Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 396 Where’s My Knife?
Su Tong temporarily closed Contemporary and said, "I discovered his 'trick'. He wants to ..."

Yu Hua waved his hand, telling Su Tong to stop talking and continue reading. He had already finished reading, put down the magazine, filled the cup in front of him with tea, put it to his lips and took a sip.

Su Tong fell silent, then opened "Contemporary" and continued reading.

[Hei Lao San used to be called Lao San. After working as a labor agent for a long time, he became "Hei Lao San". Of course, day laborers like Xiao Yang have to call him "Third Uncle" or "Third Brother". The word "Hei" is something they dare not say out loud. In addition to being a labor agent, Hei Lao San also collects ID cards. No one knows to whom he sold them or what he did with them. It is said that the first ID card Hei Lao San sold was his own. No one knows his real name. He speaks with a mixed accent, so even his place of origin is unclear. Hei Lao San no longer needs these things. His face is a pass to the nearby urban villages and labor markets. Some people even saw him drinking with the village's joint defense captain. ...]

【Hei Lao San took Xiao Yang to the nearby police station. After a while, he came out again. Hei Lao San had a satisfied smile on his face and put his arm around Xiao Yang's shoulders affectionately, just like a client putting his arm around a prostitute after enjoying a satisfying service. Xiao Yang also had a smile on her face, just like a wife who had just finished having sex with her husband. Xiao Yang's ID card was clean and clear, as if it had just been issued. Hei Lao San said, "I give 50 or 100 yuan for other people's ID cards, and I'll give you 30 more for yours..."】

Xiao Yang bought himself a pair of 50 yuan genuine leather shoes. The toes of the shoes were long and pointed, which clamped his toes tightly; the black uppers were decorated with sequins, and he could see many faces of himself when he lowered his head. Xiao Yang heard that when visiting people, he had to wear leather shoes, not slippers. He had not worn shoes with back covers since he dropped out of school, so he always felt that the shoes were sticking to his feet and were a bit uncomfortable. He also heard that when visiting people, he had to bring gifts, preferably fruits. He bought several kilograms of tangerines, which are the most delicious fruit; he also bought several kilograms of apples, which are the most beautiful fruit. The fruit cost him a total of 26 yuan. This left him with less than 5 yuan. But he still had a lot of money to spend: he spent 70 yuan to rent a room in a small hotel, took a thorough bath, and washed his only set of clothes in the hotel's washing machine and dryer; he spent 10 yuan to get a haircut, and asked the hairdresser to shave his sporadic but curly beard; he bought a bouquet of roses and baby's breath for 10 yuan. The owner of the flower shop told him about these two kinds of flowers, and he didn't know them. He only knew roses and chrysanthemums, but neither seemed suitable to be given to "mom". He thought of his brother and sister, but he didn't know how old they were, so he spent another 20 yuan to buy an Ultraman that he had liked since childhood. It was as tall as his forearm, and the shell said "Tiga", but it had horns on its head; the remaining money was not enough to buy a plush toy for his sister. He had to take the subway later, so he could only buy a bar of chocolate, hoping that his sister would not blame him. The chocolate was very sweet.

When Xiao Yang appeared on the street again, he was a completely new person.

When his "brothers" who worked as day laborers saw him, they all exclaimed that he had made a fortune, and then asked him with a very obscene smile if he was "picking up girls." He wanted to tell them that he was going to see his mother, but he knew that saying it would only make people laugh, so he nodded. The "brother" asked him where he was going to date and where he was going to eat. Without waiting for Xiao Yang to answer, he said that it was not worth it for him to waste money on women. If he wanted a woman, he could go to the "college girl" in "Liangliang Internet Cafe" and just recharge her card with 30 yuan. The "college girl" was said to be a college student in the past. She was at the No. 28 machine in "Liangliang Internet Cafe" 200 days a year. If she had money in her card, she would play games; if she didn't have money, she would lie down and sleep, and the network administrator would not chase her away. When she first appeared a few years ago, she looked gentle and clean. You had to recharge 30 yuan to sleep with her once. Those who worked as day laborers could not afford it. Only network administrators and assembly line workers who came out to play on weekends could afford it. Now she is so fat that you can't see her eyes. You can sleep with her as long as you recharge her yuan, which is considered a benefit to the general public. Xiao Yang ignored the "brother". He was going to find his mother. This was probably his last day here, and the last time he would see his "brother". So he smiled at his "brother" and told him that he didn't have to pay him back for the iced tea he had drunk all night. ...】

Zhang Chao uses a series of detailed and fragmented introductions to vividly depict Xiao Yang's joyful and somewhat excited mentality, and gradually arouses the reader's emotions to a climax.

"Mom" will always be the softest noun in the world.

"Searching for mother" is also one of the eternal themes in the world of literature. Whether it is the Chinese novel "Chen Xiang Splits the Mountain to Save His Mother", the foreign novel "Three Thousand Miles to Find Mother", or simply the cartoon "The Tadpole Looking for His Mother", they are all classic works.

