Chapter 68 two

On New Year's Eve, the cold snapped suddenly. As night fell, the temperature dropped and the air was bitter, even without wind.When I arrived at the main entrance of the new park on Guanqian Road, I saw a man standing on the stone steps in front of the museum from a distance, with white hair and beard, wearing a black robe, waving to me. Guo Lao, the old gardener of Little Goshawk New Park, called out to me. Hello Eunuch Guo.I hastened to meet him quickly, and greeted Mr. Guo. I haven't seen you for a long time, Ah Qing, Mr. Guo sighed, you finally flew back tonight. Yes, I replied with a smile, tonight is the New Year's Eve, and I rushed back to our old nest to watch the New Year with everyone.

Alas, Mr. Guo touched the white beard hanging on his chest. I had expected it a long time ago. Didn’t all of you birds fly back one by one?I heard that some of you made a fuss about opening a tavern again, what is it called? Anle Township. Oh, Anle Township, I heard that the same is also closed. Business was good at first, I said, but then someone went to make trouble. It’s always like this, Mr. Guo shook his head and said with a smile, Fatty Yang didn’t give up. He opened the Taoyuanchun ten years ago, and it didn’t start with a bang, but it closed the door in a blink of an eye.Over the years, they have come and gone, and there have been several houses, such as champagne, white night, and Liufutang, which were opened and closed, and finally all disappeared without a trace.But our old nest is still here, waiting for those tired birds to throw themselves into the forest and come back to rest.Risks are always inevitable, curfew or something, as long as you get through it for a while, it will be over.Goshawk, go in, they are all gathered by the lotus pond.Mr. Guo waved his hand at me and smiled kindly.

When I entered the park, at the other end of the lotus pond, on the stone steps, there were indeed many figures of people, and there were bursts of human voices and laughter from afar.Yang Jinhai, the head coach of our master Xin Park, is still the leader of the pack, and he is there to direct.He was wearing a short padded jacket with dark patterns on a tea-color satin surface, a black and purple lamb square hat on his head, and a long sapphire blue scarf around his neck, with one end hanging on his chest and the other end behind his back. Wrapped in a padded jacket, his body became even bigger.He was on the steps, patrolling back and forth in an imposing manner, yelling incessantly, his scarf fluttering back and forth.Instructor Yang was followed by two children, probably young characters who had just flown into the garden, and Coach Yang directed them around.The primitive man Ah Xiongzai followed closely on the left side of Instructor Yang, following step by step.He was wearing a red and black tweed short wig, and on his head was a western red trumpet-shaped woolen cap with a purple pom-pom the size of an egg. His stature seemed to be getting bigger and bigger, with his head held high, Gu Pan complacently followed his master up and down the steps, the purple pompom on the top of the hat behind his head jumped up and down joyfully.

master.I stepped up the steps and bowed to Master Yang Jinhai, the head coach of the new park. Coach Yang stopped and looked me up and down, but there was no answer. master.I cleared my throat and shouted again, Ah Qing greeted the master. Are you talking to me?Instructor Yang glanced at me again, and sneered, I thought you didn't know me as a master for a long time! What did the master say!I hastily smiled and said, I have been working at the round table on Zhongshan North Road for a while, and I am too busy every day until one or two o'clock in the evening, so I didn't come to see the master.I am on vacation tonight, and I came here especially to pay my respects to the master.I clasped my hands together.

Oh, no wonder, they all flew to Gao Zhi'er, Coach Yang snorted again, I don't argue with others, I only blame that child Wu Min, I hurt him for nothing! Master, please don't blame Xiao Min, I quickly explained that Xiao Min's Mr. Zhang went to the hospital again.Xiao Min even asked me to bring a message to apologize to the master tonight. He said that he would not even be able to visit the master to pay New Year's greetings tomorrow on the first day of the Lunar New Year.I took out a small box wrapped in red wax paper from my jacket pocket. Inside was a silver-plated tie clip inlaid with blue beads. Wu Mintuo asked me to buy it. Xiao Min wanted this little gift. I brought it to the master.

