In March of Yangchun, the willow branches took out new sprouts, and Bei Yao walked beside Pei Chuan, whispering to him: "I will tell you a secret."
"Ok."
"My mother is going to give me a baby brother."
Pei Chuan was a little surprised, so he glanced at her.
The little girl's steps are as cheerful as a baby swallow, but her tone is lowered: "This month at the latest, my brother will be born."
In 2004, the country did not open up the second-child policy, and was implementing family planning, and only one child was allowed in the family. The streets and alleys were posted with slogans "Few births and better births, a happy life" and "Girls can also take the lead."
Zhao Zhilan was pregnant with a second child in more than 30 years. She was embarrassed at first, but when she saw her daughter's uncompromisingly happy appearance, she was relieved and felt the joy of being a mother again.
Zhao Zhilan once discussed with Bei Licai secretly: "Will Yaoyao think more about it?"
"I don't think so." Bei Licai touched his wife's belly. "This child can share a lot of pressure for her sister when he grows up."
Together, the couple rented a house outside, and they told the public that Zhao Zhilan had gone back to her family to visit relatives. When the melons were ripe and the second child was born, they should go to the household registration and be fined.
She was pregnant, and couldn't bear to kill it. March of this year happened to be the season when the Beckhams were born.
Pei Chuan asked Bei Yao: "How do you know that it is the younger brother? What if it is the younger sister?"
Bei Yao thought she knew it, she brushed off the branches on her head: "I dreamed of it, it doesn't matter, it's my younger sister, and I like her the same."
"Do you want it to be born?"
Bei Yao nodded vigorously, her eyes were filled with the brilliance of gentle expectation, and Pei Chuan frowned.
"Aren't you afraid it will share your parents' love?"
"I'm not afraid." She replied with a smile, "He keeps the same blood as I, and we are family members." In her memory, Beijun looked downright and cute, and she felt so soft when she thought of her unborn child.
The little girl was pleased and asked him: "Pei Chuan, do you want a younger sibling?"
When Bei Yao asked this, she was a little nervous and tentative, because she knew that when she was in high school, Pei Chuan's parents had divorced a long time ago, and Pei Chuan's father found him a stepmother, and the stepmother brought him A younger sister who is as old as herself.
Bei Yao was not close to Pei Chuan in her previous life, and she never knew Pei Chuan's attitude towards this sister.
"I don't want to." He replied lightly.
"Oh." Bei Yao was worried, how uncomfortable he will be in the future.
When Beiyao came home, she happened to meet her father taking some daily necessities to go out.
Bei Licai: "Yaoyao is back, I will see you. Mom."
"Can I go together? I finished my homework."
"Let's go, I will close the door."
Bei Licai also bought a motorcycle in the first two years, and Pei’s motorcycle has long been replaced by a rather impressive car.
Bei Yao was sitting on her father's motorcycle, and the wind softly blew her cheeks. Today is Friday, March 24. Tomorrow is the day Xiaobei Jun was born. He was born at two o'clock in the morning. Rao Bei Yao knew this, and her heart couldn't help feeling nervous.
With a pregnant belly, Zhao Zhilan gently touched her head when she saw her daughter coming over from school.
After the family had dinner, Zhao Zhilan frowned: "The amniotic fluid has broken."
Bei Licai said immediately: "I will take you to the hospital."
Fortunately, it’s the second child, Zhao Zhilan didn’t panic at all: “You send Yaoyao back first, it’s very early before the pain begins.” She turned to look at Bei Yao again, “Go back to sleep, and see her mother in the hospital tomorrow. With your little brother or little sister. Are you afraid to stay at home alone at night?"
Bei Yao shook her head and held Zhao Zhilan's hand encouragingly.
Zhao Zhilan gave birth this night, and Bei Yao prayed for the best in the room.
~
It rained at night, strong wind blew the treetops, rain splashed everywhere, and intermittent thunder sounds outside the window.
On the fourth floor opposite the community, a family drama was staged.
A week ago, a foreign high-end lipstick appeared in Jiang Wenjuan's purse.
It was Pei Chuan who saw the lipstick first. The lipstick fell out of his purse. Jiang Wenjuan panicked for a moment. Under the silent eyes of his son, he picked it up in a panic and put it into his bag.
"Mom asked a colleague to bring it."
He obviously didn't ask, Jiang Wenjuan was so guilty that she found an excuse.
Pei Chuan didn't speak. Few people in this world could lie smoothly in front of him. Unless he is willing to tolerate such lies.
He gave a soft "um", pushed the wheelchair and left. Until now, he still wants a complete family.
