go home
The congestion is unique to urban villages and reaches its peak around 9 or 10 o'clock in the evening.
On a road of several hundred meters, the sound of electric vehicles, the sound of frying at the vendors' stalls, the sound of iron pots and shovels colliding, the hawking from the loudspeakers, and the mechanical and expensive special promotion sounds from the fresh food supermarket next to it, all kinds of sounds intertwine and meet, forming a noisy and chaotic scene.
Pedestrians who have to turn sideways to walk, flyers that are stuffed into people's hands and then thrown away, and the smell of sweat and snacks that linger in the summer air, mixed together and difficult to tell what is what.
All this paints a picture of the bustling and noisy city life.
However, at this moment, Shao Linyin's world was filled with silence.
There is a constant flow of people around him and the world is bustling, but all of this has nothing to do with him.
Only the clothes on his chest that were slowly becoming soaked, hugging his sobbing body, told him that he was needed.
Because of the shock, he didn't know where to put his hands, which were slightly stretched out at his sides.
A gust of wind blew, bringing with it the smell of the Sichuan braised food stall that he usually lingered at. He didn't know when the corners of his mouth lifted up, his eyebrows curved, and his hands, which had nowhere to put, raised up and stroked the prickly crew cut of the child in his arms, again and again.
"Want some chicken feet?"
The child raised his head, his nose and eyes red, and looked at him with confusion.
"Let's go." He came to the stall and spent ten yuan to buy three braised chicken feet.
She turned to look at the child who was still sniffling and took his hand: "Go home."
This was the first time he spoke of "going home" so seriously.
After opening the door, the child's worn-out shoes were usually placed outside the door. This time, he changed into slippers. The child carefully took off his white sneakers, brought them into the house, found a rag, carefully wiped off the dust on the edges, and then placed them against the wall at the door with a pious look on his face.
Shao Linyin was neither anxious nor annoyed. He just sat there quietly, smiling slightly, watching the child finish everything. Then he asked the child to wash his hands and come over to sit on the small stool.
He took one chicken foot for himself and pushed the remaining two in front of the child.
He doesn't eat coriander, garlic, or peanuts, but he can accept a little chopped green onion and likes shredded cucumber in cold dishes.
But considering the children, the boss also added coriander, minced garlic and peanuts.
When buying it, the boss looked him up, as if wondering whether to give it to him. All these side dishes together almost drowned the chicken feet!
Shao Linyin looked calm. The boss struggled a bit but finally gave him the three chicken feet.
At this moment, he was wearing disposable gloves, picked up a chicken claw, carefully removed the mashed garlic, coriander and fallen peanut skins stuck on it, and then chewed it bit by bit starting from his fingertips.
He always ate in a polite manner, and compared to him, the children were polite but also solemn.
He deftly used the tip of his tongue to pull out a small section of the finger bone and placed it in a small plastic bag on the table. He watched the child lick the chopped green onions and coriander into his mouth before starting to bite the chicken feet.
"What's your name?" he asked.
The child was stunned for a moment, then relaxed, chewed twice, and replied, "I don't have a name, you can give me one."
Shao Liyin was very surprised: "How is that possible? Judging from your handwriting, you must have been to school. If you have been to school, how can you not have a name?"
The child lowered his head. Shao Linyin was sitting on the edge of the bed, which was slightly higher than the table. All he could see was the child's long eyelashes casting a large shadow under the light, covering the entire eye, making it impossible to see the emotion in the eye.
The child was silent for a while, lowering his head to gnaw on a chicken foot, but still insisted: "I don't have a name."
Shao Linyin stared at him but didn't ask any more questions, just like he didn't want others to delve into his past. If others didn't want to, he would stop.
Seeing the child finish the chicken feet in his hand and then sit there motionless with his head down, he reached out and picked up the remaining chicken in the box: "Look up, ah——"
"Ah?" The child raised his head and quickly stuffed the chicken feet into his slightly open mouth.
The child was stunned for a moment, biting the chicken feet, tears welling up in his eyes again.
Shao Linyin hurriedly said, "Hold it down!"
The child really swallowed his tears obediently.
Shao Liyin laughed and said, "Your tears come and go as you please. You really can control them so easily!"
The child was still sullen, probably thinking of something unhappy. He looked like a capital emo...
Shao Linyin thought for a moment and said, "Kid, let me perform a magic trick for you!"
The child raised his head and looked at him.
He put down the chicken bone that had been sucked clean from his hand, took off his disposable gloves, and stretched out his slender, white hand covered with calluses and wounds in front of the child, with his five fingers spread out and his palm facing the child.
"Watch out—"
With a mysterious tone, he spread his five fingers wide in front of the child, rotating them clockwise while tightening them one by one starting from the little finger and finally making a fist.
The child looked at the fist in front of him in confusion.
He smiled mysteriously: "Don't blink!"
The child's eyes widened.
As the tightly clenched fist slowly loosened, the child carefully stared at his open palm. His fingers were slender, and the palm lines were delicate. Apart from the small wounds here and there, he was sure there was nothing else...
His eyes felt sore, but he didn't dare blink. Then a gust of smelly wind blew towards him, and he looked up...
Shao Linyin blew a breath, and the wind carrying the smell of braised chicken feet blew onto his face.
"Laugh—come on!"
Child: …………
Shao Liyin then raised his voice: "Laugh! Ha!"
“…………Ha. Ha.” The child was silent for a moment, followed by two dry laughs, and then seemed speechless as to why he would cooperate with such an idiotic act, staring at Shao Linyin.
When people are extremely embarrassed, they will really laugh out loud. After those two dry laughs, there will be a second of silence, and then a burst of unstoppable inexplicable silly laughter, and then a string of "hahaha" laughter, and the two people will laugh so hard that their whole bodies will shake.
That night, in this tube-shaped building, in room 402 which had been silent for two years, a laugh broke out which even the owner inside could not explain, and it lasted for a long time.
I don’t know how long I laughed, Shao Linyin looked at the child with a smile on his face and shining eyes.
He didn't know how long it had been since he had laughed so heartily.
Having walked alone for so many years, he knew how to hide himself and find a balance between being himself and fitting in with the people around him.
He was used to keeping up a mask, always wearing a faint smile, but it seemed that nothing in this world could really make him laugh.
When he received his diploma from the self-taught college, he thought he would be happy, but when he looked at the paper, he only felt numb.
It was as if staying alive and moving forward was just a task he had to complete.
So he decided to take the self-study undergraduate exam. He didn't know why, he just didn't want to stop.
"Smile." He said softly.
The child stopped laughing and looked at him, his face flushed slightly, with a smile still lingering in the corners of his eyes.
"Xiaolai." He repeated, "From now on, just call me Xiaolai."
I have been alone for many years, and finally I have waited for Xiaolai and for you.
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