The weather is changeable, the morning is still sunny and good, but in the afternoon there is a drizzle, the sky darkens, and the autumn suddenly thickens. When she got out of school, Fang Siying already felt the cool autumn mood, and when she walked out of the school gate, a gust of wind came to her face, so cold, she couldn't help but shiver. Looking up at the sky, the clouds were low and heavy, and an unknown tree at the school gate was scattered with fallen leaves. Thin rains fell on her face, bringing an indescribable feeling of depression. "Oh, Lao You drove to pick us up." Tingting said.

Really, Lao You's car was parked on the side of the road, he stood there, opened the car door respectfully, and said with a smile: "It's raining, Mr. wants me to pick you up." ”

Fang Siying looked up at the sky again, the rain was so thin, so soft, so light. Like smoke, like fog, like a foggy net. She took a deep breath and inhaled the thick autumn mood. Then, she said to Lao You:

"You take Tingting back, I want to take a walk in the fields."

"You don't have a raincoat, miss." Lao You said.

"No need for a raincoat, the rain is very light, you can go!"

"Come back soon! Teacher, you will get sick in the rain. Tingting said with an innocent little face. It's okay, go for it! She rubbed Tingting's hair and pushed her into the car. The car drove away. Along the dirt road, Fang Silk walked slowly forward. The rain was so soft, gently covering her. She moved forward slowly, as if walking in a dream, the compassionate wind, the misty rain, the smell of the earth, and the pine waves and bamboo sounds, drew her to another realm, another unknown, hazy and chaotic realm. She was intoxicated, intoxicated, and just like that, she walked all the way to the ruins of Smoky Hills. Pushing open the iron door, she stepped in, gently wandering among the pile of rubble. The abandoned garden under the rain and fog looks even more desolate and desolate. The wind shuttled unscrupulously through the collapsed doors and windows, the vines hung on the brick walls, dripping water quietly, the air roots of the old banyan tree shivered in the cold wind, and the long strips of the willow trees were full of water droplets, shiny, and each drop of water reflected a smoky mountain villa - the ruins of the broken walls, the dead vines and old trees. She sighed. How much tenderness, how much honey, how much ancient past. All lost in this pile of ruins. Who else can unearth? Who else can find it? Those buried stories and feelings? What about her dream? Like this ruins, like this rain and fog, the general depression, the general fog, she was afraid that she would never be able to put together the fragments of those dreams again. Sitting down on a pile of broken bricks, she fell into a deep meditation, one drizzling rain and the other cold wind. She sat for an unknown amount of time, and then, she was startled by a call. "Smoke!"

She looked up and saw Bai Peiwen standing at the door of Smoky Hills, with a face full of anxiety and haste. His slender shadow bathed in the rain and mist at dusk, with a special loneliness and desolation.

"Smoke, are you there? Smoking? Bai Peiwen walked in, on crutches, his steps staggering slightly. He wore a dark blue raincoat and a trench coat in the crook of his arm. Fang Siying stood up from the broken wall, she couldn't bear to watch his futile search. Walking up to him, she said, "Yes, I'm here." A radiance of ecstasy lit up his face, and he reached out to touch her, letting out a long breath. Oh, I thought ...... I thought ......," he muttered.

"Think I'm gone?" She asked, looking at him, what a deep affection was engraved on that face! With what an obsessive obsession! Oh! How difficult it is to leave this man! Does she really do? Take away the last ray of light in his dark world? "Oh, yes," he hastily smiled, a little shy. "I'm a frightened bird, with smoke." He stroked her hair, then her cold hands. "You're wet, you're cold! How capricious! He helped her put on a trench coat and tightened the placket of her chest. Lao You said that you refused to get in the car, and left alone in the rain, I was really scared. Oh, don't tease me, if you scare me a few more times, I'll die. ”

"I just want to take a walk." She whispered, struggling to look away from his face and look at the rain and mist of the ruins. "It's like a cemetery, a graveyard of joy and love." "It will be rebuilt, with smoke," he said in a deep voice, "I promised you that everything will be rebuilt." "Some things can be rebuilt, but I'm afraid some things can't be rebuilt." So, she read a poem softly, a poem by the French poet Verlaine:

"In the lonely and cold old garden,

Two shadows had just drifted by.

Their eyes are blank, and their lips are soft,

Their speech is almost inaudible.

In the lonely and cold ancient garden,

The two ghosts bring back to the past.

...... - at that time, how blue the sky was, how much hope there was!

- Hope has flown away, depressed, towards the night sky.

So they went into the wild oats,

but they were heard in the twilight. ”

"What are you reading?" Bai Peiwen asked.

