Chapter 3 three

The Xi family split up after the old lady died.Wufangli didn't get anything at all, because Jing Fan's misappropriation of public accounts over the years has exceeded his due part.The fifth wife moved out of the old house and lived in a small house on the first floor and the ground floor. She brought a young master Yin who was born to the previous wife to live together. Every month, young master Yin went to Jing Fan to collect some living expenses. It's pretty tight.The fifth wife is very open-minded. The room she lives in is neat and tidy, with a few pieces of white lacquer furniture and a small white lacquer desk. There are often a few gadgets on display there. , microscopes, all kinds of fancy pencil sharpeners, train-style, car-style.She loves to buy these things the most, and loves to give them to others. When people see them, as long as they praise them casually, she will definitely give them to him. She smiled and stuffed them in people's hands, saying:

"Take it, take it!" She was really happy that she had something that people liked very much.She still had cats, well-fed, plump-eared, beautiful cats that endured her caresses with a kind of pride and aloofness on their faces. She still often plays mahjong.She was very popular among relatives.Although she is now poor and people are snobbish, everyone thinks she is not annoying.Her hair has been cut short, her face is full of spring, she wears gold-footed rimless glasses, and she wears a silver-gray crepe cheongsam. Although she is very fat, she looks very generous.People often say: "I don't understand why the fifth master doesn't treat her well."

Sometimes when Jing Fan talked about her, he always smiled and said "my fat lady" or "fat man".His current situation is also very bad. He was originally working as a customs supervisor in Shanghai, but because of the huge deficit and the relationship between various aspects was not perfunctory, he lost his job again.Gradually, it came to the point where the mountains and rivers were at the end of their ropes.His current concubine is called Qiu Laosi. He has always liked older women. This Qiu Laosi may be a little too old, but she is the concubine of a celebrity and has a lot of savings. Jing Fan himself He also admitted that they were at odds with each other in terms of money, but in fact he still relied on her.So they are still bungalow cars, maintaining a very luxurious scene.About every few months, on some birthday or death day, Jing Fan would go to Mrs. Fifth's place by car, sit for a few minutes, and then leave again.

If Young Master Yin is at home, even if Young Master Yin comes out to see him, the fifth wife will not come downstairs.It was rare that the fifth wife came down to meet him sometimes. Although everyone was old, the fifth wife always felt so uneasy in front of him, stiffened her neck, looked down at the ground with her eyes down, and said in embarrassment I couldn't speak, and sometimes there was a slight "gnaw!" between the nasal tube and throat, which seemed to be a cough but not a cough, and then "gnaw" twice. Every time Jing Fan came, Xiao Ai of course avoided it.Fortunately, he does not come often.Although Xiao Ai's illness has been cured, her complexion has always been a little yellow, but she is more beautiful than when she was a child.Even she herself didn't know her age. If she was fourteen or fifteen when she went to Nanjing, she would be twenty-three or twenty-four by this time.No one has ever mentioned her marriage.Mrs. Fifth has already declared that she "don't care about her business".But the meaning of this sentence, of course, does not mean that she can be allowed to move freely.

Tao Ma has a son named Yougen who has been working in a soy sauce garden in Wuhu, but because of a dispute with the people, he resigned in anger and came to Shanghai to find work.Tao Ma's husband died early, so she loves such a son very much.When he arrived in Shanghai, he lived with the Fifth Wife. He set up a camp bed in the living room downstairs, slept there, and sometimes sat in the kitchen during the day, and ate at the same table in the kitchen.He and Xiaoai ate at the same table many times, but they didn't talk to each other.One day when it rained, You Gen went out for a run in the rain, and when he came home in the afternoon, Tao Ma cooked a bowl of rice for him.There was an empty section above their back door, which was trimmed with a section of dark red painted low railing, so she opened his orange-yellow torn oil-paper umbrella and stuck it on the railing to dry.Yougen was sitting there eating, and she was sitting on the side talking to him, asking him how he went out to find trouble today.Suddenly Xiao Ai came over with a cat ashes in his hands, and was about to go out and dump it in the trash can outside. Yougen immediately put down his job and rushed forward to take down the umbrella so that she could go out.Tao Ma couldn't understand his air.She had already felt that he paid a lot of attention to Xiao Ai.Because of Xiao Ai's past history, Tao Ma always thought that she was not a peaceful person, so she was always on guard against her, as if she was afraid that her son would be seduced by her.Xiao Ai also felt a little bit about their mother and son's concerns, so when You Gen was there, she always avoided him.

