This New Year’s Eve night, Ji Yi dreamed of something that had happened.
She was crying all the time in her dream. Someone came over and asked her if she was lost and where is her home. She pointed to her back. In fact, this window was her home. The man said something more and couldn't persuade her. Until a boy approached and handed over a small pink plastic bottle for her. The shape of the bottle is very cute. The mouth of the bottle is wrapped in tin foil and can be opened when you tear it. The bottle has joy written on it.
She woke up and remembered that this was the first time she had met Ji Chengyang.
Although only Wang Haoran's face was remembered that day, she was certain that the person who handed joy must be Ji Chengyang.
This unwarranted disaster was like a hurricane passing through the border, with swift and violent roars, and after overturning the trees of the houses, it disappeared the next day, leaving only a cloudless blue sky. It has been heard that Wang Xingyu’s father encountered strong obstacles in his transfer. He visited Ji’s house during the Spring Festival and paid a year’s greetings to the rare old Ji who lives with his eldest son. The room talked and laughed, and they all agreed that it was not a big deal for children to make noise. Naturally, fighting turned into jade, and the difficulty of transfer was easily solved.
No one wants to talk too much about the right and wrong of this.
When she went to prison ten years later to interview a 17-year-old juvenile delinquent, listening to the bizarre case, she suddenly thought that if Ji Chengyang did not lend a helping hand in the spring of 2002, would Fu Xiaoning be like this: Sitting in a chair, while saying something illogical, he frequently looked at the blue sky outside the high window like obsessive-compulsive disorder.
By the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, all senior high school students return to school to make up lessons.
Because it is the second semester of high school, the attached middle school naturally requires all students to live on campus in order to concentrate on preparing for the exam. On the morning of the fourth day of the fourth year, Nuannuan's mother sent her and Nuannuan back to school in advance, and the car arrived at the school gate. Nuannuan's mother asked Nuannuan to take the driver and send the luggage to the dormitory first, leaving Jiyi alone in the car. At first Nunnuan was not happy, but later found out that her mother was very serious and had to leave.
With the car door closed, Ji Yi looked at Nuan Nuan's mother.
"Sixi, don't be nervous," Nuan Nuan's mother comforted her, "Grandpa Ji asked me to talk to you. I think so too."
Ji Yi nodded, unable to guess the content of the conversation.
Nuan Nuan's mother's conversation started with her grandparents, which surprised her a bit. Grandma Ji Yi is a child's daughter-in-law. She has no education. She has been to Ji's family since she was a child. Grandpa Ji left home to study in Beijing. Grandma Ji Yi stayed in a rural village in Guangxi. After the liberation, Grandma Ji Yi left Guangxi and came to Beijing. She finally had a son at the age of 40, but divorced because of the difference in education.
Grandpa Ji Yi married his later wife and gave birth to two sons.
At the time of the divorce that year, someone who was at odds with Grandpa Ji's politics gave Grandma Ji Yi an idea and made her make a fuss. He thought it would change the result, but they still separated. At that time, there were a lot of divorced older generations, but only the Ji family was making a lot of noise.
"So your father and your grandfather have a very poor relationship between father and son," Nuan Nuan's mother had reservations. "Your father was the only person in your family who didn't wear military uniforms. In those days, if you didn't wear military uniforms, you had to go to the countryside. That's how your father was. I met your mother in the Northeast and suffered a lot. When the two returned home, your grandma died of illness. Because of this incident, your father had moved hands with your grandfather many times."
Ji Yi's father hates Grandpa Ji Yi and abandons his wife and son. Grandpa Ji Yi hates his son for being so unfilial, and he has written several contracts to sever the relationship between father and son. These things are kept secret by others, and Grandpa Ji only told Nuan Nuan's mother these days.
"So, Xixi, if your grandfather is not close to you, it's not your fault," Nuan Nuan said, "auntie shouldn't tell you these things. But your grandfather Ji and Uncle Ji, I and I will watch you grow up. Being so obedient again, I don’t want you to be hurt because you don’t know something. Sixteen years old, a big girl, it’s better to understand than to be concealed, right?"
"Um."
"Your grandfather is old. Your two uncles, your daughter-in-law, and your grandson are all around you all year round, and your relationship is deep. Your grandfather believes what they say. You can't blame the old man. The children of filial piety are treated as if they had never been born before. It’s human nature."
The Ji family’s descendants are full of filial piety, and the second and third are good children. And the words that good children catch the wind and catch the shadow, the words blowing in the ears naturally fall in the ears of the elderly are true.
