This is an old house.

She lived here with her grandmother when she was very young.

The light in the old house is not good, and the light is very dark. Although the window was replaced by aluminum alloy sliding window 20 years ago, the big locust tree in the yard still blocked most of the light. Not far from the house, it is a newly-built community with many tall buildings. Except at noon, almost the whole day is shrouded in the shadow of the cement forest.

Although grandma died, her parents kept asking her to move back to live with them, but she was reluctant to leave here. Here is her childhood and all the memories of her being with her grandmother.

However, developers have been eyeing here, and some people have painted big characters on the wall. In the near future, it will be razed to the ground and turned into a modern street park or a bustling business district. She is afraid to think about it.

Some neighbors have moved away, and some are moving. She also has to pack things, take what she can, and leave what she can't. She can only stay here and be buried with the old house.

1

The decoration in the house is still the pattern of the last century, and the furniture has long been out of shape. There is nothing of value except an old dresser of the Republic of China.

This dresser is her grandmother's dowry. Although her grandmother has been dead for many years and the furniture has been changed, this dresser is still in its original position and has not been moved. It is said that grandma's family didn't live here before, but lived in Shanghai dozens of kilometers away. Grandma used to live in this small town, but why she moved back is unknown, as if her mother didn't know either.

It is a dresser carved with mahogany, and its surface color has turned dark brown with the passage of time; The carved winged bird has been integrated with dust for a hundred years; The copper handle on the drawer also grew mottled copper rust; The oval mirror above, like a layer of fog, lingers; The mercury behind the glass has fallen off, and the shadow of people has come in, which has a sense of vicissitudes of old photos.

Mom said that nothing here is needed, let them tear it down together. She wanted to leave this dresser, but her mother said there was no room at home. And it's worn out and doesn't match the decoration at home.

It is said that this area will be demolished, attracting many people who collect waste products and ride tricycles along the street all day. She casually asked an old furniture collector, who said it was an old object from the Republic of China and it was worth several dollars. She also looked it up online, and if it is well preserved, it can sell for at least 3000 yuan, which is very collectible. The man said she could pay 4000 yuan, but she didn't want to sell it, on the pretext that the price was too low and she had to reconsider. She thought that as long as the old house had not been demolished, she would keep it for another day and have another look.

2

She brought a slightly wet clean towel and wanted to wipe it from top to bottom. I wonder if I can take it with me when I move. She wants to discuss it with her mother again and do her work.

I still remember when I was a child, she used to sit in front of grandma's dresser when there was no one at home, secretly taking out grandma's jewelry and trying to wear it. She likes grandma's silver bracelet best, but her arms are too thin to wear, and she will fall off when she walks. Later, before grandma died, she left this bracelet to her, but she was reluctant to wear it. She wrapped them in red cloth and put them under the pillow. Afraid of losing, she broke her thoughts about her grandmother.

It seems that this dresser is really old and can't stand the toss. Just a few times, I heard a sound of mercury brush behind the mirror, and a small piece slipped from it. She wanted to take a closer look, but found that the location where the mercury fell off had become transparent and could not be photographed. You can see that there is a yellow paper in the back, which is turned over to reveal the ink in it. It is written with a brush, like a letter.

She's a little curious. Why is there a letter in it?

three

She moved the dresser forward and saw an oval baffle behind her, tightly sealed with nails, which had already rusted. She found an iron pliers and tried to pull the nail out of the board. However, some nails rusted, and when the iron tongs touched them, the nail cap fell off.

Not all nails can be pulled out, and the baffle can't be completely removed, only a small crack is needed. She found a sweater needle, reached into the gap of the baffle, and poked the paper in by feeling. The gap is too small and the paper is too thin to touch. It was a long time before the paper showed its head with mercury fragments.

She gently pulled the paper out of it and blew the dust off it, but before she opened it, an old photo fell out. The photos have turned yellow with moisture, some are bent and there are scratches on them.

This is a wedding photo, with a man on the left and a woman on the right. Dressed in military uniform, the man was handsome and handsome, with heroic spirit between his eyebrows and eyes, and his face was filled with joy that could not be concealed. A woman is wearing a veil and holding a bunch of flowers in her arms. She is half a head shorter than a man and looks very beautiful. She has an oval face, eyebrows and almond eyes. She smiles.

She has never seen the man in the photo, but the woman looks familiar, a bit like her mother when she was young. But this must not be her mother, because she has seen her parents' wedding photos. And this photo is obviously the dress of men and women in the Republic of China.

