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When dark settled, in the open shed downstairs, several old people from the orchid mine gathered together and sang karaoke. Shi Qi vaguely heard Aunt Li's familiar mezzo-soprano, singing an old song: the song gently rippled on the surface of the dusk water, the factory in the twilight flashed in the distance, the lights of the train galloping through the windows were brilliant, and two young people waited for me on both sides of the hawthorn tree...
Rolling Stones do not produce moss
□bear
A soft sword, pierced into the nasal cavity, straight into the lung lobe. Shi Qi finally rolled over, coughing and gushing, lying on his back panting, struggling with a hangover. The smell of alcohol filled the air, and probably smashed a few bottles of spirits, Shi Qi thought he was paralyzed in the VOX bar, his palms were touching, naked and tightly wrapped in futons, thinking that he had been carried back to the hotel room. He tilted his head to look, but underneath him was the old peony flower sheet, following the light, on the cement balcony, his father Shi Daiquan was holding a huge green watering can in his hand, constantly spraying disinfection on the two wooden chairs. Shi Qi's heart was tight, last night he was drunk, his consciousness was confused but his direction was determined, he wore a mask and ran more than three hundred kilometers at night, took a taxi to change the motorcycle, and really returned to room 504 of the fifth building of Lankuang New Village, and left his hometown for five years.
The early summer sun is transparent, alcohol is like a sharp object, forcing breathing, two tung oil wooden chairs on the balcony flash golden red, Shi Qi trance to see his mother sitting on the chair shaking, humming lullaby, his own mouth with nipples, desperately sucking, choking, coughing, vomiting. On the wooden chairs, the black leather arms, jeans, floral shirts, and boxer briefs worn by the stone flag were spread out one by one, and the old newspapers on the floor were placed with wallets, ID cards, paddles, bracelets, and black leather boots, and the father sprayed them evenly with alcohol. The father crossed his hands at his waist, looked at the bed, found that Shi Qi had woken up, turned his head downstairs, extended his chest and legs, circled around the narrow balcony, and reported the number of steps in his mouth.
The river breeze on the balcony was strong, and his father seemed to have dried up long ago, at least three circles smaller than the outline in Shi Qi's memory, like a skinny ape. Father's face is brown, his cheeks are sunken, he wears a fat gray suit, he wears old-rimmed glasses, the spectacle legs are black and yellow, and his hair is greasy and curly, and he is mostly white. The Fanta case backed by the stone flag leans against the balcony fence, and the surface of the box is covered with alcohol droplets. After a little exercise, my father still couldn't help but flatten the violin box, open the lid of the box, and lift the watering can to continue disinfection. Shi Qi had to shout, stop and stop, my piano could not stand the tide. The case was open, and the father turned his head to look at him, his expression puzzled. Shi Qi sat up, and the box was stuffed with half a bottle of black square wine, and he did not see him playing the pale blue Fanta organ for many years. The father grinned softly at the corners of his mouth, hummed twice in his nostrils, lifted the watering can, and sprayed alcohol spray straight into the box. Shi Qi stared at the spray and faintly refracted the seven colors, repeatedly recalling the beloved electric guitar. Light blue body, specially asked the old violinist to make the old, the edge depicts the Paisley pattern advocated by the Beatles in the 60s, the vintage brass piano bridge, the flame maple neck, five years ago in the shichahai hundred flowers, spent 38,000 yuan from the guitar master giant to buy. Listening to the giant talk about the ancients, this piano was recorded in the series of records "Chinese Fire" that year, and the recording engineer came back from abroad, which achieved the national shake classic, which is of extraordinary significance.
Where did the piano go? Shi Qi saw his father spraying alcohol, looked at the trademark on the black square wine bottle, shook his head slightly, and sneered. He was suddenly remorseful, and he still shouldn't have come back. He remembered the drinking party after last night's performance, where everyone was drunk and excited, hugging each other, laughing and crying. Shi Qi thought that he was the most sober, he repeatedly proposed that everyone raise a glass upwards, thanking the Lan Mine brother Wei Tao, without an agreement with him, he would not insist on going down; thanks to the son of the famous cross-talk artist, if there was no band talent show that was out of the circle, their Blossom Band would have disbanded long ago, the piano sellers continued to sell the piano, the classes continued to run classes, the takeaways continued to deliver takeaways, and the intermediaries continued to act as intermediaries. The Blossom Band completed its first ten-city tour, and although the performance venues were in the LiveHouse with an audience of less than 500 or 600 people, they finally earned the first pot of gold. Before the performance, Ah Fan held up his mobile phone and showed him the tour income, starting with two, a total of six figures. Shi Qi was excited, broke the performance rules he had set, and after the other members of the band took the stage, he poured half a bottle of red wine in one breath, rushed to the stage with a cross-body guitar, kicked the effects, swept the strings, and the music roared, and the whole noise was loud.
