wild cranberries

Lin Yixiong was on vacation on the weekend, and he didn't come back until midnight the night before. Ding dong May [-], the noise of unlocking the lock and coughing and taking off his leather shoes woke up Li Yuan who was going to sleep in the back room with the lights off.He turned sideways, and grabbed the summer cool quilt that had slid down his belly, together with Nunu, who was fluffy and fluffy, to his chest.Finally, he opened his eyes again, blinked in the dark, got up and went to Lin Yixiong's room.

When Lin Yixiong was young, he had a bad habit of smoking and drinking. When he was in his forties, he inevitably suffered from several middle-aged chronic diseases that were close to death.One is chronic bronchitis, suffering in winter and summer, unable to turn on the air conditioner and unable to go to the plateau; the other is mild ischemic stroke, the left hand is numb, swollen and astringent all the year round, and it is not flexible enough. After stabilization, aspirin and clopidogrel bisulfate tablets must also be used for a long time take.

A small dim wall lamp, Lin Yixiong was lying sprawled on the brown silk bed, his uniform hat was scattered on the floor, his socks were still on, the two big feet and the pair of stinky salted fish had been covered in the hot bed for three days Tastes about the same, sour swish.The thick and tough stubble grows all over the mountains, and wait a minute, it looks like a steel wool ball.

Li Yuan bent over to pick up the mess, stretched out her hand and turned the person upside down like a pot sticker, and put the towel blanket on his back, "Look up, I'm afraid I've forgotten what you look like."

Lin Yixiong turned his head and closed his eyes, hummed vaguely for a while, and put his hands into the pillow: "I didn't close my eyes for half a night, please forgive me and kiss me."

"Have you taken the medicine?"

Lin Yixiong didn't answer.

"I asked you about medicine."

Lin Yixiong moved his vain eyelids.Li Yuan turned around and went to the kitchen to pour a cold glass, opened the drawer impatiently, took out the medicine box and medicine jar and put it on the bedside table: "Take the medicine before going to sleep, you will have a stroke."

Lin Yixiong's brow bones and mountain roots are as tall as Li Yuan's, with westernized features and poor rest, and he can easily pull out two European-style doubles when he opens his eyes.From bottom to top, he stared at Li Yuan for a moment, his slack eyelids suddenly drooped, and he sneered a little from his nose: "You kiss me, whoever you don't care for."

After Li Yuan listened, she put the water glass in her hand on the bedside table, with a lot of force, there was a crisp "thump".

Li Yuan's sleep is shallow, although reading can't be said to be as hard as a sac Ying Yingxue or a head hanging from a beam and an awl piercing her buttocks, staying up late to study questions is also a habit.Adding four points of hard work to six points of transcendent talent, in Qingyi, he was already able to beat everyone to the top of the grade.But just like what Wei Yiquan said, educational resources are not equal, the so-called chicken head and phoenix tail, in the whole country, he may not be ranked among the top ones.Li Yuan wanted to leave, wanted to leave Qingyi, a small and confined place like a corner; he was not sure whether he could do it in the end, in the end, in the end.

And the key lies in being confused and not knowing the so-called age: what to hide, what to want, it's like a floating shelf, only the outline, still in the air.

Neither Lin Yixiong nor Li Yuan expected that Li Xiaoxing would come in the evening.Li Yuan got up to open the iron door, Lin Yixiong stood up from the square table holding a tin pot of plain noodles, stepped on the slipper board, and chewed in a daze.The two saw Li Xiaoxing standing at attention outside the screen door, Lin Yixiong bit off the noodles, and Li Yuan pursed her lips, not knowing what to say for a while.

Li Xiaoxing's attire seems to have become more fashionable, her waist-length black hair was cut short to her shoulders before, but now it's completely cut short, suddenly dyed a fashionable chestnut color.When she was not separated from Lin Yixiong, she also didn't wear jewelry. She thought it was hindering housework and jewelry, but now she had a lot of earrings and rings.

"Mom." Li Yuan called her through the screen door, and Li Xiaoxing smiled at him softly.

She came to get Li Yuan's single child certificate.Probably because there was no contact for a period of time, the mother and daughter are fine, but when the mother and son meet, they are more cramped than missed.Li Yuan took out a paper cup to pour water for her in the living room, rummaged through two or three paulownia corner cabinets with peeling paint in a nervous panic, took the Qimen red robe hidden by Lin Yixiong, and was about to open it, but he put down the bowl, pretending to be sincere He coughed indistinctly in a low voice, reminding him to stop his movements.Lin Yixiong didn't want to do something like bow his head to Li Xiaoxing, and he was so concerned that he didn't even want to share a cup of good tea.Li Yuan ignored it and took care of it.

