muddy boy

Chen Linhu returned home without taking anything, just a sketchbook and two pencils, and threw them in the cart basket of Zhang Xun's small e-Donkey. He didn't even change the camouflage pants he wore during military training, and rushed back to the Cultural Palace Family Court.

Old Chen Tou didn't expect Chen Linhu to come back at this time, and he was chatting with the elders from the family home under the streetlight in front of the barber shop, mainly to express some opinions on the record of his neighbor Uncle Liao's checkers this week.

Seven or eight o'clock is the time for the evening press conference of this group of elderly people. Each of them holds a thermos cup filled with various teas, and puts two handfuls of fried peanuts on the toilet paper pad. Old Chen's bald head shines brightly under the night light , The spittle stars splashed out twenty or thirty centimeters.

"Is it reasonable to run away after winning two sets?" Old Chen was talking about his excitement, "Go home after winning. What's the point? Your son is so old and you still need to go back and stare at him? My grandson is so good-looking I didn’t say that I wear my trouser belt every day and look at it, hey, did I tell you, my grandson is 1.8 meters three, good guy, I think this is half a giant, hey, you know, What is the name of the one drawn by my grandson... Is it an illustration or something, amazing, really, don't go back to your house, you can come back to my house to see it next time, hey, do you know..."

Uncle Liao and Old Chen lived opposite each other for decades, and he always wondered why his mouth hadn't been worn out according to the frequency of Old Chen's speech. Could it be that it was really iron?

When Zhang Xun and Chen Lin came to the scene with a small e-donkey, they heard old Chen's impassioned bragging. Uncle Liao frowned and shrank his hands without saying a word. Assassinate Old Chen over and over again with his eyes.

"Hurry up and get out of the car, you half-giant," Zhang Xun said, "If your master blows it down, Uncle Liao will be dragged away by 120 tonight."

Before Chen Linhu could move his butt from the back seat, he quickly called out: "Master."

"Why are you back at this time?" Old Chen was also surprised when he saw the protagonist he was bragging about appearing on the stage, "Yo? Did you cut your hair? This bang was shaved by yourself with a razor, it's embarrassing , fortunately, he is very handsome, otherwise I wouldn't dare to recognize him when I came here. Oh, Mr. Zhang, why are you back with a tiger on your back?"

"By the way." Zhang Xun said with a smile.

Uncle Liao next to him heard that his mouth was like a machine gun and started to shoot again, looking at Chen Linhu with a thousand words in his eyes.

Usually, Uncle Liao was not very convenient to speak, and would write with a pen and paper to give instructions to his son from time to time. Now that his son was away, Uncle Liao focused on looking at Chen Linhu.

Chen Linhu understood his request, took his sketchbook from the car basket and turned to the blank pages, and handed it to Uncle Liao along with the pencil.

I saw the other party tremblingly wrote a few big characters on the paper that pierced through the back of the paper, and after finishing writing, he held it up to Old Chen, and wrote: Shut your mouth!

The exclamation point at the end is bolded again.

After scolding Old Chen, Uncle Liao closed the sketchbook with satisfaction and returned it to Old Chen's grandson, and patted the back of his hand affectionately as a token of appreciation.

Zhang Xun watched Chen Linhu standing awkwardly between his master and Uncle Liao with his sketchbook in hand, and the old men and women around him slapped their legs and laughed happily, rubbing Chen Linhu with each other.

Different from Zhang Xun's way of integrating into this old family home, Chen Linhu was warmly welcomed by the elderly without his knowledge, although he may not have wanted this welcome very much.

"Why are you swearing at people?!" Old Chen felt that cultural people could not do such a thing, "Tomorrow I will criticize and educate you, Lao Liao, you must not regress in thinking when you are old." Then he turned to Chen Linhu and Zhang Xunyi Waving, "Let's go, sun thieves, go home."

Zhang Xun thought to himself, you are almost scolding me in the face.

"Let's go," Chen Linhu turned around with a half-smile, "Didn't you hear me calling us?"

His hair was shaved short, and under the light and shadow of the incandescent lamp in the barber shop, a circle of hard thorns was drawn out, and the corners of his mouth were raised in a somewhat ruffian arc.

Zhang Xun resignedly pushed the little e-Donkey to go with him: "You're not trying to please me, so what's the point of gloating."

Chen Linhu thought about it, and suddenly lost interest. The two grandsons followed old Chen head down the path of Building No. [-] in desperation.

"Have you eaten all?" Old Chen asked, "There are still leftovers at noon, and I can warm them up when I'm hungry."

Seeing that the two expressed that they had already eaten, and handed in half of the bread that Zhang Xun brought back from the book bar, Old Chen expressed contempt for Mr. Zhang's behavior of eating and taking at work, but he accepted it with a smile. A bribe.

"It just so happens that I was just about to complete the task assigned by your father," old Mr. Chen babbled while holding a piece of bread, "He asked me to insinuate about your private life, did you cause trouble, and did you mess with anyone? The key is whether you're in a relationship or not, and if you say you can't do it well, you'll have a lot of cuts in your face because of some bad things..."

"Uncle Chen," Chen Linhu couldn't bear it anymore, "It's only half a month since the start of school, and the blind date has to go through a formality, let's talk about it. I entered the campus, and I didn't enter Jiayuan."

Zhang Xun said with a smile, "Your dad still cares about you." He still remembered the three phone calls in the previous 24 hours.

After saying this, Chen Linhu's expression faded, and he didn't answer Zhang Xun's tone.

Aware of this subtle emotional change, Zhang Xun looked more at Chen Linhu, but did not continue this topic.

After all, the old man didn't drink the American style. He couldn't sleep because he drank too much at night, so Zhang Xun took it away, leaving two cups of half-cold milk tea for his grandfather and grandson.

