Mr hell

……

The winter in the capital is not cold, Jian Shuo's plane landed on a sunny day, and when he walked out of the airport, he could feel the warm and dry wind blowing on his face.

He swiped open the screen, intending to send a message to Huaiqi to report his safety, but after hanging his fingers on the keyboard for a while, he felt that it was unnecessary, so he didn't write anything, and stuffed the phone into his pocket.

His group stopped by to visit Ye Yudong, and it took him a long time in the car to arrive at the address Fu Xi provided.

This place is different from what Jian Shuo thought.This section is close to a small town on the outskirts of the city.The surrounding area is not prosperous, and there are no high-rise buildings to block out the sun. Although the traffic is inconvenient, it is far away from the hustle and bustle.

When walking into this old residential area, Jian Shuo saw that the rusty iron fence was covered with parasitic plants, and among the withered and thriving green covers, a few fragile flowers bloomed, like coming from a crowded crowd. A child poking his head out of the crowd.

Jian Shuo was surprised that it was in full bloom in the cold winter, and when he went to check it, he realized that its color was too bright, and the texture of rough fabric could be heard from his twitching fingertips—it turned out to be a fake, probably left somewhere decorations.

Jian Shuo saw a big tree surrounded by one person not far away. Its root system was so thick that it cracked the old floor tiles around it, and moss and wilting weeds grew in the cracks.A few old people played chess and chatted under the tree. The edges of the chess pieces and chessboard were worn out, and they looked as if they were the same age as the floor tiles.

When Jian Shuo walked over, an old man raised his head and looked at him, following him to the depths of the community.

All this made Jian Shuo inexplicably happy - for some reason, this quiet and peaceful scene gave him a familiar sense of stability, like a hometown.

He walked up the stairs slowly, rang the doorbell at the address, and after a while, a lady came out to greet him.

When Jian Shuo saw her for the first time, it was like seeing a snowflake—it had a simple shape and plain structure, and it was born with a kind of crystal elegance and subtle chill.From floating to falling, it just follows the will of heaven to look at the world, if it tries to catch it, it will melt in the palm of your hand.

Jian Shuo bowed politely and said, "Hello. You are Ms. Ye Yudong."

Jian Shuo thought to himself, a person lives up to his name.

"Yes," Ye Yudong said, "Are you the Jian Shuo that Daxi mentioned?"

Jian Shuo nodded.He was invited into the room by the old man, seeing Ye Yudong's indifferent expression and tied up long white hair, he thought of Huaiqi without reason.What made this association was a feeling of acquaintance - Jian Shuo felt a longing mixed with fear.It's like a child who loves snow but is afraid of the cold looking forward to winter.

Jian Shuo put down the gift and looked at the furnishings in the room. The most conspicuous thing was that there were two bright red roses in the vase on the table. The petals were still stained with dew, as if they had just been carefully cared for.The feeling that has been haunting Jian Shuo ever since he entered the community struck again, and it became stronger and stronger.

He has an indescribable familiarity with this place.

"Sit down." Ye Yudong said straight to the point, "Is there anything I can answer for you."

"It will involve some personal matters of your past. Before asking, I would like to ask for your consent."

"Daxi has already told me, it's fine." Ye Yudong said, "Isn't that kid named Huaiqi here?"

Jian Shuo explained: "He has been in some trouble recently and has no time for now. He will visit you in person in the future."

"Daxi showed me his photo." Ye Yudong's eyes seemed to be looking into the deep memories ahead, "It's very similar."

" means something like "your son. "

"Yeah, his name is also Huaiqi, and I haven't seen him since he was 14 years old." Ye Yudong said, "If he is still alive, he should be "nearly 50 years old." "

Jian Shuo looked at her expression and said, "You miss him very much, don't you?"

Ye Yudong's answer was beyond Jian Shuo's expectation, she shook her head and said, "No."

"Hui Chengyan and I divorced more than 30 years ago. After leaving the children, I devoted myself to the confidential work of the research institute. When I came to my senses, they were gone." She paused, and said, "I miss the miss."

Jian Shuo said, "You look like someone who misses the past."

There is no basis for Jian Shuo's "looks like", it's just his intuition that made him say so.

This time Ye Yudong did not firmly veto him.Maybe there is a defense mechanism in her character, like a psychological "doublethink"-she misses the past as an abstract, a deep time, an indescribable feeling.She has been immersed in the sea of ​​abstraction for decades, but she never thought of grabbing any rock.Because she can't pin her nostalgia on a certain person or a certain relationship, otherwise the side effects of nostalgia will engulf her and tear her apart.

Thanks to her nature, she will not be killed by emotion.

"If, I mean if..." Jian Shuo felt that it was absurd to talk about rebirth and ghosts in front of such an expert, and said cautiously, "Huaiqi is really your child, will you accept him?"

