Chapter One He and Manzhen have known each other for many years.Fourteen years had passed, which was startling, and immediately made him feel much older along with him.Life flies so fast, especially for people after middle age, ten or eight years seem to be a matter of time.But for young people, three to five years can be a lifetime. He and Manzhen broke up from the time they met, but it took only a few years, but in the past few years, so many things have gone through, as if they have experienced all the joys and sorrows of life, old age, sickness and death. Manzhen once asked him when he started to like her.Of course he replied: When I saw you for the first time.When I said that, I was in such a state of intoxication that I could believe anything. Of course, I absolutely believed that it was not a lie.In fact, he couldn't remember exactly when he saw her for the first time.

It was Shuhui who first met her.Shu Hui is his best classmate, both of them are engineering students, Shu Hui first graduated and went to work, and after he graduated, Shu Hui introduced him to the same factory as an intern.Manzhen also works in this factory, and her writing desk is next to Shuhui. Shijun went to look for Shuhui several times. He should have seen her, but he didn't remember her.Probably because he had just left school at that time, he was always a little restrained when he saw women, and he felt it was inconvenient to look at them more. He worked as a trainee engineer in the factory and worked with workers in the machine room all day long. After he was familiar with it, he was transferred to another department.That life is very bitter, but that experience cannot be bought with money.The salary is extremely low, but fortunately his family does not rely on him to support the family.His home is not in Shanghai, he lives in Shuhui's home.

This is the first time for him to spend the lunar year outside.In the past, he didn't have a good impression of the New Year, because every New Year's day, there must be some unpleasant things in the family.The family was waiting for his father to come back to worship the ancestors and have a reunion dinner, but the small mansion deliberately detained him.Mother usually doesn't care much about these things, but New Year's Eve is an exception.She said: A family must always be like a family. The master should go home on time and take care of everything for the sake of the ancestors.

In fact, there is still a program of worshiping the ancestors there, because the father, the concubine, has been with him for a long time, and the population is more prosperous than here.Father has been stationed there for many years.It is rare to go home once, and his mother is also polite to him.Only during the Chinese New Year holidays, probably because she couldn't help but feel a sense of family background at this time, she often couldn't help but want to quarrel with him.Even at such an old age, he was still crying.This is the case every year, and Shijun has seen it since he was a child.This year is good, not at home for the New Year, and many troubles will be saved.But I don't know why, when the New Year's Eve comes, many people eat New Year's Eve dinner early, and the scattered sound of firecrackers can be heard everywhere, and an inexplicable sadness oppresses his heart.

On New Year's Eve, Shijun had a New Year's Eve dinner at Shu Hui's house, so he invited Shu Hui to go out to watch a movie. There was also a movie at midnight on the day he watched two shows.Watching such a play at midnight on New Year's Eve seems to have a special flavor, a little bit desolate amidst the excitement. Their factory only had three days off, but the small restaurant they used to eat at noon didn't open until after the fifth day of the Lunar New Year.On the fourth day of the junior high school, they went to eat together, but it was empty.I had to go back again, and the street was covered with little red confetti.Walking past a restaurant, but the door was open, Shu Hui said, "Let's eat here."This place will probably not officially open until the God of Wealth is taken over. Today it is still half open, with half a row of doors, and it is dark when you walk in.During the New Year, there was no business, but a young girl was sitting outside at a table as soon as she entered the door, wearing an old light gray sheepskin coat. There was only a pair of cups and chopsticks in front of her, and the food hadn’t been served yet. As if bored, he wore red wool gloves on his hand, and slowly wiped it down along his fingers, all the way to his palm, clamping one of the two fingers, and just wiped it in turn.When Shu Hui saw her, he gasped and said, "Miss Gu, you're here too!"As he said that, he was about to sit down at her table, but when he turned around and saw Shijun seemed a little hesitant, he said, "They are all colleagues, have you seen them?"This is Shen Shijun, and this is Gu Manzhen.She has a round face and the square in the ellipse is not square, it just has an outline.Fluffy hair, casually draped over the shoulders.Shijun's judgment of a woman's appearance, body and clothing is not analytical at first, he just thinks she is very good in general.She put both hands in her coat pocket, smiled and nodded to him.At that moment, he and Shu Hui dragged the bench away and sat down. The vermilion lacquer bench was covered with a layer of black oil. Before that, he couldn't help but look at the bench twice.