But the paper package couldn't keep the fire down, and it didn't take long for Jiang Wenjuan to have a showdown with Pei Haobin instead.
The light in the master bedroom was on, and Jiang Wenjuan said, "Get divorced. I like another man. He is a doctor in our hospital."
As an excellent criminal policeman, Pei Haobin still felt that the sky was about to fall when facing his wife’s mental derailment: "Jiang Wenjuan! How can you do such a thing? Are you still worthy of being a wife and a mother? It's not that I found the text messages on your phone, are you planning to make me the green hat bastard forever!"
Jiang Wenjuan covered her face and shed tears: "I know I'm sorry, I'm sorry Xiaochuan, but..." She paused, and tears flowed across the corner of her mouth, "But who is to blame for all this? When Xiaochuan was four years old, I slept next to you. , I had a nightmare all night. The dream was bloody. I was holding a pair of broken legs and cried until my eyes were blind. And you are fighting against the dark, I yell and yell, no one can save me."
The heavy rain made Pei Chuan pale and listened quietly behind the door.
"They put Xiaochuan's legs in front of me..." She covered her mouth, crying bitterly, "You have fulfilled your career, and I have had nightmares for several years. You are a good detective, but you are not a good father. "
Jiang Wenjuan sneered: "I'm desperate. As soon as I saw Xiaochuan, I remembered how cold-hearted his father is. For his country, he doesn't need his wife and children. I have everything in my dreams, the first time it was I was chopped off, and my ears were cut off the second time. All I need to do is to see Ogawa’s stump... I..."
She cried and laughed, and the feelings that had been suppressed in self-blame and pain in the past few years have all exploded.
"I even... I'm even scared to see him, but he is my Xiaochuan!" Jiang Wenjuan was full of tears, "Doctor Song has been giving me psychological counseling for so many years. You can say that I have no sense of responsibility, or say that I am lowly. Okay, but I really don’t want to have such a nightmare life anymore."
The strong wind blew away the potted plants on the window sill, and a crisp sound was surprisingly scary in the night.
Pei Haobin sat down by the window and wiped his face with his hands. Tears ooze from the man's fingers: "I'm sorry."
Jiang Wenjuan was sobbing and crying. She covered her face with a quilt, fearing that the cry would spread and disturb the son next door.
In the darkness, Pei Chuan was holding a cold cup of tea originally brewed for Jiang Wenjuan.
His pupils didn't have a trace of color, and it took a long time to push the wheelchair to his room amidst the suppressed cry of a woman.
Pei Chuan did not turn on the lights in the dark night.
He fumbled and climbed onto the bed, watching the thunder and lightning flashes outside the window.
People who could not be retained will never be retained. Even if he secretly tells himself, forgive his mother, and she becomes flustered, everything will be fine.
But she was scared...
He closed his eyes and turned out to be himself.
As long as he was disabled for one day, his mother couldn't even sleep well. How ridiculous.
Pei Chuan felt cold, and the world was quiet and cruelly cold. His incompleteness has become a nightmare for his mother. On the contrary, when he was young, he couldn't remember the kind of pain vaguely. He remembered more people's complicated and sympathetic eyes.
He thought that he had lost both legs. He studied hard and was obedient and sensible. In the future, by relying on his hands to be a valuable person to society, he could become the pride of his parents just like the children of other people's families.
But it turned out that none of this worked. As long as he lives a day, he will be a badge of shame in his father's life, and a terrible nightmare for his mother.
The gale was fierce, howling like pain. The little wintersweet tree in the community, which had only bloomed once, broke its branches and fell silently into the dark night.
~
On March 25th, a baby weighing a full seven catties was lying in a swaddle.
Bei Yao looked forward to it all night, and was taken to the hospital by Bei Licai early in the morning. Bei Licai said cheerfully, "You guessed it, he is really a kid." He was afraid that his daughters would misunderstand the family's patriarchal patriarch, and quickly said, "When this kid grows up, let him make it for our lovely Yaoyao. bodyguard."
In the morning breeze, she laughed crisply.
Beckham was wrapped in a jacket cloth prepared early, and he had to keep warm when the temperature dropped last night. Zhao Zhilan was lying on the bed in the obstetrics and gynecology department, smiling and saying, "Come and see your brother, sleeping next to me."
Bei Yao leaned over, and the newly-born baby had red cheeks, half a slap in the cheeks, and it was hardly cute.
However, his small nose is breathing hard, and every time he draws air, it is hard work and tenacity at the beginning of his life.
Bei Yao looked at him with gentle eyebrows and smiled.
"Mom, what's your brother's name?"
