1987 My Era

Chapter 415: One Mountain Cannot Hold Two Tigers, Prelude
After returning to Lushan Village, Li Heng planned to put his luggage back in his own small building first.

I didn't expect that when I took out the key and opened the door, I saw the withered ginkgo tree.

How can you die just like that?

Damn it! I used to water you every day, but I didn't pay attention to you in the past few days. Didn't it rain? Did you die?

How could he die like this?

Looking at the tree trunk in front of him that was about to be ignited, Li Heng was extremely depressed and felt very cold in his heart.

Seeing him standing at the gate of the yard without moving, Yu Shuheng walked over curiously. When she saw the ginkgo tree with withered leaves, she left quietly without saying a word.

After returning to the house, Li Heng threw his luggage on the floor, poured himself a glass of water and took a few sips. Then he began to write a letter to his scheming wife, telling her about the ginkgo tree.

I promised to tell her as soon as possible, there can't be any delay.

I originally wanted to call her directly, but I was afraid of hearing Xiao Han’s lost voice. After weighing the pros and cons, I finally decided to write a letter.

The content of the letter is divided into 3 sections:
In the first paragraph, he reported on his daily life after coming to Shanghai and briefly talked about what happened in the Anta shoe factory.

In the second paragraph, Li Heng changes the tone and expresses his longing for her, and asks her how she is doing in the capital.
In the third paragraph, he has just told her the news that the ginkgo tree has died, and then he expresses his true feelings, saying that he will plant another one next spring and make sure to keep it alive.

It took Li Heng half an hour to finish writing the letter. After checking it and making sure there were no mistakes, he folded it into a heart shape and drew a big smiling face on the place where the letter was to be opened. It looked like a bright and sunny smile, and he wrote a sentence next to it: The first day your husband misses you.

To express his apology, he decided to write her a letter every day during the summer vacation until she came back.

Li Heng put the letter into a brown registered envelope and affixed a stamp on it. He quickly picked it up and rushed downstairs. Without saying a word, he rode his bicycle to the Pentagon to mail the letter.

Building No. 25.

Yu Shuheng, who had been drinking coffee in the attic, saw everything that happened to the little boy. When Li Heng left in a hurry with the envelope in his hand, her eyes once again fell on the opposite yard and on the ginkgo tree.

For a while, she would feel depressed and a little blocked every time she saw the tree. But now that it is dead, she is not as happy as she imagined, but calm and unperturbed.

As if sensing something, Yu Shuheng raised her head and looked towards Building 27, and her gaze happened to meet Zhou Shihe's.

After a while, she finished her coffee, washed the cup, and headed to Building 27. The first thing she said when they met was, "Li Heng has gone to mail a letter. He'll be back soon."

"it is good."

In fact, Zhou Shihe had already seen it before, without Teacher Yu saying anything, and had also seen the teacher staring at the ginkgo tree in a daze.

She secretly observed Teacher Yu's expression, wondering how Teacher Yu would react when the tree that symbolized love died.
Nothing came of it.

But sometimes, the calmer it is, the more it can explain something. Zhou Shihe's woman's intuition told her that Xiao Han was in big trouble.

Not long after, Li Heng came back with a bag of ice cream in his hand.

"Come here! Teacher, Comrade Shihe, here! The weather is too hot, let's have some ice cream to cool down." Out of apology, Li Heng came to the door with a smile on his face, and his attitude was as nice as it could be.

Yu Shuheng nodded and took the ice cream.

"Thank you." Zhou Shihe's voice was as gentle as jade as she said thank you.

Seeing that Zhou Shihe had an extra red circle on his right hand, Li Heng took a bite of his popsicle and asked curiously, "What is this red circle on your hand? Superstition?"

Zhou Shihe explained: "I often had dreams at night and couldn't sleep, so my family asked someone to perform a ritual for me."

Li Heng casually said, "Your family also believes in this?"

Zhou Shihe smiled gently, not knowing how to respond to his words.

Her mother did go to the hospital with her for a checkup, but she was fine. Later, her family elders took her to a temple to burn incense and pray for her, and she got a red circle on her hand.

