"Grandma, who is crying?"
The immature child's voice came to her ears, Grandma Qin patted her grandson's head, a touch of helplessness appeared in her wrinkled eyes, she lowered her voice, and coaxed softly: "Be good, baby, no one is crying , Go to bed early, I have to get up early for school tomorrow."
Qin Mu pursed his mouth. He clearly heard the cry just now. He nestled in grandma's arms, closed his eyes, and listened carefully. Looking at the window, the window lattice was slammed with a crackling sound.
The night is deep.
After coaxing her for a while, Grandma Qin noticed that the little guy in her arms was breathing evenly, so she carefully put Qin Mu on the bed, tucked in the quilt, sat on the bedside for a while, then got up and went to the back room. She is a tailor, and her usual job is to help the villagers mend clothes and earn some money to supplement the family. As for her wife, she died of liver cancer ten years ago. Her son and daughter-in-law went out to work in the early years and never came back.
Qin Mu was only eight years old, but he was a restless master. When Grandma Qin got busy inside, he jumped up from the bed pretending to be asleep, quickly put on his shoes, and gently pushed open the door. The air at night was quite cold, Qin Mu sniffed, shrunk his shoulders, and ran in the direction where the crying sound came from just now with small steps.
The light next door was still on, and the low and old one-story house was not well soundproofed. Qin Mu nestled outside and listened to the corner for a while, and he seemed to understand a little bit.
"Are you sure the baby's parents won't come here?"
"Old Chen promised me that no one would see us. Besides, we spent all our money. If someone really took the baby away, then I have to ask Lao Chen to spit out the three thousand yuan we spent. "
"But that baby has been crying just now..."
The man interrupted in a rough voice: "Children are very forgetful, and they will get used to it after a while."
…
Taking advantage of the gap between the two of them talking, Qin Mu slipped in lightly. There is a young couple living in this house. They have been married for many years and have no children. Qin Mu usually comes over when he is free. He has a sweet mouth and calls everyone uncle and aunt. The young couple like Qin Mu very much and often give him candy. .
After rushing in familiarly, Qin Mu searched around, and sure enough, he found a crying little boy asleep in the back room. The child looked about four or five years old, his face was extremely white, his appearance was pleasing, pink and tender, like a young doll who came out of a painting.
He seemed to be tired from crying, his small body shrunk into a ball, his small mouth was pinched in aggrieved way, and there was a small wrinkle between his brows.
It seems very unhappy.
Qin Mu had never seen such a good-looking child in Anping Village, so he couldn't help lying on the bed and staring carefully, and then he couldn't help poking the child's softness with his fat fingers. Slick face. Seemingly unbearable, the child waved his short hands in his sleep, pursed his mouth, and changed his posture to lie on his stomach, revealing something hanging around his neck.
Only then did Qin Mu realize that there was a golden lock hanging around the child's neck, and there seemed to be a word engraved on it.
He couldn't help looking closer, wanting to see what words were engraved on the golden lock, his eyes fell on the child's face inadvertently, just facing the other's tear-filled pupils. The child woke up at some point, and opened his mouth, pretending to cry, Qin Mu quickly covered the other's little mouth, "Hush."
The child whose mouth was covered was obviously frightened, his tear-stained eyelashes blinked lightly, and the tears seemed to burst again.
Although Qin Mu is young, he still understands a little bit about some things.
Anping Village is not as peaceful as its name. It is a very remote and backward village. The men in the village are so poor that they cannot afford to marry a wife. In Qin Mu's vague memory, it often happens that the whole village collectively arrests a certain family and escapes. My daughter-in-law is such a thing.
Grandma often warns him not to care about or get involved in other people's affairs.
Qin Mu looked at the little boy in front of him. He should have just come here. The clothes he was wearing were of very good material, better than all the materials he had touched in grandma's shop. His lips were red and his teeth were white, and he knew it was good at a glance Children from other people.
He asked softly, "do you want to find your mother?"
The boy's mouth was covered, and he could only blink up and down as an answer.
Qin Mu: "Then do you know where your family lives?"
The boy hesitated for a while, and the look in his eyes gradually dimmed.
Qin Mu scratched his hair. He knew what it was like to be away from his parents. He had never seen his parents since he was born. Grandma said that his parents went out to work and came back soon. She would whisper this sentence in his ear every year. Once, he also changed from being full of hope at the beginning to no longer believing.
Thinking about himself and looking at the poor child in front of him, Qin Mu suddenly wanted to help him.
He was too young at that time. Although he matured earlier than his peers, he was only an eight-year-old child after all. He naively thought that as long as he took this child away from here, he would find his parents one day, so he On this unusually quiet night, he quietly left here with the little boy.
