When spring came, Jinlian remembered many past events in winter.The winter past came towards her half warm and half cold, like a thawed stream, with thin ice on the surface of the water, but the warmth from the water floated up like a goose feather; the warmth came irresistibly. The rake mountain range came to Liujie among the mountains, but the thin ice was still firm on both sides of the stream.Jin Lian is running her Jin Lian fashion store, sitting on a small stool in front of the store, watching the people coming and going on the street, the footsteps slapping the street like oars.The shouts of selling sesame seed cakes and deep-fried dough sticks collided and flowed in the street, as if a countryman was arguing with blacksmith Zhang at the blacksmith shop on the other side of the street. Went to watch the fun.The street immediately quieted down, and the winter past was green in Jin Lian's mind through the quiet like spring buds.

At that time, the shady slopes on the mountains were still covered with white snow, and Jin Lian was married by the boss to the north end of Liu Street.Jin Lian originally didn't want to marry this boss. She thought he was too thin and shrunken in his behavior. She took a fancy to the second son of their family. The second son was tall and big, with broad shoulders and long legs. He was a real man. But the boss doesn't look like a man, and in fact he really isn't a man.She told her mother, I met their second child in Liu Street, and if the second child married me, I would marry him right away.Niang said that the matchmaker was talking about the boss. There is no reason in the world that wheat matures earlier than barley.She said that being married to the boss for the rest of her life was wronging my life, she would rather die at home than I would marry.The marriage was stranded like this for a long time, until the next year when she went to Liu Street to go to the market, she faintly felt that someone was following behind her, the footsteps were neither light nor heavy, and she was far and near. who.So, she quickened her pace, and went to the tea house of Wang Nai on the side of Liangxia Street, chatted a few gossips with Wang Nai, then asked her grandson brother Yun a few words, put the teacup on the table, Leng Ding'er walked out of that room, and saw the second child following her as if she was catching a thief, standing outside Wang Nai's house with some guilt, with a layer of shame on his face, as if he knew that following an aunt was a thief. Secretly, what an unreasonable thing to do.She said, what are you doing behind me like a big man? How brave are you in this bright sun!

He hurriedly said, don't be angry... You are the golden lotus from the back mountain, right? What if she said yes? He said you should come to our Liu Street to marry, and you don’t have to travel dozens of miles to go to the market when you marry. He said that my brother is short, but he has a good character. If he marries you, he will serve you like an ox or a horse. . Some men are good, good-looking, and well-rounded, but relying on their appearance, they will behave differently with other women outside, and throw dishes and bowls when they come home. Which life do you think is better?

She didn't expect the second child to say such a truth, as if a handsome woman marrying an ugly man must be her blessing.He said that there was a man surnamed Lin on our street who was better looking than me, and married a wife who was as beautiful as a flower, but on the third day of their wedding, he ran to a widow's house, and the new daughter-in-law hanged herself in a fit of anger.After being unloaded, everyone froze into stones. What do you think she was trying to draw? She drew a human figure, but she risked her own life.He said you can marry my brother, marry my brother, if he treats you well, I will treat you well too.

So, she stared at him blankly, and saw the cars passing by on the road behind him flew past like a cloud of clouds and thunder, and the smoke and dust were scattered on his thick hair. The dust stars were golden-red on the tips of his shiny hair, as if gold powder and copper dust had floated on his head.When he said these words, he was a little reserved at first and looked ashamed as a big boy when he saw a woman, but after a few words, the reservedness and shyness disappeared from his face, and he spoke as smoothly as silk.At that time, she thought, this second child can speak well, maybe he is a character in Liu Jie, and she is afraid that he will accomplish great things in his life.She stared at his wall-to-wall, door-to-door face for a long time, watching the sunrise and sunset, until she could recognize the thin half-red and half-green purple from a black mole at the corner of his mouth , she solemnly said earth-shatteringly: How can you treat me well when I marry your brother?

