Chapter 26 Chapter 68

In early May, the Summer Palace in Beijing was sunny and sunny. Shen Li, her parents and cousin Shen Xia rowed a small boat on Kunming Lake. Shen Hao and Du Rong sat side by side at the stern, and Shen Li and Shen Xia sat side by side facing the stern. In the boat, each rowed an oar.When her father held his bright forehead high and told everyone, "Tomorrow is Lixia, and today is the last day of spring", Shen Li felt her heart move. She paddled lightly while looking at the spring scenery on Kunming Lake. The sun shines brightly, the lake reflects the sky, the small island in the center of the lake, the white marble seventeen-arch bridge connecting the lake shore and the island, the Buddhist Incense Pavilion of Wanshou Mountain reflected in the lake, and the promenade along the lake are full of tourists. .She brushed her hair with her hands, and continued rowing with Shen Xia.The boat moved leisurely on the lake, and the word "spring" disturbed her hazy thoughts. The family was slowly swinging on the lake, feeling lazy and comfortable.When her whole body and mind melted in the warmth of spring, she felt like a chick that had just hatched, staggering in the sun with fat fluff, surrounded by many fluffy chicks, crowded in Wriggling in a warm nest, fluffy under the sun, it is a soft life.

From time to time, eyes glanced over from the surrounding boats. She knew it was because of her beauty, and she could also feel the envy of others caused by a family of four sitting on the boat.Parents are naturally dignified and noble.Shen Xia is tall and suave. After staring at herself, those men's eyes will often look at Shen Xia, and those women's eyes will also look at Shen Xia more after staring at themselves.At this time, she was not only proud of her beauty, but also proud to have this tall and handsome young man by her side.On such an occasion, people could easily see her and Shen Xia as a couple, which did not displease her. Shen Xia's appearance and temperament were very harmonious with this family.If it was not Shen Xia but Lu Xiaolong sitting next to her, it would be obviously not so harmonious. In comparison, his unattractive appearance would look a bit shabby.Thinking of this, she felt a very uncomfortable feeling in her heart. The short and serious figure of Lu Xiaolong carrying a backpack in the wind howling Tiananmen Square half a year ago is very far away. Everything about Lu Xiaolong in the past three years is like a dream. Just as ethereal.

She absent-mindedly rowed the left oar of the boat slowly, she knew that no matter how she rowed, Shen Xia would cooperate well with his right oar, and she would control the direction of the boat forward, backward, left, and right, she continued to immerse herself in her thoughts .The Yangtze River at Wusongkou is vast and vast, and the story of standing with Lu Xiaolong on the deck of a ship facing the wind and waves is like a legend.I went to Baiyangdian to find the story of the rocking boat, but left behind the adventure of being imprisoned in a dark oil depot for a night.There was a little friction between the two because of Wang Hongwen. Now, Wang Hongwen has become a member of the Central Committee, while Lu Xiaolong has gone to the mountains to farm.The deepest impression in my memory is the breakup in the snowy Muxidi half a year ago, watching Lu Xiaolong run farther and farther in the wind and snow until he disappeared without a trace, she couldn't help crying like rain.But when she walked back alone through the thick snow, she felt both lost and inexplicably relaxed.This was a vague feeling she didn't dare to admit at the time, and later it became the melody accompanied by melancholy.Whenever she received a letter from Lu Xiaolong from Liubao Village in Taihang Mountains, she would sit by the window and think for a long time as if reading a melancholy novel. Not eager to meet.

She knows that there will be plots in the meeting, and she also has certain expectations for that plot, but if there are no such plots, she can relax a bit. Probably to avoid the collision of other ships, Shen Xia stretched out her hand and put her oars away along the side of the ship.Then, a boat hit the port side of the boat, Shen Li shrank to the right and leaned on Shen Xia's arm.After the shock of the collision passed, Shen Xia turned to the left again, pushed the other party's boat away through Shen Li's body, then swung Shen Li's oars and handed them to Shen Li's hands, and the two of them turned left again. Slowly paddle to the right.A ship collision broke Shen Li's thoughts. The last day of spring is undoubtedly precious, and she began to appreciate this spring.

