South of Chutian

There were only four of them at the dinner table.

Tang Heng asked Li Yuechi: "Where's your brother, don't you want to eat together?"

Li Yuechi said briefly: "I have eaten."

It was an unusually silent meal. The village head raised the topic several times, but Tang Heng didn't respond, but just said "oh" absent-mindedly—then the village head also gave up, so he had to call Tang Heng, "You eat more." ".

Tang Heng had indeed eaten a lot, but he couldn't taste the food in his mouth, and his heart was overwhelmed.

"Then I'll go back first, Teacher Tang," the village chief said cautiously, "Can you call Director Xu back if you are free? He is very anxious."

Tang Heng said, "I see."

"Call me if you need anything."

"Okay," Tang Heng took a deep breath, "Thank you very much for today."

The village chief was flattered: "You're welcome, you're welcome! These dishes are all made by my wife, haha."

Tang Heng nodded, and said in his heart, it's not the dishes to thank.

Tang Heng sent the village head to the house, and slowly turned back in the wheelchair, while Li Yuechi was clearing the dining table.Tang Heng watched silently for a while, then lowered his head and whispered, "I'm not full."

Li Yuechi raised his eyes: "Then you continue to eat."

"It's too boring."

"And porridge."

"I want to eat figs."

"..."

"Is it okay?" Tang Heng turned to Li Yuechi, "Senior, your figs are so sweet."

"Hey! Then go and pick some for the leader!" Li Yuechi's mother hurriedly came over and patted him on the back upon hearing this, "Go quickly."

Li Yuechi put down the rag and stared at Tang Heng, Tang Heng met his gaze: "Senior, thank you for your hard work. How much is a catty of figs here? I want to buy some."

"No way!" Hearing this, the old man urged again, "The leader can eat whatever he wants, Yuechi, go!"

Li Yuechi said in a low voice, "Understood." Then he glanced at Tang Heng with a hint of warning in his eyes.

Tang Heng just pretended not to see and smiled at him.

Li Yuechi put on his jacket and went out. Tang Heng stretched his neck and watched until his back disappeared at the corner of the field ridge.Turning his head, he saw his mother picking up the rag on the table and leaning over to wipe it. The table in his house is the simplest plastic folding table. Maybe it has been used for a long time. oily.

"Auntie, how's Li Yuechi's business going?" Tang Heng leaned over and said with a smile, "I tried his beef jerky and it was delicious."

"Business is okay, but the whole family is counting on him..." The old man shook his head and sighed, "I told him to save money to buy a house in the county, but he didn't listen."

"Can you save it?"

"If you can't save it, you have to save it. If you want to marry a wife, how can you not have a house?"

"Well, but he doesn't have to worry."

"Why don't you rush, leader," the old man put down the rag, and said seriously, "Look at the situation in my family, just these two sons, the younger one is definitely not good, and the older one is disgraceful, what a crime...Leader, my son I know it, dead brain. You, can you not care about him? "

Tang Heng was silent for a few seconds, then said softly, "I don't blame him, don't worry."

"Leader, you are really a good person..."

"I want to ask one thing." Tang Heng paused, looking at the narrow stairs of Li's house, "Did his brother hurt someone?"

The old man didn't speak at first, and after a long while, he suddenly sighed: "Create a crime, the second brother in our family committed the crime, and the Bodhisattva asked the eldest to pay it back!"

"It's the teacher who supports the teaching, right?"

"We're so sorry for her, so sorry for her."

"Zhao Xuelan?"

"What a girl who became lame, and didn't ask us to lose money in the end - we really couldn't afford it! Leader, do you think Yue Chi is the retribution of the Bodhisattva?"

"...How did Teacher Zhao get pushed down?"

"She came to persuade us! Let us pay for Yuechi's study! Just recite the time like this, what do you think, the second child has never hurt anyone before, just that day..." She said with two tears streaming from the corners of her eyes , quickly grabbed the apron and wiped it off.

