"Welcome to 2022" – this is one of the blessings that Lili sent to me yesterday (January 1, 2022...... At the same time, on the phone, she reminded me not to forget the promise I made to her......

"What promise?" I was a little surprised...... "What you said on October 23 last year's 'Frostfall Festival'...... You forgot? Lili smiled. I'm sorry, good sister, maybe I really forgot, after all, after all this time...... "I'm a little nervous - over the years, Lili's kindness to me, including sending messages and bringing things to me and Lingling, I am very grateful to her, and I feel that I have failed her a lot...... But when I said that I wanted to make up for it, I felt that I couldn't start - in the end, her husband Minggang and I were also old classmates...... Minggang's unease about her is something that many people know well, not to mention that in the past inter-school friendship activities, Lili danced with me many times, for him, it should still be vivid - in my opinion, "old classmates" are not the same as "alumni", nor are they limited to those who have been in the same school and know each other, and classmates from different schools are also classmates...... In the past, I did have a lot of classmates from different schools because of my participation in inter-school sports competitions, inter-school friendship activities, inter-school cultural exchanges, etc.

"How long?" Lili said. I thought about it and realized that last year was 2021 instead of 2020 – a small mistake that a lot of people make...... "You're really good at making people happy." I laughed. It's just part of my mind...... I hope you don't forget what you promised me. Lili said.

I smiled and said, "It's more appropriate for you to express it like that...... 'promise' is too valuable, I'm afraid I can't afford it......" "So you know what I'm referring to." Lili said. Of course, I won't break my word," I said, "and that's what I'd love to do...... It's just that we can't always be emotional these days, right? "A lot of excuses." Lili sneered.

"Good sister, I have something to trust." I say. "What's the matter, senior brother?" Lili laughed. I said, "I remember that you and I were present at the same time more than once in many inter-school networking activities...... Last year, no, the year before last, when I moved, I found a lot of old photo albums, and there were hundreds of old photos in them...... When we were in middle school, we didn't have digital cameras, digital photos, or smartphones, and all the photos were films, also called films, do you remember? ”

Lili smiled: "Remember, and then what?" I said, "At that time, I didn't have time to look through them all because of the limited time I was moving...... When I was cleaning up yesterday morning, I took a good look at it and saw a lot of photos from the social activities, but none of them were from you and Lingling...... After recalling it carefully, I remembered that I didn't bring a camera to the social activities at that time, and none of our middle school students who participated in the social activities seemed to like taking pictures...... Some of my classmates from the school were kind enough to send me the photos they took......"

"You mean that our classmates at school weren't caring enough to send you the pictures they took, right?" Lili laughed. "That's not it," I laughed, "but I didn't think to ask your classmates if you could give me some photos of their social activities...... Now that I think about it, it's a bit of a pity that the heroic pictures of the sisters in the first information are not in my collection......"

"Brother Shiyi, you really haven't changed at all." Lili smiled, smiling very happily...... "What do you mean by that?" "I said." You sometimes like to make ninety-nine turns when you speak...... But that's fine, and others won't forget what you said......" Lili smiled: "Also, you never fall out of the ordinary when you praise people." ”

I smiled and said, "Thank you, sister, for the compliment." Lili said: "I'll look for it too, and let Minggang look for it to see if there are still photos of the friendship activities at that time...... However, as you know, Lingling and I, as well as Minggang, didn't have cameras with us at the time, and we didn't like to take pictures at the time...... If we don't have any, let's ask the other old classmates. ”

"Then I have to thank you in advance!" I laughed. "Why bother with a little effort?" Lili also smiled: "However, this may not be a simple effort...... There are few people in the world who value feelings as much as your first brother, and the photos of twenty years ago are still collected like treasures. ”

"It's okay, I'm free, I'll look for it when it's convenient, don't care too much...... Whatever the outcome, I'll treat you to dinner. "I said." That's a foregone conclusion. Lili said: "Brother Shiyi, I'm curious, did you keep the letters and greeting cards we wrote at that time?" "That's true," I laughed, "but I haven't memorized all the words." ”

"Didn't memorize it all? That said, I'm still memorizing some of it, right? Lili said. I said, "Yes." "And what did I write to you?" Lili seems to be very concerned about this issue. I laughed and said, "You wrote in your letter:

'Senior Brother Shiyi:

Hello!

How is everything? Isn't it busy studying and doing a lot of homework? Have you participated in any recent competitions?

Senior brother, I'm afraid of writing, and the writing is not very good-looking, not as beautiful as Lingling's words, let's make more calls in the future, anyway, my family is not like Lingling's family, my parents are not patriarchal, my parents still like me more, they say I am sensible, and my brother is not motivated, so if a boy calls me, or I call a boy, they won't care about me. Lingling's mother doesn't like boys calling her, but she doesn't care about her brother, she dotes on her brother very much, I think her family is a typical patriarchy.

Lingling and I are fellow villagers, and many of our families are patriarchal, and I feel lucky to be myself.

Although Lingling writes beautifully, and her articles are better than mine, she doesn't like to write things either, how can we compare with you, a high-achieving student, the president of the Literature Club of a key middle school, and the deputy editor-in-chief of the school magazine.