Ye Yudong didn't question it, but answered his assumption, she said: "You shouldn't ask me, you should ask Huaiqi, will he accept a mother who has been absent for half his life?"

"I think he will." Jian Shuo said.

In the eyes of Jian Shu, Huaiqi is still very different from Ms. Ye.He can't describe it in any exquisite language—but if it is compared to food, Huaiqi is like ice-skinned mochi stuffed with fruit.

In layman's terms - under the cold and simple skin, it is cool and sweet.

Jian Shuo didn't know why he suddenly thought of such a metaphor, maybe he was a little hungry, he smiled lightly, Ye Yudong glanced at him, and asked: "You seem to know him very well, he is your relative ?"

Jian Shuo could only suppress his smile and said, "Yes" friend. "

"Oh, like this."

Taking care of the young people's taste, Ye Yudong didn't want to make tea, but poured Jian Shuo a cup of freshly squeezed fruit juice.He said: "Speaking of which, you are very familiar to me."

"Really." Jian Shuo said, "It's an honor."

Ye Yudong said indifferently: "Do you know a child named Jian Yisu?"

Jian Shuo froze for a while before opening his mouth, but he didn't say a word.

When he raised his head, he found that Ye Yudong's gaze had a clear penetrating power, like a scalpel that could cut open its appearance.

"That child is very smart, not only intellectually, but also because of the thoroughness given to him by a special experience. He even scares me." Ye Yudong said, "But what worries me is not the smartness itself, but the fact that he will I hide my own cleverness. Like a gentle but sharp-toothed wolf cub. I have seen such a child in the youth class of the institute. If he is not kindly chained to him, he will become very scary." I said far up. "

"It's okay," Jian Shuo asked, curling his fingers, "Have you seen him?"

"In places Huai Chengyan and Zhi Huai Qi don't even know, we only met once. "Ye Yudong's words seemed to reveal the tip of the iceberg of a past, but she didn't intend to continue digging, she said: "Do you have anything else to ask. "

"Actually, I just wanted to hear about your past and make up for Huaiqi's apology for not being able to come. There is no special purpose." Jian Shuo got up and said, "It was a pleasure chatting with you. I will tell Huaiqi to meet you as soon as possible of—if you want."

Ye Yudong seemed to have something to say, she put down the glass and stood up slowly, but accidentally spilled the juice on the corner of Jian Shuo's clothes.Ye Yudong found a box of tissue paper for him, and said, "Sorry."

"It's ok."

"While the stain is new," Ye Yudong stretched out his slender and withered hands, and said, "Let me wash it for you."

Jian Shuo smiled and said, "I'll do it myself."

"By the way, the sink is at..."

Before Ye Yudong finished speaking, Jian Shuo took off his coat and put it in his arms, skillfully found the bathroom, and walked in.

He adjusted the warm water, rubbed the cloth a few times, squatted down subconsciously, and found a drink bottle with a red lid from under the sink. Its packaging covered the body of the bottle, and it was an early brand—he unscrewed it One look, and the inside of the lid reads "Thank you for your purchase" in faded colour.

It's not a drink, but full of washing powder.He poured a little powder into the palm of his hand and washed away the small stains.

When he came out, Ye Yudong had already found the hair dryer and handed it to him.

Amidst the noise of the wind, Jian Shuo suddenly noticed that Ye Yudong's expression became subtly wrong - she was staring at her cuffs, Jian Shuo found some washing powder stains on them, so he gently wiped them off.

"You used laundry detergent, didn't you?"

"Yeah," Jian Shuo was a little strange about this question, and said softly, "I'm sorry, if you don't mind..."

"That's not what I mean." Ye Yudong shook his head and said, "It's a habit of Huai Chengyan to put washing powder in Coke bottles. Because Huai Qi likes to drink, there are many empty bottles left at home. But it's precisely because This, I am afraid that Huaiqi will be confused by the bottle with the packaging, so I will tear off the packaging while filling it with washing powder, or put it in a place where Huaiqi can't see it."

Jian Shuo originally thought that she was recalling the past and was listening carefully, but gradually, belatedly, she understood the meaning of her words, and then her movements froze.

"I didn't tear off the packaging this time, and the location was very inconspicuous. How did you identify and find it so quickly?"

Her slow and orderly words seemed to penetrate into Jian Shuo's memory.

"Do you know," Ye Yudong said, looking at the red roses on the table, "the furnishings of this house are the same as the house Huai Chengyan and I used to have. The town I chose is also the same as where I lived 30 years ago. "Home is very similar. "

Then, Jian Shuo's inner voice questioned himself together with Ye Yudong——

"Why are you so familiar with this place?"