Author: Zhang Yueran reprinted from: Novel Reading Network
When the flood came to Huamian Town, it was already dusk. It was dark that day. I don't know why the apple stall owner doesn't close the stall, but the machine of roasted seeds and nuts is still running. The housewife was ready to eat with white rice in her hand, but she stood in front of the stove for a long time without putting the rice in the pot. Everything seems to be waiting for dark, and it is anxiously waiting for something. The rosy clouds ooze out bit by bit like blood biting your lips, and gradually overflow the whole sky.
The maid just changed him a straw pajamas, and now he is covered with soap. There is still some time before dinner, and he can see a little sky from his lying position. The sky is bright, especially red. Like many nights, he listened to the vendors' last efforts before closing the stall and gradually fell asleep. Then he heard the sound of the flood. Then came the cry of women, the cry of children, the collapse of houses and the whine of livestock. When I look out again, I feel that the whole day will be opened.
After a few minutes, he was convinced that his guess was correct. The flood is coming. He was very upset for the first few minutes. He heard a burly man shouting. He guessed that this man must be leading the whole town to flee for their lives, so he felt uneasy for no reason and kept shaking his arms at his sides. But everyone fled quickly, and soon the whole town was underwater. He also slowly calmed down. He called the maid's name softly twice, but no one answered. He is convinced that everyone should leave. At this time, a small stream of water has rushed in, and the first thing that floated up was a dark green plastic basin.
When she came in, he was about to talk to God about his last wish. In fact, he doesn't have a clear wish, he can only recall the past, hoping to find some regrets for God to help him make up. Then she came in. Did she float in? Because she is a very short old woman, she can hardly stand up straight without crutches, let alone walk. She almost tripped over the floating plastic basin, but she still didn't look at her feet. She looked at him. Keep an eye on him. Strangely, she was not intimidated by his appearance. Instead, she quickly called out his name. He didn't listen to wrong, in the sound of huge underwater sound and basin collision, he heard the little old woman calling her name:
"Pinocchio!"
"I'm Jenny!" The old woman finally grabbed the handle by the bed and bowed her head and said to him. He doesn't like people visiting him at this bad time, but he has to admit that the name Jenny is still a symbol that makes him feel comfortable in his memory. He and Jenny, how many years have they not met? Forty, forty-five, maybe longer. In his mind, Jenny is a little girl with freckles and a round head. She is now like a rotten apple abandoned by a farmer who has experienced four seasons of suffering in the wilderness.
"Jenny, you run for your life, you see, I can't move. My nose is too long. I can't stand it any longer. I can only lie down like this. " Both his eyes and Jenny's eyes were fixed on his chimney-like nose. He thinks Jenny has found that his room is specially made and the ceiling is extremely high, but even so, his nose almost touches the roof. The nose is covered with scratches like a tree growing in a bad environment, and many places are damaged. Round and oval holes are hidden behind this slow python, just like eyes that can't be closed. The nose has become very thin, and the wind will break if it is stronger.
He sighed faintly and said, "In fact, this is not the saddest thing for me. What saddens me most is that all my tears flow into my mouth because I can only lie down and live. "
At this moment, it occurred to Pi Nuo that perhaps his last wish should be to sit up and cry again. Maybe that water can be bigger than this flood.
It was in her back garden that Jenny first met Pi Nuo Qiqi. Ten-year-old Jenny has just learned simple hand knitting. She moved a small bench to sit under the grape trellis, and the afternoon sun made her face red. In that season, the fragrance of roses is very strong, and Pi Nuo Qi is hiding behind the rose bushes. He is wearing a pair of shiny red wooden shoes. Jenny likes red very much, so she is very sensitive to it. The corner of her eye touched the light of the little red shoe. She shouted, "Who's behind?" Bai Yutang creaked from the room, and then Mu Zi came out. At that time, his expression was so rare that he didn't even blush.
"Just because you are wood, they bully you? Then why don't they bully their table and see if their father hits them! " Jenny said angrily. Pi Nuo's didn't speak. He looked at him and her body carefully. It's really different: Jenny is pink and tender, and his skin color is yellower, with a pungent smell of fresh paint. He really wants every child to have a can of paint, and the yellow one is the best.
"Do they burn you with matches? You're not really on fire, are you? " Jenny asked again. Pi Nuo shook his head.
"That's true, but are you really made by your father? Is it as simple as nailing wood that burns firewood? Then can I be a wooden villain? " Jenny touched Pi Nuo's hard arm and asked curiously.
"My father did it. But you can't. My father is a great carpenter. "
Jenny was a little depressed and didn't ask any more questions. The two of them stood under her grape trellis for a long time before Jenny realized that Pi Nuo's mood should be worse. So she patted Pi Nuo's shoulder like a wooden box and said very hard, "Never mind, they won't play with you, I'll play with you." I like wooden figures. "Pi Nuo looked up at Jenny. He thinks he should express his gratitude, but he won't. Even my eyes are not wet. At that time, our hero had not learned to cry.
