1914, winter.
The sky was so overcast that water was squeezed out, and it was so gray that it was impossible to tell whether it was fog or smoke coming out of the cage. The smell of coal is too strong in the air, and the steamed buns smell bad. Mr. Tu opened the drawer and stretched his head to take a look, then shook his head: "Your face is too thick."
The old steamed bun, who had been standing on the street for twenty years, spat at him and smashed the lid: "It's too rough just because you paint the youngest - go go go!"
The youngest Tu moved his face back with a smile, and put his hands in his sleeves: "Cheng Chengcheng, your old man's buns are the most fragrant, or they have been sold for 20 years! You are very lucky."
He shrank his neck and walked forward, walked to a corner, squatted in front of the hookah booth, and asked, "Boss, what's the smoke today?"
The owner of the cigarette stall is thin and weak, with a listless appearance, his hair is trimmed short, can't cover his neck, his bangs are like gnawing dogs, long and short, covering his drooping eyes, and wearing an old-year-old melon rind hat on his head. Kind of funny.
Her surname is Li, and she has always been such a man or woman. She has no name and is ranked eleventh.
"What kind of cigarette are you doing?" Li Shiyi reluctantly took out his hand from the cotton pad and fiddled with it twice, "Spicy? Not spicy?"
The youngest Tu got closer: "What a cold day, it's cold to eat the hookah, is there any dry smoke? Eleventh sister?"
Li Shiyi lifted his eyelids and glanced at him. His eyes were very clear. He had seen it many times, but the scar on the right side of his face still stunned the youngest. It looked like a burn, and it looked like an ulcer. A large piece of wrinkled rotten skin, red, purple and purple, stuck to his cheeks like a dog's head plaster, which was ugly and tight.
"Danyan is the ancestral food guy, you can afford it."
She stood up, straightened her melon rind hat, her cotton-padded coat was crumpled into a ball, and she shrunk her entire body into it.
Youngest Tu hehe twice and followed behind her.
Turning a few alleys, there is a dilapidated courtyard in front of you, overgrown with weeds, and it looks like it has not been repaired for a long time. Li Shiyi fluttered the dust with his sleeves, removed the corrugated wooden boards in the front yard, and walked inside again. Inside the bushes was a rusted warehouse.
Li Shiyi pulled out a key from the inner button of the cotton-handed man, opened the warehouse, and bent down to get in through the short iron door.
The youngest Tu followed closely, and Li Shiyi groped for the thick hemp rope beside the wall, and the warehouse lit up.
"Hey, install the light!" Mr. Tu touched the circuit on the wall.
Li Shiyi squinted his eyes to adjust to the bright light, but still leaned his hands against the wall and asked him, "In or out?"
Mr. Tu's eyes were caught by the stuff in the warehouse, and he was about to start with two "tsk tsk".
Li Shiyi took out a box of foreign matches from his pocket, stabbed one and lit one: "It's all from the ground."
Youngest Tu retracted his hand in fright, and glanced at the Tang Sancai lantern bottle with a greedy look. Li Shiyi struck another match, and the smell of sulphur penetrated into the nose of the youngest Tu. The youngest sneezed, leaned in front of Li Shiyi, licked his face and shouted, "Sister Eleven."
Li Shiyi rubbed his nose and looked up at him. He took out a small copper can with a narrow mouth and a wide belly from his cotton pants and handed it to Li Shiyi. I."
Li Shiyi looked at the copper can he took out from his crotch with disgust: "Where did it come from?"
Seeing that Li Shiyi didn't want to extend his hand, the youngest Tu sent it forward again: "Do you take a closer look?"
Li Shiyi knocked twice on the wall of the copper jar through his cotton sleeve, and glanced at him: "It's very old, and it's made of copper, so it's worthless."
The youngest Tu took it back: "It's not that I thought about it that way, so I took it home and put it away—"
Li Shiyi frowned and interrupted him: "I told you earlier, I don't want to take it home from the ground." After a while, it was no longer so cold, she stretched her shoulders and sneered: "Why, I want to think after death. Meeting a colleague?"
Youngest Tu's neck shrank, and Lai smiled: "It's wrong, it's my fault. But this thing is too damn bad."
He lowered his voice: "I took this thing home, and every night there is a whining sound, which makes my mother-in-law sleep uneasy."
"I'm thinking, is it to provoke Mr. Lu, or it's better to send it back." Mr. Tu peeked at Li Shiyi.
Li Shiyi put the match back in his pocket and sniffed: "Don't go back when you open the coffin, and don't take out a second time when you open the coffin, this is the rule in the industry."
"I know, I know, but this is the second time I've had this fight, and I can't do anything about it." Mr. Tu grabbed Li Shiyi's sleeve, his face wrinkled like a shriveled face.
"You want me to take you there?" Li Shiyi stared at him.
