6
Two days later, we decided to go to Zhouzhuang. The weather seemed to be getting colder and colder, and the rain seemed to be getting heavier. Sitting in the small bus, I always looked out of the dust.
The car has been driving for unknown amount of time, and finally stopped. I thought I was in Zhouzhuang and was about to pack my things out, but I heard the driver say, "I'm sorry, the car has broken down. Please wait a moment." After that, I hurriedly lifted the motor hood.
But this will never end after a while. The engine hood is lifted and put down. I don’t know how many times it has been repeated, but the car still shows no signs of starting.
"Go out for a walk, the rain seems to have stopped." The wind blew over and said.
So we got off the car. It seems to be a small town, and most of the houses still retain the original quaint look of the Jiangnan area. Near the edge of the town, there are a few plum trees, and clusters of light yellow flowers are covered with branches. I know this is wax plum . I have seen it in Liuyuan yesterday. I like the light yellow flowers and its simple and elegant fragrance. It seems that the biggest gain of coming to , Suzhou this time is seeing plum blossoms. This is the first time I have really seen plum blossoms.
I walked towards those plum trees.
"Miss, do you buy jewelry?" At some point, a vendor came to his side. It’s really annoying. There are people like this selling counterfeit and shoddy goods at almost every scenic spot, but I didn’t expect that it would be inevitable in such a secluded place.
"What good stuff?" But the wind blows through and makes fun. Before the vendor can wait for the vendor to answer, he asked again: "This bracelet looks good, is it really jade?"
"Young man, you have a really good eye! Of course it is jade or an antique." said the vendor.
"How do you know it is an antique?" Feng Chuan asked back.
The vendor said in an unquestionable tone: "This is absolutely true. It was worn by a lady before, and it has been almost eighty years since then."
I was attracted by the vendor's words, so I quickly picked up the bracelet and took it carefully to take a closer look. The bracelet is very smooth and transparent, and it feels warm when held in your hands. I tried to put it on my wrist, but I couldn't bear to take it off and just wanted to buy it immediately.
"Miss, are your surname Mei?" The vendor suddenly asked me a question. When asked this, he kept staring at my face, with an indescribable strange look in his eyes.
I shook my head and said, "No, you recognized the wrong person."
The vendor seemed unwilling to give up and said, "I didn't recognize the wrong person, but... you are so similar to her!"
I felt very strange and asked, "Who do I look like?"
The vendor hesitated for a moment and finally said, "It's very similar to Miss Mei who has worn this bracelet before."
This is really ridiculous! Even if you want to sell bracelets, you don’t need to make up such a lie! Before I could speak, the wind blew over and laughed and said, "Didn't you say that the lady has been around eighty years ago? You probably haven't seen that lady, how do you know that they are very similar?"
A brief silence. Finally, the vendor said, "If you don't delay, I would like to invite you to see a portrait, it's very close."
7
We followed the vendor to an alley. As soon as I arrived at the entrance of the alley, I couldn't help but shout: "I've been here!"
"Stop dreaming, didn't you say you didn't go to Zhouzhuang last time? How could you come here?" The wind blew back and looked at me, with a look of disapproval on your face.
"But I seem to have been here... yes! I have been here in my dream!"
The wind blows by and hears my "dream talk", and I can't help but laugh.
"Look, isn't there a tree here? Do you still remember the dream I told you?" I saw a tree at the entrance of the alley and hurriedly pointed it to the wind.
This is a large wax plum tree, and the trees are also full of light yellow flowers. The wind blew by and looked at the tree, and then looked at me, with a strange look on my face.
"This tree is more than a hundred years old." The vendor said, then pointed to the house next to it and said, "It's here."
I barely held my beating heart, blew with the wind, and followed the vendor into the house.This is an antique house with two floors and a large area. It seems that the owner of the house was very rich in the past. The vendor took us upstairs and arrived at a room upstairs. He opened the drawer of an old table and took out a portrait. The wind and I blew past and looked at the portrait. I was surprised at the same time, and then we looked at each other, unable to speak.
