Unsatisfactory

The flight attendant changed the ticket, and Chen Dong was sitting by the window. Outside was a vast expanse of snow, and the cold winter in northern cities seemed to penetrate the glass, making people feel chilly all over.

Chen Dong took out the down jacket he had prepared from his luggage bag. He only took out this jacket and wore it for a few days when he returned to City H during the Chinese New Year. Normally, he would not be able to wear such thick clothes in City G.

The sound of arrival at the station ahead sounded on the train broadcast, and Chen Dong took down his luggage and that of the father and daughter on the lower berth.He was putting a cup in his bag, and the girl who changed the shop was struggling for a long time, and finally got up the courage to ask: "Handsome guy, are you a native of City H, are you going home for the New Year?"

"Yes."

The girl's face was bright red: "I am also from the local area. Well, my name is Gong Lili, can I make friends with you?"

Chen Dong glanced at the girl in surprise, and replied: "My name is Chen Dong. We are all friends when we go out, so you are welcome."

"Can I ask for your number? I'll call you during the Spring Festival."

The northern girl named Gong Lili was very generous. Seeing that the girl had taken out her mobile phone, Chen Dong couldn't refuse, so he exchanged numbers with the girl.

After getting out of the car, Chen Dong dragged the suitcase and blew the H city brand's small cold wind for a long time before he remembered that he still had his down jacket in his hand and forgot to put it on.In fact, being cornered by others to ask for contact information, Chen Dong has often encountered it since he was a child, and he has a lot of excuses for refusing, but today he gave the phone number to someone in a daze.

Probably because of the closeness to the hometown.

Chen Dong took the bus to the station near his home. After getting off the bus, he found a briefcase from the suitcase and put it under his arm. He straightened his clothes before walking towards the residential area inside with his chest up and his head raised on the bluestone road. .

"Grandpa, I'm back."

Just as Chen Dong knocked on the door, the old man's angry voice came from the room. "Here, come, Dongdong is back?"

"it's me."

The old man hastily opened the door and welcomed his precious grandson in: "I guess you will be there soon, but the old man Zhang next door asked me to play chess, but I didn't agree."

Before Chen Dong went home, he specially chose a set of clothes with better quality. After entering the house, he put the briefcase and suitcase aside. He looked at Grandpa up and down carefully: "Grandpa, how is your health recently?" Like? Is the blood pressure still high?"

"After taking the antihypertensive medicine you sent me, I'm fine. Don't worry." The old man saw his grandson so happy that he couldn't close his mouth from ear to ear, and held his hand tightly: "It's been a hard journey. Let's have lunch later, I went to the market in the morning to buy your favorite fish and ribs, and I will give you braised fish and sweet and sour pork ribs at noon."

"Okay." Chen Dong also smiled and shook the old man's hand: "I came back this time to bring you wine, and I'll wait for you to taste how it tastes."

"Spending money indiscriminately again." The old man was disgusted, but he couldn't hold back his smile: "You watch TV in the room for a while, and I'll go and clean up the dishes."

The elderly lived on the first floor of the old residential area. Now urban real estate developers are keen to build high-end elevator rooms. This kind of residential house with one elevator and two north-south houses has brought the atmosphere of the times, and will disappear in the torrent of urban development in the future. middle.

But as far as the current situation is concerned, it is actually much better for the elderly to live in an old house with a small yard, where neighbors take care of each other, than to live in a bungalow where the neighbors do not know who they are.

After the old screen door and sliding door were opened, there was a small courtyard outside, and the boots creaked constantly on the fallen snow on the ground.

The snow had stopped, and the small yard was neatly tidied up.A piece of land was set up near the gate of the courtyard, a lot of white snow fell on the black soil, and in the middle were the little cabbages planted by the old man that had been beaten by the snow.There is a stone table and two stone benches on the opposite side of the vegetable field, which is the battlefield for the old people to learn chess skills.Whenever the weather is fine, Chen Dong's grandfather likes to invite chess players to drink tea and play chess here.There was a rattan rack on top of the stone table, and it was empty at the moment, presumably because of the snow, the old man took back the dried corn and dried peppers that were drying in advance.

