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Chapter 2 Palace Garden (2)

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    It happened to be the fifteenth day of the lunar calendar, and it was also a summer night. The bright moonlight shone on his face through the branches of the pomegranate tree, and his face became black and white.  He looked up at the sky, hoping to find the particularly bright star he used to see when he was a child, but the sky was incompletely covered by the luxuriant vines, like a torn rag riddled with holes.  On the contrary, the pomegranate flowers all over the tree are dazzling and beautiful under the moonlight.  He remembered that his mother had told him that people would become stars in the sky after death, so if it was true, there would be one more star shining in the night sky tomorrow.  He stared at the pomegranate flower for a long time, like a long-lost lover meeting each other.  He suddenly had a strange idea, that is to make a wreath with pomegranate flowers, dedicated to his ancestors and to himself.  Dedicated to his ancestors because he feels ashamed of his ancestors, and dedicated to himself because he knows that no one will come to see him off after he dies.  He found a stool in front of the house, stepped on it, reached out and picked off the pomegranate flowers, and quickly tied them into a beautiful wreath.  He held up the wreath and looked up at the sky and turned around in the courtyard for a week. He found that the moon was also smiling at him at this time.  He made a face at the moon like a child, and then walked slowly holding the wreath.  He hoped that his ancestors who had turned into stars could forgive him, because it was not his fault that the Gong family came to this point after all.  He once wanted to leave some words for his wife and children, such as "live well" or something like that.  However, he didn't, he thought that he had already chosen death, how could he ask others to live well, everything is predestined.

    It was early in the morning when Gong Tianfei stepped on the stool again, and the eastern sky had already revealed a little light.  Before that, he smoked countless cigarettes, and drank raw water from the tap, flushing his already bitter mouth.  This was the first and last time in his life that he drank unboiled water, and he spit the last mouthful of water on the wreath, and wrapped the wreath around his neck.  He wanted to go back to his room to get a hemp rope or a soft scarf to send him on the road, but he was afraid of waking his wife up and had to give up.  He untied his belt, hung it on the pomegranate branch, fastened it tightly like a waist tie, and then put it around his neck leisurely.  That branch was not that strong, when Gong Tianfei kicked his body off the ground, it almost broke.  It didn't break in the end, and after a few tremblings, it held on tenaciously, but countless petals fell one after another.

    Gong Tianfei left as he wished, silently, like the falling petals.  The cat standing on the archway and screaming witnessed the whole process of his death.  This is a cat that is yearning for love and calling for love. Its cry is louder in the quiet summer night, with a long echo, like the cry of a baby that suddenly fell from the arms of its mother.  Huamao suddenly stopped barking when Gong Tianfei kicked his legs, and was startled by the soft sound when the stool fell down.  It watched Gong Tianfei's swaying body gradually come to rest with some curiosity, thinking that human beings are really the greatest animals in the world, because only human beings can invent such a wonderful game.

    Gong Tianfei's suicide from the people became a milestone in the complete decline of the Gong family.  One day in the 1950s, before the tears on Gong Tianfei's family's face were completely wiped away, two employees of People's Food Store happily allocated a house in the garden of the Gong family and moved into a new house.  The Li family lives in the north house, the Gao family lives in the west house, and the Gong family lives in the south house where the sun cannot be seen.

    There are three rooms in the south house, which used to be a warehouse for storing flour. Old flour is scattered around the corners and even in the cracks of the walls, so there are often mice jumping around in the dark to have a good time.  Three generations of the Gong family lived with mice until the 1980s.  By the 1980s, there were only two generations of three members left in the Gong family, Gong Xiaojun, his mother Suzhen, and his younger sister Xiaolan.  At this time, the reform and opening up began, and some people began to implement policies for the Gong family and return the original house.  However, some policies have been in place, but they have not been implemented for a long time, because the people's food store has long been unable to make ends meet and is facing bankruptcy.  Where did the Li family and the Gao family move out?

