Chapter 5: An Bingwen's Death

  At night, Lin Wenhui and Jia Zhilan sat on the bed and sighed to An Bingwen and Bai Cuifen for a long time.

  When it comes to taking care of Bai Cuifen and An Bingwen's family, Lin Wenhui is not inferior to Qing Sheng in terms of care. Apart from the fact that An Bingwen and Bai Cuifen's situation is indeed pitiful, there are more reasons for sympathy due to shared suffering or mutual appreciation.

  Originally, Liujiacun had Lin Wenhui in addition to Qing Sheng and An Bingwen.

  But Lin Wenhui is not an outsider, he was adopted from the neighboring village. His current mother, also his aunt. Because after Aunt and Uncle got married for three years without having children, later Uncle passed away due to illness, Aunt had been a widow ever since. Lin Wenhui's biological father saw that his sister had no children and didn't plan to remarry, so when Lin Wenhui was eight years old, he gave him to his aunt as her son.

  Originally, after Lin Wenhui was adopted into the Liu family village, he should have followed his uncle's surname Liu. However, the Lin family was originally a scholarly family and his aunt was one of the few women in that era who could read and write. She didn't care about the concept of ancestral worship, so she insisted on letting Lin Wenhui keep her maiden name.

  Because his aunt could read and write, she certainly wouldn't let Lin Wenhui be illiterate. Although the orphaned mother had always lived a poor life, because of her relatives' occasional relief and her own persistence, Lin Wenhui continued to study until he reached the county middle school.

  After graduating from county middle school, he originally entered a factory in the county as a worker under his biological father's arrangement. Later, due to his aunt's poor health, he left the factory and returned to the village team to become a private teacher.

  Later, after marrying Zhi Lan for less than a year, his aunt passed away. Later on, he gave birth to a daughter named Lin Xi.

  So in Liujiacun, Lin Wenhui was also a family with no relatives and few people, similar to An Bingwen's situation. However, their situation was slightly better than An Bingwen's, after all, they were not outsiders, Lin Wenhui had parents, brothers and sisters nearby, and Jia Zhilan also had her natal family in the vicinity.

  So, Lin Wenhui and Jia Zhilan sat on the bed talking about An Bingwen, comparing their own situation to his, thinking of Bingwen and Bai Cuifen's current state, couldn't help but feel a sigh of sorrow and pity.

  Lin Wenhui and Jia Zhilan lay on the bed talking for a while before their eyes unknowingly closed.

  He is too tired.

  Lin Wenhui fell asleep, then Jia Zilan turned off the light and also went to sleep.

  After midnight, the village was quiet, with no signs of human activity, and the lights were gradually extinguished, plunging Liujiacun into deep darkness.

  Lin Wenhui and Zhi Lan fell into a deep sleep after they went to bed.

  Around midnight, a sudden burst of barking dogs broke the silence and darkness of the night sky, instantly plunging Liu's village into a state of commotion.

  Lin Wenhui and Zhi Lan almost simultaneously sat up from bed.

  Lin Wenhui pulled the switch of the bedside lamp, and the lights in the room suddenly lit up.

  After exchanging a glance with He Zhilan, Lin Wenhui put on his coat and got out of bed. He walked to the window and looked out. On the other side of the village, several households had their lights on. Lin Wenhui realized that something had happened.

  He hastily put on his clothes and was about to open the door and go out.

  "What's wrong?" Zhi Lan asked, sitting on the bed and putting on her clothes.

  "It's Tree Sheng and the others who have returned, Biao Wen must have left already, let me go take a look."

  After finishing speaking, Lin Wenhui opened the door and went out.

  At this time, three children in the next room woke up.

  Against one wall in the adjacent room stood a regular bed, where Lin Xie and An Shao Min were sleeping. Against the opposite wall, a wooden board had been used to create a makeshift bed, where An Shao Jie was sleeping.

  Lin Xi rubbed her sleepy eyes and called out loudly: "En Ma!"

  Hearing Lin Xi's cry, Zhi Lan knew that the three children had also been startled awake and hastily put on her clothes to go over.

  "I'm scared." Lin Xi rubbed her eyes.

  Zhilan patted Lin Xi and Shao Min's heads, then walked to Shao Jie's bedside and sat down. She lowered her head and asked softly, "You, your sister, and Lin Xi, will you go sleep in Enniang's room?"

  Shao Jie tightly closed his lips and lowered his head in thought.

  Lin Xi and Shao Min looked at him with expectant eyes.

  After a long time, Shao Jie lifted his head and said slowly: "Let them two go! I'm not afraid."

  Zhilan patted him on the head and asked lovingly, "Aren't you going?"

  "I..." Xiao Jie paused for a moment, then suddenly raised his head and looked at Jia Zhi Lan with a steady gaze, saying firmly: "I'm not afraid."

  "Oh, okay then." Zhi Lan grasped An Shaojie's hands with both of her own.

  "Good boy, go to sleep now." Gently helping An Shaojie lie down and tucking him in, Zhi Lan then walked over to Lin Xi and Shao Min's bed, helped them put on their clothes, waved her hand and said: "Come, you two come over and sleep with me."

  "Then, where's Father? Where did Father go?" Following behind Zhi Lan, Lin Xi rubbed her still sleepy eyes and asked cautiously.

