Chapter 3 mysterious mailbox

Shaxton, a small town with only a few dozen families, has the most classical atmosphere in the countryside of England in the Middle Ages. The thick shade of chestnut trees covers the high and low farmhouses. The gray walls of the scattered farmhouses are mottled with time, like the leaden sky when the rain is about to come. This is the most vivid season of the year.The green grass and yellow flowers everywhere are bursting with a strong and enthusiastic life, and there are three or two poppies swaying in the gorgeous poppies.Apple, half blushing, leaned over the fence and gave away all the news about the season.

A low farmhouse near the village is the temporary home of Xu Zhimo and Zhang Youyi.There is a running well in front of the door, the well water is clear and sweet, and a path bounces into the distance.At sunset, a herd of black bulls came down the path, which naturally reminded them of the rural scenery of Xiashi. In the morning, Zhimo pushed his bicycle to Cambridge, and he always stopped in front of a barber shop.The barber shop is two wooden houses, which also doubles as a post box. There is a weird letter box hanging at the door. The alcoholic bearded Joseph is the responsible postman in the town. Very proud.He always carried a flat sorrel bottle in his arms, and when he laughed loudly, the smell of local whiskey filled the air.Carrying a sheepskin mailbag, he patrolled the village three times a day in the morning, noon and evening, delivering and receiving letters from Shaxton.He is the messenger of joy and sorrow in this small town.When performing official duties, his face was rigid and expressionless. Only when he saw Xu Zhimo did he smile.He slapped Xu Zhimo on the shoulder vigorously, sprayed alcohol on the Chinese student in a long gown, and praised Xu Zhimo's young wife with an exaggerated tone and English humor.Xu Zhimo liked to chat with Joseph for a while.The bearded postman with a rigid face can sing full-flavored English folk songs and can also recite Burns' poems.When he is happy, his words are witty and his expression is childlike and innocent.

Almost every day or two, Xu Zhimo handed Joseph a letter, all of which were addressed to Lin Huiyin. From then on, that ugly mailbox became sacred and beautiful in Xu Zhimo's eyes.He always looked forward to Joseph's hands with one finger missing, unhurriedly opening the brass lock on the clasp, maybe there was a clean envelope inside that belonged to him. In those days, Lin Huiyin was always tortured by Xu Zhimo's letter and couldn't sleep.The letter came almost every day, and it was extremely punctual, even though Xu Zhimo went to the Lin's apartment to have tea and chat every other day or two as usual.

Almost all the letters are filled with sentences that make a 17-year-old girl's face jump with enthusiasm: ——Perhaps, from now on, love, freedom, and beauty will become my lifelong pursuit, but I think that love is still the first great cause in life. Without the freedom of love in life, there will be no other Others are free; ——A martyr dies for his country, a teacher dies for his country, and a lover dies for love. In the final analysis, they have the same meaning, the same frankness, and the same heroism; ——When my heart burns for one person, I am the luckiest and the most miserable person in the world. You have given me everything I have never experienced, and let me know that life is really an amazing masterpiece of God ;

——Love is to make people become human. Once you know how to love, your chance to become an adult will come; ——If one day I get your love, then my wandering life will have a destination, only love can stop my hurried steps, let me stay by your side for a while, you know Sorrow is cutting my soul like a saw... It seems that except for Lin Weiyin himself, no one knows how hot Xu Zhimo's heart is burning.For love, he can even make a meteorite. Finally one day, the bearded postman delivered a light blue letter from Xu Zhimo to Zhang Youyi.Zhang Youyi accidentally opened it, and halfway through the reading, she felt dizzy, a sudden sense of oppression made her out of breath, and the blood flow seemed to pour into her heart, and she seemed to have exhausted all her strength to finish reading the whole letter.She felt that the leaden sky collapsed in an instant, and all the scenery was spinning.She never dreamed that this letter would be written by Miss Lin.Only those words were flying in front of her eyes: I am not the kind of woman who abuses feelings. If you can really love me, you can't give me an awkward position. You have to choose between me and Zhang Youyi...

Zhang Youyi tried hard to calm her heart down. She wanted to take a sip of water, but her hands were too shaking to hold the cup.Only at this time did she truly understand that the man with whom she shared weal and woe is now a stranger again. She is in a foreign country, the loneliness is unbearable, she needs a strong shoulder.But in the past six months, Xu Zhimo often left early and returned late, and he didn't talk much when he got home.She hated herself for being confused. For more than half a year, Xu Zhimo almost always referred to Lin Huiyin. She had seen Xu Zhimo's distracted eyes when they were together, and always went to the barber shop when he was free, but his hair didn't change much. She couldn't think of going to cut it for the first time, and none of this aroused her vigilance.As a woman, this kind of carelessness is really fatal.

