Chapter 20 nothing happened

How do you know spring is here? Mom was still asleep, and in the dimness, it seemed that hundreds of kindergarten children gathered outside the window and shouted to their heart's content, making a lot of noise.I looked at the clock sleepily, it was half past four, and the sky was still dark!She turned over and sank back into the pillow.In the darkness, she opened her ears; outside the window were countless birds, the unbearable voice of spring. So the dawn is getting earlier and earlier, and the dark is getting later and later.In the very clean and rich blue sky, a big bird often passes by.It usually lands on a corner of the roof, rests for a while, and then flaps its wings and takes off again.When the sound of its wings beating came to the study, mother put down the work in hand, leaned out of the window, and watched the big bird's flying figure and lines with wide eyes.

The big bird is black, but when it spreads its wings, it reveals its snow-white belly, black and white, across the blue sky, ah--the mother sighed admiringly, and then noticed, hey, there is a long stick in the big bird's beak. Thin branches, it's nesting season! "Yingtai," said Mr. Rosa at the opposite door, "Elster's nest seems to be built on your pine tree! Don't you want to get rid of it?" "Elster?" Mom said in surprise, "Is that beautiful long-tailed bird called Elster?" "Beautiful?" Rosa shook his white head, seemingly helpless at his mother's ignorance, "This bird is the worst! It doesn't know how to sing, so it hunts down birds that can sing. Don't you know? It Destroying the nests of little birds with melodious voices. The more Elsters there are, the fewer singing birds."

An An came in with her bicycle and said, "Mom, Elster is still a thief!" "How? Steal what?" The little boy set up his bicycle and wiped off his sweat, "It, for example, if you put some earrings on the balcony, it will take the earrings away and hide them in its den!" Mom laughed out loud: Is there such a bird?What does it want earrings for? ! Mr. Rosa left, An An said: "There is a bird's nest on my balcony." "What?" Mom thought to herself, probably because of the abundant sunlight on that balcony, three beehives were found last time, so what happened this time.

"There is a bird's nest above the window, and there are three white eggs in it." The mother and son tiptoed onto the balcony.The expression on Feifei's face tells you that a major event is happening in front of you. An An is a little reserved and doesn't want to look too proud.Mom climbed onto the stool and stretched her neck—the weeds and twigs made a round pot, which was a neat bird's nest, but was there really something in it? "Mom, I want to see it too!" Feifei tugged on her mother's skirt. "Hush—" The mother came closer, frightened, as if getting an electric shock, her eyes met the eyes of the mother bird.There is a pair of round and bright black eyes under the sparse and soft fur, and the mother bird stares at the startled mother motionless.

Mom was a little at a loss, feeling that she was too presumptuous, like a rough man breaking into the quiet delivery room. "Mom, I want to watch too—" Feifei began to commotion impatiently. Mother carefully hugged Feifei, trying not to make any noise. "It's the mother bird." Feifei whispered into her mother's ear, holding her neck tightly with one hand. The three of them sneaked out of the balcony, and when the door was closed, An An said old-fashionedly: "Didi, we can't play on the balcony in the future, it will disturb them, do you understand?"

Feifei nodded in awe, "It will disturb them." "I don't know what bird it is—" Mom said to herself as she came downstairs. "Elster is still the cuckoo coming to make trouble," An An said, "it's too bad." "Oh?" Mom said, "What will happen to the cuckoo?" The cuckoo is crying blood, what a beautiful and sad bird, what a poetic and picturesque name. "Cuckoo?" An An said angrily, "You don't know, mother? The cuckoo is good or bad. It's lazy and doesn't make a nest. Then it secretly lays its eggs in other people's nests and throws away their eggs! You say it's bad." not bad?"

The mother glanced at the outraged child and laughed inwardly: After he started to read in the first grade, his source of knowledge was not limited to his mother. "And mother," An An took advantage of the opportunity to sit on her mother's lap, "The other mother birds didn't know that the eggs in the nest had been stolen, so it went to sit—" "Hatch," said mother, "it's not 'sitting', it's hatching." "Father? It will go to the husband. After the baby bird is born, mother, do you know? The cuckoo's baby bird is bad after birth, and as soon as it comes out, it kills other baby birds—"

An An stood up angrily, and stretched out her hand in a pushing gesture, "Push the other birds out, let them fall to death!" "Fall to death!" Feifei said with a very serious expression. "And mother, do you know?" An'an's expression softened, "but now the mother bird knows about Dujuan's - Dujuan's - what?" "trick." "Ghost trick, we all know about Du Juan's trick, they are already careful." "What!" Mom looked at him and couldn't help laughing. What kind of animal evolution theory is this: Do birds still have a united front?

