round spring

Summer is very long, but it can't contain my panic.

——An Yuan's Diary

Shen Xingchun stood on the spot for a while, endured his bewilderment, and said, "Get up first, don't squat down."

Zhang Mei's reaction was a little slow, and it took a while to understand Shen Xingchun's meaning. She lowered her head and let out a "hey", propping her knees with her palms, her movements of standing up were slow and clumsy, her upper body was shaking for a long time but she couldn't stand up. The body shook slightly a few times, and the surrounding weeds also shook tremblingly.

Shen Xingchun raised his legs and walked quickly over the grass, holding Zhang Mei's arm.

Zhang Mei staggered two steps, straightened up and wanted to pull Shen Xingchun's hand, but finally her fingers stopped in mid-air, just supporting his arm.

As they got closer, Shen Xingchun could see clearly that Zhang Mei's face was black and yellow, her eyes and cheeks were deeply sunken, and the weight leaning on him was very light.

The high temperature was nearly [-] degrees, but Zhang Mei was wearing long-sleeved trousers, her back was a little hunched, her thin body looked empty under the clothes, and the end of a thin calf was exposed under the trousers.

The blue cloth shoes on her feet have been washed yellow, and the uppers are frayed with rough edges. She stepped on the grass after it has rained, and the uppers and trousers were covered with grass clippings and black mud.

"It's so far away, how did you come here?" Shen Xingchun helped Zhang Mei walk to the drier side of the road.

It is more than 100 kilometers away from his original home, and Zhang Mei looks like he came here by himself.

Perhaps it was because she didn't know how to get along with Shen Xingchun, or because she simply had poor comprehension, Zhang Mei seemed a little nervous, talking incoherently, and speaking very slowly.

"I came by car, long-distance bus, yesterday, no, it was the day before yesterday, the afternoon of the day before yesterday, and it was raining that day, and the rain was a bit heavy. I only know the name of your village, not which household it is. At the intersection, he came to ask me, and I asked him again, and I said I was looking for Shen Xingchun, they all knew you and showed me the way, so I found the right place."

"Did you come here by yourself?" Shen Xingchun asked again.

Zhang Mei answered after a few seconds: "I came here by myself. I arrived yesterday afternoon."

There is a direct long-distance bus, which takes up to three or four hours. It left the day before yesterday and arrived yesterday. Shen Xingchun knew that her journey was not smooth, but she didn't ask any further questions.

They didn't pick up two full baskets of mushrooms, so they took Zhang Mei back first.

Shen Xingchun supported Zhang Mei to walk in front, took two steps and looked back, An Yuan was two steps behind him, followed with her head down.

He stretched his hand back, and shook the basket in his hand at Anyuan, "Xiaoyuan, take two quick steps."

Hearing Shen Xingchun calling him, An Yuan took two quick steps, and directly took the basket in Shen Xingchun's hand, carrying two baskets in one hand, while the other hand naturally took Shen Xingchun's extended hand.

Shen Xingchun turned to Zhang Mei again, "Why don't you go directly to grandparents' house when you're here?"

"I'm afraid..."

Zhang Mei didn't finish her sentence, but Shen Xingchun already knew what she meant. A parent who had given their child to someone else suddenly found him after the child grew up. Anyone would mind, but he also knew that grandparents didn't care about these things. Moreover, he will not leave his grandparents.

He said: "It's okay, my grandparents are very, very nice. They have been very kind to me these years."

To put it simply, Shen Xingchun had explained his life these years to Zhang Mei, and it could be regarded as reassuring her.

Zhang Mei nodded, and two lines of deep tears rolled down her wrinkled face. She said, "I can tell that you are living a better life than your brothers and sisters. Grandpa Shen and Grandma Shen are both Good guys, they're better than us."

This was the most Zhang Mei could say, and she couldn't say any more.

From her point of view, Shen Xingchun's life is a kind of blessing, which she cannot give.

"Why did you come here suddenly?" Shen Xingchun asked.

Zhang Mei raised her head again, a strange light flashed in her eyes, full of guilt and reluctance.

"I just want to see you. I'm at home, looking at the calendar, and counting the days. You will be eighteen in a few days. I just want to see Xiao Qi, what will he look like when he grows up. Now that I see you, you It's much better than I imagined, Mom..."

Zhang Mei paused when she said this. She didn't know if she could still call herself a mother, so she changed her words again: "Now that I see it, I feel relieved..."

As soon as Zhang Mei finished speaking, An Yuan felt his fingers being squeezed hard, causing him to grin and let out a muffled grunt in pain.

Hearing An Yuan's cry of pain, Shen Xingchun immediately relaxed, and gently rubbed An Yuan's fingers.

An Yuan could understand Shen Xingchun's current feelings. Shen Xingchun, who looked calm on the surface, had cold sweat on his palms.