"I discussed with your dad before, and the name is Bei Jun. Do you want to give him a nickname?"
Bei Yao curled Xing'er's eyes: "The big name is pretty good. You can defend your home and the country. Just follow your nickname and call the army."
Zhao Zhilan smiled and said, "I think so too."
Having an extra child in the family is a great joy for the Bei family, but it is also a huge burden. Bei Yao's grandmother came to help take care of the children and wash the diapers. In the small ward, the family was busy with the new life.
In 2004, there were very few families who could afford diapers. Most of the Bei family's money was lent to the uncle who bumped into someone. It is hard to say which year it can be recovered. Beijun can only wear diapers. The diapers are washed repeatedly, scalded with hot water, washed and taken to the sun, disinfected and dried, and then continue to be used.
Zhao Zhilan doesn't have much milk, and when Bei Jun gets older, he probably has to drink milk powder.
Bei Yao also helped take care of her younger brother, and within a few days Zhao Zhilan was discharged from the hospital and returned to the rental house.
Both Zhao Zhilan and Bei Licai are thinking about waiting for their children to go back home after they are older.
The second child has to be fined tens of thousands of dollars, so the expenses are simply unimaginable.
Bei Licai said guilty: "Yaoyao, I can't buy you new clothes this summer. When my dad pays you next summer, will I buy you new clothes?"
Bei Yao put on her schoolbag and shook her head with a smile, "Isn’t Cousin Xiaocang some old clothes? They are all pretty and new. I can wear hers. My younger brother is small, so he needs to buy better clothes, yes. Now, summer is coming soon, and I have to buy him prickly heat powder."
Bei Licai patted his daughter on the shoulder pityingly.
Bei Yao knew that her parents were not patriarchs, so she didn't mind at all. She went to school briskly and wanted to secretly share the birth of her brother with her friends.
When Bei Yao arrived in the classroom, Pei Chuan was already there.
The morning light was faint, reflecting on the cold and pale face of the young man. Even if Bei Yao hadn't spoken to him, she felt the silence of his body. It was like a traveler who had stood in the wind and snow for two days and two nights, so cold that there was not a trace of popularity.
Seeing that he was wearing thin clothes, Bei Yao quickly unzipped his schoolbag, took out his pink water glass, and put it on his table.
Both Pei Chuan and Bei Yao are hardworking people. When they arrived in the classroom, there were only a few students sitting scattered in the classroom.
Pei Chuan heard the noise, and put his eyes without focus on her water glass.
She is holding her schoolbag and closing the zipper. Bei Yao didn't know what had happened to him, and her tone was as gentle as she always did with the early morning greetings: "It's not summer yet, I need to wear more in the morning. There is boiling water in the cup, warm your hands."
He dullly, reached out to hold her pink water glass.
The heat spread from the fingertips all the way up, and the cold fingers felt conscious. There was a laughing bear on her cup. He looked at it and asked Bei Yao softly, "Is your brother born?"
"Yeah!" She whispered close to his ear, "I guessed right, but the younger brother is not the younger sister, so he is so young."
There was joy in the girl's voice. She has a sweet breath, with the aroma of breakfast milk and blooming lilacs.
"Pei Chuan, are you going to visit him with me after school?"
"No," he whispered, "Give this to him."
Pei Chuan put a bracelet in her hand.
Bei Yao stared blankly at the small silver bracelet in her hand. This was the smooth bracelet worn by the baby, with two small silver bells on it, which was cold and heavy in her palm.
If it weren't for the heavy weight, Bei Yao would have thought it was an imitation of a toy bracelet like the canteen.
Bei Yao felt hot. For the first time in her life, she saw such valuable jewelry. She squatted and said, "You, where do you get so much money, buy or buy this?"
"What do you care about so much?" He said lightly, "To your brother." Don't you look forward to his birth
Bei Yao didn't dare to ask, she was stunned by this sterling silver bracelet. How expensive is this small silver bracelet in an age of 50 cents for a pack of spicy sticks and 50 cents for a popsicle
Seeing her bewildered, Pei Chuan said lightly: "You give it to you. Mom said that my dad can buy it."
"I don't want this, Pei Chuan, you can take it back."
"Don't just throw it away." He let go of her drinking glass, his tone unchanged. It seemed that it was not a valuable bracelet, but a humble rubbish.
Where did Bei Yao dare to throw it away? She sat back in her seat and touched the heavy silver bracelet in her pocket with her small face sadly.
Pei Chuan didn't look back to see how the little girl struggled. He opened the book, but couldn't get in. Pei Chuan was slightly surprised.
