Zhang He clearly remembers that the "first" reunion with his father happened on the day of his mother's funeral. At that time, he was looking at his mother's frozen stiff body expressionlessly, and at the same time, he was still clasping the "pulse" on his mother's wrist with his fingers, stupidly waiting for a miracle. But at this moment, a figure suddenly appeared in the "final farewell room".

Seeing that this person came in the door, no one paid attention to him, so he hurriedly came to Zhang He's back, grabbed his arm, and dragged Zhang He out without saying a word.

"What are you doing!" Zhang He shook off his hand and said sharply.

"I'm looking for you. Seeing that this person didn't dare to look at others, he just stared at Zhang He with a frown and a sad face, and said in a low voice. But unexpectedly, Zhang He didn't pay attention to him at all, but still turned around and continued to hold his mother's wrist. So that this person had to "knowingly" say, "I'm waiting for you at the gate of the courtyard", and then turned to leave.

"Who was that person just now, is it Xiao Zhao?" "Aunt Zhang Liqin, who was standing opposite Zhang He, turned her head and asked the other family members behind her.

"I didn't recognize it, it seems. Since his second sister divorced her "second brother-in-law", Zhang Liling, her aunt who has never seen Zhang's father in the past ten years, replied.

"It's Ya, I recognized him as soon as he entered the door. Aunt Zhang He frowned.

"Then why is he pulling Beibei, didn't you see that your second sister is about to push in? Who informed him?" Aunt Zhang He asked with a displeased face.

"No one informed him, probably because he heard from his second sister's colleague!" Aunt Zhang He replied.

"It's gone, here's it. The fourth aunt standing beside Zhang He squinted.

"Hey, people are here, come and send them off, and it's not in vain to have a fight with the second sister and his wife. The only one in the family who has never seen the "second brother-in-law", but his temper and personality are very similar to the "second brother-in-law", one round younger than Zhang He's father, and Liu Huiming, who is also a tiger, took over the conversation.

"Is this a gift? Did he glance at Bei Bei's place? Straight eyebrows and pulling Bei Bei is about to leave, what are you going to do?" Zhang He said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, Fourth Sister, even if I didn't say it, let's not shout in this place. Seeing that the fourth sister was in a hurry, the sister-in-law hurriedly persuaded her. So, until accompanied by the sudden sound of kowtowing, crying, a wail of "Second sister is good, Liyun is good", and the sound of farewell from the next house one after another, Zhang's mother was finally pushed away by the staff, and there was no other sound in this farewell room.

"Beibei, are you going to see what your dad is looking for you?" After wiping away her tears and walking out of the farewell room, Aunt Zhang He said to Zhang He.

"I'm not going, I don't know him. Zhang He said expressionlessly.

"You don't know your father, maybe your mother is gone, and he wants to give you some money?" The third aunt squinted at everyone intentionally or unintentionally as she spoke.

"Yes, don't be stupid, you'll take it if you give it to you. The fourth aunt seemed to admonish.

"Raise child support with him, it should have risen after so many years. The aunt also agreed.

"I'm not going. Zhang He still said stubbornly and seriously.

But at this moment, four women suddenly walked over from the side. I saw that one of them was about forty years old, about 1.6 meters tall, wearing the same work clothes as Zhang's mother before her death, her hair was slightly hot, her skin was fair, but the muscle lines on her face were a little long, and she didn't look easy to mess with at a glance. As he spoke, he put his hand around Zhang He's shoulder.

The person who spoke was none other than Zhang He's godmother, but speaking of this godmother, in fact, Zhang He had seen three or four times since he was a child, she was a colleague of Zhang He's parents in the Capital Iron and Steel Plant, only because she gave birth a few days earlier than Zhang's mother, and jokingly said that if Zhang's mother gave birth to a girl, she would have to make a baby kiss with her boy, so she had this title. But I don't see how the two families move around on weekdays, and I haven't seen her in the farewell room today.

