Chapter 3 Chapter 2 The Yellow Tumbler

Come down from the fifth floor and arrive at the door of the building.Maybe it's because of the good ventilation at the entrance of the building. The concrete floor is full of messy pebbles, leaves, weeds and so on.On the opposite wall, there is a mailbox, and the bulletin board above the mailbox is covered with advertising paper that has not been torn off—— These are all handwritten notices, and the bold lettering in the upper right corner is in the handwriting of the Director of the Management Committee.Every time Xiao Jian saw the bald director in the store, he always saw him writing notices or warnings, notices and other things.Among them, the words "quickly" and "absolutely" are heavily painted with black dots. Xiaojian often worries that he will break the nib of the pen with excessive force.

Xiaojian walked from the south side of the building gate to the main road. The summer vacation is coming to an end, the days are gradually getting shorter, the fiery red sunset is about to set, and the apartments and other buildings seem to be covered with a gray coat.Somewhere, wild cats were meowing. The road can only accommodate two cars driving side by side, and the private cars of residents in the community usually only show up when commuting to and from get off work.Now it is empty.Occasionally there will be a taxi that takes a shortcut, but after many protests by the president, it is basically extinct now.But even if the road is empty, the director does not allow the children to play on the road.So what are you doing with the empty road?Xiaojian thought it was ridiculous.

The light of the setting sun was still a little strong, and Xiao Jian squinted his eyes and walked towards Building 12 where his home was located. As soon as you turn the corner, you can see Building 12.Maybe Saori was standing at the door, or maybe she was walking towards this side with a paper bag.Xiaojian longed for his mother to show up, but to his disappointment, no one was there.Xiaojian thought again, maybe her mother has already arrived home. Building No. 12 has the same structure as Building No. 17 where the Yuno family lived, but it looks a little older, and the walls are already a little yellow.Xiaojian has lived here since he was in kindergarten, and he knows every building well.For ordinary people, these buildings are all the same square buildings, and the building numbers are messy.People who have just arrived at Maple Leaf Apartment are basically confused about the direction. In the community, people often ask Xiaojian for directions.

When Xiaojian was young, he once asked his mother: Why are the building numbers of the apartments not arranged in order? It turned out that when Maple Leaf Community was first built, it was a very small community with only eight residential buildings from Building 1 to Building 8.Later, there were more people, and buildings No. 9 to No. 12 were built on the open space in the middle.But it was still not enough to live in, and the open space was expanded outwards, and buildings 13 to 18 were built.In this way, there are three generations of the Maple Leaf apartment building, the first generation can be regarded as an old man's building, the walls are black and moldy, and the balcony railings have been painted countless times.The second generation is a middle-aged building, and the white ash on the wall is still very bright.The third generation is the Youth Building, the walls are smooth and new, and the balconies are sealed with glass.Whenever it rains, Saori will complain that he is unlucky, and draws lots to build No. 12.

The entrance of the building is common to many people. When you reach the second floor, you can see the scars on the wall.Xiaojian was running upstairs, the schoolbag dangling on his back, and the pencil case rattled inside.On the third floor, Xiao Jian's back was already dripping with sweat. The door was locked, Xiaojian took out the key from his pocket, opened the door, the room was dark with no lights on.The setting sun painted the restaurant floor a deep red. Before Saori came back, Xiaojian was a little hungry - he would have eaten more snacks, and he regretted it. Xiaojian kicked off his sneakers and walked into the kitchen with an empty bottle of socks.Saori only cleaned when she was not at work, so the room looked dirty.He turned on the light in the kitchen, and the tube gave off a cold light.Unlike Yuno's kitchen, there was neither steaming brown curry rice nor condiments on the table, not even a tablecloth—Saori was not very good at housekeeping.The only decoration on the table was a tumbler in the center, painted a tacky yellow.Every time he saw it, Xiaojian laughed at his mother's aesthetic vision.

well!Xiaojian sighed, opened the door of his room, and threw his schoolbag in. The schoolbag fell apart with a clatter, and the textbooks and notebooks inside fell all over the floor.Because he was hungry, he was not in the mood to clean up.Sitting at the dining table, shaking his feet boredly, making faces at the tumbler on the table, and waiting impatiently for his mother to come back. After waiting for a long time, Saori still hasn't come back, probably because of a meeting at some company.The tumbler was also tired of watching, so Xiao Jian had to go to the living room to watch TV.The living room is Saori's bedroom at night, and it is called the living room only when watching TV, so Saori gives full play to her own aesthetic taste - the TV cabinet is painted a shocking tender pink, and the decorative cabinet with small accessories is dazzling blue, the vase is painted red and white.Fortunately, the TV didn't let her paint it in seven colors. It's a blessing.

