1

I and satisfaction are both small arms and legs, no way, I will partner with satisfaction to cut down a tree, you knife, I knife, is such a tree cut down, we are still tired and out of breath.

Dad knew my strength as a three-legged cat, and he came to the mountain to help me chop firewood once, teaching me how to use it hard and from what angle it was better.

At that time, I was very frustrated and asked my father, "When will this be cut down?" ”

Dad ignored me, and he used all his strength to cut more than ten knives in a row until he cut down a tree. At the end, my father said, "I don't know how long it will take to finish, but one cut, one less." ”

"One cut, one less." I muttered silently, relying on this sentence I persevered for two semesters.

He Li wielded the knife softly, and I was afraid that she would accidentally hurt herself, so I snatched the woodcutter and asked her to pick up some broken firewood.

Only Li Shu chopped up the firewood with a good appearance, and every knife was vigorous, fast and accurate. Li Shu has been doing manual work since he was a child, and his lump of flesh and dark skin are matched with his taller height than his peers, which makes him even more energetic.

Li Shu saw that we were such a weak chicken and said: "If you cut down like this, you can't cut down a hundred catties of firewood at the end of the semester!" ”

We all stopped chopping firewood, and listened to Li Shu continue: "Let's chop 400 catties of firewood together, I'll take you, but you also have to come on!" ”

"Good!" Being able to hug Li Shu's thighs, the hope seems to be greater, and everyone has become more energetic.

It's tiring to be with a satisfied partner, and I still have to put up with his singing voice that doesn't say a word in key. If the tree had ears, and we didn't have to cut it down, it would have fallen on its own, because it was unpleasant to die.

As a fellow music idiot, the way to punish satisfaction is to sing louder and louder than him. But satisfaction is even more selfless, anyway, he sings never in tune, and no one can disturb him.

Li Shu was sometimes cut down by me and satisfied, and I was full of his upset appearance, laughing, Li Shu was angry and ignored us, and was amused by the song sung by Li Shu, so he had to have fun with us.

Only He Li can cure the satisfaction, and He Li's method is also very simple, and a piece of firewood goes up to greet the satisfied arm.

He Li: "Can't sing anymore?" ”

Satisfied: "No, no, no." "I was satisfied with the pain and had to beg for mercy, and now I and Li Shu watched him laugh on the sidelines.

However, the next day, the satisfaction was still the same.

But everyone had fun together, which also added a lot of fun to the hard time of chopping wood.

2

We handed the chopped firewood to our satisfied grandmother, who would help us weigh the pounds and write them down in a small yellowed notebook.

Grandma can't write, so she uses circles instead, a pound of firewood in a circle, a circle full of pages in a semester, every time she counts the circle, grandma looks at the old eyes dizzy.

He Li persuaded grandma not to draw circles, saying that let's keep track of the catties by ourselves, but grandma refused, she opened the small book as usual and muttered: "A few little cubs, it's tired enough, don't be busy." At this time, she didn't bother to take care of us, so she put on a pair of reading glasses and took care of herself a few times.

Every rainy evening, we bring firewood to the kitchen of the campus, and my grandmother is usually not busy, but when she sees a few of us, she brings out the boiled sour plum soup, and she is cautious, for fear of spilling it. He Li on the side followed his grandmother like a fart, and from time to time he stepped on his feet to take a look at her, and saw how greedy she was!

Grandma greeted with satisfaction: "Satisfied, go to the cabinet and get the bowl." ”

Satisfied: "Good coming! ”

Li Shu and I hurriedly set up a small bench and sat on the small wooden table, the sour plum soup had not yet arrived, and the saliva had been swallowing non-stop.

The first bowl of sour plum soup that my grandmother served us was not too much, and she said, "Drink slowly, don't rush, don't choke." "Grandma was afraid that we would gobble it up, so she deliberately spoke very slowly, like the DVD she just bought at home and pressed the fast and slow health.

After we drank the first bowl of sour plum soup, grandma gave us a full bowl, she had already boiled the sour plum soup in the well water to cool, two bowls of belly, it seemed that the hot summer of that year broke a mouth, the slightest coolness took advantage of the void.

After drinking the sour plum soup, my grandmother took out a rod from the firewood room and weighed it, which weighed that there was a long weighing rod engraved with numerical values, and one end of the weighing rod was an iron hook, which was used to hook the weighed item, and the other end was an iron scale, and when the two ends were balanced, you would know the weight of the item.

