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In the elegant and generous ancient city in the south of the Yangtze River, the marriage of Lao Wu and A Xiu was lively and grand.

The gravel roads of the entire alley are covered with colorful, glittering scraps of paper. The windows on both sides of the river and the white walls at both ends of the bridge are full of curiosity and blessing. People have long forgotten the water rainbow of "marrying a huge rich man from another country", and everyone is full of hope that Lao Wu can reorganize his home and build a new home that the alley people are proud of, so that the neighbors on both sides of the alley can continue to be contaminated by the Wu family's pure family style, and continue to get the favor of seeking medical treatment and medicine. People seem to have been impressed with Ah Xiu within a few days. Everyone remembered her simplicity and kindness. People began to have reassuring expectations for this girl who was watched by her neighbors and many people hugged her and bought candy for her. Not only can she unload the burden of Lao Wu's flower guard, but she will also be able to manage this family as hard as the original Shui Hong. She should also treat Ah Ni as well as her own sister, and be a competent stepmother. Lao Wu's career and reputation are at their peak, and he should have a stable and peaceful home.

The saddest thing in the alley is the women who have not yet married, especially those who think they are smarter and more fashionable than Ah Xiu, so they spend many sleepless nights. They are all distressed by the same question - why didn't they find the marriage rift between Lao Wu and Shui Hong? Why didn't you get the first step into this gap and gap? When they heard that Wu Lao's illness had worsened due to the marriage of his eldest son, and he might die soon, and Wu Hanxiong would inherit a large amount of property and a house, they were heartbroken and regretful. Women don't even dare to see each other, for fear that each other will see the panda-like natural eyeshadow left on their eyes by those sleepless nights......

The Li family shop is not what it used to be, with a large number of customers, a full market, and a daily turnover soaring. Some neighbors have already begun to give Boss Li ideas: if Lao Wu and Ah Xiu's family move to the Wu family's mansion in the future, they can persuade Lao Wu to use this small building and yard next to the Li family's restaurant to exchange for a piece of land that can be expanded into a restaurant, so that the business can get bigger and bigger, and it will be several grades. Boss Li's eyes often appear in front of the mirage of Suzhou's private antique hotels.

After Lao Wu flew away, he didn't have the heart to do a big deal about the marriage. But the Axiu family did not allow their happy event to be hastily completed. Lao Wu has long been deprived of the right to organize the wedding, and he has become a worry-free and idle groom. He didn't expect that such a close way to welcome the new year, there would be a luxury float in the alley, and the alley was flooded, traffic jams, and the sound of celebratory firecrackers was deafening. The wedding banquet was full of lights and people; The man wore a suit and leather shoes, and the woman wore a brocade silk jacket, and even Ah Ni gave Ah Xiu a generous toast, which made Ah Xiu speechless and burst into tears.

The alley naturally embraced the couple. There is no way out of the rainbow.

Lao Wu knew that he had lost Shui Hong forever. If Shui Hong doesn't love Zhou You, then he may still see her often, and she will definitely come back to visit her daughter from time to time. But now it is for the sake of Ah Ni that Shui Hong must block all news and whereabouts about her, so as not to provoke Ah Ni and cause trouble. It's hard for her to come back for the time being, and she can't even get Ah Ni to visit her; No one mentions the rainbow, as if she is really a rainbow after the rain, and when the wind passes, she silently blends into the blue sky.

For a long time after marriage, Lao Wu was never able to get used to getting along with Ah Xiu day and night. He often walked into Ah Ni's room alone, looked at the photos of the rainbow on the wall, and secretly hurt himself. Sometimes he stood at the window upstairs, looking at the river to the east for a long time, silently recalling the situation of standing at the window with Shui Hong. Especially in autumn, the sweet fragrance of osmanthus flowers blooming in the yard wafted from downstairs to the rooms upstairs, wandering in front of their beds, until the hair of the rainbow was incensed, and then drifted far away from the window. However, when the osmanthus blooms again this year, the rainbow will not stand here, the rainbow is not there, will the osmanthus be as fragrant as in previous years? He thought that when he waited for the fragrant osmanthus this autumn, he would let Ah Xiu sugar-soak a few bottles of mellow fragrant osmanthus like Shui Hong did every year, and throughout the year, as long as he opened the bottle cap, he could smell the breath that made people intoxicated and heartbroken......