Shi Qi looked up from the pillow and saw small familiar red lacquered wood furniture against the wall on the left and right, the wall was covered with awards he had received from the primary one class of Lan Mining Kindergarten to the third (third) class of Lan Mining Middle School, nine family photo frames were hung on the bedside wall, and the furnishings of the home were unchanged from five years ago, exactly the same. The father sprayed alcohol, opened the curtain, washed his hands and shabu in the outhouse, and the TV news sounded. Father shouted, don't pretend to sleep, lazy what lazy, steamed porridge on the table. Shi Qi was a little misty, the trance never left, and he still lived in the winter vacation when he was a child, lying on the pillow for a little while. He propped his head up and stared at the wall, looking for his mother in the picture frame. The upper right one, is the mother and father acquaintance not long ago, on the top of the hill behind the Orchid Mine, an old pine under the two people looking into the distance, the color is said to be added later, the mother in her twenties is wearing a blue overalls, two cheeks crimson, two long braids, is young. The single photo of the mother in the middle is taken by Shi Qi and his mother on the bus to the county photo studio, the mother tries her best to smile, probably because the photo lamp is dazzling, the eyes see the flickering things, the eyes are crescent-like, the hair is meticulous, a bun is pulled behind the head, although the photo can not be seen, but Shi Qi remembers that her mother held up a wooden comb for a long time before leaving that day. Mom said, I want to go to the photo studio to take a photo, the kind that I can use in the future, I'm afraid that if it is too late, then the poor photo will make you fall. The lower left is a group photo of two people, eighteen-year-old Shi Qi and Wei Tao, jumping in mid-air, flying freeze frame, it is the mother holding Wei Tao's camera, delay and continuous shooting, remember that the mother was very happy when she pressed the shutter.
Shi Qi heard his father smack his lips again and again, with an elongated silk tone, and he was familiar with the sound of drinking alcohol from physiological disgust when he was young. Shi Qi jumped out of bed naked and slammed the wardrobe door as before, and the outhouse was suddenly quiet, leaving only the female announcer on the TV speaking very quickly. The balcony tops and pants were pickled with alcohol, and Shi Qi opened the closet door, and the cabinet was three blocks, or his mother had sorted and neatly stacked his clothes five years ago. Mom looked for five blue cloth shorts made by the tailor on the mine, put them on the upper grid, he took one of them, wrapped his legs, pulled it to his waist, and before he could turn around, the blue cloth was torn apart, and the fragments fell between the legs and feet, and the yellow elastic band was wrapped around the navel. Shi Qi blew his nose and found old jeans and a blue plaid shirt from the cabinet to put on, and the dust was raised, and the smell of camphor was faint. He lifted the curtain, and his father was drinking again, holding a glass in his left hand and fried peanuts and rice from a dish in his right hand, sending them to his mouth one by one, staring at the TV, and ignoring him. Shi Qi dragged open the wooden chair, scooped a bowl of porridge in an aluminum pot, and took a white steamed bun in a small basket. The father said to the TV that Sangen came back drunk in the middle of the night, and did not say hello in advance, making the neighbors in the new village noisy. Shi Qi said, I want to go back whenever I want, this is my home. Father said, three years ago, when I came back, why didn't I see you at home, like a lone ghost, and now I know that it is your home? Shi Qi bowed his head to drink porridge, regretted the impulsiveness of drinking last night, rushed to find himself blocked, took out his mobile phone to book tickets, and set off for the return trip in the afternoon, without delaying to join the band. Father put down the wine glass, smacked his mouth and began to nagging, the second floor left side of your uncle Feng, last month myocardial infarction left, that is, you broke your knee in the mine when you were a child, carry you to the health room to stitch the needle of the financial section accountant, the new village unsealed, the situation improved, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, but he left. Shi Qi found that his father could not stop his mouth, like an overflowing wine tank, and finally unscrewed the faucet at the bottom of the cylinder, and the jet could not stop. Father drunkenly spooking, last year the virus was severe, don't look at the new village moved for many years, the past fifty years of state-owned Lan Mining unit organization discipline, or very effective, everyone listened to the call to listen to the command, consciously sealed the building and closed the door, the lottery under the age of sixty was listed, wearing armbands to engage in volunteer service, door to door to help send rice to buy vegetables, the whole village did not have a single case of infection, only walked three old and sick old guys.
