He was only 1.23 meters tall, wearing a one-piece monkey suit and carrying a small monkey's schoolbag on his back.
"Ah, ah, I..."
The little monkey looked at me in fear, opened his mouth wide, and screamed as hard as he could, but hoarse and unpleasant incomplete syllables came out of his throat.
I frowned and signed with my left hand.
The little monkey couldn't understand my sign language, but kept gesticulating with his own sign language, making a hoarse cry, his little face turned red, and his breathing was rapid.
I used sign language to tell the little monkey to be quiet, but the little monkey screamed louder with all his strength, and his body was convulsing.
The incomplete syllables were sharp and harsh, heartbreaking.
This child has aphasia.
That is, language dysfunction in children.
I slowly squatted down and put my middle finger in front of my mouth to signal the little monkey not to speak.
Then, I stretched out the three fingers of my right hand and gently pinched the little monkey's Adam's apple, then raised the little monkey's right hand to touch my Adam's apple, and said softly: "One!"
The little monkey looked at me strangely, his bright and flawless eyes full of confusion.
I remained calm, raised the little monkey's left hand and placed it on my right hand, and said again: "One!"
The little monkey still looked at it strangely, and the twitching bones in his body slowly relaxed.
I was not discouraged, I held the little monkey with my left hand and tapped it gently with my left hand, and continued to repeat: "One!"
After repeating it for more than ten times, the little monkey's eyes changed when he looked at me.
From strange to confused to surprised!
After I continued to recite it dozens of times, I felt the vibration from the little monkey's right hand.
He felt the vibration frequency of my vocal cords!
I'm a little happy.
This aphasic child is very smart!
Then, I continued to repeat the words again and again, letting the little monkey's right hand fully feel the vibration frequency of the syllables of my vocal cords.
Toward the end, the little monkey's hands were shaking more and more, and his eyes looking at me were full of surprise and disbelief.
As my voice continued, the little monkey's mouth also moved, and its throat vocal cords rose and fell with my rhythm.
The more I read it, the redder the little monkey’s face became, the faster his breathing became, and the more excited he looked at me.
After chanting hundreds of times in succession, I felt that the time was right. I held the little monkey's right hand with my left hand and looked at him intently.
Take a deep breath, open your mouth, and say softly: "One!"
It seemed that he was encouraged by me, and seemed to have telepathy. It seemed that the little monkey himself had been looking forward to it for a long time.
He tensed up as much as possible and used all his strength to follow the rhythm of my vocal cords. After shaking for a long time, he popped out a syllable through his teeth.
"one!"
When the simplest syllable of this word came out, the bones of the little monkey's thin body were almost broken, as if all the strength and courage in this life had been exhausted.
I raised the corners of my mouth, nodded silently, and caught the little monkey's timid gaze as a sign of encouragement. I continued to take a deep breath and spoke slowly.
"one!"
This time, the little monkey used too much force.
The moment he took a sharp breath, his whole body convulsed again and he leaned back. His hands were as stiff as iron and as cold as ice.
I pursed my lips and shook my head, held the little monkey's hands, first demonstrated deep breathing, then pinched each other's vocal cords, and continued to pronounce.
"one!"
"one!"
"one!"
When the little monkey successfully completed the standard pronunciation of one character, I gave a thumbs up and smiled: "I. Teacher Tong. What's your name?"
The little monkey immediately became nervous, opened his mouth wide again, his chest heaved, and shouted with all his strength: "I...I...Hu...Su..."
I calmly signaled the little monkey to stop, kept silent for a few seconds, then took his hand again, pinched my vocal cords, and put my Adam's apple on his.
"two!"
I spent the whole afternoon teaching the little monkey pronunciation. Just from one to ten, I taught until the evening.
It wasn't until the little monkey raised his watch to say goodbye to me that I realized that the sunset in the Western Mountains had changed from golden to light ink.
It took two hours to clean the room, fix the bed and door locks, and tidy up. I sat quietly on the chair and looked out the window silently.
In seven years, this must be the first time I have seen the bright neon lights in the city, and the first time I have felt such overwhelming and disgusting human fireworks.
In the afternoon, instead of teaching unknown little monkeys, I might as well say that I was teaching myself.
During those seven years in the cliff cave, for three whole years, I was talking to myself.
There was a time when I almost completely lost the ability to speak.
During the most difficult time, if I hadn't been thinking about her, I would have almost given up!
If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have survived.
The deeper the night goes, the more uncomfortable I feel and the more I miss her!
The city became more and more noisy late at night. Even if I closed the curtains, the laser neon lights still made me unable to sleep.
And the sound of traffic, horns, and various noises were infinitely amplified in my ears, like a thunderstorm.
All of this reminds me that I have been disconnected from this world for too long.
Thinking about what happened during the day made it even harder for me to fall asleep.
At around eleven o'clock, a sudden knock on the door made me jump out of my chair like a spring.
When I opened the door, I saw a pair of wolf-like cold stars staring at me coldly.
"bedding."
"food."
"Bus card. Metro card."
"Bus No. 125, 259, 202, Subway Line 2, and get off at Imperial College Station."
The black-faced Ge Li still had the same zombie face carved by a knife, and his tone was still cold and concise.
I left my things at the door and didn't bring water with me at all. I didn't even wait for me to say thank you and turned around and left.
However, the strange thing is that he took two steps and then came back: "Remember to pay me back when you pay me."
I changed hands and took out the money from my bag: "Thank you."
Ge Li glanced at me, came back, drew six cards, and said with a straight face: "No need to thank me. This is the rule for newcomers."
"Just this once."
I nodded.
Ge Li took the money and turned around, walked to the stairs and stopped again: "I want to give you a message."
"you say."
"In the future, no matter what happens in Fangzhou, remember one rule."
"Don't call the police."
I haven't touched anything that Ge Li sent me.
As soon as he left on the front foot, I was out the door on the back foot.
I went to Big Willow again.
Even though I know there is no ghost market in Daliu Shu today, I still want to go.
Even though I know very well in my heart that she is by no means a broken promise person, let alone a person who has lost her memory, I still retain a trace of hope in my heart.
Maybe she was so busy that she forgot the date.
Maybe she was doing a vital piece of research and couldn't get away.
Still standing under the tree where she and I first met, we waited alone until dawn.
I still haven't waited for her!
It wasn't until after dawn that I got on the bus and went to Fangzhou.
The first day of work officially begins and it may also be the last day of work!
"Boy. Stop."
Bald Laoliang's huge head poked out and stopped me again: "Someone was looking for you yesterday afternoon. You kid, look at Ma Gan'er and rewind the peach blossoms."
I stopped and said, "Who's looking for me?"
Tu Laoliang was happy and joking: "Don't worry, no one can pass through this door without my consent."
I didn't answer, and Bald Laoliang's fat pig face immediately fell down.
