Chapter 3 3

Wang Xiaosong's house.Mother sat on the kang mending clothes. Wang Xiaosong was doing his homework on the small kang table. The younger siblings are teasing each other in the other corner of the kang. Wang Xiaosong frowned and glanced at them... Mother said: "Don't make trouble, don't you see my brother doing homework?" "Xiao Song! Xiao Song!" The third wife's voice came from outside. The mother said to Xiao Song: "Your third wife is here, go and welcome her in!" Wang Xiaosong put down his pen and went to open the door. The third wife came in with an old pillowcase in her arms: "Xiao Song, I brought you some good things!"

The mother said: "His third wife, no one's rations are enough, don't forget us if you have something..." While talking, she made room for the third wife to sit down. The younger brothers and sisters leaned over like puppies smelling bones... The third wife waved: "Go, it's none of your business!" She said to her mother again: "This time it's not food, I don't have so much food to send!" Wang Xiaosong asked: "What is that?" "you guess!" "Dried sweet potatoes!" The third wife said: "This child! I clearly said that it is not for food, but I still guess about the food, which makes the third wife feel uncomfortable!"

Mother smiled: "He is thinking about food all day long!" Wang Xiaosong was a little disappointed: "If it's not something to eat, I can't guess it!" The third wife said: "I'm sorry you can't guess." She dumped the things in the old pillowcase onto the kang, and it turned out to be some comic books... Wang Xiaosong was overjoyed, and immediately smiled... Brother and sister came together again... Wang Xiaosong said: "Don't move, I'll let you read it after you go to school!" Hurry up and put the comic book in the pillowcase, sit on the lid of the box, and read it alone...

Mother said: "Thank you, third wife!" The third wife said: "This is the treasure of his brother Guangyi! I don't want to lend it to my classmates. Isn't Guangyi going to high school next year? He has always been top-notch in his class. If he works hard, he must be admitted to a school." It’s a famous university, so I didn’t dare to read casual books, so I asked me to send them to Xiao Song... At that time, he was very reluctant. Xiao Song, your brother Guangyi told me to read it carefully. This is all He bought it with penny after penny since he was a child!"

The mother said to Wang Xiaosong, "Did you hear what your third wife said?" Wang Xiaosong still didn't lift his head: "Mmm..." The mother said: "Look at this child, you can't put it down!" The third wife smiled: "We were like this in Guangyi Primary School. His teacher said that he would definitely be admitted to a prestigious university. What do you think?" The mother said: "Don't worry, third wife! If a child who is so smart and hardworking in Guangyi can't pass the exam, who else can pass the exam? Just wait for the good news of your eldest grandson." !"

The third mistress was full of joy: "Then I will borrow your good words!"
night. Mother and younger siblings all fell asleep soundly... Wang Xiaosong lay on his back on the bed and watched. Like a movie, when Wang Xiaosong was reading a book, scenes flashed in his mind one by one! The galloping horseshoes, the waving sabers, the hunting of military flags, the sound of killing... Paul, who bravely charged on horseback... Horseshoes, sabers, military flags, Paul... everything is like a freeze frame. The sound of "Wula" and shouts of killing gradually faded away.

He fell asleep with a book in his hand... Back then, among such children, those who had ten comic books were regarded as "rich peasants", and those who had dozens of books were regarded as "capitalists".Even in those days, which one of them didn't have the extravagant hope of accumulating such wealth? ... The next day, Wang Xiaosong came to the train station with all his comic books on his back. He spread a white cloth on the floor, placed the books on the cloth, and put a bottle beside him. He wanted to rent out the comic books. The bottle It is used to collect steel coins.

Wang Xiaosong solicited: "Who reads comic books? Who reads comic books? The thick ones cost two cents to read, and the thin ones cost one penny. If you want to get on the train and don't finish reading, you won't be charged!..." Around him, there are some people waiting for the bus... Wang Xiaosong shouted: ""Wildfire Spring Breeze Fighting the Ancient City", "Five Heroes of Langya Mountain", "Bitter Cauliflower", "Red Flag Spectrum", "Twelve Chairs", "The Diamond on the Crown of India"..." He was still wearing the shoes with the big toe exposed...

