Hesta grunted and emerged from the cage.
Bo Heng took out a very old tin lunch box, which contained cold potatoes, shredded cheese and some gray-brown mushroom flakes.
Facing the moonlight, Hesta scooped out the fungus pieces with a spoon and took a closer look.
"Is this a porcini mushroom?"
Bo Heng nodded, "I stole some butter and fried it."
Hesta was extremely hungry. She put food into her mouth in big gulps. Bo Heng handed over an equally old kettle and said, "Slow down."
While the girl was eating, Bo Heng took out a roll of softly folded newspaper from his trousers. Some of the ink on the folded areas of the newspaper has been rubbed off, exposing the raw edges of the paper fibers.
The boy carefully unfolded the newspaper and read it carefully under the moonlight.
Hesta was used to this scene.
During the four years in the monastery, she was always kept in solitary confinement by Sister Gerding, and every time Bo Heng would bring some food to see her and sit next to her and make newspaper clippings.
"How do you know that porcini mushrooms are edible?" Hesta looked at Bo Heng who was reading the newspaper, "Did you read it from the newspaper?"
"No, an uncle taught me this before."
"Before entering here?"
"Yes...I have been living with him in the wilderness before."
As Bo Heng answered, he carefully cut out a tofu block article from the newspaper. He carried milky white medical tape with him and skillfully pasted the piece of paper on his notebook.
This notebook is Bo Heng's treasure. He found a piece of moisture-proof asbestos cloth from somewhere. When not in use, he wrapped it in the cloth and hid it under the floor of the solitary room.
Sister Gerding has very strict control over the reading materials of the children in the orphanage. Except for a batch of theological stories that she has personally reviewed, the only reading materials that the children have access to on a daily basis are some fairy tale picture books with very simple stories - even these There are also missing pages in the picture books, because Sister Gerding believes that some of these stories are unrealistic fantasies of pagans, which will cast a shadow on the pure hearts of children, making them more susceptible to chelation. erosion.
The entire orphanage only subscribes to one newspaper, which is delivered to the offices of the director and Sister Gerding every day. After reading it, they will take the newspaper to the storage room.
It was from there that Bo Heng secretly read it.
In order to avoid being discovered by the nuns, he would only take old newspapers from three months ago. These newspapers were often bundled into piles and piled in the corner. Government recycling personnel would come to collect them every six months. No one checks to see if the newspaper inside is missing pages.
Hesta ate everything Bo Heng brought as she did before. She was still holding Bo Heng's old lunch box, feeling a little disappointed.
"Are you full?" Bo Heng asked.
"Um."
"Okay, Jane," Bo Heng raised his head, "Listen to me, you did something wrong today, although it was not for the reason Miss Gerding said."
Hesta tilted her head.
Bo Heng said warmly: "Maybe you didn't have a choice when you were in Short Call Lane, but now that we have the conditions to eat the meat of artificially raised animals, it's best not to touch those animals in the wild."
"...but that squirrel just died and is still fresh, isn't it okay?"
"No." Bo Heng made a sign with his hands, "These animals living in the wild are very likely to carry some pathogenic bacteria, parasites or viruses - it has nothing to do with how long they have been dead. Remember?"
Hesta mused.
Bo Heng lowered his head to make his newspaper clipping again, "I feel that Furasan must have read it wrong. Vultures are scavengers and generally do not attack living animals."
Hesta was a little confused, "If it's not a vulture, where did those holes on the squirrel come from?"
"Maybe it's some other raptor..."
Hesta looked at Bo Heng, "Is this also what the uncle who lived with you taught you?"
"Oh, that's not the case. This is what I saw in the newspaper." Bo Heng said with a smile, "Some people were infected with chelosis from eating raw meat, so raw food is now strictly prohibited in all habitable places for humans."
"So this is ah……"
"But I mainly read newspapers to collect information about the 14th District. Every time I see a report about the 14th District, I cut it out."
Fourteen districts.
Hesta was no stranger to this name. She looked at Bo Heng curiously, "Is the book "Mountains Under the Storm" that you secretly borrowed from the dean before, the story of District 14?"
"Yes, but the place where that story took place is not where I want to go. District 14 is very big. It is the largest of the sixteen districts in the world. There are many, many livable places there."
"Why does Bo Heng want to go there?"
"Because that may be my hometown." Bo Heng replied, "'Bo Heng' is a very typical name for people in the 14th District. Heng is the first name and Bo is a very old surname... Maybe my home is It’s over there, so I want to go back there and have a look.”
Having said this, Bo Heng suddenly slapped his head, "By the way! Jane, I saw a story a few days ago that may be related to you."
Bo Heng smiled and lowered his head. He picked up his newspaper clippings, until he stopped at a certain page and pushed the book in front of Hesta.
"Do you know why the dean chose the surname 'Hesta' for you back then?"
Hesta was silent for a moment, then shook her head.
"Because you have red hair, and you have red hair like fire, and there is a nomadic tribe in the north of District 14, called the Hesta tribe. According to legend, the women of the Hesta tribe have the same red hair as you. ——Their totem is the eagle, and they have been hunting in the northern wilderness of District 14 for a living...Look at this, this report specifically talks about the Hesta tribe."
Hesta's eyes glanced at Bo Heng's newspaper clippings, not very interested, but then she discovered that there were many Bo Heng's handwritings in the blank spaces of the book.
"So you still write a diary in this notebook?" Hesta murmured.
"Ah, don't read those!" Bo Heng hurriedly blocked the words, "I want you to read the story of the Hesta tribe above -"
"That story is wrong," Hesta said softly. "The totem of the Hesta people is not an eagle, but a horse."
"horse?"
"Yes." Hesta nodded, "Although the eagle is indeed very important to the Hesta people - in the legend of the Hesta people, their ancestors were the incarnation of a divine eagle, so they believe that the eagle is a guardian God. But some people always confuse this with their totem. Their totem is the blood horse - the Hesta people rely on this kind of horse to gallop across the grassland."
Bo Heng was slightly startled: "Where did you hear these stories?"
Hesta held her calf with one hand and gently held up the broken hair by her ear with the other hand.
"There was a time when someone in Short Call Alley paid a high price for red hair, especially red hair that looked like red flames. So at that time, everyone was asking around for news about the Hesta people."
Short Ring Lane, where Hesta used to live. Bo Heng had heard people talk about it. It was a slum located in the wilderness. It was once home to a group of thieves, assassins, black market business travelers, and some ronin whose identities were ambiguous and could not officially enter the country for the time being.
Bo Heng quickly picked up the pen and wrote down this detail.
For a moment, the only sound in the solitary room was the rustle of pen rubbing against paper.
Hesta re-covered the tin lunch box and put it back to Bo Heng. "Bo Heng went to District 14. What do you want to do?"
"I haven't thought about it yet." Bo Heng said softly, "I should first go to the towns where people with the surname of Bo gather, and then... I don't necessarily have to stay in a livable place, over there in the 14th District. I haven’t been around much, I want to go back to the wilderness and live for a while. Only the life in the wilderness will always be free... Where is Jane? Do you have any plans for the future? "
"Yes." Hesta nodded.
"what you up to?"
"I'm going to find someone, someone who is very, very important to me -"
Before Hestad finished speaking, the door of the solitary room was pushed open from the outside unexpectedly, Hestad's voice stopped suddenly, and both of them looked up at the same time.
The pale moonlight fell along the crack of the door, casting a slender black shadow on the ground.
——That's Sister Gerding.
