It's been six months. That young man will come to my noodle restaurant almost every day at noon, but he always leaves only a bowl of money for noodles, but he never orders noodles. He just wants to tell a story to my grandmother who has been suffering from Alzheimer's disease for three years.
At first, I thought this kind-hearted young man just felt sorry for my grandmother, so he came to talk to her every day. But I gradually found that things didn't seem that simple-because every time that young man came to see his grandmother in the noodle restaurant, he always said, "Where have I seen you?" So, I feel very strange.
Today is the same.
Grandma saw a strange but familiar young man coming to her and took the initiative to strike up a conversation. Although she couldn't remember who he was, she smiled and asked him, "Really?" Where is it? "
I saw the young man sitting opposite her clapping his hands and singing with a smile: "Where have I seen you?" Your smile is so familiar ... "
Grandma couldn't help laughing and bending her eyebrows. The wrinkles on her face come and go, just like thousands of ravines in the mountains. Each one is a trace of her vicissitudes: "This is the sweetness of Teresa Teng, and I like it."
"Grandma, do you remember when you first listened to her songs?"
"I don't remember."
Grandma thought it over carefully, and then asked, "You haven't told me, where on earth have you seen me?"
I saw the young man slowly take out a shabby old photo from his wallet, point to a young woman on it and say with a smile, "Here it is."
Grandma looked at the photo again and again, and finally shook her head: "Who is she? I don't know her. " Say, put down the photo, stand up and want to leave.
Seeing this, the young man quickly stood up and stretched out his arms to stop her: "Grandma, I am not a bad person. I just want to tell you a story. This story is related to Teresa Teng. "
Grandma was very happy to hear the words "Teresa Teng", so she sat down again: "I like Teresa Teng, she is my idol."
The young man nodded, then took out an old tape recorder, put the tape on it and adjusted the volume. The story of Teresa Teng's small town is immediately played in the player.
"The story of a small town is full of joy and joy ..."
Because the tape recorder is too old, the sound quality is not very good. In the player, Teresa Teng's deep but sweet singing is mixed with noisy noise. Although it was a little noisy, grandma was fascinated by it, and she could even sing the whole song softly.
It seems that she really likes Teresa Teng.
So, with Teresa Teng's beautiful singing, young people began to explain. ...
It was an ordinary cool summer day in the late 1960s, and it was also the day when the school art troupe sent a member to go abroad for further study.
Dagang is the only boy in the school choir and the most potential classmate. His voice has a unique huskiness, unspeakable charm, warmth and magnetism.
I saw him standing calmly on the stage and singing into the microphone: "The Wusuli River is long, the blue waves are rippling, the Hezhe people spread thousands of nets, and the boat is full of fish Man Cang ..."
When every word of the lyrics is slowly spit out from his thin lips, it makes people feel as if they are there.
After singing a song "Wusuli Boat Song", the audience applauded like thunder, and the judges also gave him a high score of 96.5.
When he confidently walked off the stage, he accidentally caught a glimpse of Xiao Fang, his schoolmate who was in a hurry.
Xiao Fang is a member of the dance troupe, about seventeen or eighteen years old, two years younger than Dagang, and also the "beauty queen" of our school. She is slim, her skin is like snow, her big eyes are flickering, and her black hair is like silks and satins made in Jiangnan.
So she is very popular with male students at school, and Dagang is one of her many admirers.
"Xiao Fang, what's wrong with you?" Takong asked.
Xiao Fang cried and said, "I forgot to bring my dancing shoes in class, but the next program will come to me ... I have always dreamed of going abroad for further study in dancing, and now it's completely ruined."
Hearing this, Dagang dropped a sentence and disappeared into Xiaofang's field of vision: "Wait for me, I'll go back and get it for you!" "
Running all the way, Dagang returned to school soon. He picked up Xiao Fang's dancing shoes, took a breath in situ, and then ran back to the rehearsal hall.
Maybe he runs too fast. When he went up the stairs, he accidentally missed a step and rolled down the steps.
"Are you all right, Mr. Dagang?" A student of a singing group happened to pass by, saw Dagang fall down the stairs, and ran to help him up.
"You leave me alone! Go and send dancing shoes to Xiaofang! "
The classmate said, "It's too late, Xiao Fang's program has passed, and she didn't go on stage ..."
Takong dazed zheng, suddenly feel unbearable knee pain. ...
A few days later, Dagang, who was successfully selected to study abroad, is now in a wheelchair because of a comminuted fracture of his knee. So, he generously gave up his quota and gave it to Xiao Fang who lost the election.
"Thank you, takong classmate! I will live up to your expectations of me and study dance well. "
Xiaofang said goodbye to Dagang with a smile and got on the bus.
While Dagang watched the bus to the airport fade away, but shed tears. ...
However, in the following days, Dagang and Xiao Fang have been writing to each other. Xiao Fang, who is studying in Japan, told Dagang how white the snow is in Hokkaido and how fragrant the cherry blossoms in Tokyo are ... and Dagang wrote in every reply: "Please take care, I will wait for you to come back."
At that time, Teresa Teng's songs were popular all over China, and Dagang was fascinated by her sweet and euphemistic singing. So he bought a tape recorder and several tapes of Teresa Teng songs and sent them to Xiaofang, who is far away from Japan, and left a message saying, "I hope Teresa Teng's singing will make you happy in a foreign country."
Xiao Fang turned on the tape recorder and only heard Teresa Teng sing: "You asked me how much I love you, and how much I love you?" ? My love is constant, and the moon represents my heart ... "
It was the first time that Xiao Fang heard Teresa Teng's songs, and it was also the first time that Dagang confessed to Xiaofang in this way.
Gradually, under the influence of takong, Xiao Fang began to worship Teresa Teng, and at the same time, he felt that he seemed to like this warm big boy who had always admired himself. So, she promised Dagang to return to China in April next year to find him and other objects.
