Why does Lin Qile always want to meet Jiang Qiaoxi
Lin Qile was puzzled by this problem.
This Friday, when Lin Qile got home from school in the evening, he took the money his mother gave him and went to buy vinegar from Uncle Qin at the construction site store. Uncle Qin was sitting behind the counter practicing Qigong, his eyes closed, like a hermit. Lin Qile held his breath, stood on tiptoe, and observed him for a while across the counter.
"Uncle Qin, what kind of martial arts are you practicing?" she asked.
Uncle Qin heard her voice, raised his eyelids to look at her, and said with a smile: "Why aren't you following Jiang Qiaoxi around today?"
Lin Qile was stunned: He found out!
Uncle Qin usually doesn't go out, Lin Qile thought. Could it be that he really has magical powers and can know what is happening outside
Uncle Qin let out a breath, then stood up shakily from the mat with the help of a crutch.
Lin Qile looked around and found that the annoying Qin Yeyun was not there. She asked boldly, "Uncle Qin, are you practicing Kamehameha?"
Uncle Qin took Lin Qile's money. He picked up vinegar from the shelf and asked in confusion, "What is Kamehameha?"
Kamehameha is a very powerful Kung Fu. Lin Qile walked into Yu Qiao's house with vinegar in his hand. Du Shang and Yu Qiao were sitting on the sofa together, eating fried shrimp chips and watching "Dragon Ball" on the on-demand TV.
Duchamp was watching and dancing with shrimp chips, saying, "My movements are correct, too. Why can't I emit a ball of light?"
Du Shang said he vowed to master Kamehameha before the Chinese New Year. Lin Qile felt that this was too bad. Du Shang's martial arts skills were too low and he lacked understanding. He could only be beaten. Lin Qile walked into the kitchen, which was filled with smoke and the exhaust fan was running wildly but it didn't help.
Lin Qile was so blinded that he just shouted, "Auntie! I'll get the shrimp chips!"
Before he finished his words, a small bamboo basket filled with shiny yellow shrimp slices was handed to him from the smoke and placed in front of Lin Qile.
Yu Qiao's mother was coughing in the kitchen smoke, waving her spatula and saying, "Yingtao, Auntie will make fried crispy pork tomorrow, come and get some!"
Lin Qile happily replied: "Okay!"
She was about to go home, carrying a heavy bottle of vinegar in one hand and a full basket of shrimp chips in the other, when an old lady came in from outside. It was none other than Yu Qiao's grandmother.
"Oh, Cherry, I was just looking for you!" Grandma Yu said with her eyes lighting up.
She came over with silver hair, trembling, and pulled Lin Qile to stand at the door of the bedroom to avoid being disturbed by the cartoons on TV. She asked in a low voice: "Cherry... Manager Jiang is at your house. Did he call Jiang Qiaoxi's mother?"
After hearing this, Lin Qile was stunned for a moment and nodded.
When the old lady saw her nod, her old eyes were no longer cloudy, and her toothless mouth smiled: "Did you hear what they were arguing about?"
Lin Qile opened her mouth a little, thought about it, and shook her head. She had forgotten it long ago. At this time, Yu Qiao threw away the shrimp chips in his hand, stood up from the sofa, and put his hands on Grandma Yu's shoulders and pushed her into the house. "My dear grandma," Yu Qiao said unceremoniously, "Aren't you hard of hearing? Why are you asking about gossip all day long?"
Grandma Yu said angrily in the bedroom: "Hey, what's wrong with me talking to Yingtao? I'm really hard of hearing and I can't hear clearly."
Yu Qiao said: "If she tells you one thing, within half an hour all the hundreds of people on the construction site will know about it."
Grandma Yu said, "What can I do? No one on the construction site is familiar with Manager Jiang, so I can only ask her."
Yu Qiao said: "She is not familiar with Uncle Jiang either."
"She's always hanging around Manager Jiang's son!" said Grandma Yu. "Now everyone on the construction site knows about it!"
Lin Qile held a vinegar bottle and a basket of fried shrimp chips. She left Yu Qiao's house and stood on the steps for a moment.
There was a small road in front of the dormitory where Lin Qile lived. A dark grey car was parked at the intersection.
Lin Qile recognized the car. It belonged to Jiang Qiaoxi's father. She walked around the front of the car and walked along the path to her home. Before she entered the door, she heard someone talking inside.
