Chapter 18 8. Song of Autumn

When Yu Meilin was helping Pei Xiaolong with homework, she received a long-distance call from her boyfriend Yifen from Hong Kong, saying that he had an important meeting at the company headquarters in Hong Kong, and then the company asked him to transfer to Singapore to negotiate a business. Only after a month can I return to Shanghai. After hearing this, Yu Meilin was a little depressed. She thought this situation was like the modern version of "The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl". Her boyfriend might not understand her loneliness.What she wants is not just a man with a successful career, but a man who can stay by her side as much as possible and care about her.

She sat down, sorted out her thoughts quietly, and suddenly arranged the books and materials on the table, and said to Pei Xiaolong: "Xiaolong, let's relax today, how about going out to relax?" "Where are you going?" Xiaolong's eyes lit up. "Go for an outing, go for an autumn walk, or sketch. As long as you can relax your mind and get a rest, you can go anywhere!" She said excitedly, "Hurry up and get ready." Autumn is deep, and the leaves on the trees are beginning to turn yellow, only the maple leaves are dyed fiery red, ready to challenge the cold in the future.The autumn flowers showed their pale petals, and the daisies began poking the grass with golden eyes, like a tender, melancholy woman reminiscing about the past.

Yu Meilin and Xiaolong drove to the far outskirts of the river, and there was a large wild botanical garden nearby.The scenery of the farmhouses near here is a bit like that described in the ancient poems, a few village trees have fallen reed flowers, and a few maple trees have fallen red leaves; scene.This may be the best time of the fall. They walked to the river.At this time they saw a butterfly with huge wings, taking its nourishment from a bunch of wild carnations by the roadside. It flew from one carnation to another with a pair of rapidly flapping wings, and waited until it stopped. When it was on the stamen, the wings were still fluttering leisurely.

"It may be the offspring of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai." Yu Meilin said. It was too late to say it, it was too soon, Pei Xiaolong had quick eyes and quick hands, and he had already caught it between his fingers.They held it up to the sun and saw that its thin wings were actually transparent, golden and light blue in color, with sesame-like spots on it, so beautiful that it dazzled people. Xiaolong took out a paper bag from his bag and said, "Take it back and make it into a label." Yu Meilin said: "It's so pitiful! Maybe its friends are waiting for it to go back and get together."

Xiaolong put the butterfly into Yu Meilin's two white palms. It seemed to be greatly frightened and shocked, and it was crumbling in Yu Meilin's hands, unable to stand upright.Yu Meilin opened her eyes wide with joy, looked at it carefully, and blew on it lightly.As if possessed of a fairy spirit, the butterfly flapped its wings and flew into the air, before disappearing into the grass in a blink of an eye.Yu Meilin and Xiaolong jumped up happily. When they walked to the river, a smell of damp water came to their faces. The center of the river was very open, white and gleaming.There seems to be a hazy fog net on the distant water surface, blown by the autumn wind, ripples and waves like broken mirrors.

"I really want to walk in the river." Yu Meilin said fascinatedly, "But the river may be very deep and very cold." They found a small boat in the shallows of the river, with no one on board, lying idle in the water.Yu Meilin asked Xiaolong: "Can you row a boat?" "Yes, that's nothing." Xiaolong replied without thinking. They jumped and scrambled onto the boat, only to find that there was no oar, only a broken penny.Xiaolong asked Yu Meilin to sit on the stern of the boat, and then stood on the bow and propped the boat on the broken penny for walking in the river.But as soon as the boat left the river, it began to spin.

Yu Meilin asked him: "Didn't you say you can row a boat?" Xiaolong said: "I'm sorry, I lied to you! This is the first time in my life to row a boat." Yu Meilin was so angry that she scooped water from the river and threw him in the face.Without showing any weakness, Pei Xiaolong used the penny to splash water to counter her.The boat spun in place in the river.At this time, Yu Meilin shouted: "Oh, it's too bad! It's not good, this boat is leaking!" It turned out to be an abandoned ship.Yu Meilin and Xiaolong didn't notice it at first.When they found out, the river had flooded to the bottom of the boat.

Yu Meilin became worried and said, "In this case, we will drown in the river. Quickly find a way to row back!" Xiaolong saw that it was not good, so he tried his best to push the boat towards the river, but he couldn't move any more after two or three meters away from the river.Xiaolong said: "Teacher, let's jump down and walk to the shore!" Like track and field athletes, the two jumped desperately from the bow to the shore, and fell into the water, splashing water all over their bodies. Fortunately, the water was not deep and only submerged their knees.Yu Meilin and Pei Xiaolong looked at each other and laughed.Drenched, they ran to a big tree on the bank of the river and sat down.

Yu Meilin told Xiaolong, "Let's take off our wet shoes and socks and let our feet bask in the sun." Xiaolong thought it was a good idea.So the two stretched their four bare ankles together under the warm autumn sun, and they felt a burst of comfort and freedom from the bottom of their hearts. Pei Xiaolong sneaked a glimpse of Yu Meilin's white and narrow ankles, which were as beautiful as carved out, and wanted to secretly put his ankles on her insteps.At this moment, he suddenly heard the teacher asking him something, and quickly retracted his feet back to the original place.

"Xiaolong, when you get close to people, who do you want to talk about the most?" "Mom, let's talk about my mother." Xiaolong said, "Teacher, how about you?" "Strange! I like to talk about my father. He is a professor at the university." "My mother is a doctor." "I know, we have met before." Yu Meilin leaned on the back of the tree quietly and comfortably, lay down and said, "Perhaps psychologically speaking, you have an Oedipus complex, while I have an Oedipus complex." "Then why do you want to fall in love with your boyfriend?" Xiaolong asked her.

