When he went back that night, Xu Tangcheng found that his grandmother hadn't slept yet. There was a crack in the bedroom door, and a narrow beam of light leaked out.
He pushed open the door and went in, and saw a silhouette wearing a mirror, pulling his hand back and forth, with a thimble on his wrinkled and calloused thumb, which lit up against the stars.
Seeing him come in, grandma raised her head, glanced at him through the lens, and immediately laughed: "I'm back."
"Um."
Xu Tangcheng squatted down and watched as she used colored thread to sew a circular piece of fabric onto a small piece of fabric that had been embroidered with many patterns. The shape of the cloth was a bit strange, and it seemed to have a certain thickness. He turned his head in a direction, tilted his head, and carefully identified the pattern on the cloth.
It seems that it is a small animal that has no eyes yet.
"What are you doing?" he asked softly.
"Tiger head shoes." Grandma replied leisurely, slowly unfolding the things in her hand and showing him, "Does it look good?"
Xu Tangcheng nodded.
Seeing that he was serious, as if he liked it, grandma took out a shoe upper with a tiger face from a plastic bag on the side and handed it to him.
This was the first time Xu Tangcheng had seen such a thing.
The tiger head vamp in his hand is very delicate, a pair of big eyes, two ears that are upturned, and even the two colorful tiger whiskers are too cute. He stretched out his hand, gently stroked a handful of colored threads, and murmured, "Tiger-head shoes?"
Grandma lowered her head, and while threading the silver needle into the cloth, she read a jingle: "Tiger head shoes, wear tiger heads, walk steadily, run fast, and drive away demons so majestic."
The old man's tone was slow and low, like the background music in a movie, accompanied by a long shot of a child staggering and learning to walk.
"Children wear tiger-toed shoes to exorcise and ward off evil spirits, and they are safe. Moreover, such shoes do not cover their feet or slip, and they are the most comfortable for children to wear when they are learning to walk."
"Really?" After reading the tiger's head shoe over and over again many times, Xu Tangcheng raised his face and smiled and said, "It's so beautiful, which child is this made for?"
Grandma's hands didn't stop, she glanced at him again, but said an answer that stunned Xu Tangcheng.
"Your child."
Holding the little tiger's face, Xu Tangcheng's chin trembled and asked incredulously, "My home?"
"Yes." Grandma was amused by his reaction, and the wrinkles on her forehead became stretched, "You two pairs of shoes, and two pairs of cotton trousers, these are yours, after finishing yours, do Tang Xi's."
"Did you do it for my children so early?" After being dumbfounded, Xu Tangcheng raised his hand and covered his eyes with the upper of his shoe, laughing, "It's still not a shadow."
Grandma embroidered a tiger's eye and cut the connecting thread. She raised one hand away from the upper of the shoe, squinted her eyes, looked left and right, Yue was watching how the embroidery was done. After seeing it, I was satisfied, and said, "It's not too early, I'm afraid I won't be able to do it in the future."
"how come."
"Why not," Grandma took off the mirror and rubbed her eyes. Xu Tangcheng noticed that the corners of his eyes, which were covered with folds, had turned red, and the bottoms of his eyes were also covered with red blood.
The traces of old age are always pervasive.
"My eyes are getting better every year. When you get old, you can't do anything. Maybe one day, you will be really blind. What will you do then?"
Grandma smiled and picked up another black disc, and handed the needle and thread to Xu Tangcheng. Xu Tangcheng took it silently, faced the light, quickly dressed, and handed it back.
"Besides, I don't know if I can see your sweet baby."
Xu Tangcheng frowned, put his unrecovered hand on grandma's knee, patted it twice, and scolded softly, "Don't talk nonsense."
"What nonsense, this kind of thing..." Grandma sighed heavily and took the first injection, "It's not good."
Xu Tang was serious when he was established, and made an expression of sudden realization. He stretched his head forward and looked at his grandma from bottom to top: "My mother asked you to be a lobbyist. Are you here?"
Grandma listened and smiled brightly.
"I won't rush you, how can my precious grandson still find a daughter-in-law? He looks so handsome, so he doesn't have to worry about it." Speaking of which, grandma let out a "yo" and moved closer to Xu Tangcheng's head, "Have a haircut. "
"Well," Xu Tangcheng turned his head to each side, grinned and asked, "Does it look good?"
"Good-looking." Grandma's hands had too many calluses, and her skin was dry because of her old age. When it touched Xu Tangcheng's auricle, it was not soft and hard to touch.
She touched Xu Tangcheng's head and looked at it for a while, and said, "Whatever is cut looks good."
Grandma insisted on embroidering the upper before sleeping, and Xu Tangcheng stayed by her side all the time.
Such a night is actually rare. Xu Tangcheng quietly watched the needle and thread fly, and his heart was obviously soft and peaceful.
