Xiuhan followed his parents back to his hometown for the holidays. Her grandmother has lived here for many years, and her father went to work in the city when he was eighteen years old, then met her mother, got married, and gave birth to Xiuhan. Xiuhan is very good-looking, she is the kind of pampered and good-looking, her skin is very white and fine, unlike the country children who run around in the sun every day and fall in the wind and rain. Their faces were black and red, their eyes shrunk and ignorant, and the cloth shoes they wore were perennially dusty and weedy.

When Xiuhan came to Hetu's house with a big schoolbag, Hetu was very nervous, she wiped the tables and benches in the big room, washed the teacups cleanly, and sprinkled tea leaves into the teacups like her grandfather. The tea was brought back by my father from the city last year, and I heard that it is still very expensive. After sprinkling the tea leaves, she poured the boiled water into the teacup, and was afraid that the water would be too hot, so she kept secretly blowing two breaths on it.

Xiuhan probed at the gate of the courtyard and shouted softly with his small mouth open, "Is there anyone?" ”

Hetu ran out, still carrying Heyi on his back. Herui heard the voice and stood in the corner of the wing room, frowning back and forth at them.

"You're here?" He ran to stand not far from Xiuhan, and somehow, she was always afraid that Xiuhan would dislike her family. Heyi saw the stranger, waving his little hands excitedly on her back, and he didn't know what he was shouting.

Xiuhan walked in slowly, with a gentle and elegant smile on the corner of his mouth, "What about your family?" ”

"They all went down to the ground." He Tu guided her to the big room, and after sitting down on the stool, Xiu Han asked curiously, "Then will you keep the three of you at home?" ”

"That's right." He Tu sat next to her, clumsily pushing the teacup in front of her, "You drink tea." ”

Xiuhan snorted and laughed, shook his head and said, "I don't drink tea." ”

"And what are you going to drink?" Hetu looked at her in surprise. Usually, when guests come to the house, grandpa and dad always make tea for them to drink, they like it, and they praise it as good tea. Why doesn't Xiuhan, who came from the city, drink tea?

"I don't like tea, bitter." Xiuhan pouted her pink little mouth, "I like to drink Coke." ”

"What is Coke?" He Di didn't understand even more, she was talking about things she hadn't heard before.

"Hmm......" Xiuhan tilted his head and thought for a moment, "It's just a bubbling soda, haven't you ever drunk it?" ”

He shook his head. At this time, Herui stuck his head in from the door, saw the heat bubbling in the teacup, and shouted, "You use tea!" I told my grandparents to go! ”

He pouted disdainfully and ignored her. Herui found it boring, so she straddled the threshold and continued to look at them with a frown.

"It's super delicious, I'll bring it to you next time." Xiuhan smiled because she saw the Heyi on Hedi's back making a cute grimace at her.

"Will you still come?"

"Come on, I think it's fun here, you can climb the mountain, and you can herd sheep."

Hedi suddenly smiled, she finally found something to make herself proud, "Then next time I'll take you when I'm herding sheep." ”

"Really?" Xiuhan clapped his hands excitedly, "What you said, don't talk and don't count." ”

"What's so hard about that?" He Tu hurriedly said, "You also have to talk and count, remember to bring me Coke next time." ”

"I want it too." Herui called out disgruntled at the door, but no one paid attention to her, so she sullenly clasped the hole in the threshold and looked even more angry.

Xiuhan unzipped his schoolbag, took out a book and a notebook from the bag, and finally took out a pencil case containing a pencil and a white eraser.

"What is this?" Hetu craned her neck and looked at these things curiously.

Xiuhan introduced her one by one, and after finishing, he said: "These are all things to use for school, and when you go to school, you will have them." ”

"Really?" She was so happy, and although she didn't know what these things were, she felt that these were what she had always dreamed of, and she couldn't help but feel excited.

"I'm going to do my homework, you can watch me do it." Xiuhan picked up the pencil and looked at the book seriously.

"What is going to school?" He Tu couldn't help but ask again.

