First dawn

The dim light in the kitchen illuminated the dishes on the dining table. Xu Hong was holding the bowl, picking up the vegetables while still getting angry: "I wanted to make some dumplings for you, but it turned out that everything was there except the meat."

Qiao Jue thought about the scene at that time, suddenly found it interesting, and raised the corners of his mouth.

"What are you laughing at?" Xu Hong noticed his expression, "I'm in such a good mood, how about the first day of school?"

"It's okay." Qiao Jue recalled today's situation, and it seemed that everything was going on as usual except for Yi Xiao.

"Then you study hard. I heard that your head teacher is pretty good. Try to get into a better school, and we will also try to move out of here as soon as possible. This dilapidated building is really not a place for people to live in." Xu Hong seemed a little tired today, and his words were not Not so much anymore, "That kid Lin Chenghan is useless. He spent money to go to Binhu Middle School. He doesn't study hard all day long, and he doesn't look at where his family lives. He has his father's hooligan temper all over him."

Qiao Jue's smile faded a little, he filled a bowl of soup, and continued to cook rice.

Qiao Heng often went on business trips, so Xu Hong found a child care institution nearby, and worked as a teacher in the care center. After a day, dealing with parents and taking care of children, he was tired.

"You..." Just as Qiao Jue was about to speak, the sound of a bowl being broken came from the room opposite the kitchen, and Xu Hong's expression changed all of a sudden.

In the opposite room, Qiao Zeyan's scolding sounded again.

"A family is not a thing. What do you let me eat every day? Is this grass seed? Can I eat this? I can't get enough to eat every day. The family is so vicious. You will not grow old in the future. You will be with me in the future." Same……"

Xu Hong slammed the bowl on the table, kicked open the screen door of the kitchen, and yanked open the door opposite the room: "Curse, keep scolding, I'll see how long you can be proud, arguing about eating meat every day, you Can I eat it, huh?"

The piercing sound of broken porcelain pieces being stepped on was mixed with Qiao Zeyan's indistinct scolding voice: "All my money is with you, and you took my money and didn't give me enough to eat. Woolen cloth?"

"Your 3 yuan?" Xu Hong's voice became sharper, "Immortal, think about it for yourself, you have lived with us for a few years, you don't eat or see a doctor, and the medicine for high blood pressure is good as soon as you buy it A few hundred, last year during the Chinese New Year, he broke his leg and went to the hospital, after a series of examinations, he lay down for half a month, and you asked me for your [-]."

Qiao Zeyan continued to scold. Qiao Jue took a broom and dustpan, bypassed Xu Hong, and went into the house to sweep up the rice grains and debris all over the floor. The smell of vegetables on the ground was mixed with the rotten smell in Qiao Zeyan's house. Qiao Jue couldn't help but frowned. .

"Look at you. What did you give Qiao Jue when he was young? You favored your grandchildren. Qiao Jue has nothing, and the house is allotted to them. If you have the ability, don't live with us." Xu Hong became more and more excited as he spoke. , the voice was a little choked up, "You are Qiao Heng's father, he wants to take care of you, it's none of my business, I shouldn't have married Qiao Heng in the first place, your family didn't give me anything, and in the end I had to live in this glass factory The broken house, and you are still alive."

Xu Hong's voice was sharp and his eyes were red. With a dustpan in one hand, Qiao Sui pushed Xu Hong out of Qiao Zeyan's room. The endless scolding sound was separated from the other end of the door panel.

Qiao Jue dumped the rice grains from the dustpan into the trash can, while Xu Hong was still standing in the corridor panting with red eyes.

"Why are you arguing with him?" Qiao Jue pushed open the door and stood opposite Xu Hong, "He is unreasonable, why are you angry with him?"

"I'm just angry." Xu Hong said, "Why do they share a house, we have nothing, and we are here to be angry with this old thing. Your father's two brothers and a sister have no one. Taking care of this old man means that we can take him to live, he is not satisfied, Qiao Zeyan is right, the old man needs to be supported, and your father is also right, respect the old man, then me, who will care about my grievances. "

Qiao Jue secretly sighed in his heart, Qiao Zeyan was indeed different from other old people, he was unreasonable and liked to curse, and he was famous for being unreasonable when he was young. Everyone in the village knew that there was an unreasonable Qiao Zeyan in Qiao's family. The job was given to Qiao Heng, and the house was distributed to the other three children. However, within a few years, the glass factory collapsed, leaving a dormitory without a real estate certificate, waiting for the government's demolition and resettlement. for many years.After Qiao Jue's grandmother passed away, Qiao Zeyan's three children were unwilling to take him to live. Only Qiao Heng could be regarded as a filial piety, so he took Qiao Zeyan to live in the old dormitory of the glass factory. The task of the elderly and children fell on Xu Hong.

Xu Hong was prone to anxiety, especially when it came to Qiao Zeyan's problems. Qiao Jue usually would not confront Xu Hong head-on, and would let Xu Hong do anything, but at the same time, there were too many things he could do nothing about.

Xu Hong ignored Qiao Jue, stared past Qiao Jue into the depths of the corridor, walked into the room, slammed the door, and dialed Qiao Heng's phone.

"I shouldn't have married you in the first place, do you think I'm living a human life now..."

Qiao Jue was the only one left in the corridor. There were two doors separated by Qiao Zeyan's scolding and Xu Hong's suppressed crying. The clothes haven't been returned yet.

