C18 The Old Rich District

The two-storey building was less than 150 square meters in height. Although it was a brick-and-mortar structure, to the locals who had just finished eating and drinking in the early 1980s, Wutong Avenue was a real "rich district". It was already a luxury for the locals to live in a new tiled house, and ordinary people would never consider building a new tiled house until their son was married. Each family also had a small courtyard, killing so many locals. At one time, marrying a daughter to each family was the dream of each family; however, to propose marriage was the way of the parasol tree, the ladies were not unwilling to come.

This small courtyard was left behind by Tian Tian's grandmother. Tian Tian's father only had one elder sister, who was living the life of an ordinary person in a distant northeast city. Tian Tian's grandfather had long since disappeared when Tian Tian's father was very young. Tian Tian's grandmother had never married again. Tian Tian was less than two years old when he died within a few years.

The only message Tian Tian's grandmother left before she left was that this house definitely couldn't be sold. Fortunately, Tian Tian's father was quite capable, not only did he not sell this small independent building, he even bought a few other properties in the new district. Only, Tian Tian currently did not know about these.

Tian's father, on the other hand, had been living in this small building, not wanting to leave. This was because Tian's mother had left this building, and most importantly, Tian's mother's shadow was present here.

Tong Zimei occasionally saw that woman who had passed away many years ago when she cleaned the room for him under his pillow. She had a delicate and pretty face, and a gentle and lovable expression. She could still hear the loneliness in his voice when they chatted together in their free time. She was suddenly envious and jealous. Although that woman had died, to have such a passionate man to look after and watch over her was a type of happiness. Even the monarch's orchid, which had been in the yard for nearly twenty years, had been planted by the two of them together, according to him. The man tidied up the small courtyard until it was green. There was a well in the corner of the yard, which she had liked ever since she arrived. The man then smiled and said, 'This is the love of that woman all those years ago.

"Looks like you two share some similarities." He took her luggage and smiled.

Originally, he said that he was here to rent his house. Thus, he gave the two biggest rooms upstairs to her while living downstairs. She had put the house in order, but he had refused her rent. She smiled and told her that she didn't have to go to work with her children and that she would pay rent for her daily household chores.

The moon hung high in the sky outside the window, but Tong Zimei was tossing and turning on her bed, completely devoid of sleep.

Every time she thought of this gentle and slightly depressed man, she would recall the words in the love letter written to her by the man he had abandoned all those years ago. "Five hundred glances from my past life in exchange for the passing of this life, how many times would I need to look back in order to truly live in your heart?"

She was right, she thought. To be able to marry a man like that, even if he was gone, and to be able to make that man wait on her for so many years, that woman must have had a few more lifetimes to cultivate her good fortune. Yet, many years ago, she had personally destroyed the happiness of this man who was waiting for her. She was destined to never look back in her life and never see the appearance of such a man by her side again.

The night wind breezed over, blowing away the thin, smoke-colored curtain that hung from the window. The moonlight shone on the end of her bed. She curled up on her side on the bed and rested her arms on her pillow. Unconsciously, a warm liquid flowed down her cheeks, wetting the pillow. Her thoughts followed the moving curtain further and further away, while the man's face became clearer and clearer.

He was tall and well-proportioned, with skin that was not as fair as a boy's. Perhaps it was because he played ball all year round, but the muscles in his arms were especially strong. Every time he wrapped his long arms around her, her heart pounded and she felt relieved. As she bashfully lifted her head to meet his long and narrow eyes, it was as though she could see the resplendent stars in the sky …

She was not called Tong Zimei, she was called Tong Luoqi. She was nineteen years old. Even now, when he thought of those days when he was in high spirits, waves of heat waves still surged in his heart. During those years, I always felt that even the wind that blew past my ears brought with it a sweet fragrance. It would be a lie to say that their hearts did not ache when they separated.

When she left a decisive image behind for her first love, Tang Chenghan, she left with a thin cheque in her hand. When she got off the luxurious car, aside from tears, she had already been sent to the eighteenth level of hell in her heart.

Every time she thought of the moment when they had parted, she felt as if her heart had been pierced by a steel needle. She raised her hand to wipe the hot tears from her cheeks as the alarm clock on the bed ticked.

Still awake.

Tong Zimei got up, put on her clothes, and got off the bed. Seeing the jade plate of the bright moon hanging high outside the window, she forced a smile. It was also on such a full moon night, in the unvisited woods behind the school, that the boy she had once given him his first night lay with her on the grass after their first taste of the forbidden fruit, listening to the sounds of unknown insects, and watching the incredibly round moon in the sky with her. The story of Chang'e running around the moon had been around for a thousand years. He whispered into her ear, "In my heart, you are Chang'e from that day. I want to be Wu Gang, the one who felled the osmanthus tree, to always be by your side."

She forgot to tell him that although Chang'e and Wu Gang could be reunited under the osmanthus tree, they were destined to never be husband and wife.

She stared at the full moon in the sky, so close to her that she could see the osmanthus tree clearly.

He felt an indescribable pain in his heart.

At some point, his face had turned cold. She raised her hand to wipe her face, letting out a bitter laugh. It had been almost ten years, perhaps it would let people feel pain for a little while. Perhaps he had long since forgotten that the girl who gave him the first night had already lived the kind of life that should have belonged to him. He himself was just a passerby in his life. The green apple-like feelings between them would vanish with the passage of time, eventually becoming a remnant memory in his mind.