Although the second semester of the second year of high school had started on March 15, Nan Huaifeng did not go to school, he called the head teacher Gao Ning and asked for a week off. Gao Ning hated that iron could not be made of steel, but he couldn't bear to refuse this young man who had just lost his only relative, and he was very honest at school, so he almost never caused him trouble.

Nan Huaifeng sat in the living room, looking at the portrait, his thoughts drifted away, remembering the past years. He is actually very vague about the appearance of men, and men have not spent much time at home with him in the past ten years. Men always go out early and return late, go out to work every day after making breakfast, and often come home late at night, but every time they go home on weekends, they will bring a string of rock sugar gourds to their son.

The only thing he has been impressed by the man over the years is the high-spirited young man in the photo, and the middle-aged man who has become a beard and a stubble in order to live, with slightly white temples and growing thin.

He doesn't blame the man, the man never let him be wronged until he died, although he had a "terminal illness".

Every year, a man makes an exception for a day off on his birthday, and it is the same for ten years.

He remembered that one year on his birthday,* it snowed heavily in the city, and the man made breakfast early and went out, leaving only a note: "Happy birthday, Huaifeng." I'm sorry, Dad has something to do today, and he may come back late, so I can't spend my birthday with you. "The man was not at home with him during the day, he cooked a meal at night, read a book in the living room, and waited for the man to come home. But the food was cold, and the man still didn't come back.

He couldn't help but feel a little lost, but when he was about to go into the room to sleep. A man with red hands and ears rushed in, his head covered in snowflakes and soaking wet, his clothes and pants dripping with water.

The man handed him the cake wrapped in a plastic bag.

grinning: "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you......"

Nan Huaifeng's heart was sour, and tears were about to burst out of his eyes.

The man stood at the door and hurriedly stretched out his hand, and said anxiously: "What are you crying about, men don't flick when they have tears, and it's not festive to cry when they celebrate their birthdays." ”

……

Nan Huaifeng thought for a long, long time, and finally stood up, he wanted to find out what the man was busy with in the past. After the man died, he never opened that door again.

The man's room was plain, painted on three sides, with only a single bed, a dilapidated wardrobe by the door, and a small desk and a crooked chair in front of the window.

He walked slowly into the room that belonged to the man, probably the only trace he left, right?

When he opened the drawer, he saw a letter with his name on it, "Nan Huaifeng". He was stunned, and quickly pulled out the letter paper and opened it with his hand:

"Huaifeng, no, son......"

He seemed to see a man writing a letter in the dim light, shaking his pen to begin, and hesitated for a long time. But he laughed again.

"By the time you read this letter, I may have passed away unexpectedly, so don't be sad. Everyone is born like a lamp, and he stays in the world to prove the value of his existence and contribute a little light to the world. People die like lights out, and there is nothing to be sad about. ”

The man was a little gloomy.

"Maybe no one will remember me after I'm gone, but you're different, you'll remember me, and I'm still very happy. Don't forget me, this is the only trace I left in this world. ”

"First of all, Dad wants to say sorry to you, you were abandoned by your biological parents because of a tumor in your head since you were a child. And all these years, I have been hiding from you. ”

"As for the medical expenses, you don't have to worry too much, Dad has already arranged it for you, you have to believe in yourself, you must tide over the difficulties, live well, and stick to the day when someone comes to help you."

"But before you do that, you have to adjust your mindset, because this could be a turning point in your life."

"If you have any doubts, there is a copy of my diary under the bedside that you can look at, but I suggest you wait until after the surgery."

"You must live well! Although your grades have not been very good over the years, Dad knows, but you must have your own ideas. I'm sorry, son. I was going to take you to surgery after graduating from high school. But my body probably won't last that long. I can't accompany you on your birthday, and I can't bring you rock sugar gourds anymore...... In the future, Dad won't be able to help you, and you'll have to rely on yourself in the future. ”

……

He could clearly feel that the man was obviously frustrated and lost when he wrote this.

Under the dim energy-saving light, the boy sat on the ground, his head down, and his expression could not be seen clearly.

"In the end, if after many years, you get married, don't blame Dad for being so cruel to abandon you, just take your wife and children and see Daddy. After all, I can't bear to ...... like that."

……

After reading the letter, Nan Huaifeng's face was already full of tears, he sat on the ground, lowered his head, pinched the letter in one hand, and let the tears wet the envelope drop by drop.

Long

He dug the diary out of a worn suitcase under the bedside. Inside the box, there are several photographs, one of which shows a man with his hand on the shoulder of a little boy. The boy's expression was a little unnatural, but the man smiled unusually happily.

It was on Nan Huaifeng's seventh birthday, and the man accompanied him to the photo studio for the first photoshoot.

He gently wiped the dust of the diary with his hand and opened the memory that belonged to the man.

……

Eighteen years ago, at the end of the first month. On the side of the road in the east of the city, a newborn baby boy was abandoned by his parents on the side of the road.

