Chapter 466 The Right Thing

The next time I saw Ai Qing was in Vienna six years later.

She walked on crutches and walked on the red carpet into the golden hall that Huai Shi had only dreamed of. Standing next to her piano, she received applause and admiration from all over the world.

Huai Shi and the teacher were sitting in the audience.

Witness the peak moment of her life.

"Are you envious?" the teacher sitting next to him asked: "If you had not given up at the beginning, maybe you would be the one standing here now."

"To be honest, kind of."

Huai Shi nodded, and then shook his head indifferently: "But we all missed it, didn't we?"

"It's not too late to pick up the cello again," the teacher said. "It doesn't matter if you start from scratch. It just so happens that I retired recently and am very free."

"...After thinking about it for a while, it turns out it's still very difficult."

Huai Shi smiled bitterly and looked down at his calloused hands: "To be honest, I am already so unfamiliar with the bow bow technique that I don't have the time to learn it from scratch."

"Is Northwest very busy?"

"Water conservancy projects are very troublesome, and the budget is not enough, so many times I have to do it myself." Huai Shi shrugged: "To be honest, I rarely even take a shower. This time I specially washed it several times in the hotel, and it felt like the root of my hair was It all smells like earth...I feel earthy when I come here, which is embarrassing for Xiaoqing."

Over the years, he seemed to be wandering around the world.

I have seen too many people who were as helpless as him. Even if I try my best to do something within my ability, it is still not enough.

What can one accomplish by putting all one's strength into it?

Compared with the truly huge difficulties, money that is enough for a person to have enough food and clothing for a lifetime is still too small.

It can't even bring a meager water source to the villages trapped in dry land in the wilderness.

He could only try again.

However, it had little effect.

"I wish you could come." The teacher patted his knee and stared at his daughter on the stage: "How was your chat backstage just now?"

"Just a few words." Huai Shi shook his head: "It's been so long and we are so unfamiliar that we don't know what to talk about. We can only say hello to each other like strangers - every time she is so cold, she always makes me I suspect I did something wrong back then.”

"Everyone makes mistakes. It would be too sad if a person couldn't make mistakes in his life."

The teacher comforted him: "Although most of the time I think it was a mistake for you to give up the cello, but sometimes I think that if you had not given up, you may not have achieved what you have today, and you would not have been able to help so many people.

Student aid program, Dawn Education, and water source project... Many people have achieved success because of you, Huai Shi. There is no need to be depressed. You should hold your head high for them. "

Huai Shi nodded and said no more.

"The performance is over, let's go backstage to pick her up."

The teacher stood up slowly, and Huai Shi reached out to support her, only to be surprised to find that wrinkles had appeared on the back of her hands. Unknowingly, her hair gradually revealed a hint of white.

Huai Shi was stunned.

"I'm old, is this something worthy of surprise?" The teacher laughed softly.

"Only fifty years old, still young." Huai Shi said.

"You are the ones who are still young."

The teacher said, "You still have the opportunity to make mistakes. Before you get old -"

She is always so soft-spoken and gentle to others.

No matter how rebellious the children are, they can be guided on the right track with a smile.

As long as she is behind him, Huaishi can move forward with confidence.

But a year later, he suddenly received the news that his teacher was critically ill.

Sudden cerebral hemorrhage.

It is said that he fell while going down the steps.

Huaishi was at the construction site at the time and received a call from Ai Qing. When the other end of the phone told him the news, he was stunned.

He stood there in disbelief.

At that time, everyone was still celebrating the completion of the project. In a joyful atmosphere, Huaishi sat slumped on the ground. Several confused children surrounded him, trying to pull him up, but they felt that the uncle was like a stone.

So heavy and without any warmth.

Huaishi said goodbye to her colleagues in despair, took a six-hour drive to the airport, waited for midnight, and then got on a plane to Xinhai.

When the plane finally took off from the ground, he suddenly remembered what the teacher once said.

"No matter how attractive art itself is, it cannot be compared to those things that are more intuitive and heavier...Huai Shi, art is floating in the clouds, but there will always be people who cannot adapt to the floating life and will choose something more relevant. Practically put your feet on the ground.”

When he once chose to set his feet on the earth, he never found a safe place. But when he flew into the clouds again, he found that he could hardly find his home.

He covered his face and finally let out a vague cry.

Like a child who has lost his mother.

.

By the time Huaishi arrived in the ward, the teacher had already woken up.

It seems like all the good luck in this life has been used up.

