Chapter 7 Chapter VII

After three days and two days of rain and sunshine, spring will spread all over the world, and the mountains will wake up completely.The russet mountain ridges are dyed out of their original colors by the green of the trees and wheat, and even the green light of the sun is full of spring juice.Everyone in the village knew that Lan Shishi was going out of Palou Mountain to start a human flesh business for Sima Lan.Go to Jiudu, or Zhengzhou.In short, to a distant city.She didn't tell anyone when she would leave, but everyone in the village was sure that she was leaving today, because it had been sunny for three days, and two days ago someone saw her in order to do the human meat business, and asked someone to cut a new dress in a hurry. Pink polyester shirt, today seems to be the ninth day of the lunar calendar—seventh does not go out, eighth does not go home, and nineth is on the zodiac, how can she not leave?

After breakfast, people are poking at the entrance of the alley and stepping on the hard muddy floor, talking about the present and the past, but looking at the door of Lan Shishi's house from time to time.He finally got her out of the house.She was wearing that newly made pink shirt, which looked like a burning fire from a distance, her hair was floating on her shoulders like black silk, and she had a green peach hairpin stuck on her neck, which looked holy and holy under the white light. clean.She turned around and locked the door, put the key in a hole in the wall above the door frame, and then she walked towards the alley with a canvas travel bag.The travel bag contained her change of clothes, dry food on the road, face towels, wooden combs, and two bottles of hemorrhage and metrorrhagia water handed down by the village ancestors with three surnames, which are specially used to wash her lower body after sleeping with men to prevent women. Spleen Deficiency and Blood Deficiency: Spleen bleeding or dripping impure, thin blood, pale complexion, body fatigue, cold limbs, shortness of breath, lazy speech, leukorrhea and uterine prolapse and other female symptoms.This is the secret recipe for women that Du Bo's grandfather, Du Guaizi, collected from "Taiping Shenghui Prescription" and "Shengji Zonglu".Every time a woman goes into the skin and meat business, she must bring these boiled Bailing medicines with her.

The sun was bright and clean, and the alleys of the village seemed to have been washed by water, and fine particles of dust flying in the air could be seen a few feet away.When Lan Shishi came, people stood from the middle of the street to both sides of the road, looking at her as if she were a hero from the countryside, and suddenly they all realized that forty, who had been carefully dressed, was still the same as five years ago and ten years ago. It was exactly the same as before years ago, her face was rosy and shiny, there were no visible lines on her forehead, and the exposed skin was filled with the color of spring, her eyes were still as deep and clear as a well, always as if there was a There is a kind of melancholy floating in those eyes, but melancholy is exactly what makes her so touching.I can't tell that she is already in her thirties. If it weren't for the twisting of her hips when she walked, if it weren't for her buttocks that started to sag slightly, she would still be the same as when she first went to the human flesh business more than ten years ago. Exactly the same light and elegant, sultry.But maybe it is her past lightness and plumpness that makes her age more provocative, as if she gives anyone a slight smile or a look at this moment, and whoever will be swayed by the heart can't breathe Come.But everyone knew that the rosiness on her face was actually a color of shame in life.She lowered her head and let her hair fall freely from her ears, as if she had insulted the dignity of the families in Sanxing Village when she went out, buried her head deeply in her bosom, and walked slowly towards people. She didn't know There will be so many idlers in the village streets on this day.She didn't expect that her actions would cause waves in the village. The men of many families would sigh in bed all night, and the women would sigh all night.When she came in front of the villagers, she did not forget to try to calm herself, and asked softly, "Are you free?" After asking this question, the shame on her face turned red, and it peeled off layer by layer like a ray of sunshine. Instead, the hearts of the villagers are reflected.

The women in the village were standing on the side of the road, but at this time they all moved closer to the middle of the road, saying, Sister Forty, you go, and you can rest assured about the family affairs, we will feed the chickens and pigs, and the wheat in the field The men will also hoe.At this point, the men on the side of the road also took a step forward, calling forty elder sister, or forty aunt, forty aunt, and said that there is nothing to remember when we leave, the fields should water us Water, it's time to fertilize. We fertilize.Lan Shishi was also a little moved, his eyes were moist, and he stood down and said that he didn't ask for anything else, just that the villagers don't look down on me, and don't scold me behind my back.

Three days ago, on that sunny afternoon after the rain, Zhucui heard that Lan Shishi wanted Sima Lan to share a shop with her before she would do a human flesh business for Sima Lan. They scolded her for being the worst worn-out shoe in the world, the king of human flesh, and scolded her that the space between her legs was wider than a city gate, and a carriage could drive through it.At that time, Sima Hu, who was also carrying water, slapped Zhucui's mouth until blood flowed out, and said you stupid woman, she was doing it for my brother.But she didn't expect that this slap made her scold even more, saying that not only the carriage could pass through her legs, but also the cars from the outside world could drive in, turn around and drive out breathing green smoke.It is said that the sky is huge there, and the mountain cannons are booming there, and even flying stones can't blow away her tender skin and black hair.She scolded so much that the sky was dark and the earth was shaking, so that the eyes of the villagers of the three surnames suddenly opened up, and they gathered together as if they were listening to a song. Only Lan Sisi stood motionless on the edge of the well platform, his face was as white as wax. There was no expression, but there was a line of blood on the corner of her mouth where her upper and lower teeth bit her lower lip.

