Jujube

Lu Xinyao didn't want to be my elder brother, but I fell in love with him for nothing.

That day he turned into a water ghost and took my soul away, but he didn't give it back to me after turning back into a human, so I started to follow him sneakily like a lost soul thief.

The day's plan is in the morning, and I started following my brother in the morning.

I gave up the protection of Niu Niu's mother, and no longer used the shade of a stranger's back like rubbing against Baijiafan. I took my brother's back as the only umbrella, and only rubbed against him.

When he had breakfast and left the house to go to school as usual, I dawdled behind him, keeping a short distance, then quietly chased him by the bridge and crossed the bridge with him.My footsteps catch up with the heartbeat, and I trample the suspension bridge, as if a train is speeding past on the barren railway under the bridge.

After the school bell rang in the afternoon, I was still sitting in the classroom. Zhang Buyu asked me several times in doubt why I didn't leave after school.I didn't tell him I was waiting for my brother.

I have been a miser since I was a child, and my brother will always be my secret. Whether it is a secret that tortures me or inspires me, I am like a miser, reluctant to share a penny with others.

When the bell rang for the end of get out of class in junior high school, I walked out of the classroom with my schoolbag on my back, walked all the way to the bridge, and then squatted down to continue waiting for my brother.

At first when Lu Xinyao saw me by the bridge, he frowned and said nothing until I caught up with him.Lu Xinyao stopped in the middle of the suspension bridge and asked impatiently, "Why are you following me?"

As soon as I met his gaze, I timidly lowered my head, my eyes slid from his sharp chin to the bottom of my trousers, and said to him through two stone slabs: "I... am afraid of dogs, and dare not be alone."

I was born unable to lie to Lu Xinyao, and I could only make up for it later in life, but I was too young at that time, and I hadn't learned how to tell lies, so I could only clumsily expose all my shortcomings to my brother.

Lu Xinyao probably snorted contemptuously, and then stopped talking.When he continued to walk forward, I was brave enough to follow him closely.

I often worry that my brother will get bored with his follower younger brother, but his younger brother is really a stubborn follower. Before I learned the word "rain or shine", I had already started to follow Lu Xinyao rain or shine.

It was a beautiful spring day, and Lu Xinyao and I walked towards the same roof one after the other, and the spring light seemed to come from his back.

Meng Guanghui didn't notice our changes. At that time, he was so absorbed in planting his dear little son that he didn't have time to pay attention to me, a cheap product, and my brother, a second-hand product.Meng Guanghui's hard work day and night did not yield what he deserved, and his son-seeking experienced twists and turns.

From when Lu Xinyao moved to my house to when I pestered him begging for nothing, Sun Yuemei experienced the process from pregnancy to miscarriage.

After the miscarriage, Sun Yuemei was weak. She was lying on the bed when Meng Guanghui left home in the morning, and she was still on the bed when Meng Guanghui came back in the evening.Sun Yuemei didn't have the energy to work, and Meng Guanghui didn't have the energy to take care of his two sons, so he gave us a few dollars for breakfast every day.

When Meng Guanghui took out the money from his pocket, his shrewd eyes swept over me and then at my brother, and finally he handed over the money to me.Between bargains and second-hand, my dad clearly preferred the former.

But Meng Guanghui didn't know that the money he gave me was soon handed over to my brother without hesitation. I was a traitor between our father and son, and I never tire of betraying my father behind my back to please my brother. From then on, I followed Lu Xinyao in an open and honest manner.

At that time, I was at a clingy age, and the fear that had nowhere to go for a long time suddenly found support because of the appearance of Lu Xinyao. I was like a greedy snake, wishing I could hang around my brother's ankle all day long.At the same time, as Lu Xinyao's follower younger brother, I appeared in Pan Guizhi's field of vision.

I used to hear from my grandmother that animals raised from childhood follow their owners in appearance.Probably because of this reason, when I first saw Pan Guizhi, I was instinctively afraid of him, and Pan Guizhi was also like this. The first time he saw me, he keenly sensed that I was a soft persimmon that could be manipulated at will.

Pan Guizhi has endless energy in finding toys. After he got tired of spinning tops, playing marbles, and playing with all dead toys, he began to look for live toys.Since I often waited for Lu Xinyao by the bridge in the evening, this gave Pan Guizhi an opportunity.

One hot afternoon, I was squatting on the bridge to do my homework, and Pan Guizhi just came out of the game hall diagonally opposite. When I looked up, I saw his crooked smiling face.

Pan Guizhi had a shriveled schoolbag slung over one shoulder, while the other shoulder was swaying loudly. When he walked towards me, his whole body was crooked.

