beginning of autumn

The sun shone through the small wooden window on the clay kang inside the house, Yunfei slowly opened his eyes, the room was quiet, only the kettle on the stove made some creaking sounds.He stretched himself, got dressed and got out of bed.The breakfast was still warming by the stove. He lifted the lid of the pot and saw that it was still the same as the old three, millet porridge, radish pickles and corn pancakes.He got up late and didn't have any appetite. He took a piece of pancake and chewed it in his mouth. He found it too dry to swallow, so he put it aside, drank half a bowl of porridge with pickles, and cleaned up briefly. He picked up the little book on the table and quickly ran out of the alley.

On the road beside the stone bridge, there was a woman in her fifties with disheveled hair and dull eyes. She held a broken iron pan in her left hand and knocked on it with a rusty shovel in her right hand, yelling continuously. : "Everyone, come and see, the woman from Majiahezi is going to kill someone." Yun Fei only focused on looking forward, but he didn't notice that he tripped over something under his feet, and almost fell over.He looked down, and it turned out that his shoelaces were untied.

Li Qiu ran across the small bridge as if he had made an appointment with him early in the morning, and asked with a smile: "Brother Yun? Where are you going?" Yun Fei handed him the comic book in his hand, smiling He said: "Didn't you always want to read this "Young General of the Yue Family"? Unfortunately, Xiaona lost it when she was reading it a few days ago. When I was packing up my things last night, I found it behind the big tank. Send it over." Li Qiu took the book and said with a smile: "Thank you, Brother Yun. I was shocked just now, but luckily you are fine, you don't even know if your shoelaces are loose, let me tie them for you."

"No, no, I'll do it myself." Yun Fei was a little embarrassed, but Li Qiu had already knelt down to help him tie it.It was just an ordinary shoelace, but after being manipulated by his hands, it looked like a delicate and beautiful bow.Yunfei joked: "Liqiu, if only you were a girl, with such skillful hands, I will definitely marry you as my daughter-in-law in the future." Liqiu was a little shy when he heard this, and said with a blushing and naive smile: " I'm afraid I won't be able to be a daughter-in-law, but I can be your best brother, I'm afraid I'll be annoying if I cling to you every day." Yun Fei looked into his eyes and smiled: "Why is it annoying? I'm afraid I won't get used to it without you in the future."

Li Qiu said that he was going to buy two packs of cigarettes for his father, so Yunfei went with him to Uncle Fu's house.As soon as he walked to the door, he heard the sound of a child crying loudly inside. The door was ajar, and his daughter-in-law was holding the child behind the counter and breastfeeding.Yunfei and Liqiu were waiting outside, the child gradually stopped crying, and then opened the door to go in.Liqiu said he wanted two packs of Daguang, the wife put the child on the crib, and hurried to the shelf to get cigarettes.While teasing the child, Yunfei asked her with a smile: "Sister-in-law, you are really tired of taking care of the child while doing business at home. Did uncle drive the car to the city to buy goods again?" The daughter-in-law turned towards the east Nuzui said: "What are you buying? He hid and went to Zhang's house to watch the excitement."

The two just started the door of the courtyard, and a snoring sound came from the alley, as if the window glass was smashed.Yunfei felt strange, so he dragged Liqiu and ran over there.A lot of people gathered under the willow tree at the entrance of the alley, and they pointed to the front from time to time. There was a white van parked in the corner, and the driver was staring dumbfounded at what was happening outside the window.Zhang Jianjun, who had just got married, was forcibly pressed to the ground by two young and strong young men. His face was disheveled, his glasses were thrown aside, and his blue suit was torn several times.His daughter-in-law was pointing at him and scolding: "You are so talented, you say you are not a man, you still dare to hit me, I will let you hit me, you hit me." While talking, she slapped Zhang Jianjun several times .Jianjun's mother was still knocking on the iron pot and yelling loudly: "Killer, I'm going to kill someone." The daughter-in-law turned her head and spat: "You old man, who is this show for? You howl at me again. I won’t kill you.” As he spoke, he rushed over with a small flower hoe, and beat the old lady hard with the handle of the hoe, and several women standing beside him forcibly snatched the hoe from her. down.Jianjun saw his mother being beaten, his eyes were red with anxiety, he struggled on the ground and shouted: "Cui Xiang'e, you can hit me, but you are not allowed to hit my mother."