Lao Wu often imagined that one day, the door of the small courtyard would suddenly open, and Shui Hong would carry her suitcase and return to him. When he thought like this, he deeply regretted why he actually accepted the key to the small building left by Shui Hong when he left. Maybe he knew her too well, and a woman who had experienced the fire of heaven would not be able to re-enter the atmosphere. After many days of marriage, Lao Wu not only did not have a little festive red in front of him, but always flashed a black urn. He knew that Rainbow would not come back, and that one day if she came back, it might be her urn. Decades later, she would let her beautiful child, send her ashes back to her hometown, and sprinkle the ashes into the river that raised her. He remembered that Shui Hong had joked with him before and told him about this wish. But at that time, he may have gone before her, then he will definitely let Ah Ni sprinkle her father's ashes into this small river, and in the autumn at the bottom of the river with the remains of the fine petals of osmanthus flowers, waiting to meet his beloved wife again. But will she let Zhou You come with her? It's possible. Xiaohe is their matchmaker, and it is by this river, in this house, that they fall in love and fall in love for the first time. It seems that even at the bottom of the river, Shui Hong and Zhou You will still leave him out in the cold.

Lao Wu's heart was as cold as a river in winter. A new question appeared in his mind, and it immediately sent chills through him. For such a long time, he has always been unable to catch up with the fantasy whereabouts of the two heavenly birds, who knows if Shui Hong will remember her last wish. Maybe she has long forgotten the small river in the south of the Yangtze River, and is obsessed with the northern sky, and may throw her ashes into space in the future. At present, there is no such business in the domestic aerospace field, but it will be in a few decades. At that time, Shui Honghui and Zhou You were happily suspended and flying in space, while he was lying alone at the bottom of the cold river, suffering from muddy water.

Why do you keep thinking about ashes? Lao Wu relieved himself and couldn't help but sigh softly. Are you really old? He suddenly realized that he had actively loved Shui Hong in the past, and suddenly turned to passively accept the love of his new wife. Active love makes him energetic and energetic; And passive love makes him like an old lady who is supported by others, and he speaks with a hmm-ahhhh Perhaps on the surface, he is still a polite middle-aged scholar, but only he knows in his heart that his good days are gone, and he has entered old age prematurely in his mental age.

Every day when she came back from school, she sat on the sofa in the small living room upstairs, admiring and appreciating her big brother's paintings over and over again. She felt like she could see something new every time. She is very grateful for her mother's advice before leaving, and her mother is right, oil paintings should really be seen from a distance, and only by looking far away can we grasp the big effect of the picture, and slowly discover the mystery between color, composition, and light and shade on the picture. In the past, in her cabin, she stood almost within easy reach to watch. She could see every uneven and uneven brushstroke on the canvas, even the deliberately unbalanced color pigments on the brushstrokes, and the canvas pattern behind the thin patches of color. At that time, she thought it was a bit funny to look at a painting like this, as if she was touching the tip of her nose to the page of a book to read the words. It's just that at the beginning, she was really reluctant to let her big brother go, because she often felt that it was not a painting, but a big brother's hands and face, and she looked at the painting as if she was looking at the big brother. And since she moved the painting to the small living room, the things that she couldn't see in the small room have jumped out of the picture little by little, more and more, which is really enough for her to be overwhelmed and ponder.

When Ah Ni occasionally thinks of her mother, she thinks that her mother is really a good mother.

Shui Hong, who was thousands of miles away, of course, had no way of knowing, she thought that she had moved away the "painting furnace" that Zhou You had built for Ah Ni, and Ah Ni would gradually alienate her eldest brother because of this. She didn't expect that this might be counterproductive, and Ah Ni's heart had already followed her eldest brother from the hut to the small living room, which was a larger "painting furnace".

When she comes home from school, she sometimes puts her arms on the armrests of the sofa and holds her chin with her palms, carefully figuring out the colors and compositions on the picture - oh, why are the feathers of this white crane so white and gorgeous? Yes, it turned out to be lined with dark ochre-green shrubs. How vivid this dark ochre green color is, and it is transparent and breathable, and it also reveals the fragrance of shrubs that have just sprouted in spring......