It's already a very old-fashioned scale, and the old-fashioned scale is also very old, the rust on the scale and the iron hook is obvious, but the scale on the scale rod is blurred.

When grandma helps us weigh firewood, she never balances the two ends, and generally weighs the one end of the scale, so that the pound is more, and then grandma writes it down in a small book, and adds a pound when there is a decimal number.

Li Shu stopped doing it, and said, "Grandma, I know you are good for us, but you should be as much as you want." ”

The rest of us nodded after us.

Grandma couldn't help Li Shu, she said with relief: "Okay, not next time, you are all good children." ”

Grandma loves us, she likes children, and with us little cubs, she occasionally thinks of her own children, and then sighs: "Our tigers, like you, are also alive when they grow up." ”

When it comes to those old things, he will be satisfied and take care of all his moods and quietly listen to his grandmother's stories about his father.

The satisfied father is a mason, and the tiled house of our school was built brick by brick by uncle at the beginning, and he is a contractor and a big brother.

Satisfied with his father's workmanship skills are the best among all, in addition to building a house, he can also build pots and stoves, which no one else can, the pots and stoves in the school kitchen are from his hands, red bricks, yellow mud, neat and strong.

When grandma talks about these past events, there is a slight smile pulling deep wrinkles, and she looks older, there are proud emotions that are overflowing but fleeting, and there are words that want to be said and stopped, and it is helpless to speak.

That man didn't come back after all.

Grandma's eyes were full of tears, and satisfaction would always fall at her feet at such a time, and he said, "Grandma, it's okay, you still have me!" ”

"And us! We are all your children" After drinking so much grandma's sour plum soup, the satisfied grandma has long been our own grandma.

Grandma trembled and took out a handkerchief from her pocket, the handkerchief was very old, the patterns on the corners had long faded, but it was clean. Grandma wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, blinked her eyes twice, and said, "Okay, good boy, you have to come to see Grandma often when you grow up." ”

"Good!" Our answers were unanimous.

3

One cut, one less. The second semester of the fifth grade has not yet ended, and the 400 catties of firewood have been chopped.

Many things seem to be a subtraction problem, firewood chopping is one less knife, eating one meal is less, life is one less day, life is a subtraction operation, life is an addition problem. The physical strength, food and time we consume are all used to increase the itinerary of life, just like the circle that grandma writes in a small book every day, which is getting longer and longer.

The firewood was chopped down, and I, He Li, Li Shu, and Satisfaction still gathered in the afternoon after school. Li Shu helped us find a lot of fun, which is basketball.

The first time I stepped on the court, I thought of my brother, Sister He Qing said, my brother used to play basketball homework can't write, he is tall among children of the same age, and he is unbeatable when he plays, and even the physical education teacher said that his brother is a good seedling to play ball.

Now that the muddy dirt pitch has turned to concrete floor, I can still imagine my brother being happy on the pitch because I'm going to feel the thrill too.

To be honest, I'm not a good basketball player, and not being tall is a hard injury. I used to think that when I was young, I would grow taller, but I was wrong, and I even suspected that my youthful surge did not come at all, because it was not violent at all.

Thankfully, the experience of chopping wood made me strong and not run over on the court.

Since I like to play basketball, every day after school, I ask Li Shuhe to go to the court, He Li will also be with us, she will sit on the sidelines and cheer, occasionally go on the court to find a sense of existence, homework or something everyone forgets.

Sometimes I think I'm following my brother's path, and my mom is very supportive, she says that playing basketball will exercise and she doesn't bother to care about my homework, maybe because my brother is like this.

However, I don't want to be an older brother from the bottom of my heart, and I can't do it, even if it's something I like. I was also afraid that my mother would see my brother's shadow from me, and she would be happy for a while, and she would sigh deeply in the sleepless night.

I struggled because of my mother's support, and when the rebellious mood was born, I didn't know that my puberty was coming.

But in such a time of struggle, fate helped me, and it made my youth and rebellion burst out a little later.

At the beginning of the 20th century, when the nine-year compulsory education was fully implemented, I was originally going to enter junior high school, but now I have a sixth grade, and I have to continue to chop wood without primary school.

4

So, firewood brothers, it's online again, and we're going to chop more firewood before the heavy snow covers the mountains this winter, so that it will be much easier next spring.

The autumn rain has been falling several times early, and winter has not yet come, and the cold is already deep.

The winter of '05 came earlier and colder than usual.

