When he woke up and opened his eyes, Chen Hexi saw his brother squirting the cool breeze through the mosquito net by the bed. His face, which was roasted by the fire, dripped sweat along the tip of his nose.

Seeing her awake, he smiled and pointed to the iced mung bean water on the stool beans.

Yes, Chen Hexi's brother, Chen Hechao, is a mute.

Chen Hexi seemed to remember that when she was very young, her brother could speak, but since Chen Hexi was four years old, she knew that her brother was a mute.

He is a mute brother who can only smile and make a little hedgehog steamed bun for himself.

The little Chen Hexi didn't like this brother anymore, so she couldn't sing or tell stories. And she was ridiculed. Having a mute brother was the most embarrassing thing when Chen Hexi was a child.

Why can't my brother speak? She doesn't want an older brother who can't speak.

Four-year-old Chen Hexi sat on the bench under the grape rack and said pouting.

Chen Hechao, who was only five years older than his sister, stood on the bench and peeled the winter melon with a large kitchen knife. The big vegetable trunk, the big winter melon, the big kitchen knife, and the nine-year-old him.

The kitchen knife touched the winter melon on the ground, and the blade cut through the little boy's tender palm. Drops of blood splattered on the vegetable pier and dyed the green winter melon skin.

That day, Chen Hexi was hit by his grandfather on a stool for the first time. Chen He Chao wrapped a thick gauze in his palm and silently grabbed his grandfather's raised arm.

That day, when Chen Hexi grew up, he thought that it was a microcosm of her before she was 17 years old.

The brother who loved him but was ignored by her, raised her but ignored her grandfather.

The three closest people are the most helpless relationship.

The root of all this is that Chen Hexi's mother is incompatible with this culinary family.

In 1973, Chen Aimin married He Mianyun from a big city as his wife. He Mianyun was an orphan without parents at that time.

In 1975, they had their first son, Chen Hechao.

In 1980, Chen Aimin passed away. Two months later, He Mianyun gave birth to Chen Hexi.

In 1981, He Mianyun, who had always thought she had no father or mother, received a telegram that had been passed by her for several months.

In 1982, this small town with the same lush sycamore trees as weeping willows was a restaurant and a small courtyard where the home was lived. Only an old man was left with his own pair of grandchildren.

When He Mianyun left, she cried and hugged her little daughter and promised that Chen Hexi's future would be responsible.

Chen Hexi, who has always felt that grandpa only had her brother in his eyes. No matter how smart or cute she is, grandpa never saw her.

Chen Hexi's grandfather Chen Baoshi is the most famous chef in the city. Several times the leaders from above came to inspect, and there were always people driving a red flag car to invite him out of the mountain.

A three-foot square green dragon-patterned satin-wrapped kitchen knife wrapped in a golden handle, and a secret seasoning bottle was placed in the rosewood carton. Mr. Shen would go to the alley to shave his face the day before yesterday, and then put on the blue and black stand-up collar dress under the box. He looked energetic and arrogant. No chef was going to the table, but it was clearly a general who was going to go to the battle.

When the car arrived, the neighbors opened the door and watched Mr. Shen walk towards the black and shiny four-wheel leather box with his chest raised and his head raised.

Chen Hexi was curious and longing for such a scene, but such a thing actually had nothing to do with her. The silk cloth package and the carrying case were carried by Chen Hechao. The old and the young walked towards the gate with the same rhythm. Chen Hexi could only stand behind the chefs and tiptoe to watch his grandfather and brother get on the black sedan.

Looking back, there was only an empty yard, and a group of friends were lying on the wall and chirping: "Chen Hexi, why don't you go?"

The little girl didn't know what jealousy was, nor did she know what envy was. She just had her eyes sore and her heart hurt. The feeling of being forgotten and discarded was soaked in her soul and could no longer be lingered.

Therefore, although Chen Hechao is a 24-four good brother, Chen Hexi has long forgotten those old things even though time flies.

They are still not a close brother and sister, or Chen Hexi has always refused to get close to his brother.

If Chen Hexi, who was proud of being a second-year-old, could be more mature, he would definitely realize how good she has a brother.

If time can make them grow up calmly, then all the sloppy and cold faces of the past can be smeared clean by time, but fate has not given them a chance.

One is unwilling to accept his heart, and the other ends suddenly.

When I first saw my brother, Chen Hexi felt that he was in a dream, dreaming of his best years and the heaviest debt in his heart.

The more I didn’t like it, the more I regret it later. Thinking about the past, Chen Hexi covered his head with a quilt like those nights spent alone.

Seeing his sister covering her head again, Chen Hechao smiled again, putting the palm-leaf fan aside, he turned around and left the room.

The pink and white towel had been pedaled into a big hole, and it was finely repaired with blue cotton cloth.

The stitches are denser than tofu shreds.

The mosquito net was still stained with aged mosquito blood, which was supported by bamboo poles in a row, and trembled as the girl gradually twitched violently.

The bedding also exudes the smell of being sun-dried, and the mosquito net also has the residual smell of being fumigated by mugwort.

In that clumsy mosquito net shelf, in the worn towel quilt, the girl bit her arm, tears and snot together, and along her red face was about to flow into her mouth.

Chen Hexi, who was praised by people twenty years later, was completely unwilling to care about all this, and the pain made her know that all this was not a dream.

She returned to more than 20 years ago, and her brother was still alive.

The edge of the bowl of mung bean water was covered with midsummer water vapor, which slowly flowed down, as if washing away the tears from the past.

The mechanical bells of the mahogany on the tall wood cabinet made a sound of time passing, and the cicadas outside were mixed with regular sounds of chopping vegetables.

Sitting up with a towel and quilt, Chen Hexi saw the chilling mung bean water in front of the bed, the old copper-clad mahogany box on the bed, and the old mosquito net that was washed with yellow. Everything was still vaguely yellow. This time I was finally not in my dream.

In the afternoon, the cicadas were roaring in the yard, and the spicy sunlight splashed on the ground. The yellow fat cat lay under the vegetable rack for a nap. The pumpkin vine with leaves seemed to be covered by the sun.

Only Chen Hechao stood straight under the sunshine, he was cutting a white radish into thin strips.

In the shadow of the grape trellis, Old Man Shen was lying on the rocking chair with a bowl of mung bean water, and was filled with regret at his grandson.

"You don't care about her! You run out and come back all morning and fall asleep! The shop doesn't go to help you. You are still mung bean water and shredded radish, and she has become a hero!"

Chen He didn't move his eyelids, straightened his waist, tilted his neck slightly, and exerted force on his elbows. Only the shadows of the knife were seen in his hands. The thin shredded radish shreds were scattered from under his dark palm, as if they were born like this.

The last piece of silk was cut, and the wide kitchen knife was shoveled and the shredded radish was stacked on the plate layer by layer. At this time, Chen Hechao raised his head, put a index finger in front of his mouth and measured it, and pointed to the window on one side.

The old man rolled his eyes sharply, and killed the mung bean water from the bowl in one mouthful, and slapped it hard with a palm fan. In the end, he didn't say anything again.

They didn't notice that someone in the room was lying on the windowsill, and once again became a fool with snot and tears.

That was her brother and grandfather, and this was the old house she never came back after she was seventeen years old.

This is a bright and sad midsummer, and everything has not yet begun to belong to her seventeen years old.
Chapter completed!