That year had just entered the summer, and in the face of the results that did not always improve, I suddenly had the idea of dropping out of school. Despite the tears of my mother and sister many times, I still insisted on my own ideas, and there was still summer vacation

That year had just entered the summer, and in the face of the results that did not always improve, I suddenly had the idea of dropping out of school. Despite the tears of my mother and sister many times, I still insisted on my own ideas, and when I was still a month away from the summer vacation, I went home with the roll cover, and I did not even say hello to the teacher and classmates.

My father worked odd jobs in the brick kiln near the village, and he did not do technical work, but pure physical work, building up the brick blanks horizontally and vertically, letting them ventilate and dry, and then send them to the kiln for firing. In the kiln factory, workers are served a lunch every day, full of rice or steamed buns, plus a bowl of boiled cabbage or radish with a few pieces of fatty meat. Father was notorious for his frugality, and every time he came back from working in the fields, he would pick up a few dead branches, a few pieces of dried cow dung, or at least a handful of grass, and never had his hands empty. But while working in the kiln, he never brought back a single broken brick. Others used the bricks picked up in the kiln factory to build a chicken nest, and the mother was a little red-eyed, but she did not dare to let her father take it.

Knowing that I was going to drop out of school, my father threw out the tin wine glass in his hand at the dinner table that night: "Your boy doesn't want to live, does he?" When you are tired of living, the whole family is counting on you to go to school, you bastard thing! ”

The sister silently picked up the wine glass. The mother had begun to wipe away her tears. I looked at them sheepishly. My father pointed his index finger at my forehead, and his fingertips swayed between my eyebrows, and said a dozen "you" in a row, and finally he picked up a rolling pin behind him and hit me lifelessly, and the two hisses were very dull, not too heavy, I did not dodge. The third time my father raised his hand, my sister came over crying and pulled me along. With a click, the corner of the Eight Immortals table was broken by the rolling pin, and if it were not for my sister pulling me away, my ribs would be worse than the corner of the table.

The whole family was stunned, the table was the mother's dowry, the most valuable object in the family, and the only thing our family could give out when the villagers borrowed things for the red and white wedding. My sister and I were scared silly. The mother let out a scream first, followed by a loud cry. Two minutes later, my mother snatched the rolling pin from my father's hand, and I was so frightened that I tensed up and shivered. My mother raised the rolling pin toward my father with great force, and as it fell, the force continued to decrease, and when it landed on my father's back, I suspected that there was no longer any strength, as if it were only a gentle touch. She threw her rolling pin and continued to cry. Father let out a long sigh, stomped the ground, and walked out of the courtyard door with his hands behind his back.

This night, my father did not return. I woke up a few times to hear my mother sucking her nose, very light and low, trying to suppress it. The next day, my mother's eyes were red and swollen, and she told me to go to the fourth master's house to send some steamed buns. Outside the courtyard of the fourth master's house, I heard him calling his father's nickname and saying something in a rough voice. I hesitated to enter the courtyard, but I was seen by the fourth master, who said in a loud voice: "Satisfied, your boy is coming in, what is rubbing at the door?" And the big man. I couldn't back down and had to step into the yard.

The fourth master is a good breeder of cattle, has a donkey cart, and helps the kiln factory transport bricks all day long. People made up a slip of the tongue and said: Small donkeys, big steel bullets, can earn seven or eight yuan a day. The steel bullet refers to the steel ball in the bearing of the donkey's wheel, which means that the fourth master's life is very moist, and few people in the village can compare. This time, he bought a small donkey and prepared to expand the scale of transportation. If the donkey is well tamed, he will not have a problem driving two cars alone.

"It just so happens that both of you are here, and I'm going to tame this new donkey." The fourth master said, pointing to the gray donkey tethered to the jujube tree in the southeast corner of the courtyard. The hairs on the donkey's back are tied upwards, and at a glance, I know that I am not a good master. The fourth master took out a whip, and the whip was polished. He handed the whip to his father, "Come on, you were more than a donkey." Father smiled and took the whip. From the moment I entered the yard, he hadn't even looked at me. He walked slowly, the whip dragging on the ground behind him, coldly jerking the donkey, shouting in his mouth: Drive! The donkey jumped up in horror, first lifting and lowering its front legs, then flying up its hind legs, trying to give its father a kick.

The donkey and the man fought off in this way. Father picked up the whip again, danced a beautiful "8" arc in the air, and loudly exploded two whips: pop. Seeing that the whip had not fallen on his body, the donkey raised his head demonstratively and let out a long series of cries that were full of mockery. Father beat the donkey lifelessly. The donkey took off several times, raising dust all over the yard. Neither side showed weakness, and after the father whipped several times in a row, the donkey followed the rope that tied it and circled around the jujube tree. Later, as soon as the father raised the whip, before it fell, the donkey's resistance had begun, and it jumped first to meet the whipping. Every time I saw the whip rise and fall, it was like a whip on myself, from my father's hand raised high, I closed my eyes, until the crackling sound, I opened my eyes, I knew that my father's anger had not subsided.

Until the father and the donkey were breathless, the father's clothes were all wet, and there were water droplets rolling down the donkey's body, and blood oozed from some places. After tossing and turning for half a day, the donkey still refused to listen to his father's orders, and he and his father looked at each other, and their eyes were very pure, that is, they were angry. If you continue to fight, I believe the donkey skin will crack. The fourth master snatched the whip and threw it away. He told me to fold a thin wicker. I don't understand, is wicker more useful than a whip?

The fourth master smiled, and while gently touching the donkey with a wicker, he consulted with it in the tone of speaking to the child: "Hey, man, you are really a bit sharp." "I think the donkey at this time was still wary of the whip, and there was no response for half a day. Father suggested, "Fourth uncle, I still have to beat this donkey, and I have to let it know that it is bad, so I will not be sharp." The fourth master glanced at his father: "Punch, you know to beat!" Whips are meant to frighten cattle, not to beat them. He turned around and continued to gently stroke the donkey, making the donkey quiet, and finally meekly leaned over the fourth master, constantly tickling...

After a few more days, the parents said nothing. I didn't want to stay at home, and I went to the kiln factory, trying to show my ability to move bricks—the ability to support myself, or even the ability to support my family. It is too hot to be true, but it is a good season for kiln factories, and the drying bricks are easy to dry at this time. With only a row of brick trellises, I was so tired that I was gasping for breath and my face was pale.