Chapter 143 The Snow of Shengping Why did the snow of Shengping fall on your head...?

Li Leshan was taken aback, and his grip on the railing tightened. He nodded slightly to the old man to indicate that he understood, then turned and left the train station.

Shengping Railway Station is located in Tiedong. The entire station looks like it was through World War II, or rather, amidst constant gunfire. The waiting hall is basically made of corrugated iron sheets; don't be fooled by its dilapidated exterior, the interior is even worse.

Furthermore, with the increase in taxi drivers and car buyers in recent years, the industry has become quite popular. Although Shengping is a small place, there are still a lot of unlicensed taxis. As soon as you exit the station, you'll be surrounded by three or four people asking where you're going, to Leshan Square or somewhere else?

In the past two years, a large supermarket has opened in Shengping, a national chain, which has boosted the GDP and economic benefits of this small, run-down place. However, Li Leshan has never been to this place. When the mall was first built, he was in his senior year of high school and was so busy that he didn't even have time to sleep, let alone shop there.

He wasn't really the type to join in the fun. Giving out shopping coupons, discount coupons, or raffles held no appeal for Li Leshan. Unless the prize was a set of exam papers.

But of course, it can't be exam papers. I've never seen a place hold a raffle for exam papers at its opening; even bookstores don't have that kind of promotion. The attraction rate is zero, but the customer-repelling rate is one hundred percent. Even eggs can't be exam papers. If it were exam papers, it wouldn't be attractive to others, and the audience would be extremely small. I wonder if Quanshengping could even find twenty of them.

Sure enough, as soon as I exited the station, before I even reached the plaza, a crowd surged towards me. They were saying things like, "Anyone going anywhere? Twelve..."

The fares seem low at ten or eight yuan, but each vehicle can seat five or six people. Overloading or not is irrelevant. The fare isn't split evenly; they're making a profit no matter what.

"Handsome guy," a voice suddenly interrupted Li Leshan's thoughts, "Third Alley, are you going to walk to number twenty?"

Li Leshan looked up and saw Liu Yang standing among the unlicensed taxi drivers, raising an eyebrow at him.

he……

When did you start the new business?

and……

Twenty yuan for the third alley is too expensive. This person is just ripping off people they know.

"Twenty yuan for Lane 3 is too expensive. Is it the Lane 3 on Haihe Road? I'll leave at eighteen..."

"I can walk when I'm sixteen..."

Eighteen, sixteen, fifteen... Li Leshan finally managed to get out of the crowd, and Liu Yang pulled him along to help him with his luggage.

A passerby commented: "Wait, is this guy stupid?"

The unlicensed taxi driver behind me: Holy crap, something even more outrageous has appeared.

"What brings you here?" Li Leshan gestured to him. "You...have you started a new business?"

"It was a complete accident," Liu Yang said. He came here to pick up a friend, but who would have thought that he would arrive in Shengping tomorrow instead of today? He happened to run into an old acquaintance and thought he could give him a ride. "This new business was also a complete accident. I thought everyone around me was picking up people, but it turned out they were picking people up."

I just happened to be standing among the drivers, and it wouldn't be right for me to stand out, so I decided to just go with the flow.

Actually, if Li Leshan had told him when he was returning to Shengping and when he would arrive at the station, Liu Yang would have come to pick him up. However, their relationship wasn't close enough for Li Leshan to report to him, so it was truly a coincidence.

"You're on winter break?" Liu Yang glanced at him.

Li Leshan glanced at him too. He didn't really want to answer such a stupid question, but he nodded nonetheless.

“It’s been about half a year since you left last time, hasn’t it?” Liu Yang continued. “Time really flies.”

Li Leshan nodded. "How have you all been?"

He genuinely didn't know, and bringing it up now would just be a formality. His last WeChat chat with Liu Yang was several months ago, when Liu Yang asked him, "Have you arrived at school yet?" and he replied, "Yes." The two of them rarely contacted each other.

Liu Yang was taken aback, never expecting him to ask that. "It's...it's alright. Just like before, we won't starve, but we won't get rich either."

"How's your university life?" Liu Yang asked. "Are you adjusting well? I haven't asked, but since you don't text me, I feel like you're doing pretty well."

Li Leshan nodded. He was indeed doing alright, much better than his previous suicidal state. Liu Yang was probably the one who knew best about that period, having witnessed it all. Now, compared to before, he could probably tell, right?

