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"When did the accident happen to him?" Xu Yu lowered his head.
The woman wiped her tears silently. "It's been five years. Shaohua and his father opened a shop in town. Business was good at first, so they wanted to move to the county. Shaohua was driving on the road when he was hit by a mudslide and died. It took a long time to find Shaohua, but he was already dead by then."
Recalling this, the woman was filled with only heartache. She could not forget how she had endured those months when her youth was wasted, how her hair had turned white, and how she could not hope for her son's resurrection.
Xu Yu bit her lip and tears kept falling.
"I was moving to the county to open a shop, and Shaohua saved up enough money to come visit you. He's always remembered you all these years, and he never opened up to that kid from the village again after you left." The woman sobbed, "Could you please burn some incense for him to let him know you're back?"
"……good."
Xu Yu entered the small room, holding incense sticks and wafting them over the candles. He controlled his emotions, steadying his trembling throat, which had become hoarse, and spoke with an especially heavy voice: "I'm back, Shaohua."
The woman at the door was crying uncontrollably. Zhu Wenxu couldn't handle such a scene, so he lit a cigarette and waited outside. He knew he should comfort Xu Yu, but for comfort, he needed to accept it.
Accept the separation from your best friend.
Zhu Wenxu thought so, but he couldn't help but tear up his eyes. He squatted at the door in silence.
"I left some of my treasures behind," the woman said. "I thought I could give them to you when you come back one day."
Xu Yu cried so hard that her shoulders trembled: "I'm sorry, if only I could come back earlier."
"Don't be sorry." The woman touched his head. "It's hard for you to be alone outside. Come with me."
Going up to the second floor, it became very cold after the heating was turned off. The rooms were evenly distributed. The woman entered the first room and quickly brought out a box. She pointed to the house next door and said, "Shaohua used to live here. There's his phone number in it. I don't know how to use it, and his sister is in college and rarely comes home. We kept it. There must be something in it that Shaohua wanted to leave for you."
"Aunt Luo, I can't accept it."
Aunt Luo's voice was hoarse: "I will accept it, Xu Yu, we can't forget him."
Xu Yu nodded while crying: "I will never forget him."
Entering Liu Shaohua's room, Xu Yu's first feeling was cold. His bed was simple, and the quilt wasn't thick, but there was a bookshelf filled with various books and some travel guides. Xu Yu took a closer look and discovered that they were actually from Tingfeng.
Did you find him before?
The box contained old items, including a mobile phone, an MP3 player, headphones, a bracelet, a large bag of magic cards, a few pens, two erasers, an old address book and two faded USB flash drives.
Xu Yu turned on the computer, which was incredibly slow to respond. After three minutes of freezing, the interface popped up. It had League of Legends and CS:GO, and the rest was social networking software.
For some reason, Xu Yu's memory told her to check the USB drive first. After the computer scanned the USB drive, Xu Yu wiped the tears from her face and opened it. There were many videos inside, all of which were from around 2012.
In the video, both he and Liu Shaohua's voices were very clear, and they were shouting about the homework assigned by the teacher and how many correct answers they had missed in the exam.
Occasionally, they would pick snails in the fields, and Liu Shaohua liked to take pictures of Xu Yu with his mobile phone. The pixels of flip phones at that time were not very good, and the faces could not be seen clearly in the pictures.
When his memory was clear, he could imagine the carefree mood he had with Liu Shaohua.
After that, their voices changed, and the topic remained above study. Liu Shaohua had a crush on the monitor of the class next door in high school, and was filming a video asking Xu Yu if he was handsome and if he could pursue her.
Xu Yu scolded him: "Of course he has to. Shao Hua is as handsome as Andy Lau, how could he not be able to catch him?"
The next video shows Liu Shaohua, with his bangs lifted, hugging a shy girl wearing glasses and showing off to Xu Yu that he has a wife. The girl is embarrassed to cover her face, but she doesn't mean to push him away.
Then there's the film about them playing together, posing for photos under a dilapidated railing in playful and pretentious poses. Liu Shaohua's family had always been well-off in the village, and his father was a businessman, so while many others were still using flip-phone Nokias, he was already using the latest full-screen phones.
The video quality was much better than before. They skipped classes to hike, grilled chicken together, and even went to the town's karaoke bar. In the video, Liu Shaohua performed a song called "Lie" with a deadpan expression, while his peers applauded him enthusiastically.
