Unconsciously, the calendar board hanging on the wall of Hongqi's office shows that it is almost the Lunar New Year in 1990, and after entering the wax moon, the houses on both sides of the street are hung with preserved fish and bacon, and some shops have pasted red Spring Festival couplets to celebrate the Spring Festival in advance.

Since Huang Lihua came to Shanghai to study at university, she has never returned to her hometown, a small city on the verge of the Yangtze River, and misses her relatives every festive season, although her father has re-established a family, but there is also a younger brother who has not yet started a family at home, and she has not seen her for a few years and does not know what she looks like. These days, perhaps because of the school's winter vacation, I am left alone in the dormitory, feeling desolate. As the festival approached, the idea of homesickness became stronger and stronger, and on the twenty-fourth day of the lunar month, on the day of the New Year, Huang Lihua couldn't help but ask Yin Haoran for ten days off, and hurriedly bought a train ticket from Shanghai to Wuchang and embarked on the journey home.

Approaching the Lunar New Year, the train station is crowded with people, the waiting room can't get in at all, Huang Lihua, who is carrying a big canvas bag, has come to the train station half a day in advance, but I didn't expect that there are people everywhere, luggage everywhere, and there is no place to put your feet down, eating instant noodles, smoking, drinking water, feeding children, everything in the world is like a kaleidoscope is presented here. Huang Lihua moved step by step and finally squeezed onto the platform, there was a long queue at each door, it was estimated that it would not be their turn to open the train, Huang Lihua turned around on the platform to see if there was any way to get on the train, at this time I found that many people began to drill the window, one did not do two endlessly, Huang Lihua gave a fellow next to him two dollars, let him help him climb up the train window, push himself, finally got on the train, there was no way to find a seat in the carriage where he should be, the aisle was already impassable, the green train was shaky, and it was a day and a night to arrive at Wuchang Railway StationAfter standing for a day and a night, Huang Lihua came to the Dadongmen long-distance bus station not far from the railway station non-stop after getting out of the railway station.

I ate a bowl of hot dry noodles in a small restaurant next to the bus station, drank a bowl of rice wine, and my spirits came up again, and I was ready to see if I could return to Huanggang in the evening. I haven't seen it for four years, the Dadongmen long-distance bus station has expanded a lot, although the area of the ticket hall and waiting hall is much larger than before, but the flow of people is still increasing, everywhere are carrying snakeskin bags, quilts, wrapping the villagers who returned to their hometowns for the New Year, Huang Lihua looked at a long queue composed of ticket buyers in the overcrowded ticket hall and secretly worried, it is estimated that after more than two hours of the team, it will not be their turn, when they were at a loss, suddenly a female voice behind them kept calling Huang Lihua, Huang Lihua, their own name。

Huang Lihua turned around and found that there was a familiar face smiling at him in the queue, and after careful identification, he found that it was his high school classmate Song Limei, today's Song Limei has changed too much, and she almost didn't recognize it, I don't know why her black hair is hot like a poodle, and a pair of green eyeshadow and bright red lipstick make people feel panicked, which is completely similar to the taciturn, simple and generous Song Limei in high school.

Without waiting for Huang Lihua's exit invitation, Song Limei picked up her backpack and stood beside Huang Lihua, and met an acquaintance in the ticket hall of the noisy and crowded long-distance bus station, Huang Lihua was still very happy.

"Huang Lihua, I haven't seen you for a few years, you said that you are in college, why don't you come back to see it during the holidays!"

"It's been four years, don't I have to work to earn living expenses?"

"Your dad won't even give you living expenses!"

"My dad didn't plan to let me go to college at all, my tuition is still paid for by Teacher Zeng, I want to pay her back some money first when I come back this time, she is really my great benefactor!"

"By the way, speaking of Teacher Zeng, something happened to her family, do you know?"

"What's the big deal? I haven't been back for a few years, how can I know!"

"Do you know? Teacher Xiao Zeng and Huang Cheng have a daughter!"

Huang Lihua was shocked when she heard this,

"When did this happen?"

"It's the year we graduate!"

"Didn't Huang Cheng go to the army in the winter of '84?"