Well, after Coach Yang took over the small box, the color on his face softened, and his tone became much looser. Let me tell you, Wu Min doesn't look like a heartless child either. Coach Yang was holding the small box, a smile finally appeared on his fat and round face. Ah Ching.A Xiongzai, a primitive man, came over and embraced me with his two huge arms. Oh, my whole body hurts from being hooped by Xiongzi, less, less, Xiongzi, my bones are about to break!I cried with a smile. Ah Xiong let go of me, he laughed, and touched my head and face with both hands for a while.I punched his broad chest and said with a smile:

How about it, Axiong boy, your hat is very beautiful! Ah Xiongzai reached out his hand and grabbed the purple pompom ball behind his head, and said triumphantly: Dada bought it for me! I found a plastic bag of chocolate candy from another jacket pocket. The chocolate was wrapped in gold, silver, and colorful tin foil. Axiong boy, call me brother, and this bag of chocolate candies will be given to you. Brother, brother.A Xiongzai yelled, but snatched the bag of chocolate candies away. Dada Tangtang A Xiongzai cheered while holding up the bag of colorful chocolate candies. Dirty things!Coach Yang scolded, he still has the face to offer treasures here!

I accompanied Coach Yang and walked up and down the steps twice, while reporting everyone's current situation to him. Xiaoyu, that vixen, how is he doing in Tokyo?Instructor Yang asked Xiao Yudao. Xiaoyu is very popular in the gay bar in Shinjuku!I laughed and said, he eats sashimi every day. This little pussy is raised!Coach Yang cursed with a smile, but praised: It's still that little fox! I also talked about my visit to the mouse in the Taoyuan Nursery School. The mouse cried to me that he was bullied badly by those hooligans there. learning experience.He said that the master master of the dyeing and weaving department appreciated him greatly and demonstrated his works in class.

The mouse stretched out his hands to show me that the color had seeped into all ten of his nails, red, green and green, which couldn't be washed off. The little thief?Instructor Yang snorted in his nose and eyes, according to my temper, I should have chopped off his thief claws long ago! On New Year's Eve, everyone returned to the old nest in the park to worship. Most of them flew back in the cold, and huddled together on the steps of the lotus pond, booing each other to keep warm.The hot air we sprayed from our noses and mouths turned into white mist in the cold current.Around the lotus pond, a few post lamps were added to illuminate the bright red and purple space suits of the young people in Sanshui Street more vividly.The group of little ones were still in groups of three or four, with their shoulders crossed and their backs crossed, walking back and forth on the steps like a demonstration.Huazai stopped singing "Three Sounds of Helplessness", and began to sing "Wang Chunfeng" again with great interest.Zhao Wuchang was getting more and more depressed, wearing an old black windbreaker, huddled in a corner wearily.He has told those old stories many times, and even he himself is listless, and the listeners will lose interest.The obscene behavior of the old glans aroused public indignation and was rejected by everyone. He no longer dared to go up the steps, so he could only hide in a far corner in the dark and watch.Fatty Lu Siwu Lu of the cornucopia, still smiling like a happy Buddha, is choosing the leanest rib.After the curfew was lifted, the master artist resumed his masterpiece of Baizitu. The latest model is another wild baby from Sanchong Town. ox.He hesitated at first, but finally couldn't bear it any longer. A few timid college students also mustered up their courage and stepped up the stone steps beside the lotus pond. Finally, a few full-staffed soldiers also rushed over, so the elderly, middle-aged, and young , High social status, low social status, sentimental, ruthless, painful, happy, all kinds of differences and differences, on this cold New Year's Eve, under this bright night sky with no moon but full of stars , in our hidden kingdom cut off from the outside world by the lotus pond in New Park, everything suddenly vanished.We stand equally on the steps of the lotus pond, like a revolving lantern on the Lantern Festival, one after another, stepping on each other's shadows, no matter innocence or vicissitudes, our footprints are all in our kingdom Here, an indelible page of history is left on the steps beside the lotus pond.

Just as everyone was walking around the pool according to the rules, suddenly there was a commotion in the team.It turned out that the news just came that in the Bade Lusheng mansion, our respected elder, Mr. Sheng, the chairman of Evergreen Film Company, was going to hold a big party to celebrate the New Year. The party started at ten o'clock in the evening, so there was a lot of excitement Buzzing buzzing filled with whispers of excitement and anticipation.The first to go down the steps was the group of Sanshui Street kids in red and purple spacesuits. After a while, a few college students also slipped down, and one by one, group after group, left After leaving the lotus pond, go outside the park, take motorcycles, taxis, and private cars, like a group of bats at night, rush to the same place, the Bade Lusheng mansion.

