Chapter 73 Chapter Twelve

In the evening of the next day, Shangguanfeng returned to his hometown where he had been away for a year. As the train slowly pulled into the station, he kept leaning against the window, his heart pounding, and he looked out onto the platform.It was drizzling, there were not many people picking up the station, everyone held an umbrella in their hands, he couldn't see the faces of the people under the umbrella clearly, there were two or three girls who looked like Liu Xi, but later found out that they were not.When the train came to a complete stop, he picked up his suitcase and got off the train, waiting for Liu Xi in front of the tunnel exit, hoping to see her in the crowd.But until the platform became deserted again and the train rumbled away, he didn't see Liu Xi's shadow.

"Couldn't she have come? . . . No, no, I haven't seen her for a whole year, and neither has she. I want to see her, and she wants to see me. . . . I just walked off the battlefield, and she You should be eagerly looking forward to seeing me..." Thinking of this, the little disappointment in my heart disappeared again. "Maybe she didn't receive the telegram, maybe she was delayed by something....I should go home to see my parents and little sister first." Thinking of this, he left the station alone, ran across the square in front of the station, and squeezed into the A bus is about to leave.

Everything in this city is familiar and friendly: the dense eucalyptus trees on both sides of the road, the towering telegraph building in the center of the city was soaked by rain, and it was as black as a giant in a raincoat... I got off at the parking spot in front of the Municipal Public Security Bureau, crossed the road in the heavy rain, and ran into the gate of the municipal key middle school where my parents had been teaching for decades.One of the ball-shaped lamps on the top of the pillars on both sides of the school gate is on, and the other is black, and the delicious smell of food is wafting from the cabin in the reception room... The rain is getting heavier, and the raindrops are hitting the ground in a "plop" sound. Arouse pieces of water flowers.He carried the suitcase, quickened his pace, stumbled into the school dormitory area, smashed open the bamboo curtain on the No. 2 door of Unit 1, Building 3, and appeared in front of his parents and younger sister sitting around the dinner table, dripping all over his body.

"Ah Feng—!" The first person to recognize him was the younger sister.When I was a child, I always called him by his first name, but today when I saw him, my eyes lit up and I called out again. Suddenly thinking that we are getting older, I hurriedly changed my words, and my face turned red. "Brother—!" she cried. "Dad, Mom, little sister—!" Shangguan Feng shouted. After the troops withdrew from the battlefield, his parents and younger sister visited him once.Even so, his return was a surprise for the family.Mom frowned, as if she didn't recognize him, and then her haggard face became radiant, and bright tears quickly filled the eye sockets.She threw down her job in a panic and stood up. The posture of her upper body and two hands showed that she wanted to hug her son across the dining table. She suddenly realized that her son had grown up and become a fighting hero again, and he was different from the furry kid in the past. , I just grabbed the hand that my son also extended to her with his hand, and said "Ah Feng, you are back--", tears fell down.Dad’s situation is more embarrassing than that of mother: he is also as excited as his wife, but the son stretches out his hand to mother first, so he can only look at his son affectionately and with a little surprise, expressing his joy, touch and a little bit of no one’s interest in words. Unconscious jealousy expresses:

"Ah Feng, you're back!... Good! Good! Hui Fen, what are you doing? If the child doesn't come back, you talk about him all day long, but when the child comes back, you start crying! Look at Ah Feng's wet clothes. Give him a change!... Auntie, you are still standing there laughing! Go get some hot water for your brother to wash!..." His wife and daughter were driven around by him: the daughter did not go to fetch water for her brother, but let him go into the bathroom at home to wash her hands and face; It was too young, but Shangguanfeng found a change of military uniform from the suitcase and put it on.The wife went to the kitchen to cook for the son, and the father felt less excited. He sat down, looked at his son with satisfaction, coughed loudly, and tried to hide it, but the daughter saw the flaw:

"Dad, you're still talking about mom! Look at you, my brother is crying for joy when he comes back!...You two are the same - patriarchal!" The whole family was busy in the middle of the night.Shangguanfeng ate the poached egg noodle soup made by his mother, and answered many questions about his journey and the battle of Gongmu Mountain. Then he lay down in the hall and fell asleep on the temporary bed his mother made for him. He didn't fall asleep for a long time.This two-bedroom unit that the family has lived in for a long time, with low ceilings, and curtains with patterns of pines, cypresses, and cranes embroidered by my mother, from the room of my parents and younger sister—his room when I was a child— The warm smell that only family members can distinguish, together with the pattering rain outside the window, and the long aftertaste of bamboo leaves crackling under the impact of raindrops, were all familiar and used to him when he was a child.Suddenly, he felt that the war was far away from him.