"Niu Niu is tall."

Li Xiaoxing is standing in Li Yuan's room. Li Yuan sees that half of her face turned sideways has uneven foundation, the blush on the cheekbones is over-swept, and the eyelashes are thick and curled up like fly legs. She doesn't know how many times she brushed it in front of the mirror .She put the exquisite red leather handbag on Li Yuan's desk, and the strap of the metal chain slacked on the glass table, making a crisp sound.

Li Yuan frowned calmly—not only did the other party not say hello, but called him by his nickname out of the blue, there was also a colored photo of Li Xiaoxing hugging him when he was a child and going to the park to ride a bumper car under the glass table .Fortunately, Wu San was pressed on the photo like a pile of bricks to cover it up.

"It's not tall." Li Yuan paused, "It's always been 1.8 meters tall. It's never grown since you left."

"Ah." Hearing what he said, Li Xiaoxing felt a little embarrassed, "But, maybe you've lost weight, it looks obvious."

Saying that the child looks tall, like international practice, like looking for something to say, half of it is formality, half of it is to break the embarrassment, it is a preface picked up casually, and it is meaningless to be serious.Fortunately, Li Yuan did not continue to intentionally say in a general way: You are not thin, 130 pounds, you have never lost weight since you left.

Li Xiaoxing looked around the old ceiling, her eyes fell on Li Yuan's floor fan as if she was at a loss, she thought for a while and smiled: "Why, I haven't prepared to turn on the air conditioner yet, you are so afraid of heat."

"Wait a little longer, the sky hasn't fallen yet." Li Yuan looked down and noticed that her nails had also been done. There was no style, and she only applied light powder nail polish. The fish scales are beautiful and seem to have a faint fishy smell.The black and blue winding meridians protrude and float on the back of her snow-white hands, showing the physical characteristics of her age, "The electric meter can't stand it if it's turned on early."

"I see...you and your dad just eat noodles, why don't you cook?" Li Xiaoxing silently counted the number of workbooks on his desk. There were eighteen books for each subject. Make three stacks respectively, "Now the pressure of study is so heavy, how can I not eat better, how can I keep up with nutrition?"

"That's right, I'm too lazy to burn it, just order it once or twice."

"That's it."

Li Xiaoxing twitched her nose, raised her eyes and blinked, and saw a bright red raised sore on Li Yuan's upper lip.Li Xiaoxing's smile and eyes are indescribable, and the sudden distress and worry are mixed with a bit of coldness and dilution, what Li Yuan understands more is actually surprise.What's the surprise?I was pleasantly surprised that I had found an appropriate opportunity, the opportunity to continue the topic smoothly and naturally get close to Li Yuan.Li Xiaoxing stepped forward in two steps, her high heels clicked twice, she smiled relaxedly and stretched out her hand, "Look at you..."

Before touching the small sore, Li Yuan clearly smelled the fragrance of perfume from her wrist.It is completely different from the taste of my mother in my original memory, very different.

Li Yuan raised her eyelids, and subconsciously folded her arms on her chest, as if on guard; she pursed her lips, and squeezed them in together with the sores—not letting her touch them.Li Xiaoxing saw his obvious reluctance, so she withdrew her hand as if it was burning, and the two of them seemed to bounce away from each other.

"...Look at your mouth, you've been staying up too late, are you angry?" Looking at his high nose bridge, and at the top of his hair, he pointed.

"No." The gesture of refusal was too obvious, and it hurt someone. Li Yuan felt apologetic and imperceptible guilt in her heart, and her tone relaxed as if to make up for it, and she smiled a little.Like putting it in a microwave oven and biting it for 20 seconds: "I just... drank less water."

"have a good rest."

"kindness."

"More... eat more vegetarian dishes."

Li Yuan wanted to calmly nod her head in agreement, thinking about it quickly and evasively—does she still remember that she doesn't eat coriander and celery, but prefers bamboo shoots and yellow buds?

Lin Yixiong rummaged through the news of the single child's certificate, and there was a bang on May [-]th, so loud that Li Yuan thought he was breaking down a washing machine.There used to be a Rongshida semi-automatic washing machine at home, which was green and bought when Lin and Li were newly married.Later, the more it got older, the louder the noise became. When a switch was turned, the whole room buzzed, and the four legs trembled like epilepsy.Lin Yixiong had teased Li Xiaoxing at that time - as long as you pick this thing, put a steering wheel and sit on it, I can drive it and take your mother and daughter to Shin Kong World.