A sister-in-law is like a mother, he said, I respect you like my mother. She said, what else? He said, according to you, you can do whatever you want. She said, is your house facing the street? He said, Linli. She said, I don’t want a cent of the dowry when I marry your brother. Use the money to open a clothing store on the street. I sell clothes and you buy them, okay? He said, okay.All the money you earn is in your hands. She married Liu Jie in the twelfth lunar month of this year.Two shifts of ringers and one car transported her from the back mountain to the front mountain, to the bustling Liu Street in the front mountain, and to this long and square new house.

After she got married, she gradually realized that she was not marrying the boss for the sake of the boss, but for the second child.She married the eldest for the sake of the second child, and entered the bridal chamber with the eldest in order to see the second child every day.In the first night, when the boss found his ugly body, facing her spotless body like jade, the man's thing was always limp between his legs like noodles, no matter how anxious or agitated he was, that Things are always as cold as ice, always indifferent, as if they are not his things, they have not grown on him, and they will never have anything to do with other people's passionate love between men and women.He even slapped himself in the face with his hands in front of her, saying why I was so unbelievable, and then slapped his things with his hands, saying that I am sorry for you, you made me unable to do things like a man, it Neither had much response.And she was a little shocked and disgusted when she saw his things, and wanted to spit acid water under the bed, but she couldn't really spit anything out of her mouth as usual.She turned her face away.Turning to the wall, the boss scolded herself and his things. Amid the remorseful scolding, she saw a dark red smell of new bricks flowing on the white and slippery plaster of the wall. She smelled the moist and cool smell of bricks, like the white mist on the surface of the water slowly dissipating in the bridal chamber.At that moment, she didn't feel the slightest sorrow for her fate. Instead, she felt a sense of luck and gentleness in her heart, as if she found that her body could finally not be broken immediately under the boss's body, but might be left for a certain moment, so As if her heart had been compensated for the loss of marrying the boss, she walked into her dream amidst his helpless scolding to herself, and safely passed the first night of men and women, past the so-called for a honeymoon.

It was after the honeymoon that Jinlian felt the pain befalling her.In order to build a facade house, the eldest and the second child took out all their family savings, and asked the village head Qing to write a note and borrow a sum of money from the credit union, and bought all the bricks, steel bars, cement and nails. The ropes were nailed, and three flat-roofed prefabricated board houses were built next to the road in half a month. One was used as an aisle leading to the courtyard for people to come in and out, and the other two were left from the house. It is as spacious as a gate, equipped with the popular iron rolling gate. Above the gate, the teacher of the school wrote the five red characters of Jinlian fashion store. Since then, Jinlian has changed from a peasant family in the mountains to a shop in Liu Street. Business daughter-in-law.The eldest stays in the field all day long, plowing when it is time to plow, sowing when it is time to sow, going home to eat when it is time to eat, and going to bed sighing for his own incompetence when it is time to sleep; Jinlian went to Luoyang or Zhengzhou to buy a batch of fashionable and cheap clothes and brought them back. In the rest of the time, apart from helping the boss to do some work on the few acres of responsible fields that had been covered for thirty years, she spent most of her time on the street. Take a walk in the prosperous area, tell some jokes about people in the city, the city, and even the provincial capital, and discuss a few words. If Liu Street becomes a city and a provincial capital, what will the villagers be like? The long-term planning is quite like a dream Gossip, and then, under the arrangement of the village chief Qing, he went to the place where the business is concentrated to maintain social order, and his days passed by day by day.Jinlian, on the other hand, has been sitting in the store every day since its opening, guarding the store according to the price of clothes marked by her second child, which fluctuates no more than 10 yuan. Watching the time, the money is like a faucet. , it flowed in rushingly.Especially in the first few days when the second child just came back from buying goods, the energetic aunts who came from the countryside were the same as Jin Lian at the beginning. When they saw the new clothes, their legs were so soft that they couldn't lift them up, so they didn't go into the store. Li touched Nian Nian with his hands, and refused to walk through the front of the shop no matter what.On such a day, Jin Lian didn't stay in the store for guarding, but purely to see those aunts in the mountains who were similar to her age envious