There was a smell in the cowshed, which was very unpleasant. Lu Rong curled himself up on the haystack, and his nasal cavity was full of the smell of vegetation, which made him feel a lot better.
He looked at the snowflakes flying outside and began to think about it.
The children in the kindergarten have all been taken home, and I don't know if Wang Tu has asked for leave for himself.If you don't ask for leave, the teacher will be angry.
He didn't think about whether he could go back to kindergarten. Just thinking of the teacher being angry, he was very anxious.
There were voices of speech and laughter in the distance, Lu Rong pricked up his ears to listen, and shrank himself into the haystack again.
At first, the group of children came back with the cattle, each carrying a large piece of ice with a hole in it, tied with a straw rope and eating while walking.
They stopped in front of the cowshed, waiting for the eldest child of the morning glory to send the cow in.As soon as the eldest child pushed open the fence, he stood still. The other children also stopped chirping and looked ahead stupidly.
Lu Rong was a little nervous. He was leaning on the haystack and wanted to sit up with his hands in a panic. As a result, the soft hay was not easy to hold, so he fell down and rolled around on the ground.
He hurriedly got up, stood up straight and looked at the group of children, holding his trouser legs tightly with both hands.
In the silence, the eight or nine-year-old child was the first to recover and asked Lu Rong, "Why are you in the bullpen?"What about the person carrying you on his back?"
He spoke in a dialect, and Lu Rong didn't understand it very well. He only heard the word bullpen clearly, so he whispered timidly: "I'll leave in a while."
"Didn't we see that person by the stream just now?He left alone."There are other children next to me who said to the eldest child.
"Yeah, yeah, I saw it too. He walked to the other side of the highway alone, probably going down the mountain."
"Why doesn't he bring this doll?Just leave it in the bullpen?"
The group of children yelled in a rush, all squeezed forward, lying on the wooden fence to look at Lu Rong, and the cows were all pushed aside.
Lu Rong didn't know what they were talking about, so he took a step back quietly, tripped over the haystack, and fell back and sat down.
The woolen hat slid to his face, he quickly pushed it up and put it on again.The two pompons tied to the top of the hat were loose, hanging on his face to block his eyes, and he poked the pompons to adjust his position.
The group of children seemed to see something interesting, and they all laughed loudly, staring at him for an instant.
Lu Rong was watched like this, and he didn't know what they were laughing at, so he was flustered and wanted to find a place to hide.But there was only this pile of hay in the bullpen, so he could only sit stiffly, his eyes starting to turn red.
The eldest child of the morning glory yelled at them, as if telling them not to make a noise, and everyone calmed down.
He turned his head again and asked again in non-standard Mandarin. "Why are you sitting in the bullpen?Did the person who was carrying you put you here just now?Where did he go?"
This time Lu Rong understood.
He didn't want to answer very much, but he was blocked by these people, and he was a little scared, so he whispered back: "He's gone, I came in by myself."
A group of children looked at each other, but the eldest child said a few words. Two of the children ran away quickly, and soon they brought an adult over.
Lu Rong was still sitting on the haystack, looking down at his feet, with his hands on his knees.He heard an adult's voice asking, but he didn't need to answer, the group of children were all rushing to answer.
Someone walked in, and a pair of black and blue cotton shoes stopped in front of him.
"Doll, it's cold for you to sit here, let's go back to the house and make a fire."The man stretched out his hand to hold him, "Look at this glove wet, take it off.""
Lu Rong's gloves were removed and his hand was held. He felt the dry and rough warmth, but he still retracted his hand desperately and curled it into his sleeves.
"Your little hand has become a lump of ice, let's go back to the house and make a fire."He didn't look up, he could only hear the man's voice very soft, like the old man in the kindergarten security pavilion.
"He doesn't understand, he speaks Mandarin."The group of children were yelling again, "Master Cai, you want to speak Mandarin.""
"Master Cai doesn't speak Mandarin, hahahahaha." ...... Caiye, who was squatting in front of Lu Rong, turned his head and said with a smile: "Caiye is the village chief, why can't he speak Mandarin?"The last time I went to the township for a meeting, I came to a few people from big cities, and I spoke Mandarin."
"Believe it or not."The children danced and made fun of each other, "Let's listen to what you say, can you pinyin?"Recite a few more pinyin letters?"
"Master Cai, do you know what aoe is?"
As he was talking, a few more adults who had heard the wind came outside the bullpen, standing outside to communicate with Cai Ye.
"Do iniquity, if you are cold, just throw the doll in the cowshed. If no one finds out, it's hard to say if something happens tonight."
"Where did this doll come from?"
"That was brought by Gao Chenggang, who was going to sell it to Wang Cuihua." "Which Gao Chenggang?"
"The relatives at the head of the Gao Family House in Zengjiacun said that they moved to Guizhou in their early years, and now they are engaged in these doll sales to survive."
"Still doing it?Didn't you say you were caught?" "I didn't catch it. If he ran away, his brother was caught."
"Then what should I do now?Wang Cuihua definitely didn't want it anymore, and Gao Chenggang ran away again."
...... Lu Rong knew they were talking about him, so he just looked down at his shoes and rubbed his feet lightly, trying to get rid of the mud along the boots.
The hand that wanted to hold him just now stretched out again, holding one of his feet, holding the hay in the other hand, and wiping off the mud on it.
"Doll, you and Caiye will go back first. If you have anything to talk about tomorrow, it will be dark."The adult outside the wooden fence said to Lu Rong.
The children chirped again: "Speaking Mandarin, he doesn't understand."
The adult changed to lame Mandarin: "Doll, you and Caiye go back first, it's going to be dark."
The children began to learn their tongues and laughed quackly.
