To Lin Yingtao, the Qunshan Department Store from her childhood was like the Oriental Pearl Tower.
“It doesn’t seem as big as I imagined…” Lin Yingtao leaned against the hotel window, looking at the Qunshan Department Store across the street. With her chin resting on her hand, she muttered softly, “It looks so old too…”
Behind her, the television was on. Yu Qiao, Du Shang, and Jiang Qiaoxi were gathered around a table talking. Yu Qiao had ordered a few bottles of beer and some late-night snacks. They were watching the local Qunshan news.
The news reported that Qunshan City’s 20-year earthquake prevention and resistance project had withstood the test, and so on.
“What time did Cai Fangyuan say he’d arrive?” Du Shang asked as he stood up and walked to Lin Yingtao’s side, looking out at Qunshan’s central commercial street.
Jiang Qiaoxi, who had just finished a call with Feng Letian, replied, “Probably not until midnight.”
“When did Feng Letian come to Qunshan?” Yu Qiao asked with a frown.
Jiang Qiaoxi rolled up his shirt sleeves and accepted the beer Yu Qiao handed him. He glanced occasionally at Lin Yingtao leaning by the window as if worried she might get too excited and fall out. “He came right after graduation,” Jiang Qiaoxi said softly. “He’s working as a civil servant here.”
“Feng Letian?” Du Shang turned and asked, “Our middle school classmate?”
“Yeah,” Yu Qiao looked out the window and told Du Shang, “In our senior year, he said he wanted to be the President.”
“Wow!” Du Shang laughed, “That’s ambitious!”
Cai Fangyuan was rushing to get there, and expected to arrive around midnight. Yu Qiao asked Jiang Qiaoxi, “How come you’re still in touch with Feng Letian?”
“What’s wrong with that?” Jiang Qiaoxi replied.
Yu Qiao looked at him. “I didn’t think you two were that close.”
Jiang Qiaoxi smiled but didn’t respond.
A hotel staff member knocked and entered, telling the out-of-town guests not to panic if they felt aftershocks tonight: “There haven’t been any tremors all day, and the buildings in Qunshan are very reliable!”
“Alright, alright,” Du Shang nodded, stretching his neck towards the door.
The staff member paused, noticing Du Shang’s intentional accent: “Oh, you’re from Qunshan?”
Du Shang and Yu Qiao laughed.
Lin Yingtao turned around. “We used to be!” she said happily.
Cai Fangyuan arrived at the hotel late at night, accompanied by a driver, looking quite impressive. Lin Yingtao, used to her early work schedule, rarely stayed up late. Moreover, she hadn’t rested well for the past few days. After agreeing on a time to meet with Jiang Qiaoxi, Yu Qiao, and the others the next morning, she closed her door and went to bed.
Jiang Qiaoxi, carrying beer, went to the next room with his two old friends. As soon as Cai Fangyuan exited the elevator, he called out to them from down the hallway. Pointing at Du Shang’s nose, Cai Fangyuan said, “You didn’t call me when you came!”
Du Shang protested, “Didn’t your dad call you home for a check-up? I… I hadn’t planned on coming anyway…”
The driver brought up two boxes of late-night snacks from downstairs: a box of stir-fried clams and a box of spicy crayfish.
Cai Fangyuan sat down, opened the boxes, and said, “I was thinking of waiting until after you two got married to come!”
Jiang Qiaoxi, sitting nearby, smiled and shook his head.
“Did she force you to come?” Cai Fangyuan asked, handing chopsticks to Jiang Qiaoxi. “Brother, we can’t let Lin Yingtao call all the shots! She’s always coming up with sudden ideas!”
Du Shang remarked, “The area around the Qunbai Building has changed a lot…”
Cai Fangyuan distributed utensils to everyone and started eating clams. “What about you two?” he asked. “Why are you two suffering from the same problem as Lin Yingtao?”
Du Shang, also peeling clams, said, “Well, Yu Qiao, he—”
Yu Qiao pointed at Du Shang, retorting, “He wanted to come himself but kept hesitating.”
The empty clam shells fell onto the paper mat with a crisp “plop.” They took out the crayfish, tearing off the heads to reveal tender meat, with spicy red oil dripping down their fingers. Everyone ate quietly for a few minutes, no one speaking, seemingly confirming that the meal at the service area wasn’t very good.
