Zou Shun ushered in his first summer vacation without homework, but it was not as happy as he imagined, thinking that he would be separated from her in the future, and it would be difficult to see each other again, his heart was as heavy as lead, and it was okay during the day, because there would be farm work during the day, and he didn't have to think so much about doing farm work in the process, as long as he poured all the strength into the hoe, so that every hoe fell where it should be. That kind of life may seem tiring to outsiders, but in Zou Shun's eyes, it is a rare medicine, only in this way can he temporarily forget Wang Jie's floating figure.

But at night, his days are like sitting on pins and needles, very sad, during the day the farm work is too heavy so that he can sleep next to the pillow is very rare, like Zou Shun, a twelve or thirteen-year-old child, how much farm work can Zou Shun's mother let him do? So, tired is a little tired, but it can't reach the point of sleeping next to a pillow.

Since this is the case, then Zou Shun is bitter, not to mention working during the day, and being entangled by Wang Jie at night, if you can look forward to a better tomorrow as before, then there is still a hope. But now he can only think of leaving his alma mater, leaving the place where he has stayed for seven years, and at the same time leaving her, leaving the girl he has had a crush on for a year. When I think of this, my heart is like being pinched and squeezed tightly, and my entire chest cavity is empty, like an elevator speeding down the stairs, very empty and empty, helpless.

Zou Shun often curled up on the bed, his face hideous, his throat open, but there was no sound, until he was exhausted, and then fell into a deep sleep, and the next day was still a breezy day.

No matter how sad the days are, as long as you are willing to persevere. Zou Shun doesn't admit it, and he doesn't want to admit it, but that's the way it is, he has to go to middle school.

The day of registration is on the tail end of August, dog days on the yellow calendar, the red sun hanging in the sky still tirelessly transports its heat to the blue and white planet, of course, it does what it likes whether you need it or not, even if the people on the ground have been sunburned to the last vestige of the fig leaf.

Zou Shun and his father set off in the morning, and if they were late, they would have to shed their skin in such a scorching sun. There were a lot of people when signing up, three circles inside and three circles outside, and most of the parents came early, because many families already had motorcycles in those years, and even if they didn't, they would ask someone to give them a ride, so even if Zou Shun they left early, they were already overcrowded when they arrived.

The registration office was very simple, under an old willow tree, a few tables, three or four teachers, and the rest were students and parents in a few circles. The latecomers desperately squeezed inside, wanting to take advantage of it, and the first comers were even more desperate, for fear that the later ones would take advantage of them.

In this kind of poor and remote land, it is impossible to talk about order, what the countrymen talk about is about bones and fists, as long as the bones are proud and the fists are hard, they can gain respect. Zou's father is short, only 1.6 meters tall, thin and weak, less than 110 pounds, if you want to squeeze into the middle of these big-shouldered and thick-waisted parents, it is difficult to climb to the sky, but the thin body also has its advantages, Zou's father also uses its advantages flexibly, I saw him dodging left and right in the crowd, seeing the seams, seeing the empty holes, but squeezing in before some powerful parents.

The registration was very smooth, because there was really no trouble, it was nothing more than signing and paying some money. Zou's father, who helped his son register for his name, came out with a red face and asked him what the reason was, but he was just secretive.

After the matter was done, Zou's father wanted to go to the street to buy things, and when asked about Zou Shun, Zou Shun replied: "I want to go to school with Xiao Peng." ”

"Okay, but you can go home by yourself in a while, and it's not too late." Zou's father also felt that he should let the child familiarize himself with the school, and after a brief explanation, he turned around and left.

Zou Shun, who is far away from his father, is like a bird breaking free from the shackles of the cage, free and unrestrained, which is not to say that Zou Shun is very strict, on the contrary, Zou Shun is open-minded and open-minded, compared to most rural parents, Zou Shun has such a father is indeed a blessing. Even so, when Zou Shun is with his father, he still feels inexplicable pressure, he doesn't dare to do things out of line, and even the child's playful nature is difficult to show, or even dare not show it, maybe this is the instinct in his body.

Zou Shun has shouldered the hope of the family since he was a child, and never dared to do anything out of character to break his parents' hearts, or never dared to do anything out of character under the nose of his parents, but what about turning his back on his parents? Then his nature will be revealed. Because he rarely talks at home, he is very sven, but he has suppressed his childishness for a long time, and as long as he arrives at school, he will vent it even more. For these two extremes of character, he is well aware of their existence, and has also heard a term called "split personality", he knows, he understands, but there is nothing he can do.

