When we finally got ashore, the fog in the lake gradually dissipated.

Yan Xi said: "I gave you that painting, can you use it as a background model for me?" ”

Ah Heng nodded and said, "Okay, okay." She blushed and thought nervously, "Oh, I was so beautiful that I could be a model for Yanxi."

As a result, Yan Xi said: "Use the scenery as a background for a while, you don't have to be nervous, just pretend to be a passerby." ”

"Oh." Ah Heng is full of black lines.

She walked to the plum tree as Yan Xi instructed, but she was actually very embarrassed. However, when you take people's things, your hands are naturally soft.

"Take two more steps forward and move away from the tree." The boy held a black camera and looked at the camera with half-squinted eyes.

"Oh." Ah Heng sniffed and took two steps to the side.

"Two more steps forward."

With the coiled trunk and the delicate and icy petals, looking at the freshly opened plum tree next to him, Ah Heng took two steps forward.

She's making a background for a tree.

"Two more steps forward." The teenager held the camera and continued to order.

One big step, two big steps, Ah Heng counted forward, a bit like the hopscotch he played when he was a child.

"Keep walking." The boy's voice was already a little farther away.

She buried her head and walked forward.

"Alright, alright, stop!" His voice stirred slightly in the wind, but he couldn't hear it clearly.

"Don't look back." He spoke.

"What did you say?" She turned around and looked at the young man's mouth in the distance in confusion.

The young man, standing in the wind, with black hair and red lips, and a bright smile.

"Click."

Time freezes.

13 January 1999.

Years later, a photograph was placed in the most inconspicuous corner of the exhibition hall.

An unpretentious girl, with a gray coat and black eyes, gazing gently and intently. She made a room full of gorgeous and noble tones as a background.

Many young photographers who came here saw this work and sighed at the failure. Yan Xi has been a genius all his life, but he left such a work with no aesthetic sense at all.

At that time, Yan Xi was old, smiling and listening to the sincere suggestions of the juniors. They asked him to remove the failure, and he just shook his head.

"Why?" They are young, so there are many times to ask why.

"The person she's looking at is me." Yan Xi smiled, his eyebrows and eyes were so old that he couldn't distinguish the past. It's just that the light in those eyes is deep and dim, "I can deny the whole world, but I can't deny myself in her eyes." ”

"Do you want to go to Wushui?" When Yan Xi casually asked Ah Heng, she was holding a mineral water bottle and pouring water into her stomach.

Being a model is tiring, especially for passers-by like her. Plum blossom background, paper umbrella background, sky background, dockyard background......

Ah Heng was absent-minded, and when he reacted, a mouthful of water squirted out.

Yan Xi narrowed his big black and bright eyes and smiled: "You don't want to go?" ”

Ah Heng swallowed his saliva and cautiously asked the young man, "Can I go?" ”

Yan Xi replied lightly: "Wen Heng, your 'Wen' is indeed the 'Wen' of the Wen family, but 'Heng' is the 'Heng' of the Yun family." ”

No one had ever said anything like that to her. What kind of clothes they make her wear and what kind of person she plays, but no one cares what kind of past and what kind of future she has.

The corners of Ah Heng's eyes were a little damp, looking into the distance, a little stunned.

A cloud of pink gently blocked her vision, and the boy said lazily, "What can you see?" ”

She was dumbfounded.

Yan Xi smiled: "If you don't move forward, how can it be clear!" He stopped turning and kept moving forward, carrying a large duffel bag with a straight back, like a true traveler walking into the minutiae of her life.

She and Yan Xi sat in the car again, as if two-thirds of their time on this trip was spent in the car. The good tradition of Chinese tourism - getting on the bus to sleep and peeing on the car, Ah Heng fulfilled the first half, and Yan Xi fulfilled the second half.

Ah Heng slept all the way, Yan Xi got out of the car and pulled Ah Heng to find the toilet eagerly. What kind of pink walls and tiles, small bridges and flowing water, and willows are all nonsense about literati in their spare time! For Yan Xi, at this time, the bright moonlit night of the 24th Bridge of West Lake is not as attractive as the toilet.

