Quick Wear: Cousin, Come to the Bowl Quickly

The day Lin Xi and Song Guanwen left the Hongguang Brigade, the whole village became lively.

It was just daybreak and the frost had not yet dissipated, but the village entrance was already crowded with people. Women wearing faded headscarves carried bamboo baskets, old men with their trouser legs rolled up to their knees smoked dry pipes, and even the laziest idlers on weekdays were squatting on the roadside stones early in the morning.

Except for the elderly who could not walk, almost the entire brigade, including villagers from several neighboring villages, rushed over, blocking both sides of the loess road.

This commotion was not because they were particularly close to the educated youth couple, but because the farmers, whose farthest place they had ever been to in their lives was the county town, wanted to see what kind of extraordinary talents this young couple who had both been admitted to the capital had.

"The capital..." Someone in the crowd sighed first, which immediately triggered a murmur. That was the wonderful place that the older generation had been talking about all their lives.

I heard from technicians who have been to the capital that the Great Wall lies on the mountain ridge, and the cracks in the blue bricks reveal thousands of years of stories. Standing on the wall and looking down, the clouds are floating under your belt.

As for Tiananmen Square, it is even more amazing, with its glittering golden glazed tiles, high red walls, and the photo of the great man smiling kindly in the center.

The square is so big that it can easily accommodate everyone in the commune, young and old. Every day at dawn, the soldiers would raise the national flag to the sky. Their footsteps were so loud that just hearing the sound on the radio would make one feel warm inside.

"Xiao Song, when you arrive in the capital, don't forget us, your fellow villagers."

"This is a small gift from our team. You and Xiaolin must accept it."

Under the crooked old locust tree with all its leaves fallen off at the entrance of the village, Song Guanwen was surrounded by the brigade cadres, who patted his shoulders and shook his hands, saying polite words like "If you become rich and powerful, we will never forget each other."

Three steps away, Lin Xi was surrounded by a group of children and could hardly move. These little naughty monkeys who could never sit still in class were now clinging to her like clingy kittens and couldn't get rid of her no matter what.

"teacher LIN……"

The chubby little Tiedan wiped his nose with his dirty sleeves, stretched out his dark little hands to grab the corner of Lin Xi's clothes, and looked up at her with tears in his eyes.

"My grandma said that when you go to Beijing, you'll be like the top scholar in the opera and will never come back to this poor place like ours. Is what she said true?"

"You grandma are talking nonsense!"

Before Lin Xi could say anything, Chunni, who was wearing pigtails beside her, stomped her feet. The little girl raised her face with tears hanging on her eyelashes.

"Teacher Lin taught us last time that 'you must keep your word and keep your promise.' If you promised to come back to see us, you must come back, right?"

"Of course, I promised you that I will definitely keep my promise. I will come back to see you next summer vacation."

Lin Xi squatted down, gently wiped away the tears from the little girl's face, and smiled very gently.

The smell of the earth with lingering morning dew mixed with the sweat of the children hit her face, making her nasal cavity feel a little sour.

"Next summer vacation is still a long time away. The teacher won't forget us, right?" Hu Zi, who had a rosy round face, suddenly squeezed over and looked at Lin Xi eagerly.

"Of course not..." Lin Xi shook her head, but before she could finish her words, she was hurriedly interrupted by a skinny little girl beside her.

"Teacher Lin, these are the candy wrappers I saved. They're all for you!" Xiaofang, who was usually the timidest, took out a handful of wrinkled candy wrappers from her pocket and carefully put them into Lin Xi's hand. "When you see them, you'll think of us."

"Yes, yes, yes, and my marbles!" Hu Zi hurriedly took out a few glass beads from his trouser pocket and was about to stuff them into Lin Xi's hand. "These are my most beautiful ones. Teacher Lin, you can play with them, but don't forget us."

"I just picked the persimmons this morning."

"The eggs my mother gave me."

"My brother gave me this pencil."

"I made the rabbit myself."

As if they had suddenly made an appointment, a dozen or so little figures wrapped in bulky cotton-padded jackets suddenly surrounded her. Their hands were red from the cold, but they scrambled to pull out their treasured "treasures" from their patched pockets and the lining of their torn cotton-padded jackets, and stuffed them all into Lin Xi's hands.

The tender voices of children rose one after another, and their red, frozen faces were full of anxiety. The white breath of the children floated in the damp and cold air, which made Lin Xi feel a pang of nasal soreness.

She held these small objects that still had body temperature in her hands, her fingertips trembling slightly, and a drop of warm tear fell uncontrollably on the glass bead handed to her by Hu Zi.

"Teacher, keep them all." Lin Xi's voice was a little choked. She put all the treasures away, wiped her face with her sleeve, turned around and took out a handful of candies from her bag. The colorful candy wrappers sparkled in the morning light, and the children's eyes widened immediately.

"I'll bring you candies next year when I come back." As she distributed candies, she touched the children's heads one by one and patiently reminded them, "You must study hard, write neatly, and complete your homework on time. When you are admitted to a university in the capital, I will take you to Tiananmen Square to watch the flag-raising ceremony and climb the Great Wall..."

As he was speaking, Song Guanwen, who had already said goodbye to the captain and the others, came over. Seeing Lin Xi being pestered by the children, he couldn't help but laugh.

"Do your math homework well. If I come back next summer and see you still failing math, watch your butt."

Song Guanwen walked up to Lin Xi, stretched out his hand to grab Hu Zi, who was making the most noise, and "warned" him with a serious face. Hu Zi, who had been acting coquettishly in front of Lin Xi, suddenly trembled, like a kitten with its neck pinched, shrinking its neck and burrowing into the crowd. Seeing this, the other children covered their mouths and laughed.

Seeing that he had calmed down, Song Guanwen couldn't help but look at Lin Xi with a smile. He took the bag from her hand with one hand, held her slightly cold fingertips with the other hand, and said softly, "Let's go. If you're any later, you won't be able to catch the bus to work."

"Yeah." Lin Xi sniffed, waved to the children, turned around and left the village with Song Guanwen.