of the fashions she sold, and to watch those aunts looking at her face and bargaining with her. begging look.Sometimes, when she saw some aunts who were particularly good at bargaining for a certain piece of clothing, she would raise the price of that clothing extremely high, and then clung to it; seeing some honest and honest ones came, she lowered the price to the ground.Sometimes, when she sees a certain aunt who really wants to buy it but has no money, even though the clothes are out of stock, she will sell them at a lower price than what she bought.After selling it, she thought that the second child would blame her anyway, and she should blame her for it. She was ready to let the second child talk about it, but the second child said, if you lose, you should pay it. The reputation of the clothes is good, and it will still make money in the future.Such a day is as smooth as the widened road from Liu Street to the city. It is straight and straight without any bumps. You can go to the store to pick out what you want to wear, and sometimes you can hang it back when you feel bored after wearing it for a few days. If you sell it in the store, the fashion store is like your own wardrobe; when you want to eat something, the boss comes back from the field, hangs the hoe and shovel under the eaves, and hurriedly cooks in the stove as she said.I have become a fairy. When she was alone in the store, she was lazily basking in the sunshine at the door, looking at the footsteps of pedestrians with big and small bags on the street, thinking about the wonderful life that came suddenly because of her marriage. , the comfort rising from the heart will make her feel like she has trekked so many mountain roads, Leng Dinger soaked in a pool of hot springs, the warm happiness intoxicated her body and mind like wine, and her husband's incompetence at night, except for her love for him In addition to the pity of her husband and wife, she felt that the peace and harmony of their husband and wife was just a supplement to a certain deficiency in her marriage, which made her happiness more gentle, mysterious and peaceful.She feels that everything is fine, houses, streets, air, leaves, electric poles, light bulbs, chopsticks, pots and bowls, crops, firewood, men's beards, women's hair, and even someone's pigs and dogs on the street in front of the store in the morning. Everything is filled with the warmth of life.She thanked her second child from the bottom of her heart for following her behind her that time. If it wasn't for that second follow-up, and the truth about how a handsome woman and an ugly man get married, she would think that her life's happiness would all be due to her. With a single thought, they passed by without a trace.

However, such a peaceful day only lasted for more than a month. Not long after the so-called honeymoon, after completing all the tedious tasks of going through the door, going back to her mother’s house, and visiting relatives according to the custom, she closed the shop, took those The clothes that could not be sold in the store went to the aunt's house and the uncle's house to give one to each of the cousins ​​as gifts. After winning a lot of praise and a lot of envy for her marriage, when she returned to Liu Street, her husband's house, she Passing by Wang Nai's tea shop on the street, a few-year-old brother Yun is poking the stove at the door to boil water, stirring the boiled tea eggs, and using upside-down chopsticks to break the eggshells one by one to make the strong tea flavor Soaked into the dirty lungs of tea eggs, at this time she grabbed a handful of dried red dates brought back from her mother's house, Wang Nai moved her a stool, poured a cup of strong tea, and she sat At the entrance of the two teahouses by the roadside, they rested their feet under the sun in the spring, and chatted with Wang Nai a lot.

Grandma Wang said, is everything going well in my natal family? Jinlian said, my sister Yinlian is almost taller than me. Wang Nai said that people say that the countryside will not receive food this year. Jin Lian said that she never expected that Liu Jie would make money from any business. Grandma Wang said, Boss is really lucky. Everyone thought it would be difficult for him to start a family after divorce. Unexpectedly, when he married you, he was not only several times older than his divorced wife, but also kept quiet with him. , Ping An An, said that his daughter-in-law quarreled with the boss on the third day after they got married, and within a month they were going to get divorced, and even the second child knelt down to her, but she still divorced and remarried with the boss went elsewhere.When Wang Nai said this, she was turning the tea eggs at the bottom of the pot upwards, and turning the tea eggs on the surface away from the water to the bottom. The thick boiled water was black and red, and the fragrance lingered in the air like silk threads. Fluttering.Wang Nai does not look at Jinlian, she speaks as if she is talking to herself, just like her age in her 70s, her voice is old and leisurely, occasionally mixed with colorless and tasteless trills like falling water drops, her face is neither hot nor cold. , has no color, and is always like a wrinkled cloth.A few years