Baby

As soon as the cicadas chirped in summer, Tang Li accompanied Li Ruxue on the green long-distance train.

Tang Li didn't know the way, his memories of his hometown were long gone, and he had to follow his aunt wherever he went along the way.

They stopped in a small town along the way.After getting off the bus, my aunt bought Tang Li a bunch of candied haws and asked him to wait for a while.Tang Li was sitting on a park bench holding candied haws, while his aunt was standing next to the newspaper stand asking for directions.A few minutes later, my aunt led him into the passenger bus together.

On the bus, Jiang Ye sent a text message asking him what he was doing now.

Tang Li took out his mobile phone and quickly replied to the message: in the car.

"Where are you going?"

"do not know."

"Haha, I think so. Are you motion sick?"

"A little."

"Be careful on the road, and call me again at night."

"it is good."

Tang Li put the phone back into his pocket, and a faint smile appeared on his face at some point.Li Ruxue stared at Tang Li for a while, then suddenly asked, "Is that Jiang Ye?"

Tang Li nodded and asked her, "Auntie, where are we going?"

"Uh...go to a transit place," Li Ruxue blinked, "let's stay there for one night first, and then take a detour back to my hometown. There has been flooding in my hometown these days, and the direct road has been flooded. Take care of your backpack. There are many people on the road, be careful of pickpockets!"

Tang Li let out a "hmm" and grasped the straps of his backpack tightly.In fact, he had some doubts in his heart. Although they were going to live in their hometown for a few days, my aunt almost brought out all the valuables and clothes from the house, and packed them into three big bags that were bulging.When Tang Li raised this doubt before, her aunt only said that the lock in the house was not strong, and she was afraid of being thieves.

In the evening, the two arrived at a remote mountain town.It was cold in the mountains at night, so they found a nearby hotel to stay.

The hotel equipment is also a bit old, and it looks very old.But fortunately, I only live for one day, so it’s okay to squeeze in.After taking a shower at night, Tang Li went to the balcony with his mobile phone to call Jiang Ye.As soon as the call was connected, before Tang Li could say a word, his aunt shouted from behind: "Xiao Li, come in quickly! It's cold in the mountains at night, be careful not to catch a cold!"

"I finished this call!" Tang Li also shouted to the back room.

"Then hurry up!"

The aunt left after giving a few words of advice. Tang Li turned around, but his mobile phone showed that there was only one signal left.

Tang Li panicked, and said "Hello" to the receiver for a long time, but there was no reply from the other party.The signal in the mountains is always intermittent, good and bad time.He circled around with his mobile phone, and finally the call ended forcefully.Tang Li sighed, so he had no choice but to send a text message to Jiang Ye, briefly explaining his itinerary for today, but the mobile phone beeped, the signal grid changed to a cross, and the text message could not be sent.

Tang Li was testing signals, when his aunt came from behind with a blanket, put it on Tang Li and asked him: "It's been so long, is it over?"

"No signal..."

"Hey, the signal in the mountains is definitely not good." Auntie stretched out her hand towards Tang Li, "Otherwise, you won't need it now anyway, so you can keep your phone for me first, and don't accidentally lose it later, it will be very late." Expensive."

Tang Li hesitated for a moment, but still gave Li Ruxue the phone.

At ten o'clock in the evening, Li Ruxue put Tang Li to sleep first, and then went downstairs alone to buy a pack of biscuits.After paying, she pulled a blue slider phone from her bag.

Opened the phone case, took out the phone card inside, broke it in half with a little force, threw it into the messy grass, then closed the phone case, and naturally put the phone and biscuits back into the bag.

The next morning, the two woke up.Li Ruxue booked a train ticket for this afternoon.At the crowded train station, Li Ruxue's cell phone kept ringing, and the ringtone was muffled intermittently.Tang Li quickly noticed the voice and reminded his aunt that it was time to answer the phone.

When Li Ruxue answered the phone, it was indeed Tang Daihe who asked if they had arrived.Li Ruxue briefly exchanged a few words with Tang Daihe, then took the phone and asked Tang Li: "Xiao Li, your mother asked if you have anything to say to your brother?"