Oh, I also understand, why does the crane seem to fly? It turned out that the center of gravity of the crane tilted forward into such a large arc. If it weren't for the flapping of its wings, it looked like it was going to fall. It swirled and danced, dancing so freely that it was almost flying. Hey, put your long legs on tiptoe a little more, tiptoe, tiptoe, tiptoe again! You're going to go into the blue sky and dance with the white clouds......

Ah Ni looked at it, and often muttered to the painting. Sometimes I also learn the movements of the crane dance and dance. But she always danced the double crane dance, sometimes playing the female crane, sometimes the male crane, and sometimes she raised her head and opened her mouth, and made up the joyful cry of the white crane courtship. When she played the female crane, she was gentle and charming, happy and intoxicated, and her soft arms stretched out all kinds of graceful curves in the air; It is not only like a white crane flapping its wings, but also like it is calling affectionately to the north. Sometimes she would suddenly make the gesture of her wings being broken by the wind and falling in terror, and after a whirling dance, she would curl up tiredly on the ground, pressing her beautiful face against the carpet in agony, and her arms raised back in despair, like the dying white swan in the dance play "The Death of the Swan". From her big eyes, large crystal tears flowed, and she called softly: "Big brother......"

Then she would always get up on her own and run under the north wall of the small room, and from there she would start to dress up as a male crane, a male crane flying from the north, passionate, romantic, strong and powerful. She would dance the dances she longed for, and spread her wings to hug the female crane she had just played, so affectionately. She tilted her head sideways and pressed her face against the face of her imaginary counterpart. The tears on her cheeks shone with happiness and contentment. Wings are the eternal theme of Ani, whether it is her paintings, her dances, or her dreams, a pair of fluttering wings repeatedly circulate. She wanted to fly, to fly to the north, to fly to the big brother, to swoop down from the sky, and to throw herself into the arms of the big brother. But she was afraid of breaking her wings, falling from the clouds, and falling into the Taihu Lake, where there was no edge on all sides. So she suddenly stopped dancing, quietly walked to the window, pushed it open, and looked at the northern sky. She imagined that there was a great bird of the north, flying towards her through the thick clouds, and then carried her on its back, carrying her steadily, and its huge wings flew over the stars and the moon and took her back to the north......

When she was tired, she would sit down on the sofa again, staring at her big brother's painting on the wall for a long time. Every time, she would always keep her eyes on the self-portrait of Zhou You for a long time. She has many pictures of her big brother, some of them cut out of pictorial magazines, and some of them were sent to her by her big brother before; But her favorite is this red self-portrait. None of those photographs are as enthusiastic as the colors of this portrait, like a red flame that symbolizes friendship and love. She looked at her big brother quietly, sometimes smiling, sometimes angry, sometimes happy, sometimes frustrated, her eyes revealed the adoration and obsession of a star-chasing girl, even Ah Xiu and her father asked her to go downstairs for dinner, she ignored it, as if the soul had already gone out of her body and flew to the far north.

Whenever Lao Wu saw Ah Ni's infatuated appearance, he always blamed Shui Hong in his heart. When Ah Ni stayed in the small "painting furnace", he was not so incorrigibly confused. Now it is good that the "painting furnace" has not only not been destroyed as she wished, but has expanded several times, and has also provided her with a big stage where she can indulge in dance, expression and imagination, a big oven for art, music, dance, and poetry. Ah Ni is about to cultivate into a demon, a monster, and a ghost of love and art in this gossip furnace of six arts and seven feelings, and if she doesn't get it, she will create a goddess of revenge. Lao Wu was terrified all day long. When he came home from work, he guarded the straight-eyed Ah Ni and paced around the small living room, so worried that he couldn't do anything at all.

"Dad, you're in my way!" Ah Ni shouted. "In the past, my mother said that you don't have artistic cells, and she didn't wronged you at all. You always teach me not to talk in the theater and not to walk in front of people in the art exhibition hall, but you are good, I am looking at the paintings, why do you always dangle in front of me, my head is dizzy......"

