A letter from a strange man

On Zhang Hui's birthday, it happened to be the winter solstice.

Thinking that Jingling is from the south, Zhang Hui collected a lot of ways to make rice cakes, but he tried it a few times, but he was afraid that the taste would not be authentic, so he rushed to Jingling and hadn't contacted him for a few days. He might be preparing for him. Flying to Jing Ling's hometown during the time of plotting a birthday surprise.

It was the first time he came to this southern city. Unlike the harsh dry cold in the north, the south has a damp cold that penetrates into the bone marrow. As a native northerner, Zhang Hui can't adapt to it.

He doesn't have any special feelings for this city, but whenever he thinks that his elf once grew up here and spent the first 18 years, he is full of different feelings for this land and water.

He somewhat empathized with the feelings that Jing Ling had in the past. When he went to the place where the person he liked came or went, the thought that he might have walked the same street, breathed the air of the same place, and listened to the same place. The language of a place seems to be able to get closer to that person.

But after all, he is luckier than Jing Ling. What he has in his heart is a one-sided bitter secret love, while his heart is full of concern and affection for his lover.

Zhang Hui sent people to check the streets and alleys where Jing Ling lived when he was a child, and also asked about the most authentic restaurants nearby that made rice cakes. He thought that food made from the same water and soil might have a familiar taste.

Finally, I found out that it was a not too big shop in a somewhat remote alley.

It was already late when we arrived, and some thin snow fell, hitting Zhang Hui's shoulders and hair.

The shop is already closed, Zhang Hui is a little regretful, if it is not impossible to wait until tomorrow, but in that case, the time to go back will be later.

The people passing by him suddenly stopped, seeing that he stopped at the door of the small shop with a somewhat disappointed look, they asked him: "Sir, do you want to buy rice cakes?"

I suddenly remembered Jing Ling's familiar accent when she was acting like a baby or when she was wronged, and Wu Nong's soft words.

He looked at the passer-by, who was a grandmother, and said, "Yes, Auntie, can I ask you what time this store opens tomorrow morning?"

Listening to his accent, the grandma smiled and asked, "Young man, are you a foreigner?"

Zhang Hui smiled politely and nodded: "I am from City B, and my wife is from City H."

Grandma understood, and then asked: "Then did you come here on purpose?"

Zhang Hui said: "Yes, I want to learn the authentic way and do it for him on the day of the winter solstice." In this way, I can know more about him, as he did all the time when he had a crush on him.

Grandma was puzzled: "Why don't you just buy it back, and besides, how can it spread to the outside world because it is an exclusive craftsmanship?"

Zhang Hui thought about it for a while: "No, I still want to learn how to make it for him every winter solstice in the future. As for the exclusivity, I think there is always a way."

The aunt suddenly laughed happily, and she gently patted the thin snow off Zhang Hui's shoulders with her wrinkled hands, and said to Zhang Hui, "Come with me, young man, and I will teach you."

Zhang Hui was very pleasantly surprised, not because he didn't expect the grandma in front of him to be the owner of the small shop, but because he didn't expect that it would be so easy for her to agree to teach him.

Grandma didn't take him too far, and the third house after turning a corner and entering the alley was her house.

It is a typical quaint southern house. Grandma turned her head and said to him, "Come in."

Zhang nodded: "I'm sorry to disturb your rest."

"It's okay, anyway, I have to prepare for tomorrow, and I can teach you as I go."

Grandma looked very gentle, she didn't look like she was being disturbed, but was as appropriate as she was talking to her family.

Grandma taught patiently from the preparation of raw materials to the production process, and Zhang Hui learned it carefully. When Zhang Hui realized the time, it was almost twelve o'clock.

Zhang Hui looked embarrassedly at the elder who was always smiling at him, and said guiltily, "I'm really sorry, it's already so late, you must be very tired."

Grandma sat on the chair and shook her head: "No, I'm not tired, I'm very happy to see you."

Zhang Hui looked at him with some doubts.

Grandma suddenly looked at the wall on the left, where there was a framed black and white photo of a handsome young man, probably her lover when he was young.

"Are you thinking of your husband?" Zhang Hui asked tentatively.

There were faint tears in Grandma's eyes, she took out a handkerchief from her bosom, wiped it gently, and then said slowly.

"Actually, it's not me who makes the best rice cakes in our family, but my husband."

She fell into the memory, and a smile appeared on the corner of her mouth.

"He looks good. My mother doesn't think much of him. He always thinks that people who are too good-looking are frivolous and won't have a long-term relationship. But at that time, I was also self-willed. I insisted on being with him and was pregnant. Sometimes I can’t eat anything, so I’m just greedy for this one.”

She pointed to the rice cakes in the pot, and Zhang nodded in understanding.

So she continued: "He begged day and night to be the best teacher we had at that time. , I advised him not to beg others like that, but he said: 'I want to give you everything that is best'."

Zhang Hui was a little moved, and this emotion resonated with him.

