middle of the road

Cheng Yang was squatting at the door with a cigarette in his mouth. On top of his head was a poor-quality couplet that had been weathered for a year and had already been broken into paper-cuts. There would be a bit of wind, and it would be blown off. , Didn't even look at it and sat on it with a cushion under the buttocks.

Seeing someone approaching, he bit his teeth back and forth on the filter twice, and was about to take it off, but was grabbed away by someone. He stood up and called out, "Uncle Tao."

Tao Zhiquan let the other two people who followed him go in first, he poked a cigarette in the palm of his hand, squinted at the shredded tobacco inside, then put it in his own mouth, and raised his head to signal Cheng Yang.

Cheng Yang took a lighter from the windowsill and lit it for him.

Tao Zhiquan was choked by the inferior taste as soon as he took the first puff. He turned his back and coughed twice. Cheng Yang, "Don't learn well."

Cheng Yang didn't speak, turned the same inferior lighter that was almost out of gas, and slowly leaned against the door frame.

Tao Zhiquan crushed the cigarette under his feet, gathered his clothes, and looked back at him, "Aren't you going in?"

Cheng Yang shook his head.

"That's fine." Tao Zhiquan waved his hand.

Cheng Yang waited for him to enter the inner room before he patted the clothes on his body, picked up the couplet and the one that was not considered a cigarette end just now, and pinched it in his hands, and also tore up the sparsely hanging ones on the door. Yes, he went to the refrigerator to check, they were going to eat here at noon, there might not be enough food.

Tao Zhiquan lifted the door curtain, the dim light made him subconsciously stare at his usual squinted eyes, the curtains in the room were all drawn, and all the furniture was so dark that it didn't look like a coffin at all. There is also a person lying in the same gloomy place.

He coughed, and waved his hand twice, as if this could lighten the indescribable smell that rushed to his nose.

He lowered his voice and called inside, "Old Cheng?"

"Here we come." The person on the bed moved, his voice was dry and hoarse like a block of carbon, he didn't get up, his voice was trembling weakly, "Sit down."

"Hey." Tao Zhiquan took out a pen and paper from his bag and put it on the table, "I heard that you are going to do this, so I specially called two more people over from our neighborhood committee. Let's follow the procedure today. To testify to you."

A thin hand stretched out from the mosquito net.

"Let Mr. Cheng take a look at you in the past." Tao Zhiquan said.

After hearing this, the other two stood up and had a face-to-face meeting with the old man on the bed who didn't seem to be very popular anymore, but judging from his cloudy yellow crystals, it was still a problem whether they could see clearly.

Cheng Guangde didn't say yes or no, he didn't say anything, Tao Zhiquan took it as his agreement.

"How about we start?" He said after writing the word "will" on the letterhead of the xx community residents committee.

Cheng Yang counted some money and stuffed it into the pocket of his coat. He went back to the house and changed into a pair of cotton shoes. There was already a fish, and it should be enough to buy a chicken and some vegetarian dishes.

In the open space in front of the building, several seven or eight-year-old children gathered together to play spinning tops, their faces peeled off like rouge.

Cheng Ying and Cheng Le squatted aside and watched with relish. Every time someone yelled something about a hurricane or a Flying Eagle's second line, they both clapped their hands to cheer for the two spinning tops that collided together.

Cheng Le turned around and saw him, sniffed his nose and blew a bubble and ran over, "Brother, where are you going?"

"Go shopping." Cheng Yang took out a tissue from his pocket and pressed it under his nose.

Cheng Le took it and "sneered" vigorously, "Is there a visitor at home today?"

"Yeah." Cheng Yang gave him the key, "Look at my sister, don't run around."

Cheng Le nodded, Cheng Yang saw that his face was blushing, and asked him to take off his hot clothes, the temperature will be high, so don't be reluctant to pile them all on his body.

After Cheng Yang bought the vegetables, he went to the stationery store opposite the vegetable market. He didn't even need to ask. There were patches of hurricanes and flying eagles piled up at the door, marking different skills with various eye-catching special effects. After a while, the boss sold three of them.

Cheng Yang picked up a box of the coolest red ones and asked the boss how much it was. In fact, he had seen them buy them just now, so he already knew the price.

