madman

"Red date cake, grandma, I love the red date cake you made the most." Zhou Xun smelled it at the door, and finally ran into the house, carrying a nylon bag in his hand, dragging it in. After that, he froze in place.

It was still snowing outside, and his hair was still covered with snowflakes, which quickly melted, sticking to his scalp, icy cold.

It was so cold that his eyes were wide open, and he stared wide open, looking at the little boy standing by the stove with his hands behind his back.

"who are you?"

"I... I was adopted by grandma." Lin Zhile shrank her body, her voice was soft and soft.

"What do you mean adopted by grandma?"

"My mother is gone, my father is dead, and I have no other relatives. Grandma saw me pitiful, so she let me come and said...she took care of me..."

"Grandma said she wanted to take care of you? I'm grandma's only grandson..." Zhou Xun's voice was unbelievable, and the last sentence was a little disheartened.

What about the only grandson? A month ago, his little stepmother Wang Lijuan gave birth to a fat boy for his father. After confinement, Wang Lijuan urged Zhou Dahai, his father, to send him back to his grandma. Come.

Saying it was a gift, but to put it harshly, she was expelled. Wang Lijuan said that it happened to be winter vacation now, and she had to take care of the older ones and the younger ones. Yes, the little one still has to breastfeed.

Zhou Xun really wanted to say something: Eat your mother's milk, eat your milk, but what he said was the truth, the little one really had to eat his mother's milk.

In the end, he even went to the station to buy the bus ticket himself. Zhou Dahai was considered generous. Before he left, he stuffed several large tickets in his pocket, saying it was money for him and his grandma to celebrate the New Year.

Originally, I wanted to go back to the village to find my grandma to comfort me, but I ended up with another child.

—

—

Zhou Xun carefully looked at the little boy in front of him. He was very thin, skinny and skinny, without any excess flesh. Such a big child should have a little baby fat, but the child's cheeks are sunken , It can be seen at a glance that it is caused by malnutrition.

The skin is very fair, and the facial features are also conspicuous, especially a pair of big eyes, dark, bright when looking at him, and there is a small mole at the end of the eye.

For some reason, Zhou Xun was immediately attracted by the little mole, and wanted to touch it, but he held back in the end.

He looked at the child wearing a navy blue cotton jacket and cotton trousers with small red flowers on them.At first glance, grandma made it for him, because when he came to grandma's place before, grandma also made him a whole body.

At first, I hated the rustic flowered jacket, but now I see the little kid in front of me wearing it, and I feel uncomfortable again.

Not to be outdone, Zhou Xun took out a fluffy coat from his bag and spread it out in front of Lin Zhile, "Do you know what this is?"

"do not know."

Zhou Xun finally regained a little home feeling, "Just say you don't know what this is, it's mink, Diaoer..."

"My mother bought it for me." Zhou Xun added.

After his parents' factory closed down last year, both his parents were laid off. Zhou Dahai didn't care about his wife and children, spending a lot of money every day, either going to restaurants or nightclubs with his friends.

His mother couldn't bear it, so she divorced his father at the beginning of the year and went to Hong Kong with a rich boss.

Before leaving, I bought this coat for Zhou Xun.

Zhou Xun wore a mink coat on his body. A child of this age was just about to grow taller. The clothes that were fine last year showed half of his arms this year.

Zhou Xun, who just turned 14, is now over 1.7 meters tall.

He took off his overcoat with a sullen face, and only wore the sweater inside.

Lin Zhile didn't say a word, didn't move at all, and stood against the wall by the stove with her back straight.

He was much shorter than Zhou Xun, so he had to look up at him, and then, as if he had suddenly thought of something, he rubbed his nose with his sleeve, and then took a deep breath, but in fact there was no snot on his nose.

Zhou Xun was amused by his sudden movement, this kid is so funny.He looked at him for a long time.

"Hey, all the firewood at the bottom of the pot has burned out." Zhou Xun was so happy that he stretched out his hand and pointed to the fire at the bottom of the pot. The fire had reached the firewood protruding from the edge of the stove.

Lin Zhile quickly put the firewood in, and ran outside to bring in a few new pieces of firewood, which were a bit thick and hadn't been split yet. He picked up the ax on the kitchen floor, stood the firewood on the ground, and prepared to firewood.

Zhou Xun looked at the child who was so much younger than him, and was really afraid that he couldn't hold the ax and fell and hit his foot, "Put it down quickly, it's not as high as the ax."

"I am taller than an axe." Lin Zhile said.

Zhou Xun rolled up his sleeves, walked over and stood beside Lin Zhile, and gestured with his hand on the top of Lin Zhile's head, "It's just reached my belly."

He took the ax in Lin Zhile's hand, and chopped the firewood in two or three strokes.

"The red date cake is steamed here. I like it the most. Grandma knows that I'm coming back today, so she steamed it for me." Zhou Xun bent down to get closer to the steaming cauldron, and smelled it.

"Grandma also steamed it yesterday, and it's very delicious." Lin Zhile was not so restrained, and she sniffed it with her small nose, and said cheerfully.

