The plane landed smoothly at Heathrow Airport, and when it arrived, rain began to fall in the sky, and the weather in London was notoriously bad, so it was for Yi'an to catch up.

Zhang Cheng accompanied her on the bus to the hotel she booked, and as soon as the tired Yi'an got on the bus, he lay on Zhang Cheng's shoulder and fell asleep. In the dream, she saw her sister, but she didn't want to face her, Yi'an was very entangled and painful.

"Big Ben, London Eye, you're familiar with these, aren't you?"

"Well, you can go over and take a walk when you're done."

London, she's already in London. Although she had a tourist visa, her ultimate goal was only to retrieve her sister's relics, and visiting the city had always been unplanned.

The car drove extremely slowly, and Yi'an slept all the way to the hotel, never opening his eyes once on the way. The enthusiastic driver wanted to talk to her about the recent situation in China, but when he saw that he was sleeping, he chatted with Zhang Cheng for a few words, and was choked by his "don't wake her up".

When Zhang Cheng woke up Yi'an, the sky was already dark, and the gray clouds overhead showed some kind of bad luck.

Yi'an said goodbye to Zhang Cheng in the hotel lobby, and before leaving, he wrote an address to Yi'an with a pen and paper at the front desk, saying, "This is my address, you keep it just in case." ”

"Oh good, thank you."

As soon as Yi'an's words fell, he suddenly repented and crumpled the note into a ball and threw it into the trash, stared at Yi'an's puzzled eyes, and said, "Forget it, you are not familiar with life, I will come to you tomorrow." Take you to the landlady. ”

"Okay, thank you." Yi'an said, "Eh, how do you know the landlord is an old lady?" ”

Zhang Cheng's clean and soft face stiffened, "I said it in passing, it seems that I was right." He paused, "Okay, let's rest early, see you tomorrow." ”

Yi'an booked the most ordinary standard room, and the room was clean. The moment he put down his luggage, he fell apart and collapsed on the bed.

Probably because of enough sleep in the car, plus the jet lag, now Yi'an is very awake. Touching her empty stomach and ordering a meal through the internal phone, she looked out the window while eating.

This is London.

She kept reminding herself.

Zhang Cheng told Yi'an that the street she was looking for was in East London. He drove his Beijing Hyundai to pick up Yi'an there.

Whether it's the Colombian Flower Market or the Old Spitalford Market, every part of East London is crowded and lively, and Yi'an is a little unaccustomed to this atmosphere, walking extremely fast, trying to escape this embarrassing and unsettling "strange place".

"It's almost there, cross this street."

"When you come to a foreign country, even if you sell me, I probably don't know."

Zhang Cheng was in a trance when he heard her say this, and said with a smile: "You are a top student at Tsinghua University, you are so smart, you will escape from the den of thieves sooner or later." ”

"The houses here are very old, very different from the city. But it seems to be very lively. ”

"yes. Your sister ......" Zhang Cheng suddenly paused, "It seems that your sister used to be a person who liked to be lively." ”

"Yes. But in fact, I have the impression that she has always been silent, and I have never seen her really smile...... "Yi'an reminisced about her sister as she walked."

"Here we are." Zhang Cheng stopped in front of a flat building. This house is almost the same as the surrounding houses, the only difference is that the houses and especially the doors are painted in a very different color.

"Is it here?" Yi'an's voice was a little small.

Zhang Cheng gasped and asked, "Do you want to go in?" ”

"I'm ......" Yi'an was a little cramped, "can you wait for me?" I want to take it easy. ”

"Okay."

Yi'an wandered in front of the door, feeling that his calf was a little numb, squatting on the ground and hesitating uneasily, and occasionally a few Englishmen passed by.

"Forget it, let's go inside."

"Ready?"

Yi'an shook his head, "It's always time to face it." ”

The two went up to the second floor, and after aligning with the door number, Zhang Cheng knocked on the door, but no one responded, he knocked a few more times, but still no one responded.

"No one?"

"Yes." Zhang Cheng said, "Do you have the contact information of the homeowner?" ”

Yi'an thought for a moment, "Yes, yes!" I'll call her right away. ”

The phone went through.

After more than ten seconds, the door also opened, and it was an old lady in her fifties and sixties who opened the door, her eyes sunk deep into her cheekbones, her frowns as much as hair, and she looked very much like the elderly Rose in "Titanic". Yi'an remembered that in Mr. Jin Yong's "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", Aunt Ying once said, 'Poor old man is white first', and the old lady in front of her is like this.

"I'm sorry, but my ears are hard to use when I'm old."

"It's fine. Hello Madam, I am Hua's sister. ”

"Nice to meet your kid, come in."

The old lady was old and walked slowly, so Yi'an helped her to sit on the sofa.

"Who is this?"

"He's my friend, his name is Zhang Cheng."

"Hello."

"Hello lad."

Mrs. Duris turned to the two of them and said, "My name is Duris, or you can call me Lady Andrew, this is my ex-husband's name, but no one cares about it." ”

"Yes, Lady Duris." Yi'an said out of politeness, "My sister, did you ever live in this house?" ”

"No, she lives upstairs."

"Upstairs?"

"Yes, I live on my own, she lives upstairs."

