In the afternoon, I took a leave of absence to visit a friend who was sick and recuperating at home. My friend's home is in a wealthy part of our city, which is a large cluster of townhouses. A friend saw me and invited me to taste the new tea that her husband had made himself this year.
In the warm sunshine of early summer, we sat under the parasol in her yard, drinking new tea, chatting about some of her experiences in treatment and some of her insights into life during her illness.
Suddenly, my friend pointed to a villa opposite her house and showed me that it seemed to be uninhabited all year round, with doors and windows closed and grass in the yard. On the hollow wall outside the courtyard, a six- or seven-year-old boy, carrying a schoolbag, climbed on the wall and looked into the house.
The friend got up, took an apple from the coffee table, went to the wall, called the little boy, and said to him, "Your mother has not come back, you come and give you an apple to eat, and you should go home quickly, lest your aunt look for you."
The little boy walked up to his friend and asked, "Grandma, is my mom really not coming back?" Could it be that she came back and you didn't see it?
My friend said, "Good baby, grandma keeps an eye on you every day, and when my mother comes back, I will tell her that you have been looking for her."
The little boy took the apple from his friend, and said goodbye to his friend with disappointment written on his little face.
The friend looked at the little boy's back and shook his head and sighed. And she said unto me, What a wreck! This child's name is Xiaobo, his father is from our city, he is in his 60s this year, and he has been doing medicinal herb business in Yunnan before. Ten years ago, he met Xiaobo's mother, a post-90s girl. This old man didn't know how to trick the girl who looked like flowers and bones into giving birth to a daughter and a son for him. My daughter may be nine years old this year, and my son Xiaobo is in first grade this year.
The year before last, the old man wanted to return to his roots, so he bought this villa opposite us and settled the mother and son here. Old men rarely come over during the day, maybe on the original partner's side, only at night, sometimes come to see and leave, sometimes stay overnight.
Last year, the original partner may have known that there was a presence here, and once brought a large group of relatives to make trouble, and 110 was alarmed at that time. Later, I don't know how it was negotiated, Xiaobo and his sister moved to his aunt's house, and their mother lived in the villa for more than two months before leaving.
The two children may miss their mother, and often look out of the fence here on weekends, thinking that their mother is still living here. Once when a friend came back from grocery shopping, he happened to meet two siblings standing outside looking east and west, so the friend let them into his house, brought them snacks to eat, and told them that their mother might have gone to work in other places.
Xiaobo's sister told her friend that both of them now have phone watches, and when they called their mother, their mother's phone became empty. They want to put their phone number on the door and call mom if she comes back and sees it. But they were afraid that the number attached to the door would be wet in the rain and would not be visible, and they were afraid that someone would tear it off.
In the end, Xiaobo's sister handed a piece of paper with a phone number written on it to a friend. When a friend saw their mother, they gave her a piece of paper and told her that they both missed their mother.
Before the Chinese New Year this year, Xiaobo's mother came back, and her friend gave her a piece of paper with a phone number written on it, and she said that she was just coming back to get something and was about to leave. It is better that she does not see the child, so as not to disturb the child's heart and add trouble to the aunt who brought them.
Xiaobo's mother has been gone for almost half a year, and I heard that this villa has been listed for sale on the Internet, but it has not been sold yet. Xiaobo's sister doesn't come here much now, and Xiaobo still often comes over alone with a schoolbag. He walked around the former home, sometimes trying to find a place to go in. When a friend sees this, he will stop him and give him some snacks to comfort him.
This kid is so pathetic! I exclaimed to my friend. Friends say no? The old man has been out and about for so many years, and when he is old, he wants to return to his roots. It's your ruthlessness that you don't come back, and when you come back, you still want to enjoy the blessings of all people, and the original partner won't let him go.
Young mothers must be pleasure-hungry people, and when they conceived a child, they didn't think about the future. How could she drag her two children to live a hard life? Now when she encounters something, she pats her ass and leaves, and I don't know if a woman like her will miss children.