Chapter 15 Chapter Thirteen The Boy in the Water

The boatman and Heizi's mother had been married for several years, but Heizi's mother was not pregnant with the boatman's child.The boatman was angry and tortured Heizi's mother every night.Heizi's mother endured the physical torture inflicted on her by the boatman. She has no complaints or regrets. As long as the boatman treats Heizi well and supports him in school, she is willing to die.The boatman often gets very angry when he thinks about it, and while doing that kind of thing with Heizi's mother, he curses: "You are a hen that doesn't lay eggs, you can't give me a son and a half for me to carry on the family, Dick! What use is it for me to raise you!" The mother was speechless, and she silently endured the boatman's vent.After venting, the boatman rolled off Heizi's mother, sighed heavily, and fell asleep.Heizi's mother touched the boatman's chest, she was also very sad, she felt sorry for the boatman, and the boatman's thoughts and demands were not too much.

That night, the punter came home very late. He kicked the door open. Heizi's mother got up quickly and went to bring him footwashing water. The boatman sat on the bamboo chair, panting like a cow.He watched with dissatisfaction as Heizi's mother brought over the footwashing water.Anger blazed in his eyes.Heizi's mother put the footwashing water in front of the boatman, she smelled a strong smell of alcohol, and she knew that the boatman had been dragged to drink by his buddies again. She said: "Don't drink so much alcohol in the future, it will hurt your health. Alcohol is not a good thing."

The boatman was panting heavily, his eyes were burning with anger, it could be seen that he was trying to suppress his anger. When he was drinking at someone's house, his buddy talked about Heizi's mother's birth issue again.That was his heart disease, which often made him restless.His best friend said: "Your wife always refuses to give birth to you, this is a very serious problem." His best friend's wife also echoed: "You can't just raise a son for others, you have to think about the future for yourself. "The boatman felt very humiliated. Heizi's mother said again: "You really need to drink less alcohol. You are a real person. You can drink as much as others let you drink. You don't leave any room for yourself."

The boatman suddenly became angry, and he kicked the foot basin off. He jumped up, pointed at Heizi's mother's nose, and shouted, "What are you talking about, you don't have to worry about my affairs!" Heizi's mother silently tidied up the washbasin kicked off by the boatman. The boatman yelled, "You hen that doesn't lay eggs, get out of here!" Heizi's mother stared blankly at the mad boatman.The boatman's eyes were bloodshot, he stared at Heizi's mother, suddenly grabbed her by the hair, lifted it violently, and wanted to hit her head against the wall.Heizi's mother wailed, she knew that the boatman had drunk too much and lost his mind.

At this moment, Heizi came out of the room, and he shouted, "Stop!" The punter heard the break. He loosened his grip on Heizi's mother's hair.He rushed towards Heizi, "It's not your turn to teach me a lesson!" Heizi's mother hugged the boatman's waist, and the boatman threw her hard, and Heizi's mother hit the wall with her head. Heizi saw his mother fall there, bleeding from her head. Seeing the blood, Heizi became angry. He bumped his head into the punter's head, and the punter staggered and fell straight on the ground with a very heavy sound.

The punter hit his head on the ground. Heizi rushed over and rode on the boatman, hitting him hard on the chest, saying, "I see you bullying my mother again! I'll fight you today!" The boatman couldn't move, he never thought that Heizi had such great strength.Only then did he realize that Heizi had grown up and could not be underestimated.He was so beaten by Heizi that he was unable to fight back, and he believed that he would die under Heizi's hands today. Mother rushed over and pushed Heizi away. She picked up the boatman's head and held him in her arms. She cried and yelled at Heizi: "How can you beat your stepfather? He feeds you and supports you to go to school. Is it easy! He just beats you. You can't fight back either!"

Heizi was stunned. The boatman woke up from his alcohol, and he limp and limp in Heizi's mother's arms, tears streaming down his face. Heizi knelt down, "Mom, Uncle, I was wrong!" The boatman closed his eyes. The hot summer is coming again. The coming of summer is a happy event for the teenagers in Quliu Village.In summer, they don't have to worry about cold and hunger.The teenagers in Quliu Village have a soft spot for Xia Tian.Life in summer has become rich and colorful. They will help adults harvest early rice, catch cicadas, catch fish, and play carefree until late at night in summer, especially after school is on summer vacation.

