looking back inadvertently

The endless sea stretches towards the horizon, sparkling under the setting sun.The seabirds go up and down, and the sound of "quack" is neither pleasant nor obtrusive, and blends in with the surrounding environment.

Liang He brought a wide-mouth plastic bottle from home, and squatted on the beach, with some water in a bucket beside him.Every time he picks out a shell, he rinses it in a bucket to remove the gravel on it, and then puts it in a bottle.For almost half an hour, Liang He was immersed in it all the time.

This is the closest beach to where they live, and the magnificent sea views often draw crowds of tourists, and today is no exception.After Liang Zheng brought him here, there was constant noise and disturbance around him; however, Liang He concentrated his mind and acted like no one else was around, and the small bottle was about to be filled.

Liang Zheng watched from not far behind, and didn't step forward to disturb him. He couldn't remember the last time the two of them got along so peacefully.

The Chinese New Year atmosphere in Los Angeles is not weaker than in China. There are performances or commercial activities in Chinatown and several large shopping malls, but Liang He is not very yearning for those. When Liang Zheng asked him if he wanted to go somewhere, he only said that he wanted to come to the beach.

"Okay." Liang He buckled the bottle, put it in his arms, and walked towards Liang Zheng.

"I don't know you still have this kind of preference," Liang Zheng said with a smile, "Or are you planning to give it to your lover?"

"It should be said - give us two," Liang He said calmly, "We are living together now."

In domestic rented apartments, the window sills of the master bedroom are wider, and they don’t have the habit of arranging flowers and plants; but they don’t display anything, and they feel a little empty, Shen Zhe said that he wanted to find some suitable decorations to put there.

Liang He remembered that when he first came to the United States, he picked up some shells at the beach when he was idle and bored.It should be beautiful if the washed shells are stored in a transparent bottle.Of course, the ones picked up in the past have long been lost, but it is very easy to collect such things.

However, Liang Zheng frowned slightly after hearing what he said, maybe he didn't expect his love affair to progress to this point: "Liang He, I don't have much to say about your young people's lifestyle, but you are a boy, to other girls— —”

"Dad," Liang He didn't wear shoes, and stepped on the soft sand, "Didn't you say, let me tell you about him another day? I can tell you right now."

In Liang Zheng's impression, his son always had an untouchable attitude towards everything; perhaps it was the negligence of his parents, since he was a child who rarely had the innocence and presumptuousness of children of the same age.This missing "purity" seems to have returned to Liang He, which surprised Liang Zheng.

"You love that girl very much, don't you?"

"No."

"Huh?" Liang Zheng looked at him in surprise, waiting for his next answer.

"I love him," Liang He did not avoid Liang Zheng's gaze, "but he is not a girl."

"You, what did you say?" Liang Zheng has been in the United States for many years, and he has contacted or heard of various people. It's not that he didn't understand Liang He's expression, but he couldn't think of other ways to respond due to shock.

Liang He explained patiently: "I live with a boy, the one who saw us off at the airport before we came to the United States. He used to be my classmate, one year younger than me."

Liang Zheng was wearing a formal suit when he went out, and he didn't take off his shoes like Liang He. He stood on the beach full of tourists, motionless, like a misplaced sculpture.Seabirds flapped their gray-black wings and landed in front of them. There were tourists feeding the birds on the beach, which might have attracted them.

"Liang He, I don't know what to say." Regarding the "secret" of the child, Liang Zheng was neither happy nor angry. "Confusion" is a more appropriate description of his mood.

"It's okay, I just thought I should tell you."

The sound of the waves crashing on the shore sounds like the sound of great rain at first, and it roars continuously; but it does not sound like it when you listen carefully.

The seabirds circling on the waves are not as easy to see as those on the beach. They fly too fast, are too light, and are far away. All the sight can catch are the dark inverted "people".

"Thank you for telling me," Liang Zheng's voice seemed to be blown away by the sea breeze, light and unreal, "I still have to feel my way in the future."

"Well," the golden light of the setting sun flushed half of Liang He's face, "let's go home."

The beach was next to the driveway, and after walking up a few steps, Liang Zheng's car was parked in the parking lot not far in front.While waiting for his father to drive over, Liang He bought some postcards at the tourist shop nearby.

It only took more than ten minutes to drive home, Liang He got off the passenger seat, looked up at the small post office opposite: "Dad, let me go over."

Liang Zheng glanced at the postcard in his hand and asked, "Is it for that boy?"

"Hmm." Even though it was clichéd, Liang He regretted that he had never mailed a single word to Shen Zhe in the United States in the past.

Liang Zheng smiled and shook his head: "You send it now, and when he receives it, you will return to China long ago."

"I know," Liang He gently closed the car door, "but I still want to send it."

"What are you going to write?" Liang Zheng asked, "I'm just curious."

"It's nothing." Liang He looked down at the cards in his hand, and one of the pictures on it was the beach we went to today, "Happy New Year or something."

"I thought you were so creative." Liang He walked around him, putting his hands on his shoulders, "You can add another sentence, just say that I welcome him to come to America next time."