"It's going to a place where it's full of kids who are the same age as us, and then there's a teacher who teaches us something every day."

"What's that?"

Xiu Han blinked his eyes in embarrassment, "It's Chinese, mathematics, and English." ”

He nodded as if he didn't understand, and continued to watch Xiuhan do his homework.

"When can I go to school?"

"How old are you?" Xiuhan tilted his head to look at her. He scratched his chin and said, "6 years old." ”

"Then you can go to school." Xiuhan bit the tip of his pencil.

He Tu looked at the book thoughtfully and did not speak. The two of them sat quietly, Xiuhan kept writing on the paper, and Hetu watched her write and write without blinking.

He Rui stood up, squeezed into the middle of the two people, frowned and said, "What is this?" ”

Hearing her deliberately rude tone, Xiuhan couldn't help but reach out and gently push her away, and said with a tangled brow: "I don't like you." ”

"Why don't you like me?" Herui was very angry, she crossed her hands on her waist, learned to stand in the field and scolded her son's widow, and said angrily, "I heard it all, this is a notebook, this is a pencil." ”

"If you speak softly, I like you."

He Rui still frowned and looked at them, she felt very arrogant in her heart, although she wanted to discuss it with them, but she didn't want to show it, so she had to pretend that she didn't care about anything, and said menacingly: "I'm not gentle, if I don't like it, I don't like it, who is rare!" After saying that, he turned around and ran, and almost fell down the steps.

Xiuhan stared at her back as she ran out, and asked suspiciously, "Why is she like this?" ”

"That's what she is." He Tu looked at the book intently, gently shaking the game on her back, she was already asleep, "If you scold her, she won't be so proud." ”

"I don't scold, scolding is what bad children do."

He Tu looked at Xiuhan's good-looking side face, and the more he looked at it, the more he liked it, and he couldn't help asking, "Will you come again tomorrow?" ”

"If you let me come, I'll come." Xiuhan said that she had nothing to do at home anyway, and she couldn't talk to her grandmother, who would only keep stuffing food into her arms and bowls. There are also people who are the same age as her, but they are all the same as Herui, not what she likes, only Hedi, and the way she treats people is quite polite, which makes her feel that staying here is much better than staying elsewhere.

"Will you come the day after tomorrow?"

Xiuhan nodded.

"What about the day after tomorrow, the day after tomorrow?"

"Not the day after tomorrow." Xiuhan shook his head, "I'm going back then." ”

"Why?" He stood up anxiously.

"I'm going back to school, and my dad only gave me a week off."

"And when are you coming again?"

Xiuhan rolled his eyes to the upper right, thought for a while and said, "I'll come when the winter vacation comes." ”

"When is winter break?"

"It's almost the time of the New Year."

"That's good!" He Tu clapped his hands excitedly, "When the time comes, you come to my house, and I will make dumplings for you to eat." I made it delicious. ”

"Good!" Xiuhan also smiled happily. The two children looked at each other, their faces glowing with innocence and beauty, blurring all the differences between their appearances and their interiors.

The next day, after the adults all went to the ground, Xiuhan really came with a big schoolbag. This time, she took a book and notebook of another color and lay down on the table to write. With a small broom on his back, he swept all the bricks of the house, then ran under the faucet in the yard to drench a rough rag and wipe all the cabinets and tables. She was too small to reach the top of the cabinet, so she moved a small stool underneath it, and staggered on it to reach the top. The rag scratched wet, crooked marks on the top of the cabinet. He Rui, who was called by her to see Heyi, stood reluctantly below, suddenly saw her stumble, and hurriedly supported the stool she was stepping on.

"Oops, it scared the hell out of me." He Tu got up and down from the stool, patting his chest and gasping, with a shocked expression on his face.

"Look at the game, I'll go out and play." Herui turned around and was about to leave. He Tu tried to hold her, but her small body ran so fast that she disappeared outside the door and disappeared without a trace.

"What are you doing?" Xiuhan lifted the curtain and walked in through the door.

