Hunter and Hussar

Chapter 76 A Distant Encounter

"Ke Ke, wake up, I'm going to cram school!"

"Sleep for another 2 minutes..."

"How many 2 minutes? Get up! We're going to be late!"

"Training class, it's too late..."

"Get up! If you don't get up anymore, I'll tell everyone that the captain is a lazy cat who stays in bed every day!"

"Just sue, make them all like you, just start talking..."

I really have trouble getting up.The most direct feeling after the second year of junior high school is that I am much more tired than before, and when I touch the bed, I can't get up because of sticking to it.However, this is just the beginning. I'm only in the second year of junior high school, and I'm still in the third year of junior high school. I really don't know what to do in the future.

Who cares, it's too far in the future, I just don't think about it today.

"Get up! Sleeper! I'm going to be delayed by you again!" Mi Le climbed onto my bed, and to be precise, pressed his knees on me, probably in a gesture of disdain for all sentient beings.

"It's okay, the make-up classes won't make you stand..."

"Still talking!" He lifted my quilt, and I was subconsciously trying to grab it, but he slapped my ass with a "slap".

"If you can't afford it, I'll hit you!" He grabbed my ear with one hand and hit me twice with the other.

"Fight it, fight whatever you want, I just can't afford it." I pulled back the quilt and wrapped myself head to toe in it, forming an impenetrable fortress.

It seems like I couldn't get up when I was a kid, especially in winter.Even if I was forcibly dragged up by my parents, it only dragged away my body, and the quilt still has my inner soul.In terms of waking up, Xianxian and Mi Le are a bit similar, they are both so vigorous and decisive, they turn over and get out of bed as soon as the alarm clock rings, without anyone reminding them.However, Xianxian seemed to be much gentler when she woke me up.On those winter days when I was shivering away from the quilt, he would always climb down a few minutes earlier and sneak into my quilt. The movement of lifting the quilt was so small that I didn't notice the cold wind leaking in.He was lying next to me, lying with me, making me feel his presence in peace of mind, and then asked softly in my ear, do you remember?I'm definitely shaking my head.He continued coaxing as if discussing, let's sleep for another 2 minutes, shall we?I would probably nod my head in a daze, and he probably wouldn't just put me to sleep for 2 minutes.I don't know how long I slept, I just know that when he asked me again, I would get up obediently, feeling that I slept well and full, and it wasn't cold at all.

In the past, it was only difficult to get up in winter, but now it's only autumn and I can't get up.

"I'm angry."

"Hey, what's the matter with me?"

The more Mi Le called me to hit me, the less I remembered.I seem to be determined to be angry with him, just like I used to be angry with Xianxian about things other than getting up.As long as Mi Le hasn't called me "Kopeiwei", I will fight to the end.

"Then you can go to sleep! Go to Luka's house by yourself in the afternoon, the young master will not accompany you! I will never ignore you!"

The door was slammed shut by him.

Probably when we were very young, we went out with my parents, and I was playing tricks somewhere, and wanted them to buy me a toy, but if they didn't, I just lingered.They said, if you don't go, you don't want to go, they don't want you for a long time, the voice is so soft that it seems to be talking about an unimportant thing, and then they walked along the sidewalk.I was nailed to the spot, not daring to keep up, not daring to run back, so I just stood in a daze outside the window of the toy store. People were passing by on the mirror-like glass. I caught a glimpse of them, but they didn't. I.The figures of mom and dad are far away, without looking back, as if they really don't want me anymore.

I seemed to have thought about a question that day, that is, where should the orphanage go.I am knowledgeable.If they don't like me, I will leave, far away.

"Brother, why are you still here? Let's go back?"

Or he came to me.always like this.

"Stop being hypocritical! My parents don't want me anymore, what am I going to do when I go back? You go! Live with them alone!"

"Brother, why don't parents want you? Let's go, let's go home together." He didn't care about the sullen look on my face, and stood on tiptoe trying to touch my forehead.

"Go away! They like you, don't like me, you can be their good baby alone! I should have thrown it on the street long ago!"

"Brother, don't say that, I'm so sad." He cried, "They like you, and I like it too. I like my brother the most, and I will always like it."

