Chapter 421

Returning to Lushan Village, Li Heng planned to put his luggage back in his small building first.

Unexpectedly, taking out the key to open the door, he saw the withered ginkgo tree.

How could it die just like that?

Damn it! I also watered you every day before; I just didn't take care of it in the last few days, isn't there rain? And you died?

How could it die just like that?

Looking at the tree trunk in front of him that could be ignited quickly, Li Heng was extremely depressed, his heart feeling cold.

Seeing him standing at the courtyard door without moving, Yu Shuheng walked over curiously, and when she saw the ginkgo tree with withered leaves, she walked away quietly without a word.

Returning to the house, Li Heng threw his luggage on the floor, poured a cup of water, drank a few mouthfuls, and started writing a letter, writing a letter to his black-bellied wife, telling her about the ginkgo tree.

He promised to tell her the first time; this couldn't be delayed.

He originally wanted to call directly, but was afraid of hearing Xiao Han's disappointed voice; after weighing it, he finally decided to write a letter.

The content of the letter is divided into 3 paragraphs:

The first paragraph reports his life after coming to Shanghai and briefly talks about what happened at the Anta shoe factory.

The second paragraph, Li Heng's pen turned to express his longing and asked how she was doing in Jingcheng.

The third paragraph, dragged to this point, he just told her the news that the ginkgo tree had died, and directly expressed his thoughts behind it, planting another one next spring, and must keep it alive.

Spending half an hour finishing the letter, Li Heng checked it once, and seeing there were no mistakes, folded it into a heart shape, and traced a big smiley face where the letter was opened, smiling very brightly, and wrote a sentence next to it: The first day your husband misses you.

To express his apology, he decided to write her a letter every day during the summer vacation until she returned.

Putting the letter into a tan registered envelope, sticking on a stamp, Li Heng quickly picked it up and rushed downstairs, without saying a word, rode his bicycle to Wujiao Square to mail the letter.

Small building at No. 25.

Yu Shuheng, who had been drinking coffee in the attic, saw everything the little boy did. When Li Heng left in a hurry with the envelope in his hand, her gaze fell again on the courtyard opposite, falling on the ginkgo tree.

For a period of time, she would feel upset and blocked every time she saw this tree. But now it was dead, yet she didn't have the joy she imagined, but instead, her heart was calm, without waves.

Seeming to feel something, Yu Shuheng looked up at the small building at No. 27, just in time to collide with Zhou Shihe's gaze.

After a while, she finished her coffee, washed the cup clean, and set off to the small building at No. 27; the first sentence she said when they met was: "Li Heng went to mail a letter, he'll be back in a while."

"Okay."

Actually, no need for Yu Laoshi to say it, Zhou Shihe had already seen it before, and also saw this teacher lost in thought facing the ginkgo tree.

She secretly observed Yu Laoshi's expression, wanting to know if the tree symbolizing love died, would Yu Laoshi have any reaction?

The result was nothing.

But sometimes, the calmer it is, the more it can explain some things. A woman's intuition told Zhou Shihe that Xiao Han was in big trouble.

Not long after, Li Heng returned, carrying a bag of cream popsicles in his hand.

"Come! Teacher, Comrade Shihe, here! This ghostly weather is too hot, let's have some popsicles to cool off." Out of apology, Li Heng was full of smiles when he came to the door, and his attitude was as good as it could be.

Yu Shuheng nodded and took the popsicle.

"Thank you." Zhou Shihe's voice was warm as jade, saying thank you.

Seeing that Zhou Shihe had an extra red thread loop on her right hand than before, Li Heng took a bite of the popsicle and asked curiously: "What is this red thread loop of yours? Superstition?"

Zhou Shihe explained: "Often have nightmares at night, can't sleep, the family invited someone to help me do a ritual."

Li Heng said casually: "In a family like yours, you also believe in this?"

Zhou Shihe smiled gently, not knowing how to answer his words.

Her mother did accompany her to the hospital for a checkup, but there was nothing wrong with her body. Later, the elders in the family took her to the temple to burn incense and worship Buddha, praying for her blessings, so there was an extra red thread loop on her hand.

Thinking of this girl's state in Jingcheng before, thinking that she was usually accompanied by someone to sleep in the small building in Lushan Village, Li Heng couldn't help but ask: "Then you've been in Lushan Village for 10 days, are you afraid of sleeping alone at night?"