Shi Qi only looked down at the tickets, the mobile phone kept vibrating, clicked on the Blossom WeChat group, the members of the group have emerged, some asked the boss organization what big dishes to eat at noon, and asked Daqi why you are not in the room. Ah Fan opened a private chat, and Shi Qi left the dining table and went to the balcony. Father's eyes followed him closely, his mouth seemed to be blocked by a wooden plug, one by one, all white foam, groping for the wine glass, drinking a large mouthful, smacking his mouth hard, and the silk tone was pulled long. Under the balcony, the big river is like a glass boardwalk, solidified and fragile, and there is no trace of flow. Ah Fan said, did you really go back to your hometown last night? Shi Qi said, come back tonight, don't delay things, you arrange for everyone to rest for a day, just say I will go out to talk about platform cooperation, tomorrow we will go back to Y Province, continue to grind the band album, and push the paid version on the Internet. Ah Fan said, there is something, wait for you, come back, talk about it. Shi Qi said, there is something to say, say it now, don't swallow it. Ah Fan said, it may not be nothing, let's talk about it at night. Ah Fan also said, one more word, you were on the scene last night, and you should not smash the piano in the end.
The river breeze whistles, from the balcony on the fifth floor, there are cargo ships sailing on the river, the left side of the bank is the riverbank plain, and the large areas of farmland in early summer are covered with plastic film, and countless cotton seedlings are growing inside. Eleven years ago, the river was cut off, the lan mine was converted to production, and the miners and their families were scattered and relocated, and many places were resettled. More than 200 households in the Lan Mining Agency, including Shi Qi's parents, moved from the banks of the Lan river to this plain, and the local cotton spinning factory held a banner to welcome everyone to move in and work. Mother until her death, are not accustomed to the climate, the weather is hot she has to continue to give cotton field medicine, summer is the hottest time she has to drill the cotton field to pick cotton peaches, winter plains are not shaded by mountains, the wind is like a lion roaring day and night, she sleeps to wear sweaters and pants, cover three beds of quilts, the family can not be separated from the stove brazier, in the past in the mine to pick up do not feel, moved here only to find that buying coal for household use, is not a small expense.
Father heard Shi Qi's voice on the balcony, couldn't help it, and asked loudly from the house, are you leaving? Just got home and couldn't stay overnight? What's the big deal? Shi Qi turned his head to look at the piano case, which leaned against the corner of the balcony, the inner abdomen was empty, and the black square wine bottle was stacked on the bottom, living like a natural drunkard. He recalled the last time of the pale blue piano in his arms, the noise wall of more than five minutes, from his violently plucked strings, through the effects, through the huge sound, in the minds of hundreds of spectators exploded one blue mushroom cloud after another, the thick sense of layering overwhelmed the earth, arrived at the densest and most explosive moment, as if cut open by a knife, the stone flag stopped all movements, wanted to make the world silent, but the audience was still immersed in it, they repeatedly sang the lyrics of the Blossom Band: Mr. Shi, who was drunk and awake, stood on the top of the ninety-ninth floor, Hold up the telescope, the terrible thing is not death, you have never lived, the terrible thing is that you are alive, but you have never lived... Shi Qi felt the emptiness after the release, directly in front of his head, the voice kept chanting, the time came, the time came, he clenched the neck, held the body high, smashed it to the front of the stage, the body suddenly broke, the blue flowers splashed, and the whistle echoed.
The sound of glass cracking, piercing through the curtain, the stone flag was a little annoyed, the father could not change the drunken habits of many years, probably throwing things again. He returned to the back room, opened the curtain, and sure enough, there was one less safflower glass in the house, and he was smashed in the corner of the wall by his father, and the bud valley wine spilled on the ground. To his surprise, his father was sobbing like Shi Qi when he was a child, and tears and snot flowed all over his face.
The homemade iron plate door, up to eight centimeters thick, the door frame uses a truncated waste track, and the upper part of the door panel is welded with a thick iron bar with an index finger to weld out a diamond-shaped window with a lock. Once the iron door was locked, the key could not be found, and even if the Heavenly King Lao Tzu tried his best, he could not open it. Five years ago, in order to guard against the old colleagues of the Lan Mine, Shi Qi and Wei Tao found a young worker in the town's agricultural machinery factory to get acquainted, stuffed two Red Tower Mountains for the workshop director, poured three days in the workshop, and made two solid doors for Xiao Wei's two families, at least so that the two mothers were less frightened and able to avoid living.
Now, the iron door was locked, Shi Qi could only stare dryly, he carried the piano case on his shoulder, his clothes and pants were dry, the smell of alcohol was strong, and his father sat at the table, watching the TV news by himself. Shi Qi said, the key is brought, I still have business, the tickets are booked, must go. Father said, I do not delay time, I will talk about two points, first, last year, the new village up and down, after temporarily blocking the unit door, I forgot where the door key was placed, and then unsealed it has not been out, the door is not good, stay at home, both quiet and safe; second, according to the relevant regulations, you come back from outside, first of all, you have to isolate at home. Shi Qi said, haven't you been out of the house since last year? The keys have been forgotten where to put, how did I get in the door last night? Hurry up and get the key out. I came out on tour, for more than two months, all in safe places, and the health code kept evergreen and opened the door.
