Peacock

Tangling has a neurotic resistance to publicly displaying sadness. According to him, every hoarse voice is a performance to explain to himself. Before, it was only false. After a long time, it is estimated that he can even act in a show now. I can't find them all.

On the night of the vigil, Uncle Tangliu cried bitterly on the hastily built altar, repeating the regrettable words in his mouth. Other relatives also came to dissuade them with sad faces. In the middle of the night, they set up a small shed according to the regulations and played mahjong. The four aunts and six aunts often winked at each other when throwing cards. They used to be so jealous that Tang Mo transformed from a shabby second-hand product into a phoenix. Now, how much joy and justice are pouring out of their hearts, whispering and laughing, look, look Well, I said it earlier, to be a mistress is indeed to be punished by heaven.

When Tang Ling talked about these casually while walking on the road, I actually felt that there must be some problem with his cognition, but after thinking about how transparent I am, I also felt that I had no right to criticize.

But it didn't bother me for too long. This topic soon ended in Tang Ling's silence, of course because of his "neurotic resistance".

I can only choose to change the subject completely according to his will, racking my brains to talk about the embarrassing things that happened to me before.But I was so stupid when I was a child, how funny it can be, maybe not as funny as the act of telling my embarrassing things now.

Fortunately, Tang Ling was too lazy to expose my clumsiness because of her kindness. She seemed to show a very relaxed expression when listening to it, and interrupted me when I was about to stop making up, asking me "do you want to drink water?"

The monologue was too tiring, so I nodded without hesitation.

Tangling then led me into an alley behind the middle school. A small tent was erected beside the entrance of the cramped community. He half-bent on the window sill and knocked once on the iron pots lined up. , Chong said something inside, and brought out two glasses of dark water.

"What is this?"

"Cola."

As soon as I held it, two pits were pinched out of the thin plastic cup, and the lukewarm heat came out.

Isn't the hot cola exhausted? What can ordinary sugar water taste like?

But it's not too bad to drink.

I took a breath carelessly, and the smell of medicinal herbs filled my mouth. The sourness and bitterness firmly clung to my tongue buds. Even if I tried to swallow them all, I couldn't escape the magic. the taste of.

I think my face must be wrinkled into a pickle, sticking out my tongue, staring at Tang Ling in place.And he was just biting the straw innocently, not at all looking like he was drinking "Chinese medicine".

"Why is it so bitter...what the hell is this?"

"Herbal tea."

"Why is the herbal tea hot?"

After all, it is a common thing in life, and the link of "scrutiny" is often overlooked. Tang Ling was silent for a few seconds, and began to reach out for the phone in her pocket.

I realized with sharp eyes that he was looking for off-site assistance, and pressed the bright screen, "Handsome tour guide, your business skills are so poor, you dare to come out to pick up the job without memorizing the project?"

Tangling kicked my knees and told me to go quickly. I jumped forward a couple of times, then turned back and searched "why isn't herbal tea cold" on Tangling's mobile phone, so I got close to a Cantonese man. In front of a small box, I learned for the first time that the word cool does not refer to temperature, but to reduce fire.

As if thinking of something, I watched him drink most of the herbal tea and exclaimed, "Do you not feel bitter when you drink it? It's too awesome. I'm so old that I can't even drink coffee."

Tangling ignored me, and after walking for a while, seeing that I was holding the cup in my hand and either throwing it or drinking it, she mercifully swapped his cup with mine.

I thought it was because he had less left in the cup, and this was to lighten my burden.

And in the unusually warm coastal winter, I figured out my life motto for the first time—early to bed, early to rise, early to die, early to live, so I pinched my nose and planned to drink the rest in one gulp.

But what came out after the mouth was not the bitterness just now, but the unique sour-sweet taste of the drink. Tang Ling said that this cup is made of mountain grapes, and he only thought it was delicious since he was a child.

I stared at the mountain grapes in my hand with a disconcerted face. I was actually a little wronged, but I felt that this matter is too small, how can I bring it up, but the twists and turns of my thoughts rolled more and more like snowballs, and finally I squeezed out One sentence, "...why do you keep bullying people?"

Tang Ling still habitually bit the straw into an awkward line. He glanced at me, then looked away and walked forward, and said lightly, "I only bullied you."

"But……"

"Don't want to?"

