Chapter 169

Before I could go to Xue Bing's house, my aunt's urgent phone call chased after me. My father fell in the yard when he got up this morning, and now he is lying in the hospital, and he hasn't opened his eyes yet.

My head felt like it was hit by a heavy hammer. I saw stars in my eyes. I couldn't care about greeting anyone. I climbed onto Sun Demao's minibus and rudely demanded to drive immediately.

The woman who bought the ticket saw tears in my eyes and knew it must be a big deal, so she didn't dare to be wordy and helped urge the driver to drive fast.

The car was flying, and my heart was flying. I closed my eyes, and my father's voice and smile could not be driven away in my mind.

My father experienced two wars in his life. During the first war against the devils, he followed his parents to flee. On the way, my grandmother was blown up by the devil's plane bomb, and even the corpse could not be found. My grandfather guarded the place where my grandmother disappeared, sat for three days and nights, and did not even look at the steamed buns that my father begged for him. Finally, when a team of devils passed by, my grandfather took an axe from his waist. Before he reached the devils, he was shot down. All this was clearly seen by my father hiding behind the earth ridge. He didn't even have the heart to cry. He inserted his ten fingers into the soil and vowed to kill all the devils in this life.

My father was only thirteen years old at the time, a child who was not yet dry, skinny, and yellow-faced. One day, he saw a team of troops wearing gray cloth hats on their heads, and my father desperately wanted to follow them.

The troops didn't accept him like this, so my father relied on them. Wherever the troops went, he followed. My father didn't say he was a soldier, he helped carry guns, made fires and cooked for the cook, and fed grass to the horses.

The troops didn't fight the devils head-on all year round, so my father didn't even see the face of the devils.

It wasn't until the troops issued military uniforms and a gun to my father that my father found that there were no more devils to fight.

No devils to fight doesn't mean no war. My father's muzzle turned around to fight the War of Liberation. After fighting a few battles, the troops transferred to the south. My father was the first batch of troops to go south to suppress bandits in the high mountains and dense forests in the south.

At that time, my father's regimental commander was the father of Deputy Secretary He Zhi. My father was the regimental commander's attendant.

My father's greatest wish in his life was to return to his hometown in the Northeast to take a look. He always remembered the place where my grandmother was blown up, and also remembered that after my grandfather was shot down, his head was always facing the earth ridge where my father was hiding.

When my father went to bury my grandfather, he saw that my grandfather's eyes had not closed. My father, who could no longer cry, covered my grandfather's eyes, inserted a willow branch in front of my grandfather's small earth bag, and walked away step by step. This walk lasted fifty years.

Fifty years have passed, and my father has never been able to return to his hometown!

Thinking of this, my heart hurts like a knife, and I can't care about the surprised eyes of others in the car, and tears are streaming down my face.

My father is a northerner. To this day, he still likes to eat pasta. My mother is a southerner, so our family's meals are often a strange landscape. When I eat with my mother, my father eats noodles or steamed buns.

I called Huang Qishan to ask for a car. I must rush to Hengyue City without stopping.

A circle of people surrounded the hospital ward. I swept a glance in a hurry. My mother was already paralyzed on the long chair in the hospital. Meizhu next to her hugged my mother's waist with both hands, and her eyes were filled with tears.

My aunt was talking to my uncle with a sad face. I actually saw Jin Ling holding Zhao Yu'er, watching the people coming and going in the hospital corridor silently.

My aunt saw me and smiled sadly: "Xiao Feng, the situation is not very good."

I asked anxiously: "Where is my father?"

My aunt pointed to the ward and said: "Still in rescue. It's a cerebral hemorrhage."

My legs softened, and I slid down along the wall. My uncle picked me up and said: "Xiao Feng, hold on!"

I looked at my uncle with a bitter smile and finally couldn't help but cry loudly.

Suddenly, the hem of my clothes was gently pulled, and then a tissue was handed to me. I stared with teary eyes and saw Huang Weiwei standing in front of me. Behind her stood a doctor in a white coat, comforting me in a low voice: "Don't worry! The patient is still in rescue."

I stopped crying and asked: "How did you come?"

Huang Weiwei said gloomily: "Aunt called me, and I sent my uncle to the hospital."

My aunt came over and said: "This hospital is familiar with Weiwei. The ambulance was also sent by this hospital. It is a key hospital in the city."

I understood. These people in the hospital were all called by my aunt. I looked at Zhao Yu'er, and my heart skipped a beat. Does my aunt have any other intentions?

The door of the ward opened, and a few doctors and nurses came out. One of them shook his head at Huang Weiwei and walked away silently.

I couldn't care about anything else and rushed in first.

My father was lying in a white sheet with oxygen in his nose. His face was gray and bloodless, his eyes were slightly closed, and there seemed to be a trace of moisture in the corners of his eyes.

I rushed over, knelt in front of my father's bed, held his hand, and called softly: "Dad, I'm back. I'm Feng'er."