"Xiao Yang" is not a likable character, but he is sympathetic enough, and it is indeed comforting that he is now going to meet his mother.

At the end of the letter, Shi Zhonghua gave "Xiao Yang" an address and a phone number, telling him to come to her if he wanted to see her. "Xiao Yang" then realized that "Mom" was not far away from him, and could even be said to be very close. After she left home, she returned to Shenzhen and lived in Futian District.

She and her husband are running a mobile phone store in a residential area in Futian. They are business people. The downstairs is the store and the upstairs is their home.

[“Futian District…” Xiao Yang hesitated. Once he passed Futian on the factory bus. The buildings there were very tall, the roads were very wide, there were many trees, and there were very few people on the streets. Xiao Yang, who was used to living in a crowd, was instinctively a little scared. …]

The passion in his heart made Xiao Yang overcome his fear and he was determined to go see his mother no matter what. The subway fare from here to Futian was 6 yuan, which meant that the moment he stepped out of the subway station, he would not have enough money to go back.

But even so, he still went on the road without hesitation. He felt that he didn't need to come back. For this reason, he didn't even dare to call his "mother" before leaving.

[The Longhua subway travels in mid-air for a long time. Looking out of the window, you can see the rough city landscape gradually becoming delicate and exquisite. Suddenly, the scenery outside the car becomes dark, and the subway finally goes underground. At this time, there are only advertisements flashing outside the window, and the darkness that seems to extend infinitely. After a long time, the car stops at a brightly lit platform. Futian has arrived. …]

Taking the elevator up to the ground, Xiao Yang followed the address provided by his mother and the route guided by the "mobile phone navigation", and soon found the mobile phone store opened by his mother and... "uncle", "Xinxin Mobile Communication Store".

Xiao Yang stood in front of the plastic sign that read "Xinxin Mobile Phone Store." The glass door of the store was open, with a faded advertisement for mobile phone packages on it, but the plastic door curtain to keep out the air conditioner blocked most of the view; through the gaps, one could see the bright lights and the glass counter, as well as a vaguely swaying figure.

He clenched the wrinkled envelope and saw his distorted reflection swaying on the glass door - his brand new leather shoes were already covered with dust, and his just washed T-shirt was stained with sweat.

Xiao Yang hesitated. Although "Mom" said in the letter that she was willing to see him and even persuaded "Uncle", when he really stood at the door, he suddenly felt that everything was so unreal.

When grandma died, "Mom" didn't come back to see her. She just sent some money and a letter to my uncle.

If she could contact her uncle, she should know that he was in Shenzhen, so why didn't she contact me directly? Was it because of guilt?
But then "Xiao Yang" laughed at himself. What was there about him that was worth this "mother"'s plot? The most valuable thing on his body was this cheap phone in his hand, and even the screen was broken into pieces.

[His fingers were whitened by the handle of the plastic bag containing the fruit; the horned Ultraman Tiga and Rose in his arms were already wet with the sweat on his neck. Xiao Yang finally made up his mind, turned sideways, shrugged his shoulders and pushed open the plastic curtain of "Xinxin Mobile Communication Store". The sudden feeling of being wrapped in cold air made him feel like a snake crawling on his spine. There was a tall and thin man in the store, who said weakly: "Hello, do you want to recharge or apply a film?"...]

The man was the "uncle". After some awkward and flustered contact, the "uncle" still welcomed his arrival, which also made "Xiao Yang" feel relieved.

"Uncle" quickly closed the store temporarily, took "Xiao Yang" upstairs, and called "Mom" - his wife Shi Zhonghua.

After arriving at "home", Xiao Yang finally saw his "mother".

【“Maomao?” The plastic bucket slammed to the ground, and the woman half-knelt in front of him, “Let mom see…” She smelled of shampoo, light and nice, just like a mother. So Xiao Yang forgave her skinny, dark skin and dry hair. But to his surprise, he was not as excited as he imagined. None of the scenes he had rehearsed countless times in his mind appeared. His eyes seemed to be locked, and his tears were locked in the deepest part of his memory. …】

[A little girl in a pink puffy skirt jumped out from the inner room, staring at the Ultraman toy with sparkling eyes: "Mom! Ultraman!" "Call me brother." The woman pushed the little girl forward and turned to walk to the kitchen. "It will take you a long time to come here. Why didn't you call in advance? Didn't I give you my phone number? You must be hungry. I made mung bean soup with rock sugar..."]

【A weak cough was heard from the inner room amid the sound of a metal spoon scraping against a casserole. The woman's hand holding the soup trembled, and the boiling soup splashed onto her palms. "Don't be afraid, Xiaohui, mom will be here soon." Her back was hunched like a shrimp as she rushed into the room. It was hard to tell why the supervisor from Taiwan would fall in love with her. Xiao Yang followed her and stood at the door of a small bedroom. He saw a sallow boy curled up under the faded Ultraman wallpaper. The woman was using a cotton swab to moisten the boy's chapped lips. "This is your brother, he's in the first year of the new year this year." She turned around and smiled with wrinkles on her face. "Xiaohui, call me brother." The boy's swollen eyelids struggled to open, and his eyes swept over the fruit bag in Xiao Yang's hand. The tangerines were suffocated in the plastic bag, and the few at the bottom had been crushed, oozing yellow juice, like some kind of festering wound. Xiao Yang saw that the skin on his exposed calves was a strange purple-blue color, and a transparent hose extended from the quilt.

