Once Young - CH 1.9

When we were playing the pot game, I was divided with Qin Chuan.

There is no benefit to being with him at all. He will always be against me. As long as it is related to me, he will act against me, and he will not distinguish between enemies and me at all. So from the time he drew the line on the ground, he picked on me for not being able to kick the slalom bag thrown by Qin Qian, and it was all my fault.

“I won’t play with you if you can’t kick it anymore!”

When I stood in front of the “pot” drawn by the white line again, Qin Chuan shouted fiercely from the side.

Qin Qian smiled and fiddled with the sandbags back and forth. My eyes were not separated for a moment, staring at her whether she threw it to the left or to the right, and I was almost sweating.

“Qiao qiao, you look good!”

Just as Qin Chuan was pointing fingers, Qin Qian threw the bag to the left. Affected by Qin Chuan, my body had already turned to the right, and I was struggling to kick to the left again. As a result, the bag didn’t kick out very far. Instead, I put my shoes on. It was thrown high onto the bungalow next to it.

At that time, the girls wore the kind of small white cloth shoes with loose and tight straps on the instep. They were cheap and strong, but they were not very reliable. They often fell off when they were playing. The shoes flew out, and I could only jump on one leg in place. Qin Chuan laughed unsympathetically, and was slapped on the back of the head by Qin Qian: “What are you laughing at, go to the General’s grandpa’s house to borrow a ladder!”

Children living in the hutong have enough bags, balls, and shuttlecocks to go to the house, which is a common meal. The general’s grandfather raised flowers and had a wooden ladder, and we often went to him to borrow it. After a while, a group of children moved the ladder in a lively manner, the shoes fell on the roof of Brother Xin Yuan’s house, and Qin Chuan climbed up like a monkey. As usual, when he picked up my shoes, he would definitely show off his strength on them, pretending to give them to me but not giving them. But that day when he went to the roof, he didn’t move, and I don’t know what he saw. He held I my shoe and probed his head and looked into the yard.

“Qin Chuan, what are you doing! Come down quickly!” I jumped on one leg and called him angrily.

Qin Chuan turned his head and gave me a “shh” to signal me not to speak, then waved his hand vigorously and told me to come up too.

Curiosity conquered everything, and I didn’t care about getting dirty, so I climbed up the ladder with one bare foot. Qin Chuan pulled me down and pointed down. It turned out that Brother Xin Yuan was tying a note to the little white leg of his carrier pigeon.

Brother Xin Yuan doesn’t like to deal with people, but he likes pigeons very much. A few years ago, he set up a cage in the yard and raised a group of carrier pigeons. The pigeons he raises are the best in our area. If you let them fly, they will fly, and if you let them fall, they will fall. If he encounters other pigeons who cross the plate when releasing the pigeons, he only needs to hold the pigeon pole with the red cloth and command it a few times. His flock of pigeons can fly out of the flock and bring back one or two at a time. Even the old pigeons in the hutong boast that Brother Xin Yuan can tune in style. In this group of carrier pigeons, Xiaobai is my favorite. I used to see him pick up Xiaobai and rub it, but it was the first time I saw him tie something to a pigeon’s leg.

Qin Chuan and I were watching, the door to the north house in the courtyard opened, and grandma Qin left. When she came out, she saw the two of us standing on the roof at a glance, pointing at us with brooms and shouting: “Kuanzi! You bring Qiaoqiao to the room again! Come down!”

Grandma Qin was so frightened that Qin Chuan smashed a tile. I hurriedly picked up my shoes and put them on. At this time, Brother Xin Yuan raised his head. He looked at us and said nothing, just let go. Xiaobai was thrown high. Xiaobai took a group of pigeons and fluttered past Qin Chuan and me. We stood on the roof in a daze, and Brother Xin Yuan went back to the room as soon as he turned around.