She turned back to the cover and looked at that face again. He never liked taking pictures, so there were only a few photos of her and him. Thinking of this, Xieyi couldn't help but move her fingers to his eyes. She didn't know how long it had been since she saw him smile at her. When was the last time? It seemed like he secretly came back from City B, caught her in the bathroom, kissed her passionately, and then proposed to her. When he smiled at her sincerely like that, his features were much more beautiful than in this photo. For a moment, she was a little absent-minded, then put the magazine in her handbag and sighed softly in her heart.
In the afternoon, I went to the hotel to pick up the elderly couple from Germany who were going to travel to a city in the mainland. Xieyi was going to take them to the airport. Xieyi didn't expect that she arrived a little early. She sat on the sofa in the guest room with an apologetic look, chatting with the old man while waiting for the old lady to pack up. The old man had a strong sense of national honor and always liked to ask Xieyi if she had been to a certain city in Germany or watched a certain football game.
Halfway through the conversation, Xieyi's cell phone suddenly rang. She went to look through her handbag but couldn't find it. She smiled apologetically at the old man, then put her keys, notebook and the weekly magazine she had read in the morning on the coffee table before she took out her cell phone.
"Xieyi, have you arrived at the hotel?" It was Zhou Pingxin.
"arrive."
"Okay, I'll wait for you at the airport."
Just after hanging up the phone, I saw the old man staring at the cover of the weekly magazine and then took it. Old people have presbyopia, but the cover was so clear that he saw Li Zeliang at a glance.
"This is Li." The old man said to himself.
"Do you know him?" Xie Yi was a little surprised.
The old man raised his eyebrows and said with some pride: "We are friends."
Friends? Could it be that the couple was referring to Li Zeliang when they said they were visiting friends in City A? Sure enough, there were such coincidences in the world, and she had never known that Li Zeliang actually had friends in Mannheim.
"He seems to be very successful here with you, Shen. You are a bit like him." The old man smiled, "I felt that way the first time I saw you in the car."
“Somewhat?”
"The German accent, the word choice habits, and when he can't find the right word, he will tilt his head." The old man cutely imitated the freehand expression and movements.
Xieyi smiled, "It's all Chinese accents and Chinese habits." Her German was almost all taught by Li Zeliang, so it's probably normal if it's similar, but it's the first time she heard someone speak like this. Now, she doesn't want to explain the relationship between the two to others, just treat it as a coincidence.
"No," the old man shook his head, "I know a lot of Chinese people, and your habits are very similar to yours."
I simply stopped denying it.
The old man went to get his reading glasses, looked over the cover photo of Li Zeliang, and then handed it to Xie Yi, "Miss Shen, could you please translate it for me?"
She translated the report in bits and pieces, and the old lady followed and listened. After the long speech, the room fell silent, and Xieyi put down the weekly magazine and looked at them.
After a long while, the old man said, "I didn't expect Li to be so successful. It's not easy."
The old lady also lamented: "At that time, we all thought he would not make it."
"What?" Xieyi didn't understand what they meant for a moment.
"Shen, you probably all know that Li has a disabled leg."
"Yeah." Xieyi nodded.
"He had an accident in Germany and it was my husband who rescued him from the river," said the old lady.
"What accident?" Xie Yi asked immediately, and her eager attitude surprised the two old people. Because she had never heard from anyone about the car accident that caused Li Zeliang's disability, he had always kept himself hidden too well.
"He was injured and fell into the river. He floated down from upstream. My son and I rescued him together."
Hearing this, Xieyi's heart suddenly shrank, "What river is that?"
"The Rhine, the section near Mannheim."
A strong premonition arose in Xie Yi's heart, and she asked in a trembling voice: "Mr. Schneider, can you remember which day it was?"
The old man thought for a moment and said, "I can't remember clearly, but if it's important, I can check it out."
"Mr. Schneider, this matter is very, very important to me!" Xie Yi nodded, his face pale.
The old lady probably saw Xie Yi's unusual behavior and knew that this matter was serious. So, she asked the hotel to make an international call to her son.
Two minutes later, the old lady told Xieyi the answer.
December 1st.
December 1st!
When she heard the date, she almost stopped breathing. She clutched her clothes tightly with both hands. Thousands of complex and inexplicable feelings surged up at once, as if clamoring to pour out of her eyes.
Xieyi stood up abruptly, and said in a lost tone: "I'm sorry, I... I..." She didn't even realize that she said that in Chinese, her voice trembling, and then she rushed into the bathroom.
the same day.
