lcionline Chapter 978 Time
Chapter 978 Time
Once, when she was sorting out the recipes left by her great-aunt, she found a page with the words "add half a spoonful of sugar to make it softer" written in pencil. The handwriting was exactly the same as the handwriting of the pencil next to the oil painting. "Do you know my great-aunt?" She held up the recipe, "Are you her friend?" The pocket watch made a long buzzing sound. The picture frame in the attic swayed slightly, and the boy's eyes in the painting seemed to move to her. Lin Wanxing began to actively look for traces of Shen Yan. She found a locked iron box in the corner of the attic, and the key was hidden on the back of the oil painting frame. The box contained a stack of letter paper. There was no address on the envelope, and the recipient was written as "Awan". "Is Awan my great-aunt?" She pinched the corner of the letter paper, her fingertips trembling slightly. My great-aunt's name was Su Wan, and she had seen it on the will document. When the letter paper was unfolded, it had a faint sandalwood scent. Shen Yan's handwriting was elegant, but what he wrote was not love words, but daily trivia - "I saw someone selling sugar paintings at the corner of the alley today. You said last time that you wanted to eat the one in the shape of a phoenix." "The mimosa in the laboratory has bloomed. I'm waiting for you to come and see it." "I've bought the movie ticket for next Saturday. It's in the pocket watch." Lin Wanxing suddenly remembered the pocket watch. She rushed downstairs and opened the cover of the watch. Sure enough, she touched a thin piece of paper in the interlayer. It was a yellowed movie ticket. The date was June 16, 20 years ago. The seat number was circled in red pen, and the word "confession" was written in very small letters next to it. "Do you want to confess to your aunt?" She asked softly to the pocket watch. The rain outside the window suddenly got heavier, and the raindrops hit the glass hard. The temperature in the store dropped sharply, and the glassware on the shelf made a tiny collision sound. Lin Wanxing felt a familiar chill passing over her neck, but this time it was accompanied by an obvious tremor. She pressed the movie ticket back into the interlayer of the pocket watch and gently closed the cover: "It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if you don't say it out loud." The temperature slowly rose. A layer of water vapor gradually condensed on the glass of the counter, and someone drew a crooked smiley face on it with his fingertips. Lin Wanxing began to piece together Shen Yan's life in the letter. He was a student in the medical school and met Su Wan in a second-hand shop; he could repair watches, and the pocket watch was his birthday gift to Su Wan; he always came to the store at 3:10 because Su Wan said that the sunlight at this time was most suitable for drying tangerine peel. The last letter was not finished, the handwriting was sloppy, and the ink was smudged. "Awan, I saw a runaway truck at the corner of the alley on my way to buy a sugar painting--" The following words were blurred by the ink. Lin Wanxing covered her mouth, and her tears fell on the letter paper, blurring the ink marks from 20 years ago. She finally understood why the grandfather clock stopped at 3:10, why the pocket watch always vibrated at this time, and Shen Yan's obsession-he didn't have time to send the sugar painting, didn't have time to watch a movie, and didn't have time to say he liked her. "Shen Yan," she pressed her cheek against the cold pocket watch, "my aunt likes you too." She had seen the answer in her aunt's diary. On one page of the cowhide diary hidden under the pillow, there was a picture of a small pocket watch, and next to it was written "Today at 3:10, he didn't come", the ink was blue with tears. There were many pages behind, all with notes like "I sorted out the brooch he gave me today", "I dried his letters", and "I saw someone who looked like him". "She has been waiting for you for a long time." Lin Wanxing's voice was filled with tears, "She has always put the pocket watch in the most conspicuous place on the counter and wiped it every day." The pocket watch suddenly started to move, ticking, ticking, the sound was as crisp as dew after rain. Lin Wanxing saw the air in front of the counter slightly distorted, gradually condensing into a translucent outline - a young man in a white shirt, holding a candy painting in his hand, and the phoenix's tail was still stained with icing. His face was exactly the same as in the oil painting, but there was a relieved tenderness between his eyebrows. He looked at her, as if he was looking at someone else through her, and as if he was carefully remembering her appearance. "Thank you." Lin Wanxing heard him say in his heart, his voice was clear and mellow, with the echo of the old times. The outline of the boy gradually faded, and the shadow of the sugar painting fell on the floor and slowly melted into the sunlight. The ticking sound of the pocket watch became lighter and lighter, and finally stopped at 3:11. That evening, Lin Wanxing put the pocket watch in a velvet box and placed it next to the oil painting. She found another diary of Su Wan in the attic. The last page read: "If he comes back, tell him that I know." The business of the second-hand shop gradually improved. Someone came to buy the film camera, saying that he wanted to take engagement photos; someone bought the tin biscuit box, saying that it looked like the one grandma used before. Lin Wanxing always told them the stories behind the objects, about the boy who repaired the clock, and about the girl waiting in the store. One day when it was raining, an old lady came to take shelter from the rain. When she saw the pocket watch on the counter, her eyes suddenly reddened. "I've seen this watch," she said, "Twenty years ago, there was a very handsome young man who always waited at the entrance of the alley with it." Lin Wanxing made her a cup of jasmine tea. The old lady said that on the day when the young man had the accident, she saw Su Wan sitting with her pocket watch all night, and at dawn she polished the cover of the watch, saying "he treasured this the most". "She never married again." The old lady sighed, "She always said someone was waiting for her." After seeing the old lady off, Lin Wanxing found that the pocket watch had started to move again. This time it did not stop at 3:10, but kept going, ticking, ticking, as if counting new time. She walked to the attic and saw that there was a small signature on the unfinished oil painting - Shen Yan, and there was a beautiful "Wan" character next to it, as if it was added later. The sunlight shone in from the dormer window and fell on the two names, warm. Lin Wanxing smiled at the picture frame, and when she turned to go downstairs, she heard the light sound of a pencil scratching the canvas behind her. She did not look back, but her steps were lighter. Old things will remember stories, and time will take away regrets. And some love, even if separated by life and death, can find its way home along the rotation of the gears and the temperature of the pen tip. Just like the pocket watch on the counter at this moment, it is steadily moving towards the next three ten with the waiting of two people. The pointer on the dial turned madly, and finally stopped steadily at three ten, exactly the same as the floor clock. She knew she guessed right. Shen Yan began to exist in a clearer way. He would make the halo of the desk lamp brighter when Lin Wanxing read old letters; he would let the stool legs be firmly stuck in the cracks of the floor when she stepped on the stool to reach the top shelf. A drop of water actually seeped out, rolled down the clock face, and spread a small wet mark on the wooden base. "Shen Yan?" When Lin Wanxing read out this name with an inexplicable intuition, the pocket watch on the counter suddenly vibrated violently, and the cover popped open. The stuck pointer of the floor clock trembled slightly. At the three ten position, she wiped the last shelf and asked the floating light and shadow in the sunset. The dust in the air suddenly stagnated.