Time can erase everything.
Even Jiang He himself sometimes felt as if he had never experienced those things. He thought of himself as a native of the modern world.
He stayed in the modern society for ten years at the age when he was the most capable of learning. The best years and the best experiences were deeply rooted in the twenty-first century.
Occasionally, he would dream about the past thousand years in the middle of the night. He would think about the Second Mother secretly and compare himself to her. Now that she was at the Second Mother's age, she might even be more mature than her.
After all, she had two children, a computer and a mobile phone …
In terms of experience, age, and experience, she was way ahead of him.
Then, Jiang He realized that she probably could not learn the Second Mother's intelligence because the environment did not allow it. As long as she did what she wanted to do, the rest would be arranged by Xu Qing. Therefore, she was spoiled by Xu Qing.
Xu Qing and Xu Wenbin, the father and son, sat facing each other. Xu Wenbin picked up the cup and drank the tea in one gulp. When Xu Qing poured another cup, he looked at the rising steam. After a while, he took off his glasses and wiped them. Then, he stood up.
"Tell me a story?" Xu Wenbin asked.
Nothing could stand up to careful scrutiny, but sometimes the truth was even more outrageous.
He wanted an answer that made sense to him.
What bullsh * t orphan … That was the biggest lie. It was a reasonable and irrefutable lie that Xu Qing carefully weaved.
"I used to tell you a story when you were young. You should tell your father one too," he said.
"The story where the mummy toad was bitten by a swan but there was no meat. It only ate a pile of cloth and then let go helplessly?" Xu Qing laughed and Xu Wenbin glared at him.
The afternoon sun fell on the balcony. It was warm. The spring wind was not dry and it had not started to heat up. The leaves on the branches downstairs were tender green.
Xu Wenbin went to the balcony and picked up the 1.6 meter long long sword. It could also be called a saber. This kind of weapon did not matter if it was a saber or a sword. Whoever touched it would die. It was just a small difference.
Xu Wenbin weighed it in his hand. It was very heavy, so he pulled it out. The blade of the sword was no longer bright, and it looked a little old.
This kind of sword was rarely seen even in movies and TV dramas. The one that left a deep impression on people was probably Ding Xiu from the Embroidered Spring Saber, who was also known as Layman Plus Money. "That's my dearest junior brother. You have to pay me more."
He carried his weapon on his shoulder all year round, and when facing the cavalry, he was unparalleled.
"This was originally prepared for Jiang He. There's also a balcony for her to practice her martial arts." Xu Qing leaned against the edge of the wall and looked down from the balcony. "But she likes to plant flowers, so I monopolized it. It's a bit of a waste."
He turned around and looked at Xu Wenbin, who was trying to swing the sword. He smiled and said, "Dad, what do you think will happen if an ancient person comes to the modern world?"
"It will cause an uproar."
"Let me ask you again. If you picked up an ancient person, how would you help her adapt to this society?"
"An ancient person coming to the modern world …"
Xu Wenbin pondered and put the sword back. He came to stand beside Xu Qing and looked at the sunset with him. After thinking for a while, he said, "Clothing, food, housing, and transportation. The most important thing is to have a place to stay and then eat."
As he spoke, he glanced at the old house, and his eyes met.
"Then what?" Xu Qing asked.
"Then … find help."
"Who help? Who can help her go back? "
"…" Xu Wenbin paused and looked into the distance in silence. "If she can come, she might be able to go back."
"This is not a movie. How can there be so many miracles in real life? Just like in the movies, you can fly over roofs and run over walls, fight on the street with weapons, and fall in love with modern people while fighting. In the end, you find some artifact, treasure, or relic, and then run back again. At the end, you wear a suit and meet the heroine by chance …"
Xu Qing laughed as he spoke. "Without a real encounter, you can't imagine it, and neither can I. Only when you do, can you make arrangements based on the existing situation."
"How?" Xu Wenbin asked.
"If I'm a hero who suddenly falls from the sky, how are you going to help me get a foothold in this society?"
"I …"
Xu Wenbin opened his mouth and squinted into the distance. "A place to stay, and then a full meal. Then, step by step, she will understand everything here."
