Lin Qile squatted in the backyard. With the dim light from the porch, she fed the two limp little white rabbits in the cage with dried grass leaves in a bowl.
"Juanzi!" Lin, the electrician, came back from overtime, exhausted. "Get some food. Manager Jiang and Team Leader Yu are here. Manager Jiang hasn't eaten yet!"
The TV in the living room was playing the ending song of a TV series. After playing it for several days, Lin Qile could sing it by heart.
It's rare to have such good skills, but I can never break through the barrier of love.
"Cherry," Mother Lin hurried into the kitchen and pushed open the screen door leading to the backyard, "Someone's home, come in and help me wash some peanuts."
Lin Qile put down the bowl of grass in her hand. She walked into the kitchen and happened to hear her father say in the living room: "Come on, Qiaoxi, sit down too. Look at his pale face, he must be starving!"
A man's voice, very low, not like Uncle Yu's voice, nor his father's. Lin Qile thought, it was probably Manager Jiang.
"We got off the highway yesterday," Manager Jiang said, "and it was time for lunch, and there was nothing to eat. My driver and I saw a noodle shop on the side of the road, so we took this kid in and had a bowl of beef noodles."
"Aren't you full?" asked Lin's father.
"He only ate half a bowl," Manager Jiang said, "and vomited it all as soon as he got on the bus."
"Vomited?" Lin's father asked in surprise.
Uncle Yu flicked his lighter beside him, lit up his cigarette, and put it down: "I don't know what kind of meat the noodle shop on the other side of the highway uses. I think your stomach is upset, young man."
Father Lin lamented, “No wonder you didn’t do well on the entrance exam.”
Uncle Yu asked, "Is the vomiting car seat on?"
"No, it would be difficult to deal with if it got on the seat," Manager Jiang said helplessly. "He vomited on the small jacket his cousin bought for him from the United States. I had to take it off and wrap it in a plastic bag. I wanted to just throw it away, but the kid didn't want to."
Lin Qile washed the peanuts in the bowl and poured out the water. She wiped her hands, poked her head out of the kitchen door, and looked outside quietly.
Dad and Uncle Yu sat on small stools around the coffee table, and the only large sofa was given to a stranger, Manager Jiang. Jiang Qiaoxi, carrying a square schoolbag and wearing an outfit that Lin Qile dared not talk to, sat among the adults.
When Lin Qile saw him again, his complexion seemed worse and paler than when he was in the principal's office in the afternoon.
Electrician Lin reached out and touched the back of Jiang Qiaoxi's head, probably guessing that the child particularly liked the coat, but the adults didn't take it seriously. "Where is the plastic bag?" Electrician Lin asked Manager Jiang, "Bring it here and ask Juanzi to help wash it. We also need to do some laundry—"
Manager Jiang said, "No, that would be too much trouble for Engineer Lin."
Electrician Lin said, "Don't be polite. We'll be neighbors from now on. The conditions on the construction site will just be tough."
Jiang Qiaoxi sat for a long time, with his schoolbag on his shoulders. He seemed ready to leave at any moment, but his father had no intention of leaving. Lin Qile took out a plate of fried peanuts and a basket of pre-steamed red date buns, and also took six pairs of chopsticks.
Manager Jiang sat on the sofa and looked up. Although he was much older than Electrician Lin, he was handsome, like an old-school movie star. Manager Jiang narrowed his eyes and said to Lin Qile in a friendly way, "This is the daughter of Engineer Lin. I met her this afternoon. Her name is... Lin Ying?"
Uncle Yu took the chopsticks from Lin Qile and placed them on the coffee table. He mentioned Lin Qile as if he was talking about his own daughter: "She's called Lin Yingtao!"
Electrician Lin laughed from the side: "My name used to be Lin Yingtao, but I changed it when I was in the second grade. Now I'm Lin Qile."
Lin Qile is always well-behaved in front of adults, smiling sweetly and likable.
But Jiang Qiaoxi had no interest in her name. He sat on the sofa with his eyes half closed. On the contrary, Manager Jiang smiled unexpectedly: "Cherry? Why did you choose such a name?"
Before dinner, another person came to the door. Cai Fangyuan's father, Manager Cai, came to the late-night snack party with the old brothers and brought half a bottle of Moutai to Manager Jiang.
The small double-staff dormitory, with a living room of less than ten square meters, suddenly became even more crowded. Lin Qile had finished her dinner early, so she simply gave up her place and returned to the backyard, sitting on the steps in front of the rabbit cage in a daze.
Mother Lin came out after finishing her work in the kitchen. She heard Electrician Lin whispering something in her ear. She took the key as Manager Jiang thanked her repeatedly and went to get the dirty coat that was supposedly wrapped in a plastic bag. Mother Lin said, "Hey, why are you being so polite!"
Manager Cai called out from outside: "Cherry!"
Lin Qile went back to the living room.
Uncle Cai drank some wine and his face turned red.
"Take Qiaoxi to the house and read some books, study, and do some homework," Uncle Cai said. "You can get to know your new classmates."