What makes them feel most refreshed is swimming in the river. Swimming is the most interesting project for teenagers. If nothing happened, they would spend a day in the river. They swam naked in the river, and when they were tired, they lay down on the beach to play. Their bodies were tanned and shiny by the sun. A drop of water fell on their bodies and slowly slid down, leaving no trace of water. Heizi was inseparable from Wang Chunhong and Li Yuanxin. In this summer, they went to help the adults cut rice together and accumulated work points for their father. They go fishing together.

Let's play together. The most important thing is that they go swimming together. At first, Heizi was afraid of water, because the water submerged his biological father.Whenever he saw the river, his legs would go weak.Whenever he sees his companions playing happily in the water, Heizi sits on the bank, feeling extremely complicated. He is afraid of water, and hopes that he can swim freely in the water like them. Wang Chunhong should be a master swimmer in Quliu Village.He knows several swimming styles, such as freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke... There is nothing he is not good at.What this kid is most capable of is diving. He can stay in the water for three minutes. This record has never been broken by the teenagers in Quliu Village.

Wang Chunhong swims very free and easy, like a fish, he is born with an indissoluble bond with water.Because of his good water skills, he often acts as an ambulanceman. As long as anyone is in trouble in the water, he will dive over, lift the person's body, and step on the water to send the person to the shore.He couldn't remember how many people Wang Chunhong had saved. Anyway, as long as Wang Chunhong was present, many children who dared not swim in the deep water dared to swim boldly, and Wang Chunhong became their patron saint. Heizi envied Wang Chunhong very much. Wang Chunhong saw Heizi sitting on the bank in a daze, so he came to Heizi and said to Heizi, "Heizi, take off your clothes."