A pair of black leather shoes came to him. He raised his head slowly—it was a young policeman, with his police cap tilted slightly on his head, with an air of unlimited power... The police grabbed the four corners of the cloth, carried all the comic books in their pockets, and then took the comic books from those who read them one by one, turned around and left. Wang Xiaosong shouted: "What are you doing!" He got up and chased after... The policeman put the cloth bag behind his back and said, "What are you doing? Who allows you to rent comic books here? You're still yelling! Little child, if you don't go to school well, you can earn money! Do you know that you disturb public order? Know? Confiscated!"

Wang Xiaosong had no words to answer, and when he snatched the cloth bag, the policeman turned around to make it impossible for him to snatch it. In a hurry, he grabbed the policeman's hand and bit... The policeman said "Ouch", and pushed him back a few steps with his palm. He looked down at the back of his hand, and there were already a few deep teeth marks. ... The policeman said: "Are you a dog? If I wasn't a people's policeman, I would be..." He straightened his police cap and left in a huff... Wang Xiaosong stood in the same place blankly, he suddenly remembered something, looked back, those people who hadn't finished reading the comic book, were taking their steel coins from a wide-mouthed bottle he placed on the ground...

The last person's hand was so big that he reached into the bottle, but he couldn't get it out... Wang Xiaosong stared blankly at him... The man raised his hand that was "contained" by the bottle, and said helplessly, "I'm sorry, kid, it's not that I want to take advantage of you, it's time for me to get on the train!" He even took the bottle - including the money in it, of course...
When Wang Xiaosong returned home, he cried loudly and hit his head against the wall.Weeping in agony, he said, "He confiscated them all! More than forty copies! My little book..." The mother reprimanded angrily: "Who told you to rent villain books!" Wang Xiaosong pitifully begged: "Mom, oh my god, go and get it back for me! I won't rent it anymore..." Mother agreed.
Wang Xiaosong lowered his head, supported his mother, and stepped onto the steps of the police station at the railway station... The policeman who confiscated his comic books happened to come out. Wang Xiaosong pointed and said timidly, "It's him..." The policeman glanced at his mother: "What about me?" The mother said neither humble nor humble: "Comrade, return him! I won't allow him to rent villain books anymore." The policeman said, "You mother told me to pay it back, so I have to pay it back?" The mother smiled and said calmly, "I'm asking you! Life at home is difficult, and I don't have money to buy it for him. It was a gift from someone else..." The police said: "It's useless to say anything, if you don't give it, you won't give it!" The mother said seriously: "If you don't give it, I won't leave." "Who cares about you!" The policeman turned around and entered the police station, closing the door with a bang. Mother stared blankly at the door. Wang Xiaosong looked up at his mother, and said dully, "Mom, I don't want it anymore..." His mother took him by the hand and turned around. He thought his mother was going to take him away, but he didn't expect his mother to sit down on the steps. She also gently pulled him to sit down and said firmly, "Mom will definitely give you a hand." to come back..." The door of the police station opened again, and two policemen walked out, pushed the door open a crack, poked their heads out to see, they shrank back... The station building blocks the setting sun. Mother sat on the steps with her arms around Wang Xiaosong's shoulders. it's dark.The red light on the top of the police station was on, and the steps folded the shadows of Wang Xiaosong and his mother into three sections, which were deformed and printed on the ground... The policeman who confiscated his comic book finally stepped out, stood behind them, and said accostingly, "Still sitting here?" Mother didn't move and said nothing. Wang Xiaosong didn't move or make a sound. "Hey, sit-in demonstration..." The policeman felt bored instead, muttering and went in again... The big clock at the train station struck eight times... The policeman walked out again, rubbing his chin with one hand and staring at them in a daze: "Hey, I said you want to live here?" Mother still didn't move, still didn't make a sound, she hugged Wang Xiaosong even tighter... Wang Xiaosong also remained motionless, still silent... The policeman moved his hands behind his back to his front, holding a cloth bag with a comic book in his hand: "Here you are!" The cloth bag fell into Wang Xiaosong's arms. Mother whispered, "Count." Wang