Old Days Traces
This part of Han Jiang City was a busy area which consisted outmoded residential district, old-fashioned and narrow buildings that located close to each other and numerously scattered around, the huge wall faced the street already being painted with a hot red color word of "拆" （to be tear open), but at dusk, people pa.s.sed by busily, all the small shops were getting ready to open in order to thrive for a prosperous business day, there"s no a bit of sense of urgency of being resettled somewhere else.
Lu Fei got off of his car, and locked it, stood at the part of the noisy and disorder city center, same as before, he had an impressive appearance, he wore a grey t-shirt, deep color of slacks, stood tall and straight. It is August, it"s a hot summer time, although the sun already set, the weather still as hot as before, but this kind of weather didn"t affect him at all.
When he was about to get in, one grey Toyota Prado arrived at that cramped narrow residential area, stopped at the side road not far from him, one man and woman got off the car, both of them wore dirty clothes, dirty until one couldn"t make out the original color of the clothes. Then, the man opened the trunk, carried out a mixed of red and grey color knapsack and one bundle of unknown thing with long tube shape, and lifted to that woman, " Are you sure you don"t want to go eat together?"
"Come one, we are both smelled, all over our body full of bad smell, I think no restaurants will welcome us." The woman said it with a hoa.r.s.e voice. She carried all her things, waved to that man, then that man got into his car and drove away. She turned her body, spiritlessly crossed the narrow sidewalk, just right she faced Lu Fei, and immediately felt terrified.
"Hi, Xiao Chen."
Xin Chen didn"t immediately respond when she saw Lu Fei, as if there was a little distraught. There"s a moment that Lu Fei thought he recognized a wrong person, in his memory, Xin Chen has always a fair and white skin, bright and beautiful face, and yet the woman in front of him who is wearing sungla.s.ses, was somewhat different, she was so skinny and black. She wore a wrinkled blue t- shirt and olive green trousers, on her hips hanged on a dark grey waist purse, her clearly oily hair was in updo style. Then, Lu Fei stretched out his hand and took the knapsacks from her hand, he realized it quite heavy bag.
She unexpectedly laughed, showed her snowy white teeth, "Hi, Lu Fei, when did you come home?"
"Around half month ago."
"Why are you here?"
"Xiao Di told me that today you will be back."
"Once everyday she will help me water my flower, she surely tired," with hesitation she continued, "Let"s go inside and sit, it"s too hot outside."
Not looking at him, Xin Chen turned her body and entered the residential building.
Observing the slender and thin back of Xin Chen, Lu Fei suddenly felt a little bit absent-minded. Eleven years ago, the same time which is summer, he also went back here, although he was born this area, but his living area is completely different from this circ.u.mstances.
That time Lu Fei was 18 years old, and also like this he followed behind the 14 years old of Xin Chen"s back. She already started to grow, her jet black hair was put together into a ponytail, wore a white t-shirt, cowboy pants and flat sandals, strode her long slender legs. Under the sunlight, it faintly showed her bra straps, that time it made his heartbeat sped up.
Right now Xin Chen wore more conservative clothes, her shoes already lost its color and muddy, but her steps, the way her hips swayed and the movement her body, still were familiar to him, to the extent it had appeared so many times in his dream.
This section of living area was a.s.sembled with various old years of architecture, Xin Chen"s apartment is located the building which was built in the 20 century 70 years, the fifth grey-colored tower, there"s several cracked on the building"s wall. Entering a dark corridor, she put up her sungla.s.ses to the top of her forehead, then opened up her waist purse to take out small flash light with snowy white beam, and went up to the fifth floor. When they reached in front of her door, once again she reached inside her waist purse to fish out her keys.
"Let me open the door, Xin Di gave the keys to me." That time both of them were in very close distance, Lu Fei could smell the scent of Xin Chen"s body, it was an indescribable scent. As Lu Fei always has an unhealthy obsession with cleanliness, couldn"t refrain himself from frowning.
Xin Chen raised up her head, just in time to see his expression, slightly laughed, moved her body to step aside a little bit. She looked at him, he opened the door, and familiarly turned on the light.
"Was it you that come here and water the plant?" She abruptly asked
Lu Fei gave back the keys to her, "Recently Xiao Di is busy, she is preparing the spring season fashion show so she is quite busy."