Cai Fangyuan said, “These crayfish are not bad.”
Du Shang reminisced, “Do you remember the old man with a tricycle near the construction site who sold Nanjing salted duck? That duck was delicious—”
Jiang Qiaoxi wiped his hands and stood up, looking like he was about to leave.
Cai Fangyuan turned and asked, “You’re not eating anymore?”
“I’ll go ask if she wants some,” Jiang Qiaoxi said.
Cai Fangyuan replied, “Isn’t she already asleep? Won’t she be angry if you wake her?”
Du Shang said, “If we eat here by ourselves, Yingtao will be angrier when she finds out tomorrow.” He quickly started eating faster.
Lin Yingtao sat in the passenger seat, looking at the old City God Temple gate outside the window. The National Day holiday hadn’t arrived yet, but many businesses had already put up small national flags, perhaps to thank the People’s Liberation Army troops for their mountain rescue efforts in the past few days.
They parked the car and walked into the Qunshan Department Store. Just a week after the earthquake, there were surprisingly many people out shopping. The streets were lively, and people’s faces showed no signs of fear or panic; everything seemed normal. The food court was crowded with people queuing to buy cooked food. Lin Yingtao, her hand held by Jiang Qiaoxi, stood on tiptoe to look at each window, discovering Beijing roast duck, Nanjing salted duck, Dezhou braised chicken, and fried radish balls for sale.
The watch counters, cosmetics counters, and the game arcade upstairs from before were all gone.
“It seems to have turned into a supermarket…” she murmured to him.
A local Qunshan uncle told Du Shang and the others that if they wanted to buy good clothes or watches now, they should go to Wanda a few streets away: “Qunbai Building has been an old state-owned enterprise for many years. They don’t sell those things anymore; it’s an old building now.”
Lin Yingtao found that she had finished touring one floor in just a moment. Standing on the creaky elevator, she said to Jiang Qiaoxi, “I thought the Qunbai Building was so big when I was little…”
If there was a place similar to her memories, it was still there. Lin Yingtao stood at the entrance of the old KFC in the northwest corner of the Qunbai Building, peering inside through the endorser’s advertisement photos pasted on the glass door.
Lin Yingtao had somewhat forgotten what the original KFC looked like.
So whether it had changed or not, she found it hard to say.
Du Shang walked around outside for a long time but couldn’t find the music tape store he used to frequent as a child. He looked puzzled at the row of Samsung, OPPO, Vivo, Huawei, Xiaomi… various smartphone specialty stores along the street. Du Shang said with a wry smile, “It seems everything has turned into this.”
In today’s Qunshan, without dad and mom, without uncles and aunts, without old friends and classmates… what was left?
Following the phone’s navigation, Jiang Qiaoxi parked the car outside Qunshan No. 1 Middle School.
Yu Qiao’s car was parked on the other side. They all got out and walked to the school gate.
A notice was posted on the school gate, saying that the September 21 earthquake had no impact on the school’s teaching facilities, and classes would resume immediately.
It happened to be time for Qunshan No. 1 Middle School students to do exercises on the playground. They were wearing red and white school uniforms. Lin Yingtao held onto the railing, watching them from afar.
Cai Fangyuan said, “Isn’t this the same uniform you used to wear?”
Lin Yingtao looked at them and said, “Yes, it was a long time ago…”
Jiang Qiaoxi looked down at her.
“I used to want to go to Qunshan No. 1 Middle School,” Du Shang said.
Yu Qiao asked Lin Yingtao, “From our class at Zhongneng Power Plant Elementary School, how many got into No. 1 Middle School back then?”
Lin Yingtao squinted in the sunlight, thought for a moment, and told him, “Five, I think… including me, there were five.”
Cai Fangyuan laughed, “If even Lin Yingtao with her elementary school grades could get in, No. 1 Middle School couldn’t have been that hard to enter!”
Lin Yingtao raised her leg from the side and kicked him. Cai Fangyuan laughed and moved away, “What’s wrong? Starting to bully people as soon as you’re back in Qunshan?”
Feng Letian had been busy all morning, unable to even answer a phone call. When Jiang Qiaoxi and his group appeared outside the temporary office for the September 21 earthquake in their street, Feng Letian put down his work and immediately rushed over.