At this moment, Zhucui's elder brother, Du Bo, came out of the house, squeezed into the well platform, and said a few words to the villagers: "I am Zhucui's brother, and I will make a living at forty. When I come back, Sima Lan and My younger sister runs a shop and married with Forty, and my younger sister Zhucui is not worthy of being the wife of the village head, after half her life she is not. After saying this, Zhucui's curses on the well were silent, she stared at her brother as if she had never known someone, there was silence for a long time, the sound of dripping water on the well wall rolled up and down the well platform .Forty walked through the crowd carrying a load of water in the silence.At this moment, Du Zhucui slammed into her brother Du Bo's arms, knocking Du Bo a foot away, and she herself foamed at the mouth and passed out.For a while, the crowd panicked, and red and white screams scattered in all directions.In the midst of this chaos, Lan Siyi had a calm face, held his chest high, and held his head high, finally making up his mind to do this human flesh business.She didn't know whether she knelt down for Du Bo's promise or for Sima's father and daughter.In short, after three days and two days of preparation, she will leave the Ralou Mountain Range, and start the human flesh business that is despised by the world in full view.

In front is the old saponins tree at the crossroads of the village. The trunk of the three people couldn’t get together, and it propped up a huge green umbrella in the air more than ten feet high. The fine saponins buds are tender and yellow in the sunlight, like a newborn Bean sprouts in the sky.There was a child on the tree picking up the saponin sprouts, and black crows under the tree were people with the surnames Sima and Du.Sima Hu, Sima Lu, Liu Gen, Yang Gen, etc. stood in the front, and their daughter-in-law and children stood under their shoulders, casting their forest-like eyes over him, and she couldn't tell whether the eyes were cold or hot.She didn't see Sima Lan and Du Bo, the two village principals, or Du Zhucui among the crowd, maybe she was still lying on the bed foaming at the mouth, maybe she was nestling there like an eagle, waiting for her When it came to the front, it flew out with a bang bang bang bang bang.At forty, she didn't know what was waiting for her at the end of her life. It seemed that in order to avoid it, she turned around and walked away from the Du's alley behind the saponin tree.

There are few people in Du's Hutong, and the sunlight is as thick as a blanket, covering the feet under the feet.She walked quickly through the heat, and the familiar houses and peeling walls, trees, mills, sheep pens, customs, meals, air, chickens and pigs all flowed behind her ears.She heard the eyes of the villagers chasing her behind her, panting tiredly.So she walked faster and faster, and walked into the open space of Liang Dao in a blink of an eye.Looking back from the mountain ridge, the village is like a light blue and dark black clothes casually falling on a deeply wrinkled slope of the Palou Mountains.She couldn't help but glanced at the village, an inexplicable sadness soaked from the bottom of her heart to the corners of her eyes.At this moment, two people came from the side of the road, one was Du Bo, and the other was Teng, the eldest daughter of Sima Lan's family.The two of them, uncle and niece, seemed to have been waiting for her by the side of the road for three or five years. Finally, when the time came, they glanced at each other. Du Bo told Forty that her father would not go out to see you off, and asked Teng to go out with you to serve you. , Then he pushed the rattan lightly, and the rattan walked up to her with a burden, and called Gu again.

Lan Shishi was a little moved. She seemed to realize that Sima Teng had grown up to be as tall as her at this time, but the astonishment on her face showed her ignorance and panic about such things at her age.Did she say your mother let you go out?Teng said that mother didn't know.Forty said that you know that I am going to sell my body. You should not watch such things when you are just getting married.She said that you are for my father, I can not go because of my father.Then Shisi fell silent for a while, and said that it would be good if you went, because you are young after all.You can find some guests for me without breaking your body.He took a bag of steamed buns and dry food from Du Bo, and set out on the road like a man going to the Jiaohuo Academy to sell human skins.But after walking a long way, she came back suddenly, stopped Du Bo who was returning to the village and asked in a low voice, "Does what you said on the well platform three days ago still count?"

Du Bo glanced at his niece Vine in front, as if he was afraid that she would hear what they said. "In the dry food bag, there is a letter written by the village for you to go out to earn a living, stamped with the official seal. There is also a letter that I asked my sister to distribute the shop in it. It is also stamped with the official seal of the village." Then they left.Stepping into the light of March in the Palu Mountains, melt yourself into the boundless mountain beams.The road leading to the outside of the mountain is warmed by the sun, and the brown-yellow-white stones that protrude from the ground, which are unique to the northern hills, were half washed out by water a few days ago, and the soles and soles of their feet were stuck under their feet. They were squeezed one by one like cooked wheat grains, and sent them to the country car in the town.At dusk, I arrived at the county seat, stayed overnight in the cheapest hotel, and took a long-distance bus the next day to enter the human flesh business.They started their business by renting a one-story house in a place called Jingu Laoyuan in the west of Jiudu Railway Station.The place where Jingu Old Garden used to be was a village, but the westward movement of the train station suddenly made it prosperous.The rural appearance disappeared in a blink of an eye, and the buildings rose from the ground, spreading one by one into the distance.Those who had houses back then poured their money into building their own buildings that matched Jiudu.The facade houses facing the street are mostly shops or restaurants, and the ones not facing the street are rented out to rural people who go to the city to make a living.Vegetable sellers, workers, buyers of waste, fruit sellers, rice noodles for coarse grains, and countrymen who escaped from the government are all on this Xiangyang No. 2 Street.Xiangyang No. 2 Street is a village in Jiuduli.Lan Shishi lived in Courtyard No. 9, which was her old landlord when she was doing business in the past.After taking a long-distance bus for a day and asking for directions several times, I finally found Xiangyang No. 2 Street.They looked around on the street, and the rolling sound of the vine's eyeballs fell on the shops, people, and red and green hair salons on the street, like the red buds and green leaves of the new spring falling on the rolling iron plate, and she walked for a while. She felt her eyes were stabbed, and novelty and timidity washed over her body.She looked left and right, followed closely behind Lan Shishi, and when she arrived at No. The words to be said later are pinched back to my stomach.A wife in her fifties came down two floors and said, who are you looking for?Blue Forty said, you don't know me anymore?My name is forty.