Shen Xia has long been assigned to work at the Beijing Architectural Design Institute, and now whenever she has time, she talks about architecture with Shen Hao.When Shen Hao was young, he studied architecture abroad, and later joined the Kuomintang. After fighting for many years, he defected to the Communist Party. He has been a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference until now. In his later years, he became more and more fascinated by architecture. Architecture is often the thing he is most interested in. topic.The uncles and nephews have already started pointing and commenting on the Summer Palace. It is nothing more than the overall layout of the Summer Palace and the ratio of mountains and lakes. Foxiang Pavilion, backed by Longevity Mountain and facing Kunming Lake, typically embodies the Fengshui concept of traditional Chinese architecture "back to the mountain and face to the water".When Shen Hao talked about these things, he was naturally arrogant. While Shen Xia was in high spirits, he was obediently modest.During this discussion, Shen Li paddled her oar again and again, browsing the tail of spring more casually.

Sunshine fell from the sky in large swaths like platinum foil, and the lake water was steaming with a curl of breath, and the sun shivered and melted into the water.There are many people rowing on the lake, and hundreds of boats are placed on the wide lake like small toys.Looking to the west, the west mountain glows blue against the sky, and there is a vague drowsiness.The lake has always given people the feeling of a "nest". When surrounded by green trees and embankments, this feeling is even more real.Swinging slowly by the boat, you will feel intoxicated and comfortable. "A Picture of Shanghe on the Qingming Festival" emerges, and the life in the city described in "Water Margin", "San Yan Er Pai" also appears one by one. "The warm wind makes tourists drunk, and they only regard Hangzhou as Bianzhou", the stories of talented scholars and beautiful ladies pass by like smoke, and various restaurants and flower alleys also appear in front of them in a trance.For some reason, a poem from the Tang Dynasty came to my eyes: "It rains heavily during the Qingming Festival, and the passers-by on the road want to die. May I ask where there is a restaurant, and the shepherd boy points to Xinghua Village." There is really a breath of life that makes people feel crisp.

Thinking lazily like this, paddling casually, the crispy feeling melted her like a basin of hot water. She also looked at her parents sitting in the opposite stern with such warm eyes.His father's forehead was bright and his eyes were piercing. When talking to Shen Xia, he could see his youthful ambitions and decades of vicissitudes.The mother sat there plumply, looking at everything around her more or less comfortably and contentedly, not only listening to the discussion between her father and Shen Xia, but also watching the boats on the lake, and occasionally building a pergola to look into the distance Overlooking, there is a hazy feeling in the eyes of the vicissitudes of life.The mother's gaze often glanced at Shen Li, as if she was thinking.

The boat approached the small island in the middle of the lake. The small island is called "Dragon King Island" and there is a Dragon King Temple on it.My father is so arrogant that he must go to the island to have a look. It seems that he used to walk across the bridge on land, but today he has to abandon the boat and go ashore. It is a different feeling.Shen Xia said very boldly: "Go up and have a look, turn around, I will guard on the boat." While speaking, Shen Xia stuck the boat to the shore.The small island is built with stones and has a straight up and down shore. A white stone step extends obliquely from the island to the water. This is naturally an excellent pier for landing on the island.Shen Xia rowed the boat close to the shore, stepped onto the stone steps first, leaned over and grabbed the side of the boat, let the boat cling to the stone shore, and then pulled Shen Li ashore hand in hand.He moved the boat forward again, and put the side of the boat at the stern closer to the white stone steps. He held the boat with one hand, and supported Du Rong to go ashore very steadily with the other hand, and stretched out his arms more powerfully to support Shen Hao. After landing on the shore, he finally jumped back on the boat and said to Shen Li: "I'll wait here, you guys have had enough rounds, come back here and get on the boat."

