Lin Li lives in Lane 521 of Zhenning Road, and she is not late, on the contrary, the intermediary is late.

She made a pot of coffee and drank it as she looked around the house, to be precise, her grandmother's house, a two-story bungalow, built in 1911, the year the Xinhai Revolution broke out.

Located in the French Concession of old Shanghai, the bungalow was given to a certain person of the Qing Dynasty at the beginning of construction. After the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution, Emperor Puyi was driven out of the Forbidden City, and the bungalow lost its old owner.

At the beginning of 1936, my grandmother was engaged to a young master of a large family surnamed Xiao. Young Master Xiao was generous and generous, and gave countless gifts to his grandmother, including this bungalow.

My grandmother's family ran a textile factory during the Republic of China, and she spent money like water when she was married. Seeing that a grand wedding was about to be held, and the Winter Olympics were opening in the German Empire at the same time, Young Master Xiao, who was influenced by the democratic ideology, temporarily decided to accompany his parents to Germany to watch this novel sports meeting.

No one expected the German army to enter the Rhineland in violation of the Treaty of Versailles, and the Axis blitzkrieg began, followed by the full-scale outbreak of the War of Resistance against Japan.

The beacon fire lasted for days, and Young Master Xiao was gone like this, and there was no news.

Grandma didn't believe that Young Master Xiao had abandoned her, but after the fall of France and the takeover of the concession by the Japanese army, Grandma had to leave Shanghai and move west with her family to Chongqing, the capital of China. It wasn't until the end of the Anti-Japanese War that my grandmother went back to live in a bungalow.

From 1936 to 2006, seventy years passed in a flash, my grandmother looked at the autumn water, and Young Master Xiao never came back.

Maybe it was because of the deep love and hatred, and my grandmother was very secretive about the background of Young Master Xiao and the Xiao family, and Lin Li didn't dare to ask more.

After her grandmother died, Lin Wei flipped through a messy German in her memoirs, translated into Chinese, to the effect that no matter how luxurious a house is, it lacks a loved one, but it is just a deserted house.

Lin Li was a high school student at the time, and he couldn't empathize with the sadness between the lines. Time flies for another ten years, and she sorted out her study at the beginning of this year to review this passage, and she had mixed feelings in her heart, and after thinking about it, she decided to sell the house.

The single-family house with a total price of more than 10 million yuan is not easy to get rid of, there are many people who look at the house, and there are few people who are willing to buy a house.

The implication is that foreigners are not bad for money.

Lin Li finished drinking coffee and sat in the living room for a while, when the doorbell was rang by the intermediary.

As with the previous reception process, she introduced the construction area, layout, and surrounding facilities of the bungalow to the lawyer. After looking at the house, the lawyer asked, "Miss Lin's house is very luxuriously decorated, why is she willing to resell it?" ”

Faced with the buyer's biggest concern, Lin Li was surprisingly silent.

In the end, she calmly replied: "Actually, I can't bear it." ”

The lawyer had no other problems, and after taking a few photos, he left, and the agent left.

Lin Li thought that the result of the house inspection would be gone, but she received a call from the agent at 7 o'clock in the evening, informing her to sign the house sales contract and handle the transfer tomorrow morning.

The old bungalow, which had not been sold for a long time, was suddenly sold in one day, and her heart was filled with unspeakable sadness, as if a piece of meat had been slashed off from the heart by a knife blade, it would hurt, and more feelings were waves of depression and panic that surged up like a tide.

There is a theory in clinical psychology that encapsulates this symptom: a sense of relative deprivation.

Lin Li said to himself that he must be calm.

But it was difficult for her to calm down, she walked from room to room, from downstairs to upstairs, walking back and forth for a long, long time, and when she was tired of walking, her mind was clear, and she moved a chair to sit on the terrace.

The terrace, which was planted with flowers and plants two years ago, is now only covered by the biting winter wind.

She quietly stared at the residential buildings not far away, the lights of thousands of homes were bright, the lights were bright and warm, and she could fully imagine what the neighbors were doing in her mind...... Eat, wash dishes, drink tea, and chat.

She was quite familiar with this kind of daily life, but when she turned her face to look behind her, the huge bungalow was empty, without a trace of popularity, and the white flickering lights were very dazzling.

Lin Li stretched out his hand to turn off the light, one after the other.

The lights faded, and when the last light went out, endless darkness enveloped her.

She didn't even have a shadow.

She had nothing.

*

When the sky was gray, Lin Li left the terrace and went back to the bedroom to sleep for a while, and woke up dizzy, like a cold, and his throat was dry and astringent and extremely painful.

She took some medicine and changed her clothes and makeup methodically, trying to make herself look as energetic as possible rather than sluggish.

Half an hour later, Lin arrived at the real estate agent's office building.

The contract for the sale and purchase of the house has been prepared for a long time, and the lawyer has signed the buyer's name and is waiting for her to sign it.

The cold medicine made her feel unhealthy, and she slowly picked up her pen, and just wrote the first stroke of the word "Lin", she caught a glimpse of the name of the buyer in the house sale contract.

Buyer and seller (Party B): Xiao Huai

Xiao Huai?

Lin Li's drowsiness disappeared in an instant.

Regardless of whether the "Xiao Huai" who bought the house was the "Xiao Huai" who sent her home yesterday, the buyer's surname is Xiao, which is really unthinkable no matter what.

Lin Li put down the pen and laboriously squeezed a sentence out of his throat: "I'm sorry, the house is not for sale." ”

The lawyer didn't say anything, and called the client Xiao Huai.

