Shimmer Forest

After the continuous blizzard, the village suddenly became busy.

Every household hung red lanterns on the eaves, and posted happy couplets on the door frames.People sat outside, drying rice under the sunny sky, kneading noodles, making dumplings, cutting window grilles, and chatting about homework by the way.

After a whole year of hard work, it's time to treat yourself and your family well.

As one of the few cultural people in the village, Su Jin shouldered the arduous task of writing couplets and blessing characters.Every day, people kept sending red paper, colorful window grilles, and some vegetables, fruits and fish in exchange for his couplets.

His handwriting is beautiful.This is the only description that Wu Hao, who lacks vocabulary, racked his brains to think of.He likes to sit on a chair beside Su Jin and look at him with his chin propped up when Su Jin is writing.Watching him bathed in the dense light, smiling and holding a pen, humming an unknown song.Every stroke, every word, is filled with happiness and peace.

The afternoon sun shines through the transparent glass windows and spreads a warm golden color on the floor.A tired and lazy breath spread slowly in the silence.The singing in my ears was gentle and clear, with the rustling sound of leaves shaking faintly.The fingers are long and white, and the breath is warm and hot.There was a faint scent of ink in the air.

Wu Hao thought, this long, lazy, and short afternoon is probably the "forever" that people have been looking for.

"Are you trying to stick your eyes on me?" After writing the last word, Su Jin put away the pen, and finally had the leisure to mock Wu Hao who was staring at him with a disgusting smile.

"It'll be fine if it sticks!" Wu Hao stretched his waist, and quickly posted it with a mean smile: "I'm done writing, let's go out and play?"

"It's getting dark, it's better not to run around recently." Unceremoniously rejected his proposal, Su Jin put the written Spring Festival couplets on the balcony and waited carefully for them to dry.

"Why? Don't we often sneak out at night?"

"It's almost Chinese New Year, some wandering souls who can't find a home will come out to wander, and when they meet, they will be entangled as family members."

"You, stop scaring me!"

"Who scared you? Besides, aren't you afraid?" Su Jin glared at him, and glanced out of the window inadvertently.Suddenly, a woman in white was standing outside the window, her long hair covering her face.

"He ran out before the sun went down..." Su Jin narrowed his eyes, and the deliberately suppressed voice was full of threats.

The woman in white caught his gaze and disappeared in an instant.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Wu Hao thought he had seen some miraculous sight again, so he hurried to the window to look around.

"It's nothing." Slapping his hand on her shoulder, Su Jin retreated to the door in disgust: "I still have business to do, so I'm leaving first."

"What's the matter again? What are you up to lately? You're so mysterious." Wu Hao stuck to him, and held his hand cheekily: "Take me with you?"

"Brat, stop pestering Xiao Jin!" Uncle Wu walked in, picked up his collar, and dragged him out: "Come out and work for me!"

"Wow, dad, let go, don't do this in front of the nerds! You're so embarrassing!"

"You are so thick-skinned and you know how to be ashamed?" Uncle Wu was unmoved, and threw him out of the house, and then returned to the house, wrapping a gray scarf in circles, gently wrapped around Su. On Jin's neck, he earnestly said: "Go and do your work. This year, the reunion of the villagers will depend on you."

"...I see." Su Jin buried her face in the scarf, and the base of her ears turned red.It's just that there was a hint of sadness in those eyes.

Wu Hao noticed it, so he didn't make a fuss to follow.Watching Su Jin go away, he muttered in dissatisfaction: "Where are you going, the bookworm?"

"He's gone to wait for the train." Uncle Wu stared intently at the direction he was leaving, with a disappointed expression on his face.

"Train?" Wu Hao opened his eyes wide, and his tone of voice was obviously disgusted: "His father is back?"

"I'm not going to wait for someone..." This tone of disgust from the bottom of his heart made Uncle Wu dumbfounded.He patted Wu Hao's head hard, and his eyes gradually dimmed: "You can also say that you are going to wait for someone... right...?"

"...What exactly is it?" Uncle Wu was rarely so hesitant, he couldn't help twitching the corners of his mouth.

"At this time of year, there will be trains carrying people from other worlds." Uncle Wu sighed, his eyes distant and erratic: "The trains will carry people who have returned from other worlds, people from the village, and let them be with their families. Have a brief reunion. Then, drive them back."

"Then...why did you ask Su Jin..." Wu Hao blurted out his question, and soon fell silent as if he had thought of something.

