Red Sea Town

Mother Qin's small shop has two storefronts. Half of one shop is the counter of a small shop, the back is the toilet and kitchen, and the one next to it is where she and her daughter live.Fairly spacious.Qin's mother tidied up the house, and placed an old desktop computer on a small desk.

There are two rooms upstairs in Qin’s mother’s house, but they are both empty. The stairs go up from the outside. Qin’s mother only said that the downstairs is quite spacious. The upstairs has bought some useless furniture, and it’s nothing to worry about. I've been there before, and it's similar to the situation upstairs at the food stall.

Lu Li looked at the computer and found that it was infected with a virus, so he installed the anti-virus software for Qin Ma, killed the virus and updated the software.

When I went out to call someone, I found that Mother Qin had soaked the basket of clothes in a big tub in the toilet.

Someone wanted to buy something, so Mother Qin went to the store.

Lu Li took advantage of the time to surf the Internet. All he wanted to do was log into his mailbox. He saw a bunch of spam emails and questions and interviews from various media. The countless emails he sent in the past eight months asking for help were overwhelming. No one ever replied.

Lu Li searched for his father's name on the browser. The computer ran a bit slow, but soon a full screen of reports about Lu Jingyun's imprisonment and all kinds of ironic news and links came out.

There are also various news about Lu Li looking for him.Now, Dad is in prison, and everyone wants to find him, and then see his distraught appearance.

Lu Li turned off the computer, feeling uncomfortable.

When Uncle Guang saw him coming out of Qin Ma's place, he lost all thought of playing cards.

The owner of the barber shop played cards. Uncle Guang stopped playing cards when he heard that the computer had been repaired, and said he was going to make a video call with his son.

The expectant smile on that face is the expression of a father who is attached to his son.Lu Li seemed to have never seen such a smile on Lu Jingyun's face.

Soon there were quarrels of aunts and uncles grabbing computers from the grocery store.

Lu Li suddenly said to himself, "Do they like each other? Mother Qin said that they have been arguing for seven or eight years?" Lu Li just felt incredible.

Qi Ji didn't know when he stood behind Lu Li and put his hands on his shoulders, smiling at Lu Li with a face like the boy finally saw it.

"Mama Qin and you gossip a lot upstairs, right?" Qi Ji asked.

"Mother Qin said, if you have some money and no son, she and her daughter are willing to marry you together." Lu Li moved his hands on his shoulders.Back to the garage.

"Tsk tsk, let me just say, the whole town, men, women and children regard me as the lover of their dreams." Qi Ji shamelessly followed behind him, "But, tsk tsk, if I have money, I'd better hire you first."

Lu Li didn't look back, but rolled his eyes.

However, he did see a separate compartment in the garage, which was probably the car Qin Ma said Mr. Qi Ji was playing with.

on Tuesday.

Lu Li was woken up early in the morning by the noise outside.

Xuanxuan had already woken up, and there was the sound of water in the upstairs bathroom.The rolling door has been pulled open.

It was only then that Lu Li remembered that Mother Qin said that there was a market outside the gate on Tuesday.

It didn't take long for Xuanxuan's footsteps to "dong dong dong—" and ran on it for a while, and then there was a crackling sound of four feet, that should be Xiao Huang.

Qi Ji bought breakfast and came back.Seeing Lu Li's sleepy face and curled hair, holding a plate in one hand, he went to the edge of the sofa and rubbed Lu Li's head with his free hand.

Lu Li promised that if he wasn't holding the breakfast he was going to eat later in his other hand, he would have knocked Qi Ji to the ground.

"I asked the breakfast shop to make pure pork buns. Come up and eat something before going to bed. The downstairs is noisy." Qi Ji had enough kneading, and went upstairs by himself.As usual, it was the sound of calling Xiao Huang out of the room, and as usual, it was the sound of placing chairs and stools upstairs.

Xuanxuan seemed very excited today, so he finished his breakfast in a few mouthfuls, then went to the house and took out a piece of paper and stuffed it to Qi Ji: "Dad, this is what we are going to buy, don't forget, roll paper , towels, toothpaste and underwear—”

Xuanxuan yelled so loudly that the steamed buns in Lu Li's mouth were about to be sprayed out.

"Ahem——" Xuanxuan patted him seriously and said: "Daddy's underwear is gray, mine is white, Uncle Qi Guang is blue, and Grandpa Hong is black. I counted them last week. Yo. I think I should also buy 7 pairs of underwear for Uncle Lu, so that I don’t have to compete with my father for underwear! I think about it, there is only...uh, white ones at Aunt Wang’s stall. Dad, you can buy it for Uncle Lu. White."