Dagang waited and waited until next April, but Xiao Fang didn't come back, and didn't even reply to the letter.
A few days after Xiaofang lost contact, Dagang accidentally read a news report in the newspaper-the earthquake in Japan.
Knowing this news, Dagang was extremely worried, but he still couldn't contact Xiaofang. A year later, he thought Xiao Fang had been killed and was disheartened. At this time, the northwest frontier was in chaos and was being recruited. Dagang always wanted to make some contribution to the country, but he signed up without telling his family.
Who knows, this wait is seven years.
Dagang came back from the army, got married in the army and had a son. He came to his small house and found his mailbox full of letters.
He couldn't wait to take out the letter and rummaged through Xiao Fang's name. Sure enough, most of them are letters from Xiao Fang.
He learned in the letter that Xiao Fang did not die in the earthquake in Japan seven years ago, but suffered a head injury and was in a coma for three years. She said that a Japanese doctor was very kind to her, and he took care of himself during the coma.
She also said that when she recovered in a few months, she would definitely go back to China to find Dagang and ask him to wait for her again.
But at that time, Dagang had gone to the northwest to be a soldier.
Later, Xiao Fang really came back to find Dagang, only to find that his old house was empty.
So, Xiao Fang recorded the message on his tape recorder with Dagang and put it on Dagang's desk.
Dagang found it and opened it, only to hear Xiao Fang's loud voice: "Dagang, I don't think you have written back yet, so I want to go back to China and find you personally." Turns out your neighbor said you don't live here anymore. But if you come back one day and hear my message, be sure to come to me. This is my home address ... "
Dagang went crazy after reading the letter, and immediately got on the bus and went to find her according to the address left by Xiao Fang.
But when he got there, Dagang found that the place where Xiao Fang lived had been demolished several years ago.
Now, the two have completely lost contact.
"And then what? Did the two finally meet again? "
Grandma asked the young man after listening to the story.
I saw the young man smile: "We will meet again one day."
Seeing that it was getting late, I said to him, "Sorry, my grandmother still needs to rest." Then he helped her upstairs.
I went back to the noodle restaurant on the first floor and saw that the young man had not left, so I said to him, "Little brother, you come to talk to my grandmother every day. Thank you very much. You don't have to pay for noodles when you come back later. "
The young man shook his head: "I come here every day to chat with my grandmother, which has disturbed your normal business." I am very sorry if I don't give face money again. "
I smiled: "Then where on earth have you met my grandmother?"
He sighed, handed me a photo, pointed to the old man standing beside him and said, "This is my grandfather."
The old man in the photo is over 70 years old, sallow and emaciated. Although his eyebrows and beard are gray and his back is slightly hunched, his tall figure and handsome appearance still make him look different.
Seeing his behavior, I thought he was trying to find a wife for my grandmother. Because my grandfather was Japanese, my grandmother moved back to China only a few years after she got married, and we haven't contacted each other since. Now, grandma has Alzheimer's disease ... so I think it's okay if I can find grandma a partner to spend the rest of my life with.
At this time, he showed me the shabby old photo and said to me, "In fact, the story I just told is the love story between your grandmother and my grandfather when they were young."
I looked at the photo in surprise-the little square in the story told by the young man was my grandmother and Dagang was his grandfather.
Decades ago, they loved each other, but it happened that God played a trick and separated them in the East China Sea-one in Japan and the other in China.
After listening, I asked eagerly, "So now your grandfather is ..."
"He has terminal cancer and is dying. His only wish is to see your grandmother again. My family and I searched almost everywhere in China and finally found her here, but she got Alzheimer's disease and forgot everything. Therefore, I will tell her the love story of their youth over and over again. Although she will forget it tomorrow after listening to it today, I will stick to it and hope to arouse her memory. "
I asked, "My grandmother never remembers what to do?"
The young man smiled: "My grandfather said that he was waiting for her when he was young, and she was waiting for him when he grew up. Missing for decades, now that they are both old, it's his turn to wait for her ... even though he doesn't know how long he can wait, he will wait until the end of his life.
"In fact, you should have told me earlier. I can take my grandmother to see your grandfather at once. "
"But your grandmother has dementia. I am afraid that after they meet, my grandfather will be even more sad when he sees that your grandmother doesn't know him. "
"That also can't let his old man's house with regret to leave ..."
The young man didn't answer, but stood up and said to me, "it's getting late, so I won't bother you too much." Goodbye. "
A few days later, the young man never came back, but grandma still sat on the table in the corner of the noodle restaurant every day, giggling alone.
Early this morning, just after cooking a pot of noodles, I saw the store door slowly pushed open. The young man wore a solemn black suit with this white flower pinned to his chest, and then sat in front of my grandmother as usual: "I seem to have seen you somewhere."
My heart sank slightly and seemed to understand something.
Dagang waited for decades, only hoping to see Xiao Fang again and sing Teresa Teng's "The Moon Represents My Heart" with her.
Unfortunately, he didn't make it.
Today, grandma saw the young man again, but instead of smirking, she stared at his face, which was similar to that of Dagang, lost in thought and asked with a puzzled expression, "I seem to have seen you somewhere."
Young people's tears can no longer stop, rolling down one by one like broken beads. ...
He took out the old photo, which was the only photo of Zhang Dagang and Xiao Fang.
Grandma looked at the photo without saying anything, but her eyes were obviously not as dull as last time. After a few minutes of silence, she suddenly pointed to the photo and shouted, "Dagang, I finally found you!" " "
Suddenly, there was silence in the noodle restaurant, except for Teresa Teng's melodious singing in the tape recorder.
"When will you come back after you leave tonight?"
But Dagang will never come back. ...