Chapter 7 The Golden Lock (7)

The upper corner of the glass window vaguely reflected the shrinking shadow of a patrolman in the alley, swaying his arms.A rickshaw quietly ran over the patrolman.The child tucked his robe around his waist and kicked the ball all the way out of the edge of the glass.The green postman rode a bicycle, copied on the policeman, and passed by.They are all ghosts, ghosts from many years ago, ghosts who have not been reincarnated many years later... What is real?What is fake? After autumn and winter again, Qiqiao lost contact with reality.Although the same temper, beating girls, changing cooks, always

Some lost their souls.Her elder brother and sister-in-law came to Shanghai to visit her twice, and they didn't stay for more than ten days. In the end, she always babbled to her, but she didn't miss anything when she left.Her nephew Cao Chunxi came to the city looking for work, but he stayed at her home.Even though Chunxi was a confused young man, he still did his duty.Qiqiao's son, Changbai, and daughter, Chang'an, are thirteen or fourteen years old, but because of their thin stature, they only look about seven or eight years old.Under Nianxia, ​​one was wearing a royal-blue facsimile satin cotton gown, the other was wearing a dark green brocade cotton gown. The clothes were too thick, and his arms were stretched straight out. Usually, they were two thin white faces, standing side by side, with paper It's like a muddled person.After lunch that day, before Qiqiao got up, Cao Chunxi played dice with his brother and sister, and Changan lost all the lucky money and refused to stop.Changbai snatched the copper plate on the table and said with a smile, "I won't come with you." Chang'an said, "We use candied lotus seeds to gamble." Chunxi said, "I put the candied lotus seeds in my pocket, it looks like my clothes are dirty." Chang'an said: "It doesn't matter if you use melon seeds, there is a can on the top of the cabinet." Then he moved a coffee table, stepped on a chair and climbed up to get it.Chunxi panicked and shouted: "Sister An, don't fall down, I can't get over it when I turn around!" Just as he was talking, he saw Chang'an suddenly leaning back. If Chunxi hadn't supported him, he would have fallen down. planted.Changbai clapped his hands and laughed, Chunxi muttered and cursed, but couldn't help laughing, the three of them laughed together.Chunxi carried her down to the ground, and suddenly caught a glimpse of Qiqiao standing at the door with disheveled hair and hips from the dressing mirror of the mahogany cabinet, she was startled, put down Chang'an quickly, turned around and said, "Auntie is up." Qiao Hao rushed over and pushed Chang'an behind him, Chang'an was unstable and fell over.Qiqiao just blocked her with her body, and said sharply to Chunxi: "I'll treat you, a wolf-hearted thing! I'll treat you, a wolf-hearted thing, with three teas and six meals. Why did you treat you badly? You bullied my daughter? Your wolf-hearted thing , don't you think I can't figure it out? Don't think that if you have taught my daughter badly, I have to betroth her to you, so that you can occupy our family property! I see you bastard, but you still can't think of it. Such an idea, dare to be taught by your parents! Those two wolf-hearted and ungrateful old bastards! If you think about my money, if you can't solve it, make another one!" Chunxi stared blankly angrily, Wanting to argue, Qiqiao said, "You still have the guts to contradict me! Get out of here before I beat you out!" Saying this, she pushed her children out, panting too. He helped a girl and left.After all, Chunxi was young and hot-tempered, so he got angry and left Jiang's house immediately.

Qiqiao returned to the sitting room and lay down on the couch.The room was dark, with the velvet curtains drawn.Sometimes the wind leaks in from the window, and the curtains move, and Fang can see a little bit of sky under the little dark green fluffy ball, except for the dim light of the lamp and the red-hot stove.Chang An was startled, and sat blankly on a small stool by the stove.Qiqiao said: "Come here." Chang'an only said that he wanted to fight, but he just leaned close, accosted him, and turned over the little red plaid fabric shirt that was hanging to dry on the tin screen beside the stove, and said, "It's almost burnt." . ” The shirt smelled hot and fuzzy.

