round spring

In 1995, the winter snow was white, clean, undisturbed, yet fearful...

——An Yuan's Diary

After three o'clock in the afternoon, the sky has already covered large swaths of dull gray, and it is still getting darker a little bit.

An Yuan lay on An Guoqing's back, raised his hand to wrap the collar of the military coat around his body, and pressed the felt cap on his eyes. He simply closed his eyes. Although his face was covered with a scarf, his small face was The son was still blown purple by the wind, and it hurt.

He pulled the scarf around his neck again, trying to cover his face again, but the old north wind blew snow on the road, and the snow foam poured down the gap of the scarf into his neck.

An Yuan shivered all over, shrunk his neck vigorously, lay on his father's back, and when he spoke, his voice trembled like Xuan'er, "Dad, the winter in the Northeast is really, really, too cold. Xiaoyuan is dead..."

It took Anyuan a long time to finish his sentence. The coldness made him clench his teeth, and the "creaking" sound of his upper and lower teeth constantly stimulated the nerves in his scalp and temples. For a moment, he even felt Your own teeth will be crushed.

An Guoqing was walking on the side of the road with An Yuan on his back. He turned An Yuan up on his back and panted and said, "Now I know it's cold. This is not the coldest time. I was cold ten years ago. When I came to the Northeast to collect skins, I also experienced minus 40 degrees, and now it is only minus 20 degrees."

An Yuan gritted her teeth again and said, "Forty degrees below zero, that Xiao Yuan will definitely freeze to death."

An Yuan thought it was too scary, he nuzzled his father's back, and asked with a snort, "Dad, is Xiao Yuan'er heavy? Put me down and let me go."

"Xiaoyuan'er is not heavy. The car broke down halfway just now. When you got out of the car, it didn't hurt to drop it. The back of your head hit the ground directly. There was a bang sound. Dad was scared to death. Don't break you again," An Thinking about it, National Day felt scared and distressed, "You said you, who told you to follow me out secretly, how comfortable it is to stay at my cousin's house..."

An Yuan sniffed, gritted her teeth and said tremblingly, "I don't like staying at my cousin's house. My cousin said, you came out this time to find me a little stepmother. I don't want a little stepmother. We Dajun in the class, his father divorced his mother, so his father found him a little stepmother, now he doesn't even have to wear new clothes, his shoes are all torn in winter, and the front of his clothes is always greasy , the hair is not cut, it is worse than the wandering beggars outside..."

As An Yuan talked, he was wronged first, his eyes were red from what he said, as if An Guoqing really brought him back a vicious little stepmother in the next second, and he wanted to live like an army. It was too scary for him, worse than freezing to death here.

An Guoqing felt An Yuan rubbing his nose on his back, he giggled twice amused by his son, and said: "Dad is only your precious son, see how pitiful you say, Dad will never find you a little stepmother .”

When An Yuan heard An Guoqing's assurance, more than half of the grievance just now went away. He thought about it again. He had no mother since he was a child. An Guoqing told him that his mother died of illness when he was two years old. Being a father and a mother at the same time, he does better than any father. He knows that his father is not easy, and he gives him the best life and the most stable home.

He stammered and changed his words again: "It's not that I can't find it, but just don't let me be like the army..."

An Guoqing felt sore when he heard An Yuan's words, and said, "No, Dad won't find a little stepmother for Xiao Yuan'er."

An Yuan also felt that he was overthinking, so he changed the subject, "Our car is broken now, so what should we do now? Are you still going to Inner Mongolia to collect leather?"

An Guoqing is in the leather clothing business. He collects a large amount of animal skins in the Northeast every year. In previous years, he didn't need to collect them himself. The goods in the house ran away, and now I can’t even find him. He still has a lot of loans, and it’s almost the Chinese New Year. Every day, people come to ask for debts. He has no choice but to sell the house in his hometown. Forced to pay off the debt, but life has to go on, he can't suffer An Yuan.

This time, he wants to take advantage of the new year to collect another batch of mountain goods and animal skins, and make some money by flipping them. This time, he resells them after the first harvest, so that he can enjoy the current year first.

He originally left An Yuan at his cousin's house, but An Yuan secretly followed him into the car. He drove for more than 500 kilometers before he found An Yuan in the car. It was impossible to send him back. With An Yuan.

