Chapter 34 Chapter 34 Jin Man is holding...
Jin Man led the child out. The village chief squatted outside, waiting. He knocked cigarette ash off his feet and rubbed his hands. "Where's his father?"
The child was drowsy and yawned, leaning against his thigh. He woke up a little after hearing what he said and looked up at him.
"Locked up."
The village chief looked at Jin Man with great fear. People of their generation were very particular about personal relationships and were afraid of meeting officials. Jin Man was too decisive.
The old man puffed on his cigarette and said, "What if he comes out to take revenge on you? He's a drunkard. How about leaving the child with me?"
Jin Man was afraid, but he couldn't. He was afraid of getting into trouble with others. Besides, he had promised the child, "No, I can handle it."
The village chief hummed, took out his old-fashioned cell phone, and squinted his eyes: "Save my number, and call me if you have anything."
The money was full, and soon someone came to pick up the village chief. They drove a tricycle and there was no room for them.
The child was very sleepy, and when Jin Man reached out to hug him, he immediately woke up in fright.
"Uncle, you guys go back first. I'll go shopping. I might as well buy an induction cooker to boil water."
Liuhe Town is not big, and all the food and drinks are concentrated on one street. The largest restaurant has been open for decades and is called Aimin Restaurant. When Jin Man was a child, he had no money, so he squatted outside to watch and picked up the fried skewers left over by others.
He brought his child and ordered a few dishes. The boss quickly cooked and served them, with rich oil and sauce, and the aroma was fragrant.
Jin Man was already hungry, and the child jumped out of his arms and knelt on the chair to reach the rice spoon.
"What?"
The child filled a bowl of rice for him, held it in both hands and handed it to him, saying softly, "Thank you, uncle."
If Jin Man hadn't come today, he might have been beaten to death.
Jin Man smiled and reached out to take it. The child served himself half a bowl, but Jin Man had seen how big his appetite was when eating egg rice, so it was obviously not enough for him.
He thought about it and understood.
When I was a child, when I went to other people's houses for dinner, I would be hesitant to scoop a little, for fear that I would eat too much and people would not give me any food next time.
The difference between having one meal full and having every meal full.
Jin Man didn't say anything. He knocked his chopsticks on the table and said, "After you finish these dishes, your uncle will take you to a hotel tonight."
Both of them were full from the meal, and they took a walk along the willow embankment in the town, with the wind blowing the willow branches against their bodies.
Jin Man received a call. When he saw the last digit of the number, his face darkened and he felt extremely suffocated and glared.
The phone kept ringing, but unfortunately no one answered.
Lu Yanlin only hit him once. He lowered his eyelashes, and Lu Zhi lay on his knees. The last small flower on the card had been torn off, but there were no words or pictures on the back. It was blank like a joke.
All the flowers were torn off, but Dad didn't come home.
Lu Zhi had a fever, and he asked Lu Yanlin why the card was blank at the end.
Lu Yanlin couldn't answer. According to Jin Man's personality, he would not let the children's expectations be disappointed. He would probably go home before all the cards were torn.
For some reason, he felt so soft-hearted that it was almost bitter. With the idea of giving it a try, Lu Yanlin dialed Alpha's new number, but no one answered. The call was hung up in the last few seconds.
Jin Man limped, and only then did he feel the pain in his feet. He grabbed the child from behind, put his hands on his shoulders, and held him in his arms, rocking him like a tumbler, teasing him: "I'll treat you to a meal, carry me on your back."
The child tried to look up, but could only smell the scent of laundry on Alpha. He was bent over, holding Jin Man's arm and carrying him on his back.
"rush."
Jin Man pointed to the hotel in front and the child nodded heavily.
When he woke up the next day, Jin Man's foot injury had healed a lot. He couldn't sit still at home and wandered around. When the pain became severe, he would become subdued and lie on the hotel bed like a corpse.
When the child saw that his foot was seriously injured, he put a hot towel on his foot.
Jin Man lay on the bed sighing, feeling a little useless.
