sneaking into grandfather's house
Yu Chunsheng slowly unfolded the letter; on the paper were Xu Tangmian's delicate handwriting in fountain pen.
“My dearest Yu Chunsheng:
Perhaps I should call you Kong Lin.
Please forgive me for leaving without saying goodbye. I imagine you must have been having a very difficult time these past few days, if you love me. But I had no choice.
You must be thinking, "I shouldn't have been honest with you. Who wouldn't be afraid that the person next to them in bed is someone who has come back from the dead?"
Actually, I'm not afraid. Because I myself don't come from this era.
Thinking back to when we first met, your tolerance and generosity have helped me get through each day. Without you, I might never have gotten married in either of my two lifetimes, or if I did, I would have been divorced eight times.
I was born in 1999, and I come from the year 2023, an era that is beyond description. I really hope you can see it for yourself.
Let's get back to the point. The root cause of why I left doesn't actually lie with you.
Do you remember? When we first met, I was going to Beiping to visit relatives, but I stayed because of various things and my feelings for you. Now, it's precisely because I like you that I have to go to Beiping to find an answer.
I'm not afraid of you, nor do I find you strange. You're the best man I've ever met in both of these eras. But I can't accept you now.
I call Li Youlan Grandma. The meeting at Song Weidong's house was not my first meeting with her, nor was it at the school ceremony.
The first time I saw her was at a funeral. She was wearing a black dress and a black hat, and her temples were gray.
She looked much older at the funeral than she had a few days earlier. This was normal, as she was already over seventy years old at the time.
At the funeral, she engaged in a heated debate with everyone, including myself, arguing bravely.
They all say that Xu Zhilian's life was glorious and great, especially compared to his classmates, he saved a woman and "put righteousness before family" to expose a hooligan.
Grandma Li Youlan was very agitated, saying that the man wasn't a thug and that Xu Zhilian was the bad guy. I was very angry and, quite irrationally, argued with this person who was decades older than me on the spot.
Oh, I forgot to mention, the protagonist of this funeral was Xu Zhilian, my own grandfather.
I grew up at my grandparents' house. My grandfather keeps a photo of me when I had just learned to walk by his bedside. There is a small room in his house that contains all the awards I have received from childhood to adulthood, as well as solo photos of my birthdays.
I don't believe my grandfather was that kind of person, do you understand?
That's why, after confirming that you are Kong Lin, I don't know how to face you.
Firstly, I'm worried that Grandma Li Youlan is right. If Grandpa really did harm you, then that warm birthday celebration a few days ago would have been our last time seeing each other.
Secondly, regardless of what happened between you and Grandpa, the fact that you were classmates and close friends remains unchanged. The thought of waking up in the same bed with Grandpa's classmate every day, and even doing more intimate things more than once, makes me feel disgusted (scratch that) and awkward.
I think I need some time to calm down and also time to find the answers.
I hope you're doing well over there. I've deposited the rest of my money in the bank, and the passbook is tucked inside my notebook in the closet drawer.
Love you.
Xu Tangmian.
After reading the letter, Yu Chunsheng trembled all over.
She needed time to calm down, and perhaps he shouldn't bother her now. But he believed, and was certain, that the country would change drastically in the coming decades.
Can she, an outsider, find a home here?
Yu Chunsheng wanted to give her some time to calm down, but he couldn't help but worry about her now that she had a new identity and no relatives or friends, walking the streets of Beiping like this.
Where will she go?
Before I came, I heard from Li Youlan and the others that Xu Zhilian is now the deputy director of a certain bureau and lives in the same community as the other leaders.
However, they were unaware of the relationship between Xu Tangmian and Xu Zhilian, and fearing to touch upon his painful past, they did not elaborate.
"I should have opened the letter when I was home." Yu Chunsheng stood on the streets of Beiping with a dejected look on his face. "If I had seen the letter at home, I could have asked them for their address."
He figured Xu Tangmian wouldn't have anywhere to stay here and would probably go to a guesthouse first, so he took the marriage certificate and went to all the guesthouses and hotels near the train station.
