beginning of autumn

Liqiu's house was deserted, and my father's body was parked on the brick floor in the middle of the house, covered with a reed mat.There was a power outage in the village just now, and the ever-burning lamp in front of the body flickered, turning on and off, adding a strange atmosphere to the house.Li Qiu was wearing white clothes and knelt before the coffin, his face was a little thin, and his eyes were red from crying.The cut straw paper was burning in the brazier, and the fire flickered, and the portrait of Li Qiu's father seemed to be smiling mysteriously under the reflection of the fire.

Liqiu heard a noise outside the door, turned around and saw that Xiaohui was coming, and hurriedly got up and moved a short stool for him to sit by the fire.At this time, the mute mother, Aunt Feng, took a roll of straw paper and came in from the outside. Hearing that Li Qiu said that she was helping with all the big and small things at home these days, Xiaohui quickly got up and smiled at Aunt Feng. Said: "I also thought that there is a lack of a person in charge in this family, but I didn't expect my aunt to be here." Aunt Feng sighed and said: "This child is so pitiful. The family broke up like this when he was young. Such a big thing, If there is no one to help, how can he be able to do it with just a child?" Zou Xiaohui said with a smile: "The main reason is that my aunt is kind, if it were someone else, I would have been hiding far away." Hearing what he said, Aunt Feng met him Lu Nanshen said: "After all, I am a woman. I can do the cutting and twisting work in the house. I don't know anything about the outside things. I guess I will have to hire another expert in a few days." Xiaohui said: "This The work outside is what a man should do, you just need to tell me what to do, and I will take care of the rest, and I will definitely help my brother to make this funeral a good one." Aunt Feng heard him say so Then he said with a smile on his face: "It is said that Zou Xiaohui is righteous, and today Aunt Ge has learned the lesson. As long as you are here, Auntie will feel at ease."

The north wind blew all night. Although it was a sunny day, it was still too cold to breathe.After Zheng Bo had breakfast, he was about to go shopping in the town. He had just walked out of the courtyard with his hands in his cuffs when he saw Zou Xiaohui walking towards him with Li Qiu.When Liqiu saw Zheng Bo, he knelt on the ground and kowtowed to him. Zheng Bo hurriedly said, "Good boy, get up quickly." Zou Xiaohui said beside him, "Uncle Zheng, something happened to Liqiu's family. You are the branch secretary of the village. On the day of work, you must sit at home and give the child face." Zheng Bo knew that he couldn't refuse, so he agreed first, and after walking two steps, he hurriedly stopped Xiaohui and said, "Hey, let me explain first. Oh, this branch secretary is quite different from the previous years. I give you some face and call you the voice secretary. If you don’t give you face, you’re not even a fart. It’s not the same whether you go or not. I can help with everything. No, I can only help a little, and then don’t think I’m eating and drinking for free.” Xiaohui turned around and smiled: “What are you talking about, you’ve given Li Qiu a big face by going, accountant I let Director Qiu, Accountant Wang, and Brother Jianjun take care of the warehouse and the storeroom, and the messy things in it are dumb and fucking, and I have arranged everything else, so you can just rest assured and go.” Zheng Bo heard him say Said, pointing at Xiaohui with a cigarette bag and said with a smile: "Just brag, I still believe in other things, this dumb family has a feud with his family, how can the dumb mother meddle in their family's affairs?" Xiaohui smiled and said, "Uncle, don't believe me when I tell you. Aunt Feng came to help on her own initiative. I didn't expect her to be so generous this time. I have convinced her. Many people came to the house today. I Now I have to go back and help Brother Li Qiu greet the guests. Uncle, let’s chat when we have time.” After speaking, he turned and left.Hearing what he said, Zheng Bo filled a bag of cigarettes and smoked silently by the side of the road. Seeing that the two of them had gone far away, he knocked the bag of cigarettes in his hand against the wall, spat and cursed: "What the hell? Son, look, if you can, anyone can be hired, and this village cadre should just let you be the boss. I haven't wiped my ass and shit, but I have the time to meddle in other people's business." After finishing speaking, he lowered the cigarette bag to his waist After a while, he left the village angrily.

