Old things in the south

Chapter 3 Hui'an Pavilion (2)
As I walked, I thought, it's really interesting to play with Xiuzhen like this; pretend to have a little Guizi, and even make clothes for Xiao Guizi.Why are their children not allowed to play with Xiuzhen?Still call her crazy?I thought about it and turned around to look, it turned out that Xiuzhen was still leaning against the wall looking at me!When I was happy, I ran and jumped home.

Song Ma was exchanging matches with an old woman, and there were wastebaskets, old leather shoes, and empty bottles piled up under the eaves.

When I entered the house, I went to find the watch in the cabinet in front of the crib.A small round gold watch, inlaid with a few bright diamonds. The needles on it can no longer move. My mother said that it needs to be repaired, but it has been left on. I like this watch very much. I often wear it on my hand. It's mine.I was standing in front of the three-drawer table and playing around, when I suddenly heard Mama Song talking to the old woman outside the window, I listened carefully, Mama Song said:

"and after?"

"Later," said the old woman who exchanged matches, "that student didn't come back tonight as soon as he arrived! Before leaving, he made a promise to return to his hometown to sell fields and land, and he will come back in a month. The media is marrying her .Well! This wait is six years! What a silly girl, I see her crazy. . . . "

"What's the matter? And gave birth to a child?"

"That's right! When the student left, the girl's mother didn't know that the girl was born, and she rushed back to Haidian Yidi to give birth after she showed up."

"Yidi?"

"It's their Yidi in Hui'an. People from Hui'an who died in Beijing were buried in their Yidi in Hui'an. It turned out that the Wang family used to look at the graves in Yidi. The grandfather who beat the girl saw it. Later, the girl and her father came here as a Long class, who knew such a thing would happen."

"Their family has a predestined relationship with Huinan. How far is Huinan from us? How come they never look back?"

"It's far away!"

"And what about the baby?"

"My child, wrap the package as soon as it lands, and send it to the base of Qihuamen City before dawn! Either it will be eaten by wild dogs, or it will be picked up by someone!"

"Is the girl going crazy here?"

"No, it's crazy to hit here! Poor her parents, she gave birth to such a girl in this life, alas!"

The two of them were silent at this point, and I had already stood at the door of the house to listen.Song's mother was counting several packs of Danfeng red-headed matches, and the old woman stuffed the tattered paper into her big basket!There was clear snot in his nose.Mama Song said:
"Bring some shavings next time. Then—are you from the same place as the madman?"

"My dear! The third sister in my aunt's second uncle's house is considered a lunatic and her second mother is still looking at the grave. Is there something wrong with what they said?"

Mama Song saw me and said:
"Listen again, you."

"I know who you're talking about," I said.

"Ask who?"

"Xiao Guizi's mother."

"Xiao Guizi's mother?" Song Ma laughed, "Are you crazy too? Where did Xiao Guizi's mother come from?"

I also laughed, I know who is Xiao Guizi's mother!

The weather is much warmer, and the cotton-padded jacket has long been taken off, and a thin cotton vest is put on outside the jacket when it gets cold in the morning and evening, which is light and soft.The new cloth shoes I wore had a piece of black leather on the front. Old Wang’s mother—Xiuzhen’s mother, saw my new shoes and said:
"These shoes are strong-kicked the threshold of our house, and your shoes can't be broken!"

I am already familiar with the Hui'an Hall, the door of the hall is always open, so I can sneak in at any time.I said sneak in, because I always sneak in behind my family's back. They only know that I often go to Jingwozi to find girls with Song's mother to buy vegetables. When Song's mother enters the oil and salt store, I Just turn around and go to the Hui'an Pavilion.

I entered the Hui'an Pavilion today, but Xiuzhen was not in the room.There is a large glass jar on the Kang table, in which are a few small goldfish swimming around.I asked Mama Wang:
"Where's Xiuzhen?"

"It's in the courtyard!"

"I'll go find her," I said.

"Don't mind, she's coming, just wait here and watch the goldfish!"

I put my nose against the goldfish bowl and looked in. The goldfish was drinking water one by one while swimming, and my mouth could not help but imitate the fish drinking water one by one.Sometimes a goldfish swims up to me, separated by a layer of glass, and the fish nose and I are the best!I just watched it like this, kneeling on the edge of the kang, my legs were numb, and Xiuzhen hadn't come yet.

I rolled my legs and sat on the edge of the Kang, and waited for a while, but Xiuzhen still didn't come, so I got anxious, slipped out of the room, and went to look for her in the courtyard.The courtyard seems to have been closed all the time, and I have never seen anyone go there.I gently pushed open the cross-yard door and went in. There was a tree in the small yard, which had grown small green leaves.There are dry fallen leaves on the ground in the corner of the courtyard, and some are rotten.Xiuzhen was probably cleaning, but when I went in, I saw her leaning on the tree trunk with a broom in one hand, and wiping her eyes with the other hand, I walked up to her quietly and looked up at her.She may have seen me, but she ignored me, turned her back suddenly, and cried on the trunk of the tree, she said:
"Xiao Guizi, Xiao Guizi, why don't you want your mother?"

