By Snailla
The melodious harmonica sound slowly flows in the clear night sky, and the stars blink their eyes and look down on the cool people on the roof, who are half lying quietly listening to the beautiful and soothing sound. At the end of the song, the children were clamoring to listen to the second one, so under the empty starry sky, another brisk and cheerful tune trotted all the way into the hearts of every child, which also made the old man who smoked a cigarette remember the story of his childhood, while the young man thought that the song was too childish, so he quietly talked, and the rhythm of the night was disrupted.
In the summer in the north, the bungalow roofs of every house are a good place to cool off at night
……
Uncle Jin died, by the Yangjin River. The next morning someone found it, the clear light of the morning sun reflected on his serene face, and there was no last word before dying. Uncle Jin's death, in fact, for the villagers, is like a cow dying of illness, at most a few sighs, and then people quickly forget him.
(i)
"I'm an artist." Uncle Kim once told his peers.
Hahaha——, everyone laughed heartily, and tears flowed out.
"Artists are rich, do you have them?"
"What! I've heard that artists are poor, and many are crazy. ”
"Artists also often commit suicide. Oh, that's terrible! ”
Hahaha——, another burst of laughter.
Uncle Jin's face turned red.
At this time, Uncle Jin was only twenty-six or seven, and I was seven or eight years old, and I had just begun to remember.
Uncle Kim is a kind name for us children, because we like to hear him sing and play the piano, even whistling makes us jump around. Uncle Jin is medium-sized, ugly-looking, with long hair draped over his shoulders, two eyes sunken deeply, eyebrows thin and thin, chin long, a spoonful of sesame oil flowing from the forehead to the chin and then dripping, enough to smoke a bag of cigarettes. When he walked, his two indisputable legs were still thrown one by one, and Luo Huan's legs were not cured.
In our eyes, his heart is beautiful, because he is very good to us and can always bring us endless joy.
Uncle Kim did a good job as a carpenter, and he also relied on this subsistence to eat. His father I had not seen, and his mother had been buried a few years before. Without siblings, he lived alone in a small, dark, damp mansion.
On the day of "June 1st", our principal invited him to come as usual, and the performance program was naturally a glorious duty that he could not shirk no matter what, and moreover, moreover, more than 200 primary school students in the school had to hold their breath and listen to his music with reverence. - His harmonica is the best played, and it's simply fascinating.
We rushed to the school early in the morning, and on June 1, we held a party on campus in the morning and went home for the afternoon. Uncle Jin's fame is very big in our pile of elementary school students, and celebrities are far away for us, so Uncle Jin has become our biggest star here. Uncle Kim is a warm-hearted man and happy to deal with children.
"The child's heart is the most real." He once said.
At the party, he blew six pieces of music for us in one go, and after each one we would jump and clap our little hands. Witnessing this scene, Uncle Jin looked very excited, his eyes shone brightly, the muscles on his face twitched rhythmically piece by piece, and his legs and feet began to step up.
He is the prince in the children's world, the children's world is the art world, and entering the circle of children's lives greatly satisfies Uncle Jin's daily fantasy of fame. So Uncle Jin has a special fascination with children, in fact, obsessing with children is fascination with the music he pursues, and he is also obsessed with his noble self.
Uncle Jin was skillful and diligent at that time, so the villagers in the village and the villagers three or five miles away never looked for him to make furniture, doors and windows. Uncle Jin's life has long been solved, and he still has a small savings. When people mention Uncle Jin, they often put "doing a good job" on their lips, but for Uncle Jin's musical talent, people laugh and shake their heads, "It's too obsessed, and I can't eat it as a meal." ”
No matter what others think, Uncle Jin still has the same intention and is becoming more and more obsessed.
On the days of furniture for others, managing meals at noon, sometimes they are encouraged to play a song to relieve boredom. Uncle Jin's harmonica is never separated from his body, and it is said that this harmonica was bought by Uncle Jin who went to the capital and spent a lot of money to buy it, which is very precious.
The water of the Yangjin River is very clear, and the fine sand under the water can be clearly seen from the shore. The water is transparent, with long rows of grass carp or snake fish swimming lightly in the river, and duckweed dotted in the silver waves of the shallow bay. The river is not deep, the deepest place has just submerged the adults, and the water is also flowing, so swimming here is not much danger.
