It is undeniable that the gloomy mood has improved a lot.
Driving back, she wanted to doze off at a slow speed. The road was a dirt road with potholes, covered by snow, and then flooded by wheels.
Lu Yin was dazed for a while, and looked at his watch, it was already six o'clock.
It only took him half an hour to pick her up, but it took him even more time to go back.
Lu Yin licked her lips and couldn't help looking at him. Lu Qiang tilted his head and leaned against the back of the chair, his lips were loose, and he was in a rather lazy posture, but his hands were holding the steering wheel unambiguously, his eyes were calm, and he was staring at the road ahead.
Because of the existence of another person, you have to be cautious about any unknown.
When the car drove to the entrance of the village, the sky had completely sunk, and the originally white field fell into dead silence. The cold wind raged, undulating the treetops, like a giant beast howling.
Lu Yin has lived in a small town since she was a child, surrounded by mountains and rivers, and the air is warm and pleasant. She has never been to the countryside in the north, so she was a little dumbfounded when she landed. Before he could recover, the heavy coat fell from his shoulders. Lu Qiang gathered the clothes together and walked inside with her in his arms.
The night in the countryside was extremely dark, without the noise of carriages and horses, and without the colorful lights, the darkness before his eyes was completely taken away by him.
After about five or six minutes, light finally appeared in front of my eyes, and the courtyard gradually increased, only to find that it was not dead, every house was hung with red lanterns, there were occasional sounds of firecrackers in my ears, children were in groups, wearing cotton jackets, with puffy faces. Freeze like an apple.
Lu Yin looked distracted, stepped on the ice, staggered, and made a sound.
Lu Qiang reacted quickly, lifted her by the waist, and straightened her up.
"Is it twisted enough?"
"No," she grabbed his arm, "Are you cold?"
The clothes were given to her, and he only wore a thin sweater with a wide collar.
"What do you say?"
"How about I give it to you." She tugged down the clothes.
"Dress."
Lu Yin held his bare hand, trying to warm him up: "How long will it take?"
"Ten minutes."
"Then let's go faster."
He looked at her in the dark: "How about carrying you?"
Lu Yin was startled: "Don't make trouble, and don't look at the occasion."
She was a little apprehensive. In the car just now, she hesitated a few times to go back, but she held back and did not dare to speak. In a moment of brain fever, I came here rashly today, without a gift, not dressed formally, unkempt, as embarrassing as possible.
No matter how you say it, you don't pay enough attention to this meeting.
After pondering all the way back and forth, when she was standing in the brightly lit room, she realized that the situation was somewhat unexpected.
Seeing the two people coming in, Gen Zi opened his mouth first, then rolled his eyes, and called his sister-in-law with a smile, the old couple also stared at Lu Yin intently.
Lu Qiang stood: "Uncle, Auntie, this is Lu Yin." Then he said to her: "This is Genzi's parents, just follow me and call."
The corners of Lu Yin's mouth froze: "Uncle, Auntie, hello."
The Queen Mother immediately came back to her senses, held her hand enthusiastically, her eyes were full of joy and envy, and said to him, "Qiangzi, is this your daughter-in-law?"
Lu Qiang and she looked at each other, one bowed his head, and the other answered yes.
The Queen Mother turned to Lu Yin again, and looked up and down seriously this time: "Okay, okay, the girl is really beautiful!"
Lu Yin was embarrassed by the praise, and buried her head even lower.
Genzi made a rescue: "Mom, stop nagging, you must be hungry, let's cook."
The Queen Mother patted her head: "My memory, tonight..." She stopped suddenly, thinking of something, and smiled awkwardly: "I will live with my aunt tonight, you and Qiangzi will sleep in that room, and Xiaozhi will squeeze in with us ... I'll cook for you now."
Lu Yin's mood was completely out of order. When eating, she forced herself to swallow. The vegetables that the Queen Mother picked up piled up into a hill, and in the end she only ground half of the bowl.
Lu Qiang remained silent, looked down at her, and put the half of the bowl into his own.
The Queen Mother was taken aback: "Is this enough?"
Lu Yin glanced at him, smiled quickly and said, "I'm on a diet, auntie."
"Look at this thin one, don't lose weight." The Queen Mother was afraid of being neglectful, so she said politely, "Come, have some more soup."
After eating and chatting for a while, the queen mother let the two of them go back to the side room. The quilt had already been laid out and hot water was burning on the stove, but she felt uncomfortable no matter what and felt uncontrollably depressed.
Lu Qiang half leaned against the edge of the Kang, with his long legs folded straight, touched a cigarette and lit it, watching her silently.
Lu Yin unzipped her shoes and sighed, "I shouldn't have come?"
He took a drag on his cigarette and looked at her through the smoke.
Lu Yin took off her socks, pushed herself back, and sat on the kang. The kang was too high, her feet were hanging in the air, and she twisted them together: "It's not good to sleep here at the root."
There was a sizzling sound from the nearby stove.
"Why don't we go home?" she asked.
There was still a little bit of smoke left between his fingers.
Lu Yin gently pulled his sleeve, and asked her guess in a low voice: "Auntie... doesn't agree with you to have a girlfriend
Lu Qiang finally said: "It has nothing to do with you."
She breathed a sigh of relief, but still couldn't figure it out: "You haven't gone back either?"
Lu Qiang didn't answer, his cheeks were severely sunken, and the sparks shone brightly for a moment, burning to the end. The cigarette butts were thrown into the sink, he raised her foot to rest on his lap, and lowered his head to put on socks for her.
Lu Yin was confused: "What is this for?"
Lu Qiang bowed to take the shoes: "Go home."
***
The Queen Mother had just delivered food to Qian Yuanqing, she couldn't walk, so she asked her to lock the courtyard door outside, Lu Qiang brought the key, and took Lu Yin back.
