Vol 1 Chapter 31 (2/2)
When Xiao Bo opened the door, he was shi+rtless and his upper body was covered in sweat Seeing that it wasand also felt very aard I stood outside the door, not knohat to sayHe immediately turned around and went back inside to put on a shi+rt and then came back
In the moment when he turned around, I saw that he didn’t have tattoos on his body like Brother Li and Wu Zei did I didn’t knohy butcards and I kneas on my team
We talked at the door I asked hio and ith ht that it was housework and said that I could wait for him He opened the door and let me in Up to this day, that scene is still vivid in my mind
The living roo but four walls, e and open There was however, tworoom In theit see there
People froloves, it was specially for doing heavy work We have many at home, it was issued by ly, in those years, many companies issued these kinds of labor safety equipe liquefied petroleuas
Froe sequences of process to these gloves First, the machine will cut a sheet of flannel into different parts of the glove Then, the various parts had to be pressed togethermachine Xiao Bo’s mother was currently on the balcony with a ether
The gloves that were pressed together were inside out Xiao Bo’s job was to flip these gloves back then fold the right and left gloves together
Because there were many fine threads in the flannel, they would be bloay by the wind so no matter how hot the te the room to be extremely hot and stuffy
My eyes must have contained astonishment but Xiao Bo’s expression was calm He wasn’t uncoave it to me then went back to sit between the two sht the stool over to his side and copying what he was doing, I flipped gloves together with him
We chatted as we flipped the gloves I asked hiloves, Xiao Bo told ether a pair of gloves A few years earlier, it was only 12 cents per pair of gloves
I asked all the questions I had regarding the gloves and didn’t knohat else to say so I stopped talking He also didn’t speak and the two of us flipped gloves silently, until we finished the loves My body was covered in sweat and my dress stuck to my back, Xiao Bo’s forehead was also filled with sweat
I looked at theroo a sense of accohed, “I’ll treat you to a popsicle” I nodded
Outside, with the wind blowing on my back, I felt incoht the as so cute We held one each, the cheapest popsicle, and sat by the riverside, eating it while enjoying the setting sun
After doing half a day of work, and being covered in sweat,at everything Xiao Bo said Seeing hed The two of us kicked the water with our feet, seeing who could et the other person wet first When ere exhausted, we laid on the rock s, both in a daze
The rocks had been basking in the sun all day, and were hot Yet our clothes et and between the hot and coldness, it felt very pleasant Xiao Bo put both his hands under his head and started to whisten It was so out of tune that I had to listen for a while before I was able to realize what he histling see’, but with the sound of the water and in the warm breeze, I couldn’t help but curve ht through the sound of his whistling I hu:
“High up on the mountain slide, floats a cloud so white, bathed in silvertown, thetown…”
Later, Wu Zei told me that Xiao Bo’s father was an electrician, when Xiao Bo was three, an accident occurred during a wire maintenance and he died, electrocuted by the power line Xiao Bo’s mother was a housewife and had no job Since then onward, she had to rely on doing odd jobs to raise Xiao Bo During this time, she had sold popsicles, held a pancake stall, sieved sand on a construction sand and pressing together gloves, which was also her longest job Wu Zei also said that her mind wasn’t nor a word to her son, or she would speak uncontrollably, and grab strangers to cry to about Xiao Bo’s father Wu Zei spoke with a lingering fear, clearly he had also been grabbed before
When I think back to the scene that day, indeed Xiao Bo’s mom had not said a word When Xiao Bo left, he had told his mom but she didn’t even raise her head
For a long period of ti, I would first subconsciously change the price of the good into pairs of gloves For instance, a bowl of cold noodles was 50 cents, which would be pressing three pairs of gloves; a bowl of beef noodles o dollars, which would be pressing eleven pairs of gloves Every ti, I beca and I would consider carefully if I should spend thehabits beca able to understand Xiao Bo valuing money more
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My summer break was very idle whereas Xiao Bo’s sue the Karaoke lounge business from Brother Li Brother Li had e or qualifications, even over time, there were people far more suited than Xiao Bo, especially since Xiao Bo was still at school but curiously, Brother Li always treated Xiao Bo differently Brother Li talked impatiently to others, soheaded, but he would always patiently answer Xiao Bo’s questions Xiao Bo was very s as he has said the words before, Xiao Bo will remember it forever
Wu Zei had already graduated fro business with Brother Li Brother Li let hih Wu Zei was older than Xiao Bo and usually acted like an older brother, when so really happened, it was always Xiao Bo who made the decisions
Along with thee The conditions improved a lot, at least when many people didn’t knoho Tsui Hark was yet, I already watched quite a few of his filster films
[Tsui Hark (徐克) is a film director, producer and screenwriter A few of his movies include Once Upon a Time in China (武状元黄飞鸿), A Better Tomorrow/ True Colors of a Hero (英雄本色) and his on Gate (龙门飞甲) ]
The charisans like Wu Zei They often wore all black, had a pair of sunglasses on and a toothpick in theircool and deep, lest when they walked on the streets, people didn’t know they had mental issues
[Mark is the character Chow Yun Fat played in A Better Toes of the character and laugh as you i down the street like that]
Brother Li dressed in normal clothes that couldn’t be any more nor at his h, his favorite phrase was, “don’t think that after watching two gangster films, you can mix into the mafia”
The enchantress officially becairlfriend She was three years older than Wu Zei and he was extreuy was able to find a girlfriend older than himself, he’d have lots of face in front of others I didn’t knohy at the tihly understand, adolescent boys were probably iirlfriend that’s older than themselves will e
Once, I hispering to Xiao Bo behind Wu Zei’s back about the enchantress Wu Zei heard this nicknary, he was pretty pleased, feeling that his babe really was enchanting He stopped using her real na her “enchantress”
I didn’t radually, we chatted a bit I found out froone to prison before They all thought that once he came out, he would try and recover his lost territory but nobody expected that in these few years, he actually started doing proper business, moreover his businesses were very successful I was very curious to how Xiao Bo got together with theh School’s high school departue as Brother Li and Wu Zei Enchantress also didn’t know, only saying that Xiao Bo was very good at fighting and his attacks were ruthless Back in the day, people who cahting
Nowadays, Xiao Bo was really a good hed, “I heard fro, last time if it wasn’t for Brother Li, you’d have a human life on your hands”
Actually, it wasn’t viciousness, but honor doesn’t per back and leaves no way out, half forced by the situation and half due to my personality, but in the eyes of the outsiders, the situation gradually changed as it was spread I suddenly understood Xiao Bo’s viciousness, he lost his dad in Year 3 and his mom had a mental illness, so he also didn’t have any way out at all
In many people’s memories, the su of an old chapter and a start of a new one, and in between, there were no summer homework, no study stress, there was only anticipation of the future as well as play, play, play!
My memories however, were very plain, I only re Jun as well as the loves in Xiao Bo’s house and his out of tune whistling
Many years later, when I went singing with a group of friends, hed and sang, while singing, thewith the out of tune whistling My sound was suddenly choked with eht to be dull aren’t dull