Chapter 9 Visiting Small Villages

  Two people, one standing and leaning against a tree, lifting their foot, the other squatting, holding the other's foot, under the sunset, extremely beautiful.

  Yang Rong just looked at Fang You like that, always thinking he was a very boring and bullying person, never expecting him to have such a considerate side.

  Yang Rong watched with a serious expression, Fang You wiped with a serious expression, quiet and dynamic, beautiful and magnificent.

  "Alright, it's not heavy anymore." As Yang Rong was still basking in the other person's praise, Fang You had already put down Yang Rong's leg and stood up.

  "Ah?" Yang Rong was stunned for a moment, and when she saw Fang You standing up, she understood, "Oh, okay, no more."

  Fang You saw Yang Rong looking a bit embarrassed, thinking it was because of the rural path, so he turned around and squatted down again with his back to Yang Rong, "Come on up, I'll carry you over, lest I have to get mud all over you again."

  "What do you mean, am I so sentimental? Humph, who made you do it, self-inflicted, I can walk by myself!" Yang Rong said quickly walking on the muddy small road, if she didn't hurry up and walk, if Fang You found out about her inner turmoil just now, she would definitely be embarrassed to death.

  There are some inexplicable things, don't know where to offend her, some are at a loss and scratched their heads, but looking at Yang Rong's quick walk to the village with a limp, don't know why, it's very funny.

  The village was very small, and few outsiders came. Fang You and Yang Rong's arrival made the villagers wary, but after hearing that they were police officers, they slightly relaxed their guard.

  Because Fan Ze was the first college student from the village, when they said they came to find Fan Ze's family, the villagers quickly started talking to each other.

  Fang You and Yang Rong looked at me, I looked at them, but neither of us understood what had happened in this family.

  "Have you found Fan Ze?" The speaker was the village chief, who was over 50 years old, very short, about 1.6 meters tall, with a rough face and hands from many years of farming, but his eyes were extremely spirited.

  The villagers heard the village chief's inquiry and also asked one after another. Although many years have passed, everyone is still very concerned about Fan Ze's affairs.

  "Village chief, we came for Fan Se's matter, but Fan Se has not been found yet." Fang You said straightforwardly.

  "After all these years, still can't find it, looks like the bad luck really outweighs the good." The village chief heard that Fan Ze hadn't found it yet, so he took out a tobacco pouch from his waist, filled it with tobacco, lit it with a match, and started puffing away.

  The villagers also felt somewhat down upon hearing that Fan Ze had still not been found.

  "This... Excuse me, Village Chief, where is Fan Se's home? Is there still someone at home?" Fang You saw that the villagers were also somewhat disheartened because Fan Se had not been found yet, and felt that the villagers of this village were all kind-hearted people.

  "You see, that short house is Fan Se's home. Now there's only an old woman at home, who has been blind for several years and sits in the yard waiting for Fan Se to come back." The village chief pointed to a house on the east side of the village with his tobacco pipe, a very dilapidated house, which was quite eye-catching among many tile-roofed houses.

  "Alright, let's go see Mrs. Fan first, Village Chief. After all, we are outsiders, and I'm worried that Mrs. Fan might not trust us. We'll need to trouble you to take us there." This village is far from the national highway and can be said to have left this society behind. Yang Rong was worried that Mrs. Fan would have a resistant attitude towards them and be unwilling to cooperate with their investigation.

  "It's okay, Mrs. Fan's eyes are not good, but her mind is still clear and she's not a difficult person to get along with." All these years, Mrs. Fan has been looking forward to her son coming back to the village like before, carrying big bags of things and distributing some fun stuff that people in the village have never seen before, which was always the most lively time in the village.

  "Is Fan's mother still in good health?" Yang Rong thought that for so many years her son was not by her side, and she didn't know how her body was doing.

  "It's okay, after all, they're getting old, and it's normal for their bodies to have some problems." They are already older people, and having some physical issues is inevitable.

  When they saw Mrs. Fan sitting in the courtyard, Fang You and Yang Rong both felt a pang of sadness. Her face was deeply wrinkled, her eyes closed, and she wore an old-fashioned black hat on her head, with grey and white hair underneath. She was dressed in a black cotton-padded jacket with several patches on the sleeves and body, and wore black cotton-padded trousers with many patches as well. In her hand, she held a wooden stick as a walking aid.

  The house is an old one from many years ago, made of earth and stone, with a very small yard. In the southwest corner of the yard, there is a stone mill that has not been used for many years. Although the yard is small, it is very clean and tidy, without any weeds. The windows of the low house are old and worn out, without glass, but instead covered with some tattered plastic bags to block the wind.

  "This is..." Seeing this scene, Yang Rong didn't know what to say.

  "Alas, it's all because of that scoundrel Fan Ze. After he disappeared, Old Lady Fan went blind in just a few months. Fortunately, the villagers helped take care of her; otherwise, she would have been left to fend for herself...". The village head couldn't help but sigh as he thought about Old Lady Fan's misfortunes over the years.

