Qiusheng, Qiaodong, the old man

(1)

It was dawn in early summer, the night had faded, and a faint ray of white light was revealed in the eastern sky. People were still sleeping, and the street was silent. Qiu Sheng opened the door, and the old-fashioned heavy door frame made a creaking sound that echoed in the air. Thus, a day that belonged to Qiu Sheng and a day that belonged to all the people in Yangjia Town began with such a clear and ancient sound of opening the door.

Yangjia Town is a small town surrounded by mountains and rivers. At dawn, you will see a large river here, and the river water glows with silvery light in the sunlight. On the opposite side of the river are tall mountains and a lush willow forest. The crisp sounds of birds can often be heard from the dense branches and leaves. However, now there is only a dark outline, standing ferociously all around.

Qiu Sheng walked through the entire town carrying his schoolbag, and the sky gradually turned gray. In the distance, there is the largest stone bridge in the town. On the bridge are students who get up early to go to school in twos and threes. At this time, Qiu Sheng knew it was time to meet him. He was wearing ragged clothes, with a gray beard covering his lips. He was holding a broken broom with half of the bamboo branches flattened in one hand. He was sitting on the bridge pier or sweeping the small town with the bamboo broom. Every corner of the town, rain or shine.

But unexpectedly, Qiu Sheng did not see him that day. A little anxious and surprised, he stood at the intersection and looked into a bridge opening, but in the end he couldn't see anything. Qiu Sheng always felt that those dark bridge holes were like bottomless pits, hiding many things and devouring many things.

Qiu Sheng thought about it and touched his schoolbag. The steamed buns he had just taken out of the pot were warm on his back through the canvas. He carefully took one out and placed it on the pier, and then he was reincarnated. As he ran towards the school, the sky behind him began to show a thin dark red color.

(2)

"You know, that smelly beggar is sick. I heard him moaning when I was drawing water from the river in the morning."

"Oh? It would be better if you died."

"That's disgusting."

People in the town began to talk crazily, either with disgust, contempt, or even some joy. and can’t wait. For several days in a row, Qiu Sheng passed by the bridge and saw the steamed buns lying motionless on the pier, which made his heart become cold.

I’m afraid I can’t survive it!

When passing the bridge in the early morning of the fourth day, Qiu Sheng saw a dark figure squatting on the bridge pier from a distance. He was startled. When he got closer, he found him sitting on the bridge pier, chewing on a few The steamed bun in front of me was as hard as a rock. Her gray hair was disheveled on her face, and her clothes were hung like pieces of rags, and no color could be seen.

Xu was aware of Qiu Sheng's gaze. He slowly raised his head and grinned a dry smile. His eyes were covered with a layer of gray death, and his chapped lips were about to ooze. Come blood. Qiu Sheng once again took out a warm steamed bun and placed it on the stone pier next to him.

All the plots and actions are like a silent movie, repeated on this bridge and in Yangjia Town for countless years. Perhaps everything should be like this. However, on this day, just as Qiu Sheng turned to leave, the old beggar suddenly tugged at his clothes with his hand, and quickly retracted it, staring blankly at his hands, which were so dark that the true color of his skin could not be seen.

A kind of indescribable pain suddenly surged through Qiu Sheng's heart. This kind of pain had accompanied him for countless days and nights. Until today when he saw those shocking hands, Qiu Sheng's heart was no longer filled with pain. Unable to restrain himself, he squatted on the ground and started crying.

"Don't cry, child." The old beggar reached out and patted Qiu Sheng's shoulder, but he couldn't help but burst into tears.

"Come and see, a beggar and a mute are together."

"Haha, a beggar and a mute, so funny!"

"They They are actually crying, haha, look, they are actually crying!"

The noisy voices came like a tide with the crowd, and they all looked at Qiu Sheng and Lao with expressions of disdain or ridicule. The beggar seemed to be watching a big joke.

"Qiu Sheng, you are a bastard, you deserve to be mute!"

While speaking, Qiu Sheng only felt that someone had kicked him hard on his back, and the pain was mixed with a huge pain. The force caused his center of gravity to move forward quickly, and he fell into the old beggar's arms. Tears instantly fell from his eyes. His hands were held too hard, and his nails dug into his flesh, faintly revealing traces of bright red.

