Crossing the green wheat ears

Gradually entering November, the weather is getting colder and colder. There was a little snow in the first two days, but it didn't last, and it melted as soon as the sky cleared.

In this kind of weather, Xiyuan basically just squatted at home, nestled on the kang head as a whole, and rarely went out of the house.Xi Wei is not afraid of the cold. He wears a thick padded jacket and thick cotton trousers made by his grandmother, a hat bought by his brother, and cotton gloves made by his mother. The whole body looks like a small round pumpkin.Every day after breakfast, he would run out to ice skate with the children in the village. Sometimes he would run wildly, and he would not come back until dinner time every day.

Grandma was afraid that he would lose the gloves, so she sewed a long strap on the gloves to connect the two gloves, so that he could straddle his neck when he was not wearing them.

Xi Wei really wanted his brother to play with him, but Xiyuan was an adult in his soul, how could he play with a bunch of little kids, so he coaxed Xi Wei to let him play by himself, giving him He brings some small snacks, like stir-fried melon seeds and fried soybeans, let him take them. For these small snacks, the children in the village will coax Xi Wei to be nice to him, and they will not bully Xi Wei, but they are like steamed stuffed buns and steamed buns. These big eaters Xiyuan will not let Xi Wei take them out, for fear of encountering the situation last time.

On this day, Xiyuan rubbed hemp rope with grandma for a while on the kang, and seeing that dinner was about to be made, he planned to go to the place in the back garden where the firewood was placed to bring some firewood back to grandma.There are several types of firewood for Xiyuan’s family, one is corn stalks in the field, the other is dead wood, artemisia stalks, shrub branches, and wheat stalks that grandpa and father brought back. It can't start a big fire, it can only be used to start a fire, so each time you only need to hold a bundle, it is enough for two days.

Today, Xiyuan was walking back with a bundle of corn stalks in his arms. It was really too cold outside, and Xiyuan felt frightened.When passing the stack of wheat straw, Xiyuan heard the rustling sound. Xiyuan thought that someone's pig had entered the garden to harm the firewood, so he hurriedly put down the corn straw and searched around the stack of wheat straw. Noticing anything, Xiyuan thought he heard it wrong, turned around and was about to leave, when a small figure crawled out from the straw pile - isn't this Wei Cheng who snatched Xiwei's buns to eat!

"Why did you stay here? It's so cold, go home." Xiyuan didn't want to provoke Wei's second son, so he picked up the firewood and wanted to leave after saying something to Wei Cheng.But just after walking a few steps, Xiyuan's skirt was pulled.

"I'm hungry!"

"What?" Xi Yuan thought he had heard wrong, and asked again.

"I'm hungry!" The child stood there, shivering all over, lowering his head slightly, holding on to Xiyuan's skirt stubbornly with his hands.

"Why don't you go home to eat when you're hungry?" Xiyuan saw the child standing there without even a pair of shoes on his feet. Xiyuan touched it with his hands, and the child was also wearing patched single clothes.At this time, this season, no matter how poor the family is, they will not let their children not even have a cotton coat or even a pair of shoes. You know, the coldest winter here is minus [-] to [-] degrees. Even if it is more than ten degrees below zero during the day, it will really freeze and freeze people to death!

"They won't let me eat!"

"..." Xiyuan really didn't know what to ask, well, there is indeed no shortage of meals for this child at home.

Xiyuan put down the firewood, took off his big padded jacket (this was made by Xiyuan's grandma, it was similar to a modern overcoat, it is usually not worn in the house, only when out of the house) and wrapped it for the child , picked him up and went back to the house.Grandma is cutting cabbage and potatoes in the stove. Now it is winter and every family has sauerkraut, cabbage, potatoes, and radishes.

"Why did my brother bring this back? It's cold, come to the stove to warm up!" Grandma saw Xiyuan holding a child, and thought it was Xi Wei.

"It's not Xiao Wei, it's Wei Cheng. It's better not to let this kid warm up. He wears so little, he must be frozen, and he's too warm all of a sudden."

As Xiyuan said, he carried Wei Cheng into the back room, put him on the kang, held his feet and rubbed them vigorously until they gradually warmed up.Grandma also took the child's hand and rubbed it.Fortunately, it's not the coldest days yet, otherwise the toes and fingers could be frozen off.

"Grandma, do Xiao Wei still have thick clothes? Look, this kid is wearing single clothes now! Also, he doesn't even have a pair of shoes!"

"Yes, there are, but they are too small. They were worn by Xiaowei last year. I saw that the cotton was too old to keep him warm. You bought him a new coat and cotton trousers this year, but they didn't touch the ones from last year." Grandma said as she spoke. Go to the cabinet to find cotton clothes.

"The old one is fine, it's better than nothing." Xiyuan covered Wei Cheng's ears and turned to grandma.

"Let this child wear your coat first, I'll go and change it right away, and it will be finished in a while. This child is so thin, I guess it's enough to connect the trouser legs and sleeves together." Xiyuan Niang was originally a shoemaker in the Westinghouse , heard the sound coming.

