two

"I heard that Yuan Cha's brother is sick."

On weekends, Xu Yiqing didn't go to work. He got up early in the morning to clean up the house, and then went to the end of the street to buy a plate of pork ribs, and when he came back, he chopped two and stewed them for hot pot at noon.

She was washing dishes in the kitchen, and when she heard Qiu Xi say this, she asked, "What's wrong, you have a cold?"

Qiu Xi closed the door, changed into her slippers, took the plastic bag containing onions, ginger and garlic to her mother, and said, "It should be a cold. I met Yuan Cha downstairs, and she said she was going to the clinic to buy antipyretics for her brother." .”

"What's the matter, did you get drenched by the rain yesterday?"

Qiu Xi shrugged and shook her head: "I don't know, it sounds quite serious. She said she went to the hospital yesterday."

"Older children are the hardest to deal with when they have a fever.

You go to the frozen layer and take out the ribs. I will unload two more in a while, and you will send them to the opposite side. "

Xu Yiqing said, "Speak politely after you go, I will be your Teacher Yuan for a month from now on."

Qiu Xi likes to do this kind of nosy business of going around the house the most, and she responded with a smile, and went to the corner of the living room to open the refrigerator.

Qiu Yu didn't know when she got up, and she left the bedroom without anyone noticing, and now she was standing next to the refrigerator with a bottle of Coke and a glass, waiting for her.

He lowered his head and unscrewed the lid to pour the drink while asking, "I just heard you yell that Yuan Mu is sick."

Qiu Xi: "I didn't yell!"

"Who did you hear?"

"Yuan Cha, I bumped into her when she went to buy medicine."

Qiu Xi said, "Give way, I'll take the ribs."

Qiu Yu moved a few steps away, drank while walking, and downed a glass of Coke in a few sips.

Looking at the balcony, the windows on the second floor opposite were closed, and the black curtains were tightly closed.

"I'll deliver it later."

He says

Qiu Xi was stunned: "What for?"

"Ribs."

She wondered and was vigilant: "What day is it today, are you robbing me of work?"

"I'm going to throw out the garbage at the door, drop by."

Qiu Xi angrily said, "I usually throw away all the trash!"

Qiu Yu scratched her chin, put the opened 2-liter Coke bottle into Qiu Xi's arms, then took the ribs from her hand, turned to Xu Yiqing and said, "Mom, I'll chop it up for his family. Send it over in small pieces, right?"

Something is wrong, there is a ghost, it is a trick.

Qiu Xi hurriedly chased after her brother and shouted: "Even if you help me deliver it today—don't even think about wasting the five yuan I paid for washing my pants yesterday!"

Qiu Yu carried the ribs downstairs, crossed the road, entered the opposite staircase, and climbed 23 steps to the second floor.

The cement shutters do not let in much sunlight, the corridors are dark, and the walls are mottled.

The unused furniture and briquettes of each household are piled in the grooves between floors, and occasionally there are cigarette butts, phlegm, and plastic bags, which are crowded together, moldy and smelly.

The landscape of the corridors of each building here looks like this, much the same—maybe the whole world is similar, the square box is covered, people are trapped inside, most of the eyes are blindfolded, and the rest of the senses are grayed out.

Qiu Yu didn't move at first, staring blankly at the dark green iron door in front of her for a while.

There are two households on one ladder. Before coming here, Qiu Xi specially told him that Yuan Mu's house lived on the left.

The "Fu" character deliberately pasted upside down covered the cat's eyes tightly, and the edge of the red paper was raised, shaking when the wind passed.

Footsteps sounded, and someone was coming down the stairs.

He raised his hand and knocked on the door, pressing down the tape that had lost its stickiness.

Yuan Cha thought it was Fang Qiong who had returned, but when she opened the door, she saw Qiu Xi's brother. The smile on her face froze for two thirds.

"Are you home alone?" Qiu Yu asked.

"No, my brother is here too."

Yuan Cha's voice was very thin and cautious when he spoke to him.

"That's right, my family stewed pork ribs today, and my mother evened out some and asked me to send them over."

Qiu Yu didn't mention Yuan Mu's illness.

Yuan Cha was startled, and then changed into another kind of polite and warm smile: "I'm really bothering Brother Qiu Yu, thank you Madam Xu."

She immediately took a few steps back and called Qiu Yu into the house to sit down.

It stands to reason that you don't need to enter the door, you should turn around and leave after handing over the meat and saying a few words on the scene.

But Qiu Yu didn't make sense today, he was standing at the door, Yuan Cha bent over to get slippers from the shoe rack, and he even gave someone a suggestion: just the black ones, thank you.

The house type of Yuan Mu's house is completely different from that of Qiu Yu's house. It is small in size and has many compartments, making it look cramped.

