In Lin Yingtao’s heart, the Qunshan Department Store was once like the Oriental Pearl Tower.
"Wow, we're actually staying in a hotel near the Qunbai Building!" Lin Yingtao said excitedly as she leaned over the hotel window and looked outside, "How luxurious!!"
Yu Qiao, Du Shang and Jiang Qiaoxi sat around a table drinking beer, eating supper and watching the local news in Qunshan on TV.
The news said that the 20-year earthquake prevention and earthquake resistance project in Qunshan had withstood the test, and so on.
"What time did Cai Fangyuan say he would arrive?" Du Shang asked.
"When did Feng Letian come to the mountains?" Yu Qiao frowned.
Jiang Qiaoxi rolled up his shirt sleeves, and from time to time he turned his head to look at Lin Yingtao, who was lying by the window, as if he was afraid that she would get too excited and fall out of the window. "He came here after graduation," Jiang Qiaoxi said softly, "and works as a grassroots civil servant here."
"Who is Feng Letian?" Du Shang poked the snail meat with a toothpick and ate it.
"Our class monitor," Yu Qiao also glanced out the window and told Du Shang, "is the one who wants to be the president of the country."
"Wow!" Duchamp gave a thumbs up and nodded while eating. "Awesome!"
Cai Fangyuan is on his way, leaving at around 8:00 and is expected to arrive at midnight. Yu Qiao said to Jiang Qiaoxi, "Why are you still in contact with Feng Letian?"
"What's wrong?" Jiang Qiaoxi said.
Yu Qiao looked at him and smiled: "I don't think you have a good relationship with him."
Jiang Qiaoxi also laughed, but did not respond.
The hotel attendant knocked on the door and told the out-of-town guests not to panic if there were aftershocks at night: "There were no earthquakes all day, and the buildings in our mountains are very reliable!!"
"Okay, okay." Dushan stretched his neck and nodded towards the door.
The waiter was stunned for a moment, then recognized Duchamp's deliberate accent and said, "Hey, are you from Qunshan?"
Du Shang, Yu Qiao and others all laughed.
Lin Yingtao also turned around. "We used to be!" she said happily.
Dushan smiled toward the door and said, "Twenty years ago, twenty years ago!"
Cai Fangyuan arrived at the hotel late at night, with a driver by his side, very generous. Lin Yingtao is a kindergarten teacher, rarely stays up late, has a regular schedule, and went to bed early. Jiang Qiaoxi, Yu Qiao, and Du Shang, three men, carried beer and sat in Du Shang's room to continue chatting.
Cai Fangyuan asked the driver to get a room and rest first, as he wanted to meet up with his childhood friends. He came in with fried clams and spicy crayfish in his hands.
"I fucking want to wait until you two get married before coming here!" Cai Fangyuan said as soon as he saw Jiang Qiaoxi.
Jiang Qiaoxi smiled. "Ah!" He sighed.
Cai Fangyuan came over and sat down: "Brother, we can't let Lin Yingtao have the final say on everything! She does whatever she wants!"
Du Shang asked Jiang Qiaoxi from the side: "You really don't want to drink?"
Jiang Qiaoxi shook his head: "No."
Cai Fangyuan started eating clams himself: "What about you two? Why do you two have the same problem as Lin Yingtao?"
Du Shang also peeled clams: "Well, Yu Qiao, right?"
Yu Qiao pointed at Du Shang and said bluntly, "You really want to come, but you're still hesitating!"
Cai Fangyuan looked at the three of them and said angrily, "Why didn't you tell me?"
Duchamp hurriedly explained: "Oh, it's not that I don't want to say-"
Yu Qiao leaned back in his chair and said, "It's just over, who wants to come?"
Jiang Qiaoxi said, "Since we're here, we're here." He opened Cai Fangyuan's bag of crayfish with his fingers and took a look. "Is it spicy?"
Cai Fangyuan looked up at him and said with a smile, "Why, you can't eat spicy food?"
