beginning of autumn

The sound of cicadas chirping is everywhere in the village, and the sunlight shines on the small stone bridge through the gaps in the leaves, and there are many dark green moss on the mottled cracks.The small courtyard door of Liqiu's house is locked tightly, and wormwood grows more than a foot high around the steps. It looks as if no one has lived in it for a long time.Yunfei stood by the dilapidated well platform in front of the door, feeling at a loss in his heart.

Two young daughters-in-law passed by the roadside, talking about interesting things that just happened in the village, and one of them said: "Qiu Zhijun and his daughter-in-law went to the court over this matter, Qiu Xiaofu this old man Things gossip about other people's families behind their backs all day long, and this time they slapped their mouths, which is really retribution." The other said with a smile: "Haven't you heard? Qiu Xiaofu and his daughter-in-law were caught and raped by their son on the spot. For the bed, Qiu Zhijun called a lot of brothers to block the front and rear windows, and it took a lot of effort to open the door. Who knew that it was his own father who was hiding under the bed naked, I think From now on, even this father and son will not be able to do it." The two were talking vigorously, when they suddenly saw a strange young man standing by the well, they exchanged winks, and walked quietly towards the south.Yunfei hurriedly stepped forward and asked: "Sister, I want to inquire about something. Do you know where the family living by the well has moved?" After looking it up, one of them said with a smile: "At first glance, they are from the city. How can a native in the village be so gentle and elegant. The yard you mentioned has long been unoccupied. Our sisters just married This village was like this. I heard that the man of this family died in a car accident the year before last, and his wife and children have moved to other places. People in the village say it is unlucky, and there is no well water here. People ate it."

Knowing that something happened to their family, and he couldn't get any news about Liqiu from them, Yunfei couldn't help but feel his heart burning.After saying goodbye to them, I came to the big locust tree at the entrance of the village alone, and saw the green swaying with the wind. It seemed that everything was the same in the place I had been to countless times in my dreams, except for the little boy who was sitting on the stone. The boy is gone now...

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Standing in front of the hospital, Li Qiu sneezed several times for some reason.Xiaohui went inside to inquire about things, and before he left, he told him to stand here and not run around, but he had been waiting for more than half an hour, and he still hadn't come out.Li Qiu had nothing to do, so he sat on the steps and stared at the meatball stand across the street.The stall was very simple, there was only a dilapidated table and a few low benches next to the pot, but diners flocked under the small tent every day.Liqiu remembered that when he was a child, his father always took him to work in the brick and tile factory. As long as he was paid, his father would buy him a bowl of hot beef ball soup.Once, when he was cheap, he secretly put a lot of chili noodles mixed with butter into the soup while his father was not paying attention. Although the color of the thing was bright, the spicy taste made him unforgettable all his life.Seeing him crying from choking, Dad was so distressed that he shed tears. While coaxing him, he asked the boss to scoop up another bowl of clear soup for him to drink.At that time, I hadn't married my stepmother. Although the life in the family was difficult, the father and son lived happily every day.Thinking of this, Li Qiu's tears fell down like broken beads.

There was a sound of quarreling on the street, and Li Qiu looked up, and it turned out that there was a dispute between a young man and an old man in his 60s.Listening carefully, it seems that the old man picked up the young man's wallet on the road and wanted to take it for himself. Fortunately, the young man found it in time and forcibly claimed it back, but the 1000 yuan in the wallet disappeared. He suspected that the money was hidden in the old man's cloth bag, so he asked the old man to open the cloth bag for everyone to see, and swore that if the bag did not contain the 1000 yuan, he would consider himself unlucky.The old man was delighted when he heard it, and said with a smile: "I only have the 500 yuan I just took from the bank in my bag. How can there be 1000 yuan? If you don't believe me, please take a look." After speaking, he opened the cloth bag. I put 500 yuan, but the young man just found out the other 500 yuan hidden in the side pocket, and the old man was dumbfounded.Watching his 500 yuan being taken away by the young man, and the people around him still pointing at him, he couldn't help but sat on the ground and began to cry.

Liqiu felt that the old man was very pitiful, so he walked over to help him up from the ground. The old man cried and said that the money was saved by him in his usual frugality, and this time he took it out of the bank to see his wife. Who knew that he would be deceived by others in the blink of an eye.He was sad there, but Zou Xiaohui stood beside him with a sneer and said, "If you want to blame it, blame yourself for being greedy for money. If you didn't pick up that wallet, how could such a thing happen?" The old man was still crying, and Li Qiu said to Xiaohui, "Hui Brother, the old man is very pitiful, he is like this, and you still talk about him." Zou Xiaohui stared at Li Qiu for a long time and said, "Qiu, you will pay the price for your kindness sooner or later." Xiaohui took it out of his pocket. I gave 500 yuan and threw it to the old man. Seeing his astonished expression, he let out a "hum" in his nose, pulled up Liqiu and walked away.

