The next day, before dawn, Little Black Tan was woken up hungry.

But in the past two years, she has not been less hungry, even if her face is pale and her legs are weak, she still feels not too uncomfortable when she gets up from the straw pile in the corner.

Out of the door, Xiao Hei Tan rubbed his eyes, looked up at the bright sky, looked back at his own earthen embryo house that only collapsed to half of the roof, and then skillfully picked up the small broken bowl that was missing a small mouth from the corner of the yard, and came to the broken water tank next to it, scooped half a bowl of muddy water that had been thrown by the children in the town, and poured it into his stomach, which felt better.

Little Black Charcoal wiped his lips, put the little broken bowl back in its place, and left the house like a gust of wind.

She went straight to the only inn in town, and after greeting a fellow, she took a bucket from the backyard, plus a wooden cart, put it on, and pushed it through the streets to the little pool on the west side of the town.

It's a job she's managed to find.

Usually there are a lot of tourists in the town, and the guys in the inn are very busy and don't have time to fetch water, so she volunteered to take the job. The round trip was exactly one kilometer, and a bucket of water gave five dimes, and it took her about an hour to push a bucket of water, which was five buckets a day, just enough to fill the water tank in the backyard of the hotel.

Originally, the hotel still had a job of pushing and grinding, but the guys thought that she had little strength and pushed slowly, so she didn't need to do it, if it weren't for the fact that they couldn't pull out, this work of carrying water wouldn't be her turn, because it was too slow.

Xiao Heitan hummed the tune that her mother had been singing to her back then, and slowly filled the bucket with a water scoop. The bucket was taller than her whole body on the wheelbarrow, so she had to stand on two cushioned bricks for each scoop of water to pour it in.

I don't know if I was bullied by her last night, but the three big white geese didn't come to the pool to bathe today. Therefore, the water in the pool is much clearer.

After filling the bucket with water, the sky was already white, and Xiao Hei Tan put the water scoop away, pushed the cart and began to walk back.

This pool is the only source of water in the town, and there are many people walking every day, so the road back and forth is full of potholes, and Xiao Hei Tan is particularly difficult to push, and almost every step takes her whole strength.

On the way back, when the car was on a small slope, she couldn't push it up because she didn't eat, so she didn't push it up for a long time. gritted his teeth and grinned, laughing one after another, with both disdain and sneer in his eyes.

But there was no sympathy.

And no one helped.

When she returned to the hotel, it was already dawn, and the innkeeper who was waiting for the water was furious and kicked her in the chest, and Xiao Heitan's thin body flew out upside down and fell four or five meters away.

The young man, who was only in his early twenties, took a penny out of his trouser pocket, crumpled it, threw it in her face, pointed to the door and shouted, "Get out, don't come here again." ”

Xiao Heitan's face was pale, and he didn't care about being kicked in severe pain. He crawled back and kowtowed in front of the guy, his lips trembling, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry......"

The guy was angry because he had no water, which affected the guests' eating, and he was going to continue to do it, but at this moment, a young girl hurriedly walked in from outside, and when she saw this scene, she hurriedly persuaded the guy, the little black charcoal was dizzy, and she didn't know whether it was beaten or hungry, and when she finally came back to her senses, she found that the guy was gone, and the young sister who was helping her was standing in front of her, who was smiling at her, and said, "My name is Sun Zhiqing, what is your name?"

Xiao Heitan looked at her, although the other party helped her, she was still a little vigilant in her heart, hesitated for a while, but still didn't answer, just whispered: "Thank you." ”

Sun Zhiqing glanced at the bucket of water next to her that an adult might not be able to lift with one hand, and then looked at this black charcoal girl who was only five years old at most, skinny and skinny, and only a little taller than an adult's knee, and felt a little sad in her heart.

"I heard from the guy, you have to come here every day to fetch water, right?" Sun Zhiqing looked at Xiao Heitan's somewhat shy face, and whispered, "Do you want my sister to help you?"