Xu Yu disappeared from the video. Liu Shaohua broke up with his first girlfriend the year after graduating from high school. Like many heartbroken people, he got drunk and sang, then choked up and lamented, "Xu Yu, I didn't know breaking up could be this painful."
Then his first love got married. At the banquet, Liu Shaohua silently chose to toast and gave a 200-yuan gift. He filmed a video while sitting in the fields enjoying the breeze: "Xu Yu, it's so good that you're here. I find that I can't forget her at all. I love her too much, but I can't keep the promise I made."
The video quality was clearer later. He squatted in the sea of people in the city, drinking a cup of milk tea: "Xu Yu, I don't like it here at all."
The higher the picture quality, the less Liu Shaohua spoke. Even without him saying anything, Xu Yu knew he was calling him just by looking at him.
His blind date failed, but he wasn't sad. He attended a dinner hosted by his first love and gave a two-hundred-yuan gift. He went to Tingfeng, but despised the cheapest accommodation there, which cost two hundred yuan a night. He found a job, but his boss delayed his salary. For the first time, he cried in a video, drank alcohol, and told Xu Yu not to live like this. He returned to his hometown and opened a shop with his father. For the first time, he made ten thousand yuan a month. He couldn't sleep at night and went hiking. He took a picture of the sunrise and said to the video, "Xu Yu, when can you watch the sunrise with me?"
This was the last video, and Xu Yu burst into tears after watching it. But he still held the volume and pulled out the USB drive. He turned around and looked at Zhu Wenxu, who was also red in the eyes. Xu Yu didn't know when he came, but he hugged him and started crying loudly.
"How could I, how could I, forget him." Xu Yu cried, "How could I forget him?"
Zhu Wenxu choked up and hugged him: "He has never died in your memory, Xu Yu, don't forget it."
"It's all my fault." Xu Yu's shoulders trembled violently.
Zhu Wenxu took out some candy from his pocket and placed it in Xu Yu's palm. His voice was hoarse, "He would feel bad too if he knew you were crying so hard."
Xu Yu hugged him tightly and tried to calm down.
After crying for over an hour, Xu Yu was finally taken downstairs by Zhu Wenxu. Aunt Luo prepared a meal: "I'll be home alone after the New Year, so we don't have much food at home. Just help yourself. I'll take Xu Yu to see your mother later."
Xu Yu picked up his bowl and began to eat. It was farm-style food, steamed in a wooden pot, sweet and soft. The three of them ate in silence, no one mentioning the sad events that had just occurred.
After dinner, Aunt Luo took out paper money and candles and took Xu Yu and Zhu Wenxu up the mountain. There were many people in the village at this time, and they greeted Aunt Luo. Aunt Luo waved her hand and left quickly with the two of them.
Xu Yu felt that Aunt Luo's hand was very hot. Her hair had turned white and was blowing wildly in the wind.
"When you left, many people laughed at you. I never liked communicating with them. It's better not to let some people know that you're back." Aunt Luo said, "It will bring trouble to you."
Xu Yu: "Thank you, Aunt Luo."
"What are you thanking me for? I've watched you grow up." Aunt Luo said with a gentle look on her face, "I'm not an outsider."
Halfway up the mountain, Aunt Luo took a detour to the road ahead. At this time, some people were visiting the graves. Zhu Wenxu held Xu Yu's hand, and Xu Yu held Aunt Luo's hand. They climbed halfway up the mountain and stopped in front of a grave with piles of stones.
“Has it been renovated?”
Aunt Luo nodded and said, "In the past few years since you were away, Shaohua has come here to burn paper every year. Five years ago, he even paid someone to help build it. It's still quite solid. Apart from the grass growing on it, it has maintained its original state. Come, I'll teach you how to burn incense and paper."
Xu Yu sniffed: "I will."
Aunt Luo took another packet and gave it to Zhu Wenxu: "You two can burn it. If you have anything to say, please tell me. Auntie will be waiting for you downstairs."
The wind blew against his neck, slapping the wild reeds on either side. The weeds on the ground were not very tall, obviously cleared every year. Xu Yu knelt down, lit the incense and candles, took a stack of paper money and began to split it, the light from the burning flames reflected on his face.
"I'm sorry, Mom, I only came to see you now."
Zhu Wenxu also knelt down beside her and threw paper money into the fire: "Mom, I'm Xu Yu's boyfriend. He's living a good life and eating well now, and he's also studying hard. He didn't have the chance to visit you before, but we will visit you often in the future."
