Chapter 581 Extra - Ai Xiaolan 2
Chapter 581 Extra - Ai Xiaolan 2
Ai Xiaolan was a little excited, but Am didn't buy the meat and sandals. She came back empty-handed and locked herself in the room.
"Am, what's wrong with you?" Ai Xiaolan was a little worried. She waited for a while, then pushed the door open and walked in. Seeing Am sitting on the edge of the bed with her shoulders drooping and sobbing, she asked anxiously.
Am couldn't bear it anymore and hugged Ai Xiaolan in his arms and cried loudly.
Of the 81 yuan she earned from selling corn, eight of the Great Unity bills were fake, so all her year's work was in vain.
Ai Xiaolan felt sad when she saw Am crying.
Am's face was tanned, old, and thin due to the rush to harvest during this period, and her hands were very rough. She recalled Am coming home breathless with corn on her back, her back, chest, and hair soaked with sweat. She remembered the hard work of following Am's lead in watering and weeding the fields.
Now all my efforts have been in vain and I am crying along with Am.
Listening to the two women's cries, which were getting louder and louder, Alugo actually stood up tremblingly with the help of the wall. However, he fell to the ground after taking two steps and knocked over the chicken feed bowl, and the poor-quality corn kernels in the bowl were scattered all over the floor.
Maybe because she saw Ai Xiaolan crying so sadly, Am secretly said to Ai Xiaolan at night, "Xixi, don't worry. We have money, enough for you and Alu to spend. Am saved all the money that Alu's father and Alu earned from collecting herbs. Am is still capable and will save more for you."
Am had to go out to work as a temporary worker for others, helping them to plow the soil. In the corn fields after the autumn harvest, the corn roots were tightly clenched into the soil. The ground was dry and hard, and she had to use all her strength to dig hard with the four-pronged harrow.
Alugo watched Am coming home later and later, and spoke to Ai Xiaolan for the first time.
"Xixi, carry me to the mountain. It's not far away, just on that hilltop. When I was picking herbs before, I found a patch of hairy tiger over there. I should be able to pick them now."
Ai Xiaolan's eyes lit up, "Can it be sold for money?"
Hearing the other party's gentle "hmm", Ai Xiaolan walked away carrying Alugo on her back. He was very thin, all bones.
Following the path he pointed out, they found a patch of herbs. Ai Xiaolan picked a basket of herbs under his command. She was sweating profusely due to the heat, but she couldn't hide the joy on her face.
Alugo looked at her for a long time without moving.
"How much can it be sold for? After it's sold, won't Am have to go out to work for others?" Ai Xiaolan squatted on the ground and looked back at Alugo. The sunlight hit her face, making her whole body covered with a layer of golden glow. Her tone was full of joy. Xiaofeng felt her happiness and circled around her.
Hanging the basket on Alugo's back, Ai Xiaolan carried Alugo home. When they passed a fork in the road at the top of the mountain, Alugo patted Ai Xiaolan on the shoulder and said, "Put me down and take a rest."
Ai Xiaolan put him on the stone beside her and looked down from the top of the mountain. There was an old wooden village, farmlands, sunshine, grass, streams, unknown wild flowers in the fields, crops grown in the land, curling smoke from cooking, the crowing of chickens and the barking of dogs. The warmth of nature can heal the soul.
Alugo glanced at Ai Xiaolan, who was full of energy. Her eyes were glowing and her skin was much darker than before, but she looked much healthier and more energetic.
Take a deep breath and suppress the complicated emotions in your heart.
He pointed to a small path not far away and said to Ai Xiaolan, "I know some medical skills. I know you are pretending to have forgotten the past. Now that Am is not watching you, go down that path and keep walking along it. There is a jungle after crossing that mountain. After passing through the jungle, you can get to the main road. After getting on the main road, go north and keep walking. After crossing a mountain village, you can reach the town. When you get to the town, ask for the bus station..."
As he spoke, Alugo took out something from his pocket and stuffed it into Ai Xiaolan's hand, then pushed her and told her to walk away quickly.
Ai Xiaolan was a little confused. She looked at the things in her hand. It was a route map drawn in pencil on a yellow exercise book, and some money, one Big Unity note, two two-yuan notes, one fifty-cent note, three ten-cent notes, and even a few cent notes.
"You have money, but you didn't give it out. Am cried for so long."
Why was Ai Xiaolan so angry? Because the dead mute wanted to drive her away.
With a cold face, she carried Xiaofeng on her back and went home. She left him here and let the wolves eat him. Then she and Am would be the only ones left at home.
