flawed

Chapter 14

Jiang Yu clutched a handful of change, unable to choose what he wanted from the candied gourds that were densely packed on the haystack, he just looked at it and kept swallowing.

The peddler urged him: "Which one do you want, I'll get it for you. ... Is this okay?"

Jiang Yu shook his head.

"What about this one? This one is one more than the others."

Jiang Yu still shook his head, although there was one more, but each one was much smaller.The fruit is small and not tasty.

The peddler had no choice but to lay down the haystack: "You pick it yourself."

Jiang Yu quickly compared each of the dozens of strings before picking the two biggest ones and paying two yuan.Just as he was about to look for Qi Nuliang, he heard someone calling him from behind: "Puppy Jiang?"

Jiang Yu turned his head and saw Zhang Xiaoqiang who had just finished school.The schoolbag on the boy's back was crooked, his rough face was scabbed with snot, and he looked at Jiang Yu and smiled.

"Look, Puppy Jiang is very obedient, he will answer when called, isn't he more obedient than your pup?" Zhang Xiaoqiang proudly showed off to the people around him.

Jiang Yu ignored him, put the rest of the money in his pocket, and hurried to leave, but Zhang Xiaoqiang grabbed his clothes: "Hey, don't go, I heard that your wild father came to look for you, it seems true ... Tsk tsk, new clothes."

Jiang Yu twisted his arms, trying to break free.

The dog legs surrounded him, but Zhang Xiaoqiang set his eyes on his hand: "Father Ye bought it for you. Do you remember the last time you snatched that kid's candied haws? It was obviously you who snatched it, but I did it for you." You were scolded, you said, is it your fault?"

"……let me go."

"You paid for the candied haws, and you have to apologize to me."

"... Let me go..." Jiang Yu wrinkled his face and twisted a few times.

"What are you doing?" A man's voice sounded from behind, and a tall shadow enveloped him.

Looking back at the man, Zhang Xiaoqiang was not only unafraid, but looked aggrieved: "Uncle, Jiang Yu snatched Hou Baoer's candied haws before, but Hou Baoer scolded me. The teacher said he had to apologize for doing something wrong." , you should ask Jiang Yu to apologize to me."

It's not like this...it's not like this...Jiang Yu suddenly panicked, opened his mouth but couldn't speak.

It's over, he thought to himself, the man will definitely ask him first if he robbed or not.He can't say he didn't rob, then he did. Since he robbed, he will definitely be forced to apologize.But he was right, he knew in his heart that he was not wrong, but adults would not care about this, his mother always forced him to apologize.

Qi Nuliang stared at the gang of snotty-faced brats for a while, then suddenly picked up the collar of the leader, and pushed him aside: "Go away, let me see you trouble Jiang Yu later, be careful I beat you."

Zhang Xiaoqiang's tried and tested little trick suddenly failed, which made him startled.

Qi Nuliang raised his fist: "Aren't you going to get out?"

Several children ran away, running out of a safe distance, turned their heads and spat at Qi Nuliang while yelling: "Smelly shit that bullies the small..."

Qi Nuliang ignored the gang of brats, turned around and took two steps, only to find that Jiang Yu hadn't followed.He thought the child was frightened, so he put a hand around his shoulder and held him under his arm: "Go, go back."

Jiang Yu was still at a loss, why didn't the man let him apologize or scold him?

"Those kids were bullying you just now?"

Jiang Yu didn't speak.

Seeing that he didn't want to say anything, Qi Nuliang took a candied haws from his hand: "Why are you in a daze, eat your candied haws, didn't you just want to eat it?"

As if waking up the dreamer with a single word, Jiang Yu's attention was completely attracted by eating again at this time.

He peeled off the thin plastic film and slowly licked it with his tongue, it was sweet and cold.He originally wanted to cherish and eat, but he only ate half of it today and left the other half for tomorrow.However, as soon as he bit into the crisp shell made of icing sugar and tasted the sweet and sour taste inside, he couldn't control himself and chewed one after another until he licked the bamboo stick twice before he was reluctant to throw it away.

Qi Nuliang then gave him another string.

It was as if there was a glutton living in the stomach, no matter how much it was, it couldn't be filled.After eating just now, Jiang Yu swallowed again when he saw it, and looked up at Qi Nuliang: "Aren't you going to eat?"

"Children eat this."

"What do adults eat?"

"My lord smokes." Qi Nuliang took out a cigarette case from his breast pocket and lit one.He watched Jiang Yu keep looking at him, took off the cigarette from the corner of his mouth, and put it near the child's mouth, "Do you want to try it too?"

Jiang Yu quickly shook his head and concentrated on eating the candied haws in his hand.

Back home, Qi Nuliang laid out the ingredients bought today on the stove, including meat, vegetables and rice.He looked at the huge pile but encountered difficulties. He didn't know how to cook, so he just cooked noodles and stir-fried vegetables.