Chen Dong reached out and touched the cold shelf. He remembered that when he came back last summer, his grandfather planted grapes in the yard.The grapes grew very well that year. The green vines covered the shelves, covering a small world in the yard. Clusters of blue or purple fruits hung down from the shelves. Xiaofeng swayed, not to mention how beautiful it is.

He came back to see it once that year, and he never forgot it.What was I thinking at the time, by the way, when I have money in the future, I have to plant grapes in such a yard, and then lie under the vines in the summer evening, looking at the stars comfortably through the grape leaves.The taste is so beautiful when you think about it.

Chen Dong walked around the house, took out the medicine that the old man took daily, and looked at it, and got a general understanding of the old man's recent life.

Not long after the old man entered the kitchen, a familiar smell of food came from the room.Chen Dong walked to the door of the kitchen, sniffed, and saw that the old man was wearing an apron, carrying fish tails into the pot for frying.

"Grandpa, the dishes you cook are so delicious! Let me help you."

"No, no, you go out. Look at my memory, I forgot to turn on the range hood." The old man turned on the range hood and waved to Chen Dong: "You come back once after all, go stay in the room."

"Then I'll just stand here and chat with you." Although the old man had a pleasant face, he was actually quite stubborn.Chen Dong stood obediently at the door, took a tomato from the vegetable bowl and gnawed on it: "Grandpa, I brought two bottles of wine to Mr. Xu next door this time, you can give it to him later."

"Huh, that old thing is really lucky. My precious grandson still misses him when he comes back."

"Isn't it just for your sake?"

"That's it." The old man asked while putting the seasoning in the pot: "How is your work in G City? I see that you seem to be a little thinner this time. Did you work too hard?"

"No, Grandpa, our company works from nine to five, and we're not tired at all. The only downside is that the food is too good. I gained a lot of weight a while ago, and I can hardly fit my clothes. I wondered if I could go on like this, Don’t we all advocate healthy weight loss now, I finally lost weight through exercise.”

"Okay, as long as you're not tired. Dongdong, don't leave me any money when you go back this time. You send it to me every month. I, an old man, can't use so much. You can keep the flowers for yourself."

"Buy whatever you want. I earn a lot now, so you can spend it with confidence."

"Oh, you..." The old man sighed: "Actually, I saved a lot, Dongdong, don't you still owe your classmate, why don't you pay it back together?"

"No, there's not much money left, I can handle it myself."

"There's really nothing you can do with your child. Forget it, I don't care." The old man shook his head helplessly.The aroma was overflowing from the frying pan, Chen Dong hurriedly handed over the plate, and the old man put the steaming braised fish into the pot: "Eat!"

After the food was put on the table, Chen Dong opened a bottle of wine and filled the glasses for the two of them.

"Grandpa, the food you cook is still so delicious, you don't know, I miss your food for a living every day in City G."

"When did you learn to be so glib, eat more if it tastes good. Come, have a drink with me first."

The old man is in good health. He goes out to practice Tai Chi every day with a few other old men in the yard. Except for a little high blood pressure, he has nothing wrong with him. This is why Chen Dong went to the south to work without worry.

The grandpa and grandson drank the wine brought back by Chen Dong, and Chen Dong began to talk to the old man about his white-collar life in G City.What Chen Dong made up was called "relaxing and nourishing", which made the old man nod his head.

Chen Dong's thinking is that no matter how hard a man suffers outside, he has to break it up and eat it in his stomach. He can't make the old man in his 80s or [-]s worry about him.If he knew his real life in G City now, grandpa would feel sad.

"... Dongdong, are you coming back to see your dad this time?"

"Go, I'll go in the afternoon."

"Alas..." Thinking of his son, the old man didn't know what to say, so he picked up his wine glass and touched Chen Dong: "Come, let's eat vegetables."

After lunch, after Chen Dong came out of his grandfather's house, he went to the supermarket to buy a lot of fruit, took a few cigarettes in his backpack, and drove to the prison in the suburbs of H city.

Chen Dong's father, Chen Ming, was once a powerful business tycoon in H City, and his family was a wealthy family at that time.Later, Chen Ming was imprisoned for economic crimes such as embezzlement of funds, embezzlement, and bribery. It was a major case that caused a sensation in the city that year.And Chen Dong also changed from a rich young master to the son of an economic prisoner.