One day, she was washing rags in the kitchen by herself, when You Gen came over quietly, handed her two small paper packages, and said with a murmured smile, "I bought a pair of socks... There is also a bottle of cream for you to apply. "Xiao Ai hurriedly said: "No, why are you so polite. She definitely refused to pick it up, so she put the root on the table and said with a smile, "Don't laugh at me, it's not good." Xiao Ai wiped her hands on the apron for a while, then picked up the paper bag and insisted on returning it to him, saying: "No, no, I really don't want it, you keep it for others. "

You Gen said with a smile: "You can take it, it's not good if you don't take it." While talking, he has already run away through the back door. Holding those two things, Xiao Ai had no idea, wanted to take them apart to have a look, hesitated for a while, but didn't take them apart, and put them on the table, hoping that he would take them back when he saw them.She hastily washed the rag and went upstairs, but Unexpectedly, Gen didn't come back until dinner time.Mama Liu was setting the dishes and chopsticks on the table. When she saw the paper bag, she opened it casually and saw that it was a pair of flesh-colored long women's line socks. She said:

"Hey, whose socks are these?" Mama Tao was also surprised.Xiao Ai didn't make a sound by the side, and Yougen didn't say anything, but his face was ugly. After a while, he just said, "I bought it." She took it and stuffed it into her pocket.Tao Ma gave him a hard look, but didn't say anything at that time. That night, Mrs. Fifth had a cat that ran away and never came back, so she asked Xiao Ai to go out and look for it.When she came downstairs, she saw the lamp was on in the living room, and the door was ajar. Tao Ma probably had already made a bed for You Gen. She was sitting on the bed talking to him, and only her voice was heard. don't open your mouth.Although Tao Ma lowered her throat, she was obviously full of anger, and gradually her voice became louder and louder, saying: "You should give up your heart as soon as possible! What kind of good thing do you think of her? I want to marry a wife." Marry a good one!" Xiao Ai didn't listen any more.In fact, she didn't care about being rooted at all, but these few words were really heart-piercing.She went to the kitchen, opened the back door, and walked into the alley, but she didn't call for the cat right away, because she was afraid that if she opened her mouth, her voice would be trembling and it would sound strange.So just quietly walking in the shadows.

When she came out, the back door was half-closed. The back door was blown open and closed by the wind, making a rattling sound, but You Gen heard him. He was already asleep, and Mama Tao had already gone upstairs. He thought to himself: "Who forgot to close the door? In case a thief is let in, I happen to be living here for the past two days. Don't be suspicious of me if I lose something." Close the door. When Xiaoai found the cat back, she couldn't push the door open, so she had to pat the door a few times.Yougen came to open the door again, but he didn't expect it to be Xiaoai.She was wearing a blue and white homemade padded jacket with a pattern of reed mats, her face was flushed red from the cold, as if she had put on rouge, the light was shining, and the shadows of her long eyelashes were reflected on her cheeks one by one, and she couldn't help but stare blankly up.As soon as she saw You Gen, she immediately remembered what Tao Ma said just now, she was really angry, and suddenly wanted to take some revenge, so she glanced at him with a smile on her face and said, "Are you still asleep? Isn’t it cold?” You Gen became more and more stunned, unable to think of anything to say, but Xiao Ai had already left with the cat in her arms.

Xiao Ai thought about it later, but felt regretful, she shouldn't have provoked him.Yougen has already found a job, and Tao Ma asked someone to recommend him. It's in a southern goods store on Fada Avenue, which is far away from here. After he moved out, he would come here almost every night. There is only a short section of the tram to take, so it is a very long way to go. Tao Ma is distressed and angry, but there is nothing she can do.When he came, he just sat in the kitchen for a while, and sometimes he didn't see Xiao Ai.Later, he suddenly disappeared, and Xiao Ai thought it was because her attitude towards him was too cold.

