Chapter 6: Gestures

My plane was an hour later than Yuan Yi’s. Before I got on the plane, I made two phone calls. The first call was to my parents.

My mother was out dancing in the open air, which she said was good for her health. She went every day, rain or shine. It was my father who answered the phone.

He was very happy to hear from me and asked, “Sanwa, when are you coming back? Your mother said she’ll make braised pork ribs and boiled pork slices for you when you come back.”

I smiled slightly. Every time I heard my parents say these things, I always felt warm at heart. I let out a sigh and said, almost holding my breath, “Dad, I’ve been crazy busy lately, and I’m afraid I won’t be able to come back until the Spring Festival.

There was silence on the other end of the line, and I could hear my heart pounding. I held my breath, afraid to let it out. I was nervous, and I was nervous about hearing my father’s disappointed voice. It had always been like this.

After a while, I heard my father’s voice on the other end of the line, seemingly calm: “If you’re busy, then come home for the Spring Festival. Your mother and I are fine, so you don’t need to worry about us.”

“Yes, Dad, I’ll come back as soon as I can.” I hurriedly wanted to hang up the phone, and at the same time, I let out a long sigh of relief. In fact, it wasn’t that I didn’t want to talk to my dad for a while. The shadow of leaving home when I was young made me always like this. Once I was away from home for a long time, or if I had to do something dangerous, I didn’t want to talk to my parents. I was always afraid that if I talked too much, I would become weak.

Just as I was about to hang up, Dad hesitantly called out to me, “Sanwaer?”

“Dad, is there anything else?”

“Well… Well, you’re going to Yunnan to find Ruoxue, right? Dad doesn’t mean anything by it. Since you’re both not getting anywhere, don’t waste each other’s time. You’re a boy, so it’s fine, but Ruoxue is a girl. If you keep going on like this, you’ll never find a good family. Hey… Sanwa, actually, Ruoyue…” Dad’s words were hesitant, but from the perspective of the family back home, it was also a reasonable argument.

However, a bitter taste still spread unconsciously from the bottom of my heart. I am not used to lying to my parents, but there are some things that I have to lie about. I quickly interrupted my father and said, “Dad, I’m not going to find Ru Xue. Don’t worry about it. It’s almost time to get on the plane. I’m not talking to you anymore.”

After that, I didn’t wait for my father to say anything, and I hurriedly hung up the phone. It took me a while to calm down, and I smiled wryly, but soon I regained my composure.

After all, I have matured a little. I am too lazy to get tangled up in this kind of thing. It is nothing more than a matter of finding a way when you get to the mountain, or a matter of finding a way when you get to the bridge. There is no point in getting tangled up in it. I am just feeling that the older I get, the more experiences I have, the more I become like my master, who “doesn’t think about things” and the “bachelor” spirit is getting stronger and stronger.

The next call I made was to Chengqing. Chengqing’s voice was always the same, languid and somewhat cold: “I’ve been waiting for your call. Go ahead.”

I smiled helplessly again. That DVD had already made me feel like I was surrounded by enemies, so I thought about it and decided that it would be best to give it to Chengqing. But I didn’t have time to explain anything, because when I found Chengqing, he wasn’t at home, but at the office. I always felt unsafe, so I just handed him the DVD vaguely, hinting that he should keep it safe and not look at it yet.

Sure enough, Chengqing knew I wanted to explain, and I didn’t bother to talk nonsense. I said directly, “In that DVD, if I’m not mistaken, there are important clues. I can’t explain it clearly over the phone. Chengqing, you have to remember that it may be our greatest hope. I don’t trust… some people in the department. I don’t want to talk about the reasons over the phone. You just have to remember to keep that DVD well, and you can make a backup.”

Chengqing was silent on the other end of the phone for a while, then said, “The important clue, you mean…”

“Yes, that’s what I mean. In fact, the DVD itself is not important. If it is lost, it will inevitably arouse suspicion if you ask for it again. That’s what I mean. Although I was careful, I had to be careful.” I was confused by what I said, but I couldn’t explain it myself. I just did it because I had a hunch that I should, and I couldn’t help being careful.

Chengqing didn’t ask any more questions, and his tone was no longer so tense. He finally sounded a little more relaxed, and he said to me, “Don’t worry, just leave it with me. You and Chengxin go do your business carefully, and wait for you to come back. Let’s get together and talk about it.”

“Yes!” After saying this, I hung up the phone. I thought again about the DVD, and the scene in which the master pointed to the lake and said how beautiful it was. It seemed that there was no problem.

But in the video, the master pointed to the lake with one finger, and naturally rested his other hand on his side. But it was that hand that made the gesture, probably to make sure I didn’t miss it. In a short time, he let go of his hand and made the gesture again.

How could I not remember the meaning of that gesture? It meant to be careful and pay attention! I couldn’t really figure out whether it meant to be careful and pay attention to the place he was pointing at, or to be careful and pay attention to something else.

The only thing I was sure of was that gesture, and I was absolutely sure I had seen it correctly. Moreover, my master had done it twice in a row! I was afraid that only my master and I understood that gesture.

It was related to my childhood memories. When I first started practicing the hand signs, the complicated hand gestures often caused me to have cramps. Although I practiced diligently, when my temper flared up, I couldn’t help but cry in front of my master.

So my master came up with a solution and said to me, “Sanwa, you admire the Red Army, especially the underground workers? I’ll tell you, those underground workers have their own special methods of secret communication. Let’s also come up with a special way to communicate.”

But I admire the Red Army, when did I ever admire underground workers? Thinking about this, I couldn’t help but smile. My master was quite capable of bluffing, but at the time, I was still a child, and instinctively thought it was fun, so I agreed with my master.

As a result, my master broke down the complicated hand movements into individual movements, and I practiced them one by one. After a long time, I became very skilled at the hand movements, and the meanings of the movements were deeply imprinted in my mind. It seems that my master had not forgotten this little game between us.

When I think about it, I can’t help but get a little carried away, always thinking about those days in the bamboo forest. In order to let me practice the hand movements, my master didn’t speak for a long time, and a gesture would represent wanting to eat or go out. It was really interesting to think about it.

If, if time could turn back… the thought just popped into my head, but I immediately scattered my thoughts. I don’t want to be sentimental. Although it is Chen Chengyi’s nature to be sticky and slimy, it is really not appropriate during these times.

I looked at my watch, and it was almost time to board the plane. I stood up and kept thinking to myself, “Why did my master leave me a message in this way? And at the back of the DVD, would he give me an explanation for leaving without saying goodbye?

The time on the plane was not too difficult to pass. At a suitable temperature, the wine surged, and I simply fell asleep. When I woke up, the plane was about to land at Kunming Airport.

I stretched and read the newspaper at random, and time passed by. However, from the moment I got off the plane until I walked out of the airport, I didn’t see anyone come to pick me up鈥擲ixth Sister didn’t come.

The place where I was supposed to meet Ru Xue was at my sister-in-law’s place. Since she wasn’t there, I didn’t really care. I didn’t have any trouble finding my way, so I just hailed a taxi and headed straight for my sister-in-law’s place.

In the taxi, I called my sister, who was surprised that I had already arrived in Kunming. I then remembered that I had not told my sister that I would be flying in today, which was really silly.

Sixth sister was laughing ambiguously over there, half joking and half serious, saying, “Chengyi, you are so anxious, you probably can’t even think of these trivial things, right?”

Holding the phone, my ears were involuntarily a little hot. At this time, a faint voice came from the phone, a little far away: “He’s here? Then I’ll go cook.”

My sister just laughed and didn’t comment, but my heart was filled with a warm feeling.