Lao Wu was so angry that he really wanted to burn all of Zhou You's paintings. But if he did that, Ah Ni might really burn down the house in a fit of rage. Lao Wu felt that Ah Ni was becoming more and more like a rainbow, and her soft appearance was wrapped in tenacity and fierceness. And Ah Ni is more willful and assertive than her mother, she is an only child after all. She doesn't seem to need her dad as a friend and teacher anymore.

Before Shui Hong left, he asked Lao Wu to buy the stereo for Ah Ni, and his fate was almost the same as that painting stove. Not only did Ah Ni not empathize with him, but he chose to buy the cassette of love songs and love songs. As long as she was at home, her cabin resounded low and soft. One moment is "Falling in Love with a Guy Who Doesn't Go Home", one moment is "The Wolf of the North", one moment is "Actually, You Don't Understand My Heart", and what is "I'm the One Who Cares About You...... One day, Lao Wu actually heard Ah Ni himself singing in a low voice, "I want to have a home, a home with my big brother......"

Lao Wu held his breath and threw his hand down the stairs angrily. His hands trembled nervously, and he almost threw the teacup handed over by Ah Xiu to the ground. Ah Xiu hurriedly supported Lao Wu and asked him to sit down on the sofa.

"Old Wu, don't worry about her. She must be crazy. Let her go crazy. If her life is good and she is obsessed for ten years, she will probably be like me, and she will be kind and rewarded. Now that it's open, there seem to be fewer and fewer infatuated women by the river, and I heard that there are a few people in the alley opposite who go to the south to sell **. Alas, don't cross the line, let Ah Ni go crazy, fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl, do you let her think, what's the matter? ”

"You know what." Lao Wu sighed and hugged Ah Xiu to his side. "In the past, the old people said that this river was a river of infatuation, and over the years, there have been too many stories of infatuation on both sides of the river, why don't I worry about things?"

"Grandma Zhang's grandmother said that the fog on this river is a fog, men will be in a daze when they suck it, and women will be crazy when they suck it. I can't see anything in the fog, and if I can't see it, I can't think about it, so I will be crazy. ”

Although Lao Wu said that this was superstition, he had always felt mysterious about the fog of the river. He remembered that when Shui Hong finally left the alley, he was fascinated by the rain and fog of the river, as if there was something special in the fog. He would love to get a few sample bottles from the hospital and collect some fog from the creek to do a lab test. Indians have regarded the water of the Ganges River as holy water for generations, it can indeed sterilize and disinfect, even if you drink the turbid raw water of the Ganges, people will not get sick, and it really has a special effect on some diseases. Later, it was discovered that the water of the Ganges River did contain trace amounts of radioactive elements that are beneficial to human health...... Could it be that the mist on this creek also contains some mysterious element that specifically seduces love? Lao Wu has heard of fragrant mist, poisonous mist, and acid mist, is there really a kind of obsessive fog in Jiangnan? Pollution in Suzhou, like all other cities, is becoming increasingly difficult to control. In the summer, the river began to emit a stench, maybe some toxic substances had begun to invade the river and air, he really couldn't help but believe the words of the Zhang family's grandmother.

"Ah Xiu, in your opinion, is there any way to stop Ah Ni from being so stupid again?"

"There is no good way to get sick, there is only a prescription, which is to wait a few more years and let the man she wants to marry her."

"It's simply impossible." Lao Wu said disappointedly. "Zhou You is already thirty years old, and he is a well-known young painter in the country, and there are so many girls chasing him that I estimate that he will get married soon. But Ah Ni is still so young......"

"I don't think so. Last time, Ah Ni took Zhou You to my restaurant for dinner, and I saw that Zhou You seemed to be obsessed with Ah Ni. That day, Zhou You kept staring at Ah Ni, not like looking at a little girl, but like looking at a slang (him) little friend. You see, Zhou You sent so many paintings to Ah Ni, how much are these paintings worth? If Zhou You didn't have a plan, would he be willing to spend money like this? Our Ah Ni is really beautiful, Zhou You is in Beijing, and he may not be able to find such a beautiful girl. Now there are many people in Suzhou City who are fighting Ah Ni's idea, and the people in the alley say that in a few years, Ah Ni will definitely be more prominent than her mother. I think it's okay to let Ah Ni chase Zhou You, three plugs and two plugs, Zhou You and his current girlfriend will definitely be plugged in, you better leave her alone, otherwise, the more you object, the more she is infatuated, what is this called...... Inverse...... Reverse psychology? ”

