Your loneliness is more moving than this world

Chapter 17 The South Gate Hero (1)
1.
I can't forget that ugly face.He is so ugly, as ugly as modern art, with a wide mouth, a sunken nose, freckles on his face, two small eyes with almost no whites, like two small slits made by a blade on a pumpkin, people once suspected that he could not see Clear the world.

Stranger than his appearance is his name—Zhou Hongxia.It's a girl's name, a real country girl's name.No one could have guessed the original intention of his parents to choose this name. Perhaps even his parents were relieved. Fortunately, this is not a girl. The boy grows up like this, which is already a misfortune for the family.His fellow villager Dayong warned us not to call him "Old Zhou" or "Hongxia", because "Old Zhou" is his father, and he would be anxious if he was called "Hongxia".Since childhood, he only recognized the name "Daxia".

Daxia and I went to the county middle school, to be precise, the third middle school in the county, which is the high school with the worst teaching quality in the county.The people here are full of little scum who have not been admitted to No. [-] and No. [-] middle schools, and no one has ever been promoted to university from here. There are so many students who are busy in their youth, just for the exam at the end of the second year of high school. Paper high school diplomas go away.

Everyone met in the dormitory for the first time, sitting on the bed and chatting in groups.The way the children get to know each other is very simple. Each tells a dirty joke. I am obviously not good at it.Old stalks refer to old jokes that have been used countless times, or jokes that everyone has heard.

].Most people grinned copiously with regret on their faces, but Daxia didn't understand, she turned her head and asked the people around her, staring at the people around her, waiting for the answer, and then laughed wildly, no one could persuade her, the more she persuaded her, the more she laughed.He also does not allow anyone to touch him, a person who is extremely happy, and his whole body is sensitive.

That night, he bribed his classmates, changed the bed, and took the initiative to befriend me. Since then, he has been haunted.Although I didn't dare to look him in the eye, I still accepted the friendship.Daxia is actually a nice person, with the unique generosity and boldness of mountain people, as long as you ask, he is willing to do anything.

On the weekend, Daxia brought a bag of grain from her hometown and was going to the cafeteria to exchange it for food stamps. A classmate asked, "Daxia, can you hold such a big bag?" Throwing it into the air, she gritted her teeth and said, "See if I can do it! See if I can do it!" The dormitory roared with laughter, applauding one after another, Daxia was encouraged, and she grinned and threw the grain higher.Suddenly, he stopped, threw away the bag, put away his smile, pouted his lips and said, "If you laugh at your size, you will know that you love to laugh at us mountain people." Everyone laughed even more happily, and fell down on the bed.

Before turning off the lights, some students asked: "Daxia, you always say that you are 1.7 meters eight, can you stand on the upper bunk here and touch the upper bunk over there?" Daxia put down the book in her hand and sat down. Get up and say: "What do you mean by touching? I can grab the upper bunk opposite me with my hands. If you don't believe me, lift me up and try." Everyone lifted Daxia up. Daxia completed the task and was about to show off when the female class teacher came from the door. The voice said: "What time is it, what's the trouble!" Everyone immediately rolled back to the bed, leaving only Daxia propped up in the air.The class teacher walked in and asked: "Hongxia, what are you doing?" Daxia was sweating profusely, but she couldn't move, and murmured: "Mr. Zhang, I... I didn't do anything." Go to bed and sleep!" Daxia said aggrievedly: "Mr. Zhang, I...I can't go back."

In the spring sports meeting, Daxia represented our class in the 3000-meter long-distance race.He obviously didn't know what a 3000-meter long-distance race was. The moment the gunshot fired, he ran at full speed, grinned, held his head high, and left all the famous generals far behind.The teachers and students of the whole school were stunned. They stood up one by one, and the sound of laughter and applause echoed on the playground.After one and a half laps, Daxia was exhausted and her pace lost her balance, like a poisoned crab. The famous generals overtook him one after another, and then passed him for one lap or two. He stopped, looked at the blush in the sky, and went straight Go back to your class.

I asked Dayong: "Has this guy always been like this?" Dayong smiled and said, "Why? He was not like this in his hometown before. His family was very poor. His father was incompetent and crippled. His mother ran away with someone and never came back. Well, his grandparents disliked their family and lived in his uncle's house for the elderly. In short, their family is a kind of person who can't hold their heads up. Now they are going to school, of course they are very happy. No one here knows his details, nor People isolated him."

