The polite smile on my face disappeared immediately, and I looked at Zhou Buwen in shock.
Li Datou, formerly known as Li Jing, was my best friend in my boyhood. In his memory, he had a thin body, a big head, long legs and long feet, with a ferocious expression on his face. No one in the school dared to provoke him. The man in front of him was tall and well-mannered. Upon closer inspection, except for his brows and eyes, which seemed somewhat familiar, he couldn't find the appearance in his memory.
When I was ten years old, my grandfather took me back to my hometown because my father remarried and my stepmother became pregnant. I can't speak Hokkien, nor can I speak Li dialect, and I can speak Mandarin well, which attracts people's attention in school. At first, my classmates were curious and envious of me, but soon the news that my father didn't want me and my mother ran away with the wild man spread in the school, and the students' curiosity and envy turned into pity and contempt. At that time, like a hedgehog, I used sharp counterattacks to protect my fragmented self-esteem. It didn't take long before I became a thorn in the eyes of my classmates, and my homework was thrown into the toilet. I caught the snake and put it in my schoolbag when I grew up. Looking back, it was just a child's prank, but those pranks made me feel like I was in hell back then, until Li Datou moved here.
Like me, he can speak Mandarin well. He has no father or mother, and lives with his grandma. However, he has no parents, not because his parents divorced, but because his father died. For a certain period of time, I thought very radically that I would rather be like him, at least when I thought about it, my father had to leave me instead of abandoning me voluntarily.
Like me, he is a person who will take revenge, but maybe because he is a boy, maybe because he has no experience living with his stepfather and stepmother, his counterattacks are all aboveboard, unlike me, who always beat around the bush. He is very good at fighting, and he can defeat three senior boys who bully him by himself. No matter what you call him, he will fight until you subdue him. He uses pure strength to make everyone dare not mess with him again.
Li Datou is three grades higher than me. Although they both live in Mazu Street and can often see each other when they go to and from school, they have no intersection at all. Until one time, I was besieged by my classmates in the small woods of the school and forced to ask me "did your mother run away with a wild man?" Li Datou suddenly appeared, drove everyone away roughly, and warned them not to provoke me again, Otherwise, he will fight once when he sees each other.
From then on, I followed Li Datou. Gradually, we learned the Hokkien dialect and also spoke a little bit of Li dialect, and integrated into the island life. Later, he also became good friends with Jiang Yisheng, a real native on the same street.
The three of them played together for more than three years. They were so close to each other that they almost wore the same pair of pants. It wasn't until I received a love letter from Li Datou when I was thirteen that I suddenly realized that I was a girl and he was a boy. Facing Li Datou's crooked words "I like you", I was completely dumbfounded and didn't know how to reply.
When I was struggling with how to reply to the first love letter in my life, Li Datou’s grandma died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage. His mother came back to pick him up, and left in a hurry, without even having time to say goodbye to us. No need to reply anymore.
I heard neighbors gossip that his mother was lucky and married another rich man. She was an overseas Chinese from Nanyang and treated her very well, but she never had children. This time Li Datou went there, as long as he was liked by his stepfather, he would definitely enjoy himself.
With the passage of time, Li Datou gradually faded away in my memory, but because he accompanied me through the most difficult three years of my life, and the love letter I never replied, he is in my increasingly blurred memory. A corner is always firmly held in memory.
Jiang Yisheng pushed me, "Why are you in a daze, do you remember?"
When I came back to my senses, I had mixed feelings in my heart for a while, and I was even a little embarrassed, so I smiled reluctantly, "My friends who have been playing together for more than three years, how could I not remember to come in and sit down?"
I was busy moving rattan tables and chairs, calling them to sit. Jiang Yisheng told me not to rush around, but I turned a deaf ear to it. I ran into the kitchen and cut up the remaining half of the watermelon. After neatly stacking the slices of watermelon in the fruit bowl, my mood really calmed down.