So they rented the house and started their business.Arriving in this courtyard at 40 is the same as coming to the home she hasn't returned to for several years. The landlord recognized who she was in a daze, and said with a warm smile that the price of the house had risen, and that if you didn't go out for a few years, the outside world couldn't stop. The price of needles and buttons has increased, and your kind of livelihood is even more expensive.Cleaned up the house, made the bed, lit the stove, borrowed the landlord's pots and bowls, bought some oil, salt, soy sauce and vinegar, and had supper. Teng wanted to go out to see the bustling scene. At forty, he took her to the train station and squeezed her into the busy traffic. In the square, tell her that the east, west, north, and south of Jiudu are different from the east, west, north, south, north, and south of the Palou Mountains. The east at home is south in Jiudu, and the north at home is east in Jiudu.He also said that the train station and the bus station were not together in the first place, but they were repaired together later. He also said that this kind of business is the most taboo for sneaking and thieves, which is suspicious.They are generous, just like looking for someone by car, no one will suspect that they are looking for a man at the station.Sima Teng listened to every detail, and his grateful eyes were bright and bright, sweeping back and forth on Forty, as if she had finally seen the extraordinary in Forty.In the train station at night, the lights are naturally bright, as bright as day, but everyone's face is blue when they die.Fuji said what happened to their faces?Forty is not a big deal, it is this color.Teng said that they couldn't understand what they said, and Shishi said that once they were unfamiliar, and the second time they were familiar, you will understand in a few days.They walked from the east side of the square to the west, from a high-rise restaurant to a small restaurant that looked like a noodle restaurant in the town, and finally returned from the bus station to the waiting room of the train station. They went wherever there were too many people. .Sima Teng pulled Forty's arm in fear of losing him and asked, how much money can he earn at a time?She whispered to the rattan's ear, saying that ten years ago it was ten yuan a time, but now everything has increased in price, and she doesn't know the price anymore.The vine stood up without knowing whether it was possible or not, and said how much do you want?She said, keep your voice down, you can ask for as much as you want, fifty yuan, you can ask for one hundred yuan. The vine suddenly stood up: "Gu, how dare you ask for such an expensive price?" Forty was slightly taken aback, and Leng Dinger smiled, "Your question is the same as the first time I asked. This is the same question I asked the first time I came to do business with the fragrant leaves of the Du family." They chatted happily as they walked, from the waiting room to the hotel across the square, Lan Shishi climbed to the ear of the rattan and said that the best business was in the hotel, and the people who stayed in the hotel were rich people, and the bed Soft enough to take a shower and watch TV.Say you haven't seen TV, have you?TV and movies are exactly the same, and again, remembering that you haven’t even seen the movie yet, I’ll take you to watch a movie when you’re free, everything in the movie looks like the real thing, you can walk and move on a piece of cloth Run and talk.Teng said, I have seen the movie, and my father led us to watch the movie when he went to the Jiaohuo Academy to sell skins.Said that I watched TV in a department store, and the TV was much smaller than the movie.Then they returned to the No. 9 courtyard in the dead of night amidst the sound of the train whistle. Fuji didn't sleep all night. Teng was excited all night by the prosperity of the city and the business of receiving guests. The temptation of the red and the fear of the black hole made her blood gurgling.This is a small courtyard with rooms at the front and back. The two rooms in the front row are rented to a family from the Huaihe Beach in Anhui. They collect wine bottles, glass, cardboard boxes, newspapers, and leftover meals and vegetables.Of those two rooms, one is the facade of their purchase, and the other is filled with their family's life.The back row is the landlord and them.Lan Sishi lay on the bed, said a lot of warm words to Teng in business, and then fell asleep after turning over a few times.Teng was sleeping on another bed, and the moonlight squeezed through the cracks in the curtains shone on her face like a thin strip of light and brushed across her face.The night was strangely quiet, and she could hear the moving sound of a piece of moonlight on her face, like a piece of white tissue paper floating from one end of the bed to the other.Thinking of