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Xiaohui took Liqiu to play video games for a while, and when he was about to leave, two people came from the side, one was the young man who cheated money just now, and the other, Liqiu just looked at his face, unexpectedly Terrified, he took a few steps back and bumped into Xiaohui's arms.Xiaohui glanced at the two of them, and said with a sneer: "Tugou, why are you unconvinced? Do you want to find a place to compete?" The donkey nodded quickly and said, "Hui...Brother Hui, see what you said , I...how dare I, it's...it's our boss who wants...to see you." Li Qiu knew that he stuttered by nature, but it was the first time to see him humiliate someone like this.Zou Xiaohui knew who the boss he was talking about, and wanted to refuse, but because of face, he had no choice but to agree first.

There are more than a dozen people sitting around the table in the box of Mengxiang Restaurant, and Liqiu doesn't know how to drink, so sitting next to Xiaohui is inevitably a bit restrained.Zou Xiaohui saw that the dog had been chatting with Li Qiu intentionally or unintentionally, so he put down the wine glass in his hand and smiled at him: "My brother was frightened like that when he saw you. Did you bully him before?" Trembling, he almost dropped the cup in his hand on the ground, and quickly explained: "Brother Hui, look...see what you said, before... a few years ago, I was in an engineering team with Brother Liqiu... He’s been so obedient, it hurts even if it hurts...the pain doesn’t come, how could he bully him.” Seeing Li Qiu pulling his clothes from behind, Xiaohui gave the dog a cold look, and stopped talking .After a few laps, Liqiu saw that Xiaohui was a little drunk, so he whispered, "Brother Hui, it's getting late, let's go back." Xiaohui was stunned for a moment, looking at the wine glass in his hand for a while, He turned back and smiled and said, "Okay, I'll listen to you." He stood up and bid farewell to everyone, Zhu Laosan who was opposite him sneered: "Zou Xiaohui, our boss sincerely invites you to drink, your ass is not hot yet. I just want to get away, is the one next to you a brother or a daughter-in-law, you should be a little stricter." The four brothers all burst out laughing when they heard this, and Li Qiu was flushed with shame when he heard that, bowed his head and said nothing .Zou Xiaohui looked at Zhu Laosan's smug face, and said with a smile: "This third brother is joking, how can a brother compare with his wife? But then again, if you can really stay with my brother for a lifetime , It’s much better than marrying a prodigal daughter-in-law.” Zhu Laosan knew that he was mocking him, but he was too embarrassed to point it out, so he could only drink the wine in his hand with a sneer, and stopped talking.The person sitting in the middle got up and said with a smile: "All of you here today are brothers from your own family. Although there is no need to be formal, you must not hurt each other. Xiaohui, brother, the same sentence, no matter how you talk to brother outside If you don't do it, I will let you go, I will keep this second place for you, and you can think about it when you go back." Zou Xiaohui smiled at him and said, "Thank you, Brother Wei, for your kindness. I am a person who is used to leisure, so I am afraid I will let you down. Thank you for your kindness, let’s say goodbye here.” After speaking, he took Li Qiu away without looking back.This Wei Ge is Cheng Wei, the only son of Cheng Tianzhong, the boss of the chemical group and the richest man in the county. On weekdays, relying on his father's prestige and status, he leads a group of gangsters to do some deeds of bullying men and women.In this town, Zou Xiaohui was one of his most feared opponents, and he wanted to lure him into the gang, but he was unable to do so.Seeing that this plan came to naught again, and seeing the back of Zou Xiaohui leaving, he couldn't help sneering a few times, and threw the bottle of ten-year-old wine that had just been opened on the ground heavily, and the room was instantly filled with The pungent smell of alcohol.

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It was just dawn, and Liqiu was awakened from his sleep by the sound of birds singing outside the window. He got up from the bed, and after washing, he went to the kitchen to cook rice porridge.As long as Li Qiu is at home, Aunt Huang never steps into the kitchen. She usually sleeps until dawn, waiting for Li Qiu to bring her the porridge and side dishes to the house, and picks and chooses to eat a big meal. A lot of ugly words, but Liqiu has never been angry.