"Yan Xi, here in Wushui Town, no, public toilets." Her words were earnest and deeply sympathetic.

"What then?!" The boy opened his teeth and danced his claws, like a very hideous little beast.

"Come to my house, I have it." Ah Heng is very serious, very serious, as if discussing an academic topic.

"Where is your home?" Yan Xi's eyes widened and he complained.

Ah Heng sniffed, grabbed Yan Xi's hand, and ran up.

Yan Xi's face turned green when he ran, what, ...... It's out......

The town is very small, and when Ah Heng and Yan Xi ran back to Yun's house out of breath, Mica was chatting with her neighbor Granny Huang.

"Grandma, get the paper!" Ah Heng had a whirlwind and hurriedly pushed Yan Xi into his own toilet.

Mica was stunned: "Granny Huang, was it my girl just now?" ”

"Oh sin, I thought I was the only one hallucinating!" Granny Huang pulled out a handkerchief to wipe away the tears that didn't exist.

"Grandma, hand paper!" Ah Heng roared.

Yan Xi looked at the table full of exquisite meals and smiled with satisfaction: "Mother Yun, you are so amazing!" ”

"Home-cooked things can't be on the table." Mica spoke gently, "Yan Xi...... Right? You eat more. ”

Ah Heng grabbed the chopsticks and wanted to pick up the vegetables, but was reprimanded by mica: "Daughter's house, there are no rules!" How can you move chopsticks if the guest doesn't eat? ”

Ah Heng sniffed and let go aggrievedly.

In this way, under Yan Xi's agitation, her return was not touching and tearful at all, but it was like the feeling of returning home after a string of doors.

"Mother Yun, you can call me Ah Xi or Xiao Xi." Yan Xi is extremely polite and has a cute smile, and it is not for nothing that he has been called the "mother killer" since he was a child.

"Do you understand?" Ah Heng was a little curious, how could Yan Xi understand these local dialects.

"My grandfather taught me." Yan Xi said a word.

Ah Heng was entangled, she was clever to be Yan Xi's translator before, Yan Xi didn't know how to snicker in her heart at the time, she must have felt ridiculous.

It's just that Grandpa Yan has something to do with Wushui Town?

Mica stared at Yan Xi for a long time, remembered something, her eyes became obscure, she looked at Ah Heng, and said lightly: "Ah Heng, go and call your Abba to come back for dinner." ”

Yan Xi smiled dispensably. He probably guessed before he came that Wen Heng's adoptive parents knew about the agreement back then.

Ah Heng didn't know why, nodded, got up, and drove to the medicine house in the town. "Abba!" Ah Heng looked at the kind man with gray sideburns who was weighing the patient's medicine, and smiled happily.

Father Yun was stunned, and when he looked back at Ah Heng, there was a faint surprise in his eyes.

Ah Heng ran to the man and looked up at his father: "Abba." Her voice was like that of her childhood.

"Ah Heng, when did you come back?" Father Yun put down the medicinal herbs in his hand and asked her kindly, "Is your grandfather here too?" ”

Ah Heng's eyes drooped and he shook his head, not daring to look at his father's face.

"You sneaked back?" Father Yun frowned, and his voice went up.

Ah Heng was silent, and the pestle was in front of the medicine house. The pedestrians next to her whispered, and she was so embarrassed that she didn't know where to put her hands and feet.

At first, she felt uncomfortable, so she followed Yan Xi back to Wushui Town desperately. Now, thinking of the Wen family in City B, I secretly feel that I have done too ignorant in this matter, maybe they have called the police like the day Siguan disappeared?

"You girl!" Father Yun was so angry that his face turned blue, and he grabbed the medicine pestle on the stage and was about to hit Ah Heng.

Ah Heng was stunned, thinking to himself why Abba still used this trick, she had changed into a person from the imperial city and returned home with gold edges, why didn't he save her some face? But the medicine pestle waved mercilessly, Ah Heng swallowed his saliva, and ran away in fright.

"Stop, little thing for me!" Cloud Father chases.