Uncle Kim likes to splash water. His swimming skills are very high, and he can do everything in breaststroke, butterfly, hand throwing, backstroke, and diving. Midsummer came, and we began to explore the relatives of Yang Jinhe. You don't have to bring any gifts, just enter the door with a red strip. We often clamor for Uncle Jin to lead him, and Uncle Jin is sometimes very embarrassed. He always pushed back and refused to take us into the water.
"Just such a road, are you afraid that we won't lose it?" In fact, the Yangjin River is at the mouth of the village, about 2 miles away from the village, which is a sheep gut trail.
"What do you do when you choke?" What if you're drowning? Uncle Jin's expression became serious.
We just don't care about this, and we are wrapped around Uncle Jin with a dead face. Sometimes Uncle Jin really couldn't help it, so he led us to the Yangjin River, but he didn't allow us to go to the place where the water overflowed. As long as we agreed, we were satisfied, and all of a sudden we cheered.
At noon on a summer day, tired of playing in the water, we went ashore, found a soft beach, lay down naked, and then sprinkled sand grains on our bodies with a bunch of small hands. As the sun shone brightly, Uncle Jin hummed a little tune. We squinted at the side, motionless like a turtle basking in the belly, very comfortable.
(ii)
The childhood time soon dissipated with the maturity of the mind, and the beauty of childhood remained in the heart.
The fruit of time
I went to middle school, and Uncle Jin was in his early thirties, but he hadn't yet been kissed by a matchmaker. Ugly, strange thinking. Trapped in the artistic quagmire of the musical heavens, he became more and more neglectful of the carpenter's work. Some people asked him to cut furniture, and he always said that he didn't have time, and he needed to calm down to compose music. Once, twice, this was the case, and later people rarely came to work with him. In the countryside, Uncle Jin was starving to death, because there was still more than an acre of crop land to feed him.
People's vision is more pragmatic than before, and they are busier, running every day to make money. Uncle Jin's living water standards have fallen behind in the "run" of these villagers.
In such an era, Uncle Jin still did not give up that pursuit. Uncle Jin sometimes runs to the provincial city, mysterious and mysterious. When I went, my face was full of excitement, and when I returned, my face was unusually dignified. In this way, I don't know how many times it has been repeated, and Uncle Jin is not tired.
"In the future, I will look for Jin Laozheng less and pay close attention to my own study." Mother sounded an alarm bell in her ear.
Walking down the street, Uncle Jin didn't seem to like to say hello to others anymore. When I saw someone, I buried my head and walked over quickly.
"Don't do something different, look at that Jin Laozheng, what kind of mixed up now!" When adults educate children, they have a good negative teaching material. In their eyes, the pursuit of art is the prerogative of the rich and the poor, and the children of the poor are not qualified or worthy. Art is sacred, but it is never favored by ordinary people.
"We're going to eat." A very simple and simple truth kills the artistic seedlings in the swaddling.
Uncle Kim became fond of drinking. Once, a family surnamed Deng had a happy event, and the neighbors all the neighbors had to pay tributes and eat happy wine. Uncle Jin was not in a good mood that day and drank too much. If you drink too much, you have to drink, don't give the bottle to be anxious, and the people at the same table will pour him another cup.
"Fill it up!" Uncle Jin shook his head, stared at the wine glass with both eyes, and the wine in his mouth flew out.
Cup after cup, without stopping.
The groom's official smiled and advised Uncle Jin not to drink any more.
"Today... Today is your big day, your big day, let's do it... Dry..." Uncle Jin got up from the stool, fell on a heel, and no one helped him, he got up with great effort himself, and leaned over and said to the groom official.
"Ignore him." Out of nowhere, a sentence popped up.
Some unhappiness faintly arose on the groom's face and he left with pity.
It's New Year's Day. Farmers who are not rich also want to spend the New Year, and before the Spring Festival, they always have to buy two beautiful clothes and then buy a pair of cotton shoes to wear. The streets after the first day of the Chinese New Year are full of flowers and greenery, and new clothes float briskly, wafting out the warm breath of spring.
Uncle Jin's money is pitifully small, so naturally he has no money to buy new clothes. Wash the old clothes and wear them on the body crumpled. The harmonica was carried in his arms, and Uncle Jin's Spring Festival passed like this. People are busy celebrating, and they won't pay attention to him.
