AWB Chapter 261: Cicada Escapes (2)
Chapter 261: Cicada Escapes (2)
A cold autumn rain.
The sturdy pomelo tree in the yard was full of big golden pomeloes, which were so heavy that their branches were bent.
The children of the Zhu family grew up eating these grapefruits, which have been planted decades ago and no one has taken care of them since.
It bears fruit every year, and is 50% sour and 50% sweet. It’s not very delicious, but it’s free.
Everyone would come back to stay overnight and pick a few to take back for their children when they left in the morning.
Pomelo leaves can be used to extract aromatic essential oils, but unfortunately no one in this family knows its value.
When the autumn wind blew, a lot of them fell and were spread on the withered grass, leaving no one paying attention.
Underground, in the dim light, countless small insects were lying on the tree roots, with their slender mouthparts inserted into the roots, chirping loudly, like vampires that were never satisfied.
One of them leaned sideways and listened carefully to the voice above.
Show your presence! (? ·?_·?)?
Ah, it’s me, the lonely, cold me!
Hiccup, I am a person who only eats wind and drinks dew! When will I grow up?
Three years passed in the blink of an eye.
There are densely packed cicada shells underground. The brothers have already shed their skin four times and are just waiting for the right time to emerge from the ground, climb up the trees and become tenor singers!
?
Well, I just found out that I am a female, born with an incomplete body structure, without an eardrum, and am mute.
(This is not an isolated case; all female cicadas are like this, dumb brides.)
Well, it’s better to be dumb, you can survive a little longer.
The louder you scream, the easier it is to be noticed and caught and thrown into a frying pan.
The courtyard is very lively today.
Late in the afternoon, three cars were parked outside the gate. Zhu Xiaojun stood at the gate with a smile on his face to welcome customers. He was usually not so enthusiastic towards customers in the small supermarket.
These guests were staff members from the demolition office, both men and women, eleven in total.
Old Mrs. Zhu sat in the armchair in the middle of the main room, with a look of joy on her face.
Compared with her swollen face after the illness three years ago, she has lost a lot of weight, with high cheekbones, drooping eyelids, and a rather mean look.
The fourth daughter-in-law has already sent her son to college. Although she lives nearby and can ride an electric bike for two minutes, she will not easily wander over to Old Lady Zhu. Who stipulates that a daughter-in-law must serve her parents-in-law? Who wants to be bullied and scolded?!
It was shameless of Old Lady Zhu to scold her own daughter. Only the other sister was a little more polite.
However, two years ago, she had found a reason to fire Sister Fang.
The internal reason is that they feel sorry for the money.
The reason given to the public was that her health had recovered and she had no problem taking care of the old man herself.
The old man's legs were shaking so much that he couldn't stand up, and now he can hardly get out of bed to move around, but it's not a big deal.
As a result, she was so exhausted on the first day she took over alone that she was gasping for breath. She felt so disgusted that she beat and scolded the ignorant old man while wanting to regret and call Sister Fang back.
But I heard that she kicked the person out, and then someone else spent 5000 to sign him away...
Old Mrs. Zhu didn't believe it and thought it was an excuse from the housekeeping company. But when she looked at the contract, she was dumbfounded - a monthly salary of 5000 yuan, four days off a month, for taking care of an old and a child, and the contract was for two years.
It’s hard to find a good nanny these days, and it’s even harder to find a good nanny who is hardworking, diligent, and reassuring. They’re all great treasures!
Well, it’s been three years, and Grandpa Zhu, who has been scolded countless times as an old man, is still alive.
He was half leaning on the bed, happily chatting with the mosquitoes on the mosquito net above his head, his hands shaking so much that he looked like he was saying goodbye to someone at any time.
This small courtyard has only the name of Old Lady Zhu written on it. It was Grandpa Zhu who took the initiative to transfer the property to her a few years ago to thank her for giving birth to five children, making her a great contributor to the Zhu family.
Therefore, the director of the demolition office only needed to discuss the matter with Mrs. Zhu. As long as she nodded in agreement and signed, millions of dollars in demolition compensation would be transferred to her account at the end of the month.
Zhu Xiaojun lived nearby and was the first to witness the historic moment.
His sisters all have to go to work and cannot take leave, so they can only come after get off work.
The four people stood at their respective workstations, their hearts beating fast as if they were being scratched by a cat.
They are deeply influenced by their mother's words and deeds - a woman can live without love, but she must have a stable job that pays five insurances and one fund, a house of her own, and a regular and fixed pension when she is old. Only in this way can she live with dignity.
When Zhu Xiaojun heard the number of millions, the corners of his mouth were almost stretched to his ears.
The people who accompanied the director of the demolition office felt a little uncomfortable sitting on benches in the dark room, so they simply walked around in the yard and measured the dimensions with their feet.
[Hey, I think I just stepped on a cicada?! ]
[It’s only June, how can there be any cicadas!!!]
The two of them squatted down and dug through the grass, and they actually saw half of an insect that looked like a cicada.
[This... is too small, it doesn't look like it! ]
The cicada brothers who were quietly emerging and preparing to climb the tree all retracted their necks. They decided to wait a little longer. The first big brother who emerged had already been stepped on and turned into shit...
Old Mrs. Zhu carefully read the revised contract handwritten by the director of the demolition office and nodded.