ago, when Liu Street was still Liu Village, a road bypassed the village, bringing in the bustling outside overnight, and finally turned Liu Village, which was said to have a history of hundreds of years in the county annals, into a rising Liu Street. , with the increase in traffic, her son, who did not start a family until he was 30 years old, died under the wheel of a drunk driver.A year later, her daughter-in-law left brother Yun who was six months old in a dark night and went away to a different life with a carpenter from the south. After six months of raising her to the age of six, she saw life and Liu Street thoroughly, as if looking at the objects in the bottle through a crystal glass bottle.Wang Nai lives to live, speaks to speak, boils tea eggs to live, until the tea eggs are finished, she sells a few more to a parking driver, puts the money in a plastic bag, rolls it up and stuffs it in A pocket in her waist, only then did she realize that what she said had reached a paragraph, and the meaning had passed, it seemed that Jin Lian hadn't answered a sentence, it seemed that Jin Lian had left, and was no longer in front of her tea house. When, already boundless.She slowly turned down the briquette stove, turned around and looked under the little pagoda tree where Jin Lian was sitting, only to see that Jin Lian was still sitting there, holding Brother Yun in her arms like a mother, but she was combing Yun The messy-haired hand on Brother Yun's head froze on top of Brother Yun's head and did not move anymore. There was a layer of light redness, like a powder-wet paper pattern stuck to her face, making her look a little blushing and a little stupefied. .

Wang Nai slowly approached Jin Lian, and asked in amazement: Before you got married, didn't you know that the eldest was divorced? Jin Lian began to comb the hair on brother Yun's head with her hands again, saying that she knew something vaguely. Wang Naiku sat on a small bamboo stool, Jinlian, I said something I shouldn't have said.Jin Lian said, it should be said, I knew everything before I got married, and the second child didn't hide anything from me. Wang Nai said, the boss and the second child asked you, you can just say that I said it, I am over 70, there is nothing to be afraid of. After returning from Grandma Wang's tea room, the feeling of happiness in Jin Lian's life brought about by being married to her gradually disappeared, just like a full basin of water being scooped away by someone, an unprecedented feeling of emptiness. The shit was piled up in her heart, making her a little out of breath.She didn't have the sense of humiliation that ordinary people feel when being deceived and fooled, and she didn't have the feeling of rushing home and throwing dishes and bowls to vent. She just wanted to see her second child immediately and ask what was going on. She seemed to understand somewhat, Liu Why do the people in the street always be polite when they see her every day, smile at her, or nod, or ask a question that doesn't hurt, and walk towards her.It turned out that she thought that the people on the street were all busy because they were making a living and earning money. They didn't have the time to be like the country people. When they met, they would stand at the door, at the head of the village, or at the mill road or by the well. Li Chang said that for a while, it was because the people on the street were well-informed and knew some etiquette, and they didn't talk about gossip and gossip with the bride, but it turned out that the boss was a second-married man. , because everyone knew that the boss was married twice, and everyone knew that Jin Lian did not know that the boss was married twice.Jin Lian was very surprised that she was not very angry when she knew that she had been cheated. When she was walking on the street, she thought of going home and throwing the pot in the yard, and throwing the dozen blue and green porcelain bowls in the yard. The second walked through the aisle of the house facing the street, and as soon as he stepped into the courtyard, he saw celadon and black iron all over the floor, broken like petals all over the mountains and plains. When the second child was not at home, thinking that the second child would go to the provincial capital to buy spring clothes and would not be able to return until tomorrow, the idea of ​​throwing dishes and bowls, before she could really form it, shrank again like a budding grass that was cold in spring. came back.As for the boss, her real man, except for the days when she went back to her mother's house, she has shared the bed with him for more than 30 nights, but she is unwilling to do anything in front of him, even though he is divorced, he is the one with him. Another woman used to have many affairs between husband and wife, but she insisted on accumulating those debts to his younger brother and second child. Back home, Jin Lian didn't even give the boss a look. The eldest was doing laundry and cooking, squatting at the door of the kitchen, his short body was clenched, like a fist made by a thin child, he thought he was very strong, but Jin Lian knew it was about to break open.She seemed afraid that if she asked lightly, the secret in that fisted little hand would be revealed to