sunk into the earth

Cheng Sheng slept until noon the next day. When he rubbed his eyes and got up from the bed, he found that he was alone in the room. Even the pillows next to him were put into the closet, as if no one had ever slept here. .

Hearing the commotion in the bedroom, Grandma Li came in wearing an apron and carrying a black iron pot. She always turned her elbows outward, and she hated poor people the most. Let Cheng Sheng down first, "Do you still know how to get up? Xiao Zhang wakes up at 06:30 in the morning, helps me wash the vegetables and clean up the house, and then leaves after finishing. Look at you, you are older than him Big, looks like a lazy pig."

Cheng Sheng's mind was still rusted, and he was scolded all over his face first. The embarrassing images of last night kept flashing in his mind, his eyes stared blankly at the wall in front of him, dry and gray, and muttered in a low voice: "Leave now? Without saying a word?"

Grandma Li didn't know what he was talking about, so she returned to the kitchen with the pot in her hands, and urged Cheng Sheng as she walked: "Get up and wash up quickly, and eat tomato stewed noodles at noon."

Cheng Sheng slowly got up from the bed. He was wearing the pajamas that Zhang Chen handed him last night. Cheng Sheng slowly brought his nose close to his pajamas and sniffed hard, but he didn't smell anyone else's smell at all. The smell of cotton cloth mixed with body wash.He was a little disappointed, got out of bed with a sullen face and went to wash up.

The tomato stewed noodles at noon were made into tomato soup noodles by Grandma Li, and Cheng Sheng took two chopsticks to pick and choose in the porcelain bowl in distaste, and couldn't help but comment: "Your cooking skills are as good as my guitar skills. "

"Come on, I can cook better than your guitar. If you eat less snacks, your mouth will be spoiled."

Grandma Li wanted to continue to scold her grandson, but she suddenly thought of something in the middle of speaking, put down the chopsticks in her hand, raised her head and said to Cheng Sheng who was opposite her: "Someday Xiao Zhang will come home again, let him make it for you once, he will do it for you." Fan is better than me. I also learned from him last time about oily meat. Don't look at him as a fair and clean young man. He works in Triso, and his posture of cutting vegetables and meat is better than your mother and your aunt. A few times Kungfu has taught me."

Cheng Sheng was stuffing chopstick noodles into his mouth, puffing out his cheeks, and asked his grandma inarticulately: "What the hell is he doing? Isn't he a student? Why is he here to fix things again?"

"Did he tell you he was a student?"

Grandma Li glanced at her grandson in surprise, and sighed: "People of the same age are different, and they open up to the bottom in one night. Xiao Zhang didn't like to chat with me before, he was bored, and he left after finishing work. Only then would you like to talk to me.”

"You're serious, what the hell is he doing?"

"What else can you do to make money? Do you think that you have nowhere to use your strength every day?"

Cheng Sheng put down the bowl, and asked again: "Where's his master? Are high school students released to make money?"

"His mother has been laid off. The No. [-] Iron and Steel Plant where his father worked, just north of the train station, is also being laid off. He hasn't been paid for several months. The workers in Wuyang Wuyang are standing in the factory, being beaten Leaders pick and choose which one to keep, which is almost the same as being laid off. The family is going to be in trouble, and it doesn’t matter if the students are students or not?

Cheng Sheng didn't play tricks anymore, stirred the noodles with his chopsticks, and ate up the porcelain bowl.

Inadvertently, he raised his head and glanced at the window, just in time to see a coal train in the distance, a dozen dark old carriages crowded together, the inside was so full of coal that it was almost overflowing, and the front of the train popped out. The black smoke just drew out a dense black hook, which slowly melted into the air.

Cheng Sheng was fascinated.

But he is just a bystander at the moment, like the emaciated refugee body in the appreciation materials in the photography appreciation class, he is separated by a transparent wall, so he can't really enter here.

