"Hehe... Hahaha!" Yi Li looked up at the gray sky, his eyes vacant. "Senior brother, you are my light... Hahaha..."
His laughter pierced Pei Shaocheng's eardrums, and even though he had left the street corner and walked a long way, he could still hear it clearly.
Pei Shaocheng lit the last cigarette in the pack, crushed it, and slammed his fist into the steering wheel.
...
The black Rolls-Royce circled the Fifth Ring Road again and again, passing the hospital where Wen Yuhan was located more than a dozen times, before heading towards the drama academy.
In a nearby dilapidated alley, Pei Shaocheng found the old man who used to sell candied hawthorns at the school gate. After much persuasion, the old man, who had long since stopped selling them, reluctantly got out of bed and started making syrup again.
"Go wash the hawthorns and remove the pits," the old man ordered Pei Shaocheng impatiently.
Pei Shaocheng obediently nodded, rolled up his sleeves and washed the hawthorns one by one, then moved a small stool to sit down.
A tall man, nearly 1.9 meters tall, was sitting on a small stool, carefully removing the pits from hawthorns with a knife.
"You're quite something, driving such a nice car all this way just to buy a three-yuan skewer of candied hawthorns from me," the old man said as he skewered the candied hawthorns, his tone tinged with pride. "But I understand, it's a family tradition."
“Yes,” Pei Shaocheng replied.
The old man glanced at him and chuckled, "You bought it for your wife, didn't you?"
Pei Shaocheng was taken aback upon hearing this, then lowered his head and continued picking at the hawthorns, a slight softening appearing in his previously dark eyes.
"Yes, I made him angry."
The old man waved his hand dismissively: "Young couples have their disagreements, they argue in bed and make up in bed, I've been there!" He sighed, "Back when my wife was still alive, we argued every day. But neither of us could live without the other! Now that she's gone, I've completely lost all motivation. What's the point of selling candied hawthorns anymore? I just want to fall asleep and never wake up again, to go with her."
After saying that, he handed the candied hawthorns that had been hung up and dried to a stop to Pei Shaocheng, and patted him on the shoulder: "Go on, apologize to your wife, and everything will be fine."
Pei Shaocheng stood up from the small stool, took the candied hawthorn, and nodded to the old man: "Thank you for your kind words."
"I'll find you a pretty paper bag later. Your wife will definitely say you're particular about things."
...
When Pei Shaocheng stood outside the hospital with a candied hawthorn in his hand, he felt timid again.
Once, in Tiansheng's house, he grabbed Wen Yuhan's chin and stuffed hawthorns into his mouth one by one until he vomited.
Wen Yuhan said back then that she never wanted to eat hawthorn again.
Pei Shaocheng sat down on the bench outside the corridor, leaning against the wall in self-loathing. Before, he was thinking about how Wen Yuhan loved eating candied hawthorns from this shop when she was in school, and he had completely forgotten about something else.
The indoor temperature was higher than the outdoor temperature, and the bright red candied hawthorns had already begun to melt.
The syrup dripped onto Pei Shaocheng's hands, leaving them sticky and uncomfortable.
The door to the special care ward suddenly opened from the inside, and Pei Shaocheng jumped up as if by reflex.
When he met the curious yet shy gaze of the older woman, his expression quickly darkened.
Pei Shaocheng pulled down the brim of his hat and strode to the nurses' station.
"What about the patients who were previously in the intensive care unit?"
The nurse who answered Pei Shaocheng happened to be one of his fans. She immediately stood up and stammered, "I'm...I'm discharged!"
"when!"
"This morning."
A loud firecracker went off outside.
The New Year is finally almost here.
...
Wancheng is a slow-paced, unremarkable fifth-tier city.
The only thing worth mentioning is that there is a river here that connects three provinces, called the Yanjiang River.
This is Wen Yuhan's hometown, and her maternal grandmother's old house is located on the banks of the Yanjiang River.