“Welcome, welcome!” he said enthusiastically, ushering them in.
Yu Qiao said from outside, “This is someone’s workplace, is it okay for us to go in?”
Lin Yingtao had already walked in. She glanced inside the office and whispered in awe, “It’s so big!” Feng Letian shook hands with her, showing the demeanor of a grassroots cadre. Lin Yingtao pursed her lips seriously and smiled, shaking his hand.
Cai Fangyuan quietly asked Lin Yingtao, “What are we doing here?”
Outside the temporary office door was a corridor with some newly printed promotional roll-up banners, mostly to deal with visiting media. They introduced Qunshan’s efforts in earthquake prevention and resistance over the years, various prevention projects, and so on.
Lin Yingtao, eating a lollipop given by Feng Letian, looked at each banner until she reached the last one.
She saw that bridge again—entirely vermilion red, slender, connecting two mountain cliff paths. The lush Qunshan mountains and the canyon-like cliffs were connected by this small red bridge.
Lin Yingtao said, “We came to see Feng Letian.”
Cai Fangyuan frowned, “Haven’t we already seen him? Why are we still hanging around someone’s workplace?”
Lin Yingtao mumbled, “I don’t know… Why don’t you ask Jiang Qiaoxi and the others? Where did they go…”
The banner stated that this suspension bridge was a gift to Qunshan City from a mysterious donor in 2013. After months of on-site exploration, repeated expert demonstrations, design, and construction, it was finally completed this July.
During the September earthquake, the small bridge unexpectedly played a miraculous role. With the help of rescue teams, nearly ten thousand mountain residents used this bridge to leave the mountains where aftershocks continued. As a result, local media dubbed it the “Bridge of Life.”
Lin Yingtao moved closer to the banner. The more she looked, the more she felt that the mountain path seemed to be the one they often walked as children.
Cai Fangyuan searched inside and outside the office. He saw Du Shang sitting behind the counter with a doctor’s badge around his neck, examining a bruise on the back of an elderly woman’s head that she had gotten during the earthquake.
Yu Qiao was squatting on the steps outside, chatting idly with some reporters from the provincial capital.
“We’ve been asking around,” one reporter said with a frown, glancing into the office. “They all say they don’t know. How are we supposed to write our report?”
Outside the back door of the temporary office was a small, shabby garden about two meters square. Behind it was the former pharmaceutical factory’s nursing home. This plot of land had been neglected for years due to lack of care, and no one came by.
Feng Letian stood at the base of the wall, continuing to speak softly to his old classmate Jiang Qiaoxi: “They keep asking me who donated it! Even if you’re hiding it now when your wedding day comes and the photos are released, won’t everyone know anyway? Won’t the reporters still come to interview you?”
After listening to him, Jiang Qiaoxi frowned slightly.
Feng Letian said, “Otherwise, why don’t you… think about it again. It’s perfect timing with all of you in Qunshan today, and there are a few reporters outside, with more at the hotel—”
“Forget it,” Jiang Qiaoxi suddenly said. “Just pretend you don’t know anything.”
Feng Letian was stunned: “What do you mean… ‘don’t know anything’?”
Cai Fangyuan, who was looking for Jiang Qiaoxi, pushed open the back door just in time to hear Jiang Qiaoxi say, “I’ll talk to Yingtao privately when I get the chance.”
Feng Letian anxiously said, “But then all your preparations would be for nothing! You spent so much money so far in advance—”
Lin Yingtao was still looking at the photos on the banner, taking out her phone to take a picture. Jiang Qiaoxi, lost in thought, walked out and came up behind her. He hugged her, resting his chin on top of her head, and heard her say, “Look at the little red bridge!”
Jiang Qiaoxi let out a muffled “Mm,” and listened to Yingtao’s excited chatter: “This little bridge is so pretty… Little bridge, little bridge… Little Qiao,” Yingtao tilted her head to look at him, “Little Qiao!”
Even though Jiang Qiaoxi was unhappy, he couldn’t help but smile at this.
“Shall we go see the little bridge later?” he said, holding her.
Lin Yingtao replied, “Sure!”
Feng Letian had initially wanted to keep the secret from Cai Fangyuan to honor his promise to Jiang Qiaoxi, but Cai Fangyuan said, “I’m close with both of them!”