After Zou's father left, Zou Shun immediately went to find Xiao Peng, Xiao Peng's parents were unwilling to pay more attention to his study, and they never even participated in the parent-teacher meeting, let alone sign up for such a trivial matter, which was naturally handled by Xiao Peng, and their role was only when the school asked to buy materials or learning utensils, they would really ask for details, including but not limited to asking about the amount of money needed, the purpose and which teacher asked to buy it, etc., interestingly, sometimes they will deceive Xiao Peng, It was very euphemistic to express that the amount reported by Zou Shun next door and the amount reported by Xiao Peng did not match, and the result was of course very embarrassing.

With such parents, Xiao Peng naturally doesn't want them to interfere too much in his own affairs, he believes that he can do everything well! At the same time, Xiao's father is also happy.

Zou Shun waited for almost half an hour, Xiao Peng finally broke out of the sea of people, his forehead was already covered with fine beads of sweat, a strand of hair because of the sweat, clinging to his forehead, looked extremely embarrassed, but he was still very energetic, and the first thing he said when he saw Zou Shun was: "This group of old men is too good at squeezing, fortunately, we have also practiced squeezing oil residue before." "Squeezing the oil residue is a game that their country children often play, a group of children gather in a corner, roll up their sleeves and squeeze inside, if anyone is too thin, they are often squeezed into the innermost in the end, and they are squeezed the worst.

Zou Shun couldn't help laughing, but ignored his self-praise, and asked instead, "What are you going to do next?" ”

"What else can I do, I must visit the school first, and then ...... Go shopping on the streets, and this will be our world in the future. Xiao Peng was full of ambition.

Zou Shun smiled, didn't say anything, and followed behind Xiao Peng, in fact, there is nothing special about this middle school, two teaching buildings, an experimental building, two dormitories, and a canteen, which have included the main buildings of this school. These buildings are neither grand nor ornate, and naturally cannot leave an impression on Zou Shun.

On the contrary, what can leave an image in Zou Shun's mind, on the contrary, is the willow trees around the school, the one next to the teaching building is even more shocking, so that people have to respect and look up, after entering the school, re-walk dozens of steps, you can see its majestic towering on the side of the teaching building, seven or eight feet high, the two can not hug, there is an embankment under the tree, the embankment is the river, it is said that the river has not been broken for decades.

These willows are not divided into winter and summer, perennial verdant, every year ushered in countless green years of students, but also sent away countless young people who returned with a full load, people are updated and iterative, impermanence, only these old trees, no matter the passage of time, the sun and the moon change, decades as a day, look at the wind and moon.

They have witnessed the vows and mountains thrown under them at night, the poems and songs that overflow under them in the morning, and the battle of sticks that disturb them in the afternoon, but all these things roll forward with the wheels of time, and who will remember what happened under the willows? And these willows, like a loving old man, a saint who was born, it does not talk about it, he only records, only witnesses, and silently witnesses.

This middle school is called Guanlian Middle School, the full name is Guanlian Town Junior High School in Xuning County, she is not famous, in the era of famous schools blooming everywhere, she is still stuck in the small township of Guanlian, her history is not long, but for thirty years, she has not cultivated a shocking character, she just silently transformed the children soaked in the soil into their bones into independent youth, maybe they can't wash away their soil and solidify, but at least let them see a glimmer of light in the outside world.

Zou Shun walked in this three-inch paradise, touching the place where he was going to stay for three years, and couldn't help but feel stunned, although he had a trace of expectation for a new life, but more of a confusion, fear, worry, and the pain of seeing Wang Jie again. Thinking of my brother and cousin's description of middle school in the past, an inexplicable depression hit my heart. They told Zou Shun that there are fun things everywhere in middle school, you can often go out to play Warcraft and CS on the Internet, or you can secretly fall in love, of course, there will be all kinds of fights, some of which are cruel, and some of which are embarrassing and funny......

Although the middle school life depicted by the seniors for Zou Shun is joyful, Zou Shun just feels depressed, inexplicably depressed, and he doesn't know where this depression comes from. Is it from Wang Jie? Is it a fear of the online world? Or are you scared of those fights? He was lost, confused, and overwhelmed.