Thinking of the girl's previous life in the capital, and that she usually had someone to sleep with her in the small building in Lushan Village, Li Heng couldn't help but ask, "You've been in Lushan Village for about 10 days. Are you afraid of sleeping alone at night?"

Zhou Shihe said quietly, "Not bad."

Li Heng was a little confused about what the girl meant by "not bad"? Was she afraid? Or was she not afraid?
I guess most people are afraid, but they just don't want to say it out loud.

Considering that the other person stayed here during the summer vacation mainly to help him, Li Heng didn't play it lightly: "So you're afraid?"

Zhou Shihe thought about it, then smiled and nodded slightly.

She was born with a weak constitution, and living alone in such a small building was fine during the day, but she always felt too lonely at night. After having nightmares on two nights, she was so worried that she had to endure until dawn.

Li Heng pondered for a moment and said with concern: "If you are afraid, you can stay at my place at night."

He said this in front of Teacher Yu, which shows that he is upright.

After all, he and Miss Zhou had stayed in the same room for more than a month in the past, so it was no big deal for them to live in the same small building again.

Besides, it is better to explain it in person than behind someone's back.

Yu Shuheng seemed not to have heard these words. She ate her ice cream in small bites while looking away into the distance.

Zhou Shihe looked at Teacher Yu calmly, then smiled faintly at Li Heng, neither saying yes or no.

After eating the ice cream, the three of them went into the piano room and started working on the instrumental album.

After taking the music score, Li Heng was stunned at the first glance.

He asked in surprise, "No? So you didn't sleep and worked day and night to arrange the music, right? You finished 9 out of 6 songs?"

Yu Shuheng said, "It's just a preliminary arrangement. After all, you are the protagonist. Without your instrument, Shihe and I can't further verify many parts."

This is also one of the reasons why Teacher Yu went to the Pudong Shoe Factory in person to pick him up.

Seeing that a quarter of the summer vacation had passed, time waits for no one, so without any nonsense, the three of them soon became busy again.

However, compared with Zhou Shihe and Teacher Yu who have learned a complete set of music theory knowledge, Li Heng can only be regarded as a half-baked one. In terms of arranging music, he can only occasionally provide some suggestions based on his later memories and experience, and the specific operation still depends on the two women.

Purely, to some extent, he is just a tool.

But to be honest, every time he listened to Teacher Yu and Zhou Shihe discussing, he always felt like everything had suddenly become clear to him and he learned a lot without realizing it.

While watching Teacher Yu and Zhou Shihe arguing back and forth over some differences, Li Heng secretly sighed: Is this the strength of a genuine member of the Music Association?

Can they challenge Master Wu Yili’s last disciple?

Anyway, he used to love showing off his piano skills, but ever since he met Zhou Shihe, well, he's become a lot more obedient.

Most of the time, he would rather listen to Miss Zhou playing than play it himself.

It is said that laymen watch the excitement while experts watch the details. The gap between oneself and others is not a little bit, but there is a chasm between us.

But he is not in vain as a tool. Apart from occasionally coming up with some good ideas, his main function is to serve as a buffer.

As early as when rehearsing for the Beijing Spring Festival Gala, he had noticed something: Mr. Yu and Miss Zhou did not have the same auras.

To put it in the rural dialect: It is true that the two women are very talented, but they also have their own opinions and often cannot see eye to eye.

Looking at the two beauties with very different temperaments in front of him, Li Heng couldn't help but think of a word: like repels like.

Although they never quarreled, they would occasionally remain silent for a long time because of different opinions. Often at this time, Li Heng's role would be revealed, smoothing things over or livening up the atmosphere with humorous digressions.

Whenever this happened, whenever he spared no effort to joke, the two smart women would cooperate with him and invisibly ease the relationship.

He acts as a lubricant between them, which is probably another main reason why Teacher Yu took him back.

It was no wonder that Miss Zhou was afraid to stay alone at night, but she refused to go to Teacher Yu and sleep in Building 25. Teacher Yu did not invite her.

Perhaps, both women knew that maintaining an appropriate distance was the best way for them to get along with each other.