"...Neither."

I don't know how to say it. I took his arm and wanted to hold back a series of loving personality education, trying to correct his bad boyish character, but I heard him say "It's here" just as I started brewing.

What's here?I raised my head in a hurry, and the words "Yuanyin Piano Shop" arrogantly occupied the entire plaque, and the "studio" on the far right just surrounded the vertical line of "Xing" in a very cramped posture.

It's just that the two glass doors were locked tightly, and I was about to ask whether we came at the wrong time, but Tangling made a wechat call vigorously and went out.

The first two attempts were unsuccessful, but the third attempt was finally connected. I only heard Tang Ling call the person down a bit rudely. Not long after, a man in a white vest and plaid shorts came to open the door for us.

He leaned against the door with half-closed eyes and explained to Tang Ling: "Oh, I forgot about this, I was watching the game last night."

"Oh? Little brother, are you in junior high school or high school? Are you planning to go to the arts?" He finally discovered my existence. "You said that these children are different now. They know what they want to do at such a young age. It's not like we were back then. , I know that I play games with my head pulled every day.”

"I'm almost twenty."

The man waved his hand indifferently: "It's okay, it's not too late to start now."

"Lin Cong, you talk too much."

"Okay, okay, don't talk. I think you have such a bad temper all your life."

Lin Cong walked very slowly, and his two large slippers couldn't keep up with his feet, and he always showed a posture of slowly moving forward like a mudskipper.

I was still confused about the relationship between the two, so I took advantage of Tang Ling's time to go to the bathroom to wash her hands, so I asked Lin Cong next to him.

"How should I put it, someone I've known for a long time." Lin Cong poured some mineral water into the palm of his hand, and tried to smooth out the raised chicken nest head.

"friend?"

"Classmate?" Lin Cong seemed to have found a more appropriate description, and confirmed, "Fellow townsman."

Just as I was about to continue asking questions, the piano shop came in. I didn't know why Tang Ling brought me here, but I still felt that it would not affect their business, so I sat alone on the small sofa behind the counter full of pedals.

There are guitars hanging on two sides of the four walls, and there seems to be a violin-making studio at the back. There are violins of various models in front of the small studio door, and there is a cello guarded by the side, but it seems that I am not there. double bass, which was a big relief.

But even so, I already felt the invisible oppression, the sound of empty strings smashing in my skull, and my hands began to tremble just looking at those wooden boxes.Cold sweat soaked my clothes, and together with the sticky feeling, there seemed to be an inexplicable pain. The whole back seemed to have been beaten by a hanger.

I couldn't understand my ridiculous fear for no reason, so I forced myself to divert my attention, took a few quick breaths, and looked at Lin Cong at the door.

Lin Cong, the boss, was acting strangely. He didn't even show any euphoric expression when he saw the guests, but he just yelled "what to watch" reluctantly.

The visitor looks like a student, not like me. There will be a kind of suffocation in that person when he is studying, no matter how he behaves.

He said something to Lin Cong, and Lin Cong took down an acoustic guitar by the door, "This is usually enough for beginners."

The emotional condition of the word "getting started" is rather delicate, the man took a few steps forward impatiently, "I plan to try electricity."

So he rejected Lin Cong's new proposal: "This seems too bad, why are you afraid that I won't be able to afford the money?"

He leaned over and took off a metallic black bass from the steel frame, stretched out his hand to caress the smooth curve, "I think this one is pretty good..."

He looked again: "Why are there two missing strings?"

Lin Cong couldn't bear it anymore, and sent the child out in a half-polite, half-forceful way, "The proprietress is not here today, I don't understand these things at the door, you can come to her tomorrow."

He sat down next to Tang Ling, and obviously he held up the grass fan and started to shake it, "I fucking hate this kind of person the most. I usually just pick and choose and say that your piano is not good, but the sound test failed." I can try your mother's 53231323 pianos every now and then, and every time I come here, I play back and forth between Nanshannan and Smoke on the Water, and today this kid has more dishes, I think if I give him the piano to try, he can't even play [-]."

Regarding this, Tangling could only comment: "Why is your store not closed yet?"

"I don't care, I just came to marry. It's not because my wife is playing with some feelings. Anyway, if she loses money, her family will post it."