"A poem." "I hope you haven't hinted at anything," Bai Peiwen said sensitively, "I'm afraid of you now, because I can't guess your thoughts, I can't grasp your emotions, I always feel that you are trying to find a way to leave me." So, I must spy on you with all my heart, spy on you, and imprison you. "Build me another golden wire cage, like before?" That cage almost killed me, what about this one? ”

"There are no cages." He said. "Then you let me fly!"

He shuddered, and his voice trembled slightly:

"I'll let you fly, but the little bird knows it's home."

"Really?" She asked faintly, looking at the ruins. Where is my home? Is this ruin a place where the nest is built? What's more, the magpie's nest is occupied, the old nest no longer exists, and how many ups and downs can the new nest withstand?

"Let's go, smoke, you're wet." He took her hand.

"I don't want to go back yet," Fang Siying said, "It's rainy, I want to go again." "Then, I'll go with you." So they walked out of Smoky Heights and along the dirt road, the twilight wind and rain covering them quietly. For a while, none of them spoke, and then, they walked all the way to the Songzhu Bridge. Hearing the murmuring □ of the flowing water, Bai Peiwen said: "For a while I hated this river. ”

"Oh, really?" "Do you just hate this river?" she asked. ”

"And, myself." She didn't speak, they began to walk back, and after walking for a while, Bai Peiwen gently reached out and grabbed her, she didn't resist, she was lost in the rain and mist.

"I've always wanted to tell you," said Perman, "you know, three years ago, my mother died of liver cancer. Do you know what she said to me when she was dying? She said, 'Peiwen, if I can resurrect Hanyan, I will die blindly.' Since you left, mother and son have lived in despair and remorse, and she has never said anything to me about you until she died. With smoke, can you forgive her? She's just a strong, willful and lonely old man. ”

Fang Siying sighed softly. "Can you?" "Yes." "So, what about me? Can you forgive too? He took her hand, her cool, rain-soaked hand.

She sighed softly again. "Can you? Can you? Can you? Good smoke? ”

"Yes." She said, softly. "I forgive, forgive a long time ago. However, that doesn't mean I've accepted your feelings. ”

"I know, give me time."

She was silent, her eyes fell through the misty rain and fog on a distant, distant, distant place. In the evening, it rained heavily. After Fang Siying watched Tingting fall asleep, she came to the door of Erin's room and knocked lightly. Although there was no light in Bai Peiwen's door, Fang Siying knew that he was not sleeping, and he must be listening to her movements vigilantly. Therefore, she had to go to Eileen's house quietly and silently and have a good talk with her. The door opened, and Erin, dressed in a pink dressing gown, stood in the doorway, glaring at her. Without waiting for her to say anything, Fang Siying flashed into the room and closed the door. With a pair of frank and sincere eyes, she looked at Erin and said in a low voice, "I'm sorry, I must talk to you." ”

Erin stepped back, let her into the room, and walked to the dresser, where she lit a cigarette and looked at Fang Siying silently. This is the first time, she looked at Fang Siying carefully, the fair skin, the black eyes, the small mouth and the pointed little chin, the faint sorrow, and the light and delicate air, she should have paid attention to this woman a long time ago!

"Sit down! Fang—huh," she frowned. "What should I call you? Miss Fang? Miss Zhang? Or—Mrs. Pawley? ”

Fang Siying stared at Erin, her eyes gaping.

"He told you everything?" "Yes." Eileen puffs out a cigarette: "A bizarre, unbelievable story! "Arabian Nights." Fang Siying said softly, sighing, her eyelashes drooped, and a faint, helpless, and pitiful smile appeared on her slightly pale face. Eileen was so touched by the smile that she felt strange about her emotions, imagining that she would hate her, be jealous of her, and curse her. However, at this moment, she has no hostile emotions towards her, but a strange, subtle, and inexplicable feeling. Why is that? Just because she took care of her drunk last night? "Thank you for taking care of me last night." Erin suddenly remembered.

"Nothing." "Did I say anything last night?"

Fang Siying looked at her gently, and there were a lot of words in those big eyes. And so it dawned on Eileen that she must have said something, something that could only be said to her closest confidant, her closest sister. She lowered her head and smoked a cigarette sullenly. "I've come to see you, Mrs. Bai, for I have something to ask for." Fang Siying finally spoke.

Yes, here it is! The original lady came out to ask for her place! Erin straightened her back. "What's the matter?" Her face was cold.

"Now that you know who I am, I think let's talk about everything frankly." Fang Siying said, looking at Erin earnestly, with a hint of gentle supplication in her voice. "As a mother, I solemnly entrust my child to you, please, no, please, help me take care of her! I will be grateful to you. Irene was surprised. Her eyes were wide open, and she stared at Fang Siying in surprise, these words were something she could never have dreamed of.

