Finally getting rid of these mundane affairs of the world, Wen Liang stayed in the capital for another day. He politely declined Lei Fang's offer of companionship, sent Fan Bo to the company, avoided Lei Yu who came before skipping classes, and allowed Zhu Zixuan, who had finally escaped from home, to be angry and annoyed. He did not answer the calls from Wan Siwei and Du Dazhong. He was like a snowflake falling from the sky, quietly disappearing in the distance of the endless capital.
The heavy snow that had lasted for three days showed no sign of stopping, covering the world in a charming silver-white. A Mercedes-Benz was driving slowly on the still desolate cement road in Yizhuang. A few brightly dressed girls who worked nearby happened to pass by. One of the round-faced girls said jokingly, "Guess if there's a handsome guy in the car?"
"You're a nympho. When you see a nice car, you look forward to meeting a handsome guy. Are you crazy about marrying into a rich family?"
"Yes, yes," the round-faced girl nodded wildly with longing in her eyes, "It would be great to marry into a wealthy family. I wouldn't have to go to work early every morning. My warm little bed..."
The other tall girl rubbed her red, frozen hands, and put them into the round-faced girl's neck, saying, "Come on, let me help you sober up. You're still daydreaming in this cold weather. Be careful or I'll tell your boyfriend that you're inclined to fall in love with someone else."
"You two just don't have any ambition... Hey, you're really reaching in..."
The round-faced girl screamed because of the cold hands and scratched the other's waist in revenge. The two of them started to laugh and play, their clothes fluttering and their black hair like waterfalls, adding a bit of spring color to this cold winter morning.
"Stop messing around, look, the car has stopped."
Several girls turned their heads at the same time. A Mercedes stopped on the other side of the road, the door opened, and a tall, elegant man walked out. He was wearing a knee-length black coat, and a long gray scarf casually hung down his shoulders. His soft cheeks carried the immaturity of a teenager, but when he turned his head, his bright eyes revealed a light warmer than spring. Seeing the girls opposite, a slight smile appeared at the corners of his lips. Then, with his hands in the pockets of his coat, he walked towards a pavilion next to him. His leather boots stepped on the ground covered with winter snow, leaving a series of clear footprints.
"Wow, so handsome, what should I do, my head is a little dizzy..."
The round-faced girl clasped her hands in front of her chest and fell into the arms of the tall girl. The tall girl winked at the other two girls, and the three of them shouted and tickled her together.
"It's dawn, wake up."
Wen Liang stood in the pavilion, gazing at this simple stone pavilion. As a supporting building only for the surrounding residents to cool off in the summer and shelter from the wind and rain, it was neither as elegant and refreshing as a classical wooden pavilion, nor as natural as a log thatched pavilion, and it was certainly not as magnificent as a crab bronze pavilion. However, it was such an ordinary little pavilion that allowed Wen Liang to put aside all worldly entanglements and come alone in the heavy snow.
Because this is where he first met Liu Yan!
Wen Liang gently brushed away the snow on the bench and sat down with his clothes on. The snowflakes spun playfully in front of him and flew away in the wind. It seemed that time had returned to that time and space with the flying snowflakes. There was a person there, smiling faintly.
Seven years later, Wen Liang abandoned his studies and went to the capital with Tan Yu, starting a difficult struggle for survival and dreams. The two equally humble and helpless boys first learned how difficult life was, and suffered head-breaking injuries in the turbulent social torrents. They witnessed with their own eyes what power, influence, human relationships, and the evil human heart were. Perhaps without that night, Wen Liang would have left sadly, or returned to Qingzhou, or found another place to start over, and then continued his experience in the capital, repeating back and forth, until he grew old and accomplished nothing, until that night!
That night, it rained heavily!
…
It was another fruitless contract. Wen Liang had run around for this contract no less than ten times. Every time he grovelled, his self-esteem was severely trampled upon. But in the end, he still left sadly amid the cold rejection and undisguised ridicule of the other company's boss.
Outside the building, the night was as dark as ink and it was raining heavily. The pouring rain and the strong wind seemed to pulverize Yizhuang. Wen Liang walked to the nearby bus stop with an umbrella and waited for the last bus to arrive.
There was no one at the open-air bus stop, and the small umbrella was no match for the heavy rain. In less than two minutes, half of Wen Liang's body was soaked. He looked around, turned around and walked towards the pavilion not far away.
Unexpectedly, there was someone in the pavilion, a woman.
The girl let out a soft "ah", and through the roaring rain, one could still feel the clarity and emptiness of her voice. She must still be very young.
There was not much light in the dark pavilion, let alone the other person's face. One could only vaguely see her long hair draped over her shoulders and her slender figure. Wen Liang still retained his inferiority and aloofness when facing women. In order to dispel the girl's doubts, he said, "I'll wait for the bus and leave when it comes." Then he walked to the side, turned his back to the girl, and looked into the distance silently.
In the distance, tall buildings stood with bright lights. The pavilion was silent. There was a distance of five steps between her and him.