The firewood knife was so cold that I couldn't hold it at all, and I and Satisfaction both put on thick gloves and couldn't exert any strength. On a sunny day, the evening is better, and the sun warms up a little when there is sunshine, but in early winter, the days are very short, and it doesn't take long after school for the sun to set in a hurry.

However, Li Shu is a man who is afraid of cold, his ears are frozen black and purple, his earlobes are beginning to peel, his hands are swollen and round, and the scabbed chilblains are like patches on the sewn, and they will burst at any time.

This winter, I am afraid that the task of chopping wood will not be completed.

Thankfully, Grandma brought good news.

It was the best sunny day in the whole winter, the sun on the hill was lazy, even the plum trees were too lazy to move, we were leaning against a big poplar tree, why should we be asleep, I heard his slight breathing, it lingered in my left ear, satisfied and did not sing, he happened to be facing the sunset, the scarf covered his eyes and blocked the dazzling sun, we did nothing, very comfortable.

A good sun should be used to bask in it!

After a short time in the sun, I heard the sound of footsteps, the footsteps were very slow, because of the fallen leaves all over the ground, so every step was heard clearly, and it was the sound of stepping on the fallen leaves.

Hearing the prestige, it was grandma. Grandma's body is quite strong, and although her steps are slow, she is very steady. The road up the mountain was not easy to walk, and my grandmother was already sweating, and a wisp of silver was hanging on her forehead, showing her old age.

"Grandma, why are you here?" Satisfied ask.

"I'm here to tell you good news."

"What's the good news?" Li Shu had already gotten up to support his grandmother.

He Li also woke up at this time, she was sleepy-eyed, rubbed her eyes, and was surprised to see her grandmother.

"Grandma!" He Li shouted.

"Hey!" Grandma said and sat down with us.

Grandma said, "From now on, you don't have to chop wood!" ”

"Yay!" There was a burst of cheers, followed by the question, "Why?" ”

Grandma: "The town has allocated money to our school, and we are about to build a new kitchen, which uses a boiler for cooking, and doesn't need so much firewood. ”

"Yay!"

We cheered, and Grandma giggled and almost lost her dentures.

5

Grandma sat for a while and then went back to cooking, and the sun was about to set, and the cold wind blew and hit the spirits.

Li Shu: "Why don't we bring back the firewood that we have chopped, we can't throw it away like this." Li Shu pointed to the bundled firewood on the side and said.

Being so exposed to the sun and the cold wind blowing so much, we have long lost our strength, but it is really a waste of firewood to throw here, and it is also our hard work to cut it one by one.

Satisfied, he said: "Let's burn the firewood and have a bonfire party to celebrate." ”

He Li immediately became interested: "Okay! Okay! ”

I think the sun is setting, and it's good to have a fire to keep warm on such a cold day.

Only Li Shu was a little confused, and he said with a blank face: "Are you sure?" ”

I, He Li and Satisfied looked at each other and smiled, we all knew that a good boy like Li Shu was not very willing, so we took advantage of Li Shu's failure to react and the overlord forced the bow.

He Li dragged Li Shu forward, and Li Shu and I followed with firewood, and it was fun to play at this time.

We walked to the river upstream of the town before stopping, the river level is shallow in winter, exposing a wide riverbed, and it is still safe to start a fire on the sandy beach.

He Li collected a lot of dead leaves to start the fire, I set up a pile of firewood, satisfied with the stolen grandma's matches, only to listen to the "poof-snort", the matches ignited the dead leaves, the firewood in winter is very dry, it is easy to burn.

I pulled the plum tree and sat down on the stone by the fire, and I said, "Plum tree, let's roast the fire together, it's okay, celebrate that you don't have to be tired and tired of chopping wood."

He Li also coaxed Li Shu: "You have helped us chop so much firewood, we should thank you, be happy!" ”

Seeing that Li Shu still had a straight face, he said with satisfaction: "Come on, I'll sing if I'm not high." ”

Satisfied with this, everyone was happy, Li Shu couldn't help laughing, he said, "Okay, okay, you better stop singing." ”

Everyone sang and danced happily around the fire, and when they were tired, they sat on the stones, and the fire burned more and more, illuminating everyone's faces red.

