Ren Yan was delayed on the road for twelve days.

From Beijing to the south, there are battles to be fought from time to time, and the trains have to be subjected to extremely strict checks at the entrance and exit of the station along the way; Fortunately, she has a pass and has not been excessively embarrassed, so it is better to go straight out of Anhui.

On July 28, she met Gu Tingwen at the train station.

There are not as many familiar faces as in Beijing, no one recognizes them, and there is no need to worry about any of them, they can hug and kiss freely, and talk about all the thoughts that have been missing for nearly three months.

For half a day, Gu Tingwen was accompanying her.

They had dinner in the thirteen lines, and listened to the old shopkeeper of the shop say that the thirteen lines had suffered several catastrophes, and moved to the new museum area here after the floods of the Republic of China for four years.

The old shopkeeper talked to them a lot, until the fire and water guy came to buy kerosene, and after receiving their money, he happily ran to the opposite shop to cut a horse of beautiful blue material for his wife, held it in his hand, returned to the back kitchen, and stuffed it into his wife's hand.

The old shopkeeper's wife had gray hair, and she was overjoyed to receive a small gift, complaining that her husband was spending money indiscriminately, but the smile on her face was getting deeper and deeper, and Ren Yan twisted her head and looked at it for a long time.

Gu Tingwen stood beside her, understood her thoughts, and didn't bother, until she turned around embarrassedly, and then took her hand with a smile: "Let's go." ”

The car followed slowly, they walked in the night, if someone didn't come to greet him, Ren Yan really thought that he was leisurely all day.

The gentleman with oily hair who came was in his thirties, wearing thick-soled eyes and carrying a briefcase. ”

There are not many people who know his words, they are about close friends, and Ren Yan's heart is a little lower.

"My fiancée, Ren Yan." Gu Tingwen smiled again and introduced the gentleman to her, "This is Shen Boyang, the chief writer of the "Chamber of Commerce News", the senior brother of the university. ”

"Hello, Mr. Shen."

Mr. Shen bowed slightly: "Miss Ren, I heard Zhao Ming mention you this morning, everything is safe on the road." ”

"Yes."

After a brief greeting, the two gentlemen have been chatting about business.

Gu Tingwen sent her back to the hotel where she lived, squatted down and held her hand: "I may not return until the middle of the night, I can't accompany you, I'm sorry." ”

"It's okay."

She leaned over and kissed him in the eye, still smiling as she parted.

Outside the room of the hotel, the people of the Gu family guarded, she was not worried, she went to Cuihuayuan and the Liang family to call to report her safety, and lay on the sofa to ponder the water sign and furnishings in the garden, and then climbed into bed after being sleepy.

She slept soundly, and only rubbed over in a daze when she felt movement around her.

Someone whispered in his ear: "It's me, sleep." ”

With a goodnight grunt, she chuckled and fell asleep completely.

At dawn, there was no one around.

He Quan knocked on the door when she finished breakfast: "Miss Ren, you are ready, the seventh master sent a car to pick you up, and we will take the train to Shantou together in the second half of the morning." ”

It was the middle of the day two days after entering Shantou Station, behind him was a long corridor that was not very wide and closed with Manchurian windows, the rain swept down the peach eaves, and the rickshaw driver's earnest smile dimmed for a moment after seeing the car, and honestly retreated to the open space in front of the station.

On the way, the rain became heavier and heavier, and the driver persuaded him to take refuge in the city library at the bottom of the arcade.

When it was dark, the rain finally stopped, and the flickering red lanterns stretched out into a fiery dragon, casting the Ionic columns painted on the arcades on the streets.

The gentlemen who enjoyed the cool in the wind and rain corridor upstairs put away the rattan chairs, hummed two sentences of "Taibai Hefan" gently, and asked the wives of the family to spread oysters to eat; The wife was too busy to touch the cards and didn't have time to agree, so she only lost the winnings.

The gentleman weighed the amount of silver and was very satisfied, and walked to the street teahouse to make a tooth sacrifice; Entering the arch corridor of the teahouse, I bowed twice to the fiery red shrine at the foot of the door, and the light sign on the face of the teahouse was shining purple and green light.

The night breeze lazily blew the smell of fireworks, Ren Yan squinted his eyes and found a few teahouses, and pointed to the overcrowded one: "Is it okay to go there for dinner?" ”

The bright lantern board has a big cake on the big kueh character, and the bottom is crowded with people, and there are two pieces of fragrant sweet and tough bean paste kueh on the top, and a bowl of licorice marinated fruit is added, which has already passed an hour.

Fortunately, it is cool after the rain, and there is no need to squeeze a strange smell.

Ren Yan was bouncing around in the streets, but it rained again after a while, and the rain did not stop until they entered Nanao Island by boat.

The island is rocky and lush, and there are not many pedestrians, and they have not inquired about the former residence of Ren Yan's mother all day.

In the early morning, the rain gradually stopped, but the wind was loud, and the clouds on the horizon were pressed low, and Ren Yan took Gu Tingwen's hand and went to the deep island one foot deeper.

When I was walking around, I met an old man, who was sitting on the steps at the door of his house and smoking a dry cigarette, squinting his eyes and looking at them: "The place you asked about is deep water, four years ago, the earth moved, people and houses, there are no more." ”

He was afraid that the two young people would not understand, so he compared and compared, and the meaning of Pingchuan was one: "It's empty, it's all stones and soil, and there's nothing left, it's too late, and they're all going to the back house in the north." ”

Ren Yan was disappointed.