"Abba, don't bother me, Grandma said to let you go home for dinner!" Ah Heng was so frightened that he was about to cry, shouting as he ran.

"Hey, I'll just say, people who live in the compound of the agency can't look down on this stupid girl. Look, this is not returned! "The mayor's daughter-in-law who opened an herbal tea shop opened a hot tea shop in winter, watching dramas and talking cool while eating melon seeds.

You've just been returned! Ah Heng sniffed, feeling aggrieved, seeing that the big medicine pestle was immediately on his body, and the wind under his feet was running fast.

One chases, the other escapes, Wushui Town hasn't been so lively for a long time.

Adults and children laughed alike.

Look, the Yun family girl was beaten again.

has been like this since she was a child, Abba never saved face when she beat her, chasing her all over the town, and other people chasing and watching jokes. Scattering his feet, Ah Heng finally ran back home, rushed back to the hall, and cried: "Grandma, Abba beat me again!" ”

"I'll let you run!" There was a panting voice behind him.

Grandma looked at her and smiled, patted her hands, and said to Father Yun: "Her father, the child is filial, just came back, don't bother her, ah?" ”

Father Yun snorted and saw Yan Xi in a blink of an eye.

The kid was watching the play with his chin in his hands on his back, his big eyes crooked.

"Who is this?" Father Yun put aside the medicine pestle and looked at Yan Xi carefully.

Mica opened her mouth lightly, and her tone was quite meaningful: "General Yan's grandson, Yan Xi." ”

The air was a little stagnant, and Father Yun's face became more and more solemn, looking at Yan Xi and speaking: "It's you?" ”

Yan Xi's slender hand held the chopsticks and smiled: "It should be me." My younger brother is in the United States, much younger than Wen Heng. ”

Ah Heng was a little confused, what were they talking about?

Father Yun pondered for a long time and beckoned to Mica: "Peiyun, you come with me to the back room." Then he looked at Ah Heng lightly and said, "Girl, you greet the guests well, if the food is cold, it will be hot in the kitchen." ”

Yan Xi picked up the chopsticks and gently picked up a piece of meat and put it in his mouth, chewed it, raised his eyebrows, and smiled at Father Yun: "No need, the meal is just right." ”

Father Yun's face was a little uncertain, but he didn't say anything, and strode into the back room. Mica glanced at Yan Xi deeply, and then walked in.

Ah Heng was stunned, covered his mouth with his hand and whispered to Yan Xi: "What happened?" ”

Yan Xi chewed a stick of ribs in his mouth, his cheeks bulged, and he said casually: "Probably, your father doesn't like me." ”

Ah Heng quietly glanced at the young man and whispered, "My father, look at me, it's not pleasing to the eye." Don't be angry. He is a doctor, who only looks at the patient, pleasing to the eye. ”

The young man spit out his bones flutteringly, and said quietly: "People are stupid is a blessing." ”

"Oh." Ah Heng nodded in agreement.

At night, Ah Heng insisted on mica to sleep with her, but mica couldn't resist her, so she agreed.

Yan Xi slept in the old Ah Heng's room. Yun's father slept in Yun Zai's room, and Yun Zai was being treated in the Southern Military Region Hospital.

"Grandma, do you miss me?" In the dark, Ah Heng curled up in the quilt, his eyes full of longing.

"I don't want to." Mica's hand gently rubbed Ah Heng's head and spoke gently.

Ah Heng was uncomfortable and looked at his mother in disappointment: "But, Grandma, I miss you." She gently shrunk into her mother's arms in the bed, and that embrace, warm and peaceful.

"At the Wen family, you hid in the bed and cried again, didn't you?" Mica sighed.

"Nope." Ah Heng put his head in his mother's arms and said sullenly.

She didn't lie, in the Wen family, except for crying on the day she arrived, after that, she never cried again.

Mica patted her back again and again, and her voice was warm and sentimental: "Ah Heng, Grandma is sorry for you." ”

Ah Heng's back stiffened, and then he hugged his mother tightly: "Grandma, it's not your fault." ”

Mica was a little sad: "Grandma is returning you to the Wen family, don't you complain about Grandma?" ”

Ah Heng shook her head fiercely, she couldn't selfishly watch Yun Zheng die.

