Lofty future

Before I knew it, I came to Guxu Road again.

Over the years, I have taken pictures of many nooks and corners around here.Observing with a camera and seeing with your eyes give you two very different feelings.

The latter is like a dish that my mother is used to, while the former is a dish that I can no longer eat and is made by my mother.Because I can't eat any more, I am more greedy when facing it.

My photographs of Guxu Road often get comments on the Internet as "sense of story", "nostalgia", "the urge to shed tears"...

I have to admit, I always feel sad when I read these messages.

Except for taking pictures and mourning Xiang Meifang on April [-] every year, I never express my feelings for this place.I think they are tender and sorrowful in my heart, but it is hypocritical and vulgar to say it.

The weather is a little cloudy today, and it is difficult to find suitable natural light and shadow conditions. I wandered a few alleys and didn't take any photos. Instead, it ushered in a typical thunderstorm in early summer in Yangcheng.

The rain came so fast and hard that I ducked into the nearest grocery store to take shelter.

This shop is one of the few old shops on the main street of Guxu Road.I don't know what the shop owner's name is, but the neighbors keep calling him Brother Hua.

He seems to never grow old. When he was a child, he looked like an uncle in his 40s and [-]s, and he still looks the same now.

He was playing Tetris with a retro game console. When he saw me coming in, he raised his eyes and lowered his eyes: "Would you like a pack of cigarettes?"

It will take some time for thunderstorms to come and go in a hurry.It's not good for me to take up other people's space by doing this, so I randomly picked up a pack and lit one with Brother Hua's fire.

"Long time no see, are you busy recently?" He chatted to me.

After the age of 20, I actually seldom come here. He may not really know me, but he just sees my familiarity and chats with me.

I also responded perfunctorily: "It's so-so, busy."

"Everyone is—hey! Lost!" He gave an annoyed "tsk", dropped the game console, turned his head habitually to the surveillance video, suddenly widened his eyes, and shouted loudly.

"What are you putting in your pocket! Take it out!"

Before he finished speaking, he suddenly got up and strode out of the cash register, heading straight to the back of a shelf.That shelf is big enough to block all view from our location.

After a while, he pulled out a little boy from inside.

"How many times has this happened to you? Hurry up and take out your things, and give me the phone number of your family. This time, someone will pick you up before you can be let go!"

His voice is not high, his tone is not fierce, but a bit slow, as if he is ready to grind slowly.

The child showed no signs of panic or fear, just hung his head and said nothing, and obediently took out a metal model gun from his pocket.

Brother Hua said: "You have to pay me three times the compensation, and you are not allowed to enter my door within a month. Did you hear that? Mobile phone number!"

The child muttered in a low voice: "No...no."

"Nothing? Your parents, grandparents, grandparents, grandparents, whoever is fine, don't pretend here!"

"No one." The child clasped his hands in front of him, raised his head slightly to look at Brother Hua, "No one is at home, they won't answer your phone, and they won't come."

"Then I'll call the police!"

"You...then you... report it." The child gave up after struggling for a word. After speaking, he turned his face to look outside the door, with a hollow and indifferent expression.

I just turned around and met his eyes unexpectedly.The moment his eyes met, he suddenly showed a look of surprise, his eyes lingered on my face, and the more he looked, the more hesitant he was.

Looking at him face to face, I also began to feel that he looked familiar.

Just as I was searching for the source of this familiar feeling in my mind, he suddenly took a step forward: "Cousin!"

"..."

At the same time, I also remembered - he is the child of the current resident of No. 16 Guxu Road, Xiang Meifang's son who doesn't know if it's his elder brother or younger brother, and my cheap cousin.

The last time I saw him, he should have just entered the first and second grades of elementary school. He was a small one, and he didn't feel much taller than Brother Hua's cash register. Now he looked like a big kid.

What's his name?

"That...you," I skipped the roll call and pointed to the model gun on the cashier counter, "What's wrong, you don't have money to buy a gun? You still have to steal it!"

The only child beside me, Jasmine, is a smart and worry-free little baby. I haven't cultivated enough training skills, and I don't have a good level of speaking. I just keep being fierce.

This cheap cousin seems to be used to being scolded. After hearing my questioning, he was not afraid to laugh back, and he stuck to it familiarly: "Cousin, you are also my parent, please help me to pay for it. I'll sign it!"

"..." I was shocked by this shamelessness.

Before I could express my opinion, he immediately turned around and asked Brother Hua: "Boss, can my cousin lead me?"

Brother Hua leaned on the stage, squinted at me, and took out a notebook from the drawer: "It depends on your cousin's willingness, you should write the review first."

After hearing this, the little bastard went over to take a pen and spread out the notebook, writing quickly.

Brother Hua looked down at him, shook his head, and sighed helplessly at me: "I'm a habitual offender, and my family doesn't care. If you weren't here today, I would definitely send him to the police station."

I had nothing to say, and smiled awkwardly.

Accidentally took advantage of him.After cleaning up this mess, the thunderstorm outside is coming to an end, and there are already pedestrians on the road without umbrellas.