"That's the only way." Xu Qing agreed.
"Buy textbooks to help her catch up on her nine years of compulsory education?" Xu Wenbin asked.
"There's no other way. We all grew up in this social environment. We learn passively and learn to get in touch with the world. The ancient people didn't have this kind of condition. They can only stuff everything in their heads and rely on time to get used to it." Xu Qing said.
Xu Wenbin nodded lightly. "Take her out more often when you have nothing to do … At least, it will take time to get familiar with the neighborhood. Plus, there's the Internet. As long as she learns how to surf the Internet, it will be much easier. "
He looked at Xu Qing and said, "Then, after a few years, she can basically live independently."
"How many years?" Xu Qing asked.
"About … three years?" Xu Wenbin couldn't estimate.
Xu Qing leaned on the railing and shook his head. "If it's a smart girl with a strong learning ability, with the help of the Internet, she can make rapid progress every once in a while. I guess it'll be about a year."
"Then, the rest is identity," Xu Wenbin said.
"Identity is not easy to get. Compared to identity, the other things are trivial. This takes time. In the worst case, it will take about ten years. Half a generation from primary school to college entrance examination. Such a long time span of living in the same area, harassing the census office, and using connections, it will eventually be settled." The worst-case scenario that Xu Qing had expected was much better than that stupid and violent woman Jiang He. She actually thought that if they couldn't get married, they could just continue living like that. It was fine even if they didn't get married. They could just have a child and register as a single parent.
"Protracted war?"
"Protracted war." Xu Qing smiled. "And we can't hide for too long. If we hide for three to five years, people will ask why we delayed until now. It's hard to say. It's not good to be too early either. If it's too short, they might be investigated. Under the big data trail, it's easy to expose this matter. The best time is about two years. It's just about the age to get married and start to rush about the census. So, it's logical to get it done."
"Very detailed thinking." Xu Wenbin sighed.
"Whether we can legally establish a foothold, we have to be detailed."
"In the end, we were so lucky that we didn't have to use a lot of preparation, right? We prepared for nothing. "Xu Wenbin glanced at him.
"Preparing for nothing is better than not preparing at all."
"Have you thought of another way?"
"What?"
"Just be honest." Xu Wenbin rubbed his thumbs together. "If there's such a thing …" He sighed. "You hid for ten years and wiped out everything."
"From an artistic point of view, this is a unique opportunity. From a realistic point of view, in your eyes, she only has research value."
Xu Qing raised his head slightly and looked at the white clouds in the sky. He paused and turned to look at Xu Wenbin. "Why don't you think from her point of view?"
Why don't you think from her point of view?
"From the ancient people's point of view?" Xu Wenbin was stunned.
"That's right. Look at our technological prosperity. If there's really a realistic ancient person, what do you think she will think?"
"Hmm …"
Xu Wenbin tried to put himself in her shoes. "She will be shocked by the skyscrapers … and … I'm not an ancient person."
"Live. This is the instinct of living things. Whether it's the modern people or the ancient people, they don't want to die." Xu Qing spread his hands and looked into the distance again.
"Then, it's to live well. The ancient people are no different from us. We all want to eat and sleep well. There's food in the jar, land outside, and money in our pockets. After living, it's life, a normal life."
"And then?" Xu Wenbin found it interesting.
"There's no then. There's no meaning in continuing to live. Isn't life all about living? Living is enough. If there's a then, then it's a stable life. No one wants to fight and kill every day, get stabbed on the street, or get robbed. Life is not a movie. There's no necessary theme. Fate, blood feud, obsession … those are all dramatized for the sake of creating a plot. In reality, that's enough. After coming to the modern world, there are two things. One is to live, and the other is to work hard to live. "
Xu Qing raised a third finger. "Even if there's a third thing, it's not to be studied by others or to be confined like a panda. It's to be a modern person and enjoy everything in the modern world as much as possible. Harmony, stability, and prosperity. This is already the ultimate ideal. What else can she want?"