"I don't know what you mean." She said.

"I hate to say that," Fang Siying moistened her lips with her tongue. "But, it's true, you don't seem to like that kid. I'm just asking you to treat her a little better......" "You're implying that I abused that child?" Irene blushed a little.

"No, I don't dare." Fang Siying said softly, revealing a compromised look. "It's just that every child wants warmth, besides, you're her mother, aren't you?" "You're her mother!" "She'll never know that. In fact, she calls you Mom. So, you are her mother, and you are and will be. As for me, I'm just looking at her incognito, I'm going to leave after all. ”

"Leave?" Erin extinguished her cigarette butt. "You have to be clear! I thought you would never leave! "After teaching at Zhengxin for one semester, I have to go back to the United States." Fang Siying looked at Erin quietly. "It's only a month until the winter break, so it's my last month here. Do you understand what I mean? I am very reluctant to Tingting, if you are willing to promise me to take good care of her, I ......" A layer of tears suddenly welled up, and her eyes were soaked in mist. "I can't tell how I feel, I think, we are all women, we all have emotions, you will understand me."

Irene stared at her intently, for a moment, she didn't speak, and then, she pulled up a chair and sat down across from Fang Siying. Her gaze remained deep and judgmental on her face.

"Are you giving alms? Magnanimously giving your husband to another woman? Is it? "No, you're wrong." Fang Siying met her gaze and looked back at her deeply. "I'm not that kind of woman, and if I love it, I'll fight for it. The question is—" She paused. "Ten years is a long time, and I can't get back to my old feelings, you know? What's more, in the United States, my fiancé is waiting for me to get married. I can't stay in Taiwan any longer, I have to go back and get married. ”

The two women looked at each other, this was the first time they looked at each other so deeply, studied each other, and at the same time, bothered to understand and see through each other.

"But—" said Eileen, "don't you know that he wants to marry you?" He has already filed for a divorce on me today. ”

"Really?" Fang Siying raised her eyebrows slightly, and said thoughtfully: "That's just his one-sided meaning, that's impossible, because, I don't love him anymore, I stayed here for half a year, just for Tingting." If Tingting is happy, I don't have anything to worry about here. I'm going to go, I'm going to another man! "But—" Erin looked at her suspiciously, "you don't care about Peiwen anymore, he has indeed been haunted by you for ten years!" ”

"I was moved, so I forgave him." "But love is something else," she said. Love is not pity and sympathy. ”

"So, you mean you're done?"

"Yes." "Does he know?" "He'll know, and I'm going to let him know as soon as possible!"

Erin stopped talking, she couldn't take her eyes off Fang Siying's face, she felt that the woman was an enigma, a difficult character, a complicated book. It took a long time for her to say, "If you leave, he will be heartbroken." ”

"A woman's hand can stitch up that wound." Fang Siying said softly. "He's going to need you!" Erin raised her eyebrows, she and Fang Siying looked at each other, no one spoke anymore, the room was so quiet and quiet, only the raindrops outside the window knocked on the glass window, making a tinkling sound. In the distance, the cold wind was sweeping across the fields and through the pine forests, emitting a series of low calls. Erin went to the window, leaned her head against the lattice, and she looked out the window at the rain and fog, which was misty and indifferent.

"I don't think he's going to need me," she said, "and all he needs for me right now is a divorce certificate." "Of course you won't promise him!" Fang Siying said, walking over to Erin's side. "He'll get better soon, when I leave." Her voice was urgent and sincere. "Trust me, don't leave him!"

Erin turned her head, and she looked directly at Fang Siying. "You seem to be desperate to get us?" She asked.

"Yes." "Why?" "If he had a good wife and a happy family, I would have been freed from my mental load. Moreover, I want Tingting to live in a normal and happy family. "Have you ever thought that if you were reunited with him, it would be a perfect family?" She asked, her gaze sharp, straight on Fang Siying's face. "That's impossible," Fang Siying looked at her frankly. "I said I don't love him anymore." "Really? You didn't say that on purpose for some reason? ”

"Really! Totally true! ”

Erin looked out the window again, and a mixed emotion crept into her heart. She felt sour, she felt lost, she felt a new emotion rising in her body, she felt that she had suddenly become so feminine, so weak. In her veins, a gentle and gentle emotion was slowly spreading throughout her body. "Okay," she said, turning around. "If you're gone, I promise, I'll treat that kid well." Tears slid down Fang Siying's cheeks, and she looked at Erin with tearful eyes. In this instant, a strange, new friendship grows between the two women. Fang Siying didn't leave immediately, no one knew what else the two women had talked about that night, but when Fang Siying returned to her room, the night was already very deep.