Winter vacation came in a blink of an eye, and Sang Wuyan returned to his hometown in City B after finishing his postgraduate entrance examination.
"How did you do in the exam?" Mother Sang always asked this question.
"I don't know. I really don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know?"
"I'm not the examiner, how would I know?"
"Then I guess I didn't do well in the exam."
"Well, let's just say that." She fought back against all odds.
She did not do well in the exam. She did not even take the last exam. She did not know why, but she suddenly felt that studying was meaningless and did not want to take the postgraduate entrance exam. She did not review at all. She did well in the major courses, but she could not pass the English exam.
After this kind of conversation was repeated several times between the mother and daughter, they finally stopped talking about it.
The activities during the Chinese New Year are nothing more than watching TV at home, going out to meet classmates, or visiting relatives with parents, and wandering around when you have free time.
On the third day of the first lunar month, she received a call saying that many of her junior high school classmates had returned and were getting together in the evening.
"Xu Qian is here too. Weren't you two the best friends before?" the squad leader encouraged.
"forget it."
"Hurry up, we're waiting for you."
The content of class reunions is always the same: eating, singing karaoke, everyone chatting about the past and the present, and some sweet ones even bring their families.
Sang Wuyan got off the bus and turned into a small supermarket in front of the hot pot restaurant to buy some chewing gum. When he came out, he was peeling the outer packaging of the chewing gum while walking forward. After a few steps, he saw two people who were also about to enter the hot pot restaurant.
These two people are Wei Hao and Xu Qian.
Wei Hao was also stunned when he saw Sang Wuyan.
"Nothing..." he said.
Sang Wuyan calmed down and prepared to turn around and leave.
“Sang Wuyan!” Xu Qian shouted, stopping Sang Wuyan, and then walked forward aggressively, “Why are you hiding?”
"I'm not hiding from anything. This road is not opened by you. Going forward or backward is my business." Sang Wuyan said.
Wei Hao was caught in the middle and didn't know what to do.
"Don't always act like Wei Hao and I are sorry for you," Xu Qian said, "You should know that between the three of us, you are the third party."
Sang Wuyan sneered, took a few steps back, turned around and left.
She had just left home, and if she went back half an hour later, her mother would definitely question her, so she found a snack bar to kill time.
It was the peak time for eating, and the restaurant was already doing good business, so customers were packed in. Sang Wuyan finally squeezed in and ordered a bowl of noodles.
The radio was playing loudly in the store, and it was broadcasting traffic information at that time. If a few acquaintances wanted to eat and chat at the same time, they would have to shout out so that the other party could hear them.
Halfway through the meal, a song was played on the radio. Although she couldn't make it out clearly in this noisy place, she had heard this song before. To be exact, it was the piano piece that Su Nianqin played in the piano room that time. Although it was played by other instruments and there were lyrics for people to sing, she remembered it.
The impression is so deep.
She has always admired people who can play musical instruments, let alone a blind person who can play the piano so skillfully. If it only had a Chinese flavor when it was first heard, the original song played on the radio now is simply a song with a strong classical style.
"What the audience just heard was Xu Guangang's latest single, 'Swallows on the Liang'," said the host.
After having a hearty meal, Sang Wuyan put his hands in his down jacket and went to a nearby audio-visual store, but he couldn't find the CD after searching for a long time.
The girl in the store came over and asked enthusiastically.
"I want to find Xu Guangang's songs."
"This is the whole row." The younger sister showed her.
"No, no, it's the latest one that just came out."
"You mean 'Swallows on the Beam'?"
"Yes, yes, yes." Sang Wuyan said.
"It seems that it hasn't been launched yet. Many people have asked about it in the past few days." The little sister laughed.
"Oh." Sang Wuyan felt disappointed.
"But," Sang Wuyan was about to leave the store when her younger sister said behind her, "But, sister, you can search online."
As soon as she walked in, Mother Sang asked, "Why are you back so early?" She never went home until midnight for every class reunion.
"It's not fun, so I'm leaving now."
"Wei Hao just called you and said that if you come back, he will call him and come to see you."
"From then on, he always said I was not there when he called."
"Why do you treat people like this?"
"What did I do to him?" Sang Wuyan raised his voice.