  "Is that the village chief?" Just then, Fan's mother, who was sitting in the courtyard, heard the voice of the village chief and stood up, hunching her back and leaning forward, somewhat unsteadily.

  "It's me, Fan Pozi. There are two policemen here who want to ask about Fan Ya Zi." The village chief saw that Fan's mother had stood up and walked a couple of steps forward to steady her.

  "What? Police?" Hearing the village chief say it was the police, Mrs. Fan's emotions suddenly became agitated, and she walked forward with a wooden stick, one hand stretched out to touch Fang You and his family, "Has Fang Ya found him? Where is he? How has he been doing? Has he lost weight?"

  Seeing Mrs. Fan like this, Fang You and his family really couldn't bear to tell her that Fan Ze hadn't been found yet. The pitiful hearts of parents everywhere, Mrs. Fan had waited for so many years, always hoping that her son was still alive and could come back.

  "Mrs. Fan, don't get excited, listen to the police comrade slowly, after so many years, it's not that easy to find her." The village chief hastily held back Mrs. Fan who was about to fall to the ground.

  Yang Rong quickly took two steps forward and supported Mrs. Fan, "Mrs. Fan, don't worry, we came this time to investigate the matter of Fan Sai clearly."

  "Officer, go ahead and ask." Fan's mother sat back down on the small stool with the support of Yang Rong and the village chief.

  "When was the last time you saw Fan Ze?" Yang Rong had Fang You make a record, she came to ask.

  "It's been 15 years, I think. That winter he came back and bought me some warm clothes for the winter, gave me some money, and said he had to go back to school for something, but then he never came back again." Fan's mom still remembers clearly what Fan Ze looked like the last time he came home, as if it were yesterday.

  "Did he say what he was going to do when he got back to school?"

  "I asked him at the time, I saw that his face didn't look good, so I asked a few more questions. He didn't want to say anything, and in the end he even yelled at me. I saw that he was angry, so I didn't dare ask any more questions. If only I had kept asking back then, I would have known what it was all about. It's all my fault, my fault..." Recalling the argument with her son, Mrs. Fan couldn't help but feel regretful and blamed herself.

  "Mrs. Fan, don't say that, think about it again, does Fan Ze have a girlfriend?" Yang Rong grabbed Mrs. Fan's hand, hoping she wouldn't get too excited, at her age, such big emotional fluctuations weren't good for her body.

  "I've never heard of it, he's never told me about his things." Mrs. Fan thought for a moment and shook her head, "But I seem to have heard him arguing with someone on the phone."

  Mrs. Fan seemed to recall that there was such a thing, it was at night, he heard his son making a low phone call, as if they were quarreling.

  "Then who did you hear him talking to on the phone? What were they quarreling about?" Yang Rong glanced at Fang You, thinking that he must have been quarreling with Liu Hui.

  "I don't know, the sound of the teeth was very small, I couldn't hear it clearly." Mrs. Fan tried hard to recall the sound she heard that day, but she still couldn't remember.

  "It's okay, Aunt Fan, don't worry." Yang Rong felt that she couldn't get anything out of Aunt Fan and was worried that if she continued to ask like this, her emotions would become even more agitated.

  When Fang You and Yang Rong left the village, they took out all the money on them and handed it to the village chief. "This is not much, please take care of Fan's mother."

  "No need, money is of no use here either. For so many years, we have been taking care of Mrs. Fan and will never let her go hungry. I also know that Mr. Fan may not be in this world anymore, but I still hope you don't tell Mrs. Fan about this news, I'm afraid she can't bear it." The village chief returned the money to Fang You and his family. This village rarely uses money, and everything they eat and use is produced by themselves.

  "Village chief, just take it. If it's useful somewhere, it'll be our little intention. Just keep it." Fang You didn't know how to do something for Mrs. Fan, and the only thing they could do at this time was to give some money to Mrs. Fan.

  "Alright, I'll hold onto it for Old Lady Fan then." After saying that, the village head put the money into his pocket. "Oh right, I remembered what you said about making a phone call. I recall that Fan Sai made a call at the village entrance, and he seemed to be afraid of being overheard, so he made the call there. At that time, I had just returned from working in the fields and happened to hear it. It sounded like something about getting married... I thought at the time that Fan Sai had found himself a city wife."

  "Get married? Is there nothing else to say?"

  "No, Fanze hung up the phone after seeing me, and I didn't hear anything else." The village chief shook his head.

  "Alright, thank you village chief. If we get any news about Fan Se, we'll let you know. As for what to do with him at that time, it's up to the village chief to decide." Fang You thought that if Fan Se were to meet a tragic end, his remains would be handled by the villagers anyway.

  "Good!" The village chief was the head of the village and could still make decisions on some matters.

  Fang You and Yang Rong drove away from the village, watching as it got smaller and smaller until it disappeared in the rearview mirror. Fang You and Yang Rong's mood was extremely heavy.