Spring is coming

It was still dark, and Chun Xin had already woken up. The temperature had recently started to drop, and a coal fire was burning at home.

In the middle of the coal fire is a large iron drum with a square table top on it, which is very large, and I eat and do my homework on the table.

Cover it with thin cinders mixed with water before going to bed at night. After getting up in the morning, use a thick fire hook to pierce through the hole in the middle of the disc to break up the cinders that have been baked into cakes, so that the fire will gradually flourish.

As long as it is well maintained, the fire will not go out throughout the winter, and the doors and windows of the house are closed, and it is warm everywhere.

A pot of water was warmed on the fire, Chun Xin scooped up the water, brushed his teeth and washed his face, put on a thick cotton coat and went out to exercise with his grandparents.

Grandpa has his own companions, and several old men of the same age wearing bucket hats are already waiting at the intersection.

Grandma is not with them.

"Those bad old men are very annoying."

When Chun Xin and grandma went out, they met Mr. Wang next door. He lost his hands when he was a teenager, practiced writing with his feet, and successfully completed his junior college. Now he manages the radio station of the children's school and serves as a social class teacher for grades [-] to [-].

He used to live on the fourth floor of the second building. He heard that he accidentally fell down the stairs while holding the key to open the door with his foot, so he moved next door to Chun Xin's house.

He has a son who is the same age as Chun Xin, and he and his wife built a bungalow in the backyard on the first floor to open a cram school. The cram school manages two meals a day, plus homework tutoring.

According to Principal Yin, many parents from families like Xueli send their children here, eat and do their homework at Teacher Wang's tutoring class after school at noon, and adults come to pick them up in the evening.

"Hello, Teacher Wang!" Chun Xin shouted loudly.

This kind, middle-aged man wears a gray suit all the year round, with empty sleeves below his shoulders.

He is very attractive to children. When talking, he will bend slightly and smile at her, "Chun Xin, look, the morning star."

"A morning star? What is an evening star?" Chun Xin looked around in a daze.

Teacher Wang raised his chin, "Beside the moon, the nearest brightest star, have you seen it?"

"Wow! It's so big and bright! Why is this star so bright, grandma, it's so bright!"

The sky is a huge dark blue flannel, dotted with gemstones of different sizes.On the edge of the curved crescent, there is one brightest star, the morning star, which only appears about three hours before sunrise.

In the eyes of children, it is precious, magical and special, how can it be so bright.

"Have you seen the morning star? I saw it today. It's big and bright!" On the way to school, Chun Xin told Xueli about the morning.

"No."

About Qixingxing, I often heard her talk about it in the past, but I haven't seen her once in so many years.

"I wish you could see it too, it's so bright!"

Xueli didn't speak for a long time.

"Little penguin, you are so happy, you wear a black coat for travel, you forgot to button it when you go out, and your big belly is leaking..."

The immature child's voice floated out of the window, over the fallen leaves of the sycamore tree, in the morning reading class, Xueli opened the notepad in the drawer.

——In the tenth year after Yin Chunxin's death, on the eve of my 29th birthday, I went back to Rong County 20 years ago and met Yin Chunxin who was only eight years old.

——I want to give her a different life, but I have no right to do so. This is not an excuse for incompetence.

——Maybe, so what should I do?

What should be done? Before she had sorted out and listed the things that had to be done, her memory began to decline, and she forgot more and more things every day, and the broken glass mirror could no longer be pieced together.

Going back to the past without preparation, time wasted in blank thinking.

That night, Xueli made a suggestion to Jiang Mengyan.

"Mom, if you are always away, why don't you send me to Chun Xin's house, just like those children in Teacher Wang's house, eat at her house and do homework, and then go home to sleep at night."

It's not that Jiang Mengyan didn't think about this, and planned to help her arrange it after she was promoted next year.

"But why Chun Xin's family? Is Mr. Wang's family not good? He is a teacher, and he can also help you with your homework. There are many students in his family... I heard that Mr. Zhu, who teaches you art, is also planning to start a cram school."

Xueli felt funny, I still need counseling?As long as you are willing to arrange, I can take the college entrance examination next year!

"Because Grandpa Chunxin's food is very delicious. Once you came back late, Chunxin stole it for me. It tastes the same as... Grandpa's food. Anyway, I want to eat it."

This statement is half true and half false, mother is a reasonable adult, of course she also has stubborn moments, Xueli thought in her heart that this matter should be arranged as soon as possible, because she just came to Rong County, and the mother and daughter had been separated for six years before.

Mom still feels guilty about her.

"Impossible?" Jiang Mengyan is not so easy to fool, "I don't care how Yin Chunxin stole the rice for you, your grandfather's family likes to eat pickled cabbage buns that are so salty that you can die, and the Yin family is an authentic banyan. People from the county, this is so hot and sour, can it be the same flavor?"

Knowing that it would not be that easy, Xueli lowered her head, and slowly flapped her eyelashes twice, "So even such a small request, mother can't satisfy me."

"Alas—" Jiang Mengyan had a headache, but she was really caught.

Xueli continued to level A output, "Teacher Wang's family has too many children, I don't like it, and I don't like it when I'm alone at home. I like to stay with Chunxin."

It can be seen that the two children play well and go to and from school together every day.

