It was Christmas in Beijing. It was six o'clock in the morning. The sky was still dark, and the commercial building across the road was dark. In the distant residential buildings, the families who had woken up early had sparse lights lit up, making the street lamps on the Third Ring Road and the festive lights at the school gate particularly bright and eye-catching. Occasionally, lonely pedestrians and vehicles would pass by. The world was peaceful and peaceful. Li Shi opened the car door and walked out. Standing in the dark night, he smiled and said,"Happy Christmas! Little Yu 'er."
"Good morning! Happy holidays! Are you…passing by on your way to work? You came to give me a ride? Didn't I say I don't need it last night? You're giving me a lot of pressure." Ding Nan walked over and said with a smile.
Li Shi opened the door of the passenger seat and made a gesture of invitation. He smiled and said,"Get in the car first. We'll talk in the car."
Ding Nan hesitated for a moment. It would seem very pretentious if he did not sit down. The other party was already waiting, so he thought about it and sat down. She closed the car door and turned to look at Li Shi. She asked,"Have you had breakfast? I didn't expect you to be here, so I ate something in the dormitory.”
Li Shi turned around and took a plastic bag from the back seat. He opened it and placed it on the platform in front of him. He raised his head and gestured,"Here, I was afraid that you would wake up too early and not have anything to eat, so I bought some from a roadside breakfast stall. I didn't eat it either. I didn't buy it especially for you. Don't feel pressured.”
Ding Nan leaned over and took a closer look. There were five to six buns, two Herbal Tea Eggs, and two cups of soy milk inside. They were packed in two plastic bags. In the cold winter morning, steam was still wafting out of the steamed buns. She quickly said,"I've already eaten. Hurry up and eat it while it's hot."”
Li Shi started the car and looked at the rearview mirror. He casually turned on the air conditioner in the car and said,"There's no hurry. We'll eat on the way."
Ding Nan leaned against the car seat, closed her eyes, and opened them again. She turned her head and asked,"What time did you arrive? It's so early and the sky is still so dark."
Li Shi's eyes were fixed in front of him. He did not look at her and said indifferently,"I told you not to feel pressured. I didn't go back last night and slept in the car. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to come so early in the morning. I usually go to work by myself and leave at 7:30 am. You don't have to be touched!" After saying that, he turned to look at Ding Nan and smiled.
Ding Nan jumped up from his seat and turned to Li Shi, staring at him."Really?"
Li Shi turned around and focused on driving. After a while, he said,"What do you think?"
Ding Nan maintained his posture and did not move. The corners of his mouth moved as he said,"I have to tell you, I have a habit of taking people's jokes seriously! Because in a sense, jokes carried a sense of probing, and most of them were telling the truth through jokes.”
Li Shi looked at her nervous expression and the smile on his face deepened. His smile rippled like water in his eyes and his cheeks, and faint wrinkles unknowingly piled up at the corners of his eyes. He looked ahead and said,"Then you're really good."”
Ding Nan turned around and leaned back on the seat. He looked forward and asked,"If it's true, then may I ask, isn't it cold to sleep in the car? It was so unbelievable that the temperature was below zero in this cold winter!”
Li Shi glanced at her." There's a thin blanket in the bag of my trunk. When I had nothing to do after work, I would sometimes go to the black car, so I specially prepared a blanket." Besides, there's air-conditioning in the car."
"Oh? Was it easy to drive a black car? Is there any danger?" Ding Nan asked with concern.
"It's alright. Don't run too late or too far away. Just be smart and don't get caught by the police.”Li Shi said.
"Oh, I see. Who else is in your family?" Ding Nan asked softly. He must be under pressure. Otherwise, why would a Beijing man drive an illegal car when he had a car and a house?
"Son, old lady, that's my mother. My father is long gone. Her two older brothers had already started a family outside.”Li Shi said as he turned the steering wheel and drove the car onto Chang 'an Street.
At 7:50 pm, Ding Nan knocked on the door of Old He's disciple, Mr. Liu. Previously, Teacher Zhao had said that I, Liu, was one of Old He's disciples who had never formally acknowledged a teacher. I was a freelance painter who had found a sinecure in the Foreign Education Department after I was middle-aged.
About two minutes later, the sound of footsteps came from the room. After a while, the door opened and a man in his fifties appeared in front of her. Her heart skipped a beat the moment that person looked at her.
"Hello, is this Teacher Liu?”Ding Nan greeted the man politely.
"Yes, you're Little Ding, right? Teacher Zhao's assistant?" The man asked as he let Ding Nan into the house.
Ding Nan said," Yes." He entered the house and looked around. It looked like a two-bedroom apartment. The doors were both open. One room was piled with bedding and daily necessities. It looked like a bedroom. The other room was messy with brush, ink, paper, and inkstone. There was also an unfinished painting on the table. It must be a studio cum studio. A green landscape painting hung on one of the walls in the living room. It had the shadow of Old He, but the foundation and artistic conception were far apart. At the bottom of the inscription was Liu's name. It must be a masterpiece.
Mr. Liu brought Ding Nan into the studio. After pouring a glass of water, the two of them sat down.