tomorrow—day or night, a man with a plain face will come into this room, and when he lies on the body of her Aunt Forty on the bed that sleeps forty or her bed, her own body will slow down. Slowly getting hot and dry, it was hard to breathe, as if someone had pressed on her body which was just blooming.She was a little scared, but also a little impatient, hoping that that moment would come sooner, but also afraid that that moment would come before her eyes with a bang.She rolled and turned on the bed, her body twitching restlessly under the blanket.She touched her chest with her hand, and she felt her pair of small breasts suddenly swelled up, as hard as two balls of hot steamed buns that were steamed but not opened, and there was also a faint pain in those breasts creep.So, she broke out in a sweat, covered her head and fell asleep. When she was sleeping soundly with her clothes on, Blue Forty shook her awake.Opening her eyes with difficulty, a ray of sunlight hit her eyes from the head of her bed.She turned over and sat up, squinting her sleepy eyes, and saw a large piece of yellow light leaking in from the door, making the whole room transparent. "Get up," Lan Forty said in a panic, "get up and stand in the yard, and cough loudly when someone comes." She woke up suddenly, and everything in the dream came as expected.Hurriedly getting up from the bed, before she could get dressed, Forty folded her quilt hastily in the bed.Teng came out of the house rubbing his eyes, and sure enough, he saw a man standing in the yard, thirty or forty years old, the age boundary was as blurred as she hadn't woken up yet.He carried a square black leather suitcase in his hand, glanced at her and eagerly went in. Until this moment, Sima Teng's heart shrank, like a maroon wooden barrel filled with water, the well rope was broken from the entrance, and it quickly fell down the well.She finally understood that Aunt Forty had started to receive guests.Started doing things like men and women.She stood dumbfounded in the yard.The sun cuts over from a corner of the building, and the shadows of walls and buildings darken half of the courtyard.The landlord has gone somewhere, and the family in the front room is gone. The door is half-closed, and through the crack of the door you can see pedestrians and cars passing by on the street.The world is full of noise.The asphalt on the road was black and shiny in the sunlight, and had a burnt yellow smell.The smell of gasoline wafted reddishly in the street, and flew over the green brick courtyard wall into the quiet courtyard.It wasn't until this moment that Teng could see clearly that the front room and the back room of this courtyard were two-story buildings, and the houses on the second floor were all locked.The yard is not big, and the concrete floor is smooth and flat. A tung tree as thick as a bowl grows in a brick tree pool, and a water pipe drips under the tree all year round.There are a few potted flowers under the wall, the roots are deep and leafy, and they are green, with a red bud hidden between the branches and leaves.Staring at the few potted flowers, she didn't have any famous ones, she thought that this was the courtyard of urban people, the concrete floor, a few pots of unnamed flowers and a faucet.Sima Teng stood silently in the yard, and she wanted to walk along the yard to avoid the pink incident in the house, but the voices in the room hit her ears like flies in summer, and forced her towards her. drilled in my heart.As a result, her train of thought stopped, and she had to hold her breath and listen to the provocative voice. The man said, "It's too dirty here." Forty said, "We just arrived, so we haven't had time to clean up yet." The man said: "It's so dirty and disgusting, you have to pay ten yuan cheaper." Forty said, "Brother, let's drop from fifty yuan to twenty yuan. Twenty yuan is the price for two packs of cigarettes and a glass of wine for you men." The man said: "I just paid for apples, and you should lower the price if you find that the apples are bad." Forty said: "My brother is terminally ill, you pity him, and you shouldn't bother me about the ten yuan. If you don't believe me, I'm not a person who specializes in this business. I can kneel down for you." Then there was a dead silence, the sound of dripping water from the faucet booming.After a while, the man seemed reluctant and helpless and asked, "How old are you this year?" "Just past thirty." "Take off your clothes and hurry up. I have a train to catch." There was the sound of undressing with moist skin, which came out incoherently, like pink butterflies flying one by one in front of Teng's eyes and ears.Sima Teng's throat was itchy and dry.She is seventeen years old, and the matter of men and women is as clear as a mirror, but the inexplicable fear made her suddenly tremble violently, dizzy, the sun was shining in front of her eyes, and rows of dust were