Song Qiaoxi was woken up by the shush. Before going to bed, her mother made two glasses of Lego milk for her and Chu Jin, and woke up not long after falling asleep.
When I just woke up, I was still a little confused, and I heard someone sobbing softly in a trance.
She sat up from the bed, leaned over and looked to the right, Chu Jin was lying flat on the cot, her slender fingers folded on her chest, her eyes were tightly closed, her brows were twisted, and there were faint tears at the end of her eyes.
He cried, did he miss his mother, or was he having a nightmare
After thinking about it, Song Qiaoxi awkwardly turned over and lay beside the big bed.
He stretched out his soft little fleshy hand and patted his exposed forearm with the lightest strength.
"Not afraid, not afraid," her grandmother Tong Yin coaxed in a low voice, "I'm not afraid..."
It wasn't until Chu Jin's knitted brows slowly loosened and her breathing became steady that she retracted her little hand.
Well, my belly is swollen, so suffocating...
Song Qiaoxi turned her head hesitantly to look at the corner of the room, where there was an enamel spittoon painted with red mandarin ducks, which was specially used for her at night.
However, there is a little brother in the house.
His face suddenly burned.
Fumblingly got down from the other side of the big bed, barefooted, lightly walked to the bedroom door, and pushed open the door.
The lights in the living room were so bright that she covered her eyes with one hand and gently closed the door with the other.
In the haze, I saw my father rushing to the table at the table, and my mother sitting on the sofa, making a sweater, and the two were talking softly.
Mom dropped the sweater needle and took two quick steps to pick her up: "I don't wear slippers, it's so cold on the ground."
There was no reproach in the words spoken, only the intimacy of the lost and found baby.
"Want to pee?" Song Qiaoxi buried her head on her mother's shoulder and nodded shyly after listening to her mother asked softly.
After that, she never got off the ground again, and her mother took care of her like a baby. After she came out of the bathroom, the ceiling light in the living room was turned off by her father, leaving only a small table lamp, which was dim and not dazzling.
Being held in her arms by her mother, a pair of gentle hands patted her back rhythmically, just like a baby in a swaddle, drowsiness swept over immediately.
My mother's soft voice was humming: "The moon is bright and the wind is quiet, the leaves cover the window lattices, the crickets are called crickets, just like the sound of the strings..."
So comfortable that she was about to fall asleep, Song Qiaoxi remembered that her mother often hummed this lullaby.
Mom sang so nicely, and with the familiar singing, she fell into a deep sleep.
--
The second day is Tuesday.
Early in the morning, Song Qiaoxi sat in front of the mirror with her short legs dangling, and her mother tied her hair with a wooden comb.
Mom has a good hand, and the long curly hair that is not very honest in her hand quickly turns into two lovable flower buds, and then don't put on the butterfly hairpin.
Dad put a pen in his shirt pocket, grabbed her small hand with the briefcase, and took a light bite: "Dad went to work, listen to mom."
Song Qiaoxi smiled and ducked, nodding heavily, shaking her little head, the two butterflies on her head danced gracefully
"Are you coming back for dinner?" Mom asked Dad, turning around and entering the kitchen.
Putting on the hollow leather shoes at the door, Dad hung a long string of keys and a BB machine on his belt, and raised the volume: "Tonight's night shift, I'll go to the cafeteria to make a living, you and the children eat by themselves."
"gone."
"Alas, slow down on the road..."
"Bang Tong", the door closed.
Mother came out of the kitchen with a small plastic basket, the bead curtains snapped.
There are fried dough sticks, fried egg buns, and two sugar-fried cakes in the basket. There are three bowls of soy milk on the table, and two peeled boiled eggs are placed in an enamel small plate.
"Xixi, Chu Jin, wash your hands and eat." The mother greeted the two children.
After breakfast, Song Qiaoxi saw her mother take out the red Smurfs schoolbag from the small west house, and stuffed a small kettle into the side pocket.
He said to her very patiently: "Xixi, there are many friends you know in the preschool class. You said you didn't like it after you went there for a day. Let's try it again today, okay?"
I was stunned for a moment before I realized that even though it was summer vacation, I still had to go to preschool.
Just in time to catch up with the baby boom, in 1996, there were a lot of children going to school in the newspaper compound.
At that time, there was no such thing as "reducing the burden", and the first grade of primary school had a heavy academic burden.
In response to the call of parents, the Primary School attached to the Normal School opened its first preschool class in the summer of 1996, teaching the basic knowledge and school discipline of the first grade of primary school in advance, and basically all the school-aged children in the compound signed up.
Song Qiaoxi thought about a series of confusing behaviors such as tearing up books and truancy from school before, looked up at her mother's cautious expression, and sighed in her heart.
Now that I have decided to be a good baby and stop worrying about my parents, I already know that the first grade classes will definitely be boring.
She still obediently took the schoolbag and carried it on her body under her mother's astonished eyes.
"Mom, I will go to school well."
In order to reassure her mother, Song Qiaoxi looked into her eyes and said seriously.
Mom's joyful expression was beyond words, her mouth was half-open for a long time and she was speechless, as if she didn't know her anymore. After a while, she squatted down and took her hand and said, "Xixi is so good, go, mom will take you there. School."
After finishing speaking, my mother walked to the dining table and said to the boy who was flipping the book, "Chu Jin, auntie takes my sister to school, will you stay at home for a while?"
Chu Jin's eyes drooped from beginning to end, and his attention was always on the book in front of him.