"Brother, it's so dark."
"Don't be afraid, I'll hold you." Qin Mu was also a little scared. This was the first time he walked alone at night. In order to divert his attention, he started chatting with the child, "What's your name?"
"Mom and Dad call me Guoguo."
"Oh, how old are you?"
"Five years old." The child stumbled and followed Qin Mu's footsteps, not forgetting the childish voice: "I have a lot of fun toys at home. When I find my parents, brother, you can come and play with me."
Qin Mu touched his forehead: "You must keep your word."
In the end, the two of them still didn't leave Anping Village. The Su family couple found out that the child was gone in the middle of the night, and immediately called the whole village to look for it separately, and finally caught Qin Mu and Guoguo in a small forest.
Nian Qin Mu was young and ignorant, and the people in the village did not pursue him. Grandma Qin took Qin Mu home, took out a feather duster and beat him severely. In the past when Qin Mu did something wrong, Grandma Qin was never willing to beat him. This time she was really angry, and her hands were so strong that she beat Qin Mu's ass to pieces.
Qin Mu was stubborn, he didn't admit his mistake, bit his lips tightly, tears rolled in his eyes, but never rolled down.
When the feather duster was broken, Grandma Qin hugged Qin Mu and cried. It was really sad that a man in his sixties had his face wrinkled into a rag. Forty years ago, she was abducted here by human traffickers and never left here. It wasn't that she didn't want to go out. At first, she was making trouble every day. Later, she was forced to give birth to her son. She accepted her fate and wanted to take her son with her. big.
Later, the person next to her who had been arguing with her for a lifetime died, and her son and daughter-in-law went out to work and disappeared, leaving behind the only grandson. She has been like this for the rest of her life, and she only hopes that Qin Mu will be successful and leave one day This dilapidated and decayed village, go outside and have a good time.
Hot tears fell on the back of Qin Mu's hands. He opened his eyes blurred with tears. This was the first time he saw grandma crying. His heart was stabbed by something. He hurriedly stretched out his little hand to wipe the old man's eyes. Grandma Qin took his hand and warned him over and over again: "Don't worry about things you shouldn't care about in the future, this village is hopeless."
Qin Mu listened ignorantly, the old man's tears flowed all the way into his heart, he finally didn't dare to do anything out of the ordinary.
It has been a month since I saw Guoguo again.
The Su family couple obviously care about this new member of the family. Even if the family is poor, they still give him the best they can give. When Qin Mu saw him, he changed into a new suit, and his chest was still the same. Hanging the long life lock, carrying a plastic bag in his hand, which contains colorful candies.
A group of children were playing hide-and-seek, and Guoguo stood outside the crowd, looking a little out of place. Standing there, the small figure looked like it would fall down when the wind blows, and the brilliance in Qin Mu's eyes when he first met was gone.
Qin Mu didn't know what he had experienced this month, and there was a kind of dull obedience in his expression.
He had promised to take him away, but he didn't do what he said. Qin Mu felt a little guilty in his heart, but thinking of grandma's tears, he paused when he thought of going forward. At this moment, a dirty child popped out of the other side. Qin Mu's sharp eyes recognized at a glance that the little boy who hadn't bathed for ten thousand years was a well-known bad boy in the village.
Qin Mu didn't know his name. The children in the village called him Monkey, and he would often do some sneaky things.
When the old people in the village talked about the monkey, they would say that his family’s genes were bad, that his father was a robber, and he hadn’t come out yet, and that his mother was a prostitute, and the old bachelors in the village would often visit her. Mom and Dad are so angry that Monkey is now following his prostitute mother.
Seeing the monkey appear, Qin Mu guessed that something was going to happen, no, the monkey came here for the candy in Guoguo's hand this time. Qin Mu watched helplessly as the monkey pushed Guoguo to the ground, and then went to grab the candy in his hand. Guoguo looked Ruannuo easy to bully, and was quite stubborn. I took the bag and refused to let it go.
A ferocious look flashed across the dirty little face, and the little boy kicked Guoguo in the stomach, the plastic bag was torn, and the candy fell all over the floor. The children around were not familiar with Guoguo, and no one wanted to provoke Houzi, the mourner, and just watched the show from the sidelines. Qin Mu frowned, and rushed forward in three steps at a time, protecting Guoguo behind him.
Although he is only eight years old, he is fast in stature, especially conspicuous among this group of children.
Seeing the boy patronizingly picking up candies on the ground, Qin Mu stepped up and kicked that high butt.
"ah!"
A sharp howl pierced the eardrums.
As soon as Qin Mu lowered his head, he met the boy's fierce eyes, like those of wolf cubs.