As they moved, they had already left the school and entered the streets, and the shrewd peddlers did not miss such a good season, and they all tried to empty the pockets of the children who had just washed their feet from the river. And these children, it is the age of blood and strength, the most forbidden to compare, when they see other children holding something novel, whether it is good or not, it is a great temptation for themselves, and they must also get one to be satisfied, as for how much the price is higher than usual, they don't care, anyway, consumption is needed, eating and drinking is also necessary, and face is essential.

Just when Zou Shun and they were dazzled by the things in front of them, they suddenly heard a sentence "Well, in fact, this fried ice is okay, although it is not as good as what I ate in the county last time", the person who spoke was a child of the same age as Zou Shun, about twelve or thirteen years old, very tall, one meter six or five, thin and long, a typical melon seed face, very handsome, while talking, while smashing his mouth, revealing a satisfied but a trace of fly in the ointment. The other next to him was a little shorter, his long hair had half covered his eyes, his eyes were shining with a smart and jumping light, his nose was thin and his lips were thin, the wind was clear and jade, and he was awe-inspiring and upright, and he had an invisible temperament more than a tall man. The corners of his mouth twitched slightly, and he said, "Just eat, and blow about the fact that you have been to the county seat by the way." ”

The tall man muttered, and the two slowly walked forward with the flow of people. Zou Shun and Xiao Peng glanced at each other, they both saw the thoughts in their hearts from each other's eyes, they turned their heads to look in the direction where the two people came just now, and sure enough, they saw a "second sister fried ice shop", the two made eye contact again, but they lost the look just now, more worried and afraid.

After a long time, Xiao Peng spoke first: "Ah Shun, how much money do you have on you?" ”

"Eight yuan, my dad only gave me such a small amount of pocket money."

"I still have twelve dollars on me, no matter what, I don't believe that a cup of broken things will exceed twenty dollars, let's go!" Xiao Peng seems to have made up his mind, and he has the spirit of a strong man who will never return.

Zou Shun wondered, why don't these stores put the price list outside the store? There's no price list, and I don't know how many potential customers to scare away.

Although the two walked a little erratically, they still came to the store, the owner of the store was a woman about thirty years old, not tall, not short, not fat or thin, fair skin, slightly rich, and always with a smile on her face. "What do you want?" came as Zou Shun and the others stepped into the store.

Xiao Peng's face suddenly turned pale, then turned red, the sound of his heartbeat was faint, and he stumbled and said, "Fried ice, how much?" The shopkeeper either didn't hear it clearly and didn't answer immediately, Xiao Peng immediately added his own supplementary explanation: "One copy." ”

At this time, the shopkeeper reacted, "Fried ice for two pieces and five servings." ”

Xiao Peng was like a lightning strike, his face was full of disbelief, but he immediately exchanged a look with Zou Shun again, and said confidently: "Give us two." ”

When they sat down in the store, they couldn't help but laugh as they recalled the series of actions they had just done. It turns out that many things in the world, the first time they feel novel, they will feel very expensive, but in fact, it is just that those people are not confident in their wallets. Many years later, when Zou Shun entered the university and stepped into society, he found that this law applies not only to commodities, but also to people. Perhaps a boy will meet a very good girl, and every aspect of her will shine in his eyes, so he will try to earn and save money, thinking that when he has saved enough money, he will marry her home.

However, as time passed, when he was confident enough to go back to her, he found that she was no longer there, and her "buyer" was not even as rich as he was many years ago, and she was far from being as far away as he thought.

They sat in the store and enjoyed their own food, although it was food, Zou Shun didn't taste anything special, the two began to talk about each other, Zou Shun first asked: "You shouldn't be able to live on campus, right?" Zou Shun had already learned from his father that he could not live on campus.

"No way, there are only so many beds in the school." Xiao Peng was a little cynical, "They said that we were relatively close, but it was a full seven kilometers!" ”

"So what are your plans? You don't really want to go to school, do you? Zou Shun understands his feelings, but he cares more about solutions.

Xiao Peng ran out of ideas for a while.

"You can come to my house and rent a room." Zou Shun Xiaopeng was startled at the same time, he was frightened by this sudden sound, and hurriedly looked for the source of the sound, and found that the shopkeeper was looking at them with a smile and expectation, it was obvious that the voice just now came from here.

