♂?，，

  Call the police? This is a rural area, it'll probably take them an hour to get here.

  Take the bus back? What about all these passengers?

  Let them off? Wouldn't that be letting them off too easily?

  "Hehe, young man, don't worry, just relax, hand them over to us and we'll take care of it according to the old rules!" A rustic-looking farmer uncle patted Xiaoyu's shoulder warmly.

  "What old rules? What old rules?" Xiaoyu was somewhat bewildered.

  The peasant uncle didn't answer, he waved his big hand and said, "Fellow villagers, let's get to work, follow the old rules!"

  Several people immediately stood up and started stripping the robbers, and in a short while, they stripped the two men bare, leaving only their underwear on.

  Xiao Yu looked more and more confused, "What kind of old rules is this?"

  The two bandits were injured and, after this ordeal, they let out ear-piercing screams like pigs being slaughtered.

  The bandit with a knife wound on his leg had only been simply bandaged, and now the wound was bleeding again.

  "Mr. Liu! Open the car door and throw them out!" The old farmer said to the driver.

  "What? Throw them out?" Xiaoyu looked outside, Henan was indeed a central region, and the winter weather was no less harsh than in the north. At this moment, the wind was biting and cold outside, although it wasn't snowing, but still below zero degrees. He couldn't help but feel some sympathy for the two bandits.

  As the car door opened, two naked figures rolled out. The two people subconsciously hugged each other, like two little chickens, shivering in the cold wind. At this moment, they had not a bit of their previous ferocity.

  "Are they okay?" Looking at the two of them, Xiaoyu couldn't help but feel a little worried. If someone got killed, things would get out of hand.

  "What comes out mixed will always have to be repaid. Since we've made a robbery, we must have this mental preparation. There's a village just two or three miles ahead, we won't die!" The old farmer said in a low voice and patted the driver's back, "Liu Shifu, drive on!"

  "Alright!" The driver stepped on the gas pedal and the car sped away.

  The big cow handed out the loose change in the plastic bag and walked towards Xiaoyu, but bumped into an old farmer and exclaimed in surprise, "Langer Uncle? Is that Langer Uncle?"

  "Is it?" The old farmer looked at the face of the big cow and felt that it was somewhat familiar, but he couldn't call out its name.

  "I'm a big cow! Yang the Big Cow from the east of the village!" Big Cow patted his chest, and an excited look appeared on his face.

  "Wow, it's Big Cow! Hey, in six years you've grown so tall! You're even two heads taller than me!" Zhang Gen Shu grabbed Big Cow's shoulders, sighing with emotion. The little kid who used to run around his house playing under the trees had now grown into a full-fledged adult.

  "Old Changgen, you haven't changed at all. How's Tie Dan? Is he still in the village?" Da Niu's best friend in the village was Tie Dan, the third child of Old Changgen's family. The two were close in age and often played together.

  "Long Gen sighed and said, 'He left early, in the second year after he left, he said that the old nest was also useless in this mountain valley, wanted to go south to work, earn some money, mainly to see the world. Now our village is mostly left with old people and children, young people have almost all gone out to make a living...'"

  Dà niú and Cháng Gēn Shū seemed to have endless topics to discuss, while Xiǎo Yǔ quietly listened on the side, gradually outlining a rough picture of the current rural situation in his mind.

  The car rattled and shook for another half hour before finally arriving at the station.

  Xiao Yu got off the car with Da Niu and Zhang Gen Shu.

  Chang Gen Shu led the way, walking along a winding mountain path. As they walked, Da Niu introduced the area to Xiao Yu, explaining that it was still some distance from Yang Village and that the road was all uphill. Because the road had not been well-maintained, cars were unable to drive up.

  The mountain road was narrow and steep, but Uncle Changgen walked as if he were on flat ground. It seemed that he had practiced walking on mountain roads since childhood, and his skills were no less than those of Xiao Yu and Da Niu, the two young men.

  "Great master, since this place is so far from the county town, what do the villagers rely on for a living?" Little Yu asked, unable to bear the rugged mountain road.

