On the day of the Qixi Festival, Fu Shitian and Shi Yi both got up at daybreak.
According to the local customs of Ningcheng, on the morning of a wedding, the host's family will send someone to offer sacrifices to the ancestors and inform them, so that the ancestors can be happy together and bless the newlyweds with happiness and health and the family with prosperity.
Fu Siyu should have gone with them, but because the cemetery was on a mountain and she had difficulty walking, she was unable to go, so Fu Jiantao and Wang Meifen told her not to force herself and had Song Yu go instead.
When Fu Shitian and Shi Yi finished washing up and went downstairs, Song Yu had already come over from the hotel and was sitting in the lobby talking to Fu Jiantao.
His hair was neatly combed, he wore a short-sleeved shirt, had broad shoulders and sat upright, and looked very sunny and tall.
Fu Shitian and Shi Yi introduced: "That's Xiaoyu's fiancé, Song Yu."
Shi Yi looked at him from across half of the room, and suddenly a light laugh came out of his nose, looking very happy.
Fu Shitian was puzzled: "What's wrong?"
Shi Yi did not answer, but just glanced at her and asked meaningfully: "Does he often send flowers to Xiaoyu?"
Fu Shitian nodded: "What's wrong?"
Shi Yi couldn't help laughing again, then he cleared his throat and said, "Nothing. It looks good. Xiaoyu has good taste."
Fu Shitian tilted her head to show her disbelief, but Shi Yi refused to say anything. He just held her hand and walked forward, changing the subject: "Good morning, uncle."
Fu Jiantao and Song Yu both looked over.
Fu Shitian had no choice but to let go of the topic for the time being and followed her to greet Fu Jiantao and Song Yu.
Fu Jiantao saw that Shi Yi had changed into a trouser suit and sports shoes today, so he asked casually, "Will you go with me later?"
Shi Yi nodded.
Fu Shitian explained: "I want to take her to meet my father." There was a hint of request in her eyes.
Fu Jiantao was not surprised at all, he just asked: "Can you carry people in an electric car?"
Fu Shitian relaxed and quickly responded, "Sure."
"Then I'll go next door and borrow another electric bike. One for Xiao Song and me, one for your aunt, and one for you and Xiao Shi. Is that okay?"
Fu Shitian certainly had no objection: "Thank you, uncle."
Fu Jiantao glanced at her and said, "What nonsense are you talking about." He stood up and said, "Okay, I'll go borrow a car, you guys go eat, try to go early and come back early, if you go any later the sun will be too strong and you will be tired of the sun."
Fu Shitian and Shi Yi both laughed and said it was okay.
Fu Jiantao sneered and said nothing more.
At seven o'clock, after a meal and some preparation, they finally set off. Fu Jiantao lent Fu Shitian a black Lamborghini, which was neither new nor old, but it had a good handling feel.
Fu Shitian hadn't ridden a bike for a long time, but he didn't feel unfamiliar at all.
Shi Yi sat astride her, holding her waist and leaning against her back intimately. The morning breeze, carrying the fresh rain and dew that had not yet dissipated from midnight, blew across her cheeks, bringing with it a long-lost, nostalgic smell.
Shi Yi sighed: "I haven't had the wind blown like this for a long time."
Fu Shitian said, "Me too." After leaving school, she never rode an electric bike again, let alone carried anyone. She suddenly wanted to ask Shi Yi what happened to the electric bike they bought later.
But she didn't dare ask.
It's nothing more than selling it or throwing it away.
Unexpectedly, Shi Yi took the initiative to bring it up: "Do you still remember the electric car we bought together?"
Fu Shitian's throat tightened and he responded, "Yeah."
Shi Yi rested his chin on her shoulder and asked, "Guess what happened to it in the end?"
"What's wrong?"
Shi Yi said calmly: "It was stolen."
She found it when she missed it too much and hated it too much, and wanted to sell it. She had already decided not to give it up, but when she found it was really gone, she felt the pain of an empty heart again.
Like a headless fly, she walked around the block, around the parking lot, around the surrounding used car shops, walking street after street.
Until blisters appear on your heels.
Until dark.
Until you give up.
Fu Shitian was totally unprepared for this. His heart went blank and he didn't know what to do for a moment.
Shi Yi sighed and laughed, as if he was a little melancholy, but also a little doting, and said, "Compensate me with one."
Fu Shitian felt bitter and replied, "Okay."
Shi Yi added, "Let's wait until later. When we retire, we'll return to Shanghai to settle down and buy a house near the ring road. Then we can ride it out for a ride every morning and evening."
Just imagining Fu Shitian made her feel happy. She relaxed her back, leaned into Shi Yi's arms, and said softly, "Okay."
Shi Yi narrowed his eyes and enjoyed it for two seconds before he pretended to be serious and reminded: "I'm driving. Ms. Jiang Lailai, please be careful. I don't want to go to the traffic police brigade to rescue you."
Fu Shitian couldn't help but laugh out loud, and hummed a few dissatisfied words in response to her. He sat up straight and rode the bike seriously.
Twenty minutes later, the bike reached the middle of the mountain and couldn't go any further.
The five people got off the car, parked the electric bike beside the mountain road, and walked up the mountain carrying hoes, offerings, iron buckets, paper money and water. It was Shi Yi's first time to come to such an unplanned private cemetery, and it was also his first time to walk such a steep mountain road. Everything seemed strange to him, but with Fu Shitian by his side, everything seemed familiar to him.
She took the initiative to share a large bag of paper money, holding an umbrella, and walked up quietly with Fu Shitian without a word of complaint.