"I just said it! I don't like you! Ke Peixian, I hate you, and I will never see you again! Forever!"

not like this.I didn't really want to never see him.I really like him.Just because he is my younger brother and our relationship is too close, I dare to be so unscrupulous.In the past, I was too young to understand many truths.Xianxian is much more sensible than me. He has always been the one who tolerates me, and he is the one who tells me that I will not be alone, and someone will take care of me.

I'm terrified of being lost.

Miller seemed really angry because of me.Did he go out alone?Also because of me.Moreover, what he just said, it seems to be a farewell, "Never..."

A horrible and pale thought came to my mind, and before I had time to think of it, I jumped out of bed, without shoes on, and went straight to the gate, as if to catch up with someone who was walking away from me. people who go.When it ran to the door, it "creaked" and opened by itself.Mi Le hid behind the door with a smile on her face, saying that she knew that this was the only way to get me out of bed.Thank goodness.I got scolded again for strangling him like a psycho.He can scold him all he wants, and I really owe it.I won’t dare to do it again next time, it’s really great to have another chance.

Luka asked me to go to his house on Saturday to play, and he also said that he made an appointment with Loca, that is, Xuexue.After one and a half months, he and Luca had the most barrier-free communication in the team.If I guessed right, Leben might be there too.The last time I slept in a tent with Xuexue, I was quite happy, but after a year, I was still a little embarrassed to see him.Without Mi Le, I would be helpless if I stayed with them.After the cram school, the two of us didn't go back to the dormitory. We ate something and got on the bus.The location of Luka's house is not far from Qinhan Square.I don't know if Luca has seen the sign that says "Qin and Han Big Square" in front of the square.Ye Ruiyang always said that it would be fun if "Qin Han" was written as "Qinman". This name sounds like a copycat brother of Ironman or Superman.

But today there was an acquaintance standing next to that sign and smiling, holding a dozen cartoon balloons in his left hand, and clutching a large handful of colorful leaflets in his right hand.After Mi Le and I got out of the car, the first thing we saw was Yan Xi who seemed to have come out of an amusement park. He almost put on his fox suit.

"Oh, Ke Ke, Mi Le, what a coincidence!" When he saw us, he was so happy that he was about to jump up, and the balloon in his hand was shaking with him.

"Hey, Yan Xi, what are you doing? Looking after the stall?" Mi Le looked at his set of equipment curiously.

"I'm helping educational institutions distribute leaflets to earn some pocket money." He stuck out his tongue and told us that the balloons were also given by the institution to the children who filled out the forms.He also disclosed some "inside information", saying that the phone number on the list can only be paid if he can get through. A number is worth three yuan, and if he can't get through, it doesn't count.

"But you hold the balloon in one hand and the list in the other, how can you be so busy?" I wanted to help him, but I didn't know how to speak.He smiled and told me that he had another "colleague" who went to the bathroom.He also said that the two of them actually did not strictly follow the requirements of the organization. If a child really wanted a balloon, they would give it directly.

Mi Le and I carefully took the form from him and filled in our respective phone numbers.He was a bit embarrassed and gave us a balloon, it was a cat and mouse theme.Tom and Jerry couldn't forget that they chased each other when they got to the balloon.

"Okay, thank you all. Just say 'I'll think about it' when you get the call. The weather is really nice today, so go play."

In fact, I really want to spend more time with Yan Xi. I don't need money, I just want to see him and Mi Le handing out leaflets together, and I'll help them hold the balloons.I also want to have a chance to give children balloons generously.

Maybe call Luca over to distribute the leaflets?However, it might take a long time to explain to him what educational institutions and cram schools are.We went to Luca's after all.His house doesn't have any special place, it's just in a small area outside Qinhan Square, more than 100 square meters.His aunt or aunt's family went out, and the house became his independent kingdom.The three of us played the balloon like a volleyball at home, chasing the balloon we shot around like schoolchildren, and hitting it from the living room to Luca's room.Miller was so happy that he threw Luka on the bed.Luca has a great personality, like a jellybean, and while he's a bit reticent on the outside, you just have to get a little closer to him and you'll let everything go and play carefree.After making a fuss today, I wondered if I was already in the second year of junior high school, almost 14 years old.