"68," said the boss.

"Are there any cheaper ones?"

"The ones in the small boxes below are cheaper, but not much cheaper. How many do you buy?"

"two."

"Two count you one hundred and thirty, and one will give you three yuan cheaper, do you think it's okay?"

"What about the one below?" Cheng Yang asked.

"What do you mean?" The boss pointed to those boxes that were obviously out of the previous grades, "48, the quality is definitely not as good as the one in your hand, and it will break after a few hits." The boss still suggested that he buy expensive ones, "You get what you pay for, look at the few I just sold, and now even elementary school students know what to buy."

"Get one for 65 and one for 45." Cheng Yang thought for a while, and the sum was more expensive than he bought two chickens.

The boss was stunned for a moment, and it took a while to realize, "The young man is very good at bargaining."

"Sell or not?"

"Sell, sell, sell." The boss asked him to choose his own color, and he didn't give up lobbying him to buy two of the same. "It's just 20 yuan. Now a young man like you can spend more than [-] yuan a pack of cigarettes."

Cheng Yang didn't speak, 48 also picked a red one, paid the money and left with his hands.

Tao Zhiquan stopped writing, and under the lamp that was so black that it could barely see any light, he thought over the few short lines in his heart again. He lit a cigarette and took two puffs towards the outside of the door, " Mr. Cheng, there are some things that it is inappropriate for me to say too much as an outsider, but you..." Tao Zhiquan sighed, "Even if you don't read Cheng Yang, you should leave some for the next two younger ones. Back road..."

Cheng Guangde's hand stretched out from inside again, and it was fixed in the air without any room for negotiation, beckoning him to stop talking.

"Okay." Tao Zhiquan stopped at the right time. To put it bluntly, he was a scribe, "Then I'll write the date on it for you, and I'll take a copy back with me. When the time comes..."

At that time, he didn't say what was going to happen next, everyone knew it well, the suicide note, when will it come in handy.

After Tao Zhiquan finished writing both copies, he got up and brought them to Cheng Guangde's bedside to have a look.

Cheng Guangde took a closer look, and stared at the content of less than a hundred characters for a long time. Tao Zhiquan had been waiting beside him for about ten minutes before he heard him ask someone to bring ink pads to sign for him.

Tao Zhiquan was just about to go out when Cheng Yang entered.

"Let's go after dinner." Cheng Yang said.

"No, I have something to do when I go back." Tao Zhiquan looked back at the door, lowered his voice and said, "Call me if you need anything in these two days."

"Well, thank you Uncle Tao."

"Thank you." Tao Zhiquan patted him on the shoulder, felt a protruding bone under the large down jacket, he paused, took out 300 yuan from his pocket, and stuffed it into his hand.

"No need." Cheng Yang declined.

"I didn't tell you. I gave it to my brother and sister. I took it to buy two better clothes. It's almost Chinese New Year. You... are you going to take the college entrance examination next year?"

"The year after next."

Tao Zhiquan nodded, walked out the door and came back to stuff him with a pack of cigarettes, "Eat more food."

Cheng Yang waited for him to leave, went in and took out the chicken and put it in the freezer. He stuffed cigarettes and money in the desk drawer, and came out to wash his hands and prepare to kill the fish.

After a while, the electric bell rang in the living room. It was an instant messaging tool he had refitted for Cheng Guangde with an unused doorbell that he picked up from someone else’s house. Since he was paralyzed by a stroke a few years ago, Cheng Guangde has been relying on it to command him. Cheng Yang put it down. Knife, lift the curtain and go in.

"Read it to me." Cheng Guangde held a piece of paper in his hand and motioned for him to take it. Cheng Yang moved a little slower, so he shook the paper on the ground.

Cheng Yang knew what Tao Zhiquan was doing this time, and he was the one who went to the neighborhood committee to call, so he naturally knew what the content would be on the paper. Thinking of Tao Zhiquan's attitude just now, he didn't feel very good.

He went to pick it up, retreated to the chair at the door and sat down with bent legs, shook the paper away, and read in a smooth voice: "The testator, Cheng Guangde, ID number..."

"Read the text."