"Mom. I miss you so much." Xu Yu lowered her head, tears streaming down her face. "I miss you so much."
The ashes of the burning words flew extremely far away. Xu Yu could no longer cry when he went down the mountain. He looked back every three steps. Aunt Luo was waiting for them on the stone at the foot of the mountain. When she saw them come back, she wiped Xu Yu and Zhu Wenxu's faces with the hands she had just been wiping.
"Go back, the weather is going to change."
Zhu Wenxu glanced at the rumbling sky and said, "It's going to rain."
"The weather here is too humid. It rains for a long time every New Year, making it inconvenient to go up to worship the ancestors." Aunt Luo said, "Old Liu will be back soon. Let's meet him together, Xu Yu."
Uncle Liu used to be the richest man in the village, and he still is. He opened a shop and his business has always been good. He later switched to the Internet and now broadcasts live every day. A portion of the income alone is enough to support his family.
When they got home, Aunt Luo brought a basin of hot water for them to wash their faces. Zhu Wenxu couldn't wash Xu Yu clean, so he wiped him once before washing him, and poured the water back to its original place.
Aunt Luo made two cups of hot milk and said, "Drink some."
"Thanks."
Outside the window, fog rose in the mountain stream. The wind blew the grass wildly. A torrential downpour arrived, thundering down, quickly soaking the small, sunken pits. Xu Yu rested his head on Zhu Wenxu's arm and fell asleep. Aunt Luo, who hadn't found a blanket, helped him onto the sofa.
"When Xu Yu was born, he had a fever for three consecutive days. His mother was even less well, so I helped take him to the health center. At the time, everyone said Xu Yu's health wasn't as good as his peers. Some even said Xu Yu wouldn't live past the age of 18. This scared Xu Yu's mother so much that she sold her dowry and took him to a hospital in the city. She even hired a fortune teller," Aunt Luo said. "They said his future life wouldn't be hindered by hardship and would be bright. Hehe, now it seems to be true."
Zhu Wenxu hummed: "I will protect him."
"Although I don't quite understand two grown men being together, there's more than one way of expressing feelings in this world. Honestly, when you told me this at noon, I was still dazed. I've always considered Xu Yu my half-son, and I'm very grateful for your kindness to him and I love him." Aunt Luo smiled. "This is a bit shameless, but I don't know who to tell. Xu Yu, I'll trouble you more in the future."
She gently grabbed Zhu Wenxu's arm and took out a handful of fruit candies from her pocket.
Zhu Wenxu pinched the candy: "I will."
"You guys take a break. I have to go to the warehouse to clean up some cabbages." Aunt Luo said, "Sit down for a while. It's warm here."
Zhu Wenxu stayed with Xu Yu, looking at the rain as he took out his typing phone and called Zhu Fuge. Zhu Fuge's manicure made her tap the keyboard so loud that she didn't hear Zhu Wenxu's voice. She said, "Did you have a conflict during the trip? You didn't say a word?"
"Sister, didn't you say before that you wanted to organize an event to increase the company's visibility?"
"Why is your voice so hoarse? Do you have a cold?"
Zhu Wenxu didn't care at all: "I have an idea for you."
Zhu Fuge: "What? I can't understand you if you speak with your voice. Let's talk about it when you get back and feel better."
"I made a plan PPT in the shortest time possible. Take a look. Some of the images haven't been filled in yet, and some were taken right away." Zhu Wenxu sent it to Zhu Fuge, "I'm offering it to you for your consideration."
"Okay, let me take a look."
The phone was hung up. Xu Yu, who was lying on the sofa, also woke up. He opened his dry eyes and heard Zhu Wenxu's voice. He reached out and hugged him: "Are you bothering me with something again?"
"Nothing serious, are you still sleepy?"
Xu Yu shook his head: "My eyes hurt a little."
"There's a pharmacy in town. Let's buy some eye drops on the way back." Zhu Wenxu touched his cheek. "Lie down for a while. Open your eyes when they're better."
Xu Yu lay down obediently.
"Will you still be there when I wake up?"
Zhu Wenxu didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "I'm not a ghost."
"Holding my hand while sleeping." Xu Yu awkwardly pulled Zhu Wenxu's hand, "I've trapped you."
After his breathing calmed down, Zhu Wenxu covered him with a blanket with one hand.
There is no need to hold them back, they are already trapped for life.
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