"That's good." Liu Yang said, looking him up and down. "You do look much better than before. Back then, you felt like a blade of grass, ready to break at the slightest touch."

Li Leshan smirked, "So, what do I look like now?"

Liu Yang looked at him for a while, then laughed, "What do you mean 'looks like'? You're starting to look like a person, haha."

Li Leshan laughed after hearing this. He wondered what kind of wretched person he had been to leave such an impression on Liu Yang. "Looking like a human being now"—this comment sounded a little awkward, but he understood what Liu Yang meant. During his worst period, he really hadn't looked like a human being; he was more like a breathing shell.

Liu Yang drove him back to Third Alley. Along the way, he talked about his family's recent situation. Li Leshan listened quietly, looking at the familiar street scene, and couldn't help but feel a little strange, a feeling he couldn't quite put his finger on.

"Are you coming here again during winter break? I've saved a seat for you." Liu Yang glanced at him.

"night shift?"

“It’s up to you,” Liu Yang said. “You can come after the New Year. Anyway, the internet cafe is always short-staffed for the night shift, you know that.”

Li Leshan thought for a moment, then said, "I'll go after the New Year."

After Jiang Yueming returned, he wanted to spend more time with him, because if he had to work, he probably wouldn't have that much time. Fortunately, he had saved some money by working part-time at Sister Qiuxin's place.

“Okay,” Liu Yang said.

The car slowly came to a stop at the entrance of the third alley. It was inconvenient to drive any further in, so Li Leshan got off there.

"Want me to help you move it?" Liu Yang asked.

Li Leshan waved his hand and thanked him.

"No need to thank me," Liu Yang said. "We've known each other for so many years, it's just a small favor to give you a ride."

"I'm off then, I have some things to do back home." Liu Yang waved to him.

Li Leshan nodded, pulled his suitcase, and walked back to the Third Alley. The place was as familiar as ever. As he walked on the familiar stone path, occasionally someone would pass by, recognize Li Leshan, and greet him, saying, "You're back." Li Leshan would smile at them and continue walking.

Pushing open the long-sealed iron gate, the furnishings inside were laid out before me. Exactly the same as before I left; it looked exactly the same as when I last saw it.

It's just space, so empty. Li Leshan settled his luggage and stood in the living room, thinking to himself.

It's normal for it to be empty; after he left, no one else has come here, it's completely deserted. A thin layer of dust settled on the table. Li Leshan cleaned the house from top to bottom, wiping and sweeping everything that needed cleaning.

After completing all the steps, he stood before his grandmother's portrait, wanting to say something but unsure where to begin. He could only carefully wipe the photo again and again through the frame.

Grandma, Li Leshan looked at her kind face and thought to himself: You've never seen me like this before.

She left without even seeing what he looked like when he was eighteen.

People say the old woman has passed away, gone to enjoy a better life. What kind of happiness? Li Leshan doesn't know. He only knows she didn't enjoy happiness while she was alive. So much so that after she left, Li Leshan always hated himself. Why was he 17 instead of 27? If he were an adult, already working, already earning money, could he have given his grandmother a better life? Could he have held her hand and cried helplessly in her final days?

Looking at his grandmother's portrait, Li Leshan's eyes began to redden again. He was actually getting better each year—at least he no longer cried just thinking about it, at least he could stand here relatively calmly, and at least he no longer thought about suicide. These were all improvements, weren't they, Grandma?

...

When did you get so old? Li Leshan thought to himself, his fingers unconsciously stroking the edge of the photo frame.

When did your hair turn completely white?

When did it start, and why does the snow in Shengping stop melting when it falls on your head?

How could you forget so many things? You forget to turn off the gas, forget what you ate yesterday, forget the neighbor's name. But why do you remember everything about me and my mother?

Do you still remember what my favorite soup was when I was a child? It's been more than ten years, how do you still remember?

When did all this happen? How come he doesn't remember the soup being so bitter? He clearly added a lot of sugar. So much so that every time he drinks it, he recalls the past, repeatedly savoring those days intertwined with bitterness and sweetness.

As Li Leshan thought about it, his eyes welled up with tears again. He blinked, trying to hold them back. But the next second, the scalding tears could no longer be contained and slammed heavily onto the photo frame.

It seems I've forgotten a lot of things, haven't I?