After school in the afternoon, Liu Gen went to the anatomy building with Liu Jun to finish the work. It was almost seven o'clock, but he didn't go back to the apartment. Today was Monday, and there was no ball game. He went to the store to ask the grandfather and grandson at noon.
Xiangzi said that they had settled down, but had not eaten dinner yet, so Liu Gen brought some leftover roujiamo and two large bowls of mutton soup from the office at noon, and asked Xiangzi for the handful of plum yingchun leftovers.
I took the keys (Xiangzi got two extra keys) and went to Mei Yingchun’s home.
Xiao Subai already knew that Mei Yingchun left the house to Liu Gen as a dormitory for store employees. She rarely saw Liu Gen recently. Even if she saw Liu Gen during a morning run, it was Liu Gen and the team training, and they couldn't say a few words at all.
After dinner, Xiao Subai still put on her schoolbag and went to the library to study. Ever since Liu Gen met her in her father's office, she had never gone there to study there again. She had to go back to her old self and go to the library alone.
When going down the stairs, Xiao Subai was so happy to see Liu Gen carrying a plastic bag upstairs.
"Brother Gen, have you also stayed at Teacher Mei's house?" Xiao Subai didn't know that Liu Gen had an apartment outside.
"Oh..." Liu Gen responded casually. It wasn't that he didn't want to see Xiao Subai, but now was not the time. He was busy, so he didn't stop and kept walking quickly upstairs.
Xiao Subai pouted, hesitated for a moment, turned around and followed Liu Gen upstairs: "Aren't you going to invite me to dinner too?"
Liu Gen had no choice but to stop, turned around and asked, "Have you not eaten yet?"
"I've eaten it, but I still want to eat the Roujiamo." Xiao Subai didn't want to eat the Roujiamo. She wanted to go to Mei Yingchun's house with Liu Gen and stay with him.
Liu Gen smiled, asked Xiao Subai to follow, and opened the door with the key: "Uncle, Xue, it's time to finish your meal."
Xiao Subai was surprised who Liu Gen was calling him. When he heard him calling "Xue", he thought it was Ouyang Xue who was in the house.
"Is Liu Gen back?" The old man had already learned Liu Gen's name from Xiangzi. Blind people generally have more sensitive ears than ordinary people. They can remember the accent after hearing a voice once.
The little girl helped the old man stand up from the sofa. A cartoon was playing on the TV.
When Xiao Subai saw the old man's empty eyes, he was startled: "They..."
Liu Gen ignored Xiao Subai's question, put the plastic bag in his hand on the coffee table, and took out the roujiamo and mutton soup in a large plastic bowl.
"Susu, sit down and eat together." Liu Gen then called Xiao Subai, went to the kitchen and took two spoons, and handed them to the old man and the little girl respectively.
The little girl is wearing new clothes and new shoes, her hair and face are clean, but her cheeks are a little pale, which is caused by long-term malnutrition. The old man is also wearing new clothes, as if he has become a different person, and he has shaved his beard.
The little girl always looked at Xiao Subai with her bright eyes. She didn't seem to be afraid and even smiled at Xiao Subai.
"Brother Gen, are they your relatives?" Xiao Subai asked curiously without eating the meat buns.
"Yes, Xue is my sister, and this uncle is Xue's grandfather." Liu Gen chewed the meat buns with a smile and replied, "Here, don't you want to eat the meat buns?"
"I've had dinner and I'm not hungry." When Xiao Subai answered, his eyes were fixed on the little girl: "Little sister, your name is Xue, right?"
The little girl nodded shyly and drank the mutton soup.
"She can't speak." The old man told Xiao Subai.
"I can't tell..." Xiao Subai opened her mouth wide and looked at Liu Gen.
Liu Gen nodded, and then introduced Xiao Subai to the old man: "Uncle, this girl's surname is Xiao and her nickname is Su Su. She lives across the street. From now on, she will always be your neighbor. Xue, you should call her sister..."
Only then did Liu Gen realize that Xue couldn't speak, so he kept silent and didn't say any more.
"Susu...well, this name is easy to remember." The old man turned his face towards Xiao Subai and said with a smile: "It was Liu Gen who took in my grandfather and grandson. He is a very kind man."
Xiao Subai listened to the old man's words and looked at Liu Gen.
Liu Gen nodded, meaning what the old man said was true.
"Uncle, what's your surname? Are you celebrating your birthday this year? From your accent, you're from the north too?" Liu Gen saw that the old man didn't eat as much as he did at noon, and sipped the mutton soup carefully with a spoon. The little girl had a good appetite.
"My surname is Han, and my name is Han Gui. I am sixty-seven this year. My hometown is Shanxi. I have had insomnia since I was a child. I learned a craft from an old man who played the erhu in my hometown. After my parents passed away, I went out to wander the streets. Brother and sister
They think I am a burden, and I don’t want to listen to their sarcastic comments. It has been almost thirty years since I was in my thirties..."
Liu Gen and Xiao Subai listened quietly to the old man's words.
"Then Xue is..." Liu Gen glanced at the little girl. He thought she was the old man's granddaughter, but it didn't seem like that.