Supporting her father, Shen Li walked up the steps slowly, and walked around the small island with verdant trees and strange rocks. The steps are up and down, twists and turns. The so-called Dragon King Temple is an indescribably unique courtyard building. Among the endless stream of tourists, Shen Li just helps her father walk steadily and listens to his father's comments on the buildings here. .The sunlight was still like white gold leaf, and large pieces fell from the sky, breaking into the small space formed by the trees and houses.The houses here are all blue-gray bricks, white stones, and painted red wood. Walking around inside, it is quite like visiting the Grand View Garden once.When they were sweating and walking down the white stone steps step by step to the place where the boat was moored, Shen Xia had been waiting there for a long time. Step on the shore, clamp the boat to the shore, hold the white stone railing with one hand, and free the other hand to greet the family of three to board the boat.At this time, Shen Xia was tall, and also showed the strength of his arms. He first helped Shen Hao and his wife onto the boat, and then helped Shen Li onto the boat. At this moment, Shen Li felt a very good feeling. Shen Xia held her arm and tensed his muscles, which really had a very reliable meaning.Afterwards, Shen Xia herself stepped onto the boat, and the boat swayed from side to side. Shen Xia squatted down again, holding onto the side of the boat with both hands to stabilize the boat. Left oar, he right oar, swinging the boat away.

The sun was already in the sky, and the platinum foils fell from the sky in denser overlapping.Father looked at his watch and said, "Shouldn't it be time to treat our bellies?" Shen Xia said with a smile, "It's easy." Swinging his upper body back and forth, he rowed vigorously.Shen Li sat on the bow of the boat, listening to the hollow and dull sound of the waves hitting the boat, and thought of the scene of going to Chongming Island by boat with Lu Xiaolong more than two years ago.At that time, the waves of the Yangtze River crashed against the deck fiercely, and the hollow and dull sound made you feel the weight of the ship and the metal texture of the deck.Shen Xia leaned her body back and forth, and the boat brought a burst of momentum with his paddling. This somewhat reminded her of the first time she and Lu Xiaolong watched the Cultural Revolution in Beijing. On that day, Lu Xiaolong rode a bicycle with a She went to Beiqing University together, then to the High School Affiliated to Agricultural University, and finally to Beijing Aeronautical Academy. Along the way, Lu Xiaolong pedaled the bike, giving her this feeling of rushing forward.At this moment, she compared Shen Xia and Lu Xiaolong in a haze.The sun was shining on the lake, and it was also steaming everyone. She seemed to be able to smell the warm scent from Shen Xia's body. It was the scent of a man who was taller than Lu Xiaolong, and also a man who was more elegant than Lu Xiaolong. .

