Chapter 2 Pinellia ternata
No. 66 Muxuyuan Street, Qinhuai District, Zhongqinyuan, Meihua Villa.
This is one of the few residential areas in the city that is still habitable. The facilities are old but still complete. In the early years, the housing price here was more than 30,000 yuan per square meter, but now no one buys it.
The little girl walked through the gate of the community with her bag on her back. Vines were growing wildly on the walls of the residential buildings on both sides. The gaps between the overlapping round green leaves were covered with pink marble wall paint. No one had taken care of it for many years. A seagull fluttered over and landed on the window sill, tilting its head curiously.
She lives in Unit 2, Building 11, and is 20 meters away from the community gate, turn left.
8th floor, 804.
There was no elevator in the old building, so one had to climb the stairs one step at a time. Climbing the stairs was quite tiring. The girl went up to the fifth floor in one breath, and then slowed down her pace. She was carrying a bag on her back and a heavy cloth bag in her hands, and her feet were dripping all the way.
When she reached the seventh floor, she knocked on the door of Room 703 and shouted, "Uncle Huang! Old Huang! I'm back! Your father Banxia, I'm back!"
No one from inside the door paid any attention to her, perhaps they were still asleep and not awake yet.
Old Huang has always had his day and night reversed.
Banxia went upstairs panting, the cloth bag in her hand swaying, and the scarlet sticky liquid soaked through the fabric and spilled on the steps.
She didn't notice it and just kept ticking all the way up the stairs.
The eighth floor is the top floor. There are two households on the first floor, with doors facing each other. One door can be opened, but the other has been blocked by debris. There is a rope in the stairwell to hang wet clothes. Banxia crawled under the black coat and touched her hair.
When he arrived at his home, he changed hands, took out the key from his pocket, turned the door open with a "click", then went in, put down his things and changed his shoes.
"Mom and Dad, I'm back."
Mom and Dad were sitting on the sofa. Banxia looked up and found that some dust had accumulated after a day, so she came over and dusted it off for them.
Some dust was blown in from the window. I forgot to close the floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room last night, and there was even some fresh bird droppings on the floor.
"I went to the teacher. She was still as strict as ever. I talked to her about my learning results today. Actually, I didn't make much progress. It's really hard to study on your own."
Banxia quickly took off her coat and trousers, leaving only a vest and shorts, stretched her slender arms and thighs, and then sat down on the sofa. The old sofa was immediately crushed by the back, making a creaking sound. The girl collapsed there to rest for a while, then hugged her father's shoulders, "I wish there was someone who could teach me. I pray to God to give me a great god, preferably one who is handsome."
God still ignored her request.
She had prayed many times. She stood on the roof and shouted to the sky: Oh, God! Please give me a handsome man! A handsome man who can work like a cow or a horse to help me carry wild vegetables!
Unfortunately, God only granted half of her request.
Handsome guy no.
There are enough cattle and horses.
I don't know how many wild buffaloes were walking in groups through the alfalfa garden street in front of my door, defecating and swishing their tails to spread their shit everywhere.
"There's a lot of deer droppings on Alfalfa Street. I don't know what kind of deer it is, but there must be a large group of deer here. I'll go check it out tomorrow. I wonder if it's the same group of deer that came last time."
"The water in Crescent Lake is getting less and less, and the bottom of the lake is all muddy. I think the lake will dry up soon. I passed by there today and saw a pile of tin cans in the mud at the bottom of the lake. I don't know who threw them there."
The girl said as she massaged her parents' shoulders.
The parents sat motionless.
"I still haven't met anyone today. I can only try to call with the radio at night. Do you think anyone will hear me? Although I can't find anyone no matter how hard I try, the teacher said I should keep trying. She said someone will definitely hear me. What date is today? September... September 5th? Oh no, it's September 6th."
"I'll go cook. There's one more person eating tonight, so I'll bring my teacher back to eat with us." Banxia got up and dragged the cloth bag at the door into the kitchen, leaving a dark red trail that was almost solidified. "Oops! It leaked, it leaked, and the floor was dirty."
She quickly dragged the bag into the kitchen and slammed the kitchen door shut.
After a while, the sound of a kitchen knife chopping bones came from the kitchen.
“It’s hard to chop.”
"It's so hard, is it the spine?"
"Oops, my head fell into the pool."
"I can't chop it, Dad! Mom! Do you mind eating spareribs tonight? If you don't mind, I'll cook them!"
Soon the house was filled with the rich aroma of meat, and the soup pot in the kitchen was bubbling.
A mouse slid down from the ceiling, crawled along the floor to the sofa, then climbed up the sofa to the parents' shoulders and tore their clothes.
Banxia heard a squeaking sound in the kitchen, stuck her head out and saw the mouse, then rushed over with a spoon in hand.
"Dead rat!"
She swung a spoon over.
The mouse gave a sharp cry and disappeared under the sofa.
Rats are really annoying, and they are not afraid of people. They come out to make trouble at night. When Banxia lies in bed at night, she can hear them playing sports on the floor, making rustling noises that keep her awake.
If you fall asleep, they will be even more lawless. They will crawl into the quilt, into the sleeves, and into the hair. Banxia woke up early in the morning more than once to find something moving in her hair. When she combed her hair, a little mouse fell out and was twisting and squeaking on the ground.
Well, breakfast is taken care of.
Dozens of minutes later, Banxia, her face covered in soot and sweat, came out carrying a boiling hot aluminum pot. She wrapped the handle with a rag, twisted and turned the pot, hissing and gasping for air, and put it on the coffee table.
The milky white soup in the pot overflowed from the edge of the pot and spilled onto the table.
"It's hot, hot, hot, hot! It's so hot." The girl put her fingers in her mouth and stomped her feet hard, as if stomping could speed up the cooling and dissipation of heat. She stirred the soup in the pot with a spoon and brought out a stack of bowls from the kitchen, a total of four bowls.
She placed the four bowls on the table, saying:
"This is Dad's."
"This is fucking."
"This is mine."
The last bowl was pushed to the edge of the table where no one was.
“This belongs to the teacher.”
"The teacher is the guest, so the teacher comes first." Banxia smiled and used chopsticks to scoop out a small, boiled palm from the soup pot and put it in the bowl, "Here, it's well cooked, don't be polite."
After that, she clasped her hands together and took a deep breath:
"Well, Dad, Mom, Teacher, I'm ready to eat!"
(End of this chapter)
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