“Jiang Qiaoxi, you know,” Cai Fangyuan explained, “he likes to keep his relationships private. He told me before that he feels no one outside understands his relationship with Lin Yingtao, so he doesn’t want to make it…”
Feng Letian said regretfully, “But this is a good thing! Good deeds should be recognized and appreciated by everyone!”
Cai Fangyuan pointed to Jiang Qiaoxi outside the window: “The more you say that, the more hesitant he becomes. If you tell him his face will be on the banner at the entrance, he’ll get so nervous he’ll leave right away.”
“Are you… Lin Qile?”
Outside, Lin Yingtao was discussing with Yu Qiao and Du Shang about going to see the little red bridge: “Just a quick look!”
Someone called her, and she turned around.
A girl about Lin Yingtao’s age was standing in the hallway. She had freckles on her cheeks and thick, black hair tied up in a somewhat messy ponytail.
She was smiling at Lin Yingtao, who stared at her, trying to recall a name from the depths of her memory.
“…Dai Lixin?” she asked.
“It is you, Lin Qile!” Dai Lixin exclaimed happily, quickly walking over. “I saw your profile when I came in and thought, ‘Those big eyes look like my middle school classmate’… You remember me!”
Feng Letian came out to see them off, apologizing, “I still have to be on duty. If you’re not leaving tonight, I’d like to treat you to dinner at a nearby restaurant?”
Cai Fangyuan quickly declined, “No need, we’re going to visit the old work site this afternoon and then leave!”
Jiang Qiaoxi noticed that Feng Letian’s shirt looked like it hadn’t been washed or changed for several days. He said, “You’ve been working hard these past few days. Go home and rest early.”
Lin Yingtao, however, was pulled aside by Feng Letian, who wanted to have a private word with her.
Lin Yingtao was adding Dai Lixin’s WeChat contact on her phone.
Feng Letian furrowed his brow and asked, “Lin, do you… know little Dai from the neighboring street office?”
Lin Yingtao took a moment to react. “You mean Dai Lixin?”
Feng Letian’s sun-tanned face turned a bit red. He nodded.
Lin Yingtao said, “She was my middle school classmate!”
Lin Yingtao quietly told Feng Letian that she didn’t know if Dai Lixin had ever been in a relationship: “But when we were in school, she liked Dao Mingsi.”
“Dao Mingsi?” Feng Letian asked, confused. “Who’s Dao Mingsi?”
Lin Yingtao frowned.
“He’s a…” Lin Yingtao thought for a moment, then said seriously, “Someone who made her feel very secure.”
Old movies often feature scenes where the protagonist, after experiencing many hardships, returns to the place where their childhood began.
But Lin Yingtao’s hometown, the land where she once lived this country, had developed so rapidly over the past twenty-plus years that too many traces of childhood had been erased by time, never to be found again.
If it weren’t for these mountains…
Lin Yingtao got out of the car and realized they hadn’t come at the best time. The mountain was very crowded. The low red brick wall that used to block the foot of the mountain in their childhood had long been demolished. Stone steps had been built in the forest, and the government had even installed signposts to guide hikers.
Lin Yingtao and her friends followed the crowd up the mountain. Many people around them were local Qunshan residents who, having seen the news, wanted to go up the mountain to see the little red bridge.
Amidst the crowd, a path cleared for people coming down the mountain. Lin Yingtao heard what seemed to be rescue team members patiently persuading someone: “Grandpa, it’s true that the earthquakes have stopped! But your old house is no longer safe to live in. Please come down the mountain and stay somewhere else for a few days. The government will provide food and lodging; you don’t need to worry about anything! How does that sound?”
Lin Yingtao turned back and quietly asked her friends, “Why haven’t they finished evacuating everyone?”
Yu Qiao replied nonchalantly, “Who wants to leave their home?”
The stairs were too crowded and slow, so Lin Yingtao stepped onto the grass beside them, covered with fallen leaves. She quickly made her way up the mountain through the forest. No one knew this path up the mountain better than she did.
Seeing this, the boys looked at each other and all followed her.
It wasn’t until she was in the midst of the forest, stepping on thick layers of fallen leaves, looking up at the dense canopy, with sunlight filtering through the gaps in the green leaves, that Lin Yingtao vaguely felt she had truly returned to Qunshan.
