Chapter 321 All Dead

Zhou Rui and Tong Xin looked in awe at the "Pagoda of Merit" built on the plaque.

The look in his eyes towards the old man changed instantly.

The old man saw Zhou Rui staring blankly in the courtyard, and he looked back before reacting.

He hadn't seen a stranger in a long time, and there were only a few old men and women left in the village, although he had watched these old men and women grow up.

Those who occasionally come down from the highway to eat will not go to this place.

The old man smiled and said, "Young man, you look hot? Work hard and honor your ancestors!"

Zhou Rui nodded subconsciously, took out a gold-red badge from his pocket, and said, "Old senior is great, I still need to work hard."

Times have changed. It is estimated that it will be difficult to surpass in terms of quality, but it is not impossible in terms of quantity if we work hard in the future.

The old man glanced at the thing in Zhou Rui's hand. Although he couldn't see clearly, the color scheme could easily be thought of as something like a badge. He was slightly surprised: "Are you in the army too?"

Zhou Rui shook his head: "Not really, I'm just helping with some research. Mine is in the field of national defense technology."

The old man has a relatively straightforward personality, so he just threw the broom and walked over: "Let me take a look?"

Zhou Rui handed the badge to the old man, who observed it for a long time. He must have never seen this new style of badge, but no one should be able to forge it.

"Missiles? Rockets? Tanks?"

Zhou Rui moved his mouth: "I can't say"

A smile appeared on the old man's dry face and he said, "Come in and sit down?"

It had been too long since he had seen young people, and it had been too long since he had seen anyone "related" to the past.

Zhou Rui and Tong Xin followed the old man and walked in. The courtyard was a typical old-fashioned building from Jiang Province. Zhou Rui couldn't tell the specific sect, but judging from the fact that the floor tiles were covered with grout, he was definitely older than the old man.

As for the old building with a three-story structure, when I came in, I discovered that the main parts were on the first two floors, arranged in a "concave" shape. The third floor was actually not big, only a small piece.

It seems that apart from carrying the plaque that forms the pagoda, it has no function.

Zhou Rui saw no one around and thought that the old man was living alone at this age?

"Senior, do you live alone?"

The old man nodded: "Everyone older than me is gone, and all the juniors are dead. There used to be a security guard who also left last year."

Zhou Rui felt a little sad inexplicably as he listened, and his eyes changed when he looked at the old man.

Tong Xin's eyes turned red.

Zhou Rui was filled with emotion and made a not too skillful but standard ceremony.

The old man waved his hand: "People live for too long, and it's quite boring. I'm used to it."

Zhou Rui was about to say something to comfort him when a voice came from behind: "Leader, did you tell people that I was dead again?"

Zhou Rui turned around as if he had seen a ghost. He saw a middle-aged man in his fifties standing at the door with a helpless expression on his face, carrying a smoked pig's head.

The old man's face looked a little unnatural

"I'm talking about Xiao Zhang. Xiao Zhang left last year."

"Uncle Zhang has been back to take care of himself for ten years. Don't you want to deceive the young man and gain some admiration? I don't know you yet?"

The old man rolled his eyes: "Did I tell a lie? Just tell me whether Xiao Zhang left or not!"

Zhou Rui:

Zhou Rui and Tong Xin both felt like they had been cheated.

Give us back the sincere admiration just now!

Is there something wrong with your plaque?

Gone, gone!

The old man grabbed Zhou Rui and said, "Don't leave. I'll make you a pot of tea. You tell me what's going on with your badge. I'll tell you about the time I drove a tank to Seoul."

How can he pull Zhou Rui away? No matter what kind of fierce man he was when he was young, it is not easy to stand up straight now without trembling. Zhou Rui really doesn't dare to use force, for fear that if he pulls him to the same place, the king next door will If the baby is tired again, the whole village can eat two meals in a row.

The man in his fifties behind him sighed and said, "Young man, he just hasn't seen anyone for a long time and wants to find someone to chat with. He's so depressed."

Zhou Rui had no choice but to be pulled by the old man to sit on the stone stool under the eaves.

The old man actually had a pot of brewed tea and poured a cup for Zhou Rui: "Try it! This is tea from Sanqing Mountain, good stuff!"

The tea may be good tea, but the teapot is a dark cast iron pot.

"Tell me, what's the matter with your National Defense Science and Technology Medal? Now there are such medals?"

The old man didn't know which year he retired from the army. He had never seen this new badge before. He licked his face and asked Zhou Rui to get it again. He couldn't help but play with it.

"Oh, the workmanship is so good. The things we make are becoming more and more exquisite. Xiao Zhang, please bring my box, and I will compare notes with this young man!"

"I'm Xiao Liu, Xiao Zhang has left! Leader!"