There was a piece of paper in the baby's arms, which said that he hoped that a well-wisher would help adopt it, and the child was seriously ill, and they were forced to make this decision due to "pressure", and finally wrote "the fifteenth day of the first month", which was probably the child's birthday.

But the first half of the page had already been wet with snowflakes, the handwriting was blurry and unreadable, and the man only saw the date of birth. He smiled immediately, what are the previous ones? It doesn't matter at all.

In the cold winter, he held the baby who did not cry or make a fuss in the swaddling clothes, he looked at the baby, and the baby looked at him in a daze. Nan Yuanshan couldn't help but think of his ex-girlfriend and himself. He had a flash of inspiration, and remembered that there was a good verse in the book. "May it be the southwest wind and die long into the arms of the king." He stretched out his hand and teased the dazed baby: "Then call you Nan Huaifeng." ”

The baby didn't know whether he was amused by him, or if he understood his words, and a small face that was not very cute actually smiled at him.

Nan Yuanshan, the director of the orphanage, was also abandoned by his parents when he was a child, and he was sent to the orphanage by well-wishers, in order to repay those who helped him at the beginning, he studied hard, worked in the school after graduation, and then used all his savings to build an orphanage in the west of the city with the help of friends. Although he is talented, gentle and elegant, he is emotionally unwilling, and his girlfriend thinks he has no money and power, so she abandons him......

And when he picked up the child a few years later, the baby boy was grinning at him as a stranger in his swaddling clothes, and he thought it was good to be alone, and he made up his mind not to marry again, and to raise the child.

He took the child back to a dilapidated office building that he had bought for a small amount of money, sent him to school, and taught him to read and write after class...... Nan Huaifeng is also very sensible, although his academic performance is not very good, he rarely lets men worry about him. Sometimes before the man goes home, he will silently make a cup of tea. Such a day makes Nan Yuanshan feel very happy, and sure enough, the world is still beautiful.

But when he found that the child was eight years old, he always covered his head at night and couldn't sleep, he hurriedly sent the child to the hospital for examination, and after learning that the child had a brain tumor, he suddenly became a little bright and decadent. Brain tumor, the doctor told him that the tumor is still small for the time being, and he must be operated on as soon as possible, otherwise the risk will be greater the more it is delayed, and when he is eighteen years old, it will basically be hopeless at that time!

But it takes a lot of money for him, and it is difficult for this impoverished man to climb to the sky.

After he returned to the dilapidated building with the child, he comforted: "Don't be afraid, Uncle will definitely cure you." He went to the balcony and smoked a cigarette. He took out his mobile phone and made countless calls, but no one would help him, because it was not a small amount of money, and he had already spent all his savings and even borrowed a large amount of money because he founded the orphanage. This man, who is only in his thirties, seems to have aged a few years overnight, and has some more gray hair out of thin air.

He did not hide that he was not Nan Huaifeng's biological father. But Nan Huaifeng didn't seem to care, and on his birthday, he lowered his head and called him "father". The man's bearded face was stunned, and suddenly tears flowed. He immediately pulled Nan Huaifeng in front of him, laughed heartily and said, "Okay, good, good, good son...... He felt that it was worth it to be tired a little.

……

He quit his job at the school, shook his head and left in the face of the principal and his colleagues. He began to help people unload goods at the docks in the morning, write manuscripts on the roadside of the newspaper office at noon, and deliver goods in the evening...... Occasionally, when he had a few days off a month, he would quietly go to hold a charity event for Nan Huaifeng. And so it goes, day after day, year after year.

……

Seeing this, Nan Huaifeng was speechless, he opened his mouth to say something, but found that there was no man.

Such a high-intensity life finally crushed him in the late autumn when Nan Huaifeng was seventeen years old.

He used to be dizzy and felt powerless for the first few years. He knew he was sick and even occasionally fainted while working and was taken to the hospital. But he didn't want his son to worry, and he didn't want to use his son's life-saving money to go to the doctor.

This young man who obviously has a great future, there are more and more gray hairs in his hair, and he slowly becomes middle-aged, and when he is sick, he always smirks when he thinks of his son.

Four months ago, at the beginning of December, just over a month before the school holidays.

He was discussing the wrong questions on the test paper with Nan Huaifeng, and suddenly he felt that the world was spinning, and his eyes were dark, and he fell to the ground. Nan Huaifeng hurriedly sent his father to the hospital, but learned the bad news.

Nan Yuanshan was admitted to the emergency room, and after resuscitation, he was transferred from the intensive care unit to the general ward.

The doctor shook his head, sighed, and told him that Nan Yuanshan had been sent to the hospital several times in the past few years, and he already had some congenital organ failure. The doctor also advised him to stop working hard, but he didn't listen. Now Nan Yuanshan's body organs are almost half exhausted? It may not last long, so let's arrange the aftermath as soon as possible.

Suddenly, Nan Huaifeng's eyes were red. He had also persuaded men before to let him not have to work so hard and pay more attention to his body.

The man just smiled and replied to him every time: "Okay, that Huaifeng should grow up sooner." "But I didn't expect the man to hide that he was sick a long time ago?