At this moment, a shout came from upstairs, and the words were so vague that Tang Heng couldn't distinguish the content.The old man waved his hand and smiled stiffly: "Leader, don't be afraid. He likes to yell when he's fine. He's taking medicine now, so he won't hurt anyone..." Before he finished speaking, the people upstairs roared again. When he got up, although his words were slurred, his voice was very loud.

Perhaps because she was afraid of scaring Tang Heng, Li Yuechi's mother hurried upstairs, but soon there was no sound upstairs.Tang Heng sat alone in the dark living room, looking at the towering green hills in the distance through the half-open window.

The mountains here are too high and too many. It seems that the world is such a small piece of land surrounded by mountains. No one can really walk in, and no one can really go out.

When Li Yuechi came back, there was no sound upstairs, Tang Heng guessed that they were asleep.The countryside in the afternoon was as quiet as a well.

"Let's eat." Li Yuechi put the basket at Tang Heng's feet, which was full of large and small figs.

Tang Heng raised his head, and the two looked at each other. Li Yuechi's jacket had a few gray marks.

"I see." Tang Heng said.

"what do you know?"

"It's about Mr. Zhao."

Li Yuechi's eyes suddenly turned cold.

"I used to... I didn't know these things before, and I couldn't figure out why you were so kind to her. You borrowed usury to treat her illness, you still took care of her, you still...you may not know, I didn't tell you Isn't it?" Tang Heng's speech became faster and faster, and his thoughts became a little confused, "When she was still in the hospital, we were not together at that time. One night I went to see her in the hospital, which is the Central Hospital. I saw her leaning against the In you, you may not have the impression, but I always remember, and I will never forget that scene——I thought you were together before.”

Li Yuechi said blankly, "No."

"You never told me," Tang Heng lowered his head dejectedly, "If you told me these things, I would believe you."

"How do I tell you?" Li Yuechi pulled up the corners of his mouth, as if he was extremely angry and smiled back, "Tell you that my dad got pneumoconiosis in the mine, and my younger brother is an idiot, and this idiot even pushed the supporting teacher down the mountain because I was doing it at the time. Didn't pay attention to him—what do you think I should tell you?"

Tang Heng reached out to hold his hand, tremblingly said: "I understand."

Li Yuechi said, "I don't want to hear it."

Six years ago, he said, the price.He said that life is an equation, and you have to pay the corresponding price for what you get.Like a puzzle, explained six years late.It turns out that the price you paid for high school was Teacher Zhao’s disability, and the price you paid for college entrance examination was your father’s pneumoconiosis. Tang Heng thought, this explanation came too late, too late.

Li Yuechi broke away from Tang Heng's hand, his expression was extremely cold, but his voice was calm: "That's it, Tang Heng."

"What 'like this'?"

"My life."

"..."

"I always thought that as long as I don't look for you, I can, how should I put it," he snorted lightly, as if mocking himself, "I can make a less bad impression on you."

"No—not bad."

"Yes, even if they're not bad," Li Yuechi closed his eyes and said softly, "but they're ugly."

Ignoring the wound on the sole of his foot, Tang Heng stood up trembling, wanting to hug Li Yuechi tightly.Those emotions from six years ago are still in front of his eyes. He has tossed and turned for that picture of cuddling. Countless times, in the middle of the night, he tried his best to guess the relationship between Li Yuechi and Zhao Xuelan. Knot.Even if Zhao Xuelan had passed away, even if he was with Li Yuechi.

Tang Heng threw himself on Li Yuechi, trembling while hugging him.He doesn't know why he's apologizing, maybe it has nothing to do with apologizing, no one has to apologize, but he wants to say "sorry" so badly, he has to say it, whatever it means, he apologizes for his life - not bad , but an ugly life.

"I told you not to talk," Li Yuechi stroked Tang Heng's back, his movements were very light, as if he was attached, "give me some face and forget about me, okay?"