Jujube

The turning point in my relationship with Lu Xinyao happened in an oolong incident.

At that time, I had been unilaterally showing affection to Lu Xinyao for a whole year, but Lu Xinyao didn't seem to need a brother like me very much, so I was still timid and afraid to call him brother.

Lu Xinyao has no shortage of younger brothers. He has many cronies at school. Those people are not his own younger brothers like me, but they always call him "Brother Yao".One of his cronies, Pan Guizhi, lived at home on the north side of the suspension bridge. At that time, they had not turned against each other.

The three dogs of Pan Guizhi's family were notoriously vicious, and they often barked at passers-by for no reason, but Pan Guizhi's mother told everyone that their dogs didn't bite.

When I was a child, my grandmother often told me stories about wild dogs eating people, which made me fear dogs.I once dreamed that I was urinating on the ridge of the field, and suddenly a group of dogs attacked me. I ran away without even lifting my pants. In the end, I had no way to retreat, so I could only escape from the dream like shit.

That suspension bridge is the only way from my home to the school. Such fear made me tremble every time I passed by Pan Guizhi's house.

I dare not walk there alone, I must hide behind Zhang Buyu.

Zhang Buyu is also afraid of dogs, but he always shows a heroic spirit that is not afraid of anything, and never shows timidity in front of me.When we unfortunately ran into a dog, Zhang Buyu would yell at the vicious dog with a tense pale face.

The beast also knows how to pick soft persimmons, and Zhang Buyu slapped his swollen face to pretend to be a fat man and scolded it so that it didn't dare to go forward.

But these days came to an abrupt end when Zhang Buyu moved. He moved from Qiaobei to Qiaonan. After that, I had to face three vicious dogs alone.

Fortunately, Niuniu from the neighbor’s house started to go to kindergarten at that time, and her mother sent her there with a bicycle every morning, so I followed the bicycle not too far away, secretly stealing the asylum of a strange mother.After school, I often squatted at the head of the bridge, waiting for someone to cross the bridge, and then quickly followed.

Zhang Buyu said that he learned how to eat and drink at the age of wearing open crotch pants. I think I am also rubbing, but no one told me that "crabbing" is an unpredictable thing that requires luck.

One day I didn't leave school until the evening because I was cleaning the classroom. The sun was already dark, and I walked towards the suspension bridge alone and fearfully.I didn't dare to cross the bridge. I squatted at the head of the bridge and looked south. I saw no one at the end of the road.

So I dug out my homework from my schoolbag, put it on my knees and started writing.

The sky soon completely darkened, the evening wind blew my homework, and my legs were numb, but I dared not walk.The old railway under the bridge lay like a dead snake in the dark, no trains would pass by, and no one would pass by. At this moment, I really felt that I was alone, as helpless as the weeds on the side of the road.

I squatted at the bridgehead for an unknown amount of time, and when the handwriting on the homework book was blurred, I finally waited for the first person.

Lu Xinyao's tall and straight figure walked towards me. I remembered that when we first met, I squatted in the corner of his house, and he walked towards me like this.

I felt that Lu Xinyao's eyes paused on me for a short time, and it was fleeting.Unlike the first time, he didn't stop in front of me.

I heard the sound of thumping, but I couldn't tell whether it was the stone slabs colliding on the bridge or my heartbeat.When Lu Xinyao walked over the last stone slab, I stood up.

just one time.Just rub it once.I was lucky and thought that Lu Xinyao would not find out.

In the dark, when I was running on the bridge, I felt that the stone slabs under my feet were crumbling. I didn’t know until I stepped on the flat ground that I was the one who was crumbling——

Lu Xinyao had long legs and walked very fast. When I ran across the bridge, he was gone. The dog from Pan Guizhi's family greeted me.

They were guarding me at the head of the bridge, and when they saw me, they bared their teeth and opened their mouths and howled.

I was stunned by the fear that came to my face, my legs trembled involuntarily, but my feet were rigidly nailed in place, not daring to move an inch.

Those dogs have sharp noses, they smelled my timidity, and approached me in the confrontation. The moment the dog's claws jumped up, I felt a buzzing in my ears, and at the same time I made the worst decision.

—I ran away.

The cowardice I showed in running away stimulated the bullying nature of the two animals, and they barked and chased me like prey.

Then another dog from Pan Guizhi's family also caught up. I ran desperately on the narrow road, feeling at a loss and despair.

I realized this wasn't any of my previous nightmares, this was reality.

