plum city

Chapter 1 Going to Meicheng

After exiting the mountain gate of the cemetery, Fang Yan drove the car and turned left.

He did not go back to the city the way he came. He wanted to go to Meicheng, a small town more than 100 kilometers away.

After driving for more than ten minutes, before reaching the highway, Fang Yan's cell phone rang. He looked over and saw it was Noi. Fang Yan pulled the car over, picked up the phone, and pressed the answer button.

"Hello, where are you?" Noy's voice came from the phone, and his voice was a bit harsh.

"Oh, I'm outside. I went to another place. By the way, I may not come back for a few days. Please keep an eye on me in the company." Fang Yan said.

"Come again...what's going on with you lately? Why are you always like this? Are you hiding something from me?" Noi asked him repeatedly, his voice a little impatient and a little jealous.

"No, no, I just have an old personal matter that needs to be dealt with. I'll be back in a few days." Fang Yan said quickly.

"Okay, okay, I get it!" Noi was really impatient and hung up the phone.

Fang Yan could imagine that at this time, Noi must be biting his lip, frowning slightly, a blush on his fair face, and his cheeks bulging.

This is what Noi looks like when he's angry.

Whoever walks into her office first at this moment will definitely be in trouble.

Fang Yan shook his head and put down the phone.He knew that he had been invisible in the company these days, and now he said that he was going out for a few days. As a woman, and a woman who was very close to him, Noi would naturally think about whether there were other women around him. .

Fang Yan sighed.

His adoptive father was critically ill, and Fang Yan went to the hospital every day for the past two days, but he didn't talk to anyone, including Noi.Fang Yan himself didn't know why he did this. He felt as if he and his adoptive father were settling accounts silently. This account only belonged to the two of them and no one else could covet it.

Now it is clear that his adoptive father passed away the night before yesterday. He did not even enter the morgue of the hospital. The funeral car took him directly from the hospital ward to the freezer of the funeral parlor.

Yesterday morning, Fang Yan went to the funeral home to go through the formalities. The staff at the funeral home asked him when he was going to be cremated. Fang Yan asked:
"Can I be cremated right now?"

The other party seemed to be startled, and stared at him for a long time before saying slowly:
"If we can't arrange it, it won't be until tomorrow at the earliest."

Fang Yan said yes, then tomorrow.

The other party shook his head. He must have thought this guy was unreasonable. Are you in such a hurry? Do you want to say goodbye to your loved ones, or are you anxious to destroy the body and eliminate traces of it?If it weren't for the hospital's death certificate, which clearly stated that he died of pancreatic cancer, the staff would have called the police.

And Fang Yan felt that no one was still on the road for funeral at this time, and there was no need to wait for someone to say goodbye to his adoptive father's body. What was the point of keeping it frozen in the icehouse? Isn't it better to be cremated a day earlier and buried a day earlier?

Next, Fang Yan can be said to have completely angered the other party.

She asked Fang Yan if she wanted to hold a memorial service, and Fang Yan said no.What about the farewell ceremony?Fang Yan shook his head.Even the smallest farewell hall, a final and simple farewell?Dialect said it was not necessary.

The other party sighed, and then asked, "You always need quilts and clothes, right?"

Fang Yan said: "No need, it turns out he can wear whatever he wants. He wasn't brought naked from the hospital."

The other party stared at Fang Yan and asked sarcastically: "Does that mean you don't even need the simplest makeup?"

Fang Yan is right when he says, “I don’t like makeup when I’m alive, so I won’t wear makeup when I’m dead.”

The staff member was really angry. He tapped the table with his hand and asked, "Who are you, the deceased?" "Son, what's wrong?" Fang Yan asked back.

The staff member nodded and almost gritted his teeth: "Son, okay, okay, what a good son! Goodbye, I won't send him off. At 09:30 tomorrow morning, you can go directly to the cremation workshop at the back to confirm the body, and then you can wait to collect the ashes."

