Chapter 5 B-1

On the day Sang Li was born, the sky was gray. It was a morning in October, it was seven o'clock, but the sky was still cloudy.Sangli's grandfather was squatting in the yard and "chucking" and "chucking" a small aluminum pot. Sangli's grandmother was cooking eggs and stewing chicken soup while looking forward to it. Nanyang's mother who lived in the same small courtyard was caught by this Waking up by a loud noise, he yawned and walked to the yard and asked, "Did you give birth?" Grandma Sang seemed to be in a hurry, but she was too embarrassed to express her eagerness, she just complained: "Not yet, she said she was born today, and she wouldn't let me go, she had to let me make soup at home."

Nanyang's mother laughed: "Sang's parents and grandchildren, you have to make the soup well. By then, Xiaofei will have a lot of milk and the child will grow fat and white. You can take pains!" These words sounded nice, and Grandpa Sang couldn't help laughing "hehe", and turned to look at Nanyang's mother: "It would be great if Xiao Fei could be as competitive as you are!" While talking and complaining: "It's not that I can't afford it, family planning is a fart!" Grandma Sang sighed: "If you're really a girl, why don't you raise her?"

"Then make another one!" Grandpa Sang said, frowning. Nanyang's mother was stunned for a moment: "Isn't it? The punishment was severe! In the front yard, Qin Shouxiang's family passed away, and the unit beat him to the end! It's not bad that he wasn't expelled." Grandpa Sang looked up at Nan Yang's mother: "If you had given birth to a daughter at that time, you would not have given birth?" Nanyang's mother thought for a while, and felt that she might not be reconciled, so she sighed and stopped talking. It was also at this time that Nan Yang, who was woken up, came out of the room rubbing his eyes, wearing a hand-knitted sweater, and greeted sleepily: "Grandpa! Grandma!"

Grandpa Sang's eyes immediately became gentle, and he smiled while wiping the pot: "Yang Yang, you were woken up by us?" Nan Yang also nodded honestly: "It's so noisy!" Grandpa Sang laughed loudly, and patted Nan Yang with the only clean wrist: "When I have a little brother, it will be even more noisy!" Nan Yang's eyes lit up: "Brother? Where are you?" Grandpa Sang proudly showed the small aluminum pot in his hand: "See, Grandpa has to wipe this pot clean to make milk for my grandson. After cleaning it, I'll take you to see my younger brother!"

Nan Yang was elated: "Okay, okay!" Before the words were finished, a girl about twenty years old roared in, her face was flushed by the wind, but her expression was very excited, and she shouted at Grandpa Sang: "Dad, it's a baby, sister-in-law has a baby, it's a little girl, How small!" "Girl?" Grandpa Sang stared blankly at the little girl who reported the letter as if he didn't believe his ears. On the other side, Grandma Sang was also stunned, and said to herself, "No, the shape of that belly is a boy. what……" Nan Yang also looked at Grandpa Sang stupidly: "Grandpa, it's my younger sister, not my younger brother!"

His thinking also reacted intuitively: "Then who will accompany me to cicada?" Of course, the grown-ups don’t know that the four-year-old Nan Yang has been looking forward to a younger brother who can be used by him for a long time—he is looking forward to the day when he can walk in front with pride and hold a A long bamboo pole, the top sticks a ball of flour to make a paste, sticking "cicada" (scientific name: cicada) with every success in the summer afternoon.And a well-behaved and obedient younger brother walked behind him, opening the cloth bag to store the spoils at any time, and then looked at him with admiration...

With a "bang", Nan Yang's fantasy was interrupted.He took a closer look, and found that the furious Grandpa Sang had already waved the polished small aluminum pot and threw it out, drawing a big arc, and almost hitting Nanyang's father who had just entered the door! Nan Yang's father, Nan Lin, who had just returned from buying breakfast, was taken aback. He subconsciously protected the soy milk and deep-fried dough sticks in his hands, and raised his head to ask his stunned wife and son, "What's wrong?" Nanyang's mother turned her head to look at Grandpa Sang who had already turned back to the house angrily, and then looked at Grandma Sang who was muttering "Why is it a girl" all by herself with red eyes, sighed, and made a mouth shape: "Girl..."

Nanlin suddenly realized and sighed. Only Nan Yang cheered up quickly after a short period of disappointment, grabbed Grandma Sang's apron and demanded: "I want to see my sister, I want to see my sister..." He soon got his wish - through the glass window of the nursery, he rode on his father's neck and saw the wrinkled little girl, the big door, the small arms, the red skin, the small eyes... Hahaha , so ugly! So, from birth, the existence of Sang Li has brought Nan Yang unparalleled happiness—her ugliness makes him handsome, her short makes him tall, her weakness makes him mighty...

Until many years later, her giving up brought out his persistence—but this time, he was not happy at all. In this way, Sang Li came into this world not long after the "one child" policy was first implemented.Because of this plan, she is obviously doomed not to receive the meticulous love of her grandparents. And, an even more unfortunate thing happened later: 5 hours after Sang Li was born, that is, shortly after Sang Li's little aunt ran home to report the news, Sang Li's mother died of postpartum hemorrhage. Sangli—meaning a girl surnamed Sang who was separated from her as soon as she was born.

