Pre-order the wedge pre-order (let's see if it works)
"Stop! Don't run..."
"Catch him, catch the thief..."
"stop--"
In the evening in the city, there were shouts and shouts without much nourishment. Lan Zi was carrying his shabby little schoolbag and running through the streets under the sunset, with people shouting and chasing behind him.
Running through the alleys, across the streets, and across the pontoon under the sunset, the child, who was about eleven or twelve years old, had a baby face that looked childish, disheveled hair, and beads of sweat on his flushed face. He was made of canvas.
His small schoolbag was flying behind his back. He held the things in his arms and passed through groups of pedestrians desperately. In 1993, in a small town in southern China, the streets were not wide but not crowded. There were bicycles, three
There are wheels, trucks or tractors. The surrounding buildings have an earthy and old feel. They are not beautiful, but very practical. People coming and going look at the people chasing each other, and some people want to reach out.
He tried to help intercept it, but the children evaded it as nimbly as loaches.
Although he ran all the way for a long time, a child is a child after all. After running across the pontoon bridge, his breathing was completely disordered. The buildings on both sides of the road shrouded the street in darkness. After gritting his teeth and running past a few buildings, he saw
The little girl with pigtails standing at the entrance of the alley waved her head to her out of breath.
The little girl was a little panicked, but finally understood what she meant. She turned around and ran into the alley. After a while, the boy also ran in. The huge inertia made him bump into the wall, and then he ran in with some staggering steps.
The girl was at the end of the alley, clenching her two little fists in front of her body, jumping anxiously on the spot: "Brother Azusa, Brother Azusa..." Her slightly crying tone was filled with anxiety.
The setting sun shot over the wall at the end of the alley, creating a bright line of light and darkness on the wall of the building. The boy ran to the end, pulled up the girl's small floral cloth satchel, and put everything in his arms into it: "
Go quickly, go quickly..." Then he pushed the little girl towards a hole in the wall next to him.
In theory, this is a dead end, but on the side and bottom of the wall, there is a hole that a child can go through. The little girl quickly climbed over, then turned around to meet the little boy, only to find that the other person was using force.
Pushing some garbage nearby, trying to block the hole.
"Brother Azi, brother Azi, come here quickly..." The little girl's voice was filled with tears, her shoulders and hands stretched out again, trying to pull the boy over, but was kicked back by the boy.
"Take your things back quickly..."
Amidst the crashing sound, garbage blocked both ends of the hole. The boy turned around and collapsed on the ground panting, looking at the person who came in from the alley. On the other side, the little girl was holding a floral bag and leaning against the wall.
Crying loudly.
For a moment, the sounds of shouting and beating came from the alley...
*****************
When the sunset turned from golden to orange, Lan Zi walked on the road with a bruised nose and turned around two streets. When he was approaching the intersection, he stopped and then went to the corner of the building next to him and stuck his head out.
Next to the road was a large, dilapidated yard with a fence. Some children were playing in it. A little girl wearing old floral clothes and braided hair was standing at the door of the yard looking over. He glanced at it and shrank back.
When I came back, I touched the pain on my face, thought for a while, then turned around and walked to the other side, detoured a few streets, and then returned to a small courtyard filled with rags. Grandma was folding things under the shabby awning.
Comes in carton.
"Grandma, I'm back!"
Say something loudly, and before grandma can see clearly, she quickly runs into the small room.
The injury could not be hidden for long. Before dinner, he was discovered by his sharp-eyed grandma. Naturally, he was nagging for a while, but he had already taken care of the injury. After dinner, he returned to the small room to do his homework.
, while trying to glue up the torn textbooks, there was a conversation outside.
"grandmother!"
"Oh, little mustard..."
"Is Brother Azusa back?"
Not long after, the little girl who spoke appeared at the door. He sat in front of the wooden box that was used as a writing desk. He temporarily put the broken book aside and buried himself in his homework, ignoring her.
"Brother Azi..."
The little girl came over timidly and reached out to touch the wound on the corner of his mouth where purple liquid had been applied. The boy turned away and hit her on the head: "It hurts."
The small room with the bright yellow light fell silent, and the little girl did not dare to touch his injuries again. While the boy was immersed in his homework, she silently glued up the torn textbooks for him page by page...