I believe that Daxia enjoys her status as a "living treasure", because no matter how stupid a person is, he can tell the authenticity of those laughter, but he always plays the role of Erbaiwu, and he never tires of it.

In the darkness, he turned over and looked at me quietly.I rubbed my eyes and asked, "What's wrong?" He said, "Shakespeare..." and giggled, covering his face.

2.
The county we were in at the beginning was located in the suburb of Niucheng, adjacent to the crematorium, and the air was filled with a strange burnt smell all the year round.This smell stimulates the latent violence of adolescent boys. From the teaching building to the dormitory, from the school gate to the playground, there are constant fights every day, and almost all boys are fighting in groups after school.The south gate of the school is the main battlefield. On weekends, there are hundreds of people in group fights there, and the momentum is monstrous. It is absurd that most of these group fights appear in a semi-entertainment manner. There is so much hatred between peers. Everyone is just bored. The bickering of the three students turned into a gang fight of a large group of idlers in an instant, and it was actually just for the sake of spiritual fullness.

Daxia became a star outside the South Gate not because of his skill, but because of his participation.Every grade, every class, as long as they knew him, they would invite him to help out. Sometimes both sides agreed, and they didn't know what to do, so they drew lots to decide who to help, and the loser would not hate him.Daxia has her own philosophy of life, her background is not good, her appearance is not good, her grades are not good, and she can’t even tell a dirty joke. The only thing that can support her in this place is righteousness and boldness. He expects herself to be selfless His dedication can win more people's trust, but things backfire. Everyone is still used to treating him as a living treasure, and what they expect from him is always just a burst of laughter that can relieve stress.

Daxia began to be beaten, and the gangs became more and more violent, vying to win over newcomers from lower grades, and Daxia became a target for these newcomers to practice their skills.They have a consensus: this gentleman fights for nothing, will not hold grudges, and will not report.In the corridor, in the cafeteria, on the playground, outside the south gate, Daxia fought with boys one after another, and was chased and beaten by groups of boys. He really didn't take it to heart, and never reported it. The usual grievances in the Jianghu, the grievances in the Jianghu, are not considered grievances.

But he also has a principle, that is, he is not allowed to be hit in the face by others. Whenever he loses momentum, the first thing he does is to protect that ugly face, and he will not let go despite being punched and kicked.I didn't understand, so I asked Dayong, and Dayong said: "His father was beaten in the face and blinded by someone, and he fell into a ditch and broke his leg." Maybe it was fate, every time Daxia participated in a fight, he would always be beaten Slapping his face, his face is really too big, this kind of congenital defect really made him a headache.

The most famous local snake in the school had his eyes on Daxia, this time he couldn't protect him no matter what, so he simply took the initiative to reason, and he told the other party righteously: "In the past, there was no grievance or enmity, and I just want to be friends in the future. "The local snake beat him all the way out of the dormitory, and then all the way to his dormitory.In the end, the local snake was tired and mocked Daxia, and slapped Daxia and asked, "Do you dare to tell the teacher about beating you today?" Daxia pretended to be calm and said with tears in her eyes, "Don't worry, I...I won't Tell the teacher." The local snake was happy, and then poked Daxia's head again and said, "Then tell me, should we beat you this time?" Daxia squeezed back tears in aggrieved way, recovered her face and said, "It's my fault, I... I won't dare anymore." The dormitory burst into laughter.

Generally speaking, a person's personality and behavior will change to varying degrees after suffering such a great humiliation, but this logic does not apply to Daxia, and within a few days, he made an appointment with someone else again.Supporting Daxia to be full of positive energy in life is a girl named Irene in the class. She is at the same table as me. Daxia chatted with girls, so Daxia couldn't wait to welcome her first love.

A month later, Eileen became Dayong's girlfriend.

Heartbroken, Daxia sent a letter to Irene through me, and the paper was full of language mistakes and typos, bursting out with a tsunami of love.Dayong was furious and accused Daxia of being unjust. Daxia fought back forcefully, insisting that he had the right to confess. He told the people present loudly: It is his own credit for Dayong to know Aileen, and he was the first person to know Aileen.

