I took a comfortable hot shower, opened the bathroom door, and the steaming heat ran through the room.

The second brother was lying on his back on the sofa, his face still covered with the dark blue towel that he had just wiped his hair, as if he had fallen asleep.

There was a solid wood coffee table in front of the sofa, there was a coaster-sized wooden knot in the upper left corner of the coffee table, and a glass of water was placed on the wooden knot. I always feel dry after taking a shower, and I am used to drinking a glass of warm water, which seems to be refreshed after drinking, and many worries and fatigue have disappeared.

I glanced around the room: there was a glass sliding door terrace on my left and right sides, the one on the left overlooking the Nine Rivers, and the one on the right facing the Nine Mountains. The double-layered floor-to-ceiling folio curtain is a light and flowing silver-gray tulle inside, and the outer layer is a heavy blackout cloth of the same color, and the curtain on the left side is pulled together, blocking the Jiuhe outside firmly; The one on the right hung loosely on the curtain hooks in the corners of the walls on both sides, the glass sliding door was not tightly closed, and the curtain was lifted by the sneaking night wind, I got up and walked over, clicked and tightened the door, blocking the black Jiushan and the cold wind and rain all outside.

There are a total of four rooms on the second floor, the second brother's one is facing me, and the one next door to him should not be big from the position of the door, maybe it is a utility room. The other two rooms are adjacent to the two terraces, because they are both closed, I don't know which one belongs to the third brother and which one is mine. In fact, it's very simple to get the answer, stand up, take a step and walk over, push open the door and look at the furnishings inside, but now I don't want to reveal the mystery, sleep up, tomorrow will naturally have the answer, that answer may come from the second brother, maybe from the sister-in-law, or maybe myself, but it doesn't matter, I just like to get along with myself, the more I wait, the more I look forward to it - patience, I think it's also a very interesting game to occasionally compete with yourself.

Behind me, there was a rectangular dining table of camphor wood, about six feet long and four feet wide. The toilets and kitchen are located on either side of the stairs. When I entered the gate, I noticed that the floor tiles were gray and white under my feet, but the second floor was wooden, which was very suitable. The second brother bought me a one-bedroom apartment in Shen'an City, and when decorating, he asked me what flooring to choose, and I replied without thinking about it: "Wooden flooring." "I usually like to walk barefoot in the house, and the wooden floor does not freeze my feet, but the main reason is that I always feel that the tiles are slippery and cold to the touch, and it looks even colder. It sounds like a no-brainer, but stepping barefoot on a tile feels like an earthworm, like a leech, like a snake, like a lot of mollusks. When the second brother heard this, he frowned and stared at me with an inspecting gaze for a long time, and said, "I see that your head seems to have been really burned by your third brother, and you want to think of some messy things." ”

The second brother leaned sideways to face the back of the sofa, one arm bent under his head, and the other arm wrapped a square pillow around his chest, and said in a daze: "It's almost dawn, you go to my room to sleep for a while!" "Every time my second brother goes to see me in Shen'an, he also sleeps on the sofa as the hall director, but the sofa in my apartment is specially made, folded up to be a sofa, and opened to a bed, which is much more comfortable to sleep on than this one.

I walked into my second brother's room, with three white walls and a glass sliding door and floor-to-ceiling window, I lifted the corner of the curtain and looked out, outside the window was a one-meter-wide balcony, and in the corner of the balcony was a brown square ceramic ashtray stuffed with cigarette butts; The room was big and empty, and it wasn't stuffy at all. There are only three pieces of furniture in the house: the wardrobe, the table, and the bed, all of which are made of solid wood and transparent lacquer; Silver-gray curtains, blue-gray bedding, the only bright color comes from an old photograph on the table.

I took the picture frame in my hand and watched: the eldest brother in the photo was twenty-one years old, the second brother was eighteen years old, and the third brother was fifteen years old, and the three of them were wearing the same royal blue overalls and white shirts, and I was ten years old standing between the second brother and the third brother, with two small braids on my head, which was the first time I remembered to tie the braids, which was tied with the help of the proprietress of the photo studio; I was wearing a fiery red dress, which the proprietress of the photo studio had chosen for me from a pile of photo dresses that had been worn by many people and had not been washed for a long time, although the dress was big enough to hold two me, and it had to be fixed to me by clips, and although there was a thick brown and black grease stain on the butt of the skirt, I was still as happy as a thrush bird in early spring, and I played with the double ruffled skirt in the mirror with both hands over and over again.

The day after the photo was taken, the second brother was about to enlist in the army.

The soldiers of Tao Zhen who put on military uniforms at the entrance of the armed department are heroic, of course, in my eyes, the second brother is the most powerful and special one. I heard that the recruits of the Air Force's radar unit have been strictly selected, and their height is uniformly taller than that of the army unit, and all of them have good facial features and strong physiques, and they are not good at trachoma at all. On that day, the send-off queue was very long, in addition to the military families, there were also girls who came to see the soldiers.

Before the second brother got into the car, I gave him the two toffees that I had been carrying in my pocket for more than half a month, and I also learned from the people around me to say to him in an old-fashioned manner: "Don't be too homesick, write back often!" The second brother said that in exchange, he would buy me the most beautiful red dress when he came back, and praised me for looking good in a red dress, I turned my head and showed off to the eldest brother and the third brother: "Did you hear that?" The second brother said that he would buy me a red dress! However, as soon as the green truck started, I regretted it, and I ran after the car for a long distance, crying and shouting: "Second brother, come back quickly, I don't want a red dress!" "I ran in front, the eldest brother and the third brother chased behind, and when they caught up with me, the green truck had disappeared from sight. I begged them with tears on my face: "Big brother, third brother, let the second brother come back, I don't want a red dress!" ”

The second brother didn't break his promise, he really bought me a red dress when he came back from the army, but unfortunately he forgot an important thing: he left for three years, I have grown taller and grown up, and that dress can only hold me three years ago. I put the frame back on the table, wondering where the dress was now. I remember the last time I came home, it was still hanging in my closet.

Judging from the furnishings in the room, compared with the previous wooden house, except for the larger space, there are not many other changes. I also know where everything is placed. I opened the wardrobe door, brought a chair, stood on it, stood on tiptoe and pulled out a camel-colored blanket from the top floor of the wardrobe, lightly took it to the living room to cover the second brother, turned off the light in the hall, turned around and went back to the room, and when I came to the door, I suddenly folded back again, lay on the back of the sofa, stared condescendingly at the blue towel on the second brother's face, and called softly: "Second brother!" ”

The second brother snorted.

"There was still half a bottle of tofu milk you brought me last time, but yesterday in the Luohe train station, it was broken by a bear child." I said slowly.

The second brother didn't answer for a long time, I thought he was asleep and was about to leave, he suddenly said: "Didn't you buy accident insurance?" ”

"I asked, if you buy insurance, you will only pay 80% of the market price at most, and I said that the tofu made by my sister-in-law is priceless, but the insurance broker will not accept the order." I said with a sense of urgency.

The second brother ripped off the blue towel on his face and said, "Shouldn't you keep the bottle?" ”

"Oops! When you mentioned this, I remembered that the bean curd bottle was specially made by the eldest brother, and I would have known to buy it an insurance! I said with a look of regret.

"It's hard to buy money, you know it early—it's too late!" The second brother closed his eyes.

"It's late! Go to sleep! With a smile on my lips, I turned and went back to my room.

I lay flat on my second brother's bed, staring at the ceiling in the dark, without any sleep. The sound of the second brother's even breathing came from the living room, and the rain outside the window was still howling.