The boat shot straight to the shore like an arrow, Shen Xia put the boat close to the shore, then grabbed the thick rope at the bow, and climbed onto the white stone railing on the shore.He tied the rope to the stone railing, and said, "Wait here." Shen Li noticed that there happened to be shade in this place, and it reminded her of a poem: "The smoke cage is cold, the moon cage is sand, and the Qinhuai River is moored at night." Near the restaurant, the businesswoman doesn't know the hatred of subjugation, and she still sings flowers in the backyard across the river." The breeze blew from the center of the lake, and the broken waves rushed over, and the boat bumped slightly against the rocky shore. Can feel the warmth of the sun before it is shaded by trees. A small paper boat floated by, and she picked it up.The paper boat is made of a piece of colorful floral paper. It looks very small. Looking up, there is a boat passing by not far away. A little boy is clapping at her on it. She took off her shirt, wore a small vest, her fat arms and shoulders, and her plump round face made Shen Liyang smile amiably.After thinking about it, she put the little paper boat over there, and at the same time gently paddled the water with the oars, sending the little paper boat to float there.The little paper boat moved with bumps and bumps, and the wooden boat rowed steadily towards it. The little boy finally reached out to catch the little paper boat, and successfully lifted the boat in the air.Shen Li smiled at the young parents on the boat, and they all said to her in a friendly manner: "Thank you." They also urged the children to say: "Thank you, Auntie." Lack of mental preparation, this title brought her a sense of happiness in this situation, and also made her think of her age very vigilantly. Shen Xia came running with a lot of things in his arms. He bent down from the white stone railing, handed the food in his hands to Shen Li one by one, then raised his legs and climbed over the white stone railing, carefully got down to the boat, untied the rope, and put the boat on the boat. Swing away gently.Shen Hao said: "The sun is getting a little hot, so let's go boating close to the shore under the shade of trees and have a lunch on the water." Shen Xia looked back at the Seventeen-Arch Bridge over there, and said, "Let's go to the bridge hole. , it's cooler there." He picked out a soft straw hat from a pile of food, handed it to Shen Li and said, "You wear this." Shuang oars, leaning forward and backward, pushing the body hard, and paddling the boat quickly.The boat hit the Seventeen-Arch Bridge like an arrow. Under the more than a dozen arched bridge holes, small boats parked in twos and threes to avoid the sun, and they also got into the bridge hole. Refreshing.Shen Xia parked the boat close to the bridge, looked at the direction of the water flow, and turned the bow of the boat towards the tide. Then, he embedded the rope on the bow of the boat into the cracks in the stones of the bridge pier, so that the boat stopped firmly against the bridge opening. Shen Xia asked Shen Li to sit next to her, and opened the bought food one by one, including bread, sausage, soda, and two glass bottles of canned food, one was dried tofu and the other was fried anchovies.Shen Hao frowned, and said with a smile: "This can can't be opened." Shen Xia said triumphantly: "No problem." He took out the key chain from his pocket, and it was full of keys and fingernails. Knives and fruit knives, he opened the folded fruit knife, pried off the sealed iron cover on the can jar little by little, pried more than half a circle, inserted the knife obliquely, and pried again, the iron cover fell off.Shen Hao nodded in praise and said, "It's better to carry weapons with you." Shen Xia enthusiastically pried off the iron cover on the second can in the same way. Finally, he simply took the fruit knife off the key chain, inserted it into the dried tofu, and said, "Just pick it like this." Eat." Shen Xia took out another roll of toilet paper from the pile of things he bought, tore it apart, put it next to the food, and said, "Just use it to wipe your hands." He pulled the next section first, dipped it in Wipe off the water in the lake, and handed the toilet paper to Shen Li. Shen Li grabbed a section from it, wet it and wiped her hands.Shen Xia handed the paper to Shen Hao and his wife again, Shen Hao waved his hand and said: "No need." Shen Xia said: "It's better to wipe the hygiene." Shen Hao said: "This water is not necessarily hygienic." Shen Xia said: "Then dry wipe it." Shen Hao smiled, pulled two pieces of toilet paper, handed one to Du Rong, and wiped his hands dry a few times.Shen Xia took all the used dirty paper and put it at his feet, and said, "Let's tidy up together later." He handed the bread wrapped in wax paper to the hands of the three of them. The ground smelled soft, Shen Xia picked one up herself, the four of them peeled off the bread paper, Shen Xia held a pack of sausages in her hands, each of them picked one or two sausages, broke the bread and put it inside , It tasted deliciously. The wind on the lake is warm and cool blowing through the bridge hole, the boat is bumping in the bridge hole, the sun on both sides falls on the lake more dazzlingly, occasionally a boat passes through the bridge hole, people talking and laughing, children shouting All formed a booming echo in the arched bridge hole.Many people wanted to park their boats in the bridge hole, but the slow water flow made it impossible for a boat to park here. It would be too uncomfortable to park here without stopping, so people on board one after another They all pointed enviously at the cracks in the stone where the bow rope of the Shen family's boat was embedded.It's a pity that there is no second stone crack in the bridge hole, so Shen Xia shook her head proudly and said to Shen Li: "We are unique." I am not so bored with Shen Xia anymore, his nagging and