A taxi stopped at the alley entrance. Wen Yuhan handed the driver eight yuan, opened the car door, and got out.
The alley was so narrow that vehicles couldn't get in at all.
The sunlight shone on the stone path, making it slightly slippery. Icicles hung upside down from the eaves of the bungalows on both sides, dripping water.
This alley has a rather nice name: Shaou Street.
Wen Yuhan, carrying her luggage, walked slowly into the deep alley. She stopped in front of a small wooden door, took a key from her pocket, and inserted it into the rusty lock.
Click.
The door opened.
A damp smell, as if no one had lived there for a long time, wafted over.
Wen Yuhan placed her luggage bag on the old dresser by the door, and smiled slightly in the dappled sunlight:
"Grandma, I'm back for the New Year."
This morning, he discharged himself from the hospital early despite Lu Yanheng's objections. His reason was that he didn't want to experience the Spring Festival travel rush.
Lu Yanheng offered to drive Wen Yuhan back to Wancheng, but Wen Yuhan refused outright.
Xiao Yang was originally supposed to go home with Wen Yuhan, but Feng Yuan from Zhong Hao's side called him again, saying that there was a movie he wanted to talk to him about, and forcibly kept him in Yancheng until the third day of the Lunar New Year.
"If all else fails, I'll postpone my plans with Teacher Feng," Xiao Yang said seriously to Wen Yuhan. "I really can't rest easy with you in this state."
Wen Yuhan rubbed Xiao Yang's head: "Aren't you happy to have work? It wasn't easy to get into this industry."
Xiao Yang shook his head: "Teacher, you are more important."
Wen Yuhan chuckled, a cigarette dangling from his lips, "Be a good boy, I'll be counting on you to take care of me in my old age."
"You're teasing me again." Xiao Yang sighed, then smiled helplessly. "But hearing you say that makes me feel a little better... Teacher, you haven't joked in a long time."
"Is that so?" Wen Yuhan lit a cigarette, paused, and slowly exhaled. "Wouldn't that be even more boring? I'll go to the street stalls another day and buy a few copies of 'King of Jokes' to try and get back into the swing of things."
Xiao Yang was amused by Wen Yuhan, and then said with utmost sincerity, "Don't worry, teacher, if this play goes through, you'll still write it, and I'll assist you!"
Wen Yuhan was taken aback for a moment, then waved his hand and said in a drawn-out tone, "Forget it... Isn't it better to just live a life of leisure and wait to die? Or are you saying you don't want to raise a lazy good-for-nothing?"
Xiao Yang immediately frowned and retorted, "How could that be!"
Wen Yuhan pressed her fist to her lips and chuckled softly: "Let's go quickly, isn't Feng Yuan still waiting for you?"
"I...I'd like to take you to the station first!"
"Don't bother," Wen Yuhan said, zipping up her bag. "I'm not in a hurry."
"But……"
"Xiao Yang." Wen Yuhan turned around, looked at Xiao Yang for a moment, and smiled slightly at him. "You have to keep it up."
Let's cheer each other on, including mine!
...
A note from the author:
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 63
It always rains at night in Wancheng, and the raindrops patter on the roof tiles all night long.
The old house had fallen into disrepair over the years, and there was a crack above the bed that was leaking water, soaking a large area of the bed sheet.
Wen Yuhan had no choice but to find a porcelain basin to place on the bed to catch the rain, and then curl up and lay down close to the edge of the bed.
He tossed and turned until late into the night, unable to sleep because of the sound of rain hitting the washbasin. So he got up, put on a big cotton-padded coat, opened the door, moved an old-fashioned rattan chair, sat under the eaves, smoked, and watched the rain.
Just as the door was pushed open, a gust of wind blew, and the winter plum blossoms in front of the house emitted a damp, delicate fragrance.
