i was my mistake

"The important thing is not the money, but the meaning!"

"Hey, it's not that the meaning is more important, but that the money is not enough."

Ye Chen was dumb, and after thinking for a long time, he was speechless.

When she got home, she rummaged under the bed.

After looking for it disheartened, I finally found this wooden box containing toys in the innermost part.

The last time I found it, it was also under the bed. At that time, there was more dust on it than now, and Wan Qing planned to just throw it away like this, and don't want it anymore.

Ye Chen is glad that he still has this childhood memory, otherwise what his mother left him would be gone.

Gently patted off the dust on the box, inside were familiar slingshots and marbles, and some messy gadgets, with obvious signs of wear and tear on them, which meant that I had taken them to 'conquer' many places.

This small box does not actually have any interlayer, but there is a padded shell inside, just like a thermos bottle with a liner, remove the liner, and you can directly touch the real shell from the inside.

It took her a long time to take it out, and sure enough, she found an old-fashioned red envelope with the words "Peace in Sui Sui" written on it. When she opened the red envelope, there was a piece of pine and cypress leaf that had dried up to the point of pitch black. , and two banknotes wrapped in oiled paper.

——Those are two red five-dollar bills, with the pattern of great national unity printed on them. This kind of banknote was rarely seen when Ye Chen was a child, and until now, it has almost ceased to be in circulation.

But after so many years, the money is still neatly folded, looking brand new, with a hint of ink fragrance.

Mother didn't leave any note, if Ye Chen found it by herself, she would probably think that it was the 'huge' New Year's money that she got from someone when she was a child and put it in here.

Wanqing was about to sit down when she heard a 'puff puff' sound from outside the door, she pushed the door open, and it was Xiaobai standing at the door scratching the door panel, her father was not there, it seemed to be alone... oh no, A dog came running up.

"Come in." Wan Qing put it in, walked towards the bedroom, and asked casually, "How much is it?"

"Ten yuan—you really still care about this."

"Hey, it's an old banknote."

"Yes."

"After more than ten years, you can sell it for some money."

"...How can such a meaningful thing be sold!"

"Okay." She spread her hands, "I hope you won't have a day when you sell 'meaning'."

……

102. All night New Year's Eve

There are only a few rooms in the small apartment. At this moment, the whole room is brightly lit, all the lights are on, and the sound of the TV is still turned on loudly. Although they are the only two in the room, there is still no sound. It seemed so deserted.

Xiaobai curled up next to Wanqing's feet, and she used it to warm her feet. There were a lot of melon and fruit snacks on the table. Not only were there many types, but the quantity was also large, to the extent that people could get tired of eating them.

It's far from being that extravagant on weekdays.

But these things are actually not particularly expensive. They are all Chinese pastries that you will buy during the Chinese New Year, which is cheap and plentiful.

For example, on the pink plastic plate, there are the most representative types: Jingguo, old-fashioned cake, mochi candy, sesame candy, festival cake...

Others are cheap 'junk food' such as spicy strips and puffed snacks.

There are also small snacks that my father made in the kitchen-if those oil residues, fried rice cakes, and salt-and-pepper peanuts can be considered snacks.

"The screen of this color TV should be... seven to nine inches." Wan Qing stretched out her hand and gestured, "It doesn't feel much bigger than a mobile phone."

"It's really small, but it seems that such a small one is expensive, right?"

"That's right, this kind of small one is not the kind of popular product - but although the screen is small, the size of this thing is not small, and the 'butt' is so big at the back, even if it is expensive, it is not that expensive. Muttering Wan Qing, she picked up a jingguo sprinkled with icing sugar and stuffed it into her mouth. This thing was called 'pipagan' in her grandmother's house. She didn't know the exact word, but it was pronounced like this anyway. correct.

So much so that at the beginning, she really thought that this thing was fried with loquats, but it was only later that she realized that it was actually fried with glutinous rice...

There are also places where this thing is called 'Xuezao', which is closer to it in comparison.

Now I’m watching a local channel, and it’s playing Stephen Chow’s movie at the moment. To my surprise, it’s actually in Cantonese, with subtitles, but it’s a bit laborious because it’s far away.

"Pfft." Ye Chen, who was watching this movie for the first time, was so teased by one of the plots that he spit out, covered his mouth with his hands and coughed forcefully, "Cough, cough!"

"What are you doing?"

"It's so funny."

"This episode is indeed quite classic." Wan Qing nodded, but she has watched Stephen Chow's movies many times, and although she still smiles knowingly when she sees them, she is not as exaggerated as Ye Chen .

"By the way, what time is it?"

"02:30." Wan Qing glanced at the time in the upper right corner of the TV. Most of the channels would show the time of City B in the upper right corner from time to time. In this era when there is no network to automatically adjust the time, many devices rely on this. calibrated.

"Oh, it's still early."

"Can you hold on?"

"I feel very refreshed."

"yes."

"Tch... what about you?"

"I'm very energetic. I can stay up all night until dawn. I'm a professional in staying up all night. I've passed more nights than you."

"...You really can be shy about anything." Ye Chen lay down on the table and leaned against Wan Qing, his head touching her palm, "What will you do all night in the future?" Woolen cloth?"

"Then there are a lot of entertainment, let's not say far away, even in the [-]s, I played games all night at that time. I remember that the first game console I bought was a second-hand Sega game console. On the TV I repaired by myself, I played it all night long, and that was probably the happiest time, there was no pressure in life, and I didn’t have much demand for the future, as long as simple entertainment, I could always be happy.”

"Not at work, you."

"Come on, I'll be sleepy the next day."

"Don't you feel guilty at all?"

