Early April, 1990.
if you go out of Bingzhou city and walk five kilometers to the south, you will see a relatively flat hillside. At this time, spring's footsteps just arrived. In other places, green only sprouted a little bit, but here, the dark green weeds have grown to more than half a foot high. Under the cover of these weeds, soil bags of nearly one meter high covered the whole hillside.
Yes, it's a cemetery. It's a famous Nanshan cemetery in Bingzhou city.
cremation was not very popular in Bingzhou at that time, so people in Bingzhou would be pulled here in nine out of ten after they died. Of course, the family with two money will decorate the grave bag well, erect the stele on it, and engrave the words of the tomb of so and so. If my family is not very rich, I can only dig a hole. After burying the people, I will pile up a soil bag and finish the work, without even a tablet.
because there are hundreds of corpses in the ground, the weeds here grow so fierce and crazy. Although you can see the green here from a long distance, it makes people feel flustered. Let alone look carefully, it makes people feel cool from the bottom of their hearts to glance at the country.
it's so infiltrating here. People and vehicles passing by can avoid it, and they can circle it. Only when they can't get away, the drivers will step on the accelerator and hope to pass at the fastest speed. This is true in the daytime, not to mention in the evening. As long as it is dark, there is no third living thing here that can breathe except for the toad and the black crow.
it's almost eleven o'clock in the evening. The dark night and the dark green fires make the grave more gloomy and terrifying. Fortunately, there are several crows "Whoa" from time to time, or it will become a dead place without any life.
at this time, a yellow minivan left Binzhou.
Bingzhou is a provincial capital city. There are many cities that go out of the city at night. But like this van, when you go out of the city, you directly run to this graveyard. It's not so much a problem, but there is no problem at all.
the five kilometer road is not long at all. Within ten minutes, the car has stopped at the bottom of the hillside. There is no road on the hillside. You can only go up on your own legs.
the driver was a young man in his twenties. As soon as the car stopped, he got out of the car and opened the back door. In the back of the van was a man who was not a few years older than the little one. He carefully held a baby girl wrapped in a small quilt in his hand. After the door opened, he didn't get out of the car in a hurry, but first tightened the quilt. After making sure that the baby girl won't be blown by the wind, he got off with the help of the young girl. Even so, the man still put the movement of getting out of the car as light as possible, for fear of frightening the baby girl who is still sleeping.
when he got out of the car, the man held the baby girl tighter. I don't know if the moon is covered or what, the hillside is even darker at this time, almost black to the point where nothing can be seen clearly. Even though the lights in front of the van were on, the light was engulfed by the endless darkness in front of the van before it was a few meters away. What's more, even the crows on the hillside don't cry at this time. The grave on the hillside is more like a coffin. As long as he takes another step forward, he will be locked in the coffin.
he was afraid when he fought, hurt or even carried his life on his back. No matter how big the battle was and how critical the scene was, he never wanted to give up. Today, however, facing the hillside ahead, he was afraid.
he hesitated and began to doubt. He wanted to give up. He wanted to hold the child and turn around and get on the bus and leave the place where he felt frightened. But in the end he didn't turn around. He couldn't turn around.
looking at the baby in his arms, he bit his teeth, hit the prepared flashlight, took a deep breath and wanted to move forward.
"fourth brother, do you really believe that old guy's words? Let's either, or... " The young man in the back said "no" for several times, but he didn't come out at last because he didn't know what to do.
the fourth brother didn't look back. He just asked, or answered, "do you think I have another choice?"
young man stopped talking. He knew that there was no choice. Fourth brother had no choice.
"fourth brother, I'll go with you!" When the fourth brother was about to step forward, the young man said firmly. Even though he is now more scared than his fourth brother, and even though his calf began to turn from the moment he got off the bus, he still bravely said this. For nothing else, because the fourth brother always treats him as his own brother, which he thinks is enough.
this time, the fourth brother turned his head. He looked at the young man's excited face. He didn't say anything but shook his head gently. He is very clear about young man. Although young man is fearless when he usually starts, he can only be afraid of people and ghosts. It's hard for young people to drive themselves here this time. Why let him take risks again. Besides, the old saying is very clear. If he comes alone with the children, he'd better ask the young man to wait below.
"take this, just in case there are hard goods." The rejected young man didn't take a sigh of relief. He was more worried about the safety of the fourth brother, so he took out a short gun from the car and handed it to the fourth brother. It's a soil shotgun with a sawed barrel. It can be used to shoot steel balls or iron sand. Although it takes half a day to reload after shooting, it's a magic weapon in a fight. And the last sentence of little young is to remind fourth brother that the gun is loaded with hard goods - steel balls.
four brothers thought about it a little, but still didn't refuse it. He took the shotgun, put it in his arms, and then he started to walk up the hillside with the child in his arms. The young man didn't stop him this time, and the fourth brother didn't look back.
there is no path on the hillside. Even if there is, it's dark, and the fourth brother can't find it. Stepping on the thick turf, soft, like stepping on whose body. The dim yellow flashlight reflected a black oily color on the grass without feet, which made him feel very uncomfortable. At this time, the hillside is very quiet. There is no sound except the rustle of every step of his foot. It seems that his people have been locked into this big coffin.
it seems that it has disappeared quietly. The fourth brother who just walked a few steps can't feel the light of the light behind him. He wanted to look back, but he didn't dare. He worried that he would run back to the car as soon as he looked back. His feeling told him that he should leave the place where he was afraid from the bottom of his heart, but his reason told him to stay and move on.
he still didn't turn around, or he went on with a deep and shallow foot. He had no choice. Maybe it's scary, maybe it's dangerous, but there's only hope. It's his responsibility to move on, a responsibility to be a father.