Heizi asked, "What for?" Wang Chunhong said: "Swim in the river!" Heizi blushed, "You know I can't swim." Wang Chunhong said: "I also know you can't eat!" Heizi: "Stop teasing me, I really can't swim." Wang Chunhong said: "If you don't even learn, how do you know you can't swim?" Heizi said, "I don't want to learn!" Wang Chunhong said to Li Yuanxin in the water, "Yuanxin, come ashore." Li Yuanxin asked: "What's the matter?" Wang Chunhong said: "Come up, you will know when you come up." Li Yuanxin climbed ashore. Wang Chunhong said, "Yuanxin, let's take off Heizi's clothes and throw him into the water." Heizi said stubbornly, "I don't swim!" Wang Chunhong and Li Yuanxin didn't care what happened, they rushed over and pushed Heizi to the ground.They quickly stripped Heizi naked, lifted him up, and threw him into the shallow water.As soon as Heizi's body touched drinking water, his heart trembled uncontrollably.He jumped up and ran to the bank.Wang Chunhong and Li Yuanxin stopped him with smiles and pushed him into the water again.Heizi's goosebumps popped out, and he said in a hoarse voice, "If you keep doing this, I'll turn my back on you!" Wang Chunhong said: "Coward, if you turn your back on it, turn your back on it!" Li Yuanxin also said: "It's a manly man, bah, manly tofu!" They ignored Heizi, walked to the river on their own, and played in the river.Heizi stood there, their words stimulated him too much, he didn't go back to the bank, but walked into the river in a strange way.He crouched in the shallow water, splashing water on himself.Wang Chunhong and the others came over and dragged him into the water.Wang Chunhong said: "Heizi, I will teach you to swim!" Li Yuanxin also said: "We will teach you to swim together, don't be afraid." So, under the guidance of Wang Chunhong and others, Heizi quickly learned to swim.As long as he gets into the water once, he can't live without the big river that brings them coolness and joy just like the boys in Quliu Village in the scorching summer. Heizi's mother didn't let Heizi swim in the river. She said that one or two people would drown in the river every year. She was afraid of losing Heizi. She already had a loved one who died in the water, and she didn't want to lose the second one.That's right, Heizi went swimming in the river secretly.Every day after he came home, his mother would ask Heizi to stretch out his hand, and she would lightly scratch his arm with her fingernails. If there was a white mark, it would prove that Heizi had gone swimming in the river.Seeing the white mark drawn by his mother, Heizi would argue, "I just washed my hands." His mother asked him to lift up his clothes again, and Heizi lifted up his clothes, revealing his belly.Mother scratched Heizi's belly with her nails, and another white mark appeared on Heizi's belly. My mother was furious: "You have also learned to lie. You obviously went swimming, and you lied to me that you didn't!" Heizi lowered his head. The mother continued: "How many times have I told you, don't go swimming, you are disobedient, it is very dangerous, you know that water and fire are cruel, if you drown, what will I do!" Heizi lowered his head even lower, staring at his bare feet, his head was buzzing. The mother stopped talking, and sat there angrily, with a sad and bewildered face, and tears in her eyes. Heizi said in his heart, "Mom, I will listen to you and stop swimming." He didn't say a word. At this time, the boatman came home.He saw them froze there and knew what was going on.He said to Heizi's mother, "Why are you sulking for no reason!" Heizi's mother said, "Oh, he's going to piss me off. How many times have I told him that his mouth is worn out, but he just won't Obedient, I have to go swimming." The punter smiled, "I thought it was a big deal, isn't it just a swim, which man in the village can't swim, if he can't swim, the water will rise He couldn't even escape. I saw Heizi swimming in the river, but I didn't stop him, I thought he was right to swim, why are you so angry!" Heizi's mother sighed, "You guys are bullying me together." In fact, what the boatman said was right, she is not the kind of person who admits death, she just has an inexplicable worry.After listening to the boatman's words, she gave up the persistence in her heart. The boatman said to Heizi, "Heizi, admit your mother's mistake quickly. From now on, don't swim too far away from the ferry. I can see it. I will take care of anything." Heizi said to his mother, "Mom, I was wrong." The mother said angrily: "When you still make mistakes? The older you grow, the less you will look like. I can't stop you from what you want to do. You can do it yourself in the future. Okay, okay, just stand there and do it." Wooden man! Eat quickly!" Heizi laughed. Heizi swims in the river by the ferry every day. When they are tired from swimming, they can still climb onto the ferryman's ferry, and after a short rest, they can jump off the ferry.The youngsters envied Heizi and the three of them very much, because the boatman's ferry never allowed other swimming youths to climb on it. If anyone climbed, the boatman would knock them on the head with the long pole of the boat to drive them away. . This summer, something happened that made both Heizi and Wang Chunhong unhappy. The cause of the incident was the vegetable garden where Wang Chunhong's house and Hei Zi's house were next to each other. That morning, Heizi's mother was watering the vegetables in the vegetable garden.Wang Chunhong's father is planting the fence.When Wang Chunhong's family planted the fence, they moved the fence about half a foot further into Heizi's vegetable garden.Heizi's mother was very upset when Wang Chunhong's father blatantly usurped her family's land.Mother is not a person who cares about every detail, but Wang Chunhong's father is so outrageous that every time a fence is inserted, a little bit of her family's land will be encroached on.In the countryside, this is tantamount to territorial aggression between two countries, and every fence is a strong national boundary. Heizi's mother said, "You can't do this, you're