"Can I go and see it?"

"Sorry, it's already rented out."

"Oh." Yi'an was very disappointed, his eyes looked left and right, and then he remembered what was going on, "After receiving your letter, I immediately applied for a visa and came over." My sister's relics have been left with you? ”

"Yes. She left in a hurry, and she didn't take a lot of things with her, she said to store them for a period of time, I thought she would come back, so I kept it for her first, who knew if she would go back. ”

Mrs. Duris got up, "Girl, help me." ”

The three of them stood up, Mrs. Duris walked towards the bedroom, Zhang Cheng stayed in place and waited, at this moment he was restless, his eyes were rosy for some reason, and he wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes when Yi'an entered.

Yi'an successfully got her sister's relics: a few thick diaries and a small box of records.

Yi Anmo held the painting on the cover of the diary, painting the sea surface of a place, the sea surface is blue, the shadows of boats and people are abundant, blurring the lines on the sea surface, in the hazy fog, only the orange sun rising in the distance, has become the finishing touch of the whole painting, with completely different bright colors to make the picture evocative.

"This painting is so beautiful, by the way, Zhang Cheng, don't you study oil painting, do you know the origin of this painting?"

"Yes." His voice was a little low and hoarse, "Monet's Sunrise." ”

Yi'an didn't know who Monet was, but he was a great painter.

"You're so good, you can know any painting." Yi'an praised him and said, "My sister likes his paintings." ”

"In fact, a lot of people love this painting."

"Really? Does that include you? ”

Looking at each other, Zhang Cheng waited for a long time before answering, "Including me." ”

"Because he's famous." Zhang Cheng added.

"By the way, girl, can you do me a favor?" Mrs. Duris looked at Yi'an.

"You say."

"Here's a letter, my eyes aren't very good, you read it to me."

Yi'an took the letter and followed Mrs. Duris to the terrace. The old lady slowly sat down in the rocking chair, took a sip of the hot tea on the tea table, and said, "Your sister has always helped me in this matter, and now it's your turn." ”

The old lady smiled and continued: "When I was young, I also loved a man, we were together for more than twenty years, and then we were separated for about thirty years, and we never contacted. ”

There was always a calmness and calmness on Madame Durris's face, even if the years climbed up her countenance, even if the past was as heavy as a wall and could not be crossed, she seemed to be sad at all. Yi'an once heard others say that the older people are, the easier it is to be soft-hearted, because they are used to seeing love and hate, even if the reality is cruel, they can always face the gains and losses calmly.

"Is it your ex-husband, Mr. Andrei?"

"It's him."

"Do you need me to write you a reply later?"

"No, I never reply to his letters."

"Not going back? Why? ”

Mrs. Duris suddenly laughed, "Your sister asked me such a question in the first place. ”

"Really? Sister she ......"

"She's such a kind and wonderful girl." Mrs. Duris recalled, "Okay, don't talk about that, you can read it, read it slowly, I'll listen slowly." ”

In the ten minutes that Yi'an read the letter, Zhang Cheng had nothing to do in the living room, pacing back and forth for a long time, admiring the photos placed in the living room.

"You used to be a famous opera singer in the London Theatre, and if I'm not mistaken, your ex-husband was the former famous journalist and writer Andrew, right?" Zhang Cheng asked.

"It's him." The old lady admitted, "You are so young that you know the things of our time." ”

"I've heard a little."

Of the three people present, only Yi'an had a question, and Zhang Cheng specially explained when he saw this, "Mr. Andre was very famous back then, and I heard my father mention it many times when I was young. However, the news of his infidelity hurt him, and he changed his identity to become a writer, and the career of a writer will never be able to regain the glory of registering as a writer. ”

Yi'an didn't seem to understand, "It turns out... He... Cheating. ”

"Yes." Zhang Chengying.

In order to avoid the embarrassment of Mrs. Doris, she diverted the subject and continued to ask Mrs. Doris, "Do you remember the last time you saw my sister?" Did she say anything? ”

"The last time?" The old lady looked at the scenery outside and recalled, "It seems like a long, long time ago, I remember four or five years ago...... At that time, she was accompanied by a man. ”

"The last time I saw her in the apartment was a few years ago, and there was a middle-aged man in a neat suit standing next to her. He looks much older than her, and he is quite a gentle person. She gave me something that day, and when she saw us that day, she just exchanged pleasantries, and didn't say anything else, maybe there were, but I can't remember. ”

"Middle-aged man? Is it a boyfriend? ”

"It's not."

Yi'an went to the bottom of it, "Can you recall who that man is?" Who else does my sister have a relationship with? ”

"I just remember that your sister loved a man here, his name was Jay, a very fanatical boy, but then they broke up." She said.

"Do you have his contact information?"

The old lady shook her head, "No, it's been so long that I can't even remember what he looks like." ”

"Oh, I remember, in addition to her diary, there was also a business card of Mr. Ming, which Hua handed me inside. Mr. Ming was the middle-aged man. ”

"Where?"

After hearing this, Yi'an couldn't wait to open the wooden jewelry box on the tea table, and sure enough, there was a yellowed white business card, sandwiched in a heavy notebook, with the contact information, work address and position of the gentleman named Ming written on it.