During the summer vacation, a family of three went to Shanghai. Now there is a direct train from Beijing to Shanghai, and it only takes one day to get there. They first went to the apartment they bought, but it was still empty.
After putting down their luggage, the three of them went to a nearby furniture store and bought two large beds and a set of wooden dining tables and chairs. The wardrobes were now popular with combination cabinets with full-length mirrors, but Su Qingmeng didn't like them, so she bought two small bedside tables.
After returning home, Su Qingmeng took measurements and drew a schematic diagram, preparing to return to Beijing to find a familiar carpenter to make it. They wouldn't move in for the time being; a bed to sleep in was enough.
After simply decorating the room, they went to Suzhou. She planned to take Kang Kang to travel to different cities every year to experience different cultural landscapes. This time they chose to go to Suzhou because the original owner's house had expired and she had to deal with it.
They arrived in Su City at night and stayed in a hotel. The next day they went to the original owner's house. After graduation, Su Qingmeng didn't have time to come back, so he rented the house out again. Now no one knows who lives there.
She brought her husband and children and walked along the road in the original owner's memory to a house with white walls and gray tiles. As she walked, she recalled the scenes of the original owner getting along with her grandparents.
Lin Xiuyao couldn't help but hold her hand tightly. He was very afraid that his wife would disappear. Su Qingmeng comforted him with a smile. In fact, she was no longer affected by the original owner's feelings. She just felt a little sad to revisit the old place.
They went up and knocked on the door. A middle-aged woman opened it and asked, "Who are you looking for?"
Su Qingmeng said politely: "Hello, I'm the owner of the house. I'm just passing by and came to take a look."
The woman was a little surprised. She turned around and shouted, "Mom, come here."
A 50-something auntie appeared. She was stunned when she saw Su Qingmeng. "Are you Xiaomeng?"
Su Qingmeng greeted her: "Aunt Wen." Aunt Wen had a good relationship with her grandmother. When she was renting a house, Aunt Wen's youngest son got married, so she rented a house. Unexpectedly, they never moved out.
"Is it really Xiaomeng? When did you come back? Come in." Aunt Wen led them into the house. There were five rooms in the courtyard, with two families living in them. She didn't recognize the other family. When the original owner left, three families lived there. The tenants had changed over the years.
The aunt from that family asked, "Sister Wen, is this your relative?" "It's the landlord." The aunt nodded to Su Qingmeng in surprise. It was the first time she met the landlord in person.
Aunt Wen took Su Qingmeng's hand and said, "Xiao Meng, have you been well these years?"
Su Qingmeng: "It's pretty good. I spent a year as an educated youth in the countryside. I passed the college entrance exam in 1978 and returned to the city. I've been studying in Beijing ever since."
"That's great. Your grandparents will definitely be happy to know." Aunt Wen's eyes were moist. She was sad for a long time when she first learned that Su Qingmeng had gone to the countryside. She didn't expect that after all the hard work, she would have a happy ending and is living a good life now.
Su Qingmeng smiled and never said that she was not the original owner and had no feelings for the original owner's relatives. "You guys live in this house. I will live in the capital from now on and probably won't come back." She decided not to sell it. Keeping it would also be a proof of the original owner's existence.
She signed a new contract with the tenants. Although the rent was lower than the market price, she did not raise the rent. She signed a five-year contract and asked Aunt Wen and others to take good care of the house.
She took the father and son to the cemetery to burn paper for the original owner's grandparents, and buried the original owner's diary in the middle of the grave, allowing the three of them to reunite.
After dealing with the original owner's affairs, they began to tour Suzhou, a water town in the south of the Yangtze River. They visited famous attractions such as the Humble Administrator's Garden, Tiger Hill, and Hanshan Temple. They spent more time strolling in the city, as only where the locals live can they show the style of a city.
The food in Suzhou tends to be sweet, which makes Kang Kang very happy. He likes Suzhou cakes, cooked lotus root, braised dried tofu, crab shell roe, etc., like a little mouse that has fallen into a rice jar.
