After midnight

The funeral was simple, and because it was simple, it was quick. The coffin was immediately carried to the cemetery where revolutionary martyrs were buried. After it was carried to the cemetery, everything went smoothly.

Lin Xuanfeng was officially buried at 8 pm on November 13, 2018, at the age of 22.

The next day was a sunny day. After the strong wind, the blue sky was pure and natural. An Yan opened the door, walked through the garden with his head down, and pushed open the iron fence outside the house when he suddenly saw Lin Nuan. Lin Nuan was walking back and forth slowly across the street. She lowered her head and put her hands in her pockets. She walked a few meters away, then turned back and walked a few meters further.

"Lin Nuan."

"Lin Nuan!"

Lin Nuan turned her head with a red nose and pale cheeks.

"Why don't you go into the house?" An Yan walked over and asked.

Lin Nuan forced a smile and said nothing. She was always like this in front of An Yan.

"Come on, I'll take you to see him."

Lin Nuan hummed and walked beside An Yan. The two walked side by side, but they both walked very slowly. It was time to walk slowly and reminisce about the past. There were three people in the past, but now there are only two people left. As Lin Nuan walked, her eyes became sore. She quickly wiped away the tears that had not yet formed. She was afraid that once they fell, An Yan would only be more sad.

Arriving at the cemetery, An Yan had only walked there once last night, and brought Lin Nuan to Lin Xuanfeng with ease. Some roads can be engraved in a person's heart only after walking them once.

Lin Nuan stood in front of Lin Xuanfeng's grave, looking at his black and white photo in silence.

The east wind swept the fallen leaves, and the two of them stood there quietly for a while. An Yan suddenly turned around and walked out. He walked to the end of the road, with his back to Lin Nuan, and stood straight. Lin Nuan withdrew her eyes from An Yan and lowered her head to pick up the yellow leaves that fell on Lin Xuanfeng's tombstone.

"Lin Xuanfeng, I abandoned An Yan, how could you also abandon An Yan?"

Lin Nuan threw away the fallen leaves, her tone was resentful, and two lines of tears hung on her cheeks. "The way you abandoned him, even I can't accept it, and there is also Ah Jiu, such a well-behaved child, how could you bear to do that to him."

Lin Nuan covered her mouth and nose tightly and shed tears carefully, for she was afraid that any sound would disturb An Yan.

"An Yan, let's go." Half an hour later, Lin Nuan finally calmed down and walked over. When the two of them walked out of the cemetery and walked along the winding road to the bottom of the mountain, Lin Nuan asked again: "An Yan, Jiu, what are your plans?"

"I want to keep him by my side, but... everything depends on Jiu's own wishes."

"Yes, you are An Yan. Let's stop here. Lu Li is waiting for me in front. We still have to rush back to Jiudu later."

"Okay, be careful on the road."

"An Yan, if anything happens in the future, please let me know in time. Lu Li and I will help you."

"it is good."

"Then, goodbye."

"Goodbye."

An Yan watched Lin Nuan walk away, then turned around and went home. When he got home, he knocked on the door of the bedroom on the first floor, which had always belonged to Ajiu. No one in the room responded, so An Yan opened the door and, as expected, Ajiu was buried in the quilt.

"Ajiu, you must be hungry. I bought some mutton noodles from Chef Zhang's shop on the street. Hurry up and get up to eat."

When Ajiu heard about the mutton noodles from Master Zhang's restaurant, his expression was bitter and complicated. That was the best mutton noodle restaurant his master had ever taken him to. Ajiu was still lying down, and he heard An Yan walk out and come back. When An Yan came back, he held the bowl in both hands, and there were chopsticks on the bowl.

An Yan placed one bowl on the bedside, and took the other and started eating. He didn't care what Ah Jiu was thinking, whether he wanted to eat or not, he just ate his own food, eating with big mouthfuls, filling the room with the unique aroma of mutton noodles.

Listening to the slurping sound of An Yan eating, Jiu licked his lips and sat up to bring over the remaining bowl of mutton noodles. The noodles were fragrant, and there was no chili or vinegar in them, let alone onions or coriander. Jiu used his chopsticks to stir up the kelp at the bottom and started eating.

After finishing a bowl, Jiu felt a little better.

"Brother An Yan." After finishing his meal, he put down the bowl.

"Well, Jiu, Yin may come to talk to you later. Remember Wu? He was the one who brought you to Yin. Yin said that he likes you very much..."