Xuanxuan said it like a big deal.

This also reminded Lu Li of the fact that he was wearing someone else's underwear, and suddenly lost his appetite.

Qi Ji casually glanced at the piece of paper, said that he understood, and continued to stuff food into his mouth. Lu Li definitely saw that he was smiling with his mouth crooked.

Xuanxuan had already run back to the house, wrote several pens on the paper, and then took it out to his father and said, "Dad, don't forget, I asked you to buy socks last week, if mother Qin hadn't reminded you, this week you You and Uncle Lu are both barefoot! If Dad has fried chestnuts, remember to buy them for me. The pears from the grandmother’s house are also delicious. Uncle Lu has never eaten them. I wrote them all on it. Dad must buy them. ,must!"

The worried child was busy early in the morning, and the little yellow dog ran after him.

After Xuanxuan told her three times, she finally went to school.Someone downstairs called Qi Ji.

——"Boss Qi, the mattress you asked for has been brought to you!"

……

In the afternoon Xuanxuan ran home all the way.

Qin's mother was chatting with the proprietress of the barber shop over melon seeds, and when she saw Xuanxuan running away, she shouted profusely, "Xuanxuan, slow down, your father didn't forget to buy the fried chestnuts you want, and I'm still waiting for you today." There are strawberries, go back and eat."

Xuanxuan was overjoyed when he heard it, and first ran to Qin's mother to kiss his relatives.

"Dad—wow." As soon as Xuanxuan entered the garage, he saw a Simmons cushion on a double bed against the wall, and forgot to go upstairs to find something delicious.

"Dad, this is great! Did you buy it?"

Qi Ji was sitting on the ground with his legs spread apart, screaming at the tires, looked at his son and said, "This is for your Uncle Lu to sleep."

"Ah, Dad, this bed is so soft! It's as soft as the bed at Qin's mother's house." Xuanxuan poked Sim Mengsi, who was still lying on the wall, with a curious expression on his face.

Qi Ji frowned: "Your boy is growing up, sleeping Simmons is not tall, so sleep well on your wooden bed."

"But I want to sleep on this soft bed!" The kid was always curious about new things.

"Then you sleep downstairs alone at night." Qi Ji knocked on it, dropped the wrench in his hand, grabbed the one that was one size bigger and continued to work hard.

Xuanxuan was already hugging Simmons's mattress and shaking his head: "I don't want to sleep downstairs alone. I will sleep with Uncle Lu at night, he is so soft!"

"What did you say?" Qi Ji thought he had heard wrong.

So Xuanxuan repeated: "I slept with Uncle Lu, Uncle Lu is soft and fragrant, and his skin is smooth!"

Xuanxuan looked at his father's expression while talking, and saw Qi Ji glaring at him, so he hurried upstairs to eat the fried chestnuts his father bought for him.

Soon the food stall next door also quickly became busy.

The food stall business is the best on Tuesday, with more than a dozen tables of guests sitting inside and out, and it is very lively.The qualifiers are showing on TV again. Today is the last round of the national football match. Anyway, if you win or not, you will not be able to qualify, so there are not many guests watching the game, smoking, chattering, drinking too much and talking about their children. Loud ones, everywhere.

Lu Li has also been working for a week, and he is quite proficient at serving food, but there are too many people, and the outside is fine. The kitchen is full of cooking smoke, and the smoke from the customers smoking in the store makes him feel uncomfortable.

A lot of things actually happened today.

It was the first time he saw the bazaar in Honghai Town. The 30-meter-long road outside was filled with villagers from several surrounding towns.It was the first time that Lu Li saw clothes bought by the catty, socks and underwear that cost ten yuan a dozen, and all kinds of gaudy but very cheap daily necessities.

Qi Ji gave him 200 yuan, saying that it was an advance payment for his wages, and the original words were: "Go and buy something if you need it." Then he looked at the long white long sleeves on Lu Li and shrugged his nose and said, "You It's really awkward to wear my clothes." After speaking, he took Xuanxuan's list and made friends with the stall owners one by one.

Lu Li never thought that one day he would be reduced to choosing clothes to wear on himself from several big bags.I asked the boss, and the boss said that some clothes were picked up at the door of rich people, and some were recycled by people in the city who didn't want them.Lu Li stood in front of the clothes stall for a long time, but he didn't squeeze into the crowd of women squatting there choosing clothes.

"It's cheaper here, don't you like that I'll take Xuanxuan to the county seat next week, and I'll take you to buy it along the way?" Qi Ji said behind Lu Li.