the world, so she just stood in the courtyard and stared at him for a while.He felt a figure flickering in front of his eyes. He raised his head and looked along the figure, and saw his daughter-in-law standing gracefully in front of him. He called Lian, asked that you were back, and asked her natal family if everything was okay, and then gave her She brought the water for washing her face, let the white towel spread like a lotus flower on the surface of the water, and placed it on a green-faced stone in front of her.Then he said that it was tens of miles back and forth, there was no bus, and those bouncing four-wheeled rides were more tiring than walking. Shall I cook you a bowl of mung bean soup or a bowl of white flower egg soup? He was always like a slave to her In front of her, she continued to enjoy the preciousness and interest of a handsome woman in front of an ugly man. Even at night, when he didn't touch her body for two days and started to unbutton her clothes, she was just like other couples. He solved it casually.He touched any delicate part of her body, and she was touched by him. Twice, he was rude because of his eagerness, and hurt her flesh. Generally speaking, he threw his hand, which was a circle smaller than that of a human being, somewhere.she ——Everything is up to him.Her tenderness seemed sudden and inexplicable. She didn't even give him a displeased look at the roughness of his hands, which are as rough as sand and stones when he picks shovels, picks hoes, chops vegetables and washes pots every day, on the most secret tender parts of her body.It wasn't until after the boss died that she recalled what happened that night again that she realized that her abnormalities were all to prove that the boss was not only divorced, but also divorced for some reason. She fell asleep while the boss scolded her for her incompetence, and when she fell asleep, she heard the boss beating his useless thing, until the boss was tired of scolding and beating herself, and pressed his arm on her She fell asleep on her chest, and she woke up from the dream again. When she woke up she never fell asleep again. With her eyes open, until the sunlight from behind the mountain ridge fell on the window with a crackling sound, she was thinking about how she would throw the pots and bowls in front of him when the second child came back today, how she would swear all over her head and make him feel ashamed. Kneeling in front of her, she then tearfully accused him of how the two brothers had lied to her, how they had humiliated her, how they had made her a dwarf in Liu Street and her natal family, and how shameless they were to others , it is even more glorious to be alive than to be dead. The sun has risen to the street, and the warmth of Liu Street is clanging and flowing on the street.The market-goers who came from the countryside, some took off their hats, some simply took off their padded jackets. The smell of fields and dust they brought from the mountain ridges, sweet and faint, flowed past Jin Lian's face.Jin Lian leaned against the red lacquered door frame of the rolling gate, watching the footsteps of pedestrians, as if watching clouds flying back and forth in front of her, flying back and forth again.In the end, the past was fixed on one point in front of her eyes, on what her second child would look like when she saw him when the second child came back after a while, and how she should say the first sentence.This first sentence is like the red copper key on the rolling gate above her head, as long as she finds the first sentence, the rolling gate will open, and the curtain will quickly be drawn to both sides of the stage, who should appear and who should call Singing, who should play which musical instrument, Jin Lian has a well-thought-out plan, even rushing into the stove, picking up the pot and throwing it somewhere in the courtyard, and breaking at least as many bowls, Jin Lian has already thought about it, and she is looking for it. I can't see the first sentence I want to say angrily after seeing my second child. She was troubled by not being able to find the first sentence. The sunlight rolled over her slender forehead, making her eyelids a little jerky, and the color of the red silk machine-needle thin jacket in the sunlight roasted her like a simmering fire.She dozed off slightly in her distress, and she was still thinking about the first words she should say when her second child came back.Those who went to Blacksmith Zhang to watch the quarrel came back again.They walked past her, but what they were talking about was not blacksmith Zhang, nor the countryman who was about to smash the blacksmith's shop because of lack of steel in the hoe, but the village chief Qing.They said that the village chief, Qing, was as broad-minded as a mountain, and that the village chief would not let Liu Village become Liu Street. Son. Listening to people's discussion, Jin Lian stood up from the stool, and walked into the shade to get rid of drowsiness.The sister-in-law who sells mountain goods on the opposite side walked in front of her and said, Jinlian, is the business booming today? She said that the second child has not returned yet, and as soon as the second child returns, the business should be booming.The sister-in-law