98. Mother and daughter of the Li family

Author: Yuyu Kuaidong

98. Mother and daughter of the Li family

Before dawn, the snow started to fall again.

After leaving the refinery, we walked on a mountain road for a long time and passed through a small town. Nance stole a car from the police station and drove on the mountain road.

The heating in the car was turned on at full speed, and he was humming a song. The shadow held the owl, and tapped the beat of the music with her toes. After a while, she seemed confused, frowned, and asked Nance: "What did you sing?"

What song is it?”

"California Dreamin, California Dreamin." Nance gently shook his shoulders.

"It sounds good, but it has lagged behind the times." Shadow paused briefly, and then said with a vicious tone: "I'm telling you, uncle, people in California like to listen to noisy heavy metal rock, and no one listens to your folk-toned rock.

How stupid.”

"nonono!"

Nance raised his fingers on the steering wheel, shook them, and said, "This California is not that California."

Hearing his pretentious words, Shadow shrugged and looked out the window with a noncommittal expression.

"All the leaves are brown, And the sky is gray..." Nance hummed, and the tone suddenly changed, "On a dark desert highway..."

"Uncle, what are you doing!" Shadow tilted his chin and turned to look at him, saying unhappily: "Why did you change your tone!"

"Change the song."

"Or California?"

"Yes, this time it's the California Guest House."

“Is there more California?”

"Well... there are a lot." Nance shook his legs and said casually, "California Girls, the song goes like this: The sun is shining brightly on the West Coast, and the skin of the California girls is covered with sunshine."

"Oh——" Shadow said vaguely and yawned, "Stop singing, you're so tacky!"

Nance had no choice but to change the subject: "We're almost home, how are you feeling?"

"I don't want to go home."

"Did you have any quarrels with your family?"

"There was no quarrel." Shadow shook his head and said boredly: "I just want to be alone somewhere other than home, and wait quietly until dawn."

"Don't blame uncle for being nagging. There is no safe place for a girl to spend the night alone in this world." Nance looked at the narrow road ahead and suggested: "Let's come to class nine in the future. We can go to school during the day and stay with my sister at night.

.”

Shadow shrugged.

Her little hand touched her thigh, as if she wanted to touch the chewing gum, but there was nothing on the smooth skin. So she shook her neck as if she felt uncomfortable, and narrowed her eyes to look at Nance's side face: "Uncle, why?"

Are you so determined to trick me into coming to Lesson 9?"

"I think Qingxian-san has a bright future!"

"I don't have a future to look forward to." Shadow leaned back on the chair in boredom, wrapping his thin and long black hair around his fingers, "My sister is, she is one of the most beautiful women, and she looks great wherever she goes.

Eye-catching. As for me, I am small, have small breasts, have a lazy personality, and am not polite when speaking. Compared with my sister, I am in the sky and on the earth."

You also know that you are rude!

"You're not going to put yourself in such a bad light." Nance smiled and looked at her slightly, "Aren't you quite cute? This is not a compliment. Among the girls I know, you are the only one who looks cute.

On top of that, she looks like a little angel."

"Is it true? Or are you just lying to coax me? I hope you can be more frank, uncle."

"I won't lie to you."

"How many girls have you seen?"

"One or two hundred."

"Only one or two hundred?" Shadow said disappointedly, "I thought uncle knew a lot of girls."

"If you count the ones you see on the street, there are more than tens of thousands of them."

Shadow nodded with satisfaction: "That's pretty much it."

The sky in the east is dimly glowing, and it will be dawn soon.

Ahead of the road, a small town surrounded by walls appeared.

"This is Nanwan Town." Shadow said, his tone somewhat uninterested, "It has a population of less than 7,000 and is not well-known. Its main industries are agriculture and animal husbandry."

Nance abandoned the car and walked with her, the owl purring in his sleep.