"Okay, you can change it, I'll cook, the child must be hungry." Grandma gave the cotton coat to Niang Xiyuan and turned to leave the house.Xiyuan saw grandma wipe the corners of her eyes with the sleeve of her clothes—grandma is a person who is prone to tears, she cries when she is happy, and she also cries when she is sad. In her own words, the pits of tears are too shallow.It must have been sad to see Wei Cheng like this.

Dinner is millet porridge, steamed bread with cornmeal and stewed cabbage with potatoes.Xiyuan didn't dare to let Wei Cheng eat too much, but let him eat a bowl of porridge with a few pieces of potatoes, which are easier to digest, because Wei Cheng told him that he hadn't eaten for three days.

In the past, Wei Cheng secretly hid some potatoes, corn, soybeans and other food under a big rock in a bush in the north of the village. Therefore, the food under the big rock was taken away by someone who saw it, so this time Wei Cheng's father refused to let him eat, so he had nothing else to fill.

In the evening, he secretly went to the kitchen at home to look at it, but there was no food at all. It is estimated that his stepmother was afraid that he would eat it secretly, and purposely cooked the food just right, so that there was nothing left after eating.This child has been hungry for three days!

He himself didn't know why he ran to the straw stack of Xiyuan's house, waiting for Xiyuan to come out, maybe it was based on a kind of animal-like intuition, thinking that this person could help him and give him something to eat.

Seeing Wei Cheng staring at everyone eating, Xiyuan couldn't bear it, so he gave him another half bowl of porridge, and assured him that he would be full tomorrow morning, and he could eat as much as he wanted.Grandpa, grandma, Xiyuan's father and mother all ate silently without saying a word, probably feeling very uncomfortable.Xi Wei could also see from the adult's reaction that something was wrong with the atmosphere, and it was rare that it wasn't as noisy as it was every day.

After dinner, my mother brought back the modified cotton clothes, and also found a pair of cotton shoes that Xi Wei had worn out before. There was a hole in the toe, and Xiyuan Niang filled it up with a piece of thick cloth and cotton.

Xiyuan gave Wei Cheng clothes and shoes to put on. When he was putting on the clothes, he saw two bruises on the child's back, and other places also had traces of old injuries.Xiyuan took out the medicine he bought from Dr. Li's house last time when he was injured, and applied it on Wei Cheng. He didn't ask the child how the injury came about - there was no need to ask at all.

It was getting dark gradually, and at night, in order to save lamp oil, the house did not turn on the lights when there was nothing to do.Only grandpa was sitting on the stool smoking a dry pipe, and a little red fire in the pipe pot flickered on and off.Xi Yuan sat on the kang with Xi Wei in his arms, and Wei Cheng sat beside him.In the child's impression, he may never have enjoyed such a warm family life, so cautious.

Wei Cheng’s parents, older sister and younger brother lived in the east room. The stepmother said the place was too small to fit, so she let him sleep in the west room. The west room is a place for storing sundries. Usually there is no fire at all. When it’s cold, it’s like an ice cellar. It's not as warm as the firewood pile in the kitchen, so Wei Cheng lives in a firewood pile at home.

This time of day is when Xiyuan tells stories to Xi Wei, today Xiyuan was not in high spirits and did not open his mouth, and Xi Wei was smart enough not to make a fuss about his brother, but parroted the story of "Journey to the West" to Wei Cheng. The story of Monkey King.

Wei Cheng listened very seriously, his mouth was pursed, and his eyes were shining with novelty.

Xi Wei had to stop and ask his brother when he was talking. He could not remember some parts accurately, but this was enough to surprise Xi Yuan. After all, he only told Xi Wei once, but Xi Wei was able to remember most of the plots. .When he has money in the future, he must send Xi Wei to school to study. This is really a smart boy, and he can't be left out of the crowd. Listening to Xi Wei's immature voice, Xi Yuan thought.

Wei Cheng has been staying at Xiyuan's house for three nights. During the day, Xiyuan let him play with Xi Wei in the house, and told Xi Wei not to mention Wei Cheng to other children. After all, he didn't want to provoke Wei Cheng's father, that bastard. .

Wei Cheng's father was also cruel enough, the child didn't come home for two days, and he didn't hear that he came out to look for it.These few days are the happiest days when Wei grows up. With Xi Wei playing with him, brother Xiyuan watching him, and grandma chatting and doing work, the rest of the family will not be against him. He is fierce.He followed Xiyuan every step of the way, rushed to help Xiyuan in everything he saw, and tried not to eat too much every time he ate, for fear that he would be disgusted by the Xi family if he ate too much, even though he felt that he would eat two more corn buns It's all right.

But no matter how much he misses this warm home, he knows that he can't stay any longer, and if he stays any longer, he will need more food from Feixi's family. If he eats alone, it may not be enough next year - every time the stepmother sees him eating an extra bite, she will say that there is not much food in the house, and this makes him a scourge. Sometimes he is too hungry to go to uncle At home, although my aunt would sometimes give me some food, she would always say that there was not enough food at home.