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Once the funeral of Old Chen's family is over, it will be New Year's Eve in a blink of an eye.Aunt Huang knew that her son was so busy at Old Chen's house these days that she had no time to take care of the house, so she had to clean up the yard by herself, and pasted the window grilles and couplets with white flour paste. Some old firewood was collected and a new year fire was set up in the middle of the yard.Xiaohui didn't go home for a long time, and he was not happy at all. Seeing that it was almost dark, and he hadn't even seen a person, Aunt Huang was so upset that she had nowhere to vent her anger, so she had to hold her breath and go to the kitchen to put The dumplings for the New Year's Eve have been made, and they are waiting for Xiaohui to come back to cook.

Suddenly hearing the sound of a motorcycle outside the door, Aunt Huang was overjoyed, she tidied up her kerchief, and walked out of the courtyard with a smile.Xiaohui came back, but there was a little Liqiu behind him, and Aunt Huang's face fell instantly, and she hid in the kitchen without saying a word, cooking dumplings.Xiaohui took Liqiu into the kitchen, and Liqiu said hello to Aunt Huang. Xiaohui saw that her mother was buried in cooking and didn't respond, so she said angrily: "Mom, he is the only one in this house, and this child is kind to me. Can I ignore it? I'll tell you now, don't think I'm too busy, he will live in our house from now on, I would rather not marry a wife than ignore my brother." Aunt Huang Seeing that his temper was coming up again, he put on a smile and said, "You can do whatever you want, Mom is up to you. Take him to the west building quickly, this dumpling will be ready soon." Xiao Hui said what she said, and happily took Liqiu to the west corner room in the courtyard.

This should be Xiaohui's bedroom. In the middle of the room is a group photo of the four great kings of Hong Kong. On the table is a new-style cassette tape recorder, surrounded by a dozen cassettes, all of which were popular songs at that time. .There were several layers of wine bottles under the table, cigarette butts and melon seed skins all over the floor, and even the bed was covered with dirty clothes.Xiaohui brought a bowl of hot dumplings from the kitchen and asked Li Qiu to eat first, then he quickly rolled up the dirty clothes on the bed and threw them under the closet.At this time, San'er came in from the outside, saw Xiaohui, and shouted: "Brother Hui, why don't you talk too much? We agreed to have a drink together on New Year's Eve. Why are you still talking now?" Staying at home? I gave you a guarantee at the beginning, but now they have fined me a bottle of wine for this, what do you think about it?" Xiaohui laughed and said, "I have something to do today. I forgot about this, everyone helped me a lot a few days ago, I should definitely treat this drink to you, hurry up, let’s go there now." Turning back to Liqiu, he said, "Qiu, let's go after eating. Go to bed early, leave the door open, don't wait for me." After speaking, he led San'er out of the house.

Li Qiu sent the bowls to the kitchen after eating. He put the used bowls and chopsticks in the sink, rinsed them clean, and returned to the house, rolled up his sleeves to clean up Xiaohui's room inside and out. Freshen up.These days, in order to hold a funeral for his father, Li Qiu hasn't slept a full sleep for more than half a month. It's almost eleven o'clock, and Xiaohui still hasn't come back. Fell asleep.After an unknown amount of time, he was awakened by a strange sound. He stood up and saw that it was Xiaohui who had returned. The door was open, the chair was overturned, and he was lying on the bed talking to himself inarticulately. .Li Qiu hurriedly got up and closed the door, lifted the overturned chair from the ground, and made him a cup of tea with the water in the thermos.There was a lot of vomit on the floor, and the jumpsuit was all over the place.Li Qiu cleaned up the dirty things on the ground, waited for the tea to cool down a bit, helped Xiaohui up, and gave him the tea in the cup.Although Xiaohui was still talking nonsense, it seemed that he was not as uncomfortable as before.Li Qiu helped him take off his clothes, covered him with a quilt, and waited for him to fall asleep slowly, then scooped some cold water from the big vat outside into the basin, and washed his dirty clothes with it. , put it on the clothesline in the yard, and when the work is done, it will be dawn soon.