"Cough, that kind of thing is only occasionally, usually during the holidays. At that time, I was working in a small company and was responsible for debugging their computers. Sometimes there was a problem with the dial-up Internet connection, and I had to deal with it. For a while, I lived in the company, staying up all night and sleeping during the day, calling me up for maintenance if something happened."

"This company treats you very well."

"It was good, but unfortunately it closed down later." Wan Qing looked regretful, and pointed to the dried figs on the other corner of the table, "Bring me a bag of dried figs, I can't reach them."

"Is it enjoyable all night?"

"It's very enjoyable when I'm in good health, because I feel that the time at midnight is completely my own. At that time, everyone generally goes to bed early, and the streets are empty at ten o'clock. There are no people." Wan Qing took Ye Chen's hand. I picked up a handful of dried figs and stuffed them into my mouth, "Huh, it's quiet outside, whether I'm watching movies or playing games, it's very enjoyable, as if the whole world belongs to me alone."

"Sounds different from staying up all night during the Chinese New Year?"

"Of course, staying up all night during the Chinese New Year is at best a routine." She muttered and tapped her lower back, "But I don't want to stay up all night when I get older, I wish I could go to bed early."

"Because your body is failing?"

"Yes."

"Ah, the last bag of figs is dry."

"You want to eat?" Wan Qing bit off the half in her mouth, and stuffed the remaining half into Ye Chen's mouth, "Then you eat."

She hesitated for half a second, but still opened her mouth to accept Wan Qing's feeding.

"However, as you get older, it's not easy to fall asleep even if you want to sleep. It's easy to suffer from insomnia and be very irritable."

"...I didn't want to sleep when I was young, and I couldn't sleep when I was old." Ye Chen twitched the corners of his mouth, "You really know how to torment yourself."

"This is life, so don't you see that I go to bed early and get up early now? Being able to sleep for eight hours is really the happiest thing in the world."

Ye Chen, who was lying on the table, raised his head slightly, and looked at Wan Qing who was staring at the TV intently.

There was a smile from the heart on her face, and her brows were stretched, as if she was extraordinarily relaxed.

Ye Chen grinned and smiled secretly, it seemed that when Wan Qing was in a good mood, she would also feel happy.

The two of them just chatted one after another, and the time passed slowly in this dark night without any change.

I finished watching a movie from beginning to end, and even switched to another channel to watch two episodes of TV series.

Ye Chen couldn't help but yawned: "It's a bit cold... what do you think?"

"A little bit." Wan Qing picked up the water glass and took a sip, but there was no water in it, "Pour some hot water for me."

"You are really good at calling people..." Ye Chen muttered, bent down to pick up the hot water bottle, and shook it vigorously, "It's gone."

"Burn it."

"Oh."

"Feeling a bit boring."

"Sleepy? Are you going to sleep? You said you could stay overnight casually."

"Isn't it because there are too few entertainment methods in this era?" Wan Qing squinted at her and stretched her waist. She walked to the window and looked out, and saw that the signboard light in the bathroom was still on. Changing colors in the early morning night, "The bathroom seems to be still open."

"Ok?"

"Would you like to take a bath?"

"...Didn't I wash it today?"

"That was yesterday."

Ye Chen was taken aback for a moment, and then realized what it meant.

"Sleep after taking a shower?"

"Let's talk after taking a shower." Wan Qing twisted her waist left and right, looked at the clock on the wall, "It's four o'clock, and it will be dawn in a while."

"Want to have breakfast?"

"I've been eating all night." Wan Qing drooped her eyelids, and swept the fruit shells and plastic paper on the table into the trash can, "You're a pig, you still eat."

"...you are the only one who can't stop eating."

"Didn't you destroy so many melon seeds? Eat so many, be careful not to get angry."

"Cough... I can't help but eat melon seeds when I watch TV..." Ye Chen coughed dryly, "Do you still need to boil the water?"

"Burn it, you can drink it when you come back, I'll get the clothes."

"Help me take it too!"

"got it."

After Wan Qing and Ye Chen finished boiling the water, they went out with the washbasin in their arms, and left Xiao Bai, who was already asleep, at home.

From the corridor came his father's slightly excited shout: "It exploded!"

The door of a house was open, and following the light, the two of them leaned over and saw four men sitting around a table in that house, with a circle of chatting women sitting beside them.

Dad was one of them sitting there playing cards.

"Dad's spirit is so good." Ye Chen sighed softly, "I'm a little sleepy now."

"After all, he's used to being busy late every day." Wan Qing yawned big, "Let him play, let's take a shower."

"Want to say hello?"

"Forget it, there are so many people there, I'm too lazy to join in the fun."

"Oh……"

The two took the elevator downstairs, walked for a while in the cold wind, and finally came to the door of the bathroom.

From time to time, a few fireworks will bloom in the sky, and occasionally there will be the continuous explosion of the thousand-gun cannon in the alley.

The smell of gunpowder smoke in the air is still strong, but it is much better than the state that was visible to the naked eye just after the fireworks were set off.

The bathroom door is still open, but it doesn't look like there is anyone at all.

The boss was smoking a cigarette and watching TV, and the ashtray in front of him was already full of cigarette butts.

"Boss, take a shower, what's the price today?"

"Oh, the old price."

"Two people."

"Row……"

After collecting the money, the slightly sleepy boss casually threw the key to the locker and lit another cigarette.

Sure enough, there was no one in the women's bathroom, and the pool filled with green bath water was also clean, as if no one had used it today.

"Wow, it's so empty!"

"No one is nice." Wan Qing nodded cheerfully, "Let's take a bath today, the water in this pool should not be dirty today."