After a moment of stalemate, my father said that when it was time for his nap, the bedroom door was closed and the stone flag was hung in front of the iron gate. Shi Qi kicked at the iron door and rubbed his toes on a wooden chair. He rummaged through the boxes and cabinets and did not find the door key. Looking at the furnishings in the house, there was almost no change from when I left five years ago, such as fifty-three cassettes coded next to the dual-card tape recorder, seventy-six copies of "Audiovisual World" and "Music Paradise" magazines on the shelves, the dark green butterfly piano hanging obliquely on the wall with dust nets, and a worn-out acoustic guitar. In addition to a few more pieces of food in the corner of the kitchen board: five-barrel paper cover strips in a plastic bag, a few cabbages, two bottles of chili sauce, a long flower soy sauce bottle, and about a third of the bud valley wine remaining in the large plastic pot. In the small memory, the father's life self-care ability is weak, and he never enters the kitchen. In the Spring Festival of the third year of the first year of Shi Qi's reading, her mother had to go back to Jiangcheng to see her grandmother, but her father insisted on leaving Shi Qi in Lan Mine for the New Year. The first three days were taken by his father to drink wine and eat meat everywhere, to the county town to take turns to worship the New Year, the county town took turns to worship, from the restaurant to the canteen, from the canteen to the restaurant, the father's wine table called a tsunami, the county chief and the mayor of the town hooked shoulder to shoulder, as soon as he came home, he vomited in the dark, Shi Qi fiddled with the family basin foot basin bucket, followed by his father constantly moving, from the sofa to the bathroom to the bed, accepting his gushing and vomiting pickles, but also constantly jumping to avoid the glassware that his father had broken casually. After the twenty-ninth day of the Waxing Moon, the local units finished the New Year's Greeting, the restaurants and vegetable farms on the street closed, after the father woke up, he cooked noodles, scrambled egg rice, and stewed overnight meals at home three times a day, and after eating he lay down on the bed to sleep, and the New Year atmosphere disappeared, Shi Qi stayed up until the fifth day of the first month of the first month, and waited until his mother rushed back in advance.
I have been away from home for several years, I don't know how my father lives alone, I eat and drink outside completely, I rely on myself to cook noodles and fried rice at home, I can imagine that life is a mess. In the first half of last year, Shi Qi managed to send rice noodles, alcohol and masks to his father, and the large bottle of disinfectant alcohol quickly bottomed out, and two large bags of masks disappeared. His father said that he had not been out again last year, how could he run out of masks? Shi Qi looked at the time, even if he opened the iron gate now, he could not catch the last train today, so he could only stay one more night and change the earliest train tomorrow. He swept the corner with a broom, cleaned up the broken glasses, and then pushed the door of his father's bedroom, which had a latch on it, and he said, I changed my ticket, came out and opened the iron door, and went out at night to fight tooth sacrifices. The bedroom door had not yet opened, and the large iron door was slammed shut. A high-pitched female voice shouted, Shi Zong, listen to you kick the door inside, it's okay you, if you are uncomfortable, hurry up and open the door, if you want to buy something, just say it, I handed it in from the small window, don't toss it blindly. When Shi Qi heard that it was aunt Li, a small neighbor, when he was young, the Lan Mine Staff And Labor Corps reported the voice of the curtain, and he opened his mouth to respond, It's okay, it's okay, Aunt Li. The father who washed his mouth out of the mouth was tightly covered, and the father pushed him into the kitchen, stepped over and pulled open the small diamond-shaped window, and even said, It's all right, you don't have to shout loudly, I'm very good! Aunt Li Oh Oh a few times, lowered the volume and asked, did I just hear xiaoqi's child's voice, he came back? What about my family Wei Tao? Father replied, no, this family is on my own, more than three years, you are not unaware. Aunt Li said, Shi Zong, don't lie to me, my ears are very good. Father said, come back. Shi Qi crept and paced, seeing his father raise his hand to close the diamond-shaped small window, outside the door came Aunt Li's sobbing, his father stood silently against the iron door, for a while he heard Aunt Li's footsteps downstairs, his father turned around, sat on the old sofa, rubbed his hands back and forth, and did not say a word. Shi Qi asked, Tao Zi has been gone for almost half a year, Aunt Li she does not know? The father reached into the pocket of the old suit, and when he was nervous, he used to touch the cigarette, touched it for a while, and then raised his hand to brush his hair, and pushed the white head back with force. Shi Qi panicked in his heart and hurried to the back room. He glanced at the green butterfly piano, the old wooden guitar, the double card tape recorder on the wall, and the eighteen-year-old photo of himself and Wei Tao in the lower left of the bed, and he blamed himself in his heart that he should not rush back. Shi Qi stared at the balcony outside, it was already twilight, the river was lonely, the bats on the left side of the shore were flocked, and the cotton field was flying low, drawing a strange curve.
