Chapter 1038: Old Friend's Story
Song Chaoyuan left from Pengcheng Airport. Since the flights from Hong Kong to Jinling were not as convenient as those from Pengcheng, he took off at around eight in the morning and arrived at Jinling Airport at half past ten. He did not inform the people in Jinling in advance about his visit this time, so naturally no one came to pick him up after he got off the plane.
Song Chaoyuan didn't bring much luggage, just a small suitcase. After leaving the airport, he took a taxi and went straight to his residence in Jinling.
When he was in Si Te, Song Chaoyuan bought a house in Jinling. The house has been well maintained and there is a special person to clean it every week, so Song Chaoyuan doesn't need to stay in a hotel at all.
Although I haven't lived here for a long time, the furnishings and layout of the house are no , and everything is cleaned tidy.
After putting down his luggage, Song Chaoyuan washed his face and went out.
It was almost noon, and Song Chaoyuan hadn't had lunch yet. He thought for a moment and walked towards Sanqiba Lane, which was not far away. He remembered that there was a nice private restaurant nearby. When he lived in the Ying family's old house in Sanqiba Lane, Song Chaoyuan had been there often.
But when Song Chaoyuan saw the place, he was dumbfounded. The familiar shop in his memory was gone. Not only the shop was gone, but the whole street at the corner was no longer the same as before. An old house was demolished at some point, and now a building has been built here.
After a pause, Song Chaoyuan shook his head helplessly. In recent years, demolition has become a common thing in all parts of the country, especially in cities of all sizes, due to urban construction and the hot real estate. Not to mention that Song Chaoyuan has not been to Jinling for a long time, even in Shanghai, many familiar old streets in memory will become unrecognizable if you don't go there for a few months, and you can no longer find any traces of the past.
Although he had experienced this situation many times in his previous life, Song Chaoyuan still felt a little emotional when he experienced it again. Urbanization and modernization are the development trends of society, which cannot be changed by individuals, but for some reason, watching the new high-rise buildings replace the familiar street corners, Song Chaoyuan couldn't help feeling a little melancholy.
Sighing, Song Chaoyuan looked around and finally walked towards a noodle shop across the street. This noodle shop was not an old one, and he didn't know when it was newly opened, let alone how the food tasted, but since he was here, he might as well make do with it.
After quickly eating a bowl of noodles to solve his stomach problem, Song Chaoyuan left the noodle shop and walked towards Sanqiba Lane.
The outside of Sanqibaxiang has changed a lot, but the inside has basically maintained its original appearance. After entering the alley, Song Chaoyuan gradually found his past memories. He continued walking forward on the stone grid road and soon arrived at the location of the Ying family's old house.
The exterior walls of the Ying family's old house were painted freshly, and even the heavy door had been renovated. Two red lanterns were hung at the door, giving it a feel similar to something out of Zhang Yimou's movies.
In the alley, many young people are playing here, and some young girls even run to the door of the Ying family's old house to take pictures. This place seems to have become a tourist attraction, and it seems that it will also be a so-called "Internet celebrity check-in point" in the future.
Song Chaoyuan used to live here for several years until he bought a new house after the establishment of Si Te and moved out.
After Song Yuanchao left, Ying Annie continued to live here for a while. After Ying Annie and Sun Yaoliang got married, they also moved out. After all, although this house was the old house of the Ying family and Ying Annie was also a descendant of the Ying family, the real owner was Ying Caixia.
Ying Caixia lives in Hong Kong and seldom returns to Nanjing. As for Qin Zhengguo, he spends most of his time in Hong Kong. Except for going to Pengcheng and Shanghai, he rarely comes to Nanjing. Therefore, this old house has been vacant and entrusted to a professional company for maintenance.
Looking up at the tall walls, Song Chaoyuan seemed to think of the past days when he lived here, and was absent-minded for a moment.
At this time, a man came over from the alley, carrying a vest bag with something in it. When he passed the door of the Ying family's old house, his eyes subconsciously swept to Song Chaoyuan who was standing there in deep thought.
The man was slightly startled, and subconsciously stopped to look at Song Chaoyuan. Then he took two steps towards Song Chaoyuan and asked, "You...you are Xiao Song, right?"
Song Chaoyuan turned around when he heard the voice. When his eyes fell on the man, he was stunned, and then he smiled.
"Second uncle?"
"Oh! It's really Xiao Song! I thought you looked familiar just now, but I didn't expect it to be you!" Uncle Gu said happily. He hadn't seen Song Chaoyuan for a long time. It's been almost five or six years, right? Time flies so fast, so much time has passed in the blink of an eye.
Second Uncle Gu is Grandma Sun’s youngest son. He is about the same age as Zhang Jianguo. When Song Chaoyuan lived here, he often went to Grandma Sun’s house for dinner. Second Uncle Gu and his family lived with Grandma Sun, and both sides were very familiar with each other.
In the past, Song Chaoyuan was sometimes so busy with work that he forgot about time. Uncle Gu would specially come to the Ying family’s old house to call Song Chaoyuan.