It's a picture of grandma! This woman must be her grandmother when she was a child!

She remembered that grandma usually likes to laugh like this. Although she is over 70 years old and wrinkled as long as she can remember, she can still vaguely distinguish her own shadow from this photo.

How did the photo get hidden here? Is this man her grandfather? But she never heard grandma mention grandpa, and even her mother didn't tell her. When I was a child, I asked my grandma and grandpa about her, but she only said that she was dead, so don't ask again.

four

She is busy opening the letter. The letter paper is brittle and may be torn off with a little force. She must be careful.

This letter is written with a brush, and its handwriting is magnificent and powerful. At first glance, it was written by a man. The letter is addressed to "Mei", and the writer calls himself "Yimin". There are not many words. He should have written it in a hurry. The effect is that he will leave with the army and go far away to Taiwan Province Province. Let his wife Mei take good care of herself and her daughter until he comes back. The signature is 1949 65438+ February.

If this letter is addressed to grandma, then this person named Yimin should be her grandfather. But her grandmother's name doesn't seem to be May. That must be her nickname. She finally understood that it was because of Grandpa's special status that Grandma mentioned Grandpa before others. If this matter is discovered, the whole family will suffer. Grandma must have hidden this letter behind the mirror for decades for fear of being discovered. If she hadn't found it by accident today, it would always be a mystery.

In her memory, grandma is not like an ordinary old lady. Everyone always gets together, and both parents are indispensable. She doesn't seem to be gregarious and likes to be quiet. She often sees grandma sitting alone on a stone bench under a big locust tree, looking thoughtfully into the distance, and sometimes crying secretly. At this time, she always leaned over and asked grandma what was wrong. She just said that the sand fascinated her eyes.

five

She took this letter and photo to her mother. After reading it, her mother's eyes were full of tears, and her hand holding the photo was shaking all the time. She said, "It's the first time I've seen my father since I was so big."

"Grandma never told you about Grandpa?" She asked.

"Just say that your grandfather was a soldier and died in the war."

"Is Yimin my grandfather's name?"

"Yes, that's right. Your grandfather's name is Zhang Yimin. "

"Since grandpa left, there is no news at all?"

"Well, I'm not sure, but I remember one thing."

"What is it?"

"It should be the spring of 1988. That day, your grandmother was not at home, and I was the only one at home. Suddenly, several people in uniform came in and said that they wanted to check their household registration and asked if there was a person named Li Hanmei here. "

Li Hanmei?'

"But I don't know who Li Hanmei is, so I told them I don't know. They also asked me to take out the household registration book, but only your grandmother and my name were on it, and your grandmother's name was not Li Hanmei, but Li Hanmei. They found that it didn't match and left. Then your grandmother came back, and I told her about it. Your grandmother said her name used to be Li Hanmei. "

"Why did she go to Li Hanmei later?"

"It is said that when it was just liberated, the account was miscalculated."

"How can it be wrong?"

"At that time, no one took the name seriously and casually said that the other party still remembered what it was." "Han Mei" and "Han Mei" sound similar.

"Hey, I didn't expect this mistake. I missed my life."

"However, I didn't think about it at that time, and I slowly forgot about it."

"That must be grandpa looking for grandma."

"Well, now that I think about it, it should be."

"But I missed it."

"yes. I don't know if I can see my father again in this life. " Mother began to cry as she spoke, and the letter in her hand was all wet.

After listening to her mother's words, she felt very uncomfortable. She suddenly wanted to do something for her mother. She should find out where her grandfather is. Although it is very unlikely that Grandpa will live in the world, even if he is alive, he will be 100 years old.

She remembered that she had a high school classmate named Xiao Li, who was in charge of household registration management at the police station after graduation. She wants to ask if she can help.

six

On Sunday, she invited Xiaoli to her home. She told Xiaoli about looking for grandpa.

"Our household registration offices were built after liberation. Prior to this, residents who left or disappeared were not registered. "

"What other channels can you find?"

"Now that the two places are open, many Taiwan Province veterans go back to the mainland to visit relatives. I heard that there is an ARATS. You can contact them and maybe help find information about veterans. "

According to the information provided by Xiaoli, she got in touch with the ARATS staff and told them her grandfather's name and grandma's situation. The staff said that they would help find it as soon as possible, and if there is news of Grandpa, they will inform her immediately.