flying in front of her like a canary. She was dancing, and when the sound of the bed sounded, the sound of chopping firewood and bamboo was slapped loudly and loudly, she was trembling all over, and her legs were so weak that she seemed to fall into the courtyard.She moved her steps carefully, climbed on the faucet and drank a few mouthfuls of cold water, so as to calm her boiling daughter's body and mind, and then hid outside the gate.The noise of the street drowned out the crimson dry voice behind her.She stood in front of the closed door, looking strangely at Xiangyang No. 2 Street. Bicycles and tricycles crowded around in front of her eyes, and several impatient black cars were yelling behind. The driver kept poking his head out and yelling dizzyingly, but no one answered the driver's rough yelling.Occasionally, the siren of the train station sounded, and it flew over the top of the vine like a green dragon, which made her heart start to follow the sound and fly back to the Palu mountain range. calmed down. She wants to drink water. She hasn't washed her face yet. Time is as slow as an old ox pulling a cart in the dim sunlight, moving up and down with one foot after another.She hoped that the old cow could walk over the mountain ridge immediately, but the creaking sound of the bullock cart rang endlessly in her ears.Someone is arguing, just ahead.She wanted to go and have a look, but she was afraid that someone would suddenly open the gate of No. 9 Courtyard and break in.She just stood at the door, looking at the bee-like crowd in front of her fighting for the way, watching, the door behind her burst open with a bang. There was a tremor, and she froze all over.Many years later, she didn't understand why she didn't dare to look back at that moment. The man came out with his black box and joined the crowd without haste.After hearing the voice of Forty calling her back to wash her face, she cautiously went back to that room, smelling a stench of half milk and half blood, and a disgusting juice gushing in her throat, she quickly swallowed it back into the stomach. Lan Shishi was making the bed, pouring half a pot of hot water into a small plastic basin, and mixing the hot water into the hot water with her traditional Chinese medicine metrostaxis.Things passed as if nothing had happened, forty just complained and said sadly: "I'm really old, I can't pay the price anymore, and it's hard to pay for your father's hospitalization with a hundred men like this. " Ten days later, Lan Shishi asked Teng to go back to Sanxing Village and sent back two thousand yuan to her father, Sima Lan.In the past ten days, Teng has learned to go to the station hotel to attract men.Sometimes the rattan stays at home and at forty goes out to find guests.Sometimes Fuji asked Forty to rest at home, and she went out.Go to the waiting room of the train station and look for those people who have bought tickets but still have a long time before boarding the train, looking for those passengers in their 30s to 50s.They took the tickets and were bored at the station, looking east and west, then Teng walked up to them and said what time is your bus?The man looked at her suspiciously and asked why?She said you don't want to find a place to rest?It's not expensive, and it's very close, so I can't miss you getting on the bus.Experienced people wake up and say is it you?She said he was better looking than me, so they went to the side to discuss the price, and she led him to the No. 9 courtyard on Xiangyang Street.When Forty heard footsteps, he went out to welcome the man into the house, and asked Teng to watch the wind outside.It turns out that the business is not too difficult to do. Like small profits but quick turnover, there are still many men who are willing to lower the price.In this way, the money was saved man by man, or fifty, or thirty, or forty, all wrapped up in a hand towel, and hidden in a canned tin box in a corner that even the vines didn't know.That night, the two guests were sent away. In the dead of night, the landlord locked the door. Lan Shishi said Teng, you can go, and give your father two thousand yuan when you go home, so that he can be hospitalized immediately.Teng opened his eyes wide in surprise, sewed two thousand yuan into his breast pocket, and went back to Sanxing Village. In ten days and a half months, many things happened in the village.There were two more graves. The deceased were a man and a woman surnamed Du and Lan. One was thirty-six years old and the other was only thirty-four. Needless to say, they both had throat congestion.At that time, it was mid-spring, the wheat was flourishing, and the trees were dark green for half the world.There is the smell of green damp and green tide everywhere.Everyone in the village went to the fields to fertilize or dig the graves, and the vines walked back home in the lonely green.A battle at home has just happened a few days