Chapter 1 Winter is cold and snowy

The most spectacular life is just the ups and downs of ordinary people, the most ordinary life is just the joys, sorrows and sorrows of ordinary people, bumpy is a musical score, setbacks are an experience, life is a rugged path, and the beauty is the scenery along the way. Ordinary is what life is the way it is.

There is such an ordinary family in northern China, where the father works in a state-owned enterprise in the urban area, and the mother is an authentic farmer. The father didn't expect too much from the newborn boy, but just congratulated Lao Liu on adding a boy to his family, so he named him Liu He.

In the countryside, the concept of preference for sons over daughters is very prevalent, and boys mean inheritance, means the security of old-age care, and means that there is an additional pillar of the family in the future. The mother has injected a lot of expectations into the pillar of this future, she goes around telling fortunes and divination for her son, some fortune tellers say that his future is very ordinary, some people say that he is very difficult, and some people praise him for making great achievements in the future in order to please his mother, the mother who has always been simple began to believe in the various future words, but there is one thing that makes her convinced, that is, all fortune tellers have almost said one point, that is, this child is destined to embroider the building, and there is no shortage of women in this life.

Extraordinary people may not have extraordinary families, but different families and growth environments will produce different "butterfly effects" in his personality and fate. His ancestors were beggars, his grandparents were farmers, and his father's generation began to have some starts, some started from scratch, started their own businesses, and some became government officials through examinations, so it can be said that they have reached a relatively successful level. Living in a traditional country like China, there is no better way to live a normal life than going to school, working, and then retiring. Liu He was born in such a traditional country, a traditional family, in a traditional environment, receiving traditional education, and being exposed to traditional concepts, naturally no exception, from birth seems to be destined for the future---- first go to school, then work, and then enjoy old age.

The traditional Chinese culture has a long history, and Zhou Yi divination also has its own unique value and utility, as well as its trustworthiness, so that it can be inherited to this day. Sometimes, the words of a fortune teller are always a good prediction of his future.

When he was five years old, in order to facilitate his father's work, Liu He's family moved away from the village where they were born and went to live in another township not far from home. In the 90s, China's rural towns were not as comfortable and beautiful as the small towns in Europe and the United States, his parents worked in a heavy industrial steel mold factory in this town, and the whole family lived in the workers' family courtyard provided by the factory, and moved from a large grass house of more than 100 square meters in the countryside to a dim hut of about 30 square meters, a family of four was a little crowded, and Liu He also felt a little disappointed.

This town is close to the city, and the people seem to be a little indifferent, Liu He came here with great loneliness in his heart, facing a completely unfamiliar environment, except for his parents, not only did he not have any relatives and friends, but he didn't even know anyone. His father was a strict person, and he disciplined him harshly since he was a child, which made him extremely introverted. Under such an environment, Liu He has been psychologically precocious since he was a child, and he is more pessimistic and timid, and he hopes to live in his inner world, where he has everything he yearns for, and another childhood he is looking forward to.

Because he couldn't take care of him at work, Liu He was sent to a nearby nursery school, which was run by two middle-aged women hired by the factory, one of whom was from Yunnan, divorced, and came to Shandong to work alone, and had a short temper; The other was sentenced for smuggling at the border of Mohe in Northeast China, and had just been released from prison, both of whom were illiterate, so Liu He, who was born timid and weak, was more depressed in addition to loneliness.

Most of the children in the nursery school are the children of factory leaders, and Liu He's parents, as migrant workers, are naturally not welcomed. Other children are always in the classroom, warm in winter and cool in summer, but Liu He was invited out of the classroom because of the other children's fights by the teacher as an example of deterrence, a long time, in his eyes, the classroom is such a luxurious "holy land", just in front of him but so far away, no matter the cold winter and heat, only he is alone in the yard of the nursery, he has been familiar with the taste of the four seasons, accustomed to the taste of loneliness, every day sitting on the iron turntable in the yard of the nursery, turning in a circle, looking at the sky, basking in the sun, Imagine what other students are playing in the classroom, and in winter or rain, he can only hide under the eaves and peek through the frosted window to see the children in the classroom playing with stacking blocks on the fire, or singing along with the teacher.