The child lay on the bed and looked at him. Jin Man touched his face. Both of them were injured. In the second half of the night, you curled up in a ball, and I curled up in a ball, and fell asleep in each other's arms.
After a night's rest, I feel better.
There is a street outside the hotel. Today is the big market day and it is very lively. Jin Man takes the children out.
It was the first time for the child to go to the market in his life, and his eyes were too busy to take care of everything. He helped Jin Man to get whatever he wanted, and ran after him like a little robot.
He bought the child a hat with a fan, put it on his head, and also gave him two mung bean popsicles.
On the way, the child saw a stall selling toys with sandbags. There was a cute little rubber duck.
Jin Man gave him five dollars and asked him to change the sandbag himself.
The child was sweating profusely and was already nervous because of the large crowd. He could not open his mouth no matter what. But he pushed himself and managed to get in front of the boss and change ten sandbags.
Jin Man squatted beside him and sucked on his popsicle: "Throw it away yourself."
The child hugged the sandbag basket, feeling scared and about to cry: "Uncle."
But Jin Man ignored him, so the child had to throw the balls by himself. The first few he threw missed the target, and the onlookers sighed and laughed.
The child burped nervously and kept turning his head to look at Jin Man, who was washing his hands next to him after eating his popsicle.
He continued to throw, faster and faster. Although the toys were smashed into a mess, his ears and face were all red and he was having a lot of fun.
In the end, there were only two left. He didn't dare to throw them away. He used up all the five dollars and still didn't get anything.
Jin Man seemed to be ignoring him, so the kid grabbed the sandbag and tried to throw it with all his strength, but missed. There was only one left, and he held it for a long time without throwing it.
"Look carefully."
Jin Man hugged him from behind, wrapped his fist around him and threw the sandbag out, which hit the little yellow duck with a bang.
“Ahhhh!”
The back of the child's hands were warm, and he excitedly threw himself into his arms, looking at Jin Man with shining eyes. The boss picked up the duckling with a hook and handed it to him to show that he was honest.
Jin Man touched his nose. This was not a big skill. When he was a child, he often used stones to smash the chestnuts on the trees and picked up the fruits to eat.
He played with the children until noon before taking the bus home.
Jin Man got off the car with a lot of bags and met a doctor from the clinic at the entrance of the village. The doctor pulled him and insisted that he go for an X-ray.
Jin Man was leading the children, tired as an ox, sweating profusely: "What's the point of filming? Let's do it another day, uncle."
Doctor: “No.”
He snatched the bag from Jin Man's hand and took him to the small clinic. In just one night, a small building was erected on the site of the clinic. It was painted white and hung with a sign of Lotus Village Clinic.
Jin Man rubbed his eyes in disbelief. The doctor said proudly, "More than 50 people and an excavator finished it in one night."
The clinic has a new nurse and a new doctor. They are both quite old and look very kind.
The doctor piled Jin Man's things at the front desk, took a look at the refreshed child, and said that he wanted to massage his tendons personally, if for no other reason than that good people will be rewarded.
Jin Man really couldn't resist, so he took an X-ray, applied medicine, and pressed the acupuncture points. After these three methods, the pain in his foot was basically gone.
The new doctor is an orthopedic doctor, very professional. He retired early due to poor health and returned to Lotus Village to retire.
He gave Jinman a few boxes of ointment without charging any money, saying it was a free gift for his purchase.
Jin Man always felt something was strange. He remembered the big truck that suddenly appeared before and suspected that it was related to Lu Yanlin, but what was the purpose?
He couldn't figure it out and walked away in a daze. The children followed him. It was too hot in the summer, so the big and small children both held up lotus leaves.
The house was not quiet at all. The hen was clucking and the puppy was barking. An old lady was picking bean pods by the yard. When she saw Jin Man coming back, she went home and brought him a watermelon.
The old lady fanned herself with a palm-leaf fan and said, "Give it to the child, give it to the child."
The big green watermelon emits a fresh fragrance, which stimulates people's appetite especially in summer.
Jin Man accepted it with embarrassment, patted the child's head and said, "Go to the chicken coop and turn over some eggs."
