She blinked, a little embarrassed, scratched her head and said: [Oops, I drank it all by accident, but the taste is actually quite good...]
This seemed to be the first and only time that the young man showed a sincere smile to her.
[It doesn’t matter, my family also said it tastes good. 】The young man said: 【You and my family have the same taste. 】
She stared blankly at his smile, her heart beating wildly, and she almost screamed, but was choked by shyness.
[Then...then I'll make some improvements to make your tea more in line with the public's taste...] She lowered her head coyly, secretly covering her chest with her right hand and grabbing it.
Obviously I didn't catch anything,
...Looking at the young man's smile, she seemed to hold onto eternity in an instant.
…
[Were you looking at the glass bottles on that stall just now? 】The girl poked her head, her shiny black hair swaying.
【No. 】The young man withdrew his gaze and strode forward.
...This guy never waits for her, he just goes shopping for himself!
The girl felt depressed for a while, then she quietly slipped back, bought the glass bottle, and hid it in her arms.
She didn't know that the young man stopped just because he remembered a girl ten thousand years later, and that was his real attraction. And she bought the glass bottle excitedly and eagerly followed it as her own unique confession gift, rubbing it nervously.
【Where were you just now? 】The young man looked back.
[No, nothing was done. ] She coughed and covered the glass bottle in her arms.
…
[Ahem...Yeah! Su Lin...I like you! This is a gift for you, I hope you accept it! ] The girl practiced in front of the mirror, but felt bad again, so she changed her posture, stared at the mirror and said affectionately: [Ahem! Um! Xiao Lin, actually I have liked you from the beginning, so accept this gift and fall in love with me...ahhhhh! 】
She threw herself on the bed, covered her face, and screamed like a woodchuck: "How could you say such a thing!" Ahhhhh! ! 】
The glass bottle was thrown aside by her, and she hurriedly approached it again, fearing that it would break. It was obviously a broken bottle, but she treated it like a priceless treasure.
[Do it again, this is the forty-eighth time, forty-eight times...Jiang Yin! You can't retreat anymore, you must say it this time! 】
That night, she practiced in front of the mirror all night, and finally perfected the words to express her love and the gesture of presenting the glass bottle, which was as solemn as a proposal.
She didn't know that even the gifts she carefully prepared were monuments to others.
…
[Last night’s fireworks were so on time that they drowned out the sound of my confession. Damn it, I have to do it again tonight... Huh? Where is my glass bottle? Did it fall somewhere last night? 】The girl hurriedly lay on the ground looking for the glass bottle.
At this time, the young man walked out of the room and walked outside.
... This guy is going to the teahouse to listen to books again, just like the old man every day.
The girl secretly watched him leave and continued to look for him. He didn't hear her confession last night. She was really frustrated. After finding the glass bottle, she must try again tonight. This time...no fireworks this time, it will be done!
In the direction she couldn't see, the young man stopped, turned around slightly, and looked at her scurrying around under the bed like a cockroach.
The golden eyes reflected the mountains and seas of Haishi, the clear and clean sky, the trickling water, the vast and vast world... but there was only no girl.
He stopped for a long time and looked at her for a long time. It wasn't until she walked out of the store... that he took a step forward.
She ran out in a hurry, lowering her head to count the money in her arms, and didn't notice that she passed him.
This was their last brush with each other.
——The girl ran towards the lively morning market, and the young man turned around and headed towards the distant harbor.
A silent sigh floated in the air, no one heard it.
【...Why delay her. 】He walked into the distance and never looked back.
…
[That woman is thirty or forty years old and still not married...]
[I hold a bench and sit in front of the cloth shop every day, waiting. Although I am rich, I am definitely not happy. 】
[Without any heirs, no one will take care of her when she gets old... Can any of you persuade Boss Jiang that she is a good person, why should she hang herself from a tree? 】
[I think Boss Jiang is quite romantic. He only loves one person in his life. It would be great if I could be so dedicated. 】
[Do you think she will wait? 】
【It’s difficult! No one knows where that young man has gone... His appearance and temperament are indeed not like ordinary people. It's a pity for Boss Jiang... Oh, I hope she wakes up soon. 】
[If you wait a year or two at most, the relationship will fade and she will forget about it. 】
…
[It has been over ten years, and Boss Jiang is still there. 】
[Hey, isn’t it? I used to wait with a bench, but now I start taking ships from various countries to look for it in various places... The world is so big, how can I find it here! 】
[Many tourists heard about Boss Jiang’s affection and came here to take photos with her cloth shop. 】
[Boss Jiang has a fierce temperament, but is very polite to tourists, just so that they can find the young man. 】
[She is a good person and has helped many children go to school. It is a pity that good people are not rewarded...]