Cui Xiang'e sneered and said, "I'll hit it, what can you do? If you want to live well, you have to listen to me. The Nanwu was vacated for my mother to live in, and the crazy woman moved to Majiahezi. We The village is small and remote and there are no people there. She can howl as she wants. I can't see or worry. If you want to be filial, just go, and I will never stop; if you don't listen to me, then we will divorce, but you have to Give me 1 yuan for youth loss first, or you can just leave this courtyard, choose one, and you can figure it out.” The people around were startled when they heard this, and chattered in unison. Discussed up.Uncle Fu couldn't bear it any longer, and cursed at Cui Xiang'e: "You're such an idiot, just because you have two bastard brothers in your natal family, you're running amok all day long, I've never seen such a bully when I grow up Yes." Hearing this, one of her brothers ran over and grabbed Uncle Fu by the collar and threatened him, "If you dare to say something nonsense again, I'll kill you, old fellow."

At this time, a motorcycle came suddenly and stopped by the side of the road, a young man squeezed in from the crowd, without saying a word, he punched Er Lengzi who was grabbing Uncle Fu by the collar , before that guy had time to figure out what was going on, he was already beaten to the ground and couldn't stand up.Seeing that the situation was not good, the other ran away without a trace.This sudden scene frightened Cui Xiang'e into a fool, and the arrogant arrogance that was just now was thrown to Java.She saw it more clearly than anyone else, and that person was Zou Xiaohui.She walked over and pulled Zou Xiaohui's arm and said with a smile: "Xiaohui, why did you beat my brother? It was people from their family who bullied me, so I asked my brother to help me vent my anger. You are the only friend in this village, you You must make the decision for me." Zou Xiaohui shook off her hands and sneered, "Cui Xiang'e, don't talk about it, we haven't gotten to know that well yet. Let me tell you, no matter how cowardly Zhang Jianjun is, it's me, Qiujiagou. If you dare to bring people from other villages to bully him again, I will make you unable to bear it." The woman turned red and white with anger when she heard what he said, thinking that there was something wrong with him. It was estimated that there would be no bargain, so he sat on the ground and burst into tears.Jianjun's mother was knocking on the bottom of the pot and singing the opera. Although she was not mentally normal, she sang the opera very authentically, and many people around her were applauding her.Embarrassed and annoyed, Cui Xiang'e forced her brother to leave in a car.

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Under the tung tree in the playground, Li Qiu was fascinated by reading a comic book, laughing out loud from time to time.Yun Fei seemed to have something on his mind, and sat beside him, frowning all the time.Li Qiu smiled and asked: "Brother Yun, what are you thinking while you sit here without saying a word?" Yun Fei frowned and said, "It's actually not a big deal, it's just that my father will pick me up to the county seat the day after tomorrow. Go to school. You think, I am used to being comfortable at home, and my father will definitely control me to death if I go there, and I am worrying about it." Li Qiu said with a smile: "What's so annoying, go to school in the county It’s a good thing, if it’s too late for me to be happy.” Yun Fei was a little surprised to hear him say that, so he teased him and said: “Then I’ll tell Dad, how about changing you?” Li Qiubai He glanced at him, pouted his lips and said, "Don't tease me, how is it possible? You have such good academic performance, and it will be a matter of time before you are admitted to university. When you become famous in the future, don't forget me, a poor boy." That's fine." Yun Fei grabbed his little ear and laughed, "I just said something, and you've got so much to talk about, I'll let you talk nonsense." Li Qiu hurriedly called his good brother to beg for mercy, and the two sat together and talked again. After reading for a while, it was almost noon before we said goodbye to each other and went home.

Early the next morning, Yunfei's mother got up before dawn, and she wanted to prepare breakfast for Yunfei and the things he needed to go to school in the county.It may be that the coal slime was mixed a little yesterday, and the coal in the stove collapsed to the bottom of the stove when it was lightly poked with a fire stick.Seeing that the stove with the blue flame turned dark now, my mother was a little anxious, so she thought of getting some charcoal from outside the house to light the fire.But as soon as she opened the door latch, a gust of cold air broke through the door. It turned out that there was a heavy snowfall at night, and as far as I could see, there was a vast expanse of whiteness everywhere.Mom went to the warehouse diagonally opposite to fetch charcoal, and sprinkled a few handfuls into the stove. The dead fire turned bright red again, and slowly burst out a few flames.Mom put some carbon on it, and she covered the iron ring, and the chimney outside the house was full of smoke.Mom tied up her scarf, took a broom and went out, sweeping a path from the door to the entrance of the alley.

