shame

When he got home, he put down his backpack. The room was very quiet, and his father and grandma were probably not there.So he took off his sweat-soaked shirt, walked to the mirror in the bathroom with his upper body on, and prepared to wash his face.As soon as his hands got wet, he remembered the band-aid that was in the way on his face, and tore off the band-aid in front of the mirror without feeling any pain.

The place where the ring was originally scratched, with the blood scab falling off, there is only a small scar left, white with a little tender red.Then wash off the imprint of the Band-Aid with water, and then look in the mirror, it should be healed.Xia He thought of the ruthless punch that Gu Sheng punched himself in the face that night, but he still couldn't swallow it, saying that he didn't hold grudges, it was all lies.

During the summer vacation, his grandma helped him pack his luggage and prepared to go to the countryside to spend the few ten-day vacations.Xia Zhendong walked over to take a look at his suitcase, and saw that there was nothing in it except a few folded clothes, so he turned around and brought a cardboard box, picked out books of all sizes and stuffed them into the suitcase.There are subject materials and foreign classics, probably to let him review more in his spare time. After 20 days, he will have to face the first turning point in his life.

Xia He glanced aside and didn't say much, anyway, every time he went out he was forced to bring all kinds of books.Whether you read it or not, it seems that you can be admitted to Tsinghua University and Peking University if you wear it.

Say goodbye to dad, and accompany grandma on the car to the countryside.

It was steaming inside the car, and even with the windows open, there was no cool breeze blowing in, making people feel a little dizzy and uncomfortable.He looked at the grandma sitting next to him, took out mineral water from his backpack and asked her if she wanted some.Grandma shook her head and said she was not thirsty. She looked over Xia He's face and looked out of the car window. Her expression was very calm, and it seemed that her mottled face had become smoother.

Grandma was a very strong woman when she was young. According to Xia Zhendong, they lived in the country at that time, and they would ask grandma to help with many complicated things in the neighborhood, and even evacuated many disputes. She was like a leader, an action force And a very organized woman.Even in her old age, she would want to try many jobs that young people do, and she never failed to farm the land and cut firewood.

She didn't suffer from any illness when she was young, and she carried no less things than men.

But it was only after her grandfather passed away that she underwent an earth-shaking change, as if she had changed from a warrior to a coward, from a leader to a bystander, from a young man to an old man.Someone once said that people grow old in an instant, and this sentence probably came true in her body.

She became teary-eyed, emaciated, and her trips to the hospital increased.Wrinkles and spots are all over the face, and the body is thin, as if it would collapse in the wind.Kindness, kindness is not a good word, it represents the loss of toughness and uninhibitedness, leaving only the helpless tenderness left.

These are all the changes that Xia He understood through his father's mouth.Perhaps when a person has almost completed the task of life, then this kind of change is inevitable; just like when grandpa was alive, he was a spiritual pillar of grandma, when this spiritual pillar collapsed, and life needed her There are not many more, then she will be like a candle that burns to the end, only a little spark is left to support it, and it may be extinguished at any time.Perhaps the most important meaning of life is to be needed by others.

After about three hours, the car arrived at the destination.It was a busy town, and there were a lot of people carrying bags at the station.Xia He walked out of the crowd and the station with her grandma, and waited for people under the iconic stop sign.They had contacted their uncle in advance to come and greet them, and they lived at his house there.Compared with the one-story suites in the city, his house is a three-story villa.

Not long after, a minivan drove over and slowly stopped in front of the two of them.

Uncle got out of the car and called out to grandma, "Mom."

Grandma was very happy when she heard it, and called back: "Zhenhua."

She smiled and narrowed her eyes, then reached out to hold her uncle's hand, and got into the car first.

Xia He picked up the suitcase and threw it into the rear compartment.

When the uncle saw him, he said, "You are a little taller than last year."

Xia He, who is about 1.8 meters tall, touched his head and said with a smile, "That's how tall it is."

"No, boys still grow taller in their twenties, and you may have to be taller in the future."

The uncle said to help him open the car door and motioned him to get up.

After he sat in the seat, he said to his uncle who was also sitting in the driver's seat: "My dad is only this tall, how tall can I be?"

At this time, the grandma on the side said: "It's almost there, this is the best."

Immediately, Xia He and his uncle looked at each other and smiled, and did not continue this topic.

Along the way, grandma and uncle were talking about trivial matters in the family. Xia He didn't interject and didn't listen much. He played MP3 and generally enjoyed the green countryside pictures outside the window.The cicadas were so loud that they even overwhelmed the music in the headphones.

That place is located in a good terrain, with green mountains and green waters, vast enough, and quiet enough.Most of them are tile houses and bamboo forests. There is a stream in front of the village, and there are patches of rice fields and cement roads passing through the rice fields. The curves are conspicuous, like a painting in a book: blood vessels all over the heart.

There are not many buildings in the village, and my uncle's family is considered a big one.It was only in the past two years that he returned home to start agricultural production. Before that, he took his wife and children to work in other places and made a lot of money.Now the child goes to boarding school and only returns home every half a month.He and several partners in the village are also very busy, no less relaxed than working outside, and they are all dark and shiny from the scorching sun, often wearing straw hats, just like the old farmers who have been stationed in the village for decades .

After arriving at the place, Xia He got off the car to pick up the suitcase, and his aunt went out to meet his grandma, chatted and laughed with her, turned his gaze to Xia He, and said the same thing as his uncle at the station.

