"Yes."
"Even if it's me, I can't bother him now, otherwise he'll yell at me. I can only wait until he sees me on his own before he obediently comes back with me."
"Then, can you tell me the story of this tree? I think this tree must be a tree with a story."
"Mr. Shen has been here since I was born. He's not a local. In fact, he came here when my mother was my age. My mother said there weren't any trees here before; this tree was transplanted by Mr. Shen. This place used to be some kind of research institute, but then some natural disaster or something happened, and the institute was gone overnight. Mr. Shen planted a tree on the ruins. I heard he was very wealthy, but instead of enjoying life in a big city, he stayed here to tend to this tree. He made this lamp. I don't know if you've seen it closely, but it's solar-powered. You can't tell yet, but it lights up when it gets dark, and there are wind chimes hanging below it. Whenever there's a breeze, the wind chimes make a beautiful sound. It's the sound of nature, and we all love to hear it. Mr. Shen comes here every day to hang a lamp, rain or shine, every single day." Because he was remembering someone, or rather, waiting for someone. I just didn't know who that person was. Some said it was his sister, others said it was his lover. For fifty years, neither my mother nor I had seen the person Mr. Shen was waiting for. After Mr. Shen was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, I thought he would never come again. But he forgot many things, yet he never forgot to hang the lamps—no, to wait for someone. Mr. Shen was a very respectable man. In his youth, he contributed greatly to the development of my hometown, and everyone here liked him very much. Even if he got lost, people would bring him back, though he rarely left. Sometimes I felt sorry for Mr. Shen; he waited for someone for fifty years. I thought that person was truly despicable. Had she forgotten her promise to Mr. Shen? Why did she never even look at him? Mr. Shen was already eighty years old; how many more lamps could he hang!
The young woman spoke with righteous indignation.
But when he looked back, he found that Wen Yan was already in tears.
This startled the young woman: "What's wrong? Are you very touched? You're too touched. I have some tissues, oh, I forgot to bring them, what should I do? Please stop crying."
But Wen Yan couldn't stop her tears.
She began to realize that perhaps she hadn't come to the wrong place.
It's just that... I came at the wrong time.
"The old gentleman's surname is Shen, so is his given name Shen Jingxiu?"
"Yes! How did you know? Did Mr. Shen tell you too? That's incredible, he forgot his own name long ago. I remember years ago..."
Wen Yan could no longer hear what the young woman said afterward.
The wind rushed past my ears, deafeningly loud.
She walked step by step toward the old man in front of her, across fifty years.
With each step I took, it felt as if a part of my memories and images were collapsing in my mind.
Fifty years have passed since we parted.
The eldest brother in my memory was so young and stunning. Fifty years have passed, so much so that when he reappeared in front of me now that he was old and frail, I didn't recognize him at all.
He's gotten so old.
Are Su's mother still alive? Are Shen's father still alive?
What about the others?
Wen Yan felt as if she were walking on broken ruins, and every step was so difficult.
It wasn't until he turned around in his old age that Wen Yan raised her hand to wipe away her tears.
"Hey, bro."
Just like when she first appeared in front of Shen Jingxiu fifty years ago, she forced a smile and raised her hand to greet him.
The difference was that she was holding a glass of orange juice with something spiked on it.
For her, returning to her original world would only take a few short years.
When we met again, everything had changed.
The ailing Shen Jingxiu did not recognize the person in front of him, and remained unmoved when Wen Yan called him "elder brother".
However, he still remembered the promise he made to Wen Yan a dozen minutes earlier.
"Oh, my pick-up person is here. I'll take you to my house. You can call your friend."
"OK."
Looking at Shen Jingxiu's wrinkled face, Wen Yan suddenly felt a sharp pain that exploded from a certain point in her heart. The pain instantly filled her entire chest cavity, making it almost impossible for her to breathe.
She held back her tears and asked for his opinion: "Shall I help you?"
He shook his head in refusal and slowly walked toward his horse: "I'm leading Forty-Six, and Forty-Six has to follow me."
The young woman walked briskly to Wen Yan's side: "Mr. Shen and Forty-Six both walk rather slowly. Every time I come to find Mr. Shen to go back for dinner, I treat it as a walk. Look how beautiful the scenery is here."
"yes."
You seem suddenly unhappy. What's wrong?
"Fifty years is too long."
"Oh, you mean Mr. Shen's matter? Yes, it's been so long."
"What about Mr. Shen's family? Besides the sister you mentioned he might be waiting for, what about his other family members? Haven't they come to see him or tried to persuade him to leave?"
"I've tried to persuade him. I've even met Mr. Shen's nephew and niece, who are both very successful business owners. And Mr. Shen's younger brother and sister, they've all tried to persuade him, but he just won't listen to them. However, they're all very busy and don't visit Mr. Shen very often, and it seems that some of them have even settled abroad."
"And what about his parents?"
"You mean Mr. Shen's parents? Look how old Mr. Shen is, and his parents seem to have passed away more than 20 years ago. I probably wasn't even born then, or I was very young, so I never met them, but my mother probably did. I heard that Mr. Shen's mother was very beautiful, and his family had a special affection for this tree; everyone who came would come to see it."
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