At this time, the waiter also came over, with two teacups between his fingers, and put them on the table.Seeing this, Shu Hui frowned again and again, saying: This place is not good, it is too dirty!The waiter poured them two cups of tea, and each of them ordered a meal.Shu Hui suddenly remembered, and said again: Hey, bring me two pieces of paper to wipe the chopsticks!The waiter had gone far away and didn't hear him.Manzhen casually said: Just sip it in the teacup, I don't think you guys want to eat this tea.As he said that, he took the pair of chopsticks in front of him, washed them in the teacup, picked them up, shook them, drained the water, and then put them on the teacup for him, and took Shijun's chopsticks with him. Taking it over, Shijun hurriedly leaned over and smiled: I will do it myself, I will do it myself!He doesn't look at anyone, just smiles.Shijun took the chopsticks and put them on the table.After I put it down, I suddenly had a second thought, the table was so greasy, and I put it down, the chopsticks were washed for nothing. I didn’t seem to care about it. She herself felt that she was being overly courteous.Thinking of this, he quickly picked up the chopsticks again, set them upright on the teacup just like her, and carefully aligned the ends of the two chopsticks.In fact, if the chopsticks are dirty, they are already dirty. Isn't this a deceitful thing?He felt a little embarrassed for no reason, so he accosted him and scoured the spoon in the teacup.At this time, the waiter was serving food. There was a bowl of clam soup. Shi Jun took a spoonful to drink it, and then said with a smile: Eating clams during the Chinese New Year is probably considered a good fortune or an ingot.Shuhui said: "Clams are also ingots, taro are also ingots, dumplings and eggs are also ingots, even green fruits and tea eggs are ingots. I said that we Chinese are really money-obsessed, and we can see in our eyes that everything looks like ingots."Manzhen laughed and said: You don't know, and there is a kind of coir raincoat insect, a kind of caterpillar, which often falls from the roof. The northerners call it Qianchuanzi.It can be regarded as crazy about money!Shijun smiled and said: Miss Gu is from the north?Manzhen shook his head with a smile, and said: My mother is from the north.Shijun said: Then you are also half a northerner.Shuhui said: "The small restaurant we often go to is a northern one, just across the way. Have you been there?"Not bad.Manzhen said: I have never been there.Shu Hui said: "Tomorrow we will go together."This place just doesn't work.So dirty!

From this day on, the three of them always eat together; the three of them have a guest meal, and they have three dishes and one soup together, and the eating is not so monotonous.Everyone is familiar to such an extent that there are times when they stand on the street and eat baked yams for a meal.Although they are familiar with each other, their conversation is limited to Shuhui and Manzhen talking about things in the office.The friendship between Shuhui and her seems to be limited to office hours.After leaving the office, not only did Shuhui not look for her, he didn't even mention her name.Once, he and Shijun talked about the personnel disputes in the factory, Shijun said: You are lucky, at least the two of you in the room get along well.Shuhui just hummed indifferently, and said: Manzhen is a good person.Very straightforward.Shijun didn't say anything further, otherwise, it seemed that he had become interested in Manzhen, and he would tell Shuhui some witty words later.

Another time, Shuhui suddenly mentioned in the chat: Manzhen told me about you today.Shijun was stunned for a while, then smiled and said: What are you talking about me?Shuhui smiled and said: She said why when I was with you, I was always the only one talking.I told her that everyone said I bullied you, and even my own mother defended you.Actually it's just a personality relationship, you just happen to be the kind of person who sings funny and plays the part.Shijun smiled and said: How about acting as a hand?Shuhui said: "It's not very good, but people often hit him on the head with a fan bone."Having said that, he laughed to himself.He said again: I know you really don't mind.This is to your benefit.I am the same as you in this point, just let people make fun of me, I am not the kind who only allows him to make fun of others, but does not allow people to make fun of him.Anyway, Shuhui never finished talking about himself.Probably a smart and beautiful person must be somewhat self-absorbed.He just continued to analyze the complex points of his own personality, while Shijun sat aside, but he was still thinking about how Manzhen talked about him.