He looked at the seriously ill man on the hospital bed and couldn't help but feel sad. Nan Huaifeng has the impression that he has no father or mother since he was a child, and it was a man who brought him up. He never beat and scolded him, and for his unreasonable troubles when he was a child, the man just silently ended it properly for him, and then pointed out his mistakes with heart-to-heart examples.

For him, the man on the hospital bed is a spiritual pillar for each other and a hope for survival, and it is a little inaccurate to say that the two depend on each other. Men are always silently alone against all the rumors and pressures of life.

The man was in a coma for two days, and Nan Huaifeng did not leave an inch. In the evening of that day, the man opened his jerky eyes with difficulty, coughed a few times, Nan Huaifeng helped the man to lie half-on the bed, put a pillow on the man's back, poured a cup of warm water and handed it to him.

The man stretched out his bloodless and thin hand, held the teacup, was silent for a long time, his face was difficult, and he said to Nan Huaifeng tremblingly: "Son, you have to talk more and communicate with people more in the future." In just a few decades of life, people also need a few friends. Have hope for people and the world, and don't close yourself off anymore. By the way, I have cared about you too little over the years, and Huaifeng has grown up, have you found a girlfriend? If you find it. But I'm going to show my father, haha......" Saying this, the man coughed even more severely.

Nan Huaifeng is not a boy without feelings, although he has been lonely for so many years and is unwilling to communicate with others and close his heart, so he has never shed a single tear. But at this time, he couldn't help but burst into tears, he knew that the man might not have much time.

He lowered his head and choked, but he couldn't say a word, and the man squeezed out a not-so-good-looking face and interrupted him with a smile

"Son, don't cry. ”

Nan Yuanshan told him that there was 50,000 yuan in the drawer of the desk in his room, which was his savings for the past two years, and asked Nan Huaifeng to go back and pay the hospitalization fee. In fact, the doctor also told Nan Huaifeng privately before, and Nan Huaifeng just nodded silently in agreement. The doctor knew about the father and son, and the doctor sighed and turned away.

Nan Huaifeng nodded and said hoarsely, "Wait for me, you will be fine." ”

After saying that, he immediately ran home.

He had only one thought, to hurry back to the hospital from home.

When he left, the man's eyes became more and more wandering, as if he saw the smiling baby in the swaddling clothes, the little boy with his head down, and the silent teenager...... He opened his mouth, but didn't say a word.

But when he came to the hospital sweating profusely and carrying money, he only saw a white cloth, and the figure under the white cloth loomed, so familiar, but so blurred. He was where he was, and for a moment, his mind went blank.

His shoulders trembled slightly, poofed, knelt in front of the hospital bed, trembling and stretched out his hand to lift the white cloth, looking at the man's slightly white hair, wrinkled hands, the man's eyes were still open, and his mouth was slightly open, as if something had not yet been said...... He smoothed the man's eyes, turned away with tears streaming down his face, couldn't bear to look at the man again, he tilted his head, let the tears wet his clothes, but couldn't help but lean his back against the wall, his body trembling. The great sorrow in the world is silent, and the great suffering is silent.

A moment later, the doctor came to the door of the ward and sighed

"Mourning and change, in fact, this is not a relief for him, the illness has tormented him for a long time."

Nan Huaifeng just leaned back in the chair, supported the armrests with both hands, looked at the white cloth on the hospital bed, and burst into tears.

He called Gao Ning for the first time, explained the situation to him, hoped that he would keep it secret, and then took three days off to deal with his father's funeral.

Gao Ning only whispered a few words of comfort to this usually taciturn student from a "single-parent" family. In his impression, Nan Yuanshan is an intellectual, although his dress and grooming do not conform to his temperament at all, but getting along with others is a gentle and elegant feeling, which makes people always feel like a spring breeze. He knew how important this father was to Nan Huaifeng, so without the slightest hesitation, he granted Nan Huaifeng an extra week of leave. But Nan Huaifeng just rejected him in a hoarse voice, he sighed and persuaded him to come out as soon as possible. He just explained to the students in the class that Nan Huaifeng was sick with the same student, and everyone wanted to wish him a speedy recovery.

Nan Huaifeng did not inform his neighbors, but silently sent his father to be cremated and buried on the hillside of the cemetery on the outskirts of the city.

Overcast sky, drizzling. In his ears, the wind was whimpering, and the rain was crying. On the way down the mountain, it was muddy. He staggered down the mountain, one foot deeper, one foot shallow, one carelessly, his foot slipped, and he fell all over the mud, but he didn't realize it. Looking back at the mountain, he was in a trance along the way, as if he had seen a man laughing at him in that winter, and as if he had seen a stubble on his face laughing......

Scenes from the past, like films, continue to be shown in front of his eyes.

As if everything was just yesterday.

He raised his head, stretched out a hand, and wiped his face with the sleeve of his coat full of mud and water.

Although his eighteenth birthday is still a few months away, it seems that from this moment on, he has changed from a child to an adult.