  "In the past, we were all hunters. As the saying goes, 'rely on the mountain to eat from the mountain'. Now the country doesn't allow hunting anymore, and all the guns have been confiscated. We can only find some flat land to open up a few acres, plant some potatoes, corn, and other things, eat a part ourselves, and sell a part. But this stuff can't be sold for a good price, so the villagers are getting poorer and poorer. Sometimes we can only secretly hunt some wild game to improve our lives a bit, otherwise it's really hard to survive."

  Xiao Yu was speechless, this poor place is getting poorer and poorer, while the rich places are getting richer and richer. As the saying goes, "when you're poor, think of changing", this small mountain village should also change. He had brought several thousand yuan with him this time, if Dà Niú's family needed it, he would be happy to help them find a way out of poverty.

  Besides, last time I heard from Big Cow's grandfather that they had changed their medicinal herbs in recent years, but I don't know what the situation is like now.

  After walking for twenty minutes, Yang Village finally appeared in front of Xiao Yu.

  This is a small mountain village, with about twenty or thirty households. Compared to other plain villages that have passed by, the village has bumpy roads and more dilapidated houses, mostly earth-sheltered houses, exuding a strong aura of poverty.

  "Great, let's get together with friends at my place for dinner tomorrow! Thanks to you guys today, otherwise I would have made a wasted trip to the county town!" Zhang Gen Shu stopped in his tracks at the village entrance, his home was located at the west end of the village, in the opposite direction from Da Niu's house.

  This time he sold some wild game that he had secretly hunted to a restaurant in the city, exchanging it for many everyday necessities. He also had several dozen yuan left over in his pocket, which he was planning to use for his grandson's school expenses.

  "Uncle Changgen, we're fellow villagers, no need to be so polite. Let's catch up another time when you're free!"

  The three of them parted ways at the village entrance and each returned home.

  Xiao Yu followed Da Niu on the dirt road in the village, winding and turning, until they finally stopped in front of a house at the east end of the village.

  The house of this family is also an earth house, which looks like it's been around for over 30 years. The house is divided into two rooms, east and west, but the yard is quite large. In the middle of the yard stands a huge tree with a trunk as thick as a man can hug, surrounded by a fence made of branches that is half a person high.

  In the courtyard, several half-grown chickens were scattered about. A middle-aged woman of small stature was sitting on the threshold, feeding the chickens.

  "Daughter!" Big Cow opened the courtyard gate and called out only once, but felt as if something was stuck in his throat, unable to speak.

  The middle-aged woman's body suddenly shook, and she quickly raised her head to see the big cow standing at the gate of the yard. She was stunned for a moment, and with a "clatter" sound, the feed basin in her hand fell to the ground, scattering the feed all over the place. The few little chickens immediately rushed over and scrambled for the feed.

  The big ox strode forward in large strides and arrived at the middle-aged woman's side in a few steps. With a thud, he knelt down on both knees, "Mother! I'm back!"

  A middle-aged woman stretched out her trembling right hand, touched the top of her son's head which was almost as tall as she was sitting, with tears in her eyes, and hugged her son tightly in her arms, saying repeatedly, "Dà Niú, it's good that you're back, it's good that you're back!"

  Xiao Yu looked at the mother and son in front of him, but his heart was filled with a pang of sadness. If only he could have this day for himself, how wonderful it would be!

  "Brother!" A clear and crisp girl's voice came from inside the house, immediately followed by a 16 or 17-year-old girl appearing at the door.

  The girl had braids, wearing a small floral quilted jacket. Although the clothes were not new, they looked clean. The girl had a delicate face that mountain children didn't have, especially a pair of big eyes, clear and transparent. As soon as Xiao Yu saw her, he immediately thought of the Hope Project propaganda painting that was posted all over Shanghai's streets and alleys.

  "Is it Er Ya?" Big Cow came out of his mother's arms, looking at the girl with some disbelief.