"Is this the tone you use when talking to adults?" Sang's mother was angry. "Don't be annoyed by everything we say and you can't stand anything. When someone calls you, it is basic morality to reply. You should do the same to strangers. Don't say that you two grew up together. Don't think we don't know some things. Wei Hao treats you well..."
"Mom! Please stop talking." She begged, but she looked impatient.
"And this has nothing to do with you." Sang Wuyan added.
Mother Sang became even more annoyed. "Old Sang, look at your daughter. She said it has nothing to do with me. What kind of words are these? I raised her for more than 20 years in vain. She gets angry when she says a few words to me."
Both mother and daughter are impatient.
Father Sang never got involved in the war. He just laughed it off and let it go.
Just as the dispute reached a climax, the doorbell rang.
The person who rang the doorbell was Wei Hao.
Mr. Sang and Wei Hao's father teach at the same university, and both families live in the school's professorial building, upstairs and downstairs, so it is very easy for them to visit each other.
Father Sang opened the door and invited Wei Hao to come in and sit down as if nothing had happened.
Wei Hao stood at the door, as if he smelled the tension in the house, and was in a dilemma whether to stay or leave.
Mother Sang's expression changed faster than a chameleon. "Xiao Hao, weren't you looking for Wu Yan? Look, you just came back."
Sang Wuyan didn't fall for it and turned around and went into the house.
Mother Sang said in a friendly manner: "Old Sang and I were just planning to go to the supermarket to buy some things. You young people can chat." After that, she took Father Sang to change his clothes and went out.
Sang Wuyan waited in the bedroom with the door closed for a long time. She couldn't hold it anymore and wanted to go to the bathroom, but she didn't know whether the person outside was still there. She stuck to the door and listened for a long time, but found that there was no movement outside.
Her physiological instinct overcame her reason, and she resolutely opened the door, looked around, and saw no one. She took a few steps and suddenly found Wei Hao sitting on the sofa.
He looked at her.
She also stared at him, then saw him stand up and slowly approach.
"Just now Xixi said that a friend wanted to have dinner with her and asked me to take her there. I didn't know it was your junior high school reunion..."
"Am I the third party?" Sang Wuyan suddenly interrupted him.
"Don't listen to her."
"Am I the third party, Wei Hao?" Sang Wuyan looked at him intently and asked again.
Wei Hao didn't say anything.
Seeing his noncommittal attitude, Sang Wuyan snorted, turned around, slammed the door and left.
He felt very refreshed when he left. Sang Wuyan completely forgot that he had physical desires that needed to be released urgently. Only now that he was on the road did he start to get anxious.
She found a KFC, quickly took care of her urgent need, and then she started to think that she couldn't go back home for the time being. What if Wei Hao hadn't left yet, or her mother was going to continue fighting with her? In either case, going back would be a trap for her.
Caught in internal and external difficulties.
She had no choice but to go to another classmate's house. This classmate was called Wen Yao, who had come to Sang's house a few days ago. Fortunately, Wen Yao was the only one at Wen's house at the moment. Seeing Wen Yao surfing the Internet, Sang Wuyan suddenly had an idea and said, "Oh, I want to download a song."
Two people leaned over the computer and typed the three words "Swallows on the Liang"
There were quite a lot of results from the search, but when Sang Wuyan listened to each one, none of them were complete, only half of them.
Even though it's only half a paragraph, it doesn't reduce its pleasantness at all.
"It sounds nice." Wen Yao praised.
Sang Wuyan sighed. It did sound nice, but it was far from the feeling of Su Nianqin playing it that day.
Wen Yao didn't know why, and thought she was disappointed because she couldn't find the whole song. Just as she was about to comfort her, she saw a name on the lyrics and murmured, "It was written by Yi Jin again."
Upon hearing this, Sang Wuyan also glanced at the screen.
Although it is only half a song, the lyrics are complete and were posted on a blog by a netizen.
Liang Jianyan
Outside the window, swallows are dancing, flying in pairs, between green water and people's homes.
In the old days, the Wang and Xie families, and the ordinary alleys were all their hometowns.
Liang Jianyan, steal a glance first,
Some people are melancholy at dusk,
Listen to the wind, listen to the rain, listen to the lingering love.
Peach leaves after peach leaves, endless spring breeze.
The sons of the Wang family went to the ferry,
There is a peach leaf smiling, speaking sweetly and attentively.
