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Si Ji took Zuo Yan to take a photo next to a little owl with dark green chest hair, and asked Zuo Yan to take him to the riverside.

Before grandma went back to the countryside, she lived only 5 minutes away from the river.Although the distance is short, Si Ji has to pass through a crumbling red brick wall between two old houses and a leaky alley that drips water all the year round.The alley is deep and narrow, and there is no sunshine for many years.The few residents on the side also keep their doors closed all year round, because once the doors are opened, all the huts the size of a palm will be exposed.

Specially asked Zuo Yan to park the car beside the old house, and Si Ji led him into this alley.He said that when he was a child, he would come here once a week, and every time he sneaked to the river, he had to take this shortcut.Most of the material for his nightmares came from it; but no matter how frightened he was, he couldn't resist the temptation of the Yangtze River.

In fact, Si Ji hasn't been here for a long time.He babbled about things from his childhood, and after listening to Zuo Yan who hadn't spoken for a long time, he tilted his head and smiled meanly: "Why, are you scared too?"

The alley is less than two meters wide.The low wall on one side was covered with unnamed vines, the pale yellow five-petaled flowers bloomed tenaciously in the darkness, and the perennially damp stone road also gave off a faint fragrance lingering with the smell of blood.When he was a child, Si Ji always felt that there were ghosts, demons, or other unspeakable horrors entrenched here, and he would be dragged into this darkness as long as he paused for a moment.

Zuo Yan looked around, sneered and patted the back of his head: "It's obviously nothing to be afraid of, you're still a child?"

Si Ji grabbed his wrist, and said in a gloomy tone, "The fear of childhood is always the most deep-rooted. I used to think that I would never be able to get rid of its shadow in my life."

Pointing to the little light at the end of the alley, he continued: "Actually, after exiting that alley, there is a main road, spacious and bright, full of people and cars. But this place seems to be isolated from the world." Looking at the still With the dilapidated door that couldn't be opened, he asked Zuo Yan eagerly, "I don't believe you weren't afraid of anything when you were a child."

Zuo Yan let him lead him, and thought for a few seconds with his eyelashes downcast: "I'm really not afraid of anything specific. But at that time my dad was busy with work, and my mom took me. I was very afraid that one day she would leave."

Si Ji was startled, and was about to say something when the words came out.

The two of them coincidentally did not walk the stone ladder, but climbed up the grassy slope as if they had come to the riverside together for the first time.Facing the Yangtze River, the only thing Si Ji thinks he has improved is that he has grown taller, and he is no longer afraid of rolling down because of unsteady steps.Looking up, he found that the weather was not very good at this time.The sky in the south is obviously still burning with lip gloss-like fiery clouds, but a cloud of black mist like cotton wool floats in from the north.Zuo Yan said that it was going to rain, so he led him quickly to a river pavilion.

There was also an old man in a white shirt sitting in the pavilion, holding an erhu in his hand, squeaking and playing "The Moon Reflected in Two Springs".At this moment, thunder suddenly sounded, dark clouds instantly engulfed the sky, and the sky suddenly darkened.The old man's strings were not disturbed, and he still played alone with his head down. The penetrating piano sound and thunder and lightning were intertwined, which was weird and harmonious.

Then the wind picked up.

The loose T-shirt on his body was blown loudly, Si Ji touched the goosebumps on his arms and stood obediently beside Zuo Yan, staring at this doomsday-like scene obediently.The road on the embankment is very long, extending far away, and the rows of phlox are vulnerable to the sudden gust of wind.His teeth chattered from the cold, but there was an excited smile on his face: "Emma, ​​I haven't seen such an emotional Yangtze River for a long time."

The sound of wind, thunder and zither was mixed, so he had to roar.Without waiting for Zuo Yan to reply, he climbed onto the stone bench in the pavilion and pointed to an invisible place in the middle of the river: "There is an island in the middle of the river, and everyone in Qiucheng knows it. It only comes out when the river is low. I was in high school. When I skipped class with Lao Shen once, I found an old man who was rowing a raft to take us there to play, and told him to pick us up at four or five in the afternoon. It turned out that it was after seven o’clock, and it was dark and there was no one. I He and Old Shen were both stupefied. After waiting for more than half an hour, we were both ready to jump back from the river, and the old man came slowly. We didn't dare to attack him, and when we got ashore, Old Shen immediately grabbed him. His collar wanted to swear, but it was turned over with a palm. The old man coaxed him, saying that he just fell asleep on the boat, and he just didn’t charge you money.”