This is the name my father gave me, because my grandfather no longer bothers to give this "little broomstick" any name, even "dog leftover" is unnecessary. The only one who sincerely welcomes the arrival of the "little broom master" is obviously the child Nanyang who is in the middle class of the kindergarten. Sang Li's side, watching the baby in swaddling sleep, and can still watch it with gusto, never tire of watching it.Gradually, Grandma Sang also entrusted him with the task of guarding Sang Li, telling him: "Call me when my sister wakes up."

Nanyang nodded solemnly, climbed onto the edge of the kang solemnly (at that time, kangs were used in northern cities and did not use beds), and stared at Sang Li with black eyes.Occasionally reaching out to touch Sangli's cheek, I was amazed in my heart why a girl's face can be so soft!He was very surprised at the "smallness" of this little thing—in order to verify that Sang Li was a "person" in a complete sense, he made a special trip to open Sang Li's swaddle and confirmed that she did have ten toes.Then he became more and more puzzled: how could he be so much younger than himself when he obviously didn't lack anything? Probably from then on, he began to feel pity for Sang Li - look at this hand, it's too small, if you go to kindergarten, you won't be able to hold a peach! Since childhood, Nan Yang was a caring child. Of course Sang Li doesn't remember these fragments, and Nan Yang is also very vague.All the narratives about these things, even the small aluminum pot that was thrown away, are actually from the memories of Nan Yang's mother.She is a Chinese teacher in elementary school, and she is very good at telling stories, with both voice and emotion.The reason why Sang Li believed in the truth of this story was actually because her grandfather in her memory didn't like her very much, and all her friends in girlhood were Nan Yang. There is no doubt that Nan Yang attaches great importance to this younger sister. When Sang Li was just able to walk, his grandfather fell ill with lung cancer.The family was in turmoil, and the father, who had never remarried, had a big head like a bucket. He ran between home and the hospital every day, worrying about the long-term cure of the elderly and the snowballing of medical expenses.Not to mention grandma, she was not in good health at first, but now she has overdrawn to the point where high blood pressure and coronary heart disease come out to help the tiger.In this context, Sang Li was a neglected little life—later, this little girl who could not speak was simply sent to Nan Yang’s house, where she slept in the same bed as Nan Yang every night, and he would give it to her. She sings nursery rhymes? ! Nan Yang's mother was also surprised—before Sang Li was born, Nan Yang wished she could go to the house to expose the tiles, but now, in order to coax Sang Li to sleep, Nan Yang was willing to go to bed at eight o'clock honestly.Of course, Nanyang's mother couldn't understand Nanyang's mood: on the one hand, he was nurturing his own personal servant, and on the other hand, he was feeling sorry for a "doll" with small hands and feet.But no matter what, the first thing Sang Li yelled was not "Dad", but "Ya Ya"—listen carefully, it might sound like "Yang Yang". In this way, Sang Li learned to walk and speak in a neglected situation.The day she said "Grandpa" for the first time, it was very cold and it snowed heavily. In the ward of the People's Hospital five stations away, Grandpa closed his eyes forever. Therefore, from the beginning of memory, Sang Li only remembered the appearance of grandma and father. Grandma is the first god in Sangli's life. She is a kind-hearted old lady who has done many good things in her life, such as being a matchmaker for others, or giving a small bag of rice to someone when they can't eat.She firmly believes that good things are rewarded with good things, so she doesn't believe that Lao Sang's family is so "extinct".She even mobilized her son many times to marry another and have another child. She firmly believed that it must be a boy!Therefore, the way she looked at Sang Li was like looking at a passerby, at most like a relative's child.She doesn't beat Sangli, but she doesn't treat her warmly. When the time comes, she feeds her rice soup, and after she has teeth, she feeds her regularly.The children were probably not well-behaved when they first learned to eat, and she was not in a hurry. Seeing that Sangli refused to eat obediently, she put down the bowl and got up to do other tasks. She continued to feed until Sangli was hungry and cried. So when she was a child, Sang Li was always very good-grandmother said, "eating carrots will make you smarter", and she ate carrots that she hated the most like taking medicine; Eating crunchy but scary fried duck blood with spinach with eyes closed; Grandma said, "Don't set off firecrackers, you will blow up your hands and blind your eyes", so she really stayed away, and has been afraid of it for more than 20 years since then. Things like firecrackers... She almost subconsciously thought that whatever grandma said must be right. It was a kind of awe from the bottom of the heart—it wasn't until later that the sensitive Sang Li realized that it wasn't coquettish dependence or sweet nostalgia, but just a kind of awe that was logical and habitual. Especially the last words of grandma before she died completely destroyed Sangli's childhood self-esteem.Because that day, in the emergency room that smelled strongly of Lysol, grandma said to Sangli's father with her last breath of strength: "Find another one, give birth to a boy, and don't give birth... Xiaofei will change it for you with her life." Here's a chance." Sangli was five years old that year, and he was in the top class of kindergarten. In a year or so, he would become a glorious primary school student.It is said that girls are precocious, and although she doesn't understand why her mother's life gave her father a chance, she still clearly understands grandma, grandpa, and everyone's wish - they want a younger brother, no matter how much she fears, they Still want to give her a brother. And she, nothing can be changed, nothing can be controlled.