Lying in bed at night, Wen Liang tossed and turned and couldn't sleep. Although Li Siqing's appearance in his memory was already vague, he still remembered that many years later, Ding Mei suddenly mentioned Li Siqing and shed many tears. In the previous life, Li Siqing did not go to school after graduating from elementary school. She picked up garbage, ate leftovers, sold flowers, cigarettes and alcohol, and even moved bricks on construction sites to make a living. When she grew up, Li Siqing was more beautiful than her mother Zhao Yaqing. She cheated and deceived people in society. At the age of fifteen, she followed Scar Brother, who was a gangster. Scar Brother got into trouble and got shot, and then he hooked up with a rich man. The rich man later failed in business. Li Siqing had no one to rely on and went south alone. After Wen Liang graduated from university, he learned from his mother that the children of the agricultural machinery factory had seen Li Siqing in the south. In the city of feasting and drinking, what else can a beautiful girl who graduated from elementary school do
The last time we heard from Li Siqing was when she was taken to the police station during an anti-pornography operation. Some sisters from Qingzhou went to bail her out, but were told that there was no such person. The 25-year-old Li Siqing disappeared from everyone’s sight from then on, and perhaps, disappeared from this world.
Ding Mei thought of the kindness between the two families and helped them in every way she could. She wanted to bring Li Siqing home more than once, but Li Siqing was so young that she didn't want to drag down the people who really cared about her. She rarely met Ding Mei and avoided her whenever she met her. But what moved people was that no matter when she was picking up garbage and eating leftovers, or when she was a gangster and hanging out with rich men, from the age of eleven to the age of twenty-five when she disappeared, every Spring Festival for fifteen years, the Wen family would receive a fried rice cake with a note under the rice cake, which read in crooked handwriting: Good people will have a peaceful life!
Every year when she saw this, Ding Mei would hold the note and cry silently.
When he thought about this, Wen Liang felt that he could no longer hesitate. Most of the tragedies in the world were ultimately caused by money. As long as they had money, many people's lives could be completely changed.
He slammed the bedside hard and fell into a deep sleep mumbling.
When he woke up the next day, Wen Liang rode his father's Phoenix bicycle to Li Siqing's house instead of running. The Agricultural Machinery Factory was established in 1985. It is not a big factory in Qingzhou, which is centered on heavy industry. It is not worth mentioning compared with the behemoth Qingzhou Heavy Industry Group. However, no matter how small the plate of a state-owned enterprise is, it is still made of iron. Ding Mei was able to enter this factory because Wen Huaiming took off all his clothes and worked hard. Li Shengli took over his mother's job. The previous retirement succession system stipulated that after a factory worker retired, one of his children could take over his vacant position and become a worker. It has always been a mystery how Zhao Yaqing, a child of an ordinary farmer, entered the Agricultural Machinery Factory.
After the agricultural machinery factory was expanded in 1989, a new piece of land was enclosed outside the factory and several storefronts were built. After Li Shengli resigned in 1992, the factory house was no longer habitable, so he moved in with his parents. He used the compensation money to rent a storefront and opened a restaurant. His craft was inherited from his ancestors, and his business was pretty good at the beginning, but it took a sharp turn for the worse within a year. First, his parents died one after another, and then his business went from bad to worse. Soon he lost all his savings. Then Zhao Yaqing abandoned her husband and daughter. Li Shengli could no longer bear such a blow and became obsessed with alcoholism. He numbed himself in the world of alcohol every day and never sobered up for a single day.
No one knows how Li Siqing survived these two years...
Li Shengli's parents' home is in the northern suburbs, far away from the city center. It is an exclusive small courtyard with a small area. There are three bungalows lined up in a row, and the Qing River flows slowly in front of the door. There is less noise from the city and more rare tranquility.
After pushing open the half-closed door, Wen Liang saw Li Siqing at a glance. She was sitting on a small wooden stool, her thin body bent into a bow shape, holding an axe that was not much thinner than her arm, chopping firewood with difficulty. The yard was empty, the stove fire piled in the corner was cold, and a pile of chopped black vegetable leaves were placed on the wooden table next to it. At a glance, you can tell that they are wild vegetables picked from outside. A few chickens ran out of the chicken coop in the northwest corner, making a clucking sound, adding a little bit of life to the lifeless yard. Hearing the door open, the little girl raised her head, her messy hair covered her forehead, there was no trace of blood on her sallow face, and there was a faint trace of blood on her dry lips. Her clear black eyes were roundly opened, but there was no more innocence and cleverness that should be there at this age.
Is this still the cute and charming little girl in my memory
Wen Liang sighed quietly, took a few steps forward and smiled gently, "Nuan Nuan, do you still recognize your brother?"
