Lin Zong likes autumn the most because it is neither too hot nor too cold. In such weather, he doesn't have to keep an eye on Lin Yao, fearing that he might sweat or catch a cold. It is less troublesome than winter or summer.
Lin Zong was squatting outside the first grade classroom. Lin Yao's class was still cleaning. From the outside, it was all dusty and much dirtier than before. When Lin Yao came out, his face would definitely be covered with black marks.
"Lin Zong." Someone called him from behind.
"Stay aside." Lin Zong didn't turn around. He was familiar with the voice. It was the son of the neighbor Aunt Fat, who was in the next-door class to Lin Yao. Lin Zong called him Eyebrows because his eyebrows were the most conspicuous on his face. They looked like they were drawn with a big thick brush. The painter's skill was not very good and the drawings were not symmetrical at all.
"Lin Zong, you are waiting for your brother. Your brother is the dumbest. I just saw him pour water on his shoes." Eyebrows continued from behind.
"What does it have to do with you?" Lin Zong turned his head. He hated eyebrows the most. Aunt Pang's family was rich and they were the most well-off in their alley. He was almost forty years old and had eyebrows. They were strictly controlled, but if they were spoiled, it would be devastating. So everyone hated his eyebrows. Every time he saw his eyebrows, he wanted to go up and shave them off.
"His shoes are wet," Eyebrows smiled happily, "His shoes are wet."
Lin Zong ignored him and just looked at the bag of chocolate in his hand: "You're still eating this, aren't you afraid of getting a tumor?"
"Tumor?" Mei Mao was stunned and looked at the chocolate in his hand.
“You don’t know?” Lin Zong looked shocked. “No one eats this anymore. It can kill people.”
"You lied to me." Mei Mao stared at the chocolate in his hand for a long time.
"What good is it to lie to you? If you don't believe me, look at it in the light." Lin Zong pulled his arm, "Raise it up and look at it in the light."
Mei Mao hesitated and raised the bag of chocolates in his hand, looking at the sun for a long time: "I don't see anything."
"Forget it, you can't see," Lin Zong frowned, "So, you eat so much, I guess you have a tumor. People with tumors have different colors on their hands, one red and one white. Look at your own hands."
Mei Mao lowered his raised arm, put his two hands side by side and looked at them, and was stunned: "Really!"
"You're done! You have a tumor!" Lin Zong shouted, "Look, your hands are different colors!"
"Ah..." His face turned pale, and he stared at his hands, "What should I do..."
"Are you still eating?" Lin Zong pointed at the chocolate in his hand.
"I don't want to eat anymore!" Mei Mao threw the bag of chocolates in his hand to the ground as if he was holding a bomb.
"Go back quickly and ask your mother to take you to the hospital! If it's too late, there will be no hope for you!" Lin Zong pushed him.
Mei Mao was stunned for a while, then turned and ran. After he ran quite far, he howled: "Mom—"
Lin Zong looked at his running back and laughed for a long time. He picked up the bag of chocolates at his feet and stuffed it into his schoolbag after he disappeared.
"Brother." Lin Yao ran out of the classroom holding a rag.
Lin Zong noticed his wet sneakers at a glance and sighed, "Why are the shoes so wet?"
"I kicked the bucket," Lin Yao looked down at his shoes a little embarrassedly, then looked up at him worriedly, "Will mom scold me?"
"It's okay, I'll take you out to dry it and then go back..." Before Lin Zong could finish his words, Lin Yao sneezed loudly at him. He jumped back and said, "I'll beat you up for sneezing on someone's face!"
"I didn't mean it." Lin Yao rubbed his nose.
"Take off your shoes and socks, or you'll catch a cold." Lin Zong turned around and squatted down, "Come up."
"Well," Lin Yao took off his shoes and socks and lay on his back, "Brother, where are we going to get some sun?"
"Anywhere is fine, the grass behind the old factory," Lin Zong carried him on his back and walked towards the school gate, "Are you hungry?"
"Hungry."
"Want some chocolate?"
"eat!"
