Fireflies were flying outside, and the newly planted hibiscus branches in the broken clay pot on the windowsill were swaying in the night breeze.
Grandma told Gu Jianian a story.
It is a story unique to that era, not new, but it is a real story.
One spring more than fifty years ago.
The season when pear blossoms weigh down the branches.
A sickly young master from a wealthy family took his servants to the countryside to recuperate and lived in a Western-style villa built by his ancestors.
He followed the doctor's advice and walked around the river three times every morning.
So every day you could see a country girl washing clothes under the bridge.
As time went by, the young master became really bored, so one day he walked down to the river and started chatting with the girl.
It wasn't pleasant at first.
The two people have completely different values and outlooks on life.
One is a rich young man who has received advanced education, is proud and unruly, and the other is a peasant girl who is content with her lot and is arranged by her family to get married when she reaches adulthood.
She disliked him for being noisy and arrogant but lazy, and even had to rely on servants for clothing and food.
He said she was pedantic, ignorant, and illiterate, unable to read even the simplest children's book.
No one looks down on anyone else.
But later, the young master condescended to teach the girl how to read and write, and told her about the new era, openness, equality between men and women, and freedom of love.
Girls should also have the right to education.
The girl, on the other hand, taught the young master how to wash clothes, cook, grow vegetables and herd cattle, and forced him to accompany her in the wind and sun, and over mountains and hills every day.
It is said that only by connecting with the ground can the body be strong.
They bickered and quarreled for a whole year, and no one broke the ambiguous window paper.
It was not until the girl was about to turn eighteen that her family began to look for a husband for her, and the young master was in good health and was about to be taken back to the city.
He said that his family planned to send him to study abroad.
The night before the young master left, he gave the girl a bouquet of roses that he had planted himself.
He frowned awkwardly and complained, "The seeds that Uncle Chen sent from Zhushan City are so valuable. I planted several crops in a row, but they all died and only this one grew. The method you taught me to grow vegetables is completely useless."
The girl took the red bouquet she had never seen before, tears in her eyes, but her tone was funny: "I taught you how to grow radishes and cabbages, but I never taught you how to grow flowers. Can you just copy and paste, you fool?"
"I'm leaving tomorrow."
"Ok, I know."
"You will be an adult next month? Is your family arranging a marriage for you?"
"Um."
The young master's Adam's apple rolled up and down, and he hesitated to think whether he should take her to rebel and disrupt her peaceful and smooth life.
I was afraid that she would not agree, and I was even more afraid that she would regret it.
Unexpectedly, the girl spoke first: "If... I mean if. My birthday is on the fifth of next month. If you come, we can..."
She held the rose in her arms, the thorn piercing her chest. "I can go with you. You can take me to ride the train and bus you mentioned, okay? Didn't you say that you went to the rose farm in the north with your family to taste wine? Can we go too? I like this red color."
"Okay," the young master suddenly reached out and hugged her, staring at her fair neck, and choked, "I'll go anywhere with you. I'll make you a necklace with rubies, redder than roses."