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墨書 Inktalez
He meticulously tidied the fields, pulling every blade of grass from the edges and ridges until everything was spotless, going around the land thoroughly. He repaired all the doors and windows at home, as well as the tables and benches. Being a carpenter by trade, these tasks were naturally easy for him; he completed them with precision and even checked everything multiple times to ensure it was done properly.
While he was doing these things, his expression was very serious, as if he were completing a solemn task, silent to the point that one could describe him as being completely quiet.
Liu Xiuzhen always followed behind him or stood beside him, occasionally offering her help silently. He did not refuse her as he had in the past, nor did he tell her to stand aside.
He did not reject her, but he also did not glance at her.
His demeanor filled Liu Xiuzhen with fear and a sense of sorrow.
Qinglan, who observed everything, became more silent than ever before!
Grandma sighed and muttered softly, "If you want to leave, then go! Liu Family Village cannot keep you anyway. Once you leave, we can stop hoping for you."
Finally, on the night before his departure, when Qing Shusheng quietly packed his belongings like a silent and sorrowful night owl, Liu Xiuzhen erupted.
"Qing Shusheng, you have some nerve! Once you leave Liu Family Village this time, don't ever come back!" Her voice tore through the air like a bamboo stick breaking.
This was the first time in their many years of marriage that Liu Xiuzhen mustered the courage to shout at him.
In the past, while she was indeed fierce and often did as she pleased, even when she harbored resentment towards Qing Shusheng, she would redirect that anger towards others.
For example, Bai Cuifang.
Even if Qing Shusheng committed an error unrelated to Bai Cuifang, she would still transfer that blame onto Bai Cuifang. She would not scold Qing Shusheng but instead direct her inexplicable wrath at Bai Cuifang.
She resented Qing Shusheng but had always respected him, obeyed him, and complied with him.
That night, she did something that her simple mind considered the most contrary to traditional female virtues and utterly reckless.
After scolding him, she was taken aback, her eyes wide with panic as she looked at Qing Shusheng, as if worried he would slap her.
However, Qing Shusheng not only did not slap her but also showed no anger. Instead, he straightened up and looked at her calmly.
"I..." Liu Xiuzhen stared at him with terrified eyes, her lips quivering.
After a long time, Qing Shusheng slowly said, "I just went to Shenzhen to check on Jiawei and see how he is doing out there. I have always been a bit worried about him. If things don't go well, I will bring him back directly and pass my skills on to him. He can still make a living here in the mountains."
Qing Shusheng looked up at the window, where endless mountains stretched out, seemingly impossible to escape.
In the end, he let out a gentle sigh, a helpless and sorrowful breath.
The next day, it was Qinglan who took him to the town to catch the bus. The bus was a large one filled with people.
On the way to send him off, he rarely spoke to Qinglan. Only before the bus started moving did he remind her to study hard in school.
"If there are good boys at school, don't suffer for yourself." This was the last piece of advice Qing Shusheng gave to Qinglan as the bus began to move slowly.
"Good boys," "don't suffer for yourself," those few short words brought tears to Qinglan's eyes.
Surely when Qing Shusheng said this, he must have felt emotional too. Although Qinglan did not see it, she could sense it. Even if tears did not flow down his face, she believed his heart must be shedding them profusely.
"Father, my heart is not bitter; even if it were, I would have no complaints." Qinglan silently thought.
"Father, even if you never return, we will not resent you. I wish you well, Father," Qinglan silently blessed him in her heart.
"Good boys, Father; I am lucky. I have met good boys around me, but in my heart, there are still people and feelings I cannot let go of," Qinglan thought quietly.
After sending Qing Shusheng off, Qinglan took a bus directly from the town to the Provincial Capital and then returned to Beijing from there.
After Qinglan and Qing Shusheng left, Liu Xiuzhen's home seemed to fall into a state of silence. The entire Liu Family Village also appeared unusually quiet. No one woke up early to hear the first crow of the rooster, no one rose early to clear the mist in front of Liu Family Village with a hoe, and no one returned from the fields to inform each household which rice seedlings needed more water, which fields needed weeding, or which banks needed filling.
Each household began to panic, as everyone needed to wander around the fields, unsure of when they would need to separate the seedlings, when they would need to apply fertilizer, or when they would need to sow vegetable seeds. In the past, they relied on Qing Shusheng going to the fields to know it was time for planting season; they knew it was time to loosen the soil in the mountains when they saw Qing Shusheng heading up there, and that it was time for pruning trees.
After the silence came chaos.
Liu Family Village began to descend into disorder, but Liu Xiuzhen's home remained quiet.
Although he had said before leaving that he was just going to find Liu Jiawei, Liu Xiuzhen still felt that Qing Shusheng was like "the yellow crane has gone and will not return, while white clouds drift endlessly through the ages."
Because shortly after Qing Shusheng left, Shaw Min returned home for a visit and took Bai Cuifang with her to Shenzhen.
Liu Xiuzhen could have pulled Qing Shusheng back from going to Shenzhen; in fact, at this point, she couldn't even hold onto Qing Shusheng, let alone Bai Cuifang. Bai Cuifang followed her daughter proudly, wearing the beautiful clothes her daughter had bought for her, greeting everyone in the village with pride as she walked out openly towards the same direction as Qing Shusheng.
Jealousy was useless, and resentment was futile; she could only stand on the bridge in front of her house, watching Bai Cuifang's receding figure with envy and sorrow.
Back at home, she secretly wiped away a tear.
"Hey, why are you crying?" Grandma stood behind her. The wrinkles on her face showed little sadness; she seemed to have seen through many things and perhaps could foresee many outcomes. With an expressionless face, she said, "Qing Shusheng has elderly parents he hasn't sent off yet and young ones who haven't started families; will he really not come back? The man you've lived with your whole life still doesn't understand you; it's pointless for you to have been his woman."
Grandma shook her head and sighed for a long time. After Qinglan returned to school, she didn't expect that such drastic changes would occur in just a few days in her dormitory. The train arrived in Beijing around six in the evening. By the time Qinglan transferred between subways a few times and reached her dormitory, it was already seven or eight o'clock at night. Beijing City had entered a world of bright lights and nightlife, while A University Campus had fallen into a quiet state, seemingly still shrouded in drowsiness.
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