When Hua Ling left the shrine, she was stuffed with a lot of pastries and brought back. When she returned to the hotel door, she happened to meet Feng Ming coming back from dinner. After saying hello, Hua Ling held up the pastries and asked, "Do you want to eat? I brought some."
Many."
Feng Ming opened the bag in Hua Ling's hand and looked at it. He found it was pastries and nodded: "Would you pick a box for me?"
Hua Ling randomly took a box out of the bag and handed it to Feng Ming. Feng Ming took the box and put it into his bag. He took out a bottle of drink from the bag and gave it to Hua Ling: "Try it?"
After taking it, Hua Ling opened the bottle cap and took a sip, smacking it in her mouth: "It feels like a pretty ordinary sparkling water."
Feng Ming felt that Hua Ling didn't like it very much, so he asked, "I saw that on the cruise ship you drank only Sprite besides plain water. I thought you liked sparkling water."
Hua Ling suddenly realized: "No, in fact, most of the time when I drink Sprite, I shake it and slowly open it, let it deflate for half an hour, and just drink sweet water. I don't really like the taste of bubbles in my mouth."
"That's it, then I'll bring you juice next time, right?"
"Okay, thank you."
"It's okay, courtesy is reciprocal." Feng Ming patted the bag. He felt that the drinks were just an exchange for the cakes.
Feng Ming thought of that person again.
"Don't you like drinking sparkling water? Why do you look like you're going to die if I buy you a Coke?" Feng Ming saw the man holding the Coke he had just bought, and after taking a sip, he closed his mouth tightly and his face was slightly distorted.
After swallowing the drink in his mouth, the man replied: "I don't like drinking sparkling water. The bubbles in my mouth make me feel painful. I don't like this feeling."
"Then last time I drank the Sprite you put on the table and you still fought with me to find trouble?"
"I was deflating it. When you picked it up to drink, didn't you notice that the cap was not tightly closed?!"
"Your habits are really strange. You don't drink carbonated drinks, so why do you still drink carbonated drinks?"
"What do you care about me?"
"Since you don't drink carbonated drinks, why do you still buy Sprite? You can buy other non-carbonated drinks. You don't need to deflate other drinks, which saves time and effort."
"I just love the taste of Sprite, what's wrong?"
"You can try……"
"I asked you, do you have a bubble on your head? Are you struggling with this?"
The memory ended with the man shaking the Coke bottle to release carbon dioxide. Feng Ming walked back to the single room in the memory.
Feng Ming opened the pastry box and found that there were cylindrical pastries that were not individually packaged and separated by light gray partitions.
The taste of the pastry was written in Japanese on the surface. Feng Ming picked a matcha one, took it out and put it in his mouth. While chewing, he lowered his head and saw the cell phone on the side. The screen of the cell phone lit up as a message was received.
——Teacher Feng, have you arrived in Japan?
[Students are all asking about you. Remember to say something when you arrive.
【Also, has that person been found?
[I still can’t figure it out. Your file clearly states that you have no father, no mother, and no relatives.
[Why did you suddenly say that you want to take this cruise to meet a brother who has not been seen for a long time?
[Or are you a Japanese orphan?
Feng Ming watched the messages pop up one by one. The more he read, the more bitter and tasteless the cakes in his mouth became. He took out the drink from his bag and took a big sip, then finished the cakes he had eaten.
Then he picked up the phone and replied to the other party.
——Leave me alone.
Then he turned off the screen, stood up, undressed and walked into the bathroom.
There was the sound of running water in the bathroom, and the phone that was left on the counter lit up again with a message notification.
--teacher?
[Teacher, what are you talking about? I am concerned about you.
【teacher?
[A smart person like you shouldn’t be deceived, right?
[Teacher? Teacher, please reply.
No one answered.
After returning to her room, Hua Ling repeated her habit, shook the sparkling water, opened the lid and put it aside, picked up her phone and played with it.
Suddenly Hua Ling received a message from Lu Ya.
——Arrived in Japan? I think it’s almost time
——Here we go, it’s the first day. We’ll go to the shrine tomorrow.
——Why are you going to the shrine? You also want to worship?
——They will set up stalls for the Autumn Festival tomorrow, and there will be a lot of delicious food.
——Okay, have fun
——How long ago was the last time you attended a temple fair?
——It must be hundreds of years old
——I feel a little nostalgic. There are no fireworks there now.
[There are still food stalls in Henan, but few in Shanghai.
——Yes, there is, but the urban management...
——Oh, trouble
Hua Ling and Lu Ya complained about many things. For example, the Chinese New Year did not feel like the New Year, the ancient town did not have the same feeling as before, and people seemed to be different from before.
After taking a shower, Hua Ling dried her hair and lay on the bed, looking at the ceiling and thinking: "According to the current trend of society and humanities, is it possible that the dragon slayer will eventually become an evil dragon..."
The people at the bottom are selfish and self-interested, and the people at the top don't understand it. The middle class survives in a crack. Judging from the current trend, young people really rarely have the spirit of dedication. For them, the Chinese style of hard work may bring happiness.
Throughout my life, I have been pitifully poor and not equal at all.
Like when Hua Ling was a child, or rather when he was still Fang Qitian, life was so hard that there was no end in sight. He just wanted to know if it would be like this when he grew up, but he had no way of knowing.
The pressure from his parents and academic pressure made him feel that he had no hope. The only candle was Yu Qiuming, and his cousin was his life-saving straw.
"Qiu Ming really takes me to heart, so he is my Gan, and Qitian without 'Gan'..."
Hua Ling thought about Fang Qitian, who should be immersed in studying now. What is her mentality now? Does she think she has a promising future, or is she planning to give up anytime and anywhere?
Hua Ling thinks she is the latter, because Fang Qitian is "imprisoned" and her world is blocked from light, and she will be crushed.
"If she chooses to die after being crushed..."
Death is also a kind of relief, at least she is free.
"If she really has this idea, I'd better not try to persuade her. Even if I experience her feelings, she has no hope of living. I can't be her hope."
Fang Qitian didn't even have a friend of the same age. He knew himself best. Hua Ling naturally knew why Fang Qitian had no friends, but he couldn't help her.
Two days ago, Fang Qitian was at home.
"You don't want to go to school? You're going to turn the world upside down!"
The woman threw the cartoon peripherals on Fang Qitian's table to the ground, took out a stack of pictures drawn by Fang Qitian from the drawer, looked at them symbolically for a few times, and then tore them open in the middle.
"Who would read your paintings like this? I am the only one who knows how to watch anime. Ah, what can watching anime bring you? Ah!? Talk!"
The woman threw the items on the ground and against the closed window. The sound of ping-pong-pong-pong-pong-pong-pong-pong-pong-pong-pong-pong-pong-pong-pong-pong-pong-pong-pong-pong-pong-pong-pong-pong-pong-pong-pong-pong-pong-pong-pong-pong-pong-pong-pong-pong-pong sound scared the sparrows staying outside the window and flew away. Fang Qitian stood by the open door, lowered his head and pursed his lips without saying a word.
, in his hand was a mobile phone with a broken screen and a headphone cable torn into three pieces by the man.