My Mom's Blind Date Calls Me Senior - Chapter 13
Chapter 13
The Jiugang Case Review lasted half a year.
Of course, the official report did not mention the ghost bus.
It only stated that the accident back then involved issues such as human violations in driving, unauthorized modification of the broadcast system, and failure to reroute according to road-closure requirements.
Liang Jianzhang’s responsibility was reaffirmed.
The families of the seventeen passengers finally received the truth that had come too late.
My dad’s records were also included as important corroborating evidence.
The day my mom received the review result, she sat for a long time in front of my dad’s grave.
She placed the sugar jar beside the headstone and said softly, “Mingyuan, I brought her back.”
I stood not far away and did not go over to disturb her.
Liang Yan stood beside me.
His body recovered very slowly.
The doctor said the age of his organs did not completely match his apparent age and recommended long-term observation.
He said it was fine.
I said, “Of course you say it’s fine. You’re not the one reimbursing the physical examination fees.”
He lowered his head and smiled.
His white hair did not turn back.
But he no longer looked as if he had just been fished out of the water.
One day, my mom suddenly asked him, “Liang Yan, exactly how old are you now?”
Liang Yan calculated it very seriously.
“Twenty-nine on my ID card, forty-six physically, and about forty-nine in terms of subjective experience.”
My mom was silent for three seconds.
“Then you really can’t go on a blind date with me.”
I nearly spat out a mouthful of water.
Liang Yan’s ears turned red.
My mom looked at him, then looked at me.
“But you can come over for dinner.”
I said, “Mom.”
She pretended not to hear.
Later, she really did go on a blind date.
The man was a calligraphy teacher at the neighboring community college, surname Chen, sixty years old, widowed, with a very good temper.
After she came back from their first meeting, my mom said, “His handwriting is quite good. It’s just that his sense of humor is too easy to trigger.”
I asked, “Do you like him?”
She thought for a moment.
“We’ll be friends first.”
I was very happy.
At last, she was no longer only being my mother.
She had placed herself back into life as well.
I also changed jobs.
I stopped taking those orders that still demanded an eighteenth round of revisions at three in the morning.
A few friends and I opened a small studio specializing in old photo restoration and local archive illustrations.
The studio was called Echo.
On the opening day, Liang Yan sent over a potted green plant.
The card read: Wishing Teacher Xu a smooth opening.
I held the card and looked at him.
“Are you asking for a beating?”
He looked very innocent. “This time I didn’t call you Senior.”
He made me laugh in exasperation.
He stood in the doorway, sunlight falling on his white hair, and somehow he did not look old.
He looked like someone who had walked a very long road and had finally agreed to stop and bask in the sun.
I suddenly asked, “Liang Yan, will you see me as that future version of me?”
He looked at me and shook his head seriously.
“No.”
“Why?”
“She saved me.”
He paused.
“You saved me too.”
My heart gave a light jump.
His voice was very low.
“But the person I want to get to know again is you.”
I lowered my head and looked at the card in my hand.
I had pinched one corner of the paper slightly bent.
“Then start by not calling me teacher.”
“Xu Zhixia?”
“Don’t be so formal either.”
He thought for a moment.
“Zhixia.”
My ears felt a little hot.
This person learned pretty quickly.
My mom poked her head out from inside. “Why are you two standing at the door? Come in and eat cake.”
I turned back. “Mom, why are you even more enthusiastic than I am?”
She said with perfect confidence, “It’s the opening day. I’m the boss lady’s mother.”
Liang Yan laughed softly.
I glanced at him.
He looked at me too.
Some people cannot walk to your side from the very beginning.
They may have to circle through twenty years of heavy rain, carrying a body full of wounds and a head of white hair, before finally standing in an ordinary sunny day.
But ordinary is very good.
After dinner, my mom put the sugar jar back into the kitchen cabinet.
I said, “You’re still keeping it?”
She nodded.
“I’m keeping it.”
“You’re not afraid anymore?”
She touched the crack on the jar lid.
“I’m not afraid.”
She looked at me and smiled very gently.
“Your dad was right. Echo isn’t a ghost.”
“It’s someone who loved you and went far away, then came back to remind you to live well.”
That night, I had a dream.
In the dream, I was standing at Jiugang North Station.
There was no rain, no bus, and no faceless passengers.
Only a woman in a beige trench coat stood across from me.
She waved at me.
I asked her, “Where are you going?”
She smiled.
“Home.”
When I woke up, it was light outside the window.
There was a message from Liang Yan on my phone.
[Morning.]
A few seconds later, he added another sentence.
[There’s no rain today.]
I smiled and replied to him.
[That’s good.]
(The End)