This is a fine brushwork painting of a portrait, with yellowed paper and it looks very old. In the painting, there is a girl wearing a white shirt and a black skirt, sitting peacefully, with a jade bracelet on her wrist. But, this woman..., why is her face so similar to me? How is this possible! ? How is this possible! ?
8
This happened a long time ago. At that time, my grandmother was the servant in this family, Miss Mei’s nanny. Miss Mei has lost her biological mother since she was a child, and it was my grandmother who raised her.
When Miss Mei was eighteen years old, she went to a girls' school in the city to study . At the beginning, Miss Mei often came back and came back every few days because it was very close to the city. Later, maybe I got used to school life, so I didn’t go home so often. Sometimes I only came back once a month, and the stay was very short.
About a year later, there were rumors that Miss Mei had a good time with a man in the city. My grandmother seemed to have seen the man. It was during the school holiday, and Miss Mei stayed at home. One day, Miss Mei was talking to my grandmother in her room when she suddenly heard someone calling her outside. She looked out the window and hurried downstairs. My grandmother felt strange and looked out the window and saw a young man standing under the wax plum tree at the entrance of the alley, protruding his head and looking around. My grandmother said she had never seen that young man before, and she probably wasn't from the town, but she looked pretty good.
Later, Mr. Mei learned about this. Mr. Mei is very powerful here. He quickly found out the origin of the young man through his relatives in the city. It turned out that he was a poor student from another place. He was said to have a trendy mind and often promoted "democracy" and "freedom" on and off campus...
Mr. Mei was very angry and decided not to let Miss Mei go to school anymore. So, Miss Mei was taken back home. During that time, Miss Mei locked herself in the room all day long, and ignored anyone except for saying a few words to my grandmother occasionally.
It is said that the young man came to see Miss Mei several times, but he was stopped by Mr. Mei and injured him.
Ms. Mei is getting thinner and crying all day long. So someone told Mr. Mei that he might as well marry the lady to stop her from celebrating her. Mr. Mei asked someone to find a wealthy family in the city and just waited for the auspicious day to marry Miss Mei.
But one day, I heard that Miss Mei ran away. Mr. Mei sent people everywhere to search. At that time, my grandmother hoped that Miss Mei could escape! But a few days later, Miss Mei was brought back. It is said that Miss Mei and the poor student have already gone to Shanghai, but they are still caught.
Not long after, I heard that the poor student was executed in the city for joining the Revolutionary Party.
Ms. Mei has become stupid since then, and she doesn't cry or make a fuss. She stays in her room all day long, looking at the alley outside the window in a daze. She ignored anyone, and even if she didn't know my grandmother anymore. My grandmother said that Miss Mei’s eyes were very empty, as if in front of her, there was nothing, just pitch black.
At that time, Miss Mei's wedding was very close to the day, and everyone was busy preparing for the wedding. On the contrary, everyone seemed to have forgotten Miss Mei herself.
Finally one day, Miss Mei called my grandmother to her room and said she was leaving and she would not be able to meet again in the future. She was so unwilling to bear to leave my grandmother. She said that, she took off the bracelet on her wrist and wanted to give it to my grandmother. My grandmother hurriedly refused and said, "Didn't the lady just marry into the city? The city is very close to home and can come back often." But Miss Mei still insisted on stuffing the bracelet into my grandmother's hand.
The next day, Miss Mei died, she died in her room.
9
Hawker finally finished telling Miss Mei’s story.
I don’t know when I was already crying.
"This portrait?" The wind blew through and broke the silence.
"This portrait was painted by Miss Mei when she was studying in the city." Miss Mei in the painting was still sitting peacefully.
I looked out the window and saw the wax plum tree at the entrance of the alley, with light yellow flowers falling in the wind.
10
In Lingyin Temple, Hangzhou, I asked an elderly monk: "Do you really have a previous life? How can you know what happened in your previous life?"
The monk thought for a while, and then answered the question: "Why do you need to be so obsessed with what happened in your previous life? A person's life is always more sad than happy. It is not easy for a person to live in the world to carry the things for one life, so why do you need to carry the things for two lives at the same time?"
left the temple gate and saw the wind blowing by and standing under a tree not far away waiting for me. A breeze blew, and a few small flowers fell on him.