"So, you helped her settle down in this era …"
"This is the most glorious era in the past few thousand years. Since Jiang He is here, she should enjoy it according to her own wishes."
"…"
Xu Wenbin was silent.
Xu Jin, Xu Shi 'an.
Now, he kind of understood why Xu Qing picked these two names that didn't quite match. One was a two-character name, and the other was a three-character name.
If he guessed correctly, it should be Jiang He who picked them.
"I'm her relative. Dad, so are you," Xu Qing said.
"I don't know which part of your words is the truth."
"The world is big and full of strange things." Xu Qing shrugged. "Maybe Wang Mang is the same age as you. It's true."
"…"
Xu Wenbin stared at his expression seriously. His mind was spinning.
"I'd rather believe that you've been deceived."
Compared to believing in an absurd possibility, this was more reliable. Everything made sense in this way. The only thing that made sense was that she practiced martial arts. But it wasn't a big problem. Not everyone in the ancient times practiced martial arts. Just a set of boxing and a set of sword techniques couldn't prove anything.
This was probably the only truth. Maybe Jiang He was delusional, and Xu Qing believed her. Then, he really raised her as an ancient person, which led to the current situation.
"Whether it's true or not, I can tell for myself. It's just … I can't show it to you." Xu Qing shook his head. "Dad, just treat it as a story."
"How can you tell?"
"I can't say."
"Why can't you say it?"
"Dad, this is boring," Xu Qing said.
"Forget it. It's been ten years. It doesn't matter whether I believe it or not. It won't change anything. That's why you're telling me." Xu Wenbin waved his hand. "You're even guarding against me."
"Saying this will hurt our feelings."
"I'm the one who will hurt our feelings!"
Xu Wenbin turned to the other side. He wanted to stay away from this guy. Even his father had been guarding against him for so long.
There were only two possibilities now. One was that Jiang He lied to Xu Qing. The other was that everything was true. No matter which one it was, it was all in the past. The young couple had two children. This family was very stable.
Believing it or not depended on one's thoughts. Nothing could change.
Xu Qing, this guy … he was very clear.
Xu Wenbin had mixed feelings.
"You're not going to pick up the children?"
"Jiang He said she would. Today, she drove the car to find a new supply channel."
The father and son, who were no longer young, stood on the balcony. One looked at the entrance of the community with a relaxed expression, while the other frowned slightly. He didn't look very happy after getting the answer.
"When I leave, tell me what you can't say."
"No, Dad, do you really need to do this?" Xu Qing turned back.
…
At the entrance of the kindergarten.
Jiang He leaned against the car door, waiting for the Xu siblings to finish school.
Originally, she wanted to tell Xu Qing that she wasn't cut out for driving. However, when she saw the look in Xu Qing's eyes, Jiang He was so angry that she only ate a big bowl of rice that night.
Then, in the middle of the night, she picked up the booklet from the trash can and flipped through it every day when she had nothing to do in the flower shop. Sometimes, she would ask Gong Ping to teach her. In the end, she slammed the driver's license in front of Xu Qing and made him bray three times like a donkey.
"Goodbye, Auntie!"
"Hello, Auntie!"
"Goodbye, Auntie!"
The children lined up and came out. In front of them, the one who played well with the Xu siblings bowed and greeted Jiang He. Not to mention that kindergarten taught them to be polite every day, everyone liked beautiful aunties.
Jiang He smiled and nodded.
Qin Xiao: "Hello, Auntie!"
Xu Shi 'an: "Hello, Auntie!"
The two of them passed by happily.
The smile on Jiang He's face disappeared.
Xu Jin grabbed the strap of Xu Shi 'an's bag and pulled him back from behind Qin Xiao.
"What did you call me just now?" Jiang He felt that Xu Shi 'an had inherited Xu Qing's stupidity. That time, when Xu Qing brayed like a donkey, this guy followed suit.
"Mom!"
Xu Shi 'an's eyes lit up. It was as if he had just noticed Jiang He.
"You can go home with Xiaoxiao."
"I won't!"
"Go."
"I won't!" Xu Shi 'an said boldly. He opened the car door and got in, waiting for Jiang He to drive.
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