River City Story

After a night of heavy rain, the shantytowns in the eastern suburbs of Xicheng revealed their original appearance after a long absence.This place was originally famous, called Linshui Street, because there is a small river ditch three meters wide on the periphery.In the past, the water quality was clear, and residents could chat and wash clothes on both sides of the ditch, but now it has become a garbage dump, and mosquitoes are rampant all year round.At the beginning of the new millennium, everyone was busy building buildings in the city center where land prices soared, and building factories in the designated high-tech zone. No one was willing to take care of this nail block hidden in the corner of the city.

If someone is willing to spend 10 minutes walking from the street to the end of the street through the half-finger-deep water, they will find that this place actually has its merits.

Camphor trees with luxuriant branches and leaves grow everywhere among the crowded residents, decorating this dilapidated place the size of a stadium like a filming location for a literary film.The people who live here also have their own busy careers, but most of them are active in various construction sites and garment factories.

Rent in Linshui Street is cheap, two or three thousand yuan can even be rented for half a year. If you don’t have enough money, you can procrastinate. No one asks them for a deposit, and no one blocks the door to collect debts.The original owners of the house can't always remember how many dilapidated, moss-covered old houses still exist here.

At the end of Linshui Street, there is an old ancestral hall, which interprets what is really "in disrepair" in an extremely standard way, and a couplet that is not very smooth is hung at the door.The first couplet: the four seasons are smooth, the wind is positive and the rain is calm, the second couplet: the heaven and earth are full of sons, filial piety and grandson sages.Because of the torrential rain last night, a small part of the pitifully few tiles on the roof of the ancestral hall was overturned.The dripping raindrops on the eaves formed small puddles in front of the door, and a fat cat with a smooth body was yawning leisurely in front of the window.

Suddenly, there was a boy's roar in the room.

"Xu Jialin! Get up quickly! Our house is leaking again! My schoolbag is wet!"

The big fat cat seemed to be deaf. It lightly covered its face with its paws, then carefully licked all four paws with its tongue, and fell into a deep sleep contentedly.

"Old man Xu! Get up quickly! Your old man's property will collapse soon!" The boy ran out while talking, the blue schoolbag in his hand was soaked, and the broken zipper could barely protect one side. Half of the fourth-grade math workbook was exposed.

The middle-aged man who was called by the boy's first name rolled up the blanket on the bed, closed his eyes and shouted out: "Baby boy, you have to call me uncle! Also! You don't eat, be careful to grow up so short!"

The boy took three steps at a time, jumped over the accumulated water on the ground and ran to the door, and shouted again: "Even the old fat cat won't eat the food you cook!"

With a bang, a cloth shoe flew out of the window, "Lin Yan, you are a wolf-hearted little thing!"

Say I'm a wolf-hearted dog, and I don't look at who cooks dinner every day. Is the food you cook edible.The boy named Lin Yan stepped out of the house in disbelief, and when he saw his classmates waiting at the door, a dazzling smile appeared on his face.

"Go, go, it's too late!"

"Have you been reprimanded by the smelly old man again?" The young man walking beside Lin Yan was half a head taller than him. He said while stuffing a paper bag into Lin Yan's bag, and tried to help pull the school bag up, but he worked hard for a long time It didn't work either, so I had to give up.

Lin Yan turned around and took out the paper bag, looked at it for a while, and muttered, "Hey, he's just like that, he never really scolded me. Don't keep bringing me breakfast, I'm so sorry."

He returned the paper bag to Cai Hengyuan, ran to someone's faucet to wash his hands, and then stretched his arms around the shoulders of the friend next to him.Helpless, no one is taller, and looks a little funny.

"Hey! Student Cai Hengyuan, the organization thinks that you can slow down a little bit so that the crowd can catch up with you!" Lin Yan stretched out his index finger and gestured in the air.

This boy named Cai Hengyuan, although he still looks like a child, his expressions and movements are more mature and calm than Lin Yan.

"My mother said, you haven't started to grow yet, just eat more." Cai Hengyuan said as he walked to the other side of Lin Yan, "By the way, have you checked the weather forecast, it will still be here this afternoon. It's raining, you didn't bring an umbrella, did you?"

