The thin man is the son of the village captain, and he is skinny and skinny, as if he has not seen a piece of flesh in his body. That year, he and I were both in the fourth grade, and there were two classes in the same class, Yongtai Primary School, one class for the first, second and third grades, and one class for the fourth and fifth grades.

The thin man's eyes are sunken inward, and if the eyelids are closed, it feels as if there are no eyes.

But the thin man was one of the few people in the village and the class who dared to confront me.

"I'm sorry. Yay, how are you? "I stopped.

"You stole my brother's cage." The skinny man's sunken eyes were fixed on me.

"What?"

"Give me back my brother's cage!"

"What are you talking nonsense?" Hao Junqi caught up. There were tears in the corners of her eyes, but she stopped crying. "My brother will steal your brother's cage?"

"Yes, thin man, can't you talk nonsense?" Zhu Jinshan came over and said.

"Am I going to talk nonsense? My brother and I went to the cage early in the morning and found that we had lost two, and I guessed that you had stolen them. Do you dare to say that you didn't steal it? The thin man had a heartbeat.

"Your brother lost the cage, why do you think it was my brother who stole it?" Hao Junqi said.

"Why? By my brother's markings on the cage. My brother's cages are all marked! ”

"Go." I say.

"What do you want?" Zhu Jinshan said.

"Give me back the cage, and ......" The thin man's eyes rolled.

"What else?" I asked.

"Give me your ballpoint pen as compensation!"

"Hahaha, it turned out that I took a fancy to my ballpoint pen. Dream! The pen didn't, and I'm telling you, the cage wasn't returned either, and I threw it into the water. It has long been washed away by the water. You go fishing, you go. I said.

My grandmother bought the ballpoint pen for me when she came to see me. The children in the mountain village use pencils, and no one has ever seen a ballpoint pen!

I didn't expect the thin man to look at this pen. You know, my grandmother only brought me one of these ballpoint pens.

This ballpoint pen caused quite a stir in the class, and it also made my status higher. Of course, let the status of the thin man be lower. His good friends had to "betray" him in order to be able to write a few words with my ballpoint pen.

"If you want to fish, you will also fish. If you don't pay it back, okay, then I'll go. "The thin man is extremely calm.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Where do you care where I go?" The thin man looked disdainful.

"I'll kill you."

The thin man went to my father. He told my father about my cage theft.

My father was furious, the air rushing out of his mouth almost tore the thatch on the roof, and the few "fried chestnuts" he gave me made my tears almost flow out of my eyes.

According to his father, he hated this kind of stealing the most.

If I had known at that time that he had committed a more serious act of "stealing", I would certainly not have succumbed to his obscenity. You know, I stole something, and he stole - that's for later.

I was beaten, and I couldn't tell how much I hated the thin man, and what was even more hateful, my father even warned me not to go to Wu Xiaojun (the big name of the thin man). But how is this possible? I'm not the one to swallow a broken tooth in my stomach!

After dinner that night, I went out with Hao Junqi. The moon hung from the branches of the old camphor tree in front of the door, and the stars blinked in the sky. There were a lot of children's playing sounds on the other side of the barn, which was very cheerful.

Let's go about Zhu Jinshan. Zhu Jinshan was not at home, he and Uncle Zhu went out for something.

Hao Junqi and I walked along a dirt road in the middle of the village to the threshing floor. The sound of frolic is getting clearer and clearer.

"Brother, what game is this playing? It's like singing a nursery rhyme. Hao Junqi said.

We turned around a thatched hut and the barn appeared in front of us. There were a dozen children holding hands and spinning around in circles, rapping. The thin man stood in the middle of the circle and turned in place.

"Zheng Qihang, no name, started the business of stealing, slipped to the small pond in the middle of the night, stole the bamboo cage and didn't buy it, you say bastards are not bastards! Bastard! ”

The guys said it over and over again. The thin man is like the lead singer in a chorus, responsible for pronunciation and setting the tone. After one time, he incited everyone to do it again.

I walked up to them quickly, pulled the hands of the two children away, walked into the middle of the circle, and grabbed the thin man by the collar. My other hand was clenched tightly in a fist. I raised my hand and let my fist freeze in the air.

"You fight, you have the courage to fight." The thin man's voice was a little hoarse. Presumably he "led the singing" too hard just now.

I remembered my father's warning, and released my clenched fist and the collar of the thin man, but when I let go of his collar, I pushed him so hard that the thin man kicked back a few steps and almost fell. He was too thin and too small.

A few people couldn't help but laugh.

The thin man's face flushed. "Laughing at what? Everyone was still laughing. Didn't you see that Mr. Zheng's son was bullying people like this? Relying on his own height and strength, relying on his father to be a teacher, what is this? Isn't this kind of behavior despicable? ”

"Despicable? Who is despicable? "I pulled out the ballpoint pen that was in my trouser pocket. I'm sure you can see it in the moonlight. "Yongri, Sicub, and Ah San, do you know that the thin man deliberately framed me because he wanted to get my ballpoint pen, saying that I stole his brother's bamboo cage. It's also made up into a children's rhyme for everyone to sing, who are you despicable? ”

I saw Yongri and the four cubs talking to each other.

