Bitter summer. Summer is rich and dirty. Rich in the world, but muddy in me.

The Pillow River is a small city located on the first line of the Huai River in the Qinling Mountains, which is illuminated by the warm and humid river breeze all year round, and the air always has a bit of a wet consistency that makes the breath stagnant, but it is very conducive to the growth of trees. Trees of all shapes are linked together here, each with a different shade of green throughout the year, providing color to this somewhat dilapidated, gray-yellow town.

The trees are lush and green, like big umbrellas, always like guards standing up to the sky, always guarding this small city.

In the Pillow River Trade City, it is as noisy and stuffy as ever. The blades of the inferior electric fan crackled and turned, making the ceiling appear low and heavy, and it was about to fall straight above people's heads.

The noisy sound in his ears never stopped for a moment, Ji Feng touched a tissue to wipe the sweat on his forehead, and continued to eat noodles.

Although she was still very young, she seemed to have become accustomed to such a terrible environment, and her little face was calm.

The hot weather and thick sauce make the noodles very unpalatable and very unpleasant in the throat. After eating the noodles, Ji Feng raised his head and drank the water in the cup in one sip, and glanced at the woman who was reading a novel on the side, Ji Huan, her mother.

"Mom, are you done drinking the water?" Ji Feng stood up and went to get the old thermos cup that was placed next to Ji Huan.

"Ahh Not yet, do you want to drink water?" Ji Huan, who was immersed in the novel, raised her head as if she had just woken up from a dream, and she replied in a trance, her voice was very soft, and she spoke softly and slowly, like a famous lady.

"I'm going to fetch water and ask if you want to drink it. Ji Feng explained.

"No, no, you go, slow down, be careful not to burn your hands. Ji Huan said.

Ji Feng nodded and walked out of the counter, carrying a clean lunch box and water cup in her hand, so when she saw Chen Xin coming towards her, she could only nod instead of greeting.

Chen Xin panted and beckoned to respond to her, looking like he had just gone to play, and his smooth forehead was covered with beads of sweat at this time. Junior high school boys generally haven't started to smoke strips yet, but he is already tall and thin, and his eyebrows and eyes are also marked.

Ji Feng and Chen Xin are small and grew up together.

Ji Hao's mother runs a small shop selling stationery and calligraphy and painting supplies, while Chen's mother, Jiang Yuyan, runs a large daily necessities store opposite. On the second floor of the trade city, Jiang Yuyan's shop is the largest, just on the right side of the stairs, in a very eye-catching position. And they still live in the same community, when this community was first developed, Jiang Yuyan called on everyone in the trade city to buy it together, but in the end, only Ji Huan followed and bought a small apartment, and the two became familiar friends.

When Ji Feng came back, he saw Chen Xin already sitting in the opposite shop, listening to music and doing homework. He uses a new music player from iPod, which has a very small screen, but it is very expensive, at least for Ji Hao. Jiang Yuyan will always provide him with a good material life, but she will always behave harshly in other aspects.

Ji Hao returned to the counter, while washing the unpleasant feeling in her throat with warm water, she stared at the disc watch hanging in the store, and there was still half an hour before the end of the business city, at this time, there were no customers in the corridor, all of them were sitting on benches, shaking fans, lifting up their clothes to expose their belly, and in her opinion, there was no sense of shame.

At this time, if a customer suddenly walks in, these shops will probably have one of two states: one will quickly get up from the bench and wait for the customer to come to their shop with their eyes open, and the other will continue to shake the fan without raising their eyelids. This has little to do with the quality of their business this month, the former are mostly young shopkeepers who still maintain an enthusiastic attitude towards money, and the latter are mostly middle-aged and elderly people who have been running small business for some years.

Enthusiasm has long been eaten up by life, so I don't even want to do some pretense.

Just as it was about to close, a middle-aged woman with a vegetable pocket hurriedly walked in, although she walked quickly, but Gu Pan's head did not stop, like a general who was reading soldiers, and the store that was swept by her sharp gaze couldn't help but say: "Come in and have a look." ”

The middle-aged woman walked around, stopped in front of Jiang Yuyan's shop, walked in, and asked Chen Xin, who was sitting behind the counter, "Is there a pot brush?"

Chen Xin was stuffing his headphones and burying his head in his homework, when he was suddenly shrouded in a shadow, and raised his head blankly.

"Do you have a pot brush?" the middle-aged woman asked again, gesturing to her ear, "Can you take your hearing aids off?" ”

At this time, Jiang Yuyan, who was hanging out outside, came back and hurriedly greeted her, "Pot brush, Chen Xin, quickly get a pot brush for Auntie." ”

"We have three kinds of pot brushes, and they are all very cheap, depending on which one you want. ”

"Which is the cheapest?" asked the middle-aged woman.