He doesn't understand, he still doesn't understand, of course he doesn't understand, just like weeds don't understand winter, rhinos don't understand deserts, and those who aim at the stars and seas can't see the lava flowing underground, he is a man with sufficient nourishment and cannot find Any way to understand people walking under the dry city.

But the unforgettable sight of that night has always tormented Cheng Sheng. During the day, he would always hold his unskilled guitar and play a few chords, and then that sight would naturally enter his score, even Zhang Chen couldn't say it. The status quo of life has become the source of his imagination.Of course he couldn't play any tricks, just kept going back to that night with a few chords.

He wandered around for a whole week, in a daze for a week, thinking about that boy who was completely different from him almost all the time, could he be called a poor man?But can the poor be so clean and beautiful?Are poor people so indifferent and self-confident?Are money and emotions a community that advances and retreats together?Cheng Sheng couldn't understand this, and the hot fire in his body rose again, just blocking the pinhole that was pierced by Zhang Chen's light glance that night.Cheng Sheng searched all over but couldn't find the pinhole. It was hidden, or it was originally invisible.

The days in summer go slowly, and the daylight is torn into a large piece of sticky glue. Cheng Sheng finally couldn't bear it anymore. He ran to ask his grandma for the address of Zhang Shen's house, but grandma said that she didn't know the exact address, but only knew that it was the Sangang Family Court. Shen Yixiang came to the door with a toolbox by himself, no one knew where his family lived, and everyone only had a string of Zhang's phone number.

These words made Cheng Sheng anxious, and he went to the refrigerator to open a bottle of soda, and drank it clean after a few sips.

Call up?This can't be done, they only met once, not even acquaintance, what are you talking about on the phone?

The iced soda only calmed down Cheng Sheng for a while, and soon he was walking around the old house impatiently, with whitewashed walls, an old TV, a sofa cover embroidered with peonies, and The shiny silver radiator behind the sofa.

The moment he reached the radiator, Cheng Sheng tensed up all over. Holding his breath, he approached the row of radiators that looked a little old, and touched them tentatively. The cast iron surface was very rough. Cheng Sheng put his finger on the radiator. I feel an indescribable pleasure when rubbing it back and forth.He looked back and saw that grandma was already busy in the kitchen, the pots and pans were jingling, and she was preparing today's dinner.

Cheng Sheng stood up and walked to the balcony. According to his childhood memory, he rummaged through the army green iron cabinet that was almost as tall as him, and finally found an almost rusty iron ax in the innermost layer.He carefully picked up the wooden handle and weighed the axe. It wasn't particularly heavy, it looked like a few catties.

The range hood in the kitchen rumbled loudly, and grandma closed the door. She didn't see Cheng Sheng coming out of the balcony just now. He was squatting in front of the radiator with an ax to look at it.

There are slender iron pipes attached to both sides of the radiator. Cheng Sheng's eyes wandered back and forth between the radiator in the middle and the pipes on both sides. Finally, after a few rounds of sweeping, he gritted his teeth and made a decision. An arm holding an ax slid He lifted it up and hit the bottom corner of the radiator with a bang.

This time, Cheng Sheng didn't dare to use all his strength, fearing that the noise would draw the grandma out of the kitchen.But this fluttering only cracked a few small holes on the surface of the radiator, and the water inside was still firmly contained.

Cheng Sheng looked at the gaps above and began to sweat on his forehead, but he couldn't hold back, and swung the ax again with his breath.This time he worked hard, the iron radiator immediately made a bang, and the crack spread a long way along the iron layer, and the water inside finally leaked out of the crack and dripped on the tiles.

The rumbling noise of the range hood in the kitchen is still going on, and there are occasional sounds of chopping spoons and grandma humming.

Cheng Sheng wiped the sweat from his forehead with his arm, put the ax back into the balcony cabinet, walked back to his bedroom as if nothing happened, and fell down on his bed with all his strength.

What are you doing?crazy?It seems not, he just desperately needs a chance, a chance to see the owner of that glance again, he just chose a not-so-good way to create this chance.