Qiqiao didn't look like she was about to beat her up, she just scolded her and said: "You will be thirteen years old this year, so you should understand. Although my cousin is not an outsider, all men in the world are the same You bastard. You have to be careful yourself, who doesn't want your money?" A gust of wind passed, and the white cold sky was exposed between the pom-poms on the curtains, and a row of small holes was punched in the warm darkness in the room. The flame of the lamp flickered, and the shadow on Qiqiao's face seemed to get deeper.She sat up suddenly, and said in a low voice: "Men... can't be touched! Who doesn't want your money? Your mother's money is not easy to come by, nor is it easy to keep. It's your turn. I can't just stand and watch your master being fooled - tell you to be more careful in the future, do you hear me?" Chang'an lowered his head and said, "Yes."

One of Qiqiao's feet was a little numb, so she leaned over to pinch her foot.Just for a moment, a little tender memory flickered in her eyes.She remembered a man who wanted her money. Her feet were bound, and the pointed satin shoes were stuffed with cotton, making them look like half-sized civilized feet.She looked at those feet, her heart moved, she sneered and said, "Even though you promised, how do I know whether you understand or are confused? You are so big, and you have a pair of big feet, so you can't go anywhere? Even if I can control you, I don’t have the energy to look at you all day long. It is said that you are thirteen years old, and it is already too late to bind your feet. It’s my fault that I missed you. I will wrap you up right away, and there is still time.” Changan I couldn't answer for a while, but the old women beside me laughed and said: "Little feet are not fashionable now, I'm afraid it will be troublesome when we get engaged to my sister in the future." Qiqiao said: "No nonsense! I don't worry that my daughter has no one. Yes, don’t bother you to worry about me! No one wants her, and I can afford to support her for the rest of her life!” He really bound Chang’an’s feet, and Chang’an cried out in pain.At this time, even for a conservative family like the Jiang family, those who had bound feet had already let their feet go, let alone those who had never bound their feet, so they all made jokes about Chang'an's feet.After being bound for more than a year, Qiqiao's momentary interest passed, and after being persuaded by her relatives, she gradually relaxed. However, Chang'an's feet could not completely return to their original shape.

The children in the third house of Jiang's family all went to foreign schools to study, and Qiqiao deliberately competed with them everywhere, so she also sent Changbai to take the exam.Apart from playing small cards, Changbai only likes to go to the box office, where he is working hard day and night to raise his voice. He is afraid that his homework will be delayed if he goes to school, so he refuses to go.Qiqiao had no choice but to send Chang'an to Shanghai Fan Girls' Middle School, where she asked someone to intercede with her.Chang'an changed into a school uniform of blue patriotic cloth, and within the first half year, his face became rosy, and his arms, legs, and wrists became thicker.Residential students wash and change their clothes, and as a rule, they send them to the laundry room in the school.Chang'an couldn't remember her own number, and often lost various parts such as pillowcases and handkerchiefs, so Qiqiao clamored to talk to the principal.I went home from vacation that day, checked it, and found that a mattress was missing.Qiqiao was furious, and planned to go to school tomorrow to question the teacher in Daxing.Changan was anxious, stopped her, and Qiqiao scolded: "A born loser, I don't take your money as money. Is your mother's money easy to come by?──When you get married in the future, do you think I have anything to accompany you?" Here you go! ─Give it for nothing!" Chang An didn't dare to make a sound, but cried all night.She couldn't lose face in front of her classmates.To a fourteen-year-old, that seemed like a huge deal.Her mother went to make a fuss, what face would she have to face people in the future?She would rather die than go to school.Her friends, her favorite music teacher, will soon forget that there is such a girl who has been here for half a year and then quietly left for no reason.walk clean.She felt her sacrifice was a beautiful, desolate gesture.

In the middle of the night, she climbed out of bed and reached out to try out the window. It was dark, was it raining?There was no rain.She took out a harmonica from beside the pillow, half squatted and half sat on the ground, and secretly played it.Hesitatingly, the small tune of Long Long Ago curled up in the huge night, and no one could hear it.Trying to suppress it, the whining harmonica came on and off, like a baby crying.She couldn't catch her breath, so she rested for a while.In the pane, the moon came out of the clouds.Inky gray sky, a few stars, a blurry moon, like a lithograph, with white clouds steaming below, and the faint round light of street lamps shining through the tops of trees.Chang An played the harmonica again. "Tell me the story, the one I loved most in the past, long ago, long ago..."