[When she gets older, she should think about it. I think Uncle Zhang from my neighbor's house is very interested in her and often sends her flowers. 】
…
[Uncle Zhang passed away today... He also never got married in his life. But Boss Jiang is still waiting. Does she know that there are also people waiting for her affectionately...]
[Grandma, who is Boss Jiang? 】
[Oh, she is a lunatic... It’s hard to say. No one knows whether she is truly in love or crazy. 】
[Grandma, what is love? 】
[Love is like Boss Jiang... Her hair has turned white, but she is still waiting for someone who can never come back. This is love. 】
[Then can we help her? Help her look for it. 】
【Hi! She is already an old lady, half of her feet are in the ground. Maybe she passed away before we did anything. Forget it, forget it. Give her more charcoal fire. At such an old age, she still sits outside and blows in the wind every night... what a sin...]
[You said that Boss Jiang was such a beautiful girl when she was young, and she was also the owner of a cloth shop. Who wouldn’t like him from all over the country, so why did he just...]
…
Jiang Yin's eyelids became heavier and heavier.
The ink dots in his hand dripped down, instantly darkening the face of the young man in the painting, and the eyes could not be lit. Her hands were so shaky that even though she had been painting for decades, she could not hold the pen.
White paper was scattered all over the floor, and there were thousands of paintings of young people in the cloth shop, all drawn by her, with only outlines and no facial features. Because she was afraid that if the facial features were painted, he still wouldn't be able to come back.
In the revolving door in front of her, the young man with black hair and golden eyes turned into a puff of smoke and disappeared before her eyes. It seems to mean that even the revolving door is over.
"Su..."
She used her last strength to hold the brush persistently. She wanted to finally...write his name on this painting. She wanted to write his name one last time.
Tears fell from her eyes, which had not cried for decades, and her eyes were moist and hot. The white hair is floating on the side of the face, like the frost and snow on a winter night. She stared blankly at the drawing paper, as if she was in a nightmare.
She has never been to school in her life and does not know a few words.
The only words he could write were his name. There were only vague syllables, and she didn't even know which words his syllables referred to. So much so that now when she wants to write his name on the painting, she can only write down the syllables.
In the end, she couldn't even write his name.
The tip of the pen stopped for a long time, and her breathing became slower and slower. Among countless homophones, she slowly wrote down a word that she was not sure about. Maybe it was not his name at all.
"……cold."
Hope this is your name.
Hope...I finally got it right.
The brush falls.
Pain swept through her body, and the sea breeze kissed the tips of her hair. My heart, which was already in pain, seemed to hear...
There was a sound of footsteps.
"Ta, ta, ta."
Suddenly, it seemed like a young man wearing a black robe was walking towards her. His black hair was lifted by the sea breeze, revealing the bright gold under his eyebrows, and his face was still the same as before.
Heavy snow fell on his hair, dyeing it a similar color to hers. It seemed that in this life, he finally turned white in front of her eyes.
Half a hundred years passed, life is short.
She is getting older, but the young man is still the same as when we first met.
Strange……
She obviously didn't add eyes to the painting, and the whole painting was contaminated by ink stains. Why did he appear?
Her vision was hazy for a moment, her mind sluggish, and she suddenly understood... It turned out that this was a hallucination she had before her death.
Her life is too short, she is too stubborn to let herself go, and she is too stubborn. It wasn't until the last moment that she finally let herself go and gave herself a deceptive illusion.
Hallucination or hallucination... hallucination or hallucination...
At least, those words that had been cowardly for a long time... she finally dared to say them.
[I miss you so much...] She stretched out her hand forward, tears streaming down her face. A sound like a broken bellows came from her chest. She couldn't say any specific words, and even she couldn't hear the sound in her throat.
But he was hallucinating, so of course he understood what she said. He faced the wind and snow, held her hand, slowly squatted in front of her, and smoothed the scars of disease on her face.
