die without a problem

If Chen Chen gets awkward, don't try to terminate it early, all you can do is wait.After the incident about drowning, Yu Cong vaguely realized this.Chen Chen ignored him, and he followed closely, eating, mowing the grass, and going to the toilet, but Chen Chen was able to firmly stick to his principles while avoiding the adults and not being noticed.

He thought he was angry, but in fact he was not, he was just afraid - those words could only express his fear in case, not to mention that Chen Chen had never been good at words.

I dreamed more than once that Yu Cong floated up from the dark and deep water, pale, wet, and icy, accompanied by the sound of dripping water, and he didn't even have the courage to approach.

When Chen Chen thought it was time to talk to him, Yu Cong just smiled, just like all the things he thought were not worth mentioning in the past.She even pulled his face vigorously, as if laughing at his fuss.At that moment, Chen Chen really wanted to fight him for another week.

But no longer in the mood.

Dahei refused to eat.In other words, it tried hard, but couldn't.Yu Cong said, "Am I one of my own? Dahei doesn't even bark at me anymore."

Before, whenever he appeared, Dahei would fly into the air, wishing he could pounce on him and bite him, but now he doesn't even raise his eyes.Chen Chen shook his head in frustration.

Old Chen called the village veterinarian to see if he was infected with parasites, or if he was drugged by some conscientious person during the release.It turned out to be neither.Dahei lay paralyzed on his side, and the veterinarian stroked the fur on his abdomen—it had lost its luster before, and a clump of hair could be removed with a light stroke.

Chen Chen was stunned, standing far away, not daring to go forward.Yu Cong lay half of his body in front of him, holding his wrist, and felt a slight tremor.

"Go and hold another puppy."

Lao Chen lit his cigarette, took a puff, then raised his head and spat it into the air, "Is there anything wrong?"

The veterinarian packs his kit. "It's old, it's inevitable."

Lao Chen shook the ashes from the cigarette butt, "All right."

The adults are gone.The two of them were left at the scene, with the old Dahei, at a loss.It turns out that life and death are nothing but an understatement.

Dahei was getting weaker and weaker day by day.Before a pot of wheat bran was served with leftovers, it could swallow half of it in a blink of an eye.Now the rice porridge is served with chicken and the fish with the spines removed, untouched.After going to the rope, he just lay on the spot, unable to get up and move.Chen Chen stared at the flies circling the rice bowl and buzzing on Dahei's abdomen, feeling unspeakably uncomfortable.He stepped forward to disperse the flies, and surrounded them again after a second away.They are waiting for its death.

On the morning of the fifth day, Dahei died.

Old Chen said, "Chen Chen, go dig a hole in the weir and bury the big black dog."

Chen Chen stiffened his neck, "I won't go!"

Old Chen sighed, smoked his cigarette and left, not wanting to confront his stubborn grandson at such a time.

Chen Chenchu ​​remained motionless on the spot.Yu Cong was a little timid with that look of ready to cry.After a while, he stepped forward and took his hand, "Let's go, you don't want flies to keep biting Dahei, do you?"

Yu Cong held two shovels, and Chen Chen walked behind holding Dahei.The summer wind blows across the lake, rustling the reed leaves.Dahei's body began to become stiff, heavier than usual, maybe it was an illusion, he hadn't hugged Dahei like this for a long time—since a certain time point when it grew up.

They chose a piece of soft ground and dug hard.With one click, throw out the clod with grass.The more he dug, the more Chen Chen collapsed.The soil is so dark, so humid, and there are earthworms, just thinking about it, it is unacceptable for Dahei to stay here alone until he disappears.

Throwing away the shovel, he said sullenly, "I can't dig."

Yu Cong wiped off his sweat, because he always had to step on a shovel, and the sole of his foot seemed to be split in two from the middle. "I'll dig." After a while, he finally couldn't bear it and said, "You have to learn to let go."

Chen Chen remained silent.

The pit is complete, 1.5 meters long and 1.0 meters wide.Chen Chen jumped down, took Dahei from Yu Cong's hand, and put it in gently, in a completely stretched posture.Yu Cong pulled him out and filled it with soil.

The loess covered Dahei's belly, covered his limbs, and finally completely buried it.Yu Cong stomped it back and forth several times, and pulled out a few handfuls of grass to cover it. Gradually, no traces could be seen.

"Let's go."

Chen Chen was led by him, looked back, and suddenly felt that his heart was filled with indescribable distress, like a parachute full of wind, but he didn't know where he landed.

A few days later, Lao Chen brought back a white puppy.Grandma's, she can't even bark.

Chen Chen was not happy.Except for regular feedings, ignore it at all other times.The little white dog was clingy to him, trying to keep his legs from slacking off his claws. Chen Chen raised his feet and hung them low in the air. It couldn't hold on, and fell to the ground whimpering.

Yu Cong liked it very much, and often held it in his arms, and named it Putao.

Chen Chen was even more unhappy.With a white face stretched out, there was a hint of cold air in the funny.

There is no solution to this bad mood.

Yu Cong had no choice but to ask him, "How can you be happier?"

Chen Chen raised his eyes and glanced at him, "Go and catch all the grasshoppers in the vegetable field, they always eat the leaves."

"Okay, that's what you said!"

Yu Cong ran away, afraid that he would go back on his word.

Chen Chen watched as he found an empty soda bottle and rushed to the vegetable field.Squat down, dive down, hunched over, stand up and look left and right, then squat down again.After watching it for a while, I was very upset.

He's been waiting for him to come over.But he didn't want to call him.

In the evening, when Yu Cong came back, his feet were covered with mud, and Putao jumped up regardless.He held the bottle and smiled at him.Grass-green grasshoppers are densely packed, jumping up and down in the bottle, making a hissing sound. "When you count to 15, you forget to count."

Then he said, "Smile."

"How can you be sure you've caught it?"

"I can't guarantee tomorrow's, but today's will definitely be caught."

Chen Chen caught the bottle that was thrown over, and twitched the corners of his mouth. As long as his face is not tense, it is easy to make people think that he is very happy.Yu Cong emptied his hands, held Putao in his arms, and sat beside him.

"What about these bugs, you play with them?"

"Throw it into the river."

Chen Chen unscrewed the lid and controlled the body of the bottle. Two or three grasshoppers climbed up along the back of his hand, and he shook them and threw them onto the river.Then he floated and struggled on the river, as if he could swim.He didn't care about it anymore, he sank the bottle into the river, filled it with water, and poured it all into the river.

Putao licks Yu Cong's hand.Just like Dahei licked him when he was a child.

"Yu Cong, when are you leaving?"

"A week before the end of summer vacation. What's the matter?"

"It's nothing."

Yu Cong waited quietly.

"Then are you coming next year?"

"Come on." Yu Cong hugged the grape and smiled happily. "Chen Chen, you should go to our school, you study so well. We will finish junior high school and high school together, and then we will go to university together."

Chen Chen held back for a while, and really laughed.The eyebrows and the corners of the lips turned into three crescents, saying the words of hope but rejection, "No, my grandpa is here."

There was silence for a while, and the fragrance of roses wafted in the evening wind. "After finishing junior high school. After finishing junior high school, we will take a high school entrance exam."

They looked at each other and saw light in each other's eyes.Both raised their hands and clapped crisply.