Chapter 16 Chapter Sixteen

"After my mother-in-law left, I couldn't sleep for several nights. When I closed my eyes, my mind was full of the appearance of my mother-in-law dying. After my mother-in-law died, I didn't cry, not because of indifference, but because my heart had already made me sad. I was numb from the beating. My mother completely abandoned me, and my mother-in-law who took care of me in her place also left me. In those few days, I tried my best to take on the responsibility of being the head of the family and take care of you according to my mother-in-law’s wish, but I couldn’t even Crying is too weak. When you came to my bedside that night, I was in the last moments of physical and mental breakdown. Luckily... I still have you.

"It was you who climbed into my little bed, the girl who just turned thirteen hugged the boy who also just turned thirteen, and imitated my sister and even my mother's tone of soft comfort, and finally let me put the tears in my heart I poured it all out, because I was surrounded by your warm hands, so my hot tears would not freeze in the cold night of despair and misery. That night, I don’t know how long I cried in your arms until I peacefully sank into the dark sleep." "That was probably the last night of the three of us getting together intimately. The next morning, the man who had disappeared for a long time reappeared. Although Hua Bin and I cried so hard that we couldn't part each other, he still ruthlessly pulled us away. He took Hua Bin away. After a while, Grandpa finally got the official permission to return to Shanghai, and even won the right to live in a hut in the "Yi Garden". In this way, at the end of the winter vacation, I He also left Fenglinqiao's home and lived in 'Yiyuan' with his grandfather.

"We walked together that day. You went back to your home, and my grandpa and I went to 'Yiyuan'. You helped me with my luggage and got on the same tram with my grandpa. The tram stopped and went, and the cold wind kept blowing The people in the car huddled their necks in their thick cotton coats. After leaving Fenglin Bridge, the sloping walls of the leaden gray houses gradually disappeared, and the sycamore trees on both sides of the street stretched out. The bare branches and the houses behind the branches are much neater, but they are also unkempt. "After leaving a distance, grandpa rolled down the car window, and the cold air rushed into the tram. He asked me to poke my head out—look, that big white house is 'Yiyuan', our home! Oh, I Before I could see it clearly, I was dragged back into the car by the conductor yelling at me.

"The tram stopped at the gate of 'Yiyuan', and my grandfather and I got out of the car. I turned around and waved to you who was sitting in the car. You stood alone in front of the car window and suddenly pulled down the window. The conductor rushed over again But you didn't even pay attention to her, you just stuck your head out of the window desperately, your eyes were fixed on our direction, but you couldn't tell whether you were looking at me and grandpa, or looking at 'her' - this A dilapidated palace standing in the dark world? "'Yuan Jia...goodbye!' The tram drove far away, and the cold wind still brought your cry. It was so clear and resolute. It really seemed like a cry to break the depression of the world!"

"Yes, Yuan Jia—we finally meet again tonight!" "Who's there?" The shadow entered through the side door, but the feet that stepped on the grass seemed to be walking on thorns, and every step was extremely difficult.Her wandering forward disturbed another shadow that had been standing in the night for a long time, and he stepped out from under the lilac tree. She stood still, but did not answer. On a windless autumn night, a thin first quarter moon is hidden behind thick clouds. The huge and quiet figure of "Yiyuan" blocked the starlight, and also covered the city's neon lights and lights of thousands of houses not far away.

Close to each other, they faced each other in silence.After waiting for too long, it seems that waiting itself has become a habit, and I really don't know what to do when the time comes... boom!A golden flower is in full bloom on the top of the head, followed by thousands of silver willows cascading down like waterfalls.The lawn, which had been covered by the shadows of "Yi Yuan" just now, suddenly became as bright as day. It's the National Day fireworks that are going off—boom!boom!boom!The continuous loud noises shook the earth, and the quiet beauty of the autumn night no longer exists, and above the head is already the Heavenly Palace of Qionglouyuyu, fiery trees and silver flowers!

So... I saw it.Under the strong light that seemed to be in a studio, the faces of both of them were as pale as paper, but they showed their truest appearance without a trace. "You are……" How rare that there is such uncertainty in Li Weilian's voice.He took another step forward and carefully looked at the strange woman who appeared in front of him. She still didn't say anything, but raised her eyes to meet his inquiring gaze. Li Weilian stretched out his right hand to her, and she understood, she also extended her own right hand with downcast eyes and a smile. Under the light of another burst of fireworks, the semi-circular scar that was scorched by the iron drill resembles the crescent moon tonight.He held this hand tightly into his arms: "Yuan Jia."