stood in front of her, and said she knew, the village chief Qing went up to run, and wanted to change Liu Street into a town, and changing the T-junction in front of it into a crossroad; changing it into a crossroad , our two families are both at the right corner of the intersection, and this place becomes a treasure trove of gold, and every day we do business, there will be a lot of customers.The sister-in-law was excited by the desire to change Liu Street into a town. When she spoke, her eyes were wide open, and the saliva from the corner of her mouth splashed on the tip of Jin Lian's nose.Jin Lian doesn't care whether Liu Street is changed to a town, she only cares about how the second child hasn't returned home yet, he has been away for four days, anyway, it's time to go back today, she thinks I should ask him what to say when I see the second child .She looked along the intersection pointed by her sister-in-law, and saw that there was no second child among the pedestrians, and saw a bus passing by in front of her shop without stopping, so she turned her head and wiped the spit on her nose Son, thinking about my second child, is it really necessary to change Liu Street into a town? The sister-in-law said that there is no falsehood.She seemed to want to talk to Jin Lian, but someone went to her house to buy walnuts, called a few times, but the seller was gone, and then went to another shop.So, her man came out of the house, scolded her as a pig, and threw over a sneaker that had been taken off.She dodged the dusty yellow sneakers and went to guard her mountain goods store in a panic. The golden lotus is still standing in the shade by the roadside. Jin Lian saw a small truck parked at the corner of the T-shaped road unloading. Jin Lian saw that the person passing the cardboard boxes to others in the car looked like a second child. Jin Lian walked to the middle of the road, put her hands on her forehead, and looked at the car against the sunlight. As soon as Jin Lian put her hand on her forehead, she froze with a bang.The man was indeed the second child, tall and big, with broad shoulders and long legs, wearing a new gray jacket with copper zippers that shone golden in the sunlight, and the jacket writhed on him every time he lifted the cardboard box All of a sudden, his blushing face became tense along with the jacket, as if the cardboard box weighed three to two hundred catties, and his face was flushed red from exhaustion.Jinlian walked eagerly towards the minivan.A customer walked towards her boutique.She didn't care about the customer, she just walked towards the second child.At this time, even if the customer stole the clothes from her store, she would not take them back. The second child came back, and she waited anxiously for him. She wished she could bump her head on his chest to death when she saw him. As she walked towards the second child, her steps were pounding, her heart was pounding, and she heard the sound of a train passing by in her head.The shops on both sides of the street collapsed and collapsed behind her.The minivan revved up and came toward her.She felt the sound of the car horn slapping her face, the muscles in her face flicked, and the sound turned away again. She stood on the side of the road with a bang. The green front of the pickup truck brushed past her. - Second child. The second child turned his head: he actually jumped out of the driving car. --sister in law. She opened her mouth and had nothing to say.She felt that the second child seemed to come back a little faster than in the past, and he came back before she could think of the first sentence when she saw him.He caught her off guard like falling from the sky.like a dream last night ——A person went to a distant place on the road, and when he woke up in the morning and opened the door, that person stood in front of the door.She looked at him, feeling a little flustered, and a thin layer of sweat broke out in her palms. She wiped the sweat on her red coat, and glanced at the parked truck. She said, are you back? You have been gone for four days. He said come back.This time I went to Zhengzhou, and I also went to Wuhan. She said that people said that the village head wanted to change Liu Street into a town. The second child was stunned.The second child stared at her blankly, as if looking at someone who was trying to deceive him. He said, really? Sister-in-law. That's what people say, she said. He used his arm, as if throwing something, and then suddenly caught something back. Grandma, he said, change the town to fear that the village head will become the mayor, and I will be the director of the security room no matter what up. When the second son said this, he looked away from Jin Lian. He looked at the flow of people and houses on the main street of Liu Street, his eyes crackling, but his voice was as low as his elder brother's.At this time, the golden lotus stood in front of him, Wen Wenxiuxiu, like a new branch of a water willow in the first year.Suddenly, she felt a little cold, the wind was blowing from the crosswalk of the T-shaped road behind her, but she felt that the cool and shady breeze came from her uncle Lao Erli. This year, Jin Lianxu was twenty, the second was twenty-three, and the eldest was twenty-six.