Chapter 127 Gu Xicheng and Su Xiao
In the alleys of Old Beijing, jujube flowers are in full bloom in early summer.
The tiny yellow petals fell on the bluestone slabs, were picked up by the breeze, and swirled towards the window lattice of the Su family's courtyard.
Su Xiao sat under a tree with a copy of Yinbingshi Collection on his knees.
The sun shone through the gaps between the leaves, casting mottled shadows on her moon-white shirt. Suddenly, there was a crisp "crack" sound from the wall.
“Lidya Su!”
Before she could even look up, a few bright red hawthorn candies rolled onto the pages of her book.
Fifteen-year-old Gu Xicheng squatted on the wall, his blue cloth student uniform stained with wall dust, and he was shaking a brown paper bag in his hand: "What's new from Daoxiangcun, want to try it?"
"You climbed over the wall again." Su Xiao closed the book, and the sweet scent of hawthorn candy stained his sleeves. "You haven't paid for the tiles that collapsed last time."
The young man leaped down, bringing down a jujube tree's flowers.
He brushed off the corner of his clothes nonchalantly and said, "When we get married, I will go through the main gate every day to make amends."
Then he suddenly leaned closer and said, "Your ears are red."
"What nonsense!" Su Xiao grabbed the book and hit him, but he took out a bag of apricots as if by magic.
In the twelfth lunar month, the old bookstores in Liulichang were filled with warm air.
Su Xiao stood on tiptoe to reach the set of "Shizhuzhai Calligraphy Collection" on the top floor, and suddenly felt a familiar warmth behind him.
"Is this the one?" Gu Xicheng took the book easily, his breath brushing her temples.
Seeing her nod, he raised the book higher: "Just call me hello and I'll give it to you."
"Gu Xicheng!"
Finally, the set of books fell into her hands.
The boy paid while muttering, "I'll buy the library sooner or later." Glancing at her smirking mouth, he suddenly reached out to wipe the dust off her nose.
"Uncle Su is right. You are really a bookworm."
On his way back, light snow was falling and he opened his oil-paper umbrella.
The two sets of footprints on the bluestone slab gradually became one set - because someone insisted on stepping on the other person's footprints for fun.
In the summer of 1935, the night Gu Xicheng was leaving to study abroad, Su Xiao stayed up late in the study until her eyes turned red.
"Take it with you." She handed him a tin box with twelve zongzi candies neatly stacked inside. "Eat one on the first day of every month, and then..."
"I'll come back to marry you." He held her wrist, and she realized that she was wearing the gold bracelet he gave her last year.
He suddenly hugged the person in his arms, and was startled to see the wisteria flowers outside the window.
Later, the iron box followed him and lurked in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, in the archives room of Unit 731, and at a cocktail party held by the Wang Puppet Government.
The most dangerous time, the bullet grazed the iron box, he touched the dented lid and thought -
If I could go back alive, I would definitely take her to see the snow on West Lake and the plum blossoms in Lingnan.
Many years later, when Xiaobai found the rusty iron box in his father's study, there was a small boat made of candy wrapper lying inside.
Gu Xicheng happened to come in with medicine, and his eyes suddenly became wet when he saw this.
"You don't know how much you looked like your mother when you waved the candy box just now."
Outside, the jujube flowers rustled, just as they had been in the past. But things and people had long since changed.
Recalling the past, in 1937, the war broke out.
Outside the window, the leaves of the sycamore tree fell rustlingly, like paper money offering sacrifices in advance to this ancient country.
The Su family was in a panic. The father frowned and said, "I'm afraid that kid from the Gu family will stay abroad and won't come back."
Su Xiao didn't say anything, but just gently stroked the last letter in his hand. The letter paper was wrinkled, as if it had been clenched and unfolded countless times. There was only one line of scribbled words on it:
"The country is destroyed, but the people are still here! We should work hard to save the country!"
The ink spread out as if it had been soaked in tears.
She didn't ask him what he was going to do, but just said softly to the distance: "I'll wait for you."
This wait lasted for five years.