    The Gong family didn't want to care where the Li family and the Gao family moved out, just like they didn't care where the Gong family lived when they moved in.  Suzhen took Xiaojun and Xiaolan to petition frequently, and almost went all over the city's public security organs that can manage things.  Food Co., Ltd.  The foreign bosses of the old employees of the People's Food Store were forced to retire early and be laid off, and were only paid basic living expenses.  In this way, the Gong family's taking back the house will inevitably affect the whole body, and to a certain extent, it will also increase the social instability.  For the sake of the country's stability and unity, he also told them that the property rights of the house have been taken back, and the Li Jiagao's family is only temporarily borrowing. Starting from the market economy, he gave them a good suggestion to generate income, and charged them according to the standards of the Housing Management Bureau.  Rent, of course, can be higher.  The purpose of the Gong family's petition is not to generate income.How could the old neighbor of the hospital have the nerve to collect money?  In this way, the garden of the Gong family has never been able to be named Gong, just like a child who has been adopted into another family.

    The Gong family has been scorned by others for decades, so they can no longer bear Liu Yang's scorn.  When Su Zhen married into the Gong family, the Gong family had lost its former prosperity.  However, the temperament of the Gong family is still inherited from Gong Xiaojun's father, Gong Daren. After the death of Gong Daren's father, Gong Tianfei, Gong Daren's mother not only persisted in surviving, but also became like the ancestors of the Gong family back then.  Same, she sent Gong Daren to university.  Therefore, the temperament of the palace family includes both the shrewdness of a businessman and the elegance of a cultural person.  Moreover, Suzhen is more and more attracted to Gong Daren's temperament as time goes by.  She tried to carry forward this temperament in Gong Xiaojun, but she failed.  The college entrance examination had just resumed in 1978, and Gong Xiaojun, who had been in the countryside for many years, spent a lot of effort before he was admitted to a provincial agricultural college that urban people hardly wanted to attend.  Without suitable soil, no good crops will grow.  After graduation, Gong Xiaojun, who became an "agricultural expert", was assigned to the Provincial Agricultural Research Institute. After working for less than three years, he fell out with the director, resigned angrily, and was hired as a small employee in a company.  Soon he felt that the wages were low again, so he resigned again and started a small business.  Unexpectedly, what he earned was not as much as what he lost, so he simply closed the door and did nothing, becoming a vagrant.  No matter from which aspect, Gong Xiaojun is far from the genetics of the Gong family.  For her daughter-in-law Liu Yang, Su Zhen also looked down on her from the bottom of her heart, just like Liu Yang despised the Gong family.  Suzhen often thinks, what kind of family is your Liu Yang?  Aren't your grandparents just vagrants who ate and drank railways?  How can it be compared with the Gong family?  Didn't you marry into the Gong family because you fancy the house of the Gong family?

    When Suzhen was standing at the courtyard gate thinking about this, her daughter Gong Xiaolan came back from get off work.  Gong Xiaolan was born small and exquisite, like a rag doll, and her voice was soft as well, as if she was always afraid of scaring something.

    "Mom," Gong Xiaolan got off her bicycle, looked at her brother Gong Xiaojun who was talking to Gao Diandian not far away, and said, "Is my brother selling watermelons on the street?"

    Su Zhen sighed deeply and said, "It would be great if your father could live to this day."

    Gong Xiaolan only saw her father, Gong Daren, in photos. When she was still in Suzhen's stomach, Gong Daren died in a car accident.

    Gong Xiaolan stopped talking, and pushed up the car to go home.

    "Xiaolan," Suzhen said, "go, look after the watermelon stand for your brother, and ask him to bring Gong Liang back."

    Gong Liang is only four years old this year. He is the son of Gong Xiaojun. He is currently living with his mother Liu Yang at his grandma's house.  (Remember the site URL: www.hlnovel.com
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