The children of the Qiao family

Chapter 53

The call came, the hospital came.

Qi Chenggang was diagnosed as the third suspected case of SARS in Nanjing.

The city epidemic prevention station came.

Qiao's old house was sealed off, the courtyard was sealed off, and the entire street was sealed off.

The Qiao family was isolated in the old house.

This is the past ten years, and the Qiao family has lived under the same roof.

After hearing the news of Qi Chenggang's diagnosis, Simei fell asleep on the bed and couldn't get up, but she didn't cry, she stared at the ceiling with her eyes wide open, and didn't close her eyes all night, and she didn't know what she was thinking.

Sanli looked really scared, so she secretly put crushed Shule'an in the water she drank, and Simei closed her eyes for a while.

Qiao Yicheng stood in front of the younger sister's bed for a long time, looking at Simei's sleeping face.

This girl has aged so much in the past two years, there is a very deep Sichuan character line between her eyebrows, her hair is newly permed, but unfortunately the perm is not good, it seems that she is a little older than Sanli, her nose is slightly oily, and her whole body His face was still tense even when he was asleep, with a sad look on his face.

This younger sister is frivolous when she wakes up, but vicissitudes when she sleeps.

Qiao Yicheng thought, in this world, people are full of wounds, and a person without pain is a different kind.

But why, his brothers and sisters, his close relatives, are so difficult, so difficult?

It was not until the third day that Shang Simei drank some rice soup under everyone's persuasion.

There is no definite news from the hospital, but from the daily news reports, it can be seen that the situation is serious and the disease is terrible.Maybe, Qi Chenggang couldn't pass this hurdle.This is what everyone in the Qiao family will think of.

Every day the police brought in vegetables and some daily necessities. Sanli and Erqiang called home twice a day to report that they were safe.For several days in a row, the whole family ate some bread, snacks and drank some water to deal with three meals a day.

On the fourth day, her mood became a little more stable. Sanli said that it was impossible to continue like this, so don't lie down for two more, that would be really terrible.Er Qiang said, he went to cook.

Er Qiang went to the kitchen, rummaged through a pile of vegetables, threw away some yellow and rotten vegetable leaves, picked out a section of fresh spring bamboo shoots, added the pork ribs in the refrigerator, and stewed a pot of good soup. Pounced all over the house.

As soon as the aroma came out, it seemed as if the days of many years ago had come back. The whole family sat around the Eight Immortals table, and Yu Yicheng served each of them a bowl of soup. Yes, the old man naturally took the best part.

The last bowl of soup of the day was for Qiqi, Qiao Qiqi didn't dare to look up, she just said thank you vaguely.For the past two days, he has been sleeping on a bed in the main room. He made up the bed early in the morning, and hid in a corner, as indifferent as a shadow. He never took the initiative to talk to his father and brothers and sisters, and even avoided Yicheng Terribly.

After eating, Er Qiang took the bowl to wash again, turned his face, Qi Qi followed, and stood there blankly without saying a word.Er Qiang thought he was going to take something, so he turned to let him, and he turned sideways, the two of you let me and I let you, unable to turn around in the small kitchen, when they bumped into one place, Er Qiang laughed, and suddenly reached out to touch it. Qiqi's hair.Qi Qi also laughed, her expression slowly became lively, she took the bowl from Er Qiang and went to wash it.

Er Qiang asked him: Why do you only call your mother-in-law and not your wife?
Qi Qi blushed slightly and said: She is in Shanghai.

Er Qiang said that Shanghai is also available, and she always has a mobile phone.

Qi Qi buried her head in the wash, and said: The one in Shanghai is long-distance.

Er Qiang grinned cheerfully: Your fourth sister doesn't care about this little money.Otherwise, if you call, your second brother will pay the phone bill of your fourth sister's house this month.

Qi Qi also grinned silently.

Er Qiang suddenly felt that his little brother was really a beautiful person.However, his beauty is different from Qi Chenggang's, revealing a kind of lack of confidence, as if his existence owes everyone.

Er Qiang felt sorry for her, so she couldn't help saying: When you were young, you were only a few months old. Once, the elder brother asked me to watch you, and I fell asleep all of a sudden. When I woke up, I realized that you peed on me Head and face, the two of us soaked in your piss together, hehe, it's been twenty years in a while.