Their factory is located in the suburbs. Although there are a few dilapidated streets nearby, there are fields within a few steps.Spring is here, and there is already a layer of green in the field, but the weather is still cold.On this day, Shijun got off work at noon, washed his hands hastily as usual, and went to the main office to look for Shuhui.Shuhui happened not to be in the room, and Manzhen was the only one sitting in front of the desk to sort out the documents.Indoors, she also wears a small red and blue checked scarf against a dark blue cloth burqa, which looks like a tall schoolgirl's attire.The blue cloth burqa has been washed so that the velvet turns gray and white, but the color has a gentle feeling, like the dark blue cover of a thread-bound book.

Shijun smiled and said, "Where's Shuhui?"Manzhen tilted his head slightly towards the manager's office, and said in a low voice: I always like to wait until five minutes before leaving get off work, and suddenly call you over to tell you something important.I am afraid that all the bosses have this temper.Shi Jun nodded with a smile.Leaning on Shuhui's writing desk, he reached out and flipped through the calendar hanging on the wall boredly, and said, "Let me see when the beginning of spring begins."Manzhen said: "Spring has already passed."Shijun said: Then why is it still so cold?He still flipped through the calendars one by one, saying: The printed calendars are relatively frugal now, only Sundays are red.I liked the calendars we had when we were little, with red for Sunday and green for Saturday.As soon as I tore it to Saturday, I was so happy to see the green characters.Manzhen laughed and said: That's right, when I was in school, Saturday was more fun than Sunday.Although Sunday is red, it is already a little sunset.

