Chapter 7 Chapter 02

A week passed. One morning, the sky was not yet bright, and the east began to turn white. The black sky was gradually fading, and the air was still filled with the fragrance of night. The footsteps of two young people sounded slightly on the wet grass.When they reached the gate, the gatekeeper was already up and opened the door for them. They walked slowly on the quiet street, their feet not struggling on the soft ground.The houses on both sides appeared vaguely in front of their eyes.There were voices in several rooms, but they were very low, and they fled away gently with Xiaofeng, leaving no lingering sound.There was an early morning chill in the air.The regular footsteps of only the two of them sounded lonely on the street.

They walked side by side, but not very close together: a young woman with wavy black hair flowing back, wearing a white blouse and a green skirt; Sun suit.They are Zhou Rushui and Zhang Ruolan who live in the seaside hotel. The sky had turned dark blue as they walked down the long street.They turned two more turns and reached the waterfront.A grayish-white shiny sea lay in front of them.There is a narrow sandy beach on the shore, which will be completely submerged when the tide comes, but now the tide has receded.The beach is still very wet, and there are several large stones piled up there.There are also stone steps on the shore.

They stood on the shore, looking at the place where the water and the sky are inseparable.The sea breeze gently blows their hair and clothes.Zhang Ruolan let her thick black hair blow in the wind, only holding her skirt with her hands.Her hair waved and undulated with the coming and going of the wind, appearing thicker on the one hand and softer on the other. Zhou Rushui deliberately stood a little far away from her, but only secretly looked at her hair. "What beautiful hair," he thought, and the distaste for women's hair that he had felt from the Japanese women's horribly large updos disappeared at once.By this time the sky had changed from dark blue to bright light blue, with pink clouds hanging above their heads, and it was almost dawn.

"We're so early today," she said back to him. "How fresh the morning air is, how beautiful nature is..." he said happily. "It's nice to get up early," she added, and they walked on. When they walked to the rock, there happened to be two rocks not far away, so he suggested, "Let's sit on the rock for a while, the sun will come out soon." She stretched out her hand and touched the rock lightly, and said, "It's still wet," she took out her handkerchief, wiped the rock dry and sat down.He also sat on another stone.Both of them looked at the luminous part of the sky without blinking, waiting to see the magnificence of the sunrise.

The sky gradually lit up, as if someone had put a layer of pink on the light blue sky, and there were countless golden lights hidden under the pink.Suddenly, as if there was a noise, the pink clouds were washed away, and the sky suddenly opened up. Then a scarlet sun slowly climbed up from the sky, and when it shook, it seemed to make a loud noise.It finally climbed to the surface.There is a red light supporting it below it.As it rises, the red light also lengthens.The higher it rises, the greater its radiance.After a short time the sun has left the water and is getting smaller.At the same time, its body gradually changed from vermilion to golden red.In an instant, the sun covered half of the sky, maintaining the golden morning sun; there were also countless golden lights rippling on the water.There seems to be a symphony playing in the sky, and a loud tune is sent to people's ears.

The two young men haven't said a word for a long time. They just watched this dazzling scene with admiration and surprise, and they couldn't even find an appropriate adjective to praise it.Later, the symphony in the sky finally finished, and everything returned to its usual state.The coast is no longer as quiet as before. There are a few young or middle-aged men strolling on the beach, and two or three half-naked children from poor families picking shells on the ground.They felt that there was no point in sitting here for a long time, so they stood up.While talking, they walked around the beach two or three times, and then left.

The two strolled, walked into the market, and arrived in front of a glutinous rice ball shop.This is a fairly clean small shop. There are several small tables in the shop, all of which are full of people, only the one in the back is still vacant.They went in and asked for two bowls of glutinous rice balls.They held the bowls in their hands and looked at the several big gnocchi floating on the water in the bowl, with smiles on their faces, they had never seen such a big gnocchi.They raised their chopsticks to grab the glutinous rice balls, and at the same time raised their eyes to look at the customers in the four seats.Those people all have honest faces and good appetites, and they keep sending such big gnocchi to their mouths one by one.

