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Chapter 30 Brumaire Bullpen (7)

Selected works of Chi Zijian 迟子建 2850Words 2018-03-20
"As long as the flowers are alive, there will be more cows, and the cows can't leave me." Baozhui drove the cows back to the cow house.He jumped onto the cow trough, coiled the three plum blossoms firmly on the cow pen, and then gave the cow water. The lights in the cow house were dim.The air is very still, which makes the sound of cows drinking water extra crisp.At this time, the door of the cow house opened, and Xueer came in wearing a blue gown, holding a bowl, and tied a white string at the end of her braid.She silently placed the bowl on the dining table, then turned around and stared at the treasure pendant.

"Did you send uncle off today?" Bao Zhui asked her. Cher made a "hmm". "Are there many people going?" Baozhu asked again. Xueer still let out a "huh". The cow gurgles and gurgles to drink water. "Brother—brother—" Xue'er suddenly said to Baozhui with a crying sound, "I called you Baozhui before, did you get angry?" Baozhui shook his head and said, "My name is Baozhui. What do you mean by calling me brother?" "Brother means relatives, it means you are older than me." Xue'er said. "The flat face is bigger than you, do you also call it your brother?" Baozhui asked.

"You can't talk like that with Niu." Xue'er patiently explained, "Talents are divided into brothers and sisters." "Oh." Baozhui said sadly, "I'm the older brother." Three cows drank enough water and crawled on the dry grass. "Why wasn't I an elder brother before?" Baozhui asked confusedly. Xueer said aggrievedly: "I hated you at that time, so I wouldn't call you brother. Dad never hugged me once when he was alive, he only cared about you, and missed your cow house every day. When he was dying, he went to When I’m not angry, I feed him water, but he keeps calling your name. I’m still his own!”

"You hate me?" Baozhui asked. Xue'er nodded and said, "Dad won't hate you once he dies." "Don't hate it anymore?" "No one loves you as much as Dad." Xue'er said, "Why do you still hate you?" "Then you hate my uncle?" Baozhui asked again. Xue'er shook her head with tears in her eyes, and said, "I pity him. He has to be scolded by his mother in the middle of the night every night. Whenever she scolds him, he cries, crying 'Bao Chu Bao Chuan'." "How do you know?" Baozhuo asked.

"I heard it." Xue'er said, "Mom scolded him very loudly, and it spread into my room. Then I woke up in the middle of the night, and I could hear Mom scolding him when I woke up. It's even worse when Mom scolds him." "What did Mom call him?" "A wimp." Xue'er replied, "That's all." The treasure pendant was full of confusion. "'Worthless' means useless." Cher explained. "What does Mom want uncle to do in the middle of the night?" Baozhui asked. "I don't know either," Cher said.

"Why do you call me by my name after being scolded?" Baozhui asked again. "I don't understand either." Xue'er said, "Did you make him a wimp?" Baozhui said sternly: "I can herd cattle, but I am not a wimp. How can I make Uncle a wimp? Mom is talking nonsense. Uncle can do all kinds of work. He also knows that cows have four stomachs. He is so amazing." .But he doesn’t know how to wear plum blossom buttons.” Baozhui said, “You said neither uncle nor mother can fasten plum blossom buttons, who did I learn from?” "Your own father." Xue'er said.

"Where is he?" Baozhui asked excitedly. "Underground." Xue'er pursed her lips and said, "I heard people say that he died a long time ago." The treasure pendant let out an "uh" in frustration. "I just buried my father today, and Li Erguai brought the mahogany to our house." Xueer said. "Have mom given them food?" Baozhui asked. "Yes." Xue'er said, "I also gave Hongmu the clothes you wore when you were young." "You don't want them to come?" Baozhu asked. Xue'er said sadly: "Dad just died, and Mom gave them food. I don't want to talk to her anymore."

"Then don't talk to her." "But Mom and I are the only ones in the room." Xue'er said worriedly, "If she doesn't speak, I'm afraid she will get angry, and she won't be scolded in the middle of the night, will she scold me?" "Why did she scold you?" Bao Zhui said seriously, "You didn't let the roundworm in your stomach run into her stomach." Xue'er couldn't help laughing after hearing this, and then she looked at the treasure pendant with tears in her eyes. Baozhui said: "Don't be afraid, if she scolds you in the middle of the night, you can come to the cow house to find brother——"

Bao Zhui stuttered when he said the word "brother". Xue'er gave a "hmm", pointed to the rice and said, "Hurry up, the heat will be gone in a while. It's the leftover funeral meal." The treasure pendant turned its attention to the funeral meal. The flower is born, it is a black and white flower cow.Baozhu named it Juan Er, because when it was born, one ear curled up like a flower bud.Juan Er brought harmony and happiness to the family that had never been seen in Brumaire.Xue'er comes to play with Curly Ear every day, either wrapping pink silk around its legs, or pricking its black nose with a broom.Mother also came every night to feed Juan Er with soy milk.Hua'er is extremely loving to Juan'er, always licking its face with her tongue, and Di'er is also infinitely fond of Juan'er.The flat face with only the dirty tail often barks sharply at Curl Ear a few times unexpectedly, trying to scare it.But Juan Er didn't care about it, so the flat-faced prank had to die down.A week later, Juan'er was wandering around smoothly.It is very mischievous, either with its mouth to arch the young crops in the field, or with its hooves to disperse the pile of firewood.The only time it is quiet is looking at the fog.When the white mist makes the people and scenes it has just met become trance, it will show a thoughtful expression.