My father's hand moved slightly, as if he felt me. I whispered in his ear: "It's me, Feng'er is back."

My father's hand seemed to use some strength, and I felt a force penetrate my body.

The ward was so quiet that you could hear a needle drop. My father's mouth moved, and finally opened his eyes, wanting to smile weakly.

My mother finally cried out, crying and scolding: "Dead old man, you can't leave me alone."

A blush appeared on my father's face. He looked around, his mouth stammering, as if he wanted to speak.

I squeezed my father's hand, my eyes blurred with tears.

Suddenly, I heard Zhao Yu'er's immature voice behind me: "Grandpa."

Turning my head, I saw Jin Ling already crying into a ball. My aunt held Zhao Yu'er's hand and handed him to my father: "Brother-in-law, this is Xiao Feng's godson, and also your grandson."

My father smiled stiffly and said weakly: "Feng, Dad... wants... to go home."

I know the meaning of my father's "going home". He is thinking of my grandparents, thinking of my grandfather's earth bag grave with a willow branch still inserted.????? I nodded hard, crying and speechless.

"Don't cry." My father comforted me: "You... are already... big, adult... now. Must... walk steadily."

He looked at the circle of people around the bed again, his eyes staring at my mother with infinite guilt, trying to smile, but finally couldn't smile.

"Feng'er's mother, bury me in... Chunshan... County." After my father said the last sentence, his hand loosened, he closed his eyes, and a tear flowed from the corner of his eye, rolling down his weather-beaten face, falling on the white sheet, and wetting a piece.

I held my father's hand quietly. His hand slowly lost its temperature, and it stopped in front of me like a marble sculpture.

A cry sounded in the room. My mother screamed and fainted. My aunt called the doctor in a hurry. Just as it was in a mess, the door was pushed open, and then I saw He Zhi come in, shouting with a hoarse voice: "Brother, I'm late."

A few nurses ran in from outside, lifted my mother onto a mobile hospital bed and pulled her out. One of them walked to my father's bed, pulled the white sheet, and was about to cover my father.

I pulled the sheet over and shouted: "What are you doing? My father is still alive."

Huang Weiwei cried out, pulling me and crying: "Feng, Uncle is gone."

I roared: "Nonsense, my father is still alive."

I couldn't care about others, I threw myself on my father, crying heartbreakingly.

My cousin-in-law He Zhi stood facing the window with his back to us, his gray hair trembling slightly with his shoulders. This man who couldn't even see his father when he was old could not resist the grief of the departure of the person who sent his father to the mountain on his behalf.

He tortured himself painfully, alone far away from his wife and children, returning to his old father's long sleep. My cousin-in-law He Zhi was born in the era of war. He was born in the troop camp. Before he could be wrapped in a piece of cloth, the house was blown up by bombs.

The troops evacuated urgently. My cousin-in-law He Zhi was held in his mother's arms, running for his life with the logistics personnel. His regimental commander father led the troops to resist the ground-attacking enemy and had no time to separate. Seeing my father at a glance, he took a few candies from his pocket, stuffed them into my father's hand, and ordered him to take care of He Zhi's mother and child.

My father ran away without thinking, and after running over three mountain ridges, he finally saw the regimental commander's wife who was paralyzed on the ground.

The child in her arms was crying so hoarsely that his small, thin face showed no vitality in the autumn sun.

My father took out the regimental commander's candy and put one at He Zhi's mouth. He Zhi licked it with his small tongue, and his face actually showed the first trace of happy smile.

Everything came too suddenly! Not long after this battle, He Zhi's mother contracted postpartum wind. After dragging for less than a year, she regretfully left the world.

Since then, little He Zhi followed his father and slowly grew up.

Now, my father is gone. He Zhi looked at the man who brought him up and left without saying a word. His heart was more painful than being stabbed by a knife. With my father's departure, he began to truly feel the taste of life and death. Perhaps, my father's departure made my cousin-in-law He Zhi feel more the sorrow of family affection.

After all, he was brought up by my father. From some angles, his feelings for my father were more intense and sad than for his own father.

My father was finally pulled out, and the room was empty with only a cry.

I couldn't stand up, sitting against the wall, tears that I couldn't control flowed silently from my eyes.

"Get up. Chen Feng." My cousin-in-law He Zhi finally turned around and ordered me strictly.

I stood up with Huang Weiwei's support and looked at He Zhi foolishly.

"People are gone, so we must handle the funeral well. You are the head of the family now, be strong." He Zhi said with a hoarse voice: "Your father has been engaged in revolution all his life. In life, he is worthy of the people, and in death, he is worthy of his ancestors."

I said calmly: "Uncle, my father had a last word, he wanted to be buried in Chunshan County."

He Zhi paused, pondered for a while and said: "Good! Bury your father in a coffin. I will violate discipline once!"

He left the ward without looking back, leaving Jin Ling, Meizhu, and Huang Weiwei crying together.