When my mother was there, every day after dinner, she would walk in a circle with Aunt Li, a habit that probably began when they were young, from the mining area to the new village, and walked for many years. Shi Qi followed them countless times from toddler to before his mother died. Mom and Aunt Li were the same batch of technicians who entered the Lan Mine, and at that time, supporting the construction of the third line, My mother and Aunt Li rushed from Jiangcheng to hold the belief that the family had taken root. Shi Qi often recalls now that the family members in the mine like to visit the door, love to fly short and long, mother and Aunt Li in addition to the two families to move around, is to close the door into a unified, eating and wearing and Lan Mine more than three thousand other than no different, but the family always has the atmosphere of living elsewhere. What I can't figure out is that after countless opportunities to return to the city, the two mothers still chose to stay, but every day they let Shi Qi and Wei Tao always keep imagining the outside world, high-rise buildings, traffic, acoustic guitars, jeans, tape recorders, pop music, and so on. However, it may be this sense of distance that stands out in the Lan Mine, allowing the two fathers to benefit from it and move all the way up to the position of the last chairman and general manager.
When she was young, her mother and Aunt Li were two flowers of the Lan Mine Workers' Cultural and Labor Troupe, her mother played the butterfly piano, and Aunt Li was a singer and announcer. The dark green butterfly piano and broken wood guitar that was covered with dust nets were the love objects of my mother and Aunt Li, and the seventy-six music magazines, my mother had also read them one by one, and she often read a sentence to the stone flag, and she didn't know where to read the proverb: Rolling stones do not produce moss. When he was a child, his mother always told him that if he wanted to avoid moss and mold, the farther he grew up, the better. Aunt Li was relatively doting on Wei Tao, which also led to Wei Tao and Shi Qi being different, for example, Wei Tao enjoyed his father's position more in the shade, often claimed to be a Lan Mine kidnapper (Xiang'e dialect, boss, ruthless), like to cause trouble, have many eyes, be cruel, from the surrounding villages and towns to the county seat, walking sideways, provoking groups of people. Lan Mine has been mining and building a factory on the bank of Lanxi for nearly 50 years, the mining area has spread more than ten kilometers, nearly 10,000 employees and their families have become their own living system, and the pride of the big mine has continued for generations. For various reasons, he has done countless fights, from a look to a new jacket, to an open-air movie to compete for a position, often becoming a legend that Lan Miners talk about.
Shi Qi lay on the old peony sheet and stared at the eighteen-year-old group photo. The outhouse was as silent as a long night, and the sound of my father's breathing was almost inaudible, and my father had never been so invisible in the house. In the past, I was out all year round, either drinking or talking, and when I got home, I was either drunk or sleeping with my head covered. Later, when his father and Wei Tao's father had an accident together, their mother and Aunt Li hid at home and cried, waiting for Shi Qi and Wei Tao to return, and the two mothers pretended to be okay and hid from them for three months. Until Shi Qi's eighteenth birthday, he and Wei Tao took this group photo, his mother still laughed and pressed the shutter, the next day he and Wei Tao took off the film, went to the town to rinse the photos, and were blocked on the street corner by more than a dozen former Lan Mine disciples, forcing them to pay money to settle the account, scolding their father for harming everyone. They learned that their fathers, Shi Daiquan and Wei Dajun, had long been taken away from the company's office on suspicion of dereliction of duty and corruption. Wei Tao has been a kidnapper of the children of the Lan Mine since he was a child, who can afford to ride on his head in the past, dragging the stone flag to a chaotic rush, but was forced into the street Internet café, the children rushed in, some people turned off the power, blackened the lights, the two sides dismantled the seats and fought, and the stone flag was set up by the children to the riverside. When Wei Tao revealed his soft sword to save him, he was pressed into the river by five disciples, his cheeks rubbed on the pebbles at the bottom of the beach, the river water gushed through his mouth, nose, ears, and eyes, and his chest was like being repeatedly scraped by a blade, and his lungs were about to explode. When the five disciples let go of their hands, he looked up and coughed violently, and it took a while to see clearly that Wei Tao was holding a soft sword and slashing the two disciples, and the other five were like fast-forward videotapes, flying ashore step by step. Shi Qi's throat was dry, his breath was as thick as an ox, he was lying on the rocky beach, holding a few mouths of river water entrance, he saw the river bank floating into piles of white foam, as if thousands of fish were gasping.
