There is no road like Ninghai Road

Li Zhiwei lived in Ninghai Road, Nanjing for a year. Ninghai Road is quiet and beautiful, with a greenish flavor.

She had just returned to China at that time and was alone without much luggage. Occasionally, I rented an old house. The house was indeed old, with blue bricks and black tiles, dark twists and turns, a copper door number, and an old courtyard. There were no cars honking around.

There are many old houses and single-family villas like this on Ninghai Road. They are bought by individuals and then renovated and rented out. Generally, three or four families will live in each of them and live upstairs in a villa. Downstairs, Li Zhiwei was the first to move in. She chose a room on the third floor, which had the best lighting.

The person who rented the house to Li Zhiwei was a 70-year-old old man. Li Zhiwei asked her to read the old lady, just because the old lady's name had the word "Nian" in it, and there was an indescribable temperament and charm in the old lady. Even if she is elegant, her gray hair will always be in a neat bun, and she will wear aqua earrings. She lived alone on the first floor, and Li Zhiwei would not disturb her easily if nothing happened. Even the sound of stepping on the stairs was quiet. She always felt that the old man should be happy and peaceful in his heart when he has lived to this age.

On a slightly hot afternoon, the sunlight casts mottled shadows on the balcony through the gaps between the leaves. Li Zhiwei didn't have the habit of tending flowers and plants. The leaves of a pot of New Year's oranges left by the previous tenant on the balcony were smoky from the sun. She wanted to try to take care of them first. When she walked to the balcony, she wanted to water the plants. , I saw three or four movers standing downstairs, with big and small bags, and a heavyweight. Four people were lifting it. It was very laborious, and they didn't know what was inside.

A new tenant is moving in soon. Li Zhiwei remembered what the old lady Nian said a while ago that she only planned to rent this house to two people, one was her, and the other one she didn't know. When talking about the new tenant, the old lady Nian had always been silent and few words. There seemed to be a trace of indescribable joy on his face, as if he was looking forward to the other party's arrival. Inexplicably, she also wanted to see what the new tenant looked like.

Unfortunately, she stood on the balcony for a long time that day, the movers had left, and the new tenant never showed up. About three days later, Li Zhiwei was still sleeping in her room. She was immediately awakened by the sound of stepping on the sustain pedal, the kind of "duangggggggg~" sound, followed by various "ding ding dings". "Dong-dong again."

The big thing before was the piano. If the old lady Nian hadn’t been away for a few days, she would have been frightened by the sound and had to go to the hospital.

It seems that the owner of the piano is auditioning, and it is almost impossible to sleep again. Fortunately, Li Zhiwei’s job does not have a nine-to-five job, otherwise she would definitely and definitely not let go. The most abominable thing is to live with such a person, disturbing others' dreams.

Speaking of Li Zhiwei’s job, she is to translate some foreign works for publishing houses. She has stayed abroad for several years and has a certain literary foundation, so it is relatively easy for her to do so. She can support herself, is not rich but can still save a little money, and the most important thing is to work in this job. She can completely control her time and infiltrate travel into her life.

Li Zhiwei was still debating whether to talk to the person who made the noise, but she couldn't calm down and write seriously! As a result, the owner of the piano changed his style and played a waltz by Ravel. The beautiful melody defeated Li Zhiwei.

What she didn’t know during the whole process was that the people downstairs didn’t mean to make such a big noise. She rarely walked around in the area outside her room, so the other person didn’t know at all that the thing on her head was There is also a person like Li Zhiwei living on the ceiling.

Ever since the new tenant living on the second floor moved in, a piano music must have sounded in Li Zhiwei’s ears at six o’clock every morning. Sometimes it was Schumann, sometimes Liszt, and even It's Dvo?ák's "Humor". Li Zhiwei's biological clock was not disrupted. On the contrary, she slept more soundly. But the two people upstairs and downstairs never knew each other. Until the old lady Nian came back from a long trip a few days later, Li Zhiwei still had not seen the new tenant.

Maybe it’s a matter of timing. People get to know each other either because of this timing or because of that timing.

Several days passed.

The yard suddenly became lively. A man was taking his students to practice vocal music under a loquat tree. A big yellow dog was lying under the tree.

Li Zhiwei stood on the balcony, squinting and looking carefully. The man downstairs was facing away from her. Unfortunately, she still couldn't see his appearance, but she was sure that this man was The new tenant, whom she has never met before, is also the owner of the piano. He is a vocal teacher named Zhou You.

During this time, the man named Zhou You was busy preparing for his independent vocal music classroom. He went out to promote enrollment during the day and did not come back until dusk. Often, as soon as Li Zhiwei put his front foot into the room, he would step in with his back foot. The door of the villa, coupled with the different work and rest times, created a staggered relationship between the two of them.

This class is a basic class. The five children under the tree are practicing abdominal breathing. The correct vocal state can protect a person's voice well. Li Zhiwei found it interesting, so she puffed up her abdomen and breathed in and out. Unfortunately, she could not find the "feeling of water entering a balloon and pressing down" as the man said.

