When Tian Aiguo was studying at university in Beijing, he wrote a letter to Xu Yuqin, who was across the street from him. There were only the foundations of three collapsed old houses between the two families, but they were still unable to cross the dozen or so steps. Xiaoqin is gentle and tall, with slightly dark skin, and never wears white clothes; her mother, the third aunt, is fierce and shrewd, and is determined to facilitate this marriage, and even sends a letter asking for tuition fees for her daughter to repeat her studies. Although the patriotic father also likes Xiaoqin, he is driven into helplessness by the third aunt's constant pressure. A letter was more than twenty days late, and a sentence took more than twenty years to swallow. Later, Xiaoqin went to Qingdao and got married there; she stayed in Beijing to have a family because of her patriotism. When I returned to my hometown again, my third aunt was too old to be recognized. She swept the street and asked hoarsely, "How are you?" The foxtail grass is still nodding in the wind, but the girl with ponytail and dark pants will never come back.