His parents work very decently, and his colleagues, uncles and aunts are also in good backgrounds. Therefore, Pei Chuan has a lot of pocket money every year. After saving for almost ten years, there is nowhere to spend money. He has a savings figure that all children could not think of.
However, he never gave Bei Yao anything.
He cast his eyes down quietly. Since he was five years old, it has never been.
When I was young, it was because I was ignorant, but when I grew up, I knew that I couldn't give it away. The lesson Shang Mengxian has given is already very profound. Anything contaminated with the name "Pei Chuan", once stained with charming colors, will become dirty and ridiculed.
Beiyao prepares gifts for him every year, sometimes it's a peace knot, sometimes it's a boy's toy gun, or a pillow made by herself.
The gift he should have given her for many years, and finally turned into a bracelet for her little baby.
The bracelet without any color will not be criticized, nor will it tarnish her reputation. She doesn't even understand or think about it.
After school, Pei Chuan left without waiting for Bei Yao.
Beiyao looked at the young man's back, wondering if he was in a bad mood. He has grown up year after year, and "Pei is not happy" has also become more difficult to understand "Pei Shen Shen". She didn't even know how to understand what happened to him, and how to comfort him.
Bei Yao went home and thought for a while, took out the postcard that Xiaocang's cousin gave him, and wrote it quietly.
"Unhappy Pei,
Are you sure you\'re okay
Anything on your mind? "
(Bae is not happy, are you okay? Do you have any concerns?)
Bei Yao wrote Pei Chuan's receipt on the cover of the letter paper, and then went downstairs to the opposite side and dropped it into Pei Chuan's green mailbox.
Since Shang Mengxian's affairs, no matter what emotions Pei Chuan has, he will not show it in front of her. He seemed to grow up all of a sudden, but the girl who wanted to protect him couldn't keep up with his growth rate.
Bei Yao was afraid that he would be sad and didn't know, so she could only think of all clumsy ways to get close to the indifferent boy. She asked him in simple words. If he was unwilling to answer, it could be regarded as an ordinary English practice game without embarrassing him. Bei Yao hopes to receive his reply in the mailbox of her own dust. She knows that he will go to the mailbox every day to get the fresh milk ordered.
But until the spring passed, Bei Yao did not receive a reply from Pei Chuan. Instead, Commander Xiaobei opened up, no longer red and wrinkled, and became pink, tender and cute.
~
The letter was locked in the box by Pei Chuan. There were all kinds of weird things in the box. From the yellowed bamboo dragonfly to a letter from March, all were pressed by him at the bottom of the box, and it became necessary to ignore and forget. everything of.
Although Jiang Wenjuan and Pei Haobin have not yet divorced, the family relationship has dropped to a freezing point.
Several times Jiang Wenjuan saw Pei Chuan and opened his mouth to say something, but in the end he didn't say anything. Instead, she smiled and asked him how he did in school and which high school he would like to study in the future.
Although Pei Chuan didn't know the result of their final discussion, he was very easy to guess that Yomo planned to wait for him to finish the exam before telling him about the divorce.
How ridiculous.
A father who is guilty of him, a mother who will have nightmares when seeing him. They also have the last time to consider him. Everyone is trying their best to piece together the illusion of perfection, and Pei Chuan also cooperates in the play.
It's just that he knows that his heart is cold, and the cold has become a bottomless abyss.
Jiang Wenjuan moved out in August. She teased her hair and said to her son: "Mom is going on a business trip and will be back later. You study hard. Do you have any gifts you want?"
"No, safe journey."
Jiang Wenjuan felt a little panic in the calm and deep gaze of her son, but she still pretended to have nothing to do and left.
Pei Chuan knew that she couldn't wait to devote her to her "happiness."
After Jiang Wenjuan had left for a long time, Pei Chuan returned to the room. He pressed the red button in his hand, and there was a sizzling electric sound from the headset.
The man’s laughing voice came: "Why did it take so long to come?"
Jiang Wenjuan replied: "I have to explain to my son that it will take a long time to go. I told him that I was on a business trip."
"You can't do this, you have to tell him the truth."
"I know, but isn't he going to take the entrance exam? I have discussed with Pei Haobin, and we will talk about it after he finishes the exam."
"Then..." the man's voice hesitated, "Who did your son go with after you divorced?"
There was a long silence on that end.
Pei Chuan coldly pressed the end button, and then he destroyed the eavesdropping main control button. For the first time, he hated his talent in electronic technology. He had the last hope that Jiang Wenjuan would really go on a business trip. But his mother still abandoned him in the year he hadn't fully grown up.
This pair of mutilated limbs that will give people nightmares, will never be seen by anyone in this life.