I walked out of the kitchen with a fruit plate and a fruit fork, and saw Wu Julan, Jiang Yisheng, and Zhou Buwen sitting together, exchanging greetings. Wu Julan smiled and introduced herself, "My name is Wu Julan, and I'm Xiaoluo's cousin. I just came to the island yesterday afternoon."
I staggered and almost dropped the fruit plate on Wu Julan's head. But Wu Julan seemed to have expected it long ago, supported me steadily with one hand, took the fruit plate with the other, put it on the rattan table, looked at me with a smile and said: "Xiao Luo has always been independent and strong, and doesn't like to trouble others in everything, but The more she behaves like this, the more worried I am, since I am free to work anyway, so I simply came to accompany her for a while."
Zhou Buwen asked, "What does Mr. Wu do?"
"Programmers, commonly known as code workers, our kind of work is the same wherever we do it, as long as we turn in the work on time according to the customer's requirements."
Are you a programmer who poked and picked at the computer this morning? I stared at Wu Julan.
Wu Julan glanced at me with a smile, dragged me to sit on the rattan chair beside him, and said to Zhou Buwen very politely and kindly: "Just call me Wu Julan, otherwise I will have to call you Mr. Zhou too." .”
Jiang Yisheng complained half-truthfully: "Xiaoluo, you never told me that you have such an outstanding cousin."
I laughed dryly and said, "Everyone eats watermelon." I never knew that I had a cousin, but he explained his appearance very reasonably and entered my house without causing me any trouble. I decided to take back my evaluation of him being "upright and not lying". It's not that he doesn't know how to lie, but he's too shrewd, so he doesn't even bother to tell harmless lies.
Jiang Yisheng and Zhou Buwen saw that I didn't seem to want to talk more about my cousin, and they both knew that my relationship with my mother was awkward, so they wisely stopped talking about it.
Zhou Buwen pointed to the beautiful girl beside him and said, "Xiaoluo, let me introduce you. Zhou Buyan, my cousin."
I smiled and said, "Hi, I'm Shen Luo. I used to be Zhou Buwen's neighbor and good friend."
Zhou Buyan smiled sweetly, and said, "Hello, Sister Shen, I often hear my brother talk about you, but I always want to see you."
I felt that there was something in her words, but I couldn't tell what it meant, so I could only smile politely.
Zhou Buwen apologized to me: "I'm sorry about what happened yesterday. I knew it was you, but I pretended not to know you at all."
I said: "I understand, you are doing it for my own good." With my stepmother's temper, if she knew that I knew the lawyer who handled the estate, she would definitely suspect that the will was forged.
Jiang Yisheng said: "Don't patronize chatting, let's talk about what you want to eat tonight."
Zhou Buwen and Jiang Yisheng were discussing where to eat. I ran outside for a day today, and I was very tired. I was not very interested, and I just agreed with "hmmm".
Zhou Buwen said with a smile: "Running around is a lot of trouble. We focus on getting together with old friends. It doesn't matter what we eat, as long as we order takeaway."
I still want to be polite, Jiang Yisheng glanced at me and said, "I just don't want to run away, let me call." He is a quite prestigious doctor in charge on the island, and everyone from all walks of life is willing to give him face, let alone deliver food The shop, even the shop that does not deliver food, he will deliver the goods if he makes a phone call.
Jiang Yisheng asked everyone about the food they should avoid, and called for takeaway.
More than half an hour later, a guy riding a battery scooter delivered the food, and Jiang Yisheng called for barbecue. Two large plastic boxes, one with all kinds of barbecues, all wrapped tightly with double-layer aluminum foil, clean and warm, when the aluminum foil is opened, it is still steaming; one with ice cubes, chilled With wine and beverages.
I looked at the grilled fish, grilled shrimp, grilled oysters, grilled mushrooms, and grilled corn on the table. There are more than 20 kinds of barbecues, all of which are dazzling. This barbecue restaurant is very famous in the island because of its fresh ingredients and good taste. There are long queues every night, not to mention delivery, and they don’t even accept reservations. He bowed his hands to Jiang Yisheng in admiration.