Xiao Wan, Xiao Zhao, Jin Wangxi, Lai Wenxiong.Instructor Yang sang like a roll call in the army. Here we come, master.Several young voices agreed in unison. So the head coach in the new park, Master Yang Jinhai, also stepped down the steps at the end, surrounded by several sixteen and seven-year-old soldiers, escorted by the super giant primitive man A Xiongzai, a team The new Yang family will step out of the new park in a mighty way. In an instant, the side of the lotus pond fell silent, and the stone railing on the steps became infinitely empty.I walked around the empty lotus pond for two weeks alone, and the sound of my footsteps echoed crisply on the empty steps.I found that I hadn’t been here for a few months, and even the last few lotus leaves in the lotus pond had withered and disappeared.I couldn’t help being startled, since I let my father drive me out of the house on that unusually sunny afternoon in May last year, wandered the streets of Taipei until midnight, and finally stepped into the new park, our kingdom, before and after. It's only been more than nine months, but I feel that it has already happened in the previous life, so far away and so vague.I remember that night in May, when the moon was red, I went into the park, my heart was full of fear, terror, tension, and a little inexplicable excitement, I was so hungry, my head was dizzy, and my whole body was shaking. Trembling, he climbed up the steps, got into the octagonal pavilion in the pool, and hid. Suddenly, 橐, 橐, 橐, there was a sound of lonely footsteps on the stone steps at the other end of the lotus pond. A tall and slender figure walked towards me. He was wearing a long dark coat with the corners fluttering. It fluttered. Ah Qing, Wang Kuilong came over and greeted me.At night, Wang Kuilong's pitted eyes burned brightly like the phosphorescence in the primeval forest. Mr. Wang.I exclaimed in surprise. I thought to myself, I will see you here tonight, Ah Qing.Wang Kuilong said.There was an indescribable excitement in his voice. Mr. Wang, really, I am waiting for you too.I said, just now other people left the lotus pond to go to Sheng Gong's party, and someone invited me to go with him, but I declined. At that time, I didn't understand why I had to stay here alone. I just felt that I was waiting one person.Now I know that I am waiting for Wang Kuilong, the mythical dragon son in our dark kingdom. great.Wang Kuilong said, tonight is New Year's Eve, the two of us should get together, there were so many people here just now, I waited for a while before coming in. Yes, it was so lively just now, everyone is here.There was a big party at Shenggong's house, and they all went to the Shenggong mansion to watch the new year. What about little Jinbao, Mr. Wang.I asked, I heard that little Jinbao has been walking recently, and he is still a little limping, but he can wear shoes.People often saw Wang Kuilong taking Xiao Jinbao to restaurants. In the afternoon I sent him to Taoyuan, Wang Kuilong said with a smile, Xiao Jinbao has an aunt who lives in Taoyuan, who is his only relative, so he took him to have a New Year's Eve dinner. Wang Kuilong and I walked side by side and walked around the lotus pond on the steps. The sound of our footsteps resounded throughout the steps. I planted some flowering trees on Uncle Fu's tomb.Wang Kuilong said. No wonder!I shouted, I went to visit the grave of Mr. Fu last week, and saw that his tomb was covered with rhododendrons and cypresses, which turned out to be planted by Mr. Wang. Those rhododendrons are all deep red, and they will bloom in a month or two, but the cypresses will have to wait for several years to grow tall. The two of us walked to the middle of the steps, but Wang Kuilong stopped. He raised his black-haired shaggy head, looked at the night sky, and muttered to himself for a long time: Just like tonight, that night, the sky was full of sparks. His voice gradually became agitated. Ten years ago, on New Year’s Eve ten years ago, it was this moment, almost twelve o’clock in the middle of the night, and the sky was full of stars. Right here, he pointed to the concrete steps under his feet, where he was standing with you, and he pointed to my feet. Ah Feng, I said to him, come back with me, I am here to take you home for the New Year.I coaxed him, I begged him, I threatened him, he just shook his head, he just laughed, and laughed so weirdly, finally he smiled almost sadly and said to me: Longzi, I can’t go back with you.I want to go with him. He pointed to a drunken old man next to him. He wanted to give me fifty yuan, fifty yuan for the New Year's Eve!He pressed his chest again and said with a strange smile: Do you want this?He leaned forward and said with a smile: Do you want this from me!That knife of mine pierced right into his chest, into his heart Wang Kuilong squatted down, groping all over the floor with his bony hands like rakes. Ah Feng's blood, hot, flowed