However, you and Lingling can still meet on a date. I heard that you are very busy, and you don't see each other a few times a month, so I've never seen anyone like you. Senior brother, you have to spend more time with Lingling, there are a lot of people chasing her.

Senior brother, you usually pay attention to rest and don't work too hard.

See you next time there is a social event, you can come to our school to play when you are free, anyway, our school is not far from your school and your home, and you know a lot of people from our school.

That's all for this time. Good bye.

I wish you all the best and all the best!

Lily

December 4, 1996

This is what you wrote in your first reply to me. ”

"Oh my God, you've memorized it all! I can't do it myself...... You're not going to be reading it now, are you? Lili said. I laughed and said, "That's not going to ...... I just remember that the gist of the letter was this, and I couldn't do it at all. "Looks like you've got a knack for memorizing...... Lili said. Is it? You've won the prize," I laughed, "but don't you think it's more of a deliberate performance?" ”

Lili was silent for a while, and said, "I now believe more in what you said to me on the day of the 'Frostfall Festival' last year...... Brother Shiyi...... It may be a bit presumptuous, but I still want to ask...... If...... If you had to make another choice, would you choose Lingling or me? "Let's put it this way," I said, "Lili, in my mind, you sisters are all the same excellent and moving, but fate and providence are hard to say...... In fact, Ming Gang was also chasing you at that time, and you also had a good impression of her, I can see that the so-called 'must not believe in fate', now it seems that there is still some truth...... Have you ever thought that marrying Ming Gang is actually a good choice...... There is no such thing as perfection. ”

"Do you regret it?" Lili said: "Do you regret that some things were not handled properly at that time? "What do you mean?" I say.

"After you quarreled with Lingling, you didn't take the initiative to coax her and apologize to her...... I reminded you at the time...... But you didn't think you were wrong, so you didn't bow to her...... More than a year later, on the night of your last date, you already felt that Lingling's relationship with her family was very bad, and you told her a thousand times to be patient and take her away when you had the right opportunity, but she still couldn't wait for you...... This time, you think you were not decisive enough, you said that you should have taken her away that night, and you shouldn't have let her go back to that cold home...... But have you ever wondered how you can take care of her when you were just in college, and will your parents be able to accept her? When Lili said this, she couldn't help but choke up a little.

"Lili, I've been thinking about these questions a lot over the years," I said, "First of all, I wrote in my novel that my college classmate Zhuo Xin said that he thinks you are better and more worthy of my love than Lingling...... You also know that the paragraphs of "Night Market Reunion" and "Ten Thousand Abysses" are all fictional, and Zhuo Xin has never said such a thing in reality, this is my own heart, and it is my doubt about myself. Secondly, when I quarreled with Lingling, it was because she suspected that I rarely met her because I was infatuated with Teacher Susu, the instructor of our middle school literature club, Lingling thought that I had put my time and energy on her, this was a fictitious thing, I could bear it, but when it came to Teacher Susu, I felt that she was too much, if I was asked to coax her back and admit my mistakes to her, I really couldn't do it at that time...... However, what I regret is that when I felt that she might give up on herself and might learn badly, I still didn't remind her and dissuade her in time because of my arrogance, and I regret and blame myself very much for this until today. Again, I'm still not sure if I took Lingling with me when I was just in college, so I can't say what kind of attitude my parents would have...... But I still regret it, because if I had made a decision at that time, I would have at least guaranteed the lesser of two evils...... As for what will happen next, it depends on whether we can withstand the storms and whether we can share weal and woe together......"

"Brother Shiyi," Lili said, "When Lingling ran away from home, because things came too suddenly, I was not mentally prepared, so I didn't know how to persuade her, and how to persuade you...... With all due respect, we were young back then, and even you had times when you weren't sure...... However, everything has passed, maybe it is providential, there is nothing to be done, maybe Seon lost his horse, and he knows if it is a blessing...... Whether a lover can eventually become a family member or not, the depth of fate, and the size of creation seem to be very important...... In any case, with me in your heart, I am still very happy and feel very happy......"

"Lili," I said, "where are you now?" "What?" Lili smiled: "Do you want to date me?" "If you're free, you can too." I say. "I see what you mean...... Lili said, "he's out on an errand...... The child is at my parents' house, and we go to my parents' house for dinner in the evening...... Why do you only think about it now? ”

"I was a little negligent," I said, "but I have the impression that you both rarely stay at home at the same time during the day, especially in the afternoon." "You're comforting yourself," Lili smiled: "However, there will be nothing wrong, Minggang won't even have this measure, everyone is an old classmate and an old friend." "That's right," I said, "Brother Minggang was still the president of the student union of No. 6 Middle School at that time, and he was talented and personable. ”

"Brother Shiyi," Lili said, "What are you looking for those old photos for, just to miss the past?" I said, "Do you think there will be anything else?" "I think it might be better to use some old photos as illustrations and illustrations in your published campus novels and urban novels," Lili said with a smile: "Actually, you've already done it...... You'll also use your phone to take pictures of old film and upload it......"

"yes, that's something we're missing." I say.

"Indeed," Lili said, "in the meantime, welcome to 2022!" ”

(To be continued)