  "There's nothing going on, your dad has something to attend to and went out, let's go to sleep." Entering the room, Zhi Lan immediately arranged for Lin Xi and Shao Min to sleep.

  An Shao Min didn't ask anything, she seemed to have already realized what was happening in front of her. She lay quietly beside Lin Xi, her eyes fixed and unblinking, as if afraid of something, or perhaps listening to the movements outside, or feeling the changes in the world outside.

  After the candle went out, she still stared with wide eyes in the darkness.

  Around 2 am, Liu Xiu Zhen's home was crowded with many people.

  Liu Xiu Zhen was holding a basin of hot water, washing Qing Shu Sheng's feet and face.

  "Bingwen left at 2 am, now there's only Baituifen in the hospital. Teacher Lin, take a look if there are enough people here. If not, go wake up some young people to help. The stretcher that carried Bingwen to the hospital this morning is still there and hasn't been disassembled. Later I'll bring some people back to the hospital to carry Bingwen back." Qing Sheng said while washing his face to Lin Wenhui.

  "I'll go with you too, see if I can help in any way?" Lin Wenhui said, thinking of the questions Liu Xiu Zhen had asked him when she stopped him that morning.

  "You don't have to go, you still have class tomorrow. Besides, the village needs someone to take charge and arrange things. If we come and go like this, by the time we get back, it'll probably be after breakfast, or maybe even noon. Look, the sky is already getting light." Qing Sheng looked out at the door.

  No, the sound of chickens calling to one another rose and fell, the sky was already a dull gray, and from outside the gate came wave after wave of cold air that slowly spread into the house.

  Liu Xizhen walked to the door and closed it again.

  "At this time, I won't be able to attend classes, so I'll just take a leave of absence for these few days! Tomorrow I'll go to the school and arrange for other teachers to cover my classes." Lin Wenhui said.

  "Changing classes is okay, but you can't go with us to the hospital, you have to stay in the village and arrange things."

  Qingsheng said, taking out a bunch of keys from his pocket and handing them over to Lin Wenhui, starting to wash his feet.

  Liu Xiuzhen hastily walked into the kitchen, scooped a large ladle of hot water and poured it into Qing Shu's foot basin.

  "This is the key to Biao Wen's house, you take it and tidy up his home first. When Biao Wen comes back, he will definitely go into the house first, this is also Cui Fen's intention."

  Lin Wenhui took the key from Qing Sheng's hand and nodded, his voice choked with emotion as he murmured a soft "en".

  Qing Sheng was originally a serious, somewhat rough and cold person. He rarely spoke with emotion, even in an extremely sad atmosphere, others couldn't see any emotional changes in him. Even when something extremely exciting happened, he remained calm and quiet, speaking little.

  He is not a charismatic person who can stir up emotions.

  But just now, when he said that sentence, as if it was an ordinary sentence, everyone in the house suddenly felt a kind of stirring and extremely sad emotion spreading throughout the room.

  People in the house began to sob, wipe away tears and sigh.

  Liu Xiu Zhen looked at everyone with a bewildered expression.

  She knew that An Bingwen had passed away, but she didn't understand why everyone was suddenly so sad. Didn't people in the village often pass away? And An Bingwen's illness had been going on for a long time, he rarely went out and about these past few years, basically everyone had already become indifferent to him, they also knew in their hearts that his passing was only a matter of time.

  So Liu Xiu Zhen didn't have too much sorrow in her heart, she just looked blankly at everyone's sad faces.

  "Are you going again?" she asked Qing Sheng in a daze.

  "I'm not going? Are you?" Qing Sheng turned his head and stared at Liu Xiu Zhen coldly.

  Liu Xiuzhen hummed a sentence, then didn't make another sound. She picked up the wooden basin for washing feet and walked to the doorway. With a "plop", she splashed a basin of water onto the stone path in the courtyard.

  "Teacher Lin, you go back first! I'll take them to the hospital right away. You've had a hard time with family matters." Qing Sheng was wiping his feet dry and putting on his shoes.

  "Hmm." Lin Wenhui put the keys in his pocket and headed home.

  Lin Wenhui had just left the door when Qing Sheng also brought a few young people out.

  Lin Wenhui quietly returned home, didn't even turn on the lights, and sat alone in the dark hall.

  Hearing the noise, Zhi Lan knew that Lin Wen Hui was back, so she quietly got dressed and got out of bed.

  Standing behind Lin Wenhui, she placed both hands on his shoulders, Zhilan didn't say a word, nor did she ask any questions.

  Lin Wenhui turned his head and looked at Zhi Lan, stretched out his hand and grasped the hand that Zhi Lan had placed on his shoulder, and smiled.

  "No matter what, we must live a good life!" Lin Wenhui said, patting Zhi Lan's hand.

  "Hmm." Zhi Lan wrapped her arms around Lin Wen Hui's waist and leaned her head against his back.

  "Go to sleep!" Lin Wenhui said: "Tomorrow afternoon, Bingwen will be back. There must be a lot of things to arrange in the next few days. When it gets light, I'll go to school and arrange the classes for the next few days."

  "Uh-huh." Zhi Lan replied, "Shaomin and Lin Xie are sleeping on our bed, why don't you go sleep in Xiao Xie's room?"

  "Alright." Lin Wenhui replied, got up and went to sleep in Lin Xi's room.