"Hello, brother." Xiaohui's voice was weak, but clear as a piano. 】

The novel gradually entered the last scene, and even the most obtuse reader could tell something was wrong. The scene of mother and son recognizing each other was not described in a touching way, and the awkwardness, strangeness, and panic that followed could be felt between the lines.

Some readers even noticed a detail - after "Xiao Yang" entered the door, he couldn't even put down the fruit in his hand.

"This isn't right. Why are this 'mom' and her family so weird? Doesn't she want Xiao Yang to come and see him?" a girl asked.

The boy who was holding the magazine beside her thought for a moment and said, "Maybe it's because 'Xiao Yang' didn't call to let us know before he came. Think about it, the house is not cleaned up at all, the floor is a mess, and there's a sick child.

No one wants their children to see such an embarrassing side, right? You know, sometimes such a sudden attack is not a surprise, but a shock. "

The girl nodded thoughtfully, and suddenly turned to the boy and said, "Then if you go on a business trip or go out of town and come back early, you must inform me, and don't do any 'surprises', okay?"

The boy was a little stunned. He didn't know why the girl suddenly made such a request, but he nodded and agreed: "Okay, I will definitely call or text you when I come back from my business trip."

The girl said dissatisfiedly: "Sending text messages won't work, I have to call, and I have to answer the phone. Otherwise, what if I can't hear the phone ringing for a while when I'm taking a shower or exercising?"

The boy said helplessly: "Okay, okay, call. If one doesn't answer, I'll call the second one until you pick up, baby."

The girl kissed the boy on the cheek and said, "That's good! Okay, let's continue watching."

The boy's cheeks turned red after receiving the reward, and he continued to turn to the next page. But after a while, the expressions of both of them changed.

The girl threw her arms and yelled, "How could she do this? Ah... (screaming) Take it away, I don't want to see it anymore."

The boy also looked incredulous. He was a "science and engineering guy" and had no interest in literature. He accompanied the girl to read novels just out of love for his girlfriend.

However, he also admitted that he was deeply attracted by Zhang Chao's novel, and he also hoped that "Xiao Yang" could get a happy ending - even if it was not so happy, for example, Xiao Yang felt that he could never integrate into "Mom's" new home, and finally chose to go back to work as a day laborer, he could accept it.

But he didn't expect such a turn of events -

[…The sound of a porcelain bowl hitting the tiles interrupted her voice. The woman suddenly knelt on the ground, her dry yellow hair brushing the tip of Xiao Yang's shoe: "Xiao Hui can't wait! The doctor said that a relative must have a transplant... Mom checked and your kidney will definitely be a match!" She pulled open the drawer with trembling hands. She pulled too hard and the whole drawer was pulled out, smashing to the ground like the porcelain bowl. The test results were covered with snowflakes on the ground.

The shadow cast by the ceiling fan spun wildly on the ceiling. Xiao Yang remembered what Hei Lao San said when he collected his ID card, "clean and innocent", the flashing green light when the police officer scanned his pupils, and his "brother"'s suggestion that he go to "Liangliang Internet Cafe" to find a "college girl"... Finally, he remembered the letter sent to him by the strange woman in front of him. Now the letter is still stuffed in his pocket, wrinkled beyond recognition.

It turns out that the sudden kindness was just straw that the hunter laid on the trap.

"Just think of it as what I owe you. Xiaohui will die if he doesn't get a kidney transplant." The woman's forehead hit the floor with a dull thud. "Uncle" kicked the girl, and the girl seemed to suddenly remember something, and she also knelt down and kowtowed, but the sound of her head hitting the floor was crisp, like the sound of a hard pear being bitten off: "Brother, please save me!" ...】

"Damn it, Zhang Chao, you can't write like that. Where's my knife? Where's my knife?" A bearded man threw Contemporary magazine away with such force that the magazine stuck to the wall and remained still for a moment before sliding down.

Similar things have happened thousands of times across China today.

Damn it, "Searching for Mother" turned into "Asking for Kidney", who can I complain to?

"That's it?" Su Tong frowned. There was still one last page in the novel that needed to be turned over to read, but such a turn might be unexpected and tragic to ordinary readers, but for a great writer like him, it didn't surprise him too much.

The key point is that Zhang Chao once told the four teachers that this series of novels has a common theme, which is a certain foresight of the future. This novel is a good work with full emotions and cruel twists, and it also implies an in-depth discussion of "human identity", but it does not have much "future foresight" in any way, at least much weaker than the previous novel "The Last Lesson".

Yu Hua laughed and said, "Don't jump to conclusions so early. Keep watching."

Su Tong turned the page with great curiosity and anticipation. The next paragraph left him dumbfounded even though he had rich reading experience.

(End of this chapter)