Write it off
The sky was pale, and a bright ray of sunlight flashed from the east, piercing the long dawn, and sunlight spread across the earth.
In May, a month that is neither too cold nor too hot in most areas, Lu Township has entered early summer early. After noon, the sun is at its hottest. In order to take advantage of the relatively cool time in the morning, people take a break at noon. Although it is still early morning, the market in Lu Township is already bustling with people. The hawking sounds on both sides of the main road of the market are endless, and it is very lively.
"Sambo, freshly baked Sambo for one dollar."
"Ugly oranges, the ones grown at home, are very cheap."
"Four for ten bucks, four for ten bucks, duck wings and duck feet."
The avenue is very narrow and is lined with vendors' stalls. Here, you have to fight for a good stall yourself, and the worst stall is at the corner at the end of the street, where there is a simple stall selling vegetables.
The stall was very casual, with a layer of newspapers from an unknown year spread on the ground, scattered on it were a few malnourished vegetables with some dirt on their roots. Next to it was a wooden pole with a large white loudspeaker hanging crookedly on it. The owner of the stall was sitting on a small stool with his head down, sulking, wearing a straw hat with a large brim.
I told her to get up early, get up early. Now it’s bad, and the vegetables definitely can’t be sold.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. She turned around and stared hard at someone who was sleeping on the bench behind her with the same straw hat covering her face to block the sun, trying to use physical harm to arouse her guilt.
But my eyes were tired of watching, but I never saw this person get up once. The weather was hot, and she was only wearing a refreshing white short-sleeved shirt and black shorts. Her soft black long hair was scattered behind her head, and half of her white calves were exposed naked, receiving the licking of the hot sun.
The slender neck, forearms, calves, and all visible parts under the straw hat still had more or less lingering ulcers that had not yet dissipated, causing the surrounding skin to turn red.
Yaya walked over, took off her thin coat that she was using to protect herself from the sun, and covered her calves with it. The person on the chair was still sleeping soundly.
Song Yu arrived in the early hours of yesterday morning, carrying a bag all over her body. She didn't say a word. After I applied medicine all over her body, she was still too itchy to sleep. I guess she was forced to sleep until the second half of the night.
As soon as he saw her like this, he knew that she must have had a quarrel with her family again. Yaya sighed, turned around and sat back on his small stool. He raised his hand and turned on the loudspeaker hanging next to him. Suddenly, a female voice, as casual as if she was recording while lying on the bed, came out of the loudspeaker. The tone was long and slow, and it seemed particularly negative in this alley full of passionate hawking sounds.
For a moment, there was no one coming to buy vegetables. They stared at the vegetables on the ground that were dying under the scorching sun, squatting on the ground and fiddling with them, completely at a loss as to what to do.
"Little sister, the loudspeaker you use is too slow. If you ask someone else to do it, it might be better." The auntie who was setting up a stall next to her gave her some advice.
Yaya stood up and took down the big loudspeaker hanging on the pole. She was a little worried, but she didn't know the other people very well.
Song Yu slept very uneasily that night and had several nightmares. One of the nightmares was set in a hospital. Everything she saw was white, so bright that she couldn't see the road clearly. Several medical staff with sickles and chainsaws were chasing her desperately. She was almost hacked to death several times. Finally, someone came to save her, but when she turned around, she saw that this person was a faceless monster. She was so shocked that she woke up instantly.
My consciousness gradually returned, and my ears were filled with the noise of the market. The vendors' cries became clearer and louder each time, and it sounded really too noisy.
She frowned. How could someone still pronounce "piao'erbai" as "shao'erbai"? Even that's wrong, and they're not even using the local dialect but standard Mandarin. Locals think you're not really here to sell vegetables, so it's no wonder your business is booming.
But why did this voice feel so close to her? Even the voice hawking in standard Mandarin sounded more and more familiar, as if she had heard it somewhere before.
Wait, Song Yu suddenly opened his eyes and turned over to sit up from the chair, his sight focused on a very familiar white loudspeaker——
How could Xu Qiao's voice appear on their home speakers?
At this time, many people gathered in front of their stall. Yaya was so busy that she didn't even have time to wipe the sweat off her face. She kept helping customers weigh vegetables and tear plastic bags. Her hands were busy and her face was red from the sun. She looked very happy.
Song Yu walked over and saw that all the vegetables on the ground were sold out. "What's going on?"
Yaya didn't even raise her head, her hands were too busy to talk to her.
"Boss, give me another plastic bag." A customer was holding his hands full of vegetables. Song Yu turned around and pulled a bag for him, then followed to help.
After all the customers in front of the stall had left and the vegetables were almost sold out, Song Yu squatted down to pick up the newspapers spread on the ground, while Ya Ya sat beside him counting the money, her little face full of excitement. In fact, she only earned more than 80 yuan.
After finishing everything, Song Yu held the loudspeaker in front of Yaya and said in a very cold voice, "Tell me, what happened? How did you secretly contact him without telling me?"
"Is my price reading too slowly? That's because you insisted on having me record it for you while I was still half asleep."