He stuffed the rice into the rice cooker, and added some water to the pot according to the instructions and with a little imagination of his own.Then he looked at the piece of meat, stared at it for a while, and called Jiang Yu outside.

The child ran in joltingly.Qi Nuliang looked at him up and down a few times, although it is unethical to ask children to cook, there is really no way.

He asked, "Do you know how to roast meat?"

Seeing that the child mumbled and swallowed when he heard "meat", he shook his head vigorously, and then looked at Qi Nuliang expectantly.

Qi Nuliang raised his hand and scratched the thin layer of stubble on the top of his head, but it was hopeless.

"How would you like to eat?"

This time Jiang Yu did not hesitate at all, and blurted out: "Braised pork."

Qi Nuliang smiled wryly, and knew that ordering food was a little more complicated.

"Okay, let's eat braised pork tonight."

It is not possible to become a mature person by talking about it.The first thing is to go downstairs and buy seasoning.

In the small shop downstairs, the boss brought him a bottle of soy sauce, a pack of rock sugar, and some spice powder.Qi Nuliang inquired about how to make braised pork by the way, and the boss roughly explained it to him again. Qi Nuliang was confused by what he heard, took a bagful of seasonings, and returned home.

The first time I cooked, I failed.

Rice water is too thin.Because Jiang Yu kept turning around the pot, the roasted meat couldn't wait, and it was served before the heat was over. It didn't have a mushy taste at all, and with the addition of too much sugar and salt, it was sweet and salty, wasting a piece of good meat in vain.Only a plate of green vegetables was still fried, but it was also salty.

Qi Nuliang sat aside and began to smoke without taking two bites. He watched Jiang Yu fill his mouth with pieces of meat that cut his throat. , with a full stomach, put away the dishes and went to wash.

"Leave it alone, there is no hot water now, so don't wash your hands."

Jiang Yu still took the bowl away to the kitchen.

It was already dark outside, and the child who was fed and clothed sat on the sofa and began to doze off, his chin was biting and biting.

Qi Nuliang went to boil a pot of water, told him to wash his face and feet, applied chilblain ointment, and told him to go into the room to sleep.

The back room was silent, Qi Nuliang took out all the money in the pocket of the travel bag and counted it, and the count was less than he imagined.He took out all the money he had on his body and spread it on the sofa. There were only a few scattered stalls, and he couldn't eat for a long time.

The main reason is that Jiang Yu ate too much.

He bit his cigarette butt and sorted out the money one by one, and divided it into several shares, calculating how long it would take.

The smoke has burned to the butt, and there is a smell of burnt.Qi Nuliang extinguished the cigarette, turned around and smoked another one, just about to light it, thought for a while, and put the cigarette back again.This is also an expense, let's save some money first.

All the money he saved in prison.Qi Nuliang was probably the only one in the entire prison who was able to save money by relying on the cheap reform-through-labor subsidy.

All these years, he has always wanted to come out to find Yao Huilan.Yao's family is "splashed by a married daughter", so don't count on it, her husband's family probably hates her too.It must be difficult for a woman to bring a child, Qi Nuliang hoped that he could help.

Relying on this thought, he can spend no money in prison, and he only learned to smoke after learning of Yao Huilan's death.

I have to make money.

Before he came out, he knew that he had to support himself, but when he came to this point, Qi Nuliang was still very nervous.He doesn't know what he can do.I was only 16 years old when I entered. Although I didn't study anymore, I had never even been to Nanquan City. The farthest place I have been to is Hongcheng.The fruits and vegetables at home are ripe, and he and his father picked them up to sell in Hongcheng.

As soon as he arrived in the city, his father found a tavern and ordered a plate of peanuts and broad beans. He drank it from morning to afternoon, his face was flushed from drinking, and he was dizzy.At this time, Qi Nuliang's fruits and vegetables were almost sold out.

The house at home has collapsed, and the land has been taken back by the brigade, so he has no way to go back to farming.

Time has cast a spell on him, eight years, only his body and age turned him into a man in his 20s, everything else about him is still the same as when he was 16 years old, his recognition of Hongcheng and the world around him Chiya was still eight years ago.

In fact, it all went too fast.

Money becomes worthless.When he got out of prison, he thought that his money would last him for a while, but in the end he found that everything had become so expensive that he couldn't afford it.When he went in, whoever had a color TV was a big event for the whole village to watch.Today, color TVs are everywhere.In the past, mobile phones were only things seen on TV, but now on the street, you can meet people holding small mobile phones to make calls at any time.

He suddenly understood the despair of the old man in the same prison.Even a young man finds it difficult to adapt to the world in front of him, let alone an old man in his sixties or seventies.

They have all been abandoned by this fast-moving world.

Thinking of this, Qi Nuliang took out the cigarettes that had just been stuffed into the cigarette case.