reborn stepfather

Thanks to the old man, I had no choice but to ask from house to house along the street, knocking on other people's doors in Hakka dialect that I am no longer fluent in: "Have you seen the children in Grandma Zhang's house?"

The people who opened the door would cast wary eyes around me, and then say, "I didn't see it." The door slammed shut against their noses.

I forgot when I asked which one it was, and then my heels hurt a little from walking, and the orange sunset was in front of me, hitting my eyes with light like a mockery.

I finally realized the meaning of Chi Qian's words deeply. I was like raising a potted plant. Sending money to the bank every month was like watering and fertilizing. Other than that, I didn't care about anything else.

The person who took care of him has been gone for more than half a year, and none of us know.

The last one I asked, the door was opened by a woman with a deformed figure after giving birth, and the cheapest curly hair in the barber shop

.

She leaned on the door and listened to my question, and said without thinking, "I don't know, I didn't see it." But the child hiding behind his lap yelled, "I know, I saw him living under the bridge." , and even competed with Dianma for a place to sleep."

"Dianma" is a local dialect, which is the kind of insane woman who is left alone. You can often see such people in the countryside, wearing plastic bags on their heads, wearing tattered clothes, and walking on the street with a nervous attitude. Mumbling to himself, and sometimes throwing stones at people.

I took two steps back, and the woman slammed the door directly, and she could clearly hear her loud and angry scolding from outside: "You went to the river to play again? I told you not to go! You are itchy, don't you?" ? Want to be slapped again, don’t you?”

The child was beaten until he yelled, "I didn't want to go, someone dragged me there!"

It was getting dark, and I was afraid that I would not be able to catch a car if I went late, so I trotted all the way to the river.

I searched the bridge holes one by one, but there was nothing there. I didn't give up, so I went back and searched again, still nothing.

I climbed to the top of the bridge, built a pergola with my hands, and looked across the river. There was another bridge a while away, and another one a little farther away. It was not the way to find it.

Looking at the somewhat yellowed river water, I was a little overwhelmed.

Just as I was about to go to the next bridge to have a look, a tin can rolled out from under the bridge, a dirty little hand stretched out to grab it back, and I ran down quickly.

The little boy huddled in a backlit corner, and there was half a door in front of him. He held the doorknob and hid himself in a blind corner like a shield. I walked past this door twice just now, and I didn’t expect anyone Can hide in such a small place.

Inside the door, he let out a few coughs pressed in his throat.

I took the door panel away from him, and he shrank in. It took him a long time before he dared to look up at me.

"Chi Qian?" I squatted in front of him, "Do you still recognize me?"

He was thinner than I remembered, with soft black hair pasted on his slightly thin eyebrows, and a pair of big black and white eyes, as if filled with clear water.

"Yeah." His voice was very soft, and he looked at me with clear eyes, "You think exactly as I do."

"Have you thought about me?"

"Well, grandma said, you will come to pick me up and ask me to wait for you."

I was silent for a while, raised my hand to stroke his hair, and involuntarily softened my tone: "Why don't you go home?"

His voice was still very soft: "It's raining, and the house is full of water, so I can't live in it."

After speaking, he seemed to want to cough, but dared not, so he tightly pursed his lips.

I touched his red cheeks, and then touched his forehead. The temperature was a little hot, and I quickly wanted to hug him: "I have a fever, I will take you to the doctor first."

He didn't seem to have much strength, so he dodged to the side softly, stretched out his hand to push me, and was afraid of touching me: "I'm dirty."

"It's not that you're dirty, it's that your clothes are dirty." I said, put my hands under him, picked him up, and bent over to get out of the bridge hole.

The setting sun was soaked in the water, only half of the red side was exposed, and there were pieces of gold floating on the river surface, twinkling and twinkling, so bright that one would squint his eyes.

He leaned on my shoulder and looked back. Behind the door was a square stove made of bricks. He told me that in winter he stuffed a handful of dried rice leaves in it and lit it with a lighter he picked up. Then, if there was choking smoke coming out, he would put the tin can on it and bake it, and then he would wrap it in his sleeve and hold it in his hand to keep warm.

Just spend the whole winter like this.

"After seeing the doctor, will I come back?" He leaned into my arms and asked, I knew he was afraid that the jar would be snatched away by scavengers or vagrants.

"Not coming back." I said, "After seeing the doctor, I will take you home."

"Your home?"

I rubbed his slumped body up and said, "Our home."