I heard others say that Uncle Jin's love is very unsatisfactory. In his early twenties, there was an object. The object was from a foreign village, and the girl admired Uncle Jin's talent very much, especially listening to Uncle Jin play music. The girl's family panicked when they found out, and took strict care of their daughter - how can such an ugly man be a son-in-law in the future! The girl is obsessed with not changing, or trying to find a way to secretly date Uncle Jin. Uncle Jin knows that he is ugly, and he has some inferiority and guilt, and feels that he is not worthy of her. The girl's family came to the soft as soon as they saw that the hard one could not work, and the daughter's mother ran to Uncle Jin and asked Uncle Jin to let her daughter go. Watching the mother's tears and snot flow out at the same time, Uncle Jin was even more uneasy, not knowing how to be good. At this time, the girl's mother "pounced" and knelt down in front of Uncle Jin.
"I'm such a daughter, and I want her to marry into the city and live a good life." You want her to be happy too, don't you? I know you're a reasonable person. Tears welled up.
"Auntie, hurry up." Uncle Jin was overwhelmed for a moment.
"If you don't promise me, you won't get up." The aunt refused.
The sunset reflected half of the sky, red and melting, and the aunt wiped the tear marks from the corners of her eyes and went home easily.
"That Old Man Jin doesn't have you in his heart, and you still make yourself sentimental!" Stop dreaming, silly bitch! ”
"I don't believe you're lying to me!" I don't believe it! The girl was unwavering.
If you don't believe it, you can ask him, and the will never stop you.
Of course, the girl had to go to Uncle Jin for verification.
When she came back she was silent, and no one asked without speaking.
Half a year later, sure enough, there was a master in the city who came to the door to ask for a kiss, and the girl's mother was so happy that she couldn't close her mouth. After another month, he sent a valuable dowry and gave the girl's family an engagement fee of 18,000 yuan. The girl was always blue in the face and did not say a word.
On the day of the kiss, the honor guard was long and pompous. The groom's officer was a bit stuttering, but his IQ was fine, and the important thing was that his father was a bureau chief. In the eyes of the villagers, the director is already a great official.
Unexpectedly, after marrying into the groom's home, the bride ran away that night. So the groom's family panicked and looked around with flashlights.
The next morning, under a willow tree on the Yangjin River, a female corpse committed suicide by cutting her wrists, and she threw a pair of scissors next to her, and she was bloodstained. The sand beneath her was also covered with thick blood, a large patch.
People were stunned.
Later, Uncle Jin was not in love, let alone married. Besides, how many girls dare to ask for such an ugly man like him and this file of things happening!
From then on, he was only with the harmonica.
Lonely, bridges and roads
It turned out that Uncle Jin still had such a touching story, and my heart was deeply touched - when I was seventeen years old, it was the period when the values of life were formed.
But the story returned to the story, I was still subtly influenced by my family and villagers, and I became more and more estranged from Uncle Jin. From the look in Uncle Jin's eyes, I could also see his surprise at me. Soon after, he became accustomed to it.
(iii)
The fallen Uncle Jin no longer seems to have much hope for his ideals in the future, which is quite a broken jar. Too short of money, when the farmer was idle, he simply packed up and ran to the county to do a month and a half of carpentry work, the business was not bad, and he made a net profit of 2,000 yuan - after all, his craftsmanship was still quite skillful.
With this 2,000 yuan, he had some ideas.
As for what he thought that led him to decide to spend money to get a wife, we still can't understand. Maybe it's a physical need! The wife was a Vietnamese, sold from Guangxi. - The language barrier, I think according to his personality is not because of love to please her, and this is the human trafficker's hand.
I've seen that woman, and Uncle Jin called her Xiaoye. She was short, with a dark face, thick lips, fleshy eyes, and didn't speak much Chinese. She was often seen washing clothes by the creek, and sometimes she could be seen in the fields. Maybe it's because of the language barrier, she doesn't like to talk, walking on the alleyway, she always has the habit of keeping her head down and not saying anything.
Once she walked through my alley with a bag of salt, and I was standing in the doorway,—— she didn't seem to notice it, humming a foreign tune in her mouth, with a cheerful expression on her face, until she approached me, she suddenly realized my presence, and her forehead immediately flew red—only this redness was not easily detected under the cover of her dark skin. She slowed down, almost into a broken step, her head buried low, and she looked like she was about to walk past me.
"Hey, hello!" I smiled at her.
She ran over without lifting her head, and an indescribable disappointment rose in my heart. Just after she had overtaken me by more than ten steps, she, Xiaoye, suddenly turned around and grimaced, and then quickly ran away. Somehow, my heart blossomed.
