Zhang Yishi knew that Su Qingxin was following him, so he deliberately made several turns. Seeing Su Qingxin following him in circles with her head down, he couldn't help but chuckle.
Another flash of lightning struck the night sky, followed by a rumble of thunder that cut through the sky. Su Qingxin was frightened and quickened her pace, following Zhang Yishi closely.
Zhang Yishi hid under the bus stop as heavy rain came pouring down.
Su Qingxin also hid in the bus stop. Wearing thin pajamas, she could clearly feel the coolness of the rainy night.
Zhang Yishi glanced at the girl next to him and said to himself, "I've only seen filthy uncles following innocent girls, but I've never seen innocent girls following filthy uncles."
Su Qingxin lowered her head and said nothing, her hands tightly grasping the corners of her clothes.
Zhang Yishi looked at her. Her hair was disheveled, she was wearing pajamas and was barefoot. She must have had an argument with her family and ran away.
"Hey, let me tell you." Zhang Yishi leaned against the bus stop sign and said, "You won't solve any problem by following me like this. How about you tell me your home address and I'll take you home?" As he said that, he lowered his head and looked at Su Qingxin with a smirk on his face.
Su Qingxin stepped aside, looked at him and said, "I'm not going home."
"Aren't you afraid that I will eat you?" Zhang Yishi threatened her.
Su Qingxin's eyes became wet again. She was afraid, but this man had given her bread and mineral water. At such a desperate time, she could only force herself to believe him.
Zhang Yishi pretended to be fierce and looked at Su Qingxin. Su Qingxin's heart skipped a beat and she was at a loss.
After a while, Su Qingxin sniffed, turned around silently, and walked into the rain.
Zhang Yishi saw this and reached out to pull Su Qingxin back. Su Qingxin's bangs were wet by the rain and stuck together like a thick hemp rope.
"It's raining so hard, you're going out like this?" Zhang Yishi asked Su Qingxin with his eyes wide open.
Su Qingxin looked at Zhang Yishi, her eyes filled with tears.
Seeing that Su Qingxin was about to cry, Zhang Yishi quickly stopped her and said, "Stop, stop, stop crying."
As he spoke, he impatiently pulled out an ID card from his trouser pocket, waved it in front of Su Qingxin, and said, "Here, this is my ID card. I feel sorry for you, so I'll take you back to rest for a night and send you home tomorrow. Remember my name and ID number, so you can call the police when I sell you out."
Su Qingxin looked at the serious profile picture of Zhang Yishi on his ID card, and then looked at his personal information.
His name is Zhang Yishi, and he is seven years older than her.
She remembered it.
After waiting for a long time until the rain stopped, Zhang Yishi took Su Qingxin home.
Zhang Yishi lived in a single room. His home was extremely messy. Dirty and clean clothes were scattered on the sofa and the floor. There were also some empty snack bags and torn books. The room was also filled with the smell of instant noodles.
Su Qingxin frowned, looking unhappy.
Zhang Yishi looked back at her and sneered, "If you dislike me, go back."
Su Qingxin shook her head and walked over to open the window.
Zhang Yishi threw all the things on the bed onto the ground, scratched out a space on the ground with his feet, and said, "You sleep on the bed."
Su Qingxin nodded, and before going to bed, she secretly put the fruit knife that Zhang Yishi had thrown aside into her bosom. She had already made up her mind that if Zhang Yishi dared to be dishonest, she would use it to defend herself.
However, Zhang Yishi was very quiet all night, except for snoring a little louder, he didn't make any other movements. Su Qingxin, who had been on edge, gradually fell asleep at four in the morning.
When Su Qingxin woke up, it was already ten o'clock in the morning. Her clothes were still intact, but the fruit knife was missing. She quickly got up from the bed to look for it, but saw the fruit knife and a bowl of light millet porridge on the table.
Su Qingxin picked up the fruit knife, with a note underneath it.
Zhang Yishi wrote on it crookedly:
Are you going to use a fruit knife on me, little girl? I am so kind to take you in. Eat breakfast and go away. Don't miss me too much.
After reading it, Su Qingxin couldn't help laughing.
But she won't leave.
Yes, she won't leave, she has nowhere to go.
Su Qingxin stayed at Zhang Yishi's house until the evening. When Zhang Yishi came home from get off work, he saw through the crack in the door that the light was on. He was about to rush in and pull Su Qingxin out, cursing, but after opening the door, he was so shocked that he stood there in shock.
Did he go to the wrong place?
He looked at the number on the doorplate, then looked at Su Qingxin who was sitting on the sofa reading a book. He was sure he had come to the right place!
The room had become spotless, the floor was polished to a shine, the things in the house were tidy, and the balcony was full of his clothes.
"Okay." Zhang Yishi walked around the room, went to the balcony, and said admiringly, "You even washed my underwear."
Su Qingxin remained silent.
Zhang Yishi walked into the room, sat on the bed, looked at Su Qingxin, and shouted, "Hey, hey!"