Duchamp asked: "Do we have to be so strict for the sake of the next generation?"
Jiang Qiaoxi stood up, walked around Cai Fangyuan and walked out.
"I'll go ask her if she wants to eat," he said.
Cai Fangyuan turned around and said, "You like spicy food? Lin Yingtao doesn't already have it, right?"
Dushan said, "Let's eat here by ourselves. Cherry will definitely be angry if she finds out tomorrow." He quickly quickened his eating pace.
Lin Yingtao sat in the passenger seat, looking out the window at the gate of the old Chenghuang Temple. Although the National Day has not yet arrived, many businesses have already put up small national flags, perhaps to thank the PLA troops for entering the mountains to provide disaster relief.
Lin Yingtao and her friends went shopping at the Qunshan Department Store. On this day, there were surprisingly many people out shopping. It was very lively and there was no fear or panic on people's faces. Everything was normal. The food court was crowded with people queuing up to buy cooked food. Lin Yingtao was held by Jiang Qiaoxi's hand. She stood on tiptoe to see that they were selling Nanjing duck and fried radish meatballs.
The previous watch counters and game rooms are all gone.
Lin Yingtao found that she finished visiting the entire building in such a short time. She said to Jiang Qiaoxi, “When I was a kid, I thought the Qunbai Building was so big. How come it’s so small…”
Du Shang walked around outside for a long time, but couldn't find the audio-visual store that he often visited when he was a child. He looked at the Samsung, OPPO, vivo, Huawei, Xiaomi... various mobile phone stores on the roadside in confusion. He walked in and didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Why do I feel that there is no difference between the mountains and the provincial capital?"
Only the old KFC in the Qunbai Building was still open, with a photo of the spokesperson on the glass door. Lin Yingtao stood by the door and looked inside for a while, and found that the decoration inside was very unfamiliar.
In fact, Lin Yingtao herself couldn't tell whether it had changed or not.
The memories she could remember about the mountains were always related to people. Following the navigation on her phone, their car passed by the gate of the No. 1 Middle School in Qunshan City.
Jiang Qiaoxi parked the car in the parking lot of the Construction Bank opposite. They stood at the school gate and looked inside for a few seconds.
A notice was posted at the school gate saying that the earthquake had no impact on the school's teaching facilities and classes would resume from today.
The students of Qunshan No. 1 Middle School came to the playground to do exercises. They were wearing red and white school uniforms. Lin Yingtao held the railing and watched them from afar.
Cai Fangyuan said: "Isn't this the school uniform you used to wear?"
Jiang Qiaoxi looked down at Lin Yingtao.
Lin Yingtao turned around and said, "They are all born in the 2000s!"
Duchamp frowned and looked into the gate for a while. He couldn't tell what the feeling was.
It seemed as if there were some things that were not unique to him, but that everyone possessed.
"I used to really want to go to Qunshan No. 1 Middle School." Du Shang said as he walked.
Yu Qiao asked Lin Yingtao: "How many students from our class at the Power Plant Primary School passed the entrance exam?"
Lin Yingtao turned around and proudly opened her palms: "Five! I'm one of them!"
Cai Fangyuan said: "If you can even get into Lin Yingtao Primary School with that score, then it can't be that hard to get into No. 1 Middle School, right?"
Feng Letian was busy all day. When Jiang Qiaoxi and his group appeared outside the door of their street's temporary office for the 921 earthquake, Feng Letian hurried over.
Cai Fangyuan raised his voice: "Hey, Squad Leader Feng!!"
Feng Letian shook hands with them one by one and introduced to the leaders present that, except for Du Shang who was in Class 15, the others were his classmates in Class 18 of the Provincial Experimental High School: "They all grew up in the mountains and donated a lot of money this time."
"Experimental High School is a good school!" commented the leader.
In the corridor outside the temporary office for the 921 earthquake, there are a series of promotional roll-up banners, probably to deal with the media that come to interview. They introduce the efforts made by the small town and mountains in earthquake prevention and resistance over the years, as well as various prevention and control projects for landslides.