…
After finishing his homework and gluing up his textbooks, the little boy put the things into his small schoolbag without saying a word. The girl said, "The fat man asked you to go out to play at night."
"I'm not going today." He shook his head and spoke, touching the sore spot at the corner of his mouth. The boy then asked, "Has the medicine been put away for Sister Xiuzhen?"
"Well, put it in the old medicine box. No one knows when I put it."
"I can't say it even to death."
"I know." The little girl nodded, "Brother Azusa, when will Sister Xiuzhen's illness be cured?"
"how could I know."
Night has enveloped the whole city, and every house has lights on. They sit down on the steps in the yard. The sky is filled with bright stars. The waning moon looks like a small boat made of white jade. In the distance, Lan Zi once stood there.
You can also see the lights of the large courtyard that you looked at at the intersection. It is the orphanage where the little girl named Mustard lives.
"Brother Azusa, why don't you run away today?"
"You don't have to worry about my affairs!" The little boy glared at her, and then said, "Stop talking, let grandma hear me beating you."
"Oh." The little girl hugged her knees and nodded, then laughed, "Chili Pepper wrote to us today."
"Um."
"The letter was still crooked. Sister Xiuzhen read it to us. She said that her parents were very good to her. They bought her new clothes, bought books to read, and gave her some kind of aristocratic elementary school. It must be very good... there are so many new things.
, and gave her a new name, Xue Ya, and if I see her again, I don’t know whether to call her Chili Pepper or something..."
The little girl's voice was sweet and soft, and she was talking about her friends. The boy turned around and looked at her: "It would be great if you could be picked up anytime..." The little girl smiled "hehe".
In fact, children in orphanages will be adopted. Generally, the younger they are, the better the chances. Although Mustard is cute and can be considered young to ordinary people, she has already gone to elementary school, so she is sensible in this matter.
There is already little hope.
The two of them sat like that on the steps, looking up at the sky. The summer night was clear, cicadas were singing, and the yellowish lights shone from the dilapidated houses into the small courtyard. The small mountain city was soaked in the same light.
middle.
*******************
The little boy will have a deep friendship with the children in the orphanage. In fact, it is because they all have similar life experiences. Although he is with his grandma, he is not actually a family member inherited by blood. He is a child adopted by a kind-hearted old man. , the memory of the past has been blurred. Although there are still some scenes, it is not enough to find out the trajectory of his life. In this year, in a city where the economy is not yet developed, there are not many old people who can make a living by picking up rags. The consciousness of seeking help from the government or other forces, just raising a sensible little boy directly and sending him to school has already cost her too much effort.
The sun rises and the moon sets, time passes, summer gradually passes, and autumn leaves turn yellow. In the days when the Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, the boy helps decorate the house and repair the fence in the orphanage. As the person in charge of the orphanage, Sister Xiuzhen She has always suffered from some kind of chronic disease, which has always been the focus of concern for the sensible children. Due to the financial constraints of the orphanage, she rarely takes injections and medicines. The recurrence of her condition a few months ago scared everyone, but fortunately Later, she gradually recovered. She lost her temper because of the medicine that suddenly appeared in the orphanage. Mustard and others were punished to stand in the yard for half the night. With everyone keeping tight-lipped, the details of the medicine were revealed. The origin has not been revealed in the end.
The orphanage is repaired and decorated once a year, but this time it has another meaning for the children. Someone is coming here to adopt a child. It is an opportunity for everyone, and in this There are not many similar opportunities in the dilapidated orphanage.
Most of the younger children were dressing up carefully, but the older children did not have any hope. Lan Zi encouraged the familiar children to behave well, including the little Mustard who often accompanied him, but Mustard Her mood has been a bit low recently. She is in an awkward position due to her age. She may be adopted, but the hope is not high. Of course she hopes someone can adopt her. Even a little girl is embarrassed by this embarrassing position. Become melancholy.
Therefore, in front of the little boy, she spent most of the time talking about other things and was unwilling to mention the adoption.
"The Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon. I wonder what mooncakes Sister Xiuzhen will buy..."
"Last year's mooncakes were so delicious..."
"Brother Azusa, can I trade half of mine for your half..."
Whether it is an orphanage or a rag collector, the mooncakes of the Mid-Autumn Festival can never escape. The only difference is that they are better or worse. For children, this is also one of the most anticipated festivals every year. Little Mustard is known as The expectation of mooncakes diluted the expectation of being adopted, but the little boy still encouraged her: "Mustard is so cute, if you wear the floral dress you wore for the New Year... and put a white hair tie on your head..."