There is no hospital in Zhaoshui Village, there is only one clinic. Once inside, the people inside are so crowded that they can push out the people outside. There is no one queuing up, and they are huddled together in front of the counter. The smell of disinfectant is covered by the smell of pickled people It seems that everyone in the whole village has gathered here after sneezing and sniffling.

An old lady in the outermost circle glanced at me, and said in a strong Hakka accent, "Is the little devil sick?"

Before I could answer, she said again: "Don't wait here, your brat's brain will be burnt out by the time it gets dark, hurry up and see Pei Zhengxian at Daxiwei, there are few people there, wait for half a day It's the hour's turn."

I hurriedly asked her to tell me how to get there, and rushed over there with Chi Qian in my arms, but the aunt still told me: "Bring more money, he's expensive over there!"

Remembering her words, I stopped when I passed the Rural Credit Cooperative. I hugged him in one hand and took out my wallet in my pocket with the other. With a glance, he looked at the ATM machine and said, "I will press this too."

I didn't hear what he said after withdrawing the money: "Huh?"

"I come here to press it once a month, and then my uncle can use it to buy medicine for Grandma."

I clapped my hands, turned around and said, "Have you given all the money I sent you to uncle?"

"Yeah." He thought for a while, then added, "I also bought rice."

"Is the card for withdrawing money still available?"

He said: "It was taken by my uncle." After finishing speaking, he lowered his head with some guilt, as if he was blaming himself for not protecting what I gave him. He continued, "My uncle said that I would not give it to him. Don’t help me bury my grandma, let her rot in the room..."

Speaking of the last has dragged out crying.

I sighed.

He didn't dare to think about how a child under the age of nine came here in the past two years. Facing greedy and covetous relatives, he had only his old and sick great-grandmother by his side, but the great-grandmother was too old to give him protection. Stand up by yourself, use your weak shoulders to help your great-grandmother shelter from the wind and rain, and then struggle alone in the cold world, and survive the bitter wind and rain.

Fortunately, I still have the opportunity to do it again.

"I don't blame you, you've done a good job." I stroked his hair, but couldn't think of anything to comfort him for a while.

"Yeah." He lowered his head, squeezed his sleeves, and secretly wiped the corners of his eyes.

Pushing open the glass door, a child with thick head and thick brain suddenly jumped out and pointed at Chi Qian. First, he babbled at a fast speed. I didn't hear it clearly at all, but Chi Qian heard it clearly. Standing opposite the child with a blushing face, he retorted loudly: "My mother didn't kill anyone, I have a father! My father is earning a lot of money outside, and now he is back to pick me up!"

"Fart! My mother said that your mother is locked up! You can lie!" The child poohed on the ground, scratching his fingers: "Chi Qian is ashamed, shameless, with seven noses and eight noses." Face!"

Chi Qian stared wide-eyed and was gasping for breath. I was about to say something when he ran back, grabbed the corner of my clothes, and announced loudly, "I have a father, and this is my father!"

The child walked between me and him suspiciously, and asked in doubt, "Are you really his father?"

"Yes." I replied.

The child retreated as soon as he heard it, and disappeared in a flash.

After the child left, Chi Qian watched my face cautiously, and asked, "Are you angry?"

His hand holding my shirt was trembling.

I leaned over to hug him, kissed him in the ear, and said, "No, I'm not angry, I've never been someone else's father, and I'm very happy that you can tell others that I am your father. "

He raised his head, and I saw his eyes light up instantly, like fireflies flying from a lake full of water.

I put my hand on his forehead to test the temperature, it was still hot.

"Dizzy?"

He shook his head.

"Are you afraid of taking bitter medicine?"

Shaking his head.

"Are you afraid of injections?"

He hesitated this time, then shook his head, closed his eyes, and gently rubbed his face against my palm.

Because of his action, something in his heart seemed to be cracked, like sugar in his mouth, the outer shell melted, and the filling inside leaked out, warm and sweet.

The sky was already dark and turned into a kind of blue. The street lamps on both sides flickered a few times, one after another, I carried him and walked along the street lamps to the end of Daxi, casting a dim yellow light overhead. Our long shadows overlapped together, like a stream melting into a long river, inseparable.

The child tilted his head to look at the shadows under his feet, and slowly, slowly leaned his head on my shoulder, a strand of hair on his forehead fluctuated with the steps.

"Dad." He whispered.

"Ah."

"I have a father."

"Ah."

"dad."

"Ah."

"Thank you for coming to pick me up."

I hug him tight.