Lin Yan raised his small face, squinted at the sky divided by the clothesline, and said indifferently: "Hey, I'm not afraid of that thing. As the saying goes, it's June, the face of a child, it must be right away." It will be sunny."

"Hey...you..." Cai Hengyuan sighed like an adult, "When school is over, remember to find a place where you can see people and wait for me, and we will go back together when the time comes."

"Alright, classmate Cai!" Lin Yan paused, blinked and made a salute gesture to Cai Hengyuan.

At 07:30 in the morning, the sun passed over the densely packed dilapidated tube buildings, and strips of light fell on their shoulders.Except for the old man pushing the tricycle who occasionally passes by selling breakfast, the other residents have already got up and went to work.

Linshui Street at this time is quiet and peaceful.Shallow puddles of water were scattered in random order on the street, each of which reflected a small part of the sky above the head. The two children, one in front of the other, crossed the narrow alley in a hopscotch-like motion.

Five minutes before the morning reading, Lin Yan and Cai Hengyuan rushed to the school out of breath, and the vice principal stood at the gate and nodded.The two bent their backs and focused on speeding up, heading towards their respective classes.

"Look where the sun is shining. You come so late and you can't even get out of bed. How can you be successful in the future?! You students, you just live too well. It's not like when I was young..."

"It's not like when I was a child. I didn't have enough food to wear, and I had to go out with adults to hang out. Oh, I've had enough of that sweet potato. Every day is sweet potato pancakes..." The child's clear voice came from the school. The transmission came from the corridor, and the vice-principal was so angry that his glasses almost shattered.

"It's you again! Lin Yan! Be honest with me!"

"Hahaha! Lin Yan is still your bull!" There was a burst of laughter from the class.

In Lin Yan's impression, Xu Jialin was considered a poor man, but this poor man with no money and power, somehow, sent him to the No. [-] Experimental Primary School in Xicheng.The Second Primary School is the oldest elementary school in the city. It is older than the old janitor. Over the years, it has cultivated many capable people. Those who go abroad, do business, engage in scientific research, and engage in politics. Alumni often come back to do charity.The school spirit of No. [-] Primary School is open, but the examination style is comparable to that of a middle school graduating class. There are small exams every week and big exams every month. Most of the students trained have amazing test scores.

It's a pity that the current Lin Yan is not a good student for the time being. Although his grades occasionally rank in the top ten in the stage test, the teachers are very troubled by his crazy personality.In the fourth grade, he only brought back one certificate to Xu Jialin, which was the "Labor Model Award". Xu Jialin was very happy at the time, and specially went out to make an exquisite photo frame to frame it. At this time, this certificate was still hanging in the front of the hall middle wall.

Lin Yan walked to his desk, took out a book and stuffed it into the hole of the desk, stretched his body and yawned long. He didn't fall asleep because of the heavy rain at night.The tablemate Sun Linlin leaned over and approached his ear mysteriously.

"Hey, Lin Yan, Xie Xiaomin from class three, do you know him?"

"...Ah? Who?" Lin Yan frowned and turned his head.

"Thank you! Xiao! Min!" Sun Linlin could only shout helplessly.

Lin Yan picked out his ears, and after searching carefully in his mind, he suddenly realized: "Oh, you said, I knew her before, but I don't know her now."

Sun Linlin still didn't give up, grabbed Lin Yan's arm and said, "Do you know her home phone number?"

Lin Yan sighed, took out the exercise set and handed it to the passing study committee member, then picked up a pen, wrote a series of numbers on the draft paper, threw it to Sun Linlin, and said, "Her family has moved away from Linshui Street, I don't know the number." Change it or not, try it yourself."

Sun Linlin hugged Lin Yan happily and took a bite, "You are indeed the most handsome in our class! I love you!"

"Are you disgusting?" Lin Yan wiped his cheek vigorously, and lay down again to catch up on sleep.

After the rain, there was wind blowing in through the window, with the smell of wet plants, which made people fall asleep, and a restless lock of hair dangling on top of his head looked quite cute.