She opened the air conditioning, " Sorry, I went out for half a month, so there"s nothing left inside the house, you just do as you please and sit down, I need to clean up myself." She kicked her shoes, returned to her bedroom to get the clothes and directly went inside the bathroom to wash her body and hair.
Once again, Lu Fei looked around the apartment, around approximately half month, regardless how busy he was, every night he always come once a day, watered the flower so it made him familiar with this apartment"s layout, but at this time when he saw around, still he felt unfamiliar. In his memory, young Xin Chen lived in small apartment with two rooms and a living room, the condition of her apartment and corridor were in mess. The first time, he got into this apartment, it was really a challenge for his cleanliness obsession.
Yet in front of him it"s different, all the things were excessively neat, pure white wall, chestnut color floorboard, the originally living room, one room, and kitchen s.p.a.ces were changed and decorated into somewhat a work-room, inside there was chair and a s.p.a.cious light colored working table with computer, printer, scanner, etc, which was placed orderly, the other side of the wall was placed a simple bookshelves which was consisted of books, magazines, folder, CD; Everything was put methodically in order. However, it didn"t really represent one"s interests" and hobbies" ornaments.
In the other corner was a open- end kitchen, there was a dining table with was divided into two sections, one for eating and another for cooking ingredient. There was also two high chairs, evidently, that she usually eat there.
Near the balcony"s door was placed a red velvet expensive couch, which had two flower embroidered cushion, it could be counted as the only womanly touch of home furniture.
The bathroom is next to bedroom, the gurgling sound of shower was heard from there, were echoing inside this cool and refreshing apartment, this sound somehow worried him.
He opened the door to balcony and went out, the stifling hot air welcomed him. The balcony cannot be said as small s.p.a.ce, other people"s apartment basically has transformed the balcony into a very small room, in order to maximize the limited s.p.a.ce of the apartment. Only Xin Chen"s apartment sustained this kind of layout, an open-door layout. The balcony was full out of many kinds of bonsai, many pots of jasmine which bring a good scent, an asparagus plant which had grown almost to 1 meter, one pot of pomegranate tree which already piles of fruit. On the corner of the balcony, there was also various color of Chinese rose, the flowers were blooming beautifully. The other plants were hydrangea, j.a.panese rose, and geranium. This balcony was neatly laid out into a small and delicate garden, the sole eyesore was the balcony was covered with ugly iron railing to protect the apartment from theft, fortunately around the iron railing was white-edged morning glory grew and covered it and made the iron railing invisible.
He pulled out the small water jar to fill the big spray bottle, and started to water the plants, in the twilight, the water was sprayed even and light, the water looked translucent around the flowers" petal.
Even this balcony didn"t appear like what it used to be, in the past the flowers here was not vary, but there was only two pair of old rattan chair, Lu Fei and Xi Chen used to be sitting there, chatted while looked at the opposite of grey building.
He continuously believes, his memory is reliable, but this half- month, even though it is raining heavily that the plant didn"t need to be watered, he will come alone and sit down for a long time, but he still can"t find the old trace of old days. He cannot stop doubt, lingered around the memory from the bottom"s of his heart, after all it"s not the same as reality now.
This time, a group of pigeons swept past from the top of the balcony, Lu Fei put down the water spray, looked through the vine of morning glory, the pigeon flew far and circled back, with the same angle and trajectory, the pigeons was in his vision again.
" I hate that that Uncle Lu fed this group of pigeon, day by day dirtied may balcony, very early in the morning, they will made a rumbling noises, made one cannot fall sleep." Young Xin Chen complained back in the past.
In the end, there still things that was unchanged.
It was heard from inside the apartment Xin Chen low laughter, " It"s up to you to believe or not, contradicted to the past, now I like this group of pigeon very much."
This time Xin Chen joined a self- drive tour to Tibet, together with other seven or eight member of outdoor club, took two off-road vehicles, pa.s.sed through 30 small/ big towns, approximately 8000 km, almost half-month time they didn"t have time to have proper bath. For a long time she already used to the hygiene circ.u.mstances of outdoor world. In every car there was 4 people, in anyway the small s.p.a.ces was full of muddy scent, it made everyone numbed with the smells, no one blamed it to anyone. So now she throughly washed herself from head to toe, applied the skin care. When it"s done she felt refreshed, practically felt reincarnated.
