round spring

Distress has a shape, and it will beat at the fingertips and in the black winter night.

——An Yuan's Diary

Shen Jianjun quickly picked up the topic, "Mom, raising a child is not about raising a kitten or puppy. You can raise it when you say so. When Lihong was pregnant with Xiaorui, she almost had a miscarriage. Later, I sent Dachun back..."

At the beginning, Grandma Shen reasoned with her son and daughter-in-law calmly and calmly, but when Shen Jianjun mentioned this, her chest trembled with anger, "Shen Jianjun, it's okay if you don't mention this, but now you bring it up again, I will break up with you today Tell me, what do you think the two of you did back then?"

Shen Jianjun also knew that he had said something wrong, and it was impossible to take it back.

Grandma Shen pointed at him and said: "At that time, you adopted Dachun because you had been married for so many years and had no children. Our family agreed. Dachun's family had many children and was poor. If we couldn't afford it, we gave Dachun to us. Later, when Lihong became pregnant, you didn't want Dachun anymore, and you wanted to send the child back, but your father and I disagreed at that time, saying that if you don't want to raise Dachun, we will raise it."

Grandma Shen breathed a sigh of relief when she said this, and continued: "The result? The two of you secretly sent Dachun back to me and your father behind my back, and Dachun was sold to others by his own father for a few hundred dollars. In the end, the child fell into the hands of human traffickers. I don’t know how many hands were dumped, and they were all sold to scam gangs in other provinces. He was only ten years old. They didn’t give him food, beat him and made him hungry He was forced to beg for food on the street, and was watched every day. Fortunately, he escaped cleverly in the end. When the child was sent back by the police in the cold winter, his whole body was so thin that only a handful of bones remained. The clothes that cover her body are not complete, she is still wearing a police uniform, there is no good skin left on her body, even frostbite and injury, you still mention this to me now..."

After Grandma Shen finished speaking, she covered her chest with her palms, panting heavily out of breath.

Shen Xingchun heard that grandma's voice was not right, so he took An Yuan out of the house, and helped grandma sit on a chair beside him, "Grandma, let's not talk about that, it's all over..."

Grandma Shen held Shen Xingchun's hand, "My heart aches when I think about it now."

Shen Jianjun and Zhao Lihong watched the old lady get so angry, they didn't dare to say a word, Zhao Lihong touched Shen Jianjun's arm, Shen Jianjun hurried to comfort the old lady, patted her on the back and said: "Mom, We all know we were wrong, calm down, don’t get angry when it’s Chinese New Year’s Eve, we didn’t know that Dachun’s father would sell the child at the time, what we’re talking about now isn’t about Dachun, it’s..."

Grandma Shen elbowed Shen Jianjun's arm that was patting her back, and said, "Today you two can't talk about each other, Xiaoyuan'er's father saved my life, otherwise I'm now The grass on the grave is as tall as a head. You two have no right to make decisions on this matter. Back then, Dachun was raised by you for a period of time, and you could still make decisions. Now Xiaoyuan is with me. I use Don't worry about the children, your dad and I will take care of them well in Dachun, nothing is worse than other children, we will take care of Xiaoyuan'er too..."

An Yuan's nose and eye sockets were sore when he heard it, he pinched the corner of Grandma Shen's clothes, and stood behind her with his head down.

Grandma Shen is rarely so angry, she has always been a tolerant and good-tempered old lady, Shen Jianjun and Zhao Lihong saw that the old lady was really angry this time, so they shut up.

Zhao Lihong held her youngest son in one hand, and followed the old lady's words: "Mom, we are not against it, Jianjun and I feel sorry for you and your father who are so old, and raising children is tiring, isn't it..."

After hearing what her daughter-in-law said, Grandma Shen couldn't possibly be angry with them again, "Your father and I are only fifty, and we have good legs and feet."

Zhao Lihong smiled and coaxed her: "Yes, yes, you and Dad are still young, take care of them, and I will not talk to Jianjun in the future."

Grandma Shen calmed down, stood up with a smile and pulled her little grandson and An Yuan, "Come on, let's go cook dumplings and eat dumplings with grandma."

Grandpa Shen didn't come back until dinner, and after listening to what Grandma Shen said in the afternoon, he also expressed his opinion at the table. Shen Jianjun and Zhao Lihong only nodded in agreement.

The adults in the family stopped, but the two young ones started arguing again. When Shen Rui was eating, his chopsticks were accidentally knocked off by An Yuan's arm.

After An Yuan helped him pick it up, the child lost his temper. An Yuan apologized several times but failed to stop Shen Rui from crying.

Children are simple-minded. Shen Rui was originally the youngest and most favored child in the family. Now that there is a sudden addition of a child who wants to take away the care of his grandparents, he is naturally unhappy. He finds a reason to start making trouble.

Seeing his son getting upset, Shen Jianjun yelled at him twice. Grandma Shen put down her chopsticks and coaxed her little grandson to go out to play.

Because Shen Rui had an awkward fight with An Yuan at the dinner table, she didn't want to sleep with him at night. Grandma Shen's house only has two rooms with heated kangs. Now that there are so many people, it is obvious that she can't sleep together.

Grandma Shen and Grandpa Shen cleaned up the side room at last. The side room was not a kang, and it was cold at night. Grandma Shen originally said that she wanted to sleep in the side room with Grandpa Shen, but Shen Xingchun said that he would sleep there by himself.

Ever since An Yuan heard about what Grandma Shen said in the afternoon, she has been feeling uncomfortable and feeling sorry for Shen Xingchun. He doesn't want his brother to sleep alone, and he will go to the side room with him no matter what.

The side room is a house built to store autumn grain, and it is usually used as a warehouse. It is okay to sleep alone in summer, but it is too cold in winter.

