“...... Year after year, I took him with me and watched him grow up little by little. ”

The old man followed Lian Ge closely, stopped, and looked at the quiet streets and alleys attentively,

“...... He is still as sensible as he was when he was a child, he usually doesn't cry or make trouble, and he always wants to take care of me...... It's just that I always feel a little distressed when I look at him like this. When I was young, when his father was young, he couldn't be mischievous, how could he be so well-behaved...... It's not like a child, it's more like a little adult. ”

“...... Slowly, he stopped asking, not asking when the Chinese New Year would be or when his parents would come back. Our two grandparents and grandchildren live in that room.

He's growing up, and I'm getting older......"

"In half a month, Xiao Yao, he will be eight years old......"

After speaking, the old man fell silent again,

Lian Ge glanced at the old man, didn't say anything, turned his gaze into the distance, and continued to listen quietly.

The old man was silent, then raised his head to look at the street in front of him, and continued,

"Over there, that's where Xiao Yao and I live, and every time I came out along that road, Xiao Yao followed me, at first I protected him, and then he protected me...... He looked at me nervously as he walked, his head tilted, and I looked at him with a smile......"

As he spoke, a smile appeared on the old man's face,

“...... He had just started kindergarten. I took him to the kindergarten for the first time, and when I walked to the kindergarten door, he didn't cry or make trouble, but in his eyes, looking at the inside of the kindergarten, he was very scared.

When I said I was going to leave him in the kindergarten, he didn't speak, he just stood there, looking up at me, trembling a little, but when I left, he didn't cry or catch up......

It wasn't until I went to pick him up that afternoon that he cried and told me that he thought I didn't want him anymore...... As he spoke, he stopped crying with a twitch again, and he told me...... The neighbor's aunt and him, adults don't like children who cry all the time. So he can't cry, or I wouldn't want him......"

As he spoke, the smile on the old man's face gradually faded, his gaze moved up slightly, he was silent, and continued.

"That day...... When I collapsed in the bathroom, I was so scared that I couldn't help but think, what would Xiao Yao do if I went this way......? Does he think I don't want him anymore......

When I woke up again, I saw my body, and I was paralyzed on the ground, and Xiao Yao was squatting next to me, shouting at me, I wanted to respond, but there was no way to do it......

I watched him go from shouting at me to trying to pull me up from the bathroom floor and drag me to the bedroom, but he was too small and didn't have enough strength...... It took a long time, and I couldn't drag it out.

When he cried, he squatted next to me, crying until his eyes were swollen and his voice was hoarse...... He was very sensible, sensible enough to know a lot, to understand a lot of things that he shouldn't have understood at his age, he knew that I was dead, he knew that I would never wake up again...... He just cried and wiped his tears and dragged a quilt out of the bedroom and put it on top of me...... He also told me, 'Grandpa must be sleepy, so grandpa will go to sleep, and it will be fine when grandpa wakes up'...... After carefully covering me with the quilt, Xiao Yao slowly cried tired, crying a little silently, he was next to me, holding the corner of the quilt, curled up, and fell asleep...... I stood by him all night and watched him all night.

The next morning, Xiao Yao woke up, wiped his eyes, looked at 'me' in a daze, and then reached out to cover the quilt on my body more neatly...... Then he told me as usual that he was going to school, so he carried his schoolbag and went out...... I couldn't be relieved, so I followed.

Throughout the day, I watched him sit in his seat, silent and silent...... At noon, when school ended, he went to the convenience store and bought a handful of noodles, and when he got home, he set up a stool, stood in front of the stove, boiled water, made two bowls of noodles, and put one bowl in front of me, and he sat down in front of me, talking to me as usual......

I really can't rest assured to see him like this, but I can't do anything at all, I can only watch, little by little...... Watching him go to and from school day by day as he did in the past, and watching him become more and more silent little by little......"

As he spoke, the old man fell silent again, and just looked into the distance distractedly,

"Old man, it's time to put it down. ”

Lian Ge looked into the distance, didn't look back, and said in a calm tone.

"Yes, it's time to put it down, Xiao Yao's mother has returned, and Xiao Yao won't need me to take care of it anymore in the future......," the old man looked at it and muttered, "He doesn't have to be like now, slowly, and back to the way he was before." ”

Turning his gaze back, Lian Ge looked at the old man again,

"Do you want to go back and see it again?"

Hearing this, the old man opened his mouth, hesitated on his face, and finally just shook his head,

"It's better not to go back, I'm afraid that if I look at it again, I'm even more reluctant, and I can't let it go. ”

Without saying anything more, Lian Ge turned his gaze back, looked at the potholed street in front of him, and after a pause, he found out the underworld communicator.

......

“...... That day's teacher, the humble post took him down first. ”

After a while, watching the ghost of the underworld grab the old man's shoulder and disappear from sight,

After another pause, Lian Ge withdrew his gaze,

Stopping slightly, looking at the quiet town, the mottled marks on the buildings, the faded signboards on the shops, and the gaze paused.

......

“...... Third, why did you come back so early this time? It's still a few months after the Chinese New Year, right?"

"Yes, there are still a few months to go......"

“...... Will you come back this time?"

On the quiet street, two old men side by side were talking, passing in front of Lian Ge,

One of them looked to be nearly sixty years old, with luggage on his shoulders and some dark skin, as if he had just returned from a foreign country, and the other was a little older, and he also helped carry the bags and talked to them.

"No, no...... When I'm old, my body can't keep up, so I'll just come back here and wait for me to be old, and I can still be old in my own home. The dark-skinned old man replied with a smile,

"And what about your son and daughter-in-law, who will come back too, or will they just stay there?"

"They're still working there, so I'll come back...... By the way, the two of them, they have taken the child, and in a few months, when the child is a year old, they will be sent back and let me take care of it...... I'm back early, so I'm packing up my house and getting ready. The dark-skinned old man smiled, lifted the luggage on his shoulder, and replied.

"With a child, a boy and a girl?"

"Boy, let me tell you, he's cute, those two eyeballs, they don't turn around, just like his father when he was young......"

As he spoke, the figures of the two old men disappeared with the voice.

Listening to the distant words, Lian Ge looked into the distance, his gaze paused, and he stopped in place.

All around, it became more and more quiet, only the wind passed through the streets, blowing the faded signs, the open window frames, and rolling down the wall ash that was about to fall off......

“...... Squeak, squeak. ”

After stopping for a long time, the little mouse on his shoulder stood up his forelimbs and shouted twice at Lian Ge,

Hearing the sound, Lian Ge retracted his gaze and glanced at the mouse,

"Let's go. ”

Smiling slightly, Lian Ge turned around and walked back along the street where he came.