At that time, a family of three, with a small broken house and a small battery, lived happily every day.I don't know when it will be like a loose sand, and it can't be held tightly. As soon as the wind blows, it sways away, and there is no room for Li Yuan to react.

"Here!" Lin Yixiong threw a jujube single child certificate in his hand to Li Xiaoxing from outside the room door, but Li Xiaoxing missed it with his hand and dropped it beside his high heels.Li Yuan knelt down to help her pick it up.

"Hey! And this heater." Lin Yixiongxu supported a knee-high cardboard box with his left hand, "You take this too. Back then, your little sister brought you back from Japan to keep you warm in winter, and put it at home. It’s collecting ashes and taking up space, so you take it too!”

When Li Yuan and Li Xiaoxing watched Lin Yixiong's film together, their impatience was undisguised.

Lin Yixiong hated their mother and son looking at him with such similar eyes that one could tell at a glance that there was a strong and inseparable blood connection.It was as if these two people were close blood relatives who shared the same spirit and shared the same interests, and they couldn't get along like oil touched water, so they were pushed away silently and regretfully.I became the chief culprit and instigator of this family tragedy.Eighty percent of one hundred percent unhappiness is unwillingness to accept.

"Lin Yixiong." Li Xiaoxing took an old red book in Li Yuan's hand, stood up a step apart, and switched feet, "Is it interesting? You can't learn to speak well, can you?" He lowered his head and smiled, Looking up at him calmly: "Which time I talk to you, you don't like this? Just because I divorced you doesn't mean I owe you, and what you deserve doesn't mean I just give you the ability to keep throwing face at me."

Lin Yixiong seemed to have swallowed a joke, his soaring brows were deliberately raised and then lowered, he raised his hand to wipe the corners of his mouth, stroked his chin, and turned his head to laugh: "Li Xiaoxing, you are so funny, you have to be reasonable if the water is not level If you don't agree, why did I give you a face?"

"Don't argue with fools." Li Xiaoxing lifted her eyelids, shrugged and sighed, and said openly: "If you don't think there is one, then you don't have it."

"You women are fucking like this! Day." Lin Yixiong stood up straight with the door open, and two deep ravines were sunken in his eye sockets, sweeping away a layer of vicissitudes of life, just like Li Yuan's eyebrows and eyes. Didn’t Li’er fucking talk about Li’er in your mouths?! Who are you talking about?”

The one who gets angry first loses the game first, Li Xiaoxing smiled self-confidently and at the same time had sharp complacency and disdain, glanced up and down at the opponent for a moment, leaned back on Li Yuan's desk, raised her chest slightly: "Why Lin Yixiong , Dirty words don’t leave your mouth, it’s a shame to you? It’s open enough.”

Out of breath, Lin Yixiong raised his chin with his arms folded, "Don't you know that I keep talking like this? Why did you follow Ma Zhouping? I heard him say a few nasty words without borders, and I can't stand it. Lah? Huh?"

"Say you talk about me, don't mention him." Li Xiaoxing's mouth was slightly stiff, and after a short breath, he turned serious.

"False?"

Li Xiaoxing suddenly fell silent.

Lin Yixiong followed closely like "pursuing the victory": "Why are you right early? Why didn't you see that man surnamed Ma earlier? You were five people and six people with teeth and claws under their noses? You are rushing to be Ma Yuping's stepmother. Why can't you be so eloquent when I give you a face and say you are cheap?!"

After Lin Yixiong finished speaking, he thumped the door frame, Li Xiaoxing's chest heaved and heaved, he stood up straight and almost wanted to step forward, "You—"

"Snapped."

Li Yuan beside the bed kicked over the small square stool beside the desk.

Early summer dusk, unequal division of day and night.Li Yuan sent Li Xiaoxing out, the hot oil was quite heavy, and it was inconvenient for her to carry her high heels.In the evening of Zhujiatang, the golden and orange sky shines into half of the building, dividing the dark building into two halves, the old and the new.Li Xiaoxing stepped on the high heels carefully and went downstairs, her head was bathed in the light, the person instantly became foggy and soft-focused, she turned her head to look at Li Yuan, and smiled cautiously and shyly: "I won't see you off, mom is gone."

Most of Li Yuan's body was in the dark, only the tip of her nose to her chin was illuminated, "You can't lift it, it's as heavy as a dead pig."

Li Xiaoxing was amused, shook her waist, and said in silence for a moment: "Your Uncle Ma will pick me up at the intersection right away."

