I checked my phone and saw that it was my mother calling, I hadn't heard her voice for a long time, I sighed lightly and answered the phone.

"Hey, Mommy."

I lay on my back on the bed, looking at the dim and mottled ceiling, feeling a little melancholy.

"Son, the New Year is less than ten days away, are you done with it over there?"

My mother's anxious inquiry and urging came from the other side of the phone, I rubbed my nose and said softly, "I'm almost done, if I have enough time, I'll try to go back as soon as possible." ”

My mother sighed and said lightly: "You are alone outside for the New Year, my mother is afraid that you will not be able to take care of yourself, and your father and I are also empty at home, you better come back early, even if you have important work, it is not too late to be busy after the New Year." ”

In the silent courtyard, there was a sudden loud noise, I hurriedly sat up, pulled my slippers and ran out, only to see the cupboard fall to the ground for some reason, and the pots and pans inside fell out, and the floor was in a mess.

"Mom, I won't tell you yet, there's something going on here, hang up first."

I hung up the phone, frowned, looked left and right, and found no movement, I thought to myself, how could the cabinet fall when there was no wind and rain, someone must have done it on purpose.

After cleaning up the debris on the floor, I went to bed early.

The next day, I came to the store, and saw that the renovation progress of the second-floor residence was nearing completion, several workers were leisurely playing with their mobile phones, and there were still two doors left uninstalled, and other living facilities such as water heaters, stoves, toilets, wardrobes, and beds had been installed, and the whole house was filled with a strong smell of latex paint.

"Owner, the door can be installed today, there are still two sets of lamps and lanterns have not been delivered, the workers will have a holiday tomorrow, the commodity store downstairs, and after the New Year, I will arrange for the workers to come early."

The renovation boss stood beside me, handed me a cigarette, and looked at me with pride on his face, as if he was very satisfied with the quality of his decoration.

I nodded, and saw a large pile of scrap in the corner of the living room, mostly broken tiles and cement bags.

"Aren't you responsible for packing up these things?"

I took a puff on my cigarette and glanced at my boss.

"We are not responsible for this, you need to pick it up yourself."

The boss said leisurely, at this time, two workers carried the door into the living room, removed the cardboard packaging, and began to install the bedroom door.

I wandered around the store all morning, there was nothing to do, I didn't want to find anyone to talk to, I was squatting in front of the store, playing a very boring mobile game, and the renovation workers were coming in and out, like they were busy.

A propaganda car drove by slowly, shouting from the loudspeaker: The manufacturer directly sells crocodile leather shoes, and the clearance sale at the end of the year is on a first-come, first-served basis, until sold out.

I stuffed my phone in my trouser pocket, caught up with the car, looked at the driver and said, "Are they really crocodile shoes?" ”

The driver looked at me with a surprised face, and after a while, he said lightly: "I know a hammer, what does it matter to me whether a crocodile is a crocodile or not, I just drive all over the street." ”

"That's a fake."

I said lightly, and the driver gave me a blank look and said disdainfully, "Neurotic." ”

With that, he drove away.

After the workers installed the doors and lamps, they left one after another, in the huge store, I was left alone to wander around, I put the upstairs construction waste into bags, difficult to carry downstairs, back and forth more than ten times, my physical strength was seriously overdrawn, sweat soaked my clothes, only felt weak limbs, dizziness, panting.

Wang Ling carried two lunch boxes, jumped into the store, and saw me standing at the staircase, sweating profusely and looking haggard, so she sneered: "Kidney deficiency? ”

"Go away."

I glared at her and wiped the sweat from my forehead.

Wang Ling pursed her lips, dangled the lunch box in front of my eyes, and said mysteriously, "Guess what is here?" ”

I gasped for breath and didn't say anything.

She sat beside me nonchalantly, opened the lunch box, and saw a neat row of gimbap inside, and another lunch box containing Korean spicy cabbage, which was in good condition, I didn't know how it tasted, I stared at the food in the lunch box and swallowed my saliva unconsciously.

"Taste it, I'll make it myself."

She took out a pair of chopsticks and handed them to me, a faint smile on her delicate cheeks.

At this time, it was lunch time, I was worried about eating, I didn't expect that there would be a good thing to send to the door, I took the chopsticks, sandwiched a rice ball into my mouth, and chewed slowly.

A salty and astringent feeling filled my mouth, the rice was exaggeratedly hard, like raw rice, and I was about to spit it out, Wang Ling handed me a bottle of water, and said with excitement on her face: "How is it, does it taste good?" ”

I took a big sip of water, swallowed the rice balls in my mouth, frowned, and said, "Didn't you taste it yourself?" ”

She chewed her mouth and said, "I'll bring it to you when I'm ready, and before I can eat it, you're eating a bite of spicy cabbage." ”

I put the mineral water on the ground, grabbed another piece of spicy cabbage with my chopsticks, threw it in my mouth and chewed it.

I've never tasted spicy cabbage like this, it's so salty that I almost cry, and the bitter feeling is really hard for me to swallow.

I spit it out, poured a sip of mineral water, and swept the inexplicable taste out of my mouth.

"Why are you throwing up, isn't it delicious?"

Wang Ling frowned and looked at me with a surprised face.