Lu Fei"s turned around and saw her standing figure with white t-shirt, short cowboy pants, and semi dry black hairs that spread out on her shoulder. After showering, her face clearly a little flushed with a bright eyes and she smiled which showed her dimple on her left cheeks.
She and he possessed the same memory, she clearly understood what had been he thinking. Lu Fei who always calm and arrogant, consciously aware, in front of her, always can revealed his fluctuated mood.
"This group of pigeon don"t disturb you?"
"They are still noisy as before, but unexpectedly there"s one day", she absent-mindedly said, " I just used to it."
Lu Fei remained standing on the balcony, this time the sky gradually turned dark, in the semi dark situation, she couldn"t really recognize his expression, " Why did you put this iron railing? It"s really ugly." He pointed to the railing that he thought it look like a big birdcage.
"There was time, when there"s a lot of thieves around here, I wanted to put my flowers here, and don"t want to close off this area, so I can"t help but to install the railing, as what it usually said that safety is more important than beauty."
"You are a girl, why do you must live here alone, doesn"t Xin Di"s apartment have one empty room? The public security there is better than here." Lu Fei frowned.
"If one has an apartment why should one live at other people"s house? Moreover, we have more freedom when living alone, I think Xin Di also think this way."
"Doesn"t this part of area will be demolished and relocated soon, what is your future plan then?"
"It"s quite early to think that way, the issues of relocation had been spread out for so many years, but there"s still not set yet it"s like a thunder but has no rain."
"The company that I"m working in and Hao Tian group had decided to take over and finance the the project of transforming this area, so heavy rain will probably fall soon.
Xin Chen was startled, she kept silent for a while and shrugged her shoulder, " Then I need to a.s.sess how much is the compensation fee, the worst thing is I will sleep on the street. Let"s go have a dinner, I"m hungry. How long will you be here? It"s my treat, regard it as your home welcoming and farewell party."
"This time I am coming, I will stay here for quite long time."
Lu Fei"s voice sounded tranquil, Xin Chen seemed to be surprised, she opened her eyes and looked at Lu Fei. Lu Fei can see clearly, her eyes turned gloomy, finally showed overly astonished emotion, and immediately shifted her eyes.
"Is that true?" Her voice suddenly turned low, " O, that"s good."
She walked to the shoe cabinet in the porch, took out a pair of dark gold ballet flat shoes, then raised up her head, restored her normal expression, laughed and said: " Let"s look for restaurant, this half month I only eat "pig food", I"m really hungry."
Lu Fei drove to the restaurant nearest in the business center area, this restaurant had been opened for about a year, and all along their business was quite good, they served local and Cantonese style dish, it cannot be said to be a special one, but its interior decoration was refined, and matched with the taste of businessman, and the atmosphere was quieter than the other Chinese restaurants.
In the past Xin Chen"s strong appet.i.te had arise people"s curiosities that how can she maintain her fine body. It is because no matter how much food she eats, she will not be fat. What happened today was out of Lu Fei"s antic.i.p.ation, despite her strong hunger, her appet.i.te was not as good as he predicted. She appeared to be very excited when ordered the food, but when the dishes came out, she just indifferently ate.
"It doesn"t suit your appet.i.te?"
"It"s probably because of the instant noodle, biscuit, and chocolate ate when I was on the road, those kind of food made my stomach felt uncomfortable, it obviously I felt hungry but I don"t feel like eating."
"Didn"t you dislike instant noodle?" He remembered her stubbornness in the past that she would rather cooked a pasta as she will not be willingly eat instant noodle.
Xin Chen laughed, " Now I eat everything, being away from home. If there"s a mantou (chinese white steamed bread) fell in the ground, I probably will pick it up, pat the dust for a while, then eat it. Nothing is taboo for me anymore." She lowered her hand and ate one of the dish Lu Fei ordered for her, the hasma (type white snow fungus)in papaya stew, while slightly knitted her brow.
Lu Fei watched her attentively and realized her expression looked like a young girl who throws tantrum after being forced to drink a flu medicine, but she clearly didn"t have this intention, as matter of fact, she really forced herself to swallow the food.
"Your journey to Tibet was surely difficult, right?"