The Yun family is the warmest and most beautiful fate in her life.

When she was young, her father taught her to read and write. Other girls go to work early, and she also wants to earn money to see a doctor. told Abba, but Abba beat her severely, telling her that she would die of exhaustion and would not let her daughter be a subordinate.

Grandma is the most gentle, every time she will comb her beautiful braids, make beautiful dresses, and tell beautiful stories. Every time Abba chased and beat her, it was Grandma who protected her. It hurt her, and Grandma cried more fiercely than her.

As for Zai, the relationship with her is even better, and if there is anything delicious, I always have to wait for her to eat together after school. She sometimes stayed overnight on the mountain with Abba to collect medicine, and waited for her to come back without sleeping.

During the Chinese New Year, it is the only time of the year when you are allowed to hang out with her. He followed her to the market, and was always reluctant to buy anything he liked, but he spent a long time saving money to buy a papier-mâché rabbit lamp for her. Just because, she loves rabbits.

She wants the Yun family to be well, she wants to be healthy and healthy, what does it matter if her surname is Yun and her surname is Wen?

"Grandma, the people of the Wen family like me very much, don't worry." Ah Heng raised his eyes to look at his mother and smiled, "The grandfather there will scold my brother for me, the mother there will play very good piano music, and the brother there will hurt me." ”

Mica also smiled, but in her eyes, after all, there were tears: "Good, good!" The girl I raised, so well-behaved, so good, who doesn't like ......"

"Grandma, when I grow up and come back to see you, don't drive me, okay?" Ah Heng spoke cautiously.

"Good. I'm waiting for my girl to earn money and be filial to me, and my grandma is waiting. ”

"Grandma, grandma, let's pull the hook, I don't want you, you don't want to think about me, okay?" Ah Heng sniffed, and his eyes turned red.

Mica choked up and said softly: "Grandma doesn't want you, she must not want you." ”

At this time, Yan Xi didn't sleep well.

The people of Wushui Town are used to sleeping on bamboo beds, and the native northerners are not used to it, and they always feel panicked, and they can't sleep after tossing and turning.

In the darkness, the eyes gradually adjusted to the room, a small room with nothing but a clean desk and a few books.

He couldn't imagine that for so many years, Wen Heng had grown up in such a situation of extreme poverty. In comparison, Wensel's life was a little better.

The corners of Yan Xi's mouth were slightly raised, and he laughed silently, with a strong sense of mockery.

Suddenly, a faint light entered the room, and in the hall, there was the sound of people walking around restlessly.

Yan Xi felt that he couldn't sleep anyway, so he got out of bed and walked out of the door.

As expected, it was the cloud father.

"Uncle Yun, why haven't you slept yet?" Yan Xi's back was gently leaning on the door frame, his right leg was casually folded on his left leg, his black hair hung down his forehead, and under the moonlight, only the young man's white chin could be seen.

Father Yun smoked hookah like most Jiangnan men, and the sound of clicking and clicking was very clear in the silence of the room.

"Yan Xi, what are you going to do about our Ah Heng?" The man frowned and looked at the boy earnestly.

"Naturally, you can do what you have to do." The young man smiled lightly, although Wen Heng had a hard life, he was stronger than him, and he was protected by his adoptive parents.

"Will you ......" the man hesitated, gritted his teeth, and finally spoke, "Will you like Ah Heng?" ”

The young man was stunned, and for a while, he laughed: "Uncle, you think too much." ”

Father Yun was a little annoyed, and said: "At the beginning, it was your grandfather who told me that the Yan family owed Ah Heng, and in the future, he let his grandson carry a sedan chair to marry Ah Heng. ”

The young man's voice was a little cold, but his tone was serious: "Uncle Yun, no one can guarantee the future. But at least, one day when I hope to be there, no one will bully Wen Heng. Until she is sure of her mind, I will treat her as my own sister, you can relax. ”

"What if we Ah Heng really like you?" Father Yun's expression was serious.

The boy thought for a moment and smiled calmly.

"Then I'll marry her."