Su Qingxin looked at him.
Zhang Yishi asked again: "What's your name?"
"Su Qingxin."
"Su Qingxin?" Zhang Yishi chewed on these three words carefully, and then nodded frequently, "Nice to hear. I wanted to chase you away, but if you don't leave, I won't embarrass you, hehe. Hey, Su Qingxin, uncle will take you to eat hot pot? Reward you!"
Su Qingxin shook her head and said, "I won't go out." After that, she raised her head again, "Don't call yourself uncle. Have you ever seen an eighteen-year-old call a twenty-five-year-old uncle?"
"Oh, you've learned how to bargain." Zhang Yishi stood up, shook his shoulders and said, "If you don't want to go out, then forget it. I'll go alone." After saying that, he decisively closed the door and left.
However, two hours later, Zhang Yishi brought back another takeaway.
He said that he was kind by nature and couldn't bear to treat the little girl badly.
Su Qingxin thought to herself, just assume that he is kind by nature.
Zhang Yishi did not chase Su Qingxin away again. When he returned home every day, the house was clean and there was a delicious dinner ready for him. Since Su Qingxin did not go out, he bought her two pieces of clothing.
Su Qingxin held the underwear that Zhang Yishi had bought by visual inspection, and her face turned red with embarrassment.
Zhang Yishi was used to big storms and said lightly like a rogue: "A little girl is a little girl."
Three days passed. When Su Qingxin had nothing to do during the day, she would lie on the balcony and think about Wei Ran and Zhu Panpan, wondering what they were doing and whether they missed her.
But why would Wei Ran think of her? He must be thinking of Qin Ruxi, right?
Su Qingxin blinked, and her eyelashes became wet.
Su Qingxin hadn't been to school for three days. Wei Ran asked the teacher, who said she hadn't asked for leave. She called home, and her family said she was sick.
Wei Ran was worried, so he went to Feng's house with Yang Ye and Zhu Panpan to find Su Qingxin.
At the Feng family's door, Wei Ran pressed the doorbell for a long time before Shu Fan came to open the door. Shu Fan was wearing cotton pajamas that smelled of sweat and looked listless.
"Who are you looking for?"
Wei Ran was shocked by what he saw, and the bad feeling in his heart became stronger and stronger. He spoke carefully: "Auntie, let's go find Su Qingxin."
When Shu Fan heard her daughter's name, tears immediately rolled down her cheeks. She shook her head and said, almost losing her mind, "Qingxin is gone, Qingxin is gone. Don't come, don't come."
"Then where did she go?" Wei Ran hurriedly stopped Shu Fan from closing the door and said anxiously, "Auntie, Su Qingxin hasn't come to school for three days. We are very worried about her."
"She ran away! She ran away with a man!" An angry male voice came from the room. Feng Qiang rushed out and pointed at Wei Ran and the others and cursed, "She is so young and has no self-control. She ran away with a man!"
"You're talking nonsense!" Hearing these words that were clearly insulting to Su Qingxin, Wei Ran was so emotional that he rushed forward and wanted to beat Feng Qiang. Yang Ye and Zhu Panpan hurriedly held him back.
"Am I talking nonsense? I saw it with my own eyes !" Feng Qiang pointed at Shu Fan and said, "Look at what that girl has done to her mother. She ran away with a man at the train station and never came back. You guys go back!" As he said that, Feng Qiang pulled Shu Fan in, closed the door and locked it.
Wei Ran knocked on the door angrily and shouted, "You are talking nonsense! It's all because of you Feng family that she is not treated well! Give Su Qingxin back to me!"
Yang Ye pulled Wei Ran over and advised, "Wei Ran, calm down. Let's go look for Qing Xin in other places where he might have gone. If we can't find him, we'll call the police!"
"That's right. If the Feng family dares to bully Qingxin, we will never let them go!" Zhu Panpan also echoed.
Possible places to go?
Wei Ran bit his lips gently, and the fear spread from his heart to his whole body. He ran like crazy to the secret base of himself and Su Qingxin, but there was no one there, not even in the beef restaurant, not even in the cold drink shop, and not even in the entire Tongcheng.
Wei Ran's eyes widened, not wanting to use tears to remind himself of how intense his panic was. He angrily punched the tung tree. The tung flowers in May were very fragile and would fall from the tree with a slight shake.
A tung flower fell on Wei Ran's bangs, and then spun gently to the ground. Wei Ran stared at it closely, thinking of Su Qingxin when they first met, Su Qingxin who was bullied, and Su Qingxin who was very gentle in front of him.
Wei Ran's body went limp and he fell beside the tung tree.
What happened to Su Qingxin? Why didn't you go to him when you encountered difficulties? You promised to go to him!
Thinking of this, Wei Ran suddenly remembered something, and he sat up abruptly. Su Qingxin disappeared three days ago, and on that night three days ago, he and Qin Ruxi stayed in the secret base.