Lin Yingtao was eating the lollipop that Feng Letian gave her and standing in front of the last roll-up banner.
She saw the bridge again—it was cinnabar red in color, connecting two cliff paths. The lush mountains and the cliffs were connected by this small red bridge.
It is written on the roll-up banner that this suspension bridge was a gift to Gunsan City from a mysterious donor in 2013. After on-site field surveys, repeated discussions by experts, and careful design and construction, it was finally officially completed in July this year.
During the earthquake in September, this small bridge unexpectedly played a miraculous role. With the help of rescue teams, nearly 10,000 mountain people walked across it and left the mountains where aftershocks continued. As a result, the bridge was dubbed the "Bridge of Life" by the media.
Lin Yingtao looked at the photo and always felt that the mountain road was like the one they often walked on when they were children.
Reporters and villagers who came to do business gathered around Lin Yingtao and looked at the promotion on the roll-up banner together.
"Excuse me, who donated this?" Lin Yingtao turned around and asked.
The reporter next to her smiled and waved at her, "I don't know. We are also asking around."
The back door of the temporary office is connected to a simple small garden, next to it is the information room, and opposite is the toilet.
Feng Letian saw that no one was in the archive room. He stood at the foot of the wall and whispered to his old classmate Jiang Qiaoxi, "They kept asking me who donated it! Well... Even if you hide it now, on the day of your wedding, when the photos are released, everyone will know about it, and reporters will still come to interview you!"
Jiang Qiaoxi was a head taller than Feng Letian. When he heard what he said, he frowned and licked his lips.
"Then forget it," Jiang Qiaoxi said, "You don't say anything, and I don't say anything either."
Feng Letian asked in confusion: "What do you mean? You're not going to talk about the bridge at your wedding? Aren't you going to-"
Cai Fangyuan washed his hands and came out of the toilet. He just happened to hear Jiang Qiaoxi say, "It's okay. I'll talk to Yingtao in private when I have a chance."
Feng Letian said: "Then all this preparation would be in vain!" Feng Letian suddenly saw Cai Fangyuan out of the corner of his eye and was startled.
Cai Fangyuan walked over and started chatting with Feng Letian. Jiang Qiaoxi was worried and walked into the temporary office. He saw Du Shang sitting behind the counter with a doctor's certificate hanging around his neck, helping an old lady check the bruise on the back of her head that she had received on the day of the earthquake.
Yu Qiao stood outside next to the roll-up banner, chatting with Lin Yingtao.
Jiang Qiaoxi sat on a chair by the wall.
There was a PPT file he was still editing a few days ago on his phone. It contained the photo of the Little Red Bridge that Feng Letian sent him in July, as well as some text about the romantic associations and interpretations between "Jiao" and "bridge". He had wanted to put this content at the end of the wedding photos to give Cherry a surprise as a wedding gift.
"Doing good deeds" is good. Jiang Qiaoxi stretched out his hand and rubbed his eyes. But he asked himself, he didn't come here to do good deeds. He spent so much effort just to give her a bridge.
Cai Fangyuan tricked Feng Letian into saying something, and he finally got the words out of him. "Jiang Qiaoxi," Cai Fangyuan explained, "likes to date secretly. He once told me that he felt that no one outside could understand what was going on between him and Lin Yingtao."
Feng Letian regretted, "It was originally a great thing. Many people in our city want to thank this great man who donated the bridge!"
Cai Fangyuan pointed at Jiang Qiaoxi in the room and said, "The more you say that, the more scared he will be. If you tell him to print his face on the roll-up banner at the door, he will be so guilty that he will leave right away."
"Lin Qile?"
Outside the door, Lin Yingtao was arguing with Yu Qiao about whether there were three or four water drying towers near the Qunshan construction site. She heard a strange voice calling her, and she turned around.
There was a girl standing at the bottom of the corridor. She looked to be about the same age as Lin Yingtao. She had freckles on her face and her hair was thick and black, which looked a little messy when she tied it up.