After a month or two, he suddenly came back again one day, but he had already grown his hair and combed it smoothly. Probably because his hair had just grown back before, it stood tall on his head for a period of time. Unsightly, so did not come. After a long time, Xiao Ai's heart became a little active.Because there is no other way to leave the Xi family other than getting married.In the past, the third wife had a girl who was bought at the same time as her. She was a few years older than her. The clever girl named Lianxi ran away later. Xiaoai was still young at that time, but she was very impressed by this incident. .Later, I heard that someone met Lian Xi, who had already become a prostitute on the street. She met a bad guy who told her to introduce her to work in a factory and tricked her into selling her.When Xiao Ai heard this, she felt very uncomfortable, but she had a new understanding of this cannibalistic society. Therefore, she gave up the idea of ​​escaping and has been suffering here for many years.Now it is very good for her to have roots. Among other things, first of all, he is a person who knows the details, so he is always more reliable.But Xiao Ai always felt a little indecisive about him.It wasn't about whether she had feelings for him or not.Because she has never loved anyone, she doesn't know what love is, so she doesn't know how to value it.What she thinks is most inappropriate is that he is Tao Ma's son.Even if Mama Tao wanted her to be her daughter-in-law, she still didn't want a mother-in-law like Mama Tao—couldn't she have had enough of Mama Tao's anger?At the same time, she also felt that Yougen didn't seem like a capable person.She can't say what it means to be a person with ambition and accomplishments, but she always has such a vague idea that in this kind of society, if a person wants to be proud, he must get rich.As for how to make a fortune, she was very naive, thinking that as long as she worked hard and behaved well, she would be fine. The alley they live in is a few rows of market houses built in the garden of an old house. The old foreign-style house is still there, but it has been rented out. I don’t know how many people live in it. Open a photo studio.That big house is just like the old-fashioned western-style building that the Xi family used to live in, with square red brick chimneys standing on the roof and wind-fixing needles standing upright.There is often a person sitting on that roof and reading a book.Xiao Ai went to the balcony to collect clothes in the summer evening, and always saw a young man sitting and reading on the roof opposite the door. Xia, Xiao Ai looked over from afar, and couldn't help being fascinated, and had all kinds of fantasies about that person.There was a leaden-roofed hut on the roof opposite the door, and this man probably lived there, and the natural light in it was very bad, so he always sat outside and read a book. Seeing that he is wearing a bunt, he doesn't look like a student, so why is he working so hard? It gets dark late in summer, and one day after dinner, the sky was still very bright. Xiao Ai looked across from the window, but the man was no longer there. In the twilight, it looked like a person stood there with his arms outstretched.She was looking there, when she suddenly heard a commotion in the alley below, she looked down, and saw two cars coming; they stopped at their door, and several people in uniforms and guns came down, and Xiao Ai fell. Stunned, he was about to tell Mrs. Fifth that those bailiffs had already swarmed upstairs. It turned out that Jing Fan was sued because he failed to pay back the debts he borrowed from outside, so they came to seize their property and clean up all the boxes, cages and cupboards at home. A seal was affixed, and on the one hand a warrant was issued to arrest people.In fact, Jing Fan had already gone far away at this time, avoiding to the north, but at first Mrs. Fifth didn't know about it.The fifth wife went out to help him, asking for help everywhere, but of course no one among the relatives would give any money, saying: "They are a bottomless pit." Although Young Master Yin was also anxious, he was very reluctant to have his stepmother involved in these matters. , because she kowtows when she sees people in a hurry, which is useless and useless. Since Mrs. Fifth received this blow, her personality seems to have undergone significant changes. She is not so jovial, her complexion is always very gloomy, and she is no longer as popular in the social circle as before.Sometimes people pull her to play cards, saying that they will relieve her boredom. Her cards are good at first, but now they have deteriorated. non-stop.The people who played cards with her said: "As soon as I see her shaking, I feel annoyed." Therefore, people are afraid of playing with her. She often goes to tell fortunes, but she is also afraid that he will calculate something dangerous. , so I always tell him not to say anything, "Just ask about wealth." Mrs. Fifth soon became ill.Once she had a severe heart