The cheap cousin who picked up the bargain was still good at acting, surrounded me with a thank you and a compliment on the right, and said that he would pay back the money, so he stopped me and went to NO.16.

I kept silent on my mouth, but it was hard to be indifferent in my heart—that house that no longer belonged to my home, just like Chi Xue in the past, was something that I couldn't reach.

Since Xiang Meifang passed away, I haven't stepped into that courtyard for a long time.So I didn't have the backbone to refuse the invitation in front of me at all, so I had to let the little bastard drag me closer to it again.

There is not much difference between the yard and my memory, but the acacia tree by the windowsill of the small room has grown taller; thank God for the unanimous love of raising flowers in Yangcheng, the flower garden in the southeast corner has not declined at all, and the rose is in full bloom; There was an extra hut, and a furry Samoyed looked at us and shouted at us.

"Whatever you shout, you are not a bad person!"

The little bastard gave it a few words of petting words, and it stopped immediately with a "owwow", wandering around on all fours, wanting to come out very much.

"Cousin, come upstairs with me, my money is in the room!"

I came back to my senses: "Yeah."

The little bastard pushed open the door, and at that moment I felt extremely nervous, my heart shrank into a ball uncontrollably, and it was almost painful.

When the eyes really see the scene in the house, the almost suffocating pain seems to be supported by a heavy object falling from a high altitude, slowly relaxing, stretching, and finally landing safely.

The pain then disappeared.

It was a completely unfamiliar scene in front of me, and I let out a sigh of relief while being disappointed.

When you really step into the door with the little bastard, the psychological burden is not as big as you think.Even walking into the room where I lived for many years, I almost didn't realize where I was because I couldn't recognize it at a glance.

"...Actually, I am rich. I have 2000 yuan in pocket money every month, and sometimes even more! The boss wants me to pay ten times the compensation, and I can afford it... Cousin, this is for you!"

The little bastard pushed a big black wooden box into my hand, and I suddenly realized that I was actually floating.With the weight of the wooden box in his hand, he finally regained his senses.

"Why?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Look!" The little bastard looked at me like offering a treasure, expecting me to open the box myself.

The little boy didn't know what was going on in his mind.I opened the box and saw that there was a whole box of RMB inside, which was neatly folded, at least tens of thousands of yuan.

Probably caught the surprise on my face, the little bastard was even more proud: "I'm different from other people, they like to spend money recklessly, I like to save money, so I have a lot of money!" I stuffed it into my arms, "Cousin, this is for you!"

"..." Although I am poor, I am not in a position to collect money from a brat.

I ignored him, put the box and money on the table, and I went straight to the window.

Many times in the past when I gazed at this place across the path, I wondered what it was like to look out from this window now, and whether the acacia tree full of flowers and branches was as beautiful as I imagined.

Finally, I stood in this perspective.

His eyes greedily wandered back and forth in the field of vision, and soon felt that his eyes were not enough, so he raised his camera to take pictures.

The little bastard was still chattering around me at first, and then shut up after a while.

I took all the foreground and shot every angle.In the last picture, I aimed at the place where I stood more than 20 days ago, adjusted the aperture and focus a little bit, selected the best state, and then quietly placed my index finger on the shutter button, waiting for the moment when I felt the best.

However, at this moment, a pair of people walked into my camera.

They pushed and tugged, those who walked in front seemed impatient, and those who walked behind were angry.This was supposed to be an intrusion that ruined my framing, but "that" feeling came unexpectedly.

Every photographer has his own superstitions. I may not be considered a serious photographer, but I have a little bit of my own belief after shooting for so long——I believe in feelings.

Nothing is more important than "that moment".

As long as it comes, it should be captured regardless of the scene in the shot or any accidents.

I don't want to give up this moment for any situation, and press my index finger as usual to grab this destined moment.

And the person in the camera looked up at me at this moment, there was a hint of irritability and indifference in those beautiful eyes, and his expression was without any precautions and preparations, which was his most authentic appearance.

This appearance, I often saw when I was a child.

Not only will I see it, but after seeing it, I have to try my best to coax him, tease him, and clean up his irritability, impatience, and unhappiness.

I once thought that no one in the world knew better than me how to smooth out his frown, and no one knew his emotions better than me.

Unfortunately, now I am not the person who understands him best and can coax him best.It was not my rational wish to film the scene where he had a conflict with his little lover.

This photo must not be kept.

"I'll go first." Turning off the camera, I turned to face the little bastard.

Seeing me move, the guy immediately stood up straight and stared at me, as if he was afraid that I would leave.

Alas, child.

Feeling sympathetic in my heart, I couldn't help but say a few more words; "If you want to attract others' attention, you shouldn't steal things. You are not a child anymore. Others will not understand that you sympathize with you, and they will really send you to the police station. ?"

"I know... I know, I'm almost in the sixth grade!"

"That's good, don't do it again."

"Hmm..." He nodded again and again, sticking to him, "Cousin, if I don't have anyone to play with in the future, can I go to you?"

"How did you find me?"

"Give me your phone number!"

Good guy, it's enough to know how to do it.

I went back to the desk, found a piece of white paper and wrote down the number for him, and then went to confess my mistake to the big star with my camera in my hand.