Crazy and tired, the three of us lay on our backs on Luca's bed.When will Xuexue come?Miller asked Luca.Luca whistled in a daze, and a tabby cat stumbled up to us. He raised his upper body to catch it, put it in his arms, and lay down with us looking at the ceiling. Loca didn't come anymore, saying he had something to do.He said while stroking the cat's smooth fur.Mi Le took it from Luka's hand and shook it in his arms, like coaxing a baby.Le Ben didn't come anymore. Luca reached out and stroked the cat's back. I don't know what cram school he went to. Does he have to go to school on Saturday?
We didn't explain what cram school is, and we played with the cat in our arms together with Luca.Maybe Le Ben took Yan Xi's flyer and went to their educational institution, so he couldn't come today.There is such a possibility.I think.The world is that small.

Luca, why does your cat only have three legs?Mi Le was startled, but his hands were still gently stroking the cat's fur, and it was wagging its tail comfortably.Yes, it was adopted by Aunt before I came here, and it had three legs at that time, Luca took the cat back to him.It's called Pobrecito, "little poor".No one knows what it went through, if only it could talk.He blinked his green eyes.

Not necessarily, maybe it doesn't want to remember.I said.

Yes, the captain is right.

Don't call me captain, call me Keke, or Coco, isn't it a bit more habitual?
I always have to practice. I have been in China for such a long time, and it is not easy for you to keep accommodating me.Ke, Pei, Wei (Wei), right?
"Wei" reads "Wei", which is the same sound as "Wei" in "围".But it doesn't matter, I'm used to it, teachers and family sometimes call me "Ke Peiwei" or "Weiwei".I looked at the clean ceiling and played with my fingers.

No, just do whatever you want, how can you be so lazy?Luka pouted, and gently put the little pity under him.Although the action was a bit clumsy, it still ran out of the room in one breath.

Luca, Ke Ke told me before that your family has a lot of affection for China, and you are also very interested in China. Why is that?I feel that China is far away from Austria, and we don't know much about your country.Mi Le, who was lying on the bed, poked Luca's waist with his fingers.

Are you interested in things about our family?Luca had an overjoyed expression, as if he had accidentally discovered someone of his own kind.We both nodded tacitly, so he took us into the study.It's not big, just a few rows of bookcases, an old sofa and a small writing desk.Lukara opened the drawer under the bookcase, and pulled out several photo albums the size of "Ci Hai" in the dust.Sunlight floats dully in the old paper smell of the study through the cloudy glass windows.Accompanied by jerky and slow Chinese, Luca's fingers jumped on the faded or only black and white photos.Neither Mi Le nor I thought that the strangers thousands of miles away have a distant and secret connection with our land in the smoke and dust of history. Despite the passage of time, this weak connection has not been completely severed.

The oldest photos are at the front of the album.Luca said it was her mother's great-grandfather, who was born in 1898.The black-and-white picture shows a straight middle-aged man with piercing eyes, light-colored hair, and a rather gentle face.But what caught our attention was the uncomfortable swastika he wore on his shoulders."Nanking, 1937" is written in the lower right corner of the photo.You guessed it right, Luca said, mother's great-grandfather was a member of the Communist Party.He is German and came to China for a sales job.A year later, Austria became part of Germany.He also returned to Europe from China, continued to work and settle in the Austrian branch, and his family also went to Austria.

Is he a bad guy?Miller asked.

There have been several bad guys in my mother's house.Some people are fanatical, like lunatics, who think that killing is a just cause.They didn't survive.Mom's grandfather also joined the Hitler Youth League in the 40s. Here is a picture, you can see.He pointed to a row of kids in military uniform, all of them wearing bow ties and belts, looking expressionlessly to the right, and behind them countless other children with blurred faces, all about our age.Their eye sockets are deep-set, and those in the front row can still see their indifferent eyes, while those in the back row gradually become obscured, as if they only sink into the potholes in their faces, making people wonder whether there is really a window to the soul in the hollow.This photo looks so uncomfortable.Although it is not clear, I somehow feel that the black and white face behind is smiling, indifferently and strangely, laughing for no reason, laughing so that my whole body is covered with goose bumps.

Mom's grandpa didn't do anything bad.Back then, they had no choice but to join.If I was born at that time, maybe I would also appear in this photo.Luka exhaled lightly, like a sigh but also like a rejoicing.Fortunately, my mother's grandfather was born late, and if he was older, he would carry a gun to the battlefield. If you are over 12 years old, you have to go, and I have to go at that time, and then I will become a bad person.

