Mu Qinghe grew up in a remote part of northern China, where there are no tourists, no famous celebrity writers and dancers, the only name that can be found on the Internet is probably the county magistrate's post on the Internet. The urban area of the county has a forest of buildings and densely arranged bungalow areas, and a series of alleys are intertwined between those old and new houses, looking down from a high place, it seems that a distinct blood vessel connects the surrounding muscle tissue, making the pulse of the city beat calmly and powerfully.

Paint Hutong, this is the name of this small alley, the original name of this small alley is called Oily Rice Cake Alley, Oily Rice Cake is a very famous local snack, made of glutinous rice and sugar fried, it is said that in ancient times, there was an old man who made fried rice cakes on the mouth of this small alley, the business was very hot, the county master at that time was a frequent visitor to the old man, but it was a pity that the old man had no children and no daughters and did not accept apprentices, and he could not get the true inheritance without apprenticeship in that era, so until the old man died, his secret recipe was not passed down.

This small alley was slowly called the old man's Youqi Hutong, and then year after year, it was called Youqi Hutong again, and after a few years, the name passed by word of mouth became the paint alley again. It is said that there are two rumors about the name change this time, the first is that when Youqi Hutong was just called a few years ago, there were people of the older generation who came to the door, saying how far away from here, there was a big alley also called Youqi Hutong, so the people here were afraid that the people in the big alley would suffer if they came to find fault and fight, so they simply changed their name after discussion. There is also a rumor that there was a painter living in the alley, and the technology was very good, so this small alley slowly became a paint alley from the oil glutinous alley.

There are different theories, and there is no basis, what the truth is, it has long been lost in the long river of history. As for the specific name of the alley, it is a basis for the quarrel between the idle and stuffy men and women in the alley.

Grease paint, finely pondered, some fun, grinning, that's all.

The real big people don't count the origin and allusion of the names of the more than a dozen hutongs where they live, but there are no such big people in this alley, they are all ordinary people who have the strength to eat and eat.

Paint Hutong is the closest alley to the building area, said to be the building area, but it is only an ordinary building a few floors higher than the bungalow area, the walls are densely packed with creepers, and the severely peeling walls make it difficult for people to believe in the glory of the house. In such a building, there are special rooms purchased by teachers with their teaching cards at that time, or unit rooms allocated by a certain company to conscientious small salesmen. People living in the painted alley are too close to the building area to defecate in their yards, and they may be bumped into by someone who smokes with the window open, and they call them "upstairsmen".

There are very few residents in the paint alley, about a dozen, there is an old Chinese saying that "distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors", the people in this alley have explained this sentence to the extreme with practical actions, everyone eats well, and whoever has difficulties will help them, and the neighborly harmony that can be seen everywhere in the country at the end of the twentieth century continues in this place to this day.

"Dad Tingting, you're sweeping the yard again, you're really diligent." An aunt stopped as she passed by a courtyard and shouted at the top of her voice.

A slightly chubby middle-aged man in the yard, he nodded to his aunt stiffly, and said, "There are too many leaves falling, you have to clean them diligently."

The aunt looked at the five or six meter-high willow tree next to the man, with lush branches and leaves covering half of the yard, and the aunt sighed softly: "Tingting's father, this tree was planted in the year Tingting's mother died, it grows really fast."

The man patted the tree and said, "Yes, it's been almost twenty years."

The aunt knew that she was speechless, and hurriedly said: "I will cook braised pork at noon today, and I will send you a bowl of it, Tingting loves to eat the meat I cook when she is at home, and every time it is cooked, Tingting's little gluttonous cat will smell and come to my house."

The man put the broom on the edge of the courtyard wall and said happily: "Thank you, Aunt Liu, I have the raisins that the unit has just distributed here, and I will take two catties when I go home in a while."

Aunt Liu looked around left and right, simply walked into the man's yard, and said to him mysteriously, "Have you heard?" That little witch from Mr. Wang's family is coming back. ”

Father Liu frowned and thought for a while, and suddenly realized, he lowered his voice and asked, "Didn't that girl go to school abroad?"

"I heard that she knocked out the front teeth of a male classmate in the same class and was expelled from school, so her mother had to send her back to her hometown to stay for a while, and then let her go back to school when things were dealt with there." Aunt Liu pursed her lips, "That girl has not been worrying since she was a child, she is about to take the college entrance examination, and she was actually expelled from school, even if she can go back to class, will it not affect her grades?" Where can I compare to your Tingting. ”

"No, no, Tingting's child is not obedient." Father Liu touched his head embarrassedly, but there was still a proud smile for his daughter in the depths of his eyes.