Su Qingxin must have come to see him. She must have seen Qin Ruxi there, and perhaps also heard his words against his will.
Wei Ran slapped himself hard, and the nails of one hand dug into the other hand tightly. He said he would protect Su Qingxin well, but how did he protect her?
He lost her, the one he loved deeply in his youth.
When Wei Ran returned to school, he was always inattentive. Every time during class, he would look at Su Qingxin's empty seat and be in a daze for the entire class.
On the fifth day after Su Qingxin disappeared, Shu Fan came to the school to complete the withdrawal procedures for Su Qingxin.
After Wei Ran learned about this, he ran to the office to stop it, but ran into Shu Fan in the corridor.
Shu Fan became more and more haggard day by day. When she saw Wei Ran, her eyes lit up and she walked towards him.
"Why did you expel her from school?" When Wei Ran asked this question, his voice and eyes were as cold.
Shu Fan looked away, reached out to wipe away the tears that kept flowing, and said hoarsely: "If you can find Qingxin one day, tell her that I am not worthy of being her mother."
"You don't deserve it at all." Wei Ran's tone was cold, but the emphasis on every word pierced Shu Fan's heart.
Shu Fan took a breath and said to Wei Ran with a smile: "I am destined to be poor. I cannot live without money and Feng Qiang. There are only two people in this world who are sincere to Qing Xin. One is her father and the other is you. She is very likely to find a way to go back to Haicheng."
Wei Ran took a step closer to Shu Fan and said, "I won't convey your message because you are not worthy of being her mother at all." After that, Wei Ran turned around and went back to the classroom angrily.
Shu Fan listened to Wei Ran's words and started laughing. As he laughed, he couldn't stop crying.
Yang Ye and Zhu Panpan advised Wei Ran to go to Haicheng after the college entrance examination. Wei Ran understood and he would prepare well for the exam.
If he didn't take the exam, Su Qingxin would never forgive him.
If he didn't live a good life, Su Qingxin would never pay attention to him in her life.
He wanted Su Qing to care about him very much.
The years are long, and time becomes eternal sorrow.
Su Qingxin stayed at Zhang Yishi's house for half a month. Zhang Yishi finally couldn't help it. He knocked on the edge of Su Qingxin's bowl with chopsticks while eating and asked, "Girl, you don't want to live with your uncle forever, do you?"
Su Qingxin was just focusing on eating and answered him by shaking her head.
Zhang Yishi added: "Look, you didn't tell me anything, and you just ran away like this. If your family called the police, and the police found me, they would charge me with child trafficking... trafficking of young girls..."
"They won't call the police. If they wanted to, they would have called the police long ago." Su Qingxin said vaguely with a ball of rice stuffed in her mouth.
"That's right." Zhang Yishi clicked his tongue a few times and said righteously, "Then I'll do a good deed and call the police to send you back."
Su Qingxin watched Zhang Yishi take out his cell phone to make a call, and quickly held down his hand, screaming, "No, I beg you!" Su Qingxin used too much force, and Zhang Yishi's hand hit the bowl on the table, knocking it over.
Zhang Yishi looked at Su Qingxin's nervous expression, then looked at the overturned bowl, pulled his hand back, and his expression became serious. He said, "I can't keep you here for no reason. You have to go back eventually."
Su Qingxin grabbed the edge of the table, lowered her head, and kept shaking her head.
Zhang Yishi sighed, stood up, took out his cell phone and prepared to go out to make a call.
"No--" Su Qingxin suddenly shouted in panic. She raised her head, her pupils gradually shrank, and she cried, "No... If I go back, my stepfather will rape me..."
Zhang Yishi was stunned and stopped pressing the keys.
He turned his head and saw Su Qingxin's thin face covered with tears. Her hands were tightly grasping the edge of the table, and her whole body was shaking. She didn't show such fear when she was squatting by the entrance. Zhang Yishi's heart was stabbed hard. He would never forget Su Qingxin's face full of fear.
He had been that scared before.
He was also terrified when he learned that his parents had died in a bus crash and he was huddled in a corner and dragged away by his uncle who was reluctant to adopt him.
Zhang Yishi was stunned for a long time, then sat back, stretched out his rough and thick big hand to cover Su Qingxin's clenched fist, and said: "Tell me everything that happened. Don't worry, I won't send you back. Tell me if you need anything."
It was as if all the sadness that had been suppressed for a long time was poured out at this moment. Su Qingxin's throat was so sore that she couldn't bear it. She sobbed and spoke incoherently: "Brother... I want to go to Haicheng to find my father. My stepfather came home and wanted to bully me while I was sleeping. I was so scared. I shouted for help for a long time, but no one heard me. I ran away. I couldn't go to Wei Ran's place, and I didn't dare to go home. They all don't like me. I just want to go back to Haicheng to find my father... I beg you, don't send me back."