Two happy things, thanks to my lover for his unique style,
But the journey is not bitter at all, just sweet as honey.
Delay.
Thousands of years later, there is Wuyi Lane, Taoye Ferry, and swallows flying between beams.
Romantic.
The clouds and mist on the paper contain the emotions in the poems, the ideas in the paintings, and the feelings in the heart.
Dancing.
I come here every year, there are tiles on the roofs, nests under the eaves, new mud and old joints.
Only the person under the window has been alone for a long time.
Listen to the charming chirping of swallows.
After the peach blossoms, the willows wither and the swallows fly.
After dusk, it's morning again, every day.
After early spring, it is late autumn, year after year.
Yingying and Yanyan, speaking sweetly,
Chirp and sniff every morning.
Clearly, I miss you so much.
Diligent and persistent.
The more I read, the more I found it a coincidence. The lyrics are exactly the story about Wang Xianzhi that I told Su Nianqin last time, and it also happened to include Wuyi Lane and Taoye Ferry.
"Who do you say wrote it?" Sang Wuyan asked.
"Yi Jin." Wen Yao pointed to the upper right side of the screen.
Sang Wuyan suddenly straightened up and began to have a guess. Then, he denied it: Impossible, too... incredible.
When Sang Wuyan arrived downstairs at 11 o'clock in the evening, he saw that all the lights in the house were off, and then he went into the house with peace of mind.
She turned on the lamp and sat at her desk seriously. Using the logical analysis ability of a science student, she wrote down the similarities between Su Nianqin and Yi Jin one by one on paper and sorted them out.
First, on the day when Yi Jin was interviewed by Nie Xi, she met Su Nianqin at the radio station.
She nodded and put a hook behind this one.
Second, it was this new song that she heard Su Nianqin playing last time.
She nodded again and drew another hook.
Third... Third...
There seems to be no third one...
Just two points didn't seem to explain the problem enough, so Sang Wuyan bit the pen and added another one.
Third, Yi Jin and Su Nianqin both live in City A.
No, Sang Wuyan shook her head and crossed out the answer. There were many people living in City A, and she was one of them.
Now there is something that can identify whether Su Nianqin is Yi Jin, that is the recording of Nie Xi's interview with Yi Jin. After so many face-to-face contacts, she should be able to recognize Su Nianqin's voice.
Thinking of this, she was not so anxious anymore.
For several days in a row, the mother and daughter did not reconcile, and the mother still had a sullen face towards her.
She would see them everywhere, so she simply stayed at home, lest she run into Xu Qian and Wei Hao and be accused of being the third party.
What does it mean to be trapped both internally and externally? This is a living example.
After the seventh day of the first lunar month, many classmates returned to school to work. Sang Wuyan also took the opportunity to find an excuse to return to City A, otherwise he would get sick sooner or later if he stayed at home.
She regretted it as soon as she arrived at school.
This year the Chinese New Year is celebrated later, the 9th day of the first lunar month is exactly February 14th. The campus is full of couples, who are probably looking for excuses to come to school early to meet for Valentine's Day.
Cheng Yin didn't leave.
Sang Wuyan stayed in his room doing nothing, chatting with people on QQ all day long.
In the evening, Mr. Li from the disabled school left a message online: "Teacher Sang, I have a favor to ask of you."
"You say."
“It’s like this…” Teacher Li explained.
It turned out that there was a child named Su Xiaowei in the blind class who was an orphan and lived in a children's welfare home in City A. Tomorrow was her birthday, and last year Teacher Li promised to give her a birthday cake with fruits on her birthday, but Teacher Li had something to do during the Chinese New Year and happened to go back to her hometown, so she wanted to ask Sang Wuyan to go on her behalf.
Sang Wuyan replied cheerfully: "No problem."
Her internship assignment was originally to follow Teacher Li and serve as deputy head teacher of their class. Now she finally got some assignment.
Before leaving, Sang Wuyan said generously: "I lack everything except love."
Cheng Yin rolled her eyes at her and said, "You are also lacking in heart?"
"Pooh-"
She didn't know Xiao Wei was from such a family before, she just thought Su Nianqin was particularly fond of this child in class. Because both of them had the surname Su, Sang Wuyan initially suspected that they were relatives. Now that she thought about it, maybe Su Nianqin already knew Xiao Wei's background.