Pan Guizhi squatted down in front of me, pursed his mouth and blew a long whistle close to my eyes, the harsh and loud whistle sprayed on my eyelids with air currents.

He clicked his tongue and said, "Yo, it's my younger brother. Are you doing your homework here?"

Pan Guizhi took away the homework book on my lap with great interest, looked at it for a while, then threw it aside, patted my shoulder, and said to me in a seductive tone: "Brother, do you want to eat popsicles? Will my brother treat you to eat?"

When Pan Guizhi was talking, he patted my shoulder with his left hand, and slowly rubbed a game coin in a slot machine with his right hand. His face and mouth were crooked, and his smile seemed malicious.

I am willing to hear Lu Xinyao call my brother, just like I only want to call my brother brother. Pan Guizhi's wishful intimacy made me instinctively uneasy, so I shook my head at him.

"Really not?"

I still shake my head.

Pan Guizhi frowned, and quickly came up with a new countermeasure.He said: "Good brother, then go to Peng Heipi shop and buy one for brother."

Peng Heipi is the owner of the Qiaotou store and the father of the twins, Peng Heipi and Xiao Peng. Meng Guanghui used to tell me not to mess with this Peng Heipi. I heard that he broke his brain and was a little mentally ill.

I didn't say a word, Pan Guizhi took the pencil away from my hand, then opened my fingers one by one, and stuffed the gray silver game coin into my palm: "Take the money and go."

I returned the game currency to him and told him: "This is not money."

Pan Guizhi froze for a moment, obviously not satisfied with my reaction, but then he started laughing.

"What's not money?" Pan Guizhi was not asking me, but directly announced the only answer to me, he said, "This is money."

"Why, my brother doesn't like letting you buy a popsicle? Didn't Lu Xinyao teach you?" Pan Guizhi put the game coins back into my hand again, and urged me, "Come on, take the money and finish it from the freezer." Popsicle, throw it on the counter and come out, I’ll wait for you here, hurry up! If you don’t come out with the popsicle, I’ll throw your homework under the bridge.”

He grinned and licked his teeth on both sides with his tongue, his expression was exactly the same as that of his three vicious dogs.

"Don't throw it..." Pan Guizhi's threat successfully frightened me. I don't know whether it was because of fear or anxiety. My teeth hit my lips hard, and a sour smell spread on my tongue.

Pan Guizhi shrugged, and opened his deflated mouth to the sides: "I threw—"

I wiped my pantothenic acid nose, and walked into the store with my head down under Pan Guizhi's triumphant gaze.

The game coin was held in my palm, and a layer of sticky and hot sweat came out of it.The freezer was right at the door, and the cold air fell on the glass, forming a layer of hoarfrost. When I pushed the door open, I was shivered by the cold air, as if at that moment, a ghost threw towards me Glance.

I couldn't help but clenched my hands tightly, pressing the edge of the coin with my fingers, scratching the palm of my hand again and again, and at the same time I heard the sound of my heart beating one after another, beating my ribs violently - not out of morality, just Because of fear.

As I headed for the counter with the popsicle, I thought to myself, fluke at the same time: He won't find out.

I swallowed subconsciously, but my voice was still tight: "Pay."

Peng Heipi was shirtless, wearing only a pair of fat pants, and was fiddling with the TV antenna, when he heard the sound, he raised his eyes and squinted at the popsicle, and said, "One dollar."

he won't find out...

I closed my eyes, flung the game currency onto the counter like a hot potato, and ran off with the popsicle stick, like a poorly crafted thief who has stolen something.

I am indeed a thief.

The game coins spun like coins, and fell on the glass with a clanging sound. This sound still echoed in my mind after I ran out of the store. I didn’t dare to turn back and ran towards the bridge. At that time, Pan Guizhi had already left.

Across a bridge, he was holding a slice of watermelon, sitting at the door of his house and looking at me with a smile, together with his three dogs.

When I was about to run to the bridge, the dog next to him howled at me suddenly. I looked to Pan Guizhi for help, but Pan Guizhi threw the watermelon rind under the bridge and imitated the dog barking with a smile: "Wow!"

I didn't dare to cross the bridge, but at this moment Peng Heipi chased me out.

He called me "short-lived boy" in a rough voice, and I was terrified by that ferocious face, so I had to run towards the school in sweat.

I am a coward, and Peng Heipi's pursuit and yelling made me panic, so that I didn't pay attention to a rear eight-wheeler parked on the road when I was running away.I just glanced back, and when I turned my head again, I had already bumped into it, and my eyes suddenly went dark.