attack, and her natal brother and sister-in-law were also invited to the family, and they hired a doctor. Everyone was busy all night, and a cat in the family went out all night and did not come back. No attention. The fifth wife has always given away all the cats because of saving money, and only this black-tailed "snow dragging gun" is left, which is her favorite.The next day Mrs. Wu's condition improved a bit, so she asked about the cat. Mama Tao searched upstairs and downstairs, but couldn't find it, so she had to lie to her and say, "It was here just now, but it ran out again later." He hurriedly asked Xiao Ai to go out and look for it.Xiao Ai walked into the alley, holding a foreign porcelain plate with cat rice, and banging, "Mimi! Mimi!" She yelled loudly and clicked her tongue at the same time. She often did this, but today For some reason, I always felt that this kind of behavior was really ridiculous, and I felt very unnatural, as if I was afraid of being heard by someone. I walked all over the alley, back and forth, but there was no sign of the cat.When I got home, I closed the back door when suddenly someone rang the bell. When I opened the door, I was surprised. It turned out that it was the handsome young man I often saw on the roof. He was holding a cat and asked, "Is this cat?" Not yours?" The more I was afraid that he would hear it, but it happened to be him.Xiao Ai took the cat with a blushing face, and felt that she should thank her, but she couldn't say a word, so the young man explained: "They caught and locked them up—there are too many mice in our house, and they really , no matter whose family it belongs to, they said they wanted to borrow this cat for a few days to let it catch mice.” Xiao Ai laughed and said, “Oh, you have a lot of mice in your house? In the next day we will have a kitten, and I will give you one Alright?" The young man first smiled and said "Okay", then paused for a while, and then said: "I live in No. 8. My name is Feng Jinhuai." Then he nodded to her, and then Hastily walked away. Xiao Ai hugged the cat and closed the door, then leaned against the door, lowered her head and rubbed her face against the cat for a while, suddenly felt that it was very cute.She went upstairs to take the cat to Mrs. Fifth's room.There is a calendar in Mrs. Fifth's room. Today's one is in red letters. It turned out to be Sunday. He probably has a holiday today, otherwise why would he be at home at this time.The weather was very good that day, and Xiao Ai was always a little restless, always looking at the opposite roof, but Feng Jinhuai never came out.Maybe I went out, it's rare to have a day off, and I still don't go out for a walk. When Tao Ma was cooking, she found that the soy sauce was almost out, so she asked Xiao Aiyun to make soy sauce after lunch that day, and she also bought raw oil.Xiao Ai untied the blue apron first, then took the oil bottle and went out.There is a shoe store next door to them, and when the weather is fine, they move two tables and place them outside the back door, and a few shop assistants sit around the table, pasting embroidered shoe uppers there, under the blue sky and white clouds, The air is good, the light is good, and the table is covered with shoe uppers of various colors, rose purple, dark green, black, blue, flat gold embroidery, very bright.Every time Xiao Ai walked by, she always looked twice, but today she didn't pay much attention, and she always felt a little uneasy in her heart. For some reason, she was afraid of meeting Feng Jinhuai. Walking out of the alley, I didn't meet anyone along the way.When he came back, he saw Feng Jinhuai from afar, wearing a worn short-sleeved sweater, washing clothes at the tap with a foreign porcelain basin.He must also think that he is a "male doing a female worker", as if a little embarrassed, he smiled and nodded to her, Xiao Ai also nodded and smiled, but at this time, her hair was blown by the wind, and there was a moment. The locks covered her face, and she occupied both hands, holding a bottle of oil and a bottle of soy sauce, so she had to lower her head, tilt her face and put her hair behind her ears.At the same time, I also felt that this action seemed close to a kind of shyness, which is always not generous when meeting people, so I blushed and said with a smile: "Is it a holiday today?" But just said this, Because I saw those guys in the shoe store sitting there putting on shoe uppers, two people looked towards them, as if they were paying attention to them.Without waiting for his answer, she walked past him and went home. Later she noticed that every Sunday he always took a roll of clothes and went to the public tap to wash clothes.Presumably there is always no one in his house, so he has to wash everything by himself. We usually meet each other sometimes in the alleys, but on Sunday, we can probably meet once.We meet more times and occasionally talk.He said that he was doing typesetting work in a printing office, and he was alone in Shanghai. The calendar in Fifth Wife’s room has