Courir partout et jouer des rôles mineurs

Chapitre 23

He jumped up to go home and get his slingshot, but Shanglin grabbed him. She, on the other hand, remained calm and knocked on the door slowly. After a while, someone inside called out, looking down at them impatiently.

He asked in a gruff voice, "What are you doing now?"

"My bowl." Shang Lin blinked, looking at him pitifully.

Taking the bowl that was rudely shoved into his hand, Shanglin braced himself against the doorframe and asked innocently, "Xialin, does standing up for the weak always mean being ungrateful?"

Xia Lin was a little confused, but even so, he nodded. What his sister said must make sense, or at least it made sense.

Li Changsheng really wanted to slap her to the ground and kill her, just like swatting an ant.

But he couldn't. If he really killed her, he would truly become the ungrateful wretch she described. His master taught him martial arts not to make him ungrateful.

I closed my eyes and tried to convince myself to be patient; she's just a little girl.

What exactly are you going to do?

She chuckled, "The milk is all dirty."

Close your eyes again, with a hundred times the patience, and ask, "So?"

"You wasted a bowl of milk from my family. Wasting is wrong and you'll be struck by lightning."

He looked up at the sky; the winter sun hung high in the distance, and he was certain there wouldn't be thunder on a clear day. Even if lightning struck, it shouldn't strike him.

A thousand people watched her with immense patience.

“Since we’ve already wasted this bowl, we shouldn’t waste any more. Xia Lin, bring the rest of the milk.” She blinked at Li Changsheng:

"Brother Li, you're not going to waste it again, are you?"

Ten thousand acts of patience.

Li Changsheng silently counted, then closed his eyes: "Li Changsheng."

My name is Li Changsheng, not Brother Li!

A clear, crisp voice: "Brother Changsheng."

He counted ten thousand acts of patience.

"Li Changsheng!" he almost gritted his teeth.

Qiu Shanglin smiled and said, "Chang Sheng." She pushed him aside and went into the house. She pulled out a large cardboard box from under the bed and began to rummage through the cotton-padded clothes inside.

A million acts of patience.

After finishing a bowl of hot milk, he suddenly felt that the sun was very warm this morning. It had been a long time since the sun had been this warm.

Why is milk served hot?

Qiu Shanglin said, "It's so cold in here. I'm sure I'll catch a cold, and I might even freeze to death."

To prevent her from freezing to death, Li Changsheng had no choice but to start a fire—he brought coal briquettes from the Qiu family's house.

She chuckled as she rummaged through his and his grandfather's winter clothes, occasionally unfolding a garment to weigh it against him before reluctantly putting it back. What would a million amount to in the future? Li Changsheng didn't know, but he felt his patience being magnified infinitely, stretched and stretched further.

Why does this strange, nasty town, this disgusting courtyard, have a scoundrel living there, and why do the people in the courtyard seem to like this dog so much?

He felt that the world, which had always been clearly black and white, had suddenly become unclear.

1988

A few white clouds drifted across the azure sky, and occasionally flocks of white pigeons flew by in neat formations. A few sparrows chirped and landed on the ground not far away, sometimes looking up and sometimes looking down to peck at food.

He sighed silently, suddenly feeling that time was passing so slowly.

The top student from Class 2, Grade 9, handed Qiu Shanglin the review materials he had borrowed for five days, while curiously observing the person who stood as straight as a wooden stake, and asked:

"Where did they conscript these men from? Where is Yin Yeyao?"

Shanglin chuckled, "Pah, pah, pah, what strongman? This is my new neighbor, Li Changsheng. He's from far away in Sichuan. Hey, Brother Changsheng, where in Sichuan are you from?"

Expressionless: "Suining."

Shanglin feigned sudden realization: "Oh, Suining, Suining is a good place, Suining has..."

Flipping through the map: "Where is Suining?"

The model student chuckled and joked, "There are things you don't know!"

She rolled her eyes: "There's a lot I don't know!"

I casually asked, "Brother Changsheng, how old are you?"

"Ten years old."

Qiu Shanglin chuckled: "You're kidding me! Even if you're a few years older, you can't be ten years older, right? I checked the register in the security office. You're eight years old this year, and only nine years old by the traditional Chinese age reckoning!"