Xiaosong untied the cloth bag and quickly counted: "Three books are missing." His mother pulled him to stand up and looked directly at the policeman: "Three books are missing." Reluctantly, the police took out three comic books from two pockets and returned them to Wang Xiaosong, then smiled embarrassedly and said to himself: "Hey, come with me!" Mother said, "Thank you uncle." "Thank you uncle." Mother said, "Let's go." Wang Xiaosong carried the cloth bag in one hand, supported his mother in the other, and walked down the steps... The police stood on the steps and looked at their backs—the mother's leg had obviously not healed, and she walked slowly and lamely... Suddenly the policeman yelled, "Stop!" Wang Xiaosong and his mother stopped, and when they turned around, they saw the policeman stepping down the steps quickly: "I want to leave like this? Just stay here and don't move!"—After speaking, he hurried away, not knowing what to do... … Wang Xiaosong looked up at his mother uneasily, and her mother said calmly, "Don't be afraid..." A "Shanghai" brand car pulled up in front of them and stopped. The policeman got out of the car and told the driver: "Send them home, don't take money from them!" The driver asked, "Where are you going?" The policeman said, "How do I know? Ask them!" After walking a few steps, he turned around and said, "You have to be responsible to me, send them to the door!" Wang Xiaosong and his mother, including the driver, looked at the back of the policeman... The policeman straightened his police cap as he walked, and blew his whistle, which was right. Back at school, Wu Zhenqing and Tsui Hark didn't take it seriously after hearing Wang Xiaosong's talk about the incident of "renting villain books". Tsui Hark said: "You can collect comic books every day..." He forgot a new term, and asked Wu Zhenqing, "What are you collecting?" "Income. This is the last time I'll tell you, don't forget it!" "That's right, income. How much money can I earn every day? We both have better plans, and each of us earns at least twenty or thirty cents every afternoon!" Wang Xiaosong hurriedly asked: "What plan?" Tsui Hark whetted his appetite: "Think about it, at least two or three cents every afternoon, how much would it cost in a month? Not to mention a pair of white rubber shoes, if the three of us pooled our money together, we could buy the 'three big pieces', a complete set I also bought the team uniform!" Wang Xiaosong asked: "How do you earn money?" Tsui Hark stopped, looked at Wu Zhenqing and said, "Show it out for him to see?" Wu Zhenqing took out three ropes with iron hooks from his schoolbag. Wang Xiaosong understood: "Putting a trick?" It means helping the adults pull the scooter. Wu Zhenqing said: "Whether you join or not, anyway, I have you in my heart, so I did it for you. Who told me to be your mother's son!" Tsui Hark said, "How about we start today?" Wang Xiaosong raised his head and looked at the sky—clouds were gathering together... Wu Zhenqing said: "If you want to make money by yourself, you can't be afraid of wind and rain. Aren't adults only earning money through wind and rain?"
The three teenagers set off with full confidence. At the head of a bridge, they found a rickshaw going uphill, so they immediately went up to "pull the trick". The two helped to pull, one on the left and the other on the right, while Wang Xiaosong pushed behind.They all work so hard. The cart puller is in his fifties.He stopped the car at the top of the slope, looked back at them and said gratefully: "Three classmates, thank you!" Suddenly he became very interested in their nooses, and said: "Let me see!" Wu Zhenqing handed over his noose. Puller: "The adults made this hook for you, right?" Wu Zhenqing said conceitedly: "I did it myself!" Tsui Hark said: "He can do it! All three of our hooks were made by him!" "Good job! Quite good!" said the cart puller. He looked at them and praised, "Not only did he learn from Lei Feng, but he also prepared the tools himself. What a good boy!" They were embarrassed by the praise. The cart puller said, "I really don't think it's enough to just say thank you..." The three children are looking forward to the following with full hope... The cart puller said: "A box of goods dropped on the road and some of them were broken. Let each of you give a small piece to each of you. I don't dare to make decisions if there are too many!..." So he took three little pieces of something out of a box covered with paper, and gave each of them a little piece... As soon as the three teenagers received it, they put it into their mouths almost at the same time. The cart puller hurriedly said, "Hey, kids, don't eat it, it's soap!" Wang Xiaosong took a bite, frowned, and spat out. The cart puller said, "Goodbye, children!" The three children