On this journey, he took An Yuan all the way up from Changbai Mountain in Jilin to Xiaoxing'anling in Heilongjiang, and the last stop was Daxing'anling in Inner Mongolia. On the way, fortunately, it is near Harbin, not in the wilderness.

It’s the coldest time in Northeast China, 12 to [-] degrees below zero. An Yuan is [-] years old this year. He has never experienced this kind of hardship before. Now he is lying on his father’s back in pain, being blown by the wind and sucking all his strength. nose.

An Guoqing walked for a while with An Yuan on his back, and he could see people in front of him. He said: "We are almost in the urban area of ​​Harbin. After we find a place where the car is repaired, we will have the car towed away for repairs. In the evening, my father and I Just stay in Harbin for one night, and I will rent a bigger pickup truck again after dawn tomorrow, and then drive to Inner Mongolia, the last trip, after collecting from Inner Mongolia, we will go home for the New Year.”

An Yuan didn't know about his father's business affairs. When he heard about the New Year, he temporarily forgot the north wind in his ears, and his eyes lit up with excitement, "Dad, I want to eat the fried rice cakes you made, and I also want to eat glutinous rice balls."

"Okay, I'll make it for you when I get home."

The next day An Guoqing directly rented a pickup truck in Harbin and drove An Yuan to Inner Mongolia. It was already two days later when he arrived, An Yuan was lying on the glass window and looking out.

This winter was too exciting for An Yuan. He followed An Guoqing almost all over the mountains and forests in the Northeast. He had never traveled far since he was a child. Dad watched the raising of the national flag on the square of the Communist Party of China, and took a photo in front of the police station.

He thought that Beijing was very far away, and here is much farther than Beijing. The whole road is covered with a vast expanse of ice and snow, which is different from his hometown. In his hometown, even in winter, there are not a few snowfalls in a year. It's easy to snow, and you have to put a little snowman in the freezer to freeze, otherwise it will melt soon.

This is a place he never imagined, a different place.

For a 12-year-old child, it was too exciting, novel, and naturally unforgettable.

An Guoqing also knew that An Yuan felt strange, and said while driving: "When I was in Harbin that night, I forgot to take you to see the ice."

"What's so good about ice?" An Yuan looked out the window, "It's all ice outside, and my eyes are full of ice and snow."

"It's different. Harbin is an ice city, and the ice sculptures are beautiful." An Guoqing said.

An Yuan said indifferently: "Then next time you will take me to Harbin to see the ice."

An Guoqing glanced at An Yuan sitting in the back row from the rearview mirror. The little man was obviously a little tired now. His little face was originally pink, but now it was dark red, and his round and big eyes were full of tears. Tired but still very bright, he said: "We are already in Inner Mongolia now, and the prairie in Inner Mongolia is also beautiful, but this time we came to Daxing'an Mountains, but it is very close to Hulun Buir Grassland. If we come in summer, Dad can still Take you to ride a horse on the grassland."

An Yuan was a little excited when he heard about riding a horse. He turned around and looked in the rearview mirror, "I want to ride a horse. You can bring me here in summer. I want to see the prairie. We have two essays for this winter vacation homework. Landscape, I will write here."

He looked out of the window again and said: "Everything here is white, the road is white, the fields are white, the trees are white, even the air is white, only the sky is blue, so clean... ..."

An Guoqing agreed with Xiao Yuaner's statement, "It's clean, and it looks good in winter."

Anguoqing drove smoothly all the way, and there was not much snow along the way, but when he drove into the village at the entrance of Nuominhe Village, the thick snow covered the road solidly, and he stepped on the accelerator, The front wheels got stuck in an invisible snow ditch and couldn't be driven out.

An Yuan was sitting on the back seat of the car, wrapped in two big cotton jackets, feeling a little dazed, just about to close his eyes and go to sleep, and deliberately pressed the felt hat on his head to his eyes, but the eyes just closed, " "Boom", his head hit the back of the front seat directly, and his head buzzed.

An Guoqing heard his son "Ouch", and quickly looked back, "Xiao Yuaner, are you alright?"

An Yuan rubbed her head, bared her teeth and said, "Dad, I'm fine."

An Guoqing rubbed the top of An Yuan's hat and said, "It's fine, I'll get out of the car and take a look."

The wheels of the front car were stuck in the snow ditch, and there were several wheel marks on the edge of the snow ditch. The road was too slippery. An Guoqing knew that he would not be able to drive it by himself. He even asked to bring snow chains when he rented the car. But there wasn’t much snow on the road, and the drive went smoothly. The snow chains were kept in the rear of the car, and he regretted not putting them on earlier before entering the village.

