She went back to the martial arts club on Sunday. She cleaned it inside and outside and packed up those old things.
After living for so many years, the attic was full of sundries, such as old cabinets, bowls, chopsticks, quilts, and old TV sets. "Mom, some of the things here should be thrown away …" When she felt tired, Lingjing, who wore a hat and dressed up as a model worker, shouted to the outside.
Her mother probably was not outside, so she asked Jiaming to move some things out to dry in the yard. After a while, Shasha, who also wore a worker's cowboy suit with a ponytail, also came to help.
She used to like this small attic most. Every summer, she would live here for a period of time, looking outside through the small window and listening to the wind chimes.
At this time, the whole space, including the small bed, was occupied by the cabinets and so on. She moved some things and patted the dust, "Taotao, when Yunjie and Yunting come here, they may come to live in the attic. They also like it here."
The big things outside were moved away, including the cabinets and quilts. Some things inside were also exposed. There was a broken photo frame, which seemed to be used to hang her first certificate when she was a child. There was also an old TV set which seemed to be broken. When was it bought? It seemed that it was almost winter. It was worth a lot of money at that time, "Jiaming, dad finally bought a new TV set today. Come and watch it together in the evening."
By the way, Jiaming seemed to run away from home at that time. Not long after he was shot, they met Shasha after a period of time.
"I don't know if it can still be used …" After Shasha came up, she smiled and talked to them about the TV set. Then the two sisters squatted on the ground and played with the TV set for a while. They inserted the wires into the socket, but the TV set was not bright, "What a pity."
"Go down and take it apart to dry. Then let's see if Jiaming can repair it. The quality of the old TV set was good."
All kinds of things were moved away gradually, and the familiar things appeared more and more.
Jiaming's voice could be vaguely heard from the courtyard. "Ah … This is the old one … Ah …" She cleaned the floor. It had been a long time since she lived in the attic. The window that she used to like to look at was now very small. The small wind chime that was hung there was also old and rusty. She played with it with her fingers but it only shook and stopped ringing.
She sat on the edge of the small bed that had yet to be covered. Probably because she was used to living in a big house, the attic was a little narrower than before.
However, the children would definitely like it.
There were a few boxes in the corner. They were her old belongings. Since Jiaming and Shasha hadn't come up yet, she might as well move them out.
However, too much time had passed, and the box wasn't very sturdy. When he reached out to move it, it overturned on the ground, and many old things tumbled out.
He had collected all kinds of small ornaments.
Rubber bands, beautiful buttons, origami stars, bottles of lavender, stickers of beautiful girls that only used a few pages, and so on.
She smiled and squatted on the ground to put these things into the metal box that she used to store mooncakes. When she raised her head, she found something in another box. She reached out and took it out. It was a small school bag with a few words sewn on it with red thread: Red Star Primary School, Ye Lingjing.
Ah …
She took out the other things. She had a deep impression of them. There was her school bag, Jiaming's old school bag, and Shasha's baseball bat. Although she didn't know how to play, she had bought a baseball and put it on. There were also school reports and homework in the boxes. She remembered that Jiaming used to always copy her homework. After they were divided into classes in junior high, he couldn't copy anymore. She had even gloated over his misfortune.
There were a few stickers in the broken music box. Back then, she, Shasha, and Jiaming took pictures together. That was when they were in junior high. The three of them stayed at Shasha's villa every weekend, just like playing house.
There was an empty wine bottle in the box next to it. She picked it up and thought about it. She couldn't help but laugh. Shasha must have found the wine bottle in the villa and put it here. If it weren't for the accident on the night of their junior high graduation, who knew what the three of them would have become. Back then, the tomboyish Shasha wanted to help her pursue Jiaming, but she didn't know that she also liked Jiaming … Ah, back then, everyone was still ignorant. They had just met Qi Luo Xiang and got together just like that.
The notice from Sacred Heart College, the three of them rented a house, and various other things. It was a pity that the two-story building wasn't a permanent object. Even if it had some commemorative value, it wasn't worth it to leave it there forever. Later, when the street was developed, it was demolished.
On the day they moved out, they took a picture in front of the house under the sunset. It was still in the bedroom.
However, looking at the odds and ends in the box, she remembered the scene when she first entered the room …
The original key, the key chain that she carefully picked when she was in junior high, and the little Doraemon pendant on it. Now, all three keys were here.
Jiaming's was Da Xiong, and Shasha's was Yi Jing. She took the Doraemon, although Jiaming later said that Shasha should be Da Xiong, he should be the Doraemon, and she should be Yi Jing.
Ah, whatever.
She still remembered that when the three of them went to buy the key chain, it was five yuan each. At that time, she felt that it was really expensive. She begged and coaxed to reduce the price to ten yuan. At that time, they had a lot of plans, but they didn't have enough money …
There was a beautiful broken alarm clock, a small piggy bank, and there were coins inside when she shook it. There was also a ticket for Star Dream, a broken recorder, an English cassette, and a yellowed notebook. When she opened it, there were stickers, briefs, and some old song lyrics. There were also drawings of stars, flowers, and beautiful girls. It seemed to have been used in junior high and high school.
