The day before Grandma Song was buried was the fourteenth day of the first lunar month.
Because they were going to the cemetery on the outskirts of the city early in the morning, there were many Song family members, so the three Song family brothers packed a minibus and set off from the old house.
That night, Song Qiaoxi, her parents, and Chu Jin all slept in the Song family's old house.
The next day was the fifteenth day of the first lunar month in 2005, which was also the anniversary of the death of Chu Jin's parents. Chu Jin's parents and Song's grandmother were buried in a cemetery.
Song Jianguo and Qiao Qin immediately prepared more flower baskets and some offerings. Before the Qingming Festival every year, the couple would take their two children to visit Chu Jin's parents' tomb.
Now it's a rare trip, thinking that the next day my old lady is done with work, and I will go to see Chu Jin's parents.
The Song family's old house is a courtyard structure in the old Qizhou. From the guest room to the bathroom, you have to go through the courtyard. The two bathrooms in the old house are not in the house.
After one o'clock in the morning, Song Qiaoxi felt that her lower abdomen was swollen, and she was woken up by hers.
She cried hoarsely for the past two days. The elders and two cousins in the family, whoever saw her, would say something to her and ask her to drink more water.
Chu Jin didn't even leave the water cup in her hand, and would always pass a cup of warm water to her mouth, even if she wanted to drink it.
Mom and Dad were free, they pressed her head to pour water, and I drank lotus root soup for dinner tonight...
After putting on his clothes and dragging his shoes to the bathroom, Song Qiaoxi felt like a hot water bottle that was full of seven or eight points, and swayed as he walked.
When she came out of the bathroom, she saw that the lights in the main room were still on.
Doze had already woken up most of the time, and the little girl walked out the door very lightly, wondering who was still awake so late, when she heard a familiar voice in surprise.
It was Dad's voice, yes.
But at this moment, Dad made a whimpering sound, crying as helplessly as a child.
"Little Qiao, I am a motherless child, I have no mother..." Dad's voice came from the main room intermittently.
Song Qiaoxi was stunned outside the door.
The fifteen-year-old girl, standing under the eaves of the old house, felt a pain in her heart.
It turns out that the father is always the child in front of the grandmother.
It turned out that my father would also be sad and collapse, but he kept trying not to cry in front of her and comforted himself all the time.
It turned out that what my father lost was not her Song Qiaoxi's grandmother, what my father lost was his mother...
For parents, even if they don’t see each other often when they grow up, as long as they know that they are still there, they will have full motivation to struggle and struggle.
Home is where they are.
"Squeak!" There was a sound, and the door to the main room opened.
Song Qiaoxi wiped her tears in a panic, and saw her mother walking out of the main room with a towel in her hand.
Song's mother was stunned when she saw her daughter, and turned around to close the door of the main room, and also shut in the door of Song's father's cry.
"Why haven't you slept yet?" Song's mother's voice was also a little hoarse, with a hint of reproach, but with a worried look on her face, she hugged her daughter in her arms.
"I went to the bathroom just now, is Dad okay?" Song Qiaoxi whispered in her mother's arms, her mother still carried the warm air from the room, even if she didn't use perfume, she had that reassuring scent on her body.
"It's okay, what's wrong with your dad? It's alright." Mom touched her daughter's hair and replied with a pretense of ease.
"Dad is crying?" Song Qiaoxi probed into her mother's arms and looked over to the main room.
Song's mother grabbed her shoulders and pushed her towards the guest bedroom. She pushed her and said, "Why are you crying? Your dad ate salty food at night, and his throat is sore and phlegm. Go back to the room to sleep, and you have to get up early tomorrow."
--
On the 15th day of the first lunar month in 2005, after eating glutinous rice balls in the morning, a large family of Song family, some cousins who came to help, old colleagues of Mrs. Song’s unit before her death, colleagues of Mr. Song, and a group of twenty or so, were sitting there. With the minibus mighty and set off.
Along the way, the minibus played my grandmother's favorite song during her lifetime.
"The water of Honghu Lake, the waves, the waves, the waves, the shore of Honghu Lake is my hometown..."
When they arrived at the cemetery in the suburbs, everything went smoothly for Grandma Song.
Because some old colleagues of Grandma Song and Grandpa Song came over, the parents were busy doing tricks, and the family was full of older children, so they didn't care about them.
"Dad, should I accompany Chu Jin to see his parents first?" Song Qiaoxi presented her grandmother with flowers, standing aside with nothing to do, she walked over and said to her father.
"Well, you guys go first. Your mother and I will go after we're done here." Dad Song nodded, and he didn't look like he was trying to cheer up. It made it difficult for Song Qiaoxi to put his energetic dad in front of him with yesterday. People who cried bitterly at night think together.