When school is over, the big iron door of the nursery is like the door to freedom and equality, when the parents get off work, the big iron door of the nursery will open, that moment is like getting rid of loneliness and torment for Liu He, the six-year-old he doesn't know why he encountered this, maybe this is everyone's unique beginning, there are sweet and sour, of course, there is also the bitterness that Liu He experienced, and the lonely and introverted character is slowly cast.

Life is always full of turnarounds, and there is no such thing as a good thing or a bad thing that is always good.

Once Liu He's mother came home from work early, she saw Liu He squatting alone in the yard at the door of the nursery, and saw that the once white little boy in front of her had become a dark little thin child, Liu He's mother couldn't help but shed tears.

That night, his mother and father discussed letting the child stay at home, so his life took a turn for the better, and he played alone at home in the future, sometimes he climbed over the low railing fence and ran to the alley of the family courtyard to play, so he began to meet two children of workers who had no money to go to the nursery, a little boy two years younger than him, his name was Qi Dongjun, and a little girl of the same age as him, named Pan Wenjing.

The three friends squatted in the alley of the family home every day to do all kinds of small games, and slowly, their range of activities began to expand little by little towards the alley of the family home, and at the end of the alley is a street, only when they are with their parents can go to that street, because they are too young, I heard their parents say that there are cars on the street, and there are bad people who catch children. But the temptation of the street was too great for them, and for a few months they became familiar with this alley, watching the cars in the alley every day, and wanting to see what the cars looked like. In this way, they approached the end of the alley little by little, and finally one day they came to the end of the alley, looking at the people coming and going on the street and the vehicles passing by from time to time, which he could not see when he was in his hometown village, the three friends came here every day to see, to see this strange world, a different space, and then wait until it was almost time to get off work and then quickly run back, climb over the fence and climb home.

The good times didn't last long, and when they came to the alley again as usual to look at the street, a strange uncle came to chat with them, told them a lot of interesting and exciting things, and told them that the store not far away sold a lot of candy and all kinds of delicious things, and he wanted to take them over to buy them.

But it was almost time to get off work, Liu He called the other two friends to go home, and the youngest Qi Dongjunfei was clamoring to buy delicious food, so the uncle took him to the store "not far away", and Liu He and Pan Wenjing ran home. I thought it was another ordinary night, but the entire family home suddenly boiled, Qi Dongjun's parents didn't eat, shouting Qi Dongjun's name everywhere, and all the people in the family home, including Liu He and Pan Wenjing's parents, also hurriedly went out with flashlights after eating. The next day, a bunch of people also came to the police station, busy, copying notes, and listening to the chats of adults, Liu He learned that Qi Dongjun was missing.

And Yu was afraid, Liu He and Pan Wenjing were tight-lipped and didn't say a word about who Qi Dongjun was taken away and where he was taken, but the little Liu He was scared and nervous, and he was uneasy every day, he couldn't forget Qi Dongjun's appearance when he was taken away by traffickers, and he couldn't believe that he would never see Qi Dongjun again, and for a period of time afterward, he had been staying at home honestly, and Pan Wenjing was also told by his parents that he must stay at home and not take half a step out of the house, so the two have been locked in the house.

In this way, two months have passed, Qi Dongjun's parents have also resigned and returned to their hometown, and the matter has slowly faded, but the shock to Liu He's young heart has not subsided. One day, suddenly Pan Wenjing appeared outside the railing of Liu He's house and told him to come out to play. Liu He hesitated, but still agreed, but neither of them dared to take half a step closer to the end of the alley, just looked at it from a distance.

Until one morning, before it was time to get off work, Liu He's father suddenly came back, saw Liu He crawl out and played outside angrily and reprimanded him a few words, and then took Liu He away on a bicycle, Liu He was still holding a toy cart in his hand, and he didn't have time to say goodbye to Pan Wenjing, and Pan Wenjing was also stunned.