Fate (Novel)
That day, Old Zhang received 5,000 yuan from his son who had made a fortune by opening a company in Beijing. He shook his head and said, I have the hands and feet to earn more money from farming, so why would a person need so much money?
That night, Old Zhang was sleeping on the bed, unable to fall asleep. The figure of his late wife appeared in front of him. Old man Zhang thought that his wife was a famous local beauty when she married him, but she was in poor health and had a yellow face.
Old man Zhang loved his wife very much. At that time, everyone earned work points in the production team and women worked in the fields. Old man Zhang just refused to let his wife work in the fields.
Winter is coming and my wife is afraid of the cold. Mr. Zhang goes to bed first every day and uses his body temperature to warm the quilt before letting his wife go to bed. After going to bed, he hugged his wife's cold feet to his body. At night, when his wife got out of bed to relieve herself, Old Man Zhang lit the matchmaking lamp and put his clothes on his wife, for fear that she would freeze, and the cycle would start again.
Everyone in the village thinks it’s not worth it for Old Man Zhang to be so kind to his wife. Why should he treat his wife like a baby even if he raises a chicken that doesn’t lay eggs? After ten years of marriage, he has never seen Old Man Zhang’s wife’s belly bulge, but Old Man Zhang never takes the comments of the Murakami people seriously and is particularly sympathetic to his wife.
In the spring of this year, my wife kept vomiting after eating. Old man Zhang saw this and felt as if needles pricking his heart. He took his wife in a boat to the rural commune health center. The doctor saw her and said she was pregnant. This made Old Man Zhang shed tears of joy. He smiled and said to everyone he met, "I'm having a baby!"
Eight months later, Old Man Zhang's wife gave birth to a chubby boy. During the full moon, nine out of ten people who drank at Old Man Zhang's house were drunk. Old Man Zhang was so drunk that the whole room was filled with singing and dancing.
Old man Zhang never expected that three months later, his wife would sleep all night and never wake up again. Old man Zhang hugged his wife's stiff body and cried for three days and three nights, almost going crazy.
Old man Zhang thought of his dead wife and couldn't help but wet his pillow towel with tears. If my wife were alive and would be sixty this year, how happy she would be to see her son so promising. Alas! His life was so miserable yesterday.
Thinking about it, Old Man Zhang fell asleep in a daze, with dreams haunting him...
Old Man Zhang walked into a cattle slaughterhouse and saw: a little buffalo with its four hooves tied up, and tears gushing out from its eyes like spring water. A butcher was holding a sharp knife more than two feet long and was about to stab the calf under the neck. The little buffalo suddenly roared loudly: Old man Zhang, I am the reincarnation of your wife, save me!
Old man Zhang was awakened by the cow's cry for help, and his body was covered in cold sweat. This dream was strange. Old man Zhang could not sleep all night, and was disturbed by the cry for help of the little buffalo in his dream.
At dawn, old man Zhang got up, washed, ate, and hit the road, heading towards a cattle slaughterhouse outside the village.
Old man Zhang arrived at the cattle slaughterhouse, and the hoarse wailing of the cows waiting to be slaughtered came from the shed. The miserable sound was terrifying.
Old man Zhang walked quickly to the shed and saw a little buffalo with its hooves bound just like in his dream yesterday. With tears in his eyes, he saw the butcher holding a knife
walking towards the cow.
When old man Zhang saw this, he was determined to save the cow. He stepped forward and grabbed the butcher's knife hand and ordered, "You can't kill this cow, I bought it." The butcher was startled and said hurriedly, "Old man Zhang, what's wrong with you? We don't need oxen to plow the fields now. Why do you want to buy oxen? Go away, don't delay my work!"
Old man Zhang looked at the butcher, don't be nagging! Please quote a price.
When the butcher saw that Old Man Zhang was being serious, he smiled and said, "This cow is sold for about 5,000 yuan after being slaughtered. You really want to buy 4,500 yuan."
Old man Zhang said without hesitation, "I'll give you five thousand!" He went up and untied the rope that bound the cow's hooves, took the little buffalo and said to the butcher, "Follow me to get the money."