An Yuan had guessed the identity of the woman squatting in the grass just now when she saw her face clearly. Looking carefully at the left half of the woman's face without a birthmark, except for the aging and wrinkles, she should be at least a third of the same as the current Shen Xingchun when she was young .

He had just been guessing in his heart the reason why the woman came to find Shen Xingchun this time. He didn't know the past, he only knew that Shen Xingchun was abandoned by his parents, and now that his mother came to look for him, he thought it was just because Shen Xingchun had grown up now, and they He is old, so now he wants Shen Xingchun to go back to support them in the old age. The possibility of this has just appeared, and it was beating deafeningly in his heart. He even thought up his words until he heard the woman say that he just wanted to see Shen Xingchun He was relieved.

Intellectually, although An Yuan wanted to keep a little distance from Shen Xingchun, she still thought selfishly in her heart, as long as Shen Xingchun didn't leave.

After walking for a while, Zhang Mei suddenly thought of something, stopped, reached into her trousers pocket and felt for a long time, took out an old cloth bag sewn with stitches, opened the bag, and took out some scattered things from it. She held all the banknotes in the palm of her hand, the most were ten and twenty cents, and the largest was one yuan. She counted them several times, and the total was 15 yuan and thirty cents.

She sorted out the messy banknotes in her hand one by one, rolled them up and stuffed them back into the cloth bag, finally she stuffed the whole cloth bag into Shen Xingchun's hand.

"I just wanted to take a look at it from afar. I didn't buy you anything on the way, and I don't know what you like to eat now. You take these and buy some snacks."

Shen Xingchun didn't want it, and put the bag back into Zhang Mei's hand, saying, "No need, I'm eighteen, and I don't eat snacks anymore."

Seeing that Shen Xingchun confiscated it, Zhang Mei seemed a little overwhelmed, and her voice was a little hurried, "Dachun, just hold it, at least I can feel more at ease if you hold it, six of the seven children are here, I just didn't protect them you……"

Hearing her crying voice, Shen Xingchun felt mixed feelings, so he had no choice but to put the money bag into his pocket first.

Zhang Mei watched him put it away, and a smile finally appeared on her face. She was obviously a little excited, and turned her attention to An Yuan next to Shen Xingchun, "This child is really good-looking, really blessed, really white, with black and bright eyes of."

Hearing Zhang Mei's words, An Yuan obediently called out, "Thank you, auntie, for your compliment. My brother has good eyes too."

When mentioning An Yuan, the expression on Shen Xingchun's face softened a lot, and he said with a smile: "It's pretty, this is my brother, named An Yuan."

Zhang Mei repeated An Yuan's name in a low voice, and said with a smile: "The name is also nice, reunion."

The grandparents were very surprised when they saw Zhang Mei, but they didn't reject her. After all, she was Shen Xingchun's biological mother. Now that she had the heart to visit the child, they understood very well. They had inquired before adopting Shen Xingchun and knew about Zhang Mei Shen Jianjun later retired, it was his family's fault, Shen Xingchun was sold by his own father, Zhang Mei was helpless as a woman, even if she disagreed, she couldn't do anything.

Grandma cooked some dishes for Zhang Mei, Zhang Mei sat next to Shen Xingchun, didn't eat a few bites, her eyes were always on Shen Xingchun.

After the meal, Zhang Mei thanked her grandparents a few times and then put down her chopsticks and went out. Grandpa Shen and Grandma Shen saw that it was getting late, so they asked her to stay overnight. Zhang Mei didn't want to disturb too much and insisted on leaving.

Grandma Shen wanted Shen Xingchun to send Zhang Mei off, but she was also worried about his father surnamed Sun, fearing that he would suffer if he went there, so she grabbed Zhang Mei and slapped her sideways, "It's so far away, why did you come alone? Didn't you go with Sun Liang too? It's good for the two of you to have a companion on the road, "

It took Zhang Mei a long time to understand Grandma Shen's question, and she answered, "I came here by myself, and I didn't tell the other children that Sun Liang is dead, and he died in the first two years. Now I live with the fifth child, and the third child is not far from me."

After she finished speaking, she went out, Grandpa Shen stopped her first, and said to let Shen Xingchun see her off, Zhang Mei heard that Shen Xingchun would see her off, then stopped, standing by the door frame and waiting.

Grandpa first called Shen Xingchun aside and said, "Dachun, Grandpa has something to say to you."

"What's wrong, Grandpa." Shen Xingchun asked.

"Dachun, Zhang Mei is your mother after all. I think I have to tell you that grandpa is a doctor. I observed her for a long time during the meal. I saw that her face was not quite right. If I guessed correctly, it should be the liver. It's not like a small problem, she should know it herself, so she wants to come and see you, you can go see her off, it's a long way, take her home."