Both of Ji Yi's uncles and aunts believed that Ji Yi lived here because Ji Yi's father deliberately wanted to have the opportunity to talk about the separation of the family property in the future. After all, the father-son relationship has broken, and the granddaughter is the only person to contact them. The two aunts of Ji Yi said when they met everyone, and Grandpa He Ji Yi often talked about it. Over time, everyone took it seriously.
The eldest son and daughter-in-law did not perform their filial piety, and they often worked with the elderly, which really chilled the hearts of the elderly.
The older the person, the simpler the memory structure. You can only remember the people who are good to you and the people who are bad to you. On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, Grandpa Ji and Grandpa Ji Yi had a heart-to-heart talk. The old man was emotional when he mentioned the name of his eldest son. He yelled and pointed out the door to let Ji Yi roll as far as possible. Grandpa Ji knew it. There is nothing left to say.
This is really a family affair, and outsiders have to watch.
Happy families always have similarities, and unhappy families have their own misfortunes.
People who don't understand are like listening to a story, and the story is a story. Sometimes when you read the social news, two people who are not related can never leave. Sometimes, you can also see that people who are related are just like strangers.
Blood is thicker than water, this sentence does not apply anywhere.
"Your family said what you said, so you just listen to it, you don't need to remember it in your heart. What to do in the future, be careful and just graduate," Nuan Nuan's mother smoothed her forehead bangs, "graduated from high school and entered. University, you can rely on yourself. Grandpa Nuan Nuan asked me to tell you that his parents are no longer there at the age of ten, and he lives well to the present, these are nothing."
Ji Yi looked at Nuan Nuan's mother:
"Thank you auntie."
Ji Yi returned to the dormitory and packed his luggage. She stuffed all the daily necessities for a month into a wooden box under the bed and looked at her watch. It was still early and there was still time to go to 301. Thinking of this, he left the dormitory building when the third floor of the high school became more and more crowded.
Seeing Ji Yi, the aunt in the dormitory building immediately ran out and gave her a large bag of dried red dates: "This is crispy and sweet, and it's blood." Looking at Auntie's eyes, Ji Yi understood that she knew what happened years ago. Wanting to comfort herself, she thanked again and again. He took it and stuffed it into his schoolbag and ran away in a hurry.
When she arrived at the hospital, the nurse in the ward of Ji Chengyang quickly recognized her and did not stop her from entering.
Ji Yi walked in along the corridor, turned around, and found that Ji Chengyang's ward door was open. It seems that every time he comes, he has visitors here. As soon as she was about to push the door, she saw a young woman with short hair sitting on the sofa outside the suite, with her back turned to Ji Chengyang, who was sitting on the sofa with Ji Chengyang, through the open door.
On the light brown sofa, his body sinks deeply because of the softness of the sofa. He listens carefully to the people around him. He holds a transparent glass in his hand, and his index finger is still rubbing the outer wall of the glass unconsciously.
Except for the subtle movements of the fingers, the whole person is quiet... as if they no longer belong to this space.
Should have been a person who walked through the flames of war, should have a pair of eyes that can see through you, but at this moment is here to kill time. But he was still so calm, he was calm about fate beyond his own age.
"I always wanted to do Rick Ekinson's topic." The young woman said.
"Let me guess what you will introduce." Ji Chengyang seems to be interested in this topic. At least he has the desire to go on. "He is good at writing reportage. He has a book of "The Long Gray Line" about West Point Military Academy, and It was about the Gulf War in the early 1990s. It was called "Crusades" and it was a bestseller."
His voice is still as usual, cold and quiet.
"Well, I have checked all the information, and what else?"
"Also?" Ji Chengyang groaned, "I know, you can find this person, not only likes to write war reportage, he is a good reporter himself. The ace reporter of the Gulf War, the Washington Post based in Berlin The chief reporter, then the deputy editor-in-chief of the Washington Post."
Ji Yi wanted to knock on the door to enter, but was afraid of interrupting their work-like conversation, so she turned to pace slowly at the door.
"His father is also a soldier," the woman also laughed, seemingly in a very happy mood, "just like you."
Ji Chengyang missed this topic.
He continued: “He won the Pulitzer Prize for Journalism twice in 1982 and 1999. Unfortunately, it’s now in 2002. If you talk about what happened two or three years ago, there will be nothing new.”
"That's why I have a chat with you to see if there are any new ideas."
"Fresh? For example, you can make a bold prediction... He should win the Pulitzer Prize for the third time. He has formed his own style, and it is in line with the appetite of the Pulitzer judges."
"Are you so sure?" The woman's voice smiled and continued the topic just now, "Can he take Pulitzer again?"
"If there are no accidents, I think he will win the award again in the past two years."