"Brother An Yan..." Ajiu interrupted him, "I've already thought about it."

"Ajiu, among the things you have thought of, is there a possibility that you can stay?"

After hearing this, Jiu immediately leaned forward to hug An Yan, and he hugged An Yan's shoulders and neck tightly. He could feel that An Yan's embrace was as warm and reliable as before. But he didn't hug him for this reason. Jiu couldn't look directly into An Yan's watery eyes.

"Brother An Yan, I plan to join the revolutionary army."

"…Have you thought it through?"

"Yeah." Ajiu let go of An Yan.

"Well, I'll tell Yin not to come. As for joining the Revolutionary Army, I'll go with you."

"No, Brother An Yan, I want to go by myself." Jiu said with all his determination. He thought about it, and then continued, "I plan to go to see Grandpa Fang tomorrow."

An Yan looked at Ajiu carefully and patted his head. "Okay, go by yourself. I'll go to the kitchen to clean up the dishes."

Ajiu watched An Yan leave and got off the bed. When his feet touched the ground, he felt a little more at ease.

The next day, Jiu was waiting outside Fang Hao's office at 9 a.m. when he was about to go to work. Fang Hao saw her as soon as he arrived, and he quickened his pace, walked over in a few steps, and unlocked the door with his key.

"Are you okay? Jiu." Fang Hao leaned back in his chair, looking a little tired when he said this.

"I'm sorry to bother Grandpa Fang by coming here so early in the morning."

Fang Hao looked at him in surprise, then stood up, walked to the desk and sat down on a chair again.

"Ajiu, come here."

Ah Jiu walked over and stood in front of him. He was taller than Fang Hao who was sitting. Fang Hao pulled his arm and said, "Tell me, what do you want Grandpa Fang to do for you?"

"I want to join the revolutionary army."

Fang Hao nodded in understanding and said, "Ajiu, you have to think it over carefully. This is a lifelong decision."

"I've made up my mind, and Grandpa Fang, I want to apply to live in the dormitory, is that okay?"

"Of course you can, Jiu, your decision..." Fang Hao said in a more tactful way, "Have you discussed it with your family?"

"I haven't told Brother An Yan yet."

"Then let me prepare it for you first, you can come over anytime you want."

"Thank you, Grandpa Fang!" Ajiu probably didn't expect it would be so easy to convince Fang Hao. After he said that, he bowed quickly.

"Okay, go back early."

"Yeah." Jiu bowed obediently again before getting up and leaving.

Ajiu walked slowly along the bare streets towards home. He didn't want to go home so early. Would An Yan, who was always gentle and restrained, agree with his decision? Ajiu felt more and more depressed and guilty as he walked. He lowered his head and walked until he heard the bell behind him. He woke up and hurried back.

The bell rang again, it was ten o'clock, and Jiu started running. He was afraid that if he didn't go back, Brother An Yan would worry.

Sure enough, An Yan was standing in the garden outside the door. Some time ago, An Yan renovated a small area in the garden. Now An Yan was standing on the bare yellow soil, but he did nothing and stood alone.

"Brother An Yan, I'm back." Ajiu waved at him.

An Yan saw that his expression had softened a lot, so he walked over, opened the small door and let Jiu in.

"How is it, Jiu?" An Yan put his arm around Jiu's shoulders.

"Grandpa Fang agreed. He agreed without me saying anything."

"Well, I think he would agree."

"Brother An Yan?"

"Hmm?" An Yan looked at Ajiu and motioned him to speak.

Ajiu looked at An Yan and wanted to ask him if he could stop being so sad, but when the words came to his lips, Ajiu said, "Brother An Yan, I have applied to Grandpa Fang for a dormitory."

"Oh, it's up to you to decide. The wind is blowing, let's go in quickly." An Yan had vaguely guessed all this when Ajiu didn't put away the luggage he brought. He didn't say anything and pushed Ajiu into the house.

In less than two days, Ajiu moved to the dormitory with the luggage he had packed from Lin Xuanfeng's house.

After cleaning the house for Jiu, An Yan left Jiu's dormitory and went straight to the cemetery. An Yan's footsteps were so light that if Lin Xuanfeng was still alive, he would be frightened by An Yan's sudden words. An Yan said, "Jiu will officially join the revolutionary army from tomorrow, which is also your wish, brother."