Jiang Yisheng turned to customers, and greeted everyone with a smile, "Eat it while it's hot. If it's not enough, we'll order it again. The delivery time is about the same as the waiting time in the store."
Several people
Grab a beer, clink a glass first, and celebrate the reunion of old friends after many years. After drinking a glass of beer, the atmosphere became warmer.
Zhou Buwen handed me a bunch of grilled squid, "You liked this the most when you were young, I don't know if you still like it now"
I smiled and took it over, "I still like it." I casually ate a bowl of rice noodles outside at noon, and now I was really hungry, and it was my favorite food again, so I took a big bite immediately.
While I was eating contentedly, I looked at Wu Julan. I was worried that he would not be used to it, but I didn’t expect him to smile at me after taking a bite of the grilled fish, and took a second bite, which showed that he also liked this restaurant. food.
While I was relieved, I sighed depressingly. It seems that my craft is indeed not good enough.
Both Wu Julan and Zhou Buyan knew that they were just accompanying guests tonight, and had been eating quietly.
Since I was a child, I was not a person who could speak well, and I didn't talk much. I always listened to Jiang Yisheng and Zhou Buwen talking. From their chat, I got a rough idea of Zhou Buwen’s situation. He first went to Malaysia with his mother and father. After graduating from high school, he went to study in the United States. Now he lives in Fuzhou and works in a well-known law firm. , parents in good health, no girlfriend.
From his description, he could feel that his stepfather treated him very well, so he called him "Dad" in an affectionate tone. If it weren't for an old friend who knew the details, he would definitely think he was his biological father.
Jiang Yisheng and I are both smart people. No matter whether Zhou Buwen minded it or not, we deliberately avoided the past, and didn’t ask when he changed his name. Even when we were young, we omitted the surname “Li” and just called him “Li”. Big head", as if he has always been called Zhou Buwen.
After Jiang Yisheng and Zhou Buwen finished chatting about their own affairs and talked about me worriedly, I realized later that they are both elites in society and have everything they need, except for a girlfriend. In comparison, I was the most bleak one. In Beijing, where talents are abundant, I have mediocre qualifications and a very ordinary job. Now I don’t even have this job, and I am unemployed.
Zhou Buwen asked with concern: "What are your plans and are you planning to go back to Beijing to work?"
I said, "I'm not used to living in Beijing, and I don't want to go back to Beijing."
Zhou Buwen said: "You can consider Fuzhou. If you want to find a job, I can help."
Zhou Buyan interrupted with a smile: "My brother is usually good at fooling people, but he is so conservative when talking to sister Shen. Sister Shen, don't listen to my brother's modesty. He will definitely help you get a good job. At least, uncle is in Fuzhou If there is a company, it will definitely need finance.”
Before I could speak, Jiang Yisheng had already seriously thought about it, "Fuzhou is pretty good, not too far away, and the food and climate are similar. But, Xiaoluo, you're leaving, what about this old house, no one lives in it, and it won't be long. It's barren."
Zhou Buyan said: "Sister Shen, I happen to have something to discuss with you."
I asked puzzledly, "what's the matter?"
Zhou Buyan bit his lip and said, "I've been wandering around the island for the past two days, and I found the old houses here are very interesting. I really like this place and these old stone-built houses. I wanted to buy one. But after chatting with the owner of the inn, I realized that the old houses here are not commercial houses. The government does not allow buying and selling, and outsiders can only rent them for a long time. The owner of our inn is a long-term lease, with a 20-year lease. I just left When I came in, I liked this house very much. Since my sister is going to work in other places, the house is vacant, so why not rent it to me for a long time, and I am willing to pay 100,000 yuan a year in rent."
I was a little surprised to hear the rent of 100,000. As far as I know, the annual rent for those old houses with excellent locations and views of the sea is only 70,000 to 80,000. Regardless of whether Zhou Buyan has money but no place to spend it, or because of Zhou Buwen's face, he is very sincere. I smiled and said, "Thank you for liking this house, but I have no plans to rent it out at the moment."