Young children don't know how to speak in a roundabout way, but simply put their inner thoughts into words. So within a few days, the little girl finally had a rare temper: "I hate you." She turned around and ran away.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, and everything in the city is starting to get lively. On the afternoon of the 14th day of the eighth lunar month, the boy was on his way home from school when he saw a noise happening on the road. This was not the first time that something like this had happened in the past few months. Once here, there were probably conflicts and quarrels between the aboriginal people here and people from a construction and development company. The construction company tried to turn this area into a development zone. To some extent, it had obtained government approval, but it was severely criticized locally. The resistance was very great. For the child, the specific meaning was not clear, but he was just watching the excitement. He stood on the outside and watched for a while, but someone pulled his clothes: "Brother Azi." He turned around. Look, it's Mustard, "Brother Azi, come with me."
The little girl pulled him mysteriously and ran through several streets. When she arrived at the back of a small construction site, she stopped panting and pulled something out of her pocket: "Here you go."
If you look closely, you will see that it is a beautifully packaged mooncake.
"Uh..." Lan Zi took the moon cake in his hand, "Sister Xiuzhen... have you bought the moon cake?"
"Try it." The little girl looked at him eagerly, showing a pure smile.
It was a mooncake with egg yolk and lotus paste. Its packaging was gorgeous for this period, and it must have been worth a lot of money. Although the little boy had seen it in the store, he never thought he would buy it at home.
It was naturally impossible for Sister Xiuzhen, who was always frugal, to eat. However, the little girl looked at him expectantly and said, "Eat, eat." He hesitated for a long time before tearing open the package, breaking out a small half of the mooncake, and then
Xiaodi took a bite.
"Is it tasty?"
"Yes." Lan Zi nodded and handed the other half of the mooncakes back to the little girl, "I'll save them for tomorrow. Why did you take them out today?"
"This is all yours, I still have it."
Mustard smiled, took out another moon cake from his bulging pocket, and said to himself: "There are also Fatty's ones, Ah Tang's ones..."
"Didn't Sister Xiuzhen buy this? Where did you get it?"
The little boy frowned. Mustard was still talking as if he was asking for credit. When he looked up and saw his eyes, he flinched at first, and then his face became tense: "Don't worry about it!"
"Where did you get it from?"
"I told you not to worry about it!"
Lan Zi grabbed her hand, and the little girl screamed. As she stepped back, trying to break away from his grip, the boy reached out and reached into her bulging pocket, and the little girl yelled "Ah——"
Standing, struggling desperately.
The age of the two is actually not that far apart, but the boy is stronger after all. After a while, the two cakes were taken out during the struggle and fell to the ground. The little girl's face was filled with tears and she pushed him away with all her strength.
Dao fell to the ground, but then the boy stood up again, blushing: "Where did you get it?"
"Those adults were fighting, and I was holding it from the side. No one saw it!"
"You stole something!" Lan Zi grabbed her hand again, "Let's give it back."
"Don't return it!" The little girl held the mooncake in her arms desperately, "No one saw it!"
"No one sees it and it's not ours!"
"But you stole something too!"
The little girl cried loudly and held the mooncake in her arms. After hearing what she said, the boy's face turned even redder. After a long while, he said, "But I let them beat me!"
"Ugh...you didn't give it back even if I beat you...you also stole things..."
"...That's Sister Xiuzhen's medicine. What can I do?"
"Anyway, if you haven't given it back, I won't give it back either!" the little girl cried, continuing to find excuses, "You've already eaten it, how can you give it back!"
"I have to pay it back anyway!"
"don't want!"
"Go back with me."
"..."
The two were tit for tat, neither giving in. The little girl protected the mooncake, while the boy tried to drag her away. During the tug, the little girl bit his hand, and then he slapped her back, and the two
The tugging between the children gradually turned into a fight. This fight lasted for several minutes. The little girl couldn't beat her. Her braids had come apart. She was hit several times. She was robbed of mooncakes and sat on the ground crying. The boy's condition
In fact, it was much worse than her. The sleeves of his clothes were torn, there were three bloody marks on his face from his nails, and the teeth marks on his wrists were bleeding. He grabbed all the mooncakes, looking like a winner, La
The little girl got up and said, "Let's go!"