Su Qingxin's hand became cold when it was held by Zhang Yishi. Zhang Yishi held her tightly and asked, "So that's why you showed up at the train station that night. You wanted to take the train to Haicheng, but you didn't have any money, right?"
Su Qingxin nodded and curled up into a ball.
Zhang Yishi raised his hand and touched Su Qingxin's face. He wiped her tears and said domineeringly: "I'll take you there!"
Su Qingxin looked at him blankly, as if she saw Wei Ran's face through the rising mist back then.
Wei Ran said to her: "I will go with you to Haicheng to see your father, okay?"
Su Qingxin closed her eyes tightly, suppressed the sadness that was rising up, and nodded.
The next day, Zhang Yishi returned home early, threw two train tickets on the table, and said, "Luckily, I worked as a special agent for two months and got you a train ticket. It would have been difficult for you without an ID card."
Su Qingxin looked at the two train tickets for a long time as if she were dreaming.
Seeing her delighted look, Zhang Yishi smiled and ordered her: "Pack your things and leave tonight."
Su Qingxin nodded and packed their clothes.
That night, Zhang Yishi took Su Qingxin to the train station.
Zhang Yishi's colleagues saw him and joked, "Hey, Xiao Zhang, you quit your job just to hang out with a little girl?"
"You are the only one who is meddling in other people's business!" Zhang Yishi glared at his colleague fiercely. The colleague left with a smile.
Su Qingxin looked up and asked, "Did you quit your job?"
"Yeah." Zhang Yishi said indifferently with a straight face, "It's just a job. I don't care."
Su Qingxin was held by Zhang Yishi's hand. She exerted a little force, grasped Zhang Yishi's palm, and said softly, "Thank you."
"Let's go." Zhang Yishi ignored Su Qingxin's thanks and took her into the waiting room.
Su Qingxin looked back, and the lights and night sky of Tongcheng slowly receded behind her. She was leaving Tongcheng and leaving Wei Ran.
She has lived in Tongcheng for more than three years. When she came here, she didn't like this city at all, but when she left, she was particularly sad. Was it because of the people? There were people here that she cared about.
But, they were just people I once cared about.
Once you're gone, it's time to break up.
Su Qingxin felt that it was time to break up, but could she really do so?
The train traveled for two days and two nights. On the train, Su Qingxin told Zhang Yishi all her stories.
Zhang Yishi learned that she had a great father and a boy she wanted to forget.
On the afternoon of the third day, Zhang Yishi and Su Qingxin arrived in Haicheng. As soon as they arrived in Haicheng, Su Qingxin became very active. She showed Zhang Yishi where she went to primary school, where she often played, and where her father took her to buy skirts.
Zhang Yishi listened and responded with disdain, but his eyes were filled with a warm smile.
Su Qingxin is not suitable to stay in Tongcheng, but is suitable to stay in Haicheng.
Su Qingxin took Zhang Yishi and came to the alley where they lived with ease, and found their house accurately.
She straightened Zhang Yishi and asked, "Do you think my face is stained? Is my clothes dirty? Is my hair messy?"
Zhang Yishi was helpless and laughed, "You are here to see your father, not your boyfriend."
Su Qingxin hit Zhang Yishi and said, "My father loves me the most. I am his little princess, the kind he holds in his hands for fear of dropping me!"
"It's not flowery, dirty, or messy!" Zhang Yishi said perfunctorily.
Su Qingxin rolled her eyes at him and knocked on the door.
I knocked several times, but my father didn't come to open the door. Instead, I knocked on the door a few times too hard, and the door opened by itself. The yard was very quiet, and there didn't seem to be any signs of life.
Zhang Yishi waved away the spider webs on the wall and said disdainfully, "Su Qingxin, is this really your home? It doesn't look like anyone lives there."
Su Qingxin looked around, doubts rising in her heart. Suddenly, her heart beat violently several times. She hurriedly ran into the house and shouted, "Dad!"
But where was the person in the house? The house was full of dust and looked like no one had lived there for a long time.
"Qingxin, your father wouldn't go anywhere, right?" Zhang Yishi asked.
Su Qingxin shook her head and said, "It's impossible. My father's leg is injured. Where can he go?"
At this time, a woman's voice came from outside the door: "Hey, who's in there? Are Shu Fan and Qing Xin back?"
When Su Qingxin heard the voice, she ran out immediately. Seeing that it was her neighbor Aunt Liu, she hurried over and shouted, "Aunt Liu!"
When Aunt Liu saw Su Qingxin, she immediately wiped her eyes and exclaimed, "Oh, Qingxin is back! Qingxin has grown so big! Come, Aunt Liu, take a look."
Su Qingxin took Aunt Liu's hand and asked anxiously, "Aunt Liu, I didn't see my father when I came back. Where did my father go?"
"You didn't know?" Aunt Liu asked in surprise, "Your father passed away!"
The word "dead" was like a bomb exploding in Su Qingxin's head. She stood there, forgetting what to do for a moment.