Later, I learned that she was only 19 years old, and she was still at the age of the beginning of her love sinus. I couldn't help but feel a little sorry in my heart, but I didn't know what I was sorry for. Since Xiaoye's arrival, Uncle Jin seemed to be cheering up again, and the smile on his face was getting more and more.
Uncle Jin was walking down the street when he came across a bunch of nagging women.
"What about your wife?" Why don't you come out with you? ”
After asking, everyone brushed and held their breath, only to wait for Uncle Jin to open the golden mouth.
"Oh, home." Uncle Jin replied crisply.
Ask him to tease him again, and he will be silent. So everyone's face was full of disappointment.
Life seems to be fair to everyone, and it can be said that Uncle Jin is a dead wood in the spring. With Xiaoye's Uncle Jin, it is a real home, a small nest that is simple but not lacking in warmth. Uncle Jin's diligent energy began to pick up, and the people outside the village who were looking for him to do carpentry work were also sparse. This is a glimmer of light in Uncle Jin's life. After all, Uncle Jin was already thirty-six or seven, and it was time for a woman to warm his bed. Xiaoye gave him a second life, and it was not too much to say so.
When people talk about Uncle Jin again, the theme shifts, and they are more curious about Xiaoye, the life of a foreign woman. What the Vietnamese say, what clothes they wear, why the skin is black and the lips are thick, these are the most concerned things of the women and Taoist families who chew the root of the tongue, and it seems that this is a topic that can never be discussed.
After a year, Xiaoye's belly began to grow larger. The small leaves with a big belly rarely appear again. However, Uncle Jin was more diligent than before, and his face became more and more rosy. At that time, I was in high school in the county, and I was a day student. I often see Uncle Jin go to the kiosk to buy some snacks and bring them back, and sometimes I hear him humming a cheerful little tune.
The woman was really lubricating, and the leaflet moisturized Uncle Jin's heart. I had previously concluded that they had no love, perhaps I was wrong, because I felt that the two of them were living happily and were not filled with irreconcilable contradictions and rifts because of differences in age and life customs. Although Xiaoye was a human trafficker, it was very pitiful, but she should also get a little relief from "marrying" Uncle Jin.
Time flies, and the leaflets are about to be produced. Uncle Jin was busier than before, and a proud smile hung on his face.
However, fate is really playing tricks on the bitter man, and no matter how you guess, you can't predict the future. The day of the birth was early in the morning, and I accompanied them to the hospital. Xiaoye was pushed into the operating room by a few young nurses with a bed cart, and we were waiting at the door.
Difficult childbirth, Uncle Jin's face was covered with a layer of fine sweat; it can be delivered by caesarean section, but it needs to be signed by the maternal family, Uncle Jin looked at me with an inquiring look, and I nodded slightly; the child was born, it was a boy, Uncle Jin's heart finally landed; the baby was born as a stillborn, the doctor's words were cold and merciless, Uncle Jin was knocked down at once, his body shook three times, and I quickly helped him up; "But the mother is safe and sound, but the body is a little weak and needs to rest well." At the end, the doctor repeated a sentence, Uncle Jin sighed and quickly pushed the door in to see Xiaoye.
There was a setback, but Xiaoyeren was still there, and Uncle Jin's heart was not empty. Xiaoye knew and covered his face with a quilt and cried fiercely. Uncle Jin just gently stroked Xiaoye's hair and was silent. I couldn't bear to look at it, so I tiptoed out, and when I went out, I gently covered the door.
There is still hope in life, the children are gone, and the days must be lived the same. Uncle Jin rarely plays his harmonica anymore, but sometimes when he passes by his door at night, he can hear the cheerful piano sound of the house and the innocent laughter of Xiaoye.
Such a black couple's life lasted for about another year.
Until a certain day near the Spring Festival, the sky is clear and the sun shines warmly on people's bodies. At this time, I don't know whether something unfortunate for Uncle Jin and Xiao Ye xing finally happened,—— perhaps what Xiao Ye was looking forward to day and night. Two comrades in plain clothes, one tall and one short, from the Guangxi Public Security Bureau, came to Uncle Jin's house with the assistance of another local public security officer. They came to rescue Xiaoye.
When Xiaoye was taken to the courtyard, Uncle Jin nestled in the house and never came out, and the walls were full of spectators. Xiao Ye was forcibly dragged out of the fence gate by the two Guangxi public security officers, and before leaving the door, Xiao Ye kept twisting his head and looking into the house, shouting "Brother Jin" hoarsely, and the tears dried up. Until the moment when Xiaoye was dragged out, Uncle Jin did not show up.