But at this moment, since he saw people coming, Zhang He didn't want to pry people's face too much. Therefore, he only bowed his head and stubbornly held on for a few seconds, and then walked outside with the others. At this time, how did he know that a debt collection drama that he would never forget was waiting for him, the protagonist, to open the gong.

I saw that these four women hugged Zhang He like this and came to the west gate of the crematorium, on the way, none of them spoke, as if they were still immersed in the sadness of losing their "sister", until they finally saw Zhang's father smoking under a tree not far from the courtyard gate, and the godmother said with a serious face: "My son called you, hurry up." ”

And Zhang He, who thought that at the moment he saw his father, he would immediately take a bad breath for his mother like a storm for his father's rudeness just now, as well as all the past, but at this moment, he suddenly lost his temper, and suddenly felt a sour nose, and his eyes were instantly filled with tears, and he began to hope that the father in front of him, who had only met him once when he bought a bicycle last year, had only met him once since he went to court with his mother when he was seven years old, but except for asking him to sign, he had never said a word to his father, who had never said a word to him, and could take him into his arms at this moment and pat him on the back and say a wordThe words "Mommy is gone, and Daddy" is gone.

But alas, he was wrong. He doesn't understand too much that in this world, in addition to "blood is thicker than water", there is also a saying called "the country is easy to change, but the nature is difficult to change". I saw that his father, after hearing what his godmother said, did not look at him at all, but first looked at the surrounding environment as if he was a thief, and then did not say a word, only beckoned to them, and led them back to the courtyard, looking for a relatively secluded open space as they walked. Only then did he look at everyone, and said to Zhang He with an embarrassed face: "Do you know that your mother cares about these aunts borrowing money?"

That's right, this sentence is the second sentence that I took the initiative to say to Zhang He in the past ten years after the last sentence "Hey, write your name here". It is not difficult to imagine how overwhelmed and disappointed Zhang Hehui was at that time by this "basin of cold water". But what could he do? He could only suddenly shake his head in a daze, and unconsciously shook his head at the crowd in front of him.

"Hey, what are our four aunts? It's none of your business here, Liyun doesn't care about you borrowing it? Just say your own business, don't act like you're for us." Zhang He's godmother was immediately displeased when she heard this, it seemed that she was really dissatisfied with Zhang's father for talking about them at the beginning, so she didn't wait for Zhang's father to talk back, so she frowned and said to Zhang He: "Beibei, isn't this the first two months when the unit called on us to buy a house?" Originally, we came today just to send your mother, but the unit was delayed, so we didn't catch up. ”

Zhang He's godmother suddenly paused when she said this, and then glanced at the three aunts on the right with a meaningful look, before continuing: "We didn't want to mention this matter to you today, but you also know that your father has a bad relationship with your aunt and your grandmother, and we can't ask him to say this, and it's not good to run to your grandma's house together because of some money, and we don't know each other." It stands to reason that we have a relationship with your mother, and we really shouldn't talk to you, but let's count it, say more or less, and no one is rich. What should you do about this, why don't you help us give your grandma a word, and then give us a letter, and wait for us to go over one day?"

Without waiting for Zhang He to react, the other three aunts also opened their mouths one after another. I saw one of the thin and tall aunts say, "Yes, you said that this is a trouble, hey, it's better not to borrow Liyun in the first place." His expression was not known whether he was embarrassed or regretful.

And an aunt with glasses standing next to her said, "Hey, who knew that Liyun would go so fast." I really didn't expect that there would be no one after the Spring Festival, and our sisters would still go to eat together at thirty days. Auntie's eyes turned red as she spoke.

And the last aunt who opened her mouth was even more embarrassed, and she didn't dare to look at Zhang He, but said to the people around her: "What do you say we have become? To tell you the truth, I came a long time ago, but I didn't dare to go in." I really don't know what to do. ”

But none of them expected that when they finished speaking, before they had time to sort out their expressions, Father Zhang suddenly frowned, raised his voice slightly and took over: "What should be good? Don't we all have IOUs here? Let's go over together in a moment, and show them to his aunts first. As he spoke, he unfolded a folded piece of paper that had been holding in his hand and lit it up in front of Zhang He's eyes.