Qi Qi was a little shy, and changed the subject: I'm worried, does it matter to my fourth brother-in-law?

Er Qiang also frowned and said: I was thinking too, who knows what will happen.Now there are so many strange diseases. When we were young, our living conditions were poor, we had to eat whatever we had, and we didn’t see a doctor when we got sick. We drank some ginger syrup and banlangen by ourselves.Once when your elder brother cut his hand while chopping vegetables, the bones were visible, and the blood flowed so much that he applied some chlortetracycline ointment and wrapped it with gauze, and healed up like that.

That night, Erqiang moved his bedding into the main room, and when Qiao Yicheng got up in the middle of the night to accompany Qiqi, he heard the two brothers chattering.

The next day, I found a free time, and Yicheng asked Er Qiang: Why did you and Xiao Qi become so intimate all of a sudden?
Er Qiang smiled and said: I found that our little brother is very annoying.

"Okay!"Er Qiang suddenly lowered his voice and said in a whisper: Brother, are you still doubting Xiao Qi's life experience?

Yi Cheng was slightly startled: How did you mention this?

Erqiang said: I also heard Sanli Weiwei mention that sentence many years ago, bro...

Before he could finish his sentence, Yicheng waved his hand to stop him: Mom has been dead for so many years, and uncle has been dead for so many years, so I won't mention it.In the future, don't mention it.

Er Qiang said oh, but he actually thought to himself, with his elder brother's temper, if he didn't mention it, he would remember it for the rest of his life.Really, Er Qiang thought, it's nothing.When a person dies, the good, the bad, the right, and the wrong are all turned into ashes when they are alive. What do they care about when they are alive?Eldest brother is a good person in everything, but he is narrow-minded, has a lot of things, understands the truth but can't let go.

Qiao Yicheng stopped talking and looked into the main room.

Qiao Qiqi was playing with Simei's daughter Qiaoqiao. This pretty doll-like little girl seemed to like this soft-tempered little uncle who suddenly appeared.Qiqi was sitting, and she was lying behind him, pulling his hair and braiding it into the sky for him.Qi Qi seemed to have her hair hurt from being pulled by her, she wrinkled her nose with a smile, and looked very happy.

In the afternoon, Er Qiang burned a lot of hot water, and the whole family took turns taking a bath in a big tub like they did when they were children.

Simei picked up Qi Chenggang's old coat to change for Qi Qi, Qi Qi wore it a little too big, and even if the cuffs were dragged, she didn't know how to roll it up.

Simei stared at him blankly for a long time.

Sanli was a little scared, she felt something was wrong with Simei.

The Qiao family has been quarantined for 20 days, and the ban can finally be lifted.

On the last night in the old house, Qiao Yicheng slept until midnight, woke up in a daze, heard a rustling sound, half opened his eyes, and saw a tall and thin man with disheveled hair standing beside the bed.

Qiao Yicheng was so frightened that all the hairs on his body stood up.

5
Qiao Yicheng gathered himself together, and boldly took a closer look. With the faint light outside the window, he realized that the person with draped hair standing beside his bed was Simei.

As soon as I got up and sat up, I got up violently, and there was a throbbing pain in my temple.Yicheng pressed it with his fingers, and asked in a hoarse voice, "It's the middle of the night, why are you standing here without sleeping?"Almost scared you to death.

He pretended to turn on the light, but Simei called out, "Brother, don't turn on the light."don't open.

You... what's the matter with you?Yicheng was a little panicked, he was afraid that the girl Simei would be out of her mind due to her anxiety in the past two days.But Simei said: Brother, just let me say a few words in the dark, I can't speak in the bright place.

The panic in Yicheng's heart became more and more smudged like ink droplets falling on the paper, and he subconsciously said: "Where's your sister?"Didn't you sleep with your sister?

Before going to bed at night, I put some Suloazepam in Sanli's water glass, which she has been secretly feeding me for the past two days. I think she will sleep more deeply tonight.Brother, what I want to tell you now, I can only tell you. I'm afraid she will scold me again, scolding me for not being up to date.

you say.In the dark, Yicheng punched a chair next to the bed and raised his chin, beckoning Simei: Sit down and talk.

Simei came over and sat down with her hands on her knees, she couldn't see the expression on her face clearly, Simei turned her head and looked around: Brother, how many years have you not lived in this house?