It was at this time that Lu Xinyao's back appeared in my field of vision. In the blink of an eye, my imaginary brother's back and Lu Xinyao in front of me merged into one.

In my dream, I wishfully climbed onto this figure, but when I ran towards him in a hurry, another kind of fear arose spontaneously.

I begged Lu Xinyao not to turn his head. I was afraid that if he turned his head, my brother's back would be like a ghost market in a story, and suddenly he would "be invisible".

But Lu Xinyao turned around.

My fear reached its peak at this moment, when Lu Xinyao saw me and the dog chasing after me, I vaguely heard him curse, and then he ran away.

He dropped me.

The fear of being left behind is greater than being alone, just like when I chased Meng Guanghui when I was a child, I couldn't catch up with him, so I kept calling him "Dad".

Now I can only call my brother heartbrokenly.

Lu Xinyao seemed to have heard my shout, and suddenly returned after running for a while and grabbed me.He was so powerful, the moment he grabbed me, I felt my body soar into the air, as if I was flying.

At the end of the narrow road is a downward earth slope, with a wall erected on the side of the slope.In order to get rid of those vicious dogs, Lu Xinyao pulled me from the top of the slope and jumped up to the wall. The edge of the wall is very narrow, as narrow as a single-plank bridge. Lu Xinyao no longer pulled me to run, he let go of my hand.

The high and narrow wall made me feel scared. I followed Lu Xinyao step by step and walked on the top of the wall for a few steps before daring to move again.

Lu Xinyao jumped down after walking for a while, and I was the only one left by the high wall.

Fear flooded my seven-year-old body like a flood and burst its banks in the eyes.At this time, Lu Xinyao who was under the wall looked back at me. For some reason, I couldn't help but burst into tears, and Lu Xinyao's back also became wet.

The dripping Lu Xinyao walked towards me, and I said to him while wiping my tears, "I'm scared."

I think I must be a complete trouble to Lu Xinyao, he wouldn't want a troublesome younger brother.

So my eyes, which I had just wiped dry, were wet again.

My brother later told me that he had never seen a crybaby like me, and he said my name, Mengli Mengli, pear blossoms with rain.

When Lu Xinyao waited for me to cry enough and started to sob, he ordered me to say, "Jump down."

I looked at two walls as high as me under my feet, and shook my head timidly at him.

Lu Xinyao confronted me in silence for a few seconds, and said impatiently, "I'll count to three."

I heard my heart skip a beat, and my heart beat in a panic.

"one."

I looked at Lu Xinyao pitifully.

"Two." Lu Xinyao continued to count ruthlessly.

I knew he was going to leave me soon and tears fell from my eyes.

When Lu Xinyao counted to three, his voice was overshadowed by me. The first time I really felt heart-piercing was at this moment-I yelled "Brother" heart-piercingly to him.

Then the tears fell with me.

With tears in my eyes, I saw Lu Xinyao stretched out his hand to me. The moment he caught me, I was still falling. The momentum brought by my body knocked Lu Xinyao down, and we fell into the ground together. In the ditch.

Lu Xinyao was covered in mud when he got up from the ditch, and so was I.

There was a small roll of toilet paper in my schoolbag, and I found it out and handed it to Lu Xinyao as if offering a treasure, with my head down, not daring to look at him.I think Lu Xinyao must hate me very much, because I caused him to be like this.

Lu Xinyao wiped off the muddy water on his hands, and instead of heading home, he went east to the river.I followed behind him and saw him take off his clothes and squat by the water to scrub.

When he stood up after washing his clothes, his hair was also wet, and water droplets were constantly falling down.

I don't know why, when I looked at Lu Xinyao like this, I suddenly thought of the water ghost that Zhang Buyu used to scare people.That night, I felt that Lu Xinyao was like a water ghost crawling out of the water, seducing people's souls in the middle of the night.

My soul must have been taken away by him. I feel afraid of him, but I can't help but want to cling to him.

I walked behind Lu Xinyao for a while, and on the winding ridge, I became more courageous even though I was obsessed with ghosts. I approached him, pulled his wet clothes, and softly called "Brother".

After calling, I regretted it a little. My voice that was hoarse from crying was like an old millstone. The sound was made by grinding.

Lu Xinyao slanted me fiercely: "Who is your brother?"

"...You, you are my brother."

I waited for a while with an anxious heartbeat, but Lu Xinyao didn't agree, nor did he not agree, and he still walked forward.

Dogs barking far and near, I remember that there was a moon that night, and Lu Xinyao's back was in front of my eyes.