The intermediary was counting on the commission after the transfer, how could he agree with Lin Li to drop the chain at the critical moment, and immediately asked: "Miss Lin, are you dissatisfied with the transaction price?" ”

Lin Li shook his head and walked out of the office building.

The agent chased her out, chased her to the main road, and saw her stretching out her hand to hail a taxi, and suddenly became anxious: "Miss Lin, let's talk again?" ”

At this time, a taxi came, Lin Li opened the door, the intermediary blocked her with her body and did not let her get into the car, waved her hand across the road, and said in an extremely excited tone: "Mr. Xiao! ”

Lin Li turned around in response and saw a person walking out of the black business Mercedes-Benz.

He has a slender figure, the lines of the side face are deep and clear, just standing upright, the momentum is fully revealed, calm and introverted, and exudes the oppression of a mature man.

Lin Li stood in place, looking at him without blinking. The stranger, who thought that there would never be an intersection, met her again without warning.

Xiao Huai approached and stopped.

The intermediary opened his mouth and said, "Mr. Xiao, Miss Lin is not satisfied with the transaction price and intends to discuss it with you." ”

Lin Li opened her mouth slightly, wanting to explain, Xiao Huai withdrew her gaze from the intermediary to look at her, her slightly cool gaze fell on her eyebrows, and said lightly: "Yes." ”

Aside from the lawyers, there is no better place to have a short conversation than in a Mercedes Benz, and the assistants are not there.

There are two VIP seats in the middle of the car. Xiao Huai sat on the left seat, and there was an empty one next to him. Lin Li didn't sit next to him, but gently pulled the car door like yesterday and sat in the passenger seat farthest away from him.

She was silent for a moment, turned her body, and raised her eyes to look at Xiao Huai.

The moment their eyes met, she lowered her face and brushed a strand of her long hair behind her ear: "Mr. Xiao, I have no objection to the price of the house." From the moment she uttered the first sound, she spoke with great difficulty, and the word "dissent" was so hoarse that it almost became "one by one".

She felt that she couldn't express clearly, and paused for a while before speaking: "Due to personal reasons, I don't plan to sell ......"

"Wait a minute." Xiao Huai called her and handed over the pen and notepad.

This is a senior assistant's notepad, which is particularly thick, and is filled with all kinds of financial figures, prospects, and travel arrangements in German and Japanese.

Lin Li turned to the last page and wrote with a pen.

The car was already quiet, she didn't speak, he didn't speak, and the atmosphere became more and more silent.

The car window was facing the noisy road, and from time to time a few pedestrians hurried by, and there were also impatient private car drivers honking their horns, but Xiao Huai waited patiently, and the speed of time seemed to become slow, and she did not hurry to finish what she wanted to say.

Xiao Huai glanced at the notepad and said, "Miss Lin, I don't need you to pay liquidated damages, on the contrary, I am willing to increase the transaction price of the house." ”

"Thanks, no."

"Please think again."

"Thanks, but I still don't have to."

Xiao Huai was silent, but he didn't give up explicitly, and the scene was deadlocked.

After a while, his low voice revealed a hint of affection: "Miss Lin, my grandfather bought a Western-style house with 20,000 silver dollars during the Republic of China. This bungalow is your current property on Zhenning Road. ”

Faced with the sudden statement, Lin Li was stunned.

Xiao Huai continued: "My grandfather traveled to Germany with his great-grandfather in 1936 and was forced to stay in Switzerland, a country of permanent neutrality, during World War II. When Nanjing was occupied by the Japanese army in 1937, my grandfather renounced his nationality to show his patriotism, but this move led to his grandfather not being able to obtain an entry order from the Republic of China from 1945 to 1949 and was unable to return to China. ”

On September 30, 1949, my grandfather died of illness in Switzerland. When he was dying, his grandfather told his grandmother that he had been engaged to a Ms. Su in China, and that Ms. Su lived in a bungalow, and begged his grandmother to get in touch with Ms. Su. ”

Xiao Huai said this, and was silent for a while: "But grandmother refused grandfather's request. ”

Lin Li's chest suddenly swelled with some emotion, and he was suppressed by reason again, except for the hand holding the pen quietly clenched. The golden cap was forced, unceremoniously leaving a distinct circular mark on her fingertips.

When she was young, she couldn't figure out many details of the story of her grandmother and Young Master Xiao, but now she has figured it all out. Not only that, but she also suddenly understood the intention of her grandmother's will.

Xiao Huai didn't notice her strangeness, and said: "I only knew about this past when I read my grandfather's diary, and it took some time to confirm that Ms. Su had passed away, and the address of the bungalow was Lane 521, Zhenning Road. ”

"I know that after 1949, the inland was redistributed land assets, and the bungalows are now in your name. Please resell the bungalow to me, it's the only thing I can do for my grandfather. ”

After Lin Li listened, his eyes moved back to the notepad from Xiao Huai's face, and he held the pen hard, his knuckles were white, and every word he wrote out penetrated the back of the paper.

"Ms. Su's full name is Su Xuan, and she is my grandmother."

"No offense to you, your grandfather got married and had children in Switzerland, but my grandmother never married in China for the rest of her life."

Xiao Huai had a look of surprise on his face. He wanted to inquire about more specific details, the mobile phone suddenly vibrate, he chose to refuse, the mobile phone vibrated again, this time he connected the phone, at this time Lin Li looked at the time, nine o'clock.

Xiao Huai, who was on the phone, was speaking German, obviously dealing with work affairs, Lin Li lowered his head and wrote another paragraph in his notepad.

"My grandmother left a will, and anyone who meets someone surnamed Xiao will not associate with her. I can't resell the bungalow to you, please forgive me. ”

Lin Li put down his pen and got out of the car decisively.