Zhou Shihe said gently: "It's okay."

With an "it's okay," Li Heng couldn't figure out what this girl meant? Is she afraid? Or not afraid?

It is estimated that she is mostly afraid, just not easy to say it explicitly.

Considering that the main reason she stayed for the summer vacation was to help herself, Li Heng didn't play dumb on this matter: "So you are afraid?"

Zhou Shihe thought for a moment, then smiled and nodded lightly.

Her body was naturally weak, living alone in such a large small building, it was fine during the day, but once it was night, she always felt it was too deserted. After having nightmares for two nights, she endured until dawn with a numb heart.

Li Heng pondered for a moment and said with concern: "If you are afraid, you can go to my place to sleep at night."

He said this in front of Yu Laoshi, indicating that he was open and aboveboard.

After all, he and Zhou Gu Niang had stayed in the same room for more than a month before, so living in the same small building was nothing.

And stating it face-to-face was always better than saying it behind one's back.

Yu Shuheng acted as if she didn't hear this, eating the popsicle in small bites while her eyes were always leaning toward the distance.

Zhou Shihe looked at Yu Laoshi calmly, then smiled lightly at Li Heng, neither saying she would go nor saying she wouldn't.

After eating the popsicles, the three entered the piano room and officially got busy with the pure music album.

Taking the piano score, Li Heng was stunned at a glance.

He asked in surprise: "No? You didn't sleep, arranging music day and night, right? 9 pieces of music and you actually completed 6?"

Yu Shuheng said: "It's just a preliminary arrangement; after all, you are the protagonist. Without your instrument cooperation, Shihe and I can't further verify many places."

This was also one of the reasons why Yu Laoshi personally went to the Pudong shoe factory to pick him back.

Seeing that a quarter of the summer vacation had passed, time waited for no one; without any nonsense, the three soon got busy again.

However, compared to Zhou Shihe and Yu Laoshi who had learned the whole set of music theory knowledge, Li Heng could only be considered a half-baked person; in arrangement, he could only occasionally provide some suggestions based on the memory and experience of later generations, and as for how to operate specifically, it still depended on the two women.

Purely, to some extent, he was just a tool man.

But one thing to say, every time he listened to Yu Laoshi and Zhou Shihe discussing on the side, he always had a feeling of sudden enlightenment, invisibly learning a lot of things.

Looking at Yu Laoshi and Zhou Shihe arguing back and forth over some differences, Li Heng secretly sighed: Is this the strength of a regular member of the Musicians Association?

Can challenge the closed-door disciple of Master Wu Yili?

Anyway, he used to love showing off his piano skills, but since meeting Zhou Shihe, mm-hmm, damn it, he's been a lot more honest.

Most of the time, he would rather listen to Zhou Gu Niang play than do it himself.

They say laymen watch the excitement, experts watch the doorway; the gap between himself and others is not a star and a half, but a chasm between each other.

But this tool man of his was not for nothing; besides occasionally having a flash of inspiration to offer some golden ideas, he mainly played a buffering role.

As early as the rehearsal for the Spring Festival Gala in Jingcheng, he had seen the clues: Yu Laoshi and Zhou Gu Niang's aura didn't quite match.

According to the rural slang, it is: it is true that the two women are very talented, but they also have their own opinions, often unable to pee into the same pot.

Looking at the two great beauties with different temperaments in front of him, a word couldn't help but pop into Li Heng's mind: like repels like.

Although they hadn't quarreled, they would be silent for a long time from time to time because of different opinions. Often at this time, Li Heng's role was highlighted, smoothing things over, or using humorous off-topic words to liven up the atmosphere.

Whenever this time came, whenever he spared no effort to tell jokes, the clever two women would cooperate with him, invisibly easing the relationship.

Acting as a lubricant between them, this was also another main reason why Yu Laoshi picked him back, right?

At the same time, it's no wonder that Zhou Gu Niang clearly didn't dare to live alone at night, but just wouldn't go to Yu Laoshi, wouldn't go to the small building at No. 25 to sleep. And Yu Laoshi didn't issue an invitation either.

Perhaps, in the dark, the two women both knew that maintaining an appropriate distance was their best way of getting along.