Liang He's footsteps seemed to be frozen, and he didn't move for a long time: "Dad—"

"Okay, don't talk too much about the family," he took the bottle from Liang He, "I'll take the things back for you first, hurry up, it's getting dark."

"Ah."

The golden-like figure disappeared at the door, and Liang He also turned around and crossed the road.The street lamps came on suddenly, like silent soldiers performing some solemn ceremony.

Shen Zhe stayed at his parents' house until the fifth day, and Liang He also returned to China the next day.

Shen Zhe didn't expect Liang He to bring back the shells he picked up from the beach.These shells have different colors, textures and sizes, and they are squeezed together to present a beautiful and colorful beauty.

"Isn't it heavy?" he asked.

"It's okay, not much," Liang He looked at the clean window sill, "How about putting it here?"

Shen Zhe understood: "Very suitable."

They found some smaller transparent glass bottles and repacked them so that each bottle was [-]% full so that it would not be too messy.The sorted decorative bottles are lined up, and when the sun shines, there are light spots jumping on the edge of each shell.

The school started in mid-February, and Shen Zhe returned to work a few days later than Liang He.

Liang He told him that he sent a postcard to China on the first day of the Lunar New Year.Shen Zhe asked, "How long does it take to ship from the United States to China?"

"At the earliest... it will take half a month," Liang He recalled what Liang Zheng said, as if he was really stupid, "Do you think it's unnecessary?"

"Well, indeed," Shen Zhe smiled softly, "but it's fun."

"Fun?"

"Yeah," he said, "if it arrives soon, I will collect it alone, but now, we can wait together."

Waiting for a postcard to be mailed by myself... Is this fun?Liang He didn't quite understand, but in the following days, they would habitually check the mailbox on the first floor almost every day when they got home, maybe they could receive it earlier than expected.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, it was still Liang He who went home to cook first, and bought glutinous rice balls on the way.Shen Zhe also came back earlier than usual, humming a song when he entered the door, feeling very happy.

"What's the matter so happy?"

"I received your postcard!" He raised his left hand.

A small card with a sea view came into Liang He's eyes. Apart from "Happy New Year" on the back, there was a line of words that Liang Zheng asked him to add.

Shen Zhe also saw the line: "Did you... tell your father everything?"

"En." Liang He nodded slightly.

Liang Zheng was able to overcome his embarrassment and told him the story with Qiu Yun out of respect for his feelings and children; Liang He also wanted to give back his respect to the other party.

He lacked the company of his parents in his childhood, and he may still not have a strong emotional connection with that man, but he has learned to reconcile with the past.Longing for happiness - this is the same for him or Liang Zheng, so Liang He agrees with his father from the bottom of his heart.

"Uncle is a very gentle man."

"Then would you like to go to America with me next time?" Liang He asked.

Shen Zhe put the postcard and some important materials in the same folder, turned around and said, "Okay."

Not long after the rice was stewed, the two of them ate the glutinous rice balls before it was time.

Shen Zhe brought back a small handmade lantern from school.Because today is the Lantern Festival, all classes have carried out entertainment activities. He not only organized the students in the class to perform theatrical performances, but also arranged a themed class meeting. This handmade lantern was made with everyone in the class meeting—the simplest paper lantern .

The students were young and had different degrees of completion of the works, but they were very excited during the process. In the end, everyone took home the small lanterns they made.

"Then you made this?" Liang He picked up the ordinary-looking paper lantern.Shen Zhe's handwriting is beautiful, but the level of handwork is not flattering.

"Yes, I finally found a simpler method."

"Isn't this kind of thing easy to do?"

"You will?"

"Well," Liang He asked, "is there any extra red paper? I'll make another one." Wouldn't it be better if the little lanterns were in pairs?There are also hooks at home, which can be hung on both sides of the big bed.

"Yes," Shen Zhe poured out the rest of the materials to him, "You do it, I'll take a shower."

In the past, Qin Ying loved doing this kind of handicrafts very much. Not to mention paper lanterns, she can also skillfully cut out more delicate window grilles.Liang He was fascinated and learned how to make a lot of gadgets.

He didn't need to search the Internet, and based on his past memory, he used two pieces of red cardboard to make the main body of the lantern, and cut some golden lace for decoration.When he was about to cut another strip of paper to use as a handle, he suddenly realized that it would be inconvenient to hang it up, so he found a red string from the drawer of the desk.But the rope was not long enough for two handles, so he cut off a lantern, and the rest was too short.

"What's wrong?" Shen Zhe came out of the bathroom and saw Liang He frowning at the rope.

"It's not long enough." He replaced Shen Zhe's handle with a rope, and it fit right on the sticky hook at the head of the bed.The little lantern I made by myself was still lying alone on the bedside table.

"I'll go buy some at noon tomorrow." Shen Zhe said that the stationery store next to their elementary school has all kinds of handmade materials. "Let's eat first."

The next day, before Shen Zhe had time to go to the stationery store, he was distracted by an incident that happened in class.

The author says:

almost over