almost vulgar showing off and showing off are not as offensive as they used to be.She was amused by her discovery, and a smile appeared on her face that she could recognize.On the opposite side, his father was chewing bread and sausages and asked, "What is Lili laughing at?" He pried the small iron cap on the glass bottle, and the gear flaps around the iron cap opened two or three petals. Then he picked up the bottle and knocked the cap on the side of the boat, and the iron cap fell off. .Open the first bottle, pass it to Shen Hao, open the second bottle, pass it to Du Rong, open the third bottle, pass it to Shen Li, open the fourth bottle, and keep it for yourself. The four of them ate bread, dried tofu, Deep-fried anchovies while drinking orange soda. The family finished eating and drinking.Shen Xia took out a few old newspapers from the schoolbag he carried with him, opened them and checked them, and said: "There is no portrait of Chairman Mao, and there is no portrait of Vice Chairman Lin." He spread the newspapers on the boat, and left the lunch The waste paper and rubbish were wrapped into a bag, turned around and placed in the cabin behind him, opened two old newspapers, and said: "Shen Li, the paper sitting under your buttocks is already a little wet." Shen Li stood up, Shen Xia He took out the damp newspaper that was already crumpled under Shen Li's buttocks, replaced it with the newspaper he just took out, crumpled the wet newspaper and put it in the cabin behind him.Shen Hao smiled, and said: "We Shen Xia are really careful people, we brought a lot of waste newspapers when we went out." Shen Xia smiled nonchalantly, and he had covered the seats of the four people with clean newspapers since he got on the boat .Shen Li looked at Shen Xia, she was not disgusted with this hygienic habit, nor did she dislike Shen Xia's nagging with a bit of self-show off. Sure enough, Shen Xia started nagging, he said: "You have to be careful when you go out, life is actually a careful art." He opened two more small bags, and said: "Here are beef jerky and plum, which one do you want? "Shen Hao waved his hand and said: "Beef jerky is too hard, plum is too sour, don't want it." Du Rong said: "I want a plum." Shen Xia handed over the pouch, and Du Rong squeezed out a plum Put it in your mouth.Shen Xia handed the pouch to Shen Li again, and said, "Beef jerky, plum blossom, you can choose whatever you want." Shen Li said: "What if I want both?" Shen Xia said: "Of course it's fine, but if you have to have it first, then put it in your mouth, you won't be able to taste anything." I picked a plum and put it in my mouth, slowly savoring the sweet and sour taste. Shen Xia pinched a few pieces of beef jerky from the pouch, put them in his mouth, and chewed them vigorously. After the belly was finished, the family didn't intend to go ashore, and they didn't want to bask in the sun on the lake, so they sat under the bridge hole with slight bumps.The wind is warm and cool passing through the bridge hole, and the people who are full of food and drink gradually feel sleepy.Shen Hao and Du Rong sat at the stern of the boat, talking casually about the commonplace that they only had.Shen Li took out a copy of "Three Hundred Tang Poems" and flipped through it casually.Shen Xia picked up the nail clippers again, and carefully trimmed her nails. The crisp sound of the nail clippers was very peaceful in the cool bridge hole.Shen Li turned her head and watched Shen Xia cutting her nails absently.After Shen Xia finished cutting his left hand, he stretched it out, and looked at it with the back of his hand, he was admiring his own hand, admiring his pruning.Shen Li noticed that these were a pair of slender and plump hands, as tall and suave as Shen Xia's figure.For some reason, she didn't dislike these clean, constantly groomed hands today. Shen Xia looked at her hands, and said to Shen Li with nothing to say: "Which finger do you like?" Shen Li thought of something and smiled slightly.As early as three years ago, at a boring noon, she heard Shen Xia ask this boring question, and she said: "It's your theory again: the thumb represents parents, the index finger represents yourself, the middle finger represents love, the ring finger represents marriage, and the little finger represents marriage." On behalf of the children, isn't it?" Shen Xia nodded, and in order to hide his embarrassment in repeating the old saying, he said: "A person's answer to this question is different in different periods, because people's attitudes towards life in different periods are different. It's different." Shen Li recalled that she answered three years ago that she liked her ring finger the most. At that time, she once said very disapprovingly: "I would never put marriage first." Today, she stretched out her ring finger again. Hands, left hand, right hand, palm and back, and finally found that she was mainly looking at the left hand, and after repeatedly looking at the five fingers of the left hand, she found that she still liked the ring finger the most.The ring finger is the softest, most beautiful, most subtle, and has the most power that makes her faintly yearn for.When she stared at her ring finger, she found that there was a hazy story there, like a golden deer running across the prairie. This story made her unable to tell clearly. She said: "I still like the ring finger." Shen Xia said without hesitation: "The ring finger represents marriage." At this time, father and mother stopped their conversation and looked at Shen Li attentively. Shen Li suddenly felt that talking about this issue in this situation was a little strange, floating around like a very thin dream.The picture of going to Chongming Island by boat with Lu Xiaolong, and the picture of breaking up at the snowy Muxidi Bridge more than half a year ago all emerged very coldly; the cold picture brought her warm dreamlike feeling at this moment. A desolate feeling of slight friction and pain.