sleepless tonight

Chapter 5
The phone rang for a while, and just when I thought no one would answer, it picked up.

"Who is it?" It was my dad's voice.

A little old, I almost couldn't hear it, but after careful identification of the tone, I could still hear it, that is, my dad's voice was right, very tired, with a hint of vigilance.

The teahouse opened by my family often receives calls from strangers. My dad has long been used to it, and sometimes he will chat with strangers about tea for half an hour.

When did he become so wary of calls from strangers, even with a hint of fear in his tone?
"Dad, it's me." I said.

On the other end of the phone, there was silence for a while.

"What are you calling back for?" My dad's tone suddenly became stiff.

At this time, I can already be sure that there must be an accident in the family, and it is related to me, otherwise my father would not speak to me in this tone.

Is it true that as Tong Wangjun said, I got into the bad habit of gambling, and the parents who killed me repaid more than 200 million gambling debts for me, and even sold the teahouse?

Thinking of this, I suddenly urgently wanted to go home and see my parents.

"I want to go back." I said.

"What are you doing back here? Did you owe gambling debts outside again? I don't have the money to pay it for you. Do you have to force your mother to death to be reconciled?" My dad said angrily on the other end of the phone.

My heart froze, and my father's tone of hatred, combined with a deep sense of helplessness, shocked me.

When my father was in elementary school, he used his laid-off buyout money and some savings to open a tea house. He was not familiar with the tea business at first, and he was deceived and lost 4 to [-] yuan.

Thirty to forty thousand was a huge sum of money for my family at that time.As a result, for a long period of time, the family couldn't even get the money to buy vegetables.

But even so, my father was full of fighting spirit. While comforting my mother, he sought out relatives and friends to raise funds, and also learned from knowledgeable tea masters to avoid repeating the same mistakes.

But now, there was a sense of helplessness in my father's tone, which surprised me.

What kind of blow did he go through to make him feel this way?

"Is it my son?" Another voice came from the other end of the phone, it was my mother talking.

The voice has also changed, a little weak, but it still shows concern for me.

"Well, it's me, Mom." I shouted, "Xiao Le is here too, I want to take Xiao Le back to see you and Dad."

"Pass the phone to me, and I'll talk to my son." My mother said to my father, "You go to order food and come back, and cut two catties of mutton, and when your son comes back, get him his favorite cumin mutton .”

"It's not a good thing for him to come back, so I'll get him cumin mutton, it's better to throw it away." My dad complained, but after a while, he reminded my mom, "Remember to tell him, we've moved. , he wants to come over, don't go to the original place. It's so far away, with the child, and it's so cold, it will freeze the child. "

On the phone, my mother said a few words to me, told me the address of my new home, and hung up the phone.

I had no money on me, so I took out half a pack of cigarettes from my pocket and gave it to the boss. I licked my face and asked the boss for two yuan in change, and got on a bus.

After sitting for half an hour, I arrived at the new home address my mother told me.

It is far away from the city center, in a remote community in the suburbs, and although my home is not in the city center, it is not so remote.

After entering the community and going up to the third floor, I recognized the house number and knocked on the door.

The door opened, and I was stunned when I saw the person in front of me.

"Mom?" I lowered my head and looked at the person in the wheelchair in front of me, feeling a little dazed.

"Xiao Le is here too?" The person in the wheelchair is my mother. Seeing Chen Le in my arms, she opened her arms, "Come, give grandma a hug."

"Really, how can you be a dad? In such a cold day, you just put on some clothes for Xiao Le, and you don't even wear a scarf around him. What if the child is frozen?"

I put Xiao Le in my mother's arms, let her hold her, and then pushed her into the room.

The room is not big, very dilapidated, only one household, even smaller than the house I rented, only about 30 square meters.

However, the things in the room are neatly arranged and tidy.

"Mom, why are you like this, what's wrong with your legs?" I asked.

"You still have the guts to ask? If it wasn't for you, would your mother have been forced to fall down the stairs and break her leg?" At this time, my dad came back with vegetables in his hand, and when he saw me, his face There was no color on his face, "Tell me, what are you doing here, do you want money?"

"It's not easy for my son to come back, can't you talk well?" My mother gave my father a wink, "You wash the dishes and fry some dishes."

"It's you who loves him." My dad said, "I don't even look at it. What a good family he has failed. What's wrong with learning, but he wants to gamble like others. The teahouse and house at home are sold. pay his debts."

"It's been so hard for Ansheng for a few months, and now it's here again. It's definitely a gamble, right?"

Speaking of which, both my dad and my mom looked at me.

"No, I just came to see you." I said.

"Really?" My dad asked suspiciously.

"Really not, I won't gamble." I said affirmatively, "From now on, I want to earn money to support my family and live a good life."

"Look, let me just tell you, my son won't be so stupid. How could he make a mistake again after making a mistake?" My mother was very happy, and I could tell that she seemed relieved.

"It would be great if it really does what he said, and he said it more than once." My dad was still worried, but he didn't say anything more, and went into the kitchen to wash the vegetables and cook.

My dad is very good at cooking. After more than 20 minutes, he prepared four or five dishes, and another dish was my favorite cumin lamb, which was fragrant.

This made me, who has not been late for meat for a long time, so greedy that my saliva was about to flow down.

"Greedy like this, eat quickly." My mother said to me.

I almost gobbled it up. After eating three bowls of rice, I couldn't hold on any longer, so I put down the bowls and chopsticks.

"Dad, the teahouse is gone, what are you doing now?" I asked.

There was a hint of sadness in my dad's eyes.

That tea house was his dream, but it is gone now, because of me, my mood was depressed all of a sudden.

"Your father is working as a security guard for others now, and he has a fixed income every month. He is not as tired as when he opened a teahouse. It is much easier than before." My mother took the words.

I was silent.

Before I came here, I didn't expect this to be the case. My mother's legs are inconvenient, and my father is working as a security guard. It is impossible for me to entrust Xiao Le to their care. It would be too hard for them.

"You came here suddenly, is there something wrong?" My mother saw my emotions and asked.

"No, it's nothing, I just miss you a little bit, come and have a look." I said, "Okay, I should go back too."

"Wait a minute, there are still a lot of dishes here, you pack them and take them home, and you can eat them as soon as they are warmed up." My mother said.

"No need, we have food at home, so we don't need to pack it," I said.

"You just listen to what your mother said, don't your mother and I still know what your virtues are?" My dad glanced at me, "You didn't eat much before, it was only a little more than a bowl, and you just ate After eating three bowls and bringing two children with me, I'm afraid the family is almost out of control, right?"

"At this time, it's still hypocritical. Even if you don't eat, A Ke won't? She is growing up, and she wants to starve with you?"

I lowered my head in embarrassment and remained silent, unable to refute.

The two packed up the dishes on the table and put them on the table. My mother called me into the room again.

"You take the 2000 yuan." My mother took out a wad of money and handed it to me.

"I have money." I hurriedly said, "You take this money, your legs are not good enough, and you still need money. You really don't need to give me any more money."

"Take it, I'm your mother, why are you being polite to me?" My mother said, "This money is not for you, but for my granddaughter. How hungry is Xiao Le just now? A bowl of porridge, just With a little minced meat, eat everything."

"A child of this age can't always eat these miscellaneous foods. He has to buy milk powder to supplement his nutrition. The 2000 yuan is for Xiao Le to buy milk powder."

"Mom." I burst into tears and knelt on the ground, "It's my son's fault that made you and dad worry about it. Living in such a crappy place, I'm already so old, and I'm still reaching out to you for money."

(End of this chapter)