Xiao Heitan took a step back, immediately shook his head and said, "No, I can do it myself." ”

Sun Zhiqing asked again: "Then do you want to eat?" As she spoke, she took out a white-flour steamed bun from behind her and held it up in front of her.

Xiao Heitan was even more vigilant, and continued to take a step back, looking at this beautiful big sister with some panic in her eyes.

Sun Zhiqing was very surprised in her heart, she couldn't understand why she was so kind to show such kindness, why was this child still so scared, could it be that she was so young that she had already understood the truth of "not being good to people for no reason"?

Xiao Heitan stared at the steamed bun in the sister's hand, snow-white, licked her chapped lips, and her face was a little gloomy.

She has been out for so long, it seems that she has not eaten such a beautiful steamed bun for almost a year.

"Don't worry, there is no poison in steamed buns. Sun Zhiqing smiled, broke a small piece of steamed bread with her fingers and put it in her mouth, and ate it by herself, before handing the rest to Xiao Heitan again.

Little Black Carbon stood in place, shaking his head like a rattle.

Sun Zhiqing sighed, so she had to point to the crumpled five-dime in her hand, and said that if you give me the money, I will sell you the steamed buns.

The black charcoal girl's eyes lit up, but soon dimmed again, and she said timidly: "But steamed buns are so expensive, they can't be bought for five dimes." ”

Sun Zhiqing's eyes were red, but she didn't give Xiao Heitan a chance to refuse this time, forced the steamed bun into her hand, snatched the five dimes again, turned around and ran back to the front hall of the hotel.

Xiao Hei Tan stood dumbfounded, feeling that she had taken advantage of her and was a little at a loss for a while.

At this time, the guy who kicked her before came out, glanced at her, and said angrily: "It's good to have food, but now the world is so chaotic, you are a little orphan with no father and no mother, and you still keep that little tutor, do you really think you are a big family? ”

Like a kitten that had been stepped on by its tail, Little Black Tan shouted at the guy: "Don't say bad things about my father, my mother is the most beautiful woman in the world, and my father is the most handsome man in the world!"

The guy clasped his hands and said with interest: "You dare to be fierce, don't come here to find work after you have the ability." ”

"If you don't do it, you won't do it!"

Xiao Heitan was also stubborn, holding the white steamed bun in both hands, and without saying a word, he turned around and ran out of the backyard of the hotel.

The sky has completely brightened, and there are gradually more pedestrians in the town, and Xiao Heitan ran all the way home, fortunately he did not meet other little beggars halfway, otherwise they would have been robbed when they saw the steamed buns.

Xiao Hei Tan broke the steamed bun in half, ate half by herself, and wrapped the other half in a plastic bag and placed it under the straw pile where she slept.

While eating the soft steamed buns, Xiao Heitan burst into tears.

When her mother was there, in addition to the fragrant steamed buns, she vaguely remembered eating something called candy, but she had forgotten what it tasted like, when it rained that day, the rain moistened the mud, and she also pinched out a few candies on the ground with her impression, but it was black, put it in her mouth and chewed it, there was no taste at all, coarse, she finally swallowed it, and she didn't want to eat the second bite, and she couldn't help but be disappointed.

After eating half a steamed bun, Xiao Heitan finally felt better, she thought about it, her sloppy little face fought for a while, and finally made up her mind, took out a small cloth bag about the size of her hand from under the straw pile, poured out four one-yuan coins from it, held it in her hand, and ran all the way out of the house.

She took the money to a grain processing shop in the town, bought two catties of rice bran from the boss, returned home, poured the rice bran into a broken face plate she picked up, poured water, slowly stirred into a ball, and finally pinched out round cakes.

Little Black Carbon actually knows. The owner of the processing shop lied to her, saying that it was four catties of rice bran, but in fact it was only two catties, but now that the grain is so expensive, the rice bran made of rice husks is not cheap, and she feels that it is not a loss for four yuan and two catties of rice bran.