Discussing and discussing, differences appeared again; listening to them each expound their understanding of the music score, a thought suddenly popped into Li Heng's mind: If it were in the ancient imperial palace, would the two women form cliques and turn the harem upside down?

"Li Heng, whose chord do you think is better?"

Just as his thoughts were flying, Yu Shuheng, who had differences because of the arrangement of *Nightingale*, raised her head and asked whose idea, hers or Shihe's, was more suitable?

Zhou Shihe also looked at him quietly.

Which chord is better?

Li Heng asked the two women to play it coherently; after listening, he said based on his feeling: "Shihe's chord has the sound of nature, has the beauty of balance, and may be more matched to this piece *Nightingale*."

Hearing this, Zhou Shihe lowered her head and looked at the piano, her clever little mouth pouting slightly, but the duration was very short, and the next instant it converged and disappeared without a sound.

Actually, regarding the chord of *Nightingale*, it was not the first time she and Yu Laoshi had differences; today was the 5th time.

For the previous 6 music scores, although the two also had various arguments, they reached a unified point of view in the arguments. But only for this *Nightingale*, the two women each insisted on their own opinions, and for a while, neither could convince the other.

Finally, it had to be temporarily shelved; Yu Shuheng simply drove to Pudong and picked up the serious protagonist Li Heng.

Although the two women didn't discuss it, they had a tacit understanding on this matter, letting him make the choice.

Whichever one he leaned toward, that one's chord would be used.

And Li Heng didn't know beforehand that Zhou Shihe and Yu Laoshi were secretly competing; after listening, he just expressed his own feelings very objectively.

Yu Shuheng looked at him, then glanced at Zhou Shihe implicitly: "The piece was created by you, you have more say, so let's use Shihe's."

Yu Shuheng wasn't narrow-minded, but "willing to bet and willing to lose," compromising generously.

With Li Heng's final decision, the stone lying between the two women disappeared, the progress accelerated again, and from afternoon to night, the preliminary arrangement of the music score *Nightingale* was finally completed.

After 9:00 PM, Yu Shuheng looked at her watch and said: "It's not early, we've been busy and haven't eaten dinner, and we're all a bit hungry. There are noodles at home, Li Heng, you go cook three bowls of noodles, Teacher will go take a shower."

Seeing Yu Laoshi stand up, Li Heng stood up too: "Done, Teacher, come over after you wash up, I'll fry some sauce first."

Yu Shuheng smiled and nodded, leaving the small building at No. 27.

Waiting until the footsteps went far away, Li Heng turned to Zhou Shihe, who was sitting quietly in front of the piano, and said: "Comrade Shihe, what about you? Want to take a shower? Or come with me to the next door?"

Zhou Shihe closed the music score, thought for a moment, and said: "I'll come over in a while."

Li Heng asked: "Not afraid of being alone, right?"

Zhou Shihe smiled knowingly and stood up slowly.

Returning to the small building at No. 26, Li Heng caught a cat-sized mandarin fish from the bucket and killed it. He heard Yu Laoshi say this fish was caught by the fake Daoist, catching 5 in total, and gave two to them.

After killing one fish, Li Heng pondered for a while, then caught another mandarin fish from the bucket.

Killed them together, planning to make a sour and spicy sliced fish to eat.

Just happened to use the fish soup to make noodle soup, killing two birds with one stone.

The sour and spicy sliced fish took relatively more time; when he finished, the two women arrived at the small building at No. 26 one after the other.

Seeing this, he didn't wait anymore, directly boiled water and cooked noodles.

Four or five minutes later, three steaming bowls of noodles were placed on the table.

Li Heng discovered a phenomenon, which was that Yu Laoshi and Zhou Gu Niang's seats at the dining table were never adjacent, seeming to prefer sitting across the table.

Don't know when it started, maybe it was during the Jingcheng period, just that this summer vacation was relatively more obvious.

However, for the sake of the next cooperation, whether it was Li Heng or the two women, the three of them knew it well, and none of them had the thought of extending it in this direction.

After dinner, uh, it should also be considered a late-night snack.

Yu Laoshi suggested going out for a walk to digest.

Li Heng agreed.

Zhou Shihe didn't object and silently followed out of the courtyard.

Don't know when, the lights of the small building at No. 24 diagonally opposite turned on, and not just one, but both the first and second floors were on.

