? one
It's going to rain. Clouds hold the sky low, and there are occasional muffled thunder.
The mud beside my house is crowded with people watching, mostly Tao Jie's classmates. Sister Tao is standing in front of the crowd angrily, with a sobbing sister sitting at her feet.
I learned the reason from the whispers of onlookers: Yaomei was bullied by other children again, and Tao Jie was preparing to avenge her.
The mother of the man who bullied Yao Mei is washing rice outside the house. She didn't look at Tao Jie or the crowd, trying to be calm and fearless.
Sister Tao's classmates urged her: "How are you going to hit her?"
"Hit her a guy." Tao Jie said bitterly.
Mother put the rice cooker on the coal stove, settled the three children and walked out of the house. Tao Jie spat on the ground, coming head-on, pointing to each other's nose, and cursing as she walked. The other party scolded back while retreating, tripped over the pit on the ground, and scolded when he got up. The cries of three children in the room broke out one after another, and the quarrel between two women outside the house and the booing of onlookers sounded from time to time, all of which became a ball.
The quarrel that day lasted for a long time in the rain. Similar events are often staged in alleys. Every time my mother would say, "This peach is really fierce, more fierce than people."
two
I grew up in a village in a county in Guizhou. The village in the city runs through a main lane, and there are three or four small branches in the main lane. My home is in one of the branches, and Tao Jie's home is at the entrance of the main driveway, more than 0/00 meters away from my home/kloc-.
Sister Tao is not a good student. She likes to paint her nails red. She often hangs out in the street with social youth and quarrels unequivocally. She looks like an innocent girl, laughing and laughing, but when she gestures, she shows that she is not old enough.
She has four sisters, and her sister is a fool. Everyone in the village said that Xiaomei was stupid because she was cursed. When Mrs. Tao was pregnant with old age, she quarreled with Mrs. Liao over a trivial matter. In the scolding, Mrs. Tao laughed at the other party for giving birth to a fool who called his parents to everyone. Mrs. Liao replied, "You laughed at me. What came out of your stomach two days later was also a fool."
In a word, Yao Mei still only calls her mom and dad after she is two years old.
Sister Tao's family is a single-family family. The family lives in seclusion and does not associate with others. Most of the information about Tao's sister's family comes from this unruly sister.
"My mother is lying down, my father is pushing her next to her, and my mother's face is still twisted."
Under the guidance of everyone's own words, Yaomei vividly described the process of parents' sex, and everyone burst into laughter, and Yaomei also joined in the fun.
Whenever Sister Tao appears, everyone's laughter always comes to an abrupt end.
"Yao, go home!" Tao Jie came back from school with a book in one hand and an ear in the other, looking embarrassed.
As long as I can remember, I haven't seen Dad Tao do any serious work. He visits the village all day, and whenever the TV is turned on, he runs to rub it. Sometimes when he plays chess with the old man, he lets his sister play in the mud.
/kloc-in the winter of 0/994, Dad Tao disappeared from the alley. Sister Tao's family announced that Tao's father had gone to work in Guangdong. The people in the village didn't say anything, but they all knew that he had illegally cut down trees and entered the cell.
Because Yaomei once told people about her experience of meeting her father: across the high wall and the iron fence, Dad Tao wore orange clothes similar to street sweepers. ?
three
After Tao's father's accident, Tao's sister cut off her long hair, stopped wearing nail polish, and lost contact with those social youths. Careless Tao Jie suddenly became depressed. People saw her talking, mostly because she was scolding her sister who was cleaning up her dirty laundry.
As the eldest sister, she contracted all the work at home, such as washing clothes, cooking, picking up briquettes, feeding pigs, and helping her sister wipe her ass. Yaomei was bullied by other children, so she seldom came to ask for advice, and more blamed Yaomei for being wrong.
Tao Jia's only income is the salary of Ma Tao who works in a gun factory. Once a gun factory exploded, she was scratched by a nail when she ran out of the window to escape, leaving a hole in her arm. The day after sewing, she went to work in the gun factory again.
In order to supplement the family, Sister Tao often walks around the garbage collection point in the county with a snakeskin bag on her back. My mother often criticizes Ma Tao for this. "Tao Tao is in junior high school, knowing that she wants to save face, and you still let her pick up junk."
"I won't let it happen. I shouted thousands of times, but I just wouldn't listen. Every time I go behind my back. "
From that day on, Sister Tao seldom participated in children's games. She has only a few clothes all the year round. Although she is old-fashioned, she is very clean. A diet with clear soup and little water did not hinder her development, and her figure curve was much more prominent than that of her peers. After middle school, people came to visit relatives with Ma Tao from time to time, but they were all rejected by Tao Jie. She vowed to marry only cadres and let her parents enjoy happiness.