As soon as he finished speaking, the WeChat voice reminder rang.After listening to the female voice's instructions, Lin Cong shyly sent a "Dude, I love you so much" without even thinking about it, in a sweet and greasy tone that made people uncomfortable.

I feel that Tangling has lost her language.

Only then did Lin Cong remember: "Are you really here to buy a piano?"

Tang Ling was noncommittal, but raised her jaw and asked me, "What will you play?"

I don't know if he is referring to these in the store: "...all of them."

Lin Cong showed an exaggerated expression of shock.

Tang Ling stood up and looked around, took off a 4/4 violin, "Try it."

I hesitated and didn't reach out to pick it up. In fact, I didn't want to put on airs at this time, but my body seemed to be fucking unable to move. It was the same as a ghost press. One joint, and there's a disturbing voice that keeps saying things like "You can't do it well", maybe it's me, maybe it's the dead violin.

I remembered that the first violin I got when I was three years old was much more beautiful than this one. My mother said it was an Italian violin worth more than [-] yuan, although the teacher at the time said it was not worth the price.

Because of this, my mother had a big fight with my father. My father said that she was a stupid woman who didn’t understand anything. If you don't care about me, if you pretend to be lonely all your life, you will end up poor as hell. In the future, I can't be useless like my dad, so she must give me the most expensive and the best.

I stared at the floor, not wanting Tang Ling to see anything, so I smiled and raised my head and said relaxedly, "Forget it, I haven't played the piano for a long time."

Lin Cong was a little confused, but he unscrewed the white door of the studio for us, "The factory pianos placed in front are all pressed boards. If you practice for a long time, your hands and ears will be damaged. If you really want to choose, you can pick the ones inside." .”

Tang Ling pushed the door open with her knee, and pulled me in by grabbing my wrist.

I only heard the sound of closing the door, which made me tremble.As long as I look up, I can see the dark violin in all directions, so I can only stand in the center of the room very awkwardly, staring at the upper surface of Tangling's shoe that has been covered with sewage.

"In the truth."

I closed my eyes, and finally felt a little painful. I covered my face with my hands, "I'm sorry Tangling, I can't, I really can't... I just lied to you, and I probably won't do it long ago."

He put a carbon bow into my palm, light and familiar.

When I first started learning the violin, I was afraid of breaking the one prepared by my mother, so I used the simplest violin and bow used in the teacher’s home examination. I still remember that it was also a carbon bow, very light.

Now I just hold the bow with my right hand that can't do fine movements, and my muscle memory allows me to exert force on a few knuckles in the first place.

In fact, playing the double bass and the violin are completely different things, but I think people do have a hypocritical first love complex. In contrast, I prefer playing the violin in private, not exactly because of the tone, but probably just because of it. That was the first time I used music as a means of communication.

Tang Ling sat on the soft bright yellow beanbag sofa, brought another pair, and casually grasped the neck of the violin like a rabbit's ears.

I was pulled to stand in front of him, stuck between his legs, in a dilemma, and heard him say coldly, "Then teach me, you demonstrate it once, and I will follow suit."

I was a little flattered, and I couldn't understand where Tang Ling came up with. I was stunned for a long time before responding, "Can I change it...not just a violin."

I caught a glimpse of the grand piano from the corner of the eye, and I said again, "Is the piano okay? I can do it too."

Tang Ling stared at me from bottom to top, casually playing with the bow in her hand, seemed a little dissatisfied.Just when my head was so confused that I was about to slow down, he suddenly straightened his body and approached me, with his head raised, and the tip of his nose lightly rubbed against my chin unintentionally.

"Didn't you say you like me?" Tang Ling's warm fingers pressed my cheekbones, but her tone of voice was not so gentle, like any precursor of his anger in the past, "Could it be that he lied to me again?"

It was so unexpected that he would say such a thing, I didn't even dare to look at him, "I won't lie to you..."

I was anxious to pat him on the head with a carbon bow to keep him away from me, because I felt my soul was about to float out of my mouth, and all the messy emotions in my mind disappeared for a while.

With his eyes half down, he rubbed his face against my fingertips like a cat coquettishly, and then gently raised his eyelids to stare at me. Although there is still no superfluous expression on his face, those eyes are enough to catch my attention. I can't help but feel distracted.

"Chuchu, I want to learn, you teach me."