In the name of father

After Xiao Mo bought the pig's knuckles, he was ready to go home to make soup. When the man opened the door, he unexpectedly saw the little boy sitting behind the door with a small bench. The little girl rested her chin on her hands, with a sleepy face. She looked as if she had been sitting at the door for a while.

Xiao Mo was reborn for more than ten years, and he had never enjoyed the treatment of his son squatting at the door waiting for him to go home. For a moment, he couldn't help feeling that "other people's child" was indeed a kind of magical creature... So the man stretched out his hand and touched it. Touching the little girl's furry head: "Little boy, why don't you go to sleep when you're sleepy?"

Xiao Tong didn't move, she raised her neck and looked at the slender man standing beside her - because she was sitting and Xiao Mo was standing, and now she looked up to see Xiao Mo's movement was very difficult: " Uncle, where is my dad?"

"Your father is still in the hospital, and the doctor said that he needs to be observed for a few days."

"Will my dad die?"

Xiao Mo squatted down so that his eyes were on the same level as the girl sitting on the small bench, "Are you afraid that your father will die?" After asking this question, the man felt that he had asked a nonsense again.

"I'm afraid." Xiaotong nodded seriously, "I only have one father, if he dies, I will have no father."

"Where's your mother?"

"I don't have a mother." After the little girl finished speaking, she tilted her head and looked at Xiao Mo, "Do you think I'm pitiful? I don't have enough food and clothing and I don't have a mother yet."

"..."

"Thank you, but I think this is very good." The little girl said to Xiao Mo solemnly, "Although there are only rice and pickles, it can still fill my stomach. When it's cold in winter, I can get closer to the stove. What mother can do Dad can do it too... My dad said that everyone has a standard for 'very good'. In our house, this standard is 'very good'. You moved here tonight, and I ate roast duck. This 'very good' Good' to the next level”

"..."

"Don't you feel sorry for me, I don't want you to feel sorry for me."

"..."

"My father said that one cannot bend the spine while alive. We don't want other people's sympathy."

The little girl spoke eloquently, she spoke very seriously and her expression was very serious, but Xiao Mo could tell from her bright eyes that maybe even Xiaotong herself didn't know what she was talking about—she just let the flow take its course. As she spoke, it was as if she had repeated this topic countless times. When she spoke, she couldn't hear the slightest hesitation in her words. It sounded like...

It's as blunt and uncomfortable as a primary school student memorizing a text.

As soon as she heard it, someone had taught her.

Xiao Mo was very curious why someone like Xianren Zhang would teach his daughter to say such things - from this point of view, that person's self-esteem may have been strong to the point of pathology...

But that's someone else's business.

As far as Xiao Mo's character is concerned, it is impossible for him to continue to ask questions, and point fingers at other people's affairs... Frowning, the man glanced at the plastic bag with pig's feet in his hand, and realized that he should not hurry up to make soup It might not be in time for the idler Zhang to finish the operation, the man rubbed the little girl's head, stood up and was about to go to the kitchen, but at this moment, he found that his trousers were grabbed by someone.

Xiao Mo was taken aback, lowered his head, but unexpectedly met a pair of wet eyes, like a panicked deer under the headlights on the highway at night, the little boy looked up at Xiao Mo, as if he felt the man's pause, This time, she simply stretched out her hands to hug one of Xiao Mo's legs, the calm look just now disappeared, she sniffled, and big tears fell from the corners of her eyes: "Is my dad going to die?"

"..." Xiao Mo sighed, knowing that this was probably the little girl's true thoughts... In memory, men have never encountered such a situation, at least in the growth trajectory of the two brothers Xiao Yan and Xiao Yan , I have never acted "hugging thighs" towards him, let alone watching them cry, so at this moment, the man really can't get used to this, so he had to lower his tone a little, "You Dad won't die, it's just that there was an accident at the show..."

"A very fierce uncle called just now, and he said that tomorrow's game arrangement will continue. If Dad doesn't go, he won't have to go again." Xiaotong said, "What game—is it a performance? What about my dad?" Participated in an acting competition? Why haven't I seen him on TV?"

Xiao Mo couldn't answer Xiaotong's series of questions.

In the end, he just threw down a sentence of "we will discuss" and turned around and walked into the kitchen.

It took a little time to cook the soup, because the kitchen is very simple, so Xiao Mo didn't expect to find a casserole for soup in the kitchen, but just dug out a rusty pot from under the stove to clean it, poured water and set it up On the stove——When he turned on the gas and saw the flames rising, the man even breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, this strange father and daughter also knew that they should burn natural gas to take a hot bath in winter.

Otherwise, if there is no gas, I would buy the materials and not know how to cook them.

While Xiao Mo was making soup, Xiao Tong stayed in the living room very quietly. She had already left the chair placed by the door and returned to the sofa. She turned on the fire and curled up in a corner of the sofa in a quiet daze—— The light from the electric oven made her blush, she was no longer crying, the tears on her face were wiped away casually, and finally dried up on that lovely face.