The families in this alley were basically empty during the summer vacation; Li Heng, who had no psychological burden, stood in the middle of the alley and shouted: "Old Fu! At home?"

"You brat, howling and howling! You guys are going out in the middle of the night?" Hearing the sound, the fake Daoist poked his head out from the second-floor balcony.

Not long after, Chen Siya also appeared on the balcony with a big pregnant belly.

After a brief conversation, Li Heng learned that the couple had moved over from their hometown and would basically live here permanently from now on.

Li Heng looked up and asked: "Sister Chen, how much longer until the due date?"

Chen Siya replied: "Mid-September."

She asked: "Do you want to come in and sit for a while? Drink a cup of tea? Old Fu brought back a bag of good tea leaves in the last two days."

Li Heng looked at the two women and refused: "Another day, we just finished eating and are a bit full, need to walk."

Chen Siya smiled and said okay.

Just as the three were about to leave, the fake Daoist shouted from behind: "Li Heng, let's go fishing together when you have time."

Regarding the fishing matter, because of the water ghost incident last year, Old Fu had stopped for a period of time; clearly, he was now healed and forgot the pain, and was addicted again.

Considering Old Fu had shouted many times, and he had never gone once, he gave face and said: "Okay, come call me when you have time."

Saying goodbye to the couple, the three left Lushan Village and walked half a circle around the campus.

Maybe it was because of the summer vacation, or maybe it was too late, they didn't meet a single person on the road.

Until passing Yan Garden, they saw two professor couples sitting on the bridge shaking cattail fans and chatting by the small bridge and flowing water.

Yu Laoshi seemed very familiar with the other party and spontaneously stopped to chat with the professor couples.

Li Heng politely called out "Teacher" and then took Zhou Shihe to a nearby lawn, picked a clean place, and sat down on the ground.

At first, the two were speechless, listening to the birds, blowing the evening breeze, and quietly enjoying this rare tranquility.

After a while, Li Heng broke the deadlock and asked: "How long do you plan to stay here for the summer vacation?"

Zhou Shihe thought for a moment and said, "Don't know yet."

Later, she added gently: "Wait until this album is recorded."

Li Heng said apologetically, "Hey, feel sorry for you, delayed you so much time for my affairs."

Zhou Shihe shook her head lightly: "Don't say that, with the quality of these pieces, I'm still taking advantage of you."

Li Heng understood her words and laughed: "Actually, with your piano level, everyone knows that soaring to the sky is just a matter of time, sooner or later."

Zhou Shihe smiled lightly, didn't talk much about this problem, but instead asked about Mai Sui: "Have you met Mai Sui during the summer vacation?"

"Mm, yes, I went to her hometown a week ago," Li Heng said.

Zhou Shihe was surprised and turned her head to look at him.

Their eyes met, and Li Heng read her mind: In the situation where his feelings are unclear, how can he go to Mai Sui's house? How to explain to Mai Sui's parents in the future?

The atmosphere of this era is not comparable to later generations, relatively speaking, it is still much more conservative; bringing a male classmate home means running for marriage.

Li Heng said: "Manning also went together."

Zhou Shihe suddenly realized, then asked warmly: "Did Mai Sui ask her to go?"

Li Heng sighed: "Can you not be so smart? With our relationship, just turn a blind eye to some things, sigh."

Zhou Shihe glanced at him strangely and moved her gaze away.

Her gaze lingered on Yu Laoshi inadvertently for a while, and she suddenly asked: "Did Yu Laoshi go to your hometown?"

Li Heng asked back: "Mai Sui told you?"

Zhou Shihe said: "It's Manning."

That's right, Mai Sui wouldn't be a chatterbox.

It was Sun Manning who loved excitement, chattering about everything.

Of course, mainly because Sun Manning didn't notice the subtle relationship between Li Heng and Yu Laoshi, otherwise, she would have considered whether she could talk about it before opening her mouth.

Li Heng didn't deny it: "Stayed for about three days."

Zhou Shihe glanced at him strangely again and didn't make a sound. The two fell into silence.

Seeing Yu Laoshi chatting very enthusiastically with several professors, after waiting for a while, Li Heng started to find something to say: "Do you want to go to my place tonight?"