"Xiao Mu sent Tingting to school, and was specially recruited by that school, this child's life is really good, but when I go home this holiday, there is the little witch from Teacher Wang's house, and he has a headache." Aunt Liu had a smile in her eyes, as if to indicate that this alley would be lively in the near future.

Father Liu also laughed, the little witch is the granddaughter of Mr. Wang's old couple, her parents are doing business abroad, she was fostered in her grandparents' house since she was a child, and she grew up in this alley until she was thirteen years old before her mother took her to study abroad, and Father Liu watched the child grow up.

At the age of five, he secretly drank liquor, and he didn't drink much, every time he secretly drank a bottle cap, and then the rickety alley caught dogs and cats, and when he was older, he plucked chickens and ducks, and when he was older, he began to bully Mu Qinghe.

At that time, there was never a shortage of excitement in the alley, and the cat who usually loved to lazily bask in the sun at the door of the house immediately blew up when she appeared, and then ran to the tree and did not dare to come down all day long, Mu Qinghe, the childhood sweetheart, was chased and beaten by her every day.

"Xiao Mu, that kid could cry several times a day at that time, right?" Aunt Liu asked with a smile.

"No, I don't know where this kid got so many tears." Father Liu's eyes were full of smiles, "His crying can be heard in the whole alley, crying from morning to night, and now I think about it, this kid has been a sad child since he was a child." ”

"Alas, this child is pitiful." Aunt Liu restrained her smile, "Okay, let's stop talking, there's still meat stewed on the stove, my family's family has almost woken up now after coming back from work, and I have to go back to cooking." ”

"Aunt Liu, take two catties of raisins and go." Father Liu rubbed his hands on his pants and hurriedly ran into the house.

"That's embarrassing." Aunt Liu said with a smile.

"It's okay, it's okay, it's a lot, I'll go and send some to Mr. Wang's family later, and give it to the little witch and Xiao Mu to eat." Father Liu's voice came from the back room.

"You can't call it a little witch, you have to call it Xiaoyi, you forgot that the old Zhao family didn't pay attention to it a few years ago, and called the little witch in front of her, and the next day in a blink of an eye, the hair of his big was almost plucked out, and he didn't crow." Aunt Liu raised her voice and shouted into the house.

This is a rare good weather since the beginning of winter, and the winter is warm and cloudless. A green train moves slowly along the tracks, the fields on both sides of the tracks are full of rape flowers, and occasionally you can see some children running, and the innocent laughter can be heard far away when you see the train whizzing by.

In a window position in the green train, Mu Qinghe leaned against the window and looked at the happy children, they were smiling so beautifully.

Mu Qinghe got off the plane in the city half an hour ago, but he still needed to take a five-hour green train to return to his hometown.

Finally, I don't have to open my mouth to speak that broken English, and I don't have to nibble on bread and drink coffee, that magical experience seems to be just a game, but also like a dream, and the days from now on will be completely calm, and the life of worrying that I am afraid that I am not afraid of anything is completely gone, but why has my heart been empty.

He subconsciously touched his pocket, except for this, the black stone half the size of his palm seemed to have become a mark, always telling himself that the life of that half a year was real.

"Hey, in the half an hour since you got in the car, you have touched your left pocket at least four times, what kind of treasure is it, so afraid of losing it." Mu Qinghe sat by the window, and sitting next to him was a woman dressed as a royal sister, the woman was dressed in professional clothes, with long hair and a shawl, looking very capable, at this moment she opened her mouth and said: "Little brother, you are more likely to attract people's attention like this, and things are easier to lose, you know?" ”

The woman had been paying attention to him for a long time, the boy who hadn't said a word since he got in the car. What's even more strange is that he laughed for a while, frowned for a while, and seemed to be thinking about something for a while, so that Qingxiu, who wanted to look at Mu Qinghe, who was still quite long, planned to chat with him and drive away the bored Russell completely lost interest in talking.

Mu Qinghe glanced at her and turned his gaze out of the window again, Russell Su held his forehead with his hand, and he was a person living in his own world.

The journey was too boring, and Russell then said without words: "Let me tell you a secret, there is a thief in our carriage, and an aunt's wallet was lost before getting on the train just now, and the thief who stole the wallet may be on the same train as us, so you don't want to do these attention-grabbing actions." ”

"Thank you, big sister." Mu Qinghe glanced at her seriously and thanked her sincerely.