After Shi Qi returned home, he asked his mother what was going on, and her mother only cared about the busy work in her hands and ignored him. In the afternoon, I went out to look for Wei Tao, only to know that Aunt Li had told the truth, eleven years ago it was determined that the river was intercepted, the Lan Mine received more than 100 million yuan of relocation funds, the two fathers drank and traveled more frequently, built a cement plant and a chemical plant in the upper reaches of Lanxi, put into operation for more than a year, the satellite found that a milky white tributary appeared in the middle reaches of the river, the environmental protection department ordered it to stop work, more stringent measures were introduced, the cement plant chemical plant was included in the scope of demolition, nearly 10,000 miners and their families bid farewell to Lanxi, scattered relocation, and resettlement in many places. Aunt Li said that these two drunken numbness will have an accident sooner or later. Wei Tao dragged Shi Qi to the county seat to inquire about his father's news, but the two of them had no way out and squatted in the county Internet café for one night. On this night, the families of the two children who were slashed and injured led a large group of old workers of the Lan Mine to block the doors of Shi Wei's two homes. The two mothers said that they had sold out their past human faces and promised to pay five thousand yuan in medical expenses first to treat the injuries of the two children who had watched them grow up. The next morning, Shi Qi and Wei Tao returned from the county seat, and seeing that the situation was not right, they quickly begged the young workers in the town to make two thick iron doors. The old workers knocked on the door at both ends for three days, and their mother and Aunt Li involuntarily distanced themselves. Mom stopped reading and playing the piano, and gradually became more silent, often falling into a state of stagnation. Shi Qi began to practice guitar hard for eight hours a day, stereotypically closed, indulging in it. Rumors began to spread that Shi Daiquan had handed over his private ledger, and Wei Dajun was terrified and seriously ill. Soon, the news of the death of the Wei family's father came, and Aunt Li cried heart-wrenching downstairs, and her mother could not bear it, and she walked into the river in the morning fog and disappeared ever since.
When dark settled, in the open shed downstairs, several old people from the orchid mine gathered together and sang karaoke. Shi Qi vaguely heard Aunt Li's familiar mezzo-soprano, singing an old song: the song gently rippled on the surface of the dusk water, the factory in the twilight flashed in the distance, the lights of the train galloping through the windows were brilliant, and two young people waited for me on both sides of the hawthorn tree... Shi Qi's chest was like blocking the overnight eclipse, the burning feeling gradually intensified, he quickly closed the balcony door, habitually pulled out the mobile phone, fingers quickly swiped, the screen pictures and texts flickered, in the WeChat group, the band members were quiet. Afan left the words alone five times and asked him when he would arrive in the evening. The last message said that last night's performance scene, something happened, I don't know if it can be leveled, you come back to discuss. Shi Qi remembered that Ah Fan had been spitting and spitting, grabbed his mobile phone and dialed her number, the phone was always busy. After about half an hour, Ah Fan finally replied to the message, saying that if Shi Qi arrived at the high-speed rail station, he would come directly to the city hospital. Shi Qi was even more worried, and quickly texted to ask the reason. After another ten minutes, Ah Fan replied to the message that at the end of last night's performance, Shi Qi held aloft an electric guitar and smashed it to the front of the stage, the body of the piano broke and splashed, and injured an audience member under the stage, and now he was in the hospital, surrounded by the families of the injured, some said that he scratched his cheek, some said that he had injured his eyes, and was apologizing while comforting and discussing the amount of compensation. Shi Qi felt the black square from the violin box, twisted open the bottle cap, and poured two mouthfuls into his mouth, from the throat to the abdomen like it was cut open, hot and cajoling, ventilation and air leakage. Shi Qi thought about it, thinking that Ah Fan had joined the team for less than three months, he suddenly couldn't remember Ah Fan's appearance, like the night fog rising on the river surface, huge water vapor particles, making him fall into chaos.
Three months ago, when handling storage procedures for Wei Tao at the Yangcheng Funeral Home, in addition to herself who hurried from the airport, Ah Fan was left alone with a transparent umbrella to stand in the rain, etc. She wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses, saying that she did not dare to enter the museum and had been waiting for someone to handle it. When Shi Qi first saw her, he felt a little familiar, like a white stork in the reeds by the Banks of Lanxi, standing alone, not sure when to flutter and fly in a circle. On the way into the city, Shi Qi asked to understand that Ah Fan was once also a disciple of Lan Min, who came out of the south to work at a very young age, and met Wei Tao by chance, who fished her out of the bathing city and later lived together. Ah Fan simply said the situation, Wei Tao jumped from the corridor window between the twelfth and thirteenth floors, about 4:45 p.m., because that afternoon she did not live broadcast, went out to turn around, bought bottled water, bulk dumplings and brine roots in the supermarket downstairs, heard a group of fathers and mothers and fathers and mothers shouting downstairs of the unit, she did not come closer, just saw it and collapsed, the dumplings were scattered on the ground, and were rolled into mud by the police ambulance ambulance.