As they discussed, disagreements arose again. Listening to their respective explanations of their understanding of the music score, a thought suddenly popped into Li Heng's mind: If this were in the ancient imperial palace, would the two women form cliques and turn the harem upside down?
"Li Heng, who do you think has the better melody?"

Just as his thoughts were drifting, Yu Shuheng, who was having a disagreement over the arrangement of "The Nightingale", looked up and asked which idea between her and Shi He was more suitable?

Zhou Shihe also looked at him calmly.

Which chord is better?

Li Heng asked the two girls to play the piece in a coherent manner. After listening to it in his heart, he said based on his feeling: "Shi He's melody has a natural sound and a beautiful balance. It may be more suitable for the song "Nightingale".

Hearing this, Zhou Shihe lowered her head to look at the piano, her clever little mouth pouted slightly, but it lasted very briefly, and disappeared silently the next moment.

In fact, this was not the first time that she and Teacher Yu had disagreed about the melody of "The Nightingale". Today was the fifth time.

Although the two had various arguments in the first six pieces, they all reached a consensus in the arguments. But in this piece "Nightingale", the two women insisted on their own opinions and neither could convince the other.

In the end, it had to be put on hold temporarily, and Yu Shuheng simply drove to Pudong to pick up the real protagonist Li Heng.

Although the two women did not discuss it with each other, they had a tacit understanding on the matter and let him make the choice.

He uses the chord of whoever he prefers.

Li Heng didn't know in advance that Zhou Shihe and Teacher Yu were secretly competing with each other. After listening, he just expressed his own feelings very objectively.

Yu Shuheng looked at him, then glanced at Zhou Shihe obscurely, "You composed the song, so you have more say, so let's use Shihe's."

Yu Shuheng was not petty, but was willing to accept defeat and compromised generously.

With Li Heng's decision, the stone between the two women disappeared and the progress was accelerated again. From afternoon to evening, the preliminary arrangement of the music score of "Nightingale" was finally completed.

After 9 o'clock in the evening, Yu Shuheng looked at her watch and said, "It's getting late. I was so busy that I didn't have dinner. I'm a little hungry. We have noodles at home. Li Heng, go make three bowls of noodles. I'm going to take a shower."

Seeing Teacher Yu stand up, Li Heng also stood up: "Okay, Teacher, come over after you finish washing up, I'll fry a whistle first."

Yu Shuheng smiled and nodded, then left Building 27.

When the footsteps faded away, Li Heng turned to Zhou Shihe, who was sitting quietly in front of the piano, and said, "Comrade Shihe, what about you? Do you want to take a shower? Or do you want to go to the next room with me?"

Zhou Shihe closed the music sheet, thought for a moment and said, "I'll come over later."

Li Heng asked, "Are you not afraid of being alone?"

Zhou Shihe smiled knowingly and slowly stood up.

Back at Building 26, Li Heng took out a mandarin fish weighing a few kilograms from the bucket and killed it. Teacher Yu said that the fish was caught by the fake Taoist priest, who caught five fish in total and gave two to them.

After killing one fish, Li Heng thought for a while and then caught another mandarin fish from the bucket.

Kill them all together and plan to make some spicy and sour fish slices.

The fish soup can be used to make noodle soup, killing two birds with one stone.

It took relatively long time to make the spicy and sour fish slices. By the time he was done, the two women arrived at Building 26, one in front and one behind.

Seeing this, he didn't wait any longer and directly boiled water to cook noodles. Four or five minutes later, three bowls of steaming noodles were served on the table.

Li Heng discovered a phenomenon that Mr. Yu and Miss Zhou never sat next to each other at the dining table and seemed to prefer sitting at separate tables.

I don’t know when it started, maybe it started during my time in Beijing, but it’s more obvious this summer.

However, for the sake of future cooperation, Li Heng and the two women all understood this tacitly and had no intention of extending the relationship in this direction.

After dinner, uh, it should be considered a midnight snack.

Teacher Yu suggested going out for a walk to help digest the food.

Li Heng agreed.

Zhou Shihe did not object and silently followed him out of the yard.

At some point, the lights in Building 24 diagonally opposite lit up, and not just one light, but lights on the first and second floors.