Lu Li thought for a while, and waited for the aunts to pick out a few floral dresses and leave before he mustered up the courage to choose clothes.

"If you see a T-shirt that fits, take more. It's easy to wear at work. Mother Qin can change the pants that don't fit well. Oh, by the way, I bought underwear for you. Xuanxuan asked you to buy white ones, okay?" Qi Ji The voice is old and loud.Lu Li felt that everyone in the town was looking at him.

Lu Li couldn't pick out any clothes. The last two pairs of trousers, three tops, and two T-shirts cost only 40 yuan.Qin's mother came late, and she praised Lu Li for her good eyesight, but he helped wash some stains on the clothes.

The mattress in the morning was 300 yuan. Lu Li heard that Qi Ji was negotiating the price with the boss, but Qi Ji paid him and didn't mention anything to him.

In the afternoon, Lu Li was drying three rows of clothes that Mother Qin helped them wash on the terrace. Qi Ji half-lyed on the handle of the stairs on the terrace, threw him a bottle of Coke, smiled and said, "Not bad, not bad, I thought you Master Hui has a bad temper and doesn’t wear old clothes, and cuts corners when he works, but now it seems—tsk tsk, he’s approachable, and it’s okay for work.”

Lu Li smiled awkwardly.Looking down at the flip-flops, casually rolled trouser legs and jacket with holes in the cuffs, I feel that I look exactly like the residents of the town.That's what he wants isn't it?Some things he can't accept, so he hides.

"I spent eight months imagining what it would be like to lose everything, and now it's much better than the worst I could imagine." Lu Li laughed at himself.

"Don't worry, you're still beautiful." Qi Ji was holding a beer in his hand, he had already finished a few sips, and went downstairs. "The mattress downstairs is for you to sleep on. It's too big. Put it down before going to bed at night." Qi Ji said calmly downstairs: "Tsk tsk, I originally wanted to pay for a single person, but Lao Zhang made one." This big one, anyway, the second-hand size is the same price, so it’s cheaper for you.”

Lu Li felt that Qi Ji was just like Qin Ma said, he was a very good person.

Qi Ji worked very hard.At night, he was busy until the food stalls closed, and he was always the last to take a shower and close the door at home.

When Xuanxuan got up in the morning, he also got up and worked in the garage for a day. If anyone in the town needed help, he would go there with just a phone call.

Lu Li only once saw Qi Ji dozing off on the broken sofa where he slept at night. Qi Ji was tall, lying on the sofa with his legs out, with a fancy peaked cap on his head, and a free hand. fell off the sofa.

……

And Qi Ji was really kind to him.The mouth is always not so willing to say.

Knowing that he fell off the sofa while sleeping, he got a mattress.

Knowing that he is allergic to seafood, now there are always meat dishes that are not seafood in the daily dishes.

……

In fact, Qi Ji is very kind to everyone.

To be precise, Lu Li felt that the people in this town, at least the people around him, treated everyone very well.

It's more like a paradise here.

Compared with the palatial world he'd lived in for twenty-six years, and the dirty world he'd seen in the past eight months of power-money dealings that went downhill—

Really another simple place.

Lu Li felt that he had nothing to complain about or be dissatisfied with.

It would be nice if this kind of life could continue forever.

That night, in the kitchen, Uncle Guang was making two plates of chopped pepper fish heads ordered outside.

Lu Li felt a little uncomfortable from the spicy smell of the chopped peppers, so he held back two bowls of vegetables with one hand.

Outside, Qi Ji was leaning in front of the lottery machine and was booed by everyone to compete with Mr. Hong and blow smoke rings.

On the TV, the national football team has fallen behind by [-] to [-]. Everyone is swearing and drinking, and it is very lively.

Qi Ji had been drinking with Uncle Zhang all night, and Lu Li could hear the man's voice, the one who brought the mattress in the morning.

Qi Ji drank a little too much, and everyone coaxed him together and refused to admit defeat, obviously even his hand to light a cigarette for Mr. Hong was a little unsteady.Pulling the old man to fight the old man.

Lu Li was standing next to Qi Ji's table. He wanted to go outside to get some fresh air, but the tables next to him moved their stools over, waiting to watch the show.Lu Li couldn't go anywhere.

He heard Uncle Zhang say: "We used to say that our old man Hong is the number one smoke ring master in Honghai Town. Today, let's see if the juniors can defeat our old smoker!"

The surrounding villagers booed.

Soon someone shouted: "Start!"

Lu Li saw that Mr. Hong and Qi Ji took a puff of cigarettes, and then filled the floor with smoke rings that grew from small to large.