Ah Fan said that there was a Xiang restaurant near their residence, and Wei Tao used to say that there was a taste of Shi Qi's family food, or a dinner, it was considered to be a farewell to Wei Tao. The neighborhood they rent is relatively remote, taxis pass through the main city, the Pearl River is seen on the road, the ships float in the rain curtain, and the river water lapses on the shore. Shi Qi thought about Wei Tao's thoughts, and looked out from the window, there were tributary waterways in the distance, and sure enough, he vaguely looked like his hometown Lanxi. Listening to Ah Fan, they rented two houses in the same community, she lived on the eleventh floor of six buildings, and Wei Tao lived on the twelfth floor of seven buildings. Ah Fan introduced himself as a music anchor, wei Tao always brushed gifts, which is considered to be an Internet celebrity. Shi Qi did not answer the phone, he received a notice from the police to deal with the aftermath, saying that Wei Tao had a message before his death, in case of an accident, he would contact Shi Qi by phone. When he got out of the car, Ah Fan said that Wei Tao still owed her 200,000 yuan and asked Shi Qi if he could transfer it to her. Shi Qi said that he did not have enough money in online banking, so he first transferred her 20,000 yuan. Ah Fan stared at the successful transfer of money on his mobile phone, and two long legs jumped into the six door openings. The rain in the south came and went quickly, and at this time the sun was shining, and he followed Ah Fan into the eleventh floor room of the six buildings, where there were guzheng, gourd silk, a dark yellow butterfly piano, a live broadcast stand, a fill light, and a dazzling swivel chair. Shi Qi asked, can you play the butterfly piano? Ah Fan said that Wei Tao bought it to let him learn, someone on the Internet watched it, and there was traffic earned. Shi Qi shook his head and rubbed his eyes, thinking that if Wei Tao could walk with him five years ago, he would not be able to live. Ah Fan said that he always talked about you, said that he played small and listened to songs with you, and also thought about forming a band, and as a result, you left him to go out and break out, became a guitarist, had a band, and was said to want to do a tour, and he also vowed that you would definitely take him with you in the first round of the tour.
Shi Qi defended in his heart that at the beginning, he did not leave him, but got on the ship and went through the security check, and he silently pinned the soft sword in his waist. After his mother disappeared, Shi Qi decided to go far. Wei Tao didn't care about his father's entanglement, and he had to follow Shi Qi out to break into the world. The soft sword is ninety-eight centimeters long, two points seven centimeters wide, the sword blade double blade, is still in the Lan Mine when they look for the second well Mo mine chief, to find a good spring steel, soft grinding hard winding workshop senior forge Xiong Dahong knocked out. After slashing and injuring Lan Min's children, they were listed as murder weapons, and the police station came to search for them many times, but they were all scolded by Aunt Li and delayed. As a result, it was found at the dock, Wei Tao refused to hand it over, the two sides pulled, the time was delayed, Aunt Li cried and rushed over, holding Wei Tao a handful of snot and a handful of tears. The boat was about to open, and Shi Qi could only rush to board the boat, holding the side of the boat, and the river water was wider and wider, and they stayed on the barge, getting smaller and smaller. That soft sword had saved Shi Qi's life, and he watched as wei Tao threw him into the river. Later, the main business of Lan Mining New Village was to grow cotton, and most of the children were like dry grass scattered by the wind, scattered in all directions, each making a living. Wei Tao still left Aunt Li and went to Beijing to find Shi Qi. At that time, Shi Qi had just graduated from the Midi Music School, rented an adobe house in Tree Village, four people squeezed seven square meters, he played the piano for eight hours a day under the soap horn tree behind the house, and he could only afford to eat a pack of fast food noodles. Wei Tao stayed for three days, saying that Shi Qi was the material for the dry band, and he couldn't stand it himself, so he went south to earn a lot of money and waited for Shi Qi to tour.
In the restaurant recommended by Ah Fan, Shi Qi was most impressed by the chopped pepper fish head and mashed dumplings, which really reminded him of the taste of his mother's cooking, and the two neighbors from childhood came to eat, and the taste was the same. Ah Fan even ordered Sanza fresh brew beer and shook his head as he drank. Ah Fan asked, do you know why Wei Tao jumped? Shi Qi said, you eat more vegetables and drink less. Ah Fan said twice that their gang had closed the elevator, one rushed down from the upper floor, the other searched up from the downstairs, he blocked it in the middle, turned out the window of the corridor, and went straight down. Shi Qi said, don't say this, people are already gone. Afan said, know why you want to block him? Shi Qi said that before coming to the police notice, the telecommunications network fraud gang was controlling behind the scenes, he was responsible for the single-line transfer, he had money in his hand like tap water, he really couldn't look at it, intercepted the money to make false accounts, and was discovered by the gang. Ah Fan said that he was really rich, and when I broadcast live, he helped me brush through the heart of the cloud arrow universe, thousands of banknotes, and full of salute fireworks. Shi Qi said, what did the police do afterwards? Didn't affect you? Ah Fan said that he left two ledgers, he always said that the network is not secure, all in black and white, are personal names and numbers, I told him before, once there is an accident, the traffic police, wash away my interference. Ah Fan also said that the savings are gone, the income is not settled, the landlord urges the move, and the impact is still there. Shi Qi asked her what she planned to do in the future? Ah Fan asked, just now when you were drinking, you said that the day after tomorrow your band will start the first round of tour? Ten cities? Shi Qi nodded and said yes. Ah Fan said, Wei Tao is gone, I will help him witness, you can walk around with your band, do miscellaneous accounting. Shi Qi hesitated a little, ah fan said, Wei Tao often chanted, you two families owe Lan Mining disciples, everything looks at the past, you know what to do.