Lin Yan fell into a shallow sleep in the noise of the class as if no one was there, until he was woken up by the math teacher hitting him with a chalk tip.

He is a special existence in the class. Lin Yan seems to never put his mind on his studies. Although his grades can only be considered fair most of the time, they are not in the forty or fifty places. Mathematics and The natural sciences are particularly outstanding.The Second Elementary School is different from other elementary schools. There is an English class from the second grade, and the content is simple. However, Lin Yan is serious about subjects. Three years later, he still does not understand English.The average scores of several subjects really made the teacher feel helpless.

Lin Yan's math teacher is a gentle woman in her thirties named Chen Shan. She has a good lecture style and takes him seriously.

"Lin Yan, what happened to your math homework?"

Lin Yan rubbed his eyes, and replied blankly: "It rained last night, and I got wet by accident."

"You child." Chen Shan patted Lin Yan's head lightly with the book, "Come to my office after class at noon, the teacher has something to ask you."

"Oh." Lin Yan nodded obediently, spread out the textbook, patted his ears with both hands, and waited for the class to start.

His seat was very close to the front, and he listened to the class with a serious expression every time. If he didn't know Lin Yan very well, then at first glance, most teachers would think that this child must be very attentive to his studies.However, this is not the case outside of class. Lin Yan is quite popular in the small circle of the fourth grade. Girls think he looks cute and easy to joke, while boys think of him as a buddy.

After the morning class, Lin Yan ran to the bathroom amidst the greetings all over the hallway, and then hurried downstairs to Chen Shan's office. When he opened the door, he found that Cai Hengyuan was also there.

"Lin Yan!" Cai Hengyuan called him happily.

Lin Yan scratched his head and looked around the office, "Lao Cai, you are here, where is Mr. Chen?" His school uniform was a bit too big, and the sleeves reached the palms, only the tips of his fingers were exposed.Cai Hengyuan felt that Lin Yan's appearance was very similar to the kitten at home.

"I wanted to ask this morning, where is your summer school uniform, isn't it hot?"

"I got wet last night, so I can't wear it. It's chilly next to my body." Lin Yan said, pushing up his sleeves vigorously.It's just that the clothes are too fat, and he is too thin, and his sleeves go up and down repeatedly. In short, he is very disobedient.The more Cai Hengyuan looked at it, the more he felt that Lin Yan looked like a cat, and the kind that bit his own tail and turned around.

The two children waited boredly in the office for some time before Chen Shan hurried back with her textbooks and a sewing kit in her hand.She went to her desk and opened the drawer, took out two brand new notebooks, and stuffed them into Lin Yan's hands.

"You don't need to use the original one, it can be used as a calculation book after class."

Lin Yan chuckled and said thank you for taking it away without refusing.

"By the way, tomorrow Saturday, get up early, come to my house at nine o'clock, and work up English with Hengyuan." Chen Shan took out her wallet and handed it to Cai Hengyuan who was standing beside her, "Go and buy two lunches, you two don't go back We're in class, and we'll have lunch here." Cai Hengyuan nodded and walked out of the office.

"Mr. Chen, no need, I'll go back now..." Lin Yan waved his hands again and again, rubbing oil on the soles of his feet, and planned to run behind Cai Hengyuan, but when he turned around, he was stopped by Chen Shan.

"It's fine to go back. I have to bring your schoolbag. I'll see if I can repair it."

"Long live Teacher Chen!" Lin Yanfeng ran away likewise.

Chen Shan looked at the young figure who disappeared at the door, and shook her head helplessly.

Cai Hengyuan came back very quickly. He only bought two small wontons from the school gate. Lin Yan ate so little that he couldn't finish one serving, which was enough for the two of them.

In the office, Chen Shan was holding a needle to help Lin Yan sew a schoolbag. The zipper of his schoolbag was not easy to repair, and Chen Shan could only add a few buttons to it.

"Where's Lin Yan?" Cai Hengyuan looked around.

"I don't know where he went. This kid is thinner than you. Remember to take the schoolbag for him." Chen Shan sewed the last button and said to Cai Hengyuan.