The sky gradually darkened. Am had not come back yet. She only came home after it was completely dark these days. Xiaofeng had not come back either. Huodejiu, Rouwanzi and Juanjuan were pacing back and forth at the door, making nodding sounds.
Ai Xiaolan thought that they might be looking for their mother. Thinking of how good Am was to her, Ai Xiaolan felt a little guilty for some reason. If she lost Alugo, would she be angry?
Thinking of this, she went up the mountain again. Halfway up, she met Alugo, who was crawling home little by little, and Xiaofeng, who was following behind him and watching over him quietly.
When Xiaofeng saw Ai Xiaolan coming, he whined twice in a low voice, as if begging for something.
Alugo panted and looked up at Ai Xiaolan. Ai Xiaolan said stubbornly, "Do you know you are wrong? If you chase me away again in the future, I will throw you into the ditch."
Alugo didn't say anything.
She walked back with Alugo on her back, and Alugo's sweat dripped on the back of her neck. Ai Xiaolan froze.
Cried?
A feeling of guilt welled up in my heart. In fact, he was also a pitiful man.
When we got home, we filled a large basin with water for him, put a board on top of it, carried him in it and sat him down, brought a bucket of water for him and placed it next to the basin, and put clean clothes on the chair next to it.
The two returned to their previous state of not talking.
Ai Xiaolan would still take Xiaofeng, her mother and her four dogs to run around on the country paths, picking wild flowers, picking vegetables, and bringing water and raincoats to Am.
Alugo sat quietly at the door looking at her. His face, neck and arms were covered with lumps, which were caused by mosquito bites when Ai Xiaolan abandoned him on the mountain that day.
He made a potion by crushing some herbs and soaking them in water. He also gave Ai Xiaolan a bottle, saying it was for mosquito repellent, and asked her to apply some on her body after taking a shower.
Several months passed in a flash. Ai Xiaolan had learned how to chop wood in the mountains and catch shrimps in the river. She made two friends and also imitated other women, standing at the gate of her vegetable garden with her hands on her hips, and cursing in dialect for other people's chickens eating her vegetables.
It was the New Year, and Am bought Ai Xiaolan new clothes. Ai Xiaolan couldn't let go of the rough and rustic coat and asked, "What about yours?"
Am laughed and said, "Am is old, why should he wear new clothes? Only beautiful girls wear new clothes. Aru doesn't want it either, he is a man."
On New Year's Eve, Am killed a chicken. She asked Ai Xiaolan to catch the chicken with a bamboo rake. The hen was frightened and jumped up and down, screaming miserably. Ai Xiaolan also screamed very loudly.
When killing the chicken, Am asked her to hold the chicken's feet. The chicken kept struggling in her hands, which scared her and made her scream again. She felt that she was becoming more and more pampered.
At the New Year’s Eve dinner, she ate chicken legs, which were very delicious.
She seems to like this place more and more. She sleeps very soundly every day. She likes Eminem.
The next year, Alugo started treating patients and prescribing medicine again, and Am no longer followed her, asking her to go to the market with other people in the village to buy things, such as fruits and mushrooms.
The village chief's wife secretly ran over to tell Am and Alugo, "Xixi went to send a letter, and I intercepted her letter. You are too careless."
Am and Alugo did not open the letter. They only saw that the address on the envelope was sent to a province far away, a place called City A.
They resent the letter, and both mother and son were in very depressed mood during that time.
Ai Xiaolan thought that her family was out of money again, so she secretly found Alugo and asked him to carry her to the mountain to collect herbs. She wanted him to teach her to identify herbs. This way, when villagers asked him to prescribe medicine in the future, she could prepare the medicine for them herself, and others would not have to go to the town to get herbs. Moreover, she could earn some money. She wanted to go collecting herbs to supplement the family income.
Am and her son waited for a month... three months... half a year... a year.
Still no one came to pick up Ai Xiaolan.
They felt even more distressed for Ai Xiaolan. Her family was unreliable and didn't even come to ask for help when their daughter asked for it.
Ai Xiaolan knew nothing about all this. She ran barefoot in the fields against the wind. Her clear laughter could be heard from far away. The wreath of wild flowers on her head trembled slightly. She smiled brightly, "Rou Wanzi, you will live longer. Hurry up~"
The four dogs listened to her call and chased after her happily.
In 1990, it was Ai Xiaolan's third year in this family.
The country launched its fourth census, and Ai Xiaolan got her ID card. The name on the ID card read: Yu Xixi.
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