flawed

Qi Nuliang walked to the window, and saw Jiang Yu running all the way on the open space in front of the building.Within 2 minutes, he ran out of the community and disappeared into the alley.

I don't know where the child is going, but since he can stay here alone for two years, he will naturally have a place to go, Qi Nuliang is not very worried.He looked back at the house again, seeing that it was not a place for people to live in, so he closed the door and went to find a place to pay utility bills first.

When I got out of the building, a young woman walked towards me.She is wrapped in a floral cotton dress, wearing a pair of plush slippers, holding a cigarette in her right hand and a bag of breakfast in her left hand. She looks like a resident of this community.

Qi Nuliang walked up: "Excuse me, excuse me, do you know how to pay the water and electricity bills in this community?"

The woman opened her sleepy eyes and looked the man up and down.She looks different from her thick-browed, big-eyed sweet sister, who opened her mouth with a rough, smoky voice: "You just moved here?"

Qi Nuliang thought for a while, and it seemed the same, so he nodded.

The woman gave him directions, go out the gate, turn left, go straight to the second intersection, turn right... The scarlet nails dazzled Qi Nuliang's eyes.

But after a while of pointing, she confused herself first: "It's hard to find that place, I'll take you there."

"Will it be too much trouble for you?"

"It's okay, it's not far away, but it's hard to find."

Now that everyone said so, Qi Nuliang had no choice but to thank him, and then followed.

"My name is Bamei Rong, which unit are you from?"

Qi Nuliang remembered the mottled words on the door opening: "Unit three."

"Oh, next to it, I'm in Unit [-]. What's your name?"

"Qi Nuliang...the neat 'Qi', the 'crossbow' of the bow and crossbow, the excellent 'liang'."

"one person?"

"Bring my nephew...it's Jiang Yu." He guessed that the residents here should all know Jiang Yu.

Sure enough, when he heard the name, Bamei Rong gave him a sideways look and asked in surprise, "Is Jiang Yu your nephew?"

"Well, Yao Huilan is my sister. Are you familiar with her?"

"Yao Huilan..." Bamei Rong pondered for a moment, "Not very familiar."

Seeing that she didn't want to say more, Qi Nuliang didn't ask any more.

Turning and turning, they walked to a row of private houses on the back street, Bamei Rong pointed to the man squatting at the door drinking tofu nao: "Someone pays the water and electricity bills." Then Qi Nuliang said, "He will take you to pay. "

Bamei Rong left, and the man who collected the water and electricity bills went back to the house to collect the meter reading belongings, and then followed Qi Nuliang.

"We all read the meter once a month, use it first and then collect it. Why, is the water or electricity cut off?"

Qi Nuliang handed the man a cigarette: "It's all over, Jiang Yu's."

The man took a puff of cigarette: "...It's not like he's bullying a child, he's already used more than that. We're also working for others, and if we can't pay, we have to post it ourselves."

Qi Nuliang nodded, expressing his understanding.

The man took two puffs of his cigarette, looked at Qi Nuliang and rolled his eyes: "What do you think of Bamei Rong?"

"..."

"It's pretty..." The man exhaled the smoke and licked his lower lip. He laughed twice, "She brought you here? Maybe it's interesting to you."

"..." Qi Nuliang was even more confused.

The man spat: "But it's a pity, it's not good for this woman to be a wife."

Qi Nuliang couldn't understand what he said at all, so he didn't talk to him.

The waiter copied the water and electricity again, and paid off the previous arrears. Not long after the person went back, the water and electricity in the house came.

The only electrical appliances in the house were a few light bulbs, and half of them were broken, so Qi Nuliang went to buy some more light bulbs to replace.

When Jiang Yu was still missing at noon, Qi Nuliang had a meal by himself in the small restaurant downstairs.After eating, I went to buy some cleaning tools and took them upstairs.

The house is dirty, but because there is nothing, it is easy to clean, and only spends the most time in the bathroom.

There is a broken paint bucket in the corner of the bathroom, probably after the water was cut off, the child filled the water to flush the toilet.But in the stair room on the fourth floor, it is difficult for younger children to carry water up from other places.