"At Christmas, people will give gifts to each other. The Christmas tree is hovering in the middle of the room, and the turkey is jumping around in the pot. Very interesting. " Jenny drew a beautiful Christmas blueprint for Pi Nuo Qiqi on Christmas Eve. But when Christmas came, Pi Nuo found that neither the Christmas tree nor the turkey had come to his house. His father sat on the sofa and polished an expensive wooden pipe. Time passes slowly. Pi Nuo's fifth time to sneak out to look at someone else's window. The tall, shiny green guy stood in the middle, and everyone ran around it.
Pi Nuo sat sadly on the doorstep, and the noisy bell made him sleepy. It was not until later that he was awakened by Jenny. Jenny's face was strawberry that day. She must have eaten a lot of delicious food and danced in front of Pi Nuo. Then she immediately felt that Pi Nuo's house was empty and there was no light in the darkness.
"Your father is really a weirdo. Does he have no friends? " Jenny put her strawberry face on the window and looked in. She saw the carpenter sitting alone in the middle of the room with a pipe in his mouth.
"Forget it, leave him alone, I brought you a Christmas present!" Jenny took out a soft thing from her postman bag.
"What is what?" Pi Nuo said loudly that he felt his face turned strawberry color quickly. He felt his heart steaming like a bubbling spring.
"Ah, it's my thick coat. No one can see that you are made of wood! " Jenny shook out a fluffy navy coat from the bag, but she didn't hand it to Pi Nuo at once, but held it over her head with both hands.
Pi Nuo waited a long time to finish this sentence. He said eagerly, "Oh, that's very kind of you! How much I love you, Jenny. Give it to me! " Then one hand grabbed Jenny's arm, and the other hand quickly grabbed the coat that already belonged to him. In fact, the coat is quite rough, and many places have fallen off, revealing a shiny lining. But this is the first dress in Pi Nuo's life, which will make him live a real boy life.
Pi Nuo raised his unbending arm and struggled into the sleeve of his coat. Finally, he tied every button meticulously. Then he rushed to the big window to take a closer look at himself and turned around again.
"Now, can you still see that I am made of wood?" Pi Nuo suo suo, wrapped himself up and asked carefully.
"Uh-shut up when you talk. Otherwise everyone will see the big nail in your mouth. " Jenny went up to him, lifted Pi Nuo's upper lip, looked at many nails inside and frowned.
The flood continued to come. He looked sideways and found that the water had not passed Jenny's calf. She trembled and almost fell into the water several times. He can't lie down at all. Now it's like he's at home in a boat, and she's struggling to pull the boat in the water.
"Don't you have a cane?" He asked reproachfully. Of course he won't know. She hasn't used anything made of wood since he left. She has been paying attention to the relationship between wood and life for so many years. The last time a magician came to town, he conjured a girl from a wooden box, and Jenny stared at it. She followed the magician for a long time and kept asking how the man made it.
"Fake! This is just a trick, I have told you many times! " The magician shook his sleeve and jumped into his carriage. The girl was sitting in the carriage chewing a piece of bread when the horse kicked up and left Jenny far behind.
"So, you grab my nose. Come on, while it is still strong. " Pi Nuo ordered Jenny.
She hesitated because it was really strange, but she caught it. The popsicle gets hotter and hotter in her hand.
"Well, how can you find me?" When she stood firm and everything calmed down a little, he asked, which was beyond his understanding.
"It is not difficult to find a rare person with a long nose. I didn't look for it before, but now I know I won't look for it, and I may never see it again. My health is getting worse and worse. " When Jenny smiled, wrinkles waved like ripples in front of his eyes.
"Well, do you guess my nose will grow forever?" He felt a little tingling and asked at once.
The nose grows on the face, why not leak? As it turns out, he can't lie. There is no lie at all. No. All he has to do is tell a little lie and his nose will grow by half an inch. He can even hear the sound of wood growing.
"This is terrible! My father is a wizard. Why did he create me like this? " Pi Nuo Qi complained loudly in front of Jenny.
"Your mother must have lied to him and ran away. So your father hates all deceptive activities. " Jenny is clever enough to come to this conclusion.
"Is that so?"
Pi Nuo Qiqi will never know the answer, but the problem now is that he hates this town very much. He hates his father, even all healthy children. He can't stand all the attacks from behind, all the ridicule and contempt. He always suspects that Jenny will laugh at him behind his back. She always laughs, who knows what she's thinking!
