"Grandma, I want this bunch!" The old woman in black shirt and black trousers took out the twenty or so pink roses I wanted from the bucket, handed them to her little grandson, and turned to look for money. The little grandson was only about five years old, with clear eyes, rosy cheeks, and a grin, showing a few sparse teeth.He took the bouquet carefully and happily, and pulled out a straw rope to tie the flowers.There are too many flowers and branches, his hands are too small, the straw rope is too long, and the little man wants to tie a bow, and his fingers are twirling around, but the knot still can't be tied.

"The dead baby, you are so stupid! Hold tight, Lang Ke is waiting!" The old grandmother cursed harshly and even pushed him. "It doesn't matter, grandma, Ruan Shi has done a lot, let Yi take her time." After appeasing the old grandmother, I sat down on the stone steps and looked at the five-year-old boy, who was still trying hard to tie the bowknot: the rope was threaded back and forth, and the moment it could be pulled, it loosened again, so Start all over again; small hands carefully hold the thin straw rope. On the streets of Danshui, the sun slantly shone on this messy flower shop in the narrow alley.

Muslims and Jews are slaughtering each other, old and weak women and children in Ethiopia are starving to death one by one, the stock market on Wall Street in New York is full of people with nervous expressions—I, sitting on the stone steps in the light of the setting sun, Willing to wait a lifetime for this kid to tie that bow at his leisure, with his five-year-old fingers. "Wang Ailian, what about the tuition fee?" Teacher Lin's eyes were cold.Wang Ailian sits in the last row; she always sits in the last row, although she is also short.The sixty students huddled on the wooden chairs, no one turned their heads, but if they didn't turn their heads, I could still imagine Wang Ailian's appearance: her unkempt hair seemed to have never been washed.Wearing a dirty and tattered uniform, when everyone else added sweaters, she was still in the same unlined clothes. In winter, her lips were always blue and purple, and the hand holding the pen was exposed with tendons.

"How dare you come to school without tuition fees?" Teacher Lin never loses his temper, he just looks at you coldly. "Come up!" Wang Ailian sniffled and walked tremblingly to the front row, just standing in front of me; today, she didn't even wear socks.His bare feet were caught in hard plastic shoes.I wear two pairs of wool socks. "Solve the third question on the blackboard!" Teacher Lin held a long cane in his hand, and pointed to the densely packed blackboards. Wang Ailian picked up a piece of chalk, but couldn't hold it. The chalk fell to the ground and fell into pieces crisply.She picked up another one and managed to draw a few times on the edge of the blackboard.

"come over!" The teacher stroked the cane in his hand.The whole class stopped breathing, waiting for something to happen. The cane came down one after another, hitting her on the head, neck, shoulders, and back, whip after whip.Wang Ailian covered her face with her hands and shrank her head, not daring to dodge or make a sound; we only heard the loud and trembling "rustle" sound of rattan sticks flying up into the air. Then blood thickly crawled down her face along her curly hair, stained her fingers, and stained her already dirty khaki uniform.Teacher Lin forgot that her head has sores all year round.Strips of bright red blood crossed the purple tendons on the back of her hand, but the blood entangled in her hair quickly coagulated, sticking the hair into clumps.

The next day was a rainy day.I carried a big schoolbag and waved to my mother, but I didn't go to school.I wandered down to the creek to see the fish.Then I went to the theater to see the colorful posters, and found that every movie was starring a star named "Leader", but I didn't know who she was.Then go to the railroad track to see the coal train, and step on the railroad track to play a balance game. It's not that Wang Ailian's blood frightened me, but, how to put it, so many things "happen" every day: the teacher in the next class yelled "The supervisor is here", we have to put the reference books on our laps and covered it with a black skirt; Teacher Lin at the front put on a relaxed expression and said: "Today we will tell a story about a musician." When the supervisor left, he took out the thick reference book from under the skirt and wrote "Chicken and rabbit in the same cage".

Otherwise, Zhang Xiaoyun didn't hand in her homework; the teacher asked her to stand in the same row as the boys, face the whole class, and lift her skirt up high.Otherwise, when Li Minghua looked out of the window in class, the teacher made him stand at the back of the classroom with his legs bent and a basin of water in his hands for half an hour.Otherwise, Zhang Binghuang got a "C" and the teacher hung a big wooden sign saying "I am a slacker" on his chest, asking him to run around the campus during get out of class time. I carried my schoolbag every day, waved goodbye to my mother, wandered the streets and in the rain for a whole month, and memorized the names of every bar on Qixian 3rd Road, Ding Hao, Black Cat, The Merry Widow, OK...

I was caught by my brother, beaten by my mother, and brought back to Teacher Lin. I found that Wang Ailian, who had sores on her head, had also been missing for several weeks.I went back and she didn't. Wang Ailian took her three younger siblings to the river of love and jumped down.Everyone says the water in the River of Love is dirty. That year, we were eleven years old. On the streets of Danshui, the sun slantly shone on this messy flower shop in the narrow alley. In the hospital, the doctor is cutting the bloody umbilical cord amid loud cries; amidst the fireworks of firecrackers, young men and women are making eternal promises; Pulling up inch by inch...

I, sitting on the stone steps illuminated by the slanting sun, watched this bright-eyed child concentrate on doing one thing; yes, I would wait a lifetime for him to tie this bow tie calmly His five-year-old finger. Take your time, baby, take your time.