taking up too much land from my house." Father Wang ignored her, he didn't pay attention to Heizi's mother at all, and still went his own way.Heizi's mother was very angry, she was obviously bullying.Heizi's mother stopped him: "You can't do this, put the fence back into the old world." The prince still ignored her. No matter how much he occupies, he still does his own thing.Heizi's mother was furious, she didn't know where she got the courage to pull down the fence that Wang's father had planted. Father Wang didn't expect this woman to be so courageous that she dared to pull out the fence he had planted.He stood up abruptly and pushed Heizi's mother.Heizi's mother couldn't bear his heavy push and sat down on the vegetable patch.The king's father cursed: "You are crazy, dare to pull out my fence, what do you want to do! You half-way woman (a local term of contempt for remarried women)! Who do you think you are, ah, you half-way woman! " Heizi's mother pulled out all the fences that Wang's father had put in, "You are too bullying. You take over our land again and again. I can bear it. I didn't expect that I would take one step back and you go ten steps forward. You are too outrageous!" The king's father became furious, rushed up and slapped Heizi's mother hard. They wrestle together. Someone hurried to the ferry to report the news to the punter.The boatman hurried back in despair.When he arrived at the vegetable garden, the prince had already been taken home, Heizi's mother was sitting there crying, and Heizi was shaking with anger.Heizi was going to fight the prince desperately, why should he beat his mother!But he was stopped by his mother: "It's an adult's business, what do you do with your child, stand up for me!" He could only stand there and stare blankly. The boatman's already ugly face was distorted, his eyes flashed fiercely, he let out a low growl, and rushed towards Wang's house.Heizi's mother stood up and chased after her: "Don't go—" Heizi followed behind. The king's father knew that the boatman would come. He thought he could frighten the foreign woman, but he didn't expect her to be so stubborn. Now that the matter got into trouble, he could only wait for the boatman to ask for an explanation. He picked up a firewood knife and stood at the door of the house, waiting for the boatman to arrive. Wang Chunhong thought, what's the matter this morning, today is a bad day, and such a thing would happen. He was worried that his father would not be able to beat the boatman, and he was even more worried that there would be unhealable conflicts and rifts between himself and Heizi. He said to his father, "Father, go into the house and close the door!" Wang's father turned to him and said, "Your father is not a coward!" The boatman finally came to Wang Chunhong's house angrily.He yelled: "Damn it, you beat women too. Are you a man? You have the guts to fight me!" He saw Father Wang standing there expressionless while holding a gleaming machete without saying a word. With bare hands, he dared not rush up to fight Father Wang with his life!But how could he swallow this breath, he could only curse. Father Wang came out and said: "Fight hard, whoever is afraid of others, anyway, I will have a descendant after death, unlike you, who will never have sons and grandsons!" The softest part of the boatman's heart was hit mercilessly, and he rushed over with a low growl.Not to be outdone, the prince raised his sharp hatchet. That hatchet could split a boatman's head in two. Everyone present was petrified. It's going to kill someone! At this critical moment, the safety director of the brigade rushed over and pushed the boatman away.Several militiamen also rushed over.The security director said to Father Wang: "Put down the knife. If you don't put down the knife, you will be bound and brought to the commune for justice!" He turned around and yelled at the boatman again: "Stand there and don't move. If you move again, you will be bound to the commune and punished!" The knife in Father Wang's hand fell to the ground with a bang. A stone in Wang Chunhong's heart fell to the ground. The stone in Heizi's heart also fell to the ground. The stone in Heizi's mother's heart also fell to the ground. The director of public security asked about the cause of the dispute, and immediately took the two families to the vegetable garden, where the problem was resolved on the spot.He warned the king's father: "If you dare to invade other people's land again, you will be the one to look at!" The face of the king's father turned black and red, embarrassing.Heizi's mother said, "Actually, neighbors don't need to bully people like this. The security director upheld justice, so I'm okay." Women are not as good as you, and you beat people with your hands, and if you dare to do this again next time, I will have your hands chopped off." At noon, Heizi and Li Yuanxin were waiting for Wang Chunhong under a tree. They made an appointment yesterday to go swimming together at noon today.Originally, Heizi didn't want to talk to Wang Chunhong, because Wang Chunhong's father beat his mother, so Li Yuanxin said to Heizi, "The adults' affairs have been settled, and we have no conflicts. You are too narrow-minded, we are all good friends. "Heizi came out with Li Yuanxin. After waiting for a long time, they saw Wang Chunhong walking over eagerly. Heizi turned his face away and ignored him. Li Yuanxin winked at Wang Chunhong. Wang Chunhong walked up to Heizi, turned his back to Heizi, and said, "Heizi, it was my father who beat your mother this morning." Heizi said angrily, "That's what it is, why beat someone, didn't even apologize!" Wang Chunhong said: "Actually, my father also regretted it very much. My mother scolded him so much that he didn't have lunch at noon." Heizi said, "It's none of my business if he doesn't eat." Wang Chunhong said: "Can I apologize to you on behalf of my father? My father was wrong. He shouldn't have hit your mother. Heizi, please forgive my father? We are good friends." Heizi said "Hey". Li Yuanxin came over and held their hands together, "Okay, okay, the past is over, we