"I picked up the snow." Han Gui put down the spoon, sighed deeply, and talked about the past:
"That happened when I was wandering in Beijing." The old man said with a solemn expression: "In the winter five years ago, on the night of the first snow in Beijing, I slept between two buildings on Wangfujing Street with garbage
In the corner of the bucket, the cold wind blew, and I could feel it on my face. The snow fell heavily that night and kept drifting. It was as cold as if it was freezing the city of Beijing. It was about three or four in the morning.
The streets and shops were already deserted, and suddenly I heard the whistling of the cold wind, mixed with the faint cry of a baby. Although my eyes didn't work, my ears were fine. The cry of the child was very pitiful.
Ah... I thought to myself, how could there be a baby crying in this snowy day? Could it be that the child's mother didn't care about her feelings... But the child kept crying and crying, so I thought again, it must be a child abandoned by her mother.
My heart aches when I think of being abandoned by my mother... Wrapped in a ragged blanket, I groped away towards the sound of crying..."
The old man paused for a moment, and then sighed deeply: "Well... if my eyes worked, maybe Xue wouldn't become mute. It's all my fault for my unsatisfactory eyes... When I get closer and closer, the baby cries.
As the sound got closer, the cries I heard became smaller and smaller. Normally, people only need to walk for ten minutes to find the child, but I spent nearly an hour and still couldn't find the child... The child's
The crying suddenly stopped. I thought I was freezing to death. Just when I was annoyed that my eyes were not good enough, maybe God didn't want this child to die, I heard a pop, like a fart, just to my right.
, I took two steps and kicked a soft package-like thing. I thought to myself, dead or alive, I should take a look. I squatted down and touched it with my hands. The child's face was still exhaling hot air, and my nose smelled a bad smell.
Only then did I realize that the popping sound was the child defecating... Just like that, I picked up the child who no longer cried, wrapped her in a ragged blanket, and took her life... I don't know what age the child was.
She was born on what day of the month, and I didn’t know what her name would be, so I gave her a name myself, because I picked her up on a snowy day, so I named her Xue, after my last name, Han Xue.”
Liu Gen and Xiao Subai were already in tears, and Han Xue was also in tears.
"Since Han Xue can cry, it means she can talk." Xiao Subai hugged Han Xue and choked with sobs, "Why can't she talk?"
"The girl is right, I thought so too at first, but then the child grew up day by day. For a year or two, not only did I not hear her speak, I never heard her cry. I asked if she could
Everyone who saw it said that the child was quite good-looking and could see, but he couldn't speak. So I took Xue to the hospital. After the doctor checked and listened to my story, he said that the child was probably suffering from vocal cord disease.
I have frostbite. If I need a repair operation in the future, I might be able to speak. I asked how much the operation would cost. The doctor told me how much it would cost. I was stumped by the number. It would cost a lot of money... I have been earning money by performing arts these years.
I just wanted to earn enough money to perform an operation on Xue, but... alas... last year, my grandfather and grandson went to Nanhai. The money they had saved over the past few years was robbed by thieves one night... 20,000
That's a lot of money! Otherwise, I should have enough money for Xue's surgery this year..."
While the old man was telling the story, Xiao Subai had already cried uncontrollably. She took off her glasses and put them on the coffee table, and kept wiping her tears and nose with a tissue.
Liu Gen's eyes were full of tears, his fists were clenched so hard that the joints cracked, and his teeth were gritted. He couldn't help but cursed: "These bastards! They shouldn't live in this society!"
The old man went on to say: "The thieves robbed me that day. Xue was frightened. She was shivering for many days, especially at night. She didn't dare to sleep at all. She always lay in my arms and shivered..."
Xiao Subai cried and complained: "Then why don't you send Xue to the orphanage! Why do you take her with you?"
"No one takes her in!" Han Gui said helplessly: "Everywhere I go, I go to an orphanage. I hope that some country will adopt Xue and perform surgery on her so that the child can live like a normal person in the future.
, but... people use various excuses to shirk... Sigh... There are many abandoned children like Xue who are not taken in by orphanages... most of them are abducted. Children who were originally healthy are forced to
After being tortured to a disability by those heartless people, I was forced to ask for money on the street... What I am most worried about is that Xue will be abducted by those heartless people... Now when I meet a kind person like Liu Gen, there is a
A safe place to stay, and I can die in peace!"
When Han Gui said this, he pressed his stomach with his hands, sweat dripped from his forehead, and his face turned pale.
"Uncle, what's wrong with you?" Liu Gen noticed something was wrong: "Are you feeling uncomfortable somewhere?"
Han Xue also broke away from Xiao Subai's arms, hugged old Han Gui with a pair of small hands, and looked at Liu Gen with tearful eyes. It was a look of help, which Liu Gen could understand.
"I've been having pains in my stomach lately...I won't live long..." Old Man Han Gui raised his head and answered, resisting the pain.
"Let's go, I'll take you to the hospital now." Liu Gen said, squatting down with his back to Han Gui, taking his arms with both hands and carrying him on his back: "Susu, take good care of Han Xue."
"Brother Gen, let's go with you." Xiao Subai took Han Xue's little hand and said, following Liu Gen out of the house.