After about two months, I finally got a call from the staff.

"Hello, Ms. Tan Xue, I am Zhang Fan, a staff member of ARATS, and I have made some progress in finding Lao Zhang Man Yimin. We found an old man who was suspected to be Zhang Yimin. He lives in a rehabilitation center for the elderly and is 98 years old. As he is currently delirious, he can't confirm it further. We contacted his adopted son, Zhang Siyuan, and he said he could provide photos of the old man when he was young. So, you also sent a photo of the old man here and made a comparison. "

She took a remake of grandpa's photo and sent it to the staff by email. A few days later, when she was browsing the news on the computer, she suggested that there was a new email in the mailbox. She opened the mailbox and found that the email came from Zhang Fan with a photo attached. The man above is in his forties, wearing a military uniform and very handsome. She quickly took out grandpa's photo and put them together. Yes, it's the same person. It's just that this photo is older than the one in her hand, and her facial features haven't changed much, just a few wrinkles around her eyes.

She showed the photo to her mother, who nodded and said yes again and again, and shed tears with excitement.

seven

A month later, she and her mother boarded the plane to Taiwan Province Province, ready to meet the old man. Although from the information provided by the other party, the old man is basically determined to be her grandfather by age, appearance and identity, but further confirmation is needed. Because these are only unilateral materials, I didn't find any information about my grandmother in the old man. So some things, but also to ask the elderly face to face.

But I wonder if the old man was conscious when he went this time. I heard that the old man's condition is not very good, and he is dying. Whether he is his grandfather or not, she will take her mother to see him.

When the mother and daughter got off the plane, they saw a person in the crowd, holding a sign with her name on it, looking over here. They came forward and said their names. It turns out that he is Zhang Siyuan, the adopted son of the old man.

Out of the airport, Zhang Siyuan took the mother and daughter into a car and went straight to the rehabilitation center.

Three people were chatting while riding in the car. From the conversation, I learned that the old man suddenly became seriously ill a few months ago and has been living in the elderly rehabilitation center. The old man has no children, and his wife died ten years ago. Zhang Siyuan is a volunteer and often goes to the home of the elderly who are lonely. Because he is very congenial to the old man, the old man regards him as his adopted son.

When she asked Mr Zhang if he had looked for his family in Chinese mainland, Zhang Siyuan said he didn't know. He is an old man he met ten years ago, and a veteran went back to his hometown to visit relatives 1987.

He said that the old man seldom mentioned the past to him. Old people always like to sit alone in a daze, looking thoughtfully out of the window, motionless. Sometimes you sit for an afternoon.

eight

The rehabilitation center is very quiet. The old man was lying in a single ward, pale, with his eyes closed and an oxygen mask on his nose. He can't see himself when he was young.

"Can you wake up?" Mother asked the doctor.

"Sometimes I am awake, sometimes I am confused, and I have become more and more awake recently."

"When will you probably wake up?"

"It's hard to say. You can talk to him. If you are stimulated by the outside world, you may wake up. "

The doctor went out, and my mother sat in front of the old man's bed, tears streaming down her face, very dignified.

"The old man's house, I am a mainlander, my father is also called Zhang Yimin, and I have been in Taiwan Province Province for 49 years. My mother's name is Li Hanmei. I wonder if you know her? " Mother tried it, put it in the old man's ear and asked, her eyes full of expectation.

The old man did not move, and his eyes continued to close.

Mother continued to speak, saying the name of my hometown, the scenery of my hometown, and my relatives in my hometown. As he spoke, the old man's eyes finally rolled a few times, then slowly opened a crack, and a thin hand was raised feebly, and his expression looked very anxious. The mouth moved as if to say something, but the voice was very small.

When Zhang Siyuan saw this scene, he leaned in and put his ear to the old man's mouth to hear what the old man was saying.

After a while, he nodded and said to the mother and daughter, "My father understands what you said. He said he was excited to see people in his hometown, but he said he was not the Zhang Yimin you were looking for. Before he came to Taiwan Province Province, he lived in the northeast, was not in Shanghai, and was never married. "

"How did that happen? I have seen photos of old people when they were young, just like my father. " Then show the printed photos to the old man.

"I'll ask again." Zhang Siyuan took the photo, told the old man the situation again, and then continued to put his ear close to the old man's mouth and listened carefully.

"Father said it was Zhang Yimin in the photo, but it wasn't him."