"Him?" Yu Meilin said with an imperceptible smug smile, "Because he's 'stupid'." "Women like stupid men?" Xiaolong asked again, puzzled. "Well, you won't understand until you grow up." Yu Meilin changed the subject.She saw a maple grove in the distance, and the red leaves were all dyed, so she said to Xiaolong, "Let's go and see the maple leaves." Barefoot, the two walked towards the maple forest with their shoes and socks in hand. Taking a closer look, it can't be called a "forest" at all, but a dozen maple trees are planted on both sides of a tractor road. It is only in this autumn village and the picturesque wild scenery that it shows its wonderful charm. .The staggered branches, surging like red flames on fire, dance in the autumn wind.Under the reflection of the sun, the same fiery red is bathed from the trunk to the root tip, shining, trembling, and whispering, as if every leaf of it wants to get rid of its shackles and fly far away—only At this time, they are singing an autumn song of life together. "Wow, isn't this the sketch scene of your award-winning work 'Autumn Song'?" Yu Meilin exclaimed. "But it's my first time here." Xiaolong also sighed, "It's so beautiful! Teacher, let me set off a firework for you!" After speaking, he nimbly climbed up a tree like a monkey, picked a lot of maple leaves from the tree, and sprinkled them all on Yu Meilin's head.The bright red maple leaves fluttered down on her head like fireworks. On her body, Yu Meilin stretched out her hands and twirled on the ground to welcome the beautiful fallen leaves, just like a festival celebration or a wedding feast, which made her feel fascinated . Her childlike innocence was awakened and germinated, and she climbed to the beginning of the branch on the tree, screaming excitedly, while looking at the falling red leaves.Xiaolong stretched out his hand to pull her, and the moment his fingers touched her, she slid down from the tree.Yu Meilin felt a piercing pain, and after careful inspection, she found that her ankle was twisted. Pei Xiaolong hurriedly got down from the tree to massage her, but his ankle was a little swollen. Like a child in trouble, he said sadly: "It's all my fault, it's my fault!" "It's my own fault, how can I blame you?" Yu Meilin said comfortingly, "Sit for a while and rest for a while and you'll get better." They sat under the tree, their hearts seemed to be beating excitedly, and they remained silent for a long time. Xiaolong suddenly remembered something, took out a piece of paper from his backpack and said to Yu Meilin, "Teacher, can I show you something to relieve your boredom?" "No! This thing is very 'eye-catching'." Xiaolong argued. Yu Meilin opened the note and saw that it looked like a prose poem or lyrics, the title was "Like Someone and Love Someone".She found it very novel, so she sat and rested and read: "Like someone and love someone, There is a difference of mind; When you like someone, you will be happy when you are together; When you love someone, you will feel inexplicably lost when you are together. "If you like someone, you won't think about your future; When you love someone, you often look forward to tomorrow together. When you like someone, you are always happy when you are together; When you love someone, you will often worry and cry. Like someone, when you haven't seen each other for a long time, You will suddenly think of her (him); Love someone, when you haven't seen each other for a long time, You will think about her (him) every day... "Like someone and love someone There is a difference in mood, Like a person, when you think of her (him) you will smile; When you love someone, when you think of her (him), You will stare at the sky in a daze. Like a person, you will think she (he) has a child, " You will be very happy. When you love someone, you wonder curiously, What will our children be like in the future? When you like someone, you want everyone to be happy; To love someone is to hope that she (he) will be happier. If you like someone, all you want is today or a moment; When you love someone, what you expect is forever..." Yu Meilin asked: "It's very interesting and well written. Did you write it?" "No, I took it from the Internet. However, I made a slight modification." Xiaolong replied a little shyly. "It seems that you should go to the art department of the university." She stood up, tried her ankle, but still couldn't use any strength, so she told Pei Xiaolong: "We should go back, you can help me go." "Teacher, I'll carry you on my back." Xiaolong persuaded her, and he suddenly squatted in front of Yu Meilin, pointing to his shoulder. Yu Meilin thought about it for a while, and then she didn't refuse.Xiaolong carried her on his back and walked back along the river. The afternoon sun cast their shadows on the river, like the shadow of a cup in fine wine. "I'm heavy." Yu Meilin asked worriedly. "Not at all!" Xiaolong gritted his teeth and said stubbornly, but there were already big beads of sweat on his forehead. Yu Meilin took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat off his forehead for him.She said to him: "I can come down and walk, I don't want to carry my back like this anymore!" Xiaolong was in a state of anxiety when he suddenly found an unlocked bicycle next to the farmhouse on the roadside. He had an idea in his mind and said, "Teacher, we can ride that bicycle." Yu Meilin said, "That's not good. It's suspected of stealing." Xiaolong didn't take it seriously, and said, "We are borrowing it! I took you to the bus station, and then I rode back and left it here. My feet are fast, and I can run to the bus station." Yu Meilin felt her heart beating like stealing a forbidden fruit. She took care of Xiaolong and said, "Okay, but you have to be careful, don't let anyone catch you!" The bicycle stumbled along the dirt road reflected in the afterglow of the setting sun.Yu Meilin closed her eyes, and the soft breeze brushed her ears, as if she was singing a moving ballad.She couldn't help stretching out her hands, wanting to embrace everything in the surrounding nature, and she felt that her body was immersed in a perfect comfort... When it was very dark, they returned to their residence.Pei Xiaolong sent the limping Yu Meilin all the way to her door, and he was about to turn around and leave.Suddenly, Yu Meilin called him, looked at him with grateful eyes, hugged him affectionately, and then waved him away. At this moment, a black figure came out from the corner of the wall. Maybe he was watching or waiting for too long, and he was a little impatient. In the dark, the sound of the camera shutter being pressed quickly could be heard.