The snow particles melted little by little on her face, mixed with sour tears and flowed down.
【Feel sorry. 】He said.
She knew that even if it was an illusion, he would not give her a definite answer. He never gave her the ambiguous illusion of being in love, she was always looking forward to it.
[It doesn't...never mind...it doesn't matter...] She raised her hand and wanted to touch his face. Obviously she was facing an illusion. She hesitated for a second, but she lowered her head a little and just touched his shoulder restrainedly. : [It’s ok…. 】
It's okay to get the answer.
She already knew the answer.
[I also met a girl before, but I didn’t agree to her. After that, she got married and lived a happy life. I thought...] His voice deepened.
I thought that you would find a more suitable person and you would embrace your own happiness, so I left decisively.
But I didn't expect...the girl named "Jiang Yin" to be so stubborn. Time passed too fast, and when he came back, it was already too late.
【Feel sorry. ] He repeated it again, but still without any additional answers.
Jiang Yin took out the newly bought glass bottle from his arms. It had been heated and the daisies had already withered. She could finally show...the confession that the girl had practiced countless times in front of the mirror.
This is...the forty-ninth time.
She managed to get it out.
【Xiao Lin. I like you, from the first time I met, from the first sentence I said to you, from the first time you looked at me. Others ask me, what do I like about you, but if they ask me to explain it in detail, I can’t say it. 】
[I have to say, I like your eyebrows very much. I like your expression too. I still like the way you sit on the eaves. I still like the way you asked me if the tea tastes good... I really want to get rid of this feeling, so that it won't be so painful, but I can't get rid of it. If there is an afterlife and you still can't promise me, don't meet me. Otherwise, if I do it again, I will still fall in love with you. That's too painful, don't want it anymore...]
[Or, in the next life, the next life... let me also become an immortal species. Instead of just a few decades of life, I can live forever like you. In that case... maybe the answer will be different. But it’s too late. Only when I face the hallucination can I dare to speak out...]
If, if only I were braver...
If I live longer...
Will you...
"Wow."
The white hair fell down, the head was tilted, and before he finished speaking, he suddenly became silent.
Knees full of white paper, all falling to the ground.
On the paper are the unformed outlines of young people.
As if in response to her closing her eyes, the sound of the sea came from the distance, and a silent meteor fell from the sky.
It's like the day is rolling from the sky, surging like waves.
The old lady in a large flowered coat sat on an old bench, holding the unfinished painting tightly in her hands, and stopped breathing.
There was a snap,
The ink is dyed open, and the arms hang naturally. All the sounds echoing in my ears stopped abruptly.
Neighbor gossip.
The sound of the awning boat cutting through the water's waves.
The chirping of white birds on the eaves.
The last creak of an old chair.
The soft sound of a tear falling to the ground.
The sound of the sewing machine pedal.
Decades of waiting and love.
A confession that he always knew the answer.
A past that has no echo.
Frost and snow covered the old man's white hair.
The long sleep on the chair seems like eternity.
The young man slowly squatted down and picked up the glass bottle on the ground. This is the glass bottle Jiang Yin bought at the morning market a few days ago when she had a premonition that her end was coming. A few days later, the daisies on the bottle's mouth have withered.
Then, he gently took out an identical glass bottle from his arms, with the daisies still tender. This is the glass bottle Jiang Yin left on the eaves decades ago. He still keeps the daisy in its original appearance.
Two glass bottles were slowly held in his hands. One flower dies, and the other remains the same.
Meteors fall from the sky, dragging long traces like daylight. His shadow casts on the closed-eyed old woman, blocking the street lights. Her eyes were closed, and there was a smile on her lips, as if she had finally been satisfied for a long time.
He paused for a long time, until her body began to feel cold, until her fingers became stiff, and the ink on the drawing paper began to dry up.
He held her hand tightly, sighing softly.
【...Jiang Yin. ] He looked at the messy paper on the ground: [...You wrote it correctly, great. 】
On the paper, large areas of ink are blurred, but the small characters in the corners are very clear.
That was his name that she finally selected after writing it countless times based on the syllables and deliberation it countless times...
…
【Su Lin. 】
[——Jiang Yin’s life’s love…friend. 】
[You should call me by this name. 】
…
[If I guess right. 】
【Then...】
[Praise me. 】
…