all over the place, right here.I held him in my arms, and his dying eyes looked at me without any grievances, and even showed an apologetic and helpless expression.His big, painfully jumping eyes have been with me all my life, no matter where I go, I can always see his painfully blackened eyes.That night, I remember sitting on the steps screaming: Fire!fire!fire!I saw the sparks all over the sky falling down one after another, falling into the lotus pond, burning blazingly I also squatted down, facing Wang Kuilong, his voice was sometimes high-pitched, sometimes low-pitched, sometimes excited almost ecstatically, and sometimes wept in grief.Once again, on the steps of the lotus pond in the new park, on a New Year’s Eve ten years later, I reviewed it completely from beginning to end. In the kingdom of darkness by the lotus pond in our new park, Longzi and Afeng, the wild phoenix, and the phoenix That ancient myth and legend. This time it was completely different from the first time I heard Wang Kuilong narrate this story. The fear and confusion of the first time were gone.I listened quietly, and when he finished speaking, his emotions calmed down. The two of them faced each other in silence for a moment. I reached out and shook his bony hand firmly. Goodbye, Ah Qing.Wang Kuilong stood up and said goodbye to me. Goodbye, Mr. Wang.I smiled and waved to him. Before I left the lotus pond, I went to the octagonal pavilion in the pond.As soon as I stepped into the pavilion, on the bench by the window, suddenly a figure sat up and screamed.I walked over, and by the light coming in from the window, I found that it was a child of fourteen or fifteen years old, who was probably lying on a stool and sleeping. .I found that the place where he was lying was the same bench where I hid in the pavilion in the pool when I entered the park for the first time. Don't be afraid, little brother, I sat next to him, smiled and comforted him, I scared you. I noticed that the child was only wearing a thin blue cloth coat, his face was pale from the cold, he had a small crew-shaven head, a pointed chin, and a pair of eyes dodged in panic. What's your name, brother?I asked him, and I patted his shoulder with my hand, and he jumped suddenly as if he had been electrocuted. Luo Ping's voice was so small that it was almost inaudible, and his teeth were chattering up and down. There is a cold snap tonight, this place can't sleep, it's going to freeze to death.I said. Do you have somewhere to go?I asked him again. Luo Ping shook his head. Well, I'll take you home, I said, and you can stay with me tonight. Luo Ping looked at me in bewilderment, at a loss. Don't be afraid, I comforted him again, I live in Dalongdong, and I am the only one.I'm fine there, much better than sleeping here alone, let's go. When I stood up, Luo Ping hesitantly stood up after me.We walked out of the pavilion, walked down the steps of the lotus pond, and walked to the gate of the new park.A gust of cold wind, piercing chill, went straight into the person's body.I saw Luo Ping walking beside me with his hands in his trouser pockets and his neck curled up.I stopped, took off the thick velvet scarf that Fu Wei left around my own neck, wrapped it around Luo Ping, and wrapped it around his neck twice. Where is your home?We walked to the road in front of the museum, and I asked him. Yingge.he replied, his voice a little louder and his teeth no longer chattering. On New Year's Eve, you are not at home, what are you doing running out? Luo Ping lowered his head and didn't make a sound. I have half a bowl of chicken soup left over from eating at home. I’ll warm it up for you when I go home. I put my hand on his shoulder and said, you must be fainted from hunger, right? Luo Ping turned his head, nodded twice, and grinned.We turned to Zhongxiao West Road. Thousands of houses in Taipei City were lit up. People hid in their warm homes on this cold New Year's Eve, reuniting with their families to celebrate the new year.There are no pedestrians on the road, only a few taxis and buses, carrying some guests on their way in a hurry.One after another, far and near, the sound of firecrackers kept ringing.I took Luo Ping to the bus station to catch the last bus.As we walked on the road, it became colder and colder, so I suggested to Luo Ping: Let's run together, Luo Ping. OKLuo Ping responded with a smile, and he threw the scarf that fell on his chest behind his back. Luo Ping and I, side by side, ran down the deserted sidewalk on Zhongxiao West Road.I suddenly remembered that in school, military training gave out exercises, and I was the monitor of our small class. I always took the lead in calling the password when we practiced running on the playground.Amidst the sound of crackling firecrackers, I led Luo Ping, and the two of us ran against the cold on the long road of loyalty and filial piety, while I yelled: one two one two one two one two