The playing time of the cartoon has passed, and Xiaojian took the remote control to change several channels, which was boring.The female announcer of the news channel was reporting the news with enthusiasm, but Xiaojian couldn't understand what she was saying: "This woman has the same hairstyle as a man?!" Xiaojian couldn't understand, and was thinking, The anti-theft door made a sound, as if someone had come in. "Didn't I tell you to lock the door when you're at home later! You threw away your sneakers and didn't even wear slippers!" Saori was holding a plastic bag in his hand, and began to scold his son as soon as he entered the door.

Xiao Jian greeted him nonchalantly, picked up the sneakers that had been thrown here and there, and put them away. Saori was wearing the black T-shirt and leggings she wore when she went out in the morning. Although she was tired all day, she looked in a good mood, probably because she was holding the small round stool with her left hand. "I picked it up again?" Xiaojian asked, pointing to the stool. "Well, isn't it good? Although it looks a bit worn out, but if you paint it, it will look like a new one." Saori put the small stool on the ground and tapped it for Xiaojian to see.

"Hey, if you keep picking up trash like this, the old trash woman will definitely be angry." "Who is the trash old woman?" "It's Daocun who lives in Room 508, Building 7." "Ah, it's Ms. Inamura," Saori said, staring at Ken with a little displeasure. "Don't call me a trash old woman! Oh, I'm really worried about your future. What do you want to do when you grow up?" "Be a magical warrior and fight the evil Kuritz!" "That warrior Pagil, what's so good about it?" Saori entered the restaurant with a sneaky smile, and put the delicious food in the bag on the table: fried shrimp, meatballs, rice, spinach balls...these are all the delicious food in the bag. The leftovers from the box lunch factory where weaving work—I don’t know which one of them was made by Saori himself—put them in the microwave and heated them up. Xiao Jian and his mother started their dinner.

"What are you going to do with such a broken stool?" Xiaojian asked with the tip of his chopsticks, pointing at the round stool he picked up. "Don't point at things with chopsticks!" Saori immediately corrected. "How do you want to use it, sit?" "No—hey, let's just put it in a flower pot." Actually, Saori himself didn't know what to use it for, but he just liked to pick up these big garbage and paint it at home, and he was very happy to see it look brand new . Saori hardly moved the dishes in front of her, she said that she was disgusted by looking at these dishes every day.In fact, it is too tiring to go to work from morning to night every day.Xiaojian also ate up his mother's share of rice, and Saori's stomach was empty, but he was still very happy to see his son eat so much. "Hey, eat more vegetables!" Saori reminded his son.

"Tonight there is the program "Papa Papa Pinball", can I watch it?" Xiao Jian reluctantly took a bite of spinach and asked his mother.The living room is my mother's territory, and I have to ask her permission to watch any programs. "Is it that boring variety show?" "It's not boring at all. Sex games are popular in school." "That game is the most boring, let's watch TV dramas." "TV shows are boring!" "Is there no one in school watching TV dramas?" "It's all for girls to comment on who is more handsome, it's silly!" "Then the warrior you like, Pagil, is handsome?" "Of course, all the boys in our school adore him. After class, everyone imitates his shooting action." Saori laughed loudly and said: "If you are like this, you will never be an outstanding adult. What do you want to do when you grow up?" Here it comes again, Xiaojian is very annoyed - Saori always asks such questions, today is the second time.Xiaojian didn't have such a long-term plan yet, so he decided to tease his mother: "When I grow up, I want to be the factory director of my mother's factory and direct people like Saori around." Saori pressed his son's forehead hard.