"Yes, but when Huang Cheng was demobilized in half a year, didn't Huang Cheng have an accident? Not only was he expelled from the army, but he was also imprisoned, Teacher Zeng was pregnant at this time, Teacher Zeng asked her to kill the child, she didn't do it, she had a big quarrel with Teacher Zeng, and as soon as our class graduated, she resigned and went to Wuhan. You went to college and didn't see the situation at that time, I was at home waiting for my relatives to introduce me to a job, and I forgot what I was doing when I went back to school, but I can never forget Teacher Zeng's physical and mental exhaustion at that time, she seemed to have aged ten years old overnight, her hair was a lot grayer, and her back was not as straight as before, and Teacher Zeng, who didn't talk much, seemed to have become a mute and avoided everyone everywhere, it seems that Teacher Zeng suffered a lot of blows at that time!"

"That's for sure, Teacher Xiao Zeng didn't want to go to the United States, but she fell in love with her students and had children, what does Teacher Zeng, who raised her with hard work, think, what does Teacher Zeng have to be a teacher for so many years?"

When the child was born more than a year old, Huang Cheng, who had been released from prison, took Teacher Zeng and the child back to get a marriage certificate, and I don't know what happened that day, Teacher Zeng just didn't agree to Teacher Xiao Zeng and Huang Cheng to get married, and had a quarrel with Huang Cheng, no one knows what the specific situation is, only that Teacher Zeng later called the police and sent Huang Cheng to the Public Security Bureau again. I always feel that this is God's arrangement in the dark, no one can explain the clear, to say that I don't believe in superstition, but that day is the seventh ghost festival in the first month of July, I don't know why Xiao Zeng teacher is like a demon holding the child from the police station after coming out of the ghostly to the river, listen to the fishermen who called the police later, they saw a young woman sitting on the riverside for a long time on the other side of the river, suddenly got up and led a child to the river, and when the river did not pass the child's waist, the woman's heart softened, and the child was left on the river beach to continue walking alone, and finally drowned in the rolling vast river。 When the fishermen realized that someone had committed suicide and quickly rocked the oars, there were still people to be seen on the vast river, and three days later, the body of Mr. Xiao Zeng appeared downstream, and Mr. Zeng was in pain, and the blow at that time can be imagined. Huang Lihua, if you have time when you come back this time, go and see Teacher Zeng, she is so pitiful!"

Huang Lihua's eyes widened and she watched Song Limei's flaming red lips close in front of her eyes, her brain squeaked like a stuck tape, the news of Xiao Zeng's suicide was like a bomb that blew up all parts of her internal organs, and it made people feel that time and space were stagnant like that, and how could their thinking not function normally, what did Teacher Xiao Zeng experience on the last day that she liked to worship, and what did she think of by the river to make her end her life so resolutely, Huang Lihua couldn't understand, but one thing was very sure that she must visit Teacher Zeng！

After two hours of bumpy long-distance buses, Huang Lihua and Song Limei were sent to the door of Jihong Middle School in Huangzhou District, Huanggang City, and after breaking up with Song Limei, Huang Lihua walked home with a huge canvas bag on her back. Just when passing by the gate of Jihong Middle School, Huang Lihua involuntarily slowed down her pace and took a good look at the old Soviet building in front of her, known as the Red House, where she had studied and lived.

Because it was during the winter vacation, the school looked very deserted, except for a figure in the communication room, there was basically no one at the door, suddenly through the iron gate of the school, Huang Lihua saw a familiar figure holding a child sitting on the edge of the flower bed ten meters away from the gate, pointing to the car on the road with a finger, and so Huang Lihua looked at it, tears suddenly welled up, only to see the gray-haired teacher Zeng was holding a four-year-old girl with empty eyes looking at the people on the road, the little girl was very quiet, sitting on Teacher Zeng's body motionless, two grape-like bright eyes looking at the road with bright eyes。 Huang Lihua, who was carrying a bag, couldn't help but walk through the iron gate and shouted from afar, "Teacher Zeng!"

Teacher Zeng turned his head slowly, and tears suddenly flowed from his cloudy eyes,

"Bixian, you're back, Mom and Xiaoying have been waiting for you for a long time!"

Huang Lihua was stunned for a moment, and then knelt down with a thud.

"Teacher Zeng, I'm sorry, I'm late, I should have come back to see you a long time ago!"

"Bixian, get up quickly, just come back, it's me who is bad, I'm sorry for you, I shouldn't object to your marriage, can you forgive me!"

Huang Lihua didn't know how to answer, she cried even more, and suddenly a very small voice came from her side, which made Huang Lihua even more tearful.

"Mom, Mom, I'm Xiaoying!"

Huang Lihua picked up the child and cried bitterly!