At about five or six o'clock, Xiaohui was woken up by the sound of firecrackers outside. Although he was still dizzy, he was much more awake.His mother was lighting the New Year's fire in the yard, and she kept yelling, saying that whoever is so weak would do laundry on the first day of the new year, which would bring disaster to their family.He was a little puzzled, so he wanted to get up and go out to see what happened. He lifted the quilt, only to find that he was only wearing tight-fitting shorts and a vest, and he didn't know where his other clothes were.He was a little dazed, and couldn't even remember how he got home after drinking last night.He rummaged around on the bed, and accidentally touched Li Qiu, who was sleeping beside him, and then looked at the well-organized room, and suddenly understood a lot.

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Seeing that it is almost the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, on the streets of the county town, folk art teams from various towns are performing wonderful performances in turn, the sound of gongs, drums and firecrackers is everywhere, and the crowds are flooding as far as the eye can see, and the whole street is crowded There was no way to get through, and it was not until all the performances were over that the calmness of the past was restored on the street.

After lunch, Xiaohui took Liqiu to find a guest house in a secluded location. After completing the formalities, the waiter opened the door for them. It was dark inside, and the lights had to be turned on in broad daylight.I didn't know what happened in the next room, and there were some strange noises from time to time. Liqiu was a little scared, and told Xiaohui that he wanted to go outside to get some air.Xiaohui agreed with a smile, and told him not to run around.

Just as Xiaohui was about to go back to his room, he suddenly saw a man and a woman making out at the other end of the corridor, and the woman was making provocative sex noises from time to time.The man opened the door with his hands, and the two of them closed the door and entered the room to continue their ups and downs.Xiaohui knew that most of the people who came here to open a house were those who had money in their pockets to seek excitement, and they were not serious couples at all. This man was often seen here, and he should be a frequent visitor here. He only knew that he was an official. Not sure.Xiaohui was staring at the door, thinking wildly, when suddenly someone patted his shoulder hard. He looked back, and it turned out to be Li Guoqiang, his junior high school classmate, who is now the head of a department in the guest house.As soon as Li Guoqiang saw Xiaohui, he smiled and said: "Why, I'm so greedy? Why didn't you bring that girl last time? Did you dump her again? But it's okay, the most important thing here is a woman, tonight Brother, how about finding a good one for you?" Xiaohui jokingly said, "As far as you have any good stuff under your hands, I think the girl who just went in is not bad, why don't you just..." Li Guoqiang listened to him talking nonchalantly Talking nonsense, he patted him hastily and whispered: "That woman is the old friend of Minister Qian in the county. If you want to have sex with her, do you want to die?" The one from the Ministry?" Li Guoqiang laughed and said, "Oh, you still know how to dare, don't talk nonsense when you go out, if his jealous daughter-in-law finds out, this matter will not end well." Xiaohui hurriedly nodded in agreement, and waited After Li Guoqiang left, his face showed joy, and he cursed secretly: "Who am I supposed to be? It turned out to be this fucker. Let's see how Brother Hui will deal with you."

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Ever since Yunfei's father got sick, this family is no longer the one it used to be.Yunfei's father is a workaholic, and he is eager to go back to work as soon as his condition improves.His mother also persuaded him to go to the big hospital in the provincial capital for a check-up as soon as possible, but he just disagreed, saying that people are not so delicate, this minor illness will be over, and there is no need to spend so much money.Mother couldn't hold back her father, so she had to give up. Now Xiaona is also studying in junior high school in the county. In order to take care of their lives, mother found a simple house near their unit to live in first.Although the county town is lively, it is not his home after all. In his dreams, Yunfei often dreams of the small courtyard house of his home, the low earth kang, the small carved windows, and the faint wisps of wind blowing by. The fragrance of locust flowers, as well as the big locust tree at the entrance of the village, a little boy in dark blue patched clothes sat on a big rock under the tree, listening quietly to the sound of the wind blowing through the canyon on the other side of the mountain.

Yunfei was sitting in the car looking out the car window in a daze, the streets were full of busy people, those red lanterns that had been hanging since the twelfth day of the twelfth lunar month were being taken down one by one by the staff. They piled up in a pile on the ground, and the red ones are very beautiful.

Standing under the willow tree by the street was a familiar figure, although it looked a little taller than last year, but Yunfei recognized at a glance that it was Liqiu.Yunfei greeted the driver, then got out of the car with the suitcase, and his seat was quickly taken by the person standing beside him.