"Mr. Zhou, look," Zhang Ruolan whispered to Zhou Rushui. A moving smile appeared on Zhou Rushui's face.He has always disliked urban civilization, praised the beauty of nature, and advocated "land returnism". Now he sees how these simple fishermen eat their breakfast, from the kind of sincerely eating this simple food as if it is a feast. He felt the taste of eating, and he thought that they were the ones who really knew how to eat.So he turned his head and smiled at Zhang Ruolan, without saying anything, he cut a dumpling in half with chopsticks, took half of it into his mouth, chewed it slowly, and talked to her at the same time.

At this time, a girl of seventeen or eighteen came in from the outside, holding a bowl in her hand, a braid hanging down her head, and wearing a white shirt.All eyes were on her face.She didn't seem to feel it, her attitude was very serene, she smiled and talked to the person in charge. Zhang Ruolan put down the bowl with a smile, pointed at the young girl and whispered to him: "She is the glutinous rice ball Xishi here. Many guests in the hotel often come to see her." She said and smiled again. Zhou Rushui turned his eyes to that side after hearing this sentence.He only saw the girl's profile: a melon-shaped face with bangs in the front and a loose braid hanging in the back--the appearance was indeed passable.She turned her head occasionally, allowing him to see her pair of lively and flowing eyes. Their eyes met, she smiled at him as if nothing had happened, and turned her head away again.His heart couldn't help beating.

He stared at her lost in thought. "Mr. Zhou," Zhang Ruolan called him from the side, he turned his head in surprise and saw her pursing her lips and smiling.He didn't know what she was laughing at, he was wondering, when he suddenly realized that there was still a gnocchi in his hand, he blushed, he lowered his head and just ate the gnocchi in the bowl, and finished it quickly.He was about to pay, but Zhang Ruolan paid first. The sun was already high in the sky when they came out of the gnocchi shop.The sun shone anxiously on the man's head.The street is also much more lively than before.Zhou Rushui's head started to sweat, so he took off his suit jacket and put it on his left wrist.They just talked and walked down a quieter street.In front of the low house, several women and girls were busy mending fishing nets.They talked and laughed as they worked, and the scorching sun was still covering the darkened faces of two or three women, but they were not afraid at all.