Jiang Yuyan took her the cheapest pot brush, and the middle-aged woman picked it up and scraped the bristles with her fingers, and rubbed it on the palm of her hand, and shook her head for a while, picking on this kind of pot bristles that are few and not strong, and it is not worth the price at all.

Jiang Yuyan, an old Jianghu, hurriedly smiled and said: "You also know that this price is worth everything, and it can only achieve this quality at this price." Why don't you try this, this is our latest entry, which is easy to make and durable, and the design of this handle, you will not feel tired even if you brush the bowl for a day. ”

The middle-aged woman made up her mind to ask for the cheapest pot brush, and after some bargaining, Jiang Yuyan slapped her thigh and said, "Eldest sister, I see that you are also a happy person, this purchase price is only four yuan, you will give me four yuan, I have already paid you the bottom, you can ask elsewhere, if there is a lower price than me......"

Ji Feng lay on the counter, thinking that she still knew this old set of words. The operators in the trade city have negotiated the price with each other, and no one will sell it below this price, which is like a rule.

Where there are people, there are rivers and lakes, there will be all kinds of written and unwritten rules, and often people pay more attention to those unwritten, which is their well-known secret, and it is the most suitable law for them to cherish interests.

So Ji Fengchang is here, he has seen countless white eyes and red eyes since he was a child, and he is familiar with every penny in the counter.

This angle just met the eyes of Chen Xin on the opposite side, Chen Xin spread his hands to her, she made a shooting gesture at Chen Xin, and Chen Xin also cooperated to perform a shot posture - holding his chest and leaning back. Ji Feng couldn't help laughing, in order to avoid being discovered by adults, she could only cover her mouth and shake her shoulders incessantly.

Although their small actions still fell in Ji Huan's eyes, Ji Huan just smiled gently.

Seeing off the middle-aged woman, Jiang Yuyan walked over with two apples with a smile and stuffed one for Ji Feng and Ji Huan. Then leaned on the edge of the counter and talked to Ji Huan - they were always keen to talk like this, and then laughed together, even if it wasn't that funny, they would laugh like they were so funny.

The content is probably that Jiang Yuyan found out a few days ago that Chen Xin QQ often has a screen name "Su Bai". Flowers", Jiang Yuyan said: What are the aesthetics of children in these years, and they don't feel unlucky to call this name.

Ji Huan said Don't talk about such a child, you are not called, what is the name of the red stamen peony, I think it is half a catty and eight taels.

Then the two of them burst into laughter.

Laughter is a thing that is closely related to personal experience and living environment, so when the two middle-aged women laughed crookedly, Ji Hao felt that it was not very funny, she took out a folding fruit knife from the counter, and cut the apple in half.

When the juice is sprayed, the fruit splits open, revealing the inside.

It's a black mess, and it smells of decay.

Ji Hao suddenly felt a little empty in her heart, she was looking forward to it, because she liked to eat apples very much - Ji Huan likes to eat lychees, Chen Xin likes to eat watermelon, and Ji Hao likes to eat apples, TV commercials made her believe that apples are a very economical fruit, it is very cheap, sweet and sour, and can cure diseases, "One apple a day, the doctor stays away from me" banners are pasted on the wall of the school cafeteria.

"Oh, this apple is bad!" Jiang Yuyan pinched half of the apple and looked at it, frowning, maybe she had more meat on her face, so when she frowned, the folds were also deeper, which made her look a little worried about the country and the people.

"If it's broken, don't eat it. Ji Huan said.

"It's bad inside, can't you still eat it outside!" Jiang Yuyan said that Jiang Yuyan cut off the flesh that was still white on the outside with a few knives, held it in her hand and said, "Don't eat it, I'll take it back and give it to that stinky boy to eat." ”

Ji Feng looked at the rotten and blackened fruit pits that were thrown in the trash, and felt a little sad in her heart, a sense of gain and loss that she herself had not realized filled her heart, making her feel stuffy, the same as the weather in the Pillow River, and the same as the air in the trade city, stuffy, very stuffy.

After the hottest and sultry afternoon, the night is much cooler.

Ji Hao sat on the back seat of Ji Huan's bicycle, passing through the streets and alleys of the small town, she was lying on Ji Huan's back a little sleepy, Ji Huan turned her head to look at her daughter, showing a gentle smile.

The small city sleeps on the river, the night breeze is gentle, the shadows of the trees are waving, and all the stories start here, but I don't know where they will end.