Even the sadness was forgotten.
In the eyes of others, these two words that were usually spoken seemed to take Su Qingxin's life.
"Qingxin?" Aunt Liu called Su Qingxin's name, and Zhang Yishi next to her came over and pushed Su Qingxin's shoulder.
Su Qingxin came back to her senses, tears welling up in her eyes. She suddenly laughed, "Hahaha, Aunt Liu, are you teasing Qingxin again? Stop it, I came back specially to see Dad."
Zhang Yishi turned his head and frowned.
Aunt Liu felt even more sad when she saw Su Qingxin crying and laughing. She held Su Qingxin's hand and said, "Your father's leg was injured and no one was taking care of him. Sometimes our neighbors saved a bit of rice for him and advised him to go to the hospital. But your father always said to your photo, don't go to the hospital, don't spend money, wait for my daughter to come back, save the money to buy her a beautiful dress, and buy her a dowry."
"Patta, patta..." A few drops of hot tears splashed on the back of Aunt Liu's hand. She looked at Su Qingxin in a daze.
Su Qingxin's eyes were dull and she almost lost her footing.
Zhang Yishi hurried over to support Su Qingxin. Su Qingxin leaned in his arms, tears streaming down her face.
Aunt Liu said reluctantly: "Qingxin, your father passed away last year. When he passed away, many of us were with him. He also said that you must go to his grave when you come back. He wants to take a good look at you..."
Before Aunt Liu finished her words, Su Qingxin couldn't hold back her tears. She hid in Zhang Yishi's arms, her throat felt like it was being pulled by someone.
How could she believe that her father had passed away? She had been thinking about him for so long and she had to come back to see him. How could she do that?
She had thought of a thousand ways to reunite with her father, but she had never thought of being separated forever. If she had known that the goodbye would be forever, Su Qingxin would never leave, no matter how much her father cried and drove her away, she would not leave.
Zhang Yishi hugged Su Qingxin tightly, his expression as dark as the sky.
That night, Su Qingxin cried for a long time before she recovered.
Zhang Yishi had already packed up the house that he hadn't lived in for a year. He patted the made bed and called to Su Qingxin who was squatting at the door, "Hey, get some rest. Go see your dad tomorrow."
Su Qingxin didn't answer him.
Zhang Yishi walked over and was about to kick her to see if she was still alive. At this time, Su Qingxin slowly opened her mouth and said, "Zhang Yishi, accompany me to the beach."
"No, I'm tired." said Zhang Yishi.
But in the end he went with her anyway.
The color of the sea at this hour is darker than the night sky.
Su Qingxin was barefoot, letting the cold sea water flow over her ankles again and again. She said: "When I was a child, my father often brought me here to pick up shells, the kind that can sing."
"Yeah." Zhang Yishi responded, standing aside and looking into the distance.
"I don't think my father is dead." Su Qingxin turned her head and looked at Zhang Yishi and said.
Zhang Yishi retorted: "Your father is dead."
Su Qingxin smiled, and tears soon filled her eyes again. She shook her head and said, "No, he has always been by my side."
Zhang Yishi listened, his anger growing stronger and stronger. He shouted, "Yes, yes, right next to you! Did you see him? He's standing right next to you! Waiting for you to accompany him!"
Su Qingxin pursed her lips and looked at Zhang Yishi with more anger in her eyes.
"You still think it's never going to end, right?" Zhang Yishi blew his bangs in anger. He was already 25 years old, and the time for being pretentious was long gone, so he couldn't stand seeing others being pretentious.
He knew how painful it was to lose a loved one, but what good would crying do? He cried so hard that year, but his parents didn't wake up!
Su Qingxin opened her eyes wide, with tears hanging on her eyelashes, which fell down when the sea breeze blew.
The strong sea breeze lifted Zhang Yishi's shirt. He said, "I, Zhang Yishi, am a rough man. I don't know how to comfort a crying woman. I don't know how to comfort her. I'm not that Wei Ran who can't say gentle words. Your father is dead, and you have to accept this reality. What you have to do now is to dress up well, go to your father's grave to see him, then forget everything and live a good life." Finally, Zhang Yishi said, "After all, you are the only person he cares about."
Su Qingxin didn't say anything, her eyes were a little dry from the wind.
"Forget it, there's no point telling you." Seeing Su Qingxin remained silent for a long time, Zhang Yishi sighed and waved his hand. He put his hands in his arms, shrugged his shoulders and went back.
The waves hit again and again, and on the vast sea stood the lonely and tiny Su Qingxin. Her body looked extremely thin in the wind, as if the waves sweeping over were a bloody mouth that would swallow her up in an instant.
Su Qingxin stood on the beach for two hours. The wind dried her tears and blew away her pain.
When they returned home, Zhang Yishi had already fallen asleep on the table. Su Qingxin climbed onto the bed quietly and wrapped herself in the quilt.
The next day, Zhang Yishi accompanied Su Qingxin to his father's grave.
