God said I would meet you

When they paid their bills and came out of the tavern, the sun was already setting.

The Yi compatriots drinking there hadn't left yet. Before they came out, Zhang Xinli took Lin Jinyu and La Long to say hello and goodbye to several Yi uncles who had toasted.

"Let's go," Zhang Xinli said, "I'm really going home this time."

Lin Jinyu was a little stuffed, and thought it would be good to take a walk like this, so the three of them walked up the winding road as if to digest food after a meal.

About 10 minutes after walking out, Zhang Xinli suddenly remembered something, felt in his pocket, but didn't touch anything, quickly stopped Lin Jinyu, said: "Wait a minute," he said, "I seem to have forgotten something."

"What?" Lin Jinyu said, "Did you lose something?"

"It should be at the eating place," Zhang Xinli said, "Go ahead slowly, and I will chase you later."

Just as Lin Jinyu was about to ask what it was, La Long had already consciously stepped forward to take the fruit carried by Zhang Xinli, and said to him, "Then let's walk slowly, you come after it?"

"Yeah." Zhang Xinli agreed, and said to Lin Jinyu: "Just walk along the road. There will be a fork in the road later, and it will be much closer... La Long knows, just follow him."

"Yes." Lin Jinyu saw that they had made arrangements on their own, and she couldn't express any further opinions, so she agreed directly, took the watermelon from Lalong's hand, put it on his shoulders, said goodbye to Zhang Xinli, and turned away. up.

They just came up and walked for more than 20 minutes. Even if Zhang Xinli ran faster, it would take half an hour to go back and forth.Lin Jinyu draped Lalong's shoulders and walked slowly.

"La Long, what happened to him, do you know?" Lin Jinyu said, "It's so urgent."

Lalong shook his head: "I don't know."

Lin Jinyu's brain was wide open: "Did you fall in love with some good-looking young lady who asked for a phone number behind our backs?"

"Probably not," Lalong said. "The Marriage Law stipulates that those under the age of 20 cannot get married. The village publicizes it every year, and they use red paint to paint big and big slogans."

"Hahahahahahaha," Lin Jinyu laughed, "What is it all about?" He thought of the little Yi girl who clinked glasses with him just now, and asked, "Hey, it's already 20xx, is it true that Yi people here can't marry Han people? "

Lalong thought for a while, and said, "It depends on the family. Some people are like this. Their families don't let them, but some people can. Look at the bride price."

"You are so young, you already know the bride price."

"Yeah," Lalong said, "Some people get married if they give a lot of dowry, and those who don't get divorced will pay double the dowry money."

Lin Jinyu thought to herself: Is this a marriage or selling her daughter?He asked, "What about men, can they marry wives from other ethnicities?"

"It also depends on the person," Lalong said. "Some people don't care, and some don't want to. Just like some people's fathers are very hardworking, while some people's fathers play cards and drink every day, and don't want to go out to work."

Lin Jinyu said: "Haha, what about you? When you marry a wife, remember to give me a big red envelope."

La Long said shyly: "I'm early, Brother Jinyu, don't talk about this."

"Don't be shy," Lin Jinyu teased him, "Really, I will give you a big red envelope when any of you get married in the future."

They walked and chatted all the way, and they had traveled a long way before they knew it.The flat concrete road forks in two ahead, a wide concrete paved road bends to the upper right, and a yellow muddy road hidden among the tall grass turns to the upper left.

La Long turned to the left and said, "This way."

"Wow, it's so out of the way, is this near?"

"Yeah," Lalong said, "I can't go this way, but it's actually closer."

They climbed uphill along the hard dirt road.The setting sun was printed directly in front of them, and the thick clouds were also rendered with a golden red border.

This road is narrower and steeper than the concrete road, and small insects can be seen flying among the dense grass blades.Carrying the watermelon, Lin Jinyu followed Lalong around a few turns, and the gray concrete road was no longer visible. In addition to clumps of wormwood, there were continuous ridgelines in the distance.

The sporadic sounds of car engines on the road and the rattling of cows and horses were completely far away from them. Lin Jinyu could only hear the rustling of shoe soles rubbing against the sand and the occasional cries of homing birds.

To be honest, he was really scared to go alone in this barren mountain with no village in front of him and no shop behind.

The surroundings were so unpopular, Lin Jinyu couldn't keep his mouth shut, and couldn't bear the silence, so he always chatted with Lalong for nothing.

He asked: "You start junior high school, and besides, will you be able to enter high school?"

Lalong sniffled: "I don't know. It depends on whether my brother can get in. If my brother can't get in, I'll get in. If my brother gets in, I won't fight with him."

"Then you still want to study yourself, right?"