In the end, only the room where Jiang Yu lived remained.Qi Nuliang stood at the door and thought for a while, then stretched out his hand and pushed it away.

There are a little more things in this room, including a bed, a desk, and a wardrobe without a door.The springs in the middle of the mattress on the bed were all collapsed, and there was a bed of cotton wadding that was so dirty that the background color could not be seen.Qi Nuliang stretched out his hand and pinched it, the cotton wool was as cold and hard as dead bread.In such a cold day, it is no wonder that the child has frostbite on his face and hands.

Qi Nuliang felt a little sad, if Yao Huilan knew that her son was suffering like this in this world, she would be so sad.Thinking that she was gone, Qi Nuliang felt even more uncomfortable.

He carried the mattress downstairs with the batting to throw it away.There is no store near the daily chemical factory, so he asked all the way to Hongcheng, and bought mattresses, sofa cushions and some bedding in the furniture city.

By the time he pulled these things back and laid them out, the sky was already getting dark.He sat on the sofa with new cushions in the living room and smoked, waiting for Jiang Yu to come back.

When the child first went out, he felt that there was nothing to worry about, but he hadn't seen anyone for a whole day, and it was getting dark soon, and he hadn't returned yet, so he was a little anxious.After taking his last puff of cigarette, Qi Nuliang couldn't wait any longer, he had to look for it.

As soon as he opened the door, he met Jiang Yu's face just right.

The child was panting, his red face was steaming, his hair roots were drenched with sweat, his back was bent, his thin body was carried on an old cushion like a turtle shell, and a string of empty drink bottles was still hanging around his neck.

Jiang Yu usually restrained himself and did not dare to provoke people who were taller and older than him at will.But when he saw Qi Nuliang at this time, he couldn't help asking angrily: "Why did you throw my things..."

Before he finished speaking, Jiang Yu caught a glimpse of the bright lights in the room from the door.He raised his head, and the hair curtains covering his eyes slid to the sides. His eyes were stung by the bright light, and he was in a daze for a moment, remembering when his mother was still there.

"This one can't sleep anymore, so I bought a new one for you." Qi Nuliang said, and pushed the cushion on Jiang Yu's back aside, took his arm, and walked into the room.

Jiang Yu was a little dazed, and when he stood in front of his room, he found that there were new mattresses and quilts on the bed.The quilt has white flowers on a yellow background, and a brown bear pattern.

Jiang Yu didn't know what happened, but felt like he was dreaming.He bent his fingers and pinched the palm of his hand with his nails. It didn't hurt. Was it really a dream?

The man pressed his palms to the top of his head, it was warm.

"Come on, let's go eat something, what do you want to eat?"

Hearing eating, Jiang Yu swallowed immediately, and looked back at the man, confirming that this was not a dream.In his dream, he would always be full of fish and meat, but only in this reality would he be as hungry as he is now.

Today's "harvest" is not good, and the soy milk and fried dough sticks in the morning are not enough to fill my belly. With the money left over from the previous day, after going out for another meal in the morning, I haven't eaten anything again.It was too late to bring back the bottles I picked up, and the waste collectors also collected them, but they couldn't exchange them for money. I thought I would only be hungry again tonight.

He took the bottle off his neck and put it under the bed, and tried to drag the mattress back into the house.The spring inside is made of iron, and it can be sold for money when it is removed.

Qi Nuliang stepped forward to help, it was his fault for throwing away the children's things.The mat weighed at least twenty or thirty catties, how did the child drag it up.

Under the dim street lights, the two walked in the alley one after the other.After nightfall, the temperature outside has reached below zero, very cold.The alleys are full of the smell of food, the smell of home-cooked food seems to be frozen by the cold air, and after a short walk, there is a new smell, which can be recognized by anyone's food.

Smelling this smell, Jiang Yu was even more hungry and panicked, so he quickened his pace.

He knew the way well and led Qi Nuliang to old man Deng's beef noodle restaurant.When standing at the door, he looked up at the man, as if seeking his approval.

Qi Nuliang nodded.

Pushing aside the greasy thick door curtain, the smell of beef and the hot mist wove into a wet towel, covering Jiang Yu's face together, he took a deep breath, he liked the smell.