always been torn by Xiao Ai. Since then, the calendar has become somewhat unreliable. Often when Saturday comes, Sunday is already on the calendar, and when Monday comes, it is still Sunday in scarlet letters. , Tuesday is still Sunday, perhaps because after this day, subconsciously seems a little lazy to tear it up, so it is easy to forget to do this thing.Mrs. Fifth was sick anyway, and she was living a muddleheaded life during her illness, so she didn't notice these things. Mrs. Fifth's cat was pregnant with kittens, and she raised them in a short time. There were five cats in a litter. Mrs. Fifth didn't plan to keep any of them, she would give them to anyone who wanted them.Xiao Ai thought that when she saw Jin Huai, she would tell him, but it just so happened that she never had the chance to see him.It's been two weeks since I saw him come out to do the laundry.The weather has been getting colder recently, probably because of this reason, I have never seen him reading a book on the roof.One day she looked over there again, thinking she might be sick.A bamboo pole was slanted on the roof, and some shirts and trousers were hanging to dry, but inside was a woman's dress, a purple-red cheongsam with fish scale pattern.She suddenly remembered that some time ago, she saw two rickshaws pulled to the gate of No. 8. Red and green quilts and clothes were piled up on the rickshaws. They were "dowry shops" for weddings, and the house No. 8 lived in. So many families don't know which family married the bride.I didn't pay attention at that time, and I didn't see when the bride came in later. In fact, it is very likely that Jin Huai got married.Unless he already has a woman, he didn't come out in the country.Both are possible.She was thinking about it at this moment, but the more she thought about it, the more she looked like it—maybe he was getting married.No wonder he never came out to wash his clothes, someone must have done it for him. Xiao Ai thought about it for herself, she really had no reason to be so sad, and she didn't have the right, but the more she was like this, the more sad she felt. It has been more than a month since the kitten was born, so I can give it away if I want to.Xiao Ai thought, taking this opportunity, she could go to Jin Huai's place, send the cat to them, and take a look at what's going on at his house.Taking advantage of one day, it was the first day of the lunar calendar, Mama Tao and Mama Liu went to the temple to burn incense, and Mrs. Fifth fell asleep on the bed, so she went to change into a clean moon-white bamboo cloth cheongsam and took a pair of She wiped her face hastily with a cold towel, poured some tooth powder into the palm of her hand, and rubbed it on her face, making her face white, which brought out her dark eyeballs and shoulder-length black hair even more.She hugged the cat quietly, went downstairs and opened the back door and slipped out. Then she walked to the old house opposite and walked up the steps, but it was dark as soon as she entered the door, and it looked like a thousand households.She hesitated for a moment, then walked up the stairs.At the stairway, there was a woman hugging her child, whining and clapping, pacing up and down there, and when she saw Xiao Ai, she just looked at her with her eyes.Xiao Ai smiled and said, "I'm sorry, does a Feng Jinhuai live here?" The woman thought for a while and said, "Feng Jinhuai—yes, he used to live above, but now he has moved away." Xiao Ai Unknowingly startled, said: "Oh, moved away?" Seeing that she was still standing there, as if in a daze, the woman asked: "Are you his relative?" Xiao Ai laughed hurriedly: "No, I was right, because last time I heard him say that they have a lot of mice here and wanted a cat. I promised him that we have a kitten for him. One." Then he held up the kitten and showed it to her.The woman said: "It's been more than a month since he moved. He used to live in the same room with his cousin, but now his cousin has asked for a wife, so he moved away." Xiao Ai let out a oh, nodded to her again, then turned around and went downstairs, holding the kitten in one hand, and holding its two front paws with the other hand to prevent it from scratching people, and walked out like this, Down the steps.The sun was warming my body, and my heart was very relaxed, but at the same time I felt bewildered.Although he is not married, he has moved away.She seems to have gained something, but also seems to have lost something, and there is just an indescribable loss in her heart. Some more days passed.One evening at dusk, Xiao Ai was burning briquettes in the stove outside the back door, bent over and holding a fan and shouldering it as hard as she could. In the cold air, white smoke billowed straight across the living room.She just bent over to fan the stove, when she suddenly heard someone coughing from the smoke, she inadvertently raised her head to look, but it was Jin Huai.He had circled to windward to stand.He felt that it was a bit ridiculous that he coughed deliberately to attract her