Lin Yingtao recalled a name from deep in her memory.
“… Dai Lixin?” she asked.
Dai Lixin came forward and said happily, "It's really you, Lin Qile! I just walked in and saw your profile, and I thought, her eyes are so big, she looks like my junior high school classmate... You still remember me!!"
Cai Fangyuan came over and said to Jiang Qiaoxi in a low voice, "Brother, you have done a great deed. How much did it cost?"
Jiang Qiaoxi glanced at him and felt that he could not hide anything. Jiang Qiaoxi looked out the window again. He frowned and found that Lin Yingtao was chatting excitedly with a stranger with her hands clasped together.
Feng Letian came to Jiang Qiaoxi and Cai Fangyuan and apologized, "I have to be on duty at noon. If you don't leave at night, I'll treat you to a meal at a nearby hotel?"
Cai Fangyuan quickly declined: "We'll go back to the old construction site this afternoon to take a look and then leave!"
Jiang Qiaoxi noticed that Feng Letian's shirt looked like it hadn't been washed or changed for several days, so he said, "You've worked hard these past few days."
Feng Letian said "Hi" and said with a silly smile: "Serve the people!"
Before leaving, Lin Yingtao talked to Feng Letian for a few more words. She asked Feng Letian if he was living well in the mountains.
Feng Letian pulled her aside and made her hide under the wall.
Feng Letian frowned and asked, "Student Lin Qile, do you... do you know Xiao Dai from the neighborhood office next door?"
Lin Yingtao took two seconds to react. "Are you talking about Dai Lixin?" she asked. "She was my junior high school classmate!"
Feng Letian's tanned face suddenly turned a little red.
Lin Yingtao secretly told Feng Letian: "She used to like Daoming Si!"
"Daoming Si?" Feng Letian was puzzled. "Who is Daoming Si?"
Lin Yingtao frowned and recalled.
"He is... a man who has protected his girlfriend several times and loves her wholeheartedly," Lin Yingtao said to him, "a man who makes people feel safe!"
Jiang Qiaoxi asked vigilantly what he had whispered to Feng Letian just now.
Lin Yingtao sat in the passenger seat and looked at him. She had just added Dai Lixin's WeChat when she received a message from Dai Lixin.
Dai Lixin asked if Lin Yingtao knew Feng Letian: "On the day of the earthquake, he helped my parents down from the building. I think I should thank him, but I feel embarrassed. Last time I came to their office to play, I accidentally knocked over his kettle, and he didn't seem very happy..."
The car stopped at the intersection.
Turn right and you will reach the Zhongneng Qunshan Power Plant. Turn left and you will reach the former Qunshan construction site. Go straight ahead and you will reach the mountain where Lin Yingtao always went to explore when she was a child.
"No, no," Lin Yingtao went to hold Jiang Qiaoxi's hand, "Let's go to the front and take a look first."
Jiang Qiaoxi asked, "What are you looking at?"
Lin Yingtao looked up and met Jiang Qiaoxi's eyes: "I want to see the little red bridge on the news..."
There were several buses and trucks parked at the foot of the mountain. There were quite a few people on the mountain road, including tourists and reporters.
Lin Yingtao got out of the car and found that they had arrived at the wrong time.
The last batch of mountain people were moving over from the opposite side, and they seemed to be people who were reluctant to leave their homes.
Lin Yingtao and her group walked up the mountain, leaving the way for the group to go down the mountain. Lin Yingtao ran fast and walked in front, leading the group. There were quite a lot of people going up the mountain. Lin Yingtao heard that they seemed to be citizens going to see the Little Red Bridge.
It was not until she entered the forest, stepped on the thick fallen leaves, looked up to see the dense treetops, and was illuminated by the sunlight shining through the gaps between the leaves that Lin Yingtao vaguely felt that she had returned to the mountains.
On the way, a member of the rescue team advised an uncle who wanted to go home after changing his mind: "Uncle, it is true that the earthquake has stopped now, but your old house cannot be lived in anymore. Please stay down the mountain for a few days first!"
