Prose

这是真的。

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有个村庄的小康之家的女孩子，生得美，有许多人来做媒，但都没有说成。那年她不过十五六岁吧，是春天的晚上，她立在后门口，手扶着桃树。她记得她穿的是一件月白的衫子。对门住的年轻人同她见过面，可是从来没有打过招呼的，他走了过来，离得不远，站定了，轻轻的说了一声：“噢，你也在这里吗?” 她没有说什么，他也没有再说什么，站了一会，各自走开了。

 

就这样就完了。

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后来这女子被亲眷拐子卖到他乡外县去作妾，又几次三番地被转卖，经过无数的惊险的风波，老了的时候她还记得从前那一回事，常常说起，在那春天的晚上，在后门口的桃树下，那年轻人。

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于千万人之中遇见你所遇见的人，于千万年之中，时间的无涯的荒野里，没有早一步，也没有晚一步，刚巧赶上了，那也没有别的话可说，惟有轻轻的问一声：“噢，你也在这里吗?”

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This is a true story.

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There was a village girl from a moderately well-off family, who was a natural beauty, many people tried to be her matchmaker, however none succeeded. One year when she was only maybe fifteen or sixteen, on a spring evening, she stood by the back door with a hand leaning against a peach tree. She remembers she was wearing a blouse as white as the moon. Next door lived a young man that she had seen before but never greeted, he walked over a short distance and stood still, then very gently said, "Oh, so you're here too?" She didn't reply, and he didn't speak again, they both stood there for a moment, then parted separately.

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Just like that, it was over.

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Later, this girl was abducted by her relatives and sold as a concubine in another county. She was sold and resold many times, enduring countless dangers, buffeted by the violent winds and waves of life. In her old age she still remembers that incident, frequently mentioning it, on that spring evening, at the back door, under the peach tree, that young man.

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Among the ten million people that you will meet, within ten million years, in the infinite wilderness of time, there is no such thing as taking a step too early, and there is also no such thing as taking a step too late, serendipitously there is only just enough time to keep up, and with nothing more to say, there only remains that quiet voice asking, "Oh, you are here too?"