The child nodded, ran to the chicken coop, found three or four eggs, and ran back with them in his pocket.
Yesterday Jin Man helped him take a bath and change new clothes. He looked clean, with a round face and big eyes, and looked very energetic.
"Second Miss, eggs."
The old lady refused it no matter what and only reluctantly accepted it after pulling for a while.
She liked him more and was planning to introduce a date to Jin Man. Such an upright and capable young man would be very popular even if he was getting married for the second time.
Jin Man couldn't sit still at home, so he made two fish hooks, gave the child a bamboo basket, and took him to go fishing.
The child had never played like this before. When he was five or six years old, he went up the mountain to pick mushrooms to sell. He got up early every morning to feed the ducks and pick duck eggs. As soon as he opened his eyes, he knew he was always hungry and had endless work to do.
He was a little uncomfortable with such an easy pace and kept picking wild vegetables along the way.
Jin Man didn't stop him. He taught him to wash his hands when they got dirty, and let him take snacks from his pocket when he was hungry. The child soon relaxed, carrying his little basket and playing around, picking lotus pods and catching tadpoles. He was sweating profusely. He took off his coat, revealing a small white vest, the same color as Jin Man's, embroidered with a little yellow duck.
Jin Man fished all afternoon but came back empty-handed.
He sighed, looking unhappy, but the kid had a bottle full of tadpoles and held it up to show him: "Uncle."
Jin Man put his hands on his hips and shook his head seriously: "If you raise it, it will turn into a toad."
The child uttered an "ah," shrank his neck, and dumped all the tadpoles out of the bottle. Jin Man nodded in approval, stretching himself lazily with satisfaction: "Okay, since we're both empty-handed, let's go home."
The child was confused and followed him happily, carrying the lotus pod on his back.
Jin Man's friends sent him some local specialties. When Xu Wen called, he heard that there was a child with him, so he bought a few sets of children's clothes and sent them by express delivery, saying that he would come to see him next time.
So this week, Jin Mandu went to town.
In order to make his life more convenient, he bought some new electrical appliances one after another. He had only 18,000 yuan left, which was enough if he spent frugally, but he had to find a job.
More than a week later, it was sunny again.
Jin Man did not go to the orchard to work. He was tidying the yard at home, and his child was feeding the ducklings nearby.
Someone called him from outside the fence.
Jin Man looked up. His elder brother, wearing a military green vest and a cigarette in his mouth, was lying outside the fence with his arms bulging. He raised his chin towards him in a sly manner and said, "Do you have any meat? I'll come to your place to drink tonight."
Jin Man hadn't seen his elder brother for a long time, so he ran over and said, "Brother!"
A man with a buzz cut, a poker face, tall and handsome appeared next to the eldest brother.
Jin Man glanced at it, not paying much attention. The elder brother, cigarette in hand, held out a strip of pork belly, mantis shrimp, clams, and a shopping bag of ingredients. "Heat the oil in a wok."
When the eldest brother heard what Jin Man had done, he went out to buy some delicious food. He didn't do anything, but sat in the yard like an old man, directing his friends to cook.
Jin Man wanted to help, but his eldest brother said, "It's okay, let him show off his skills, right, Yue Wei."
Yue Wei didn't say much. He just responded and started to work with the spoon in his hand, washing, cutting and marinating the vegetables.
Jin Man and the other children sat in a row on the benches, stunned by the scene and unable to help but applaud.
The dinner was incredibly sumptuous, and both the host and the guests enjoyed it greatly. Jin Man and the children drank Coke, while the eldest brother and his friends drank white wine.
Just when he was happy, he suddenly heard a burst of shouting and cursing from outside, calling Jin Man by name and cursing him so hard that his genitals flew all over the place.
A man who had just been released from prison rushed into the yard, carrying an axe and reeking of alcohol: "Fuck, where's the person?"
The eldest brother choked on the wine, lit a cigarette and squinted his eyes.
The man named Yue Wei stood up quickly and was a head taller than the other man.
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