An Yuan stuck his head out of the car window and glanced at the village in the distance.

The chimneys on the roofs of several houses in the village emitted gray white smoke, which was blown sideways to the blue sky by the wind.

The round sun hung on the chimney, and the north wind blew past, distorting the curling white smoke and distorting the sun.

A figure was walking towards them under the sun. It was too far away, and An Yuan could only tell it was a man from his body shape.

He patted on the car door and said to An Guoqing, "Dad, someone is coming."

Shen Xingchun's house is at the entrance of the village. He came out to pee just now, and was about to go back to the house after peeing. Standing in the yard from a distance, he saw a car parked at the entrance of the village.

He knew that there were two not-so-shallow ditches at the intersection, which were covered after the snow fell. People who were not familiar with the village roads would not know this. He stood in the yard, rubbed his hands, walked out of the gate and walked in the direction of the car.

Grandma was cooking. She watched him rushing out from the house, and shouted at him, "Dachun, it's lunch time soon. Where are you going?"

When Shen Xingchun heard his grandma calling him, he also turned around and shouted: "Grandma, I'll go to the village entrance to have a look, a passing car got stuck, I'll go and help."

"Then you go." Grandma didn't call him again when she heard that he didn't go wild.

While walking, Shen Xingchun was still thinking that if he could help get the car out, he would have to charge five yuan for his hard work.

He thought about the five yuan in his heart, and his pace became faster and faster, and finally he ran straight away. An Guoqing ran into him before he had gone a few steps.

Shen Xingchun recognized An Guoqing at a glance, and he called him at the top of his voice, "Uncle An, it's you."

An Guoqing came here two years ago to collect the skins. He was trapped in the village during a snowstorm, and finally stayed at Shen Xingchun's house for a few days. Shen Xingchun's grandfather was a village doctor. At that time, only grandma Shen Xingchun was at home, and grandma suddenly had an acute intestinal obstruction, An Guoqing drove grandma to the hospital, fortunately, she was sent in time, and her life was saved.

Now Shen Xingchun looked at An Guoqing, and felt a little embarrassed when he thought about wanting to collect hard-earned money just now.

An Guoqing also recognized Shen Xingchun, raised his hand and patted his arm, "Dachun, I haven't seen you in two years, you've grown so tall."

Shen Xingchun raised the brim of his hat that was pressing on his eyes, "I saw a car stuck in a ditch at the entrance of the village in the yard. I wanted to go out and have a look, but I didn't expect it to be Uncle An."

"The road was covered with snow, so I didn't pay attention when driving." An Guoqing said.

Shen Xingchun followed An Guoqing back, "I'll help Uncle An get the car out."

"Okay, I'm about to go into the village to find someone. I'll drive later. You can give me a push in the back. I think I can drive out," An Guoqing finished speaking, raised his arm and patted Shen Xingchun's shoulder again : "How old is Dachun this year, almost as tall as me."

"Sixteen, after the new year will be seventeen."

"Growing up really fast, my son is a few years younger than you, he is twelve years old, and he is in the car."

Shen Xingchun was a little surprised, "Uncle An, did you bring the child here this time?"

An Guoqing smiled indulgently, and said, "I'm just a brat, I sneaked into the car by myself."

Shen Xingchun took out his hand from his pocket, rubbed it, put it to his mouth and let out a breath. The cold air condensed around his mouth into a circle of rising white mist. He glanced in the direction of the car from a distance. There was no one in the co-driver. , that should be the rear seat.

The rear window was not closed, and he saw the silhouette inside from a distance. His angle was facing the side face of the child in the car, with a round arc that was obviously baby fat. He was facing the silhouette of the window Shouted: "Where is the bear boy?"

An Yuan didn't close the car window just now, after hearing the sound, he moved his butt to the side of the car window, then lowered the car window a little, resting his chin on the edge of the car window.

"The brat is in the car." An Guoqing said.

Shen Xingchun took two quick steps, "Let me take a look at the brat."

In the wind, under the blue sky, An Yuan heard that clear voice again, calling him a brat.

Except for his father, no one has ever called him that. An Yuan stretched his neck and looked in the direction of the car, with a provocative arc unconsciously hanging from the corner of his eyes, and said to the people who came over: "The bear is here!" Here..."