Chapter 5 3.my dad is chaplin

Xiao Mu came to Licheng when she was six years old.Her father led her by the hand and led her into this city that has nothing to do with their family's ancestors for eight generations.Licheng is located in northern China, but it is also a rare and exquisite city. Since ancient times, it has been famous for the cotton willows that raise the sky and the poets and poets who recite poems and poems in teahouses.And Xiao Mu's never-before-visited hometown was originally a city in the south where the Yangtze River flows. It was famous for exporting migrant workers to other provinces, and Xiao Mu's father was one of them.As a construction worker, he usually only has two holidays a year, Spring Festival and Labor Day.At other times, he was working very hard, moving between various construction sites.When Xiao Mu was three years old, her father had already been promoted to the captain of the labor contract team where she worked.

In the winter of this year, Xiao Mu's mother died in an accident.The accident that year was very famous in the whole city: a huge cement slab flew down from the unfinished building and hit Xiao Mu's mother and another textile worker.That day Xiaomu's mother went to buy wool with another textile worker.Then it rained heavily, and they took shelter under the building that was still under construction.At that time, Xiao Mu's mother took out the grass-green pure wool yarn she had just bought and admired it with the weaving girl.She said she was going to knit a new sweater for Xiao Mu.When the cement slab fell, Xiao Mu's mother was enthusiastically describing the style of the sweater she was going to knit to her companions.Twisting grass green and white together, the doll's collar should be embroidered with Xiao Mu's name under the left collar with thin wool.The woman spoke intoxicatedly, and then a large cement slab fell from the sky, covering the woman's happy face.The captain of the construction team is Xiao Mu's father.When some reporters searched for those who were responsible for the cement board incident, they found Xiao Mu's father who did not say a word.Later, when they interviewed the family members of the victims, they found Xiaomu's father again.He sat at the dining table in the living room of his house, staring blankly at the rest of the meal that Xiao Mu's mother cooked the day before. His lips moved in the camera, and moved again, but in the end he still didn't say a word.

Xiao Mu's father appeared on TV twice that day as the culprit of the tragedy and the widower who had just lost his wife in the tragedy.In the next scene, Xiao Mu's father hugged Xiao Mu tightly with both hands in shiny handcuffs.Xiao Muyuan opened a pair of extremely large eyes full of tears, carefully staring at her father who had aged a lot overnight.Xiao Mu had a pitiful face since she was a child. It is said that the TV scene made countless housewives who watched it burst into tears.It is even more pity that Xiao Mu has congenital mitral valve heart disease.Later, the TV station also made a special program about helping Xiao Mu, calling on everyone to donate money to Xiao Mu who was taken in by the orphanage.The four-year-old Xiao Mu appeared on the TV screen again. Under the guidance of the aunt in the orphanage, she opened her big empty eyes and said to the shiny black camera: Thank you, thank you uncle and aunt.

The life in the orphanage did not leave a deep impression on Xiao Mu. Later, she felt that maybe in those two years she was just a toy that was put aside, and no one paid attention to her anymore.After crying, the housewives forgot and went to take care of their children. Two years later, on a colorful evening, the father who finally walked out of the iron gate came to the orphanage to take Xiao Mu away.The aunt of the orphanage put Xiao Mu on a new jacket that day, and also wiped her face very brightly.Holding his father's hand, Xiao Mu walked past a row of little orphans without parents.For the first time in her life she felt a sense of superiority.She felt their envious eyes sent her one ride after another.For many years after that, when Xiao Mu felt hopeless, she could always think of this moment, which was a symbolic moment. She was with her father, and she walked into the cloud holding his hand, Behind them are the envious voices of the children.

Xiao Mu and her father got on the train going north.Her father bought her a purple long-necked jug at the station and filled it with orange-flavored soda pop.Xiao Mu liked it very much, she cuddled close to her father, opened the lid of the kettle every few minutes, put the kettle under her nose and smelled it, the pungent, hot and spicy smell pierced her heart and lungs.Then Xiao Mu took a sip gently, and then carefully screwed on the bottle cap.She told herself, don't drink too fast, how wonderful it feels to have the fragrance of oranges in your mouth lightly aftertaste.Her father has been staring blankly at her in a daze, shaking his body back and forth with the rhythm of the train.Later, for some reason, they got off the car in Licheng.It seems that Xiao Mu's father asked Xiao Mu: "Do you like this place?" Xiao Mu looked out from the icy car window, and she saw snow for the first time.The large white flowers made her feel a little dazed.But she thought she liked it very much, so she nodded and said, "I like it." Then her father took her off the train.