It's just that those four coins were saved up with great difficulty, and she spent them all at once, which still made her a little painful.

But when doing business, you always have to take a long-term view, Xiao Heitan comforted himself in his heart.

Near noon, in the streets and alleys of Heshi Town, a sloppy little girl began to hold a broken face plate and shout loudly, "Sell rice bran balls, sell rice bran balls, five dimes a piece, three yuan a dollar." The fragrant rice bran dumplings are delicious and cheap. ”

It's just that others saw a dozen fist-sized rice bran balls in her broken face plate, not round, not flat, and extremely poor, and they didn't have the desire to look at it again for a while. During this period, there were a few tourists passing by, and they couldn't help but laugh, saying that the kind of thing you sell is usually used to feed chickens, and sometimes you don't even eat pigs, and if you fall into people's stomachs, you may even get sick from eating.

Some people even saw that she was dirty, black and thin, and even more eyesore, and scolded: "Hurry up and get away, such an ugly thing, when your father and mother were born, why didn't they strangle you to death, and I couldn't eat if I looked at you more." ”

Xiao Heitan didn't care either, avoiding those who scolded her, holding a broken face plate, still selling along the street.

It's just that I've been walking around the town for more than three hours, and I've traveled almost everywhere, and I still can't sell any rice bran balls, during which there was a little beggar who had been hungry for two days, relying on being two years older than her and taller than her, snatched her a rice bran ball and stuffed it into her mouth, but before she could swallow her stomach, she retched and spit it back on the ground, and couldn't help but smash the remaining half on Xiao Hei Tan's face, and scolded viciously:" It's raw and coarse, and it doesn't taste at all, how can there be such an unpalatable thing, eating is ten thousand times better than eating this!"

Little Black Charcoal stood dumbfounded, his teeth biting his lip, tears rolling in his eyes.

Sure enough, her mother was right. Doing business is not always smooth sailing, and her first business ended in dismal results.

But she doesn't regret it, although she lost her job because of the confrontation with that guy, she doesn't feel that she did something wrong, it doesn't matter if the rice bran dumplings can't be sold, she can keep them for herself, and she can eat them for many days.

With that in mind, she began to walk back with her face in her hands, intending to get home before dark.

But at this moment, at the corner of the alley in front, a tall man came out, wearing a hat on his head and a robe on his shoulders, and came to her step by step. Looking down at her and saying, "How much is a rice bran ball?"

For some reason, when she met this man's eyes, Xiao Heitan was inexplicably frightened in her heart, she subconsciously took a step back, didn't dare to look at the other party's face again, lowered her head and said, "One for five corners, three for one yuan." ”

George squatted down, grabbed three rice bran balls in his face plate with his right hand, reached into his trouser pocket with his left hand, took out a one-yuan coin, and handed it to Xiao Hei Tan, "It just so happens that I'm hungry, let's take three first." ”

Little Black Carbon took the coin, surprised and delighted.

George doesn't talk nonsense either. Sitting on the ground, he stuffed the rice bran balls into his mouth one by one, and ate with a sigh and a snort.

Xiao Heitan looked at the man, her mood suddenly improved, she put the coin back in the broken trouser pocket, patted it, wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, and was about to turn away.

But she had barely taken a few steps when the man suddenly stopped her, "Hey, where is your house, can you keep me for the night?" ”

Little Black Charcoal paused and looked at him. His face was a little surprised.

"In this way, I will not take advantage of you. George thought for a moment and said, "The hotel in the town costs 5 yuan for a night, if you are willing to stay with me for the night, how about I give you 2 yuan?"

Xiao Heitan's eyes lit up, she thought for a while, and replied, "It's okay to leave you overnight, but you have to give me 5 yuan." ”

George smiled dumbly, "The hotel has a bed to live in and something to eat, do you have all of these?"

"Yes!" Xiao Heitan nodded heavily and lifted the broken face plate in his hand up, "There is a bed too, and there is food...... There are too!"