Lin Qile was stunned, his eyes widened.
Four adults sat together, drinking, smoking, and talking about the work on the construction site or the people and things around them. Jiang Qiaoxi, a little boy sitting in the middle with a schoolbag on his back, did look out of place.
"Is Qiaoxi full?" Father Lin asked in a low voice from the side.
Jiang Qiaoxi didn't say anything, but he stood up.
"Go with Yingtao," Manager Jiang said from the side, "You just want to learn, why don't you learn at your Uncle Lin's house first?"
The construction site dormitory was simple and had limited space. Even if a couple brought a child, they could only live in one living room and one bedroom. Lin Qile pushed open the door from the living room to the bedroom—what came into view was a double bed, where her parents slept. There was a table at the head of the bed, which her father used as a desk and her mother used to place wool and cosmetics.
Three sets of large wardrobes stood beside the bed, dividing the long bedroom into two halves. The small inner room was where Lin Qile's small bed and desk were placed. That was her little world.
Lin Qile pushed aside the books, newspapers and wool on his parents' desk and turned on the desk lamp.
"You... just sit here!" Lin Qile turned around, put his hands behind his back, and said nervously.
Jiang Qiaoxi walked up to her. He was taller than her, but still silent. He took off his backpack and put it on the table.
The bedroom door was closed, and the noise of the adults outside could no longer be heard. It was very quiet inside, so quiet that people dared not make a sound. Lin Qile walked back to his desk and sat down quietly with his back to Jiang Qiaoxi.
Looking up, I saw pictures of Hot and Xiaoyanzi Ziwei on the wall. Looking down, I saw pictures of Tuxedo Mask and Mao Li Ran pressed under the glass on the desk.
Lin Qile had finished her homework for today. She pulled out last week's issue of China Youth Daily from the pile of comic books, unfolded it, stood it up, and pretended to be reading a newspaper seriously.
She quietly turned her shoulder and looked back.
Jiang Qiaoxi sat in front of Lin the Electrician's desk, his back straight, and he put his schoolbag on the table and opened it. Lin Qile thought it was strange - Jiang Qiaoxi's hair was black, his clothes and pants were black, his sneakers were black, and his schoolbag was black.
At this moment, even the pencil case that Lin Qile took out of the schoolbag was black when he looked closely.
Jiang Qiaoxi took out a book from his schoolbag. It was not the unified textbook used by Lin Qile and the others, but an Olympiad mathematics textbook brought from the provincial capital.
"You..." Lin Qile suddenly spoke, and she didn't even realize that her voice was a little trembling, "Do you want some candy?"
A small bag of wedding candy that Lin's father brought back was placed on Lin Qile's desk, but Lin Qile hadn't eaten many pieces yet.
Jiang Qiaoxi turned his head towards Lin Qile and opened the book without saying a word.
“Do you listen to tapes?”
Lin Qile asked.
Dozens of popular music tapes were neatly arranged at the head of Lin's father's bed. Lin's father loved singing, and so did Lin Qile. Her favorite song to sing along with her father was "Aha, Give Me a Cup of Love Water".
The second place is Dongbulimeiha.
Seeing that Jiang Qiaoxi was still indifferent, Lin Qile simply put down the Youth Newspaper that she had only read a few words of, and stood up: "Do you read Mickey Mouse?"
A stack of Mickey Mouse magazines nearly half a meter high was placed next to Lin Qile's desk. This might be the most valuable of all Lin Qile's treasures.
Every kid who comes to Lin Qile’s house wants to watch "Mickey Mouse".
But Jiang Qiaoxi still didn't turn back. He opened his pencil case, took out a pen, and started doing his Olympiad math problems.
Lin Qile pouted in a corner where no one was paying attention.
She didn't know what Jiang Qiaoxi liked. She had never seen anyone of her age who was so difficult to communicate with. Jiang Qiaoxi seemed to reject everything in this small town.
Yes, Lin Qile had heard Brother Chen Minghao say before: The construction site in the mountains is dilapidated and backward, and anyone who has been to the provincial capital headquarters will not like it here.
But Lin Qile had never been to the provincial capital, so she didn't know what the children from the provincial capital liked.
"Do you want to see the little white rabbit?" Lin Qile asked.
Jiang Qiaoxi was holding a fountain pen in his hand. As he was writing the question, his hand suddenly stopped.
Jiang Qiaoxi's skin was too clean, the color from his neck to his cheeks was like snow, like the clusters of pear blossoms blooming on the mountain in spring. His eyes were extremely dark against the background. Jiang Qiaoxi turned around and glanced at Lin Qile, which scared Lin Qile.
"What are you two doing here?" Mother Lin was washing clothes. Seeing Lin Qile running over excitedly, she pushed open the screen door with Manager Jiang's son and ran into the backyard.
Jiang Qiaoxi seemed to have not expected that there was a yard behind this small house. His eyes slowly moved from the old tires, the deflated football, the small vegetable patch in the yard, and finally stopped at the little rabbit that Lin Qile held in front of him.