Outside the south gate, Dayong led several of his men to beat Daxia, who rolled on the ground screaming with nosebleeds.I rushed over and grabbed Dayong's arm and shouted: "Don't hit me! Why are you so hard on the old country!" Dayong stopped, looked at me and said nothing, Daxia got up, wiped her nose with her dirty hands, Grabbing Dayong's white collar and shouting: "Zhang Dayong! You have the guts to kill me today. If you can't kill me, you're not a man!" Dayong kicked Daxia over and called his men to leave.

This ugly, bitter, humorous, poor boy cried again. This time, he cried aloud. A terminally ill jackal shrieked and shrieked, igniting the setting sun in the distance.

Many years later, he told me that the fight with Dayong was the most painful memory in the first half of his life. The bullying in the past was nothing more than physical pain, but this time, he felt a soft thing in his heart being trampled on. It is a kind of humiliation without revenge, and a kind of sadness that goes straight to the bottom of my heart.

In the autumn of 2001, students from the No. [-] Middle School were killed in a group fight. Afterwards, a car from the procuratorate drove into the playground, and a sign was erected at the south gate of the school that read "Police Station Stationed in the Public Security Office." I was studying art in the city and gradually lost news of my old classmates. I only heard that Daxia was isolated by the bad boys in the class, and spent day after day in extreme pain. He was the first to leave after the exam. off campus.

Before entering the city, the last words he said to me were: "Chaozi, if you are admitted to university in the future, don't forget me."

3.
In the spring of 2009, I left the CBD and went to work in a company near Chongwenmen, where I met Daxia who was selling bento in the corridor there.

I was very embarrassed at the time, and I took the lighter he handed me to light a cigarette, and the flame shot up a foot high, burning most of my bangs in front.He looked at the cloud of smoke rising above my head, squatted on the ground covering his stomach and laughed for 2 minutes.We haven't seen each other for eight years, and we immediately returned to the familiar rhythm.

Daxia said that when he came to Beijing to sell bento in 2007, he first ran errands for others for half a year. After his cousin came to Beijing, the two worked together. He was responsible for making, and his cousin was responsible for delivering. I met an old friend on the first transaction today.After get off work, I rushed to Daxia’s residence and invited the two brothers out for dinner. During the dinner, I helped them do product analysis as a professional marketing person.I told them that if they want to earn the money of white-collar workers in this area, they must first increase the amount of dishes, and secondly, the style. It is best to learn Korean and Western fast food.Daxia smiled in embarrassment. Given the strength of the two brothers, my requirements are obviously high.

At that time, what troubled Daxia the most was not poor productivity, but his competitor Erya.Erya is a black and thin girl from Guanzhong, who also does bento business, with a strong background. Her uncle opened a restaurant near Chongwenmen, and all her bento comes from there.Facing a big enemy like Erya, Daxia had no choice but to continue to fight price wars and service wars. Anyway, he was not too tired. When his cousin was too busy, he would put down the spoon and ride a bicycle to deliver meals.

One month later, Erya became Daxia's girlfriend.

I don't understand how these two people got mixed up, so I asked him for advice.He told me that he and Erya had been fighting for a long time in the bento market in this area, you win today, I win tomorrow, until one day, Erya stopped his car in the street to say goodbye to him.She said that her uncle wanted her to go back to her hometown for a blind date, and if the village chief's son agreed, she would have to marry. She didn't want to leave Beijing, and she didn't dare to refuse her uncle. high school.Daxia was shocked, and drove to the restaurant where Erya's uncle was, patted the table at the front desk and yelled that she would be Erya's boyfriend.Uncle Erya appeared and summoned the [-]-pound fat man in the back kitchen. Da Xia was lucky enough to hit her two palms out of her dantian, and was kicked out of the door by the fat man.Daxia was not angry, and went back the next day, only to be kicked out again.He simply stopped what he was doing, and went to Uncle Erya’s restaurant at lunch and dinner time every day, playing the role of hob meat. The big fat man obviously couldn’t stand it, and Uncle Erya copied the mop himself. Uncle Erya knocked on the table, and Uncle Erya knocked down with a yell, Daxia got up and ran away.

(End of this chapter)