Li Yuan paused, then turned her head slightly to the left, and the tip of her nose didn't light up, "Yeah."

"Study hard and pay attention to your body."

"Ah."

"Don't be bitter and hateful at a young age, be more lively."

Li Yuan smiled: "Okay, got it."

"Don't be like your father."

The relationship was complicated, and Li Yuan's mood was also complicated. She didn't have the good mood of celebrating the weekend at all.Li Yuan is different at home and away. Being a Scorpio is more like a Gemini. He pretends to be old, open-minded, mature and free-spirited, all for outsiders to see, while for his own family, he silently ignores and resists.There is also a stubborn and childish part here, and the whole person is twisted and contradictory, just like his jaw is tensed, and he deliberately responded to Li Xiaoxing's sentence horizontally and vertically:

It doesn't matter whether he looks like him or not, you can take care of yourself.

The vines in my heart grew chaotically and rapidly, spreading over the ankles and wrists like sticky algae, and they continued to be cut and messed up.Fortunately, when I went downstairs, I put a cigarette case and lighter in my trouser pocket. Li Yuan turned into the depths of the alley of Zhujiatang. Confused and irritated, she lit one, held it between her fingers, and handed it to her mouth, not knowing the taste. Inhale and exhale wholeheartedly.

Li Yuan turned her back and lowered her head, and pressed the cigarette butt against the cement seam of the red brick wall.It's almost a bit of venting anger, pressing hard and pressing hard, as if you have to poke a hole to feel comfortable.

Peng Xiaoman intentionally lightened his steps, raised his swollen thin chest, turned around ahead of time and raised his eyebrows sharply, and made a gesture of silence to grandma, the old lady lowered her eyes cooperatively, and tightened her face A slightly deflated mouth.Li Yuan continued to press and grind unconsciously, lowering her head and pursing her lips.The wild cats in the Zhujia Pond are all fat and oily, with long tails and often pacing around people’s feet. There are two old faucets shared by the rented house on the first floor. trickle down.

Tick, tick, fine and regular sound can be clearly discerned in the cool and cramped pond.

Taking advantage of his unpreparedness, Peng Xiaoman quickly raised his hand behind Li Yuan's back and shoved her.

"Hey!"

Unsurprisingly, Li Yuan staggered forward, and suddenly bumped her forehead against the wall with a "bang".

"I'fuck' you——" Li Yuan suddenly got angry from the soles of her feet on the ground, and couldn't help but greet the eighteen generations of the person behind her in her heart without knowing the person behind her. Dao Mei frowned and turned around.

Peng Xiaoman knew very well that he was very weak at the moment and didn't grasp the strength properly. Seeing the person turning around with dark clouds covering the sun and a fierce look, he swiped and bowed at ninety degrees without any hope, followed by He clasped his palms together and apologized in advance: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, my hands are heavy, I'm damned, I really didn't mean it!"

Seeing that the black hand was actually his mother Peng Xiaoman, Li Yuan clicked her tongue and closed her eyes speechlessly, "Then I owe you."

"What's more, you are too..." Peng Xiaoman looked up at an oval light red mark on his forehead, like a small delicate sleep mark on the table during lunch break at school.I was extremely sorry in my heart, but I couldn't help but the corners of my mouth twitched as if I was slapping my legs, holding back the three words: "The body is delicate and soft and easy to push down..."

This kid is a master at making jokes, and Li Yuan knows a little bit now.

He saw that Peng Xiaoman's short, fluffy hair was tufted on top of his head, and he happened to be standing in the only bright spot, half of his outline was blurred in the skylight.Clean and bright bunt T-shirts, washed cropped pants with blue and white ankles exposed, and crackling flip-flops.Maybe I just came back from the farmer's vegetable market, and after eating the heat wave all the way, my face was covered with clear sweat, and my whole face looked bright.

"Go back?" Li Yuan held up the half-cut big watermelon that was covered with plastic wrap, and said, "Why don't you come to my house and eat some watermelon?"

Li Yuan didn't speak.

Peng Xiaoman pointed to his forehead and grinned, showing his canine teeth: "Come on, I'll make an apology for you."

Peng Xiaoman's grandma also slowly approached her with a bulging floral cloth bag behind her back, and Li Yuan nodded politely to her.She smiled and waved a loose and white hand to Li Yuan, she spoke softly, not at all as sharp as what Peng Xiaoman said: "Yes, Xiao Yuan, come and sit at home, grandma, I will treat you well Something to look at."

An old man and a young man stand side by side, both smiling and brightly lit.