"So boy, when you showed up, I saw my late husband's heart in your eyes, it was a pleasure to meet you."

"Thank you, my lover will be as happy and happy as you after eating it." Zhang replied.

Before leaving, Grandma told him: "When you are together, you have to work harder, because you don't know when the person you love will leave you. Also, you have to love bravely."

Zhang Hui nodded seriously, and then said: "Thank you, really thank you, I will always remember."

Zhang Hui pressed the prepared red envelope under the flowerpot on the window sill in the yard, hoping that she would see it when she woke up. This was the only way he could express his heart.

The only flower bud on the dead branch in the flowerpot has faint traces of blooming.

……

Very early on the day of the winter solstice, there was a knock on the door of Zhang's home. Zhang Hui guessed who it was, and when he opened the door, it was Jing Ling who came carrying many things.

Zhang Hui rubbed his wind-torn hair: "It's so early."

Jing Ling put all the things in her hands on the ground, put her hands around Zhang Hui's neck, stood on her tiptoes and gave him a cold kiss, Zhang Hui supported his waist to kiss back, and Jing Ling's lips were also tender when they parted. up the temperature.

Jing Ling looked into Zhang Hui's eyes and said seriously: "Happy birthday, this is my first birthday with you, and I hope that I will be by your side for all your birthdays in the future."

Zhang Hui kissed his serious and somewhat shy eyes, and said affectionately: "All the years to come will be safe, everything will go smoothly, and happiness will always be achieved with you."

Zhang Hui didn't expect that Jing Ling wanted to make dumplings for him, and Jing Ling didn't expect that Zhang Hui would make rice cakes for him. After knowing each other's wishes, the two looked at each other and smiled, their hearts were filled with happiness that they had never felt before.

Zhang Hui asked him: "You haven't contacted me for so many days, you are just learning how to make dumplings."

Jing Ling rubbed some flour on his nose, and he smirked: "Fortunately, I learned it, it's so difficult."

Zhang Hui wiped the flour off his nose, and then started making rice cakes. The room was very warm, and the hearts that were tightly pressed together were even warmer.

He didn't tell Jing Ling how he learned it, just like Jing Ling didn't tell him what he paid for it, they just need to know that each other exists in each other's hearts.

Jing Ling hasn't eaten rice cakes for many years. He tasted the first bite, and he was so familiar that he was shocked, as if he tasted the taste when he was a child. He couldn't believe it. He thought it was because Zhang Hui made it, so he added a lover unconsciously. filter, but when he ate up the small bowl, his eyes were red.

Zhang Hui also ate all the dumplings made by Jing Ling. Looking at Jing Ling's red eyes, he was a little worried: "What's the matter, baby, if it doesn't taste good, don't eat it."

Jing Ling shook her head, then looked at his expression very moved: "No, it's delicious, it's so delicious, it's so delicious that I want to cry."

Zhang Hui saw that he was satisfied, and he was also very satisfied: "As long as you like it, I will make it for you in the future."

After the meal, Jing Ling didn't take time off either. He opened the backpack he brought with him in the future, and after opening it, there were many, many photos, all related to Zhang Hui.

Then he looked at Zhang Hui a little shyly: "Can I talk to you about a business?"

Zhang Hui was a little curious, he smiled and nodded.

Then Jing Ling continued: "I'll help you paste these photos on the wall of your house in exchange for moving here to live with you, okay?"

Zhang Hui picked him up and twirled in the air: "If you can't do it, you have to do it, who told us that we are connected."

Jing Ling was a little dazed, and was carried upstairs by Zhang Hui. Seeing the scene in front of her, Jing Ling was completely stunned.

Zhang Hui has transformed the wall opposite the bed into a photo wall, and his photos have already taken up half of the wall.

Jing Ling looked at him speechless, those photos that he didn't know when they were taken, were so cherished and properly hung in one's home and in one's heart.

He was still in bed, and it was him who woke up before going to bed.

He burst into tears, then buried his head on Zhang Hui's chest, and slowly opened his mouth: "I hang up the ones I brought, as if Zhang Hui from those years and Jing Ling from those years are together."

Zhang Hui felt sorry for his foolishness once again, and also lamented that fate has tricked people. They had met each other long ago, but they missed so many good years in vain. In the final analysis, it was his fault. This will also be the biggest regret in his life. .

But fortunately, he didn't miss it all the time. When he was 33 years old, he finally fell in love with 32-year-old Jing Ling.

Jing Ling took out the photos one by one with great care. Zhang Hui had never seen Zhang Hui before. He was young and full of infinite vitality and passion. He was also a little embarrassed. He asked Jing Ling: "I will become more I'm old, and maybe a bit different from what you like, will you still like me?"

Jing Ling knelt on the ground and kissed his forehead: "I love you, all about you."

Zhang Hui put his arms around his waist, and the two hugged each other, Zhang Hui said, "Me too."

The author has something to say

I really want to say goodbye to everyone in the next chapter (Niu Lei) I am finally hypocritical and almost finished telling this story.