Lin Yao lay on the grass and ate chocolate, while Lin Zong dried his shoes and socks beside him. Socks were easy to dry, because the old factory playground was next to the grass. Socks dried quickly after being thrown on the cement ground. Shoes were not so easy to dry, so Lin Zong wiped the shoe surface with a rag while drying it: "Just dry the surface, so that my mother won't notice when I get home."
"Yeah," Lin Yao nodded and took out a chocolate ball, "Brother, do you want to eat it?"
"I don't eat that stuff," Lin Zong put his sneakers on the ground. Actually, having wet shoes was not a big deal. Lin Zong's mother wouldn't say anything if he went home wet. But Lin Yao was still young and always caught colds, so his mother was particularly worried. "Your shoes are really dirty."
"Brother, have you ever been to an amusement park?" Lin Yao lay down next to him.
"… I've been there," Lin Zong hesitated. If you ask him if he's been there, he's definitely been there, as he passed by the amusement park. If you ask him if he's played there, he's definitely not, as his family doesn't have the spare money for him to go there. "Why?"
"Is it fun?" Lin Yao turned over and lay down, looking at him expectantly.
"It's not fun at all," Lin Zong put his coat under his head, "What's so fun about it? Only fools would play it."
"Wang Pingping said the roller coaster is fun, like flying." Lin Yao's eyes were narrowed into two small slits by the sunlight. "Brother, have you ever flown?"
"I'm listening to Wang Pingping's talk." Lin Zong plucked a piece of grass and twirled it into Lin Yao's nose, then quickly dodged it. Lin Yao sneezed loudly toward the sky, and Lin Zong laughed at the side, "Hey, Yaoyao, your nose is running."
Lin Yao sat up, took the coat that was under his head and rubbed it against his nose.
"I'll beat you to death!" Lin Zong rushed over and snatched the clothes away. There was already a shiny snot mark on it. "Lin Yao, I'm going to hang you outside our window tonight! You'll sneeze to your heart's content!"
"I didn't mean to hit you..." Lin Yao sat on the grass and looked at him, feeling very aggrieved. He pouted and started crying before he finished speaking, "I didn't mean to... sneeze..."
"Why are you crying? Cry louder," Lin Zong was happy and poked his face with his finger, "Cry Bao Yao."
"I didn't mean to hit..." Lin Yao cried even louder after being poked by him. Tears welled up in his eyes and soon his face was covered with tears.
"Don't cry, I'm just teasing you." Seeing that his face was twitching from crying, Lin Zong quickly went over and hugged his shoulders, "Yaoyao, don't cry, brother is just teasing you, I won't hang you out outside, our clothes rack can't hang you up."
"I didn't mean to sneeze." Lin Yao wiped his face with his hands and cried very aggrievedly.
"Yes, yes, I asked you to hit him." Lin Zong plucked another blade of grass and put it in his nose and turned it around. "Look."
Lin Yao sat on the ground and stared at him, forgetting to cry. After staring for a long time, Lin Zong was unable to sneeze for a long time. He wiped his eyes with his hand and wanted to cry again.
"Yaoyao," Lin Zong interrupted quickly, "Do you want to ride a roller coaster?"
Lin Yao raised his hand but stopped, looking at him through his fingers: "I want to."
"Come, I'll take you to sit. I tell you, it's not comfortable at all. You'll know once you try it." Lin Zong stood up, patted his pants, looked around, and walked towards a small tree. "Come here."
Lin Yao got up and trotted behind him to the tree. Lin Zong pointed at the tree and said, "Climb up."
"I can't climb up." Lin Yao looked at the tree hesitantly.
"This one is easy to climb. It's such a short branch. Just wait." Lin Zong climbed up to the first branch by hugging the tree in two steps and stretched out his hand. "Come on, I'll pull you up."
Lin Yao grabbed his hand and was lifted up. After kicking the tree trunk twice, Lin Zong pulled him onto the fork and helped him climb up a short distance.
"Where's the roller coaster?" Lin Yao held onto a branch.
"Hold on tight, this is a roller coaster, it's like flying down from such a high place," Lin Zong helped him adjust his posture and let him sit on the tree branch, holding his shoulders and shouting, "Let's start!"