Shi Qi clutched the wine bottle in his left hand, pressed his mobile phone with his right hand, and repeatedly dialed the Afan number. The night was like ink, the water vapor on the river surface steamed, gradually becoming white, and the thick fog completely covered the river, like dry ice on the stage. He looked at Afan's red-rimmed glasses and tried to recall her appearance. The birds in the fog, wet and heavy, swayed in an arc, not knowing where to go. At ten o'clock in the evening, Ah Fan finally answered the mobile phone, and said in a tired voice, the matter is over, you can continue to hide in your hometown, as a shrunken-headed turtle. Shi Qi suppressed the fire in her heart and asked her what was wrong with the knot. Ah Fan said that seeing the injured, the real situation is that the guitar fragments collapsed into each other's lips and teeth, a front tooth was missing most of the half, and the problems that money could solve were not problems. Shi Qi asked, how much money to solve the problem? Ah Fan said that in addition to the tour income, there is no other money. Shi Qi felt the whole bottle stuffed into his throat and choked for a moment. Ten cities hard tour, income of 200,000, the band bass Zhang Fan, drum Xiaosi is the same door that the midi school boiled out together, keyboardist Lao Pan is his painstakingly dug up piano personal trainer, they are not better than their own one to eat enough for the whole family, engage in music play band also have to support the family, the tour income, have some hope. The Stone Flag Heavenly Spirit Cover was slammed, and the pickled qi rushed straight from the bottom of the abdomen, smashing the wine bottle and spewing out.
The father coughed continuously, as if from another time and space. Shi Qi woke up from the haze, the black square wine bottle shattered on the balcony, the mobile phone was thrown on the old peony sheet next to him, and the beep of the other party hanging up was constantly heard. It was already midnight, Shi Qi felt his throat dry and dumb, in the dream he was crushed by a boulder, there was a hissing sound from the outhouse, a smell of fresh alcohol spread, he slowly got up and walked out, his father was holding a watering can, disinfecting the corner of the wall. Shi Qi held his breath and stretched his neck to look at the string of rusty keys that were placed under the alcohol nozzle. The father leaned his back, stood up and said, listening to your phone for more than half an hour, drunk yourself, not in a hurry son, the key I found out, some rust, disinfection, you open the door and leave quickly, it is important to do things. Shi Qi was wet in front of his eyes, and went into the kitchen to pour cold white, and his father came over to get a broom and clean the broken wine bottles on the balcony. Shi Qi asked his father, he has not been out since last year? How did the two packs of masks sent back go out? Father bowed his head and tied the garbage bag tightly, tucked it out of the small window of the iron door, said two packs of masks were handed out to Aunt Li, let her and the volunteer old guys use, after I came back, rarely went out, in the past sorry for Lan Mine, now personally stay, better.
Outside the narrow window of the kitchen, the three buildings of the new village are like three monuments on the plain, and occasionally there are single bats passing through. Shi Qi looked down at the mobile phone, the weChat group was silent, as if nothing had happened, he tentatively contacted the three musicians alone, late at night there was no response for the time being, and Afan's avatar had turned gray. Shi Qi faintly heard the music in the outhouse, listened carefully, and was singing: Mr. Shi, who was drunk and awake, stood on the top of the ninety-ninth floor, raised the telescope, the terrible thing is not death, you have never lived, the terrible thing is that you are alive, but you have never lived... Shi Qi walked along and saw his father sitting on a wooden chair, using his old mobile phone to play the band's song. Father asked, you said in the song, you sang this Mr. Stone, who is it.
—END—
Yangtze River Literature and Art, No. 1, 2022
Responsible Editor | Ding East Asia
▲ Don't |
Don't ming, now living in Wuhan. The 13th contracted writer of Hubei Writers Association. He has published novels in journals such as Writer, Novel Circle, Yangtze River Literature and Art, and Shanxi Literature. Novels and non-fiction works have been published.