are still good friends." They went to the river. Heizi and Wang Chunhong were unhappy. Swimming at noon that day, Wang Chunhong did not climb into the boat of the punter, because the punter looked at him with a gloomy face, and his heart was so gloomy that he died. night. The Heizi family sat there speechless.Heizi didn't go out to play. He saw that the boatman and his mother were not happy, so he sat there silent. Wang Chunhong came in with a basket of things. The boatman entered the house. He didn't seem to like seeing Wang Chunhong very much anymore. Wang Chunhong became a thorn in his side. Whenever he saw Wang Chunhong, he would think of the words Father Wang said in the morning, and he felt an unspeakable pain in his heart. . Wang Chunhong walked in. Heizi saw clearly that it was a basket of eggs. Heizi said, "Chunhong, sit down." Wang Chunhong stood there with his head down.Heizi's mother was a reasonable person. She smiled and said, "Chunhong, sit down." Wang Chunhong still didn't sit down.Heizi's mother said, "Chunhong, what are you doing with so many eggs?" Wang Chunhong finally said: "My father asked me to come, he was embarrassed to come, he said he was wrong, I'm sorry, my father asked me to send this egg to nourish your body." Heizi's mother smiled and said: "It's all in the past, what's the point of mentioning it, take the eggs back quickly!" Chun Hong seemed to be about to cry, "I'm going to take the eggs back, my father will beat me to death." Heizi's mother accepted the eggs, "Go back and tell your father, don't let him take it to heart, we are all in the same village, there is no grievance." Wang Chunhong nodded and left. Before he reached the door, Heizi's mother said, "Chunhong, you should come and play often, you and Heizi are good friends." Chunhong said "Hey" and left. After Chunhong left, Heizi's mother took out a basket, put two handfuls of dried powder into it, and said to Heizi, "Hei'er, send it to Chunhong's family. easy." Heizi felt the heat of the sun, and the air was filled with flames.On this hot summer day, Heizi, Wang Chunhong, and Li Yuanxin went to the big river again. The river shone brightly in the sun. The water is cool and soft. The water is as hard as iron. Water is always one, and water is never broken. The water received them. They feel happy in the water.The water protected them, and the river was so clear that day that they could see fish when they dived to the bottom.They tried to catch those transparent fish, but they couldn't catch them no matter what. Wang Chunhong suggested: "Let's swim to the other side." Li Yuanxin said: "Forget it, the other side is so far away, my physical strength is not enough." Heizi said, "I can't swim." Heizi knew that although Li Yuanxin was not afraid of water, his swimming skills were indeed not very good, not as good as Heizi who came from behind. It goes without saying that Wang Chun is good at flooding. Seeing that the two of them disagreed, Wang Chunhong was a little unhappy.He swam out into the deep water and came up, one after another, knocking the water all over the place. The splashing water was like glass beads in the sunlight, dazzled Heizi's eyes. Heizi said: "Chunhong, you can swim alone, we are here to watch you swim, cheer you up!" Li Yuanxin also said: "Yes, you can swim alone, we will cheer for you!" Wang Chunhong said: "Okay then, take a good look at it and learn a little bit." In fact, Li Yuanxin was also taught by Wang Chunhong. He and Heizi were both Wang Chunhong's apprentices. The two apprentices sat in the shallow water and watched the master cross the river with their mouths open. They believed in the master's level. Wang Chunhong often swam to the other side. At the beginning, Wang Chunhong swam backstroke for a while, and breaststroke for a while, swimming easily and freely. Heizi and Li Yuanxin were very envious of Wang Chunhong's swimming skills. Suddenly, they saw Wang Chunhong jumping up and down. Li Yuanxin said: "Wang Chunhong created another swimming method." Heizi stood up: "That's right, Li Yuanxin, look at Wang Chunhong, he must have been drunk in the water!" They saw Wang Chunhong flailing his hands in the water, his head sank for a while, and then came out again.wrong!Absolutely not!Heizi's heart tightened suddenly. He knew that something had happened to Wang Chunhong. When swimming in the river, whenever his legs cramped, this would happen. Heizi said to Li Yuanxin: "Wang Chunhong's leg cramps, you go to the ferry and call my uncle, I will rescue Chunhong." Li Yuanxin's expression changed when he heard Heizi's words, and he immediately ran towards the ferry not far away, shouting as he ran, "Save me! Save me!" Heizi swam up to Wang Chunhong, Wang Chunhong grabbed his shoulder, and Heizi sank to the bottom of the water.Heizi didn't know how to save Chunhong. Wang Chunhong's hands fluttered wildly, causing Heizi to choke on water. He had no way to save Chunhong. He hoped that the boatman would come quickly. The punter came swimming. The boatman scooped up Heizi and picked him up to swim to the shore.Heizi said, "Uncle, I'm fine, save Chunhong quickly." The boatman didn't seem to hear, he swam desperately to the shore with Heizi in his arms.The boatman got Heizi into the shallow water, and by then, Wang Chunhong had already sunk to the bottom. Heizi cried, "Hurry up and save Chunhong, what are you doing saving me, my legs don't have cramp!" The punter looked at the calm water silently. The river whimpered. Later, many people came, and people found Wang Chunhong's body in the lower reaches of the river.Heizi's heart fell into a kind of darkness, overwhelming darkness!He didn't understand why the boatman didn't save Chunhong but himself! Late at night. The voice of Wang Chunhong's mother came from the riverside: "Chunhong, come back—" "Chunhong, come back—" "Chunhong, come back—" A bleak voice echoed in the night. Heizi was also crying from the bottom of his heart: "Chunhong, come back—" When he called, the boatman had already fallen asleep, and Heizi could hear the boatman grunting like a cow, and his tears flowed into two rivers.