Eldest sister? Russell Su resisted the urge to scold, she secretly prayed in her heart, hurry up and a thief to steal this seemingly harmless but angry little bastard next to her!

The world is wonderful, and those daily wishes to pray to the gods and Buddhas for peace may not come true, but sometimes the words you don't want to say will soon be fulfilled.

At this time, a man with a bowl of instant noodles passed by the aisle, and happened to meet a passenger who was going back to the toilet, and the man carefully held the instant noodles and said, "Let me go, please let me go, the noodles are very hot." ”

When the two people met, the man who went to the toilet hurriedly avoided the side, and at this time, the man serving the instant noodles seemed to have slid down on the soles of his feet, and the instant noodles were handed forward, and the man who went to the toilet was so frightened that he hurriedly took a few steps backwards and bumped into a passenger who was sitting on the seat.

The man serving the instant noodles hurriedly re-stabilized the instant noodles and said apologetically to the man who went to the toilet: "I'm sorry, big brother, the soles of my feet slipped just now, fortunately I reacted quickly, are you okay, big brother?" ”

The man who went to the toilet stood up again, turned around and thanked the man who was sitting behind him and supported him, and then said to the man holding instant noodles: "Be careful, you, what are you doing, what should I do if I burn others?" ”

The man with the instant noodles apologized repeatedly, the man who went to the toilet walked away while muttering, and the man with the instant noodles then walked back cautiously.

The turmoil caused by this episode passed quickly, and Russell, who was watching the excitement, withdrew his gaze, only to find Mu Qinghe staring at the back of the instant noodle man with interest.

Russell asked curiously, "What are you looking at?" ”

Mu Qinghe said: "I look at the thief." ”

"Thief?" Russell was taken aback, and then followed Mu Qinghe's line of sight to look at the instant noodle man who had just opened the door of the carriage and went to the next carriage, "You said he was a thief?" ”

"Shh Mu Qinghe made a silent movement, then retracted his neck and asked in a low voice, "I'm going to catch a thief, will you go with me to see?" ”

Russell Su was dumbfounded, she thought that Mu Qinghe was lost in her fantasies, what kind of joke were she making, did she regard herself as a god who solved the case like a god or Di Renjie who solved the most cases? You still have to catch the thief yourself, the second sick criminal, right? Besides, the man's hands didn't leave the bowl of instant noodles just now, and he stole it with his feet?

"If you don't go, then you go and get the police, the thief is not one, this should be a gang." After Mu Qinghe finished speaking, he moved out of his seat sideways, and then chased after the next carriage.

Russell Su's face was full of doubts, did he come really? Then she also stood up and chased after her, looking for the police? She wasn't sure if it was real or fake, so how would it end up if the police weren't thieves? For the sake of sitting together for more than half an hour, it is better to catch up and take a look, in case people blame this kid, she will explain that this is her stupid brother with an abnormal head.

At this time, Mu Qinghe had already seen the man in the dining car of the seventh section of the train, the man occupied a table alone, with a few plates of side dishes on it, and he was eating a bowl of rice in a big gulp. Mu Qinghe walked over and sat down opposite him, he looked at the bowl of instant noodles that were randomly placed in the corner of the table and smiled: "Dry noodle cakes are not delicious." ”

The man's hand holding the vegetables paused, and he said without raising his head: "Don't ask for trouble." ”

Mu Qinghe nodded, then picked up a pair of clean chopsticks and put some sour and hot potato shreds into his mouth, just when Mu Qinghe was chewing, the man opposite suddenly pierced Mu Qinghe's eyes with his chopsticks, just when the man thought he was about to tie it, Mu Qinghe's left hand was very easy to catch the man's hand holding chopsticks, and the man couldn't break free with all his strength.

At this moment, the door of the dining car opened, and Russell and three men came in from outside, Russell came in first, she saw this scene and quickly ran over, and said apologetically to the instant noodle man sitting opposite Mu Qinghe: "This big brother, I'm sorry, don't be angry, my younger brother has a little problem with his brain." ”

Mu Qinghe turned his head to look at Rususu and the three men who were in place, and said helplessly: "You didn't go to the police?" ”

Russell Su hurriedly said: "What are you looking for, don't make trouble, let go of this big brother." ”

The instant noodle man finally broke free of his hand, and he shouted at the three men: "What are you still doing in a daze, this kid has seen our identity, hurry up and catch him." ”

Russell was momentarily stunned.