The middle-aged man was chattering, but he still took out a wooden box from the back room. The old man opened it towards Zhou Rui as if he were offering a treasure, and there were more than a dozen medals of various kinds clearly visible inside.

Just like the plaque on the door of the building, it is very intimidating.

Most of them are very old, and a few have even faded away, but they are lined up row by row, and the momentum is really shocking.

"This was taken by Gaoyou, this was taken by the Southern Dynasty, this was taken by the bandits, and this was issued by Daqing on the 60th of last year."

The old man explained the origin of each badge one by one. Zhou Rui felt that this old man was simply the living history of modern China.

Although there were still some doubts in his heart, the admiration that was shocked by the plaque came out again.

Zhou Rui gradually became less anxious and just spent time with a dying old man, reminiscing about the glorious past.

"Let me tell you, those people in the South Dynasty fought like pigs, and they only knew how to eat slop. If the Americans hadn't intervened later, all those Japanese and puppet Korean traitors would have been shot. The American equipment is good."

Generally speaking, an old man of this age, who is older than the Republic, is easily associated with a conservative old man with feudal superstition, but Zhou Rui felt from the lines that he was a materialist with firm beliefs.

Yes, and a will as strong as steel

The words were very pragmatic and down-to-earth.

"At that time, the high ground where our regiment was stationed was like rain. I thought about replacing us with the same firepower and the same aircraft, so that I could directly hit New York! By the way, little kid, what are you researching? If you can get this thing, it must be a missile or an aircraft, right?"

Zhou Rui drank a cup of tea, which surprisingly did not have the smell of rust, but instead had a strong fragrance. He thought that this cast iron teapot had been there for many years. It was estimated that if you poured a bottle of Wahaha into it, it would be tea soup.

"I really can't tell you. You should know the rules, but generally speaking, it's those things, the ones that are leading in the world."

The content can't be told, but it can still make the old comrade happy.

"More advanced than the Americans?"

"Yes, more advanced than them! The kind that they have to fill with human lives!"

The old man laughed, his eyes were a little wet, and his dry palms kept clapping. Zhou Rui was afraid that he would break his bones.

"That's good! That's good! It's our turn to be ahead. It's good to live a long life!"

"The bullets back then were not in vain!"

Tong Xin saw the old man laughing happily, took out the camera and said, "Old man, can I take a picture of you?"

The 50-year-old Xiao Liu next to him wanted to say something, but after thinking about it, he didn't stop him.

Tong Xin took a photo of the old man looking refreshed. She was more careful and didn't take a picture of the box full of medals.

After a while, Xiao Liu seemed to have packed something in the inner room, and walked over and said, "Leader, it's time to burn incense."

The old man patted his buttocks and stood up. He was really in good shape. He suddenly realized something and said to Zhou Rui, "Little kid, come with me, let everyone see our own scientist!"

Zhou Rui thought of the smoked pig head just now, and his mind turned slightly before he realized what the other party meant.

He didn't refuse, and got up and followed behind.

The old man said as he walked: "Actually, I don't believe this, but we have to show some respect during festivals. My family has been tenant farmers for three generations, and there is no family tree. It's only when I started to have some success that I have time to make tablets, which can't be considered ancestor worship, but can only be called burning incense."

Zhou Rui asked curiously: "Today is not a festival"

"Today is my birthday."

Zhou Rui:

What kind of logic is this

Well, if a person lives long enough, it doesn't seem to matter if he is an "ancestor".

"Your younger generation didn't come with you?"

According to the other party's age, the fourth generation is probably not young.

The old man was quite casual: "They are all dead."

It can be seen that the old man really has no taboos about these things, and he is a thorough materialist

In a room in the inner room, a few white candles were lit, and many small tablets were seen standing on the stepped incense table from a distance.

Looking at the number, it used to be a big family

How come everyone is gone?

The old man pointed to the second row from the top: "The first row is for my parents, and the empty one in the second row is for myself. There are four brothers, two of whom died during the Anti-Japanese War, and one died during the Southern Dynasty. I mainly want them to see you, to see our young generation of scientists!"

Although Zhou Rui couldn't see the words clearly from a distance, it didn't prevent him from being respectful again.

I just don't know how the younger generations below died. It stands to reason that the tablets have been set up to the fifth layer, that is, the old man's great-grandchildren, and it should be a peaceful era, and there are still many of them!

Taking three incense sticks from "Xiao Liu", Zhou Rui respectfully raised them above his head and bowed three times.

"I am Zhou Rui, a junior student, and I pay my respects to my ancestors."

The old man nodded happily.

After Zhou Rui bowed, he took a few steps forward and inserted three incense sticks into the incense burner.

Then he looked at the tablets.

As a result, when he looked up, Zhou Rui was shocked by the tablets on the bottom layer.

What the hell? !

"The tablet of great-grandson Mi Nengwen"

Mi Nengwen is gone?