Jean Love

"Yes yes yes, it's great that they have a younger brother like you, it's great that we have a big brother like you, and help me build a building when the time comes, okay?" Seeing the big brother talking eloquently and boasting non-stop, I stood up again. Getting up, leaving, pacing, standing on the unfenced balcony on the second floor, memories emerged.

I remember when Xiaolin got married that year, I received a call from my brother-in-law, telling me the specific date. It was close to the New Year, and there was no holiday. In Jiaokou, it was the Spring Festival travel rush, we didn’t get the tickets for the day, we bought the tickets for the next morning, so we could only make do with a night in a room rented by fellow villagers in Guangzhou, and get up early the next day to rush back.

That evening, on the stairs and balcony rented by my fellow villagers, I dialed the phone number of my eldest brother-in-law’s house. A strange girl’s voice said a few words. I said I was looking for Xiaoying, and said it was her classmate. She was in a daze and didn't know who I was. I asked your mother to answer the phone, and I called my eldest sister's name and surname directly. I heard Xiaoying yelling stupidly through the receiver: "Mom, I'm looking for you."

I couldn't help not laughing, seriously, I chatted with my eldest sister, and the other party was also Monk Zhang Er who couldn't figure it out, and kept laughing, are you Sanniang?Are you Gensheng?Where are you?It's time to come over for dinner, my sister is calling other people's names indiscriminately, guessing indiscriminately.

"Forget it, forget it, you haven't figured out who I am after talking for a long time, tell your husband to answer the phone." I chanted my brother-in-law's name, I couldn't help it, but my voice was still serious and steady voice.

"Master Ye, the person looking for you seems to be Sanniang, it seems to be Gensheng, alas! I can't tell, come listen and see who it is." I heard my sister calling for her brother-in-law loudly.

"It's useless, hehe." The brother-in-law came, trotting up, and took the receiver: "Hello, who are you?" Gentle.

"Hey, it's Teacher Ye? Tomorrow is your son Xiaolin's wedding day. I'll make a phone call to congratulate you." I couldn't hold back the smile in my heart, and my words were leaking.

"Thank you, thank you, come and eat, hurry up." The other party spoke calmly, with a calm heart.

"I'll be there tomorrow, so I'll call to congratulate you first, and ask your groom's officer, Xiao Lin, to listen."

"Is it Mao Ya? This boy has a bone..." The brother-in-law pointed it out.

I finally laughed out loud, and the younger brother next to me also laughed out loud, and there was a small uproar on the other end of the phone. My sister, hehehe, hehehe, stood aside and raised her voice: "You can, you Okay, when will you learn to pretend to be someone else's voice, pretending to be so similar, fooling all of us..."

After more than half an hour and nearly an hour later, the younger brother still found it funny, took his own mobile phone, dialed the landline of his brother-in-law's house again, pinched his nose, and spoke in a muffled voice, but his few words were seen through.

The car arrived early the next morning and arrived in the town at two o'clock in the afternoon, and asked them to pick it up.

There is a large iron gate in front of it, with the words "Longwu Elementary School" written on the crossbrow at the top of the door frame.Outside the school gate, on the left hand side is a vegetable garden, surrounded by dead branches and thorns, in which are planted green leafy vegetables of various colors, as well as garlic sprouts, a tall and straight wintersweet has passed its flowering period, and a low and uneven loquat is The new buds are revealed, and there is an upward spring in the garden.

On the right hand side is a row of two low earth tile houses, the outer room is used to raise pigs, smell a pungent pig smell, see the black pig urine oozing from the bottom of the wall, and hear the sound of hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. The low railing wooden door was rattled by those beasts, and kept shaking.

The road is winding, the north wind is blowing, the vehicle is moving forward, and the appearance of the brother-in-law's house many years ago is imprinted in the mind, and the memory comes to mind. As the car advances and slowly enters the roadway, is the old scene gone?

The primary school is still the same as before, basically unchanged, the pigsty is still there, but it is empty and dry, with dry and white straw piled up, and the low clay tile houses that were used to live in are idle, less popular, then The low latticed wooden door looked decayed and incomplete, but it was still there.

It turns out that in the vegetable garden on the left, a two-three-story cement building has been built. The door is opened, and a thick layer of firecrackers and paper scraps are scattered all over the ground outside the door. Red tiles are pasted on the walls on both sides of the door. , there is a couplet on it that expresses the knot, red paper and black characters, the font is round and free, the handwriting is vigorous and powerful, and the pen is smooth and flowing, which is the great talent of the brother-in-law.

Before the sound of horns and firecrackers sounded, my sister came out, and my brother-in-law followed behind. My sister smiled happily, gathered around, raised a five-fingered hammer, pretended to hit my head, approached my forehead, replaced it with a hook, and scratched my head with my right index finger. Touch the bridge of my nose: "It's you who made trouble, you fooled all of us, and you're still so calm and composed." After speaking, we spread our arms, and our siblings hugged each other politely, and then turned to greet our younger brother.

