01
At her father's funeral, her appearance was quite unexpected, only because no one among all her relatives and friends knew her identity.
A seventy-year-old woman, knitting a black sweater with a small white flower on her placket.
The hair has been gray, neatly combed, slightly fat, and the appearance is still faintly recognizable when he was young.
He came alone, near the end of the funeral.
As she entered, she hesitated slightly, and then, slowly walking over to her father, who was sleeping in the midst of flowers, stared at him for a long time.
The eyes are gentle and soft, and there is not much sadness.
The woman approached her father, her lips slightly squirming, and said something.
After that, he showed a shallow smile and waved at his father, whose soul had gone to heaven.
I still used to gently support her, although I didn't know each other, but I was grateful to be able to come to send my father on this journey, as a daughter.
It was at the moment of looking at each other that there was a sense of déjà vu, the rounded face shape, the beautiful eyebrows that did not grow old in time, the gentle eyes...
It's just, where have I met her?
02
The woman bowed her head slightly, patted the back of my hand, and asked my father if he was okay when he left.
It was my father who had not been tormented by illness for too long, and had not woken up the day before he had gone to sleep.
I briefly recounted my father's life before he died, and even when he left, he seemed to be smiling.
That's good.
She also seemed to be smiling, but tears suddenly appeared in her eyes, and she murmured, Go ahead, there is a time for a reunion.
Then the woman let go of me, and unlike the other mourners, comforted the grieving family members in turn, but turned her head again, looked deeply at her father for a moment, and then slowly left.
I sent her outside, and she turned back and said, "Don't be too upset, that's everyone's way home, and it's a new beginning."
I nodded, her words, I understood.
I only feel that this old woman, no matter the temperament and conversation, is so concise and good.
But who is she?
oh
03
I was always confused and wanted to know her identity so that I could exchange courtesies in the future, so I tentatively asked her how she had heard of her father's death.
She paused and said she had read the obituary in the newspaper.
My heart moved, it turned out to be an obituary!
My father told us early on that when he was a hundred years old, he would remember to send an obituary in the evening newspaper.
When my father first talked about this topic, he was in good health.
I remember joking with him at that time, saying that all his life, family and friends, including colleagues, were in this city, what kind of wind and grass, one person knows everyone knows, why use in the newspaper to send news?
The father replied: Always say goodbye to the world in form.
After making jokes like this a few times, I finally realized that my father was serious, and even for so many years, he read the newspaper every day and never missed the information about the death of someone published in that small corner.
And he must also be in such a small form - how can this be excessive?
Therefore, on the day of my father's death, my brother went to the newspaper to send an obituary.
But the people who came to mourn were all word of mouth, and most people didn't pay attention to the little obituary when they read the newspaper, but she saw it.
Subconsciously, I thought, maybe my father's obituary was sent for her?!
04
It was at that moment that I remembered an old photograph from my father's old photo album.
It was too old, the photo was yellow, but the person in the photo was still clear-cut, a young woman with short hair, a good face, and a sweet smile.
I remember when I first saw this picture, I was a child, pointing at her mother and asking, "Who is this?" ”
The mother seemed to hesitate for a moment and replied, "It is my mother's former colleague." ”
Then he asked, "Why haven't you seen her?" ”
The mother said, "She went far away. ”
Continue to ask, "How far?" Children are always curious.
The mother sighed slightly; "Very far, anyway, the kind of distance that can't come back." ”
So I didn't ask, and for many years afterward, I didn't see her, and I only left such an impression.
The topic of her was never mentioned again, and when I grew up, I was no longer curious.
Later, I also idly flipped through my father's old photo album, and when I saw the photo again, I thought that the far away my mother said might be heaven.
05
But, I think wrong.
She was still alive in the world, and she was in this city, otherwise she would not have seen the newspaper that was only distributed in the city.
But why did her mother die a year ago, and this colleague she said was many years old, but she would not give her one last journey in the future?
And now, she had come to send her father, alone, with such affection.
A woman's gaze, only full of affection, can be so gentle and soft, I have loved, can distinguish.
06
I wanted to know the answer too much, but it wasn't appropriate to dwell on the doubt. Before leaving, I begged the woman to leave her contact details.
She didn't refuse, saying, "He's gone, I, not against the agreement." ”
Conventions? What should she do with her father?
Three days later, I gathered up my sad feelings and saw her again in another neighborhood not only three kilometers from home—not only was she not far away, but she was only across the river that ran through the city.
As I suspected, her account was simple and clear.
She is not a colleague of her mother, but a woman who has been deeply in love with her father, and they have not been able to be together after all because of each other's families;
Later, my father married my mother under the pressure of my grandmother, and after two years of marriage, my father married her.
Before getting married, she and her father met the last side of their lives and agreed not to see each other again and not to affect each other's lives.
However, after many years, no matter who leaves first, the other person will have to send the other person on the last journey.
See the last side, for the next life to meet, recognize, blind date.
When the time comes, she said, she will post an obituary in the newspaper, as if it were the last love letter.
07
Hearing this, I could no longer hold back the wet clothes with tears:
When she was separated from her father, she was only 20 years old, and since then, half a century, three kilometers away, there is no longer a message from each other, and the last love letter agreed upon is an obituary.
Then if there really is an afterlife, Mother, please allow her father to go with her in the next life, not for anything else, but for the promise they keep in this life, for the affectionate gaze of their last meeting in this life, for the time of her reunion. For, the most poignant love letter in the world.
Source: Jinhua handwriting
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