Fu Jiantao walked behind them, carrying water and several bags of paper money on a hoe. He saw Fu Shitian trying to help Shi Yi get some money several times but Shi Yi refused to give him any. He looked at Shi Yi's half body exposed to the sun and Fu Shitian's whole body covered in the shade, with more and more undisguised admiration and satisfaction in his eyes.
Children and grandchildren have their own blessings. He believed that Fu Jianze could also think positively.
After walking for about 20 minutes, Shi Yi and Fu Shitian gradually lost their strength. Fu Jiantao walked ahead of them, took the paper money from Shi Yi's hand, and walked up the mountain quickly. Wang Meifen and Song Yu followed closely behind.
Now that Shi Yi was no longer carrying the weight in his hands, he took the basket that Fu Shitian was carrying and walked with her at the back, moving steadily upwards.
Soon, several people finally arrived at the tomb where Fu Shitian's grandparents were buried together. Fu Jiantao strode onto the cement paved tomb, put down the water and paper money, and turned around to wait for Fu Shitian and Shi Yi who were still on the mountain road.
Wang Meifen and Song Yu quickly followed suit.
Only Fu Shitian and Shi Yi were left.
Unexpectedly, Fu Shitian was at the fork in the road, holding Shi Yi still. She looked at him from a distance and said, "Uncle, Shi Yi and I will not go through."
Fu Jiantao was surprised and just wanted to speak when he heard her say, "I don't think grandma wants to see me. Today is a happy day, so don't make grandma angry."
Fu Jiantao was speechless.
He looked at Fu Shitian and Shi Yi holding hands tightly, knowing that what Fu Shitian said was true. If the old man were still alive, who knows what kind of storm it would be at this moment.
In the last days of his life, the old man was still forcing and cursing Fu Shitian. Those injuries and disputes were so real. Occasionally, during festivals and sacrifices, Fu Shitian would kowtow and burn incense whenever she was at home. To be honest, he was not qualified to ask for more from her.
That's all.
He said, "Go see your father. Do you know the way?"
Except for the time when he attended the funeral, this was the first time that Fu Shitian came here in all these years.
Fu Shitian's face turned pale and he said, "I recognize it."
She had walked this road many times in her dreams over the years. The sound of suona and firecrackers from funeral processions had woken her up countless times.
"Then we'll meet at the parking lot later." Fu Jiantao reminded.
Fu Shitian nodded, said hello to Wang Meifen and Song Yu, and continued walking forward with Shi Yi.
Shi Yi could feel that her mood was getting low, so he didn't ask anything. He put away the umbrella and held Fu Shitian's hand tightly.
Fu Shitian gave her a faint smile in return.
Shi Yi began to feel stuffy in his heart.
Fu Jianze’s tomb is not far from his parents’, and it only takes a few minutes to walk there.
The grave was no longer what Fu Shitian remembered. The low mound of yellow earth had been covered with cement and paved with it, as she had intended two years ago. No one had been there for a whole year, and the grave was relatively clean except for some fallen leaves and weeds.
Fu Shitian bit his lip, looked at Shi Yi intently, and confirmed with her again: "Are you going up?"
Shi Yi frowned. What
She let go of Fu Shitian's hand unhappily, and without even looking at her, she stepped onto the graveyard herself.
Fu Shitian was stunned for a moment, his eyes brightened a little, and he followed Shi Yi up.
The dust was quite serious and it was unbearable not to clean it up. Fu Shitian forgot to bring a broom, so he could only break off a long branch with large leaves from a nearby tree to use as a broom.
Shi Yi followed suit and wanted to break off one to help. But she was surprisingly clumsy in doing this, even though she was good at everything. Fu Shitian was frightened just by looking at her standing on the edge of the cliff. She quickly grabbed her wrist and assigned her another task: "Can you help me re-paint the words on the tombstone?"
Shi Yi hesitated for a moment, and seeing that the black words on the tombstone had indeed faded a lot, he took it.
She took paint and a pen from the basket, and paper from her bag, and walked to the tombstone. Without paying attention to the dirt and mess, she sat down directly, tilted her head back, wiped the entire tombstone first, and then carefully traced the words on the tombstone stroke by stroke.
Fu Shitian had finished sweeping the leaves from the grave, while Shi Yi was still tracing. She was already tracing the numbers of the birth and death years at the bottom of the line next to the name.
The position is relatively low, the characters are too small, and the brush provided by Fu Jiantao is too thick, so it is not easy to trace well.
Shi Yi was very close, leaning down, holding a pen in one hand and tracing with only the tip of the pen, and holding a tissue in the other hand to prevent excess paint from spilling. The sun was burning on her body, and Fu Shitian saw that there was a thin layer of sweat on the side of her face, which was faintly shining in the sun.
She pursed her lips, her face looking so solemn and serious.
There wasn't even a trace of contempt or disgust.
Fu Shitian stared at her, and his eye sockets suddenly felt sore and swollen.
The echo of the words "Bad genes are inherited after all," which often stabbed her heart like a sharp knife in her dreams at midnight, seemed to have finally disappeared from her ears.
But what followed was another sharp pain.
Holding the bouquet, she walked to Shi Yi's side, squatted down, and hugged Shi Yi from behind.
Shi Yi was stunned for a moment, then asked in a soft voice, "What's wrong? I've almost finished it."
Fu Shitian placed the flowers in front of the tombstone, without saying a word. He just put his arms around Shi Yi, leaned against her, and trembled slightly.
Shi Yi's whole heart began to tremble along with her.
The fingertips holding the pen turned white. She held Fu Shitian's hand on her waist with the hand holding the tissue and coaxed him softly, "Come here?"
Fu Shitian held her thumb in return. His hand was very cold. After several seconds, he replied, "I'm fine."
"Shi Yi," she confessed in a low voice, "Actually, I don't know if this is the place I should come to."
"I don't know if he wants to see me or if he hates me.",