Zhou Buyan glanced at Zhou Buwen, and said pleadingly: "Sister Shen, is she afraid that I will damage the house? Sister Shen, don't worry, I don't intend to rent it for business, but I just come to live here for a few months every year." , at most rearrange it, it will never change the layout.”
Zhou Buwen chimed in and said: "Not to mention painting since primary school, now designing jewelry, she likes old houses, old furniture, and old jewelry very much, and cherishes these old things very much, you can really rest assured if you rent them to her. "
Jiang Yisheng was obviously moved, and also persuaded: "Xiao Luo, old houses need popularity, and they will deteriorate faster when they are empty. Anyway, you have to go out to work, and if you are empty, it will be empty. Why don't you just rent it out? The big deal is to sign a shorter lease. Anyway, we are friends, and everything can be discussed.”
Zhou Buyan nodded frequently, "Yes, yes."
Having said all of this, I have no choice but to say frankly: "If I plan to leave the island and go out to work, I'm definitely willing to rent it out, but I want to stay and live by myself."
Several people were taken aback. Apart from tourism and fishing, there was no economic industry on the island. Except for Jiang Yisheng, whose work was of a special nature, young people on the island went outside whenever they could. After all, there were many opportunities and money.
Jiang Yisheng asked: "What are you going to do when you stay?"
I said embarrassedly: "I plan to open an inn."
Jiang Yisheng picked up a skewer of barbecue, and while eating, he said slowly: "Although I think it's a bit unreliable, but if you are really determined to do it, I support it."
"Thank you" I raised my cup and toasted Jiang Yisheng.
Zhou Buyan was sullen and had an ugly face.
Zhou Buwen picked up the wine glass and said with a smile: "Xiaoluo has opened a hotel, you can come and stay whenever you want, wouldn't it be better?"
Zhou Buyan came to his senses, quickly picked up the cup, and said with a smile: "Then I'll wait for Sister Shen's inn to open."
Several people clinked their glasses and wished my inn an early opening and good fortune.
Eating, drinking, talking and laughing, Zhou Buwen and Jiang Yisheng didn't get up to leave until after ten o'clock in the evening.
Standing at the gate of the courtyard, Zhou Buwen looked at me, hesitating to speak.
Jiang Yisheng is a fine person, he immediately heard the string song to understand the elegance, coaxed and dragged Zhou Buyan to go first, creating an opportunity for Zhou Buwen to talk to me alone. It's a pity that Wu Julan was standing behind me all the time, Zhou Buwen had to suppress his hesitation and left melancholy.
I lived with my stepfather first, and then with my stepmother. The days of living under the fence taught me to observe words and emotions at a young age. It’s not that I didn’t feel that Zhou Buwen wanted to say something, but his appearance today was sudden enough, and I haven’t done it yet. Prepared to have a deep talk with him, but simply pretended not to feel it.
I closed the courtyard door and went upstairs in a trance.
After sitting blankly on the bed for a while, he suddenly rummaged through the cabinet and found things from his childhood from the storage cabinet under the bed. An old tin biscuit box, which contains some odds and ends, and at the bottom is the first love letter I received in my life.
I didn't read it carefully, I just held it in my hand and rubbed it. After a long time, the letter paper has turned yellow and softened, and the words on the paper look more and more childish, but the time condensed between the lines is a good time for two panic-stricken children to rely on each other to keep warm.
I watched and couldn't help but smile slightly, the joy of reunion after a long absence really emerged at this moment.
In those years, when I lived a peaceful and warm life with my grandfather, I worried about him countless times. I am afraid that he will be rejected by his stepfather, that he will not be able to continue his studies, and that he will accidentally learn bad things and go astray.
Time separates us, and time brings us together again.
I know, his stepfather is very kind to him, he not only continued to study, but also went to a prestigious university abroad. He now has a warm family, a good career, and a cousin who gets along well.
I smiled and thought, no matter what the process is, it doesn't matter anymore, the important thing is that we all grow up well, and this is the best thing
For many years, something that has been hanging on my mind is finally letting go. With a smile on my face, I folded the letter paper and put it back in the old tin biscuit box.