  "Foolish child, who else could it be but his sister?" The mother of Da Niu secretly wiped away her tears. Her son had been gone for six years, and as the saying goes, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, but a mother's worries never end." In these years, she had worried about him countless times, and now that he was standing in front of her, safe and sound, her heart was filled with joy.

  "Brother! You're finally back!" Er Ya rushed out of the house and threw herself onto Da Niu's body.

  The big brother hugged his own sister, thinking that when he left, she was still a little girl, but unexpectedly, in these six years, his sister had become a big girl.

  Er Ya hugged her brother for a while, suddenly saw Xiao Yu standing at the gate of the courtyard, her face suddenly turned red, and hid behind Da Niu.

  Girls in the mountains rarely see strangers, some are shy, Er Ya secretly measured this strange boy with her eyes, apparently he came with her brother, "Who is he? Is he my brother's friend?"

  "Mother, Er Ya, this is Zhang Xiao Yu, the one I mentioned in my last letter, and also my current boss."

  "Boss?" Big Cow's mother and Er Ya exclaimed at the same time. In their imagination, Big Cow's boss should be a middle-aged man in his 40s, while Xiao Yu was at most one or two years older than Er Ya, how did he become Big Cow's boss?

  Xiao Yu walked in with a smile and said, "I'm not the boss, I'm a friend of Da Niu's. You can just call me Xiao Yu."

  The mother and daughter saw Xiao Yu speaking with a warm tone, and suddenly had a good impression of him.

  Xiao Yu chatted with them for a while, and everyone gradually became more familiar with each other.

  When the mother and daughter learned from Da Niu's mouth about how Xiao Yu had taken him in, they were even more grateful to Xiao Yu from the bottom of their hearts.

  "Mom, why isn't Grandpa at home?" Big Cow was surprised when he didn't see Grandpa come out.

  "Grandpa left early this morning, saying that it's the New Year and he went to the mountains to hunt some wild game to add some meat dishes for the family. It's almost noon now, so he should be back soon. You must be hungry? Second daughter, hurry up and cook, I'll go help tidy up the house, Big Cow, keep an eye on Little Yu, don't neglect our guests."

  Er Ya let out a crisp "ai" and picked up a small basket to go pick some vegetables in the courtyard, and the mother-daughter duo suddenly became busy.

  The big cow took the little universe to visit at home, this thing has four rooms in two houses, the middle is a place to eat and kitchen, although the house is old, but the place is quite spacious.

  According to what the big cow said, this house was built by the big cow's father when he got married. At that time, the villagers helped and spent a week building it. Unexpectedly, his father went out to work and died outside, but this house didn't live for many years.

  Xiao Yu looked around and saw that the life in this mountain was indeed incomparable to that in the city. Except for the essential furniture, there wasn't even a TV; the most valuable thing in the house was probably an old-fashioned radio.

  The room of Da Niu has been uninhabited for a long time, and it is full of miscellaneous things. Da Niu is afraid that his mother will be tired, so he goes in to help his mother. Xiao Yu has nothing to do, so he helps Er Ya with cooking in the kitchen.

  This young girl, despite her young age, has quick hands and feet. It seems she's used to doing household chores. Before long, a dish of stir-fried pork with chili peppers was ready.

  Seeing Xiao Yu helping her with the chores, Er Ya started to feel a bit embarrassed, but felt better after a while.

  "Little Yu, are there really trains running underground in big cities?" Er Ya asked suddenly while washing vegetables.

  "Yes, that's the subway. There is a subway entrance not far from our store, and many people take it every day." Xiaoyu secretly wiped his sweat, he had been in Shanghai for so long, but had never taken the subway once.

  "Really! I want to go see the big city!" Er Ya's eyes suddenly flashed with a hint of longing. As a child from the mountains, the farthest place she had been was Neihuang County Town. The big city was just a distant dream for her.

  －－－－

  Next chapter update notice - 3 pm this afternoon! Merry Christmas to everyone, there are only two more chapters left before we reach the hundredth chapter. What surprising changes will Xiao Yu undergo in the hundredth chapter? Please stay tuned.

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