Zhou Xun didn't give up after listening, "The steamed one must be bigger today, bigger than yesterday's."

"It's big. Grandma said you have a big appetite, so you have to steam the biggest one. Today, it's steamed next to the edge of the pot. It should be enough for you."

Zhou Xun laughed angrily, "You did it on purpose."

Lin Zhile was a little unresponsive, and looked at Zhou Xun with a dazed look.

"Forget it, what do I care about with a child." Said that others are children, and Zhou Xun himself is only 14 years old.

—

—

"Xiao Xun," Grandma yelled from the yard, "It's our Xiao Xun who came back."

Zhou Xun went out to welcome her, and hugged grandma, "Grandma, your most precious grandson is here to see you."

"Hey, big baby grandson, don't use so much force, you're going to strangle grandma's waist. It's cold outside, go inside and eat."

Holding his grandma's arm, Zhou Xun lifted his chin and smiled at Lin Zhile when he walked in.

Lin Zhile also smiled at him, the corners of her eyes were curved, revealing two rows of neat white teeth.

"Oh, we Lele look so pretty when we smile. This is the first time grandma sees you smiling, and you are the best Xiaoxun. You two brothers will get along well in the future." Grandma went to get a basket and began to fill jujube cakes. There are hot meals in the steamer.

Zhou Xun was dazed by Lin Zhile's smile. The meal was already on the table before he realized it. He subconsciously picked up a piece of red date cake with chopsticks and took a bite. It was so hot that he inhaled.

"Eat slowly, it's a big pot, and no one will grab it from you." Grandma smiled and patted the back of his head with her hand.

Lin Zhile sat across from him, staring straight at him, Zhou Xun was burned, felt a little embarrassed, his face became hot, and he stopped looking at him.

"Grandma, why did you adopt this child? Who is he?" Zhou Xun asked.

"You don't know me anymore? When you came back two years ago, didn't you tell me that you had seen Lele? He is the head of the village, Lin..." Grandma paused, and then said, "The head of the village, That child of the Lin family, Lin Zhile."

"What? Grandma, he is the little lunatic from the big lunatic Lin's family?" Zhou Xun was too surprised, his voice was loud, and the voice of the boy in the voice-changing period was thick and hoarse.

Lin Zhile on the opposite side lowered her head, almost lowered her head into the bowl, only the hair on the top of her head was exposed, Zhou Xun looked over from an angle, and only saw half of her small face hidden in the shadow.

"You kid, what are you talking about?" Grandma kicked him under the table and put another piece of meat in Lin Zhile's bowl, "Lele, eat more food, don't listen to your Brother Xiaoxun's nonsense, he do not know anything."

Zhou Xun also felt that his reaction was a bit too hurtful, so he shut up and focused on eating.

—

—

It's no wonder that Zhou Xun didn't recognize him, it really changed a lot, he had been to grandma's place a few times before, and met Lin Zhile twice, but never saw what he really looked like.

The Lin family at the east end of the village is well-known in the nearby ten miles and eight villages. This is what he heard from the children who played together in the village when he went back to the village.

They all said that Lin, the head of the village, had a whole family of lunatics. They said that his grandfather went crazy, jumped into the river and drowned, and that the insanity was passed on to his son, who was Lin Zhile's father.

When Lin Zhile was two years old, his father also fell insane and beat his mother away. Some people said that they didn't run away, but were beaten to death. They also said that Lin Zhile also inherited their family. The madness, is the little madman.

Everyone in the village avoided their family, and no one dared to get close, as if they would pass on madness to them.

The first time Zhou Xun saw Lin Zhile was in the winter of four years ago. The child was not very old. His face was as if covered with several layers of pot bottom ash. Only a pair of dark eyeballs rolled around, and his hair Like a chicken coop.

In the winter, I wore a pair of single shoes with holes on my feet, my toes were purple and swollen, full of chilblains, and I was wearing ragged clothes and trousers, showing my buttocks and chicks.

Zhou Xun was playing with the village children on the skating car on the road. When Lin Zhile passed by, the children all made faces at him.

"Little lunatic, you still dare to come out, is it because your crazy dad beat you again?"

"Little lunatic, bare ass, no one cares about freezing off the chicken."

"Little lunatic, hit him."

One of the little fat boys, after scolding him, grabbed the snow on the ground, squeezed it into a ball and threw it at Lin Zhile, and the other children followed closely, throwing snowballs at him non-stop.

I don't know if he was frozen or what, Lin Zhile stood there, motionless, letting the snowball hit him, his thin back was bent hard, it looked like it would snap in two in a second.

"That's enough, don't fight," Zhou Xun, who was a few years older than those children, stopped most of the snowballs with a roar, "What kind of skill is bullying people!"

Some children were used to being wild, and couldn't bear others' reprimands, and wanted to throw them again. As a result, Zhou Xun also picked up snowballs and hit them at him. The last few children couldn't beat Zhou Xun, and ran away, threatening to call their brothers at home. Come to him to settle accounts.