ago, the mess has not been cleaned up, there is no one inside and outside the house, the broken washbasin is thrown at the door, the broken hook is hung under the eaves, and the sewing basket is inside the door. Lying on the back, rags and threads fluttered on the wall.Standing in that messy desolation, a feeling of being alone in the ruins arises spontaneously.Teng thought of the high-rise buildings in Jiudu, the busy flow of people, and those men who threw money on the bed like leaves, smiled and got dressed and left forty.After she put away the sewing basket with some helplessness, the two younger sisters came in from the door, and when they saw her call out sister, they burst into tears and burst into grief for a whole world.Seeing two younger sisters, one sixteen years old and the other fifteen years old, standing there, although they are thin, but they also show their breasts and buttocks. On the 11th, the house turned upside down, first father wanted to drink a bowl of thin soup, and mother brought him a hard bun, and the next day, when father wanted to eat a piece of oil bun, mother brought him a bowl of corn grits Thin soup.On the third day, Mother brought Dad a bowl of thin white soup noodles, and there was too much salt, so Dad threw the bowl of hot noodles on Mother.Said mother was covered in soup and noodles, but stood there strangely, without saying a word, saw father's angry face for a while, turned around and took off the clothes, washed them, and dried them in the sun. At night, when father was sleeping, mother Suddenly he got up from the bed, strangled his father's neck, and cursed that I let you share the shop with that broken shoe, and I let you share the shop with that broken shoe!I let you share the shop with that broken shoe!She pinched Sima Lan's hands so much that she kept dancing in the air, thinking that she was dreaming, when she woke up, her body, which had already fallen ill and had little strength, could no longer do anything to Zhu Cui.Ge said that she broke Mother's hand from Father's neck.Said father breathed a sigh of relief, and didn't say a word, neither angry nor angry, as if nothing had happened, he just leaned on the wall and went out to knock on the door of Sixth Uncle Sima Hu.As soon as Sima Hu came, he couldn't help but slap his mother's front teeth alive. At dawn, she went back to her natal brother Du Bo's house to live.Sisters Ge and Man were crying and talking, and the whole world was full of tears, as if the sky was falling and the earth was falling, which made people feel that the family situation was beyond control.Sima Teng said: "Where is Dad? Where did Dad go?" Man said: "Daddy went to Uncle Wu's house, and Aunt Wu cooked delicious food for Dad every day." Teng said: "What about you?" Man said: "At home There is no more noodles, and no corn grits. We are eating at Uncle Six’s house.” At this time, Sima Teng seemed to have become the head of the family in a blink of an eye.She stood at the door of the house, then stood in the courtyard for a while, as if she wanted to go out to find her father or mother, but changed her mind when she went to the courtyard, she just stood there for a while, then turned around and cleaned up the broken pots and sticks in the courtyard , dug out a basket of wheat and a basket of corn, took two younger sisters to the stone mill behind the village, and ground the dough, crushed the unborn children, and cooked a meal for the younger sisters when they came back, and took out two thousand yuan. He handed over the money to Ge and told his father to go to the hospital immediately, and he was about to leave at sunset. Teng said: "I'm going back to Jiudu, I don't want to stay in this house for a day." Ge said, "Aren't you going to see Dad? Dad misses you every day." Teng said: "Father doesn't want me, what he wants is the money for his life." Ge said, "Aren't you going to see mother and uncle?" Teng said: "Don't look at it. I don't have such a mother." Fuji returned to Jiudu again. Once Teng returned to Jiudu, he was no longer the original Sima Teng. The vine came back in the evening of the third day.In the evening, Jiudu is full of bright colors.This is a sunny spring day when the people of Jiudu are resting for worship. The sunset glow is red above the head, and the streets and alleys are full of blood.When she entered the No. 9 courtyard, she stood in the middle of the courtyard, coughed, and there was an urgent sound of dressing in the room.So she called to the room again: "It's me, I'm vine—I'm back." She didn't hear what was said in the room, only the sound of dressing stopped, and it was slow and orderly .There was still no one in the courtyard.Where did the landlord's wife go to play mahjong to kill time.The Anhui people in front went out to collect the old things and haven't returned yet.Teng unscrewed the water pipe and washed his face, feeling a strange and warm intimacy, as