As I walked out of the Friendship Hotel, it was already getting dark.
If he ran any further, he would have to search in another district, and he had no idea where Xu Tangmian had gone. With the holiday approaching, guesthouse rooms were in short supply, so he could only stay at this last hotel for the time being.
Having settled down, he still had to go out and search. The thought of Xu Tangmian wandering the streets alone made him unable to stop mentally going through all sorts of terrifying cases, and the more he thought about it, the more restless he became.
Just as his figure disappeared around the street corner, Xu Tangmian, carrying a bag and looking exhausted, entered the Friendship Hotel.
After showing her identification and letter of introduction to the receptionist, Xu Tangmian noticed the receptionist frowning slightly as she compared something.
"What's wrong? Is there a problem?" she asked.
The waiter put down the documents. "Ms. Xu, is your husband's surname Yu?"
Xu Tangmian immediately realized, "He's been here?"
"Yes, are you staying with him or opening another one?"
"No need, thank you." Xu Tangmian snatched the documents and papers from the waiter, grabbed her still-warm luggage, and hurriedly headed out. After taking a few steps, she turned back and said, "Don't tell him I was here, thank you."
Yu Chunsheng actually came after us. What does he want? Is he looking for her or for her grandfather? Xu Tangmian wasn't sure.
She didn't know how to face him until she found out the truth.
After leaving the hotel, Xu Tangmian walked in the other direction. She vaguely remembered that her grandfather should be working at a unit to the west at this time, and his home was nearby. She decided to wait for him there.
The capital city was much more prosperous than the small county town. When passing by a shop, Xu Tangmian was afraid of running into Yu Chunsheng on the road, so she went into the store and bought a silk scarf to wrap around her head.
She found another guesthouse nearby, but because she had too many things on her mind, she tossed and turned in bed all night and couldn't fall asleep.
The next morning, she followed her memory and inquired around the neighborhood.
The economy has developed rapidly over the past few decades, and many places are quite different from her memories.
Grandpa's workplace has moved, the name of the neighborhood is wrong, and even the road signs he remembered are all gone.
Did she travel to a parallel world? But that doesn't make sense. Does it mean there's only Li Youlan and Liu Xingyao, but no Xu Zhilian?
Xu Tangmian refused to believe it; her grandfather must be here!
After wandering around the entrances of several cadre residential areas along the bus route for a while, when she arrived near the service hall of a certain bureau, Xu Tangmian suddenly saw a familiar figure walking out of the building and signing someone's documents.
“It’s Grandpa Wu!” Xu Tangmian recognized him quickly.
Grandpa Wu lost a section of his little finger on his right hand. When Xu Tangmian was a child, whenever she took chocolate from him, she would always hold his finger and ask him if it hurt.
The last time she saw him was at her grandfather's funeral. At that time, she had just had a fight with Grandma Li Youlan, and Grandpa Wu even stood up for her.
Xu Tangmian instinctively went over, but with her keen sixth sense, she realized that someone was watching her.
She turned around and looked over, and the person was again pretending to be an ordinary person casually strolling along the street.
Xu Tangmian quickly realized that there were government agencies and units everywhere here, and the people coming and going were all leading cadres, not to mention that Grandpa Wu was in charge of public security.
The plainclothes officers must have noticed that she had been loitering here all morning, and that she was wearing a scarf to cover her face, and they must have thought she had ulterior motives.
Anyway, we've already found out where Grandpa Wu works. He's been helping Grandpa for years, so as long as we find him, we won't have to worry about not finding Grandpa. This can't be rushed.
Xu Tangmian returned to the guesthouse.
As evening approached, Xu Tangmian looked at the dark clouds gathering on the horizon and guessed that it was going to rain, so she borrowed an umbrella from the front desk and headed towards the office she had left in the morning.
She timed it perfectly; this was the time when people were leaving get off work, and Grandpa Wu would definitely pass by here.
This time she was more careful and didn't dare to get too close. Instead, she went to the second intersection on the road that was the only way between her workplace and a nearby cadre residential area to wait.