There was a smiling photo of her father on the tombstone. Su Qingxin remembered that she had forced her father to take it when she was in elementary school. She had two copies printed, one in her notebook and one in her father's wallet.
Su Qingxin said in front of her father's grave: "Dad, don't worry. In the future, I won't let anyone bully me. I won't live in a dark corner like a timid mouse anymore. I will protect myself, forget what I should forget, and become a brand new person."
Zhang Yishi accompanied Su Qingxin to burn some paper and then prepared to leave.
On the way home, Su Qingxin asked Zhang Yishi: "Can we wait until the day after tomorrow?"
"What? Do you still want to pester me?" Zhang Yishi walked in front with his hands behind his head.
Su Qingxin asked back: "Why, do you still want to abandon me?"
Zhang Yishi turned around, pointed at Su Qingxin's nose, and said, "I don't mean to abandon you. I'm always traveling around the cities, and you'll just be a burden if you follow me."
"I won't be a burden to you." Su Qingxin said, "I have nowhere to go anyway, so I'll stay with you. Besides, I don't plan to eat and drink for free at your place. I'm over 18 and can earn my own money. You're so sloppy, it's great that you picked up a cleaner for free, isn't it?"
Zhang Yishi squinted his eyes at her, raised his chin slightly, and said, "You are quite eloquent. You can follow uncle..." At this point, Zhang Yishi blinked his eyes and smiled, "Call me uncle and let me listen."
Su Qingxin smiled slightly, brushed past him and ignored him.
Zhang Yishi followed Su Qingxin and kept chattering: "Girl, didn't your uncle say that in this society, you have to learn to please people, especially those who directly benefit you. So your uncle is not very satisfied with your performance just now. If your uncle is not satisfied, you won't be able to buy a train ticket for the day after tomorrow."
Su Qingxin walked very fast, and Zhang Yishi had already fallen behind by a long distance. Su Qingxin stood on the bridge and looked back, interrupting Zhang Yishi: "Which city are we going to next?"
Zhang Yishi, who was still chattering, immediately stopped and answered her: "Shenyang."
You don’t have to go too far, just go to Shenyang which is very close to Haicheng.
Because, Haicheng's lonely tombstone still wants to watch her grow up well.
Su Qingxin returned home and decorated the house exactly as it was when her father was alive, except that the small bench in front of the door no longer had the warmth it had at that time.
Su Qingxin wanted to stay in Haicheng for three more days for a reason. Because Wei Ran had promised her that he would accompany her to Haicheng to find her father after the college entrance examination. Although what Wei Ran said that night hurt her heart, she was still willing to wait for Wei Ran.
Wait for him, he may come, bringing with him the lingering fragrance of tung blossoms on the street.
Soon, Wei Ran would take the college entrance examination. When he was taking the exam, he wrote Su Qingxin's name on the examination table.
Although Su Qingxin was unable to accompany him to take the college entrance examination, doing this made it feel like she was by his side.
Wei Ran did every question seriously. Sometimes, while doing it, the words on the test paper were stained with black marks by tears. He could only wipe away his tears secretly and told himself not to cry.
After handing in the last test paper, Wei Ran ran to the train station to ask about the ticket price from Tongcheng to Haicheng, and then counted the money he had saved. After adding the travel expenses for Qingxin and him, the money was still not enough.
If he had known that he was going to find Qingxin, he should not have bought the radio so early.
Yang Ye and Zhu Panpan found Wei Ran and gave him their pocket money. When they sent Wei Ran to the train station, it was raining heavily.
Yang Ye held an umbrella , who was crying under the umbrella. She said, "Wei Ran, you must bring Qingxin back safely. Tell her I miss her so much."
Wei Ran nodded and walked into the waiting room like a hero rushing to the battlefield.
The green train was moving very slowly and would often stop temporarily on the track. Every time it stopped temporarily, Wei Ran would get as anxious as an ant on a hot pot.
Did Su Qingxin see her father? How was she doing? Did she miss him as much as he missed her?
Wei Ran thought and thought, and fell asleep on the train. He slept very restlessly, and woke up after a while, feeling exhausted. The scenery outside the window was receding, and the scenes flashed quickly. The second night passed, and the sky gradually turned pale. Wei Ran woke up and got off the train with the passengers.
Wei Ran became excited when he stepped into unfamiliar land—he would be able to see Su Qingxin soon.
But that’s not right. The sign says “Gaizhou” instead of “Haicheng”.
Wei Ran panicked. He dragged his suitcase and grabbed the staff and asked, "Why is this Gaizhou? Where is Haicheng? Doesn't Haicheng stop here?"
The staff looked at him and said, "You missed your stop. Haicheng arrived at 4:30 in the morning. This is Gaizhou. It will take another two hours to go back."
After hearing this, Wei Ran hurriedly ran towards the exit and then squeezed into the ticket hall.
There were so many people, he was almost suffocated by the panic. How could he fall asleep?