During the summer vacation, the houses in this alley were basically empty. Li Heng, who had no psychological burden, stood in the middle of the alley and howled, "Old Fu! Are you home?"

"You kid, you're yelling like a ghost! You still want to go out so late at night?" Hearing the voice, the fake Taoist priest poked his head out from the balcony on the second floor.

After a while, Chen Siya also appeared on the balcony with a big pregnant belly.

After a brief conversation, Li Heng learned that the couple had moved here from their hometown and would basically live here permanently from now on.

Li Heng looked up and asked, "Sister Chen, how long is the due date?"

Chen Siya replied: "Mid-September."

She asked, "Would you like to come in and sit for a while? Have a cup of tea? Lao Fu brought back a bag of good tea these two days."

Li Heng looked at the two girls and refused, "Let's do it another day. We just finished eating and feel a little full. We need to take a walk."

Chen Siya smiled and said okay.

Just as the three were about to leave, the fake Taoist priest called out from behind: "Li Heng, let's go fishing together sometime."

As for fishing, Lao Fu took a break for a while last year because of the water ghost incident. Apparently, now the wound has healed and he has forgotten the pain and is addicted again.

Considering that Lao Fu had called him many times but he had never been there, he immediately gave him face and said, "Sure, call me when you have time."

After saying goodbye to the couple, the three of them left Lushan Village and walked around most of the campus.

Maybe it was because it was summer vacation, or maybe it was because it was too late, but I didn’t see anyone on the road.

It was not until we passed Yanyuan that we saw two pairs of professor couples sitting on the bridge, fanning themselves with palm-leaf fans and chatting.

Teacher Yu seemed to be very familiar with the other party and spontaneously stopped to chat with the professor and his wife.

After Li Heng politely called Zhou Shihe "Teacher", he took her to a clean spot on the grass not far away and sat down on it.

At first, the two of them sat in silence, listening to the birds singing and the evening breeze, quietly enjoying this rare tranquility.

After a while, Li Heng finally broke the deadlock and asked, "How long will you stay here during the summer vacation?"

Zhou Shihe thought for a moment and said, "I don't know yet."

Later she added tenderly: "Wait until this album is finished."

Li Heng said apologetically, "Hey, I feel sorry for wasting so much of your time on my matter."

Zhou Shihe shook his head slightly: "Don't say that. Judging from the quality of these songs, I still took advantage of you."

Li Heng understood what she said and said with a smile: "In fact, with your piano level, everyone knows that it is only a matter of time before you soar to the top. It's only a matter of time."

Zhou Shihe smiled lightly and didn't say much about this question. Instead, he asked Mai Sui: "Have you met Mai Sui during the summer vacation?"

"Yes, I went to her hometown a week ago," said Li Heng.

Zhou Shihe was surprised and turned his head to look at him.

When their eyes met, Li Heng understood her thoughts: How could she go to Mai Sui's house when her feelings were unclear? How could she explain to Mai Sui's parents in the future?
The customs back then were much more conservative than those of later generations. Bringing a male classmate home meant planning to get married.

Li Heng said: "Manning went with him."

Zhou Shihe suddenly realized, and then asked gently: "Did Mai Sui ask her to go?"

Li Heng sighed: "Can you not be so smart? Given our relationship, we should just turn a blind eye to some things."

Zhou Shihe looked at him strangely and looked away.

Her eyes inadvertently lingered on Teacher Yu for a while, and she suddenly asked, "Did Teacher Yu go to your hometown?"

Li Heng asked back: "Did Mai Sui tell you?"

Zhou Shihe said: "It's Manning."

That’s right, wheat ears are not talkative.

Sun Manning, on the other hand, likes to be lively and talk about everything.

Of course, the main reason was that Sun Manning did not notice the subtle relationship between Li Heng and Teacher Yu, otherwise she would definitely consider before speaking, whether she could tell others about it.

Li Heng did not deny: "I stayed there for almost three days."

Zhou Shihe gave him another strange look and said nothing. The two of them fell into silence.

Seeing that Teacher Yu was chatting very happily with several professors, Li Heng waited for a while and then started to make small talk: "Do you want to come to my place tonight?"

He wasn't asking nonsense questions, but he understood that it was difficult for her to answer because Teacher Yu was there.