Xiao Peng frowned, and said faintly: "My father will definitely not agree, I'm afraid I still have to go to school." "He only cares about his money, and he doesn't care if I have to get up at four or five in the morning. The second half of the sentence was suffocated by him, and not everything can be confided in a stranger.

"What about the other classmate?" Although the shopkeeper had some small regrets, it was only for a moment, and he suddenly shifted his attention to Zou Shun.

On the one hand, the two families are indeed not much different in terms of economic conditions, and even think that Xiao Peng's family is slightly better, but on the other hand, Zou Shun's parents hope that their children can have good learning conditions, and they also try their best to create conditions for him, only hoping that their children can be admitted to university and have a decent job, while Xiao Peng's parents think that rural people do not need to read so many books, anyway, they have to go to the field to carry hoes in the end, and reading is what the children of those big families do, Guangzong Yaozu is also for those dragon and phoenix families, some people work hard for a lifetime, and it is difficult to change, sometimes, a person's birth determines his height.

At this time, Zou Shun had a great interest in renting a house, but he had to take into account Xiao Peng's feelings, so he couldn't show his urgency and enthusiasm, so he had to say lightly: "Can you introduce me to the situation?" ”

"My house has a large basement divided into two rooms, which can accommodate about a dozen people, and several students come to live with me every year. It's only 120 yuan per semester, and my shop sells drinks during the day and a barbecue restaurant at night, so you can eat barbecue directly at my place when you're hungry, which is very convenient. ”

Zou Shun silently calculated and found that the price was acceptable, which was the first thing he had to consider. I wanted to ask for more information, but because of Xiao Peng's current mood, I had to say lightly: "I'll go back and ask my father." ”

"Can you show us around the house?" Xiao Peng seemed to see Zou Shun's scruples, and then said.

The shopkeeper hesitated, but no guests came at this time, so it didn't matter if he took a few minutes to take them to see them, so he agreed.

Walking into the basement, there is nothing special, not particularly dirty, not particularly clean, just a little dim, fortunately there are two windows in the wall, through the window is the school, between the two are cut off by the river, day and night can sleep with the sound of water. Zou Shun was extremely satisfied, and couldn't help but be overjoyed, Xiao Peng glanced at him and turned to the shopkeeper and said, "Water and electricity are used casually, right?" ”

"Of course!"

"How many people are you going to live here? You can't live as many as you want, and if you can accommodate eight people, it's already crowded. ”

"Hey, don't worry, I only live here for a maximum of eight people, in fact, many times I can't live there."

Xiao Peng didn't give up, and continued to chase after him: "How do we know who lives with us? The space is open again, what if there are any ghosts, snakes, and gods? ”

The owner of the shop clapped his hands and said, "Hey, don't worry, I've been renting here for so many years, and there hasn't been a problem." Seeing that Zou Shun Xiaopeng didn't answer, the shopkeeper was a little anxious and took a step back: "If the two of you come together, I will charge you a hundred yuan, but you can't go outside to talk about it." ”

Xiao Peng was still speechless, perhaps thinking of his family, his expression was sad, Zou Shun saw this situation, and said: "Let's go back and discuss." After speaking, he pulled Xiao Peng out of the basement, leaving the shopkeeper behind him, and muttered, "These two children are also interesting." ”

The two were speechless all the way, the road home was winding, nine turns and eighteen turns, after Zou Shun and they turned another turn, there was a fork in the road in front of them, which is the landmark of this mountain road, here it means that half of this rugged mountain road has been completed, and pedestrians will choose to rest here as a reward for half of their success. One of the forks leads to the village, and the other leads to the top of the mountain, which has a flat land, which is called Guanlian Terrace in Ishida Village, because you can see the layout of the streets of the entire Guanlian Town.

When he rested, Zou Shun still couldn't help but speak: "Ah Peng, why don't you tell your parents, the two of us can take care of each other if we live together." ”

"Ah Shun, it's not that you don't know the situation in my family, I already know what the result is before I say it. They won't agree, I know how their abacus plays, day school can not only save money for rent, but also eat two meals at home and save a lot of living expenses. ”

"Your family is not short of this money!"

"But they lack the two hearts of your parents who want their sons to become dragons."

"Go ahead and give it a try, who knows for sure before you try it? If you don't try it, you may regret it, do you want to see yourself regret it? Zou Shun showed the last hole card.

Xiao Peng didn't answer, looking at the mountains in the distance and falling into deep thought.