Just as we were talking, Shuhui came in, and as soon as he came in, he yelled at Manzhen: Didn't I tell you to go first?Manzhen smiled and said: What are you busy with?Shu Hui said: After dinner, we still need to choose a place with better scenery to take two photos. I borrowed a camera here.Manzhen said: In such a cold day, it doesn't look good to have a red nose and red eyes.Shuhui pouted at Shijun and said: Well, it's all for him.Their old lady wrote and asked him to send a photo.I said someone must be a matchmaker for him.Shijun blushed and said: What?I know my mother has nothing else but keep muttering that I must have lost weight, she doesn't believe me no matter what I say, she must have photos to prove it.Shuhui looked at him and said: You are not thin, it seems a little dirty.The old lady saw it and thought you were digging coal mines there, and she still felt the same distress.Shijun lowered his head to look at the overalls he was wearing.Manzhen smiled and said: Take a towel and wipe it off, I have it here.Shijun hurriedly said: No, no, no need, my black stains are all oil from the machine, and they can't be washed off with a towel.He picked out a bunch of waste paper from the wastebasket, and wiped it vigorously on his trouser legs twice.Manzhen said, "Where is this going?"She still took out a neatly folded towel from the drawer, soaked it in Shu Hui's leftover glass of boiling water, and handed it over.Shijun had no choice but to hold it, and when he wiped it, there was a large piece of black on the snow-white towel, and he felt really sorry. Shuhui stood in front of the window and looked at the sky, and said, "The sun is a little unreliable today, I don't know if the photo will be successful or not."As he spoke, he took out a comb from his suit trouser pocket, combed his hair facing the glass window, pulled up his tie, and stretched his neck.Seeing his self-pitying look, Manzhen couldn't help but pursed his lips and smiled.Shuhui turned his face and glanced slightly at his side, but kept urging Shijun: Are you ready?Manzhen said to Shijun: You still have a black spot on your face.No, here she found the small mirror in her purse again, and handed it to him to look at it herself.Shuhui smiled and said: Hey, Manzhen, do you have any lipstick?Lend him a use.Talking and laughing, he took the mirror from Shijun's hand and took a picture of himself. The three of them went out to eat together. To save time, one of them ordered a bowl of noodles, ate it hastily, and then walked to the suburbs.Shuhui said that this area is full of barren fields, which is too plain, and he remembered that there were two big willow trees in the past, which was very interesting.But walking, walking, always can not go.Seeing that Manzhen seemed to be a bit late, Shijun said: We are going too fast, right?After hearing this, Shu Hui also slowed down his pace, but this weather is really not the weather for walking.Driven by the cold, they unconsciously picked up their pace again.And go faster and faster.Everyone was panting, facing the wind, talking intermittently.Manzhen tried her best to hold down her flying hair, glanced at their heads, and said with a smile: Isn't it cold with your ears exposed?Shuhui said: "Why isn't it cold?"Manzhen smiled and said: I often think that if I become a man, I will definitely catch a cold all the time in winter. The two willow trees have already sprouted tender golden buds.They took several pictures under the tree.There is a picture of Shuhui and Manzhen standing together, and Shijun took it for them.The light gray sheepskin coat she was wearing was rolled up by the strong wind, and she covered her mouth with one hand, and the red velvet glove lined her face, making her look very pale. The sun was always thin that day.Before a roll of film was finished, the sky changed.Hurry up, halfway to the road, the spring snow has already started falling.When it rained, it turned into rain again.Walking past a small shop, Manzhen saw many oil-paper umbrellas hanging inside, and she wanted to buy one.When it is stretched out, there are blue and green colors, and there is also a kind of painted flowers.There was a bunch of purple grapes painted on one of them, she held it to look at it, and then looked at the other one without flowers, always unable to make a decision, Shu Hui said that women always shop like this.Shijun later said with a smile that the one without flowers is better, and she immediately bought the one without flowers.Shuhui said: The price doesn't seem to be cheaper than in the urban area.Wouldn't it be cheating on us?Manzhen pointed the tip of the umbrella at the signboard hanging on it, and said with a smile: Isn't it written that there is no deception?Shuhui laughed and said, "You're neither a child nor an old man. It wouldn't be a crime to bully you once." Walking to the street, Manzhen suddenly laughed and said: Oh, I lost a glove.Shuhui said: "It must have been thrown in that shop."I went back to the shop and asked again, but the shopkeeper said he didn't see it.Manzhen said: I didn't wear gloves when I counted the money just now.That is lost when taking pictures. Shijun said: "Go back and look for it."At this time, it was almost time to go to work, and everyone was eager to go back to the factory, so Manzhen said: Forget it, for such a glove!She said so, but she was somewhat disappointed.Things like Manzhen are close to trivial and stingy, but when Shijun thinks back many years later, things like her are still very memorable.Manzhen has such a temper, once something belongs to her, she always looks at it better, thinking it is the best in the world. He knows it because he once belonged to her. That day, when I returned to the factory from the suburbs, it rained non-stop. When I got off work in the afternoon, it was only five o'clock, and the sky was already dark.I don't know what kind of hazy state of mind caused him to walk to the suburbs again in the rain.It is very difficult to walk on the muddy field ridges, and every step is slippery.There is also the small tile house for coffins, like a dog house, lying low in the field ridges, I didn’t notice it when I came during the day, but I saw it in this dim rainy night, but I had a strange feeling.It was quiet all around, only the barking of the barking dog was heard.He didn't meet a single person along the way, only once, he saw someone from a distance holding a lantern and holding a big apricot umbrella, passing by the other side of the river.After walking for a long