Chapter 22: Late Night Call No. 22
On that day, I don't know where my aunt got the courage to come across the river by rowing a bamboo raft alone.
Then, after all, she did not resist the call of the river god, and fixed her young life after that dusk.
On the scattered river of bamboo rows, my aunt disappeared.
I pulled my throat and wanted to shout, but I don't know why, I can't shout.
Then, I saw a familiar person.
Zhang Jianjun, he stood on the embankment on the other side of the river, not moving. Seeing his aunt struggling in the river, he was indifferent.
It was only when my aunt was completely submerged that he moved slowly and flowed into the river.
But it was only a few steps before turning back.
After that, several more people came to the shore, and I saw that Zhang Jianjun seemed to be asking for help.
Several people immediately went into the water, but by that time it was too late, and my aunt did not know where she had drifted under the water.
At that time, I was young and didn't know much about life and death.
When I got home, my grandmother asked me where I had been.
I said, "Grandma, the river god took my aunt away." Will she ever come back? ”
My grandmother thought I was talking nonsense, ignored me, and went about her own business.
When it was dark, my grandmother finally knew the bad news, and that night, the sky was so dark that I couldn't see my fingers.
The people in the village who knew how to water joined the salvage ranks, and the grandmother sat on the embankment and cried.
On the third day, my aunt was salvaged downstream, and I couldn't believe it was my aunt who was lying there swollen like something, except for the flower dress.
After my grandmother reacted, she asked me why I knew that the river god had taken my aunt away.
At that time, I was completely stunned, I only knew that my aunt, who had always loved me, was gone, and I cried all day long and asked my grandmother to ask for my aunt.
I don't know anything about adults, but when I got older, I listened to my grandmother talk about my aunt.
Zhang Jianjun's explanation was that the sunset that day was particularly beautiful, and the cells of the two teachers who studied art and the artists came to an end.
In order to leave the most beautiful scenery, my aunt asked Zhang Jianjun to draw a brush by the river, and as the person in the painting, she shook the bamboo row and floated on the river.
Who knew that my aunt's life was in harmony with water, and the rope tied to the bamboo row that day was scattered at that time.
Zhang Jianjun wanted to save him, but he was also a landlubber. When I got into the water, I found that it couldn't be done, so I had to call someone, but it was too late.
The summer my aunt left, my whole world turned gray. After that, I also changed from a proud little princess to a grizzled Cinderella.
When Zhang Jianjun came to the house again, his face was no longer as gentle as before.
I stopped saying a word to him, and I was deeply hostile to him.
I have always had a question in my heart, that day, when my aunt was trapped in the water, why didn't Zhang Jianjun go into the water to save her as soon as possible, even if he didn't know how to water, why did he linger by the river for so long and not call someone for the first time?
I asked my grandmother if her death had anything to do with Zhang Jianjun.
Grandma told me not to talk nonsense, it was my aunt's shallow life, no wonder others.
After that summer, my aunt was gone, and Zhang Jianjun disappeared from our world.
It is said that because he loved his aunt deeply, he couldn't accept his aunt's departure, so he traveled all over the world by himself.
He resigned from school and no one knows where he went.
After that, I lived with my grandmother.
My father, who had another family, although he lived a very poor life, still carried his daughter-in-law behind his back to help me and my grandmother.
Anyway, I also went to school, and later I was admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts.
In my first year of college, I learned that there was a half-baked painter named Zhang Bai in this world, and I didn't know that he was Zhang Jianjun back then.
It wasn't until I saw his painting "The Girl on the Bamboo Row" that I finally understood that this person named Zhang Bai was actually Zhang Jianjun, who had disappeared for many years.
I met Bai Yufei in my first year of college, when I was working at an off-campus training institution.
The reason why I worked at that training institution was because I saw a poster at the door of the training institute with a white portrait on it, and said that he would give a guest lecture at the institution every Saturday.
Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the training institution, Bai Yufei is a student in my class.
My first meeting with Zhang Bai after many years was in his class on Saturday, and after all these years, he hasn't changed much.
I sat in the last row that day, and I was also active in class, raising my hand and asking him a lot of questions.
Time is the best carver, and it carves my appearance as a child in the world of Zhang Bai without the slightest memory.
After a class, I was still thinking, is this person in front of me really the man who gave me candy with a smile?
Bai Yufei is the same age as me, and many people say that I look very similar to her, like a pair of sisters.
She is particularly obsessed with drawing and is one of the most gifted students in her class.
I paid special attention to her, and slowly, I found that we had a good conversation.
A girl who looks very normal, but I didn't expect her to have delusions, a particularly melancholy little girl.
In addition to teaching at training institutions, I collect all kinds of hats in my spare time, and later draw flowers on the hats, and then embroider them with needles one by one.
I opened a small handmade hat shop in a certain treasure, customizing hand-embroidered flowers for favorite customers, and the business is not bad.
The family's economic conditions are not good, and my father is also very poor in helping me, and it is this craft that supports me to finish college.
With my help, Bai Yufei also opened a small shop online, and I wanted to make her life more fulfilling.
Bai's mother was very grateful, and often cooked delicious dishes for me to go to the house to improve the food.
Because Yu Fei's condition is always recurring, Bai's mother has to move many times. The last time I moved to the Xintiandi community.
Not long after moving in, an accident killed Bai's mother.
Bai Yufei's illness became more and more serious, I followed the doctor's advice and took her back to her hometown, she needs someone to take care of her, my grandmother is alive and well, she also needs someone to accompany her, she welcomes Bai Yufei's arrival very much.
When I returned to the city, I renewed the rent of Yufei's rented place, and I moved in.
The question in my heart could not be answered, and the more unpleasant it was in my heart.
I wrote and directed a play, and that night, I made the first phone call to Zhang Bai.
I stole Yu Fei's identity to deal with him.
One lie is followed by more lies.
Zhang Bai is completely defenseless against me, and I have been looking for opportunities to find the answers I want.
When I asked him about the background of his painting "The Girl on the Bamboo Row", at first he said that he would not reveal it, and whenever I mentioned it, a sad look appeared on his face, which once made me mistakenly think that he was true love for my aunt.
It also made me doubt my judgment of him for a while.
I am even glad that my childhood wish came true, and when I grow up, I will marry such an excellent man as him.