"William." But... He still kept looking at her: "Is there something wrong with my memory? Why does your appearance seem to have changed completely?" "As long as the scar remains the same, you can recognize me, right?" Yes, only the scar will not change, because it is deeply engraved on our hearts. He held her right hand tightly against her chest, and she raised her left hand to gently caress his cheek.He closed his eyes slightly, lowered his face and let her touch her gently. "Although your appearance has changed, you have remained youthful forever, while I am getting old."

"How could it be? My mother-in-law said earlier that Wei Lian looks like my mother, and the longer he grows, the more likable he will be. In the future, he will definitely be the prettiest of the three of us. Is it true..." Countless red and green chrysanthemums bloomed one after another above her head, and the sound of piercing the sky drowned out the words behind her. When Li Weilian opened his eyes again, the sad boy whom she only knew had aged instantly, and the sharpness and vicissitudes in his eyes reappeared. "Yuan Jia, why are you here tonight?" "I... come to see you, you guys."

"Really?...Since you have arrived in Shanghai a few months ago, why did you wait so long to come?" She asked in surprise, "How do you know?" He slowly let go of her hand: "When I officially returned to Shanghai in 1998, I buried my mother-in-law's ashes in the Longhua funeral parlor in the cemetery in Qingpu. Since then, I will go there every year around Qingming... I was the only one who went there for a whole ten years. This year is the eleventh year, but I didn’t make it during the Qingming Festival. At the end of June, I went to the cemetery to bury another person. In front of my mother-in-law’s cemetery, I saw I bought three pots of flowers. Yuan Jia, that was the flower that only you and I would give to my mother-in-law—gardenia, and there were three pots of no more and no less! From then on, I knew you were back, and I began to wait for you .But you... still let me wait until now."

Under the colorful sky, Li Weilian looked across the face of the woman named Lin Nianzhen, and questioned Yuan Jia in his memory: "Eighteen years have passed since you disappeared in Shenzhen in 1991. You must be ready to answer my question: Why did you leave eighteen years ago, and why did you come back today?" Yes, she had prepared for today's meeting for a long time, and was not afraid to answer any of his questions.Unexpectedly, before she spoke, a flood of heartache still choked her throat. The first section of the fireworks show is drawing to a close, with flowers of all colors rising into the sky, blooming, and withering uninterruptedly... as if they want to gather all the fleeting brilliance and vow to fight against the eternal night to the end! So much like her...Yuan Jia, she spent her whole life in full bloom on that typhoon night, and then withered forever after a short-lived. "I didn't find Hua Bin at the train station that day. I was anxious and panicked, so I left the station alone and walked aimlessly on the street. It was completely dark, the wind was strong, and the rain was also heavy... I The more I walked, the more afraid I became, and my mind was confused. Suddenly, I seemed to see a familiar figure on the opposite road. I thought it was Hua Bin, and I rushed across the road calling his name. Two yellow lights rushed towards my face. I felt Flying up into the air like a feather and then not knowing anything." The fireworks display stopped for a while, and most of the night sky was shrouded in the smoke of burning sulfur, which seemed so sparse and empty after a short period of splendor. Silence fell, and the two returned to the dark night. After a while, he asked again: "What happened next?" "Later... when I regained consciousness, it was a whole month later. I heard people tell me that I hit a speeding car that night and I was dying when I was sent to the hospital. Although I was given first aid, I was still alive. I was in a severe coma. Due to the limited level of hospitals in Shenzhen at that time, I was unable to save my life from danger, so I was transferred to the largest hospital in Guangzhou the next day, where I underwent two brain surgeries before gradually recovering from a coma Wake up. Although I am awake, I have lost memory of everything that happened, and even the basic functions such as language and action have almost weakened to zero. My condition at that time was only slightly better than that of a 'vegetative person'. I had nothing on me, no money, no ID, and I couldn’t express myself, so what to do with me became a big problem. At this time, a kind person stepped forward. He was the one who knocked me down. passenger in a taxi—an American." "American?" "Yes, after attending an academic conference in Hong Kong, he came to mainland China for a trip...and this happened to me. On the one hand, I was injured when I hit the car he was riding in. He felt that he He should bear part of the responsibility; on the other hand, he is an expert in brain neurosurgery, and he happened to be able to give me symptomatic treatment, so he, with the assistance of the local American consulate, went through the formalities for me, an 'anonymous', to go abroad. That's how the accident happened. More than two months later, I was carried on a stretcher and boarded a plane to the United States... I didn’t expect to go there for 18 years.” "So it's like this..." His voice was extremely bitter, "No wonder I looked for you again and again in Shenzhen and then in Shanghai, but I was always disappointed. But I have always believed that you are living in hiding somewhere, I don’t want to see us. So in the end I decided to give up looking for it, but to hold on to the ‘Yi Garden’, I thought——you will come back here sooner or later.”