time, I found the two big willow trees.He shined it with a flashlight from a long distance, and as soon as he shone the light on the red glove under the tree, he felt happy at first.Walking up to him, he bent down to pick it up, shone it with a flashlight, held it in his hand and looked at it, but hesitated again.Take it to her tomorrow, how should I say it?Isn't it obviously strange that he walked such a long way in the rain just to find such a glove for her.His original meaning was just because he was sorry, and it was all because he wanted to take pictures, otherwise people would not lose things.But even he himself felt that this reason was not sufficient.So how to say?He really regretted coming here, but since he came here and found the thing, he might not be able to throw it in the ground again?He brushed the dirt off it a little and stuffed it into the bag.Now that you have taken it, you have to return it to others.It's even more a joke to keep it by yourself. At noon the next day, he went upstairs to his office.Fortunately, Shu Hui happened to be called inside again by the manager.Shijun took out the muddy glove from his pocket. He could have said this or that, but in the end he didn't say a word, just put it in front of her.If there was any expression on his face, it was one of aggrievedness, for he hadn't thought of it at first, or he wouldn't have asked himself to be so embarrassed. Manzhen was startled for a moment, took a look at the glove, and said: Huh?Hey, did you go again after yesterday?It was still raining on such a long road. At this point, Shuhui came in.Seeing Shijun's expression as if she didn't want to mention this matter, she mechanically kneaded the red glove into a ball, held it in her palm, and then stuffed it into the coat pocket while chatting up.Although her movements were calm, her face gradually turned red, she felt that something was wrong, her face was hot, which showed how hot she was just now.If you can't see it yourself, everyone must have seen it.Thinking of this, I felt anxious, and my face turned red again. Although they were so embarrassed for no reason at the time, it was okay afterwards. When eating together, her and Shijun's attitudes were the same as usual.The weather in spring fluctuates from hot to cold, and many people suffer from colds. Manzhen also fell ill one day, so she called the factory to ask Shuhui to take a day off for her.That afternoon, when Shuhui and Shijun returned home, Shijun said: Shall we go and see her?Shuhui said: "No."It seems that he may be seriously ill.It was supported yesterday.Shijun said: Do you know the address of her home?Shu Hui looked very hesitant, and said: I know, but I have never been there.You have also known her these days, and you have never heard her talk about the situation at home, have you?It can be said that she has no mystery at all, only this point seems a bit mysterious.Hearing these words to Shijun, he felt a little disgusted.Is it because he said she is too ordinary and has no mystery, or is it because he suspects that she has some ulterior secrets?That's not clear, but in short, it makes people feel doubly disgusted.Shijun said at the time: That's not a mystery, maybe her family has a lot of people and there is no place to entertain guests; maybe her family is still old-fashioned and doesn't approve of her making friends outside, so it's inconvenient for her to ask people to visit her. go home.Shu Hui nodded and said: "Whether they welcome you or not, I have to go."I'm going to ask her for the key, because there are two letters I need to check the draft and locked her in the drawer.Shijun said: Then let's go.But it's too late to go to someone's house at this time?Dinner was already cooking in the kitchen, and there was a loud chirping sound, and the sound of chirping vegetables being put into the pot spread upstairs in bursts.Shu Hui raised his hand to look at his watch, and suddenly heard his mother shouting in the kitchen: Shu Hui!Someone looking for you! Shuhui ran downstairs to have a look, but it was a baby born in the face.He was just feeling surprised, but the child held up a bunch of keys and handed them over, saying: My sister asked me to send them, and these are the keys on her desk.Shuhui smiled and said: Oh, you are Manzhen's younger brother?How is she? Is she better?The child replied: She said she was better and could come tomorrow.Seeing that he was only seven or eight years old, he was very sophisticated, he turned around and left after explaining his words, but Shu Hui's mother asked him to eat candy, but he refused to eat it. Shuhui shook the bunch of keys in his palm, and when he looked up and saw Shijun standing at the stairs, he smiled and said: She must be afraid that we will go, so she sent the keys in advance.Shijun smiled and said: Why are you so nervous today?Shu Hui said: "It's not that I'm oversensitive. The boy's expression just now seems to have been trained. He was told not to talk too much to outsiders."Could it be her brother?Shijun couldn't help getting a little impatient, and said with a smile: He looks a lot like her!Shuhui smiled and said, "Maybe it's her son?"Shijun felt that the more she said, the more absurd she became, and she was speechless.Seeing that he was silent, Shuhui said again: Women who come out to work are always called Miss XX, regardless of whether they are married or not.Shijun smiled and said: That is the case, but at least she is very young, which can be seen.Shu Hui shook his head and said, "It's hard to tell a woman's age!" Shu Hui usually talks about how women are, as if he has a lot of experience.In fact, when he first entered university, Shijun had heard his argument. At that time, Shijun knew that he had a girlfriend and a classmate named Yao Peizhen.He said what about women. The so-called women are synonymous with Yao Peizhen.There may be more than one Yao Peizhen now, but he still has more theory than practice.Shi Jun knew very well what he was like.What he said about Manzhen today was nothing more than what he thought of and what he said, there was absolutely no malice in it, and Shijun was not unaware of it, but he still felt it was very harsh.In all the years I've been with him, I've never been angry with him like this. That night, Shijun tweeted that he was writing a letter home, and he avoided talking to Shuhui all the time.Seeing that he was always sitting under the lamp, staring at the paper in a daze, Shu Hui thought it was because of family disputes that he was very preoccupied.