attention just now, so he was a little embarrassed. Although he nodded and smiled at her, the smile was not natural.But Xiao Ai laughed sincerely, and said: "Huh?... I sent you the kitten later, saying that you moved away." Jin Huai let out a sigh, as if sorry, just smiled, After a while, Fang said: "I told you to make a trip in vain. It has been several months since I moved away. I originally lived here at a relative's house." Xiao Ai said, "Did you come to see them today?" Jin Huai said: "Hey. I happened to pass by today." At this point, he couldn't think of anything else to say, so both of them fell silent. Cattail fan.After a while, she felt that it was not appropriate to stand face to face at the back door like this without saying a word, and she should not be seen by others.Seeing that the briquette stove was ready, he leaned over to pick it up, smiled at Jin Huai, and sent the stove in. She put a pot of water on the stove, and couldn't help but went to the back door to have a look, thinking that he must have gone to his relative's house.But he didn't go in, he still stood under the opposite wall, lit a cigarette and smoked there.Xiao Ai put her hands under her apron, and then slowly walked over there.She didn't ask any questions, but he came up to meet them first and explained with a smile, "I think it's too late to go to their place." He paused, and then said: "Because it's time for dinner Later, they want to keep me for dinner again, which will cause trouble for others.” Xiao Ai also nodded with a smile, responded, and then asked: “Are you from the printing office? What time do you leave work?” Jin Huai said that they got off work at six o'clock, and told her the address of the printing office, saying that the place where he moved now was closer to there, and it was much more convenient to go back and forth.While chatting, the two walked towards the alley without knowing it.It can also be said that they are walking side by side, but they are quite far apart.Xiao Ai put her hands behind her back and untied the belt of the apron, as if she wanted to untie the apron, but she untied the belt and tied it again, just tightening it up. Walking out of the alley, he stood on the side of the street.Jin Huai was silent for a while, then suddenly said: "I've been here several times, but I haven't seen you." Xiaoai heard him say this, as if after he moved away, he had come back here many times, all for her, because he hoped to meet her again, which shows that he also Always thinking about her.Thinking of this, the joy in her heart could not be described in words, and she could no longer restrain the smiles on her face, so she had to turn her head to look over there.Jin Huai said again: "Perhaps you don't come out often, do you? I often meet you in summer." Xiao Ai was inconvenient to tell him, but it was because when she saw him coming out, she tried to find an excuse to come out too. Naturally, we met each other often, and she couldn't help it anymore, and couldn't help but chuckle. Jin Huai wanted to ask her why she was smiling.I didn't have much to ask, and I didn't know what I said wrongly, so I just looked at her with a blushing face, and Xiao Ai felt a little embarrassed, so she turned and leaned against a mailbox, looking at the people passing by under the street lamp. vehicle.Jin Huai stood behind her, also looking towards the road.Xiao Ai turned around and smiled at him: "You really work hard, I often see you reading there." Jin Huai smiled and said, "Where did you see me, why didn't I see you?" Xiao Ai said: "Aren't you Do you often sit on that roof?" Jin Huai said with a smile: "Because my level is too low, I had to study books by myself. Almost all other typesetting workers have a middle school level, but I only studied in the countryside for two years. private school." She asked him where he was from and when he came to Shanghai.He said that when he was fourteen years old, he came to Shanghai to study business, and his mother and elder brother were farming in the countryside.He asked her surname, but she paused, she was very unwilling to say those things to people when they first met, and said that she was so pitiful that she didn't even know her surname; so she hesitated for a while, so she just said it casually. "Surname Wang".She guessed that she had been out for a long time, so she said, "I have to go in, I'm afraid they are looking for me." Jin Huai also knew that she was the maid of that family, and she was not free to move around, so don't make her suffer. Cursing, he also said: "I'm going back too." After saying this, the two still faced each other silently. After a while, Xiao Ai said again: "I'm going in." Then she turned and walked into the alley. Although there was no appointment to meet again, when the next day arrived, Xiao Ai wondered if he would come back after work today, so she chose this time to go to the kitchen to chop firewood, and opened the back door. I looked outside from time to time, and sure enough I saw him coming.Tao Ma happened to be in the kitchen too, so Xiao