When I first swept to the door of Mrs. Xianglian's house, I heard someone arguing in the room. The sound should be that her husband Qiu Junlong had returned from Henan.Yunfei's mother felt a little strange. Everyone said that Xiaobie was better than a newlywed. This Junlong has been away from home for more than a year. Why did he quarrel with his wife just after returning home?Just as she was thinking wildly, Mrs. Xianglian suddenly opened the door and ran out of the house. Her husband threw some scattered things out through the door and scolded: "Why don't you take these wild men's belongings and roll away together, far away?" Yes, never come back." Yunfei's mother was afraid that if things got serious, people would die, so she hurriedly dropped the broom in her hand, and ran all the way to chase Aunt Xianglian back, regardless of the darkness and slippery roads.On the way back, Mrs. Xianglian didn't say a word, just hugged Yunfei's mother's shoulder and cried.After all, Qiu Junlong was still worried. He used Xueguang to find Mrs. Xianglian all the way, and saw that Yunfei's mother persuaded his wife to come back. I am very grateful. The sister-in-law didn't take good care of the two children at home, so the quarrel started.Yunfei's mother tried to persuade them for a while, and hurried back home when both of them calmed down.Yunfei was still sleeping peacefully on the kang, the water in the kettle on the stove was already boiling, and her mother was busy making breakfast.

It was originally agreed to come in the morning, but it was probably because it was snowing and the roads were difficult to walk. Dad and Uncle Li drove to pick Yunfei up after two o'clock in the afternoon.Before leaving, my mother told Yunfei a lot, and my father smiled and said, "Aren't you relieved that I will take care of him?" Mom didn't say anything more.When the car came to the side of the small stone bridge, Yunfei glanced at the courtyard of Liqiu's house through the car window, the courtyard door was locked tightly, and no one knew where to go.Yunfei sighed, and put the blue and white hat back into the bag.As soon as the car came out of the village, Uncle Li smiled and said, "Xiao Yun, look ahead, someone is bringing you here." Through the car window, Yunfei saw a familiar figure standing under the big locust tree. The little face was flushed with cold, and she was looking towards the car with a cloth bag in her hand.Yunfei asked Uncle Li to park the car on the side of the road first, and hurriedly got out of the car with his hat.It may be that I walked too fast, slipped my foot inadvertently, and fell to the ground.Seeing that it was Yunfei, Liqiu hurried over to help him up and pat the snow off his body.Yunfei put the hat on Li Qiu's head, looked at it carefully for a long time and said with a happy smile: "You kid just put one word on it, handsome!" Seeing that Li Qiu didn't respond, his eyes were still red, as if he just cried Looking at it, he quickly asked: "What's wrong with you? Is someone bullying you again?" Li Qiu wiped his eyes and said: "No way, it may have been blown by the wind." He took the cloth bag in his hand Handed it to Yunfei, blushing and said naively: "You are leaving, I have nothing to give you, I know you like sweets, I got up before dawn and baked a few small buns myself, you take it with you Let's eat on the way." Yunfei took those exquisite buns, his heart felt hot, he couldn't help but open his arms and hugged Liqiu vigorously, and said with a smile: "I'm leaving, when I'm not around, you have to learn to protect yourself, Don't let the bad guys bully you anymore. I will be back when the Chinese New Year is coming, just wait for me." After speaking, he turned and got into the car, and waved goodbye to Li Qiu through the car window.Li Qiu had a smile on his face, but his heart was full of sadness about parting.

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Although the weather is sunny, the snow in the mountains has not yet melted, and the temperature is much lower than the previous days.The north wind was blowing, and Li Qiu was walking on the road with a tree branch picked up from the forest on his back. The sun gradually set on the western mountain, leaving behind the gray blue sky. A touch of bright red.It was getting darker and darker, so he could only speed up his pace and rush back.The stepmother wanted to build a chicken shed, and if she got home late, she might have to be boarded again.

Having just turned over the ridge in front of him, he was so tired that he couldn't breathe, so he had to stop and rest for a while before walking.He put the branches on his back on the ground, sat on a big rock and rested for a while.Just enjoying a moment of comfort, he suddenly heard someone yelling behind him. As soon as he turned his head, the dumb uncle took off his hat and threw it down the hillside before he could react, and grinned at him. The mouth is funny.Li Qiu was angry and anxious, ignored the dumb uncle, and ran all the way down the hillside to find a hat.The light was getting darker and darker, his feet were slippery again, and he accidentally fell down, and he rubbed his sore knee and got up.All around was quiet, a crow hovered above his head, croaked twice and flew out of the forest with flapping wings.His heart was beating wildly, and he always felt that there was a strange and terrifying atmosphere here.

The blue and white hat was lying quietly beside a dry well, and there were several marks of different shades on the snow beside the well, as if something had been forcibly dragged here.He hurried over to pick up the hat, patted the snow on it, kissed it like a baby, and put it on again.Before he left, he took a special look at the dry well again, and for some reason, his back felt faintly cold.