C57 (1/2)
I scratched my unruly beard and thought, Am I that scary? Looking at San Mao, it was then that we realised what was happening. All of our hair and beards had grown into a ball, and we looked no different from savages. These three people were so clean and clean, they were obviously hiding somewhere with food, clothes, and possibly even electricity.
I was scratching my head, not knowing how to continue with the questioning. Around dinner time, Uncle Feng and Aunt Chen came down from upstairs, with Little Casey following them. The three of them obviously didn't know what was going on, but when they saw the three of them, they became confused. Uncle Feng looked at me with an inquiring look, and I spread out my hands, meaning that I'm not too sure myself. Uncle Feng nodded and didn't ask, but started to light a fire in the cast-iron stove, while Aunt Chen walked towards the small warehouse, probably to retrieve the food I ate today.
However, Little Casey was filled with curiosity, as if she had not seen any clean people in a long time. Instead, she was somewhat close, standing at the side and constantly peeking at them. Yang Yufan waved at her, and she laughed, jumping up and down as she ran to Yang Yufan's side, grabbing onto his thighs to spin around, hiding behind him, occasionally sticking her head out to peek at the three strangers. It was as if she was playing hide-and-seek with them.
Uncle Feng stuffed a pile of old newspapers into the furnace. He piled a few small branches on top of the pile of papers, and placed a few pieces of firewood the size of a fist. On the surface of the firewood, there was a bit of lacquer, which was a piece of ”Steinway” piano that we had dismembered a few days ago. Uncle Feng lit a big fire with a disposable lighter and moved closer to the bottom of the furnace to ignite the newspaper. At first it was just a small flame, but it was quickly followed by a thick smoke, and Uncle Feng immediately fanned it open with a large piece of cardboard, then he fanned the wind with the door a few times, and the fire came out. Not long later, the big firewood was also burned, and Uncle Feng closed the door to reduce the temperature, allowing the firewood to slowly burn in the furnace.
Although the room temperature didn't increase by much, once it did, everyone started to feel warm inside, especially the middle-aged man who was looking at the stove, looking at Uncle Feng, and looking at Little Casey, who coincidentally stuck his head out half a head from behind Yang Yufan and withdrew his gaze immediately after meeting her. Then, he slowly stuck his head out from the other side, making a face when he saw that he was still looking at her, and started to giggle.
”You all …” The man finally opened his mouth, but because he had not spoken for a long time, his throat was glued to his throat. His voice was hoarse and shrill, as if there was a dagger stirring inside his throat.
”Not a bad guy?”
Just as I don't know how to answer this question, Little Casey who was at the side suddenly stuck his head out, and said childishly:
”Grandfather, we're not bad people, we're good people!”
Little Casey isn't like us, although our bodies are also dirty, Aunt Chen wash her face and comb her hair everyday, trying her best to save a bit of love for her in this chaotic world. With that, the atmosphere in the room immediately relaxed. Even the two Groundhog's raised their heads and their eyes became gentle.
”Who are you and where are you from?” I asked.
The middle aged man raised his head and looked at me. His eyes were still full of vigilance, but after he looked at Uncle Feng and Casey, he finally stood up as if he made a decision, and did an action that I would never have expected.
He took out a name card from his inside pocket, pushed out a golden name card with his thumbs, bowed slightly, and handed it over to me. After I received the card in shock, he turned to San Mao, and then, he passed a name card to the rest of the room.
”Lu Yong …” San Tu? ”What word is that?” San Mao looked at his name card and muttered.