Mi Yang returned to his grandmother's house. As soon as he entered the door, he heard a burst of laughter from inside. There were many children in the house, and Grandma Cheng was coaxed into being happy too. She has been laughing non-stop for the past few days.
Mi Xue had a beautiful braid and was sitting among a group of children, showing her cat's cradle to the old lady. When she saw her brother coming in, she ran over immediately and raised her hand to Mi Yang: "Brother, look, I can get the seventh one!"
Little girls all like to play with flower ropes. Michelle is small, so she can only barely keep up every time. Today she made one that looks like a spider web with a “井” shape, which is a lot of progress compared to before.
Mi Yang bent down to look at it, and praised her seriously: "Amazing, it's so complicated."
Mi Xue showed her brother the new gift she got today, and leaned her little head over to show Mi Yang: "Brother, look, this is a new hairpin my cousin gave me. It's so pretty!" She wore a small metal butterfly hairpin on her head, and the wings were made of colorful beads. When she walked, the butterfly wings would tremble and shake, which made the little girl look so beautiful.
Mi Yang also praised her a few words, and the little girl asked him again: "Can I give the pomegranate that my brother gave me to my cousin? My sister gave me a hairpin, and I want to give her something too."
Mi Yang said: "Sure, why did you think of giving me a little pomegranate?"
The little girl looked up and said, "My sister said they need it for sketching."
Mi Yang said: "Then you can give it to me. I will find you another small pomegranate later."
The little girl blinked her eyes and asked him, "Brother, there is one more on the table. Brother Bai, do you want another one?"
Mi Yang remembered that he hadn't given it to Bai Luochuan yet. He had been so busy recently that he forgot about it. But the little girl had been eyeing it with envy. He pinched the tip of the child's nose and laughed at her: "Little clever ghost, that won't work."
Mi Xue stuck out her tongue, and took Mi Yang's hand to the bedroom. There was a small cloth bag on the small table in their room. The little girl opened it and showed it to him, saying, "Grandma took us to pick dates today. My sisters and I carried small baskets to pick them. We picked a lot. These are for my brother."
Mi Yang went to take a look. It was the first batch of winter jujubes. They were relatively small, but very sweet. He looked at the small, solid bag and asked in surprise, "Did you pick so many?"
The little girl said, "Yes, I picked them from Grandma Wang's date garden. Grandma Wang praised me for being polite and told me to bring my brother over to play next time." She took out a box from the drawer, then stood on tiptoe to pick up a few handfuls of winter dates from the bag, divided them into two small piles, and pushed the larger ones to Mi Yang, "These are for my brother!" She pointed to the other small half and said seriously, "This is what my brother wants to leave for Brother Bai."
It would be nothing if it were any other time, but now Mi Yang's face felt a little hot for no reason.
Even his sister seemed to know this, and he would save a portion of everything for Bai Luochuan, and it had become a habit for him.
Mi Xue has now adapted to life at her grandmother's house. She hugged her pillow and went to sleep with her cousins. The little girls had endless things to say and were very happy together. Mi Yang sent his sister there and went back to his room, lying on the bed and thinking for a long time.
He has some insomnia.
He was worried that night, thinking about Bai Luochuan of the past and Master Bai of the present. The figures of the two people were intertwined. He was thinking about their past, present and future.
…
Mi Yang is not a child at heart, so he cannot recklessly enjoy his youth - he is more stable than a young man, but he does not have their courage.
I thought about it all night and went to bed at dawn.
Mi Yang got up the next day. He hadn't slept well even though he had a small pillow. Just after breakfast, Bai Luochuan called and asked him if he wanted to come to the Bai family's old house. Mi Yang refused and said, "No, I have something to do."
Bai Luochuan said: "What's the matter? Is it troublesome? I'll help you."
Mi Yang said: "No, I just help my grandma with some work at home, you go ahead and do your own thing, I'll come over when I'm free."
Bai Luochuan agreed and hung up.
Mi Yang had something on his mind and wanted to calm down. It happened that Mrs. Cheng picked some vegetables and fruits from the small yard in front and wanted to give them to others. Mi Yang took them and said, "Grandma, I'll go."
Old Mrs. Cheng smiled and said, "That's fine. Yesterday, I took Xiaoxue and the other kids to pick winter jujubes from your grandmother Wang's house. Today, you can bring some vegetables to her. It's Wang Bing's house at the corner of the street. Do you know him?"
Mi Yang nodded and said, "I know him."
Shanhai Town is not big, the neighborhood relations have always been good, and the town is quiet and safe. Mrs. Cheng was particularly relieved to let her go.
Mi Yang walked on the street where the fog had not yet completely dissipated in the morning, looking at the familiar plants and trees, and felt a little more relaxed. He grew up in Shanhai Town. After graduating from college, he wanted to come back for a while to continue living such an ordinary life, find a gentle person, and live a happy life together without quarrels.
But whenever I thought about this, there was always a figure that appeared domineeringly and could not be dispelled.
After walking for a while, Mi Yang suddenly smelled a pungent smell, like something was burnt.