"Have I really fought a war, and brought five other people to risk their lives to rush to the 634 Heights?...All of that happened, but today I think about it, but it's like a dream....Is it because all the experiences of people are recalled later? Is it all like a dream?" He put his hands behind his head and thought happily, feeling his heart relax completely. He understood that Liu Xi was the reason he couldn't fall asleep, and he was a little ashamed: he said he was back with his parents, but what he was thinking about was the freshman girl who just turned 17 this year.But the little annoyance he had felt at the fact that she hadn't picked him up at the station that evening was gone.He thought about her wildly with warm tenderness, and he really realized that a year ago Liuxi was just a kind of icing on the cake in his life, but today it has become an inseparable part.

He woke up very late the next morning, and his father and younger sister went to school. Only his mother stood by the bed, looking at him with a smile, waiting for his son to wake up. "Mom, how is Liuxi?" Opening his eyes and seeing his mother's kind smile, he asked about the person who was ashamed to mention to his mother in the past. An imperceptible shadow flickered across Mom's eyes.It disappeared in an instant.The mother looked into her son's eyes and said as if nothing happened: "Liuxi is fine....Her father has transferred to the Municipal Education Bureau, and the house has also moved. She used to read your letters a lot, but she doesn't come here very often recently....She is going to college and is busy, so she runs away. It's not an easy trip!"

Mom never said bad things about anyone.But she tried to hide a little uneasiness in her heart, but Shangguanfeng noticed it. After hastily eating breakfast, he braved the drizzle to the public phone booth by the side of the road and called the Normal College in the northern suburbs.He thought it would be difficult to find Liu Xi, but after only a few minutes of delay, he heard her voice. "Is it Liu Xi?...I'm Ah Feng! I got home last night." Liu Xi's voice did not show the expected excitement, and he realized that his voice was also reserved. "I sent you a telegram before leaving the army, did you receive it?"

"Telegram?... Well, I got it." Liu Xi said hesitantly, "But... there was a dance at school last night, and someone invited me.... Then it rained again..." She suddenly changed the subject , the mood is also high, "Ah Feng, when shall we meet?... How is it tonight? It's the same place, okay?" Shangguan Feng's heart warmed up again.He knew where the old place she was talking about was. "Okay, seven o'clock in the evening. I'll wait for you at the old place, see you soon!" "See you there!" Liu Xi replied, and then hung up the phone.