He was put on a bus and sent back to Vietnam. The car started, and after a puff of smoke, it was all over.
"This is the end of it." I thought to myself.
The road, it seems, is still long...
(iv)
"Haha, this old Jin is not in vain in the human world, he has tasted everything." A young man with a thick beard poses a cynical look.
"Yes, I have tasted the tender flesh of a woman!"
"It's a little dark, but the work is good!"
With a burst of laughter, the young man joked with poor Uncle Jin in a giggle.
Sadness rose from Uncle Jin's heart.
"Why don't you lack anything, I don't have anything?" Once Uncle Jin asked me in a daze.
I froze.
"Maybe they like to live without themselves." I thought about it for half a day and prevaricated.
"Haha——,ha ——," Uncle Jin laughed so hard that people's hearts were numb, and their spines were numb.
I ran away, not wanting to stay with him anymore because I felt fear, a kind of mental panic.
He began to drink like crazy again, and people's dislike for him immediately rebounded, and it became more intense than before. Uncle Kim didn't seem to care about anything anymore.
I went to a university in a city and rarely saw him again.
After returning home for the New Year, I listened to the family's idle nagging Uncle Jin. Uncle Kim drank and stole the neighbor's hen stew to make a drinking dish, and the neighbor's woman came to the door when he was drunk. Uncle Jin, of course, denied it, and the woman swept the remaining half of the stewed chicken from the plate to the uneven ground.
"Throw well! Throw well! Uncle Jin leaned down as he barked and reached out to pick up the greasy fat chicken from the muddy ground in the house, and then tore off a piece and stuffed it into his mouth.
Uncle Jin was drunk and specially ran to the street to roll, and at the beginning of the first few times people still threw down their hands and looked at them with excitement,—— maybe his rolling moves were just a few, and later when he played drunk again, people were not interested.
Until one day, when he was "performing" rolling again, an old man passed by, stopped and asked him solemnly:
"I said Jin Laozheng, can we change the pattern?" You are tired of these old tricks. ”
After saying that, the old man stared at Uncle Jin happily.
"I'm fucking your mother!" Uncle Jin suddenly jumped up from the ground, went up and grabbed the old man in the face with a punch, and flew away the few remaining decaying yellow teeth in the old man's mouth.
"Oops—" The old man covered his mouth and ran away in pain.
The next day, Uncle Jin's face was blue and purple, and a layer of gauze was wrapped around his forehead. Uncle Jin's momentary sobriety and self-esteem were exchanged for a violent beating.
The mother also said that after that, Uncle Jin rarely played drunkards on the street. People often see Uncle Jin standing alone under the willow trees on the Yangjin River.
"Obedient, 80% of them are beggars who want to die." People rattled up.
Hearing this, an ominous premonition arose in my heart.
School started and I was back on campus.
When I came back from the summer vacation, when I saw Uncle Jin, he was already emaciated, his beard was pulled, and he smelled bad. When people saw it, they avoided it.
After a cool rain, I lay on the mat and enjoyed a moment of coolness and tranquility. In the evening, my appetite was surprisingly good, and I ate an extra bowl of noodles from the water, and then watched TV for a little while. Look at the wall clock on the wall: nine o'clock. I pulled on my slippers and went back to my room to sleep.
At night, I dreamed that Uncle Jin was holding his daughter and laughing, and he woke up in a cold sweat. Pull on the light, look at the watch again: 2:30 a.m. I slept again, and this time I slept peacefully, and I didn't dream anything.
At noon the next day, the news suddenly came: Uncle Jin was dead! It was suicide by cutting the wrist. I couldn't eat anymore and put down my chopsticks. Early in the morning, a middle-aged man who poured the ground found him, and he was already out of breath, he was very well dressed, and there was no smell on his body. Blood stains the trees in a circle, a mess.
Man is finally dead, and sooner or later someone like him will have this day, but my heart is extremely heavy.
In the summer of the following year, Uncle Jin's mansion was overgrown with Ren Qing and other flowers and plants, and there was no place to put his feet. Uncle Jin's house was even more dilapidated, and the main room collapsed a wall in a storm, revealing the emptiness inside, and the box stood there alone, and the panes had been bent into a very strong bow.
Desolation rose from my heart.