"Grandma, I'll take you to play next year." Xu Tangcheng said suddenly, "Let's take a plane to a place far away."
"By plane?" Grandma was a little surprised, and soon she smiled and shook her head, "No, I can't walk long distances with my arms and legs."
"You don't need to go. I'll buy a wheelchair and push you. We won't climb the mountain. I'll take you to a warmer place. You can go to Hainan, where Yikan went last winter."
Grandma still shook her head. The upper was embroidered, grandma put it in the bag, Xu Tangcheng buried his head and helped her tie the plastic bag.
In the sound of hissing, I heard the old man smile and say: "I'm not going anywhere, you go, you go, I don't go to burden you."
"What are you talking about, what a burden." Xu Tangcheng straightened up and watched his grandma wipe the glasses with a glasses cloth.
In his memory, grandma's hair was gray very early, it seemed that it started when he was very young, or in other words, she had been full of gray hair since he had memory. Han Yin once came to his house and met his grandma. At that time, Han Yin told him that his grandma was really a very standard image of a kind and kind grandma.
He felt the same way.
Xu Tangcheng smiled lightly, stretched out his hand, and pulled her temples for her.
New Year is coming soon.
As in previous years, the uncle's family rushed back on the 30th day of the new year. The reunion on New Year's Eve, nearly 30 members of the Xu family, all gathered together for a New Year's Eve dinner. The crowd is prosperous, and it is destined to be a lively meal. People in a room should be divided into at least two groups to eat, those who don't drink will eat first, and those who drink will eat later. Because there were some men who were addicted to smoking in the family, Xu Tangcheng rushed to finish the meal with the non-drinking group, so he took Xu Tangxi to retreat early. Before leaving, Zhou Hui took his arm and told him to remember to turn on all the lights in the house when he went back, saying that it was New Year's Eve and the house must be bright.
When I got home, I saw someone setting off fireworks downstairs. Xu Tangcheng's eyes moved up following a bunch of small fireworks, and the fireworks flew into the sky. His eyes swept across the building in front of him—the rows of windows with flickering lights, but only two of them were black.
Xu Tangxi trotted to Xu Tangcheng's side: "Brother, let's set off fireworks too. Did you buy it for me?"
Xu Tangcheng retracted his gaze and nodded to her.
Xu Tangxi liked fireworks since she was a child, and Xu Tangcheng would buy some for her every year. He fetched it from the car, found a place that wasn't too cold, and let her play for a while, while she went upstairs one step at a time. After turning on the lights in every room in the house and closing the door, he stopped in the cold corridor.
Through the window of the corridor, you can also see the fireworks constantly rising into the sky.
Looking at the closed door opposite for a while, Xu Tangcheng stepped forward and knocked on the door.
No one responded.
Are you really not at home
Xu Tangcheng wondered if the person inside had fallen asleep, and reluctantly, with a glimmer of hope, he knocked again. The knocking on the door this time lasted for a long time, so long that Xu Tang was so fascinated that when the door was suddenly opened, the door panel almost hit his face.
"Is something wrong?"
Xiang Xiyu, who was inside the door, looked impatient and frowned at him. The light in the living room was turned on, and over Xiang Xi Weing's shoulder, Xu Tangcheng saw the mess in the room at a glance. The coffee table was turned over, and a pile of ceramic fragments were scattered on the ground.
He looked back and looked at Xiang Xiwe who was wearing pajamas, with a normal tone: "I'm looking for Yizhe."
Xiang Xi Di raised his hand and stroked his hair back. After staring at him for a while, he actually pulled out a weird smile.
"died."
Those two words, along with the sound of the door being slammed, made Xu Tangcheng stand in front of the door for a long time.
The lights went out, and outside the narrow window of the corridor, the light flashed, and the white smoke remained in the air, and then disappeared silently.
Xu Tangcheng rubbed the edge of the steps with the soles of his feet, and after rubbing for a while, he fell down and jumped down a step.
When he got downstairs again, he looked up and saw that there was only one black window left. Xu Tangxi held a cold firework and approached him, asking him to make a wish quickly.
He closed his eyes, but was shaken by Xu Tangxi: "Your posture is wrong!"
The iron wire fireworks had already burned most of the time, Xu Tangcheng opened his eyes, stretched out a hand, and cut off the sparks that bloomed around it.
This night was destined to be a bad night's sleep. At about five in the morning, Xu Tangcheng was woken up by the sound of firecrackers. He leaned over, reached for the phone from the bedside, pressed it on, and checked the time. After putting down the phone, he buried one side of his face into the pillow, and just about to squint for a while, a louder gun salute sounded outside the window. Xu Tangcheng pulled the quilt and turned over, wrapping his body tightly, but he was completely unable to cut off the deafening cannon sound.
A little irritable, he sat up and stared at the curtains that were constantly illuminated by the firelight for a while.
The first thing I did after I woke up was to take out my phone and send a text message with my hair down.