Satisfied, asked, "What are your dreams?" ”

Li Shu: "I want to be a good person, the kind that upholds justice, either a firefighter or a policeman." ”

Satisfaction: "I want to earn a lot of money in the future, I don't want my grandmother to work so hard anymore, I want her to live a good life." ”

I said, "I want to open a very warm bookstore." After saying that, I turned my head and asked the person on my left, "What about you?" ”

He Li said: "I want to live freely for the rest of my life!" ”

He Li looked at the fire, the fire was reflected in her eyes, flickering and moving, as if there was really a fire in her eyes.

Yes, that's the fire of freedom.

In that cold winter, I once again saw freedom in He Li's eyes, and the fire of freedom was so hot and fierce.

6

"What a reason!"

"Starfield!"

I heard someone shouting from afar, and He Li and I looked at each other, this voice was too familiar.

It's Sister He Qing, she came to look for us, accidentally, dinner time has passed, and we forgot the time to play.

"Hey! Over here. I responded to Sister He Qing on the bridge.

Sister He Qing trotted all the way over and said anxiously: "You guys don't go home soon, I'm looking for you everywhere at home, and I'm in a hurry!" ”

This is a stab!

Our group quickly extinguished the fire, and sent sand and stones into the fire, and only when the last bit of fire was extinguished, did everyone disperse.

Satisfied with the same road with Li Shu, they should be fine, one is a good child, and the other is not in charge of his parents.

On the way home, He Li and I didn't dare to make a sound, Sister He Qing followed us when she walked, she said: "You two are indispensable today, the family is in a hurry, and you don't say a word to your parents when you go out to play." ”

Sister He Qing was full of complaints, and she was also anxious, but fortunately she found me and reasonably, so she was relieved. My sister also felt very sorry for me and He Li, holding He Li with one hand and holding me with the other, and said, "I can't help you today, just admit it if you beat or scold later." ”

I said, "It's okay, sister, didn't you give me mental preparation when you said that, don't you be afraid." ”

My sister sneered: "Look at your thick skin! ”

When I got home, it wasn't as terrifying as Sister He Qing said.

My mother left me the food and didn't say anything, she ate first.

I was really hungry, and I ate two large bowls of rice in one go, and my mother watched from the side, and she smiled when she saw that I was eating so deliciously.

As soon as I saw my mother smiling, my heart was put down, and I guess I wouldn't be beaten.

Mom said, "I'm hungry, I'll have to tell Mom and Dad where to play next time." ”

I ate a full mouth, wiped my mouth full of oil, and said, "Got it, Mom!" ”

I went back to my room to wash up and sleep, but He Li next door was not very happy.

I just heard Uncle He reprimanding He Li: "Look at you like a girl, what do you look like when you hang out with a bunch of boys all day long!" ”

After speaking, I heard the sound of something like a wooden stick falling on He Li's body, the sound was very dull, it was estimated that the clothes in the winter were thick, but it would not hurt without pain.

Sister He Qing persuaded Uncle He on the side: "Don't fight, don't fight, He Li knows that she is wrong." ”

Uncle He didn't stop the stick in his hand, and said while beating: "Super cub, I knew you were so disobedient, I shouldn't have given birth to you in the first place." Uncle He was very angry, since He Li was born, he had not been in this tone.

I heard Sister He Qing crying.

The stick never stopped.

Only He Li, silently.

I opened the door and rushed to the next door, I protected He Li and begged Uncle He loudly: "Uncle He, stop fighting, it's my fault, I took He Li to the river to play, you have to be angry, hit me." ”

Uncle He didn't stop his hand, and a stick fell on my head.

Because I was beaten with a stick, I know Uncle He's strength, and after a long time, I still have some pain, I really don't know how He Li ate so many sticks without saying a word, not even a single tear.

When my father heard this, he also came to persuade Uncle He: "Children, don't you understand, it's good to know next time." ”

"You had to let me give birth at the beginning, but look at what has been born now?"

He Li still cried, when Uncle He said this. I saw that He Li's eyelids that were trying to be open still didn't hold up, and her eyes blinked, and the tears that had been saved for a long time burst out of her eyes.

"Okay, okay, the children have grown so big, don't talk about it." Dad coaxed Uncle He, and told Sister He Qing to take He Li to get some food first.

Sister He Qing took He Li to the kitchen, and I followed, He Li secretly wiped the corners of her eyes, didn't cry anymore, she went to hot dishes, heated dishes to eat, washed the dishes herself after eating, and wandered like a machine, without speaking.

He Li never spoke, not when he ate, not when he slept, and not the next day.

Later, there were fewer of them.

He Li became even more silent, silence used to be her shield, but if there was resistance in silence, silence was her edge.