The Wind Blows Fallen Leaves Chapter 70

late spring

The older we get, the less we sleep.

She had pulled the grass in the vegetable garden again, but she still had endless energy all over her body. Sitting under the eaves, it must have been the sunlight that made her face rosy and even her eyes were much clearer.

“I eat the food you cook every day. Let me do it today.”

You Min had already stood up and walked towards the kitchen. Shen Yixiang followed uneasily and said, “Do you remember that every time you go to the kitchen, you make a mess, and I have to clean it up in the end.”

You Min pinched his waist with both hands and said unconvinced: “Why, do you dislike me?”

“How dare you.” Shen Yixiang scooped up a spoonful of rice, washed it back and forth twice and put it into the pot.

You Min summoned him as he should, “Go to the vegetable garden and pick up two handfuls of spinach for me.”

After receiving the order, Shen Yixiang immediately put down his work and went to the garden to gather vegetables. After the meal, Shen Yixiang ran back and forth and lost weight twice before eating. You Min hurriedly cooked a large table of dishes. When the meal was served, he realized that he had forgotten to cook the rice. You Min immediately became unhappy and scolded: “It’s not good for you to forget things. You can forget to cook rice, but you can’t forget it in the future.”

“I’m older and have a bad memory. I won’t forget it next time.”

Shen Yixiang smiled and turned on the switch. The red cooking light turned on. You Min reheated the vegetables. At the dinner table, You Min continued: “Eat more vegetables. You are such an adult and you are still picky about food. The spinach in the vegetable garden was grown for you. You must finish it.”

There was a mountain of spinach in the bowl, and Shen Yixiang stuffed it into a big mouthful. Only then did You Min let him go. When it was his turn, he vomited everything in his mouth and said in disgust: “It’s so salty, I almost couldn’t breathe.”

Shen Yixiang, who was opposite him, laughed so hard that he couldn’t stand up straight and said, “You can’t be picky about your food.”

You Min picked up a spinach leaf and swallowed it with a big mouthful of rice. The rice in the bowl had already reached the bottom after not eating much.

The loquats on the tree are all covered with gold and jade branches, like ingots hanging down, hiding behind the palm-sized loquat leaves. The ground in the courtyard is full of dead loquat leaves, and it feels like walking on the snow that is flying all over the sky.

“The loquats at home are ripe, isn’t it time for a holiday?”

Shen Yixiang put the ladder leaning against the wall on the loquat branch, hung a cloth bag on his wrist, and climbed up in a few steps. As soon as he blew the poplar catkins, he was tortured to the point of being unable to breathe. You Min looked at him worriedly on the ground.

The first thing that appeared was a bulging cloth bag, which was stretched out by the loquats. You Min took the bag, and Shen Yixiang slowly fell to the ground, panting: “This year’s loquats are big and round, and they must be very sweet to eat.”

There were a large bunch hanging from each branch, and they would shake their heads when the wind blew. You Min peeled one open, and the juice from the orange pulp flowed from the fingertips to the palm of the hand. Just standing here could smell the sweet and sour taste of the loquat flesh.

“Too sour.”

Shen Yixiang didn’t believe it, so he peeled one off and stuffed it into his mouth, puzzled: “This is obviously sweet.”

You Min laughed at him and said, “You were also deceived by me. This is so sweet.”

In the late spring when the boundless scenery was new, You Min fell into a deep sleep.

The loquats in the bag were all gone, and there was a mess on the ground beside their feet. Even Yu Gong’s coat was stained with loquats. He put his head on You Min’s feet and fell asleep tiredly.

Shen Yixiang came out of the kitchen, with water still dripping from her hands. After a busy day today, it was time for her to have a good rest.

After Gongyou woke up, he kept moaning at her, and every sound was full of sadness.

Only then did Shen Yixiang notice that You Min hadn’t woken up yet. He wanted to touch her but didn’t dare to. Suddenly her hand fell down and hit his heart with a dull sound. Shen Yixiang held her cold hand and wanted to help her rub it to warm it up. “It’s almost summer, why are my hands still so cold?”

After rubbing for a long time, he realized that she still couldn’t retain any warmth at all. His back, which had been straightened all his life, finally bent in her arms.

“You haven’t taken today’s medicine yet, why did you fall asleep?” Shen Yixiang’s eyelids were already loose and covered most of them, and they became even thinner when he cried.

Yukyo stood up and lay farther away from her. His eyes, as deep as loquat cores, were also wet with the hair around them.

Shen Yixiang helped her put on the clothes on the bottom of the box, cleaned the house inside and out, and sat by the bed to cover her hands.