"I'm wiping cabinets." He raised his head and proudly pointed to the place where he had just laboriously wiped with a damp rag.

Xiuhan grew his mouth in surprise, "Do you still do housework?" ”

"yes." Hetu was happy that he was complimented.

"I never do housework at home, my mother does it."

"Why?"

"My mother said that I should study hard, get into a good university, and go abroad in the future."

"Going abroad?" He Tu looked at her confusedly and shook his head, "I don't understand." ”

Xiuhan tilted his head and smiled, as if thinking about something, and then said, "My grandmother told you to go to my house in the afternoon." ”

He Tu turned her head to look at He Yi, she was crawling around on the kang, holding a sock in her mouth that she didn't know who it was, and she looked excited with a smile.

"Hey, don't eat socks." He Tu hurriedly snatched the sock from her mouth, and when she pouted, she was about to cry. Xiuhan stepped forward, Leng Buding took out a small mechanical frog that could jump from behind him, pressed it on the kang, and the little frog jumped forward. Heyi's attention was immediately attracted by the little frog, and she watched intently, and when the little frog jumped, she clapped her hands excitedly.

"It's fun." He Tu watched with great interest. Xiuhan said, "I'll give it to you." ”

"Really?" He reached out to take the little frog in his hand, but He Yi held on to it.

"yes, I have a lot of toys anyway." Xiuhan stroked his hand behind him, "You take Heyi to my house in the afternoon, and my grandmother will make you something to eat." ”

"Yes." A bowl of steaming large pieces of chicken soup suddenly appeared in Hedi's head, "Can Herui go?" ”

Xiuhan hesitated, but nodded.

At noon, Xiuhan ate at Hedi's house.

While Hetu was cooking, Xiuhan stood by and watched curiously. When she saw Hetu stepping on a small stool, struggling to stir the food in the pot with a pair of small hands holding a rice spatula, and the fragrance wafting out was so tempting and mouth-watering. She immediately admired Hetu, although she was five years older than Hetu, but she couldn't even cook rice, but Hetu could do anything.

When the sun came overhead, the adults came back one by one. Jiafu and Cuiying saw a beautiful little girl standing at the kitchen table, and hurriedly asked who this was. Before He Di could answer, He Rui, who was sitting on the threshold, hurriedly replied, "She is the granddaughter of Grandma He below." ”

"Oh, Grandma He's granddaughter." Cuiying hurriedly smiled, "Hurry up and sit down, eat here at noon, don't dislike it." As she spoke, she suddenly turned sideways to the side, made a nausea motion, then patted her chest and continued to laugh.

Jiafu asked about Xiuhan's parents, and then talked to Zhou's father and mother about things in the field. Mother Zhou didn't talk much, and she just smiled and just served Xiuhan with vegetables. Father Zhou's face was disparate, and his face turned to the side and coughed vigorously a few times. Although he could barely pull himself up, he looked extremely tired, as if he couldn't stand it anymore. After eating, everyone tacitly separated, each entered their own house, and lay down on the kang without taking off their shoes, closed their eyes and fell asleep.

Hetu and Hexin put away the dishes and chopsticks, ready to wash the dishes.

Hexin is about the same age as Xiuhan, but her personality is shy, and when she saw Xiuhan wearing a beautiful dress and combing her hair, she didn't say a word, just lowered her head and worked. He Tu and Xiuhan chatted without a word, and they talked about things that children like. After washing the dishes, Hexin quietly walked into the bedroom and lay down beside Cuiying, she had to follow the adults to the field in the afternoon, so she had to rest at noon. He Rui didn't know where to run, and He Yi fell asleep after being coaxed by Cuiying, and only two people were left in the kitchen, Hedi and Xiuhan.

"You wait for me to finish sweeping the floor, and we'll take a nap." He Tu took the broom and swept the ground seriously.

Xiuhan sat on the stool and waited boredly, moving this for a while, and looking at that for a while. After sweeping the floor, the two of them held hands and went to sleep on the kang in the big room together.

