go the same way

After flying thousands of miles, Nie Xunqiu landed in this city again.

It was midwinter, it was very cold, and the air seemed to turn into white, wrapping her softly.

She is still very simple, with bicycles running through the streets and alleys, low bungalows with black tiles and white walls, cables intertwined between leafless plane trees, everything is simple, but thriving, looking forward to the arrival of spring.

It turns out that this is the environment that Li Pei lived in since he was a child, what he heard and saw.

"I'm going to see Huiyong and Qianchun, do you want to come with me?" Li Huisheng counted the presents he had prepared for his younger brother's family, and walked a few steps in the room. There was still movement on the carpet, "Huiyong's eldest son, Li Yan, is about the same age as you. You can go and meet him, but the time is not very good. He should still be in school at this point."

"Need not."

Nie Xunqiu flatly refused.

The way he gets along with Li Huisheng is not like a pair of adoptive father and son, and he never calls that person his father.It's not being arrogant, but keeping a distance. He knows that person doesn't expect a father to be kind and a son to be filial.

Li Huisheng guessed it was this answer, he nodded: "Then I'll come back at night, I put some money by the bedside, and when I'm hungry, I'll find a restaurant to prepare it and bring it up, or go out to eat."

After he left, Nie Xunqiu changed into a pair of comfortable walking shoes, copied a few banknotes with the smallest denomination, and went out.

The wintering migratory birds flitted across the pale sky, and the wind inhaled through his nose was really cold. He tightened his clothes and walked on the streets with few buildings, recounting his previous impressions and sights of the city. In contrast, I feel that the role of time and people is really like magic, dressing her so generously and beautifully in the past 24 years.

Nie Xunqiu walked very slowly, as if he felt that Li Pei's footprints had been left on every brick and stone. He might not want to walk peacefully on such a bluestone slab, but his elder brother would lead him by the hand. Bounced and stepped on one by one.

Passing by the grocery store, he wondered if that child would also hold the money, stand on tiptoe in front of the glass cabinet taller than him, the light fell on his soft black hair, and ask the price of the candy in a childish voice .

He has never seen Li Pei's appearance when he was young, but he believes that those eyes can sparkle thousands of stars.

In every ordinary corner, just thinking that that person might pass by, my heart is full of longing, and I don’t feel like slowing down, like following him, walking the road he once walked again.

Nie Xunqiu walked to a more noisy place and saw children younger than himself coming out of the gate, so he knew that it was an elementary school.They gathered around various small stalls, stirring sugar he didn't recognize with two wooden sticks in their hands, and wore small clay whistles around their necks.In twos and a half, exchange marbles of another color with each other.

The stove selling roasted sweet potatoes is very popular. It is tall and big, and the white gas from the chimney next to it is also sweet.The person looking at it was an elderly man with a lumpy back, but his movements were agile.

The baked sweet potatoes were inside the kang cover. He took out four or five at a time and put them on the wire netting. Nie Xunqiu walked over, picked out the sharp ones, and put them in a thin, soft plastic bag. Feeling how hot it was, he peeled off the skin and took a bite. The hot sweet potato rolled a few times in his mouth, and quickly sipped it into fine and sweet sand, which warmed people up.

Seeing that he was eating so seriously, the old man smiled and said, "Is it sweet? It tastes so good, do you want to have another one?"

Just as Nie Xunqiu was about to nod his head, another neatly dressed kid stood in front of the car. He raised his head and said in a sticky voice, "Grandpa, help me get a little sweet potato with a sharp point."

The old man thought it was cute, and while putting the sweet potato into the bag, he asked, "Why does it have to be pointy?"

The child was about six years old, his skin was fair and tender, and his cheeks were slightly pink because of the cold.Big eyes, as bright as two black grapes, a head of soft hair hidden in a small hat made of mixed-color wool, which was not put on properly, and his ears were pressed. He probably felt uncomfortable, so he stretched out his hand to touch the cold Small ears.

A very beautiful and delicate child, Nie Xunqiu thought.

"Because my brother told me that the sharp ones are sweeter." He smiled sweetly, "My brother will pick me up in a while, but he doesn't allow me to buy things randomly. I want to buy a small one and eat it secretly."

The kid took the sweet potato, which was about the size of his hand, and hung it on his wrist. He took out a small coin purse from his pocket, found a two-yuan bill, and handed it to the stall owner.

"This one of yours is only eight cents, kid, I can't find it."

"Then," he was anxious, and hurriedly returned the sweet potato, "I won't eat it for now, and I'll eat it when my brother comes to pay."

The stall owner thought it was funny and couldn't help teasing him: "Didn't you say that my brother won't eat it? What I took out may not be sold again."

"That's right!" Upon hearing this, he became even more anxious, rubbing his fingers as if sweating, "Then what should I do? I, I go to that elementary school, Class [-], Grade [-], my name is Li Pei, I know Grandpa, you come here often, tomorrow I will ask Mom for a dime, can you supply it?"

Nie Xunqiu was just listening, but when he caught those two words, he finally moved: "Old man, I will pay for him."

The old man felt a little embarrassed that the strangers were so enthusiastic.

He picked another small one from the stove and gave it to Li Pei: "I'm sorry, kid, I made you anxious, give this sweet potato to your brother."