The Queen Mother was worried, and planned to follow her to have a look, but was stopped by Genzi.
The moment Lu Qiang pulled up the curtain, Lu Qiang suddenly stopped, and Lu Yin felt that he was holding her hand a little tighter.
The two stood in the dark for a while, Lu Qiang said: "I may not be able to enter this door." Lu Yin waited for him to explain, and after a while, he followed up: "Maybe she will like you."
Lu Yin wanted to say something, but he had already dragged her into the room.
A warm current hits her face, Qian Yuanqing is half leaning on the sole of her shoe, a yellow light bulb is burning on the wall above her head, the room is dim and dark, very different from the atmosphere of Genzi's house.
Seeing someone barging in, Qian Yuanqing was startled, and when she took a closer look, her face immediately sank.
Lu Qiang didn't move forward either: "Mom," he called out, "I brought you someone back. This is Lu Yin."
She didn't notice that Lu Qiang was introducing herself, and she focused her attention on the cabinet opposite. There was a black and white photo in the middle of it. In front of it was a plate of fruit, a plate of pastries and a pack of cigarettes. The cigarette pack was similar to silver. Her uncle had smoked it before. It is called Butterfly Spring.
There was a posthumous photo in the room. When she first saw it, she was quite frightened. When I took another peek, the old man in the frame had kind eyes and kind eyes, with a smile at the end of his eyes, and the colors in his pupils were very gentle. There was an inexplicable sense of intimacy, and he was not so afraid.
When she realized that Lu Qiang was pinching her hand, she had been distracted for some time.
Lu Yin looked at him, and Lu Qiang said, "This is my mother."
She smiled at her quickly: "Hello, Auntie."
Only then did Qian Yuanqing look at her, sized her up for a moment, and snorted coldly: "Go out."
Lu Yin froze for a moment, the smile froze on the corner of her lips.
Lu Qiang held her still, "We have no place to live. It's the first time we come back. It's inconvenient to live at Genzi's house. I'll sleep with you tonight, okay?"
It was the first time Lu Yin heard him speak in such a tone, it was not as gentle as coaxing her, and it was not as cold and forceful as others.
Qian Yuanqing focused on the work in hand: "The temple is too small to accommodate a Buddha like you."
Lu Yin felt that his palms were sweating, and heard him say: "Mom... I actually..."
"Shut up," she yelled loudly, the things in her hands deformed: "You think he won't be safe down here?"
Lu Qiang pursed his lips and did not continue. After a while, he said: "Yinyin was at home to celebrate the New Year. I heard that you fell down. I flew to Huaizhou in the morning, and then took a train to Wuqing for a few hours. It took a day... She is from the south, and she came to the north for the first time. The climate is not suitable for her, and she doesn't wear much... "
Qian Yuanqing paused, but didn't raise her head: "It's none of my business."
Lu Qiang said: "Don't let her sleep on the kang at night, I'm afraid it will be too hot."
There was a cold snort.
He went on to say: "Get up at night and turn on the lights. It's too dark here. I'm afraid she will fall."
Qian Yuanqing didn't want to listen, so she frowned and said, "Get out, don't wait for me to do it."
Lu Qiang's eyes were heavy, he was cruel, and he pushed Lu Yin forward: "Your daughter-in-law, let's figure it out."
Lu Yin was pushed to the side by him, subconsciously turned around and dragged him, but only touched the corner of his clothes, followed two steps, but stopped in vain.
He didn't go or stay, he was a little angry that he pushed her to the top of the waves, but after thinking about it, there must be a gap between the two of them, it must be because he couldn't handle it, and used her to play the gentle card.
Lu Yin gritted her teeth secretly, and couldn't help scolding that man hundreds of times in her heart.
Qian Yuanqing didn't open her mouth to push her away, but just lowered her head and focused on her work, treating her like air.
Lu Yin stood awkwardly for a while, and felt that she should speak: "Auntie, what are you doing?"
Nobody paid any attention to her.
Lu Yin stuck out her tongue, "Are you making shoes?"
Expected no answer.
It was the first time that Lu Yin had such a thick skin, and she scolded Lu Qiang in her heart. After standing alone for a while, the soles of her feet were sore, she moved and sat quietly on the small stool beside her.
Time ticked by, Lu Yin rested her chin on her hand, she could pay attention to Qian Yuanqing at first, but after a day of running around, she was tired, she nodded frequently, her eyelids were too heavy to open.
After an unknown amount of time, a voice suddenly said: "Come up to sleep, wait for me to treat you."
Lu Yin knocked her head and instantly woke up.
Qian Yuanqing still lowered her head: "Sleep over there, take the quilt by yourself."
Lu Yin quickly replied: "Okay."
There was a row of low cabinets at the east end of the kang, and she took out a random quilt and spread it out according to the instructions. After all, the countryside was inconvenient. She didn't wash up or change into her pajamas. She lay down in a corner with a river between them.
Qian Yuanqing packed up the sundries, took off her coat, and slid down with difficulty.
Lu Yin half stood up: "Do you want me to help you?"
There was no answer, and the light was turned off, darkness fell, and the air immediately became quiet.
Lu Yin was stunned for a moment, then lay back down.
This time, she didn't fall asleep for a long time.
The breathing on the other side was steady, and after a long time, when her mind gradually became blurred, she heard a word from her.
Lu Yin: "Huh?"
Qian Yuanqing repeated: "How long have you known that little bastard?"
"...it was almost a year when he got out of prison."
There was no sound again, but Lu Yin knew that she was not asleep, and the thin moonlight from outside the window shone in, dividing the wall into six pieces.
At night, the wind died down, but it was still cold.
Qian Yuanqing asked, "Do you know why he is in jail?"