Li Changsheng glared at her. "You know that, why did you ask? Are you doing this on purpose? Are you playing a trick on me?"

The thought that she had tricked him fueled his anger, and his eyes gradually turned ferocious. The model student felt the chill emanating from his body, quickly settled the bill, and ran away.

Shanglin tucked the money into his bag, ignoring his menacing expression: "Brother Changsheng, let's go to town to buy glass tomorrow. You're old and strong, so help me carry the glass back."

Li Changsheng lost his temper.

Whose glass is this? It's your own, isn't it!

Refuse? Would refusing even help?

She's just a rascal—no, no, a rascal cat! Yes, she's just like the cat we used to have at home. Every time she got into trouble, she would look at people with innocent eyes, making it hard to hit her.

If you weren't a girl... he thought fiercely to himself, if you weren't a girl, I'd beat you to a pulp!

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Amidst the struggle between beating him up and not beating him up, the Spring Festival of 1988 arrived.

After the Spring Festival, Qiu Shanglin turned six, Qiu Xialin turned five, Yin Yeyao turned ten, and Li Changsheng celebrated his ninth birthday.

December 29th is his birthday.

It was so close to the Spring Festival that nobody cared. In his memory, no one had ever celebrated his birthday. The next day was New Year's Eve; he could eat and drink well on New Year's Eve, so why bother with just one more day?

On the morning of the 29th day of the 12th lunar month in 1987, Li Changsheng ate his first bowl of longevity noodles.

On the 29th day of the 12th lunar month in 1987, Li Changsheng watched Qiu Shanglin bustling about all afternoon.

On the evening of the 29th day of the 12th lunar month in 1987, in his own home, a bright, clean, and exceptionally cozy place, he blew out candles and ate birthday cake for the first time in his life.

Li Changsheng didn't understand what it meant to be moved. He was neither capable of being moved nor cared about being moved, but something in his eyes seemed to sting uncontrollably, and a soft spot appeared in his heart. When Shanglin, Xialin, and a group of children in the courtyard gathered together and sang "Happy Birthday" off-key, his heart softened, as if it could drip water.

Qiu Shanglin egged him on to make a wish, and after he made his wish, she made him perform a talent show. After he performed, she smeared cream all over his face. Li Changsheng touched the sticky cream and thought, "Tomorrow, tomorrow I'm going to beat her up!"

Watching the children laughing, shouting, and stuffing their mouths, he suddenly realized that tomorrow was New Year's Eve, and New Year's Eve was a good day. He couldn't beat the little girls into pig heads on such a good day.

Then the day after tomorrow.

The day after tomorrow is the first day of the Lunar New Year. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, we go out to visit relatives and friends. The little girl is so pretty, just like a doll in a painting. She's chubby and fair-skinned. None of the other children in the yard are as pretty as her. Such a pretty little girl shouldn't be beaten into a pulp.

Maybe the day after tomorrow... the day after tomorrow is the day I go back to my parents' home...

Li Changsheng didn't know that if he told Qiu Shanglin that in his eyes she looked like a chubby, fair-skinned, silly doll from a New Year's painting, Qiu Shanglin would beat him to a pulp, no matter what!

She was concerned about her blonde hair, her sallow complexion, her thin and lifeless eyes. Over the past year, she had put in a lot of effort and eaten a lot of good food to finally earn praise for looking so energetic and like a doll.

chubby and fair-skinned? Do you think I'm a pig?!

Of course, she didn't know.

Because she didn't know, she smiled like a flower. No, she was dressed bulkily, her smiling face like a silly doll.

She snuggled up to Li Changsheng, tilted her head back and laughed, "What are you doing? If we don't eat now, they'll snatch it all away."

In a muffled voice, he said, "I don't like it."

Shang Lin suddenly realized and regretted it: "Oh right, you don't like sweets!"

But there's nothing we can do; cakes are always sweet, no matter who teaches them.

She scooped up a piece and forced it to Li Changsheng's lips: "At least eat a little. You have to eat cake on your birthday. I asked Mom to buy it specially from the city!"

He turned his head away, then turned it back, opened his mouth, and took it in; the sweet taste gradually spread in his mouth.