"I want to get out of here," Pi Nuo touched his nose with his fingers and found that it had grown up like a sapling, very strong and smelled like green wood. He touched it again and again, and suddenly he had a strong love for his nose. "I can't allow my nose to be laughed at!" "
It was already late at night when he left town. He is sure that his only friend Jenny is still sleeping. He sometimes ignores her. She is a healthy strawberry-colored child who spends Christmas.
Pi Nuo Qi, with a three-inch nose, left town and was never heard from again.
She paused and said, "I know your nose will keep getting longer because I remember what you told me." You said that sometimes you lie to try something new. I believe that this kind of attempt will always exist in your life. " She looked up at her deformed long nose.
"Yes, I like new attempts. You don't ask me what I have done over the years. Every lie is worth it. I got everything I wanted through lies. Why not? Since we can't do it at all, why not have fun! "
But she didn't seem to hear, narrowing her eyes and saying, "I remember the first time you lied."
"I remember that day your father asked you to send a wooden box to a rich family living in the center of town. I am on your side. That house is very big, the rose wall is very high, and there is nothing to see in it. At the gate, you said to me, "You wait for me here, and I'll be out soon. "
But it was a long time before you came out. You cover your face. Let me see your nose.
So you saw that rich girl eating chocolate. You didn't eat chocolate at that time. You watched that brown, sweet, soft little thing melt between the young lady's teeth in an instant. Do you really want to try? Just please the young lady and tell her how beautiful she is. How much you like her. Well, of course, but your face will never turn red when you say it. But in fact, she is lame and ugly. You said something you didn't want to say. When you get chocolate as a reward and put it in your mouth, you have found that your nose has become longer. I saw your nose was an inch long when you ran away. But you told me that you thought it was worth it because you ate chocolate. What a valuable attempt. "
When she finished speaking, she stopped making any noise. She did see a small stream of water enter his mouth. She wants to know how long it took him to learn to cry.
For a long time, he suddenly smiled.
"You are wrong! This isn't the first time I've lied. The first time I lied was when you gave me a sweater coat. Do you remember I told you how much I love you? Actually, I'm just a piece of wood. How do I know what love is? Hey, come and knock me, I'm hollow, I don't have a heart or lungs at all! " He pointed to the position of his heart and said happily, patting his body with his fingers.
She looked at him stupefied and heard the sound of his body drumming. But suddenly, she shook her head again and again and said, "no, no, it's not like this!" If that was really the first time you lied, why didn't your nose get longer? "
He said impatiently, "In short, I have never liked you. Please go quickly and don't flatter yourself. " Hardly had his voice fallen when she heard the creaking wood stretching. She looked up and found that his nose had grown again. Then she knew that he was lying again.
"You can't deny your feelings." Jenny said softly.
"But I want you to leave here. Why did you die in vain? " He suddenly responded to her in a low and sad voice.
"Can you not deny the feelings of the past? People who lie at the last minute should be ashamed. " Jenny said loudly, crying like a little girl. He raised his hand with difficulty and met Jenny. She said patiently, like a loving father coaxing his little daughter:
"Jenny, if I hadn't left and stayed with you, I would have been unhappy and would have been a kind and pure fool forever. Because I can't see a bigger and farther world. I won't meet all kinds of people, so I will know that you are the best for me. Now, although the cost of this road can be described as heavy, I finally know that you are the most suitable for me. " His words were so gentle that she looked down and found that the water had overflowed his chin and was about to overflow his nose. Jenny went to lift his head, but because of that huge nose, she really couldn't bear the weight of her head. She knew he was suffocating to death. She has been busy for a long time without any improvement, only the water is pouring in more and more violently.
"Pinocchio, now I finally understand the true meaning of love. It is willing. Once a person is willing to love someone, he will devote himself wholeheartedly and do everything for him, and he will feel happy and never regret it. Don't you think this feeling is beautiful? And you leave early, so that people who love you can't do anything for you. Now it can finally be done. I am willing to stay with you and leave with you. This is my last choice, including my feelings from girlhood to the present. " She leaned over and kissed Pi Nuo's cheek. "Whatever, just say it."
However, Pi Nuo Qi didn't answer. The water had overflowed his nose and covered his eyes.
Jenny put her face on Pi Nuo's submerged face and said softly and sweetly:
"So you agreed, Pi Nuo. Ok, ok, let's have a good sleep now. "
She lay on Pi Nuo's body, her face pressed against his chest, waiting for the water to gradually drown her. There is no fluctuating sound in his chest, only the sound of water and floods coming in waves.
"Good night, Pi Nuo, good night, my dear little Woodenhead."
This is a rather quiet and beautiful ending. But unwilling children always like to ask their father to add "Pinocchio's nose blossomed later, which is a big red love flower."
"That's Jennifer," the child insisted. "Jennifer in Pi Nuo's body. Therefore, they cannot be separated. " As he spoke, he recorded that wonderful moment with a colored pen. He was proud of his happy ending, so he giggled.