As they passed there, the simple faces looked at them with amazement, and mysterious laughter sounded behind them.It was the first time he had seen this scene, but he didn't feel disgusted. Instead, he felt that he somewhat liked this simple and plain picture.By this time he had turned the corner with her and was on the road. On the right rose the hotel buildings, the windows all open, and the walls painted with brilliant gold.There are only a few pedestrians on the road.There is a meandering path on the left, which slopes down slightly and leads into a vegetable bed, which seems to lead to a forest in the distance. They passed by the door of the hotel and saw the waiter watering the lawn with a hose. There were water spots all over the ground.Zhou Rushui touched his watch and came out to check. It was not yet nine o'clock, so he pointed to the woods and suggested, "I haven't been there yet, Ms. Zhang, would you like to go and have a look?" "Mr. Zhou is going, of course I will accompany you," she said with a slight smile.Zhou Rushui couldn't help thinking, "What a gentle voice." The two turned into the path, and they couldn't walk very far. The road gradually became very narrow, and only one person could pass through.On one side is the earth wall covered by melon vines, and on the other side is the slope and vegetable bed demarcated by willows.Zhang Ruolan walked in front, Zhou Rushui followed behind.Often the wicker hangs down in their way, and they throw it away with their hands.The two were so close that Zhang Ruolan felt that Zhou Rushui's hot air hit her ears and cheeks.Her feminine sensibility could also discern his rapid breathing.She blushed unconsciously and stepped up a bit.However, within a few steps she stopped suddenly.A toad crouched before her.She tried to make it jump away, but it didn't move, so she had to push it away with her foot. Zhou Rushui, who was walking behind her, just followed her footsteps, and didn't notice that she stopped halfway, it was already too late for him to stop in a hurry.His mouth almost touched her soft hair, and his body almost stuck to her clothes.He seemed to see her shoulders shrugging slightly, and seemed to feel the rise and fall of her chest.A mix of hairy and meaty aromas was sent straight to his nostrils.The aroma made him unintentionally think of that pink and delicate skin.In fact, these four adjectives are not enough. It seems that there is another quality that has not been expressed, but he himself can't find an appropriate word to describe it. He quickly took a step back.He silently watched her back in fear.The strange fragrance entered his nostrils again.He is very excited.Passion seized him. His body trembled suddenly.He wanted to call her, he wanted to go up to her and hug her.But at once he felt that his courage was fading away. Without looking back at him, she walked forward again, but very slowly.Her legs wrapped in black stockings moved slowly and skillfully along the winding path.He himself walked with her, looking at her legs which were not covered by skirts, and his heart was filled with joy. At this time, the road became very wide. Although it was rough, it was not very difficult to walk.Willow trees were planted on both sides of the road, and there was a water ditch below. The road protruded in the middle like a section of embankment.The willow leaves danced slightly with the wind, sometimes as if they were about to brush their heads. After they walked this section of the road, the ditch was gone, and there was a vegetable bed next to it. Several country women in blue shirts and white kerchiefs were bent over to work there.There are some apple trees beside the road, and there are many tender green apples hanging on the branches.Not far away, musically, the hypnotic song of cicadas rang out. "The countryside is so nice, everything is peaceful, kind, and beautiful, and it's ten times better than sucking dust in the city." Zhou Rushui uttered such compliments with satisfaction.Indeed, there is no urban hustle and bustle here, no vehicles, no dust, no smell of gasoline, no obscene music, no sly and smirking faces.Here there is only the beauty of simplicity, peace, and kindness in nature.His so-called "land returnism" has obtained overwhelming evidence here.Although he has never been familiar with such works as "The Decline of Civilization" by Murofusu Takanobu, and he only read the first ten pages of that "Return of the Earth" (because he doesn't like that Japanese political commentator), but He already felt that his "land returnism" was very firm and unshakable. "I also like living in the country. Every summer I go to the country to celebrate my graduation next year. I don't want to work in the city. I also want to run a primary school in the country. I would like to be close to innocent children. "She expressed her opinion like this, which made Zhou Rushui very happy.At this moment, he remembered that she was studying education, which was the same as his own, and that the two had similar aspirations.These brief words made a good impression on him.Her manner of speaking was very sincere, as if she deliberately said these words to cater to his psychology.So he felt that they were getting to know each other more closely. They talked about the sun again, and Zhang Ruolan said: "I never dreamed that the sunrise was so beautiful." After talking about "beautiful", she felt that the two words were inappropriate, so she changed her words: "It's so solemn. "After a break, she said again: "If Mr. Zhou hadn't reminded me, I would never have such a blessing today, so I should thank Mr. Zhou." After she said that, she turned her head and looked at him with a smile. Eyes express a deep meaning that cannot be expressed in the mouth. It moved him, satisfied him, intoxicated him, and he felt that he had never been happier than he was now.A smug smile appeared on his face, and he even blushed because of his smugness.Then many, many aphorisms came to his mind again, and inspired him to utter the following words in an excited voice: "Great is the sun. It makes all things grow, it spreads life everywhere, it shines everywhere without distinction, and makes any Everywhere is illuminated. I remember that the Japanese fairy tale writer Ogawa Miming said that the mother is