"How many cities have you been to before?"

"ha?"

"City, is where people live together-"

"I know what a city is..." Hu Yue was a little angry, and put the sarcastic 'thank you' on the side but didn't say: On the plane, Shi Ji hardly spoke, his relatives were critically ill, and his emotions were imaginable. He got off the plane and got on the car into the city, so he had a little bit of mood to chat. "There are not many cities I have been to. The university was in S City. Last time I went to M City in the United States... I have almost never been to other provincial cities."

"That city a will disappoint you." Shi Ji looked out the window and said slowly. The driver looked back at them. He was obviously a little uncomfortable, but he held back and said nothing.

Hu Yue did not deny Shi Ji's words. She didn't lie just now. S City can be said to be Hu Yue's first big city. Most of the time she lived a hard life. But this super metropolis in the world has also broadened Hu Yue's horizons. Compared with S City, probably all cities in the country are not better. However, City A is indeed outstanding... mediocre.

It cannot be said to be dilapidated. But it can be seen that the urban construction has not been renovated for many years. Many residential buildings still maintain the style of the 1900s. There are not many young people on the streets and alleys... A city has the temperament of a city, and too many details cannot be pointed out one by one. It will naturally give tourists an instinctive feeling: this is an old and lack of vitality. It may have had a glorious past, but now it cannot be said to have a very bright future.

This... is the city she has depicted in her mind thousands of times, it is the city she has tried to build in her dreams, pictures, and videos. Hu Yue also looked at the community passing by outside the window. She felt very unreal. It seemed to be extremely strange, deviating from her inherent imagination of the "city" in her mind, but it seemed very familiar, as if she had visited it many times, and this time she was revisiting the old place.

“I don’t like it here.”

They looked at their respective car windows. What Shi Ji asked her just now was not so much about communicating, but rather about talking to himself. Now he was repeating to himself, "I have never liked this place."

"Big brother, if you don't like it, then you still come?"

The atmosphere in the car was weird, and the driver didn't feel it, but at this moment I finally couldn't help but interrupt, and the accent of a foreign land was strong. "Our old city A was once in chaos, but now it is developing very well. Don't look at this broken area, this is all the old city area. Our new district is beautiful and the housing prices are also high. Just the community you went to, Haoting, the housing prices are 30,000 to 40,000 per square meter, which are all large apartments. They are sold out, and they are not unsold at all. You said, if there is no money, who will I sell it to?"

He pointed to the sign outside the window and introduced, "Look, this is the signboard of A City Medical College, it looks quite old, right? In fact, the new campus is right there, it is old and beautiful. Now the old campus is not available. It turns out that this area has been demolished in the New Year, and it is going to be renovated in the old city.

I happened to encounter a red light, and I stepped on the brake and chatted better. "So, isn't this new and old just a matter of the era? If it were the 1980s, our medical school would be ranked first in the country, then how could it be said that it was high-end, elegant and high-end, and the neighborhood was the best in the past. What about steel plants? Hospital family homes? This is all Hedong in thirty years, Hexi in thirty years..."

The breathing of the two passengers in the car was a little uneven, but fortunately the driver had a loud voice, which was convenient for them not to even cover up their breathing. For a while, no one was touching the mouth. They all stared through the front windshield and looked at the building on the left in front.

"And look at the right, the A-market shopping mall, it was so grand before..."

The driver knew nothing, but the atmosphere was adjusted. Hu Yue and Shi Ji woke up from their thoughts at the same time. They looked at each other and restrained their overly personal emotions. "You are right. Now, it is better than when the laid-off wave was at least ten years ago."

"That's it." When talking about the laid-off wave, the driver was silent for a while before smiling, "Are you locals?"

“I am/I am not.”

The two of them answered at the same time, and the driver looked at Hu Yue and smiled, "Go home with your boyfriend? Let's ask him to take you around to play. There are still many attractions in our area."

"The attractions are not interesting. If you have time, just take me to the old medical school for a walk." Hu Yue glanced at Shi Ji and smiled, "He grew up here and he is familiar with people."

Shi Ji met her, her eyes clear, as if she had seen through something and suspected something, but she didn't say anything after all. This should be considered as Shi Ji's characteristic default.

"I have moved there in the past few years?" The driver seemed to have not noticed anything and was still checking his household registration with interest. "Haoting has not been a few years. I remember it for up to six or seven years. Good guy, it was rare to see people who could spend so much money to buy a house at that time--"

He was right. Haoting is indeed the highest-end community in A City, and it is indeed a large apartment with a large flat floor of more than 200 meters. It can be seen everywhere for the elderly: anti-slip floors, anti-fall handrails, and accompanying beds in the bedroom, electrocardiometers, and oxygen tanks in the corner of the living room. They can show the owner's economic strength more than any decoration. - Although I have never been to Shi Ji's house in S City, Hu Yue also feels that the interior decoration has a bit of Shi Ji's temperament. It is not a common rural mahogany, nor is it European classical, and it exudes a unique desolation: a house with such good lighting and sufficient heating, but it makes people feel a little creepy, good sound insulation, which is really too quiet. The three people sitting in the inner room are just like no one, and even the breathing sound is almost inaudible.

