Chapter 19: The Village Veteran
"Yangzi, can I treat this as a request from my third brother?"

"Brother San, get up quickly. What are you doing? I don't want the house. Really, get up first and then talk to uncle. Speak, aren't you going to tell them the truth?"

Help my third cousin up.

Lu Yang was a little angry and turned to question his uncle.

His uncle curled his lips and muttered quietly: "This bastard is really good at scolding me. What's wrong with making him angry? He deserves it."

It seems that the father and son often quarrel.

Is this what they call, the sick people at home, fighting with each other?
Lu Yang said with a smile: "If you don't tell me, then I will tell you."

"Third brother, elder brother Youren, cousin Youli, cousin Youzhi, cousin Youxin, you all heard correctly just now. Uncle and I are indeed discussing pulling up the peach saplings in the field beside the gravel road. But don't worry, this is the condition I use to exchange for the two and a half houses that grandpa left for my father. If you give me that piece of land, my two and a half houses will belong to you in the future. Whether you agree or not, you can discuss it first."

"really?"

"Is there any need to consider that? Of course, I will exchange the land for the house."

"But land is the future! Don't we have to wait until the peach trees grow up and then sell the peaches in a few years to get money to marry a wife?"

"Tsk, you are so naive. Do you really think that you can earn enough money to marry a wife just by selling a few peaches from the peach tree?"

"But that's better than nothing!"

"Okay, we'll all listen to Big Brother. If Big Brother says to change, then we'll change. If Big Brother says no, then we'll make room."

The cousins ​​argued for a long time, and in the end the eldest cousin had to make the decision.

This also surprised Lu Yang, and he couldn't help but sneak a glance at his uncle whose lips were trembling.

No, your father is still alive?
Uncle and aunt, you have no right to speak?
Is the family status already so bad?

There seems to be a mistake.

He should have gone straight to the fields, brought some good wine, and had a few drinks with his eldest cousin and several of his younger cousins.

Instead of spending a lot of time here talking to my uncle.

Fortunately, the matter was resolved satisfactorily in the end.

The eldest cousin agreed to exchange the best land in the family for Lu Yang's old house, and also promised to move the peach saplings in the land as soon as possible. As for whether the peach saplings can survive after being moved, it is summer now, so it all depends on God's will.

Back to the first question.

Lu Yang also said that he wanted to ask his eldest cousin to do him a favor and accompany him on a long journey, and he also promised to give him a subsidy of five yuan a day.

This immediately shocked all the cousins.

They looked at Lu Yang with envy: If there is such a good thing, don’t just take care of the eldest brother, take us brothers with you too?

Unfortunately, Lu Yang couldn't bring all of his cousins ​​with him, and he couldn't afford the travel expenses for such a long journey.

So, we still have to follow the plan and can only bring two people.

My eldest cousin is one of them.

For the other one, he already has other candidates.

At noon, my uncle invited me to stay and had a simple meal. It was still sweet potato and multi-grain porridge. I deeply felt that my uncle's family was indeed living a difficult life. Fortunately, there was wine, fried peanuts and dried fish, which I could still swallow.

My aunt just finished reporting his bad deeds this morning.

After that, he stayed in the fields and finished the remaining work for his sons.

When they got home and heard the truth, they immediately regarded Lu Yang as the great benefactor of the family.

I didn't persuade Lu Yang to drink less at noon.

She also reminded him that next time he came, she would definitely not cook sweet potato porridge anymore. How could she let such a good nephew drink watery food? He must eat something solid, and it must be paired with fatty meat. The shiny and moist fatty meat could be made into braised pork, which would be so delicious.

Lu Yang just listened.

If you really believe what your aunt says, you'd be really stupid.

Do not believe?

It will definitely be rarer next time.

Riding his bicycle, Lu Yang continued to head towards the earthen brick and green tile area at the foot of the mountains.

The second helper he was looking for also had the surname Lu, and was also an orphan like him, Lu Yang, but this orphan had served in the army.

According to Lu Yang's memory, this cousin named Lu Dajun should be the most capable fighter among the people he knows in the entire village.

Moreover, he had a good relationship with the other party. They both had the surname Lu, the same ancestor, their grandfathers were cousins, and they both lost their fathers when they were young. In the past few years, they had fought side by side with the teenagers of the same age with the surnames Yin and Ma who bullied them in the village.

However, they later chose different paths.

Lu Yang had no food to eat, so he became a disciple of Old Man Yin and learned how to be a good carpenter.

Da Jun's mother died of complications during childbirth of his younger sister. His father was a worker at the state-owned coal mine in the town and died in a mining accident, leaving a large sum of money for his resettlement. In addition, his grandfather was still alive. After graduating from junior high school, he joined the army at the suggestion of his grandfather, who named him Da Jun.

Lu Yang also knew that this second grandfather of his clan, Lu Dajun's biological grandfather, was also a veteran who had carried a gun to the battlefield, fought against the Japanese, and crossed the Yalu River. He left after achieving his mission, and no one recognized his achievements.

Ten years later, at the end of the century.

It was not until the death of the second grandfather of this family that this little-known piece of history was brought to light. It was said that on the day of the funeral, many high-ranking military leaders came.

It was a pity that Lu Yang was not there and did not have the chance to witness this scene with his own eyes.

At that time, he was still working in the south, and he deliberately avoided thinking about this small village at the foot of the Xuefeng Mountain in southwestern Hunan. If it weren't for a co-worker from the same village who came up with this story to brag about it, he would have no idea about it.

It’s just a pity for the army.

This second grandfather was upright and honest. He was unable to help his grandson until his death. Otherwise, after retiring from the army, Da Jun returned to his hometown and was deceived by a group of thugs who were also children of state-owned coal miners in the town. They teamed up to contract a barren hill in the village, saying they wanted to plant tea trees and set up a tea factory.

In fact, the tea trees were planted, but the tea plantation was not established.

the reason is simple.

The intentions of this gang of workers' children and hooligans were not pure at all. On the surface, they planted tea trees all over the mountain, but secretly they were stealing the peat hidden under the tea mountain.

After the truth came to light.

They put all the blame on Dajun, saying that he was the legal representative of the tea factory and that everything was directed by Dajun. They were merely shareholders of the tea plantation and knew nothing about the theft of peat from under the tea mountains.

The final result: Da Jun was sentenced to seven years in prison, while the other shareholders only had to pay a fine. Seven years later, Da Jun, who was released from prison, killed someone in anger, and both parties died together.

Think of this.

Lu Yang, who was riding a bicycle, felt a burning sensation in his heart. Now that he was reborn, he could not let the army get involved in this mess again. However, those guys deserved it. When the tea trees were planted, he could take it easy. If the other party really took action, he could report them and send them in for reform.

Well, dealing with these social scum is also a contribution to this era.

Lu Yang silently gave himself a thumbs up in his heart.

(End of this chapter)