It was the same day.
They fell into the Rhine River in Mannheim due to a car accident on the same day.
The coincidence of time and place was so striking that it was almost frightening.
Xie Yi immediately called Zhan Dongzhen: "Dong Dong, I have a very urgent question!"
"What's wrong?"
"You said I was rescued after the car accident."
"Yes, if you were so determined to die, how could you get up? And the doors and windows are all closed."
"Where is the person who saved me?"
"I've answered you many times, Xie Yi, I didn't find her." He even posted a missing person notice as she asked, but still couldn't find her.
"Why didn't you find it?"
"That day, when others found you, you were fainted in the shallow water and the car had already sunk. There was no one around and no one knew what had happened." He didn't know how many times he had told Xie Yi these words, but today she suddenly brought it up again.
Xie Yi followed his description: "The window was broken from the outside, and because my head hit the glass in front of me hard, I lost consciousness before I fell into the water."
"Yes, so we speculate that someone must have saved you, otherwise the consequences would be disastrous."
"It's not that it's unthinkable, it's that without that person, I simply wouldn't be alive anymore."
"You can say that." Zhan Dongzhen agreed.
"But who is that person?"
Their discussion returned to the starting point, and Zhan Dongzhen said helplessly: "I don't know, Xieyi, I really don't know. We tried hard, but we didn't find it."
Xie Yi took a deep breath, "Now I know, maybe it's him - Li Zeliang."
It’s Li Zeliang!
When she said the three words "Li Zeliang" into the phone in the bathroom, tears welled up in her eyes.
"Why?" Zhan Dongzhen asked in surprise.
"I don't know. I have no evidence or clues, but I feel it must be him."
The person who broke the glass with his hands in the freezing cold river water, the person who pulled her out of the car bit by bit, and the person who used his last bit of strength to send her to the shallow water was Li Zeliang.
Xieyi came out of the restroom and said to the two elderly people in a panic, "I'm sorry, I'll ask the company to send someone else, I have something urgent to do and must leave."
The old lady walked over and hugged Xie Yi and said, "Child, it's okay, you can go. We are not in a hurry, and we don't even have to leave today."
Xieyi nodded at them with tears in her eyes and quickly left the hotel.
She didn't know who to ask for confirmation. Who else could give her a definite answer except Li Zeliang himself? In desperation, she contacted Ji Yingsong.
"Manager Ji, I'm Shen Xieyi."
"Hello." Ji Yingsong said.
"I need to see you."
"Is there a problem?"
"About Li Zeliang's car accident in Germany."
Ji Yingsong paused for a moment and said on the other end of the phone: "Ms. Shen, you should ask Mr. Li himself."
"He won't tell me."
"Then I have no choice." Ji Yingsong rejected her politely.
"Manager Ji," Xie Yi bit her lower lip and said to the phone somewhat desperately, "I beg you, please tell me the truth, I need the truth, even if it's just one sentence. I sincerely beg you to tell me." She had never begged anyone so desperately before, just for the truth, an answer.
Faced with such a request, even the hardest heart would be moved.
"Ms. Shen, I'm on a business trip. If you want to know something, just ask me now and I can answer you immediately."
Xie Yi didn't bother to be polite and asked directly, "How did Li Zeliang lose his leg?"
"Car accident."
"What car accident? A car accident at the same time and place as mine?"
Ji Yingsong thought about it and said slowly, "Yes. That day he drove desperately to chase you. When your car fell, he happened to see it from behind. His car suddenly lost control and rushed into the roadside post. His right leg was bleeding profusely..."
Ji Yingsong spoke slowly and each word was like a needle piercing Xieyi's heart.
The truth is, after the car accident, Li Zeliang jumped into the river with her. At that time, his leg injury was already very serious. He smashed the glass with his bare hands in the water to save her, and then used up his last bit of strength to push her to the shore. After drifting for a long time, when he was rescued by Schneider and his son and sent to the hospital, the muscles in his right leg had already died and had to be removed.
"Then..." Xieyi's left hand tightly grasped the right hand holding the phone to stop it from shaking, "If there was no delay, or if he didn't jump into the river to save me, could his legs be saved?"
Ji Yingsong was silent for a long time, and finally uttered the answer: "Yes."
Xie Yi closed his eyes and said, "Thank you."
"Miss Shen," Ji Yingsong said, "please don't blame yourself. Under the circumstances, he would not hesitate even for a moment, even if his life was worth a life."