Hu Yue looked through the half-open door and looked at the people in the bedroom: Shi Ji sitting by the bed, an elderly person sleeping with his eyes closed on the bed, and a middle-aged nurse sitting on the side to check the instruments. She tried to find some traces of Shi Ji on the old man's face, but she was not very successful.

"Alzheimer's disease." Aunt Liu put down a fruit plate beside her, lowered her voice and said heartily, "It's been five or six years, and I have to wait for the situation. I can't speak every time."

She compared her head, "It's okay, it's not difficult to take care of. She has always been very good, but she's too sad. She's always awake and can't live a life. In the past, the old subordinates came to see him and said a few words. When the situation is good, they read the newspaper. When they are bad, they don't talk - they dream at night, talk in their sleep, and call people. The son, daughter-in-law, wife, and two grandsons all shouted."

Speaking of this, I stopped crying. I glanced at Hu Yue's belly a little obviously. Hu Yue laughed and cried, "Auntie, I didn't--"

But she did not deny her relationship with Shi Ji: it could only be a motivation to visit her at such an opportunity, that is, to let the old man leave with peace of mind. When she comes, there is no need to be pretentious at the teacher's house.

"That's what I said." Aunt Liu smiled and pressed her hand, "Good boy, the old dean must like you at a glance-I know it."

In short, she soon became Shi Ji's only elder in the world. She took care of the old director for several years and was a little bit incest. Aunt Liu didn't show off her proposition, but just kindly asked with elder Shi Ji, "Is he good to you? He is a good guy, it shouldn't be bad."

"...It's pretty good." Hu Yue compared the box, "The box is full of clothes he bought."

The bag was also brought, but I didn't carry it, and I was wearing my own sportswear when I was on the plane. Fortunately, Aunt Liu didn't care. She took care of the old director alone for so many years, and finally had a female guest at home. The conversation was endless. She pulled her to press the volume very low and talked in a nagging way, making the room look even more desolate. Hu Yue half listened and half disobeyed, and half focused on Shi Ji - he just sat by the bed and looked at his grandfather, with a quiet expression as deep as a pool, sad, regretful, and reluctant... These feelings were not visible at all.

"Aunt Liu, I... go in and take a look..."

In fact, the atmosphere was pretty good, but Hu Yue didn't want to listen. She walked in and slowly, hesitantly put her hand on Shi Ji's shoulder. Shi Ji moved for a moment and looked back at her. The two looked at each other for a while. Hu Yue felt a little inquiry. Shi Ji shook her head, as if she was signaling that she was fine.

"That's it." He said, standing up and taking Hu Yue to the living room. "Let him sleep."

"Are you okay?" Hu Yue had actually asked with his eyes, but he still couldn't help but talk too much.

"Sooner or later," Shi Ji said, his tone of Gu Jing Bubo, as if he was lying on the bed was a stranger - he couldn't hide his solemnity when he received the call. It seemed that all of them disappeared. He scratched his head and opened the refrigerator door to check, "Aunt Liu, are there any leftovers at home?"

"Ah, this." Aunt Liu was asked about it. The old director was eating a sick meal. She ate alone. Why was the leftovers enough for two people to eat? "Didn't you eat on the way? Hey, my mind didn't expect that - I'll make it for you to have ready-made meat and cabbage at home. It'll be fine in a while."

They did miss the meal all the way - there was a meal on the plane, but Shi Ji didn't eat it and said he had no appetite. In fact, you can't look at what he said, but he has to do it.

Hu Yue suddenly felt a little guilty when she thought Shi Ji seemed to be in the waiting hall and she didn't even get into the rice. She was confused all the way and didn't even notice it.

"It's okay, I'll do it. You go and take care of the old man." She pushed Aunt Liu out of the kitchen, but Aunt Liu naturally refused - she came from a long distance and did not make the first big girl cook. In the push, she had to use her ultimate move, "Shi Ji likes to eat the food I cook, and he doesn't like it."

The couple had a good relationship, and Aunt Liu said this and it was hard to refute it. Hu Yue looked at Shi Ji, and Shi Ji also looked at her, but it was not the same as before, as if she was a little ridiculed. She smiled at him, "What do you want to eat?"

His face twitched, as if the calm face was a little too late to wear. Shi Ji opened his eyes and cleared his throat, but his voice was still a little hoarse. "Do whatever you want."
Chapter completed!