Thousand Willows

This year's New Year's Eve in City H unexpectedly didn't snow. It rained a year ago, but it was a cloudy day during the New Year's Eve. The ground was wet and it felt extraordinarily cold.

The New Year's Eve dinner at Liu Minhui's family was in a big box that was reserved half a year ago in the hotel. There were dozens of people at two tables. In the resplendent and spacious box, there was a somewhat festive atmosphere.Relatives admiring each other at the wine table, children running around, the smell of vegetables, wine, tobacco, perfume... Fermentation in a closed room heated by air conditioning.

The meal was almost finished, Liu Minhui sat on the toilet seat at the dining table bored, only felt that this year was getting less and less enjoyable year by year.

His mother was talking with other relatives, and Liu Minhui heard them talking about their own affairs, talking and talking, but it was just a different way to urge the marriage - he felt bored, but it was not easy to show it, so he got up from his seat, Sitting on the sofa aside, I tried to use my mobile phone to escape these overzealous relatives.But several people were already sitting on the sofa. Liu Minhui saw that it was a few young people. They seemed to feel helpless about this kind of New Year's gathering. They didn't usually contact each other very often. Now this year's big gathering naturally felt unfamiliar. There is an inseparable blood relationship between them, and it seems that at this time, they cannot play the role of allowing each other to get acquainted immediately.

"Xiaofeng, are you already a senior?" Liu Minhui sat beside one of the teenagers.

The young man he called Xiaofeng had clean hair and was wearing simple casual clothes. His face was clean and his eyes were very clear, which made people feel good.Xiaofeng was playing a popular mobile game with a mobile phone in his hand, when he heard Liu Minhui's question, he quit the game, smiled at him, and said, "Brother, it's rare that you still remember."

"As long as I remember correctly." Liu Minhui also smiled, "What do you plan to do in the future, further study or work?"

Xiaofeng laughed at herself: "Of course it's work, I'm not material for studying."

When Liu Minhui heard this, he suddenly had an idea in his mind, and asked him: "Then it's just right, why don't you come to our company for an internship next semester."

Xiaofeng waved her hands again and again and said, "Brother, I don't think so. I have promised Uncle Zhao to go to his company for an internship next semester."

"Zhao Lei?"

"Yes."

Liu Minhui thought to himself, it seems that Xiaofeng has good qualifications, Zhao Lei has already greeted him first, but he didn't intend to just give up, saying: "It doesn't matter, I will tell him later. The main thing is to see what you like." What industry, what do you want to do."

"Me, I just want to do interesting things." Xiaofeng smiled.

A girl in a red sweater sitting on the side also came over and said, "Brother Minhui, I can also come out for an internship in the second half of the year. Do you still have internship positions?"

Liu Minhui glanced at her, it was his cousin Liu Ruoyun, only then did he remember that this cousin seemed to be a senior this year, so he said, "If you are willing to come, of course there will be."

But Xiaofeng said: "Didn't you recommend graduate students, why are you joining in the fun?"

"It's because of the recommendation, so I only want to come out to get in touch with the society next semester." Liu Ruoyun's voice is very sweet, coupled with her accustomed tone, she always seems to be acting like a baby when she speaks.

"You're taking up social resources." Xiaofeng didn't like her at all. After all, he was familiar with her when he was young. Although he became more and more unfamiliar with her when he grew up, he still knew a little about her cousin.

"Hey, I'm your sister, how can you talk like that?" Liu Ruoyun pursed her lips, showing that she was upset with Xiaofeng.

Xiaofeng curled her lips: "What kind of sister is only a few days older?"

Liu Ruoyun was even more upset when she heard that, and said, "I'm older than you for every minute and every second!"

"Why don't you both come to our company for an internship, how about you talk about this topic slowly?" Liu Minhui interrupted their meaningless conversation.

"No!" As a result, the answers of the two people were quite consistent at this time.

Liu Minhui's face was full of black lines, wondering why they were talking so much now that they were sitting here without talking just now?

At this time, Liu Minhui's second aunt came over and said, "Oh, you two reconciled so quickly? Didn't you still quarrel just now?"

Liu Minhui glanced at Xiaofeng and Liu Ruoyun who were sitting beside him, and then he understood, and stood up with a sneer.

"It's not awkward, second aunt, you're talking nonsense." Liu Ruoyun also stood up, ran to Liu Minhui's side, took his arm and said, "I'm fighting with my elder brother Minhui for an internship opportunity!" Pointing at Xiaofeng, " And he also wants to go to brother Minhui's internship!"

"I..." Xiao Feng was about to speak, but was interrupted by others.

"That's pretty good. You siblings can learn from each other and take care of each other." It was Liu Ruoyun's mother who spoke.

"Yes, yes." It was Xiaofeng's mother who responded.

Finally, the topic of relatives began to shift to this group of older children, Liu Minhui secretly breathed a sigh of relief in a corner where no one noticed.

"Uncle Zhao..." Xiaofeng murmured a little depressed.

Zhao Lei sneezed at this time, "I don't know which guy, the New Year's Eve is talking about me behind my back."

His family's New Year's Eve dinner is simple, unlike Liu Minhui's family who gather together in a big hotel, their family just have a simple New Year's Eve dinner at home.In addition to Zhao Lei's parents, there is Ah Hei.Because Ah Hei said that he was an orphan with no relatives and no reason, Zhao Lei's mother was soft-hearted and would ask him to have dinner with him every year and festival.Of course, Ah Hei usually eats a lot of food.Speaking of Ah Hei, Zhao Lei's parents felt that he looked a lot like a relative of a company boss when Zhao Lei was working. Although Zhao Lei lost part of his memory after a serious illness, his parents still remembered him, but the old couple felt that , compared to the previous relative of the boss, this young man is much more refreshing.