I haven’t been back for a few days, and the house hasn’t changed much. When Chen Linhu changed his shoes, old Chen Tou was still nagging: “Huzi, do you think your dad is getting old? It’s not the same thing three or four times.”

"What are you scolding?" Chen Linhu stepped on his slippers and entered the room, handed the milk tea to Old Chen who wanted to drink, and put the bread in the refrigerator.

"I can't remember, anyway, what's 'self-inflicted', 'unrepentant', 'shameless'... just four words and four words." Old Chen opened the lid of the milk tea package, observed carefully, and smelled it again. Then he took a sip cautiously, feeling that the taste was good, and smashed his mouth, "I never asked, how did you get that scar on?"

Chen Linhu got a little impatient with Chen Xingye's four-character attack relayed by old Chen Tou: "I did it myself."

"I'll be stubborn if I ask you a few words." Old Chen was not happy, "Look at your temper, at worst, I will scold my son for you next time."

Chen Linhu was amused by the old head Chen, and he felt better, but he still didn't explain in detail to the old head Chen: "I said it was caused by a fight. Anyway, you can't smooth out my scar, so just leave it alone."

Old Chen squinted his eyes like slits and stared at the sky, looking at Chen Linhu and let out a "hum".

"I'll take a shower." Chen Linhu didn't take this look seriously, "You should brush your teeth well after drinking."

No matter what, Old Chen snorted a few more times, and went into the bathroom with his stuff.

Seven or eight minutes later, Chen Linhu came out shirtless again, and asked doubtfully, "I called you several times just now, didn't you hear me, why doesn't our water heater produce hot water?"

"It's right if it doesn't come out," Old Chen drank his milk tea slowly, "It broke down yesterday."

"It's broken, didn't you tell me earlier?" Chen Linhu was shocked, he just stood beside the cold water for a long time.

"I can't fix the water heater," old Chen replied angrily, using Chen Linhu's words just now, "Leave it alone."

Chen Linhu stood where he was, dumbfounded by his master's use of force to beat him.

But it was impossible not to take a bath. Although it was already autumn, the weather was still hot. After a day of military training, Chen Linhu was covered in sweat, and couldn't bear it, so he fell asleep so sticky.

He sighed and was about to retreat to the bathroom.

"What are you doing?" Old Chen called to stop him, "There's no hot water!"

"Cold water is also fine." Chen Linhu replied.

"How can I do it, how can I do it," old Chen Toukeng's grandson returned to his grandson, but when he thought of Chen Linhu taking a cold shower, even in summer, he didn't agree, "You forgot that you used to shower in cold water and have a fever for three days baby?"

Chen Linhu thought for a while: "That's all about my first and second grades."

"You can't do it even if you are one or two years old." Old Chen patted his thigh, "I called the master who repaired this to come to see, and said that I didn't bring all the parts, so I came to change it tomorrow. You have to wait until tomorrow to wash it, or make do with it." Old Liao's house..."

After speaking, he remembered the line "Shut up your dog's mouth" written on the paper by Lao Liao at the opposite door, and then turned a corner: "Go to the second floor, yes, go to Teacher Zhang's house to borrow some hot water."

Chen Linhu was stunned for a moment, subconsciously raised his eyes to look at the ceiling.

Maybe it was because he had gone up once before and stayed all night, at this moment Chen Linhu didn't have much resistance to Old Chen's proposal.

He chose the third option between the cold shower and no bath, and had to put on his clothes again, planning to call Zhang Xun to inquire about the situation.

When he took out his mobile phone, he realized that because he hadn't returned to the dormitory all day, the remaining battery of the mobile phone was declared exhausted when the first "beep" sounded when he called Zhang Xun.

Chen Linhu heard familiar footsteps from the ceiling above his head, so he simply went out and went upstairs to find Zhang Xun.

It is already night time in the old family home, but according to Zhang Xun's living habits that are only one step away from staying up late champion, almost eight o'clock is only the prelude to his night life.

Chen Linhu knocked on the anti-theft door on the second floor several times, but Zhang Xun didn't come to open the door.

After knocking a few more times, Chen Linhu heard Zhang Xun's cat "meow meow meow" through the door as if making a report, and Zhang Xun's vague cry came from inside: "Who is it?"

"I," Chen Linhu replied, "can your water heater work?"

There was no reply for a while in the room, only a faint thumping sound was heard, and when Chen Linhu was about to knock on the door again, the anti-theft door "clicked" open.

Zhang Xun was still covered with water vapor, his wet hair was pushed back, revealing his face covered with water droplets, and the baggy white sleeveless shirt on his body had not had time to dry off the water, and at the moment his shoulders and His chest was already wet, revealing his skin color faintly.

"Do you think my water heater can work?" Zhang Xun wiped the water from his cheeks, and looked at Chen Linhu helplessly, "I just got my hair wet, and my cat reported it for you."

Maybe it was because his hair was soaked, Zhang Xun's usual fluffy hairstyle was slumped and turned into a big back. On the contrary, he looked a lot more mature than Chen Linhu's impression, and his eyes were slightly red because of the water, and they were a little hazy. wisps of mist.

Chen Linhu was caught off guard by Zhang Xun's half-bath, and subconsciously glanced at Zhang Xun's face in embarrassment. A gust of hot steam squeezed into his nostrils through the early autumn night.

The author has something to say:

Old Chen's daily routine: morning exercises, checkers, playing grandson with Lao Liao.

Uncle Liao’s daily life: He listened to the opponent’s dance drills early in the morning, was dragged away by the opponent to play checkers before he woke up, and was forced to listen to the opponent’s grandson.

Daily life of other old men and women in the family home: The cross talk booth in front of the barber shop is also open today.