When Hetu was woken up by her mother, it was already afternoon, and heart-rending cries were coming from the yard. He Tu and Xiuhan, who had just woken up, didn't know what was going on, they were frightened, and they stayed on the kang for a while before they reacted, and hurriedly ran out with their mother to see. I saw a rectangular wooden board parked on the concrete floor of the courtyard, covered with a new mattress that my mother had just sewn yesterday, and a person lying on it, covered with a white cloth, silent, motionless. Zhou's mother knelt on the side, crying almost out of breath, Jiafu comforted her mother, but she was also in tears and couldn't help herself.

"What's wrong?" He Tu looked at He Xin in horror, He Xin's face was pale, as if she was frightened, and she still hadn't come back to her senses.

Cui Ying clutched her chest, gasped for a few breaths, patted their sisters on the back, and said, "Go, say goodbye to grandpa." ”

"Grandpa?" She didn't know why, but the tears came down at once, although she didn't know why her grandfather was lying motionless on the wooden board, and she didn't know why her grandmother and father were crying so much on the side.

"Where's Grandpa?" She asked her mother, as if she hadn't shed tears at all.

Emerald Shadow shook her head with difficulty, but didn't speak. She turned her head to look at Hexin, who was still frightened, so she turned her head to look at Herui. Herui stood beside her expressionlessly, her fingers poking the holes in the seams of her pants again and again, as if everything that happened in front of her had nothing to do with her, as if she didn't care. He Tu saw the little frog she was holding in her hand, which was given to him by Xiu Han, and she didn't know how she took it away.

"Hetu." Someone next to her suddenly poked her shoulder, and when she turned her head to look, she saw that Xiuhan's face was bloodless, she looked at her with a frightened face, and said softly, "I'll go back first." ”

"Okay, then I'll go to your house later." He Tu hurriedly said, as if he was afraid that they would never see each other again if Xiuhan left. Xiuhan nodded, slipped out from the side, and ran back against the wall.

After a while, more and more people gathered in the courtyard, and almost half of the village came. "Ahem!" A middle-aged man in a linen cross-shirt stood up, and Hetu recognized him, he was the head of their village, and he had to take care of everything, "Family Fu!" Come here! He beckoned to Jiafu, who was kneeling next to Zhou's mother. Jiafu wiped the tears from his face, stood up and ran over. The village chief lowered his head and said a lot to him, and then two people stood up in the crowd and walked out of the courtyard gate with Jiafu.

"It's all my fault, it's all my fault." Zhou's mother cried and fell to the ground, "I can't come up with the money to give your father a good funeral." It's so wronged, it's so wronged! ”

Cuiying's face was full of tears, and she supported Zhou's mother, who kept throwing herself on the ground, "Okay, Mom, don't cry." Cui Ying choked and patted Zhou's mother on the back. Mother Zhou suddenly turned her head and glared at her angrily, and scolded: "You are also an uncompetitive person, raising this house of losers!" Not even a son can be born! If you give birth to a son, your father-in-law won't be so reluctant to go! ”

Emerald Shadow lowered her head in shame, as if it was her fault.

Zhou's mother ignored it, scolded everyone present, and didn't even let go of the two-year-old Heyi. After scolding, she leaned on Cuiying exhausted, staring at the cloudless and blue sky with dull eyes, as if she could pinch out of the water, and there were words in her mouth.

"Mom, let's go lie down on the kang." Cuiying struggled to help her up, turned her head sideways and retched a few more times with a painful expression. He Xin hurriedly ran over and helped Zhou's mother on the other side.

This afternoon, everyone did not go down to the ground, and the liver and intestines lying on the kang were broken, and the pain of sitting on the ground was terrible. He Di silently squatted beside her mother and sister, opened her mouth a few times, and wanted to say that she was going to Xiuhan's house, but her mother kept retching, and Hexin kept patting her mother's back, but she didn't have a chance to speak. Until about four o'clock in the afternoon, the sun moved westward, the temperature was no longer as hot as at noon, and Jiafu came back from outside.