After delivering breakfast to Aunt Huang, Li Qiu went back to the west corner room to look after Xiaohui.He got drunk again last night, and he still doesn't look like he's about to wake up.Li Qiu was cleaning the dust on the table with a rag, but the door was pushed open with a "creak".Liqiu looked back, and it turned out that Cui Xiang'e, Jianjun's daughter-in-law, walked in from the outside.She didn't look directly at Li Qiu, but went straight to the bed and lifted the Xia Liang quilt from Zou Xiaohui's body, and dragged him naked with one arm, trying to pull him out of the bed.Zou Xiaohui was still in his sleep and asked in a daze: "Qiu, what on earth do you want?" Cui Xiang'e became jealous when she heard it, and cursed: "You have no heart, you call him so affectionate in your dream, you When did you ever call someone like that?" Zou Xiaohui was taken aback, but now he was fully awake, he glanced at Cui Xiang'e, and asked coldly, "What are you doing at my house so early in the morning?" Seeing this, Cui Xiang'e He hurriedly changed his face and hugged his arm and said coquettishly: "Damn ghost, what do you think I can do here? I forgave you for helping outsiders bully my brother before, isn't it because they have you in their heart? You said so I haven't found anyone for a long time, is it true that you are just like Chen Shimei, as people outside said, and you like to eat and wipe them off?" Zou Xiaohui laughed and said: "I didn't expect the people in our village to know me so well, and their evaluations are quite pertinent." Cui Xiang'e heard him say this, pulled his arm and pretended to cry: "I don't believe it, you must think I'm a married person, as long as If you want, I can give up everything, and immediately divorce that coward. Xiaohui, do you want to marry me?" After asking several times in a row, Zou Xiaohui couldn't help feeling a little annoyed, so he ignored her again. He just silently put on his clothes and got out of bed, ready to go out.Cui Xiang'e saw that he ignored her, so she rushed over and hugged Xiaohui softly, crying, "Hui, you must be someone outside, there must be someone, otherwise you wouldn't treat me like this. But no matter what, I am The person who loves you the most in this world, I only have you in my heart, please don’t leave me, okay?” What Zou Xiaohui hates the most in his life is the person who clings to him, he endured it at first, but he couldn’t bear it anymore When it was time, she cruelly pushed her aside and scolded: "How can you say that you are also a married person, this kind of thing is what you want to do, if you want to play, we can play, if you can't afford it, you can pull it down, What are you doing clinging to him?" Cui Xiang'e saw that he no longer cherished the old relationship, so she showed her true colors and asked loudly: "So, you must have another lover, who is she? Tell me , who is she?" Zou Xiaohui said coldly: "Whoever she is, does it have anything to do with you?" She sneered twice, stared straight into Zou Xiaohui's eyes and asked, "Is it Li Xianglian?" Is it?" Seeing Zou Xiaohui's disdainful face, she said to herself, "It's not her, could it be Li Qiaofeng from the north of the village, or, or Zhijun's wife?" Seeing Zou Xiaohui's expressionless face , she was so anxious that she accidentally saw Li Qiu, and sneered, "I see, that person must be...he!" Seeing her hand pointing at Li Qiu, Zou Xiaohui was so angry that his facial features were distorted, and his teeth were clenched. With a loud slap, a slap fell on Cui Xiang'e's face, and she cursed viciously: "You crazy X, if you dare to say something nonsense, I'll see if I won't let you down!" Cui Xiang'e was completely slapped by this slap After waking up, she stood there in a daze, bursting into tears, seeing Zou Xiaohui slamming the door away with Liqiu, she rushed to the yard, ignoring the neighbors' gossip, and yelling at Zou Xiaohui's leaving back Said: "Look at your angry look, I have guessed your thoughts? But I never thought that it would be him in your heart, Zou Xiaohui, you bastard, remember it for me , one day I will let you know what it will be like to offend my old lady!"

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After Cui Xiang'e made such a fuss, the gossip in the village made Aunt Huang sleepless and restless.She thought that she could help her son get rid of the embarrassing situation just by finding a good marriage for Xiaohui, so she secretly found someone to find someone for Xiaohui.But Zou Xiaohui is famous, and the daughters of good people in ten miles and eight villages don't want to marry him.Aunt Huang was so angry and anxious that she fell seriously ill.

Liqiu was making medicine for Aunt Huang in the kitchen, when he suddenly heard Xiaohui in Beiwu and Aunt Huang quarreling, Xiaohui slammed the door and left in a fit of anger, Aunt Huang cried loudly in the room: "I don't know what evil I did in my life. , look at you, you are idle all day long, you don't do one thing, your reputation is ruined, and you can't even get a wife. If your father didn't hold a job for you in the unit when he was alive, what would you eat? What would you drink? ? When all the family savings are gone, let me see what you can use to support yourself and your mother? If I had known that I would live like this, I might as well have hanged myself earlier.” After speaking, he took a piece of hemp rope and made it Seeing that she was about to hang herself, Li Qiu hurriedly called for help to stop her.Aunt Huang cried and cried all night, and did not slowly fall asleep until five o'clock.