Lu Rong heard them laugh from time to time, but he didn't start to be so nervous. He secretly raised his head to look at the person who was shining his shoes in front of him.
Caiye polished his shoes and said, "Doll, go back and make a fire, and Caiye will send you down the mountain tomorrow."
"Doll, go back and bake a fire, and Master Cai will send you down the mountain tomorrow."The children followed suit again.
In the dim light, every wrinkle of Cai Ye revealed kindness and gentleness. Lu Rong looked at him, then turned his head to look at the dark sky and the cold snow.
After a while of hesitation, when everyone thought they had to persuade for a while, they saw the child leaned forward and put his two small arms lightly on Caiye's neck.
Cai Ye seemed to be taken aback, but immediately reacted, frowning and stood up with Lu Rong in his arms with a smile.
"Walk around, go home, so as not to freeze off a few of your noses. After picking it up, you don't know who belongs to whom."
The children surrounded Caiye and followed him to his house, reaching out and secretly touching Lu Rong's feet.
As long as Lu Rong looked up at them from Caiye's neck, they laughed excitedly. Lu Rong was carried into a courtyard, and Caiye drove all the children home and closed the courtyard door.
When he entered the house, he was placed on a bench next to a fire pond. Master Cai said, "Sit down, I'll light a fire for you.""
Lu Rong sat on the bench without moving, watching Cai Ye take a long bamboo tube and blow it into the fire pond. After a few clicks, the wood inside rose orange-red, warm flames.
Cai Ye took off his scarf and gloves, brought hot water to wash his face and hands, and finally used a large wooden basin to soak his feet in.
"It's hot, so as not to freeze your little feet."Master Cai said. The hot water was very comfortable, and Lu Rong soaked for a while before he felt his feet grow back into his body, gently moving his big toe in it.
Cai Ye squatted beside him and smiled, reached in and poked his big toe, and said, "Quack worm."
The two little fat feet immediately folded up, and a few toes curled up in shame. Cai Ye touched his head and said, "Soak it well, I'll get you something to eat.""
Lu Rong nodded very lightly, put his hands on his knees and continued to soak his feet, and waited for Caiye to go out to the kitchen next door before turning his eyes to look around.
Cai Ye quickly brought a bowl of noodles over and put it on the top table.Then go to the bedroom to open the big cabinet and take out a brand new towel.
He cut the towel open with scissors, wiped Lu Rong's feet clean, and wrapped his feet like small zongzi with a towel.
Put on a pair of big cotton shoes, and Lu Rong's snow boots were baked next to the fire pond. He picked up Lu Rong, put it at the square table, and asked him, "Do you want Grandpa to feed it?"" Lu Rong stared at the bowl of steaming noodles, with two poached eggs lying on the top, swallowed and shook his head.
Cai Ye handed the chopsticks to him and said, "Then eat while it's hot."
The bench was very high, and Lu Rong sat on it with his legs dangling in the air.But the square table was much higher than the bench, and he had to stick his head out to see the noodles in the bowl.
He raised his hand and used his chopsticks to clip the noodles very unskilfully. After a few times, he didn't clip it up. He glanced at Caiye with some anxiety.
His chopsticks are not very good. When he usually eats noodles at home, he rolls them up with a fork and feeds them in his mouth.
Cai Ye didn't say anything, he took the bowls and chopsticks to feed him, Lu Rong no longer insisted on coming by himself, and began to eat noodles.
"Good girl, what's your name?Do you remember your own home?Do you know the names of the parents at home?"Cai Ye asked in a dialect. Seeing that Lu Rong didn't answer, he asked again in absurd Mandarin.
Lu Rong stopped eating noodles for a while, turned his head and looked at the bench without speaking.
His long eyelashes hung low, and a row of shadows fell along the lower edge of his eyes. "Grandpa doesn't ask anymore, eat first, eat first."Cai Ye said in a continuous voice, and then picked up a poached egg and fed it to Lu Rong's mouth.
Lu Rong swallowed the egg in his mouth before whispering: "My name is Lu Rong, Hairy Rong. I am four years old this year. I am in kindergarten and middle school. I have had five good babies and three clean babies."
His voice became lower and lower, and finally he only saw his mouth squirming. Cai Ye heard the first half clearly and knew that his name was Lu Rong and he was four years old this year. After eating, Caiye hugged Lu Rong to the edge of the fire pond again, uncovered the pillow towel on the long coffee table, and revealed a TV set below.
"...Secretary Shen said that the development of Longtan Mountain tourism resources is the top priority of the current work..."
The TV was a black-and-white picture, very small, Lu Rong's gaze was attracted by the sound, and he saw Caiye twisting the knob next to him and changing the station with a click. "...The natural landscape and cultural landscape of Longtan Mountain complement each other..."
Cai Ye switched out three stations with pictures, all of which were the same news. He said to himself: "They are all local stations again. Where do so many cartoons usually go?"
He continued to change the station, and the rest were all snowflakes. When he turned his head, he saw Lu Rong rubbing his eyes and yawning, so he turned off the TV and hugged him: "Rongrong, go to bed.""
Lu Rong was already very tired. When Caiye put him to bed and undressed, he habitually leaned on Caiye's shoulder and closed his eyes to sleep. As soon as he leaned up, he remembered that this was not Wang Tu, and he quickly raised his head and tried to open his eyes.
Master Cai stripped him of only his autumn clothes and long trousers, stuffed his soft little body into a warm quilt, and then tuck the corners of the quilt.
Lu Rong fell asleep almost next to the pillow. In the dimness, he heard Master Cai saying, "Sleep well, Grandpa will take you down the mountain to the police station tomorrow to find your parents."