It seemed that when he heard the word "going to school", his thick eyelashes trembled slightly and nodded silently.
"Auntie has washed the apricots and grapes. It's in the kitchen. There are Jianlibao and Xurisheng iced tea in the refrigerator. When you are thirsty, you can drink it. There are fairy tale books in Xixi's room. You can take a look at what you like."
Mom went to the bedroom and changed into a white dress. She didn't stop talking when she walked to the door to change her shoes.
Taking advantage of her mother changing clothes, Song Qiaoxi stared blankly at Chu Jin who was quietly flipping through the book.
The morning sun was extremely soft, but it pierced through his pale skin, his black eyes turned amber, and the whites of his eyes glowed with a hint of blue.
The tears in the corners of Chu Jin's eyes continued to appear in her mind last night. At that time, he looked like a fragile little animal, or rather, he looked like a normal 7-year-old child.
And now, he doesn't look like a child at all.
His eyes were bottomless, and he couldn't guess what he was thinking. The whole person seemed to be covered with a polite and distant shell, and it seemed difficult to get close.
"We're gone, Auntie will be back in a while." Mom packed up and took her hand to go out.
He raised his head from the book, his back was straight, and he said politely, "Goodbye Auntie."
Chu Jin's voice was hoarse and a little low, not as clear as a boy of this age.
Song Qiaoxi blinked, seeing him look up at her and her mother, with a clear and bright smile, and waved him happily: "Brother Chu Jin, goodbye."
--
In the midsummer of July, although it was summer vacation, the teaching building of the Primary School attached to the Normal School was extraordinarily lively.
The first floor is full of classrooms for the first grade. In the first year of the pre-school class, there are only 3 classes, each with about 60 students, and the children of the Guangbao compound occupy an entire class.
Today is the second day of the class, and before the class bell rings, a group of 6 or 7-year-old first-year reservists, Xiaodouding, are laughing and playing in the classroom, and they don't look like elementary school students.
Wang Junyang, wearing a green Mickey Mouse suit, sat in the first row of the classroom by the window.
He took out from his Ultraman hard-shell schoolbag, first took out a packet of Huazhan cakes, another box of large rolls, then several packets of figs, a packet of Mai Lisu, two packets of Orion Pie, two bottles of Wahaha...
That is, I didn't take out the first-grade Chinese textbook that was about to start.
After placing the desk full of snacks and drinks, he turned his head and found that Song Qiaoxi, who was at the same table, still had a hopeless expression, and quickly flipped through the first grade Chinese books.
He flattered and handed a bottle of Wahaha: "Xixi, Wahaha is delicious, do you drink it?"
Seeing her frowning and thinking about things, she thought that Wahaha was not attractive enough, and picked up a packet of Huazhan cakes: "Are you eating Huazhan cakes? The little pout on the top is like ice cream, and it melts in your mouth. Wow! Alas, I heard that you went to the train station by playing the 'yellow noodles' yourself. It's so cool! Next time you skip class, you can take me there with you, it's so cool!!!"
Song Qiaoxi glanced at Wang Junyang helplessly, and whispered, "Thank you, I won't eat, I won't skip class in the future."
How could she be angry, but she was worried in her heart. Did her father contact Chu Jin's uncle today
If you get in touch, you will never see him again.
The original book did not describe his 7-year-old in detail. It only said that Chu Jin was abandoned by other relatives, lived on the street and almost died. After being rescued by passers-by, he was sent to a reformatory where "problem children" were concentrated.
In this case, even if Chu Jin's uncle picked him up now, he would still abandon him soon.
His bad "anti-social behavior" in his youth was caused by this...
But no matter whether she was searching in old memories or new memories, Song Qiaoxi couldn't find a suitable way to keep him, she was so worried that she pouted and her beautiful eyebrows were twisted together.
This made the little friend mistakenly think that she was angry.
"Xixi, you, are you alright?" Wang Junyang's whole body was about to crack when she heard what she said.
Is this still the "little bully" Song Qiaoxi he knew who brought himself and Ding Yi or two little followers every day, was mischievous everywhere, climbed up the stairs, and was full of "children's social terms"
Wang Junyang turned his head and gave Ding Yi a wink in the back seat, signaling him to come closer.
Lowering his voice, he turned his hands into a microphone and said to him, "Our boss, what's the matter? Do you know what happened to her?"
After hearing this, Ding Yi shook his head, pushed his glasses, and pulled a heavy schoolbag from the hole in the table with a confused look.
He spread his hands to Wang Junyang, expressing incomprehension, and after thinking about it, Ding Yi weakly poked Song Qiaoxi's back.
Song Qiaoxi turned around and stared at the thin boy with glasses. He and Wang Junyang were both valetes in his compound, Ding Yi was born with a dragon and a phoenix, and there was a twin sister named Ding Miao.
Apart from wearing glasses, the two siblings are very different in appearance and personality. Ding Miao is quiet and reserved, and usually never plays with their "Little Three Gang".
However, Song Qiaoxi doesn't plan to be naughty in the future, and is considering disbanding the "Little Three Gang" that does things every day.
Seeing that Ding Yi opened the zipper of his schoolbag, he smiled at her embarrassedly, and pushed the schoolbag in front of her, making a strange "ding ping bang" sound inside the bag.
The next moment, Song Qiaoxi's scalp was numb, and her hands and feet felt cold in the heat of July.
"Boss, look at these bicycle bells, what are we doing..."