sunset melting gold

Low voices of conversation slowly swayed in the air.

The presence of parents made the quiet single room lively.

Fang Shiqiu's waking time is still very short, but every time he opens his eyes, what he sees is finally no longer a silent room.

There is a foldable accompanying bed next to his hospital bed. Sometimes his father would sit there to work and talk to Fang Shiqiu when he woke up, but more often it was his mother who sat there.

My mother is not as busy as my father. When she is in the ward, she will hold a thick foreign book in a daze, or gently cut an apple with a knife.

She is not good at doing this. The cut apples are of different sizes. When chewing, they will press against the roof of the mouth and scratch the fragile skin. Fang Shiqiu has difficulty swallowing every time, but she has never complained to her mother.

Probably seeing his discomfort, his mother secretly practiced behind his back for a long time, and the cut apple changed from a badly shaped cube into a little rabbit with red ears.

Fang Shiqiu ate the rabbit apple, the sweet juice spread on the tip of his tongue, and there was a burst of sourness, and his mother handed him a glass of warm water in due course.

She put a plate of apples on it, and wiped Fang Shiqiu's hands with a warm wet towel.

Fang Shiqiu's body was still very thin, and his palms were not sensual at all. The bulging blood vessels and muscles on the back of his hands were close to the pale skin, and it seemed that he would be cut open with a light stroke of his nails.

Mother held Fang Shiqiu's hand, and the posture of bowing her head made it easy for Fang Shiqiu to see her frowning.

The light and shadow magnified the fine lines in the corners of the mother's eyes, making the woman who was supposed to be pampered and pampered become haggard and old.

Fang Shiqiu wanted to smooth his mother's brows and wrinkles, but raised his hand on the quilt slightly, and the door of the ward was suddenly opened from the outside.

"Xiaoqiu."

Father stood by the door, holding a brown paper bag in his hand.

He took out a small damp square box from the paper bag and handed it to Fang Shiqiu.

"I asked the doctor, you can eat a little, Xiaoqiu want to eat?"

Fang Shiqiu held the box handed by his father, the cold touch made him curl up his fingers, and the box rolled twice in his palm, but it didn't land on the small table.

Fang Shiqiu couldn't understand the obscure foreign language printed on the packaging of the box, but he recognized the shape of the ice cream on the pattern next to the words.

Since he was able to eat, Fang Shiqiu has been eating nutritious meals sent by the hospital, and his parents also eat those tasteless foods with him.

Perhaps it was because he was worried that his fragile spirit would deteriorate again, and his father would run around in strange foreign towns to buy him a box of ice cream that he did not miss.

Fang Shiqiu couldn't taste the taste, he ate everything the same, and couldn't tell whether it was good or bad. He was at a loss for the apples his mother cut and the ice cream his father bought.

There are very few memories of his mother when he was young, and the communication with his father was as shallow as a stranger. Fang Shiqiu has passed the age of acting like a baby to his parents, but the way they carefully coaxed himself to be happy made him feel uncomfortable.

It seemed that no matter what he said, whether he was crying or laughing, his parents would be sad.

Fang Shiqiu didn't know what kind of reaction he made was correct, so he could only open the lid clumsily, scoop up the ice cream that was about to melt with a spoon, and stuff it into his mouth whole.

The ice cream was very sweet, and there were relaxed smiles on the faces of the father and mother again.

In the second year after leaving Snow Mountain, Fang Shiqiu was discharged from the hospital.

The wounds on his body healed completely and the stitches were removed, and the deformed joints after the fracture were re-operated. Although he could not get out of bed for a long time, his condition was much better than when he was sent to the hospital.

The doctor was worried that staying in a confined space for a long time would induce potential mental illness, so he was discharged from the hospital shortly after Fang Shiqiu was able to get out of bed and walk around, and suggested that his father take him back to a familiar environment for recuperation.

Fang Shiqiu sat in a wheelchair and was pushed onto a private jet by his father.

The interior of the private jet is spacious and bright, not as crowded as the economy airliner I took on my college graduation trip, with no noisy conversations from passengers, and no seats that can't stretch out my legs.

Father and mother were talking in a low voice in the front row, Fang Shiqiu sat on the seat near the tail of the plane, lying on the window looking at the sky in the distance.

The time for the plane to take off happened to be in the evening in the Northland. The setting sun was dotted above the clouds, and the gorgeous light dyed the dense clouds into a brilliant bright gold. The slowly rising plane passed through the golden clouds, and the tips of the wings cut through the shapeless clouds. , the scorching orange-red sun streamed over the gray-white wings.

The voyage home was long and long, the cabin echoed with the roar of the engine, Fang Shiqiu sank into the soft seat, and quickly fell asleep again.

After a long flight of more than 20 hours, the private plane finally landed at the airport in the south.

