense of security. Lu Rong gradually held back her tears, feeling drowsy.
"Touch your ears." He lisps about his sleeping rules.
Cai Ye began to gently touch his little ears.
"It's a little lower, and I have to scratch my back." He hummed softly.
The rich man scratched his back again through his autumn clothes.
Lu Rong stretched his thumb into his mouth to suck, and the rich man took it out. He continued to keep sucking, moving his mouth to suck the air, and finally fell into a deep sleep.
…
Lu Rong remembered that he was lying on the bed and sleeping, but when he consciously opened his eyes, he saw an empty street with closed shops on both sides, and the snow showed a cold white under the moonlight.
The surroundings are quiet, there is no one and no sound, and there are vague silhouettes of houses in the darkness in the distance, cold and silent.
He didn't scream or cry in panic, he just looked down at himself. When I saw clearly that I was wearing the long johns I wore when I fell asleep, I realized that this was another dream.
Since he can remember, he has been to strange places several times in his sleep. He walked through those intricate alleys, but he couldn't find his way out, and he couldn't meet anyone.
After he couldn't walk for a while, he became anxious, began to cry softly, and finally called Brother Tu loudly.
But Uncle Bai would always appear in his dreams at the right time, leading him in the right direction, telling him not to be afraid, as long as he finds the light, he can find the way out.
But in today's dream, there was no Uncle Bai, only himself, and he felt a little flustered.
He stood there waiting for a while, feeling very cold, and his feet curled up on the cold ground.
Without a sound, Lu Rong disappeared from the street, and there was a small deer where he started to stand.
The fawn is only the size of a puppy, with pure white fur, slender hooves, moist round eyes, and two small silver bumps on the top of its head.
— A small piece, not as long as a knuckle, it is two immature horns that just popped out.
The little deer fluttered its ears alertly, running in the deserted street, its four hooves made a light clacking sound, and dropped a long string of small plum blossoms on the snow.
…
The moonlight shines through the window lattice, casting a layer of cool white on the room.
There were two rolls of quilts on the bed by the wall, Cai Ye and Lu Rong were both sound asleep.
Lu Rong's thick black eyelashes began to tremble, and his eyes slowly opened. He turned his head and looked around, listening to his grandfather's snoring, he was sure that he walked out of the dream alone, and he was very excited and excited.
It's a pity that he couldn't tell Uncle Bai and Wang Tu, he finally found the light by himself, and rushed out.
The night was very quiet, there was the rustling of falling snow outside the window, Lu Rong turned over contentedly, and fell asleep again.
After that, Cai Ye took Lu Rong to see the landslide every day, and told him not to worry, someone would repair the road after the snow stopped, and then he would go down the mountain again.
Lu Rong nodded obediently, saying that I am not in a hurry.
He used to worry about the teacher being angry, but now he is numb.
What's more, it's so much fun now, instead of going to kindergarten every day, the rich man will catch him out of the quilt in the morning, feed him two poached eggs, and then go back to sleep.
When he woke up, Cai Ye would carry him to the village committee, stopping and walking along the way, chatting with the adults he met.
The adults will stuff his arms with fragrant and sweet roasted sweet potatoes, or a handful of crispy fried peanuts.
The rich man took a little yellow dog home and asked him to name it. He suppressed the ecstasy and thought for a long time, and solemnly named the little yellow dog Puppy.
When a group of adults were sitting around the village committee house reading documents, he would chase the puppy around the yard.
Intermittently, Cai Ye bought a lot of things in the small shop at the head of the village.
Lu Rong has an extra set of padded jacket, long johns, and his own small towel and wooden tub.
He put on a brown corduroy padded jacket and trousers, round and round, and put on a cotton hat that covers the ears like a local child, hugged the puppy, and followed the egg boy who came to pick him up to plant aconite and cut grass.
There is no green grass everywhere in winter, only a kind of grass called burdock fungus still grows luxuriantly, with clusters of green on top of the snow, shallowly bulging.
Lu Rong was standing on the edge of the ground with the puppy in his arms, while Brother Watchan and the others brushed away the snow to mow the grass.
I thought to myself, this grass looks delicious, but I dare not turn into a deer.