The third floor of Tongzilou is basically uninhabited. At the top of the stairs is a small house. The exit of the house is the roof. There are cracks on the ground of the roof. Weeds grow in the cracks, and prickly cacti grow in disorder on the roof. A few nylon ropes were tied to the railings to hang clothes. Xu Hong used old red hangers to dry his clothes, some faded, with two stainless steel clips attached to each piece of clothes.

Xu Hong's two cotton skirts, Qiao Jue's own white shirt and shorts, and Qiao Zeyan's sweatshirt with holes. Qiao Jue took the clothes off the clothesline and put on the two pairs of slippers on the ground. , walked all the way down the stairs.

The policy on the second floor was still noisy, Qiao Zeyan kept scolding, Xu Hong was still calling Qiao Heng, Qiao Jue put away his clothes, walked into his room, and closed the door from the inside.

The homework book was spread out on the table, the pen circled the edge of the topic, and handwriting was drawn on the topic. The casino in the bungalow downstairs gradually became lively again. of wine.

Qiao Jue was a little irritable, sighed, threw the pen on the table, the cap slipped off, and the pen left a black scratch on the foot of the rabbit pencil case, Qiao Jue turned on the screen of the phone, it was already night It was past eight o'clock, but the English weekly newspaper spread out on the table was only half written.

Qiao Jue stood up, and the dim light downstairs hit the glass bed. He picked up the key on the table and put it in his pocket, opened the door, and walked out.

Qiao Jue walked aimlessly, walked out of the old dormitory area of ​​the glass factory, and walked to the distance along the Lian River. The night in September was a little cold, and Qiao Jue had already seen the outline of the third bridge before he knew it.

The third bridge is close to the suburbs, and it was built later than the second bridge. Occasionally, there are cars passing by on the third bridge, and there are not many pedestrians. Qiao Jue avoids the rust on the bridge railing, leans against the bridge railing, and blows from the Lian River. The evening breeze brought the moist breath of the late summer night, and dispelled the restless breath in Qiao Jue's heart. The tip of his nose was lingering with the fragrance of summer grass by the river. He raised his head, closed his eyes, and took in the stars in the sky.

"Xuxu, Xuxu!" Someone on the bridge shouted.

Qiao Jue was taken aback, but did not open his eyes.

"Xuxu! Come back to me!" the man shouted again.

At the same time, Qiao Jue felt a furry thing rub against his leg. Qiao Jue opened his eyes and found a big dog squatting beside his feet. The dog was sticking out its tongue, panting, its tail Sweeping, leaning against Qiao Jue's leg.

Qiao Sui: "..."

A person chased after him, shouting, "Xuxu!"

The eyes of the two met in the air, and they were stunned at the same time.

Holding half of the dog leash, Yi Xiao froze on the spot, looking at Qiao Sui who was leaning against the bridge.

"It's called Xuxu." Yi Xiao explained, while squatting on the bed, and put the leash around the husky's neck again. Seeing that Qiao Jue's expression seemed a little strange, she quickly added, "Lifelike Xuxu."

Yi Xiao had obviously been chasing the husky for a long time, her breath was a little unstable, and there were beads of sweat on her forehead. Qiao Jue didn't speak, but bent down to touch the husky's head.

"Your dog?" Qiao Jue asked.

"It's mine." Yi Xiao said.

The husky chased his own tail and spun around Qiao Jue's feet, and the leash in Yi Xiao's hand was twisted several times.

"It's not easy to raise." Yi Xiao looked at Erha and said seriously, "It's usually the one who slipped on me."

Qiao Jue imagined the scene at that time, laughed out loud, Yi Xiao also raised the corners of his lips, Qiao Jue was slightly taken aback when he saw the other party's smiling face, the Yi Xiao he saw was completely different from the rumored one. different.

Qiao Jue also relaxed inadvertently. For the first time, he saw Yi Xiao as an ordinary classmate. While stroking the husky's smooth belly, he asked Yi Xiao, "It's so late to walk the dog?"

It was nearly ten o'clock at night.

Yi Xiao said with some annoyance: "I came out after seven o'clock. The dog was too anxious. I forgot to bring the keys to the house and called the phone to unlock the lock on the side of the road. But the master said that I don't want to go out to drink at night, so I can only wait. tomorrow."

Qiao Sui wanted to ask Yi Xiao's family, but remembered Yi Xiao who was on the phone on the bridge that day, and what Yi Xiao said to the family on the other side of the phone by the watermelon field that day, and swallowed the unspoken question back.

"Do you want to ask my family?" Yi Xiao noticed Qiao Jue's confused expression, and explained to him, "My parents are not here, I live alone."

"Then why did you come here?" Qiao Jue continued to be confused.

"Stop talking, you're killing me." Yi Xiao's expression was very helpless, "I didn't charge my phone before I went out, and the battery was about to run out. I thought about going to an Internet cafe to make do for the night, but it turned out that the investigation was strict recently. Let me in, the owner of the Internet cafe told me that there is a hotel in Qiaobei that doesn’t require an ID card, and asked me to come here for a night, and I’ll come all the way, do you know where the hotel in Qiaobei doesn’t require an ID card?”

"The hotel in the north of the bridge." Qiao Jue was a little speechless, and asked Yi Xiao in disbelief, "Are you sure you want to go?"