The Road Home

  The sun was at its most poisonous time, and Qiao Lian'ou hastened her pace forward.

  Out of the river dam, came to a bridge on an irrigation canal.

  The weir canal was dug out by human, Qiao Lian'ou estimated that it was the project just after liberation, some simple, all made of stones from the river dam, with cement filling the gaps. The water in this canal is used for irrigation of crops in the village, and the river water flows through the upstream entrance several miles away, along the canal to here, and then flows into the river. The water in the canal is very clean because it is river water and flowing, every now and then there is a small dock, for villagers to wash vegetables and clothes.

  Qiao Lian'ou remembered that when she was a child, she often bathed in this irrigation canal. The deepest part of the water was only about one person's height, unlike the outside river where even bamboo poles couldn't reach the bottom. From the surface of the water, the color was very dark, black and mysterious, giving people a sense of fear, always feeling that there were some kind of monsters living inside.

  The children who grew up by the river since childhood would spend every day in the water during the summer, and it was rare for them not to know how to swim. Jiaolong, being a wild and bold child, was especially good at swimming, and his two younger sisters would often follow him to the river to play. If they were just washing up in the irrigation canal, their mother Qin Ying wouldn't have been so angry today. With many children and much work to do both inside and outside the house, she knew she couldn't keep an eye on them all the time, so she would often turn a blind eye. But this time, they had gone to swim in the big river again, which would make any adult angry.

  Jiao Lian'ou thought for a moment, and didn't blame her mother Qin Ying at all. If she were the mother herself, and her child carelessly ran to swim in the dangerous big river, she would definitely be even angrier than before.

  Crossing the bridge over the irrigation canal, passing by a simple grain processing plant, Qiao Lian'ou walked onto the main road in the cornfield.

  The corn was growing most luxuriantly and robustly, the good variety of corn with thick and tall stalks, much taller than adults. This large piece of land is several hundred acres, the land is flat and fertile, whatever is planted will grow well, it's the main source of food for the villagers. Qiao Lin'ou's mother was a farmer, plus three children, their family also allocated some land in this dam.

  This flat and fertile dam was turned into a development zone many years later, and it can no longer be used to grow grain. On top of it stand rows of buildings that are almost identical in appearance and lack any aesthetic appeal. As Qiao Lin Yu walks along the edge, she can't help but feel a pang of sadness for the future fate of this land.

  After walking for a while, I saw a figure in front of me who was slowly trudging along. Upon closer inspection, wasn't that the back of Song Xiaoshan? What was he doing still dawdling on this road?

  Qiao Lian'ou ran quickly for a few steps and caught up with Song Xiaoshan, saying "What's wrong with walking so slowly? Don't you want to hurry back home for dinner?"

  Swimming is the most tiring exercise, every time after washing up in the river and climbing onto the shore, my belly almost sticks to my back. At that moment, bringing a bowl of rice to eat is just heavenly, even Jiao Lianyu feels extremely hungry, thinking about the fragrant rice makes her salivate.

  "Never mind, I don't want to leave so soon." Song Xiaoshan replied casually.

  "Afternoon, when I come to find the cow, I'll call you, bring a basket and pick up some firewood on the way back home. You're having summer vacation, the firewood you picked should be enough for your family to burn for a while."

  "Uh, okay." Jiaolianyu only then realized that it was now summer vacation time. Every day she had to let out the cattle and gather firewood, with a lot of work to do. Unlike those born in the 90s, who at her age spent their summer vacations playing online games every day, never getting sunburned or rained on, completely unaware of the hardships of life.

  The two of them chatted and laughed, and soon they walked out of the cornfield. Some houses appeared in front of them, and they were almost home.

  When it comes to the house, Qiao Lianyou is a bit confused. In her previous life, she should have renovated the house once and moved out of the old one. Now she doesn't know where she lives, in the new house or the old one?

  As he walked, Song Xiaoshan suddenly stopped and said:

  "You're still not going home? Where else are you going? Your mom might still be at home waiting to scold you, so you'd better be careful."

  Qiao Lian'ou was startled and stopped, looking to the right side of the road, where there was a small alley over ten meters long. Oh, it turned out that her family hadn't moved yet, Qiao Lian'ou's face turned red as she hastily bid farewell to Song Xiaoshan and slipped into the alley.

  In Qian Lian's memory, turning right halfway down that alley would lead her straight home.

  Oh, old house, it's been decades, I'm back again.

  Qiao Lian'ou's eyes were almost moist, completely forgetting that Qin Ying's scolding might still be waiting for her.

  Walking to the middle of the alley, on the right-hand side is a small dam about ten meters wide. It's a passageway and also where Qiao Lianyu's family cools off in the summer. After passing through the passageway, you enter a courtyard. The courtyard is very large. On the east side live Qiao Lianyu's grandfather and grandmother as well as Third Uncle. Qiao Lianyu's family lives on the south side. There are houses on both sides of the passageway. One side is where Qiao Lianyu's family lives, and the other side is where their neighbor, Qiao Tianyou's family, lives. On the west and north sides live two more families, also with the surname Qiao.

  Qiao Lian'ou had always been unaware of who built this courtyard and how it came to be in such a layout. Later, thinking about it, she thought that perhaps it was the landlords before liberation who built it. After liberation, the landlords were overthrown, and these houses naturally became divided among the poor villagers for them to live in.

  Although many years have passed, everything in the courtyard is still so familiar. The middle was used to dry grain, and there was a large stone mill in the northeast corner, which was used to grind flour.

  Qiao Lianou quietly walked in, stood in front of her own house, looked around, the yard was very quiet, it was too hot, at this time no one should have the energy to run around and make noise, maybe some people were taking a nap.

  Mom, Dad, little sister, where are you?

  Qiao Lian'ou hung the wet clothes in her hand on the rope tied in the yard, entered the hall with a creaky door, and looked around, but no one was there. She then ran to the other two rooms to take a look, still no one. Just as she was wondering where everyone was, she heard voices coming from the kitchen, oh, maybe they were all in the kitchen.

  Qiao Lian'ou walked towards the kitchen with an excited heart.

  The threshold was high, and Qiao Lian'ou lifted her feet with difficulty to enter. She saw that two little girls were arguing about something by the stove.

  "Lotus flower, lotus pod, what are you doing?"

  The second sister is called Lian Hua, and the third sister is called Lian Peng. As soon as they heard someone coming in, the two little ones stopped arguing and turned their heads together, and it was actually their older sister Lian Ou.

  "Sister, she wants to secretly eat the food mom left for you, I didn't let her have it, and now she's arguing..." Little sister Lianpeng hurriedly ran over to tattle as soon as big sister came back.

  "They didn't eat enough earlier, one bowl is not enough, you have so much in your bowl, I want to eat a bit more."

  The lotus flower pouted and complained.

  Qiao Lian'ou smiled, this second sister, since childhood has been very cunning, loves to win and can't stand losing, she often bullied her and third sister. In Qiao Lian'ou's past life, sometimes she hated this second sister so much that her teeth itched, but now it's different, although there is some competitiveness, the second sister is also a kind-hearted girl. Now reborn, seeing her childhood appearance again, how can she still hate her? She's too happy to be angry.