There were also two notebooks, which were the family's income and expenditure records. She casually flipped to a page, and it was written: July 3rd, 1998, holiday. Jiaming and Shasha ate popsicles for two yuan, Lingjing ate jelly for one yuan. Go home and freeload, no need to buy groceries … Concept band performance, income calculated …
There was also a picture below. There were three strange masked people on stage, a cucumber, a banana, and an eggplant. Jiaming was too bad … Actually, Smoky would occasionally make a cameo appearance, and the mask was a big durian …
There was actually an unopened Barbie doll, and even the box was well preserved. This was … a birthday present.
Ah, Uncle Liu …
At that time, Liu Zheng didn't have any gift gift, mainly because he didn't know what to buy for girls. During her birthday in the first year of high school, he actually asked his underling to buy a beautiful Barbie doll. It must have been very expensive. He probably asked his underling to buy a very expensive and high-end birthday present that girls would like … Now that she thought about it, she felt a lump in her throat …
There were all kinds of things. Many things were moved to the new house, but many things were still here. In the third year of high school, the three of them took some funny wedding photos. Sometimes, they would dress up as Jiaming as a girl, and sometimes, they would dress up as a boy with Shasha. The photos were in the new house, but the lipstick used to dress up was still here.
In the old house, there was the first aid box, the scenery postcards, the beautiful pebbles, the "present" that Jiaming went to Guilin to buy when he said he wanted to break up with her, the plane ticket to Vienna, the notice … She slowly took out everything. There were so many boxes that it felt like she couldn't take them all. After a while, Shasha came up and squatted beside her, quietly picking through the items …
The afternoon air was calm and comfortable. When Jiaming came up, the two girls were sitting on the floor of the attic, wearing jeans that they wore when they were cleaning. Lingjing took off her shoes, and there was some dust on her white socks. Shasha leaned on her shoulder, playing with a Rubik's cube in her hand. Lingjing was holding a cardboard box, taking out the things inside and putting them into the pile of items in front of her.
Their beautiful cheeks were stained with sweat and dust. Now that the sweat had dried, there were some marks left behind. It was like an afternoon many years ago, when they were tired from messing around in the attic, resting or playing chess together.
In front of them, there were many things of different sizes. In the center were two school bags embroidered with the words "Red Star Primary School" and his and Lingjing's names. A few baseball bats were placed beside them, and then there were all kinds of things, including dolls, stamp albums, glass pieces, paper cranes, exercise books, music boxes, old photo albums … There were all kinds of miscellaneous things, and they were innumerable. It was like a small mountain …
Looking at those things, he understood. Then, he walked over with a smile, squatted down, and looked at them one by one. Lingjing and Shasha gently held one of his hands.
There was a lot of time in his life. Before he met Lingjing and Shasha, he had experienced much more than what he was experiencing now. However, his memory did gradually start from the appearance of these things.
Not long after, Jiaming also sat down, his back leaning against the wall behind him. Shasha lay on his lap, and Lingjing hugged an empty cardboard box and leaned on his shoulder. She was quiet, and her eyelashes fluttered as if she had fallen asleep.
At a certain moment, Jiaming seemed to have discovered something, and he reached out his hand.
"Ah … So you're still here …"
The small wind chime by the window gently rang, and a ray of sunlight shot in from the small window of the attic, enveloping this small, quiet world in a meaningful atmosphere. The warm yellow light was a color that belonged to memories, and would never fade away …
*****
If this was a movie, if there was a theme song or something, it would have rung along with the wind chime.
I once tried to add Xu Fei's "That Summer", Luo Dayou's "Childhood", Shuimu Nian's "Butterfly Flower", or other songs like that in the final chapter. In the end, I found that they were not perfect, so I won't add any songs. If you like them, you can listen to them yourself.
Two years ago, when I finished Invikill, I actually had some thoughts in my mind. I promised to give the Traditional Chinese side a sequel.
Therefore, in my heart, I didn't really feel that Invikill was really finished. Even when I handed in the sequel in March this year, I didn't have much specific knowledge.
Now that the sequel has been published, I'm going to release it on Qidian next month. When I flipped through the manuscript today, I felt that I had to write something that would really be the ending, so I wrote these three thousand words.
Then, I felt that this was the last scene of Jiaming, Lingjing, and Shasha in front of the readers.
In the future … maybe I really won't write about them anymore …
In the past two years, although the book is said to be finished, they are still spinning in my mind. I often see them, but after this chapter, at least at this moment, I feel that there is nothing more to say.
They are still living in Jianghai, but for me, I can finally let go of them. I don't need to carry them further and further.
Thinking of this, I finally felt a little sad. Just like Wang Zheng's "To Tell You", they will have their own lives, and I can't give them more …
Just like how I found an old photo album not long ago. I haven't looked at this photo album for several years. It's a record of me, my parents, and my life a long time ago. Sometimes I feel like I've almost forgotten them, but when I open it, I'll feel: Ah, so you're still here …
The things that everyone treasures have always been there. They will definitely exist somewhere, waiting for you to find them.
Bananas
On the afternoon of June 18, 2012, if you want to know the future, please go to www.qidian.com, there are more chapters, support the author, support the original reading!