Zhao Lei put down his chopsticks and said, "Mom and Dad, I'm full. Ah Hei and I will go to Uncle Li's house first, and we'll be back later."

Uncle Li in Zhao Lei's mouth is the father of Zhao Lei's vegetable friend's friend. His wife died early, and his daughter became a vegetable a few years ago. Taking care of his daughter these years, he has aged a lot.

"Go ahead and bring some dumplings over by the way, he probably didn't make dumplings by himself."

"Okay, thank you Mom."

During the Chinese New Year in the past two years, setting off firecrackers is prohibited in urban areas. Everyone is a little unaccustomed to this quiet New Year, but there are still some children on the road setting off the kind of small blindfolds that are held in their hands.

"It's a pity that we won't be able to see fireworks this year." Zhao Lei and Ah Hei sighed as they walked, clouds of white mist floating around their mouths.

Ah Hei said, "That's right. But it's good that firecrackers are banned, but I'm really afraid of that kind of thing."

Zhao Lei glanced at Ah Hei and said with a smile, "Haha, I rarely hear men admit that they are afraid of firecrackers."

"What's the matter?" Ah Hei looked indifferent.

Zhao Lei changed the subject and said, "I don't know what Uncle Li is doing now."

"I'm sad."

"Well, it should be,"

"Then we have to hurry up, the dumplings will be cold later." Ah Hei hugged the lunch box in his arms, which contained hot dumplings.

"Well, dumplings are so delicious, they should be eaten while they are hot."

"Auntie's dumplings are delicious."

The two people quickened their pace while talking, and gradually the two figures walked further and further away on the big street. The wet ground reflected the colorful shadows of street lamps and various surrounding signboards, like another under the ground. world.

Jiang Yizhong's New Year's dinner was at noon. He and his mother went to grandma's house, sat for a while after dinner, and then returned home.At night, the sound of firecrackers can be heard endlessly, and the smell of gunpowder smoke is everywhere, as if this small place has been enveloped by the fire, the sound of firecrackers and the dust.

Jiang Yizhong also set off a string of firecrackers, but before that, according to local customs, he first burned paper money for his deceased father and kowtowed a few times.Both the mother and the son were in a low mood, and it was hard to say who could persuade the other. Both were sad, but neither was willing to confide in the other.

Jiang Yizhong's father's portrait hangs at home, offering fruits and meals, and there is also an incense burner with three sticks of incense burning on it.

Jiang Yizhong's mother and son finished their dinner in silence. After the meal, they sat on the sofa to watch the Spring Festival Gala.

Some programs in the Spring Festival Gala are very sensational, and some songs also talk about reunion and family.

Aunt Qian watched, shed tears suddenly, and said to herself: "Hey, poor Xiao Mao, I don't know if I had a good meal today..." Xiao Mao is her nickname for Jiang Yiming.

Suddenly, Jiang Yizhong turned his head to look at his mother and said, "Mom, do you not like me?"

Aunt Qian was taken aback, she didn't expect him to ask this question.But instead of answering directly, she asked, "What's the matter?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to ask."

"You are my son, I am a pimple born in October of my pregnancy, how could I not like you." Aunt Qian said something like a standard answer.

"En." Jiang Yizhong listened, hummed vaguely, and stopped bringing up the topic.

Aunt Qian didn't say anything, the two of them watched TV for a while, and then went back to their rooms to sleep.

The night is getting deeper and deeper, the sound of firecrackers outside the house is getting more and more intensive, and there are small snowflakes floating in the sky, one after another.

Jiang Yizhong sat at the table in the room, looked at the snowflakes outside the window, and remembered that when he was a child, one year during Chinese New Year, the snow fell heavily, and the snow on the ground was very deep.His father took him and his brother to make snowmen and set off firecrackers.The sound of crackling firecrackers made the two children feel deafening, but they couldn't stop.Mom came to the door and called them to go back to eat dumplings. Although their pockets were still full of melon seeds, candies and various candied fruit, they also liked the delicious meat dumplings. He and his brother held hands and went into the house cheering. Walking slowly behind with a happy smile on his face.He remembered that each piece of snowflakes in the sky at that time was very big, floating down from the depths of the sky one by one, like feathers, and extremely gentle. In his memory, it seemed that he did not feel that the winter was cold at all, and only all kinds of warm things were left. time.

He put his phone on the table, the screen was on, it was the group photo taken, the man who looked very similar to him was smiling brightly, and his mother was also shy in this photo The smiling face—that was an era that he had never and could not reach. Whether there was something between the man in the photo and his mother, and whether there was any connection between himself and this man, although he did not dare to think about it, in fact All thought of.Some thoughts are terrible, and once they invade the brain, they can't get rid of them no matter what-could he be this man's child?If this idea is true, then many things seem to have reasonable explanations, including why he and his brother look different at all, he is not like his father, he is not very like his mother, and he is not even like his family. anyone alive.He recalled it carefully, and it seemed that someone had mentioned this issue in his memory, but he was scolded by his father, "What's different? I think everything is similar! His nose and eyes are like mine, but he looks better than me. , You say that, don’t you think I’m not as good-looking as your own son?” It seems that after that, those people stopped talking.

Jiang Yizhong's vision was blurred, and he couldn't see the photos on the phone clearly.With a bang, tears finally fell and hit the phone screen, and the people in the photo were also drowned in tears, unable to see their faces clearly.

The phone has been vibrating since the afternoon, and countless blessing messages have been sent. He has turned the phone to silent, but he can still see someone sending messages on the screen, and at this moment it has reached a climax.

"Happy New Year!" There were only four words, and the sender was Liu Minhui.

Firecrackers roared outside the window, and countless fireworks also rose into the sky and burst into colorful flowers.

It turned out to be zero.