"Why did he call me? Don't delete WeChat. Just add him since he's already added you, otherwise people will think you're ungrateful. But don't bother him if you have nothing to do. He's in the mathematics department and is usually very busy, okay?" Song Yu deliberately spoke more seriously to scare her, so that this little girl would not send WeChat messages to Xu Qiao every day.
Yaya didn't want to delete it at first, but she nodded vigorously and made a gesture, "I see, is he the one you're pursuing?"
Song Yu rolled his eyes and said, "He's my enemy, so don't contact him, do you hear me?"
"Okay, you made a lot of money today, treat me to a popsicle."
The two of them each sucked on a popsicle and walked home with a clattering footsteps.
"Is it difficult to study mathematics?"
Song Yu took a bite of his mung bean popsicle and glanced at her. "Why? Do you want to study mathematics in college?"
Ya Ya shook his head again, "I haven't thought about it yet."
"There's still a year left, take your time to think about it." Song Yu squinted his eyes and looked at the village not far away, which was hazy in the sunlight. "When you go to college, you can leave this hellhole forever."
"Palm Township isn't a ghost town; it's my home." Yaya gestured quickly in disapproval.
Song Yu turned his head and rubbed her head with a smile, "Okay, okay, I got it."
The cell phone in his pocket suddenly rang. Song Yu stopped to check. It was just a routine notification in the class group. He was about to turn off the phone, but the heavy weight of the loudspeaker in his hand could not be ignored. His finger unconsciously opened the chat box with Xu Qiao.
I still have to say thank you.
Without thinking too much, Song Yu edited a message and sent it out. Then, when she turned around, she was accidentally stepped on by Ya Ya who was walking around with a mobile phone in her hand. She bent over and hissed in pain.
Yaya quickly put down her phone and bent down to look at her with an apologetic look on her face, "I'm sorry, are you okay?"
"What were you doing just now?" He held up a mobile phone, as if he was taking a video of someone.
'I'm on video.'
Video? With whom? Song Yu's face was full of questions. Before she could ask, a mobile phone was handed to her. Her face suddenly appeared on the screen. Sitting in the small window next to her was a man who looked like a handsome figurine. His handsome eyebrows and bright eyes looked very familiar.
Oh my god, Song Yumian turned the phone upside down, gesturing fiercely and silently, "Didn't I tell you not to bother him if you have nothing to do?"
Yaya looked very aggrieved. "He was the first one to say he wanted to see the golden wheat fields. He has never seen one before. How pitiful."
It was really pitiful that he had never seen a wheat field. After a moment's thought, Song Yu turned up the volume on his phone and waved his hand over there, "Can you hear me?"
I could clearly see the other person's expression change, and after a while he spoke, "I thought the microphone on my phone was broken."
"Sometimes she thinks I speak faster than she signs and doesn't like to listen." Song Yu was blinded by the midday sun. With a hand covering her forehead, she said to Xu Qiao on the other end, "Thank you for the recording. The little girl is working part-time to earn money for her studies. She picked some vegetables she grew and sold them at the market."
"Nothing." Xu Qiao asked politely, "Is business okay lately?"
The tone of the question was like that of a project with assets worth millions. Song Yu curled his lips and put the straw hat back on his head loosely. He turned the video to face Ya Ya, who was holding a small electronic scale in front of him and asked, "Tell him how much money he made today."
Yaya gestured towards the video, and in the end Song Yu had to help her say, "Eighty-two dollars and fifty-three cents."
"My hard work is amazing." Xu Qiao said with a serious expression.
"Your recording contribution is part of this. Look, the boss treated the workers to popsicles. Logically, the boss should treat you as a worker, but unfortunately you're not here." Song Yu showed Xu Qiao the mung bean popsicles in his hand, "Then another worker will have to serve."
Regarding her areas of weakness, Xu Qiao was very humble. "Are there any typos in the recording? I was reading according to the recording she gave me. That recording was in dialect, and I couldn't quite understand some of it."
The dialect of Lu Township is actually very easy to understand, except for the different tones and some local expressions. But the problem is that the pronunciation of the previous recording is unclear, and the tone is long and slow, so even locals may not be able to hear all the words clearly.
As the holder of the previous recording, Song Yu pointed out some pronunciation errors to Xu Qiao without blushing or beating his heart, and did not think it was his own problem at all.
Xu Qiao accepted all of them and said he would record a new version and send it to Yaya later. "If there's nothing else, I'll hang up first."
"Wait, classmate Xu Qiao." Song Yu held the phone. The wind seemed to be strong in the wheat field, and several times the hat covering her head was almost blown off. She raised her hand with great effort to hold down her straw hat and smiled at Xu Qiao. "Look, now you are back to help with the recording. As humans, we always help each other. When I come back, I will get you some local specialties. As for the past... let's really write off everything, okay?"
"You mean..."
"It was that day on Lan Lin's birthday when I kissed you, and then what happened at the swimming pool..."
"But these two things...it seems like I'm the one who suffers the loss?"
Song Yu was stunned, "Then what do you want?" She was drunk that day and really didn't mean it, but she couldn't let him kiss her back.
"friend."
"What?" Song Yu suspected that she had heard it wrong.
Xu Qiao lowered his eyelids and repeated, "I want to be friends with you."
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