There is a small room on the left after entering the door, the door is wide open, and everything can be seen at a glance.

Qiu Yu raised her eyelids and looked over, but she missed it because there was no one inside.

"Where's your brother?" he blurted out.

"He's in the kitchen."

The kitchen door is a push-pull frosted glass that closes without leaving a gap.

"kitchen.

what? "

"Cook."

Qiu Yu stopped, turned to look at her, expressionless.

He pointed to the plastic bag on the table with pharmacy printed on it.

"I heard that Yuan Mu has a high fever, how high is it?"

Yuan Cha didn't get in touch with Qiu Yu very often, and occasionally saw him from a distance, and he always looked lazy, as if he was casual when talking to anyone.

Nothing catches the eye, and nothing is worth worrying about.

Yuan Cha also thought from a distance that Qiu Xi's brother was a lifeless person with no heart or lungs.

Now Qiu Yu is smiling and questioning her, with vivid emotions, which is very strange.

What's even more strange is that when the question was thrown out, he didn't want an answer, and there was sarcasm and disgust in his eyes that were not easy to detect, but she noticed it.

Yuan Cha didn't know what to do, and was fixed in place by his eyes.

The glass door is old, and the pulleys are not slippery. When it is pulled open abruptly, the sound is shrill and harsh.

"I said, I don't need your help here, so go out."

Yuan Mu was chopping onions, but he didn't look back.

Yuan Mu's articulation has been good since he was a child, his tongue, teeth, and lips seem to be made of jade, and when he speaks, they touch each other with clangs, and his words are correct and round.

It is clear and neat, leaving a soft vigor.

Probably jade is nephrite.

That's why Qiu Yu didn't answer right away, and only said after confirming that Yuan Mu had nothing to say, "Really."

Yuan Mu was startled, the handle of the knife went up and then fell down, and there was a muffled sound when it knocked on the cutting board.

He turned to look at the person, the shock and fear in his eyes dissipated, and he was dumbfounded.

Qiu Yu was already full of anger, and would attack everyone.

When he saw Yuan Mu turn around, his face became even darker.

Not only a sick number, but also a disability.

"What happened to your hand?"

Yuan Mu followed Qiu Yu's line of sight, looked down at the plaster arm hanging on his chest, and replied, "It's broken."

He didn't want to say more about this, but asked, "What is that in your hand."

There was another harsh barking sound, and Qiu Yu closed the door behind her back.

He walked to the single-trough bowl and stood side by side with Yuan Mu.

"Sparse ribs, my mother asked me to send them."

While Qiu Yu was talking, she didn't stop her hands, she turned the big bowl into the pot, turned on the faucet and started washing.

He asked again: "What happened to your hand?"

"You put it there, I'll wash it at night."

Qiu Yu lowered her head: "Why do you wash it?"

Yuan Mu turned his head to look at him, but didn't speak.

"Yuan Mu, let me ask you for the last time, what did you do with your hands?"

Yuan Mu lowered his voice: "I got into a fight with someone."

"Who."

"I don't know, a red-haired broom."

Yuan Mu knew that he still wanted to ask, so he continued, "I won't give it to you for stealing my money, and if I beat him unconscious, all his younger brothers will come and beat me up."

Qiu Yu thought of yesterday's rainy night, no wonder it was so late to wait for someone.

Yuan Mu's hand was broken at that time, but he didn't notice it.

"Does it hurt now?"

Yuan Mu looked at him again, and Qiu Yu went up to meet him, forcing his eyes to slip away immediately.

"I just told you, don't talk to Yuan Cha and my mother."

"Where can I talk to them?"

Qiu Yu said, "Also, why don't you let her help, if you don't have a fever, your hands and feet are healthy, can cutting an onion exhaust her to death?"

Between "it's none of your business" and "it has nothing to do with you", Yuan Mu chose the more polite one.

The kitchen is not wide, the ceiling is low, and the window is not open at this moment, after finishing a sentence, the humming lingering sound hovered for a few seconds, making Yuan Mu's tone seem very empty and heartless.

The first pot of water filtered out was red, and the meat dregs leaked through the fingers, and the bloody swirl slowly fled to the bottom of the hole in the center of the bowl. Qiu Yu snorted a laugh from his throat: "Brother is not bad."

"Qiu Yu."

Yuan Mu called him by name.

With a deep voice, jade is no longer jade, but a stone that cannot be broken or heated.

Qiu Yu threw the last piece of meat into the draining basket, and faced him sideways: "Okay, let me say one that has something to do with me.

I wonder if it's because I'm making up lessons, why I asked Yuan Cha to spread the word by beating around the bush. "

Yuan Mu's eyelids twitched, but his tone was flat: "None of my business."