How aggrieved and pitiful that voice is!She wept again and said:
"I don't take you with me, how do you know Dao'er, it's far away!"

I remembered that my mother said that we came from a hometown far, far away. There was an island surrounded by water on all sides. We took a big ship and a big train to come to Beijing.I once asked my mother when I would go back, and my mother said it was early, and it was not easy to come here, so I stayed for a few more years.So is the distant place Xiuzhen mentioned as far away as our island?How could Xiao Guizi run away alone?I felt sorry for Xiuzhen, and I also missed Xiao Guizi, whom I didn't know, tears fell from my eyes.In the blurred eyes of tears, I seem to see that fat baby riding a big goldfish, wearing nothing!
With tears in my eyes, I took a deep breath, in order not to let myself cry, I grabbed Xiuzhen's trouser leg and called her:
"Xiuzhen! Xiuzhen!"

She stopped crying, squatted down with tears all over her face, put her arms around me, buried her head on my chest and wiped it away, and wiped away her tears with my soft vest, then she looked up to see Seeing me smile, I stretched out my hand to smooth her messy bangs, and couldn't help but say:

"I like you, Xiuzhen."

Xiuzhen didn't say anything, she stood up while sucking her snot.As the weather got warmer, she stopped wearing leggings and cotton trousers, and now she was wearing a pair of fat loose-leg trousers.Are her legs thin?Why did the pants look so dangling when the wind blew them.She was thin all over, and when she squatted down and lay on my chest just now, I saw that back, it looked like a flat plate.

Xiuzhen took my hand and said:

"Go inside and help tidy up."

There are only these two small rooms in the Xiaokuan courtyard. When the door is pushed, there will be a series of squeaking sounds. The sound is unpleasant, as if a thorn has been pierced in the heart.It is strangely cool to come into this dark room from the sun.In the outer room, there are desks, chairs, and bookshelves neatly arranged, and they are covered with dust. I thought to myself, I should ask our Song mother to come and dust them, so that the whole room would be dusted.Dad often said to Mom, why didn't Song's mother wipe it with a damp cloth?But my mother always asks my father not to talk too much, she says this is the Beijing rule.

Going into the back room, the room is a bit smaller, with only a bed and a coffee table.There was a suitcase on the bed. Xiuzhen opened the suitcase and took out a big cotton robe from it. My father also had it, and it belonged to a man.Xiuzhen hugged the big padded robe to her chest, and said to herself:

"It's time to turn over some cotton."

She took the big cotton robe out of the yard to dry, and I followed.She came in, and I followed.She told me and her to carry the box out to dry in the sun in the yard, and it contained only a pair of gloves, a fedora hat, and some old underwear.She spread out these few pieces of clothing carefully, and picked up a striped gown and said to me:
"I see this gown can only be used as a jacket lining for Xiao Guizi."

"That's not true." I opened my jacket and showed it to Xiuzhen, "This is also made from my father's old clothes."

"You also use your father's? How do you know that this dress belongs to Xiao Guizi's father?" Xiuzhen asked me with a smile and staring eyes. She was very happy like that, and I was happy when she was happy, but how could I know that it was Xiao Guizi? Her father's?She asked so much that I couldn't answer, I tilted my head and smiled, but she still asked while teasing my chin:
"Say it!"

The two of us were squatting next to the box at this time, I looked at her face very refreshingly, bangs were blown to the side by the wind, she seemed to be someone, but I couldn't think of it.I answered her:

"I guessed it. Then—" I asked her again in a low voice, "What do I call Xiao Guizi's father?"

"Call me uncle!"

"I already have an uncle."

"Is there too many uncles? Just call him Uncle Sikang. He is the third uncle. You can also call him third uncle."

"Third Uncle Sikang." I muttered, "What time will he go home?"

"He," Xiuzhen stood up suddenly, frowned and tilted her head in thought. After thinking for a long time, she said, "It's almost there. It's been a month since I left."

As she spoke, she walked into the house again, and I followed her in again, doing this and that, and then following out, moving here and there, and I was so happy to follow out and follow up.At this moment, Xiuzhen's face was pink, and the sides of her nose were covered with dust, and there were small beads of sweat oozing from the tip of her nose and her lips. Such a face looked really pretty.

Xiuzhen wiped the sweat from her nose with her sleeve, and said to me: "Yingzi, will you bring me a basin of water? I need to wipe in the room."

I hastened to say:

"Yes, yes."