With a cigarette between his fingers and the other gently stroking the gleaming rattan chair, Wen Yuhan spoke softly to the vast, rainy night as if having a conversation:
"Grandma, look, I forgot to bring the roasted soybeans you made when I left. I looked in the cupboard while cleaning the room, and they've all gone moldy. They're inedible." He flicked the ash from his cigarette onto the ground, put the cigarette back in his mouth, and smoked for a while.
“I still think soybeans taste better roasted with sugar than with salt. Hmm… As for hawthorn, I still can’t accept adding white vinegar; it always tastes sour. But I’ve tried making it myself, and it just won’t form a sugar coating without white vinegar… I looked up other methods online, and I almost burned the kitchen down… Sigh, but in the end, it’s just that I’m useless, I love to eat but I’m also lazy…” Wen Yuhan shook his head and chuckled for a while, then paused for a moment, “Actually, I did meet someone who could make me sugar-roasted hawthorn. I mentioned him to you when I came back last time… but he’s gone now.”
"Of course it's still my problem... but what can I do, Grandma? I can't let him become like me... Although he knows now and feels like he's wasted his time. But at least he's doing well now, and if he's not so stubborn, he should be able to do even better."
The rain intensified.
Shaou Street is a slope, and rainwater flows down the slope, passing right in front of Wen Yuhan.
He lowered his eyes and smiled, revealing a long scar on his wrist as he rested his hand on the armrest of the wicker chair.
"Let's talk about something else, Grandma. I almost went to see you a while ago, but I didn't make it in the end. I didn't meet you in that dream either, and I kept thinking, maybe you still don't want to see me... After waking up, I really let go of some things, but then I thought about how you always opposed me going to Yancheng, saying I was unrealistic and that opening a small shop on Shaou Street would be fine... I didn't listen to you back then, I was wrong."
Wen Yuhan leaned back in her chair and blinked, only to find that the more she blinked, the blurrier her vision became.
He lit another cigarette, smoked silently for a while, and then said, "I really don't plan to leave again this time. I'll just find a job to make a living and live like this for the rest of my life. It sounds pretty good... Tomorrow I'll go out to buy some New Year's goods and find a repairman to fix the roof. Once everything is settled, I'll come to see you. If you need anything, just let me know in a dream... It's settled then, Grandma."
As dawn approached, Wen Yuhan finally felt a touch of weariness.
I had only been asleep for a short while when I was woken up by knocking on the door from outside.
"Nephew, nephew, are you there?!"
Wen Yuhan opened her eyes, and after the dizziness disappeared with the flapping of a butterfly's wings, she got up and opened the door.
What greeted me was an old man's smiling face.
"Nephew Wen, isn't it!" the old man said warmly. "I heard from Old Chen and the others yesterday that you were back, but I didn't believe it. I didn't expect you to actually be here!"
Wen Yuhan didn't recognize him at first, so the old man quickly said, "I'm your Uncle Wang! I used to run a noodle shop here, don't you remember?"
"Oh, Uncle Wang." Wen Yuhan vaguely remembered that there used to be a noodle shop on Shaou Street. But he hadn't eaten noodles there much, always feeling that it wasn't clean.
Seeing that Wen Yuhan remembered, the old man's smile widened, and he handed Wen Yuhan the two large bags of daily necessities and fresh eggs and vegetables he was carrying, saying, "I was just thinking that the old house has been uninhabited for a long time, so I brought you some things. Take them!"
"I can't accept this."
The old man forcibly grabbed Wen Yuhan's hand and handed him the item. He accidentally caught a glimpse of the scar on Wen Yuhan's hand and couldn't help but look at it a few more times with a puzzled expression, but he wisely refrained from asking any further questions.
"Oh, by the way, I've also found a roof repairman for you. He should be here around noon!" the old man continued. "If you need anything in the future, just call me anytime!"
A hint of doubt flashed in Wen Yuhan's eyes, but he still politely said to the old man, "Thank you so much, Uncle Wang. How much are these things? I'll pay you."