Zhang's father's actions couldn't help but surprise the four women, including Zhang He's godmother, and immediately looked at each other with embarrassed expressions. Zhang He's godmother had a smile on her face that was more ugly than crying, and said: "We don't know his aunt, or we will give it to you first, you give us the money, and then you go to their family to ask for it." ”

"I'm in charge of my own, whether you like to go or not. Zhang's father said unhappily.

"Hey, you said you're a person, you're in a hurry when you're talking, you think we're Liyun. Zhang He's godmother finished speaking with half anger and half laughter, and suddenly felt that there was something wrong with these words, so she hurriedly smiled bitterly at Zhang He.

"Hey, how can I get here, I can't go, I want to talk about it these days, aren't you looking for trouble?" The aunt with glasses looked at everyone with an embarrassed face.

"Yes, why don't you wait for another day, let's do it today, don't block others, wait a few days, let the child finish talking to his grandmother, and wait for people to find us." The emaciated aunt who was the last to speak frowned.

"In two days, when? If you don't go, I'll go myself. Hmph, you're so grinding. Father Zhang said, but his feet did not step a millimeter.

"Give me all the IOUs, and I'll let my aunts give you an explanation. Zhang He stretched out his hand to everyone with a wooden expression.

"Cheng, it's hard for you, child, we're waiting for you here. ”

"Beibei, we're really not here to ask for debts, don't think about it. ”

"yes, kid, we don't want to talk to you about it today, we can't help it. ”

"Hey, you said that this is a trouble, it's just the eighth day of the first month today, and it's not even over the fifteenth, so let the children do this. Otherwise, let's forget it. ”

"I won't think much about it, of course my mother's debt has to be paid by my son, you can give me the IOU, and I will go back. Zhang He, who was already having tears rolling in his eyes, saw that his godmother and aunts had already taken out IOUs, but they were embarrassed to hand them to him. simply began to take the initiative to put away the IOUs one by one, and while collecting them, he also said to each of them one by one: "Thank you for helping my mother." ”

"Wait, you give me the IOU first. Zhang He was about to leave with the IOU, but Zhang's father suddenly stretched out his hand to stop him. I saw that he took out his IOU from Zhang He's hand, and said to himself as if he was talking to himself while folding it: "You didn't tell your aunt for a while, what if we tear it up, who are we looking for?" ”

"Your mother is ......" Zhang He, who couldn't bear his father's performance this morning, finally scolded in his mouth. But just as he was about to explode, he suddenly saw a faint smoke coming out of the chimney not far behind his father, which would "announce" to the world that another life had officially come to an end, and at this time it was wafting out a wisp of green smoke that seemed to be gray but not gray and not white. This couldn't help but remind Zhang He of his mother's eyes that miraculously closed due to his father's arrival, and he didn't want to turn his face with his father "in front of his mother". So, he swallowed what he was going to say later, and instead shouted to the aunts who had gathered at the door of the "ashes collection place" and kept looking at it: "Auntie, come here." ”

The aunts shook their heads at him and winked their eyes, meaning they didn't want to meet his father. So Zhang He had no choice but to raise the IOU in his hand again and wave it to his aunts, and raised his finger to point to the words on the paper. Only then did the eldest aunt and the third aunt come over with a frown, while the fourth aunt and the younger aunt who had scolded Zhang's father for their second sister did not move.

When I saw my "relatives", I finally came to my face. Zhang He handed the three IOUs in his hand to his aunt, and didn't explain anything to the two aunts, just whispered, "This is what my mother wrote" and left this "sad place" with a lonely expression. At this point, his "first" reunion with his father came to an end.

And then the "check-out to pay off debts" and "can't continue to go to school" two major events that completely changed the trajectory of his life also started.