The brother-in-law hahaha, holding something in his hand, followed behind, and greeted enthusiastically: "Come, come, come back, come in and sit." With a round belly and a round face, he grinned like a Maitreya Buddha, That gray hair, in my opinion, is a bit of a spoiler. "Oh, are you hungry? The food is still hot, so let's eat it like this. We've eaten it before, so we haven't waited for you." The mahogany dining table in the middle of the living room is full of dishes, and the brother-in-law moved the crowded bowl and bowl slightly. , introduce them one by one.

"There are Coke, Sprite, red wine, what to drink, what to drink?" My sister took it from the side of the TV, held it in her hand, and asked.

"Eat first, don't drink on an empty stomach, drink after eating, it's past two o'clock." Someone in the crowd suggested that the cousins ​​and sisters-in-law who work in Shenzhen arrived first, took their children, and sat scattered in the hall , eating melon seeds, smiling.

"Dad..., Dad..." I heard a small and immature voice coming from the other side of the table. Holding the table legs timidly, tilting his neck and tilting his face, he looked at me from afar, with surprise, shyness and fear in his eyes.

"Hehe, Quan'er is good." I walked over slowly, squatted down, spread my arms, and picked him up, "Quan'er, who brought you here?" The little guy raised his little hand and pointed to the crowd.The little guy had just learned to call people at that time, and when he saw me coming, he recognized me and clung to me.His hands were around my neck, holding the melting candy in his hands, it was sticky.

Arrived at two o'clock, left at four o'clock, and had a missed lunch.Big sister’s house, that time, that group of relatives, that atmosphere, those laughter, that house, that kind of decoration, has become my clearest memory so far, and I have never been there since then, not because of anything else, but because of my inner fear , What they pay attention to may often be what I want to avoid, so I have been avoiding and hiding it, and it is better to miss it than to meet each other!When I mention it today, when I think of it, the joy is still there, vividly in my mind.

"Yes, I like the big sister's house better." I came down from the second floor again, near the stainless steel dining table. Sister Xinlan and the eldest brother were already full, and the eldest brother was holding a toothpick in his hand. Clean up the dishes.

"If you like it, build one quickly," said the elder brother.

"Let's talk about it at that time. When will you renovate here? Hurry up and renovate. The effect will be better if you renovate." I said.

"What's the hurry, if you have time, do it yourself, just take your time."

"You also do the decoration yourself?"

"That's not it! I didn't do the plumbing, floor tiles, and wall painting. You can ask your sister-in-law, your sister!" The elder brother put on a disdainful expression again.Then he said: "During this period of time, I have been extremely busy. I have been urging everywhere, asking for sand and bricks. I can't do it. I have no skills. I have to let my house go first!"

"Oh, I know you are amazing!" I interrupted him, sternly.

"Hey, I want to ask how my brother Chen Xiong has been doing at home these past few months?"

"Oh, he, does he look like a farmer? He idles around all day, both his parents-in-law, and sleeps until eight or nine in the morning. When it's sunny and rainy, he takes double share of card games. He also carries a box and plays chess everywhere. I don't know if I can make money, but I don't know how much. I just said how much land I will plant this year, and I don't see that he has a plan. At least he has a clear arrangement. Fertilizers, pesticides, grain seeds, these are the most basic, oh, light will Say, can you get a farmer out of the field? It takes hard work..." When it comes to Chen Xiong, the big brother is also a big basket of words.

"Will he still go to gamble?" I frowned.

"Why not? I go there often. If you have money, you can gamble big. If you don't have money, you can gamble small. This time, he borrowed 200 yuan from me to buy groceries during the Ching Ming Festival, but he told you not to tell you. Just give me the money back, such a kid!"

"I know he has no money, but I don't know that he is so poor that he still wants to gamble."

"If you don't believe me, ask your sister."

"I think it is wise to choose to come back based on his current situation. He has brains and strength. He is willing to work in the countryside. He will not be like that outside. At least the accommodation is free, food and vegetables are self-sufficient, and other expenses are not big. "Thinking of my brother's figure and appearance, comparing his likes and dislikes with his words and deeds, I always feel an invisible pressure, a feeling of sadness rises in my heart, I shake my head helplessly, thinking about his current situation, if he doesn't work hard to make money, how will he live , Grandma is in her 80s, Huaner is only three or four years old, and his wife is more than ten years younger than him. She is like a child and doesn't know how to take care of everything. It's a separation, we basically didn't take it, and we have plenty of food and oil, but what about next year?What about in the future?Don't he and she really have no sense of crisis?Or am I taking things too seriously?