Jiang Qiaoxi held her hand from behind, telling her to slow down.
Yu Qiao had his hands in his pockets. He and Du Shang were chatting behind them, reminiscing about how mischievous they were as kids, always insisting on walking this path even though it was supposed to be closed off.
Du Shang lamented, “How many times did the disciplinary teacher call our parents!”
Yu Qiao said, “You were fine, they always called my dad.”
Du Shang laughed heartily.
Just then, they heard someone shouting from up ahead: “Hey, make way! Please make your way up front!”
Jiang Qiaoxi’s phone suddenly rang. It was a call from Feng Letian. He stepped away to answer it.
Lin Yingtao stood still, staring into the distance, unsure of what she saw.
“Let our farmers pass first,” the rescue team member shouted. “Watch your step, don’t trample their belongings—”
Suddenly, a round, white shape darted out from between people’s feet, its red webbed feet propelling it forward like an arrow. Then a second one, a third, a fourth… People up ahead gasped in surprise, some moved aside, and others took out their phones to take photos.
Du Shang was stunned: “Oh my God…”
Cai Fangyuan took a few steps forward, his eyes wide as he looked.
In the distance, on the long vermilion suspension bridge, snow-white geese were stretching their necks, their orange webbed feet slapping against the bridge’s surface as they were herded across in a flock by their farmer—
Lin Yingtao stood still, both hands covering her mouth. Her eyes sparkled.
Du Shang exclaimed, “White geese!”
Yu Qiao was shaking with laughter behind them, the scene before them was truly absurd.
Jiang Qiaoxi was still on the phone. Feng Letian suggested that the design company for the Little Red Bridge could provide a miniature model for him to keep at home.
Cai Fangyuan called out from the front, “Jiang Qiaoxi, look at Lin Yingtao, she’s gone crazy!”
Jiang Qiaoxi turned his head and squinted.
Suddenly, he smiled.
Lin Yingtao had already run to the bridge’s entrance, excited to see countless white geese surrounding her. Lin Yingtao was so happy she couldn’t speak, just repeatedly exclaiming “Wow!” “Wow!” as if witnessing a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle.
Lin Yingtao picked up an adorable gosling, nearly getting her hair pecked, and took a photo with the farmer by the little red bridge.
The farmer looked confused, and Cai Fangyuan explained beside him: “Her, this woman! Her childhood dream was to come from over there to your place to see your white geese!”
It wasn’t until the sun was almost setting that the last batch of villagers from the mountains finished evacuating. Many people were taking photos near the little red bridge as a memento. This was also the first time Jiang Qiaoxi had touched this bridge with his own hands. He stood at the bridge’s entrance, watching Lin Yingtao walk quickly ahead alone. The lush green mountains, the Vermilion bridge, and Lin Yingtao ran to the other side. She raised her hand and shouted to Jiang Qiaoxi, Yu Qiao, and the others from afar: “I flew over here—!!”
Jiang Qiaoxi thought back to his childhood – introverted, easily angered, his personality was truly awful. If he hadn’t come to Qunshan, he couldn’t even imagine what kind of person he would have become later in life.
That time was undoubtedly the most unforgettable period in their lives.
“There were three towers…” Lin Yingtao said, frowning.
“Four, come on!” Yu Qiao got out of the car, leaving no room for argument.
Lin Yingtao stood between the two cars, raising her head to count.
“One, two, three, four…” She stretched her hand towards the sky, counting the water cooling towers. “Five, six…”
Du Shang frowned beside her: “Why are there so many?”
The group of five walked along the path they used to take home from school.
Yu Qiao looked down at his phone, searching for news: “Oh, in 2006, Zhongneng Power Plant expanded its third phase and built two more towers.”
Du Shang asked, “They built new ones after we left?”
Qunshan was growing too.
The former Qunshan construction site, from the security room, the main gate to the fountain, and the staff club, had all disappeared without a trace, not a single brick, tile, blade of grass, or tree remained. Yu Qiao and the others stood at the entrance of the upscale residential complex that now stood there.
The sky was darkening.
Only in the distance, on the skyline, a few tall water-cooling towers faintly glowed in the twilight, still bearing some resemblance to their childhood memories.