"I think so. My brother told me that all promising people study. Although Gao Wu looks good for a while and doesn't need to take exams or pay tuition fees, it's actually not good at all."

"Gao Wu? Just... then who, he is so annoying, why do you still call him brother?"

Lalong whispered, "Because... he is my brother."

"Do you hate him?" Lin Jinyu asked.

Lalong thought about this question very seriously, and finally answered: "No." He said: "Because my brother and I indeed robbed his father. Do you know that according to the tradition of our Yi people, after the grandmother remarries, it is I can no longer care about the children of my previous husband, but my mother doesn't. The only condition for her to marry my father is to take my brother with her. She takes care of me and my brother, because we are her children, but she doesn't like it. Brother Gao Wu, I don’t want to wash his clothes, and I don’t want to give him food.”

Lin Jinyu always thought that it was Gao Wu who unilaterally refused to reorganize the family, but she didn't expect this to happen, so she didn't know what to say for a while.

Lalong continued: "So brother Gao Wu ran away. I still remember that it was a long time ago, when I was four years old, one day my brother was holding me while cooking and buttoning me up. What happened to my mother? I was beating Brother Gao Wu, then he ran out and never came back to live."

"..." Lin Jinyu was silent.

"Abba loves Grandma. According to reason, Grandma can't take care of my brother, but she can't ignore Brother Gao Wu. But Dad didn't say anything, he acquiesced."

Lin Jinyu was silent for a long time, and in the end he didn't say anything, just smacked Lalong's head.

"So I don't hate him," Lalong said. "He lives with his grandma and uncle. My uncle is as lazy as most men here. He doesn't like to work. He plays cards in the chess and card room every day and drinks when he comes back. , Just don’t work, the seeds and chicks that are distributed every year are sold, and then resold. I owe him, he is my brother.”

He wanted to say something more, but was interrupted by a loud voice.Lin Jinyu raised her head suddenly, they were at the downwind, and the wind at dusk carried the unique heat of the dog days, like the hot air blowing from a hair dryer, bringing the fine human voices from the upwind.

It was by no means a friendly voice, but rather hoarse and high-pitched curses.

Lin Jinyu made a "shh" gesture to La Long, and approached him lightly. Through the gap between the grass blades, he saw a group of young people around his age in a gentle mountain lawn nearby. A child carrying a box was stopped, and the two sides were talking back and forth, and there was occasional physical pushing.

Lin Jinyu couldn't understand the local language, so he turned his head and looked around, and Lalong translated, "Oh... I'm collecting protection fees."

"Protection fee?" Lin Jinyu frowned: "Are you sick, do you really think you are a gangster?"

The sphere of influence of each family and family in each village here has clear boundaries, and this place is only two or three miles away from the village entrance. Apart from Gao Wu's gang, who else can blackmail people and collect tolls here?

"It's very normal," Lalong said in a low voice, "The kid who was stopped doesn't seem to be from our team."

Lin Jinyu took a closer look. He had seen almost all minors in the village, big and small, for so many days. The kid with the box on his back was very unfamiliar... no, not completely unfamiliar, those bushy eyebrows... thin His hands and back... and the box covered with quilts on his back... all looked familiar... He remembered that it seemed to be the child who sold popsicles to them in the shade of the tree that day.

At this moment, the signature hippie smile on his face was completely gone. He was carrying the box that seemed so heavy and cumbersome to his body, and he said something flatteringly to Gao Wu, the leader, with a forced smile on his face. up.

Lalong translated Gao Wu's words simultaneously in a low voice: "...asked him to bring 30 yuan, but the one who carried the suitcase said that he might not earn 30 yuan a day, so he refused to give it."

On the ground, Gao Wu said: "Don't talk nonsense, I want to come here to sell, is it so easy to make money? It depends on whether you give it or not, and you know what will happen."

The black and skinny child begged for mercy: "I really can't earn so much. Didn't I always give ten yuan before? Why did it increase so much?"

"I have something to do at home." Gao Wu gave him a sideways glance, "Bring me the money!"

"What's the matter..." the child said, "There are too many."

"It's none of your business, just take the money," Gao Wu said viciously, "Are you determined to toast and not eat fine wine?"

Hearing this, someone immediately went up and grabbed the child by the collar and pushed him back to the ground. The white, green and unfinished popsicles fell all over the floor, and the child's dirty clothes were covered with a blanket. layer of ash.

The author says:

The problem of orphaned children was really serious in the past (that is, the father passed away and the mother was still alive but remarried). They were not considered orphans on the household registration book and could not enjoy many subsidies, but they were indeed "orphans" because no one Tube.But later the policy was adapted according to the actual situation ⊙▽⊙ and great progress has been made.