"Don't look at this compound now that it's deserted, it used to be lively. The old lady caught a glimpse of Gu Ze's gaze on a dead persimmon tree in the courtyard, "In the past, there were four families living in this compound, my family, Lao Li's family, Lao Qian's family, and Yiyang's family. Yi Yang's grandfather was a veteran who learned a lot of tricks in the army, playing chess, sand table, carving, weaving, woodwork, and driving a tank...... There's nothing he won't. The other three old men in this courtyard, every time after dinner, they would take him to the front yard, either to play chess or learn from him, and the tables, chairs, and stools in the courtyard were all made by a few old men. A few of our old women are in the yard, sewing and mending, chatting and chatting, a group of children are running around the yard, playing and playing, and the persimmon tree you see is the one they climbed flat. ”

"It's a pity. The old lady sighed, "It's a pity that now...... We are the only one left with four families, and when my son builds a new house next year, we will move out too. When the time comes, it is estimated that the government will come and demolish this compound and turn it into land for cultivation again, which was originally the land of the state, and it should be returned to the state if it is not lived. ”

As she spoke, the old lady had already led Gu Ze through the wall of her house to a large orchard, which was full of peach, pear, and apricot trees...... At this moment, it is a beautiful spring full of purple and red, and the orchard is hidden by a family, with blue bricks and tiles, and white walls of Zhumen.

"These fruit trees, all of them were planted by Lao Song himself, saying that Yi Yang likes to eat fruits, so he planted them for her. In fact, we all know in our hearts that it was because Yi Yang's grandmother liked flowers, and Lao Song planted them. Whenever the flowers bloom, Yiyang's grandmother is enjoying the flowers in the garden, and Lao Song is painting for her next to her, do you see the stone table and stone bench?" Mrs. raised her finger and pointed to the eaves not far away, "That is also carved by Lao Song himself, in order to facilitate Yiyang's grandmother to enjoy the flowers." The other wives of us were envied at that time. ”

Gu Ze looked in the direction of the old lady's finger, saw the stone table and stone bench under the eaves, and also saw the "Glorious House" written on the plaque.

"Time is not forgiving~" The old lady looked at the spring color of the garden, her eyes showed tenderness and tenderness, and a little melancholy, "There used to be something broken in the compound, it was all Lao Song Xiu, which family needs help with something, Lao Song is always the first to stand up, he is a good man and kind, everyone jokes that he is the patron saint of the compound, in fact, he said it casually at the time, now that I think about it, it is really ......" It was really in a word, the old lady shook her head and said to herself, " Since Lao Song left, the compound began to decline. ”

"How did the old man go?" Gu Ze accompanied the old lady to walk slowly on the path in the garden, full of flowers.

"I was sick, I had advanced lung cancer, I was very guilty, I had to do all kinds of tests, chemotherapy, and lung cuts, and I couldn't stand it. But Lao Song didn't say a word, and didn't complain at all, but later I heard Lao Li say that he was afraid of Yi Yang's grandmother. They met when they were soldiers, they lived and died together, and their feelings were very deep, Yi Yang's grandmother didn't have a good heart, Lao Song didn't say it, but she was very honest in action, and she was never allowed to do heavy work, for fear of tiring people, Yi Yang's grandmother even embroidered for more than two hours to be nagged by him, and he protected people like a treasure. Before leaving, everyone was so thin that they were out of shape, and they were kind enough to ask us to help take care of our wives and grandchildren. ”

The two of them crossed the path to the wooden door, which was weathered by wind and rain all year round, and the red paint had peeled off and was stained with decay. The old lady put the key in the keyhole and twisted it for a while before the wooden door opened in the "curry".

"Squeak" sounded, and those dusty silent years were gently pushed away by a wrinkled hand, and in an instant, it was a tenderness that did not disturb but missed.

"You go in. The old lady handed the key to Gu Ze, as if she couldn't bear to look at it more, and turned to leave, "After reading it in a while, remember to lock the door." ”

Gu Ze took the key and thanked him, and walked in by himself.