Bringing this up again now is a sign of sincerity and also a way to give her a way out. Otherwise, given this girl's personality, she would rather hold on than come.

Sure enough, this time Miss Zhou agreed.

At around 10: in the evening, the three returned to Lushan Village.

Seeing that the fake Taoist priest's house was still open, Yu Shuheng went in and sat for a while. About 20 minutes later, she left Building 24 and prepared to go back to her own home to wash up before going to Building 26 to spend the night.

She hadn't had close contact with this little boy for several days, and she felt inexplicably upset. Today, she finally picked him up and came back, thinking about staying there for a night.

Although she knew that many things were stuck at the last stage and could not be resolved in a short period of time, she was not in a hurry. She just simply wanted to be alone with him.

However, before he could drink the freshly brewed coffee, he saw Zhou Shihe knocking on the gate opposite and walking in.

Yu Shuheng was stunned, then stood up and turned off the lights in the living room, hiding in the darkness, staring silently at the opposite side.

She saw Li Heng pour two cups of tea, saw Li Heng cut half a watermelon, saw Zhou Shihe sit on the sofa. Suddenly, Zhou Shihe stood up and walked to the window and closed the curtains.

As the curtains were drawn, the second floor of Building No. 26 was instantly isolated from the outside world, forming a small world of its own.

Yu Shuheng squeezed the coffee cup with her right hand, then put it down, stood up and walked towards the corridor. But when she got down to the first floor, she stopped again, remained silent for a while, and returned to the second floor and entered the bedroom.

Only a cup of brewed coffee was left on the coffee table, slowly cooling down.

...

Building No. 26.

Noticing that he had glanced at the curtains several times, Zhou Shihe asked gently, "Do you want me to open them again?"

Li Heng waved his hands absentmindedly.

Zhou Shihe looked at him with a strange look, then hesitated for a moment and said, "If it's inconvenient, please take me there."

Li Heng's mind was not here, and he subconsciously asked: "Where are you going?"

After saying that, he came to his senses belatedly, exhaled and said, "It's really okay, don't think too much about it."

Zhou Shihe asked: "Do you know what I'm thinking?"

Li Heng was dumbfounded and looked at her.

The two looked at each other and Zhou Shihe smiled knowingly. She finished the small piece of watermelon in her hand and went to the bathroom to wash her hands and rinse her mouth. Not long after, she appeared in the living room again, said "good night" to him, then walked into the second bedroom and closed the door.

His eyes stayed on the door of the second bedroom for a few seconds, Li Heng put aside his thoughts and lowered his head to eat watermelon. The weather was too muggy, so he ate two slices of watermelon before going to the study.

That’s right, it was the study. He felt more energetic tonight and planned to read a book before going to bed.

Li Heng, who hadn't written for a while and whose mind was completely empty, planned to pick up the book again and finish the last two chapters of "White Deer Plain" after finding his state.

Li Heng stayed up all night that night.

I originally wanted to read for a while and then go to sleep, but as I was reading, I felt inspired, so I spread out my pen, ink, paper and inkstone and started writing Chapter 45 of "White Deer Plain".

As a result, I was so excited that I wrote all night long, as if I had been injected with chicken blood.

He kept writing and writing until he forgot the time, until Zhou Shihe quietly pushed open the study door and poked his head in.

Li Heng turned around and looked at her.

Zhou Shihe pursed her lips lightly, "Did I disturb you?"

"No, I was very hungry and I smelled the fragrance." Li Heng said.

Zhou Shihe laughed in silence and weighed the breakfast in his left hand: "Come out and eat together, I just bought it."

"Hey, okay."

Li Heng put down his pen, straightened the manuscript a little, and followed him out of the study.

Coming to the coffee table and opening a bunch of breakfast bags, she sat down and asked, "Did you stay up all night last night?"

Li Heng reached out and pinched a piece of lasagna. "How did you know that?"

"Guessed." She handed him a pair of chopsticks.

"You eat first, I'll go wash up." Li Heng took another piece of lasagna and put it in his mouth, chewing it and ran into the bathroom.

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Change first and then change.

(besides)
(End of this chapter)