"When did you come back?"
"I just arrived this morning. I had a bowl of noodles outside the alley earlier. I decided to come here for a walk instead of eating. I didn't expect to run into you." Song Chaoyuan said with a smile.
"Uncle, how have you been lately?"
"Okay, I'm fine. I'm retired now and I'm enjoying my retirement life." Uncle Gu replied with a smile, and then said to Song Chaoyuan, "Come on, come on, sit over there. We haven't seen each other for a long time. Are you okay today? Haha, you're in for a treat. Look at this, the roast duck I just bought. Shall we have a drink tonight?"
"Okay! I'll listen to you." Song Chaoyuan nodded with a smile.
The two of them talked as they walked towards the Sun family's old house diagonally opposite. When they arrived, Uncle Gu took out the key, opened the door, and called Song Chaoyuan in.
After entering, everything was almost the same as I remembered, the familiar yard, the familiar house, and even the two yellowed bamboo chairs in the yard were still the same.
Looking at all this, Song Chaoyuan couldn't help but feel emotional. It seemed as if a familiar figure was still sitting on the bamboo chair busy with needlework. Hearing the noise, Granny Sun looked up at Song Chaoyuan, greeted him with a smile, but her needlework did not stop. From time to time, she raised the hand holding the needle and wiped it on her temples, continuing to do what she liked.
More than 20 years have passed in a flash, but this scene is still deeply imprinted in Song Chaoyuan's mind. He looked again intently, but Grandma Sun's figure was gone. Song Chaoyuan couldn't help but sigh in melancholy.
Grandma Sun has been dead for six years. Before her death, her memory was already poor and she could hardly recognize even her own family members. The old woman lying in the ward was sometimes lucid and sometimes confused, and she was at the end of her life.
Song Chaoyuan remembered that at that time he, Lin Yan and Ying Caixia went to the hospital to visit Grandma Sun. For some reason, when she saw Song Chaoyuan and the others, Grandma Sun suddenly became very sober. She called out Song Chaoyuan and Ying Caixia's names and asked them with a smile whether they had eaten.
The past events are still fresh in his memory, but the old friend is gone. Not long after, Grandma Sun passed away. Although considering Grandma Sun's age, her funeral could be considered a happy one, Song Chaoyuan still felt bad that such a familiar and kind old woman was gone like this.
In recent years, Grandma Sun is not the only elder who has passed away. Before Grandma Sun passed away, Principal Zhou also passed away. Principal Zhou has been bedridden since the stroke. Although he received many subsequent treatments, he did not look very good and passed away two years later.
Song Chaoyuan's master Ma Xun is not in good health now . This stubborn old man suffered a minor stroke last year. Although it was not as serious as Principal Zhou's cerebral infarction, his physical condition was not as good as before after that minor stroke.
The Zhang family mother that Song Chaoyuan cares about the most has also aged a lot. Now the old lady has a poor memory and is not very mobile. In order to take care of the old lady, Song Chaoyuan specially arranged a complete medical team to take care of her. But even so, Song Chaoyuan knows in his heart that birth, aging, illness and death are the laws of nature, and no matter how much money he has, some things cannot be changed.
In his previous life, Song Chaoyuan lived alone and had no contact with his relatives because of his parents. Apart from Zhang's mother, he had almost no elders to whom he was close. When Zhang's mother left in his previous life, Song Chaoyuan was sad, but he could still accept it, after all, Zhang's mother was not young when she left.
But now, after experiencing two lives, Song Chaoyuan has more people to care about, and he is experiencing it again, and his state of mind and feelings are different from his previous life.
Retracting his gaze, Song Chaoyuan asked, "Where are my aunt and the child? Aren't they at home?"
"You don't know your aunt well? She is not the kind of person who can sit idle." Uncle Gu said with a smile, "She has signed up for a senior citizen university class. She is busier than working every day. She writes, draws, and does senior citizen dances. She goes out early in the morning and will never come back before 4pm... Wait a minute, I'll put my things away first."
As he said that, Uncle Gu asked Song Chaoyuan to sit in the yard for a while, and he went into the house with his vest bag. After a while, he put away the roast duck he bought, and then came out with teacups, tea leaves and a thermos.
"Come, try the tea I made. It's new tea from Huizhou and it's no worse than Longjing." Uncle Gu made the tea with a smile and handed one cup to Song Chaoyuan. Song Chaoyuan thanked him and took it. He looked at the green tea in the glass and praised it as good tea. He blew on it, tasted it, and nodded in agreement.
"How is it? Isn't this tea good?" Uncle Gu said with a little pride: "Don't think it's just ordinary stir-fried green tea, but it's all good tea that you can't buy outside. I watched it being picked from the tea garden and then stir-fried. If I didn't know someone there, it wouldn't be easy to get it."
"That's right, second uncle, how much tea do you have? How about you give me two taels later?" Song Chaoyuan asked with a deliberate smile.
Uncle Gu laughed and said that let alone two taels, it would be no problem to give Song Chaoyuan half a catty. He brought back a lot and he would give it to him later.