In addition, he was also afraid that his father or stepmother would know that he was here and cause trouble for brother Xiyuan.

So after breakfast on the third day, Wei Cheng secretly left Xiyuan's house while Xiyuan was going to the bathroom.Xiyuan actually found out when Wei Cheng was not out of the hospital, but he didn't make a sound. Forgive him. After all, his ability is limited and he can't love the world.Although he kept finding reasons for himself, Xiyuan was depressed for a few days.

Later, when he saw Wei Cheng sometimes, Xi Yuan would secretly give him something to eat, and repeatedly told him not to snatch other children if he was hungry, and let him come to him directly.

Slowly, Xiyuan developed the habit of eating as little as possible of whatever was delicious, and leaving the rest for Wei Cheng. The family knew what was going on like a mirror in their hearts, but they didn't say a word.

After observing for a period of time, Xiyuan found that as long as Wei Cheng was not hungry, he would not rob other children, nor would he have any conflicts with other children.What he did before was just a kind of survival instinct when his life was threatened. Even civilized people who grew up in modern society would do things like kill each other in the face of survival crisis, so no one would There is no place to blame a child who is constantly underfed as doing something wrong.What Xiyuan can do is to save as much food as possible for this child, so as to alleviate his sense of guilt.

The Spring Festival is coming, Xiyuan's family has 27 taels left after deducting the debt repayment because of the money from selling spicy cabbage recipes this year, which is relatively generous, but they dare not spend more.

Xiyuan went to the town with his parents to catch a market. At the market, he found that there were small cotton boots for boys. There was a circle of lambskin around the mouth of the boots. They looked very warm and were not expensive. A pair only cost two One hundred Wen, two pairs can be cheaper, only 350 Wen is enough.

Xiyuan thought of the old Xiwei shoes on Wei Cheng's feet. Although they were mended by his mother, they were still worn out after wearing them for almost two months. A New Year's gift.

Xiyuan asked his father for 350 Wen and bought a pair for Xi Wei and Wei Cheng.

Although Xi Mingwen felt sorry for the money, he didn't say anything. Now everyone in the family knew that Xi Yuan was very kind to Wei Cheng, and the money in the family was still earned by Xi Yuan in the final analysis.

On the second day after finishing the market, Xiyuan told Xi Wei that when he saw Wei Cheng, he asked him to come to the house and give him something.Not long after Xi Wei went out, a little head poked out from the courtyard gate. It was Wei Cheng. Xi Yuan sometimes wondered if this kid was wandering around his house because every time he wanted to find him, Can quickly find Wei Cheng near his home.

Xiyuan gave Wei Cheng the shoes and helped him put them on.Wei Cheng pursed his lips and did not speak, but his eyes were shining brightly, shining like obsidian. This is the best thing he has worn since he grew up!

Xiyuan secretly gave Wei Cheng a few snacks to save for the Chinese New Year—this kid has good eyesight, and he was afraid that the adults at home would not want to see him take the food, so he refused to ask for it every time in front of the adults. .When there were only two people in Xiyuan, he would take whatever was given to him. Sometimes when he saw something delicious, he would put it into Xiyuan's mouth while eating. He knew that it was Xiyuan who saved his share and gave it to him. .

Xiyuan looked at Wei Cheng's shining eyes, and felt joy in his heart. This child walked into his life, and he hoped that he could grow up happily and safely, just like Xi Wei.Wei Cheng looks to be the same age as Xi Wei, but in fact he is two years older than Xi Wei. This year, he is already seven years old according to his age here.

"Is it warm?" Xiyuan asked Ding Weicheng's forehead.

"Warm." Wei Cheng raised his foot and looked down at his new shoes.

"Put the snack away, eat two pieces if you're hungry!"

"Well, put it away."

"If your father hits you again, you should run quickly and find a place to hide, are you listening?"

"Run, catch and hit harder!" Xiyuan found that Wei Cheng could only speak relatively simple sentences, which may be the result of no one communicating with him at home for a long time, and the children in the village were also because of his previous "bad behavior" Don't want to play with him.

"..." Such a father made Xiyuan helpless.

"Then if he is going to get angry, if your stepmother is going to make trouble, hide out first." Such a young child, how can he clearly see the mind of an adult.

Sending Wei Cheng away, Xiyuan was sad for a while, but thinking of Wei Cheng's happy face, he felt better again. Wei Cheng will grow up, and when he grows up, let him leave home and stay away from his father of.

Xiyuan was in a good mood, so he rushed to help grandma cook dinner, and showed off his cooking skills, fried a vinegared cabbage, a hot and sour potato shreds - who told me that there were no other ingredients at home, so I could only cook this It's different.But everyone in the family was very supportive, especially Xi Wei, who kept praising his brother's delicious food.

"You can boast more, your brother is so beautiful that he can't find him." Grandma said cheerfully.Seeing Xiyuan happy, everyone in the family was also happy.

However, what Xiyuan didn't expect was that his good mood didn't last long.