"Comrade, what's the matter with you?" A small-eyed female educated youth was walking out carrying a basin when she saw Ji Yuanhai standing at the door of the team.

"Hello, comrade, I'm looking for Lu Heling."

Ji Yuanhai said.

The female educated youth was startled for a moment and looked at Ji Yuanhai.

"Are you looking for Lu Heling?"

Ji Yuanhai nodded.

The small-eyed female educated youth nodded, turned around and shouted into the room: "Lu Heling, someone is looking for you!"

After a while, a pale woman slowly walked out and saw Ji Yuan Hai.

"Hello."

She said, and then said nothing again, just looking at Ji Yuanhai without asking him what he was doing.

Although his eyes were looking at the Era Sea, there was no focus. It was just like looking at a wall in a trance.

This look made Ji Yuanhai feel troublesome.

Although we had worked in the fields together and we were barely acquainted with her, we still didn't even want to talk. How should I convince her?

How should I start speaking?

After hesitating for a moment, Ji Yuanhai had not spoken yet, and Lu Heling was also stunned. The two of them were like two pieces of wood, and they were silent for a while.

After a few seconds, Ji Yuanhai smiled: "Standing is not an option, how about walking?"

Lu Heling didn't seem to hear it.

Ji Yuanhai had no choice but to repeat: "I said, let's go for a walk. I have something to tell you."

Lu Heling finally had a slight change in her expression.

"Why?"

"I have something to tell you." Ji Yuanhai repeated again.

Lu Heling was like a jammed machine. She paused for a moment before reacting.

Because of Ji Yuanhai's persistence, she finally stopped asking any more questions and followed Ji Yuanhai out of the team headquarters.

The two of them walked slowly along the loess road in the countryside. Ji Yuanhai was also organizing words in his heart - he couldn't just say "your parents are dead", "I want to marry you", "don't commit suicide". Kind of words...

Let’s take a detour and start from other aspects.

"Lu Heling, where are you from?"

Lu Heling looked at Ji Yuanhai and seemed to be trying hard to think about what he meant.

After two seconds, he said: "Provincial capital."

"Are you from the provincial capital? The provincial capital is a big city, it should be very prosperous, right?" Ji Yuanhai asked.

Lu Heling was distracted again and did not answer Ji Yuanhai's words.

She looked at an elm tree on the side of the road and stopped.

Ji Yuanhai turned around and saw that it was an elm tree with a large piece of bark peeled off.

The rough bark is like a large piece of black fish scales that has been dried in the sun.

Where the bark had been stripped off, the inner part glowed with an old yellow color.

"It's like this, can it still survive?"

Lu Heling stretched out her hand to touch the scarred elm tree and asked softly.

Ji Yuanhai turned his head and looked at her with a focused expression.

"It's still alive." Ji Yuanhai said, gesturing to Lu Heling to look up above her head. The green elm leaves stretched out above her head, densely intertwined into a shadow.

Lu Heling's eyes were reddish, and she touched the yellowed part of the elm tree with her fingers.

The place where the bark was cut is like a wound after being humiliated, which will never heal.

"It's like this, why does it still live?"

Lu Heling asked softly again.

Ji Yuanhai immediately said: "Because it makes sense to live."

Lu Heling immediately turned her head and raised her voice slightly: "What is the meaning?"

"The meaning is to survive, to continue, to reproduce; to heal the pain and usher in a better tomorrow..." Ji Yuanhai said immediately.

Tears welled up in Lu Heling's eyes. She stretched out her hand and patted the peeled elm tree hard: "It's like this, do you still want to live?"

"Is it still alive?"

"Look at this elm tree. It was originally intact, but now it is so ugly!"

"I want it to survive, and it can survive." Ji Yuanhai said in a deep tone, "It is still very good."

Lu Heling suddenly became quiet. She wiped her tears and looked at Ji Yuanhai in surprise.

Only then did she realize that ordinary farmers would not be able to answer what she said; even if they could answer, it would definitely be in rough country dialect, rather than "survival", "meaning" and "reproduction". if……

Even Lu Heling was certain that few of the other seven educated youths who came to the Xiaoshantun production team with him could talk to him so quickly about these issues.

Because they are no longer studying now, and unlike Lu Heling, they don't like to read books and occasionally take time to reflect on the stories and knowledge in their minds.

So, this Era Sea has a certain level of cultural knowledge?

"Have you been to high school?" Lu Heling took the initiative to ask Ji Yuanhai about him for the first time.

"No." Ji Yuanhai replied.

"Ever attended junior high school?" Lu Heling asked again.

"No. After graduating from elementary school, I can barely read and write."

Lu Heling looked at him and felt that he was lying to her.

What Ji Yuanhai said could not be said by someone who graduated from primary school. He must have cultural knowledge.

"You just said so much...it doesn't sound like elementary school culture."

"I am from primary school culture, and everyone in the Xiaoshantun production team knows it." Ji Yuanhai said.

"What other books have you read?" Lu Heling asked again.

"No more. I graduated from elementary school and haven't read any books." Ji Yuanhai said.

Lu Heling stared at the sea of ​​​​era again, thinking that he was indeed lying to me.

I don’t want to talk to him anymore.

"I'm leaving," Lu Heling said.

"Stop talking about the elm tree?" Ji Yuanhai asked.

Lu Heling stopped and said, "What else can you say about Yushu? Being hurt like this is just trying to survive. What's the point?"

"It's quite meaningful." Ji Yuanhai said, "Tell me a secret that you educated youth don't know. Do you want to hear it?"

Lu Heling was originally heartbroken, but at this moment she was inevitably a little curious.

"What secret?"

"There are secrets about the elm tree." Ji Yuanhai pointed to the wound on the elm tree, "Do you know where the bark went?"

"where?"

"We were eaten." Ji Yuanhai said.

Lu Heling was immediately shocked: "Eating bark?"

"Impossible! Every household at least has sweet potato buns to eat. It's not like people are going to starve to death. How can they eat tree bark?"

"Because elm bark is delicious." Ji Yuanhai laughed, "Do you think we are hungry? Or are we idle and destroying trees? No, elm bark is indeed edible, and it is more delicious than sweet potato steamed buns."

"In the spring, we cut the bark that can be used and grind it into flour to make steamed buns. It tastes really good."

Lu Heling blinked a little when she heard this: "Is it really delicious?"

"It doesn't matter if it's really delicious. It's just a change of taste. It's better than bad sweet potatoes, which are disgusting and bitter in the mouth." Ji Yuanhai said.

"Then why don't we educated youths know?" Lu Heling asked again.

Ji Yuanhai's answer was also very practical: "You are useless in your work, you are not gentle or heavy, what should you do if you strip the elm trees in our small village to death?"

Lu Heling was a little embarrassed - this was a common problem among educated youths.

"So, the elm tree is still useful and meaningful." Ji Yuanhai touched the elm tree and looked at Lu Heling, "The same goes for you."

"Stop overthinking it, okay?"

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like