"How?" Emerald Shadow held back her retching and looked up at him.

Jiafu shook his head, looked at Zhou's mother lying in the back room tiredly, and asked softly, "How is Mom?" ”

Emerald Shadow shook her head.

"I went to the coffin shop at the head of the village to make a coffin and buried my father first. I don't want my mom to see it. "He choked," said the doctor, who was not well ill and could not be saved by being infected. ”

Cuiying patted her chest, her face ugly.

"What's wrong with you?" Jiafu looked at her worriedly, "You won't be infected, will you?" ”

"Nonsense, I don't usually talk to my father-in-law, how can it be infected." Cuiying looked into the back room and whispered, "I'm afraid it's again." ”

"What?" Jiafu jumped up from the stool in shock, he looked at Cuiying's belly, it was really big, he thought she was just eating fat, so he didn't take it seriously, "I'm afraid I won't be able to support four children, don't say another one!" ”

Cuiying shook her head, her expression a little sad, "I can't help it, I can't help it." If you control a little bit at night, I won't be born one after another. ”

Jiafu sat down on the stool again, he drove out his daughters, and said almost painfully: "There is no way to get pregnant, you can only give birth, I hope you will give birth to a son this time, so that our mother will be happy." ”

"Speaking of which." Cuiying leaned towards Jiafu, "You should also ask the doctor to show our mother if she is infected." ”

As soon as the two of them were talking, there was a sudden noise in the inner room, and then Zhou's mother walked out, stood in front of them, and said coldly: "The infection is infectious, I will go with the old man." ”

"No, it's not." Jiafu hurriedly stood up, "Look, this still has to be checked and checked, although Dad is gone, but your son is still there, are you willing to leave your son?" ”

Mother Zhou looked at the family portrait, stopped talking, sighed deeply, tears overflowed from the corners of her eyes again, and said painfully: "My life is bitter, it's too bitter." ”

He Tu and He Xin squatted at the door of the house, both bowing their heads and not speaking. Herui crouched in the distance, clutching a small twig in her hand, not knowing what she was scratching on the ground. He Tu hesitated several times, and finally said, "Sister, Xiuhan told me to go to her house in the afternoon." ”

Hexin turned her head to look at her and said, "Grandpa is gone, my parents won't let you go." ”

"Then you have to try it, Xiuhan said that she would go back in a few days, and she won't see her anymore."

Hexin nodded, still looking at the ground sadly, her long braids sliding from her back to the front of her body, and she was annoyed and thrown back behind.

He carefully lifted the curtain and looked at the three people sitting in the room. Their expressions were all serious, as if they were discussing something, and when they saw Hetu coming in, they stopped talking, and looked at her thoughtfully.

"Mom." He Tu twisted the corners of his clothes, stood beside Cuiying and squirmed and said, "Xiuhan asked me to go to her house." ”

Cui Ying looked at her expressionlessly, didn't listen to what she was talking about at all, just pursed the corners of her mouth and said, "You call your sister, call Shangherui, let's go to your grandfather's grave." ”

"Mom......" Hedi also said, she was slapped on the back by Cuiying, she hurriedly turned around and ran out, she didn't want to be scolded by her parents because of this, she usually did housework so diligently just to get praise from her parents, she was happy at that time.

Running to Hexin, she repeated Cuiying's words. He Xin stood up, leaned against the wall and shook her numb legs, and shouted to He Rui in the distance: "Come here!" ”

Herui glanced at her coldly, and reluctantly grinded over from a distance. In the distance, dark clouds drifted in, obscuring the clear blue sky, and only occasionally a touch of blue emerged from the gap. He Tu looked up at the overcast sky, a little worried about whether it would rain.

Emerald Shadow lifted the curtain and walked out of the house. She looked up at the sky with Hedi, turned back to the house and shouted, "Jiafu, bring an umbrella, I'm afraid it's going to rain." ”

Jiafu answered from the house, and Emerald Shadow led them towards the gate.