Li Pei almost jumped up, his face was flushed, and he said "no" several times, but in the end he couldn't help it, and still held the bag in his hand.He was holding a hot sweet potato with a tender palm, and he had to switch hands in three to five seconds. He walked up to Nie Xunqiu, looked up at him carefully, and smiled brightly: "Thank you, big brother." .”

That smile was so dazzling that he gave Nie Xunqiu a shake, feeling that the sweet potato in his mouth just now was not as sweet as his.

His heart beat violently, throbbed again, and even his breathing became sharp.

It turned out that Li Pei could also laugh so brightly.

Instead of those countless, hidden, forced, bitter smiles.

If Li Yan hadn't died, Li Pei probably would have been able to keep laughing like this?

Then we will be united forever with our lover, the wedding will be full of guests, and Li Yan will be the officiant. Among the countless blessings, we will go through a long, long time until we grow old.

Li Yan and Li Pei were both so young when they died.

The sweetness that lingered on the back of his tongue couldn't cover the bitterness in his mouth. Nie Xunqiu looked at the child with burning eyes for a long time before saying in a hoarse voice, "No thanks."

You don't have to say thank you to me.

The sins I committed cannot be repaid even if I spend my whole life.

Not to mention this little eight cents.

Li Pei was still immersed in the joy of having sweet potatoes. He tied the one given to him by the old man in a knot and put it in his schoolbag, fearing that it would be cold when his brother came.As for the one Nie Xunqiu bought for him, he peeled off some of the skin, licked the sweet potato stuck to the skin, smiled happily, and handed the sweet potato with a small piece of skin missing to Nie Xunqiu: " You bought this, big brother, I haven’t licked it, and it’s still edible. Big brother, here you are. The one that grandpa gave to my brother, I’ve put it away and waited to give it to him.”

Li Pei is never stingy with what he gets and what he has.

Nie Xunqiu's eyes were extremely sore, his fingers trembled slightly, and he took the steaming sweet potato. It was obviously a small one, but why was it so hot and heavy.

"What's the name of the eldest brother? Does he go to No. [-] Middle School? My brother goes to the first year of junior high school there. Maybe you guys still know each other."

"Cunhe," Nie Xunqiu said the name that was far away from him but very close to Li Pei, "My name is Cunhe. Inch by inch, peace and harmony."

Li Pei thought about it in his heart, and said "Oh", obviously hearing this name for the first time: "Cun, He. Well, is there anyone else with the surname Cun?"

It seemed he had never heard the name.

That's right, not everyone is like me, who has a life of embarrassment and regret, and is willing to go through it all over again.

This Li Pei is very well-behaved, well-educated, not covered in scars, not in pain.

But it's not him.

The soul he missed so much.

Before Nie Xunqiu could answer, he heard a crisp car bell. The tall boy in thick clothes suddenly spotted his younger brother standing by the side of the road. He stopped the car, yelled, and pointed between his fingers. There is a small padded back seat with a small backrest to prevent falling: "Let's go, Xiao Pei, let's go home."

"Brother!" Li Pei's eyes lit up, and he waved to Nie Xunqiu, "I'll go first, see you next time!"

Li Pei climbed into the back seat, unzipped his schoolbag, and took out the top sweet potato, as if he had some precious treasure.

"Brother, look..."

The car bell rang again, and when Li Yan came, the wind was fast, but he was riding very slowly with his younger brother on his back, and the wind that passed by was not so piercing, and the big and small walked away from the path slowly, and the conversation disappeared in the twinkling of an eye. In the wind of sweetness.

After that, Nie Xunqiu returned to the United States.

In high school, he studied twelve hours a day, memorized textbooks, read literature, wrote sixteen-page papers in two days, and took Latin as an elective to learn more medical words in the future.When writing essays to apply for a university, all ten of Eleven gave him a pass answer.Nie Xunqiu ended up at Johns Hopkins and lived in Baltimore for more than 12 years.

In college, except for sleeping, he hardly stayed in the dormitory.The library is the place he goes to the most. Besides, he will do part-time jobs that don’t require much brainwork. While serving mechanically, he recalls various diseases in his mind. He spends a whole month just to buy a book An expensive atlas thick with bricks.

During his residency training, he was a young and strong man. At that time, he was often on night shifts. He left the hospital at nine o’clock in the morning, went home to sleep and have a meal, and came back to the hospital in the evening. It takes a year for the body to return to a normal biological clock.

When the new century was about to enter, Nie Xunqiu became an anesthesiologist as he wished, which seemed like a miracle.

The work is hard, the income is high, and he is even famous in the rich circle. He earned hundreds of thousands of dollars in two years and bought an apartment in Baltimore. The first place Doctors went to was Angola after the war.

He stayed there for about seven months, almost turning the clock back to 2003.

The closer to January [-]st, the more impatient Nie Xunqiu felt. He really wanted to go to China again and see Li Pei again, but he just thought that maybe Li Pei remembered everything, and that wandering and helpless soul would be here The day landed.

So he hurriedly met Jiang Weiping, and went to Zhu Fengjin's birthday dinner at her invitation.

January [-], [-].

Nie Xunqiu's No.18 year in this world.

He finally met Li Pei.

He calls it a reunion.