"Okay," it was Lin's father's voice. "Well, if you have anything else, call us again."
Manager Jiang said, "Then I will leave Jiang Qiaoxi here for now. I may not be back from the Laishui construction site until next week."
Mother Lin asked, "Why are you going on a business trip so suddenly?"
Lin Qile opened the screen door and saw the adults standing tall in the living room, chatting about topics that Lin Qile didn't understand. Lin Qile didn't care about them either, she just walked to the radiator.
Jiang Qiaoxi was sitting on a chair near the radiator. He was carrying his square leather schoolbag, sitting here alone, with a blank expression on his face. At first glance, he seemed no different from when he first transferred here.
He turned around and saw Lin Qile.
Lin Qile put down the vinegar and took in his hand a small emerald green bamboo basket filled with shiny, oily fried shrimp chips.
Jiang Qiaoxi didn't ask any questions. He reached out and took a piece of shrimp chips from Lin Qile's basket, put it to his mouth and took a bite.
The shrimp chips were very crispy, and they made a crunchy sound when you bit them. Lin Qile sat down next to Jiang Qiaoxi, and she also took a piece and put it in her mouth to eat.
I couldn't understand what the adults were saying, and they were so noisy. Lin Qile was eating shrimp chips, and suddenly turned her head to look at Jiang Qiaoxi. She smiled, and Jiang Qiaoxi smiled at her.
Manager Jiang and Electrician Lin and his wife were still talking when they heard a sudden noise behind them and turned around to look.
Jiang Qiaoxi was eating the second piece of "super shrimp chips" that Lin Qile picked for him. He took a bite and raised his eyes, just in time to meet his father's gaze.
He used to be very quiet, never making noise in public or in private. Manager Jiang suddenly felt uncomfortable.
Electrician Lin smiled at this time: "Let Qiaoxi go play with Yingtao and the others on the weekend. There are many children on the construction site, so nothing will happen."
The car was still waiting outside. Jiang Zheng gave a few instructions and left with the document bag in his hand. It turned out that he didn't even stay for dinner. Before leaving, he didn't have much to say to Jiang Qiaoxi.
Mother Lin went into the kitchen to cook. Lin Qile put down the small bamboo basket and ran to give her the vinegar. Electrician Lin was cleaning the table in the living room and turned on the TV. It was almost six o'clock. Yingtao watched "Happy Partner" broadcast by "Big Windmill" every day. No one in the family could snatch the TV from her.
The living room had limited space, and with the dining table pulled out, only a few small stools could be placed. Jiang Qiaoxi took off his schoolbag, and he lent a hand to Uncle Lin, helping him to put the newspapers and ashtrays on the dining table aside. Electrician Lin smiled and said, "Qiaoxi, go wash your hands."
Jiang Qiaoxi went into the kitchen but didn't wash his hands directly. He pushed open the screen door leading to the backyard and saw Lin Qile squatting in front of the rabbit cage, busy feeding the rabbits.
Jiang Qiaoxi walked over and sat down on the steps nearby.
Mother Lin opened the door from the kitchen and saw her daughter putting the rabbit in someone else's arms again. "Stop playing," she urged, "Come in, wash your hands and eat!"
It was getting dark, Lin Qile put the rabbit back, she still had to clean up the grass that had been dried during the day. The little rabbit couldn't eat fresh grass, it would cause diarrhea, so it could only eat dried grass. Jiang Qiaoxi stood up, but didn't go in by herself.
He watched Lin Qile collect the green grass leaves from the old tires into the bowl, collecting them one by one and placing them at the bottom of the bowl, very seriously. Two ponytails fell down her shoulders, hanging down and curving. For a moment, Jiang Qiaoxi couldn't help thinking: This is what a girl's long hair looks like.
"Let's go," Lin Qile turned around and looked at him, "Let's go eat!"
The lights under the eaves in the backyard were dim. Lin Qile placed the bowl of grass leaves on the windowsill, took Jiang Qiaoxi's hand and ran into the kitchen.
In fact, Jiang Qiaoxi didn't need anyone to greet him. He was just like him at his cousin's house.
Even when eating, Lin's family didn't have to pass dishes back and forth like before. Jiang Qiaoxi ate whatever he wanted, with a good appetite, and ate more than Lin Qile. It might also be because his father was not around, so his mother wouldn't call, and there wouldn't be those endless family disputes that seemed to be related to him, but actually never belonged to him.