The little girl who was weak in resisting blows gave up her resistance and was pulled by him in the direction he was going. She wiped her tears as she walked. When she reached the intersection over there, the little boy asked which store it was, and then said with a straight face: "
You stand here!" He took the moon cake and turned to leave.
The little girl was crying, but she was stunned when she saw him passing by alone, and then she quickly stopped him and said, "They will beat you."
"Never mind your business."
"Let's go together. If you let them beat me, we won't return the mooncakes, okay?"
"I told you to stand here!"
"But you also said the mooncakes are delicious..."
While she was crying, the little boy who turned to leave hesitated for a moment, looked at the mooncake that had been bitten in his arms, and then turned back, took out the mooncake, and said with a sullen face, "You take a bite too."
The little girl cried and shook her head.
"I told you to take a bite!" The little boy pinched her face, and then forced the mooncake with the egg yolk into her mouth, and let her take a big bite. The little girl cried and said: "Why?
ah?"
"Be an upright person." The little boy put the remaining mooncakes into the packaging bag, "You stand there, don't follow me!" Finally he walked over there.
A big mouthful of moon cake was stuffed into her mouth, and it was difficult to even chew it. She looked at the boy who was flinching when he walked to the door of the store, tasting the sweetness and saltiness in his mouth, clenching his hands into small fists, and beating his body while crying.
——This is a subconscious action she does whenever she is anxious.
The shopkeeper came out, the two sides talked, and then the little boy returned the mooncakes to the other side, including the one that took two bites. Fortunately, the scene of beating did not occur, and the shopkeeper even wanted to give the unsealed mooncake to the little boy.
The boy didn't answer the question. After saying sorry, he ran over here and without saying a word, he picked up the little girl and walked home.
The next day was the day when the children were selected. Because of the fight, they did not meet again in the evening. When they separated, the little boy told her to dress up more beautifully the next day. Although the little girl was in the fight just now,
She beat her recklessly, but the boy didn't dare to touch her face or anything like that. When he went outside the orphanage the next morning, a group of children had already gathered neatly in the yard, and they all wore their most beautiful clothes.
——Including mustard. Flowing ribbons hung on the wooden fence of the yard.
The couple interested in adopting would not come over until noon. Normally, the little boy, who was already familiar with everyone, would go directly in to play with them, but today he did not go in. He just cheered everyone up outside the fence. It was noon.
At about midnight, a car parked on the road outside the orphanage. The atmosphere inside became lively. The little boy glanced at it for a few times, and then walked towards the road behind the orphanage.
The weather was very good, and the afternoon was quiet. There was a small mound under the low wall behind the orphanage, with messy flowers and plants growing there. In front of it was a sand pit. Lan Zi played in the sand pit for a while, and then played in the sand pit.
I sat down on the mound and raised my head to look at the white clouds in the sky. At about three o'clock, there was a sound of footsteps.
That's mustard.
Today she was wearing pink shoes, a white skirt with tiny flowers, and a pure white hairband on her head. She looked like a little princess. At this time, she was running out of breath, and finally ran in front of Lan Zi.
She stopped, took a moment to catch her breath, put her hand into her pocket, and then took out a mooncake, with tears in her eyes.
"mustard……"
"They chose me, Brother Azusa, they said they wanted to adopt me..."
With a smile on her face and tears streaming down her face, the little girl suddenly hugged the little boy. The boy was also frightened by the news: "Uh, Mustard... I'm very dirty today..." There was sand on her hands.
"But mooncakes..."
"They asked me to say goodbye to the children. The mooncakes I asked them for are for you..."
The little girl said and wanted to sit down on the mound. Lan Zi quickly grabbed her and said, "It will stain your skirt."
"it does not matter……"
"But you can't let them think you are unhygienic."
Lan Zi found a clean newspaper nearby, and then the two of them sat down on the mound of dirt. What Mustard brought was a very good mooncake. It looked more beautifully packaged than yesterday's mooncake. Lan Zi divided it.
Two halves, each person holds half and eats it in small bites.
There seemed to be a lot to say, but there didn't seem to be much. Based on the information he heard from others, Lan Zi told Mustard what he should pay attention to when he arrived at the new parents' home. He must be obedient, not have bad habits, and not think too much about the orphanage.