Grandma Shen and Grandpa Shen nailed two layers of thick plastic sheeting outside the front and rear glass windows to keep out the wind, hugged them with several quilts, and brought in the stove and warm water bottles.

While tidying them up, grandma told them, "You two sleep together at night, the lower bunk is thicker, the two quilts are piled up, and each of you has a hand warmer."

Shen Xingchun was actually not afraid of the cold, and after grandma finished cleaning up, it was not as cold as before, and there was a bit of heat in the room. An Yuan was still not used to it, so she was dressed tightly, leaning against the corner with her chin tucked.

Adding a stove in the room was too dry, so Shen Xingchun took An Yuan to wash up and put two basins of hot water on the floor.

When Shen Xingchun made the bed, he made the bottom very thick, and the remaining two quilts were stacked together.

An Yuan raised his hand and pressed the soft quilt underneath, and asked Shen Xingchun, "Brother, why did you stack all the quilts together? How do we cover them at night?"

Shen Xingchun said naturally: "At night, we two brothers sleep together under one quilt, it's still warm when we huddle together."

An Yuan opened her mouth wide in surprise: "Huh? Shall we sleep under the same quilt?"

Shen Xingchun turned to look at him, "What's wrong? I'm so ticklish that I don't want to share the same bed with you."

"Brother, you still dislike me. I never sleep shirtless." An Yuan saw that this was the only way to go, and put forward his own conditions, "If the two of us sleep under the same quilt, you have to wear autumn clothes and long johns at night."

"I'll wear it. I'll definitely wear it when it's so cold, or I'll freeze to death."

Shen Xingchun spread the quilt and sat cross-legged, watching An Yuan wipe his face and hands.

An Yuan is still obediently applying chilblain ointment, three times a day, not daring to drop it each time, being very careful. When he finished applying it, Shen Xingchun took off his coat, lifted the quilt and lay down, pinching the corner of the quilt and fanning it twice, " Come up quickly."

An Yuan had never slept in the same quilt with anyone else, An Guoqing only took him to sleep with him when he was very young, he still feels awkward now, it took him a long time to climb up, and it was only after Shen Xingchun turned on the light that he felt the darkness Change into pajamas.

After taking off her clothes and putting them on again, An Yuan shivered from the cold, and got into bed and lay beside Shen Xingchun.

He originally wanted to lie flat and not disturb anyone, but it was too cold, An Yuan moved to Shen Xingchun's side, sticking to his arm, and when he tasted a bit of the sweetness of warmth, he turned over and leaned in. into Shen Xingchun's arms.

Shen Xingchun's warm chest made Anyuan forget the discomfort. A warm water bag was placed between their chests, each holding one side, and the other warm water bag was placed on the bottom of their feet. Both of their feet were covered with warm water. On the bag, the toes rubbed together from time to time, Shen Xingchun was afraid of itching, and let go of the warm water bag under his feet.

After Shen Xingchun waited until his hands were completely warmed up, he put the warm water bag on the bottom of his feet, and wrapped An Yuan's two little hands in his palms.

The winter night was slow and long, the plastic sheet outside the window was rattling by the wind, the two of them pressed their foreheads against each other, An Yuan felt Shen Xingchun's light breath on the tip of his nose.

The cold air on An Yuan's body quickly dissipated, and his whole body was warm. He laughed twice in Shen Xingchun's arms, "Brother, you are so warm."

Shen Xingchun closed his eyes and groaned twice, "Go to sleep quickly when it's warm."

An Yuan remembered what grandma said in the afternoon again, and couldn't fall asleep all of a sudden.

He asked: "Brother, the last time I came back from the train station by myself, the traffickers you mentioned abducted and sold children and broke their hands and feet to beg, didn't they actually scare me? Have you experienced it?"

Shen Xingchun recalled that he was ten years old at that time, two years younger than An Yuan now. He was considered lucky that his hands and feet were not broken, but he saw other children's legs broken with his own eyes. Abduction, trafficking and captivity are as simple as that, but there are even crueler ones——

The abuse mixed with blood is as foul-smelling as the sewer...

He could talk about scaring An Yuan before, but when An Yuan, who was lying in his arms with a milky voice, asked him, Shen Xingchun thought he couldn't tell the more terrifying and dark side, those It's all that An Yuan can't imagine. An Yuan has experienced a lot, and he doesn't want to completely destroy the cleanliness and good expectations that are left in his heart.

The night outside gradually became thicker, and An Yuan's body was covered with the medicinal smell of chilblain ointment mixed with a faint milky fragrance.

Shen Xingchun let go of An Yuan's hand, pinched An Yuan's face, and said, "Brother has never experienced it. They just beat me when I couldn't beg for anything and didn't give me food."

An Yuan heard Shen Xingchun say that he would be beaten and starved, his chest was swollen and painful, he felt the sour blood in his fingertips beating little by little, he rubbed his cheek against Shen Xingchun's rough fingertips, "Brother, Are the scars on your body from that time?"

Shen Xingchun gave an "um" and didn't say much.

An Yuan asked again: "Were you in pain?"

"It doesn't hurt." Shen Xingchun said.

An Yuan didn't believe it, "How could it not hurt? It must hurt, I feel it hurt just listening to it."

Shen Xingchun pinched his face and said, "It really doesn't hurt, I've already forgotten about the pain."

"I will never forget the pain. Even if I forget how it hurt at that time, I will still remember the pain." An Yuan curled her legs and arched into Shen Xingchun's arms, touched Hei and raised her chin, and said to Shen Xingchun firmly Said: "Brother, don't be afraid, Xiao Yuan'er will stay with you from now on, and Xiao Yuan'er will not let others bully you again."