01
When I passed by Zhao Erbao's house, I saw him sitting under the locust tree near the gate of his house, teasing the few newly hatched chickens.
"Erbao, what are you doing at home?"
On age, Zhao Erbao is a few years older than me, and we are neighbors. I should have called him "brother", but I don’t know why, I seem to start from remembering Just keep calling his name.
Hearing my voice, Zhao Erbao turned his head and looked at me, grabbed the chicken on the ground and gestured to me, grinning "hehe".
I also smiled and nodded, and did not continue talking to him.
When we got home for lunch, my mother and I accidentally talked about Zhao Erbao, "Mom, I look at Zhao Erbao more stupid than before."
"Oh, he is also a poor person." Mom sighed lightly. Take a sigh of relief.
02
Speaking of Zhao Erbao, everyone will feel sorry. Zhao Erbao was not like this before. He was also a smart and lovely child, a handsome and sunny boy, and an ambitious young man with a bright future. It's just that in real life, he encountered too many nos. These misfortunes were enough to crush his nerves and take away all his glamorous things.
about a few decades ago, when we were very young. Zhao Erbao's family is very wealthy, and the surrounding villages add up, they are among the best.
Zhao Erbao's father is different from those of our parents who live by working and farming. He is shrewd and capable and has a lot of mind. He is doing business outside and has made some famous names.
In my memory, Zhao Erbao always looks like the son of a landlord. The hair was parted in the middle, combed neatly on the sides, dark bibs paired with an endless shirt. He always has endless snacks and many novel toys.
His life makes us native children envy and jealous. Once, when we were playing at the entrance of the village, Zhao Erbao had a lollipop in his mouth and a brand new toy train in his hand, standing in front of us to show off. We were quiet for a while, all stopped, and looked at him stupidly.Several little slanders even slobbered.
We smell of mud and sweat all over us, and Zhao Erbao will always have a faint fragrance of toilet water.
That day, I came home and asked my mother why Zhao Erbao had so many new clothes and new toys. Mom said, because his life is good.
Later, when we all reached school age, Zhao Erbao had a new schoolbag, new rain boots when it rained, and a pair of thick and beautiful gloves when it was cold. And we still have nothing.
I still clearly remember that Zhao Erbao bought a bicycle. That was the first time I saw the bicycle. He sat on the back seat of the bicycle and laughed happily. That scene made me much later. In the second dream, I dreamed that the person sitting behind the car was me.
The childhood Zhao Erbao was lucky and happy. However, the god of luck did not always care for him.
03
When Zhao Erbao was twelve years old, his father died in an accident. The sudden departure of his father is tantamount to a broken world for their family. The life of Zhao Erbao’s family plummeted, his father died unexpectedly, leaving no unexplainable bad debts, his mother didn’t understand business, and the future life could only rely on farming. Her sister was two years older than Zhao Erbao and had to drop out of school early. Go home to help mother.
Since then, we have rarely seen Zhao Erbao smile. Their bicycles were sold, and all the furniture they could get out of the house was used to repay the debt. All houses were left empty at once.
Zhao Erbao is just like us, his hair is no longer as neat and his clothes are not as spotless as before. He began to slowly integrate into our small group.
When steaming steamed buns at home, my mother would ask me to give some to Zhao Erbao's house. I asked my mother, would he like to eat these things? I remember as if they had something fresh that they couldn't finish eating.
Mom said he would like it, Zhao Erbao, a poor child.
I wondered at the time, why is he a lucky child and a poor child? I didn't go deep into these.
Zhao Erbao's mother is a strong woman. She carried the burden of the family with her thin shoulders. In the wind and rain, her straight back slowly bends, and her dark hair turned gray.The delicate hands also gave birth to ugly calluses. Three years, five years, ten years,..., Zhao Erbao has grown up.
He inherited his father's clever mind. Although he didn't achieve much academically, he was in a good mood in society.
He did not live up to the expectations of his family. He used the first pot of gold he earned to repair the crumbling old house at home, and then bought a house in the city.
Who can not like the handsome and golden guy?
Zhao Erbao took his girlfriend home. The muddy road soiled the girl's white shoes, and she curled her mouth in disgust. For this future daughter-in-law, Zhao Erbao's mother didn't like it, but love has made people lose sight of the way forward. Although the first time the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law met were unhappy, Zhao Erbao was still dating that girl.
One year later, Zhao Erbao decided to marry this girl. But there is one condition, the house in the city must be transferred to her name, because the conditions in our hometown are really bad.
I would rather demolish a temple than a marriage, let alone the marriage of my own son. Zhao Erbao's mother has no ability to stop him, and everything before marriage went smoothly.
One week before the wedding date, Zhao Erbao had to go out far away due to some business affairs. With anticipation of the upcoming happiness, he was reluctant to deal with some business matters.
He did not expect that when he came back, it would end in a different way.
Hurry up, he hurried back two days before the wedding. But when he took the key to open the door, he couldn't open it. After several attempts, he found that the door lock had been changed. The fiancée's phone could not be reached either.
Zhao Erbao rushed to his fiancée's house, but was driven out by a few men. He wanted to ask what happened, screaming stubbornly and rushing into the house, but was beaten. He didn't know something, and hit his head fiercely. He was dizzy, and the bright red blood flowed down and blurred his eyes.
When he woke up, he was already in the hospital.
The pungent smell of disinfectant awakened his sleeping nerves, opened his heavy eyelids and saw his mother sitting next to him. Mother's hair seemed to have turned white in just a few days, and she looked at Zhao Erbao with old eyes.
At that moment, Zhao Erbao cried. Hot and humid tears slid out of the corners of his eyes and flowed into his dark hair. His silent tears were extraordinarily heavy.
His hard-earned house was sold by his fiancee, and his marriage is gone. After several years of hard work, all was gone in a blink of an eye. Such a blow was devastating. He thought he was strong, but in fact he was not as strong as he thought.
04
After this incident, Zhao Erbao became even more reticent. More often, he hides in a quiet corner alone in a daze. He stopped going out to do things and stayed with his mother at home.
I heard from people in the village that I saw him standing by a cliff a few times, crying and laughing for a while. In a thunderstorm night, Zhao Erbao disappeared. His mother's eyes were red from crying. People in the village helped search all the places but couldn't find it.
When a villager from the village next door went up to herd cattle, he found him in a cave.
His hair was mixed with dry weeds, messing up. The clothes were covered with dirt, and the trousers were scratched with holes of various sizes.
Since then, the light in his eyes has disappeared, and he will still laugh, but only idiotically.
.