Here, treat the new home as a real home, because no one wants to raise a child who is always thinking about other places...and so on, and so on. Mustard listened to him, and after a while
, also said: "Brother Azusa, when will you be able to find your parents again?"
The little boy thought for a while: "I don't know..."
"They said you were from...don't be angry...from a mental hospital..."
"Who said that……"
"My grandma told me when I was talking to her. Grandma said this is what you told her when you were a child..."
"Uh..." the little boy smiled and scratched his head, "I can't remember clearly. It seems something happened there, so I ran out..."
"Then why are you in that kind of hospital?"
"Because I was very naughty at that time..."
"naughty?"
"Well, it seems that I thought I could fly, so I jumped down from a building and broke my leg. Later they said I was crazy, haha... Then something happened in the hospital, so I ran out and was adopted by my grandma...
"
"Then you can go home after you find the hospital."
"But there is no mental hospital here...and I don't know if it's true..."
The memory of the past has long been blurred. These things are in a mess. I don’t know if they are really the fragments I remember or the impressions caused by other people’s speculation or ridicule. It must be false, because there are actually no mental illnesses near the city.
The hospital existed, and the little boy was not very dissatisfied with his current life. The two talked for a while and finally turned the topic to other directions.
The little girl still has to say goodbye to others after all. Regarding the fact that they are about to be separated, the pure emotions in her heart can only be expressed by crying. However, under Lan Zi's little adult-like advice of "Don't let them think you are a crybaby"
, the right to cry was also taken away. In the afternoon, as night fell, the adopted parents had dinner with the children in the orphanage and left. In the back seat of the car that started slowly, Mustard looked back at the child.
The orphanage was under lights, looking at a small courtyard with warm yellow lights in the distance and the little boy standing in the courtyard looking over, leaning out and waving desperately.
The car finally disappeared at the corner of the road at the end of the field of vision. Lan Zi stood in the yard and lowered his right hand that was waving gently. Mustard must have lived a better life. I should be happy for her, but the tears just can't stop.
Come down, he thought for a while, and then ran out of the yard. The street lights in this civilian area were not complete. The roads and alleys, the vision of changing light and dark, rushed to the dark embankment, and then he stopped. The small car
You can also see that it has passed over the bridge.
A cold wind blew over the river, and there was no one around. Lan Zi turned around and looked around, then closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and clenched her fists.
Slowly, his feet left the ground and flew up into the sky.
There were no witnesses, and the cool night wind blew his clothes. He continued to rise on the river bed, his eyes wandering in the car lights of the distant streets, and he flew towards that direction.
When he reached a high altitude, the wind became stronger and stronger. He was probably flying in the sky above a dozen or so buildings. He looked down. The main roads in the city were brightly lit and still busy with traffic. Various vehicles and pedestrians stood there.
Hotels, restaurants, shops, cinemas, and night market stalls on both sides of the road were all immersed in the bright lights. A small river passed through the center of the city. He found the vehicle he wanted to follow on the road and kept moving forward.
When you raise your head, the city will spread out before your eyes.
When the residential areas, factories, schools, and main streets with speckled lights spread out to both sides, the light gradually fades between the branch streets and disperses into a star-like distribution. The crowds will gradually decrease. In each community, there will be
There are people walking out, and there are also people gathering under the lights to play chess. When you reach the factory area, the lights will become denser, and vehicles of all sizes will come and go. The main road that runs through the city finally passes through the city, and the street lights are facing the surrounding area.
Passing through the rolling dark ridges was also the direction the car was headed.
He gritted his teeth and walked forward, gradually leaving the city. He had had this experience in the past, but at this time he did not wear more clothes or wrap his head, and he gradually felt the coldness in his body.
The wind in the sky was like a knife. He hugged his body and trembled all over, but he finally mustered up his energy and kept following in the sky.
When the car passed the first bend in the mountains, he landed on the ridge, looked at the road and car lights stretching away in the darkness, and finally waved his hand.
"Goodbye, Mustard..."
The voice echoed in the wind. Gradually, gradually, the moving vehicle disappeared at the end of the field of vision. The child standing on the ridge floated up again, flying away in the direction of the coming and going in the cool night wind.
*****************
After reading it, you can vote in the author survey. The new book should be released in mid-November.