Zuo Yan listened intently, grabbed Si Ji Dacha's calf that was stepping on the back of the stone bench: "Be careful not to fall."

The rain crackled down.The marble-like raindrops bounced on the ground, and the whole river was covered in a thick curtain of water. "We were stunned at the time. We didn't know when he left. It's such a big river, and it's too crowded for three people to stand on a dilapidated boat. He dared to float and sleep on it... What a lunatic. But it was very exciting. I and After Lao Shen made an appointment, he must buy a boat and try it out... As a result, it has been almost ten years, and he probably forgot about it long ago."

"I didn't forget."

After the song was finished, Zuo Yan handed the old man a cigarette while he was resting, and lit it: "He told me about this, and said that you can't swim at all, so you wanted to lie on his back and let him take you to swim. When he came back, he was so angry that he almost vomited blood."

Facing the wind, Si Ji's curly hair fluttered wildly, and he couldn't stop laughing: "So you two still have time to chat about such trivial matters."

"He told me a lot about you." Zuo Yan wrapped his arms around his waist and pulled him off the stool: "He also said that you were very stupid when you were in love with Fang Xurui, so you can cry to him if you have nothing to do."

"Fart! It's only twice in total. When I was young, I regarded love as my life. Thinking about it now, I'm really stupid."

"It's as if you're not stupid now." Leaning on the stone bench, Zuo Yan said so.

The handsome old man was smoking a cigarette, turned his back, and looked like "young people should tell me that I don't understand".

Sighing, Si Ji leaned into his ear: "What, you want to scare me again? What happened to Wu Chen didn't scare me away, so what can you say? Listen, I won't be angry with you anymore. His eyes were warm and firm, and Zuo Yan laughed when he heard this, "Old Zuo, I have actually been very uncomfortable these two days."

Zuo Yan also sighed like him, with a helpless and cunning tone: "I can't find any better way."

The rain became more and more urgent, and it was completely dark.Holding his knees and leaning against Zuo Yan, Si Ji said, "I still don't know you well enough."

After a hum, Zuo Yan didn't speak for a long time.The old man held the erhu in his arms, held up an umbrella, and left Jiangting in the rainstorm.

"Do you still remember the last time I came here, I told you that I came to watch the sunrise by the river?"

"remember."

"My dad had an accident the day before, and my mom told me we were leaving immediately."

Zuo Yan asked her why, but she held back and said that she wanted to go out to avoid the limelight.With a gloomy face, he simply packed up his luggage, and his mother took him to live in an old hotel next to the station that day.Zuo Yan ran out in the middle of the night and wandered around the train station. Hearing the familiar and noisy local accent, he walked to the riverside like a wandering soul.He had a hunch that after leaving, he might not be able to return for a long time.Lying in the lush grass, he thought about seeing the sunrise in Autumn City for the last time, and it would be the last time.But the bad news hit him too hard, his father's voice before his death always echoed in his ears, and soon he fell asleep.

The next day, he was awakened by the sun's rays.It's bright, but it seems to be in darkness forever.

"My mother called me a lot. I didn't have time to say goodbye to many people. But I didn't have a chance. I ran down the embankment and fell several times. Then the siren suddenly sounded on the river. I asked myself , What will the Yangtze River look like the next time I see it again? Or what will it look like in my heart? It will be many years before I have the answer."

Si Ji sat up, looked at his hard outline from the chin to the ears: "... what answer?"

"Anyway, it will never be the same as before." Zuo Yan stared at Si Ji: "You are fine, so you must keep a distance from me, definitely."

The wind is still whistling in my ears, but because it is summer, a warm and casual summer, Si Ji can always taste the gentle taste from it.He was in a good mood, never been better.Hugging Zuo Yan's neck and giving him a light kiss in the dark rain, Si Ji said, "I'm hungry, old Zuo, go eat, okay?"