After hearing these words, Ji Yi felt that Ji Chengyang was far away from him.
He is professional, professional, and respectable. Even if he blocked those beautiful eyes, his expression smiled slightly when he said these words, and it made people feel that such a man... must be hidden in the hearts of many people.
Ji Yi listened to a momentary silence, and wanted to push the door, but his hand stopped.
Ji Chengyang took out a piece of candy from his jacket pocket, peeled it off skillfully, threw the small milk-green cube into his mouth, and ate it.
"When did you get into the habit of eating sweets?" the young woman asked him, "Don't you like sweets?"
…
"Why haven't you entered yet?" The nurse suddenly said, just behind Ji Yi.
Her heart pounded, the conversation inside was interrupted, and she had to reach out and push the door.
The young woman sitting on the sofa turned around to look at her. Between her eyebrows, she looked very similar to the female anchor of the character column, except that she was not as intellectual as she saw on the screen, with such light makeup, kinder, and younger age.
Ji Yi recalled her name on the TV screen, Liu Wanxia.
Liu Wanxia smiled when he saw Ji Yi, who turned out to be a little girl.
When the popular anchor met someone, he quickly said that there would be a meeting in the afternoon in the station, and softly complained that she would be working like this on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, which made her even able to talk to Ji Chengyang about work even during a visit.
The nurse talked to Ji Chengyang softly, as if telling him a timetable, what time to check, and who would take him there. Liu Wanxia listened attentively and asked some questions. It sounded like he was very concerned about his affairs.
Ji Yi waited for the nurse and Liu Wanxia to leave, and finally became more comfortable, and sat down beside him: "What is Pulitzer?"
"This is a person's name," Ji Chengyang smiled and explained to her concisely. "This is an American newspaper magnate. He founded this award after his death. It is considered a pivotal award in the U.S. press. It has developed to cover it now. Many aspects, such as literature and music."
She probably got it.
So the Rick Ekinson they just said must be a celebrity in the American press.
"Sixi, please help me take out the computer in the drawer beside the bed." He said suddenly.
Ji Yi agreed, found the power cord and network cable socket, connected it, and turned it on.
"There is Outlook on the desktop. I need your help to answer an email."
"Found it." She double-clicked the icon.
A window popped up on the screen.
"Need a password?"
"770521."
Ji Yi remembered that it was his birthday. She had eaten with him at the Xinjiekou Gap that day. He didn’t eat much. He also said that he had watched too many bloody and tyrannical scenes. He had watched too many scenes of bloody and brutality. He had watched too many scenes of life in peace, but he was still dead in the flames of war. The corpses of the people finally have no appetite for the internal organs, and even psychological resistance.
Ji Chengyang asked: "Open it?"
She retracted her mind: "I opened it, and it has been showing that I am receiving emails."
It took ten minutes to receive this email. Thousands of unread emails flocked in. She felt magical when she looked at the new emails that kept jumping out on the left. How many things does he need so many email exchanges
When it was all received, Ji Chengyang told her an email address: “You type the first two letters, and it should automatically pop out. Search for it and read the last letter he sent me. Read it to me.” Ji Yi followed the steps. , But a little unsure, still thinking about the password: "His last letter... asks you when you will go back."
Ji Chengyang instructed her to reply to the email.
The main idea is to confess that I am unwell during this period, cannot watch the computer, and may need an operation. "The operation will be three days later," Ji Chengyang told her in English, "I will contact you again when I recover. The above will be written by a friend of mine."
Ji Yi was stunned.
Surgery three days later
The unknown after the operation made her feel fear instantly. It's the kind of fear of standing in front of the dark corridor and not seeing whether the next step is a step or a black hole. Very weak, dare not face it.
She slowly typed the last line of English sentences, checked it again, and signed Yang for him. Click Send.
"This is my roommate in the United States." Ji Chengyang told her.
Her head was chaotic, and she answered.
She shut down, tried to put the laptop in its original place, and got up from the sofa.
Did not take two steps, but turned back: "Do you really want surgery in three days?"
"If there is no accident, it will be three days later," Ji Chengyang was still sitting there, raising his hand to touch her shoulder, "I suddenly remembered that I forgot to tell you something."
"... What?" She was inexplicably nervous, afraid that he would say something about the risks of the operation.
Ji Chengyang touched her black hair.
If his eyes are normal, there must be a pampering and gentleness that has never been seen before.
He slowly felt the length of her hair with his hands and judged whether it was longer. After a short silence, he continued to tell her: "I forgot to tell you that the first part of the Lord of the Rings has come out. I will wait until I finish the operation. Watch with you."