An old lady nearby wondered, "There has been no road here for many years. No one has ever walked here. Who built the bridge?"
Yu Qiao put his hands in his trouser pockets. He and Du Shang were chatting in the back, reminiscing about how they were so naughty back then that they kept going back there even though it was a closed dead end road.
Du Shang said sadly: "The dean must have called me back to my parents many times!"
Yu Qiao said: "You are fine as hell, you always call me dad."
Duchamp chuckled.
At this moment, they found that Lin Yingtao was walking in front, and suddenly she froze and stopped moving.
Jiang Qiaoxi was still on the phone in the back.
"Hey, please make way!" someone shouted from a distance.
I saw a snow-white, round shadow emerging from under people's feet and running forward like an arrow, followed by the second, third, and fourth... Some people in the front were exclaiming, and some were taking out their mobile phones to take pictures.
Duchamp was stunned: "Oh my God..."
Cai Fangyuan walked forward a few steps and looked with his eyes wide open.
On the long vermilion suspension bridge, snow-white geese are stretching their necks, stomping their orange-yellow feet on the bridge surface, and flocking over to be driven by the breeders.
Lin Yingtao stood there in a daze, she stretched out her hands and covered her mouth. Her eyes were sparkling.
Duchamp exclaimed: "Big white goose!!"
Yu Qiao laughed loudly in the back; the scene before him was really absurd.
Jiang Qiaoxi was still on the phone. He wanted to ask Feng Letian to find the design unit of Xiaohong Bridge and make a small model of the bridge so that he could send his wife off in private later.
Cai Fangyuan called him from the front: "Jiang Qiaoxi, look, Lin Yingtao has gone crazy!"
Jiang Qiaoxi raised his head and narrowed his eyes.
He couldn't help laughing.
Lin Yingtao stood beside the bridge, excitedly watching the countless white geese surrounding her. She was so happy that she couldn't speak, and she kept saying "wow" and "wow" as if she had seen a unique spectacle.
Lin Yingtao picked up a gosling and almost had her hair pecked by the goose. She took a photo with the farmer who raised the goose by the Little Red Bridge.
The farmer was confused, and Cai Fangyuan explained: "She, this girl! Her dream since she was a child is to go from here to your place and see the geese you raise!"
The last batch of mountain people were not moved until the sun was about to set. Many people took photos near the Little Red Bridge. This was the first time Jiang Qiaoxi touched the bridge with his own hands. He stood at the end of the bridge and watched Lin Yingtao walk quickly in front of him. The green mountains and the red bridge, Lin Yingtao ran all the way to the other side. She raised her hand and shouted to Jiang Qiaoxi and Yu Qiao from afar: "I'm flying over here!!"
Jiang Qiaoxi recalled his childhood, when he was withdrawn, irritable, and had a very bad personality. If he had not come to the mountains, he would not even know that he could be a normal person with his parents.
That period of time was undoubtedly the most extraordinary years in Jiang Qiaoxi's life.
"That's three!" Lin Yingtao said with a frown.
"Four seats, all right!" Yu Qiao got out of the car without allowing any arguments.
Lin Yingtao stood beside the car and looked up.
"One, two, three, four..." Lin Yingtao stretched her hands to the sky and counted the water towers, "Five, six..."
Dushan frowned from the side: "Hey, why are there so many?"
They walked forward along the road they used to take home from school.
Yu Qiao lowered his head and searched on his phone: "Oh... In 2006, the third phase of the power plant expansion was completed, and two more were built."
Duchamp asked: "After we left, was a new one built?"
The mountains are growing like this.
The construction site in the mountains, from the gate to the fountain to the staff club, has all disappeared, not a single brick, tile, grass or tree. Yu Qiao and his friends are standing at the gate of the high-end residential area in front of them.
It was getting dark.
Only in the distance of the community, there were a few tall water-drying towers on the skyline, glowing faintly, and there were some shadows of my childhood.