This time, Qiu Sheng did not choose to be patient as usual. He stood up and rushed towards the crowd with all his strength, letting out a strange scream of "Ahhhhhh" from his throat, scratching and biting, which only shocked the onlookers.

"It doesn't matter if you bully me, don't bully him, don't bully him!"

The old beggar shouted with a hoarse throat, with a hint of anger and crying in his voice, and raised his hand He picked up his broom and waved it at the crowd.

"They're crazy," someone shouted in horror, and the crowd dispersed. Shiqiao regained its calm, leaving only Qiu Sheng's strange cry of "Ahhhhh" echoing in the cool air of June morning, looking particularly desolate.

"My child, I have caused trouble to you." The old beggar bowed his head and stamped his feet, bursting into tears.

(3)

In the evening, the twilight is closing, and the mountains and trees form a huge shadow surrounding the town. The lights in the town light up bit by bit. Qiu Sheng stood at the street entrance not far away, looking at the bluestone road less than 20 meters away from his home, feeling extremely desolate and strange in his heart.

"It's good not to learn, but to learn to fight. I think your ability will reach heaven!"

"You like that old beggar so much, go live with him, let you Stay away from him, you stole steamed buns for him, it’s against you!”

Qiu Sheng’s mind echoed over and over again what his adoptive mother said, and he suddenly felt that in such a home, he was so cruel. Dispensable, even superfluous. Qiu Sheng always remembers the way his adoptive father and mother stood under the bridge one autumn many years ago, holding his little hand, with their eyes full of pity and expectation.

"We will treat this child well!" they said to the old beggar.

As a result, poor Qiu Sheng had a new home and parents, and also experienced a warm childhood. But the good times did not last long. Two years later, the adoptive mother who was diagnosed as infertile unexpectedly gave birth to her own child. From that day on, Qiu Sheng never received their smiling faces and care again. From that day on, Qiu Sheng understood that he After all, he is an outsider, an outsider who cannot speak.

"Child, it's so late, why are you here?"

The old beggar heard the splashing sound of someone throwing stones into the water under the bridge. Climbing down from the bridge, I saw Qiu Sheng sitting on the stump of a willow tree, with a dark look in his eyes.

Qiu Sheng just shook his head and threw the stones in his hand onto the water in the middle of the river, causing large splashes of water. Under the moon, it looked like countless white flowers bloomed on the river.

That night, Qiu Sheng slept in the bridge hole with the old beggar. He felt extremely relaxed and at ease, as if he was returning to his biological parents, although Qiu Sheng didn't know what it was like. It felt like that, but he thought, it was nothing more than that!

When Qiu Sheng was very young, his biological parents abandoned him under a stone bridge. It was probably because of his natural vocal cord defect that he was destined to be unable to speak in his life. The old beggar who lived in the bridge cave couldn't bear to see him starve to death, so he fed him the food he picked up. As a result, Qiu Sheng was so unfortunate and lucky to save his life.

"I was just coming back from picking up rags. I saw you wrapped in cloth on the stone. You were so small. I thought to myself, who the hell is this? A good baby must be lost and starve to death!"

"You were too young at that time and couldn't bite the food at all, so I chewed up the steamed buns and fed them to you. It happened to be autumn, so I gave you the name Qiusheng. I hope you can Survival is not in vain!"

The old beggar said to himself, Qiu Sheng listened silently, looking through the bridge hole at the stars in the distant sky falling into the river. , sparkling.

"Hey, I really don’t know whether it was right or wrong to let that family take you away. I originally thought that they had no children and would treat you well, but who would have thought..."

The old beggar didn't say any more. Qiu Sheng next to him closed his eyes and moved into his arms. The old beggar reached out and pulled the tattered clothes that fell to the side and covered Qiu Sheng's chest.

Since they can't see or be sure about the past and future, why should they care about right or wrong?

(4)

Qiu Sheng was eventually taken back to his adoptive mother's home because his adoptive parents had no choice but to do so due to some social pressure around them. Yangjia Town is a very feudal and superstitious town. There is a local saying that children who are born with disabilities have debts owed to them by someone in their previous life and can repay them in this way in the next life. And if those who meet them cannot repay them kindly, they will come back to them in life after life.