"Okay. George looked at the sky. It was almost dark, so he took out a 2 yuan yuan from his trouser pocket and handed it to her, "This is a deposit, and the remaining 3 will be given to you tomorrow." ”

"No!" Xiao Heitan refused, "You must give it all, or I won't feel at ease." ”

George raised his eyebrows and said, "What are you worried about, is it possible that you have any treasures in your family?"

Little Black Tan was taken aback, and hurriedly took a few steps back, looking at him vigilantly.

"Ha, I said yes, you really have a treasure hidden in your house?" George was a little amused, but he didn't want to scare this little black charcoal that he had been following all day and found very interesting, so he took out an extra thirty dollars from his trouser pocket and handed it to her, "No." Take it. Look at you as a child, your clothes are still so tattered, even if you have a baby, it's not a valuable thing, I'm not rare. ”

Xiao Heitan stared at his eyes tightly, looked at it for a while, and finally made sure that he was really not interested in his "baby", so he breathed a sigh of relief, carefully took the fifty yuan, quickly put it in his pocket, and beckoned to him, "Come with me." ”

In this way, George returned to her home with the little black charcoal.

It was only when George saw the three dilapidated and dilapidated houses, all of which had collapsed in half, that his brow furrowed.

"This is your home?" snorted George, "it's so bad, it's far worse than a hotel." It's not worth $5 at all. ”

Xiao Hei Tan made a face, and said crisply that I have already collected the money, and our business must continue, you are an adult, you must be creditworthy, and you can't regret it.

George was amused, and his heart said what kind of logic this was. I saw that Xiao Hei Tan had already taken some dry straw out of a dilapidated house in a decent manner, and laid it out under the eaves next to it, barely worshipping it like a 'bed'.

"Alright, you'll sleep here tonight. Little Black Carbon clapped his hands and said.

George was not polite to her, put the hat aside, and then took off his coat. Sitting on this uncomfortable bed.

Then the black charcoal girl also sat down next to him.

Two people, one big and one small, sat in the dilapidated yard, with a dilapidated house behind them, and the broken face plate at their feet.

"Come, give me three more rice bran balls. George pulled a coin out of his trouser pocket, picked up the three rice bran balls again, and shoved them into his mouth.

Xiao Heitan looked at him and couldn't help asking, "Others say it's unpalatable, ...... you How can you eat it?"

George smiled faintly and said that I am not a pampered person, and it would be good to have food.

He suddenly thought of something, his face was a little emotional, he gestured with his hand, and whispered, "When I was like you. It's about the same height as you. I didn't have a father since I was a child, only my mother, but at that time my mother was seriously ill and no one helped me, so I had to sell the things in the house to get medicine for my mother. Later, when I ran out of things and couldn't come up with any more money, I went to the mountains by myself and searched for the herbs my mother needed. ”

"At that time, because I was too short, I had to step on a small bench to cook medicine and stir-fry. ”

Xiao Heitan listened quietly and asked cautiously, "What about your mother?"

"Let's go. George patted his knee, "Just when I was five years old." ”

"That's right. Xiao Heitan's eyes were gloomy, "Then do you think your mother is good?"

"Super nice. George smiled and said, "My mother is the best woman in the world." ”

Xiao Heitan's mood became better, and he also smiled: "Yes, my mother is also the best woman in the world." ”

"Do you still have a mother?" said George, "Aren't you an orphan?"

Xiao Heitan's face turned dark, and he glared at him viciously, "You are an orphan, your whole family is an orphan!"

George glanced at her and said that if you weren't an orphan, then your mother would definitely not want you, and if you are so ugly, your mother will definitely not be beautiful.

Xiao Heitan was furious, Huo Ran stood up, like a kitten that had been stepped on its tail, and shouted: "Don't say bad things about my mother!"

"So what?" said George, clasping his hands together and looking like a spill.

"Say it again, I'...... I'll kick you out!"