This time, Xieyi didn't say anything else, just hung up the phone gently. The last words of comfort were originally rare from Ji Yingsong's mouth, but unfortunately it was a great irony for Xieyi. In the many nights when she couldn't fall asleep due to heartache, her hatred for him was an insoluble poison, which seeped into her bones drop by drop, corroding the once sweet past into a thousand holes. However, now all the feelings were pieced together bit by bit by his deep affection, slowly repaired, and gradually seeing the memories as bright and clean as new, she suddenly felt that she didn't even have the strength to hate him anymore.
From the beginning to the end, for so many years, he never said that he loved her, but when the truth was peeled off layer by layer, he found that the weight of them combined was already a thousand times greater than those three words.
The sun rarely shines out from the clouds, shining on people, and it feels warm. The weather forecast originally said that it would snow recently, but today the sun came out. Such warm sunshine is especially rare in this season. Xieyi sat on a chair in the green belt opposite Li's Building, and the sun leisurely penetrated the gaps between the leaves, turning into colorful light and shadows and falling on her face.
After an unknown amount of time, a group of people walked out of the building, among them was Li Zeliang. I don't know if his leg condition had improved or if he had to wear a prosthesis, but he stood straight like a normal person to see off the guests. There were two steps leading to the lobby on the first floor. Xieyi saw him from afar, greeting the guests and seeing them off while walking down the steps, with a polite smile on his face, but he didn't know how much pain his heavy right leg brought him.
She stood up and looked at him, her heart clenched. She even thought that if she had not been so impulsive that day, perhaps what appeared in front of her now would still be a pair of perfect legs. Xieyi suddenly felt resentful of herself for being so selfish. Why did she only have hatred in her eyes at that time and could not see his affection at all? When he smiled and sent the customer away and turned back, he saw Xieyi under the shadow of the tree on the opposite side of the road. He was a little surprised and wanted to walk over, but hesitated for a moment and finally endured it.
He turned around and told the people around him to leave first, then he just stood there and stared at her.
The distance was too far, so she didn't notice the joy that flashed in his eyes.
From time to time, vehicles whizzed by on the road, blocking their sight for a few seconds, but then quickly moved away, and both of them remained motionless. A balloon vendor, holding a bunch of colorful balloons, had children watching, and was right in front of Xie Yi. So, she moved her steps and looked for him again, but saw Li Zeliang slowly walking towards her.
He walked slowly, and the frequency of lifting his right leg was slightly slower than that of his left leg. He took a few steps, frowned halfway, and looked a little embarrassed, but it was only for a moment, and that expression flashed by, well concealed, and completely unnoticeable. It was also at that moment that Xie Yi saw his expression, that well-concealed expression, that almost unnoticeable expression, that expression that made her so painful that she couldn't breathe, and finally made up her mind. No matter what he did to the Shen family, no matter what he did to other people in this world, angels or demons, as long as he loved her, it was enough.
At this moment, she didn't want to be surnamed Shen or Su, she just wanted to be A Yan's freehand.
"Dad, I'm sorry. I love him. I really, really, really love him." Xie Yi bit her lower lip and silently said to her father, "Your Xie Yi also wants to retain his own happiness."
Xieyi made up her mind and immediately ran towards him, avoiding the crowd anxiously. She didn't care whether there was a zebra crossing or not, and crossed the road directly without moving.
A car came roaring towards her and she was not paying attention for a moment.
"Xieyi, car!" Li Zeliang shouted anxiously.
She turned her head and the oncoming van passed by her by a hair's breadth.
Li Zeliang waited for her to come up to him, grabbed her arm, and said, "Who told you to cross the road like this!" His face turned pale.
He was so angry that Xieyi was stunned.
"I… I'm fine."
She felt some pain from his pinch.
People from the Li family were coming in and out, and kept greeting Li Zeliang. He suddenly realized that his words and actions were unusual, and gently let her go.
"Why are you here if you're not at work?" he asked.
Xieyi buried his head, his mind was in a mess, he didn't know how to answer, and a sentence quickly popped up in his head: "I'll return the book to you." Ah, yes, he didn't return the book to him last time.
"Where's the book?"
"Uh." Suddenly, she realized that she hadn't finished her lie yet. "I think I forgot to bring it." But she was immediately exposed.
"When will it be given to me?"
"tonight."
It was almost a re-enactment of the scene.
"I hope you won't break your promise again this time," said Li Zeliang.