The house in the Kuayuan was originally on the same side as the porter’s house, but there is only one more door in the Kuayuan’s house, and the water tanks and basins are placed under the eaves of the porter’s house.I lifted the lid of the water tank, spooned water into the basin, and heard someone in the room talking to Xiuzhen's mother:
"Is the girl feeling better?"

"Oh! Don't mention it, there is trouble again. Every spring, there will be trouble for a while. These two days are just crying and laughing. How good it is! It's really..."

"The fault of this road is that spring makes a lot of mistakes."

I took a basin of water, shook and sprinkled it, splashed myself with water, and when I got to the Kuayuan room, there was not much left.Putting the pot on the chair, suddenly the smell of cooking vegetables came from nowhere, I smelled it and remembered something, so I said to Xiuzhen:

"I am going home."

Xiuzhen didn't hear it, she just rummaged through the drawers.

I remembered that I would go to Heng Hutong to wait for Niuer after dinner when I got home. I had a date yesterday.

The cold and wet pants stuck to my legs, and my mother scolded as soon as I entered the door:
"Just playing in the well all morning? I thought you fell into the well? Look at the water!" While changing my clothes, my mother said, "If you want to know which elementary school in Beijing is good, you should I have been sent to school, and I heard that the primary school attached to the Normal University in Changdian is not bad."

Mom said so, and I realized that my father had come back. I got a whole body of water, because I was afraid that my father would beat and scold me. He was very powerful. Pay attention, smoking a cigarette while reading a newspaper, casually said:
"It's still early, what's the rush?"

"If you don't send her to school, she runs all over the street. I can't see her."

"Hit if you don't obey!" Dad's tone seemed to be very fierce, but then he turned his face and smiled at me. It turned out that he was trying to scare me!He added: "I'll tell her about Yingzi's going to school when her uncle comes. Let him take care of it!"

After dinner, I went to Heng Hutong to pick up Niu'er. The weather was getting colder, so Niu'er and I went to play in the vacant west wing, where dismantled stoves, chimneys, unused tables, chairs, and beds were piled up.In a broken rattan box, there are a few newly hatched little chickens that I bought recently. The soft little yellow fluff is so fun. Niuer and I squatted and played with the little chickens in the box.Watch the chicks peck at the rice, always eat, always eat, why don't they stop!
The chicks couldn't eat enough, but we had enough to see, so we covered the rattan box, and we stood up to play other things.We put two coins on a thin rope and held them in our hands. We kicked the coins. Every time we kicked, the two coins hit the upper of the shoe with a "click" sound.Niu'er twisted her waist when kicking, she looked so delicate.

We had a lot of fun this afternoon, if it wasn't for Niu'er when she was hanging her throat again, we don't know how long we would have played.

Dad bought a new pen and ink today, and a stack of red tracing paper.In the evening, under the kerosene lamp, he taught me to trace the red characters, and read the words on it first: "One to two or three miles, four or five houses in Yancun, six or seven pavilions, eight or ninety flowers."

Dad said:
"You have to draw one picture a day. Only after the summer vacation can you enter elementary school and pass the exam."

In the morning I went to the Hui'an Pavilion to look for Xiuzhen, in the afternoon Niu'er came to look for me in the West Wing, and in the evening I painted red letters, that's how I lived these days.

Short wings grew from the yellow hair of the little oily chicken. Niuer and I fed rice, water, and vegetables. Mama Song said not to strain the little chicken’s belly, and she was afraid of being picked up by wild cats. Use a big rock to press the lid of the rattan box, and we are not allowed to open it casually.

When Niu'er played with me, she often moaned and chirped. When she was happy that day, she actually started to writhe. , met Zhang Xiucai and mourned..."

"What are you singing? Is this just hanging your voice?" I asked

"I sang playing flower drums." Niu'er said.

She was in a good mood, so she just sang and twisted gently, and I was dumbfounded watching it.She suddenly said to me: "Come! Follow me, I'll teach you."

"I can also sing a kind of song." For some reason, I thought I should also show off my ability, and suddenly remembered a song that my father sang when talking with a guest. Later, my father taught me, and my mother He also said that my father taught me this kind of song is really not big or small!

"Then you sing, then you sing." Niu'er pushed me, but I was too embarrassed to sing, she insisted that I sing, so I had to stammer and sing in Hakka:
"Listen—what do you want to do? Think about your sweetheart, don't worry if you think about your sweetheart! I think about your sweetheart, and it's your sweetheart who thinks about your sweetheart..."

Before I finished counting, Niu'er was already laughing until she shed tears, and I laughed too, those few words were really awkward.

"Who taught you? What kind of heart thinks of heart, heart thinks of heart, hahaha! Which country's song are you singing!"

The two of us hugged each other and laughed, talking nonsense about our hearts and minds, but we couldn't figure out what it meant.

We are so happy, talking nonsense, singing and playing nonsense, the West Wing is our happy den, I even dream about it.

(End of this chapter)