"Real mother!" An An said. "Real mother!" Feifei said. While planting tomatoes in the yard, my mother subconsciously looked up at the top of the pine tree. The dark green needles of the pine tree were covered with wheat-colored pine cones. Elster's nest could not be seen.The sun had painted the pinecones bright yellow like golden balls on a Christmas tree. "Mom," An'an held the soil in both hands, "don't we get rid of Elster's nest? It's as bad as a cuckoo." "It's just as bad." Feifei said, lowering his head and using ten fingers to pick up the dirt.

"No need!" Mother separated the tomato and cucumber seedlings, planted one drop for An An, and another drop for Fei Fei, and whoever planted it was responsible for watering, watering at dusk, here, this is An An's pot, that is Fei Fei Fly jug. "Why, mother? Why don't you get rid of the bad bird's nest?" Mother watered, thought, and said: "Because they are birds, and we are humans. What people say is good or bad is not necessarily good or bad for birds. Let the birds take care of themselves!" "Earthworm—mother—a worm—" Feifei shouted loudly.

The rain loosens the soil and shakes the earthworms in the soil. The sun shot out from the gap in the black cloud, releasing beams of light.Mother and children are walking on a path less than two meters wide on the grassland. From a distance, their figures seem to shuttle between light beams, as if drifting in the light rain. All the earthworms in the soil came out, and the walkers found that the trail was full of lost earthworms; they left the mud and crawled up the asphalt surface of the trail, probably because they were not familiar with the hardness of the road, they forgot themselves. Where did they come from, where are they going; they are stranded on the path, run over by unwitting bicycle wheels and footsteps. An'an and Feifei each held twigs in their hands, bent down, and carefully picked up the soft body of the earthworm with the twigs, then shook it vigorously to the side of the road, and the earthworm fell into the grass beside the path. One, one, one, and another mother... The voice of the child can be heard far and wide on the grassland, especially crisp. After the dark clouds dissipated, the path was dazzlingly bright.Mom slightly covered her eyes with her hands. "Mom, mom, mom—" A group of children slapped on the door of their mother's study, shouting more and more urgently. "Why?" Mom opened a crack, very fiercely, "Didn't you say that you can't quarrel with me and turn to Kedi for everything?" "I'm sorry, Mom," An An said in a well-educated but daring manner, "There is a little mouse in the garden—" "Eine Maus!" Freddie helped.He is half a head shorter than An An. "Eine Kleine Maus!" Feifei's girlfriend Xiaobaicai said seriously.She was half a head shorter than her brother Freddy. "A mouse—" Feifei smiled foolishly.He is half a head shorter than the four-and-a-half-year-old Xiaobaicai. Still holding the pen between her fingers, my mother closed the door another two inches, and asked maliciously, "Are the mice going to eat you?" "No," An'an said, "it got stuck in the trash can and couldn't move—what a pity!" "Arme Maus!" said Freddy. "Arme Maus!" said Cabbage. "It's so pitiful!" Feifei said. "Mom doesn't have time," said the door, with only a crack and Mom's eyes left, "You go to Keddy to solve the problem!" "Katie'll kill him, mother, she killed one in the garden field last time—" "Mom, please, go save it!" An An said. "Bitte bitte..." Freddy said. "Bitte bitte..." Xiaobaicai said. "Go save it..." Feifei said. Mom sighed and opened the door.The children cheered and rushed forward to lead the way. The trash can is actually a large plastic bucket dedicated to dissolving organic waste. It contains leftovers and cut branches and grass leaves.There is a small hole in the bottom ring of the barrel, which can be inserted about the depth of two thumbs.A small piece of flesh twitched there. Mom squats down, terrified and excited around her baby behind her, holding her breath and opening her eyes wide.It was not immediately clear what part of a mouse this little gray, limp mass was.where is the headwhere are the feetWhere exactly do you start? Mother the woman, not afraid of anything with bones: spiders, beetles, mice, bugs of any kind and shape... She never screamed or fainted.The only thing that makes her weak is the reptile without bones: the snake.Seeing the picture of the snake, she blindfolded herself and said she was going to pass out.At the sight of a real wriggling snake, she would let out a horrific, hysterical shriek, and then