In 1942, Su Xiao was already a famous talented woman in Beijing and was invited to attend a cocktail party held by the government.
She was wearing a dark green cheongsam, which made her skin look like snow. As they drank, she held her wine glass, her smile not reaching her eyes.
Suddenly, her fingertips trembled.
Not far away, Gu Xicheng, dressed in a suit and tie, was chatting and laughing with a Japanese colonel, looking like a traitor.
Su Xiao’s blood seemed to solidify instantly.
Five years.
She had imagined the reunion scene countless times, but she never expected it to be like this.
He has changed a lot. His expression is less flamboyant than when he was young and more calm. But those eyes...
Those eyes were still the same as she remembered.
Gu Xicheng seemed to notice her gaze and turned his head slightly, his eyes meeting hers briefly.
Then, he continued to talk to the Japanese colonel as if nothing had happened, but when he passed by her, he said very softly:
"Xiaoxiao, don't be afraid."
Her heart skipped a beat. With just one simple sentence, she realized that her childhood sweetheart had never changed.
It turned out that he had always been in the most dangerous place.
Gu Xicheng's true identity is a senior underground party agent, and Su Xiao has become his most secret contact.
They convey information through poetry -
Su Xiao hid secret codes in the music score, and the subtle pauses in his fingering while playing were the key information.
They exchanged glances at the calligraphy and painting exhibition——
Gu Xicheng attended as a collector, and Su Xiao took the opportunity of evaluating the paintings to hide the microfilm in a folding fan.
Every time we met, he wore a different mask, sometimes a slick businessman, sometimes an elegant scholar, but he never dared to be himself.
After a mission failed, Gu Xicheng was targeted by spies. Su Xiao took the risk to meet him, but found someone following him at the alley.
Her heart was pounding, but she walked into the agreed teahouse without changing her expression.
Gu Xicheng was sitting in the corner. When he saw her come in, his eyes suddenly turned cold.
Lidya Su was about to speak, but she saw him suddenly stand up and slap her in the face!
"Ms. Su, please respect yourself!" He shouted harshly, his eyes so cold as if he was looking at a stranger.
Lidya Su was stunned, her cheeks were burning with pain, and tears welled up in an instant.
But the next second, she felt her sleeve being gently pulled—a piece of paper slipped in.
She turned away in tears, but unfolded the note in a deserted place. There was only one line of words on it:
"Tomorrow at 4 p.m., at the same place."
That night, she held the copy of "Yinbingshi Collection" that he gave her and cried until dawn.
In 1945, on the eve of victory in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, they got married secretly in a dilapidated temple in the suburbs.
There were no guests, no wedding banquet, only a lonely moon and a temple full of gods and Buddhas as witnesses.
Gu Xicheng lifted Lidya Su's red veil, his voice choked with sobs: "I'm sorry for wronging you."
Su Xiao shook his head and tied their hair together: "We will be husband and wife, and we will never doubt each other in life or death."
Before dawn, Gu Xicheng disappeared again.
Su Xiao stood at the entrance of the dilapidated temple, watching his back blend into the morning mist.
She knew that the war was not over yet and they still had a long way to go.
But at least at this moment, they finally became husband and wife.
The couple were not reunited until after liberation.
Gu Xicheng has a special identity and is carrying out a secret mission, so his marital status has not yet been made public.
This is why people have misunderstandings about this.
Su Xiao didn't care, he just wanted his lover to return home safely every time.
For various reasons, they are together more often than they are apart.
Because of this, Gu Xicheng missed the birth of Xiaobai in 1958, resulting in the father and daughter being separated for seventeen years, and he also missed seeing his lover for the last time.
Time flies, half a century has passed, before his death, Gu Xicheng asked Xiaobai to take out a copy of the Book of Songs from the bottom of the box and opened a page -
"Life and death are inseparable, and I will always be with you."
This was Su Xiao's favorite sentence during his lifetime, their love oath.
On his deathbed, Gu Xicheng seemed to see Su Xiao holding his hand and whispering the second half of the sentence: "Hold your hand and grow old with you."
Outside the window, snow fell quietly in the old city.
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