The loud noise of the range hood in the kitchen stopped, and Titi's footsteps sounded. Cheng Sheng looked at the ceiling, and then listened to the movement in the living room.Sure enough, before he could finish counting the number of scratch marks on the ceiling, he heard grandma exclaim.

"What's going on? Why did the radiator crack in summer?"

Within a few seconds, grandma started yelling into the bedroom: "Sound! Come out and help grandma go to the bathroom to get a basin. I don't know why the radiator in our house is cracked."

Cheng Sheng turned over and jumped out of bed, and while pretending to mutter "what's going on", he ran to the bathroom to pick up a bright red plastic basin, carried it to the living room, and handed it to grandma who was squatting in front of the radiator for inspection.Grandma placed the basin next to the place where the water was constantly dripping down, looked left and right at the cracks, then looked back at her grandson with suspicious eyes, and said: "Why did the cracks suddenly appear? Did you touch the radiator? Did your musical instruments accidentally hit it?"

"How can it be? Don't blame me!"

Cheng Sheng immediately pretended to be aggrieved, and defended: "I was lying in the room just now, and my guitar and drum are all made of wood, how could there be a hole?"

Grandma Li withdrew her gaze in doubt, slapped Cheng Sheng on the back, and urged him: "Hurry up and call Xiao Zhang to take a look. It will be troublesome if there are more leaks in a while."

Cheng Sheng let out an "hey", and Le Diandian ran to the coffee table to look through the phone book, his eyes followed the alphabetical order, and finally found Zhang Chen's phone number and dialed it.

When Cheng Sheng received the phone call, Zhang Chen was having dinner with Zhang Licheng and Li Xiaoyun around a small tea table. There were sesame oil and shredded potatoes with cold salad, a plate of peanuts, and a few side dishes. The family of three were eating dinner slowly, and the topic happened to be Chengxi Design. Grandma Li's house in the hospital.

Zhang Licheng poured a full glass of white wine into his own glass, added half a glass to the small glass in front of Zhang Chen, and mysteriously told the mother and son the gossip he had heard recently, "The one who always asks our house to fix things Do you remember Mrs. Li?"

Speaking of this, Zhang Licheng immediately changed into a tone that had never seen the world, "The old lady has a lot of background, her man is the chief designer of our Yuncheng Design Institute, and the surname Cheng was not in Beijing a few years ago." Yes, her eldest son is now a professor at Peking University. Wen/////Ge was criticized at that time, just like the sports car old Liu at our train station, who was tied up and hung up with ropes. A teacher At that time, even the students dared to beat him, tsk! Her second child is better than the eldest, he is a civilian officer in the military region, and there are guards guarding the house! I heard that he can get this amount in a month..."

Zhang Licheng stretched his neck and made an exaggerated gesture, and continued to mutter, "Why do you think this life is so unfair? We have been divided into three, six, and nine classes at birth, why can't we be reincarnated into this kind of family?"

Both mother and son didn't say a word, they ate their own food in silence.

Zhang Chen didn't have the slightest interest in gossip about his neighbors, he just grabbed the peanuts on the plate with his chopsticks, put them into his mouth one by one, and took a few sips of the white wine his father had just poured for him.

But when Zhang Licheng talked about the neighbors in the neighborhood, he was like a crow with a greased mouth. Even if no one paid attention to him, his rough voice would flow out, "This old lady is really unlucky, the eldest son and wife can't have children. The two couldn't live without each other, but the second daughter-in-law gave birth to her a grandson, who was about the same age as Shen Shen, but he was very weird, and he always made strange things. If you want me to say that this is a student who went to college, the more educated he is The more sick your brain is, you see that Yang Mingming, the opposite door, will go to the mine early and there will be no such shit."

He was in high spirits, and originally planned to continue talking, but the red plastic phone on the coffee table suddenly jingled and rang wildly.

Zhang Licheng had no choice but to give up, took a sip of white wine to moisten his dry throat after chewing the gossip, pointed his index finger to the phone, and naturally ordered Zhang Chen: "Pick up the phone, there is probably another job coming."