After old man Zhang paid the money, he took the little buffalo and went straight to his deceased wife's grave. He wanted to tell his deceased wife that the little buffalo was bought with the money
sent by his son.
As I approached the grave of my late wife, I saw a flower on the grave swaying gently in the wind. The swinging flower seemed to be smiling and nodding to Old Man Zhang.The old man secretly rejoiced, this was strange. I often visited the grave of my deceased wife, but I had never seen this flower before. How could one appear with such a bright and beloved flower? When I got closer, I saw that it was a Gossan flower that my deceased wife often wore when she was still alive. Could it be that his wife had a ghost? Old man Zhang became even more happy. He walked up to the flowers and kept smelling them. He murmured: Mother, don't worry, don't worry about the little buffalo. Is it your reincarnation? Since I saved it, I will treat it with kindness!
Old man Zhang kept talking to his late wife's tombstone about how much he missed his late wife. When he was tired, he lay down on the grass in the cemetery to take a nap. He stayed there until the sun set, and then slowly led the little buffalo home.
Old Man Zhang has this little buffalo of his own. He becomes cheerful, smiles often appear on his face, and he also likes to say a few words to people he meets. No matter where you go, you always take your little buffalo with you.
In spring, Old Man Zhang led the calf on the sunny hillside and let the calf eat the fresh green grass. In the summer, Old Man Zhang took the little buffalo and washed the cow's body clean in the mountain stream.
In the autumn, Old Man Zhang dragged the little buffalo and asked the cow to carry the sweet potatoes and corn harvested from the fields to the market for sale.
In winter, Old Man Zhang led the little buffalo out of the house and basked in the sun with the cow in a place sheltered from the wind and the sun.
Old man Zhang walked through the spring, summer, autumn and winter with the little buffalo, watching the little buffalo grow into a big buffalo, and the cow's body gradually became plump, especially its big black eyes, which were watery, like the eyes of his deceased wife.
Whenever Old Man Zhang and Buffalo were together, he always told Niu'er every detail of his late wife's life, told Niu'er about the pain of missing his wife, told Niu'er about the hardships in raising his son, and told Niu'er about his son's sensibleness and hard work in studying and his success today.
Niu'er seemed to be listening to Old Man Zhang's story, sometimes rubbing his mouth on Old Man Zhang's face. At this time, Old Man Zhang was like a child, holding Niu'er's head with both hands and pressing his face against Niu'er's ears,
Spring, summer, autumn and winter, repeated over and over again. Old man Zhang's face was gradually covered with wrinkles, his hair was as white as frost, and his back was hunched.
Niu'er's clear and bright eyes also became cloudy, the skin beside his thighs wrinkled into grooves, and the hair on his body gradually became sparse. Old man Zhang has gradually aged over the years, coughing from time to time and walking slowly. Old Man Zhang's son returned to his hometown several times to pick up his father, Old Man Zhang, to live in Beijing for retirement. Old Man Zhang told his son in a non-negotiable tone that as long as Niu'er was alive, he would stay with Niu'er wherever he went! The son could only leave a lot of money and return to Beijing helplessly.
This winter is extremely cold. On this day, Old Man Zhang and Old Buffalo were nesting in the house. Old Man Zhang stroked the cow's head with both hands and said slowly to Old Buffalo, "Since I rescued you from the slaughterhouse, we have been getting along day and night for more than 20 years." Now that you are old and I am about to die, if you had walked in front of me, I would have buried you in glory. If I die before you, there may be unscrupulous people who turn your body into money. Speaking of this, Old Man Zhang couldn't help but sigh. The old buffalo seemed to understand what Old Man Zhang said, and made a grunting sound in his throat.
Old man Zhang got into his clothes and went to sleep early that night because of the freezing cold. After serving the old buffalo, he got into bed early.
The next morning, the bright sunshine shone into Old Man Zhang's bed from the window. Seeing such a beautiful day, Old Man Zhang got dressed and wanted to take the old buffalo outside to bask in the sun. When old man Zhang opened the door of the old buffalo's house, he saw the old buffalo lying in the straw, his body was stiff, and the old cow was dead. Seeing this scene, Old Man Zhang felt a sore nose and tears overflowed from his eyes.
A new grave was built next to the grave of old man Zhang's deceased wife.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-