After months of eating chilled watermelon, autumn arrived.
The fleeting moments slipped beyond their grasp. Only looking back did they realize how much time had passed.
Ding Ding retired the Nokia that had been used for years. The new phone was shiny, could make video calls to Brother Ding, and even had a tile-matching game. Bai Congming loved it.
While changing the SIM card, Ding Ding spotted "Mom" among the contacts. The call history showed that the last call had been half a month ago and had lasted a minute and a half.
Having learned about Bai Congming's background from Auntie Zhou, Ding Ding felt his hair stand on end. A moment later, he figured it out and told Bai Congming that the person wasn't his mother.
At first, Bai Congming was stubborn.
"Mom said she was!"
Ding Ding's heart softened. "You told me before. Where is Mom? Do you remember?"
Bai Congming fell silent.
Someone who had gone to live in the bougainvillea couldn't make phone calls, of course.
Bai Congming accepted it quite naturally. The bougainvillea on Hongfang Street had always been there, and Brother Ding would take him to secretly pick a few blossoms to bring home.
Besides, they had been to the cemetery too. Brother Ding had knelt before Mom and said he would take care of him forever.
Later, in a dream, Mom told him that the one named Ding was very good.
So he changed phones but kept the number. Whenever Brother Ding bought him a little cake, he would secretly make a wish over it, hoping that the owner of that number would stay healthy.
What no one expected was that the owner of that number would contact him that very night.
Looking at "Mom" on the screen, Bai Congming's heart raced. He