Within two minutes, the screen lights up with an unread text message.
"Happy New Year."
It's a reply from Yizhe.
In the reply interface, Xu Tangcheng pressed his finger on the keyboard of the mobile phone for a long time, but it was spelled and deleted without getting a proper sentence. In the chaotic voice, his thoughts seemed to be chaotic. He gave up replying, threw away the phone, and while he was getting dressed, he was still thinking whether Yi Zhe was also woken up, or whether he hadn't slept at all. If he was woken up, where did he sleep, and if he didn't, where would he be to send out this "Happy New Year"
Open the door of the room, the lights in the living room are already on, and there are several bowls with a thin bottom of vinegar on the dining table. Xu Tangcheng took a look and found one more.
Zhou Hui leaned out of the kitchen: "I'm awake, then I'm going to start cooking dumplings, and Tang Xi is also awake."
"Well," Xu Tangcheng walked into the kitchen to help and asked strangely, "Why are there five bowls."
The half-curtained dumplings were pushed into the pot by Zhou Hui, and quickly, they were submerged by the boiling water.
"Place an extra bowl, which means that our family wants to bring in new people."
"What newcomer?"
Zhou Hui glanced at him with a smile: "What do you think? Of course it's the newcomer you brought me."
Xu Tangcheng paused and understood.
"Ouch," he couldn't help laughing, "how funny."
After two days, Xu Tangcheng finally saw Yi Zhe again.
YiZhe rode his bike downstairs and saw Xu Tangcheng holding the handlebars, teaching a little boy to ride a bicycle.
"Strengthen your legs, push them, and don't bend your body."
The little boy was riding an old lady's bicycle. Because he was not tall enough, it was quite difficult for both feet to pedal. He twisted his body and tried hard, but the body was crooked. YiZhe stopped and watched Xu Tangcheng steadfast the car with a good-natured smile. He also held the little boy with one hand and helped him straighten his body.
Xu Tangcheng wore a dark green cotton padded jacket today, with a sweater inside and a white hat on the outside. Looking at him, Yi Zhe tilted his head and thought for a while, Xu Tangcheng seemed to really like wearing light-colored jeans, and even in winter, he always wore white jeans.
"Are you back?"
Someone not far away suddenly shouted.
Yi Zhe returned to his senses and retracted his legs. The wheel ran over the red broken cannon jacket, and YiZhe stopped beside Xu Tangcheng.
"Where did you go?"
Suddenly being asked this, YiZhe obviously didn't respond.
Seeing him stunned, Xu Tangcheng added: "I want to set off fireworks with you on the 30th night, but you are not here."
thirty
Hearing these two words, YiZhe suddenly widened his eyes.
As if he knew what he was thinking, Xu Tangcheng immediately said, "The door opened to Aunt Xiang didn't say anything."
"Um."
This response was accompanied by a thick nasal sound, Xu Tangcheng raised his eyebrows and asked, "Have you caught a cold?"
Looking at it this way, I found that YiZhe's hands were red from the cold. YiZhe rubbed his hands in his eyes, then put them in the pockets of his down jacket.
"Why don't you wear gloves?"
"I was in a hurry when I went out, I forgot." After speaking, YiZhe took a breath and explained, "I didn't catch a cold, just a little cold just now."
Xu Tangcheng tilted his head: "Your voice is like this, is it okay?"
YiZhe lowered his head and did not speak.
The little boy saw that Xu Tangcheng had been talking to the older brother who had just arrived, and had no intention of continuing to teach him at all, and called out "Brother Tangcheng" anxiously. Xu Tangcheng lowered his head and patted his head lightly, motioning him to wait for a while.
"Is there any medicine at home?"
After asking, Xu Tangcheng felt that his question was probably a bit redundant.
"Forget it, you go back first, it's very cold outside. He'll learn it right away, I'll teach him for a while, and I'll find you later."
find him
Although confused, YiZhe instinctively followed Xu Tangcheng's orders, held the handlebars, and prepared to leave.
Before I could understand what the phrase "to find you" meant, the little boy beside him suddenly said, "Brother Tang Cheng, this brother's car is beautiful."
The little boy glanced at Yi Che, then blinked and asked Xu Tangcheng, "When I learn it, can I ride this bike?"
"Brother's car is too high for you to ride. You can't even reach this car." Halfway through the sentence, Xu Tangcheng suddenly discovered something and was surprised, "Huh? Did you change your bike?"
The brakes on the new bikes are tighter than before, and the frequency of pinching the brakes is much reduced. He suddenly used more strength in his hands, but he still pretended to be calm and nodded.
Xu Tangcheng looked around: "Why do I think it's not much different from before."
Also red and also a mountain bike. There is basically no difference in shape, except that the beam becomes flat.
"What happened before?" Xu Tangcheng wondered.
YiZhe stopped and said in a low voice, "It's hard to ride."