"Don't listen to him, guys? The two cages that my brother lost were stolen by him and Zhu Jinshan. The thin man said.

"Then let me ask you, did you say in the morning that you wanted me to compensate you with this pen?" I asked.

"He said it, and I can witness it." Hao Junqi squeezed in at some point.

"What do you see when you wear a pair of pants?" The thin man chuckled.

"You can also call Zhu Jinshan to witness."

"Zhu Jinshan is also in the same group as you." The thin man raised his tone.

"Do you want to call my dad to testify?" I said, "You can't fake it if you go to my dad and sue me and get me beaten, right?" ”

"That's what you deserve for stealing."

"I didn't promise you to compensate you with a ballpoint pen before I went to sue, so I said you were the despicable villain."

"You're despicable, you're despicable villain! You're still a thief! Come, let's tell me together, Zheng Qihang, no name, has started the business of stealing......"

As I expected, there were only two or three people who sang in a low voice.

"What's wrong? Why don't you say it? Didn't you say it before? Let's talk together, Zheng Qihang......" The thin man shouted at the top of his voice.

This time, the two or three people didn't agree either.

I held my pen high. "It must be the thin man who promised you something, so you followed what he said, right? Yongri, four cubs, Ah San, have you forgotten the feeling of writing a ballpoint pen? I tell you, as long as you don't talk nonsense with the thin man, I promise each of you to write a lesson assignment with my ballpoint pen. A lesson, did you hear me? Come to my side if you are willing. ”

I stepped back. Before my words fell, most of the people immediately stood beside me, and the rest of the people hesitated, but they all stood up.

The thin man stood there alone. "How can you do that?" The thin man finally cried, "Why did you all make wall grass? Woo woo, Zheng Qihang, you deceive people too much, I want to sue Mr. Zheng! ”

"Hahaha, it's revealing now. He also said that he didn't sue my dad. Only my dad would believe someone like you. ”

"But you really stole my brother's bamboo cage!" The thin man crouched on the ground. Suddenly, I felt that the threshing floor was much larger, and the thin man was very small.

"Did you steal it? Then let me ask everyone, Yongri, the four cubs, and you, do you think I will steal his brother's bamboo cage? ”

"No—" everyone said in unison.

"Thank you all for your trust. But what I want to tell you is that I really stole his brother's bamboo cage. ”

"What?" One or two screamed in amazement.

The thin man looked at me in surprise and immediately stood up. "yes, I didn't wrong him. He admitted it himself! His voice revealed his excitement.

Hao Junqi looked puzzled. "Brother—"

"I don't want to lie to everyone about this, I, Zheng Qihang, have always been more honest, and I don't want to live up to everyone's trust in me. But you know what? Just this morning, the thin man went to the well to find me, and asked me to return his cage, and asked me to compensate him with this pen, and I didn't agree, so he went to sue my dad, and the result is, you know, what kind of temper my dad has. I said.

Everyone sighed.

"Mean, really too mean." Yongri said.

"Let's not play with him." The four cubs said, "Let's not play with him in the future, isn't this a robber?" ”

Many people shouted, "We only play with Qihang, we only play with Zheng Qihang!" ”

"But Zheng Qihang is a thief—" The thin man said in despair.

"He's above board, not as despicable as you!" I don't know who shouted.

"That's right, Zheng Qihang is above board." Yongri followed.

I walked up to the guy and said, "Here you go, this ballpoint pen is going to be used by everyone in turn." ”

"Thank you, thank you!"

The thin man sat on the ground. With the help of the faint moonlight, I seemed to see the thin man's hateful gaze shoot straight into my chest.

……

The days are getting longer and longer, the temperature is getting higher and higher, spring is coming to an end, and summer is coming soon, but Hao Junqi's face is getting more and more gloomy. I don't think she's smiling anymore.

"What's wrong, Kiki?"

Hao Junqi covered her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Are you crying? Why are you crying? ”

"Someone told me that my brother is from the city. Brother, are you from the city? ”

"What kind of city man am I? I'm from Dongmen. ”

"You're not? They all said you were from the city, and they all said you were going to leave soon. ”

"What? Walk? Where to go? "I feel inexplicable.

"Go back to the city. Your parents are from the city. Hao Junqi said.

"They came from the city, but I was born and raised in the East Gate, so I won't go." I say.

"Really?"

"Really. Why should I go there? I'm not going. My home is at the East Gate. "I swear by it.

"Never?"

"Never."

"Great." Hao Junqi smiled, "Brother won't lie to me, right?" ”

"Why should I lie to you. Hook. ”

"Retractor."

We hold out our little fingers.

"The hook hangs for a hundred years." Hao Junqi said.

"The hook hangs for a hundred years." I say.