Just when Li Zhiwei relaxed his whole body and wanted to try to find the feeling again, something unexpected happened! A navy striped daisy-trimmed bra she had hung on the balcony fell right before her eyes!

Li Zhiwei rushed over to grab it, but it was too late, she missed it...

She looked at the underwear, covering Zhou You's body with shame. head on! The teaching in Zhou You's hand stopped at that second.

I never imagined that she and the person below would meet because of a piece of underwear! For a moment, the children's laughter floated in the yard, and each one of them pointed their fingers towards Li Zhiwei, shouting: "There!" There!

Before Zhou You turned around, Li Zhiwei covered her face and quickly squatted down. She leaned against the wall and sat on the ground, hiding herself. They once again lost the opportunity to see each other's true face in Lushan.

She thought this incident would just go away, but one day a week later, she had just bought a box of Weigang yogurt from Suguo convenience store. After paying, she was about to walk out of the convenience store, but she bumped into Zhou You, who lived downstairs from her, had a refreshing face. For some reason, she had never seen this man's face before, but she recognized him intuitively. Maybe it was because from the first moment she saw his back, his whole body seemed to be shining. But then I thought about it, he studied music, and his temperament was naturally higher than ordinary people.

After living under the same roof for so long, Li Zhiwei never thought of saying hello, not to mention that there was such an embarrassing episode between them. Anyway, he had never seen her before, so he thought... Thinking this way, Li Zhiwei's ears were still red when the two people actually passed each other.

She quickened her pace, wanting to leave here quickly, but then a voice came from behind, 34A.

Li Zhiwei’s hand, which was about to tear off the yogurt paper cover, stopped in surprise. She was 168cm tall and her breasts were not yet at the average level of Chinese women... However, her bust number was reported out in public. She thought it was too much... She pretended not to hear, drank yogurt and left quickly.

Also on the same day, around eight or nine in the evening, Li Zhiwei was eating roasted sweet potatoes on the swing wicker chair in the yard, and Zhou You walked in from the door carrying a basket of vegetables. He was not, Isn't he in the room? When did you go out again? ? Li Zhiwei thought so and unknowingly avoided the eyes that happened to meet the other party.

But this time, the two people really met. Unlike Li Zhiwei, who is quiet and slow to warm up, Zhou You is a familiar person. The first thing he said to Li Zhiwei was, Hey, you can cook, right?

Li Zhiwei has a black question mark on his face?

Zhou Youyou, it’s like this. The cooking aunt I was looking for before went back to her hometown for something. I can’t recruit anyone temporarily. I heard the old lady said that you have some cooking skills. After all, you are a girl, so you should be better than It’s much better for someone like me who has never cooked before, right?

Just say yes to his last sentence, and Li Zhiwei had to nod and say yes.

Help me. Zhou You said again. Li Zhiwei thought for a while before holding back the words, "You want to find a nanny."

Hearing her talk about nanny, Zhou You smiled and said, well, you can put it that way, then, can I ask you to take on this role temporarily? I will pay you normally.

No matter what, the nanny is much nicer than the cooking aunt. Li Zhiwei took a bite of the roasted sweet potato and answered, "Okay."

With so many ingredients in his hands, Zhou You originally planned to take them back to practice, or to make dark cuisine. Before entering the door, he was still thinking hard about where to find a helper. As soon as he entered the door, he saw Li Zhiwei.

She was sitting on the swing, the evening breeze was blowing her hair, the moon was hidden in the clouds, the light was faint, the shadows of the trees became deep, and she was sitting in the shadows. This girl has almond-shaped eyes with a bookish air, like a freesia.

I must find a way to have something to do with her. Zhou You was shocked when he realized that this idea came into his mind.

Watching Li Zhiwei showing off his craftsmanship in the peninsula-style kitchen, lifting the lid of the pot and letting out the sweet smell of radish made Zhou You's heart skip a beat. She brought out a bowl of Kagoshima Pork Bone Soy Sauce Noodles. She said that the ribs were still simmering in the kitchen. You can drink it later. I have put the remaining ingredients in the refrigerator.

Zhou You sat at the dining table and couldn’t wait to start eating with chopsticks and spoons. Crispy beans, soft pork belly, and mellow and fragrant soup. At this moment, Zhou You’s heart was with him. Li Zhiwei's stomach was completely conquered. Zhou You was eating noodles, and the smile couldn't help spreading from the corner of his mouth. He said "ah" as if he remembered something, raised his head and said to the figure who had already turned around and walked upstairs, by the way, you still have a The stuff is at my place.

Li Zhiwei was just about to ask her where he could find anything. Then, he heard him say, "I fell from your balcony that day..." Before he could finish speaking, She quickly interrupted him and said, "Send it to you."

Then she stomped upstairs without looking back. The smile on Zhou You's lips deepened, why should he be ashamed?

In the traveling family vocal lessons, no student has ever asked for leave. Li Zhiwei sometimes pushed open the old wooden door and walked out of the balcony, and could hear Zhou You singing downstairs. It was the light tenderness and texture that only those who understand music have. He sang: In the scorching heat, you were once covered in emerald green/your dream You are the loneliest person here/But after you wake up, you drift with the flow/In the first memory you forgot/It is a sycamore, a sycamore...