On Friday night, the Workers' Club was going to screen the Hong Kong movie "God of Gamblers". Lin Qile wanted to go watch it, but Jiang Qiaoxi had to study at home.
"Aren't you going to the movies with Duchamp and the others?" asked Mom.
Lin Qile helped his mother wipe the dishes and shook his head.
The power construction company distributed new labor insurance to the workers, which included two boxes of Coca-Cola. Lin Qile used the rubber scissors her father used to kill fish to cut open the boxes, took out two cans of Coke and held them in her arms. She also took the basket of fried shrimp chips that Yu Qiao's mother gave her, and walked into the bedroom tremblingly.
Jiang Qiaoxi was sitting at Lin the Electrician's desk, doing his homework. When he was alone, he was always so quiet that he didn't make a sound, and even the air around him was quiet.
The pen tip wrote on the paper, making a rustling sound. The pages of the book were turned from time to time, and the person who turned the pages was a person who cherished books.
Lin Qile tiptoed in, walked past him, went around the big wardrobe, and sat down beside his small bed.
She first opened the closet door, took out the rolled bamboo mat inside, unfolded it, and spread it on the floor next to her bed. Lin Qile stood on the bamboo mat and thought for a while, then went to get the Coke and shrimp chips, and arranged them on the bamboo mat in a picnic style. She climbed onto the bed again, opened the curtains, and took the pot of lush evergreens on the windowsill down with great effort.
Jiang Qiaoxi was reading a book when he suddenly felt someone standing behind him. He turned his head back with a pen in hand and saw Lin Qile staring at him silently from behind.
Lin Qile has big eyes, and when he stares at people so fiercely, it's quite scary.
"What are you doing?" Jiang Qiaoxi asked.
Lin Qile didn't say anything and came up to pull Jiang Qiaoxi's wrist.
Jiang Qiaoxi said, "What are you doing? I want to study."
Lin Qile said: "Why don't you come over to study? It doesn't matter where you study. Look, I have Coke, snacks, and green plants. After eating fried shrimp chips, you won't have a headache when doing homework. When you do a homework, look up at the green leaves. The teacher said it will be good for your eyes and won't cause myopia—"
Jiang Qiaoxi said helplessly: "I really need to study."
Lin Qile said: "What's the point of studying?"
"Can you please stop playing dirty?" Jiang Qiaoxi looked down at her, "Lin Qile, can you please stand up and speak?"
Yu Qiao and Du Shang watched half of "God of Gamblers" and found it too boring. There were only a few movies playing on the construction site, and they had almost memorized "God of Gamblers".
"Uncle Lin," Yu Qiao stood at the door of Lin Qile's house and asked through the screen door, "Is Lin Yingtao home?"
"At home, at home," Lin the electrician was watching a rerun of "Yongzheng Dynasty" on TV. When he heard the noise, he turned around and saw three young men at his door. "Go inside and look for her."
Yu Qiao pushed open the bedroom door and walked straight into Lin Qile's little house.
Duchamp said from behind: "Why play God of Gamblers? You might as well play Titanic."
Cai Fangyuan was the last one to enter. The three boys crowded next to the big wardrobe in Lin Qile's bedroom, looking inside in amazement.
Lin Qile sat on a bamboo mat on the ground, her legs pressed against the ground, her skirt with strawberry print hanging down. Lin Qile held a blue Poppy Elf in her hand and was talking to it.
"Who are you?" the elf asked.
"Mom." Lin Qile taught it word by word.
"Mom!" The elf immediately responded in a stiff, high-pitched, mechanical voice, "Mom! Mom!"
Next to it was an empty can of Coke and a half-eaten basket of shrimp chips. Under the basket were a few pieces of calculation paper covered with words and stained with oil.
And on the bamboo mat further inside, there was another guy sitting.
Jiang Qiaoxi was sitting cross-legged, working on a problem. There were books and open pencil cases piled up around him, as if he had moved the entire desk to Lin Qile's side. Lin Qile was playing around, and Jiang Qiaoxi was concentrating on his studies, not minding her noise.
When Yu Qiao and the others came in, Lin Qile was just talking to the toys in his hands, without even saying hello. Instead, Jiang Qiaoxi looked up at them and asked, "You're here?"