This room is the largest in Qiao's old house. However, the orientation is not good, and it will be exposed to the west. When there is no sun, it is always cold and damp. When the mother was there, she always wanted to move the children to the south. , but old man Qiao has been unwilling to agree, saying that there are many children in the house, and when his sons and daughters grow up, the room on the south side will definitely not be able to sleep, and the room on the north side is better. The children lived in the outer half, and the girls lived in the inner half.Besides, children are strong and strong, with three fires on their buttocks, what are they afraid of if they are a little bit colder and a little bit wet?
It can be considered that the old man has a bit of foresight. In the few years after the brothers and sisters grew up, the house was really divided into two small rooms inside and outside.Later, when this house became Simei's new house, the partition was removed again.These days, another curtain was drawn in the middle of the house, Sanli and Simei were inside, Yicheng was outside, while Erqiang and Xiaoqi lived in the main room.

Simei's eyes stopped on the dark ceiling, and her voice sounded like a long sigh: "Brother, do you still remember that there was no ceiling in this room, and you could see the beams when you looked up.When I was a child, I didn’t dare to stay in the house by myself, I was always afraid that there would be a hanged ghost hanging from it.When I got married, Qi Chenggang said that it was too ugly and dusty, so he made a ceiling by himself, nailed thick iron wires on the surrounding walls, pasted thick cardboard, and pasted several layers of thick paper on the outside, Then paint it, and it still looks like that. People who came to see the new house all agreed that it was a suspended ceiling made by a decorator.

Yicheng didn't know the situation of Simei, and he seemed anxious, but he couldn't show it, so he said perfunctorily: Your family Qi Chenggang is also a capable person.

In the dark, Simei smiled softly: That's right.People are capable and beautiful people, as long as he is willing, he can coax people, Xiao Yinqin can do it better than anyone else, he doesn't lie much, and he doesn't care about money, as long as he can give me what I want, he will always give readily.When I gave birth, there was a woman in the same ward. Her husband was so angry when he saw that the baby was a girl, and went home. When he was discharged from the hospital, he didn't even look at the mother and daughter.But Qi Chenggang didn't say a word, he seemed to be overjoyed, he didn't pretend to be that way, he kept holding the little baby in his hand, and he couldn't bear to let it go, the women in the same ward said my life was good.Qi Chenggang, people are not bad people, they just have this kind of heart, and they are just so unruly.Sometimes I think, maybe this is a kind of disease, just like heart disease, congenital.Since I was a child, I wanted to marry a beautiful person. As expected, I was so lucky that I met a desirable person on the street. God treated me well, but maybe he felt that he shouldn't favor me too much, so he gave it to me. Qi Chenggang had such a natural defect.

Qiao Yicheng listened quietly. On this warm spring night in May, he felt that his hands and feet were icy cold, until his heart and lungs were so cold.

Simei turned her head towards him, as if she was going to lean on his shoulder, but she still didn't lean on him after all.

Brother, she said, I know you didn’t like me very much when you were young, you think I’m not motivated, I’m stupid, I don’t like to study, and when I grow up, I don’t like me, I also know that you don’t like my marriage with Qi Chenggang .Simei's voice suddenly became playful: I know what you are dissatisfied with. If you are dissatisfied, I will send it to your door. I know that in your heart, the standard of a good girl is to have self-respect, put on airs and wait for a man to follow behind her. Don't let go easily, right?

Simei finally leaned over and sat next to Yicheng on the bed, with her hands propping up the bed, her legs swaying slightly as she did when she was a child, when Yicheng would always correct her: big girl, sit there Don't shake your legs!