if returning to his own home.Glancing at the starless rustic courtyard and the urban sky, she tried to walk into the house.The man in the room was already dressed, in his fifties, with a suit and leather shoes, and a shiny silver tie.Teng somewhat familiar with this person, as if he is a repeat customer.The repeat customer handed over a fifty-dollar bill to Forty Shih, and stared at the vine statue unhappily at a flower on the hillside that hadn't yet bloomed, with fire crackling in his eyes.He asked, "How old are you?" Teng put the luggage on the ground: "Eighteen." The man sat back on the bed again: "Have you ever served a man?" Fuji said, "No." The man's eyes brightened: "Come with me, two hundred yuan a night." Teng turned her head to look at Forty Gu who was fastening the buttons, the heat overflowing from her body flooded the whole room. The man said: "It's really yellow flowers, five hundred is fine." Teng's eyes slowly lit up, and the peach red and apricot white ground became bright and colorful.She looked at Lan Shishi, just like a child looks at his mother when he is about to do something that he doesn't know whether it should or shouldn't. Lan Shishi packed up the collected money, without raising his head, without thinking, he combed the messy hair on his forehead with his hand, and said: "She is sick, hepatitis, don't you see that her face is dry and yellow?" The man Hearing this, he stared at Teng's face for a while, and then went out with a suitcase without further ado.Forty saw off the guests, turned around and heard Teng say five hundred yuan a night, just let me go, aunt.Lan Shishi froze in the square frame at the door, staring at Sima Teng as if hearing a voice from outside the sky.She found that there was a cold light in Teng's eyes, like two white ice cubes that could not be melted.She said Teng, do you want a man, want to break your body, or do you want to earn the five hundred yuan?Teng said, five hundred, how many days will it take you to earn it back?At forty, it’s just a few days, it’s worth it to keep you whole.Then I asked her about the village, and she said that another person died in the Du family, and that Uncle Sima Hong of the Sima family had a swollen throat, and he might not survive this summer. She asked again, "Where's your father?" Teng said, "Gu, do you really want to share a shop with my father?" She stared at the vine without moving. "Isn't it already agreed upon going out? Your uncle still has written documents in my luggage." She said, do you look at the documents? Seeing that Teng was just sitting with a blank face, saying nothing, Lan Shishi held her She went out to the toilet to wash her lower body with Chinese medicine to stop bleeding and metrorrhagia.After returning from washing in the latrine, seeing Teng lying on the bed, covering her head with a quilt to sleep, she couldn't say anything else, thinking maybe she was tired.She did not expect that Sima Teng at this time had grown up, had seen the world, was about to be the master of the family, and was planning an astonishing move.Lan Shishi didn't think that her disaster had already begun at this time, just like the night had come, she just let the rattan fall asleep and covered her with a quilt, but she felt a little itchy on her lower body, and there were always insects crawling Same.After going to wash her lower body, she picked up another guest. It was getting dark, and she suddenly didn't want to cook, and she was too lazy to go to the station or hotel entrance to attract night guests.It was already mid-spring, and the evening breeze was blowing. After dusk, many people were already loitering in the square of the station. Logically, this should be the best time for business, but there was no interest at all.Teng didn't fall asleep in the quilt, she said Forty Gu, you and my father don't share a shop, can't you?She said yes, I am dying, I am thirty-seven, how many days can I live?But if it’s not for the joint store, I’m too lazy to spoil myself. I’m not a broken shoe, and I’m not a slut. I don’t feel any pleasure when a man climbs on me. Every time the dirty things flow on me, I feel sick. The first time I washed my lower body, I wanted to pinch my lower body with my nails.In this kind of thing, it is the man who is happy, and the woman is only a little interested when she feels that she can make the man she likes happy.Forty said, Teng, as long as you say that your father's illness is no longer cured, he will die, and I will go back to Sanxing Village overnight, just to have a guest, no matter how young and beautiful, give me 10,000 yuan at a time , I will no longer serve. That night they slept without eating.No lights were turned on or clothes were undressed.Fuji didn't say another word.In the days to come, it will be the same as usual, and you can make a living how you want to make a living.During the period, Forty asked Teng to go back and send hundreds of thousands of dollars.When she came back once, she said that my father was in the hospital.Another time she came back and she said, my uncle, my uncle hoeed your land and applied top dressing, which is the best crop in the village.Teng also spoke plainly about other things in the village.In the next forty years, recalling the normality of these days, I realized that the wind and rain are also hidden in the normality brewed by vines.This kind of normality, this is a period of calm before the storm, until suddenly one morning, Lan Shishi woke up in bed, and the vine disappeared without a trace.