Police Chen Shu

A village in the city.

"Li Xia, are you back? Are you tired from work?"

A kind-faced old man was sitting at the top of the stairs, fanning an old banana fan and cheerfully greeting the thin man who had just stepped into the small courtyard.

The thin man who heard the voice deliberately took a few steps towards the shadows of the building before stopping. He lowered his head slightly and turned towards the old man who had been helping his family.

"Grandpa Ma, I'm back." The thin man named Li Xia faced the old man with a respectful attitude. He stood still before speaking, "The uncles at the construction site are very good to me. Thank you very much for being paid. In other words, I think I am quite suitable to work on the construction site. "

Grandpa Ma paused slightly with the fan in his hand, and then said with regret: "You are a good student in studying. It's such a pity that you have such a bad result. In fact, you should be allowed to continue studying, your brother."

There are thousands of sorrows in the world, but he is not missing.

I'm the elder brother. Li Xia doesn't care about whether he can study. What he cares about is whether his younger brother can study. Similarly, he doesn't want this old man who has always taken good care of their family to be sad. He immediately changed the subject and said, "Grandpa Ma, so It’s late, why don’t you go to bed?”

Although he asked the question, Li Xia knew that Grandpa Ma was still sitting downstairs so late, so he must be waiting for him.

Today is his first day at the construction site, and this class was introduced by Grandpa Ma.

Seeing Grandpa Ma putting his hands on his knees and preparing to stand up, Li Xia hesitated for half a second, lowered his head, walked a few steps quickly and supported the other man's arms.

"It's hot and I can't sleep." Grandpa Ma stood up without realizing that this big boy, who was highly regarded among the neighbors, had good academic performance and could take care of his young brother and sick mother. When I have free time, I work part-time to support my family.

It's what adults call someone else's child.

Grandpa Ma smiled and patted Li Xia's hands in his arms, "No need to help, your Grandpa Ma is not old yet, he can stand up. Okay, I'm going to bed, and you should go home early. I guess your mother is still waiting." .”

When I got home, my brother was already asleep, and my mother was still sitting on the small stool by the door waiting. When she saw Li Xia coming in, she smiled. This smile has always been Li Xia's favorite scene since he was a child.

After all these years, I never get tired of watching it.

Looking at his mother's smiling face and listening to her nagging words, Li Xia felt a familiar sense of relief arise spontaneously.

"Why do you work overtime on your first day at work? Do you have to work at night on the construction site? Are you hungry? Go wash your hands and eat while it's hot. These are your favorite dishes, including braised pork."

Although she has been seriously ill for many years, her mother's words are always so gentle. Ying's weak body does not affect her cooking skills at all. The dishes on the dinner table are still delicious, so delicious that Li Xia longs to continue eating them for dozens of years. Year.

As he ate, tears welled up in his eyes uncontrollably. Afraid that his mother would see the wounds on his face, Li Xia could only bury his head deep in the rice bowl, swallowing the rice with tears mixed with the rice.

"Mom, the boss of the construction site has advanced my salary. You can use it to pay for my little brother's tuition tomorrow, and you can keep the rest of the money to pay for the surgery at the end of the month."

Li Xia slapped his chopsticks on the table, took out the cash he won from boxing at night, and put it on the table.

"I've been sick for so many years, and I haven't had any surgery before. Why can't I still live my life as usual? You, don't listen to the doctors. They make money by scaring people into the hospital." The mother's eyes were covered with thick blood. Attracted by the money, he touched it in disbelief, "Huh? So much money! Grandpa Ma told me that you only have a salary of two thousand yuan a month. Why do you have so much money now? Did you pay it in advance for several months? ?”

"I don't know either." Li Xia swung his chopsticks quickly and raised his rice bowl, intentionally or unintentionally covering his injured face.

"It's just your first day at work, how could your boss give you an advance on your salary?" My mother had doubts in her heart, but she still couldn't help but stretched out her hands to pick up the pile of scattered banknotes.

"Well, it should be for Grandpa Ma's sake." Li Xia casually found an excuse to excuse himself, then speeded up his eating and finished the white rice in the bowl in just a few seconds.

"Oh, that's not right. Grandpa Ma has been looking at the door there for more than a year. How can you have such great dignity and ask the boss to give you such a little kid so much money?" The mother was doubtful, but her eyes were still fixed on On the red cash in hand.

It's not that she is greedy for money, it's just that her family is really short of money.

In order to raise their two children and her as a medicine man, her husband takes more than ten hours of train ride every year to work in coastal provinces. Not long ago, just after the Spring Festival, I hurriedly went to work in a factory in a coastal province, saying that the earlier I went, the more red envelopes my boss would give me.

In fact, it only costs a few hundred yuan.

Throughout the year, the family never gets to spend a few days together.

Mother flattened the slightly wrinkled and slightly bunched bills one by one, and slowly stacked them.

The mother smiled, the wrinkles around her eyes were very obvious, and said, "Don't worry. Your father can still save your brother's tuition. Mom will save this money for you for the time being." If you want to use it later, I'll take it out for you. It's best if you can keep it until you get a wife."

In recent days, her mother's health has been getting worse and worse. For some reason, she told Li Xia to find a wife as soon as possible, and then give birth to a fat grandson for her to hold.

But everyone knows that these are all jokes, and no girl would be blind to the current shabby state of the house.

"Hey, I remember that when you were in elementary school, you were quite unwilling to play with your male classmates and stayed with your female classmates every day. Your dad and I were secretly worried for a long time. Why did you have no women when you grew up? Is it fate? Tsk tsk, Aunt Zhang downstairs has a grandson, I don’t know when I will be so lucky.”

Li Xia thought to himself, how old am I? Why is it related to marriage? It’s outrageous!

"By the way, Li Xia, tomorrow you go to the market to buy some imported fruit baskets and deliver them to Grandpa Ma downstairs. After all, he introduced this job."

Mother took out one card from the pile of cash that Li Xia had just brought home, thought about it, and then took out four more cards to make five hundred and handed them over.

Li Xia responded and took the money.

Seeing that her son had almost eaten the food, the mother stood up and started to clear away the dishes on the table, still nagging about the life-long event of her son's disappearance.

Li Xia couldn't stay any longer, so he just found an excuse and went out.

After coming out of the house, Li Xia rubbed the corners of his eyes that were still red and swollen, blowing in the evening breeze and not knowing where to go for a walk.

But he was still in a good mood. He was able to take care of his younger brother who was still studying and share the cost of his mother's surgery. To be honest, he was a little proud.

I always thought that with my fierceness in school and street fights, I could be a bit of a badass in black market boxing, and I could make a little money to support him.

Unexpectedly, he would be beaten to the ground in the first fight. If the opponent hadn't slacked off and gave him a chance to fight back, and the boxing gym owner had the purpose of upsetting him, his participation this time would have been in vain. Give.

But the money I earned tonight is probably not enough to pay for my mother's surgery. I don't know how my opponent will be in the next competition, or whether I can still win with luck.

Go to the hospital and ask to see how much is left short of the mother's surgery fee at the end of the month. If the shortage is not much, then go to the construction site and ask the boss to advance some. If the gap is large, then only

Li Xia thought as he walked to the only people's hospital in the county.