At 5:30, the target came into view.
The car wasn't going fast. Xu Tangmian silently memorized the license plate number and then walked in the opposite direction.
There's only one cadre residential area around here, so you can't go wrong by driving that way. However, there are a few units where high-ranking cadres live, and there are people guarding the entrances. It's very strictly managed.
Entering through the other entrances leads to ordinary residential areas. Xu Tangmian thought it wouldn't be too late to find her apartment building once inside.
About half an hour later, Xu Tangmian successfully sneaked into the residential area.
She remembered that when she was a child, her grandfather told her that there used to be a big banyan tree in front of the place where he and her grandmother lived.
She also said that her father often forgets to bring his keys. Sometimes when they come home late from get off work, her father climbs up the banyan tree to the windowsill and sneaks into the house.
Actually, they had always kept a key under the doormat, but when Dad was a child, he was mischievous and playful and loved to "take the road less traveled," so he insisted on climbing up there.
Xu Tangmian smiled and looked down. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a seven or eight-year-old boy running towards an apartment building, swinging his schoolbag in a "Z" pattern.
The boy dashed past Xu Tangmian, and the two exchanged a glance. Xu Tangmian remembered that he looked a lot like her father in a childhood photo.
This is my dad when I was little! She immediately followed him, pretending it was casual.
Houses in this era were not like modern residential complexes with dozens of floors; most were only four or five stories high. Therefore, Xu Tangmian quickly discovered the existence of the "suspicious tree."
The "little" dad threw down his schoolbag and nimbly climbed up the tree. Xu Tangmian watched in horror and couldn't help but cry out, "You, you should come down quickly! It's dangerous!"
He chuckled and said, "Don't worry, Auntie, I do this all the time." With that, he wiggled left and right like a monkey and darted to the vicinity of the third floor, then easily flipped himself into the house.
A moment later, he came out of the main entrance again, went downstairs as if nothing had happened, walked up to Xu Tangmian, raised his finger and threatened, "I'm warning you, you didn't see anything, and you're not allowed to tell my family."
Xu Tangmian suppressed a laugh and waved her hand: "Okay, I won't say."
The "little" father was finally satisfied, picked up his schoolbag again, and left.
After he walked away, Xu Tangmian quickly ran up to the third floor and stopped in the room where her "little" father had come out. Sure enough, there was a key under the doormat.
Logically speaking, buildings with such high floors should have security doors and windows installed. I wonder if Grandpa and the others felt particularly safe because there were guards at the door, which gave her the opportunity to take advantage of the situation.
Xu Tangmian took out her key and opened the door. Seeing the family photos and various pictures scattered throughout the house, she became even more certain that she had come to the right place.
She decisively went into the master bedroom and rummaged through her grandfather's room.
She stopped when she turned to a drawer, gently lifted the familiar watch chain, and took out the pocket watch she had brought from the modern era from her pocket.
Open the watch case, and inside is the exact same photograph. It's of the Confucius Temple.
She packed it all in, intending to use it as evidence when she saw her grandfather, proving that she came from the modern era.
His hand suddenly stopped moving. Below the pocket watch was a cardboard album, A3 size but closer to square.
She slowly flipped through the photo album, which contained mostly black and white photos with captions next to them.
"Autumn 1964, a photo taken upon first arrival at Peking University." "Spring 1965, a photo taken upon first meeting Xiao Fen." "1966, a photo taken in Beidaihe with friends Xie and Lin."
"A group photo taken in 1967 to commemorate the May Fourth Movement."
Finally, Xu Tangmian spotted a familiar figure in the photo.
This is a group photo resembling a theatrical performance. Students from Peking University dressed in traditional Chinese robes from the Republican era, wore white scarves, and carried banners through the streets. They commemorated their seniors by revisiting a scene from the past.
Standing in the center of the group, raising his arms and shouting with righteous indignation and high spirits, was her husband, Yu Chunsheng—no, Kong Lin!
Beside Kong Lin, there was a gaze fixed on her, not looking ahead, from her grandfather, Xu Zhilian.
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