Sometimes Li Zhiwei will follow the beat of his piano, She danced barefoot in the room. She had practiced ballet since she was a child, and every movement was natural and smooth.

He often took his students to play hopscotch in the yard. When tired, he would sit on the futon and sing a hundred-year-old nursery rhyme, "One autumn breeze, one cool, one white dew, one white dew." "Chang Shuang", the children all learned it, and they rushed to pick it up one by one. Occasionally, Mrs. Nian would walk to the yard with her crutches, tremblingly, and look at the lively scene in the yard. The wrinkles on her forehead seemed to relax instantly, because there were not many teeth left. , when he smiled, his chin was raised high, and the corners of his old mouth were deeply depressed.

Li Zhiwei remembered the hidden joy on Mrs. Nian’s face before, and then realized that Mrs. Nian was not what she thought. She likes to be lively.

So throughout the summer, Li Zhiwei spent his time listening to Zhou You singing and working as a nanny for Zhou You, taking care of him and his five lovely children.

Children are growing up. They are sent over by their parents at noon every day. After vocal lessons in the afternoon, they must eat snacks. Li Zhiwei used blue-rimmed bowls to cook a bowl of coconut milk stewed eggs for each of them. It was a little sweet and the children liked the taste. They all like Li Zhiwei and call her Sister Weiwei, because Sister Weiwei can make delicious honey lotus root, fried milk, and rainbow smoothie...

A little girl came over and secretly said to Li Zhiwei Wanting to eat salted duck, Li Zhiwei touched her head and said yes. She asked Mrs. Nian about it. Mrs. Nian had heard a lot and recommended a century-old store on the side of Gulou Square to her.

Li Zhiwei rode a bicycle to go there. The duck was cut into thin slices and wrapped in fresh lotus leaves. She couldn't bear to part with the fragrant lotus leaves, so she simply stretched out the lotus leaf bag. In a porcelain plate.

The five children sat down at the dinner table. Their eyes were bright when they saw the salted duck among the dark green lotus leaves. They were holding chopsticks. You picked one piece and he picked another piece. The duck on the plate was quickly eaten. Carve it up cleanly.

Instead, he wandered around like a child, snatching half a chicken leg from them and stuffing it into Li Zhiwei's white rice. He did not forget to teach, "Everyone of you has been spoiled by your parents. Sister Weiwei gives it to you every day." It’s so hard to cook, but I don’t know how to leave a piece for you sister Weiwei.

There is a lot of such attentiveness, and even the children gradually understand some clues. Their teacher Zhou likes Sister Weiwei.

How much he likes it, Zhou You couldn’t explain it clearly at first, until he saw a sentence from a magazine, which was said by Duras: I met you, I remembered you, this place The city was born for love, and you were born for my soul. Zhou You feels that Li Zhiwei is very suitable for his soul.

Li Zhiwei’s calf was accidentally cut by a bush branch. She didn’t pay much attention to it, but Zhou You was more distressed than she was. Like a model boyfriend, he asked her to sit down, applied alcohol on her, and After applying alcohol and applying hydrogen peroxide, he gave her a bottle of vitamin E. He told her that vitamin E can prevent melanin deposition and should be applied every day. There was a hazy veil between the two, and Li Zhiwei quietly accepted his kindness, but it was just acceptance. She had a good impression of him, and she also hoped that there would be a strong dependence between them. But at that time, Li Zhiwei still had a long-lasting knot in his heart.

That was before she went abroad, and every time she recalled it, a cloud of snowflake noise appeared in front of her eyes. He was her teenage lover, he accompanied her for a journey, and finally returned to the person he fell in love with in the first place. She was very affectionate in that love affair. She was like a person waiting for a ship at the airport, knowing that she would not be able to wait, but yet being so naive. Many intense and profound details, what I want to say, what I haven’t said yet, what I haven’t had time to say, have all been lost in the dust of the years.

In August, Li Zhiwei bought a handful of green Chinese toons, which were fresh and bright, chopped them up and mixed them with tofu. That time was the last meal she cooked for Zhou You. After cooking the meal, she confessed to Zhou You that she still needed some time and wanted to walk more miles alone. If he is still willing to wait. Of course I'm willing to wait, in short, that's what Zhou You said.

After Li Zhiwei left, it started to rain continuously in Nanjing. The sycamore trees have a cool luster after being washed by the rain, but they are lonely. Zhou You often sends WeChat messages to her who is far away. He still talks a lot, and her screen notifications are often filled with his voice messages. Li Zhiwei smiled as he listened.

“In March, you can go to Mochou Lake to see the crabapples, in April, you can go to Jiming Temple to see the cherry blossoms, in September to see the maple leaves in Qixia Mountain, and in October, October is the season when the leaves of the sycamore trees are flying. Let’s go see the plum blossoms in February.”

On a winter flight, it happened to be a soft and beautiful snowfall in Nanjing. Li Zhiwei was wearing a red beret. She wanted to go back to Ninghai Road. The idea is stronger than ever.

She has been walking for a year and has walked many roads, but there is no road like it.