Tao Xiaodong didn't come back until noon, and after the funeral, he had to arrange a meal for the old neighbors who helped out in the village. When he came back, he brought food for both of them. When he entered the house, he asked Tao Huainan first, "Have you held your urine?"
Tao Huainan didn't say anything, he glanced at the base of the wall, but couldn't see anything.
Tao Xiaodong set aside food for the child as usual. When the aluminum basin was brought over, the child looked at the basin in his hand silently for a long time, but did not pick it up.
He didn't look up or look up, and Tao Xiaodong didn't care about him, so he put the basin on the cabinet next to him and said, "Eat by yourself."
The child put his hands back, leaned against the wall and swayed, not eating.
Tao Xiaodong carried Tao Huainan to the outhouse to urinate once in a dirty bucket, and came back to feed him.
There is no sound at the bottom of the wall, and the movement of eating cannot be heard. Tao Huainan ate half of the meal and said he was full. Tao Xiaodong wiped his mouth and let him sleep for a while.
After he was about to go out with the bowl, Tao Huainan stopped him and called "Brother".
Tao Xiaodong looked back at him: "What's wrong?"
Tao Huainan patted himself next to him: "I'm not full, I'll eat when I'm hungry."
"Eat it cold?"
Tao Huainan said, "Let's just leave it anyway... I'll eat it later."
It was impossible for Tao Xiaodong to let him eat, but he poured it out as he didn't take it out, put it aside casually, and went out to wash his face.
Tao Xiaodong hasn't had a good night's sleep for so many days, he has to watch outside at night, and the lack of sleep is severe. The ashes finally fell to the ground, Tao Xiaodong also relaxed, came back to lie down and soon fell asleep.
The elder brother was snoring lightly, Tao Huainan knew he was very tired.
He waved towards the base of the wall and whispered, "Come here."
Tao Huainan didn't hear anything, blinked his big eyes, and asked in that direction, "Are you there?"
After a while, he heard the sound of the soles of the cotton shoes, and the sound stopped in front of him. Tao Huainan sat with his upper body slightly leaning forward, as if whispering: "You eat my food."
He urinated on people's rice bowls, leaving people without food. Tao Huainan pushed his job bowl in the same way as compensation: "It's not cold yet."
The boy looked at the little blind man sitting on the kang, and then at the bowl. After all, he was only a child of seven or eight years old, and he ate a few mouthfuls with Tao Huainan's spoon.
This incident made Tao Huainan feel that staying in the same room with that child was no longer awkward.
Tao Xiaodong found that the two children occasionally talked a few words, not too far or close, talking between children.
The long ice hangs down from the window, melted a little by the sun, unable to fall, one part hits the window sill, the other part collapses and hits the window.
The sudden sound of knocking on the glass startled the unsuspecting Tao Huainan. When he was afraid, he always subconsciously opened his mouth and stared round his eyes.
Tao Xiaodong was telling people about the old house outside, lifted the curtain and took a look, and was about to go in to hug him when he heard Tao Huainan ask in a low voice, "What?"
The child heard him ask, looked at him, leaned against the wall and said, "Ice."
Tao Huainan had never seen this thing before, and he forgot that he had seen it before when he was blind. He thought someone had smashed the glass with ice, so he sat a little nervously.
After a while, Tao Huainan asked in a low voice, "What ice?"
The child leaned against the wall with his hands on his back and didn't say a word for a long time, maybe he didn't know how to tell the blind man what ice it was. He stood leaning against the wall for a long time, then turned around and ran away.
Tao Huainan turned his face towards the outside, feeling a little dazed.
Tao Xiaodong saw the child come out and run away, and a few minutes later he opened the door and ran in again. There is also a long ice hanging in his hand.
The old uncle yelled and called him: "What are you doing! Don't tie Xiao Nan!"
The child ignored him, ran in and threw it on the kang, wiping his hands with his cuffs.
Tao Huainan blinked and asked "what".
The child said without expression: "You touch it yourself."
Tao Huainan then stretched out his hand, and tentatively touched the kang next to him. He was a little surprised when he touched it, and his fingertips first retracted immediately, and then touched it again.
The ice is cold and slippery.
Tao Huainan laughed: "Ice?"
"Bingliuzi." The kid answered him lukewarmly, sniffing his nose as he spoke.
The children's dialect is not so rustic, and a little accent is like a little more naive. Tao Huainan imitated him, and followed him in a rustic tone: "Bing Liuzi."
After he finished speaking, he laughed first, and repeated it again.
He has seen very few things, and every little thing feels new. Touching it around, my hands were wet and cold. Of course, the warm kang couldn't hold the ice, and it melted everywhere in a short while.
Tao Huainan moved aside to keep himself from getting wet.
He held the long ice bar in his hand, and gently touched the pointed end between his fingers. It was no longer sharp, but it felt a little slippery to the touch.
Tao Huainan played by himself for a while, put his hands on the kang when they were cold, and picked them up when they were no longer cold.
Such a little toy played Tao Huainan happily, and he took the initiative to chat with the child and asked him: "Why did your father beat you?"