Li Qiu seemed to have something on his mind, he was staring at the bare tree branches on the street in a daze, when suddenly someone hugged him from behind, he was startled, and hurriedly looked back, it was Yun Fei, suddenly ecstatic, grabbing The hand holding Yunfei refused to let go easily.Reunited after a long absence, although I have many words in my heart, I don't know where to start.Yunfei smiled and asked: "Long time no see, how are you doing?" Seeing Liqiu hesitating and hesitant to speak, he frowned and asked: "While I'm not around, maybe someone bullied you again Is it?" Li Qiu originally wanted to tell him that something happened to his family, but he was afraid that Yun Fei would be sad for him when he found out, so he lied to him with a smile: "Brother Yun, I am so old, who will bully me, I have It’s pretty good, but I don’t see you all the time, I miss you.” Yunfei smiled and said, “Why don’t I, I’ve grown up so much, I’m only a friend of yours, and I still can’t see you all the time. Next time I’m on summer vacation I will definitely go back to the village to see you, because I am afraid that you will go out to work again and you will not be at home." He took out a brand new electronic watch from his bag and put it in his hand, saying: "This is a gift for you." I bought your gift years ago, and I thought it would be impossible to deliver it to you." Li Qiu looked at the exquisite electronic watch, and was about to say something when he heard the horn of the bus not far away. Urging Yunfei to get in the car quickly.Li Qiu understood that he was going back to school by car today, so he pushed him and said, "Brother Yun, go back quickly, or the bus will leave." Seeing Yun Fei staying there and reluctant to leave, he couldn't help but mention it The box pulled Yunfei all the way to the car, and when the car started slowly, he reluctantly watched him leave. Only then did he realize that his heart felt as if it had been hollowed out by a knife, and he couldn't help but groan when he stood there. Sobbing and crying, it attracted a lot of strange eyes from around.

Xiaohui didn't know when he stood by his side, seeing his eyes dripping with tears, couldn't help feeling pain in his heart, took his hand and said, "Qiu, don't cry, it's all my brother's fault. I've been busy outside these few days and didn't take good care of you, but fortunately nothing happened, or I'd regret it to death, and I wouldn't say anything, so let's go back with my brother?" Li Qiu saw that he had found this place I couldn't help being a little embarrassed, so I quickly stopped crying and followed him away without saying a word.

Xiaohui didn't take him back to the guest house, but turned into an alley next to the Red Star Building.Although there are many small buildings outside this alley, there are dilapidated old houses everywhere, and ruined walls and household garbage can be seen everywhere.Xiaohui stopped in front of a blue-gray house, knocked on the door, and it was Yunfei's mother who opened the door.Xiaona followed behind and saw that it was Liqiu coming, she turned a blind eye and hid in the back room.

Uncle Qiu also happened to be at home, so Xiaohui gave Uncle Qiu a few hundred dollars out of his pocket, claiming that it was to pay back the medical expenses he had paid in advance for him last time.Uncle Qiu pushed it several times in a row, and put it away only when he couldn't push it away.Zou Xiaohui said with a smile: "Brother Yuanchao, I will remember all the kindness you have done to my brother. Although we can't help you with big things, as long as I can do it, you just have to shout. Brother promises to go through fire and water. Don't hesitate." Uncle Qiu's heart moved when he heard this, and after thinking for a moment, he asked: "Xiaohui, do you know Qian Guodong from our unit?" Xiaohui knew that he might be suspicious of this, so he pretended not to know shook his head.Uncle Qiu said: "This Qian Guodong has been a little bit abnormal in the past few days. It seems that he is trying to use his relationship to transfer to another unit. This is not like his previous style. I heard a lot of people talking behind his back, saying that someone seems to have caught him recently. He has no choice but to pester him all the time. It’s best if you don’t know him, otherwise you will get involved with him, and maybe you will be implicated.” Li Qiu heard this. , but his heart skipped a beat. These days Xiaohui has been leaving early and returning late, and there are often some messy things in his bag. Once a nude photo of a man and a woman fell out of it. He half-jokingly said it was these few days. Tianquan relies on these things for food.Xiaohui seemed to be in a good mood this morning, and even brought back a woman with heavy make-up from outside. When Li Qiu left with an excuse, the two of them closed the door and did non-urgent things in the room.Hearing what Uncle Qiu said now, he wondered if someone used a beauty trick to deal with Zou Xiaohui, and couldn't help being secretly startled.