Ai didn't talk to him, and Jin Huai walked away.After chopping the firewood, Xiao Ai made up a lie and said that the comb stuck in her hair was lost, and she was probably in the alley, so she ran out to look for it.Walking to the entrance of the alley, Jin Huai was still waiting for her at the place yesterday, so she stood there and started talking again. They often do this in the future, and they always have to meet once every two days.Later, when we got to know each other better, Xiao Ai smiled and said one day, "You are so ridiculous. You used to live in an alley, and you didn't talk much. Now you live so far away, you come here every day." Jin Huai said with a smile: "At that time I wanted to talk to you. Looking at you like that, I don't know if you would talk to me or not." Xiao Ai couldn't help laughing, thinking that he had the same mentality as her, Didn't know he liked her either.Why are you so stupid. Jin Huai said again: "I knew your name was Xiao Ai a long time ago." Xiao Ai said that she hated this name the most, because people would always be vicious and angry when called by this name. Later, when he came, he said, "I thought of another name for you. You can use it or not." Then, he took out a pencil stub and a small piece of paper from his pocket, and wrote " "Wang Yuzhen" three characters, pointing: "You can write the character Wang, the character jade is just a little bit of the character Wang, and the half of the character Zhen is also a character Wang, and it is easy to write." Xiao Ai took the piece of paper and looked at it. After a long while, she held it in her hand and folded it in half, and then folded it in four. Suddenly she raised her head and smiled and said, "I said my surname was Wang casually that day, but I don't know what my surname is." She always felt this matter. It's shameful, so I only told him at this time that she was sold to Xi's family since she was a child, and she can't remember anything about the family, except that her parents are also farmers.She really blames her parents, no matter how poor they are, they shouldn't have sold her.A six or seven-year-old child lives in a hostile environment, and everyone treats her as a low-level animal. No matter who gets angry, she always uses her as a punching bag and a doormat.She couldn't explain this kind of pain for a while, she just said: "I often think that as long as I can be like others, have a father, a mother, a family, relatives and friends, and feel that I am a person, then No matter how much you suffer and starve, you are willing to die of poverty.” As he spoke, his eyes turned red. Jin Huai was also silent for a while as he listened, because he said: "Actually, I don't think you can blame your parents, they must have been persecuted to the point of being helpless, and it's no wonder you, you grew up with their kind of parents, in the countryside Of course you don’t know that kind of situation.” He told her how the farmers were exploited, how they couldn’t even eat enough for themselves when the harvest was good, and when the harvest was bad, they couldn’t pay the rent and defaulted on their arrears. When he got down, he was exploited by others for huge profits, and he was forced to have nowhere to go, so he had to sell his sons and daughters to make up for it.For example, his own family is fairly good, and he planted his own field, which originally had eleven acres, but it was also because the taxes were too heavy to afford it. Later, he sold it with a mortgage, leaving only two acres of land. Now his mother His elder brother, sister-in-law and two younger brothers are in the countryside. They are busy all year round, and they still don't have enough to eat, so they have to rely on him to send money back every month. Xiao Ai likes to hear him talk about the countryside, because she can imagine what her own home looks like from it.In addition, he also mentioned that during the "August 13th" last year, Shanghai was fighting. Although the area of ​​their printing office was not in the line of fire, the situation in that area was very chaotic, so there was a period of suspension of work.He was in charge of sending comfort items to the front lines for various patriotic groups, walking dozens of miles a day.It was a very dangerous job, and he was still very excited and proud when he said it at this time. When it came to the fall of Shanghai and the retreat of the Kuomintang army, he was very indignant.Xiao Ai doesn't like him talking about important national affairs, because he gets angry when he talks about it.But listening to him talk, after all, I have learned a lot. Xiao Ai used to sneak out for a while, but no one noticed, because there are few people in the family now, and the fifth wife has already dismissed Mama Liu in order to save money, leaving only Mama Tao, and the fifth wife was sick in bed, I can't live without her all the time.Except sometimes after dinner, when Yougen came, Mama Tao must go downstairs and sit with him in the kitchen, so as not to let him have a chance to talk to Xiaoai.