collapse, unconscious. Now, she calmly studies the mass in front of her.She carefully picked apart the rotten leaves beside the hole with a branch, and found that the little mouse's head was deeply inserted into the hole, buried half of its body, and stuck tightly.What remained, the hind legs and the shoelace-slender tail, struggled wildly in the air.But the mouse was completely dazed, and scrambled forward desperately. The harder it was, the more it would be pushed into the dead hole. The children discussed quietly: Will it die?how did it get inIs it a baby mouse?It's so soft... It was so soft that it made my mother's scalp tingle.She first used two twigs to pinch the braised pork with chopsticks to pinch the mouse out alive, but the mouse was too tight to pinch it out.A little more force, and it's bound to bleed.Could it be, must it be dragged out with fingers?Ugh—disgusting enough, it's a fluffy, squishy, ​​twitching half of a rat... what to do? The rat kicked the air, stopping every now and then, apparently out of strength. Mom grabbed the end of the shoelace-like tail with two fingers to see if she could drag it out.The moment the tail touched her fingers, she couldn't resist the disgusting numbness and screamed "Wow", which made the four children fall backwards in fright, and Xiaobaicai cried loudly. Pull the tail, or pull the feet—well, there are thin claws on the feet—the result must be that the tail and feet are broken, and the body is still caught in it. Mom comforted Xiaobaicai and made up her mind. An An was ordered to fetch a newspaper.The mother tore off a piece, wrapped the mouse's body, bit her lower lip, and held back the tingling nausea in her heart, she held the mouse's body tightly with her fingers—one, two, three, pull—the children were shocked Shouting, running back, the mother jumped up in shock, the mouse ran away from the mother's hand, all the actions happened at the moment of lightning... The children regained their composure and chased to the fence, chattering: Where is it?You see, its eyes are so round and black... Mom stood by the trash can, still clutching a crumpled newspaper; she felt goosebumps all over her body. In midsummer, the whole city of Beijing resounds with cicadas.The mother in shorts and sneakers rides a bicycle through the streets, goes to the market to buy vegetables, listens to Beijingers talking with their tongues rolled up, and quarrels with vendors. It seems that she is doing this or that, but in fact, her inner ear has been focusing on one thing Things: Listen to cicadas.With such arrogant and noisy cicadas, the whole city is like a wind-up alarm clock, which cannot stop when it rings.Just for the wanton chirping of cicadas, mother can love this city. Mom went to the market alone.Bought a pancake, ate it while walking, and found that the eggplant in Beijing is round, the onion is as thick as garlic, the tomato looks like an apple, and the black stuff is called stir-fried liver. Called "Spoon," the barber sits on a bench by the dirt road with a razor and waits for customers... She stopped suddenly. There was a thin, faint voice, lingering towards her through the noisy city. Not cicadas.what is it then?She looked around. In front of a dozing locksmith, a string of thin bamboo cages the size of a fist hung, and the sound came from there.Mom took a closer look, hey, it's a cricket—— cricket! The dozing man opened his eyes and said: Grasshopper, one yuan each, feed it watermelon rind, and it can live for two months. Mom stepped on the bicycle to go home, and there were two small bamboo cages dangling on the belt around her waist. A kid who just came back from the zoo is talking about pandas. "Mom," An An said, "there is a panda like this—" He rested his chin with both hands, pretending to be lazy. "What is this?" Feifei shouted. "An'an," my mother untied the bamboo cage and put it on the table, "What do you think it is?" The two brothers put their faces on the table and looked into the cage curiously. "Well——" An An frowned, "This is not a praying mantis! Because a mantis has big front feet, this is not a grasshopper, because it is bigger than a grasshopper, and this is not a cicada, because a cicada has transparent wings...is it a cricket? Mother?" "Yes," my mother smiled, "Beijingers call it Grasshopper." "Brother?" Feifei tilted his head and asked. When they went out for a walk at dusk, the two brothers had a red silk thread around their chests and necks, and a small bamboo cage was tied to the silk thread, and the bamboo cage dangled with the little brother's body. At night, the little