Why it never ends

An hour later, Yu Xuekun stood up and turned off all the equipment. Hesta also stood up from the chair, waiting to say goodbye.

But Yu Xuekun didn't turn around for a long time. She turned her back to Hesta, put her hand on the camera stand, and fell into silence.

"Are you okay?" Hesta took a few steps aside and looked at Yu Xuekun's profile.

Yu Xuekun made a wry smile, raised her hand, and gently scattered the broken hair on her forehead.

"...What happened this week?" Yu Xuekun turned his head, his eyes helpless, "Are you willing to chat now?"

"I have to go to the café later," Hesta replied. "I have an appointment with Madame Katya this afternoon... This has been delayed for a long time."

"Is it urgent?"

"There's no rush." ​​Hesta said, sitting down on the black leather chair again, "If it's easier for you to talk now, I should be able to stay for half an hour longer."

"Tell me about what happened this week... Is there anyone or anything that particularly touched you?"

Hesta's hand on her left knee slowly tightened, and she looked seriously into Yu Xuekun's eyes, "...a lot."

"But you know the nature of our conversation this week, right? I've already—"

"You told me many times," Hesta nodded, "Yes, I understand."

"Last Wednesday, we were also here. At that time, we discussed how to answer the question about Zuo Wentao. I thought we had reached an agreement on what we should say this week. And Lin Jiao and their associations, do you still remember that you were What did you say? You reiterated that you are not interested in them——"

"Indeed, but—"

"Then this week it became 'They are very attractive'?" Yu Xuekun tapped her heart hard several times with her hand, "Since you prepared the information about them in advance, why didn't you tell me?"

"Because it was my own decision," Hesta replied, "If the consequences are really serious, you don't have to take any responsibility for it, I mean Miss Chiba - after all, I didn't tell you anything. "

Yu Xuekun's words were choked in his throat.

"……thank you."

"Um...you're welcome?"

"What I promised Chiba is very simple. It was originally very simple. What I have to do is to help you get high scores in these rounds of evaluations. The entire rules are clear, and how to cooperate and explain them is also very clear. ..." Yu Xuekun glanced at Hesta and fell on the back of the chair, holding her forehead, "What made you change your mind?"

"I don't like these rules." Hesta whispered, "Especially now, I can't find any other way to tell the truth other than lying... I want to do something that I think is meaningful."

"You are not the only one who hates these rules," Yu Xuekun said softly, "The splash you have stirred up now will soon fade away in District 14, but these records will remain on your evaluation record in the future. One day, when you set out to do something really useful, they will probably drag you down, have you ever considered that?”

Hesta looked thoughtfully at the blinds behind Yu Xuekun, staring at the dust flying in the grating with some trance.

"Remember what I told you last week? This is the only way that every mercury needle who retires and enters a livable place must go through. At that time, we also talked about Ava in District 3 - if she During the evaluation period, she scrutinizes every rule, and after entering a livable place, she stubbornly sticks to her previous lifestyle. Her later life will definitely be different, because it doesn't matter what the rules themselves are, what matters is ' Filter '...Jane? Are you listening?"

"Yes." Hesta replied softly.

"Tell me what you are thinking," Yu Xuekun said softly, "Tell me... what you are thinking."

"I'm thinking," Hesta said softly, "when a mercury needle enters a habitable place, she must personally practice the 'public order and good customs' here in order to prove that she has the ability to survive in a habitable place... Do you think this is a kind of 'civilization' caring about 'barbarism' in a wishful thinking?"

……

After leaving the consulting room, Hesta breathed a sigh of relief. She obviously felt that she had made Yu Xuekun a little angry today. Before parting, looking at Master Yu's worried look, Hesta felt a little guilty in her heart. Fortunately, the sun was very bright that afternoon. After walking a few streets under the sun, the previous heavy mood disappeared.

She took off her coat, put it on her hands, and soon arrived at Mrs. Kajia's cafe.

There was still no one in the cafe in the afternoon. Every table in the glass window was empty, and the door was still ajar. Hesta opened the door and went in - the entire first-floor cafe was empty, even the waiter at the bar. No trace.

"anyone there."

"...Yes?" A voice came from the corner. Hesta turned around and saw a middle-aged man suddenly standing up from the table, "Who are you looking for?"

"You know the waiter in this cafe..." Hesta's voice suddenly stopped - the middle-aged man in front of him was the one who played chess with Teacher Chen not long ago.

"Ah, it's you."

The middle-aged man squinted his eyes at this moment, fumbled to take out his glasses from his pocket, and carefully looked at Hesta.

"Aha," she immediately took off her glasses, "can you use their coffee machine?"

Hesta walked to the bar, "Yes?"

The middle-aged man folded his hands and held his chin, "Get me something to drink? I've been sitting here for a long time and no one has come to entertain me."

"Not good..." Hesta said as she carefully looked at the coffee equipment here. Although she had not used this type of machine much, the machine in the base canteen looked similar to this one, "You Are you here to wait for someone too?"

"I'm just here to have a cup of coffee," the middle-aged man replied, "Are you here to wait for someone?"

"Ah."

"Who are you waiting for?"

"Boss here." Hesta bent down and walked around to the backstage. After a few sounds of steam, she tilted her back slightly and looked at the middle-aged man in the corner, "What are you drinking?"

"latté."

Hesta fumbled and turned on the frother on the side.

After a while, she came to where the middle-aged man was sitting, carrying two cups of the same coffee. After putting down the cup, the middle-aged man frowned and glanced at the cup noodles, "...why is there no latte art?"

"No," Hesta replied, "How long have you been sitting here?"

"Not long, more than half an hour."

"Is there no one here all the time?"

"Yes, I have."

"Who?"

"You." The middle-aged man chuckled, feeling happy for his clever witticism, "Wait a minute, there is often no one here in the afternoon, but people will come after a while."

The two sat opposite each other and were speechless for a while. It wasn't until they finished drinking the latte that the middle-aged man took out a palm-sized wooden box from his pocket and asked, "Want to play chess?"