Zhang Chen put down his chopsticks and walked over to pick up the phone. Before he could say "Hello", he was overwhelmed by the enthusiastic voice on the other side. It was a voice that was neither unfamiliar nor familiar.

Zhang Licheng sipped his wine, pricked up his ears, and glanced at his son from time to time.After answering the phone, Zhang Chen frowned and listened to the conversation for a long time, before he said a few words, "Close the entrance valve first, and I will go there right away."

The other side seems to be talking about a lot of details, Zhang Chen is still frowning and listening, and he will teach the people over there how to do it in detail after listening to everything, "There is a wrench-like thing next to the radiator, and that is the entrance valve. , Pull it up, I will deal with the rest, don’t move around.”

After Zhang Chen hung up the phone, Zhang Licheng asked his son thoughtfully, "Isn't Grandma Li's home? I heard the voice of a young man."

Zhang Chen conveniently picked up a loose black short-sleeve from the sofa, casually put it on over the vest, and answered Zhang Xincheng somewhat perfunctorily: "It's Grandma Li's house. That was his grandson just now."

Zhang Licheng gave a meaningful "Oh" and said casually: "The one in the compound? You remember to build a good relationship with him, maybe you can use it in the future, and now you rely on connections wherever you go."

Zhang Chen pursed his lips, said "I don't know him again", and went to the balcony cabinet to pick up a few tools, stuffed them into his black backpack, picked up the backpack strap and put it on his shoulder before going out.

Zhang Licheng leaned on the dining table with one arm, and shouted dissatisfiedly at his son's back: "You listen to the adults, your father will not harm you, and you will lose ten years of work if you make a powerful friend. Eat relationship!"

Zhang Chen gripped the strap of his schoolbag tightly, took a deep breath, and slammed the door shut. The last words that flowed into his ears were Zhang Licheng and Li Xiaoyun chanting: "Sooner or later, this stubborn temper will suffer, sooner or later... "

Zhang Chen ignored it, went downstairs and unlocked the motorcycle, carried the backpack that was hanging loosely on one shoulder, stepped on the motorcycle stand, flipped on the motorcycle, twisted the handlebars a few times skillfully, and Bencheng went west to Grandma Cheng's house and left.

Cheng Sheng changed out of his pajamas on purpose, put on a thin shirt, fidgeted on the sofa and waited for almost 20 minutes before he finally heard a gentle knock on the door.He stood up abruptly, took two deep breaths before running to open the door.

Grandma’s house still had the original old iron gate, which jingled when it was pulled up. The ear-piercing sound gave Cheng Sheng a sense of security. He opened the door with a bang, and greeted people before they could see clearly: “You finally Come, if you don’t come again, grandma’s house will be flooded!”

After speaking, he glanced at Zhang Chen at the door, who was much taller than him, wearing a loose black T-shirt and overalls, with a backpack on one shoulder, looking at him with lowered eyes.

"Isn't the valve already closed? It can't be flooded."

He was watching Cheng Sheng nervously, and invited him in with two disguised "hey hey", just at this time grandma poked her head out from the living room, saw the two of them entering the door side by side, and greeted Zhang Chen warmly first: "Chen Chen is here!" ? Let me see if you want to replace it with a new one?"

Zhang Chen greeted his grandma, but ignored Cheng Sheng who was standing aside, walked to the radiator and squatted down, went back to his old business, and carefully looked at several large cracks.

He hadn't looked at it for a minute, then turned his head, looked at Cheng Sheng thoughtfully, and said to his grandfather and grandson, "It's man-made, it should be smashed out by an ax or something."

As soon as these words came out, both grandparents and grandchildren were in a daze, and a miserable voice gradually rose from the bottom of Cheng Sheng's heart: It's over, they were all discovered, it's too embarrassing.

"Cheng Sheng!"