the sun. It is very appropriate to compare the mother to the sun, because the mother’s love for her children is indeed as universal as the sun. No matter what the children are Everywhere, mother's love follows, just as all things, whether high or low, enjoy the sunshine." "Mr. Zhou's words are very good...it's just a pity...my mother has left this world." She suddenly closed her mouth, with a little sadness in her voice. He heard her say that and the change in her voice, and he looked into her face with surprise.But she had already turned her face away and looked away.He panicked and wanted to find words to comfort her, but he couldn't think of appropriate words because he was clumsy in words.The two still walked silently. "I shouldn't have made Mieszhang sad by saying such things. I didn't know that Mieszhang didn't have a mother, and Jianhong never told me." He finally said a word of apology.This really worked.When she turned her head, although there was still a sad look on her face, it had gradually developed.There are no tears in the eyes, but there is deep gratitude.She said slowly: "This has nothing to do with Mr. Zhou's words. I just remembered it by myself. Mr. Zhou's words are really good. I really envy you, you have such a good mother." "It's just that I'm too unfilial. I haven't been back since I left home for eight or nine years," Zhou Rushui replied, thinking of his past and his mother, he couldn't help feeling a little sad.He was beginning to feel a little uneasiness in his conscience.Although he still had a lot to say, he couldn't continue for a while, so he closed his mouth, bowed his head and walked slowly, showing a listless expression. "Mr. Zhou, I know you miss your mother," Zhang Ruolan said with concern and sympathy. "Yes," he murmured, looking up at her gratefully. By this time the two had reached the front of the wood, into which a winding path led them.When they first entered, the woods were not dense, and the sun was everywhere.Then the woods gradually became denser.The towering pines and cypresses blocked the sun, and although they still let it cast some small spots, there was no heat in the woods.While listening to the sound of cicadas, they walked comfortably in the woods.After turning a few turns, they found a well in one place, and beside the well stood a wooden frame with a barrel tied to it.There is a hut in front.In front of the hut was an old man sitting on a bamboo chair and weaving a wicker basket.Not far from his feet lay a black dog, basking in the sun (there are few trees in this section, and the sun can be seen).The black dog jumped up when it saw people, and barked wildly at them.The old man stood up quickly and called it back, and greeted them with a smile: "From the seaside hotel?" They nodded. "How do you know?" Zhou Rushui asked in surprise. The old man looked at them and smiled triumphantly, and replied: "I can recognize them at a glance. I have lived here for a long time.In the past few years, there have always been quite a few people coming here every summer, all from the Seaside Hotel... My eyes can't be wrong... There are no such beautiful people in this place... The Seaside Hotel has not been repaired for a few years... I have been here for ten years. "After he finished speaking, he turned his head and called inside: "Gu Qin. " A girl's clear voice echoed from inside.The old man shouted outside again: "Bring out two stools." A naive girl of sixteen or seventeen came out of the hut.She had a big, loose braid hanging down her head, and she was fully dressed except for her sleeves rolled up to the elbows. She carried a bamboo stool in one hand, went to the guest and put it down, and said "Please sit down", then returned to the old man's side, stood behind his chair, and secretly looked at the two unusual guests. "Is this your daughter? You can tell she's smart just by looking at her looks," Zhang Ruolan said with a smile, which made the girl smile and blush at the same time. "No, she is not my daughter; she is my niece, my brother's child. The couple died early, leaving her alone with no one to take care of her.I brought her here, but fortunately I have no children of my own, I have never been married, and I am alone, so I regard her as my own daughter.This kid is very good. " When he said this, he turned his head and looked at her with loving eyes, with a smug smile on his face.He turned around and said, "She treats me very well, just like she treats her own father. She is smart and able to do things.She is getting older day by day, and I have to find her a good son-in-law so that she can live a better life, and this is one of my worries.I'm always paying attention, but I can't find one I like. It's really not easy to choose." He looked at his niece again, but the girl had already run in and hid. He turned his head to look at the two guests. Seeing them They all listened to him attentively, and he was even more proud, before they could reply, he said boldly: "You two are really a match made in heaven.This is the first time I have seen such a nice couple. " When Zhang Ruolan heard this, her face immediately turned red, and she buried her head in embarrassment. Zhou Rushui was also a little embarrassed, but at the same time she had another feeling.It's joy, surprise, sorrow, fear, or intoxication, he can't tell the difference.He turned to look at her at once, and seeing her in that way, he felt his heart beating more violently.But he managed to put on a solemn look, and said to the old man: "Don't talk nonsense, old man, she is still a lady. We are friends, and we came here to escape the summer heat." He said, regretting his mistake Corrected like this. "Wouldn't it be better for the old man to believe that we are a couple?" he thought. "Really? Don't lie to me, old man," the old man said with a smile, and looked at them carefully.He then corrected: "My eyes are blurred, my head is dizzy, and my words are out of order. Please don't take offense." Zhang Ruolan just raised her head and smiled, Zhou Rushui also smiled. After finishing the question in this way, the old man babbled about his life experience to them: his surname was Wang, he also studied when he was young, and he learned a good fist, and later he served as a soldier.He hoped to be promoted to an official