Beside her was a boy who looked a little shy, staring blankly at the two of them, daring not to make a sound.It wasn't until his aunt scolded him a few words that he called grandma in a low voice.

This shy call was enough for grandma to hold him in her arms.

The aunt pointed to Xia He and said to the boy, "Chenchen, that's brother Xia He, why don't you go and say hello."

After the sound, Xia He smiled and walked over to touch his tangled hair to show his friendliness.

Only then did the boy reply: "Brother Xiahe."

His eyes were like the eyes of an elk, watery, giving people a pure and pitiful feeling.

My aunt smoothed things over for Chenchen: "He's a shy kid, he doesn't like to talk."

Xia He nodded, thinking to himself, he didn't like to talk before, but most of his expressions in front of strangers were arrogance, and no one forced him when he didn't want to talk.

He's not introverted, not withdrawn, just too indulgent of his nature.But in fact, think about it, when a person is not sociable, you just force him to learn to talk. For the person concerned, that should be a kind of torture.

At this time, the uncle helped them put away their luggage and called them to eat watermelon.My aunt glanced at the clock on the wall, said it was time to cook, and then went to the kitchen.Grandma couldn't sit still, so she followed in, probably thinking of helping her. Although she couldn't bear the smell of oily smoke due to physical degradation, preparing meals has always been her source of happiness.

Uncle touched the shoulder of Chenchen who was eating watermelon, asked him to play with Xiahe, and then went out.

Xia He and the restrained boy were the only ones left in the lobby. For a while, no one spoke first, and after a while, an awkward atmosphere emerged spontaneously.

Xia He met him when he came last year, but he didn't live for long, and the two of them didn't get along well.A few years ago, my grandma was still living here, and my uncle's family was away from home. The only chance to meet was the New Year's Eve dinner.

After a while, Xia He accosted, "What grade are you in?"

Chenchen looked up at him: "Fourth grade..."

"Ten years old?"

"Ah."

He nodded, and deliberately lowered the sound of chewing watermelon.

Xia He could see that he didn't like people staring at him, so he only glanced occasionally, and saw that he wiped the corner of his mouth but didn't wipe off the stained watermelon seed, so he stretched out his hand to squeeze it off for him.

I don't know if this action was too sudden, which caught the boy off guard. When Xia He's finger touched his cheek, his nerves tensed up.

Xia He said abruptly, "Are you afraid of me?"

The other party shook his head, but his eyes showed affirmation.

Xia He rarely showed a gentle smile, and suddenly remembered something, turned around and took out a small game console from his backpack and handed it to him, saying, "This is for you, you can play Tetris and Tank Wars."

The boy took it, held it in his hand for a while, and then blurted out: "Thank you!"

"You're welcome, I'm your cousin."

Xia He thought to himself, fortunately the gadget that Zhou Yu gave him is still there, otherwise it would be really bad to get along with others.

Although it was tentative and a few words, and it was still difficult to open the boy's heart, it was better to give a gift than empty words, and besides, the other party was unwilling to answer.Thinking about the next half a month, besides admiring the rural scenery, who else can chat with me?Although Chenchen is introverted, she is also the first choice of helplessness.

After lunch, Xia He went upstairs to sleep in his room.The electric fan was humming by the bedside, and the cicadas outside were still noisy, but after listening to it for a long time, it sounded like a lullaby, and it wasn't that terrible.

Maybe it's because I didn't sleep well at night, and my sleep was all made up in that idle nap.When Xia He woke up, the outside of the window was already orange.

He sat up and rubbed his sleepy eyes. He had slept for so long that his mind was still a little dizzy.When he came back to his senses, he found a figure standing at the door.

Chen Chen didn't know when he was standing there, staring at him blankly.

Xia He asked, "Where are you doing?"

"Grandma asked me to wake you up."

Chenchen's voice was very small, not much louder than the noise of an electric fan.He had been lingering at the door 10 minutes ago, but he was secretly distressed because he didn't have the courage to wake Xiahe up.

Xia He said 'I'm up', and then planned to go out to wash his face with clean water, when he passed by Chenchen, he reached out his hand friendly and stroked his smooth cheek.

At this time, the sun was gradually sinking to the west, and the dazzling brilliance reflected on the top of the mountain and the mottled walls.The wind has picked up, with the scent of rice and buckwheat grass, blowing over the summer cicadas perched on the branches, and blowing Xia He's refreshing short hair.

"Take me out for a walk."

He stood in front of the door, looking at the wheat waves fluctuating with the wind in the distance, and said to Chenchen.

Chen Chen nodded in agreement, then followed the other party's pace and walked towards the country lane.

The village is not big, but the vast world is really refreshing.Not far away, you can see villagers returning home after work, wearing straw hats, and saying hello when passing by.

Xia He and Chen Chen walked along the curved gravel road. Before leaving the house, their aunt asked them to pick up some corn and go home, but when they reached the edge of the corn field, they saw a bicycle parked by the road.Xia He said to himself, "Whose car is this?"

Chenchen thought he was asking himself, so he shook his head: "I don't know."

He looked at the corn field, and suddenly saw a figure jumping out of it. The man was holding a few freshly picked corns in his arms, and there were slender leaves in his hair.

Wait, this person looks familiar.

Xia He looked surprised, is it Gu Sheng?