It was just a false alarm.

Outside the ward, after hearing about the situation, he collapsed on the ground, sweating profusely, and got up with trembling hands. He couldn't help but laugh like a fool.

While Ai Qing was with him inside, he grabbed the doctor's hand and asked about the condition over and over again, and then asked for precautions. He asked vaguely, and the doctor seemed to have seen too much. He just patted his shoulder and waited for him to finally calm down.

Sitting on a chair outside the ward, waiting blankly.

Until the door opened, Ai Qing walked out with a cane and told him: "Mom is waiting for you inside."

He hesitated for a long time, but could not muster the courage.

He was suddenly kicked in the back.

It's Ai Qing.

"I'm so tired of hesitating and hesitating."

She closed the door.

Huai Shi was stunned for a long time: "Is the leg healed? When?"

"Years ago, she had surgery."

The old man on the hospital bed made a voice: "Originally I wanted to tell you, but she stopped me. She always wanted to be like now... Haha, are you scared?"

The old man's pale face revealed a mischievous smile.

I don’t know if I am referring to my condition.

It's still Ai Qing's recovery.

Huai Shi was stunned for a long time, and finally couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief: "Teacher, just be okay."

"It's just a fall, no need to make a fuss." The teacher shook his head: "You have gone too far, haven't you? It took so long... If I were critically ill, wouldn't I be able to see you for the last time?"

"I'm sorry." Huai Shi lowered his head.

The teacher on the hospital bed laughed: "Say sorry, it proves that you think you have made a mistake - you always seem to make mistakes, Huaishi."

"Yes." Huai Shi nodded.

"But a person always has to do one right thing in his life, right?

In the long silence, Huai Shi was stunned.

I can't refute it, but... I don't know what to say.

He could only lower his head: "I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for me about, Huaishi." The old man shook his head: "The things you have done over the years... Liming Education, the Northwest Water Conservancy Project, and the student aid program, are these wrong? Everyone is grateful. You helped them, Huai Shi, but have you forgotten yourself?"

"I just……"

"You just haven't found it yet, I know." The old man sighed: "But before helping everyone else, shouldn't you help yourself first?"

"Why can't you occasionally look back when you are walking forward?" The old man looked at his eyes and said softly: "Look at me, look at Xiaoqing, look at your friends... Because we are also watching you and waiting for you to come back one day."

"..."

Huai Shi froze on the spot.

In the silence, the old man listened to the music on the TV and hummed softly: "How many roads must a man walk down?"

How far does a man have to go to become a man?

Huaishi doesn’t know.

But at this moment, he felt an unprecedented sense of regret and uneasiness: He had walked such a long way, and how long had he made those who were staring at him wait?

Is being a man so important?

Over the years, he has been traveling around the world in fear and confusion, like a wandering soul with nowhere to go. Even if he puts all his efforts into doing things, can he really feel satisfied?

"Huai Shi, love makes people choose to wait." The teacher suddenly said softly: "But don't let the person who loves you wait too long."

At that moment, he finally woke up.

"Understood?"

The old man laughed, raised his hand gently, combed his hair, and said happily: "Go, go - do the right thing.

You still have the possibility to save it all, before you really get old. "

Huai Shi glanced at the teacher reluctantly, turned around, and ran away.

He almost bumped into Ai Qing who was entering the door.

"He's crazy!" Ai Qing looked at him running wildly in shock. She turned back to her mother in confusion: "What's wrong with him? Is he taking drugs?"

The old man on the hospital bed laughed.

"Maybe... you've finally grown up, right?"

.

Huai Shi runs in the wind.

He pulled off his cumbersome backpack and threw it aside, pulled off his tie, and ran with all his strength, as if instinctively rushing to somewhere, to where someone was.

Go to where she is waiting for you.

Until I was so exhausted that I couldn't breathe, I staggered forward, and finally found the silhouette that became clearer in my memory.

She's still there.

When he looked back in shock, he saw that long-lost face, which still vaguely retained the sincere outline of the boy he once was.

Even if it's so embarrassing.

For a moment, Huaishi felt unprecedentedly lucky.

Thank God.

She's still here.

Huai Shi used her last strength, took a deep breath, and mustered up all her courage.

"Fu Yi."

He said, "I have something to tell you—"

From then on, it was a long time.

.

【the end·one of them】

Then, the moment everything comes to an end.

Time starts again and everything is renewed.

Huaishi opened her eyes again and heard a familiar voice.

"Name?"