The sultry and humid wind blew through the tip of his nose. Fang Shiqiu sat in a wheelchair, listening to the soft-toned dialect spoken by the driver who came to pick him up.

He hasn't been away for a long time, but he can't recognize his hometown where he has lived for nearly 20 years, and he can't understand the familiar dialect of his hometown.

Fang Shiqiu listened to the conversation between his father and the driver, those fragmented words entered his ears, and an inexplicable fear crazily grew in his heart.

On the way home from the airport, Fang Shiqiu imagined many possible scenarios after arriving home.

His relationship with his father was cold, and his relationship with the rest of the Fang family was not that close. Apart from sitting and eating together during the holidays, he hardly had any contact with him.

But it was such a father who showed an expression that Fang Shiqiu had never seen before in the hospital, and said words to him that he had never heard before.

He didn't want those relatives who had a normal relationship in the past to show the same expressions as their parents, hugging his shoulders, stroking his hair and sobbing and crying.

Fang Shiqiu was afraid of seeing such a scene, afraid of facing the eager tears of his relatives, afraid that he would not be able to give them enough response.

He hoped that no one would notice his existence and treat him with the usual indifference.

Perhaps it was the tacit understanding between the blood, or his father had explained in advance that only the housekeeper came out to greet Fang Shiqiu when he arrived home.

He looked at Fang Shiqiu who was sitting in a wheelchair, with tears shining in his cloudy eyes.

"Xiao Qiu is back." The housekeeper's voice trembled.

Fang Shiqiu didn't speak, but turned to look at his father in a panic.

The father squatted down in front of the wheelchair and gently rubbed Fang Shiqiu's head.

"Let's go and see your room first, shall we?"

Fang Shiqiu clutched the hem of his clothes and nodded indiscriminately. The butler beside him took his father's place and pushed the wheelchair for him.

He has very little luggage, only a few changes of clothes his mother bought for him and a medical certificate issued by the hospital, packed in a small suitcase.

The father carried the small box and accompanied Fang Shiqiu to his room.

The furnishings of Fang Shiqiu's bedroom are still the same as before he disappeared.

The double bed is covered with warm-colored sheets, under the bed is a plush carpet of the same color, there are piles of finished watercolor books on the bookshelf, and there are brand-new unopened paints in the transparent glass cabinet. The easel and chair made of white oak stand on the floor-to-ceiling windows forward.

The floor-to-ceiling windows in the bedroom are wider and brighter than the one in the villa, and the glass is surrounded by a light-colored metal frame, like a canvas that can be modified at will.

Fang Shiqiu still remembers that in spring, this transparent glass canvas will reflect the shadow of the rose arch, and the light orange flower shadow will sway with the wind and move with the sun.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, there is a fountain garden full of flowers.

Rhododendrons that are invincible in all seasons outline the shape of the garden, light-colored tulips and hyacinths surround the fountain, and begonias sink and float in the clear pool water under the plaster statues.

Fang Shiqiu hadn't seen such a scene for many years.

He has been imprisoned in the wilderness and snow-capped mountains for many years, and he has only seen dark red roses winding and blooming on the thick cedar skeletons and the fir beams in the room.

Now when he comes back, the scenery that once belonged to him has always stopped in this narrow garden.

Fang Shiqiu always thought that his father didn't like flashy flowers, and his garden would be quietly abandoned and dilapidated during the years when the owner disappeared because no one took care of it.

But the father always believed that his child would come back one day, and spent a lot of energy and money searching for Fang Shiqiu's traces, and Fang Shiqiu's favorite garden still maintained the same appearance as before.

The flowers in the garden remained unchanged, they were still the ones he had planted in the past.

Fang Shiqiu sat in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows and looked at the garden. The water splashed by the fountain glistened in the sunlight, and the shadows cast by the begonias swayed on the grass.

Across the swaying shadows, he saw several strange young men.

They used the shade of the tree to hide their existence, and after being discovered by Fang Shiqiu, they quickly hid behind Chuisi Haitang, but soon a young girl poked her head out from behind the tree and waved to Fang Shiqiu lightly.

Fang Shiqiu couldn't recognize her, but the housekeeper and father who stood aside told him that they were his younger brothers and sisters whom he had barely spoken to before.

In just a few years, they all turned into faces that Fang Shiqiu couldn't recognize.

The unopened old books on the bookshelves are covered with dust, inevitably leaving traces of time erosion. The semi-new title pages are yellow and rough, as if they have been read countless times.

Everything in the family is changing, the father's temples have grown white hair, the younger siblings have changed their looks, the roses in the garden are blooming every year, but they are no longer the ones that Fang Shiqiu has seen before.

No one will stay where he is.

--------------------

Happy Children's Day.