While they were talking, other staff in the service hall and the family members of the deceased who were waiting to go through the formalities looked at them, mainly at Fang Yan.When Fang Yan turned around and left, he heard someone behind him curse in a low voice:
"brute!"

Fang Yan didn't bother to pay attention.

Fang Yan felt that if his adoptive father knew about his choice of this method, he would definitely agree.Until the end, he still maintained such a distant relationship with him, which must be what his adoptive father needed. He didn't want to be disturbed by anyone, including Fang Yan.

Four years ago, after her adoptive mother passed away, her aunt Yu, who had been taking care of her, also quit her job and left. From that day on, her adoptive father lived in seclusion in the villa and refused everyone to visit.An old friend arrived at the door of the villa and kept ringing the doorbell, but no one answered. He thought there was no one in the house, so he called Fang Yan.

Fang Yan knew that his adoptive father was inside, but he was unwilling to open the door. Fang Yan lied and said, "Oh, uncle, you didn't contact me beforehand? My father went to Dali to relax and relax, so he is not at home."

For four years, my adoptive father has been in the villa and has never left.No one visited, not even a delivery person.Every week, Fang Yan buys a lot of things and vegetables, goes to the villa, and fills the refrigerator.She would also cook by herself, prepare a table of dishes, and have a meal with her adoptive father. During the meal, the two of them did not talk.

There was a glass of wine in front of both of them. The adoptive father took a book and spread it on the table. He drank and read the book.Fang Yan, on the other hand, was drinking and scrolling through his mobile phone. They ate the food of both of them to the same extent as one person.

After eating, Fang Yan would go back to his room in the villa, lie down for an hour or two, and wait for the smell of alcohol to dissipate before leaving and returning to his home in the city.Before leaving, he would walk to his adoptive father's door and see his adoptive father's door closed, with light leaking from under the door.

Fang Yan reached out and tapped the door twice, and said, "I'm leaving."

The adoptive father said "Oh" at the door.

Fang Yan turned around and left, walked out of the villa door, and walked down the steps. He would always take a look at the pomegranate tree in the yard. He felt that this pomegranate tree was swaying in the dark night, and its branches and leaves were becoming more and more lush. The night wind blew and rustled. Rustling, as if he had something to say to himself.

Sometimes, Fang Yan would stand in the shadow of the pomegranate tree for a while, then walk across the yard to the car parked outside the yard, and drive back to his house in Qianjiang New Town.

At the beginning, Fang Yan thought about letting his adoptive father go to the city and live with him. Before he finished speaking, his adoptive father said:
"No need, I'm fine here alone."

Fang Yan shut up immediately, knowing in his heart that he didn't need to say too much.

His adoptive mother had just passed away and when Aunt Yu had just left, Fang Yan thought that it would be too boring for him and his adoptive father to eat alone in such a big house and such a big restaurant.He took Noi with him. When his adoptive father saw Noi, he was happy for a while and expressed his welcome, but his attitude was always neither salty nor indifferent.

After dinner, when Noi went to the kitchen to wash the dishes, his adoptive father looked at Fang Yan and said word by word: "Don't bring other people here in the future."

He said "oh" in dialect.

Since then, he never took Noi there again.

That day, his adoptive father called Fang Yan. It was probably the most important thing his adoptive father had said to him in so many years as father and son. He said:

"Fang Yan, I seem to be dying soon. If you have time, come and take me to the hospital. If not, forget it. You can just come and collect my body in a few days."

After putting down the phone, Fang Yan immediately called an ambulance and asked them to rush directly to the villa. He immediately rushed downstairs, drove his car, and arrived at the villa before the ambulance arrived.

When he opened the door and went in, he saw his adoptive father, neatly dressed, sitting on the sofa in the living room. However, his eyes were no longer cold and sharp, which would make most people shudder, but were relaxed.

When he saw Fang Yan, a rare smile slipped across his face: "I thought you were busy and couldn't come. You were going to sit here and wait to die."

(End of this chapter)