Like all remote towns, this town once seemed very dilapidated and old. The whole town had only one main street running from north to south, and small alleys next to it were lined with small bars, noodle shops, and game arcades.

kind of small shop.

"On sunny days, temporary stalls will be set up on both sides of the road. There are rubber balls, mice, cloth heads, shampoo, children's clothes and other things. Some stalls will also have pay-per-use sewing machines..."

Shadow introduced Nance while walking down the long street.

At dawn, most of the shops along the street were not open yet, and the small traffic island in the middle of the street was chilly.

Along the way, Nance could remember only a few things about the town: the handwriting was so incomplete that half of it could not be read clearly, the dirty white dog struggling to make a living, the poster recruiting absentees; the two-story

A store, an office building of an agricultural federation and the Livestock Industry Promotion Association, and a thermal power plant with a lone chimney rising into the sky.

"Here." The shadow raised his hand in the distance, "We're here."

Nance followed his gaze.

Under the northernmost wall of the town, there is a small fenced yard, and inside is a small building with a dilapidated exterior wall. The details are not clear, only a dark outline can be seen. Looking from a distance, it is dim at dawn.

Under the space, a heavy sense of calm came over me.

There seemed to be a river outside the wall, with the low sound of water flowing and the wind whistling overhead.

Nance's collar was turned up, covering his neck.

The shadow walked into the courtyard, climbed several steps to the verandah, and knocked on the door.

After a while, a woman holding an oil lamp opened the door, covered the light with her hand and greeted Nance: "Welcome to my humble home."

Then she stood on the verandah in front of the door, her silhouette illuminated by the oil lamp, and her figure looked like an illustration in a classical novel.

The moment the door opened, Shadow hugged Doraemon and slipped into his room without even saying hello to his mother.

Nance climbed onto the porch and entered the house.

The air has a faint citrus scent.

The woman came to the middle of the room and lit the large kerosene lamp hanging from the ceiling.

The building inside the house is very simple. There is a small table for eating, two wooden chairs, and an old sofa. The cushions of the sofa are whitened by the sun. A fire pit was dug in front of the sofa and an iron frame was installed. There are burnt black spots on the iron net.

An iron pot and a few pieces of dried orange peel,

The light fragrance in the room is from those orange peels, and it smells quite comfortable.

"Mr. Adel, please put on these slippers." The woman brought out a pair of brand new cotton slippers, knelt down, and planned to help Nance take off his shoes.

"No, no need!" Nance held her hands, "You're too polite, I can do it myself."

"Then I'll prepare some food for you." The woman got up and walked to the kitchen.

Nance secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

This person is Mrs. Li. She is relatively petite and looks to be in her mid-forties. She has a slim figure and good-looking facial features. No wonder she gave birth to two such beautiful daughters.

Amidst the sounds coming from the kitchen, Nance walked around the house.

It can be seen that the Li family is not very well-off now, and the furniture looks like it was made by themselves, which is relatively rough.

There is a bookshelf made of thick wooden boards in the corner, with many books arranged on it. The spines of the books are very old and have been actually read. There is an old computer on the desk, which is probably only used for checking information and not for production.

Related work. The utility room is filled with hoes, sickles, rust, and various utensils made of bamboo.

After a cursory glance, he came to the kitchen door.

Mrs. Li is baking bread. There is a small gas stove and a sink in the kitchen. But there is no sewer. An aluminum bucket is placed next to it as a substitute. There are pots and kettles on the wooden shelf, and a long-handled pan is hung on the wall.

"Need any help?" Nance asked.

"No, Mr. Adel, just take a good rest."

"Just call me Nance."

Mrs. Li thought for a while, then turned back and smiled at him: "Okay, Mr. Nance."

Nance returned to the sofa and sat down, sighing comfortably.

After driving for so long and fighting for so long, he was really tired now.

After a while, Mrs. Li came out with a small dinner plate containing toast and fruit, and looked at him on the sofa: "There are only some simple things at home, and I hope you won't dislike them."
To be continued...