The man turned his head aside, saying he didn't know.
Tao Huainan asked again, "Why don't you run away?"
No one wanted to talk to him, Tao Huainan didn't listen to the response and didn't take it seriously, playing his own game. Thinking of this again after a while, he opened his mouth and asked again: "Then why don't you run away?"
Maybe it was because he was so annoying that people didn't want to stay with him anymore, so they turned and ran away without making a sound.
This time, he didn't come back after running, and the piece of ice in Tao Huainan's hand melted and he didn't come back.
The two brothers were leaving the next morning. Tao Xiaodong didn't sell the old house and let his uncle live in it. In the evening, when Tao Xiaodong was packing his things, Tao Huainan was sitting beside him peeling melon seeds wrapped in his own blanket.
The melon seeds are not eaten after peeling, they are just peeled and played, and the melon seeds are saved in a small pile. Tao Huainan turned his head to the window from time to time and listened to the ear, and continued to peel the melon seeds when he couldn't hear anything.
Tao Xiaodong glanced at him and asked, "Waiting for that kid from the Chi family?"
Tao Huainan asked, "Why did he run away?"
Tao Xiaodong smiled: "You talk irritatingly, don't you like to listen and run away?"
Tao Huainan let out an "ah".
The little blind man seldom chats with others, his world is very small. Because he can't see, the scope of life is very narrow. He didn't even go to school when he was eight years old. He couldn't go to school independently.
Children of this age seem to have many friends, but he doesn't. People are always afraid of the unknown and things different from themselves, especially children, they are instinctively afraid of Tao Huainan who is walking by touching.
In Tao Huainan's small world, apart from his brother and his friends, there is only one big dog left. I often chat with it, and I can only talk to myself, so he has too little experience in chatting.
Tao Huainan pursed his lips and pushed Guaziren towards his brother, thinking: I don't think I'm annoying anymore.
Because of the two casual questions, the chat didn't make any sense, and Tao Huainan never saw the boy again when he left.
Before leaving, he asked his brother: "Is the door locked when we leave?"
Tao Xiaodong said: "For the second uncle, whether to lock it or not is his business."
Tao Huainan asked again: "Then can he still come? If his father beats him again."
Tao Xiaodong didn't answer this question. After packing the last things, he picked up Tao Huainan in one hand and the luggage bag in the other, and went out to get into the car.
Anyway, they stayed together for several days, Tao Huainan didn't take the opportunity to say goodbye before leaving.
The country road was covered with a layer of ice, and the road was slippery. It seemed to be snowing again outside, and Tao Huainan could hear the tiniest noise as the wind hit the car window.
When they came back this time, they carried two jars of ashes in the car, but they left with nothing.
The car was bumping violently on the country road. Tao Huainan grabbed the seat belt in front of him with both hands, and turned his head towards the window, not knowing what it was like outside.
It should be white, the snow is thick here.
The car was not sealed tightly, and Tao Huainan was a little cold. He put the sticker on the back of the chair again, and his brother glanced at him and told him to sleep by himself when he was sleepy.
Children are prone to sleepiness in a car, Tao Huainan yawned and nodded.
They are getting farther and farther away from the village. My parents and elder brother lived there for many years, and now my parents have returned there.
Tao Huainan closed his eyes, waking up from sleep, his sleep became deeper and deeper as he swayed from side to side.
This sleep was deep and long, until Tao Huainan was still not quite awake when he was awakened by the sound of closing the door, he could feel that the car had stopped.
"elder brother?"
His brother was not in the car.
The momentary silence around him didn't make Tao Huainan panic. He closed his eyes and leaned back in the chair again, listening to the sounds outside the car with his ears open, waiting quietly for his brother to come back.
He didn't wait long, and soon his brother came back.
The car door was pulled open, followed by a sharp cry that had been heard once.
She spoke in a dialect and spoke very fast. Tao Huainan only knew that she was crying, but didn't know what she was talking about. Tao Huainan huddled in his seat like a frightened quail.
My brother returned to the driver's seat. Tao Huainan reached out and touched it, and heard the old man behind him crying and begging: "Help him! Tao boy, help him!"
This time Tao Huainan understood.
He also heard his brother turn around and say, "Stop holding him, put him on the ground and let him lie flat."
The old man couldn't hold such a big boy, Tao Huainan heard a muffled knocking sound, and then the old man cried again: "He's still smoking! So much blood!!!"
She has been crying, crying high and low, mixed with desperate cursing.
A faint smell of blood began to radiate from the car, Tao Huainan remained motionless, blinking his dull eyes, staring blankly ahead.
Later, my brother parked the car in front of the county hospital, opened the rear door and picked up something. He locked the car and asked Tao Huainan to wait in the car.
Tao Huainan nodded, and heard his brother's footsteps moving away quickly, accompanied by the sound of the old man's chaotic footsteps and frightened crying.
The car was quiet again, but the bloody smell that permeated the surroundings could not be dissipated.
Tao Huainan sat stiffly trembling slightly, still afraid.
He heard the cry of the old man once, she was the grandma of the Chi family's children.