Lao Wu really couldn't talk to a person who didn't know the truth. He was a little impatient and a little annoyed, and said in a hurry:

"You really don't know that Zhou You's current girlfriend is much more beautiful than Ah Ni. She is a first-class ballet dancer, has won awards in international competitions, and has traveled all over the world, her grandfather has long been a minister, her father is the president of a group company, and even her mother is a mayor and director, her family lives in a garden house with a swimming pool, a Mercedes-Benz car per person, and the engagement that people send to Zhou You is a Peugeot car. You say such a person, such a girlfriend fiancée, can Ah Ni plug them away? ”

"Ah......" Ah Xiu was so frightened that he waved his hand again and again. Don't get it, don't get it, put it in and ask for it, if you can't get it, you will lose your life, I will become an instigator, and I will be involved. Why didn't you tell me sooner...... Now I know why you're so sad, it's scary......"

Ah Xiu's face was pale, and he hugged Lao Wu's arm, as if he had caused some serious disaster. Lao Wu felt a little funny, he hugged Ah Xiu to his lap, and still deliberately said with a straight face:

"Then you see, in this case, what can I do?"

Ah Xiu thought about it, breathed a sigh of relief and said: "Maybe this is easier to do, just tell Ah Ni about the actual situation of Zhou You, it will definitely scare her awake and let her die of this heart......"

Lao Wu pondered for a while, although he still thought it was a bit funny, but Ah Xiu inadvertently pointed out to him the psychological weakness of the infatuated girl, which made him suddenly open his mouth - if the other party's conditions are too superior, to the point of unattainable, Ah Ni has to gradually give up Zhou You after being completely disappointed. He never thought that one of his jokes would lead to Ah Xiu's insight. He felt a little comforted in his heart, and a smile appeared on his face, and he said:

"Don't tell Ah Ni about Zhou You's girlfriend now, I have to think about it again."

The question is, where did Zhou You go to get a billionaire's daughter? It has to be a woman more beautiful than Ani to pretend to be his girlfriend. I hope that Zhou You has great powers, and it would be good if he could "borrow" such a girlfriend from somewhere. Lao Wu decided to write a letter to Shui Hong in detail about Ah Ni's recent obsession with his big brother's various performances, as well as the "recipe" provided by Ah Xiu, asking the two of them to assist him and take countermeasures as soon as possible.

It was late at night, and Ah Xiu was still sitting comfortably on Lao Wu's lap, holding him and not letting go. After marriage, it was the first time that Lao Wu had endured Ah Xiu's whole body attachment for such a long time so patiently. He felt that he liked Ah Xiu a little bit again. He felt more and more about the need for Ah Xiu when he was dealing with Ah Ni. After Ah Xiu entered this house, she has always cared for and taken care of Ah Ni like a big sister. Ah Ni constantly asked Ah Xiu to be a model for her, and Ah Xiu always took the trouble to pose for her to draw. Once when Lao Wu was hugging Ah Xiu, she sighed softly and asked her carefully, it turned out that she was a model for Ah Ni, and she held her arms for a long time, and her shoulders were numb, but she still endured it. The better Ah Xiu treats Ah Ni, the more the distance between Lao Wu and Ah Xiu gradually shortens. Lao Wu can't think of any other woman who will love him like Ah Xiu. In the past year, he has been physically and mentally exhausted by the pain caused by the marriage change and the trouble caused by Ah Ni, and he really hopes that Ah Xiu can use her gentleness and kindness to drive away the boredom in his heart.

Lao Wu gently lifted Ah Xiu's head with his fingers, and he felt that Ah Xiu was more charming and plump after marriage. Although he has not yet given all his love to Ah Xiu, Ah Xiu still feels great satisfaction and happiness. She snuggled up to him affectionately, her tender fingers caressing the buttons of his coat, as if waiting for something. Lao Wu felt a burst of hot air coming from Ah Xiu's body. Yes, he can't always miss and wait for the hopeless rainbow, he should give Ah Xiu more thoughtfulness as compensation for love.

He picked up Ah Xiu and walked straight up the stairs, then gently placed her on the bed in the bedroom.