床上的被子叠得方方正正，红彤彤如码在蓝单子上的一坯刚出窑的砖。主家的院落依旧空无他人，房东到街道哪儿打牌去了，前房的淮河人家骑着三轮车串街走巷收旧了。蓝四十出门洗了脸，破例买了两根油条，吃过之后，又洗了自己昨儿脏污了的内衣，仍还不见藤的影儿。近夏的日光已经爬墙越院，温热使人开始懒懒洋洋。这个时候，依着惯儿，藤是不会去车站或宾馆候引客人的。男人们忙了一夜，极少有人愿在前晌做这号儿事情。忙这种营生的女人，也都要在前晌休息昨儿夜间的困顿，恢复体内精力，以应付下一个夜晚的来临。蓝四十在一个僻处晾了她的尼龙的米色裤头，裤头的前中绣了一朵白色的荷花。这是她一次在宾馆侍奉一个六十岁的南方客时，那人做完事情，从他的包里取出这么一个裤头扔给她，说我下次来时你穿上这个，我只要看见这裤头前面的荷花，就会满身气力。她就穿这件裤头去侍奉了三次那六十岁的南方客人。也穿这裤头侍奉以后所有的男人。男人们果然是看着她脱了衣服，露出这尼龙裤头上的洁白荷花时，一个个眼睛就红光灿烂如燃了的旺火。可男人们做完了事情却都说，你应该到南方学一学，床上的功夫还不行，功夫不到家就没有回头客。蓝四十很对不住人家似的说，我是乡下人，哥病得不行，不然不会出来做这下贱的事。每天，送走了最后的一个客人，她就把这紧束身子的绣花裤头脱下来团到床头的褥子下，换上她自带的松散裤衩，舒舒展展睡上一夜，第二天的这个时候洗洗晾在僻处，回来收拾屋子的凌乱和脏污，坐在床上算昨天接了几个客，挣了多少钱，离八千元医疗费还有多远的路。算完了，她和藤各自坐在床上，望着从门口泄进的一地日光，她说烧饭吧。藤就起床穿衣了。 可是，今儿这个时候藤却忽然不在了。蓝四十心里落落寞寞，惴惴地不安起来，总感到有一件事情要发生。 事情就果然来了。 临午时，藤从外面回来，领了一个男人，四十几岁，瘦瘦干干，头发蓬乱，却也穿了西装，扎了领带，提了出差人员常提的密码箱子。他有名片。名片上说他是经理。这个时候，蓝四十已经很能分辨男人，只消一望，也就知了他的身分。他知道他不是经理，他是乡镇企业南来北往的推销人员，是那种有钱就花，有女人跟着就走的人。到了九号院落，他并不急于走进屋里，不急于做那样事情，而是在院里站着，打量前后房舍，打量有没有异样的景况。倒是藤有些等不得了，她瘦黄的脸上，焕发出了血色的红光，眼睛水水汪汪，如两池深井一样，鼻翼翕动得有声有响，整个人儿都充满了欲胀欲裂的不安和躁动。把那男人留在院里，她义无反顾地走进东屋，站在门口的光亮里，像一只春骚正浓的啥儿，一进门就生冷生硬又火红火旺地说： “姑，我要接客啦，今儿你到外边望着。” 蓝四十正在叠衣服，她转身怔怔地看她。 “人来啦，在院里等哩，你到门外去吧。” 她看见藤脸上十余天的平静不见了，取之的是一种红润下隐含着茶褐色的愤慨，像犹豫了十年二十年，终于下定了死心，不可更改了一样。她觉得这事有些突然，又有些意料之中，静静地望了藤一时半刻，把手里的衣服丢在了床上。 “藤，你可想好。” “我想好了。我想了半月，我不能让我爹和你合铺儿。” “他给你多少钱？” “你别管。从今往后你别管我了。你挣你的钱，我挣我的钱。我快满十七岁了，我能替我爹挣钱治病了。你给我爹的钱我都还给你，我不能让我爹我娘分铺儿，不能让我爹死了和你埋在一块儿，把我娘孤零零留在另外一个墓坑里。”藤这样说着，脸由红转了浅青，手也忽然有些发抖。她激动得无可抑制了，仿佛如此说这么一摊儿话，是蓄谋已久，是一次反扑，是一次替母亲的复仇。她一边说着，眼光变得也愈发青紫冷硬，愈发的对人不饶不依。四十这当儿才对这个女孩娃感到陌生了，也有些畏惧了。藤木然地坐在床沿，盯着四十像盯着一个素昧相识的人。她们就那么天长地久僵持着，两个人的目光在半明半暗的屋里砰砰啪啪，撞落在地上如红火落地一样。一个屋子都燃烧起来了。院子里那男人催促的咳声像汽油一样喷过来。藤说，你出去吧姑，我长大成人了。她语气平静，暗含了力量，说完这话就去收拾自己的床铺了。她先拉亮电灯，关上窗帘，把被子铺好后，又掀开被子把枕巾垫在身子下。做这一切时，藤的双手有些发抖，把床上的枕头放歪了。她那发抖的双手和放歪的枕头使四十开始对她可怜起来。四十一步一步地朝门口走过去，到藤身边时，她说你是第一次，疼的时候千万不要叫，这院子临街哩，然后和藤擦肩而过了。就是这当儿，她忽然发现藤还比她矮半头，肩膀远远落在她的肩膀下，单瘦得如耙耧山坡上的一株被人折了的树枝丫，又如终日短缺水润的枯槐或干榆。就在这一刻，她脚步淡下了，心里水淋淋一下想到了，说到底她才十七哩，就是一辈子活不过四十岁，也是来人世一次哩，也还是一个孩娃哩。 从屋里来到院落，日光已将平南，正从稍东的上空泄下来，一院的温暖跳跳荡荡，围满了她的身子。男人已经看好了这个院落，已经对这个院落放下心来，正把行李放在水池角上，拧开龙头哗哗地洗手。他们彼此望了一眼，男人擦着手说，我有亲戚在公安上，你们要敢耍我，就别打算离开这九都。这样的男人蓝四十接过不止一个两个，她已经知道他这样说话正是因为心虚而无靠。她眯着眼睛看他，说你给她多少钱？ 男人说：“是处女了二百，不是了分文不给。” 四十说：“她是。” 男人说：“真的是能这么便宜？在南方涨到上千上万呢！”就提了他的箱子，边进屋子边扭回头来：“你看好有没有穿着便服，走路胳膊甩得大高的人。”这样交待的当儿，藤已收拾停当，也从屋里走了出来。她出来唤那个男人进屋。及至那男人果真向她走去时，刚才她脸上灿红的亢奋和青色的义愤都荡然无存了。一种厚而僵硬的白色在她脸上冰结着，她对男人说你来吧，说完头晕似的扶着了门框儿，只是看到蓝四十还没有走出去，眼里才有了那直硬的义无反顾的光。 蓝四十回过了头。 她看到了藤苍白的脸如凝在门口的一团儿化不开的云，看到她眼中的光无论如何也没有不久前那样炽烈如火了。她心里又一次轰然的翻动，又一次想到她毕竟才十七，身子还单瘦得缺骨少肉，想到她领她洗澡时，才终于看清她的胸脯刚刚脱开板平，隆起得还很是可怜。她把目光从藤的白碱粉一样的脸上挪开，猛地叫住了就要进屋子的男人。 她说：“喂，我实话实说，她是我侄女，她有肝炎，也不是第一次侍奉男人。” 那男人站住了。 她说：“我侍奉你吧？” 他说：“多少钱？” 她说：“你给多少都行。” 他说：“你今年多大？” 她说：“你看我多大？” 他说：“过了三十吧？” 她说：“你看得真准，三十多一点。” 他说：“我就是图她年轻，过三十的满街都是。” 她说：“我可以用嘴让你受活。” 他彻底地转过身子打量她，就像端详一件玉器。 “价格由你。”她说，“有了给五十，没有了三十、二十都行，我如果不让你受活，你可以不给我一分。” 这个时候，藤脸上的苍白没有了，转眼间呈青呈绿，如这个季节的旺草地。她未及说话，嘴唇就哆嗦得叮叮当当，满地都是了从她唇上抖落的青紫色的愤恨。站在东屋的门口，她望着蓝四十，手扶在门框上，那样子似乎她不扶着就会倒下去。男人站在她们之间，扭头望了一眼藤，又回头望着蓝四十。四十把目光从藤脸上一滑而过，就再也不去看藤了。她微微扭了她本来就丰肥的胸脯，目光火烧火燎地搁在男人的脸上说：“我俩都在这儿，你愿意，我就用嘴让你受活，也可以爬在床沿上让你从我的后边来，说，你想让我咋样儿我就咋样儿，打发你如意了，我只收你十块钱，我要不能打发你如意，分文不要，你再找她也不迟。四十话说得很快，就像暮黑时菜市场的菜农急于把几斤蔫菜赶快脱手一样。男人将信将疑地盯着蓝四十，似乎不敢相信天下有这等好事，他的目光明明灭灭，试探着问：“说话算话？”四十就把胸脯挺了起来，嘴角向上挑了一下。 “我不让你先付钱。” 男人说：“你来吧。” 说完这话，男人闪进了屋子去。 蓝四十回身把大门关死了，她不再让藤去望风。她就像没看见藤一样，从院里往东屋走去时，目光盯在门框的另一位。然藤却是始始尾尾都在盯着她，目光又粗又冷，一杆一杆，如没脱皮林木棒儿。要从藤的身边挤进东屋时，藤的目光随着她的身子移，至两肩相擦，藤忽然往蓝四十脸上喷了一口唾沫，说：“我先前把你当成我的姑，其实你真的是破鞋，真的是婊子，真的是肉王?哩。”骂的时候，藤把自己的拳头捏了起来，把牙咬得翻天覆地。她想等着四十说她一句啥，最好骂她一句儿，然后她就猛扑上去，揪下她的头发，咬破她的肩头。可蓝四十没有看她一眼，只淡下脚步，擦了脸上的唾沫，从她身边挤着门框进屋了。 藤木在门口不动，当四十的身子从她眼前的明亮中进了屋里的昏暗时，她忽然后悔没有抓住四十的头发把她的头朝对面的门框上撞。藤盯着对面门框上的一个突出的大铁钉，眼角的余光里开出一朵菱白的花。她看见四十那带花的裤头还晾在茅厕的铁丝上，像一朵真真切切的荷花开在那。她又似乎闻到奶白色的腥鲜味。她像饿狼一样冲进茅厕里，一把拽下那绣花裤头，疯了一样撕扯着，把那裤头和裤头上的荷花撕得一条一条，撕不烂时就用牙齿咬开一个口，再用双手扯，脆白色的撕布声急迫而热烈，仿佛城里的夏天时，汽车轮子在冒油的柏油路上跑，且她扯着还从牙缝里挤出一句一句不断重复的话： “我叫你受活！” “我叫你受活！” “我叫你受活！” 司马藤一脸青色，歇斯底里，唾星飞落，惊得睡息的苍蝇在茅厕飞飞撞撞，白银金黄的嗡嗡声四溢漫散，没有了半点安宁。撕完了裤头，她把手里的碎布片儿摔在蹲坑里，把脚下的布片也都踢进粪池去。粪池中粘稠的液物上如飘着落花的蓝色和白色，到没啥可踢了，没啥可撕了，她余兴未尽地四处打量着，看见了在砖墙窑里那两瓶洗下身的防崩止漏水。她没有犹豫，一步抢过去，抓起那两个有皮塞的葡萄糖瓶儿，一起一落，青天霹雳地把那两瓶药水摔碎在了脚下。 蓝四十在屋里听着那两声茶色的炸响，蹲在床下停口发怔时，坐在床沿的男人说，快一点，千万别停口，然后，她就像锄地割麦样一下一下地把自己的头低下去，又用力抬起来。时间的慢缓，仿佛一块凝下不再飘移的乌云。屋子里的昏暗，如雨天光色一样，满屋都是潮润的黑色和长期阴湿而长满墙壁的白毛。她尽其所力，侍奉着那个男人，侍奉得仿佛是从耙耧深处跋涉到这个城市一样漫长，终于到那个男人双手去她的头上乱抓乱摸，快乐到又疯又颠之后，那男人提上裤子，扔下一张一百元的票子，拍了拍瘫坐在地上大口大口呕吐的四十的头，说我走南闯北，到哪儿都没见过你这样会侍奉男人的女人哩。 说完这话，男人如结完了帐样出门了。 蓝四十依然坐在地上，面前吐了一片旧茶汁似的黄液，就那么漫无边际地独自呆着，直到火车站的汽笛声横过房顶，她才似乎明了发生过的事，缓缓地站起来，到院落里一看，除了日光和晒暖的防崩止漏水的一股苦气，司马藤却不在院里，也不在茅厕和门外。 她已独自先回耙耧山去了。