In the fleeting darkness, a metallic rusty smell hit my face dully, and I clearly felt my body crash to the ground.

At this time Peng Heipi grabbed my collar and lifted me up.

My legs were weak, and after being lifted up, I staggered and fell to the ground. Peng Heipi's fingers poked heavily on my forehead, and his thick voice buzzed in my ears.

I felt dizzy for a while, Peng Heipi's vicious cursing sound came in from my left ear, and turned into a trickle flowing out of my nose slowly and uncontrollably.

I reached out and wiped it, and it was red, redder than watermelon juice.

That's when my brother appeared.When I looked like a bear with a nosebleed, I looked the most embarrassed.

His shadow squeezed away Peng Heipi's cursing voice and the fingers poking at my forehead, completely covering me.

In his shadow, those fears and fears in my heart suddenly piled up into a surge of grievances, which flooded my eyes irresistibly, and then rolled down Lu Xinyao's hands together with the nosebleeds.

Lu Xinyao grabbed my face, he lifted my chin with a strong hand, and then he stuffed a crumpled tissue into my nose.

"Keep your neck still." Lu Xinyao pressed his palm on the back of my head, and I saw my shadow withdraw my head and hide in his shadow.

I lowered my head and heard Peng Heipi ask my brother who I am, and I should have answered for him—every time someone asked this question, I would call out "Brother" before my brother could speak.

But this time I didn't speak.

Lu Xinyao's younger brother is a thief who steals popsicles.My tears fall on my shadow.

"His brother." This time it was Lu Xinyao who said it himself.

For some reason, when Lu Xinyao spoke, I couldn't help crying.

Amidst the crying, I vaguely heard Peng Heipi cursing. I knew he had exposed my crime to my brother. I couldn't see Lu Xinyao's reaction. I only knew that he finally threw a coin to Peng Heipi and stole it from me. I bought popsicles.

After Peng Heipi left, I lowered my head and looked at Lu Xinyao's shadow motionlessly, but Lu Xinyao didn't move, as if his shadow was also staring at me, making my ears burn.

After a long time, the popsicle melted a little from my pinching, and the water droplets on the packaging bag fell to my feet. Finally, Lu Xinyao reached out and took it out of my hand, tearing it apart with a "shua".

I raised my head subconsciously, just in time to meet Lu Xinyao's knife-like cold and hard eyes, he gouged me hard, and then fiercely and crisply took a bite of the popsicle in front of my face.

He stared at me, as if he was not chewing ice scum, but my bones. I was so scared that I dared not swallow my saliva, and I lowered my head in panic.

Probably because my brother's overly cowardly appearance pleased him, my brother parted his lips and said to me, "Look up."

I look up.

"Get over here," he ordered.

I really didn't have any backbone at the time, so he told me to get the hell out of here, so I just walked over honestly.If I had a longer tailbone, I might still be able to shake it when I accept my brother's reward.

I don't dislike my brother's saliva, I put the popsicle with my brother's saliva in my mouth, and I just feel that my teeth are delicious.My brother is different from me. He disliked me. After throwing the popsicle to me that he took a bite of, he didn't eat it anymore.

When I was young, I couldn't imagine what kind of humiliation my brother had to "redeem" his thief brother back from the shop owner.So during the period when we were in love with each other, I was always worried that my brother would be unbearable and secretly abandon me and run away.

Pan Guizhi used a game coin in the slot machine to turn me into a despicable thief, and now this game coin is lying in Lu Xinyao's hands.

My brother held the game currency and asked me: "Who taught you?"

I sobbed, and before I could speak, I heard him continue: "Your father?"

I quickly shook my head and said no, I silently repeated the word "Pan Guizhi" dozens of times, but before opening my mouth, I swallowed it in a violent heartbeat.

There is no child in the world who will not sue, and there is no heartless child who will repay a grievance after being bullied by someone and obediently hide it for that person.Even a dumb person knows how to make gestures.

But I didn't tell my brother the truth about my becoming a thief.

When Lu Xinyao was not my elder brother, I used to buy him with money and asked him to clean up the big and small pengs for me, but it is different now - he is my elder brother now.

I went to elementary school earlier than my peers, and I cried a lot. Meng Guanghui often told me not to cause him any trouble.My brother has only a little patience with me, and I'm afraid he will think I'm such a trouble.

Lu Xinyao was not interested in asking. He threw the game coin under the bridge while I faltered to conceal it, and said to me: "There will be no next time."

I quickly agreed.

But I didn't know that Pan Guizhi had more than one game currency.