He was very scared, very scared that if he was a little late, he would not be able to see his Qingxin. He didn't know why, but he had never felt at peace in his heart since Su Qingxin disappeared.
On the other side of the Haicheng Railway Station, Zhang Yishi was dragging two suitcases and walking in front at a brisk pace. Su Qingxin followed behind him, looking at the crowd, searching for Wei Ran's face.
But he was not among the crowd.
"Su Qingxin, if you delay any longer we will miss the train. We agreed to leave today, and the train won't wait for you." Zhang Yishi shouted from the front.
Su Qingxin looked at the big clock at the train station. The hands pointed to half past nine, forming a right angle.
"Coming." She responded listlessly.
Wei Ran will not come after all.
Su Qingxin followed Zhang Yishi into the station.
The moment they entered, the dusty young man walked out of the station. He wiped the sweat off his face and rushed to the place where Su Qingxin's father worked, not daring to stop.
You see, how ironic fate is, she could have waited for him, she could have heard him say: Su Qingxin, I finally see you.
I can finally see you, why did you leave?
Wei Ran rushed to the factory where Su Qingxin's father worked and asked the people there where her home was.
Unexpectedly, the miners said: "Su Wei died a long time ago. His leg was broken and no one took care of him. He died last year and was buried in the hill behind his home."
Wei Ran's palms suddenly became cold. He grabbed the worker's hand and asked, "What about his daughter? Has his daughter ever come back?"
"His daughter was taken away by his wife a long time ago. Poor old Su, he was alone until his death." The workers sighed and waved their hands.
Wei Ran's heart felt as if it was entangled by thousands of silk threads. He asked the workers for Su Qingxin's address and found her home.
Wei Ran ran into Aunt Liu at Su Qingxin's house. Aunt Liu said, "Qingxin is gone. She left early in the morning."
"How is she? Is she okay? Where did she go?" Wei Ran asked several questions in a row, his eyes were red and his voice was hoarse.
Aunt Liu looked at him, sighed, and said, "It's not good at all. Knowing that her father died, the little girl almost lost half her life. Fortunately, she still has a friend by her side. As for where she went, she didn't tell me."
Wei Ran nodded and asked absentmindedly, "Then do you know who her friend is?"
Aunt Liu said, "He's a very nice young man. Fortunately, we have him. Fortunately, we have him." After saying that, Aunt Liu sighed and left.
The bluestone wall was covered with withered yellow moss. Wei Ran squatted down, leaned against the door frame, tears streaming down his face.
That was the most and only time he cried. His heart was filled with guilt and worry. He hated himself for being useless and for not being able to hold Su Qingxin in his arms.
He hurt her when she needed him most.
Wei Ran, who failed to find Su Qingxin, returned to Tongcheng.
He told Shu Fan all about the situation. After hearing this, Shu Fan burst into tears on the roadside. Feng Qiang took the crying Shu Fan back home. He hated her for embarrassing him by acting like a stray dog.
Feng Qiang started to get angry, saying that Shu Fan was shameless, that Su Qingxin was not decent, and that she ran away with a man.
As soon as Feng Qiang scolded Su Qingxin, Shu Fan rushed over to bite and hit him. Feng Qiang grabbed Shu Fan's hair and threw her aside.
Feng Ruixing stood on the second floor, and shouted with red eyes: "Do we have to fight? Do we have to kill another one?"
Feng Qiang stopped and hid in the house, trembling. He was a playboy, but also a coward. He was afraid that one day Su Qingxin would come back and accuse him of attempted rape. He would not drive Shu Fan away. Shu Fan was his bargaining chip, the only bargaining chip he had to deal with Su Qingxin in the future.
As the family became more and more chaotic, Feng Ruixing missed Su Qingxin more and more, although he really didn't like them.
But when they first came, Feng Qiang and Shu Fan treated each other with respect, and he could eat the delicious meals prepared by Shu Fan every day when he returned home. He was afraid that Su Qingxin would take away his father's love, and he was also afraid that Shu Fan was a stepmother who would abuse him, so his natural superiority and strong character prompted him to desperately resist these two outsiders.
But now, he missed Su Qingxin so much. He thought about how she naively thought he was really threatened and foolishly followed him to the alley. He thought about how she worked so hard to tutor him but was wrongly accused by him in the end and was afraid to go home.
But how could he think of her? How could he have the right to do so? Aren't all these karmas for him?
Yes, it's karma.
He deserves it.
Time is like a clockwork music box. The little figure in the ballet costume keeps spinning in circles on the music box, and each circle marks the passing of a year.
Su Qingxin followed Zhang Yishi from Haicheng to Shenyang, and then from Shenyang to Hefei.
She lived with Zhang Yishi. Zhang Yishi rented a two-bedroom apartment. Whenever someone thought they were a couple, Zhang Yishi would wave his hand and say angrily: "You are blind! This is my niece, and I am her uncle!"