Cheng Yang skipped to the main text, "...I still have a property under my name located at No. xx, xx Lane, xx Road, xx District. After a hundred years, my second son Cheng Yunsheng will inherit all of it. No objection is allowed. There is also a cash of RMB 1 The ten thousand yuan belongs to the eldest son, Cheng Ying and Cheng Le, the son of Cheng Lin..."

Cheng Guangde probably knew that since the house had been looted many times and Cheng Yang had to fetch medicine for him every month, he simply couldn't get 1 yuan in cash.

But he just wrote it on it.

Maybe it's for outsiders to see that he hasn't been unfeeling to these three grandchildren, or maybe he just wrote it for him to see, at least the house and money are given to you.

But even if he stays, it's for Cheng Ying and Cheng Le. For him, he has long since lost all affection for pretending.

Cheng Yang looked down, and the last sentence made him a little surprised and uncertain. He was about to read it when he heard Cheng Guangde cough twice, "Bring it here."

Cheng Yang watched him fold the piece of paper and stuff it under the pillow.

He suddenly realized that Cheng Guangde probably didn't know that there was another sentence after he finished reading.

"However, until the eldest grandson Chengyang reaches his full age, the house will still be inhabited by him, and transactions such as buying, selling and renting are not allowed."

, just graduated from high school, this was added by Tao Zhiquan himself.

Cheng Yang sat back and suddenly laughed. He fumbled in his left and right trouser pockets. There was no cigarette left. Tao Zhiquan took a sip of the only cigarette and threw it away. He was not going to move the bag he gave him yet.

It’s not that he doesn’t want to smoke. Many times he wants to squat in the corner and puff, and then think about nothing all day, but he can’t afford to smoke, no matter whether it’s good or bad, he can’t afford it without 20 yuan. .

"What are you laughing at?" Cheng Guangde asked him with a hoarse voice in a strange tone.

"You said my dad will see this, what will he think?"

"That bastard is long dead."

"He's not dead yet." Cheng Yang stood up, "You beat him alive, and I'll give you the good news as soon as there's news."

In the evening, Cheng Yang took out the chicken and thawed it and braised it in soy sauce, fried a plate of vegetarian dishes, and chopped half a fish to cook the soup.

Cheng Ying and Cheng Le were too busy eating chicken, they didn't even reach for a chopstick on the only pot of vegetables.

Cheng Ying picked up the chicken bowl and poured the soup into her rice, Cheng Yang took it and scooped up two spoonfuls for her, "Eat some vegetables, if you do this, you won't buy them in the future."

Cheng Ying smacked her lips, picked up two green vegetables and put them in her bowl to pretend, "Brother, your cooking is really delicious."

"A sycophant." Cheng Yang scraped her mouth with his index finger, scraping off a layer of soy sauce, "Wipe."

"Brother, you can eat too." Cheng Le pushed the chicken bowl towards him.

"You guys eat." Cheng Yang said: "After eating, bring the fish soup to Grandpa."

"Ah."

Cheng Yang also made some soup for his meal, and he went to fill another bowl after eating. He always felt hungry in the past two days, especially at night, when his stomach was empty, he could sometimes feel a burning sensation. Several times in the middle of the night Woke up hungry and got up to find something to eat.

"I'll go to work in a while." He threw all the bowls and chopsticks into the sink, and said to Cheng Le: "Check your homework after you finish it, and my sister's. I'll come back later to sign."

"Got it." Cheng Le stood beside him hesitantly, "Brother..."

"what happened?"

"That spinning top, why don't you take it and return it."

Cheng Yang was taken aback. Didn't the 48 break after being hit a few times, or before it was hit?

"The teacher doesn't allow it to be brought to school. We usually play at home, and Yingying and I are enough."

Cheng Yang bent down and looked at him, "I can't refund, yours is a gift."

"Really?"

"Really, don't you think it's so small, hit it lightly." Cheng Yang smiled, "I leave the bowl for you to wash."

"Yeah." Cheng Le nodded, carefully touching the toy in his hand.

Cheng Yang rubbed his head, "Don't forget to put away the bowl inside, go to bed early."

The author has something to say:

In the first week, we will try our best to keep the daily update

It will be updated every other day

Forgive me, even if I save the manuscript, I still have a strong sense of crisis

This article will be a little slow in the early stage