position, but who would have thought that he had gone through countless battles, worked hard, and risked his life, but the result was that someone else was promoted to an official position, while he was still a small soldier.He left the army and spent several years in the Northeast before coming here.Later, he got the job of guarding the forest, and he has lived here for more than ten years. If the old man hadn't said that strange word to them when they were leaving, they might have vigorously discussed some urban and rural issues on the way home, and he might have enthusiastically promoted his "land return doctrine" to her.But the old man had said it after all.It turned out that when they left, the old man said to them half-seriously and half-jokingly: "I'm very surprised: Why didn't a good couple like you get married early? If in the past, people of your age would have had children gone." His words made them both flush.It was inconvenient for them to lose their temper in front of him, so they had to hold back their embarrassment, as if they had never heard what he said, and left. On the way home, the mood of the two of them was different from when they came, as if there was a wall between them.They really wanted to know each other's hearts and what each person was thinking at this moment, but when they were approaching, their hearts left again: as if they had hit a wall, they hurriedly put their hearts away. Come back, but later go to test each other's hearts. Zhang Ruolan is calmer and has a gentle temperament, so even in her heart she is very stable.She never allowed her thoughts to go to extremes, and she refused to lose her girlish reserve in every way.Someone like her has to hold her ground even while attacking.But Zhou Rushui was different.Although he is more enthusiastic, he is also a person who hesitates too much, so his enthusiasm is often diluted by worries.Sometimes he even lacks the slightest courage and becomes a very timid person. Such two people are now walking side by side on the road, so close to each other, but they don't talk to each other.Everyone was immersed in thinking, recalling what the old man said.The more Zhang Ruolan thought about it, the more shy she felt, but she liked the idea.She wanted to talk to test his psychology, but at the same time she was afraid of losing her girlish reserve.She just waited, waiting for him to attack.But Zhou Rushui is not as brave a man as she imagined.Before leaving the woods, he still had a lot of courage, but after hearing what the old man said, he felt that his psychology was known and his secret was exposed.He thought: Maybe she would blame him for being rude, laugh at him for having such ambition, or even despise him because of this, and it is unknown if she will ignore him in the future.Thinking this way, even though there are many opportunities ahead, he doesn't have the courage to take advantage of them.On the way he was pursued by contradictory thoughts.Sometimes he likes what the old man said, and sometimes he complains that the old man shouldn't say it so boldly. Sometimes he actually found courage to speak to her, but the courage disappeared when the words came to him, and he never said them.In the end, she opened her mouth to ask him about his future plans.She might be looking forward to another answer from him.However, he began to promote his "land returnism" and other ideas to her.He boasted of these great ideas, when in fact he used them to cover up his weaknesses, to serve as a shield against arrows. They went back to the hotel.She went back to her room to rest.He also lingered for a while on the grass where there was no sun.His head was hot and his heart was burning badly.A round face appeared in front of his eyes, bright eyes covered by long eyelashes, a slightly high nose, dimpled cheeks when he smiled, and a small mole under the corner of his left eye.What particularly moved him was the way she secretly flicked her two watery black eyeballs up when she lowered her head and played with the hem of her clothes.At this time, she showed an unrealistic beauty in front of his eyes.He felt that he really loved her, and he could never give up on her.He must confide his love to her.He felt he should, and he had nothing to be ashamed of.It was clear to him that he didn't love her the way he used to love the "girls" in Japanese coffee shops.He loved women only to hold them in his arms, kiss them, play with them, treat them like dolls.As for his love for her, he is willing to live with her, create a new career together, help and comfort each other: he wants to treat her as a friend, a comrade, a companion, and a lover. As he thought about it, he became excited again.He felt that his love was pure, even sublime, and he could even be proud of it.So he went upstairs very bravely, intending to go to her room, and even thinking of what he was going to say to her.But before he had reached her door, his courage was gradually failing.He hesitated for a while, then mustered up Yu Yong to go to her door, and knocked on the door lightly twice.He regretted it a little later. There was no answer or sound in the room.Perhaps, he thought, she hadn't heard.He was about to knock again, but his heart beat so violently that his body seemed to tremble, and his courage was completely lost, so he had to go back to his room.He went into his room and couldn't help thinking about her again.He wanted to calm down his heart, but his heart was ignited again.The more he tried to suppress his enthusiasm, the more he felt that his enthusiasm was almost overflowing.He must confide in her immediately.So he picked up the pen, took out the letter paper, and planned to write a love letter to her.He wrote very enthusiastically, but he wrote a long article, which was full of sentences from fairy tales, such as "flying to the sky on a cloud", and "playing with the stars in the blue sky", and the paper was full of these sentences. There is not even a word "I love you", let alone anything else. After writing the letter, I read it myself and thought it was very good, comparable to a famous fairy tale.However, he read it again, thinking about his original intention, and felt that the letter did not express his original intention at all.When he got angry, he tore up these pages of letter paper.