The little girl stood up. Her ill-fitting coarse cloth clothes were clean, but they could not hide her shyness and uneasiness. She called out timidly, "Brother Wen..."
Wen Liang stood in front of the girl, looking at this lovely girl who had once dressed up like a little princess, and didn't know how to start talking for a moment. This was a unique moment for Wen Liang, who had become accustomed to being eloquent as an adult.
Li Siqing lowered his head, one hand still holding the axe, and the other hand tightly pinched the corner of his clothes and pulled it down, trying to cover the exposed skin. After a moment of silence, the girl suddenly remembered something and hurriedly said, "Brother Wen, please sit down first. I'll go get you a glass of water."
Wen Liang felt a sharp pain in his heart. When did that little girl with pigtails and a princess shirt understand the ways of the world... He took the axe from her hand and gently placed it on the ground. Then he pressed her shoulders and asked her to sit down. Wen Liang squatted in front of the little girl, held her little hand and said softly, "It's okay. Brother doesn't want to drink water. Nuannuan, it's my fault. I haven't come to see you for a long time."
A child's hands should be chubby and boneless, but Li Siqing's hands were so bony that it actually hurt when he held them.
Li Siqing shook his head and said seriously, "Brother, you are very busy at school. Aunt Ding comes to see me often, which is good enough."
Wen Liang had been a very hard-hearted person in his two lives, and he still couldn't keep calm after hearing this. He spread his arms, gently held the little girl in his arms, stroked her hair and whispered: "Nuan Nuan, you have suffered. Don't be afraid, everything is over."
Li Siqing has suffered a lot of contempt and hardships in the past two years. Children pointed at her and called her a motherless child. Adults would sigh and often add that it was all the fault of that bad woman. But that bad woman was her own mother.
How long has it been since someone spoke to me in such a tone? Feeling Wen Liang's sincerity and love, the unfamiliarity of not seeing each other for two years disappeared instantly, and the memories of playing together in childhood returned to my mind. Li Siqing slowly raised her hands that had been hanging by her side and closed them behind Wen Liang's waist. She bit her lower lip tightly to prevent the tears from falling. Her timid voice was soft but firm: "Nuan Nuan is not bitter, Nuan Nuan is not afraid!"
My brother is no longer the annoying guy who teased me all day long, and I am no longer the Nuannuan who is loved by everyone. But for some reason, after these two years of torture, my cold heart was easily melted by such simple tenderness as Wenliang.
The door opened again, and two men in their forties walked in. One of them had a square face and an imposing appearance. He didn't even look at Wen Liang and said, "Nuan Nuan, is your father sober today? You should sign this agreement quickly. I don't have time to drag it out with you..."
Another man with a pointy chin and narrow eyes said, "Nuannuan, I heard about this from your uncle, and it's actually a good thing. Don't be so stubborn, just ask your father to sign it, and I won't have to come here every day to ask for wine money."
Wen Liang didn't know why, so he stood up and stood aside, looking the two of them up and down.
Since the two came in, the little girl had a cold face and didn't say a word. No matter how much they talked, she didn't say a word. The square-faced man got anxious and pointed at Li Siqing's nose and cursed: "If I didn't feel sorry for you, do you think I care about your shabby house? You are so shameless. Your father is a drunkard and your mother is a bitch. How can the child you raised be a good person!"
Li Siqing had encountered a great disaster, and her mind had already matured. After hearing him scold her, she suddenly raised her drooping face, tightly grasped her clothes with both hands, and her whole body was trembling slightly. Wen Liang narrowed his eyes, pulled Li Siqing to his side, gently squeezed her palm, and smiled at the square-faced man: "What's your name, big brother? I don't know what made you so angry?"
The square-faced man looked at Wen Liang in surprise. He was not in a good mood towards a sixteen or seventeen-year-old kid. He waved his hand and said irritably, "It's none of your business. Go away."
Seeing that things had become awkward, the man with the pointy chin stepped out to smooth things over and said, "Xiang Qian, don't be impulsive. There is nothing to discuss. Let's talk it over calmly. There is nothing that cannot be negotiated."
The square-faced man said angrily, "How can we talk? I've said everything I could think of. I've come here seven or eight times. We finally managed to negotiate and sign the agreement last time when Li Shengli was sober. But this little girl came out and made a scene. Not only did she throw the pen, she even tore up the contract... If I hadn't felt sorry for you, I would have slapped you a long time ago. Damn it, you've grown up to be just like your mother. What a piece of shit!"
This sentence was said to Li Siqing, with a fierce and ferocious look, very impressive. (To be continued)