You are very kind and will not do bad things.I said.

not sure.If I had been born in Austria back then, I might have been a bad guy, a very, very bad, bad guy.Only sensible, the brain was broken.

It's better now.Miller said.No more wars.

Luca's mother's family had had villains, but his mother's great-grandfather was anything but.Luca told us he was a prostitute, and that was true, not many of his colleagues were.Because of this, he couldn't find a job after the war.Without food, in order to keep his family alive, he left home and did not come back. He died in a place that no one remembered or discovered. This was what Luca heard from his grandfather when he was flipping through the photos.Luca loves to hear stories from the past told by his family.He has never experienced those days, but as long as the old people talk about them, he feels that they are like scenes in a movie.The past is not the past, he still has a little connection with them.He wanted to reach out and grab them before they slipped away.When he came to China, he actually wanted to find traces of his relatives' life.Stepping in their footprints, you may be able to feel their souls.They weren't just the senile look he'd seen since he was born, or the names engraved on church tombstones, or missing people who didn't even have graves.They were alive, they were his relatives, and he wanted to find them.

Luca's mother's great-grandfather worked in Nanjing and followed a gentleman named John Rabe, who was originally unknown.Later, the Japanese killed people in the city of Nanjing, indiscriminately, and killed everyone they saw. They and people from many other countries built shelters for refugees, and he helped them.They didn't protect everyone, but they protected some.Everyone is just a small grain of sand in the grand history. Maybe he can do something, maybe he can’t do anything when encountering a little problem. He has protected the Chinese, the Jews, and his family all his life. It’s a pity. In the end, I couldn't protect myself.

Luca said that in Austria, he could occasionally see some Chinese characters, or eat a little Chinese food. Whenever he came to those times, he suddenly thought of the connection between his relatives and this distant country.He must see it for himself.

You are here now.I said.Suddenly I felt that Luka was very similar to me.We all like to pick up some fragments like picking up tatters, and want to put together a painting of the past time.Yes, the past is not past, like the sunlight penetrating the glass day after day, it still keeps in touch with us.It's just that Luca worked hard for a long time, always outside the painting, and I was in the painting.

Yes, I have arrived.As he spoke, the photo album reached the next page.It was a photo of his father's house.The first photo of Dad's house is of Luca's great-grandfather, in a small country town, a small boy with a dirty face looks fearfully and woodenly at the camera, his hands appear to be broken, dangling in vain, with old hair on his head He was standing timidly under a house with icy edges in his fur hat, and beside him was a boy with a ski, who was a little older than him, with a much cleaner face, and was trying to smile.That was great-grandfather's older brother.Luka said that his great-grandfather's father was a Serbian, and his mother was a Czech Jew. Neither of them could leave a photo in the dusty history, and his great-grandfather could not even remember their names clearly.During the war, their family was tossed and wandered, walked and walked in the flames of war in the Balkan Peninsula, drifted and floated in the no longer calm Mediterranean Sea, and finally hid in the countryside of Italy.The only ones who made it to Italy were the brothers, who were adopted by relatives.Parents lost contact with them while wandering.Probably still alive, but certainly not now.More likely to die in a burning war, or in some forgotten concentration camp.Later, my brother also died.There is no cure for illness.Only great-grandfather was left.

Maybe, I mean maybe, I was born in the past, in my father's house, and I also had no choice but to wander with them, looking for a surviving corner in the vast European land.He said.I imagined a world where there were two Lucas.One has chestnut hair and the other has green eyes.The sorrel-haired Luca lost his family and fled alone.The green-eyed Luca was wearing a gloomy military uniform, holding a gun, chasing and killing the fleeing self, killing him without hesitation, and then blowing the smoke from the gun, the child's face showed A triumphant smile.

Stop thinking about it.Mi Le rubbed his hair soaked in the sun.Maybe hot.

That's right, there is only one Luca.If in that era, I was not running away, I was killing people.A flipped coin with completely different heads and tails.Wherever I throw it, I become the complete opposite of the other.

Tell me about your parents.Perhaps because he felt too depressed, Mi Le took the initiative to change the subject.