He looked around and saw a group of boys sneaking around in a sheltered corner, doing no one knew what they were doing. After a while, another puff of white smoke came out, immediately attracting a burst of envious exclamations of "Wow".
Mi Yang: “…”
Wang Bing was hiding in the corner, showing off that he could smoke. He rolled a few "cigarettes" with white paper yesterday. They looked quite similar at first glance, but they didn't taste the same after they were lit.
After the old loofah vine was lit, the spiciness was much more choking than cigarettes. It was bitter and astringent when Wang Bing took a breath. But in front of a bunch of younger brothers, he was not willing to show weakness. He swallowed the cigarette exaggeratedly to show off his ability, and his face turned red while he won applause from the whole audience.
Mi Yang felt choked even from such a distance, and he really admired Wang Bing.
Wang Bing was hiding in the corner, enjoying the envious gazes and preparing to bite his teeth for another bite, when he suddenly heard a roar from the other side of the wall: "You little bastard has learned some skills, are you going to rebel?!"
Mi Yang was startled by the sound. He looked up and saw a tall and strong woman climbing over the low courtyard wall. She grabbed two or three kids with her hands as big as a palm fan and pushed them all to the corner. The kids huddled there like quails, trembling and not daring to run away.
Some people even tried to shout: "Wang Wang Wang..."
The woman was furious and poked him on the forehead, saying, "You little bastard, you dare to smoke!"
The other one was about to cry: "No, no, I don't dare, Aunt Wang!"
The woman sneered, "It's no use calling the Queen Mother. No one can escape today. Line up and go home. Let your parents take good care of you. You are not so active in studying, but you are good at learning bad things!" She turned her head and looked at her son again, angrily saying, "Wang Bing! Turn around, I'm talking about you. Don't compete for the first place in other things, but you are fast at learning these things?!"
Wang Bing was like a mouse seeing a cat when he saw his mother. His legs went weak and he took a puff of "cigarette" and didn't dare to spit it out. His face was flushed and his internal organs were burning. He was already feeling very uncomfortable, and when his name was called, he shivered in fear and started coughing. The cough choked his trachea and the veins in his temples were bulging. He was crying.
Wang Bing's mother was probably really angry. She snatched the half-smoked "cigarette" from her son's hand and reached out to pull his ear. Wang Bing refused to tell the truth in front of so many people, and just stood there with his neck stiff and eyes closed in resistance.
Mi Yang walked over with a basket and said, "Auntie."
Wang Bing's mother had never been called like that before, and she didn't realize that it was her that was being called. When Mi Yang called her the second time, she turned around and asked, "What's the matter?"
Mi Yang raised the basket, which was full of vegetables and fruits with dewdrops on them. Each one was carefully selected by Old Lady Cheng, and was the most beautiful one. Mi Yang was dressed neatly and elegantly, and his smile was also pleasing. "Auntie, this is what my grandma asked me to bring. She said she wanted to thank Grandma Wang for letting us pick winter jujubes yesterday. The jujubes in your house are very sweet, and much better than those sold outside."
Wang Bing's mother's expression was much more relaxed. She didn't want to hit someone who smiled at her, especially when they came to thank her. She smiled back and said, "Mi Yang, right? You're welcome. I used to have a very good relationship with your mother. Qing'er and I both called her sister. You can treat it as your own home. Whenever you want to eat, go pick it yourself. There is a winter jujube forest at my aunt's house. You can have as much as you want."
She smiled at Mi Yang, but she didn't relax her grip and was still holding the kid's ear.
Mi Yang took a look and said, "Auntie, the matter about Wang Bing is not like that."
Wang Bing's mother frowned and said, "I caught it with my own hands, how could it be fake?"
Mi Yang pointed to the half-smoked cigarette in her hand and said, "I actually gave this to him yesterday."
Wang Bing's mother was stunned. This was a little guest from the town after all. She also heard that he was very good at studying and won many awards. He stood there politely. She had no idea how to deal with these naughty kids at home. She just blinked and repeated, "Ah? You, you gave it to me?"
Mi Yang nodded and said, "Let them go, I will explain to you." As he said that, he winked at the people huddled in the corner. A smart one among them immediately ducked and rushed out, and the others followed suit and ran away.
Wang Bing's mother was too lazy to catch him, so she just held her son and continued looking at Mi Yang, her brows already furrowed.
Mi Yang waited until everyone ran away, took the cigarette from her hand, broke it open and showed it to her, saying, "Here, look, there's no tobacco inside, it's old loofah vines... Wang Bing doesn't actually smoke. You're strict with him, so he doesn't dare to. But he told others about it, so there's nothing he can do. Last night I went to my grandma's vegetable garden and picked up a lot of loofah vines. If you don't believe me, you can ask him to take you to have a look. I'm sure there's still a lot left at home."
Wang Bing's mother looked at her son as if he were a fool: "You're pulling out the loofah vine?"
"Yeah." Wang Bing's face turned red. This kind of beating is different from spanking the eyes. The punishment is lighter, but it is also very embarrassing.
Wang Bing's mother gave him a few scoldings, saying, "You can't even learn it. Don't play with this in the future. This is not something a child should know how to do!"
Wang Bing also felt that he was particularly stupid and nodded quickly.