Lin Yan returned to his class and was about to buy lunch when he realized that his schoolbag was not there.Such a simple little thing made Lin Yan's desire to eat disappear instantly.There is only one reason - he doesn't want to spend money, not even a dime.

Every meal and pocket money Xu Jialin gave, he would carefully fold them neatly and put them in the old version of the Chinese dictionary by the bedside.If we talk about being poor, Lin Yan is not the poorest kind of people, but he still dare not spend money, he is afraid that one day he will become a human being, and he will not even be able to eat a bowl of rice porridge.

If the stomach is not satisfied, the brain will become tired, and he fell asleep on the table again.

Lin Yan was very thin, with slender arms and legs, except that there was some soft flesh on his cheeks that belonged only to children, which was pressed on his arms at this time, like a soft white steamed bun.Seeing that he was sleeping soundly, Cai Hengyuan walked in quietly, hung his schoolbag on Lin Yan's desk, and left quietly.

The school has very few classes on Friday afternoon, and many students have chosen interest groups.Lin Yan has a good relationship with his classmates and teachers, but he didn't choose. He has no so-called interests for the time being, including the two subjects with good scores.Most of the time, Lin Yan would play around the school first, and then they would go home together after Cai Hengyuan's activity class was over.Chen Shan didn't control Cai Hengyuan too strictly at this stage. To a certain extent, Lin Yan felt that Chen Shan's attitude was a bit like Xu Jialin's, but the two were very different.After all, the mathematics special teachers in key elementary schools are different from the down-and-out middle-aged men who live in dilapidated ancestral halls with no cars or houses.

In the evening, just as Lin Yan walked to the school gate, it started to rain, and there were many old men and women gathered nearby to pick up their children from school.He was small, and nimbly squeezed through the crowd, and managed to get out in a few strokes.He guessed that it would take a while for Cai Hengyuan to finish class, so he found a big parasol opened by a peddler on the side of the road and got in.Lin Yan has a cheerful personality and a likable appearance, and he and the hawker have become temporary friends hanging shoulder to shoulder with each other in a few words.

The peddler was not very old, and his clothes were not very neat. He saw Lin Yan, an older child, walking alone in the street in the rain, and his schoolbag was so tattered that it couldn't be more tattered. He should have felt compassion , when talking to Lin Yan, he was quite amiable.

Lin Yan has just turned ten years old, and he doesn't care about such loving eyes for the time being.His family was poor, and Xu Jialin didn't know how to take care of children. From the first day of primary school, whenever people saw him, they would always have pity. Lin Yan was used to it.At least at his current age, he can still accept it.

Lin Yan waited under the umbrella for about a quarter of an hour, chatting with the peddler about irrelevant matters.

Cai Hengyuan came out of the school gate with his schoolbag on his back, and saw Lin Yan standing under a huge umbrella, dancing, and his mood instantly became extremely happy.

"Lin Yan, let's go!" he shouted.

"Oh!" Lin Yan bid farewell to the peddler obediently. He stood on the side of the street and looked back and forth, making sure that there was no car before he dared to run over.

"What are you talking about, so happy."

Lin Yan tilted his head and looked back carefully, blinking his eyes and replied: "I forgot, I don't know."

Cai Hengyuan didn't know what to say for a while, "...you are always like this, you can't do anything with your head, my mother said, you just don't pay attention, if you can spend a little bit of your usual play time on your studies, your grades will improve. Top three."

Lin Yan plucked his ears, with a look of "here again", he did not speak any more, and hopscotched the patterns on the ground.At this time, the rain was already light, and within a short time, Lin Yan jumped out alone.

Cai Hengyuan followed in his footsteps, stepping on the footprints of Lin Yan.

His home is not in Linshui Street, and his parents are both teachers. One teaches elementary school and the other teaches high school. The three members of his family live in the teacher's apartment.The house is newly subdivided, with three bedrooms and one living room, very large.He had always wanted to persuade his family to adopt Lin Yan, but Lin Yan didn't have this idea, and he didn't like to move out of the old ancestral hall, so he had to give up.