Tang Li thought for a while, then said: "I want to take the goat and go to that monastery with my brother after I go back."

Although Li Ruxue didn't understand what Tang Li meant by "temple", she still helped him pass on the message.After hanging up the phone, Li Ruxue kissed Tang Li's forehead appreciatively: "We'll be like this from now on. If you have anything to say, tell aunt directly, and aunt will help you pass it on to your brother and the others, okay?"

Tang Li's mobile phone was temporarily kept by his aunt, but Tang Li was very happy that his aunt was willing to help him pass the message.So he nodded in agreement.

After they got on the train for the second time and arrived at the terminal, a week had passed without knowing it.It's a coastal frontier town, with the sun beating down on the shoreline.The aunt led Tang Li for a few kilometers, and then bought him a glass of coconut milk and asked him to wait.

Tang Li stood in the shade of a tree while sipping sweet coconut juice while watching his aunt walk into the hall of a building to negotiate with men in uniform. Ten minutes later, Li Ruxue came out of the hall, and took Tang Li to stop a motorcycle by the side of the road.Li Ruxue paid the motorbike driver some money, and the motorbike driver drove them to the door of a historic-looking residential building.

After a day of tossing and turning, I finally found a place to live.The corridor was full of strange men and women in overalls, Tang Li followed Li Ruxue upstairs without saying a word, feeling a little uneasy suddenly.

It was like a dormitory building, with clothes drying in front of every cubicle window.Li Ruxue found the key from the bag and opened the door, an old smell of rotting wood came over her face.

Li Ruxue was quite satisfied, put down her bag and turned on the light, scanned the room, and sighed with a smile: "It's much more spacious than I imagined, and it's still quite comfortable to live in after tidying up!"

Tang Li didn't say a word, Li Ruxue came over and closed the door, smiled and asked him softly: "How is it? Xiao Li, do you like this place? This place is warm all year round..."

Tang Li didn't care about this, a strong sense of unease hit his heart, he couldn't help but subconsciously grabbed his clothes, looked up at Li Ruxue, and asked her: "Auntie, when are we going to see my cousin?"

"Cousin..." The apprehension on Li Ruxue's face flashed past, "He's coming soon, let's wait for him here!"

Tang Li didn't really realize what was wrong until he stayed for a week.

During these seven days, Tang Li stayed in the dormitory without going anywhere.When it's meal time, Li Ruxue will bring a lot of food from outside. After Tang Li eats up, Li Ruxue goes out again with the garbage bag and doesn't come back until evening.During the period, Tang Li asked many times when his cousin would come, and the answer he got was always "tomorrow".

Later, Tang Li hoped that Li Ruxue would send a message home, and Li Ruxue verbally agreed, but when Tang Li went to ask if he had received a reply, Li Ruxue hesitated for a long time.

This day Li Ruxue brought him a box of fried rice from outside, but the difference was that this time there was a black plastic bag on her right hand.

Li Ruxue put the fried rice on the tea table with a normal expression and asked Tang Li to cook.Tang Li got up to wash the chopsticks, but found that Li Ruxue was carefully pressing the black plastic bag in the deepest part of the cabinet, and carefully locked it.

Tang Li pretended not to see, took his chopsticks and ate as usual.As soon as Li Ruxue left, he immediately turned over to find the key.Li Ruxue is a very careful person, and keeps backups of important keys.Tang Li felt around, and finally found the spare key of the cabinet in the crack of the bed.

Opening the cabinet door, Tang Li groped along the interlayer of the cabinet for a while, and finally took out the black plastic bag.

With the help of the dim light, the bag was opened layer by layer, and there was a complete set of brand new dark blue overalls lying inside.

Tang Li was stunned for a moment, and after unfolding the uniform, he found that the size of the suit was too big for Li Ruxue.Just as Tang Li shook his uniform pants, the work badge wrapped inside was dusted off.

Tang Li picked up the work card on the ground, and there were two words neatly written on it - "Li Li".