"Yeah!" Lin Yao nodded excitedly.
Lin Zong held his shoulders and began to shake him back and forth, left and right. Lin Yao was shaken so hard that he couldn't recover for a long time. After shaking for a minute or two, Lin Zong stopped, pulled his arm and made him hug the tree trunk, and patted his shoulder: "We're here."
"Ah?" Lin Yao's eyes were a little out of focus and he looked at him blankly.
"The roller coaster has arrived at the station," Lin Zong said seriously, "How do you feel?"
"Dizzy." Lin Yao stared at him for a long time before saying, "Brother, I want to vomit."
“Wait, don’t vomit yet!” Lin Zong quickly stood up with the help of a tree branch. Seeing Lin Yao’s frown, he knew it would be too late to get him down, so he had to grab the clothes on his back to let his upper body get out. “Vomit down there, don’t vomit on yourself!”
"Hmm." Lin Yao staggered and dry-retched twice at the grass below, and then there was no movement.
"Vomit!" Lin Zong found it a bit difficult to pull him like that.
"I'm done."
"What did you vomit?" Lin Zong looked down and saw nothing. "Are you kidding me?"
“No more…” Lin Yao turned his head and looked at him, tears still in his eyes from his dry heaves.
"Are you still dizzy?" Lin Zong stared at him.
"No more dizziness."
When I was taking Lin Yao home, I heard Aunt Fat's roar at the entrance of the alley. Aunt Fat was very angry and used a lot of curse words. She cursed for an hour without taking a break, and one shift was considered two hours.
"Yaoyao," Lin Zong heard Auntie Pang's voice sound like she was in her yard. He and Lin Yao had to pass Auntie Pang's house on their way home, so they would definitely be seen. He didn't want Lin Yao to know that the chocolate was obtained from Mei Mao. "Run."
"Why?" Lin Yao raised his head and looked at him.
"Just run if I tell you to. Give me your schoolbag," Lin Zong took Lin Yao's schoolbag and said, "Run away."
"Yeah." Lin Yao nodded, took a breath, turned around and started running into the alley.
"You run pretty fast." Lin Zong looked at his small figure, smiled for a while, and then slowly walked into the alley.
"Lin Zong!" The fat aunt was indeed standing in the yard, and she shouted when she saw him.
"Hello, Auntie Pang." Lin Zong greeted her politely and turned to leave.
"You are such a bad boy!" The fat aunt pointed at him from behind the iron gate of the yard, "Did you trick my son into eating chocolate?"
"No," Lin Zong patted his schoolbag, "Who would eat that? It would give you a tumor."
"Don't try to fool me! How many times have you cheated him into giving you food? What do you mean your hands are different colors? He's scared to death now! Tell me how you cheated him!" The fat aunt yelled, opened the door and walked out, trying to hold him.
Lin Zong closed his eyes and opened his mouth wide, as if he was about to sneeze. When the fat aunt saw him like this, she quickly took two steps back.
"I didn't lie to him," Lin Zong turned and ran into the alley, shouting as he ran, "The two hands are just different colors. If someone raises one hand for several minutes and then puts it down, it's white, snow-white - so white - the big white rabbit is so white -"
When he ran back home, his mother had already prepared dinner. Lin Yao was washing his hands in the kitchen. When he saw Lin Zong coming in, his mother grabbed his arm and pulled him aside: "Did you cheat Dasha Meimou of the chocolate?"
"Well," Lin Zong glanced into the kitchen and whispered, "Mom, don't tell Yaoyao."
"I didn't say anything," Mom squatted down and touched his head, "If he wants to eat chocolate, you can just buy it for him with money from me. Why did you lie to him?"
"I didn't mean to lie," Lin Zong pouted, "He said Yaoyao was stupid, but in fact, he was the dumbest. If I didn't lie to him once, he wouldn't know how stupid he was. If I were to use that to trick Yaoyao, I would definitely fail."
"You're so annoying," Mom whispered, poking his belly with her finger. "Auntie Fatty talked to me for a long time, but we both couldn't figure out why his hands were different colors."