As soon as I entered the gate, I was greeted by a courtyard. In the eastern corner of the yard there was an unknown potted plant, long since withered, covered with cobwebs, and a few bamboos planted next to the potted plant, all of which had also died, and the cracked branches were covered with black spots.

The house sits north and faces south, and there are five rooms in total, from west to east, which are bedrooms, storage rooms, halls, study rooms, and bedrooms.

There was nothing in the two bedrooms except for the wooden bed frame, and the storage room was littered with unwanted old things, and the hall was only a shrine. Gu Ze pushed open the door of the study, and the study was simply furnished, with only a large bookshelf, a writing desk and two rattan chairs. There was a thick layer of dust on the shelves, there were no books, only a few old newspapers and waste paper, and the writing desk was empty except for dust, but there were two large boxes sealed with tape underneath, and the books should have been stored in these two large boxes.

Gu Ze didn't understand why he wanted to come to the place where Yi Yang used to live. Maybe she didn't do what she promised to accompany her home to see her relatives, but now she feels guilty and remorseful when she learns that her relatives have passed away; Maybe he felt that he didn't know her at all, and wanted to find a little trace of her in the place where she had lived for more than ten years; Maybe she thinks she's not far from here now, maybe she'll come back and maybe see each other......

Anyway, he finally squatted on the ground, opened a cardboard box, and took out the contents inside. This carton is basically filled with books, famous books, humanities, popular science...... A wide range of variety. He took it out one by one, flipped through it one by one, and when he got almost half of the book, he saw the book "The Catcher in the Rye" that Yi Yang had told him, which was indeed just a collection of Chinese stories with the same name as Jerome David Salinger's book.

As soon as he opened the title page, he dropped out a photo, reached out and picked it up, the photo was a little damp, and many places had fallen off, revealing a white background, but Gu Ze still recognized that it was a photo of him when he participated in the basketball league in his sophomore year of high school.

Gu Ze remembered that the physical education teacher led the team to participate in the competition, and the photos were also taken by the organizer of the event, the teacher of Experiment No. 3 Middle School, most of them were group photos, only washed out and sent to the contestants, so how did Yi Yang get this photo? It doesn't look like it was taken by a teacher, it's more like someone who went to watch the game took it himself, and the time is indicated on the back of the photo, June 27, 2009, which is Yi Yang's handwriting.

Did she ask someone watching the game for a picture?

Gu Ze put the photo on top of the pile of books on the ground, and continued to flip through the book in his hand, only to turn a few pages, and saw another photo, and the person in the photo was still him. This time it was not a basketball game, but a speech contest when he was a sophomore in high school. He wore the uniform of No. 1 Middle School, he was the only one on the flag-raising platform, the sun of the late autumn afternoon, the stage and the mountains behind the school wall were decorated very soft, he held the microphone, and his demeanor was calm. The time behind the photo is October 25, 2008.

This photo, looking at the angle, should also be taken by the people in the audience themselves.

Gu Ze took out the photo and put it away, flipped it back, and almost every few pages, there was a photo of him. In those photos, there are him participating in various competitions, running in the morning on the playground, resting under the trees, and playing with his classmates......

Each one indicates the time, the most recent photo is taken when he was invited by his alma mater to be an outstanding graduate after he was admitted to M University, and returned to No. 1 Middle School to share his learning experience with the next batch of younger students, and the same handwriting on the back of the photo reads, July 25, 2010, Goal, M University.

Gu Ze held these photos, and his hands seemed to be filled with lead.

So Yi Yang had known him since he was still in high school, and she should have attended various competitions and activities he participated in, or hid somewhere out of his sight and took these photos.

She also applied for M University after graduating from high school because of him.

Gu Ze used to think that Yi Yang dared to confess to him as soon as he was a freshman, saying that he liked him, which was too sudden.

Now it seems that she is not improvising on him at all, but has been planning for a long time. She liked him when he was in high school, but she never told him.

There is no affectionate affection in the world for no reason, but it is all the red dust that accumulates over time!