Of course it was a long and difficult trip, the accommodation conditions were really simple and crude, there was alt.i.tude sickness, also sometimes there was a sudden rainstorm happened, nasty road conditions, even more once came across mudslide, one car has broken 2 tires, but it didn"t really matter. Xin Chen already used to all of these traveling accident and thought it as inevitable things, " It"s not bad, we were fully prepared, majority of the people already had experiences, so basically this can regard as a smooth journey.
"In spite of everything, I don"t really know since when you started to enjoy outdoor traveling and gardening."
"From the day I realized that I need to have hobbies to pa.s.s the days. What about you? Do you still enjoy listen to cla.s.sic music, and play chess?"
Their conversation progressed to each one of them daily life, " Yes, do you still play chess too?
Xin Che shook her head, " I have even forget the rules." She had quite good memory, but after the senior high school graduation, she never played chess anymore, though there were sometimes chess matches in the university, because the chess club"s members are little, you could sign up freely, but there was not even once she was tempted to join. Stopping for a moment, she asked again, " Settle down? Are you coming back for work? Why did"t I hear any of it from Di Zi?"
Lu Fei stayed silent for a moment, "Last time, three years ago summer days, I came back from Bei Jing, and you happened to be out of town."
"Last time…" Xin Chen gazed at the papaya stew in front of her, it made her appet.i.te lower, cannot help but secretly felt puzzled, didn"t know when her appet.i.te will recover, "O, I remember, I went to Xi An."
"Wow that is coincidence? The previous day I called and told Xiao Di that I wanted to go home, the next day you registered to travel to Xi An, I just got off the plane and you left, the time was fit perfectly. Furthermore, .." He fixed his gaze on her, and spoke slowly, " Did you really go to Xi An?"
Xi Chen looked to him with sense of shocked, pursed up her lip, and didn"t say anything.
"It"s right, you really go to Xi An direction, but you joined Qin Ling path tour which was the most difficult, most torturous that you need to walk by foot for seven days, lastly nearly gave out your life."
"It"s not that extreme."
"Then news that I heard from browsing in the internet were inaccurate. Two backpackers was tired out because they were trapped there in the pine forest for 3 days and three nights, there was also a girl seriously dehydrated, it was really a life-threatening experience that the local polices was commanded to search and rescue them. I had ever asked Xiao Di, she said that she and father didn"t really familiar with this conditions, you didn"t even call home."
"That happened because I lacked of experiences, but it"s not really a near- death experience, I just being sent to hospital and infused then I"m okay, I didn"t really need to call back home and made them worry. It"s because I refused being interviewed, so the local reporter just wrote it recklessly without evidences." Xin Chen said unconvincingly, "But how did you know? The article should not mention my name, I even didn"t allow them to take photo?"
Lu Fei didn"t answer her question, just calmly looked at her, at the end showed a pain expression, "Was it to avoid me, Xiao Chen? My return unexpectedly let you felt trouble?"
Xin Chen laughed bitterly, " Why can you think like that? Though you didn"t tell me that you would come back, why should i avoid you, and why was it necessary to hide?"
"I didn"t let Xiao Di told you my return this time because I"m afraid the moment I tell, you will simply stayed at Tibet and never come back."
"It will not happen, before traveling to Tibet you need to be prepared at least two months prior, to plan the route, itinerary, and time." Xin Chen still laughed, " moreover, before the journey I already received my three months salary in advance. Now I"m back, I must do overtime to support myself, certainly impossible for me to run."
"Hearing that I will stay here for a long time, you seem to be unhappy."
"I"m happy or not, it will not change anything. This city is not mine, in reality, there"s nothing here that belong to me, everyone can come, go, and stay, it"s a normal thing." Xin Chen didn"t want to try to maintain serene, she put down her spoon, " I really cannot eat anymore, I"m too tired, I want to go home and rest."
Lu Fei drove her back home, they both got off the car, He sent her inside. Xin Chen suddenly stopped, looked toward the small store which was already close, under the street lights, she looked toward the wall that has the word "拆"(tear down). She slowly moved her head and looked at Lu Fei, and laughed. Under the pale yellow light, her laughter was bright and beautiful like a blossoming flower. That moment, Lu Fei held his breath.
"Being tore down is also good, it"s time to leave here. I still don"t believe, that I unexpectedly have been living here for a long time, so long until I don"t really know how many years have it been