"I came here this time to understand some of Old He's situation when he was alive. You can talk about anything you saw with your own eyes or heard. You can mainly talk about Old He's writing and life during the time you were with him.”Ding Nan said as he took out the recording pen and turned it on.
"Can we not use that thing? I was nervous, but I couldn't say anything.”Mr. Liu glanced at the recording pen and said.
Ding Nan thought for a moment, turned off the recording pen, and put it in her bag. She smiled at the man and said,"Alright, just say whatever you want."
"I've written most of my relationship with Old He in a few articles. There are also many letters and related photos that we exchanged. I'll find them for you later. When he was old, he lived in Beijing. Because he got married again, his relationship with his children was very bad. They were in Xi'an, so during that time, I mainly went to his house to take care of him. " I was the one who accompanied him to the Great Hall of the People to paint that year…" Mr. Liu talked about Old He for a while, then looked at Ding Nan and changed the topic." I've written most of the information in the article. There's nothing much to say. Go back and take a look first. If you don't understand anything, ask me." It's convenient for me to stay here. I don't usually live here, so I can come here anytime. The foreign education department gave me another house. My wife and son live there…"
Mr. Liu began to brag about his literary achievements in the foreign education department and handed Ding Nan a business card, saying that he could look for him for anything. He had a good impression of her. She took it with both hands and looked at it. There were several famous names on it, such as " Chinese Foreign Education Department…"," Chinese Artists Association…"," Chinese Painting Research Institute…"
Ding Nan smiled and tried to change the topic while he had just finished speaking."In his later years, Old He once wrote an article recalling his early creative life in Xi'an. There was a paragraph in it that argued that the famous painter Shi XX had been unfair to him. Later, when this article was published, I heard that this paragraph was deleted. Is that true?"
"It's all written in my article. It's all written. Go back and take a look."”Then, she got up, took the cup from Ding Nan's hand, poured a new cup of tea, and handed it over.
When Ding Nan took the tea, Mr. Liu grabbed her hand and refused to let go. She said,"Ah, it's going to be hot." She took advantage of his shock and pulled her hand back. The air in the room instantly became dangerous and uneasy. She was eager to leave.
Liu had to find a paper bag, put some photos and manuscripts in it, and handed it to Ding Nan. Ding Nan took it and asked for his specific address before standing up and coming out. Mr. Liu sent them all the way out of the neighborhood and instructed,"Don't lose these things. Send them to me after you're done. They could come and play if they had nothing to do.”
Ding Nan agreed verbally, but in his heart, he was thinking,'Why would I send you? I'll get a courier to send it over next time.'
After that, Mr. Liu called her twice, but she pretended to be ignorant and never went back.
From that day on, Li Shi would send her a message every two or three days to ask about her. She treated it as a friendship between friends and would return every time. During this period, they met three more times, but they only ate and chatted. Gradually, they became familiar with each other.
On a Thursday afternoon, Ding Nan was at the National Museum watching an exhibition when she received a text message from Li Shi asking her what she was doing. She said that she was at the National Museum watching an exhibition, but there was no reply.
In the evening, when she walked out of the National Museum with her sleepy eyes and stretched her back, she could not help but be stunned. It was a world covered in silver outside. The heavy snow was still falling, and the ground was covered with a thick layer. The pedestrians, cars, trees, and houses in the distance were all immersed in a pure white world. She put on the hat of her down jacket and carefully walked down the high steps step by step. When she walked to the street and was about to walk to the station, someone called "Xiao Yu 'er" behind her.
Ding Nan turned around. Who else could it be but Li Shi?
She walked over, lowered her head, and said to the car,"You didn't come to pick me up again, did you? You're putting a lot of pressure on me.”
Li Shi leaned over and opened the door for her. He said,"Hurry up and get in the car. It's snowing heavily outside. Be careful not to wet your clothes.”
She sat in the car and closed the door. She looked at Li Shi for a long time and said,"Did you really come to pick me up?"
Li Shi glanced at her. Was it such a coincidence? I happened to be working outside today. Seeing such heavy snow and such cold weather, I couldn't bear to let you squeeze on the bus alone.”
Ding Nan's heart skipped a beat, but she soon felt that this feeling of being touched was unreasonable. No, it should be said that the reason why she was touched was unreasonable. To be exact, as a normal friend, it seemed unreasonable for him to treat her so well. She knew that he wanted to pursue her, but she had told him countless times that it was impossible for them. She said that she only had the people from the People's Liberation Army in her heart. He also said that he did not mind and that it was good to be friends like this.
But now, it seemed that the scale of that kind of good was not right. It had exceeded a little range.
The car drove on Chang 'an Street. Li Shi smiled and said that he would send her back to school and ask her to treat him to a meal at the school cafeteria. He hadn't eaten at the cafeteria for a long time. She smiled and agreed.
The heavy snow outside the window drifted away with the breeze. The sky was getting dark, and the tune of " Love in the Snow " was playing in the car. She looked out the window and fell into deep thought.
In her daze, her left hand was grabbed.
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]