When Zhou Xun came to Lin Zhile's side, he still bowed his body, no matter how much he asked, he didn't say a word, and finally Zhou Xun took off the padded jacket he was wearing and wrapped it around him.

Lin Zhile looked up at him, but there was no expression on his charcoal-like face.

In the end Lin Zhile ran away wearing his padded jacket.

In fact, the people in the village were originally kind-hearted people. They felt that the child was pitiful, so they gave him some clothes and shoes that were not needed at home, and gave him some food. It turned out that the child could not wear it at all, and no matter how thick the clothes were, they could not stop the crazy father. Sometimes, the lunatic father saw it and wandered around other people's doors.

After that, no one cares anymore.

—

—

The second time Zhou Xun saw Lin Zhile was two years later during the summer vacation. He stayed at his grandma’s house for two days and didn’t go out much, but he could always feel a sneaky little head at the gate, whenever he wanted to When I went out to see who it was, that little head ran fast again, leaving only a small back.

The next day Zhou Xun deliberately pretended not to notice, and got closer, and finally grabbed the person. Lin Zhile was so frightened that he wanted to run away, but Zhou Xun was so strong that he hugged him tightly.

"You have been peeping at my door for several days, saying, do you want to steal something?"

Lin Zhile still didn't speak, just kept shaking his head.

Zhou Xun put him down, but still held onto his arm tightly.

Lin Zhile stopped struggling and lowered her head.

Zhou Xun remembered that the little man in front of him was the little lunatic who was bullied two years ago. He looked at him again, but he still couldn't tell what he looked like.

He vaguely understood the reason why the little man was peeping, the little lunatic was looking at himself.

Just because of the padded jacket he was wearing?

"Have you eaten yet?" Zhou Xun was originally very irritable, but facing Lin Zhile in front of him, he began to whisper inexplicably.

Lin Zhile shook his head.

Zhou Xun let him go and went into the house by himself. When he came back, Lin Zhile was still standing at the door, not moving an inch.

Zhou Xun opened the bag in his hand, "Peach Crisp, I brought it from the county seat, it's sweet and crisp, it smells like sesame seeds when you bite into it, it's very delicious, have you tried it?"

Lin Zhile shook her head, staring at the peach cake in Zhou Xun's hand, swallowing desperately, her stomach growling.

Zhou Xun teased him, "Say something, and I'll eat it for you. What's your name?"

Lin Zhile's jet-black fingers rubbed the blouse, which obviously didn't fit well, had holes and curled up edges, and the original color of the blouse couldn't be seen, so she finally said, "Le... Lin Zhile. ..”

"Lin Zhile... Contentment Changle, the name sounds nice, I'll give you a peach cake." Zhou Xun took out a piece of peach cake and handed it to Lin Zhile's eyes.

Lin Zhile's hands were covered with mud, he rubbed his trouser legs which were not much cleaner than his own, before reaching out to grab it.

The peach cakes were too crispy. As soon as Lin Zhile's little finger touched the edge of the peach cakes, more than half of them fell to the ground. It rained two days ago, and the ground was covered with muddy water. The peach cakes were dirty and stained with mud.

Lin Zhile turned pale in shock, knelt down to pick up the peach cake on the ground, and wanted to put it in his mouth, but Zhou Xun slapped it away.

"It fell on the ground, it's all dirty, don't eat it."

Lin Zhile looked down at the peach cake on the ground without blinking.

Zhou Xun handed the entire plastic bag and two catties of peach cakes to Lin Zhile, "Give it to you, I still have a lot."

Lin Zhile was a little hesitant, and didn't dare to reach out to pick it up. The children in the village had played tricks on him many times. In the end, he was either entertained in public, or beaten. He was afraid of being beaten, and he was afraid of anyone getting close to him. .

But Zhou Xun was different. At that time, he gave him his cotton-padded jacket, which made him very warm.

Seeing that he was stunned, Zhou Xun didn't pick it up, and directly stuffed Taosu into his arms, "Hold it, don't drop it on the ground this time."

Lin Zhile clenched the plastic bag tightly with her small hands, and took out another piece of peach cake from the bag, "You eat."

Zhou Xun hadn't done anything to help others a few times, and he was obviously not very good at dealing with such scenes, so he patted his thigh unnaturally, "Your hands are so dirty, I won't eat anything you grab."

Lin Zhile hurriedly put her hands behind her back.

Zhou Xun opened his mouth, but finally sent Lin Zhile away without saying anything.In the next few days, he never saw Lin Zhile again, only later did he hear that during that summer vacation, his father fell mad again and beat him half to death. Little life.

That's it, I've grown up after all, that's it, now I'm by Zhou Xun's side.

And what does Zhou Xun mean to Lin Zhile?

Lin Zhile knew clearly: in the past years, he had been walking alone in the snowy night, which was dark and cold, and then when he looked up, he found that the spring was already blooming.

When I met Zhou Xun, it was when the flowers bloomed.

The author says:

It is now 1994, and the cub is still young~ Please collect starfish and comment orz