Chapter 12 10.pin daughter-in-law

Duan Xiaomu has done a lot for Xiaojiezi, and she has been doing it continuously and unremittingly throughout her whole life, but it is a pity that Xiaojiezi never seems to have seen it. At the age of 11, Xiao Jiezi was the tallest boy on Xigendao Street. He also had a broad frame and a shocking voice.Most of the clothes he wore were cheap but eccentric avant-garde clothes bought from small dark shops: many pockets, many zippers, many holes.His ears are covered with iron products, rusty colors, tiger or leopard patterns, which looks very much like the gangsters in the popular Hong Kong police and gangster movies at that time.Xiaojiezi is also the youngest among his peers on Xigendao Street to learn to smoke.The most common Xiaojiezi you see is standing in a "relaxed" posture, holding a low-quality cigarette in his mouth, standing at the entrance of the alley, tilting his head, looking provocative.To be fair, Xiaojiezi is still a good-looking boy, especially the way his face is painted after frequent fights, which makes him look cool.Xiaojiezi always likes to use a kind of black and purple potion, which is almost completely black when applied on the face, which looks very tough.

Once Xiaojiezi got into a fight with someone again, this time it was too serious, he was beaten badly.Xiao Jiezi didn't dare to go home, his father was tired of seeing him like this, and he wouldn't give him a penny for the medical expenses.He stood at the entrance of the alley, but he was not very anxious, he still looked disdainful, but blood continued to flow from his head. At dusk, Xiaojiezi met Duan Xiaomu who was coming home from school.Although his head was broken and he was a little dizzy, he saw Duan Xiaomu, who was wearing crutches and couldn't lift himself up under the weight of the oversized schoolbag, hopping over like a grasshopper. Can't help laughing.Duan Xiaomu didn't dare to look at him, feeling anxious and uneasy—for some reason, ever since Xiao Jiezi took her to the "catch a wife" game and treated her like a "daughter-in-law" and made that gesture to her, she saw him When she saw Xiaojiezi, she felt flustered and uneasy—it was a kind of palpitation completely different from her heart attack, accompanied by flushed cheeks and hot head.When Duan Xiaomu passed Xiaojiezi, Xiaojiezi suddenly opened his mouth and said:

"Hey, Pin, shouldn't Christians save lives and heal wounds? Come and save me." He smiled, half-truthfully.Duan Xiaomu raised her head to look at him, she couldn't see clearly in the night, she didn't know what happened to him.So she hurriedly walked over to Xiaojiezi and said: "what happened to you?" As she approached him, she saw that his head was bleeding, and the blood trickled down his hair and face, tick-tock.Duan Xiaomu was startled, but at the same time felt distressed.She said anxiously: "So much blood! Go to my house. I have a medicine kit. I'll stop the bleeding for you."

Xiaojiezi followed Duan Xiaomu back to Duan Xiaomu and Granny Li's hut.Granny Li was cooking. Although she didn't like Xiao Jiezi very much, she still took out the medicine box and helped Duan Xiaomu cook a hot towel for Xiao Jiezi to wipe clean the wound.Duan Xiaomu once learned simple first aid for trauma in the church, and she has all the things, gauze, alcohol, and bandages.She took extra care to bandage Xiaojiezi's wound, so the wound was treated no differently from a clinic or hospital. The bandaged Xiaojiezi looked at himself in front of the mirror, and he was very satisfied.He jumped up and left without saying anything to Duan Xiaomu, but since then, whenever he was injured, he would stand at the entrance of the alley and wait for Duan Xiaomu.Seeing Duan Xiaomu, he still said the same sentence:

"Hey, Pin, shouldn't Christians save lives and heal wounds? Come and save me." Duan Xiaomu immediately understood that he was injured again, so he hurried over to see if Yan was serious, then took him home and bandaged him. Later, Xiaojiezi didn't just need to be bandaged. At the age of 13, Xiaojiezi began to mix with a group of children who did not go to school, the so-called "underworld" children in Licheng.In addition to forming a gang to fight, they also played billiards, mahjong, and bet together.These are all paid with real money. Xiaojiezi often loses and owes a lot of money. At this time, those people have completely lost the kindness of "brothers". They will detain Xiaojiezi and let Xiaojiezi find him people come to redeem him.This person is Duan Xiaomu.For the first time, Xiaojiezi asked someone to bring a note to Duan Xiaomu, which read crookedly:

"Hurry up and bring 300 yuan to save me, they will chop off my hands." Duan Xiaomu panicked when she saw it, found three hundred yuan from home, put on her crutches, and rushed over like crazy.So Xiaojiezi was released unharmed. He looked at the panting Duan Xiaomu with a smile, and said: "Hey, I knew you'd come to my rescue, 'Pin Wife'" When Duan Xiaomu heard the word "daughter-in-law", she blushed and lowered her head. From then on, after people in the "underworld" detained Xiao Jiezi, they could always see a girl on crutches rushing to redeem Xiao Jiezi.So they held Xiaojiezi frequently, and then said to Xiaojiezi nonchalantly:

"Don't worry, your pin wife will come to rescue you later." Xiaojiezi lost more and more money, which far exceeded Duan Xiaomu's ability to pay.Duan Xiaomu and Granny Li's only income comes from church assistance.But that income is quite meager, maybe enough for a simple life, but Duan Xiaomu has to spend a lot of money every month to buy medicines for heart disease.So from the age of 12, Duan Xiaomu started her work.She first picked up soda cans to sell for money—this job was quite difficult for her. She was wearing crutches, and every movement of bending down to pick up soda cans took several times more effort than a normal person.Later, she changed to helping a toy factory in Licheng sew toy dolls.Her job involves stuffing cotton into hollow doll skins, which are then sealed with tiny stitches sewn inside.The last thing is to sew the five senses on the puppet with multicolored twine.Duan Xiaomu learned her needlework from Granny Li.Granny Li worked as a tailor when she was young, and even opened a shop herself.Granny Li told Duan Xiaomu excitedly about her youth many times. She used to be a well-known tailor in Licheng, and she was best at making cheongsams.She said that many fashionable young girls come to her shop to have their cheongsams made.Peonies, wild chrysanthemums, emerald bamboos, fine orchids, colorful butterflies, and fire phoenixes are all patterns favored by girls.The girls never have to run around to buy fabrics by themselves, because Granny Li has prepared all kinds of the latest bright and colorful fabrics for the girls to choose from in her shop.What a story and history that fascinated Duan Xiaomu. She has heard Granny Li tell about this shining and glorious past countless times, and she never gets tired of it.Duan Xiaomu also wants to be an excellent tailor when she grows up, and the clothes she makes are worn by girls walking in the streets and alleys.As they passed each other, they stopped and praised each other.

Granny Li's clothing store was closed during the Cultural Revolution in the 1970s.The girls all over the street that year were all wearing blue, gray, and black overalls, and military green trousers.As a symbol of "bourgeois life", the cheongsam shop was closed down.All the money Granny Li earned when she was young was spent on her children, so even after the Cultural Revolution passed, she never had the money to reopen the shop.Later, Granny Li's craftsmanship was used to make Chinese-style cheongsams for her daughter, daughter-in-law, granddaughter, and granddaughter-in-law. She also sewed gowns for church pastors and baptismal clothes for baptized believers. The dead believers sew mourning clothes for burial.

After the age of 12, Duan Xiaomu began to help a clothing company in Licheng process clothes.She still uses Granny Li's old sewing machine that has been used for decades, but both grandparents and grandchildren think this sewing machine is very easy to use, as if they have been connected with spirituality, and they understand the owner's intentions very well.At first, Duan Xiaomu helped the garment factory to lock buttonholes and sew pockets, and later she began to sew artificial embroidery for the finished skirts.Those are all sewed by Duan Xiaomu, stitch by stitch.When Duan Xiaomu sewed these skirts, she never put the mold underneath, she always embroidered whatever came to her mind.Most of the images in her mind come from the old calendars of Gongbi, or the most avant-garde art magazines that Ji Yan bought her every month.Thick twine, random patterns, each dress is different from each other and has its own characteristics.These outstanding skirts are loved by girls who emphasize individuality in Licheng and other places. Who would have thought that this wonderful embroidered skirt came from the hands of a teenage girl?Clothing companies gradually handed over more skirts to Duan Xiaomu to embroider, and new clothing companies kept coming to this lame girl hiding in the alley of Xigendao Street to sew patterns on their skirts for them.

Although Granny Li felt sorry for Xiao Mu who had to do so much work at such a young age, she knew that this child had talents beyond her own in this area, and more importantly, Duan Xiaomu really needed the money. Duan Xiaomu was born with a heart defect, and this disease has slowly developed with Duan Xiaomu's growth. The doctor told them earlier that Duan Xiaomu must undergo a heart repair operation. The operation must be completed before Duan Xiaomu is 14 years old at the latest. When Duan Xiaomu grows up, this operation will no longer work.But the operation requires a lot of money, so Granny Li hopes that they can save enough money as soon as possible so that they can perform heart surgery on Duan Xiaomu as soon as possible.

When Duan Xiaomu handed over the earned money to Granny Li for the first time, Granny Li felt very relieved.She has always felt sad that her old self could not earn money for Duan Xiaomu. Now that she saw that Duan Xiaomu could earn so much money, Granny Li was able to unload the burden that had been on her for many years.She put all the money Duan Xiaomu earned in a big drawer, whether it was a hundred dollars or saved bits and pieces of steel, put them in this drawer, then gave the key to Duan Xiaomu for safekeeping, and told Duan Xiaomu that he would earn money. Put in all the money that comes.In order to let Duan Xiaomu know that it belonged to her and gave her money for medical treatment, Granny Li never touched this drawer, but quietly stuffed the money she had saved through the crack in the drawer. But Granny Li never imagined that the money in the drawer would always be used by Duan Xiaomu to redeem that evil-looking Xiaojie.Duan Xiaomu also often felt uneasy in her heart. She knew that Granny Li was eagerly looking forward to her surgery, so why didn't she want to be healthy and have a complete and strong heart?But for a stranger in distress, the kind-hearted Duan Xiaomu still couldn't bear to save him, let alone Xiaojiezi?Duan Xiaomu also found more and more that she could not refuse Xiaojiezi's request no matter what, no matter how unreasonable the request was, she could never refuse.In her unconventional and unfeudal heart, she has always insisted that she is Xiaojiezi's daughter-in-law.I still kept remembering that the impetuous right hand hid in her clothes, rubbing it as if exploring the secrets of her heart, that kind of gentle rubbing made her internal organs heat up. The life that was too ordinary before had filled Duan Xiaomu with restless expectations.That hand was indeed something Duan Xiaomu had never imagined, but it came, and it really made up for Duan Xiaomu's empty heart that was expecting. Duan Xiaomu could only continue to take on more jobs, with more and more guilt towards Granny Li, but she still went to redeem Xiaojiezi again and again, involuntarily. But will Xiaojiezi remember?Or at some point after a long time in the past, I suddenly remembered that the girl he called "Pinhead" appeared again and again in the dark mahjong room and billiard room full of cigarette butts. The bloodshot eyes all night, with an expression of pity for him, stood crookedly at the door with his crutches on his crutches, like a scratch left by the saddest meteor under the deep sky.