Jiang Mengyan took a deep breath. It is true that her daughter has just been picked up, and she is still fresh, and she is willing to get used to it. After a long time, she will definitely go numb, and she will say whatever she wants.

Xueli doesn't like to be hypocritical, and she doesn't know how to be coquettish and clingy. When she was a child, she was in the north with her grandparents. Whenever she said she missed her mother, her grandma would scold her and tell her not to whine and be annoying all day long.

After a long time, she stopped talking, and came to Rong County to live with her mother, who always liked to talk "ah", "what", "do", and Xueli wanted to tell her not to whine all day long , How old are you.

Now she still doesn't know how to act like a baby, and she can't hide her old face even if she puts on a child's body.

At this moment, crying sounded suddenly from downstairs, Yuri sat up straight and pricked up her ears.

After listening carefully for a while, it seemed that it wasn't Chun Xin, but a student who was taking tutoring at Teacher Wang's house. He fell or something.

She leaned back in the chair, relaxed her body, Jiang Mengyan stared at her for a while, and asked, "Dongdong, do you think that as long as you go to Chun Xin's house, she won't be beaten?"

The Yin family doesn't care if they beat their children or not. Xueli thinks a little deeper. The Yin family only lives on the pension of Grandpa Yin alone. Grandma Yin was willing to spend her money on Chun Xin because she borrowed from Yin's house.

Aunt Chunxin is the principal, and the Yin family says that being poor is not considered poor, but Grandma Yin is reluctant to spend money on Chunxin.

What worries does the old lady have?Xueli didn't know, she just didn't want to see Chunxin suffer.

The matter was finally settled. On Saturday night, when Jiang Mengyan went out to buy fruit, Xueli opened the window, and Chunxin squatted in the corner of the yard with his butt pouted, not knowing what he was doing.

Xueli shouted: "Chunchun!"

She turned her head, threw the things in her hand and ran under the window, "Dongdong!"

"what are you doing."

Chun Xin was delighted, "The ant hole is flooded with water!"

Xueli: "...you, I'll go to your house later, stop playing and go wash your hands."

Her hair was a bit long, covering her eyes, the back of her hand was glued to her forehead, her eyes rolled around, she looked very alert, and said in a low voice, "I won't let you."

Xueli was quiet for two seconds, and she was so cute, "I am with my mother, there is something delicious, go and wash your hands!"

"Really?"

"real."

Half an hour later, Jiang Mengyan brought a box of fruit, led Xueli, and knocked on the door of Yin's house.

Grandpa Yin came to open the door, poked his head in Xueli, and saw Chunxin sitting on a small bench watching TV.

Her eyes lit up in an instant, and she stood up and shouted, "Aunt Jiang! Dongdong!"

After greetings from both parties, Jiang Mengyan briefly explained the purpose of her visit, and Grandma Yin called the two children to Chunxin's bedroom and closed the door.

Chun Xin was so happy that he hugged her, "Dongdong!" He didn't hide his greed, "What's there to eat?"

Xueli sat down beside her bed, grabbed a handful of chocolates from her trouser pocket, "I bought them specially for you."

Chun Xin tore off the candy wrapper, "It's dark." He sniffed it under his nose, "I seem to have seen it before. During the Chinese New Year, my eldest aunt brought it, and my grandma said that children can't eat it."

Xueli laughed, "She lied to you, it's delicious, try it."

Dangling his short legs by the bed, Chun Xin took a small bite, licked his teeth with the tip of his tongue, and widened his eyes in surprise.

Still reluctant to eat it, I took a small sip, then thought of something, found an old idiom dictionary from the drawer, "This is for you."

In her previous life, she specified that she had never given this thing away, but Xueli knew at a glance that it was something from her mother's era. The pages of the dictionary were yellowed and the cover was gone.

There are many antiques in Chunxin's house, such as the fire hook, which was played from the age of eight to 17 when she was eight.

"Open it quickly."

There are many flowers in the dictionary, absorbed by the paper, squeezed into thin pieces by gravity, some are still fresh, have not lost their color, and some have turned yellow.

"All the flowers are for you." Chun Xin took the dictionary and turned to the last page. "This is a jasmine flower, white and fragrant. This flower is dead and gone. This is the last one."

She picked up the flower, put it in the palm of her hand, put it on the tip of her nose in the snow, "Smell it."

There is a smell of old books, a faint scent of jasmine, a faint bitterness of plants, and the smell of chocolate in Chunxin's palm.

"Is it fragrant?"

"fragrant."

Xueli held the dictionary, "Have you given them all to me?"

Chun Xin said: "It's just Huahua, you have to return the book tomorrow, otherwise my grandma will beat me."

Xueli: "...OK."

The adults' affairs were not going well, so while Chunxin was eating candy, Yuli gently unlocked the door and looked out.

This matter is actually not easy, people are very complicated creatures, especially Grandma Chunxin.

In fact, she has a strong self-esteem. Chun Xin wears her cousin's old clothes and uses her cousin's old books. Grandma Yin accepts them all, but in terms of money, she will not accept charity for no reason.

He couldn't hear the sound, but Xueli saw Grandma Yin shaking her head. Jiang Mengyan noticed Xueli peeking through the crack of the door, and calmly looked away.

After a while, Chunxin leaned over with his little furry head, digging at the door frame with his fingers, "Dongdong, why is your mother crying?"

Xueli couldn't help laughing, this is of course a tactic.