The proprietress called his name and was about to drive him away, but when she saw the man behind him, she suddenly stopped talking.

Qi Nuliang asked: "What do you eat?"

The child didn't speak, but looked at the glistening red beef in the bowl of the guest next to him without moving his eyes, and just swallowed his saliva.Qi Nuliang went to the window and asked for two bowls of beef noodles.

After a while, the noodle came out, and when the proprietress put it in front of Jiang Yu, she put it down heavily, and some of the soup in the noodle spilled out.Jiang Yu didn't care about other people's faces and attitudes at all, grabbed the chopsticks, stirred the noodles, and searched carefully.

Qi Nuliang finished mixing the noodles a few times, seeing that Jiang Yu was still turning over, he thought he could not mix the noodles: "Do you want me to mix it for you?"

Jiang Yu shook his head.

Seeing his strange behavior, and remembering that when he ate deep-fried dough sticks in the morning, he also separated and searched carefully, Qi Nuliang asked, "What are you looking for?"

Jiang Yu still shook his head, then picked up a small half bowl of noodles, stuffed them into his mouth, and started eating.

It's delicious, it's so delicious, he hasn't had this beef noodle for a long time.Although the meat is a bit short and the noodles are not enough, it is a great happiness to be able to eat such a meal.

As for Qi Nuliang's question just now, he was looking for other "ingredients" in the food.

During these days of wandering, Jiang Yu has learned a lot, "There are very few things that are good for no reason in the world, but there are many things that are bad for no reason" is one of them.

He has eaten fried rice with stones, cake with nails hidden, bread with razor blades, biscuits with dog shit and drinks mixed with urine.Knocked out a big loose tooth, drew a mouth full of blood, because it smelled bad, didn't eat the biscuit, didn't let others watch the show, and was slapped.

Mom was right when she said don't eat from strangers.

But he was so hungry.

Fried rice can still be eaten by picking out the stones, as well as cakes and bread with "ingredients", as long as he is careful.

He believed that old man Deng would not give him those things, but the noodles were brought out by the lady boss, who hated him very much.

Qi Nuliang had just eaten two mouthfuls, when he looked up, he saw that the bowl in front of Jiang Yu was empty, not even soup left, and then stared straight at his bowl.

Qi Nuliang smiled wryly in his heart, dragged Jiang Yu's bowl over, gave him more than half of the noodles from his own bowl, gave him all the remaining pieces of beef, and pushed the bowl back to Jiang Yu.

Jiang Yu's gaze finally moved away from the food, and he just stared at him with a pair of big eyes, which were full of bewilderment and puzzlement.

"Eat."

These two words were like an order, and the boy who got the order held the bowl again, and the wind swept away the food and put it into his mouth, ignoring Qi Nuliang to let him eat slowly, don't choke on his words.

On the way back, the two were still in front of each other, Qi Nuliang was smoking to fill his half full stomach.It's just that I didn't expect the child to be able to eat so much despite being so small. It seems that next time I will have to ask for a big bowl for him.

Qi Nuliang still slept on the sofa at night, he bought himself a few new cushions, and he felt much more comfortable now.I also bought a quilt, so I wouldn't be too cold to fall asleep in the middle of the night like I did the night before.

And Jiang Yu was in his own room, but he was afraid to go to bed after closing the door.He was too dirty, and the new mattress and quilt were fluffy and clean.At the same time, he was very happy, buried his face in the bear's quilt, and sucked in the brand new smell on it.

Finally, he changed into his "cleanest" clothes from the closet, and then carefully lay down in the bed.

It's soft, warm, and comfortable, like sleeping with my mother.

In winter, he was afraid that he would catch cold by kicking the quilt, so his mother would always sleep with him.Let him press the side of the quilt under his body, roll up all the gaps where the air leaks, and sandwich his cold feet between his calves to keep him warm.

Every night before going to bed, he had to think about his mother for a while before falling asleep, and he thought about it especially tonight.

Mom will also bring him vegetables during meals, give him the delicious food first, and let him eat enough, only saying that he is not hungry or likes it.

Jiang Yu shrank his whole body into the bed, curled up into a ball, covered with a thick and warm quilt tonight, obviously not that cold, but he couldn't help hugging his knees.

Mother……