"Try it yourself, I've got to work."

I stood up and dragged the cement bag of garbage to the door of the store, and saw a motorcycle driving by.

The driver parked the car, looked at me and said, "Young man, does this construction waste need to be cleaned up?" ”

I nodded and asked in a low voice, "How long do you have to clean up such a big pile?" ”

He got out of the car and said with a smile: "You don't have to worry about it, 50 yuan a car, I estimated, this pile of garbage, there must be at least 20 cars." ”

"50 is too expensive."

I sighed lightly, and heard Wang Ling let out a terrible scream in the store, I hurried in, and saw that she was still holding the lunch box on the ground, her cheeks were crimson, and her bangs were hanging down to cover her eyes, and I couldn't see what her expression was.

"What's wrong?"

She put her bangs behind her ears and said with a sad face: "It's too unpalatable, I made it for nothing." ”

I shook my head helplessly, saw the driver walk into the shop, and said lightly: "If you clean up now, I can give you ten yuan cheaper." ”

I frowned, looked at him and said, "How long will it take you to clean up?" ”

He thought for a moment, then looked back at the garbage outside the door, and said in a low voice: "At noon tomorrow at the earliest, I am calling two loaders, and the New Year is coming soon, you have a large pile of garbage at the door, and you can't find a clean-up worker at that time, it will be very troublesome, not to mention whether the chengguan will interfere, your garbage has blocked the sidewalk, and the citizens also have complaints." ”

After hearing this, I thought it made sense, so I pointed upstairs and said, "There is still some garbage on it, if you clean it up, then you can start work now, I have already carried a lot of it myself." ”

He walked to the second floor, saw the garbage piled up in the corner of the living room, and said thoughtfully: "Okay, if you count this, it is estimated that it will not be cleaned up at noon tomorrow." ”

"Anyway, when you have a whole day tomorrow, don't be in a hurry, but you can't put it off until the day after tomorrow, because I'll go home the day after tomorrow."

I lit a cigarette and saw Wang Ling stand up, walk up to me and say, "You go home the day after tomorrow?" ”

I didn't say anything, looked at the driver and said, "Then let's start work now." ”

He nodded, took out his mobile phone, called his peers, and after walking out of the store, he leaned his motorcycle against the garbage heap, picked up a shovel and began to load the car.

Wang Ling still asked, "Do you really want to go home?" ”

I was a little short of breath, looked at her and said, "It's true, I'm satisfied." ”

"Didn't you say to spend the New Year with me here?"

She looked at me with an aggrieved face, looking like a child who had been bullied.

"When did I say that?"

I tossed the cigarette butt to the ground and stomped it out with my foot, when I heard the clatter of loading trucks outside the store.

She tugged at the corner of my coat and muttered, "Can you not go?" If you go home, I'll be left alone. ”

I pursed my lips and said lightly: "Miss, I haven't been home for a long time, the Spring Festival is the day of family reunion, of course I want to go back." ”

"But you said you wanted to see the store."

Wang Ling took a step forward, raised her head, blinked her beautiful eyes, and looked at me intently.

I sighed lightly, looked at her and said, "The renovation ended early, and now there is nothing to worry about here, but you, don't you plan to go home?" ”

She rested her head on my shoulder and said affectionately, "I'm homeless." ”

After speaking, she sobbed softly, her slender and graceful body was also trembling slightly, and there were two sad tears on her white and flawless cheeks.

I lowered my head and whispered, "You have to go back after all, although you hate him now, he is still your father, and you can't escape from the relationship between blood and water." ”

"I didn't want to escape, I just didn't want to see him."

Wang Ling clasped the buttons on my shirt with her hand, her expression was sad, and her face was haggard.

I took her hand away, walked to the sofa at the door of the store, and sat down slowly.

I patted the place next to me, looked at her and said, "Come and sit." ”

Wang Ling stroked her bangs, still looking at me with a sad face.

"What are you doing there, I didn't offend you."

I crossed Erlang's legs, leaned on the sofa, and saw Wang Ling slowly walking to my side, and after sitting down, she rested her head on my shoulder.

"Hey, you get up."

"Don't move, let me lean for a moment."

Her voice was a little hoarse, and there was a faint tiredness on her tired cheeks, as if she hadn't slept well for a long time.

She had wavy curly hair that gave off a faint fragrance, and I lowered my head and took a deep breath, the smell was good, like the floral scent of lavender, but also like the lightness of jasmine.

Her eyes are slightly closed, her long eyelashes cover her eyelids, trembling slightly, looking down, the high bridge of her nose with a sparkling red lip gives people a graceful and hazy beauty.

Wang Ling seemed to notice that I was observing her, she closed her eyes and said, "Have you seen enough?" ”

I instantly retracted my gaze and said embarrassedly, "Who is looking at you, I am being amorous." ”

She looked up and whispered, "If you like me, say it." ”

I swallowed, pushed her aside, and said disdainfully, "You started again." ”

At sunset, the red glow is flying, the burning clouds on the horizon are red, sprinkling a layer of golden halo on the earth, the birds are not chirping, the shopping mall is not noisy, only the amorous people are sleepwalking, it seems that in this city, it does not bring them the so-called warmth.