"Then what's your father's name?"

"My father's name is Zhang Yimin, too."

"Is it namesake, made a mistake? But why is your father's photo here? "

"I am also very confused. I found this in my father's filing cabinet. "

"Is this the only photo of his old man's house?"

"When I was young, I found such a photo in military uniform. Because his name "Zhang Yimin" was written on the back, I thought it was a photo of my father. It's really not like my father now. My father's face is longer than this man's and his eyes are smaller than his. However, the old photos are not very clear, and they look similar in military uniforms. "

At this point, everyone is a little confused about what happened, so Zhang Siyuan continues to talk with his father. Finally, he asked his mother and daughter to wait here for a while and said that his father asked him to go home and get something back.

nine

When he came back again, Zhang Siyuan held an envelope in his hand and said, "This was left by Mr. Zhang and has been kept by my father."

"That my father he ..."

"Sorry, I just heard from my father that his old man died as early as 2002."

Although I have never seen the old man, both mother and daughter were shocked and burst into tears when they heard the news. I thought I could meet the old man, but I didn't expect that the old man had already gone to heaven and all he saw was his legacy.

She picked up the bag and found a lot of letters and a diary in it. Among them, there are more than a dozen letters, each of which is stamped with the red seal "No such person is found", but they are all returned letters. The recipients are all her grandmother Li Hanmei, and the address should be her old address when she lived in Shanghai, and the date is also after her grandmother moved, so it is reasonable for the letter to be returned.

The handwriting on the letter is the same as that she found on the dresser. It was written by my grandfather to my grandmother. Every letter reveals the old man's deep yearning for his hometown, wife and daughter. The old man has always hoped to return to his hometown in his lifetime, but he has not been able to do so because of his leg injury and inconvenient movement when he joined the army.

The old man's diary is very thick, and it is a dark green hard-shell cloth diary. The golden words and patterns on it have long been blurred, and the joint between the spine and the cover has cracked, and the transparent tape is barely stuck inside. The dark blue hard-written characters, with the imprint of time, have long been integrated with the yellowed horizontal paper.

Seeing this old diary, she seemed to see a weather-beaten old man sitting in front of her, telling them about his life, ups and downs, joys and sorrows.

It turns out that the old man has never remarried in Taiwan Province Province. After being able to communicate with the mainland, he wrote many letters to her grandmother, but all the letters were returned. Later, through a non-governmental organization to help find it, but the investigation found that her grandmother had already moved out of Shanghai, and then went to find her grandmother's place to live, but she could not find it. Judging from the time, 1988, the police station came to check the household registration, looking for Li Hanmei, that is, her grandfather was looking for her grandmother.

The old man has been in poor health and has had many operations on his legs. Before his death, he gave all his property to Zhang Yimin, who had the same name with him. The two met in a veterans association and had the same background, so they hit it off. Although her grandfather is from Shanghai and Zhang Yimin is from Northeast China, their personalities are different, but they are very friendly. Seeing that her grandfather was lonely in Zhang Yimin in the northeast, she always advised him to remarry, but he refused. He said that as long as his wife is alive, he can't remarry. But unexpectedly, the husband and wife never met again until their death, and neither of them remarried, silently observing the agreement of that year.

Before his death, the old man asked Zhang Yimin to continue to help him find his wife and daughter. If he finds it, he will take the ashes back to his hometown and leave the leaves. Lao Zhangman Yimin never stopped looking, but he never found it. However, her grandfather's information was registered with ARATS, so this time she easily contacted Mr. Zhang.

10

After bidding farewell to the old man, the mother and daughter, led by Zhang Siyuan, came to the ashes storage center of the funeral home. After 70 years, the old man in a foreign land finally met his family. The old man in the black-and-white photo is kind-hearted and full of white hair, and the vicissitudes and helplessness of the years are exposed in the gully on his face. It's just that he can't hug the person he loves anymore, just like what he wrote in his diary. Only a cold urn passed between his relatives' fingers.

In the spring of March, the roadside leading to the cemetery is full of white peach blossoms. When the breeze blows, the peach blossoms on the ground are like snow.

She and her mother held a joint funeral for their grandparents. After waiting for more than half a century, the couple finally came together in this form, and the wedding photos hidden in the dresser were placed on their tombstones. The couple smiled in the sun and looked into the distance, as if this time had never passed and stayed at the moment when the shutter was pressed.