plum city

Chapter 103 Lost
Fang Guofei flew back from Xiamen and when he arrived home, Xu Ailian had been sent to the funeral parlor. Noi followed him to the funeral parlor to go through the formalities. Fang Yan was waiting for him at home. Fang Yan said to him:
"Father, my mother will be cremated the day after tomorrow, is that okay?"

Fang Guofei nodded and said, okay.

Fang Yan said to him: "Then I'll let Noi prepare for the farewell ceremony. I'll go to my grandparents' place. They don't know yet. I think it's better for me to go and tell them face to face."

Fang Guofei nodded and said okay, you go and do your work, I'm fine.

After Fang Guofei came back, he had always had a cold face. He Huijiao felt guilty and did not dare to talk too much to him, or even show too much face in front of him.

Throughout the afternoon, Fang Guofei sat in his study upstairs, turned on his computer, and looked at the photos of him and Xu Ailian on the computer.When they were young, they were very poor. Taking photos and developing them was a huge expense for them. They had to buy less clothes or eat less meals before they could afford to buy film to take pictures.

The camera was secretly taken out by Xu Ailian from home, and it was public property from her father's workplace.Two people will hesitate to buy Kodak or Fujifilm just because the difference between the two is more than one dollar per roll.Domestic Lucky film is cheap, but they won't consider it. If you take Lucky film to a developing shop to develop photos, even the store clerk will look at you with a look of disgust.

They were really poor at that time. Every time they went to take photos, it was like a grand ceremony that required several days of planning in advance.

When taking pictures, Fang Guofei was holding the camera with sore hands. He still hesitated to press the shutter. He wanted to find more beautiful scenery and capture more beautiful shots. After all, a roll of 135 film can only press the shutter 36 times. "Stealing" "If you take pictures, you can only steal 37 pictures at most.

Every time, Fang Guofei had to wait for Xu Ailian to pose and wait there with a rich expression. When she got impatient and scolded him, he shook his hand and pressed the shutter.

As a result, every time they developed the film, one-third of the images in a roll of film were blurry and were shaken off by Fang Guofei's hands. Even the clerk felt that there was no value in developing the film.Their salary is more than 40 yuan per person per month, and printing a color photo costs [-] cents, which is the lowest price in Hangzhou. They have a relationship with an acquaintance, and the clerk is also kind to them and helps them save money.

Fang Guofei couldn't help laughing when he thought about what happened at that time.In fact, at that time, what kind of scenes were needed? The young Xu Ailian was the scene. No matter where she stood or how she stood, she would look great when photographed. It was a pity that she had shaken off the film.

Fang Guofei looked at them one by one and was surprised to find that when they were poor and couldn't even afford to take photos, they took the most photos together.When they started to have money, got their own cameras, and no longer had to consider the price when buying film, the number of photos they took became less and less, and the number of photos they took together began to become less and less.

Xu Ailian mostly took photos with Fang Yan, and the last photo she took with Fang Guofei was on the day his building was built, and it was Yu Delong who took it for them.

They held the inauguration ceremony that day. Fang Guofei solemnly invited Xu Ailian and told her that your father and many leaders would come. It would be ugly if you didn't go.Xu Ailian agreed, but she only took a photo with Fang Guofei at the gate. Without going in, she walked diagonally across the street to Provincial Textile to go to work.

Fang Guofei stared at the last group photo for a long time. He finally sighed and started to delete all the photos saved in the computer one by one.

There is no need to keep them, everyone has left, so why keep the photos?

Fang Guofei stood up, walked to the bookshelf, took down several albums from the bookshelf, and put them into a vest bag. He took the equipment to the funeral parlor the day after tomorrow and burned them together with Xu Ailian.

This afternoon, Fang Guofei sat in his study. It was not until He Huijiao called him and told him that dinner was ready that he went downstairs.

During the meal, neither of them spoke. Fang Guofei didn't want to say anything, but He Huijiao couldn't think of what she should say before Fang Guofei said anything.She glanced at Fang Guofei secretly, but she couldn't tell anything from his face.

After eating, Fang Guofei stood up. He did not go to the living room and sit on the sofa in the living room, nor did he open the door and go out for a walk in the yard or community like before.He Huijiao stared at his back. She saw him walking to the door of Xu Ailian's room, pushing the door open and walking in.He Huijiao was a little surprised.She remembered that apart from Fang Guofei and her, who often came into her room in the middle of the night while Xu Ailian was asleep, and sat on the edge of her bed to work, Fang Guofei had never walked into Xu Ailian's room during the day or alone. Just like Xu Ailian never goes upstairs to Fang Guofei's room.

There seemed to be an invisible movable boundary between the two of them, and no one would cross it rashly.Sometimes, if you find that the other party has taken one more step and crossed the boundary, the other party will naturally take a step back, and the boundary will also move one step, and it is still there.

Others couldn't see where this boundary was, and neither could Fang Guofei and Xu Ailian themselves, but they knew in their hearts that this boundary was in their hearts.

He Huijiao watched the door of Xu Ailian's room close. She felt a little uneasy. She stared at the closed door from a distance for a long time, sighed, and then began to clear the dishes on the table.

When she finished her work in the kitchen and came out, the door to Xu Ailian's room was still closed, and He Huijiao didn't know if Fang Guofei was still inside.

She tiptoed over and stood at the door, listening. There was no movement inside.She didn't dare to open the door, but retreated, sat down on the sofa in the living room, and turned on the TV. She adjusted the volume of the TV to very low. Watching TV was fake, but she still listened carefully to Fang Guofei's movements. .

More than 20 minutes later, she heard the door opening of Xu Ailian's room. She sat there, pretending not to hear it and watching her TV intently, but her heart was pounding.

Fang Guofei came over, and when he was about to reach her, he stopped. He Huijiao waited, waiting for what Fang Guofei wanted to say to him. In the end, Fang Guofei didn't say anything, but walked past her, went upstairs, and went My own room.

He Huijiao waited for more than an hour, but Fang Guofei didn't come down. She stood up, walked to the stairs, and looked up. The lights on the third floor were on, but there was no movement at all.

He Huijiao came back and was still sitting on the sofa.

When it was about ten o'clock in the evening, Fang Guofei still didn't come down. He Huijiao stood up again, walked to the stairs, and looked up. The lights on the third floor were darkened, and there was still no movement at all.

He Huijiao hesitated for a while and did not dare to go upstairs. After all, his wife died just in the morning, so he always had to rest for a night, otherwise he would not be able to cope with it psychologically.

He Huijiao turned around and went to her room. She didn't sleep all night last night. During the day today, she felt like an actor. She had been acting all day. She was tired. She wanted to take a shower and have a good sleep.

After He Huijiao took a bath, she lay on the bed. As soon as she closed her eyes, all she saw was the shadow of Xu Ailian. Her eyes were wide open and her eyeballs were bulging. She wanted to wipe off her eyelids, but she couldn't. , Xu Ailian stared at her like that, so scared that He Huijiao quickly opened her eyes.

She was really tired and sleepy, but she couldn't fall asleep. He Huijiao got up and opened the drawer of the bedside table. There was mirtazapine wrapped in tissue, which she had licked several times. He Huijiao swallowed it.

No matter what, he doesn't have to get up to serve Xu Ailian tomorrow anyway. If Fang Guofei wants to find him, just let him walk into this room and climb onto this bed.

He Huijiao finally fell asleep without knowing it.

(End of this chapter)