Xiao Mo looked away from Xiao Tong, and looked at the little chair that had been placed behind the door all along. The man suddenly understood that Xiao Tong was of course not waiting for him to come home, but waiting for her father——

And it is very possible that every night before Xiao Mo appeared, this little girl would sit in the same posture behind the iron gate with a small bench, face up, and listen to the sounds in the corridor, as if she was a bird. Like a puppy waiting for its master to come home, it waited quietly.

In the ear is the sound of water gurgling after being boiled in the pot, and in the simple kitchen, there is a faint smell of meat mixed with cooked peanuts and pork.

Xiao Mo suddenly realized at this moment that perhaps in an ordinary family, the meaning of a "father" is simpler than he imagined.

"Xiao Tong, do you want to remove that chair of yours? It will cause people to trip up if it is placed by the door."

"No, I'm going to sit on it tomorrow and wait for my dad to come home."

"..."

"Uncle, why did you come to our place?"

"Uncle ran away from home." Xiao Mo laughed.

"Then when do you plan to go home?" The little boy sitting on the sofa tilted his head and looked towards the kitchen, "Although it's good to have you and meat to eat, but don't you have anyone in your family watching you?" Waiting to go home?"

The man didn't answer.

He just quietly leaned against the stove, absently took out his mobile phone from his pocket, and entered the text message inbox, looking at the messy balance notifications, weather forecasts, and all kinds of messy advertisements in the inbox Among them, there were two text messages from different numbers. The man opened them almost like a maniac. It was a very common content, just like a son who was about to go out to his father who would come home at any time. The words spoken were very ordinary, but Xiao Mo read them many times, as if he wanted to deeply reflect every word of them into his mind...

"Uncle, it's snowing outside." In the living room, a child's voice sounded.

The man didn't answer, he just stood up from the stove and looked out through the mottled window. Sure enough, he saw large flakes of snow falling from the gloomy sky, and the cold breath almost penetrated The window passed to the man standing by the indoor window—

At this time last year, Xiao Mo vaguely remembered that he had already moved into Xiao Yan’s apartment. Xiao Mo’s apartment had a big balcony. When it snowed in winter, Xiao Yan would move a big sofa to the balcony. Behind the floor-to-ceiling windows, he and Xiao Mo huddled together on the sofa, watching the snow fall, because men don't like to turn on the heater, so when he felt the people around him trembling slightly because of the cold temperature in the room, he would stand aside. While talking, she put the man's hand in his pocket, leaned her head on the man's shoulder by the way, and talked to him some relaxing gossip.

But now, only one year has passed, this time Xiao Mo is standing alone behind a mottled window that is sticky and not sure if it is oily smoke or something, leaving him alone.

Just leave for a day.

But at this moment, he suddenly wanted to grab any of his sons, look at their impatient but helpless faces, and have some cruel and inhumane old people's thoughts with them.

Sliding fingers on the keyboard, the screen of the mobile phone did not go dark. The man hesitated, and the boiling pot behind him raised the lid, making a slight "bang bang" sound, but the man did not turn his head. He closed the lid slightly. In the blink of an eye, as if he had made up his mind, the hand that lightly rested on a certain key suddenly pressed——

In the quiet kitchen, the "beep" sound from the mobile phone was very clear after the call was connected and waiting to be picked up.

Xiao Mo lowered his head and quickly glanced at the numbers—but a certain guilty conscience prevented him from looking at those numbers clearly, letting him know which son's cell phone he was trying to make a call to, until the cell phone was filled with ten The tormenting way made the monotonous "beep" sound a few more times, and the other end of the phone was suddenly picked up without warning.

"Hey?"

The other party's voice was deep and magnetic, but with a trace of imperceptible fatigue.

It was Xiao Yan.

The number he pressed casually connected to Xiao Yan's cell phone.

Xiao Mo was stunned, but did not speak, and strongly ignored the feeling that when he heard the voice on the other end of the phone, his heart suddenly became heavy, as if he was filled with something, the man just quietly put his phone down. On the dirty window sill, he took a step back, as if to stop himself from doing something stupid, he put his hands in his pockets, but the black pupils never blinked He stared at the mobile phone on the windowsill as if staring at some monster.

On the phone, Xiao Yan said "Hello" a few more times. This fiery second young master of the Xiao family actually patiently did not hang up the phone this time. He seemed to be very persistent in believing that this was not some inexplicable harassing call. Even though Xiao Mo didn't make a sound here, he still didn't hang up the phone - even after the initial "Hello" a few times, he simply fell silent.

Xiao Mo thinks this scene is very funny.

No one on the two ends of the phone spoke, just silently sending the call bill to the service provider.

But persistently, no one would hang up the phone.

Xiao Mo waited for a long time, until he heard something like Xuezi hit the kitchen window, making a slight "pop" sound - this sound seemed to finally wake up the person who was standing a few meters away from the window sill. The black-haired man, he was stunned for a moment, his black pupils finally regained some clarity, then, he stepped forward, took down the frozen mobile phone from the window sill, and directly pressed the button to hang up.