Dad beckoned to Chu Jin, motioned him to come closer, patted Chu Jin on the shoulder and instructed: "Jin Jin, when you two go to see your parents, walk slowly, it's all downhill, pay attention to the steps. Xixi, don't let her run too fast."
"Uncle Song, don't worry." Chu Jin picked up the flower basket and wine beside him and said to Song Jianguo.
This cemetery on the outskirts of Qizhou is very large. It is built on a hillside and has a good view. Many pine and cypress trees are planted around it.
It's just that people with bad legs and feet are a little hard, and they have to climb many steps to go anywhere, and some of the steps are indeed a bit steep.
For two fifteen or sixteen-year-olds, a few steps were nothing.
Song Qiaoxi and Chu Jin were very familiar with this cemetery, and the two of them traveled from the hilltop of Grandma Song to the halfway up the mountain of Chu Jin's parents.
"Would you like to accompany Uncle Chu for a drink later?" Song Qiaoxi looked at the wine bottle in Chu Jin's hand, jumped down two steps, and asked him with a tilted head.
Chu Jin shook his head, stretched out his hand and frowned and said to her, "I don't drink, so be careful, can you walk without jumping? The stairs are steep, what if you fall?"
Song Qiaoxi grabbed his arm and obediently stopped jumping.
When I looked up, I saw not far away, two people were standing in front of the tombstones of Chu Jin's parents.
"Chu Jin, is there anyone else to see Uncle Chu and Aunt Sun?" She raised her finger to show Chu Jin.
Song Qiaoxi squinted her eyes. She was in the third year of junior high school. She read a lot of books, which made her a little falsely short-sighted. Looking at the backs of those two people, she looked a little familiar.
Both were tall, and both wore black, and one wore a black top hat.
The man with the black top hat was holding a cane in his hand. He turned his body as if he was unstable, and the person beside him helped him.
Song Qiaoxi saw it clearly, and took Chu Jin's arm, "It seems, it seems to be Grandpa Chu and Uncle Mingzhe? It's strange, how could they be in Qizhou..."
Chu Jin's body froze for a moment, and he looked at the two people standing in front of his parents' tombstone without saying a word.
The two of them hadn't seen Mr. Chu for more than a year.
During the summer vacation last year, the Song family signed up their two children for an overseas study tour organized by a foreign language school. They went to Vancouver, Canada, and attended Summer School for a month and a half. They didn't stay in Beijing for a few days. After a break, they returned to Qizhou to start school. Third grade.
Even if he lived so close, that was an important reason why Mr. Chu didn't offer to see the child at that time.
Chu Jin later heard Uncle Song tell him that Chu Youhe himself made a promise that he would not come to see him if the investigation of the truth about his father and mother's car accident was not clear.
The old man Chu really believed in his words. For more than a year, he did not come to disturb Chu Jin's life.
I only have occasional phone calls with Song Jianguo and Qiao Qin, to learn about the child's situation from the Song family's mouth, and to communicate the progress of the investigation into the car accident between Chu Chengmin and Sun Qiuyu.
At home in Qizhou, Song Qiaoxi often received gifts from Beijing, and she knew that these gifts were sent by Mr. Chu.
Gifts are always double, as long as there is Chu, there is her.
It's just that she shows each gift to her parents first. If it is valuable, she will hand it over to her mother. Usually, she will bring it back to Beijing when her father has time to go back to Qizhou, and entrust the property steward to return it to the Chu family. .
If it is a cute doll, a good-looking original book, a beautiful little skirt, or some school supplies, she will stay after asking her mother's consent.
After a long time, the gifts sent by Mr. Chu have become more "investment-friendly". Knowing that children like to read books, he sends the original hardcover books to Qizhou in batches. The school supplies are also selected from luxury brands without logos and changed their trademarks. After sending it with the package, Chu did not choose what to wear, so Mr. Chu asked someone to buy a beautiful little skirt for Song Qiaoxi.
Perhaps, this is the only way that Mr. Chu can find and express his love for the children.
"Don't you want to see Grandpa Chu?" Song Qiaoxi hesitated, pulling Chu's arm, "If you don't want to see, shall we come back later, or..."
She wanted to take advantage of the fact that Mr. Chu and Uncle Mingzhe didn't find them, so she and Chu Jin slipped back first, but as soon as the words came out, Mr. Chu just turned around and saw them both.
Song Qiaoxi still remembered that Chu Jin was somewhat resistant to Grandpa Chu.
At this time, Chu Jin's attitude surprised Song Qiaoxi.
