Baby

Tang Li chose to believe what his aunt said.

Li Ruxue promised him that when he worked here for three years, he would be sent home to reunite with his brother.Although he will not return his mobile phone, Li Ruxue will help Tang Li send a letter home once a month. Tang Li clearly remembers his home number and address.

Tang Li calculated that three years later, he still has a chance to return to school.At that time, Jiang Ye hadn't graduated from college, and the distance between them wasn't too far away.Just try, just try harder...

Under Li Ruxue's promises and sugar-coated bullets, Tang Li finally decided to settle down temporarily and work hard.The work in the seafood factory is not easy. They are the lowest-level workers, doing the most tiring work and earning the least wages.Although he worked hard every day and his whole body was sore when he returned to the dormitory, Tang Li still felt very fulfilled.His happiest time of the day is when he sleeps at night, because he can always meet his brother in his dreams.

Tang Li's social life is still almost zero.Most of the colleagues here are boys ranging from 0 to 16 years old.Because of the hard work all year round, the younger children don't look much different from the older ones.So Tang Li, a white and tender child, stood out of place among them.Tang Li has no friends here, and rarely speaks to strangers.He has always been shy of strangers, and he can't understand the dialect here.

He has to hand over his monthly fixed salary to Li Ruxue, but sometimes the foreman sees that it is not easy for Tang Li to be young, so he will secretly give him some extra "bonuses".Not many, dozens, one hundred, Tang Li was still very grateful in his heart.He hasn't learned the dialect here yet, and it sounds like he only has a half-knowledge, so after receiving the bonus, Tang Li just kept bowing to the foreman.

Over time, Tang Li's "small coffers" gradually accumulated enough money for a mobile phone.

During a lunch break in a factory, Tang Li sneaked out by climbing the wall and found a small mobile phone shop.He tightly clutched a stack of crumpled banknotes in his pocket, and his forehead was covered with sweat.

Tang Li bought the cheapest mobile phone, the one with nine buttons.Hiding in the public toilet, Tang Li couldn't wait to switch on the phone and wanted to make a call, but found that the phone kept reporting errors.After researching for a long time, I found out that there is no mobile phone card.

Distraught again, Tang Li went to a nearby business hall, where a young girl sat at the counter and polished her nails.

Seeing Tang Li standing at the door and looking in anxiously, the girl put down her nail polish, walked towards him and said something with a smile.The girl spoke too fast, Tang Li couldn't understand for a while, and could only look at her with a confused face.

The girl paused, then changed into substandard Mandarin and said, "Hey, kid, what are you looking for?"

Tang Li understood immediately, his eyes lit up, and he asked her cautiously: "Excuse me, is there a mobile phone card here?"

The girl nodded and beckoned him in.

"Do you have an ID card?" The girl sized Tang Li up and said with a smile, "Little friend, you should not be an adult yet, right?"

Tang Li lowered his head awkwardly: "Temporary ID...is it okay?"

"It's okay. We have those who need an ID card and those who don't. I'll get you one that doesn't need an ID card. You choose a number."

"Okay, thank you."

By the time Tang Li got the SIM card and mobile phone, the lunch break was over.He had no choice but to hide his mobile phone and look for an opportunity to call again.

After the lights were turned off at night, Li Ruxue's slight snoring came from the lower berth.Tang Li turned over on the bed, whispered a few words of aunt again, made sure that Li Ruxue was asleep before hiding under the quilt, took out a fluffy black sock from under the bed sheet, and found the cell phone inside the sock.

Tang Li engraved Jiang Ye's cell phone number deeply in his mind.He didn't dare to speak loudly, so he sent Jiang Ye a text message first.

Finally at this time, Tang Li had a lot to say in his heart.I want to explain to Jiang Ye what happened here, I want my brother and parents not to worry, and I want to ask if they can come to visit me... He has been missing for so long suddenly, his family must be very concerned about him.It would be great if the message could be successfully delivered, Tang Li wanted to report to his family that they were safe.

What are you doing now?It's eleven o'clock at night, so I'm probably asleep.