George snorted. Shi Shiran lay on the straw pile, his hands resting on the back of his head, and squinted at her, "I'm a paying guest, we are doing a fair deal, how can you drive me away." ”

The little black charcoal knotted, but the other party was an adult, and he couldn't beat it, so he had to puff out his face, and his heart was full of evil feelings for this guy who suddenly became annoying.

George looked at the little black charcoal puffing out, for some reason, there was a sudden smile on his face, he didn't want to be angry with this little bit anymore, and looked straight at the sky full of stars. There is some sadness in my heart.

In the past six months, he has traveled to most of the north, traveled to countless places, and met countless orphans without fathers and mothers along the way, but he has gained nothing.

He wanted to know, where is his and Xu Bingyan's child now?

A month ago, he treated a girl named Liu Danni, and learned from her that his children were likely to be in this town, but today he traveled to every corner of the town, and saw every child in the town, but he did not gain anything.

He asked himself if his appearance was okay, and Xu Bingyan was a very outstanding girl. The child they combined must be very cute, and he firmly believes that. But the children in the town, although they can't be said to be ugly, definitely can't meet that standard, and the most important thing is that there is no trace of the characteristics of him and Xu Bingyan in these children.

This made him a little depressed.

Fortunately, when he was in the lowest mood, he met this little black charcoal, and when he saw her, it was as if he saw himself back then, and he felt that while her fate was bumpy, he was helpless about the cruelty of the world.

George tilted his head.

I saw Little Black Charcoal take out a kite with broken wings from the room where she lived. Raised overhead, running back and forth in the yard like the wind, the kite seemed to really fly in her hands, and the colorful colors on it sparkled in the moonlight.

"Fly Fly, Fly!" Little Black Charcoal's eyes exuded sincere joy, his bare feet stepped on the dusty ground one by one, his yellow hair, his thin little face, and his crisp and immature voice resounded in every inch of this place.

George sat up and looked at the little black charcoal quietly, and couldn't help but feel a little admiration for her in his heart.

She is an orphan, fatherless and motherless, but she is very optimistic.

Obviously she was ostracized by everyone in the town, and she didn't care.

Obviously living a life of hunger and cold, but she can have rice bran balls that even pigs may not be able to eat, but she will have a smile on her face.

George has to admit that this child's mother must be very good, at least the character passed on to her is far beyond that of children of the same age.

Xiao Heitan played for a while, a little tired, turned around and found that the man had been looking at him, and couldn't help but remember what he said about his mother just now, so he snorted, took the kite that he had worked so hard to take down from the locust tree, and was beaten by Zhang Rong and his father for this reason, hid it back in the room, and then took out the half of the steamed bun that morning from under the straw pile, sat on the threshold, and ate it slowly.

It's not that she can't eat rice bran balls, but she plans to continue selling them tomorrow.

Seeing that the man had been staring at him, Xiao Heitan pursed his lips and shouted, "Do you want to eat steamed buns too?" I can give you half of it, but you have to give me five dimes. ”

George smiled dumbly, shook his head, and said that I am not hungry after eating so many rice bran balls.

Xiao Heitan ignored him, finished eating the steamed buns, went to the water tank and drank half a scoop of water, and saw that it was not early, so he planned to go back to his room to sleep.

"Hey, aren't you going to say goodnight to me. George beckoned to her. "Your mother didn't teach you such basic etiquette?"

"My mother said goodnight to a friend. "But you're not my friend." ”

"But forget it, for your sake of doing business with me, you are barely a friend. Little Black Carbon waved his hand at George and said seriously, "Good night." ”

Then put your feet together and jump over the threshold.

George smiled slightly, and some tenderness inexplicably appeared on his ordinary face.

What a funny kid.

That night, in the north outside the town, a dense crowd of people appeared, all of whom were dressed in black and stood silently in the night. Like a yaksha lurking in the shadows.

All of them wore a medal on their chests.

The medal is engraved with a large X.

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