Every time Zhang Yishi described Su Qingxin in this way, he couldn't eat the food Su Qingxin cooked when he returned home at night.
Together, they are like family.
Zhang Yishi took Su Qingxin to Shenyang for two years and to Hefei for three years. He found the household registration booklet in Su Qingxin's father's house, and made an ID card for Su Qingxin. He also used his connections to help Su Qingxin complete her self-taught undergraduate studies. Zhang Yishi said, "I still regret not having studied. Unlike you, you learn things very quickly and will be useful in the future."
Zhang Yishi spent almost all the money he had saved for more than ten years on Su Qingxin. After Su Qingxin knew the truth, she held Zhang Yishi's hand and cried for a long time. Zhang Yishi looked at her with disdain and said, "Cry, cry, what's there to cry about? I volunteered, and I'm still waiting for you to support me when I'm old!"
He was only seven years older than her, but he always loved to teach her and love her in an adult tone. From that time on, Su Qingxin stopped crying no matter what happened. She learned Zhang Yishi's tactfulness and became less and less like herself.
Once a boy said, Su Qingxin, I hope you grow up to be a gentle and kind girl. But she may not be able to do it.
In the fifth year since leaving Tongcheng, Su Qingxin has gradually gotten used to the city of Hefei. Zhang Yishi knows why Su Qingxin came here instead of going to a farther place, because there are things here that Su Qingxin will never let go of.
Because Tongcheng is more than a hundred kilometers away from Hefei.
Five years is not a long time, but a lot can happen.
In the past five years, Feng Qiang's real estate business has been doing worse and worse, Shu Fan's mental state has been getting worse and worse, and Su Qingxin and Wei Ran's secret base has been demolished. Because after Su Qingxin disappeared, Wei Ran never talked to Qin Ruxi again, and Qin Ruxi smashed the secret base in anger, and then it was demolished. Qin Ruxi squatted on the ruins and cried for a long time, and then returned home alone.
Yes, it’s been five years, and even Su Qingxin rarely listens to Jay Chou’s songs anymore.
In the second year after Su Qingxin disappeared, Wei Ran also changed a lot. On the New Year's Eve of the sophomore year, Wei's father and mother finally announced their divorce. That night, Wei's father smashed all the things in the house, and Wei's mother hid behind the door and cried while making a phone call.
Not long after, a man came to pick her up. It was the man driving the white BMW.
Mom pulled Wei Ran aside and begged him to go with her. Wei Ran didn't agree, like a puppet without a soul. He knew he couldn't blame his mother. The relationship between his father and mother had been broken a long time ago. His father often gambled and drank outside. When he came home, he would take his mother to the room and beat her when Wei Ran was not around. After the beating, he would hug his mother and apologize after she sobered up, saying that she should not leave him for the sake of the child.
How could he blame his mother?
But he didn't want to be with anyone, didn't want to be with anyone. When he was young, he didn't know what his father had done to his mother. He thought his mother dressed so beautifully just to attract other men, so he hated her so much. He didn't know that in this relationship, it was his father who was the first to let his mother down.
That night, my mother left with the man driving the BMW, and my father went out to drink. Wei Ran came downstairs of Feng's house alone, staring at the open window above. He didn't go back until three o'clock in the morning.
He missed Su Qingxin very much and wanted to sit by the lake with a gentle breeze and chat with her. But now there was no gentle breeze, and the gorgeous fireworks in the night sky looked lonely in Wei Ran's eyes.
The next morning, Wei Ran's father left a letter and a stack of money and left.
In the letter, he talked about his regrets over the years and asked Wei Ran to go find his mother and not blame her. He was going out to sea to do some business and didn't know if he would be able to come back.
After reading the letter, Wei Ran tore it into pieces and threw it out of the upstairs window.
His family was finally broken up on that day.
Yang Ye asked Wei Ran what his plans were for the future. Wei Ran looked at the vast sky and said with lifeless eyes: "Let's take it one step at a time. Actually, it's good now. At least I'm free."
When he said that, Qin Ruxi was standing across the corridor looking at him. She had been looking at him like this for two years, and Wei Ran was still unwilling to talk to her.
Was it the years that had wound up fate, or was it fate that was too unpredictable and fickle, messing up the perfect years? Wei Ran didn't know, and didn't want to know. He stayed in school until his junior year, then went to Hefei alone with his luggage to make a living.
He spent the last night downstairs at Su Qingxin's house. He would come here every day during those three years, either at dusk or when the sky was full of stars. He had been waiting here, hoping that one day he would see the girl from the past return bathed in the sunshine. But he could not wait any longer.
On the last night, Wei Ran sat downstairs of Su Qingxin's house, his eyes filled with tears, but he refused to let them fall. When all the lights in the houses around him were turned off and the world became silent, Wei Ran stood up from the stone steps and said goodbye to this place forever.
They were fifteen years old when they met, and after so many years of trauma, they didn't know if they would ever meet again.