shouted in unison: "Goodbye..." Watching the puller's cart go downhill, the three teenagers looked down at the pieces of soap in their hands... Tsui Hark complained to Wu Zhenqing: "Why don't you ask for money?" Wu Zhenqing said: "He kept thanking us and praising us, how can I ask for money?" "Hmph, what's the use of compliments! We are still given soap!" Tsui Hark said. Wang Xiaosong said: "That's fine too! My family doesn't have enough soap tickets every month..." It was getting cloudier.Thunder rumbled.Soon it began to rain.Heavy rain. The children hid in a hole in the building.There were no people or cars in their field of vision.Their clothes were half wet. Xu Ke looked at the broken soap in his hand, very disappointed: "I don't care for it, give it to you!" He stuffed the soap into Wang Xiaosong's schoolbag... "It's really unlucky today, it's for nothing!" Wu Zhenqing said: "It doesn't rain all the time. Almost all the rickshaws pulled from the train station pass here. You have to be patient. Is money so easy to earn?" Wang Xiaosong suddenly pointed: "Look! Look!..." In the misty rain and smoke, the shadow of a rickshaw can be seen faintly, and the goods on it are obviously heavy.The cart puller lowered his head, leaned over, and strode forward step by step with difficulty. Tsui Hark looked at Wu Zhenqing - that means, how is it?Is this deal worth doing? Wu Zhenqing said: "Anyway, the clothes are already wet, let's go!" Tsui Hark said, "Then you have to ask for money!" Wu Zhenqing had already run out of the doorway. "Wait for me!" Tsui Hark also ran out. Wang Xiaosong hesitated and chased after him. The cart puller had already pulled the cart up the bridge slope, but couldn't hold on anymore, and the cart slipped down. Wu Zhenqing said: "Quick, don't use the noose, push from behind!" The three children pushed hard from behind and finally pushed the car up the hill.But the cart puller couldn't hold his feet, and the cart rushed down the other side of the bridge by inertia.Wang Xiaosong and Xu Ke were thrown to the ground while one was sitting on the ground. Wu Zhenqing said: "Get up quickly, catch up and ask for money!" Wang Xiaosong and Xu Ke stood up quickly and followed Wu Zhenqing to chase the car. When the car stopped downhill, they caught up panting. Wu Zhenqing stretched out a hand to the cart puller: "We are not learning from Lei Feng, we can't help you for nothing, you have to pay!" The cart puller was panting heavily with his head down, and slowly raised his head when he heard his words. "Father..." Wu Zhenqing's eyes widened unexpectedly. "You..." Old Wu's face was distorted due to anger.He abandoned the car, grabbed Wu Zhenqing and beat him: "Wow! How dare you play truant! You don't study hard, come out and do this kind of thing!" Wang Xiaosong and Xu Ke were stunned for a moment, then quickly pulled Wu Zhenqing's father and said: "Uncle, don't hit! Don't hit! We didn't play truant!..." "Uncle, this is our first time! It's none of his business, it's our idea..." Wu Zhenqing took the opportunity to run away. Old Wu started the car again, looked at his son and yelled, "I'll settle the score with you when I get home..." He pulled up the car and left. He was pulling so hard. Wang Xiaosong and Xu Ke moved closer to Wu Zhenqing's side, and the three children looked at the slowly moving car in the rain. Wang Xiaosong said: "Let's go help your father..." Wu Zhenqing said loudly: "No!" He was literally shouting. They just stood there watching.The rain drenched them like drowned rats. The shadow of the car turned a corner and disappeared... Wu Zhenqing wiped his face, wiped his face again - wiped away the rain, wiped away the tears... In the evening, at Wang Xiaosong's house. The mother was still mending clothes, the younger siblings were reading comic books, and Wang Xiaosong broke into the house. Mother complained, "Why did you come back so late today?" Wang Xiaosong murmured, "I... learned from Lei Feng." Mother said: "Change your wet clothes quickly. It just so happens that Mom has just mended one for you." But he plunged into his mother's arms and cried. Mother asked: "What's the matter? Are you being criticized?" "No." Mother said: "Then why are you crying? Don't get my clothes wet..." trying to push him away. But he hugged his mother even tighter: "I just feel sad... I just want to cry..." He cried even more mournfully. The younger siblings stopped reading comic books and stared at him in astonishment. He cried and said, "Mom, I miss my dad! I miss my dad so much!" "Dad, I want Dad." "I miss Dad too." The younger brothers and sisters also cried, and gathered around their mother... The mother put her arms around the three children: "Don't cry, don't cry, maybe this year's Spring Festival, your father will come back to visit the house..."