When Baozhui went to Meadow to herd cattle again, the team expanded.He figured his ranks would grow and grow, and eventually he would be surrounded by cattle.He will know the temperament of each cow, understand the content of each behavior they make.There will be more and more plum blossom buckles in the birch bullpen of the cow house, and they will bloom next to each other.How beautiful it would be when he was driving a herd of cattle on the village road. One evening when the foggy moon was coming to an end, as soon as Baozhui drove the cow back to the cow house, Xueer ran in happily.Panting, she said, "Brother, Mom scolded Li Erguai out of the house today, and he will never come again."

Bao Chuan said dully, "If he doesn't come, he won't come." "Do you know why Mom scolded him?" Xue'er said in a low voice, "Li Erguai said that after living with Mom, he would send you to a gold mine to be seen by others. He said you were stupid and didn't know how to steal gold. They are willing to hire you. He said that you can help the family earn money and save food for the family by going to the gold mining site, so he agreed to do the job for you.” Baozhui looked at Xue'er in surprise. "Mom scolded Li Erguai after listening to it—" Xueer puffed out her chest, and said in a thick voice, "Get out of here, don't try to abuse our treasure pendant like this! When his uncle was alive, he compared treasure pendants It’s okay to be a biological one, whoever wants to treat my treasure pendant as a human being will never even think of stepping on my threshold again in this life!” "Was Li Erguai scolded and left?" Baozhui asked. "Yeah." Cher said. "Okay." The treasure pendant praised. Xue'er then said shyly: "Brother, you don't have to worry about my mother scolding me in the middle of the night. Now she hugs me to sleep every day and helps me catch lice in my hair." Baozhui smiled reassuringly. He jumped into the cow trough and went to the cowshed to tie the cow.He fastened the plum buckle very skillfully, when Cher said to him: "Brother, I dreamed of Dad and you yesterday." Baozhui jumped down from the cow trough and looked at Xue'er inquiringly. "I dreamed that Dad led you to celebrate the New Year." Xueer said tremblingly, "It was dark and snowing, and Dad led you to set off firecrackers in the yard. The sound of firecrackers was very loud. Dad was afraid of scaring you, so he helped You cover your ears." Baozhu wanted to cry very much, because neither dream nor mist could make him catch it.He didn't know what a dream would be like. "I also dreamed that Dad came to the cow house to look at Juan Er, and he reached out to touch Juan Er's nose. Juan Er didn't know him, so he stretched out his hoof and kicked him." "How could Juan Er be like that." Bao Zhui said sadly, "Isn't that uncle." Listening to the sound of the cow chewing the cud that night, Baozhui once again tried his best to recall what important event was wrapped in this sound.His head was numb from the thought, but the surroundings of his memories were still surrounded by fortified high walls, which were difficult to overcome.He turned on the light again to look at the birch fence, and the black spots stared at the plum buckles hanging from it with never-tiring eyes.His memories are as ethereal as the white mist outside the house, dark and dark.Bao Zhui was stunned for a while, and then looked at the sleeping and cute Juan Er.He said to himself: "Wagyu is having a good time, why do you think about things that don't remind me." The treasure pendant turned off the light and fell asleep.His sleep has no dreams, so that sleep is clean and crystal clear.In the morning, he was suddenly awakened by the sound of "squeaking" and a bright light. He sat up from the kang, only to see Juan knock the door of the cow house open.Hua'er, Di'er and Flat Face are all looking affectionately at the long-lost sunshine outside the house. The Brumaire Moon passed. Bao fell off the kang, and he walked to the door of the cow house.Juan Er tilted his head, looking at the swirling sunlight outside the house in infinite amazement.Baozhui patted its buttocks and said, "The sun is out, let's go outside and play." Juan Er moved his hoof tentatively, then suddenly retracted his head.Then Baozhu remembered that Juan'er was born in the misty moon and had never seen the sun. The aggressive bright color of the sun frightened it.Bao Chuan quickly stepped across the threshold, walked steadily in the yard to show Juan Er, and waved to it.Juan Er responded tenderly, then timidly followed to the yard. Curly ears curled up and lowered its head every time it walked, as if to see if its hooves dimmed the sunlight.
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