Cai Hengyuan couldn't figure out what was so good about Xu Jialin, let alone why Lin Yan had to live with that person, and even suspected that there was something wrong with Xu Jialin's purpose and process of adopting Lin Yan.Xu Jialin was down and out, hopeless, and lazy. In the morning, the adults in the other family were preparing breakfast for the children, but he would sleep until the sun was up.

Lin Yan is only in the fourth grade, but he has already mastered all the skills of cooking, washing, and fetching water.Cai Hengyuan always felt that the reason why Lin Yan was short was because there were too many things on his shoulders, which made him unable to grow taller.

The two children were speechless all the way, and soon came to the gate of the old ancestral hall, where Cai Hengyuan wanted to change another road.

"Don't forget to come to my house tomorrow." Cai Hengyuan waved to him.

"Oh!" Lin Yan also waved at him, exhaling quietly.

Facing Cai Hengyuan and Chen Shan, he felt great pressure. These people were too kind to him, but he didn't know how to repay the kindness.Lin Yan is too young, and his brain capacity is not enough to run and solve such problems.

After returning to the old ancestral hall, he put down his schoolbag, carried half a bucket of water, walked to the corner of the yard, and began to take care of his small vegetable garden.

Lin Yan focused on loosening the soil, thinning the seedlings, and weeding. After considering the amount, he watered each vegetable spoonful by spoonful.The whole process is unhurried, as skilled as an old farmer.After the end, he stood up, looked at the small vegetable field under his feet with satisfaction, stretched his waist comfortably, and his depression disappeared.

The courtyard wall of the ancestral hall was originally missing a piece, Xu Jialin was too lazy to repair it, and the door was always wide open. He believed that the most valuable thing in the house was the people, and other things could almost be regarded as rags, which would not be of interest to thieves.It is true that there are no good things here, but Lin Yan looked quite uncomfortable. He spent a weekend rummaging through garbage bins on the street, found some old wooden boards, and blocked the gap.

At this time after returning home from school, the sun just went down, and the remaining sunlight shone in from the small part of the gap. Lin Yan felt that this was the true meaning of the word "cozy".

"Yo, son! You're so good!"

Xu Jialin stood on the steps of the big house of the ancestral hall, squinting his eyes and pinching his waist, his expression was somewhat similar to that of the cat that visited the old ancestral hall in the morning.But the cat had already gone to the next house, and the reception in the old ancestral hall was very simple, so it didn't miss it.

"Who is your son... Old man Xu, have you been sleeping at home for another day? You are hopeless." Lin Yan mumbled and walked back to his room, opened his schoolbag and took out his homework. Banknotes, falling on the table.

Lin Yan sighed secretly. He smoothed out the money and put it back in the book, planning to pay it back tomorrow.

"Aren't you guys going on summer vacation soon?" Xu Jialin held a cigarette and walked to the door of Lin Yan's room to watch the child pack his things.

"It's almost there, there is still more than a week, and the exam will be next week." Lin Yan put his summer school uniform into the basin, walked through the side door, and went to Xu Jialin's room. The whole pot of clothes went to the yard, found a wooden bench and sat down.Seeing the busy figure of the child, Xu Jialin breathed out a smoke ring calmly as usual.

"I'll go out the day after tomorrow, and I'll probably be back by the end of August."

Hearing this, Lin Yan, who was rubbing his clothes, stopped what he was doing, and soon he replied nonchalantly, "Oh."

The wooden washboard in his hand is very large, which makes the hand that is washing clothes even smaller.Xu Jialin watched in silence for a while, and a few minutes later, he walked up to Lin Yan and squatted down, stubbed out the cigarette, picked up an old shirt of his own in the basin, and began to wash it.

When the sparrows returned to their nests, the alley began to become popular, and the ringing of bicycles on the street was intertwined with the sound of motorcycle engines.

The night at the old ancestral hall on Linshui Street finally became lively.

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Basically each chapter is about 6000 words, no pitfalls, daily updates.

Thank you for watching, I hope everyone can bravely face everything in life.

It's hard to be brave, but you have to be brave...