"Xiaojin will wait there every year to guide those who got off the bus back to the village." Uncle Wu lowered his head, and in the silent air, only his long sigh remained: "He has someone, I really want to see him." .”

Wu Hao looked at the slowly setting sun in the distance, and frowned slightly: "Father, I'll go with him."

He and Su Jin grew up together, and they both had a vague idea of ​​their mother.Although everyone will deliberately avoid this topic, but Wu Hao himself feels that it doesn't matter.In his life, it is enough to have his father, Su Jin, and the people in the village.Maybe it's because it's something that I didn't get at the beginning, so I don't want to extravagantly ask for it, let alone the pain of losing it.

But Su Jin was different, he was born much more sensitive than others.Wu Hao thought that Su Jin really wanted to see his mother.So I come here every year, waiting for the train to go home.

Very early on, Su Jinhui came here happily, and kept looking at the distance of the track.Slowly, the happy time passed by, and the repeated disappointment slowly faded away, leaving only peace.

Once, Wu Hao felt that he was an outsider, unable to fill the loneliness in Su Jin's heart.But it's different now, even if it really can't make up for it, at least I have to stay by his side and wait with him.He never wanted to see Su Jin's disappointed expression again.

The station was a little far from the village, and it was already late at night when Wu Hao arrived.

Su Jin stood in the dim light of the street lamp, watching the end of the railway track.Snowflakes fell on his body profusely, and the face reflected by the light snow was extraordinarily lonely.The track was silent and empty, extending infinitely towards the place where the dark clouds hung low.

"...a bookworm." He waited and watched for a long time before calling out hesitantly.

Su Jin was startled, and it took him a long time to recover from his contemplation. He looked at Wu Hao with a smile in his eyes: "Why are you here?"

"I'm afraid you'll be lonely by yourself." Wu Hao jumped onto the platform and approached with a playful smile.

It was rare for Su Jin not to beat him up, but just smiled absent-mindedly, and continued to look into the distance, as if he was looking for something

After a long silence, Wu Hao asked cautiously: "...Are you... are you waiting for your mother?"

"Probably." Su Jin seemed to be extremely cold, and buried her face in the scarf: "I, I have never seen her before. I don't even have a picture of her at home. When I was a child, I once asked Father once, but the father who has always been idle, showed a sad expression for the first time... From then on, I knew that everything about my mother was untouchable..."

"But... I still can't help but want to know about that person." Su Jin withdrew his gaze, turned his gaze to Wu Hao, and asked with a smile, "What about you? Don't you want to meet?"

"I've never seen my mother." Wu Hao scratched his head with an indifferent look on his face: "Even if I saw her, I'm afraid I wouldn't recognize her."

"Really... But I always feel that blood relationship will connect family members together." Su Jin stretched out his frozen hand from his pocket, and breathed carefully: "It's a pity that I can't wait every year." She... has little hope this year, right?"

"It's okay, don't you still have us?" Wu Hao took his hand as a matter of course, put it on his lips and blew gently, then stuffed his hand into his pocket, and grinned.

Knowing that this clumsy man was comforting him in his own way, Su Jin couldn't help but respond with a smile.The snowy winter night became less cold, and the warmth was intertwined between each other's palms, and it seemed that even the light of the street lamps became warmer.

The two held hands and chatted for a while on the platform, and Su Jin was finally willing to lift his face from the scarf, stretched his neck and looked towards the distance where the railroad track extended: "Ah, the train is coming."

In the distance, Wu Hao heard the sound of the train whistle.The sound gradually approached, and then brought a huge warm air current.But there was always nothing in front of him.

He took out his glasses and put them on, only to find a long green leather train appeared in front of him.Warm lights shone from the car, and the sound of the horn became clearer.

Translucent people came down from the car one after another, forming a neat line.And beside Su Jin stood another team of transparent people waiting to get on the bus.

"Wow, book, book, nerd!" Seeing so many ghosts lined up for the first time, Wu Hao hid behind Su Jin in fear.

"Why, are you afraid?" Su Jin looked at him amusedly, with a look on his face.

"Who, who said I'm scared!" Wu Hao shouted bravado, puffing out his chest.

Those ghosts looked at him in unison as if they had heard his voice.He shivered in fright, and quickly retreated behind Su Jin.

"It's okay, they are all here to reunite with their relatives, and they don't have the leisure to scare you." Su Jin shrugged, then pointed to the waiting line, and continued to explain: "Those waiting here want to go Looking for relatives elsewhere, or going back to another world. The trains are constantly going back and forth, so that every ghost can visit their relatives, of course, only during the Chinese New Year and these few days."