The old man knocked on the cigarette pouch and asked, "Who are you looking for?" ”

"There used to be a restaurant there, and the shopkeeper was a female chef......"

"You're talking about the Feng girl?" The old man laughed, "Who are you, Ah Nu?" When she first got married, she was pregnant with you, right? ”

"Yes, my mother's maiden name is Feng Shi Huanying, and I want to come and see my mother's old house."

The old man stopped smoking, staggered up and gestured to the northeast: "There, God bless her, the ground is so miserable, only her home has only been lifted off the roof, and the foundation has not collapsed." ”

He sighed and took them with him.

On the way, he has always sighed, about Ren Yan's mother quietly healed and saved people before her death, although people left home, but the sky opened their eyes, leaving the courtyard alone.

After walking for half an hour, I saw a three-room thatched house, half-new and not old, but clean inside.

"The girl is a good person, she saved us, she got married, we guarded the house for her, when did you want to see if she could stay for two days, why didn't she come back?"

Ren Yan bowed his head: "My mother is sick." ”

"It's a pity."

The old man stopped talking, picked incense from the wooden cabinet and lit it, kowtowed three times inside and outside the house, turned around and left.

The furnishings in the house are simple, except for the stove and some medicine utensils, the medicine hoe and bamboo basket in the corner, the old medicine mill and medicine pestle in it, and the rest are old clothes sealed in the cabinet.

Mother was only thinking about her sweetheart, for him to go to Beijing, left in a hurry, everything here was abandoned, nineteen years, those old things that have not been harvested have been left.

There is a photo of her mother when she was young, she is sitting in a wicker chair, and behind her stands a gentleman in a suit and leather shoes, the appearance of a fairy couple, and both of them have gentle smiles on their faces.

Ren Yan saw it, retracted it into the cabinet, and locked it.

The brown rope for drying medicine in the yard was left with a knuckle the size of a finger after the wind and rain, the shelf on the ground was crumbling, and the kitchen door on the east side of the yard was hung with a new lock, which was not locked.

"Lady Feng loves this kitchen the most, and we often come to clean it." The old man came to see them with food and drink, and followed by the grandmother, "You stay for a few days, the island is windy at night, add more mattresses." ”

Ren Yan smiled embarrassedly: "One night, Ming'er will leave." ”

Grandma still carefully unfolded the quilt and said to her with a smile: "The quilt was made when the girl got married last year, and the new one is clean, we are useless, don't be afraid." ”

The old man made snacks in the kitchen, washed the tender ginger with a gray face, put the chopped pieces into gauze and wrapped them tightly, and made the stone pestle squeeze out the ginger juice and pour it into a bowl.

The half jar of milk that I bought at a great price in the shop was boiling translucent bubbles in the pot, adding a spoonful of brown sugar powder and mixing well, boiling a light crimson milk slurry and pouring it into ginger juice to wrap it well, and the urn was covered for only a quarter of an hour, and it solidified like ice.

Scoop a spoonful of tofu flowers, soft and tender, sweet and delicious.

Without ice cubes, the milk can be curded, and it is rare to look at it.

Seeing her meditating, Grandma couldn't help but smile: "Listen, the girls in the city like ginger to bury milk, and you really like it too." ”

Ren Yan liked it so much that she pestered her grandmother to teach her, and she didn't taste a bowl until she left on the second day.

Gu Tingwen smiled helplessly, picked up the shop and sent it back to his grandfather and grandmother.

Outside the house, Ren Yancai relieved himself, poured out all the silver dollars in his pocket and stuffed them into the quilt, and carefully instructed: "Don't show your stuffing." ”

He smiled and nodded, and didn't tell her that when he left his mother's yard, he also put the money, and the quilt should be lively!

The return journey was not smooth, the wind on the water was very strong, and the hull of the ship swayed from side to side, and it was easy to land on the shore, and the ground was unstable.

When he arrived at Shen Boyang's mansion in Shantou, the elegant gentleman rarely showed an impatient look: "But the family is here, and the phone calls of the Gu family's uncle and aunt have not stopped all day, as if they know that you have encountered a strong wind." ”

Gu Ting heard the phone to report his safety.

Ren Yan apologized: "I'm tired of Mr. Shen's worry." ”

Shen Boyang smiled: "It doesn't matter, you are safe, there is often wind here in summer and autumn, and we are used to it, but I am afraid that you will not adapt to it." ”

While gossiping, the electric bell ringed downstairs, and the servant said that he was looking for Mr. Shen and Mr. Gu.

Mrs. Shen saw Ren Yan looking at the window, and couldn't help but comfort her: "That's what they are like as reporters, my husband and I have been here for ten years, and the number of times we can meet is really not much, and it is rare for them to like it." ”

The wind was blowing terribly outside, and Mrs. Shen couldn't hide her worry when she said these words.

Ren Yan refused to mention it again, only looked at her big belly: "Is it about to give birth?" ”

"That's all these days." Mrs. Shen caressed her stomach lovingly, "If you and Mr. Gu don't leave in a hurry, I will invite you to eat full moon wine!" ”

"That's a good ...... for daring"

"Smack-"

Halfway through Ren Yan's words, the glass embedded in the window was shattered by the wind against the wall and fell from the upper floor.

Mrs. Shen's face immediately changed, and she called the girl: "I'm afraid it's a storm, lock the doors and windows, call Mr. and Mr. Gu, and ask where they are!" ”