"Just hold one hand up for a few minutes and you'll know for yourself," Lin Zong chuckled and ran into the kitchen. "You're a fast runner, I can't catch up with you."
"I feel dizzy," Lin Yao turned around and leaned against him, "Brother, is my neck broken?"
"Why isn't it hanging down if it's broken?" Lin Zong pinched the back of his neck. "You felt dizzy after riding the roller coaster and running around. You won't feel dizzy after eating."
“It’s such a rough roller coaster.”
"So I told you not to listen to Wang Pingping's bragging. Do you still want to go and play?"
"I don't want to think about it anymore." Lin Yao shook his head and walked into the living room dejectedly.
The dishes his mother cooked were very strange, probably because she only bought cheap vegetables when she went shopping, so she didn't bother to think about how to match them together. She just fried whatever she bought, and the vegetables were all quite old. The only delicious thing was the egg in his and Lin Yao's bowls.
After dinner, Lin Yao went back to his room to do his homework obediently, while Lin Zong stayed in the living room, watching his mother settle the accounts.
"Did sales go well today?" he asked quietly, looking at the change in his mother's hand.
My mother opened a small shop in the Hi-Tech Zone, mainly doing business with employees of companies there. It's okay during the day, but there is basically no business after get off work, and it's also very slow on weekends. But my mother likes it this way so that she has time to stay at home at night.
"It's OK," Mom sighed, "Your dad sent some money back, but I didn't dare to use it to pay the debt back, for fear that people would ask for it once they knew I had the money. I'll save some more."
"When can Dad come home?" Lin Zong frowned.
"Do you miss your dad?" Mom hugged him.
"Yeah," Lin Zong leaned in his mother's arms, "Yaoyao talked in his sleep last night, and kept asking his dad to take him to eat candied haws. It was so annoying. I told him that there was no candied haws that day, but he still argued with me in his sleep, saying that it was winter now..."
"Then you just coax him and tell him to eat, eat, that's all."
"That's right, I just put my finger in his mouth."
"Your hands are dirty," his mother slapped him, "you're putting them in other people's mouths!"
"It's quite clean. If it wasn't clean, he would have licked it clean for me." Lin Zong couldn't help laughing when he thought of Lin Yao biting his fingers while eating the candied haws.
"I hate you so much. You only know how to bully your brother!" Mom pushed him away and said, "Hurry up and do your homework!"
Lin Zong dragged his schoolbag into the room reluctantly and saw Lin Yaozheng working seriously on his homework on the table, with his nose almost touching the notebook.
"Does it smell good?" Lin Zong lay on the table and teased him.
"Ah?" Lin Yao raised his head.
"You almost ate up the notebook," Lin Zong held a pen against his chin, "It should be at least this distance."
"Oh," Lin Yao propped his arm on the table, "Brother, can I have chocolate tonight?"
"Are you hungry right after dinner?" Lin Zong glared at him.
"I'm not hungry, I just said that in the evening..."
"You're greedy, aren't you? You ate half of such a big bag just now. Do you still want to eat more in the evening?"
"I'm not greedy," Lin Yao looked at him pitifully, "I just want to eat."
"Eat it after you finish your homework." Lin Zong took out the chocolate from his schoolbag and put it on the table.
"Is there anything left after eating?"
“…Yes,” Lin Zong bit his lip, “I’ll buy you more after you finish eating.”
Chocolate is a bit expensive, but Lin Yao is not picky. Of course, chocolate is good. When there is no chocolate, any other candy will make him happy. It doesn't cost much to buy other candies. Lin Zong touched his pocket. Of course, it was empty, but he could go to the construction site tomorrow to get some wire and electric wires...
"Brother," Lin Yao jumped off the chair and walked over to him, "Brother, will you always buy me food? Wang Pingping said that her brother no longer buys her snacks when he grows up."
"This Wang Pingping is so annoying," Lin Zong said with a tut, sat down on the chair, patted his legs, and said, "Come up."
"Then will you buy it for me?" Lin Yao sat on his lap and continued to ask.
"Buy it. I'm not Wang Pingping's brother. I'm Lin Yaoyao's brother."
"Lin Yaoyao's brother is the best."
"That is."