During the summer vacation, the children in the village followed Tao Jie to the gun factory in droves to earn extra money. She taught us how to insert cannon cakes when she was knitting cannons at home. The first time I went to the gun factory, my sister and I didn't finish inserting gun cakes all afternoon. When gastrodia elata was dark, Tao Jie inserted all the loopholes for us and gave us 20 cents each out of her own pocket.
The villagers' evaluation of Sister Tao Tao has changed a hundred and eighty degrees. My mother said, "Tao Tao is really a sensible child. She eats very hard and is very diligent. " ?
four
Four years later, Dad Tao came back. Instead of playing chess, he sat in the sun at the door, staring at the ground with a cigarette in his mouth and saying nothing. However, the Taojie women are very happy.
Yaomei stood at the mouth of the alley, eating cheap eight-treasure porridge with a plastic spoon and proudly showing off to passers-by: "My dad brought this from Guangdong." Passers-by laughed, and everyone knew that this was a three-no product that could be seen everywhere in the local area.
Mother Tao seldom finishes her work early, and she is busy inside and outside with an apron.
"Hey, Dad Tao is back and eats meat every day." My mother said it casually when she passed by. Tao's mother replied with a big smile: "Hey, the man who was cut by a knife earned a few dollars outside to let his wife improve her food."
Sister Tao's mood is also cheerful. As soon as I pass by her house, I often hear the advertisement of Tao Jie learning Dabao SOD honey shouting "See you tomorrow!" "Several sisters then said in unison," See you every day, Dabao. "
But soon, the laughter of the Taojie family disappeared again. The return of Tao's father attracted a large group of debt collectors.
Several times, I saw mother Tao walking towards the pawnshop wrapped in sheets, followed by two dignified creditors. From the concave-convex shape of the sheets, I can probably guess what's inside: an old TV and a tape recorder. ...
Sister Tao knows that her family is poor, and she saves money to the extreme. I can always hear her scolding her sisters outside the house: "It's cold, put on more clothes quickly, and don't waste money if you catch a cold."
"Put less rice, cooking is too wasteful."
"You son of a bitch, shave before you get sick and save money on medicine."
"It takes so much wood to make a fire. Do you think our family runs a bank? "
Due to insolvency, Tao's house was sold a few months after his father was released from prison. The family rented two brick houses in a nearby alley, right in front of my house. Yaomei still stands in front of the house yard, throwing coal and spitting at passers-by every day. At this moment, illegal firecracker workshops were rectified in the county, and Ma Tao lost his job.
In July this year, Tao Jie, who graduated from junior high school, went to the provincial capital alone to make money. Tao's mother took her to the station with a bag of local products and came back with red eyes. During the Spring Festival, Sister Tao didn't go home for the New Year. Tao's mother said that the trading company had a lot of orders, so as a clerk, Tao Jie couldn't get away.
five
In the twelfth lunar month, Sister Tao finally came back. That day, Ma Tao was mixing mortar for others in the alley. Uncle Lu, who was laying bricks on the wall, saw Sister Tao first. He narrowed his eyes several times and looked up and asked himself, "Who can have such fashionable relatives in this alley? That girl went the wrong way. "
My playmates and I climbed onto the scaffolding and saw a gorgeous peach elder sister with heavy makeup: wearing boots, stockings and leather skirt, flowing shawl and long hair, and holding a white poodle in her arms.
"Wow, it's beautiful."
"Exactly, like a big star."
The villagers' praise made Ma Tao happy from ear to ear. Soon, the joy of mother-daughter reunion was replaced by embarrassment.
"Mom, how much do you earn this day?"
"Twenty dollars."
"Only twenty pieces of dry? It's really a cold day. " Sister Tao stroked the dog's hair and said to the dog, "Mimi, be good, go home and feed you milk and ham at once."
Two days later, the family moved out of the village and lived in a second-hand teacher suite nearby. Sister Tao also offered the old building of the county Federation of Trade Unions and converted it into a mahjong hall, so that Tao's father could be the curator. Mother Tao stopped working as a coolie and only set up a stall in the street to sell cannons on holidays. She boasted to everyone: "Tao Tao has the ability to make a lot of money."
Since then, every holiday, Sister Tao will come back to reunite with her family and visit relatives and friends. Tao Jie's amazing and exaggerated wardrobe always causes people to speculate on her career. Many people think that she is engaged in physical business. "Otherwise, how could she save so much money in a short time?"
six
After the senior high school entrance examination that year, Tao Jie's elder sister went to the art school in the city where Tao Jie lived, in order to take care of her sisters. As a result, the elder sister dropped out of school, went home to run a dance training class, ate and lived in the class, and became more and more alienated from Sister Tao.