In fact, welfare institutions generally have this habit, where children are named after the teachers who work there, and they rotate once a year. For example, if the teacher's last name this year is Wu, then all the children sent here this year will have the last name Wu. Birthdays are similar, and they will not be celebrated alone, unless the adults intentionally leave the date of birth when they abandon the child.
When Sang Wuyan brought the delicious cake to the welfare home to see Xiaowei, he found that Xiaowei and a group of children had already eaten it.
The person sitting on one side was actually Su Nianqin.
Aunt Zhang from the welfare home smiled and explained, "Teacher Su arrived a little early."
It was Sang Wuyan’s first time here and she was curious. While the children were focusing on sharing the second cake, she started chatting with Aunt Zhang.
"If the child is young and has no defects, they will usually be adopted after staying with us for a short time," Aunt Zhang explained intermittently. "Some are lost. A few days ago, the police sent two children here who were trafficked. They couldn't find their parents, so they stayed with us temporarily. But most of them were abandoned by their parents."
"Is it because of illness?"
Aunt Zhang nodded, "They were born with birth defects, or they wanted a boy but gave birth to a girl so they threw her away and gave birth to another one."
"How can there be such parents in the world?" Sang Wuyan was indignant.
“In fact, some of them have their own difficulties. They don’t have money to treat their children, so they have to give it to the government. Look at that child.” Sang Wuyan looked in the direction Aunt Zhang pointed. There was a ten-year-old child holding a child in his arms. The child was very skinny and was licking the cream on the corner of his mouth, laughing.
"He was abandoned in front of the county government when he was one and a half years old. He had a congenital heart disease. We sent him to Beijing for three operations before he was saved, which cost hundreds of thousands of yuan. Tell me, how many families can afford it? If he had not been sent here at that time, the child might have died and the family would have collapsed. Every family has its own difficulties." Aunt Zhang sighed.
While they were talking, Su Nianqin stood under the window with a blind stick in his hand. His face was gloomy and no one knew what he was thinking.
"Has anyone ever found their biological parents?"
"Yes, but not many. Most are still waiting to be adopted. But everyone can't say that they have no selfish motives. Most of the adopted children are healthy, and most of them are young and don't remember anything. For someone like Xiaowei, who is blind and ten years old, there is not much hope. We just hope that she can learn a skill and support herself when she grows up. If not, she can stay and help us with things. Look at the oldest one," Aunt Zhang was referring to the older child holding the toddler just now, "her grades are very good, and the teacher at school asked her to take the college entrance examination. As long as she can pass, we will support her to continue studying."
After coming out of the welfare home, Sang Wuyan did not feel the satisfaction that he had imagined after giving his love, but instead felt a little heavy.
She left with Su Nianqin. She looked back at Su Nianqin in front of her. He pursed his lips, still the same.
"Where are you going? I'll take you there." Sang Wuyan asked.
"No need." Su Nianqin groped and sat down on a chair on the side of the road.
"Speaking of which, I have something I want to ask you."
He kept silent, so Sang Wuyan had to continue on his own.
"You're not going to be Yijin, are you?"
After Sang Wuyan finished speaking, she observed Su Nianqin's expression. He looked as calm as a rock, as if he didn't hear her and didn't even bother to pay attention to her.
She suddenly got angry. "At least reply to me. Even if you don't want to admit it, you can just pretend. Why do this? It's as if you'll get the plague if you say one more word to me." Sang Wuyan spoke quickly, spitting out a long paragraph.
"You go your own way. My sitting here won't hinder you. But please don't stand in front of me and don't bother me all the time." Su Nianqin was slightly annoyed.
Seeing him angry, Sang Wuyan suddenly laughed, "Teacher Su, what are you talking about? Just now I was walking in front and you were walking behind. Now you are sitting and I am standing. Even if you occupied the chair first, this road was not built by your family. I can stand anywhere as long as I am happy. I have the right."
Su Nianqin closed his eyes in silence. As a grown man, he didn't want to lose his temper in front of a little girl in the street.
If Sang Wuyan retreated like this, she would be able to survive, so she simply sat down next to him.
Su Nianqin moved to the other side after noticing it. If you can't afford to offend him, you can afford to hide from him.
"Let me take you there."
The man didn't respond.