[Okay, I've also seen the contracts of the companies next door. You're not playing tricks. Just follow this. I'll sign it after it's printed out!]
The enthusiastic smile on the director's face froze. No wonder the village committee director reminded him: "When dealing with the old lady of the Zhu family, you must be honest, otherwise, she will not give you any face."
The director tried to keep smiling.
Zhu Xiaojun knew that the demolition was a sure thing, and he did not interfere with his mother's decision. Anyway, the household registration pages of his family of three were in his mother's notebook.
No matter how it is divided, he has a share.
At night, the eldest sister held Mrs. Zhu's hand and chattered about her difficulties.
The moonlight is bright outside the window.
Grandpa Zhu couldn't sleep and stared unfocusedly into the air. If there were someone nearby, they would probably be too scared to sleep.
Fortunately, he didn't make any noise, his stomach was full, he took a bath, changed his diaper, put on a diaper pad, and drank some water.
It’s just that the mosquito coils under the bed are a bit smoky, but compared to the cigarettes Grandpa Zhu smoked when he was young, it’s nothing.
One of the biggest benefits of being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease is that he forgot that he smoked. When he saw Zhu Xiaojun smoking in front of him, he would sneer at him and throw the cigarette on the ground and stomp it out, just like what old lady Zhu did to him when he was young.
The vegetable garden is lively with the chirping of insects and frogs.
The frog jumped out of a small ditch after the heavy rain a few days ago. It was too small and its fighting ability was very weak, so even the caterpillars didn't bother to pay attention to it.
Insects have popped up in the soil under the pomelo tree again. They are about to shed their skin for the last time. The itching on their backs is unbearable.
More than thirty large male cicadas climbed up along the tree roots, densely packed together.
I blend in in the middle, not standing out too much, nor being at the bottom, just staying there completely.
The brothers couldn't hold back halfway through the climb and the skin on their backs broke apart. They had to stop and it took about an hour to completely shed their skin.
Cicadas were still climbing up from the roots of the trees. Some of them were so vicious that they would poke a hole in the backs of the fragile older brothers who had just shed their skin, taking their lives without any effort.
I hid in the corner, among three big brothers, and completed the transformation tremblingly. I was surpassed by those who came later. When I saw their sharp hooks, I trembled like a sieve.
After daybreak, the director came to deliver the contract as soon as possible. At the same time as he signed it, the big, round and dazzling word "demolition" was also sprayed on the outside of the courtyard wall.
[Wow, it was quite lively under this tree last night, there were so many cicadas, Mrs. Zhu, my husband loves to eat this, can you give me some? ]
Old Mrs. Zhu was so generous. [Find a bag to put it all back. This thing wastes a lot of oil. I don’t like it!]
Luckily, Grandpa Zhu didn’t hear this. He loves it! He loves it so much! (ˉ﹃ˉ)
The cicadas that had already climbed onto the branches were so excited that they wanted to cover their faces - they were lucky! Otherwise, they would have become snacks like their brothers below!
The weather is getting hotter day by day.
The male cicada desperately mobilized its abdominal muscles to emit a chirping sound that pierced people's eardrums. It inserted its mouthparts into the tree trunk to suck juice. Occasionally, when it felt its stomach was full, it would urinate, shooting out a clear straight line.
Old Mrs. Zhu was too lazy to come out to water the vegetables in such a hot weather. She was going to move next month anyway, so all the vegetable plots would have to be dug up.
The lucky little dry and yellow grass under the tree accepted the gentle baptism from the male cicada and was very grateful.
The other cicadas followed suit, crisscrossing each other, trying to see who could pee far. Even a rainbow could be vaguely seen.
The female cicada with a confused mind couldn't resist the temptation of the soprano singer, so she resolutely married him, and giggled in front of all the cicadas.
The next day, the male cicada died. It fell off the tree with a thud and was carried away by the ants without saying a word.
The female cicada laid her eggs in a tree hole she dug herself, but died within two days.
The ants tasted the sweetness, and from then on, they kept circling the tree, waiting for the cicadas, carrying one without making a sound.
Although he knew his fate, the singer still sang loudly, and the mute bride threw herself forward without hesitation.
There are many tiny worm holes on the tree.
The ants under the tree took turns waiting eagerly.
I thought that I could not escape the fate of dying after giving birth.
The people in Lao Zhu's family had already moved out, and the next day, three excavators entered the site.
With one shovelful, the courtyard wall was pushed down.
The deadline is tight, the task is heavy, and great efforts will create miracles.
The pomelo tree that carried the future of countless cicadas was torn down by its roots.
Perhaps it will be sold to another family for further cultivation, or perhaps it will be dried on the spot and chopped down by poor elderly people who are not included in the demolition area nearby and carried home to use as firewood.
The mouse under the wall, whose house was suddenly destroyed, was stunned. Something fell from the sky, and without thinking, it opened its mouth to catch it, and bit it into pieces, with a mouthful of juice.
(?｀?Д?′)!!It’s me!
(?｀?Д?′)!! Damn it!
(?｀?Д?′)!!I don’t accept it!
The mouse blinked, and called his wife and children to eat the insects falling from the sky. The insects were all over the ground, and there were ants fighting with them!
The dumb single cicada who didn’t win until the end, died!