"No, let's go see him." Chu Jin said in a deep voice, walking steadily in front of Mr. Chu, and Song Qiaoxi followed him.
It's only been more than a year since I haven't seen him. In Song Qiaoxi's view, Mr. Chu's appearance is much older, and his figure is even thinner.
He looked at them on crutches, and looked a little excited and waved to them.
"Hello Grandpa Chu, hello Uncle Mingzhe..." Song Qiaoxi said hello politely.
"..." Chu Jin just nodded slightly, with a cold expression on his face.
"Children, it's been a long time..." Old Master Chu's tone could be heard a little excited.
Not to mention the next generation, I haven't seen two children for a long time, why Chu You is thinking about two children.
Chu Jin was his own grandson, and he was thinking about it in his dreams.
Song Qiaoxi is the child of the benefactor's family. She grew up with her grandson. The little girl is likable, sensible and lively, and everyone loves her. The old man Chu also likes her.
Even thinking that these two children are childhood sweethearts, it seems that they are on the right track. It would be nice if Xixi could be his granddaughter-in-law in the future.
After chatting with Song Jianguo for more than a year, Chu Youhe carefully read the investigation materials several times, and reviewed the experiences of his eldest son, daughter-in-law and grandson in Qizhou over and over again, and he couldn't help himself.
He also knew that in the end, this result was the bitter fruit he sowed in the past.
For more than a year, in addition to wanting to compensate Chu Jin wholeheartedly, Mr. Chu's remaining energy was devoted to assisting the police in investigating the car accident that year, and he did not hesitate to hire a private investigator to dig more evidence.
Because of the agreement with Song Jianguo, even if Chu Youhe thought about his grandson again, in order not to disturb the child's normal life, he restrained himself from appearing in front of Chu Jin.
Although Song Jianguo said that he could call Chu Jin, Mr. Chu always felt that before he found out the truth, he was really ashamed of this child, ashamed of his son and daughter-in-law, and had no face to see them at all.
So even if I thought of my grandson and thought of scratching my heart, every time Chu Youhe sneaked from the capital to Qizhou, hid in the car, looked at Chu from afar at the school gate, and left silently, never daring to even once. I had a face-to-face with Chu Jin.
However, yesterday, Chu Youhe finally received a reply from the police.
The police officially issued an arrest warrant. In this matter, Mr. Chu asked the Chu family to assist the police with all their strength, and brought the suspect under control as soon as possible.
"Chu Jin, grandpa, grandpa promised you that I will not disturb your normal life until the truth is found out." The old man Chu was emotional and spoke a little faster, "Today, grandpa will be in front of your parents. First, I will sincerely apologize to you."
Old Man Chu leaned on a cane, bent down with difficulty, and bowed to Chu.
The assistant Mingzhe on the side supported his arm to prevent the old man from standing unsteadily.
"You don't need to apologize to me, you have nothing to apologize to me." Chu Jin took a step back, his voice indifferent.
As long as the father and mother were involved in a car accident, as long as the investigation was clear, it was not at the orders of Old Master Chu. From Chu Jin's point of view, he did not have that much hatred for his blood-related grandfather.
Chu Jin just hates this kind of "father". There is something that Chu Chengmin said is right, and Chu Youhe is indeed not worthy of being a father.
Chu Jin looked at Chu Youhe, whose eyes were red, and said word by word, "But you are really not a good father. When your own children lost their mother and needed their father the most, you chose to use work to escape everything, and even The most basic care is not given to your child."
"Grandpa admits that this was the mistake that Grandpa made back then. Grandpa really regrets it, but now, Grandpa really has no other way to make up for Cheng Min and Qiu Yu..." Chu Youhe took out Handkerchief, wiping the corners of his eyes, "Grandpa is here today because the police have already found out the truth. I rushed over from Beijing as soon as I received the notice. When Grandma Xixi died, I wanted to ask you Uncle Song to explain the matter first. Let's see if you want to see me or not..."
The old man Chu shook his head, as if he felt that what he said just now was redundant. He paused, turned his head and said to Mingzhe, "Mingzhe, where are the materials? Hurry up, all the materials are available."
Mingzhe nodded and took out a bright yellow folder of hard cardboard from his briefcase.
Chu Jin bypassed Old Master Chu and Mingzhe and walked to the tombstones of his parents.
He respectfully placed the flowers and liquor in his hands in front of his parents' graves, took a deep breath, straightened up, and took the folder handed by Mingzhe.
Opening the folder, he quickly glanced at the dozens of pages of documents in front of him.
Looking at it, Chu Jin's fingers unconsciously exerted force, and abruptly pinched the edge of the folder's jam, pinching out a few traces...