Five or six years have passed, and the middle-aged man who used to be a high-spirited man is now graying at the temples. When he sees his son whom he hasn't seen for a long time, his lips are trembling and he can't speak for a long time.

Sitting opposite his father, Chen Dong was also speechless for a long time.

"Dad, I brought you fruit and cigarettes. Grandpa and I are having a good time, don't worry."

"Dongdong, thank you for your hard work." Chen Ming lowered his head, his hands on his knees trembling slightly: "Take care of yourself and give me the voice for your grandpa."

"it is good."

"If there's nothing wrong... you can go back." Chen Ming forced a smile, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes made his face extremely vicissitudes: "For those who are celebrating Chinese New Year, don't stay in prison, go back."

Chen Dong came out after a short stay.

He once resented his father and his fate, but after so long, those resentments have been smoothed away in the day-to-day running around.He didn't care, but his father still felt ashamed to see him. Every time he visited the prison in the past few years, he would say a few words and persuade him to leave quickly.

This afternoon was originally free to visit his father, but now that the plan ended early, Chen Dong didn't know what to do, so he got off the bus ahead of time, and walked slowly towards his grandfather's house along the tree-lined road by the river.

Many children were playing ball on the lawn by the side of the road. They probably had too much fun and didn't notice that the ball was kicked away. The ball rolled to Chen Dong's feet.

Seeing the tall man with a gloomy face picking up the ball from the ground, several ten-year-old children were timid and dared not go forward, and it took a long time to push out a poor-looking hapless guy.

The unlucky guy walked up to Chen Dong and smiled flatteringly at him: "Uncle, can you return the ball to us?"

Chen Dong glanced at the chubby kid, who immediately trembled like a quail in fright.Chen Dong couldn't help but rubbed the little fat man's hair with his big hands, and then passed the ball over.

The little fat man took the ball, cheered and ran towards his companions.

Chen Dong smiled, and simply sat down on the stone steps by the river to enjoy the rare leisure time.He took out a cigarette, tilted his head and lit it by his mouth, and looked at the boys playing football not far away through the lingering smoke.

Like them, he played and played on this lawn as carefree as they wanted.

The wealthy area across the river is where he lived until his third year of high school.

At that time, it seemed that the place that could be reached by crossing the bridge in the blink of an eye by car seemed so far away now.The torrential river under his feet also seemed to become an insurmountable gap, completely dividing his life into two halves.

After Chen Dong finished smoking a cigarette, he took out his mobile phone to check the time. It was almost time to go back and help grandpa cook.At this moment, the phone rang suddenly.

"Hello, Guo Zi."

"Brother Dong, are you back?"

"I just arrived this morning. By the way, I'll send you the money tomorrow." Chen Dong stood up and dusted off his pants, and walked forward with his pockets in his pocket.

"I know, I know, you call on time every month." Guo Wei said on the other end of the phone: "Brother, I didn't call you to talk about this."

"what's up?"

"Our high school has a school celebration, and the squad leader said that we should get together early when everyone comes back during the Chinese New Year. The task of inviting you falls to you, my good brother, and me."

"..." Chen Dong pursed his lower lip subconsciously: "Guo Zi, I'm not going. This time I don't have much vacation, I can't stay for two days before I have to go back to City G."

"Damn it, don't fool me brother, you can't leave after the holiday after you come back? Besides, you only come back for so few days a year, and you don't want to spend more time with your old man?"

"It's only been a few days, besides, do you think it's appropriate for me to go like this now?"

"Brother Dong, don't think too much. We are old classmates who haven't seen each other for many years. Let's simply have a meal and get together."

Guo Wei talked about this, so Chen Dong had no choice but to say: "That's fine, you tell me the time when the time comes, and I'll definitely go there when I'm free."

"It's settled, don't bully me. Give your voice to your old man for me, and I'll go to him tomorrow to learn chess."

"As far as your level is concerned, don't say goodbye, I'm afraid I will be kicked out by my grandfather like last time."

"Damn it, why are you still bringing it up!" Guo Wei laughed and scolded on the phone: "Brother Dong, you must come to the party, I really miss you so much!"