"My second sister is not clean, they can't get along." From Yao Mei's words, people gradually pieced together the origin of the contradiction between the two sisters. It is said that the elder sister suddenly went to Tao Jie's company on a weekend and found that Tao Jie made a living by selling her body. She suddenly felt ashamed and vowed never to take Tao's sister's money again.
The villagers also look down on Sister Tao. An aunt in the village who is famous for her eloquence said that someone she knew had visited Sister Tao in the provincial capital. To this end, Ma Tao also ran to the village and had a fight with her.
Once I overheard a conversation between Tao Jie and her best friend in an alley. The best friend kept comforting Tao Jie who was crying. "In fact, it's nothing to be a chicken. You eat by your body, don't steal or rob, don't beg on your knees ... Your sister will understand you later ... "
Sister Tao cried and said that she quit after finishing junior high school for her third sister: "I also know that doing this job hurts my health." When Third Sister finishes junior high school, my task will be completed. "
But Tao Jie didn't wait until then.
Tao's mother couldn't stand the villagers' comments and urged Tao's sister to get married. Tao Jie's husband is a foreigner, black and thin, short and looks older than Tao Jie. On the wedding day, everyone in the village went. Ma Tao pointed to her son-in-law and proudly said, "He is a real Beijinger. Although he does not have an iron rice bowl, it is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to draw a piece of land at home. " Tao's mother told us that after she got married, Tao Jie lived on rent, and she didn't have to do any work, but was only responsible for taking care of her husband and teaching her children.
After getting married, Sister Tao really stopped working. She soon had a child and put on simple clothes. She often goes back to the village to have a look. She is more polite and formal when talking to people.
One year, the county cracked down on gambling, and Tao's father's mahjong hall closed down. He somehow contracted tuberculosis, and even lost the strength to visit, staying at home all day; The second sister later married the supernumerary postman, and she worked as an supernumerary cashier in a public institution. Third Sister is still studying, and the expenses are still borne by Tao Jie.
Sophomore, the county built the first batch of low-rent housing. Dad Tao and my family were assigned to rooms. My family lives on the second floor and his family lives on the fourth floor. My sister still often pours shit out of the window.
seven
When I was working, a countryman gave Yao Mei a bride price. On the day of engagement, Taos' music played until after midnight. The man took a bite of "father" and "mother" and clinked glasses one after another. Dad Tao shouted excitedly, "Drink!" "Come again!" Mother Tao occasionally dissuaded her: "Come on, old ghost, drink less and save your son-in-law's life."
The next day, Yaomei told the world that she was going to marry a handsome guy, and the smile on her face was as sweet as eating honey.
I thought what was done was done, but the man filed for divorce two days before the wedding.
"No, no ..."
"Why not?" I asked.
"Dislike my elder sister, who is he! Bah! I don't care. " Yaomei gnashed her teeth with anger.
It is said that the man heard about Tao Jie's disgraceful past while investigating his sister's family, and immediately decided to cancel the marriage. Dad Tao originally booked a wedding banquet, and finally invited people from the community to eat temporarily.
In a small county, it is a shame for a family to be separated. Tao Jie couldn't swallow this breath and said in front of everyone, "It's not unusual for Yaomei to get married. I want to spend money to recruit a door for her! " "Before long, an old man with a scar on his face came over. This man used to be a coolie. After he married his sister, her sister Tao gave him a sum of money to buy a minivan to pull goods for others.
Shortly after Yaomei got married, Ma Tao found my mother with a leather jacket of Tao Jie's husband, and anxiously begged my mother to introduce her to a witch to help her eliminate the disaster at home. Since then, Tao Jie has never been back to her family.
Later, I heard that in order to raise enough money for Yaomei to recruit a son-in-law, Tao Jie's husband took a job of bribing a murderer and earned 300,000. It failed, and Tao Jie's husband was arrested.
I still don't know what Tao Jie's husband does, and I don't understand why Tao Jie, whose life is slowly improving, has to take risks for 300,000 yuan.
I remember that just a few days after Yaomei broke off diplomatic relations, Tao Jie said to everyone, "I must recruit a son-in-law for my mother and fight for her!" "Maybe, for Tao's elder sister, it is her mission as an elder sister to let her parents and elder sister have a good life.
This Spring Festival, I saw Sister Tao again. She is wearing strange clothes that don't match her age. After drinking some wine, her words became vulgar. Her cousin told me quietly that Tao Jie had returned to the night show to make a living.
Author Yang, civil servant
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