Qiu Sheng didn’t know whether this statement was true or not, but he thought, if it was true, how could his biological parents abandon him?

In early August, Yangjia Town entered a long rainy season. It rained heavily for more than ten days in a row. The whole town was soaked in water, and white mold began to grow on the wooden doors and window frames. The bluestones are stained, and the bluestones have become slippery and shiny due to the erosion of rain. The gaps between the flagstones are covered with green moss, and passers-by will slip if they are not careful.

How long has it been since you last saw him?

It seems that it will be after the rain starts. I will go see him when the weather clears up.

Qiu Sheng was thinking while wearing a raincoat, carrying a bunch of muddy rapeseed to the door and throwing it on the floor. The rainwater on the corners of his clothes flowed like tears, hitting the wet on the ground.

That night, Yangjia Town had the heaviest rainstorm this autumn. The river grew wildly and rushed up the river embankment. The waves even rushed into the living rooms of people along the river in Yangjia Town.

"Qiu Sheng, the water is rising, get up quickly!"

Qiu Sheng was dreaming when he heard this sentence, and he jumped out of bed and talked to the people in the town. Together we stepped on the muddy water and ran towards the surrounding hillsides.

"This is the biggest flood in decades!"

"Yes, the last time was in 1958. I remember that the water potential at that time was similar to now. The entire stone arch bridge was flooded, and the salamanders swam into the house. What are they called now? "

"Giant salamander."

"Uh, yes, it wasn't like that at that time. It's valuable, and it's now a nationally protected animal..."

Listening to the villagers' chatter, Qiu Sheng's heart suddenly tightened, and he ran towards the stone arch bridge regardless of the dissuasion of the people around him. , he just hopes that he can be like everyone else, nothing will happen to him, and nothing will happen to him. Qiu Sheng recited it silently in his heart over and over again, but when he arrived near the stone arch bridge, he discovered that except for the lonely standing stone pillar on the guardrail, all other parts of the bridge had sunk into the flood.

Wave after wave of floods surged across the arch bridge, and also surged through Qiu Sheng's heart. He was stunned on the spot, not knowing whether to rush up or retreat. The water flow carried sand and sand from him. His calves were washed away, cold and painful, as if they had been pricked by countless tiny thorns. Many years and fragments rushed into his heart and before his eyes without any defense.

A long time ago, when they lived together in Qiaodong, Qiu Sheng would often stare at the moon in a daze at night, and point it out to him. He said, "Qiu Sheng, you can't point your finger at the moon, because the moon will make you fall asleep." "Come and cut your ears off"; every morning or evening on the way to pick up rags along the river, Qiu Sheng likes to immerse his feet in the water along the river. He always says, "Qiu Sheng, go in, walk along the river for a while He was dragged into the water by a drowned ghost." When Qiu Sheng was bullied and laughed at by the people in the town, he always rushed forward and slammed the broom in his hand on the ground, "Which of you dares to bully Qiu Sheng?" When it rained for food, they nested in the bridge cave. He left the little food left to Qiu Sheng, saying that he was not hungry, but licking the remnants of food on his hands; he always said, "My child, don't cry, it's me who is responsible for this." "I killed you"...

Qiu Sheng's tears were like boundless floods flowing freely. He wished that he was not mute, but blind, and saw nothing, no floods, no arch bridges that were drowned. But, so what? Wouldn't it happen if you couldn't see it?

A few days later, people found the old beggar by the woods downstream of the river. His whole body was swollen and white from the river water. Kind-hearted people dug a pit in the woods and buried his body, which had begun to stink.

Qiu Sheng did not go to see the old beggar’s body, but stood silently on the stone arch bridge, looking at the town that had returned to calm after the flood, lying beside the mountains and cool rivers. The sun fell silently and the roofs rose. There are wisps of smoke, children are playing in the streets, and the ripe wheat on the hillside is swaying in the wind. Soon, villagers will come to harvest. As he thought about it, he felt that a kind old face appeared in the halo in front of him, with gray beard and hair, thick and slightly white lips, and eyes that were as gentle as ever with vicissitudes of life.

He heard him say: "Qiu Sheng, live well!"

Qiu Sheng nodded desperately, tears streaming down his face. After a long time, he took out a steamed bun from his pocket and placed it on the bridge pier. In the distance, a group of crows were swooping over...

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