brothers close their eyes, covered with thick and long eyelashes, making their faces sweet like angels.The grasshopper began to call, and in the quiet night, the call had an electromagnetic rhythm.The little brother fell into a deep sleep, but the mother next to him listened to him calling him brother all night. After breakfast, the two brothers went out again shaking the bamboo cage.Passing a lawn, three or two children and adults are catching something with a net.The little brother stopped to watch. "The foreign children are so beautiful!" A mother with a net in her hand approached, "Are you their aunt?" In Beijing, "Auntie" means nanny or servant.Mom replied with a smile: "Yes, I am their nanny, servant, and their cleaner and cook." "Here, I'll give you one... An older child stretched out his hand to An An, holding a huge dragonfly between his fingers. An'an didn't pick it up.He had never seen such a fat dragonfly before, so he hesitated. "I want, I want—" Feifei called. "No," said Mom, "you'll kill it." She took the dragonfly carefully, pinching the wings as she did when she was a child. After walking for a while, my mother said, "Have you seen enough? Shall we let the dragonfly go?" it is good! The released dragonfly fell to the ground, probably with paralyzed wings.After struggling for a while, it flew away.The child's eyes follow its height. "Mom," An An untied the small bamboo cage on her chest, "I want to let my grasshopper go too." He squatted on the side of the road, tore open the bamboo cage, and poured the grasshopper out.The grasshopper fell into the grass with a puff and remained motionless.An An got on all fours and said anxiously: "Go! Go, Grasshopper! Go home! Don't be caught again!" The grasshopper didn't know whether it understood it, or it was stimulated by the familiar smell of grass. It really raised its legs and started to move. It was a bit difficult, but it didn't take long to get deep into the grass. An An straightened up with relief, turned to Feifei and said, "Di Di, let yours go too? It's so pitiful!" "Don't, don't, don't—" Feifei hurriedly embraced the bamboo cage with both hands, and shouted desperately. Back in Europe it was autumn.The apples were too ripe to hold on, and fell to the grass, and some rolled onto the road. Mother leaned the bicycle against a tree trunk, looking for the reddest and largest apples.There are overripe and red apples all over the mountains and fields, and the fruit farmers generally don't care that the outing people pick one or two.Mom gave each of the little brothers and dad an apple, and then stooped to pick up a few from the grass. Let's go feed the horses. Horse, just around the corner.There was a brown horse sticking out its head to eat the apple in Feifei's hand, Feifei cursed unhappily: "Hey—this is my apple, you eat yours, you pick it up from the ground." An An put down her bicycle and handed over an apple timidly. The horse couldn't wait to stick out her tongue, and rolled the apple into her mouth with a "pop".When chewing, the apple juice flows out of the horse's mouth continuously, exuding a strong sour aroma. The return trip was uphill, and my father was so strong that he had already disappeared with Feifei on his back.Mom and An An pushed the car, chatting while walking. "Mom, did you know? I saw my baby bird again." "What your bird?" "It's the little bird that came out on my balcony. I saw it again on the balcony of Gray's house the day before yesterday, but it has grown into a big bird." The mother looked down at her son with great interest: "How do you know that one is the baby bird on your balcony?" "I know!" An An said firmly, "Its chest is also red, and it looks familiar to me." "Oh!" Mom nodded knowingly. "Hush—" An An stopped the car and whispered, "Mom, look—" On the lawn, under the maple tree, a hedgehog was swaying towards them.It walked very slowly, with its head down, as if searching for it. Mom looked at the guy intently, and whispered: "They usually come out at night, this is the first time I have seen a hedgehog so clearly in broad daylight..." "me too." "It looks soft and huggable—" "Yes, but it has thorns all over its body—Mom," An An suddenly took her mother's hand, "It will roll into a ball with thorns all over its body later, because I saw a cat coming over there..." Mom looked for the cat, and the cat ran up the maple tree, and the hedgehog scrambled into the grass. The autumn sun stretched the shadow of the tree, and nothing happened, but An An and her mother happily pushed the cart, because it was the first time they saw enough hedgehogs.