"But Brother, I have actually seriously considered whether or not to stop this from happening. Because in my opinion, Jiu wants to join the Revolutionary Army only because of you, and this is not his true wish. Jiu needs someone to accompany him, just like you."

"But then I thought again, isn't this a good thing? Jiu needs someone other than you and me. The revolutionary army is full of talented people. I believe that he will soon find a like-minded friend."

"In the final analysis, I am just selfish. Senior Brother, you may not know that I cannot be anyone's only one."

An Yan stared at Lin Xuanfeng's tombstone and kept talking. After he finished speaking, he turned and left. The next day after leaving An Yan, at 9:30 in the morning in the Xindu Building, Jiu stood beside Fang Hao and accepted the scrutiny of everyone. The scrutiny included Song Xinjun, Zhou Chen, Shangguan Can, and others.

"From today on, Jiu is a member of our revolutionary army. You must take good care of and support the younger generation."

After Fang Hao finished speaking, Song Xinjun took the lead in clapping. When the enthusiastic applause died down, Fang Hao said, "Okay, if there is nothing else, let's go. Wen Xiaolu stay."

After Wen Xiaolu was called, he ran towards Ajiu. He was a boy who was half a head taller than Ajiu.

"Hello, Ajiu. My name is Wen Xiaolu. In fact, I saw you when I went out this morning. You live next door to me."

"Hello, I may bother you often in the future."

"No trouble, no trouble." Wen Xiaolu's skin was a little dark, but his teeth were very white.

"Let's go, I'll show you around first." Wen Xiaolu smiled, revealing his white teeth.

"Okay, thank you."

After the two of them walked away, Song Xinjun found a direction to leave. He had been standing by and listened to their conversation, but Ah Jiu and the others didn't notice. When Song Xinjun left, the people in the hall had already dispersed. Later that day, Song Xinjun went to Lin Xuanfeng's grave. It was foggy at that time, and Song Xinjun touched Lin Xuanfeng's tombstone, which was cold.

Song Xinjun dug into the tombstone and blinked, then finally spoke in a steady voice, "Xuanfeng, I'm here to tell you that your disciple Ajiu has joined the revolutionary army today. Don't worry, I will take good care of him in the future."

"Also," Song Xinjun put his hands down and put them in his pockets, "I've quit drinking, but don't expect me to never eat hot pot again." After Song Xinjun finished speaking, he exhaled, lowered his head, rubbed the ground with his restless toes, then turned and left.

Lin Xuanfeng probably didn't expect that a third person would come to tell him the same thing. Zhou Chen came wearing the stars and moon, and in addition to the stars and moon, he also brought a pot of wine. Following the pot of wine came a cold autumn wind.

"You are so lucky." Zhou Chen said.

After he finished speaking, he fiddled with the pot of wine. The lid of the bottle was removed, and two small wine glasses slipped out from his sleeves. He filled the two small wine glasses and then said, "You have a sense of ritual in everything you do. Maybe you don't think so, but look, since your master passed away, you no longer eat popsicles. When you decided to defeat An Yan, you no longer drank. After accepting an apprentice, you no longer stayed out all night. No matter how late it is, as long as you are in Xindu, you will go home."

"You see, what I said is right, right?" Zhou Chen raised his head and drank a glass of wine. "Lin Xuanfeng, you never thought that I know you so well. Lin Xuanfeng, how could you die like this? Do you know that you still owe me?"

"You owe me too much. Did you know that your master Zhou Qing has a biological son named Zhou Chen? Yes, that's right, it's me. Lin Xuanfeng, you don't know, so I say you are lucky."

"You are lucky! You have a good master! A good apprentice! Did you know that your apprentice joined the revolutionary army today? I think you should know. Someone must have told you a long time ago. Don't worry. I won't embarrass a child."

Zhou Chen drank another glass of wine, and drank the one he poured for Lin Xuanfeng. "Look, you're already dead, it doesn't matter whether you drink or not. By the way, how could I forget that you have a good junior brother, a good brother. And I, Zhou Chen, have nothing."

Zhou Chen stood up with the help of Lin Xuanfeng's tombstone. He felt a little dizzy. In fact, Zhou Chen had never drunk alcohol before today. He took the two wine glasses back into his arms like treasures, and then walked away slowly with the bottle of wine that was still half full.

Zhou Chen left, leaving behind a few words as light as mist.

"If you die, I will really have nothing."