Before the appointed time in the evening, his mood had completely improved: After all, Liu Xi was a freshman in college, and it was not surprising that he did such absurd things as last night.Since she invited him to meet at the same place at night, it means that she has not forgotten everything about the past.He came to wait for Liuxi in front of the small park not far from home at a quarter to seven, and realized that he was excited for this evening. The sky is still clear; a large plume cloud with the afterglow of the golden sunset hangs in the blue sky; the street lights in front of the park are lit; the night wind is warm and cool; the noise of traffic on the road and the shops on both sides of the street play The rhythmic dance music merged into a mighty, majestic yet lingering and affectionate river of music, a river of joy;...everything is familiar, even the woman selling ice cream in front of the iron gate of the park, with a big sign written in front of the ticket window The poster with the word "Dancing" and the pairs of young men and women entering and leaving the garden gate are no different from that evening last autumn.As long as Willow showed up in that pink dress that haunted him in his dreams and made her look more like a grown-up girl than a schoolgirl, the night would be just like the one last year... He waited until eight o'clock, when Liu Xi's son-in-law jumped off a bus belatedly.She didn't come alone. She was accompanied by a young man who looked like a scholar in a beige T-shirt and square gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose. "Hey, Ah Feng—!" Walking across the road, Liu Xi greeted him first with a slight smile. "Hey," Liu Xi heard Shangguan Feng answer.My heart suddenly hurts! Liu Xi didn't wear that pink dress tonight.The long hair and golden bow on Liu Xi's head were gone.Now she has cut a boy-like sporty haircut, exposing her slender neck, wearing a knitted sweater with a white background and blue track that is as short as the navel, and two large holes are intentionally left on the shoulders to let the black The shoulder tips were exposed, and underneath was a small denim skirt that could only cover the hips, and the thighs and calves were all exposed.He didn't like her attire today at all, and he didn't like the attitude of that mature and confident man who was older than them all towards Liu Xi - just as they stopped in front of him, the man stretched out a hand, He casually hugged Liu Xi's shoulder.But Liu Xi didn't feel uncomfortable at all with his seemingly habitual action. He did not and could not express his displeasure, which would damage his image in front of them.Moreover, the other party has already proactively and generously stretched out the other hand towards him. "Hello, People's Liberation Army!" The young man said in a teasing but not unfriendly manner, "Li Zhiyi. Nice to meet you." Shangguanfeng shook hands with him and let go. "I may have told you my name, Liu Xi. So I don't need to introduce myself," he said, urging himself to smile generously at the man.He succeeded, making the opponent's eyes light up. "Afeng! Teacher Li, let's go eat ice cream!" Liu Xi suddenly broke free from the young man's hand on her shoulder, and went to buy three ice creams. "Afeng, this one is for you!...Ms. Li, this one is for you! The rest is for me!" She smiled innocently, and distributed the ice cream to the two men beside her, making Shangguanfeng sigh No determination to leave them. He couldn't leave right away either, although the young man clearly hinted to him the extent of his relationship with Liu Xi with his actions just now.He called Liu Xi to make an appointment, even this Li Zhiyi came for him, and he couldn't let the other party feel that he lacked demeanor.He also pitied Liu Xi.She looked relaxed, but was actually very nervous. This reunion should be turned into a regular gathering. "Liu Xi, this Li... ah, Teacher Li, let's go dance!" He said casually, as if the three of them had originally gathered together for dancing. Two others agreed.He bought three tickets, and the three of them walked into the open-air dance hall deep in the park together.There were still as many people on the dance floor as last year, and the lights were still so charming, but his feeling was completely different. At 11 o'clock in the middle of the night, he sent them on the last bus back to school outside the park gate. When he got home, he found that his parents were still waiting for him.They asked no questions, gave him a supper, and lay down to rest. He forced himself not to think about Liu Xi and that Li Zhiyi, but it didn't work.This night, it seemed as if a blunt saw had cut the most precious thing in his life into pieces bit by bit. He still met Willow in the park on Sunday night.The two found the long chair from last fall and sat down.At this moment, he understood that the most painful moment had passed... "Who is he?" "He was assigned to our college last year. He is a top student from the Provincial Academy of Art. He is good at painting and has exhibited abroad. He is also good at dancing." "you love him?" "Ok." "He... loves you too?" "I think so." "..." "Ah Feng, I'm sorry for you." Deep down in my heart, I felt a sharp pain again.Restraining his emotions, he stood up and said goodbye to the girl. "Goodbye, Liuxi! I wish you happiness!" He said, shook her hand, and let go immediately.At this moment, he clearly realized: this might be a farewell.And he persisted in the end, just like he was waiting for the dawn on the 634 height that night. A week later, Yunxia appeared in his life. Yunxia was the most proud student of her mother back then. After graduating from university, she was assigned to teach music at the Municipal Education College.Shangguanfeng saw her at home after returning from outside one night.He was surprised to find that after seeing her for four years, Yunxia had turned into a mature and plump beauty with impeccable appearance and demeanor. Mom asked them to sit together and talk, and she went to get food for Shangguanfeng.It turned out that Yunxia knew everything he had experienced on the battlefield.When it comes to the Battle of the 634 Heights, tears welled up in the girl's eyes. His heart was touched.After a minute of silence, the conversation between the two became pleasant. "Afeng, our unit has a private movie tomorrow. I have an extra ticket here. I don't know if you would like to see it." When she was leaving, the girl put a sky blue ticket on the coffee table, embarrassed Said, for a moment his cheeks were as red as burning clouds. A week later, their relationship has become clear, and the parents are very satisfied to watch the two go in and out of the house in pairs.Yunxia may have fallen in love with him quietly since she was very young, and today she finally realized her wish, looking very satisfied and happy; he can't say anything dissatisfied with her, Yunxia is the kind of girl who is a little bird, beautiful and smart , Gentle, and will become a knowledgeable, virtuous and kind wife like my mother in the future.But for some reason their new relationship hadn't been able to spark a deep passion in his life.One night, he lay on the bed and thought it through: this is marriage. "Liu Xi must leave me," he thought. "I've been through almost everything, and she's just getting started. It's a big world out there, and she has a long way to go before she understands and appreciates the feelings I once had for her. What she needs is experience , what I need is marriage.... Yunxia is different. She has gone to college and has experienced everything she should have experienced. She has the same desire as me. My feelings for Liuxi are love, but the feelings for Yunxia come from marriage. Desire. The reason why the latter kind of emotion seems calm is precisely because we all know what we want and can get it. Therefore, from the first day, the relationship between me and Yunxia has been solid and cannot be easily changed. "