OK.Luca turned the album again, and the photos finally had rich colors.A young man and a woman are walking on the beach. The man has a bright red rose pinned to his chest. The woman wears sunglasses and her long hair flutters in the sea breeze.The sea in the distance is sparkling and undulating in stillness.This is my mom and dad. Luca had a blush smile on his face, and his voice was much softer.Great-grandfather ended up drifting from Italy to Albania, where grandfather was born.He spent the end of his childhood and his youth in a house built with the help of Chinese engineers. Although he has not been able to come to China so far, his grandfather can still remember the fate he had with China during his time in Albania.Afterwards, he experienced a major earthquake, and the Chinese rebuilt their home with them. Luca's father also grew up in a newly built apartment building.After that, they left Albania with their family and went to Italy, as if they had made a big circle in half a century and returned to the place where their ancestors fled.Luca's dad goes to university, becomes a doctor, and meets a journalist on the beach in Genoa.From acquaintance to love, they finally became husband and wife, the husband followed his wife to Vienna, and a boy with chestnut hair and green eyes was born (of course, there was a beautiful older sister before).And now he has traveled through the long sky, ocean and land, and came to China, sitting in front of Mi Le and me, slowly telling stories that have not been forgotten.

"Luka, it's not easy for your parents to know each other. They have traveled to so many countries and met so many people." Mi Le couldn't help shaking Luca's shoulders, "When you tell these stories, I feel It's so exciting, it should be written into a book!"

"In fact, everyone's story can be written into a book, right?" Luca tilted his head embarrassingly, "Your family's must be very exciting."

"No way, our family has stayed in that small place all our lives, and we have nothing to say, unlike your family, who keep walking and walking." Mi Le shrugged.

"But didn't you come out? The story of your family begins with you." I smiled at Mi Le.

"It's good to stay in one place all the time. Just stay there and watch slowly. There will always be many, many things. As long as you want to know, you will know." Luka patted Ramile's finger, " Mi Le, why don't you ask the elders at home more."

"I suddenly felt amazing. If each of us started to write the story of our own family, maybe as we wrote it, we would find that everyone's stories could be combined and become the same story. There is me in your story, You are also in my story. Maybe the world is not that big. It’s like Luca’s father and mother’s family is connected to China.” Mi Le held his small chin, like a detective analyzing the case, “Actually, the three of us are also connected Yes, this is a new story. Moreover, it is better than the original one, at least there is no choice. It will definitely get better and better in the future. In a few decades, the people behind will probably be like us today Looking at the photos like this to remember us, I hope we can leave some good things for them.”

"They will definitely not look at the photo album in the future, it's enough to look at their mobile phone." Luca smiled.

Yeah?Will people in the future also look at our photos?Probably will.It was rare to take pictures in the past, and some people didn't even have a photo in their whole life.Without these pictures, without a line of words on the tombstone, maybe they will be forgotten, as if they never existed.However, in the future, if a child finds those photos that I can’t find myself, and points to the two children in the photos and asks me, who are they and why do they look so similar, how should I answer?
I haven't seen any pictures of the bad guys in Luca's family.Haven't they filmed it?Or do loved ones not want to put them in a photo album?I don't know, and I didn't ask.Are they forgotten, or do people want to take the initiative to forget them?Probably, they did do something bad.What if they survived?If a child asks them, why are you wearing a naked military uniform in the photo, and what did you do in that era, will they justify, admit it, or just smile, bask in the sun, and hide all the stories behind the old face?Smile, maybe you can fool your children, but can you fool yourself, the sun that rises every day?
Keke, what's the matter with you, you're in a daze again.Mi Le pinched my face.What are you thinking?

Luca, are you so far away from home that you miss your family?I won't see you for a long time.I said.

Yes, but you can make video calls.Just hit when you think about it.It won't be too sad as long as you can get in touch.Moreover, I will go back during the winter vacation.Luca scrolled through his mobile phone photo album, and we saw screenshots of videos one after another.very nice.

However, if you run around, will you be reluctant to part with your friends?Miller asked.

is a bit.But I will keep in touch with every friend.Moreover, if I keep walking, I will have more and more friends.Aren't we just friends?
We all laughed and folded our hands.

"However, if we are going to separate one day, we must say goodbye very, very hard. Although we may still see each other, we don't know when the next meeting will be." I said.

"You're here again! We've only known each other for so long, and we're just thinking about this mess! It's been a long time! Can you say something nice?" Mi Le poked my forehead hard.

　The candy in my hand is almost finished, and the knife will be there soon.

　　Huh, everyone, be prepared, the high energy will continue...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)