Simei went on to say: Brother, I beg you to do something.I know that no matter how much you don't like me, you will always regard me as your younger sister in your heart, and you will always be my direct brother. If I have something to do, I can only ask you, big brother, will you agree to me?
Promise you what?
Simei lowered her head, her hair fell down, completely covering her face: Please take care of my daughter for me.Brother, I'm going to the hospital tomorrow, I'm going to beg them, I'm going to tell them...

say no more!Qiao Yicheng suddenly raised his voice to stop her words, then lowered his voice and repeated: You are not allowed to go.Do you hear me?You are not allowed to go!I can't!
Brother, please keep your voice down, don't wake them up.Simei said, brother, I have thought about it for a long time, at this time, I cannot leave Qi Chenggang behind, I want to be with him, because... I went to the hospital to guard him.If... big brother, please take care of Qiaoqiao for me.It is impossible for her to follow her grandparents all her life.If you have a meal, you give her a bite, it doesn’t matter if it’s hot or cold, we’re not picky, we give her one or a half pieces of clothes if we have leftovers, and the living conditions don’t matter whether it’s good or high, as long as it’s enough to live.However, I beg you to give her two more years of schooling. When she gets to university, in the future, find her a better partner, someone who is honest and down-to-earth, like you, like Qi Weimin.Women, it's so important to marry well!Don't be like me, confused for a lifetime.If you can't find it, you don't have to marry, just rely on your ability to eat.

Knowing that you are confused, do you still want to be confused now?Yicheng grabbed Simei's shoulder and asked her viciously.

Yes, brother.Simei gave another short laugh.yes.

Qiao Yicheng thought that in the past, he had only heard of foolish loyalty, but only after seeing Qiao Simei did he know that there is foolish love in the world.

The next day, the brothers and sisters of Qiao's family were going home. Qiao Simi changed into a new coat, her hair was combed neatly, and she brought porridge and steamed buns from the small kitchen.

While everyone was having breakfast, Simei announced: I am going to the hospital today to find Qi Chenggang.I guard him, he will be fine when he recovers, if he is not cured, there should always be someone by his side when he dies, I can't let him go so alone.I have to collect his body.

Qiao Simei's words seemed to drop a heavy bomb in the room, blowing everyone's souls out of their wits.

Sanli jumped up first and grabbed Simei's arm, shaking her like a doll, she thought she was crazy.

Then came the top two, and then old man Qiao, all jumped up.Qiao Qiqi hid aside in fright, and it took her a long time to remember to hold the old father who was bouncing around.

Are you crazy, crazy, don't you want your daughter?Sanli said.

Qiao Yicheng came out from the back room, holding Qi Qiaoqiao in his arms, and shouted: "Okay!"

The people in the room were shocked by that yell, and all looked at him.

Qiao Yicheng said: Let her go.No one can stop it.Qiaoqiao, I will take it away.I keep her!
Simei suddenly said a word: Thank you, brother.My daughter, I don't want her to have a father. I will talk about other things later.

Yicheng glanced at Simei in surprise, as if he understood a little bit, but at the same time he didn't seem to understand.After all, he still doesn't understand this sister very well.

Qiao Simi is finally leaving.

Before leaving, Simei locked herself in the back room and packed some things.Although Qi Chenggang's clothes, his own clothes, may not be needed at all.Also brought a photo album.The one or two pieces of jewelry, Simei, were stuffed at the bottom of the closet, and there was a note written in advance, which said, if there is any accident, Sanli, Erqiang's wife, and eldest brother will share one of these things.Keep a memory.

Qi Chenggang himself had a small suitcase, which he brought from his home after he got married. It contained some of his own things, and Simei never thought of opening it to take a look.At that time, I thought, sometimes it’s okay not to watch.If you can't see something, you can pretend it doesn't exist.At this moment, Simei opened it.

But there was nothing there. A passbook that Simei didn't know about. When I opened it, it turned out that Qi Qiaoqiao's name was written on it. There was not much money. Simei took it out and put it in a jewelry box.There are also some old books and clothes, and some odds and ends collected by Qi Chenggang. Under the things, there is a stack of letters, about ten letters.Simei opened the letter to see that it was from Anhui, the signature was Guizhi, and the date was two months ago.

Simei tied up the letter as it was, pulled out a small iron dustpan from under the bed, and set it all ablaze.

Qiao Simei rushed to the hospital as a family member of a SARS infected person, and it was Qiao Yicheng who sent her there.Qiao Yicheng doesn't allow Sanli and Erqiang to go, telling them to keep an eye on Simei's daughter.

Qiao Simei solemnly proposed to be with her husband, and she wanted to take care of him. She said that she could sign a certificate of life and death with the government, and everything was done voluntarily, and life and death had nothing to do with the government.

Her request was not immediately granted.In fact, she had no way to enter the isolation area at first.

Qiao Simi stayed in the hospital for three days.

(End of this chapter)