At the beginning of April, everything is lovely.

Cherry blossoms bloom in abundance along the streets, white on one side and pink on the other, enveloping the entire city in a romantic and poetic atmosphere, making it extremely dreamlike.

flower shop

Mrs. Su carefully arranged a bouquet of flowers requested by a customer. Her nimble fingers moved through the bouquet, making several adjustments before wrapping it in light-colored packaging and tying it with a white ribbon. The bouquet she held in her arms was like a work of art.

"Xiao Xun, a customer ordered flowers and needs them urgently, but can't come right now. Could you run the errand for me?" Su's mother said, looking at Su Xun who was watering the plants with a small watering can.

Su Xun slowly straightened up, put down the small water bottle, and looked around.

Inside the small flower shop, two or three young people, both men and women, were carefully examining the flowers, their faces filled with anticipation.

She didn't know how to wrap the bouquet, and obviously her mother couldn't leave for a while.

"good."

She took the address, glanced at it briefly, and realized it wasn't far; she could walk there in about ten minutes.

The streets were lined with scattered cherry blossoms; the city had a clever idea of ​​planting cherry blossoms of all colors along the streets.

Having successfully delivered the flowers to the guest, she strolled slowly, appreciating this fleeting beauty. The cherry blossom season is very short; a tree's bloom lasts only about half a month, and a single flower's bloom is even shorter, lasting only about a week.

Beautiful things are often fleeting.

It's springtime, and the weather is unpredictable. Just a moment ago it was sunny, but now the wind has picked up, a small patch of shadow has fallen, and within minutes it's raining.

Disorderly footsteps echoed on the street; pedestrians, caught off guard by the rain, scrambled to find shelter.

Not far away was a shopping mall. Su Xun raised his hands above his head and hurriedly ran inside.

My body was damp, but I wasn't very cold.

She wiped the water droplets from her forehead, and as she looked up, a burning gaze was fixed on her.

When Su Xun looked in that direction, he only saw a gray figure with a strangely familiar back. When he realized that Su Xun was being stared at, he quickly turned his head away.

Perhaps he was overthinking it, Su Xun thought to himself, shaking his head inwardly.

About a minute later, those eyes swept over him again.

This time, Su Xun didn't look over. Instead, she looked at the crowd around her. She could feel that the man was looking her up and down. She immediately turned around and walked towards the man in the old black shirt.

When the man saw Su Xun striding over, he turned and walked away, his pace quickening.

The rain had subsided by then, and the man plunged into the downpour. Su Xun followed behind at a leisurely pace, not in a hurry to catch up, keeping a distance between them.

The man turned into a small alley after several twists and turns. This was one of the few old residential buildings in the city. Most of the buildings were two or three stories high, with mottled black and gray walls, and were covered with green plants in this season.

The old electrical wires crisscrossing and tangling in the alley reveal the backwardness of the area.

Su Xun looked around, then suddenly quickened his pace, chasing the figure to the end of the alley. Behind him was a high wall, leaving the man nowhere to hide.

He was panting heavily, facing the wall, his shoulders trembling slightly.

Su Xun walked two or three steps behind the man, stopped, and stood still, her breathing somewhat unsteady.

She opened her mouth, and finally, with trembling hands, uttered that long-lost name.

"dad......"

The gray-clad man's back trembled violently, his shoulders stiffened, and he stood rooted to the spot without moving or turning around.

"Is it you?" Su Xun asked again, her eyes unconsciously reddening.

The man finally managed to move his foot and turn around to look at the young girl in front of him.

"Xiao Xun..."

Su Lingcheng took Su Xun to his residence.

It was an old three-story building, housing several families, all migrant workers from other places, crammed into this small courtyard.

"Drink some water." Su Lingcheng washed a cup, filled it with water from the water dispenser, and placed it on the table in front of Su Xun.

Su Xun picked it up and took a sip, looking at the person in front of him. He was no longer the tall and young man she remembered. His short hair was mixed with white, his skin was much darker from the sun, and there were many fine wrinkles that undulated deeply on his face. His eyes also seemed a little cloudy.

Clearly, life has made her mother grow old on her own.

A bitter feeling welled up inside me.

How have you been these past few years?

Su Lingcheng sat down on the low stool next to him, his hands loosely clenched into fists and resting uneasily on his knees. He asked about Su Xun's situation, but his eyes were fixed on the somewhat dented wooden table.

That year, he owed a lot of money and left his family with such a mess. He hid away, afraid to face his debts and even more afraid to face his family.

Su Xun and Su Mu are still young, and their mother doesn't have a stable job. Suddenly being told that they owe so much money, they must have had a hard time these past few years.

"It's fine," Su Xun replied calmly, his tone revealing no emotion.

In fact, if she hadn't suddenly noticed this person's strange gaze in the mall, she wouldn't have known that her father, who had disappeared for almost five years, had actually been living in the same city as them all along.

In recent years, she occasionally resented her father, but the pressure of life and studies gradually made him forget those grievances and resentments. Sometimes she even forgot that she had a father in this world.

"Where is your mother? How is she?" The father's voice in my memory was somewhat aged, and now it trembled slightly due to emotional turmoil, like a mountain about to collapse.

"You should ask your mother and hear what she has to say," Su Xun said, not giving a direct answer to his question.

Honestly, when she heard him talk about her mother, she felt resentful. Her mother had worked very hard all these years, but she never gave up waiting for her father to come back. Every year she would go back to Huaicheng to visit him, afraid of missing him.

He didn't know what his father was thinking, but no matter what, it was his father who wronged his mother.

"sorry."

The man, showing early signs of aging, covered his face with his hands, his breathing becoming heavy and rapid.

He never expected to see his family again. Today, the construction site had a half-day off. On his way back, it started raining, so he went to the nearest shopping mall to take shelter from the rain. Then he saw a girl running in with her hands covering her head.

The girl was very pretty, and looked a lot like his daughter whom he hadn't seen in a long time. He looked at her from behind, trying to make sure it was as he had guessed, but his hope was actually very slim, after all, this was S City.

But the more you look at it, the more you can see the girl's childhood features.

However, he didn't dare to face her, so he ran away without thinking much about it.

"Do you want to go see your mother and Su Mu?"

Su Lingcheng slowly raised his head, his eyes bloodshot and his eye sockets red.

“We’ve been staying in S City, and we’ve settled here,” Su Xun explained slowly. “So, do you want to go take a look?”