Xiao Mu was sent to a kindergarten near the street by her father.The kindergarten is very small, with only one gate facing the street, with various animals painted on it.On an orange background, a group of colorful animals stands in front of it.At the front is a standing hedgehog.Its whole body is bright purple-brown, with rouge on its face, small hands and feet, and a very elegant look.Next to it is a giant panda with a listless spirit, with a lush bamboo planted behind it, it looks like a knight in the dust.Behind them are giraffes, flower foxes and affectionate fawns.Xiao Mu has never seen such a colorful painting. The gate of the orphanage is separated by iron railings, and it is covered with snake-like cunning plants, densely packed and suffocating.When Xiao Mu walked past this kindergarten, she stretched out her little hand involuntarily, and gently brushed the animals painted on the kindergarten gate.Her father noticed her subtle move and asked her: "Do you like this place?" Xiao Mu saw the children playing in the kindergarten through the half-open gate.She saw a beautiful little girl surrounded by a group of children. She sang a song, and everyone looked at her fascinated and cheered loudly.Xiao Mu really likes her appearance, her voice is also good, Xiao Mu also likes to sing since she was a child, but she has always sung incompletely and her voice is hoarse, how can this little girl sing well.Xiao Mu kept staring at the little girl. She felt that when she saw her, she moved with her, sang and danced with her. She felt that her hands and feet were connected with her, and her every move affected her. her actions.What a wonderful thing this is, Xiao Mu wanted to go and see the little girl clearly, and she also wanted to hug her and be a pair of little sisters with her.So Xiao Mu replied: "I like this place." Her father led her in.Her dad walked past the beautiful little girl holding her hand.Xiao Mu turned her head and looked at the girl earnestly. The girl was bathed in a kind of happiness and light, which made her extremely envious.

Xiao Mu's last image of her father is a funny Chaplin.That ridiculous man in a black suit and boat-shaped shoes always came to Xiao Mu's dream with rhythmic steps.What an aggrieved image she thought that was. When Xiao Mu entered this kindergarten, the kindergarten happened to be preparing for the New Year's party.The kindergarten requires every parent of a child to contribute a little bit to this program.Some parents were hotel owners and donated a lot of money; some parents worked in a printing and dyeing factory and decorated the entire small auditorium with colorful floral cloth; some parents came with their best cameras and said I want to take pictures for everyone.Only Xiao Mu's father can't make any contribution.He still looked like a poor construction worker, and when all the parents were discussing the preparations for the party, he huddled in a corner, embarrassed.Finally, the parent who was in charge of preparing the party said to him: "You can't show anything, so go perform on behalf of our parents. You, go play that Chaplin." So Xiao Mu's father acted as the representative of the parents , performed on stage.

Xiao Mu will always remember that party.Her father was wearing a temporarily borrowed black suit one size larger, boat-shaped black leather shoes, and a thick layer of poor-quality powder that was as rough as flour on his face.His entire face was covered up, only his eyes were painted thick black, looking sad like an endangered panda.They also found a pinch of something as hard as pine needles and pasted it into a beard.The top hat seemed too big for Xiao Mu's father's head. It slid down from his forehead, almost covering his eyes, and wiped off more than half of his well-glued eyebrows.What he performed was that he walked like a penguin with a thin wooden stick, and he deliberately wobbled and fell down on purpose.He kept walking so dangerously that Xiao Mu couldn't tell whether he was really about to fall or if he was acting.However, in the eyes of everyone, he is very good. Although the music is not in tune, and the children dancing on stage laughed and dressed themselves up, the show still received the warmest welcome because of Xiaomu's father's wonderful performance. .Xiao Mu remembered that she was sitting in the middle of the third row, and a fat boy next to her looked at Chaplin, laughed loudly, and said loudly to Xiao Mu: "Hey, your father is so funny!" Mu Zhang's dazed eyes stared fixedly at the fat boy.

Many years later, Xiao Mu can always think of this sentence, when she thinks of her father.Beside her, a fat boy who disgusted her said in an approving tone: "Your father is really funny!" The words seemed to flow out of his fat lips without interruption, almost forcing Xiao Mu to tears come out. After that performance, her father left Licheng.This kindergarten is a boarding house, and Xiao Mu was placed here.She remembered that after the performance that day, his father took off his top hat, beard, washed his face, and was about to leave in a hurry.He led Xiao Mu's hand all the way to the gate of the kindergarten.Xiao Mu leaned against the beautiful hedgehog on the gate of the kindergarten and watched her father walk away.Xiao Mu keenly felt that there were many people around her watching her father. He was still wearing those big watermelon rind-shaped shoes, and there was still flour that was not wiped clean on his face.My dad is Chaplin.This is the last memory my father left for Xiao Mu.

From that day on, Xiao Mu never saw her father again.He never returned to Li city.Xiao Mu didn't know why she had to trust a man who was so unfamiliar to her, but she still firmly believed that something happened to her father, not because she was a burden with heart disease.She still fondly recalls the purple jug her father bought her, and her father played a funny clown on stage for her.Xiao Mu carefully recalled that the meaning of her father in her life was that he first took her mother away, then took her out of the orphanage, and then brought her to this strange city, Licheng.This has migrated her entire life.