At night in the hotel, Kang Kang said, "Mom, I want to eat cakes tomorrow."
Su Qingmeng was helpless, "Okay, let's continue eating it tomorrow." After he fell asleep, she said to Lin Xiuyao, "Son likes it so much, go buy some more cakes and put them there."
The next day, the three of them went to a restaurant to eat Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs. She remembered that she had said in the countryside that she would bring Lin Xiuyao to eat there in the future. She finally fulfilled her promise. Lin Xiuyao obviously thought of it as well. He kept looking at her lovingly during the meal.
After dinner, the three of them went to take a ride on a black-sailed boat. Sucheng has a well-developed water system, and the Sucheng River now undertakes a lot of tasks in transporting goods. There are many boats on the river, and the traffic is crowded.
After taking a boat, they went to listen to Sucheng Pingtan. Listening to the people on the stage wearing cheongsams, speaking in the soft Wu dialect, and the melodious sound of the pipa, it was truly an audio-visual feast, and Su Qingmeng was intoxicated.
After coming out, Lin Xiuyao complained: "The tune is quite nice, but unfortunately I don't understand it."
Kang Kang echoed: "I don't understand either."
"Well, me too, but it doesn't matter. The important thing is her singing skills and the beautiful sound of the pipa." Su Qingmeng emphasized that she particularly likes the beauty of Jiangnan women, who are elegant and graceful, full of poetic and picturesque beauty.
A few people were talking when an aunt suddenly called out to Su Qingmeng, "Are you... Qingmeng?"
Su Qingmeng recalled carefully and remembered that this person was a neighbor of the original owner's mother's family. "Aunt Zhou, it's me."
Aunt Zhou asked, "Oh, I said it looked like you. Why don't you go home now that you're back?"
Su Qingmeng smiled and said, "I was thinking of going back tomorrow." She didn't want to go back to the original owner's mother's house, but when she met her neighbor, she decided to go back.
She knew from her memory that Aunt Zhou was particularly gossipy. If she didn't go back, who knows how much gossip would spread. Although the original owner had suffered a lot of grievances in her mother's house, outsiders didn't know.
Su Qingmeng is determined to become a famous writer, so she doesn't want to leave a stain of being ungrateful and unfilial to her mother. She goes back to do a face-saving project to avoid future troubles.
The next day they went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy snacks and drinks, and went to the original owner's mother's house. Aunt Zhou had already promoted her yesterday, so many neighbors recognized her today. In fact, Su Qingmeng and the original owner had quite different temperaments, and Aunt Zhou was very sharp to recognize her.
Su Qingmeng prepared herself mentally before knocking on the door. Mother Su had aged a lot, her hair had turned white, and she was stunned when she opened the door and saw her.
Su Qingmeng opened her mouth and called out "Mom". Mother Su reacted, "Hey, is it really Mengmeng? You're back."
Su Qingmeng: "It's me. I came to Sucheng for a trip and came to see you."
In the past few years, she occasionally corresponded with the original owner's mother, but she had no contact in the past two years. Su Qingmeng wanted to break up with her, but in the eyes of outsiders, Su's mother did not treat her harshly, and she had no good excuse. Indeed, she just did not value the original owner and was biased.
They walked in and sat down. The original owner's stepfather, Li Zhengfeng, was also there, she greeted, "Uncle Li." There was also a young woman, and Mother Su introduced her, "This is Yong'an's daughter-in-law, Wang Zhu."
Li Yongan is the original owner's younger brother, born to Su's mother and stepfather. He also has a younger sister Li Yongle and a stepsister Li Jiating.
Su Qingmeng introduced: "This is my lover, Lin Xiuyao, and my son Lin Heng."
"Mom, Uncle Li." Lin Xiuyao followed his wife's call.
After the greetings, the room fell silent. It had been so long since we last saw each other, and the atmosphere felt awkward and unfamiliar.
Suddenly the door opened, "Mom, I heard Su Qingmeng is here." The original owner's stepsister walked in.
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