The youngest Tu nodded hurriedly, seeing that Li Shiyi didn't respond, his eyes widened, he immediately crouched down, hugged her ankle, and begged: "Eleventh sister, Boss Li, Guanyin Bodhisattva, my master Qingtian! He howled and hammered Li Shiyi's feet and stomach: "My mother-in-law's belly is eight or nine months old, and she is about to give birth. At this time, trouble is caused. That is to make my old Tu family unstoppable!"
Li Shiyi struggled twice, but couldn't break free. He lowered his head and scolded, "Tu Sanping."
The youngest Tu raised his head and looked at her with tears in his eyes: "Eleventh sister, I was brought into the industry by you. Although I only dare to dig out a small tomb, I have inherited your mantle and ate the food that was handed down by your ancestors."
The corner of Li Shiyi's mouth twitched: "You originally guarded the tomb for a living, but you bumped into me at night when you urinated, followed me for a peek, and then turned back to dig with a shovel. You are also called inheriting my mantle?"
Youngest Tu doesn't care, holding her legs.
Li Shiyi sighed: "Which tomb is in?"
Youngest Tu was stunned for a moment. He didn't care about wiping away his tears, and happily flattened Li Shiyi's trouser legs: "It's on the east side, it's on the east side."
It is reasonable to start work at two in the morning and end at five. In the afternoon, Li Shiyi packed up the stall early and went home to pack up the tools. Mr. Tu followed her all the way back, and saw that she had the appearance of a homeless family with clear soup and little water, a clean and small wooden house with only a bed covered with blue cloth and a dining table soaked in oil, and had not opened fire for several days. , the stove also fluttered ashes.
Youngest Tu looked at her cotton-padded jacket and hat: "That's a precious treasure in your warehouse, and now even the lights are installed, how can it still look so shabby."
Li Shibai gave him a glance: "Wealth doesn't show wealth, especially the dead people's wealth."
Tu Lao Yao thought about it too. In today's turbulent times, the seeds of the head are tied to the belt of the trousers.
Li Shiyi dragged out a shiny leather box from under the bed board, picked up a few sturdy shovels, pickaxes, Luoyang shovels, and axes, and stuffed them into the cloth pocket by the bed. The palm-length small white oil candles went to the threshold and picked up a few wooden sticks, wrapped cotton cloth and poured kerosene, and tied them into torches in three or two strokes. back to back.
She poured another bowl of leftover cooked glutinous rice from the table, wrapped it in oiled paper, took some black donkey hooves from the kang hole, blew firewood ashes and stuffed them into her pocket, and took out a few more on the stove. The small wine jug, one mouth was stained with black dog blood, very fishy, she shook it, pinned it to her waist, and rinsed the other empty gourd with water from the washing pot, holding it in her hand and walking out.
Youngest Tu saw her go out with a bag in front and a package in the back. She climbed over the fence in the backyard, picked a few spicy garlic heads, and fed them to the fat old cow. She squatted in front of her, with the gourd mouth facing the cow chin.
After receiving the small half gourd and cow's tears, Li Shiyi put away the gourd, and it was complete.
The youngest Tu looked at her, and then at the old cow who was crying, and squeezed the lonely wooden shovel in his hand.
It was just dark, and Mr. Tu brought Li Shiyi to the cemetery that he mentioned during the day. Li Shiyi looked at it and saw that more than ten piers were lined up from the northwest to the southeast. She asked Mr. Tu: "Which one?"
Youngest Tu pointed to the southeast corner: "The biggest one."
Li Shiyi glanced at him, not very timid, but not very appetite.
Tu Laoyao followed Li Shiyi to the tomb. Seeing her, he didn't rush to go down. He broke two thick branches, sat on one of them, and put the other next to him. Tu Laoyao pulled over and beside her. Sitting down, seeing Li Shiyi staring at the tomb in a daze, he couldn't help asking her: "Eleven sister, what are you looking at?"
Li Shiyi took out a pocket watch from his gray padded jacket, opened it, and said, "We'll break ground at eleven o'clock."
Mr. Tu stretched his neck and looked at her watch eagerly, rubbed his hands together and smiled: "Hey, pure gold?"
Li Shiyi ignored him, took out a candle from the cloth pocket, lit it at the southeast corner of the tombstone, took out the pipe, stuffed the shredded tobacco, lit the match, took a deep breath, In his mouth, he vomited again, and then handed it to Mr. Tu: "Two mouthfuls."
Mr. Tu took it honestly, took a deep breath, and said with satisfaction, "No wonder you say this is the guy who eats."
"It's enough to have the smell of smoke in your mouth." Li Shiyi frowned and stared at the candle that was clearly extinguished. The smoke in his mouth came out when he spoke, and it was lingering.
The youngest Tu looked at her, her ugly face was a little bit trickier in the tobacco.
Li Shiyi blinked, seeing the candle swaying in the wind, and finally being blown out with a snap, she stood up and pulled out the dry smoke from Tu Lao Yao's mouth.
"This tomb can't be moved, let's go."