He wasn't asking a nonsense question, but understood that because Yu Laoshi was there before, she couldn't answer.

Mentioning this matter again now was sincerity and giving her a step down. Otherwise, with this girl's temperament, she would rather die than come.

Sure enough, this time Zhou Gu Niang agreed well.

Around 10:30 PM, the three returned to Lushan Village.

Seeing that the fake Daoist's house hadn't closed the door, Yu Shuheng went in to sit for a while, and after about 20 minutes, she left the small building at No. 24, preparing to return home to wash up and then go to the small building at No. 26 to spend the night.

Having not been in close contact with this little boy for several days, she felt inexplicably blocked in her heart; having finally picked him back today, she calculated in her heart to go there and stay for a night.

Although she knew many things were stuck at the last pass and couldn't pass in a short time, she wasn't in a hurry, just simply wanted to stay in a space alone with him.

However, before she could drink the coffee she just brewed, she saw Zhou Shihe knock on the courtyard door opposite and walk in.

Yu Shuheng was stunned, then got up and turned off the living room light, hiding in the dark night, silently watching the opposite side.

She saw Li Heng pour two cups of tea, saw Li Heng cut half a watermelon, saw Zhou Shihe sit on the sofa. Suddenly, Zhou Shihe got up, came to the window, and pulled the curtains.

Once the curtains were pulled, the second floor of the small building at No. 26 was instantly isolated from the outside world, forming a small world of its own.

Yu Shuheng pinched the coffee cup with her right hand, then put it down, stood up, and walked toward the hallway. But just as she got to the first floor, she stopped again, stood in place for a long time, returned to the second floor, and entered the bedroom.

Leaving only a cup of brewed coffee on the coffee table, slowly turning cold.

Small building at No. 26.

Noticing that he looked at the curtains several times, Zhou Shihe asked warmly: "Do you want me to pull them open again?"

Li Heng waved his hand absentmindedly.

Zhou Shihe glanced at him with a strange look, then pondered for a moment and said: "If it's inconvenient, you can send me over."

Li Heng's mind wasn't on this, and he answered subconsciously: "Go where?"

After speaking, he came back to his senses, exhaled, and said: "It's really nothing, don't think too much."

Zhou Shihe asked: "Do you know what I'm thinking?"

Li Heng was dumbfounded, looking at her.

Looking at each other, Zhou Shihe smiled knowingly, ate the small piece of watermelon in her hand, then went to the washroom to wash her hands and rinse her mouth; not long after, she appeared in the living room again, said "good night" to him, and then walked into the secondary bedroom and closed the door.

Lingering at the secondary bedroom door for a few seconds, Li Heng threw away his thoughts and lowered his head to eat the watermelon. The weather was too stuffy, and he ate two pieces of watermelon in a row before coming to the study.

That's right, it was the study; he was quite spirited tonight and planned to read for a while before sleeping.

Having not written for a while, Li Heng, whose brain had been completely emptied, planned to pick up the book again; after finding the state, he would finish the last two chapters of *Bai Luyuan*.

This night, Li Heng stayed up all night.

Originally he planned to read for a while and then sleep, but as he read, he got the feeling, then spread out the pen, ink, paper, and inkstone and started writing Chapter 45 of *Bai Luyuan*.

As a result, his spirit was up, like being injected with chicken blood, writing all night long.

Writing and writing, writing until he forgot the time, until Zhou Shihe quietly pushed open the study door and poked her head in.

Li Heng turned to look at her.

Zhou Shihe pursed her lips lightly, "Did I disturb you?"

"No, it's just that I'm very hungry and smelled the fragrance," Li Heng said.

Zhou Shihe laughed dumbly, weighing the breakfast in her left hand: "Come out and eat together, just bought it."

"Eh, okay."

Li Heng put down his pen, tidied up the manuscript slightly, and followed out of the study.

Coming to the coffee table, she opened the breakfast bags one by one, sat down, and asked: "You stayed up all night?"

Li Heng reached out and picked up a piece of thousand-layer cake, "How did you see it?"

"Guessed." Saying that, she handed him a pair of chopsticks.

"You eat first, I'll go wash up," Li Heng took another piece of thousand-layer cake and put it in his mouth, chewing and running into the washroom.

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Updated first, then revised.

(Still more)

(End of this chapter)