Everyone shouted rhythmically: "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8..."

At this time, cheers from the audience happened to come from the TV outside.

It was the national football team that scored a goal.

It's just that few people pay attention to the TV, and everyone is counting the smoke rings.

——"17, 18, 19..."

"Well——" Mr. Hong was the first to blow out the smoke from his mouth.

Qi Ji continued: "20, 21, 22, 23..."

Seeing that he had won, Qi Ji spit out all the smoke from his mouth, and drew an arc with his fingers. Lu Li saw that the unbroken smoke rings turned into a line inconceivably, heading in the direction of Qi Ji's finger. Float over.

It's beautiful and amazing.

It's just that Qi Ji's last hand stopped in front of him, and Lu Li felt a haze in front of him.

All of a sudden, he couldn't breathe.

Everyone present was shocked by the picture in the next second.

Here the old man and Qi Ji are still hooking up and flattering each other.

The little brother who was doing odd jobs while standing in the room before suddenly crouched down clutching his chest.

Qi Ji heard the noise around him, and immediately helped Lu Li who was squatting down.

Everyone was startled.Qi Ji frowned and dragged him outside.He found a chair for Lu Li to sit down on. The man blushed, buried his head in his arms, and lay on the table as if he couldn't breathe.Has been holding back panting.

"Hey, don't be scary, what's the matter, why don't you feel uncomfortable?" Qi Ji went to pat Lu Li's back to help him breathe, but it seemed that the more he patted the man, the more he was panting.

Lu Li couldn't speak. He pointed forward and covered his chest again, as if he felt even more uncomfortable.

I don't know who shouted: "Is this asthma? The daughter of Sanniang next door to me seems to be like this. Sometimes she wheezes like this in the middle of the night."

"Then what should we do?" Qi Ji asked loudly.

"His daughter is not very good, she will be fine in a while."

"I'll send him to the hospital next door, you eat first." Qi Ji had heard of asthma.The man had gasped like this once before when he smoked in front of him.It's just that he coughed twice.

Qi Ji felt a little regretful, and hugged Lu Li in his arms, and found that this person was much lighter than he imagined.

At this time, Uncle Guang chased him out and shouted: "Qi Ji, I watched those who had asthma on TV, didn't they just spray medicine into their mouths? That's how it was shown on TV in Hong Kong!"

Qi Ji hurriedly asked the person in his arms: "Where is your medicine? Are you taking the medicine?"

Lu Li's hand was still pointing forward, still feeling too uncomfortable, so he grabbed Qi Ji's vest and pulled it tightly.

Qi Ji suddenly thought of something, carried him directly to the sofa in the garage, and looked for things everywhere.

Didn't see what he wanted, so he yelled to the second floor: "Xuanxuan, do you remember when Uncle Lu came with a bag, do you know where to put it?!"

Before he finished speaking, Qi Jiren had already reached the second floor.

"I know!" Xuanxuan went to find a bag under the bed.Handed it to the anxious father: "Uncle Lu asked me to keep it for him."

Xuanxuan brought Xiao Huang into the house to do homework with him.Qi Ji was too lazy to tell his son to continue doing his homework, and walked downstairs while picking up his bag.

It was a black briefcase, and inside the bag were stacks of unidentified documents.

Qi Ji shook and heard another voice, and opened another bag.

Sure enough, he found a medicine that looked like the nozzle that Uncle Guang said - a small yellow bottle set on a plastic, Qi Ji stuffed the medicine in Lu Li's hand, and the man had a lot of effort to spray the medicine on the mouth.

It's only a few tens of seconds.Lu Li's breath became steady, and it took him a long time to recover from the sweat all over his body.

Qi Ji was also slowing down.

He saw Lu Li sitting up, saw the briefcase in Qi Ji's hands, and the documents and his belongings that had been spilled on the sofa. His face seemed to have been splashed with a layer of white paint.Pale and pale.

"Well, are you okay?" Qi Ji was also anxious just now, and buckled the whole bag.

He saw some large characters in those documents, which seemed to be Lu Jingyun's court verdict.What fell out was the phone wallet and Lu Li's bottle of medicine.

"Asthma." Lu Li put away the documents sullenly.

The wallet was spilled on the ground, Qi Ji could see that Lu Li's face was serious when he saw the spilled things, and hurried to pick it up for him, but he also saw the photos in the transparent compartment of the opened wallet——

The person in the photo is Lu Li, fatter than now, wearing a clean shirt and trousers, smiling like the most beautiful sunrise by the sea he has ever seen.

In the photo, Lu Li was hugged by a man.

Behind them is the sea...