Thinking of this, the corners of Tang Li's mouth could not help but slowly curl up, as if Jiang Ye was sleeping soundly beside him.

"Brother, I'm Tang Li. I don't know if you have received my letter before, but I want to say, I'm fine, don't worry, I'll be home soon."

But the text message went nowhere.

Tang Li was so excited that he stayed up all night, staring at the phone screen waiting for a reply.But the screen was always black and never turned on once.The next day, Tang Li took advantage of his lunch break to send several text messages, but still did not receive a reply.Finally, he made a phone call.What I got was a female voice in the receiver.

"The number you have dialed is down..."

Tang Li's heart sank little by little.It is very uncomfortable to see the little hope that has finally risen and gradually faded away.

But Tang Li did not give up, and still insisted on sending several text messages every day, although Jiang Ye never replied.Until the end of the month, his mobile phone was shut down due to excessive call charges, so he sneaked to the business hall to pay the phone bill, and happened to meet Li Ruxue who also came to pay the bill.

"Xiao Li, what are you doing here?" Li Ruxue looked puzzled, "Why didn't you go to the cafeteria for lunch?"

Tang Li's face turned pale, and he wanted to turn around subconsciously, but the young girl behind Li Ruxue recognized him at a glance, and greeted him with a cheerful smile: "Hi! It's you. He should be here to charge the phone bill."

"Charging the phone bill?" Li Ruxue's face darkened immediately, "Why did he charge the phone bill?"

Tang Li wanted to tell a lie to explain the past, but because of his nervousness, his movements were extraordinarily clumsy, and he couldn't speak clearly.The young girl was stunned, Tang Li looked at her desperately, but the girl didn't react, she just said strangely: "It's because the mobile phone is in arrears."

Li Ruxue reacted immediately, and quickly looked at Tang Li again. His stern eyes made him unable to lift his head: "Mobile phone? What's going on? Li Li!"

Tang Li only tightly grasped the small mobile phone in his pocket, so hard that his knuckles began to turn white.He bit his lip and gave up on explaining.

But this little action was infinitely magnified in Li Ruxue's eyes, and Li Ruxue felt sour and wronged in her heart, and she didn't understand why this child always tried every means to escape from her side.

Li Ruxue's eyes widened with anger, and her voice trembled: "Look up! Li Li, did you go to buy a mobile phone behind my back! I told you to look up!!"

The lady at the counter was so frightened by Li Ruxue's madness that she forgot to step forward to try to persuade the fight, and the store door was immediately surrounded by dots of people.Tang Li clenched his fists tightly, unable to bear the sympathetic gazes of the people around him, and finally said softly: "...My name is Tang Li."

Li Ruxue's complexion was iron: "Tang Li! You go home!"

The mobile phone was confiscated, all text messages sent to Jiang Ye were deleted, and all the "little treasury" in private collection was also confiscated.In the dormitory, Li Ruxue was like a crazy shrew, desperately grabbing things and smashing them.Although Tang Li was trembling with fear, he neither hid nor hid, with a stubborn expression on his face.This made Li Ruxue even more angry.

Li Ruxue trampled on the mobile phone that Tang Li spent a long time saving money to buy, and then tugged at his collar, angrily said: "Go! You follow me! I want to warn all the mobile phone sellers around here, and see who dares Sell ​​you the phone!"

Tang Li was shocked, but Li Ruxue almost lost his mind, and tugged on Tang Li's hand, not to be refuted.As a result, that afternoon, Li Ruxue took Tang Li and ran all over the nearby business halls three kilometers away, warning them not to sell mobile phones or SIM cards to her nephew.Every time Li Ruxue walked into a store, Li Ruxue's vixen-like attitude attracted many mocking eyes from around.Li Ruxue made a lot of noise in the mobile phone store, and almost got into fights with the clerk several times.Tang Li stood on the side, clenched his fists tightly with tears streaming down his face, choked up so that he couldn't speak, the feeling of shame made him want to disappear from the world.

Although in the end Li Ruxue was driven out of the store as a lunatic, Tang Li was so humiliated that he could never lift his head up again.

Just like that, Tang Li became even more silent.