"For you!" Lin Qile put her beloved little white rabbit in Jiang Qiaoxi's arms, then looked at the little rabbit with anticipation, and then looked at him.
The grass leaves in the little white rabbit's mouth rubbed against the black coat that Jiang Qiaoxi was wearing.
The little rabbit was warm, soft, and furry, like a ball of cotton wool or a cloud pulled down from the sky by a god. Jiang Qiaoxi held it in his stiff hands, watching its three-petal mouth move. Its two long ears drooped down meekly and rested on the back of Jiang Qiaoxi's hand, rubbing against him warmly.
Manager Jiang Zheng received a call from his wife in the provincial capital. Because he had just moved here, the call was made to Lin the electrician's landline. Manager Jiang held the phone in his hand with the telephone line trailing behind him. He walked to the kitchen door and saw Jiang Qiaoxi sitting on the steps in the backyard, playing with a rabbit with Lin the electrician's daughter.
Manager Jiang frowned.
"Didn't I say it's okay?" He said into the phone, holding the receiver in his hand, his tone quite impolite.
Perhaps because he was in someone else's home, he couldn't get angry. But his wife Liang Hongfei didn't let him go.
"Knowing that your son has a bad stomach and just arrived in that broken place in the mountains, you took him to eat beef noodles on the street?"
"Alright, alright," Manager Jiang whispered, the receiver to his ear, "Just follow my lead!
He just put the microphone back.
At around nine o'clock in the evening, Manager Jiang was about to leave and took his son Jiang Qiaoxi with him.
Mother Lin hung the washed jacket on the hanger, dripping with water, and handed it to Jiang Qiaoxi: "Go back and hang it up. It will be dry tomorrow."
Manager Jiang was drunk and said, "Thank you, Auntie."
Jiang Qiaoxi was carrying his black square schoolbag and looked up at Mother Lin: "Thank you, Auntie."
"Oh, what a good child," Mother Lin said with a smile, "This child is growing up really well."
Lin Qile stood behind her father and also went to see Jiang Qiaoxi. She didn't know if it was Lin Qile's illusion, but she always felt that Jiang Qiaoxi's eyes swept across her face when he left.
But he didn't stop. So Lin Qile didn't know whether Jiang Qiaoxi meant to say goodbye to her.
Are they friends
After washing up, Lin Qile went to bed. Uncle Yu, Uncle Cai and Dad were still chatting over peanuts in the living room.
The lights in the bedroom were turned off. Lin Qile lay on the small bed. It was pitch black all around her. Under the gaze of the characters in the pictorial, her open eyes looked particularly bright.
Jiang Qiaoxi sat on the steps in the backyard, holding a handful of grass leaves in his hand. The little rabbit came to his hand and ate the grass leaves bit by bit. Lin Qile stared at the little rabbit eating grass with great concentration. Lin Qile thought that the children from the provincial capital also liked little rabbits.
"Your name is Lin Qile." Jiang Qiaoxi said suddenly.
Lin Qile was stunned and raised his head.
Jiang Qiaoxi was also looking at her.
Under the eaves, the lights were dim, only illuminating half of Jiang Qiaoxi's face and the small red amber hanging on Lin Qile's chest. Lin Qile heard him ask, "Are you the only child in your family?"
Lin Qile was lying on the small bed at this moment, holding his amber in his hand and looking out the window.
He asked what this sentence meant
It was almost midnight when Lin Qile came out of the bedroom with her hair down and eyes rubbed. She wanted to find some water to drink, but unexpectedly found that the adults had not left yet and were still talking in the living room.
"I've seen Manager Jiang's former son before," Uncle Cai, still drunk, tapped the coffee table with his fingers and spoke very softly, "His name is Jiang Mengchu. He entered the junior class of USTC at the age of 13. He's praised by everyone at the provincial capital headquarters. He's a child prodigy!"
"At that time, everyone said Jiang Zheng was going to change jobs to Anhui State Power to accompany his child to school. The couple spent so much effort to raise this child, but who would have thought that the child would be gone after going to a summer camp, and died in the mountains."
"Who can bear this? It's like the sky has fallen on a family," said Uncle Cai.
Father Lin sighed: "It's such a pity."
Uncle Yu took the teacup and took a sip, then knocked the ashes into the ashtray. “No wonder I heard from the old captain a few years ago that Jiang Zheng had a gloomy face every day at the headquarters. He never spoke to anyone, never reported on his work, and never shaved.”
"It's still the same now," said Uncle Cai, "otherwise he wouldn't have been transferred to our Qunshan Project Department."
"Now that he has another child, he should be more open-minded," said Lin's father. "His child came over just now. He looks so good and good-looking. It is said that he has excellent academic performance in the provincial capital."
"Don't even mention it," Uncle Cai said. "When they lost their first child, they were getting divorced. The top leader said, let's have another child, family planning allows that."
"At the time, I thought that maybe having a child would bring some hope to the family and ease the relationship between husband and wife."
"Look, the child is already nine years old and is so hardworking, but the couple doesn't care about him..." Uncle Cai shook his head, "If I had known this..."