She couldn't bear fate when it punched her in the chest. She married Xu Zhimo at the age of 16. She was still a young girl in love at the time. She entrusted her whole life to this man who should have depended on each other. He is the president of the central bank, and the Zhang family is a very popular family in Baoshan, Jiangsu. Their marriage was arranged by the second elder brother Jia Ao, who is also Zhimo's good friend.After 4 years of marriage, they had their first son, A Huan, who is now more than 3 years old. He is smart and cute.Does he have the heart to let go of all this?

There was darkness in front of her eyes, and she suddenly felt the existence of the little life in her belly.She remembered that when she told Xu Zhimo the news, he was so casual.This had made her very sad for some time. It was still the familiar string of car bells ringing outside the door. When she went to welcome the door, she staggered a bit, but immediately stood firm again.As usual, she watched with admiration as he put away the bicycle, shook off the dust from his gown, and then walked into the house.The food was placed on the table, and they ate together in silence.After the meal, she served a cup of new tea from her hometown as usual, and at the same time handed the letter that wet her tears to Xu Zhimo.

She watched Xu Zhimo read the letter calmly, refilling his cup after cup of water.The cup of tea has faded to no color. Xu Zhimo stared blankly at a certain part in the corner of the room, where there was a solitary spider with thin legs, weaving its web in a hurry. On the street, Joseph, a drunken bearded postman, sang a sad song, and the tune of parting was rippling in the evening wind. The night was dark. The sunflowers covering the fields in Shaxton are burning with golden flames in the autumn wind.With a look of melancholy and nostalgia, Zhang Youyi left this small town in England that gave her many warm memories. The kind-hearted bearded Joseph floated a song from afar to accompany her on the road, and her eyes were filled with tears.

Before Zhang Youyi left to study in Berlin, Germany, Xu Zhimo frequently received family letters from his old father Xu Shenru with violent words. Xu Shenru repeatedly stated that if his son really abandoned his wife, he would sever the father-son relationship with him in the newspaper and hand over the power of housekeeping to Zhang Youyi. Facts have proved that this stubborn old man did not forgive his son until his death. In another country far away, Zhang Youyi will start a new life, but the cocoon in her heart can no longer be pulled out. October 14, 1921. The morning sun painted the mouth of the Thames River scarlet, and the sea in the distance was like a piece of blood-born agate, shining with a luxurious luster.The fog gradually dissipated, and the sound of the siren became clearer, with long and short ones drifting across the water.

The "Bologa" ship was about to set sail, and the sailors were busy shuttling, and the wind was blowing colorful flags, like female guests on the ship's side waving scarves.Mediterranean albatrosses flapped their gigantic wings as they skimmed over the ship's gunwale. Before the whistle of the boat was blown, Xu Zhimo felt that his heart had been brought to the depths of the sea and sky by the wings of the albatross. Lin Huiyin and his father stood on the deck.She was dressed in a lake-green dress, as clear as water, and among the blond, blue-eyed, shoulder-to-shoulder men and women, she looked like a hibiscus emerging from the water, standing tall and graceful.There was a blush on her fair cheeks, and there was a touch of melancholy and exhaustion hidden in those apricot-like eyes. She held on to the cold railing with her hands, and the chill soaked her whole body through her hands. Lin Changmin was wearing a blue cloth gown, and his long beard fluttered like a tuft of water plants in the sea breeze. He kept waving his hat in his hand to greet Xu Zhimo and his friends standing on the shore.After he finished his teaching career for more than a year, he was filled with many emotions. His daughter Huiyin also finished middle school. Now he embarked on the journey back to China with great satisfaction. Standing on this deck, it was like stepping on the The threshold of the homeland, honor and disgrace, and the smoke and dust on both sleeves will all be given to this vast blue wave, and what is lost will be lost forever. What awaits him is another unknown unknown like a sea market... The entire English Channel, full of waves and waves, was churning in Xu Zhimo's heart.He felt that what he wanted to say to Hui Yin had already been said in the last century, or must be reserved for the next century. What he had to do now was to try to read that promise from her eyes, that kind of promise. Longing, that innate acquiescence.The sea water under the morning sun was a burning flame, and he felt the coldness of that flame. His tortoiseshell lenses were blurred.Lin Huiyin's face is changing on the confusing lenses. The cable was untied.The sound of the shaking of the anchor chain was amplified many times in the empty heart wall. Xu Zhimo felt that the rope that held his heart was suddenly chopped off.He didn't hear the sound of the cable breaking...