“Every time I want to talk to you, you think I’m verbose. Just interrupt me after I say it. Okay, you can’t interrupt me tonight. Let’s talk properly.” Shen Yixiang didn’t dare to raise his voice for fear of waking her up.

There was only one room with a light on in the quiet village, and that was the light in Shen Yixiang’s heart. He was afraid that You Min wouldn’t like the dark place, and wanted her to see the light as soon as she opened her eyes.

The sunlight outside climbed through the glass to Shen Yixiang’s feet, and he realized that so much time had passed.

When Liang Zheng and the others arrived, there was only one person and one dog standing blankly in front of the hall. Liang Zheng took care of all the matters behind him.

The next one who came in was Chen Meng, followed closely by Su Shangjun. She ran in in a state of despair, even her clothes were in a mess, and her face was full of unbelievable shock.

“Mom, mom, mom——”

The sound was more heartbreaking than the last, as Su Shangjun helped Shen Meng up. Every step was like walking on broken glass, seeing red at every step and connecting heart to heart again and again.

Shen Luo, who was in school, heard the news and didn’t even ask for leave. He rushed out of the school gate without being stopped by the guard. He anxiously stopped the taxi on the roadside, but every car passing by him flashed red lights and sped past him without stopping.

Shen Luo didn’t want to waste any more time and stopped the car while running. Finally, at a corner, a resting taxi stopped by the roadside. Shen Luo got in without thinking and told him the address in a trembling voice.

The car drove smoothly. Shen Luo felt that it was much slower than usual, so he urged: “Master, can you drive faster?”

The driver said angrily: “This is already the fastest. You don’t have a driver’s license. You don’t know the speed limit in Ancheng.”

“I just want to go home quickly.” Shen Luo felt aggrieved immediately, tears streaming down his face.

The driver immediately panicked when he saw it. He threw him a packet of paper at a loss and said, “Hey, hey, I didn’t touch you, no, why are you crying as a grown man? How wronged you are, mama’s boy? Are you homesick?”

Shen Luo closed the windows and burst into tears in the car, not forgetting to explain to him: “…I…just feel wronged…my grandma passed away…I just want…to go back to see her as soon as possible…”

When the driver heard this, he immediately slapped himself in the face and said, “I’ll let you have a bad mouth.”

Then he sat up straight and said to Shen Luo: “Comrade, if you want to cry, cry loudly. I’ll drive fast so no one will know you’re crying.”

The driver was already speeding, and Shen Luo was crying at the top of his lungs. Seeing that he didn’t stop crying for a long time, the driver took out a bottle of water and said: “Little comrade, when you are tired of crying, drink some water to moisten your throat. When it’s time to cry and make noise, get over this hurdle., then you should eat and drink, don’t take anything to heart, they say that this person has passed away, and the person who left will become a star in the sky looking at the person you loved most during his lifetime. If she doesn’t shine when she sees you so sad, you really won’t be able to see her, right.”

“…”

“I’m not an educated person, so if what I said is wrong, please bear with me. I understand how you feel now. When my mother left, she cried harder than you. She was as strong as an ox and no one could hold her back. Maybe it was because I thought about it day by day and dreamed about it at night. My mother entrusted me with a dream, telling me not to stand still, but to learn to move forward and look forward.”

The driver’s eyes became wet as he spoke. Shen Luo’s eyes were swollen from crying, and no one spoke any more along the way.

Before getting off the bus, the driver specifically told him: “People have to move forward, remember, move forward, look forward.”

Shen Luo’s coffin had been closed when he went back. He didn’t get to see him for the last time. The emotions that had receded just now surged back like a tidal wave. After Shen Meng saw him, the emotions in Shen Meng’s eyes were very complicated, including anger, blame, and the most imperceptible determination.

Shen Luo knelt in front of the coffin, his eyes were blank and he was panting heavily. His eyes were numb and tears were fogging his eyes.

Shen Luo followed the crowd to the field. That was the place where she wanted to make her home. The person who could not be held in two arms before her death was now easily held in the palm of her hand and placed in a small deep pit. Maybe it was because the ground always liked the wind. If she was placed deeper, she would not get sick.

The original tailwind suddenly turned into a headwind at the moment the smoke was lit. All the thick smoke surrounded Shen Luo and Shen Yixiang. They turned into entities and went further away after a brief contact.

The mourners left one after another, and only Shen Luo stood there. The ground beneath his feet was weighed down by his heavy heart. After a long time, he stepped forward and put his hands on the newly dug soil. All he got was cold and slippery.

“When I was little, I loved playing hide-and-seek with you. Let’s play it again today. I’ll come to find you. You have to hide.” Shen Luo’s tears seeped into the soil, and he grinned and choked out: “But I can’t find you.”