The car hadn't arrived yet, but the rain was getting heavier. Although it was summer, the cold air penetrated the thin clothes and still made her feel bone-chillingly cold. The girl didn't have an umbrella, and hiding in the pavilion, she couldn't avoid the raindrops blown in by the wind. Soon she couldn't help but make a slight sound of her teeth touching each other.
Wen Liang hesitated for a moment, but still kept a distance of five steps away and moved to the girl's right hand side, still with his back to her, and held the umbrella in front of him.
…
Time has passed to today, the snow is still falling. Wen Liang stretched out his hand, as if the girl was sitting next to him. His slightly trembling fingers brushed across her long hair and cheeks, and then he held her hands in his palms, tightly, tightly!
Tears fell quietly, dripping into the snow, forming a broken shape.
Liu Yan, I miss you.
No, I don't miss you, because I never forget you.
On a gloomy rainy day, fallen leaves are floating in the pavilion
Carefully pick them up one by one, on both sides of the road
The rain beats on the pavilion that haunts my dreams and the time when I was eighteen
Commemorating my first love, inlaid with the remaining thoughts, broken and unfulfilled wishes, it is obvious
The young face seems far away but is right in front of us
Xu Song's "Pavilion" echoed again and again in the depths of his soul. Wen Liang closed his eyes and let the snowflakes pile up on his body, one, two...
I don’t know how long it had passed, but in the office building in the distance, a few girls were sitting in the lounge on the top floor with coffee in their hands. The huge floor-to-ceiling windows separated the two worlds inside and outside the house, one was as cold as night, and the other was as warm as spring.
Suddenly a girl shouted, "Look, why is that Mercedes still parked there?"
"That's impossible. There are no residents or companies there. There's only a shabby pavilion and a bus stop. Who would park their car there for the whole morning?"
It was the round-faced girl from the morning. She didn't even bother to drink the steaming coffee in her hand. She squeezed over to look over and exclaimed, "You're really here. Could the car have broken down?"
The tall girl was there too. She took a look and frowned, saying, "We parked the car there on purpose this morning. Hey, look, is there someone in the pavilion?"
It was snowing heavily. Although the pavilion was not far from the building, it was hard to see with the naked eye. The round-faced girl got up and ran away. After a while, she came back with a high-power telescope. The tall girl was startled and asked, "Where did you get it?"
"It's the perverts in the IT department. They have the desire but not the courage. They only dare to hide in the corner and peek with this thing. If I stand in front of them openly, will they dare to look at me?"
The girls giggled. The tall girl picked up the telescope and said in surprise: "There really is someone..."
"Is it the handsome guy from this morning?" The round-faced girl squeezed over to take a look and said, "Yes, it is. I remember that coat. He looked so charming in it."
"Let's go and take a look!" The tall girl thought for a moment, then stood up and said, "It's been two or three hours, and it's so cold, I hope nothing happens!"
The round-faced girl opened her eyes wide and said, "Okay, you said I was a nymphomaniac, but it turns out that you are also in love, otherwise why would you care so much about me?"
The tall girl said unhappily, "Are you coming or not? If not, forget it!"
"Come on, why don't you come? If I don't go, won't it mean you have to eat alone?"
Sitting here with a smile on his gentle face, all the past events that had been suppressed in his heart since his rebirth came to his mind one by one: her smile, the corners of her lips, her shyness and anger, her eyebrows and fingertips, her laziness when she woke up in the morning, her messy hair during her nap, and her figure curled up in front of the glass window holding a cup of hot tea, waiting for him to come home.
Liu Yan, are you okay
"Hey, are you okay?"
Wen Liang suddenly opened his eyes and stared at the two beautiful girls in front of him for a long time before he smiled at himself. Yes, how could she be here? This is Beijing in 1996. How could she be here
The tall girl was waving her hand in front of his eyes and was startled by Wen Liang. But when she saw the clear eyes of the boy covered in snow, which were filled with deep sadness, she suddenly felt uncomfortable in her heart for some reason.
In such a heavy snow, he was still sitting here. Was he thinking of his lover? Or did some touching story happen in this pavilion
Seeing that the tall girl didn't say a word, the round-faced girl laughed and said, "What's wrong, little girl, are you still shy? Handsome boy, why don't you go to the car and sit here to make a snowman?"
Wen Liang shook off the snow on his shoulders, nodded to the two girls in a friendly manner, then picked up a dead branch outside the pavilion and wrote the following poem on the snow:
Seven years of longing, I can't see you north of Luoyang
The Mercedes Benz slowly drove away. Wen Liang turned his head and vaguely saw two girls stopping to look at the scenery. The stone pavilion was covered with a thick layer of snow, which was dazzlingly white, cold and lonely.
Goodbye, Liu Yan;
Goodbye, Beijing!
(North of Luoyang, you can’t see Chang’an. I like this sentence very much, so I’d like to borrow it.)
(Thanks to classmate who can only vote for becoming the leader. Your support is my motivation) (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.) (To be continued)