The grandmother on the side suddenly straightened up, slapped Cheng Sheng on the back, and scolded him: "Did you do it? Why did you smash the radiator? Isn't your father's place enough for you?"

Cheng Sheng opened his mouth, but found himself speechless.

If Cheng Sheng's low-minded moments in life were ranked in order, the incident of smashing the radiator would definitely be nailed to the pillar of shame in his life forever with the title of number one.He subconsciously glanced at Zhang Chen next to him, and found that he was watching a play with his arms folded, as if he had seen it a long time ago.

Grandma has decided that he must have smashed the radiator, and scolded him beside him for a good meal. She also found out all the old accounts from middle and high school. On the head of the class teacher, scolded Cheng Sheng, a talented student from a scholarly family, as worthless, not as likable as a high school student who repairs water and electricity.

The grandma realized that she was ashamed when she was tired of scolding, and there was an outsider watching the whole process. She felt embarrassed after realizing it, restrained the arrogance of just admonishing others, patted Zhang Chen's arm next to her, and said, "It just so happens that the heating system in my house The film is also very old, it's time to replace it with a new one."

As she spoke, she took out a few bills from her pocket, handed them to Zhang Chen, and said, "Get grandma a new one, it's not enough to ask Cheng Sheng for it, this little bastard has a lot of private money."

Zhang Chen held the money in his hand, didn't say much, packed his things neatly and planned to go out.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Cheng Sheng called him from behind.

"The building materials market on the north side of the train station."

Cheng Sheng said "Oh", quickly caught up with Zhang Chen's rhythm without taking anything, and put his arms around half of his shoulders, "I'll go with you, run errands for you, you teach me these things. ? "

When Grandma Li heard this, she immediately responded and said, "Let him go with you, he has no common sense, and you almost mistook the valve when you didn't come."

As soon as Grandma Li spoke, Zhang Chen didn't know what to do. He turned his head to look at Cheng Sheng with a look of expectation on his face, without the slightest hint of shame for ruining things.Zhang Chen finally understood what his father said at this moment, this man probably has a really sick mind.

The two of them went downstairs one after the other. Zhang Chen unlocked the motorcycle, unloaded his schoolbag and sat on it, then turned around and threw the schoolbag to Cheng Sheng, saying, "You sit in the back, you have to hold this."

Cheng Sheng responded and ran over quickly, catching him on his back.He looked left and right curiously at the two black motorcycles. He had ridden on the old Santana and the [-]th bar, but he had never ridden on a motorcycle, so he didn't know where to get on.Zhang Chen waited for a long time, but when he saw no movement behind him, he was reminded: "Step on the pedals and come up."

Only then did Cheng Sheng let out a quick "Oh", stepped on the pedals, and climbed up the back seat smoothly with his legs stretched high.

The location of the motorcycle was small, and the two of them were so close that their backs and chests were almost touching each other. Cheng Sheng was a little flustered, and kept his balance on both sides of the motorcycle with both hands.The person in front didn't seem to feel anything, just reminded Cheng Sheng, "I'm leaving."

Cheng Sheng said "hmm".

The person in front said again: "Hold my waist, or I will fall off."

Cheng Sheng nervously withdrew his hands from both sides of the motorcycle and moved them to the sides of the waist of the person in front. He hesitated for a few seconds before slowly tightening his arms along the waistline of the person in front.But before he had time to really hug him tightly, there was a buzzing sound of a motorcycle engine starting in his ears, and the next second his body slammed into Zhang Chen's back following the inertia.

Cheng Sheng didn't get up this time, he put his head on Zhang Chen's back, his arms tightly around his waist, he didn't dare to do it too obviously, he could only pretend that he was afraid of falling off.The people in front didn't say anything, just focused on the road, twisting the handlebars to shuttle back and forth on the concrete roads of this small town.

The evening wind kept passing through them, blowing their thin clothes like leaves on both sides of the wind.The hair on their foreheads was all messed up, and Cheng Sheng didn't care this time, he leaned against Zhang Chen's back, thinking: This radiator is really worth it.