"I wish to die young, without love or care, like the golden star falling, like the unfading flower rising
"I hope that those who are troubled by long-term hostility will find joy with me on my tombstone.
"Please bury me there, far away from the noisy roads, where weeping willows bend over the water and where unharvested leafless beans glow golden.
“May the sleepy poppies bloom and the wind blow over my head
"I don't look back on the road I have traveled, or the crazy years that have passed. When the last hymn is sung, I will sleep carefree.
"But please don't let the flame go out completely. Please don't forget that woman who awakened everyone's heart."
"I would like to die young..." (1)
There was a regular knock on the door, and as Chiba answered, Elu pushed the door open and entered.
"Miss Chiba, are you looking for me?"
Chiba turned down the volume of the record player, turned around and handed the two documents she had signed and sealed to Elu.
"Well, you go to the core city and leave tonight."
Elu took it and looked at it, a little surprised, "...you want to sell off all the city bonds in Tanyi City that you previously held?"
"Yes, the sooner the better. It is best not to exceed half a month. The funds to be cashed out should be deposited in Grayscale Bank first and not moved. Wait for the news."
"Please allow me to ask the reason," Elu frowned slightly, "Two years ago you said that these bonds should be held for at least ten years, because Tan Yi is the most suitable city for middle-class retirement in the entire third district. These two People have been moving out of the core city and buying properties in Tan Yi this year. It shows that your original judgment was correct. If we sell now, our income will only reach 16% of the expected... No, it may not be 10%. "
"Of course it's because the situation has changed," Chiba took off his glasses, "If you get in front, you can at least get a higher price, but if you wait any longer, you'll lose money."
Elu was puzzled: "What made you change your mind?"
"This place is suitable for retirement because the AHgAs' new recruit base is here." Chiba answered unhurriedly, "Everyone believes that except for the core city, no place in the entire third district is safer than here."
Elu took a meaningful breath: "...So, is this place going to become unsafe?"
"Who knows," Qianye pinched his neck, "People's thoughts always change, and sometimes it doesn't depend on the facts."
Elu put the papers away.
"Understood, I'll leave tonight."
…
Perhaps because he recalled too many things from the past tonight, that night, Hesta once again dreamed of everything in Short Call Alley.
In a dilapidated cabin, my mother wore a vertical striped apron and was tasting freshly cooked soup.
After so many years, she saw her mother again.
My mother was very young at that time.
Young and thin.
Her appearance was still the same as before she parted with Hesta. A dark green velvet tied her shoulder-length soft hair into a bundle and hung down on her right shoulder along her slender neck.
Her shoulders were as thin as a bird.
Mother's hair was now dark brown - and so was Hesta's. These are acquired hair colors, and some flame-bright reddish tints can still be seen at the roots. After all, if you want to hide safely in the crowd, you have to make some necessary disguises. No matter where they are, red hair like theirs is too eye-catching.
Looking around, she found herself sitting on a small green wooden stool. She remembered that she picked it up from the No. 16 garbage dump near Short Alley. Old Charlie helped her repair a stool leg that was soaked by rain, and also found a small half bucket of paint.
She painted the small wooden bench green with her own hands before giving it to her mother.
The table at home was an empty wine barrel and a semicircular wooden board. They used hammers and nails to fasten them together. My mother spread a tablecloth on it to make it look like a small coffee table.
Under the coffee table, there is a layer of velvet carpet that has become a bit rough. My mother specially put together a dozen light green cloth pieces of different materials - they come from bed sheets, old coats, canvas bags or long and short skirts. The patterns of the materials themselves present a kind of collision vitality under this splicing.
On the table, a paper flower made of wire and cardboard was placed on a sponge cushion. The small silver key related to Bo Heng was placed next to it. Next to it was a torn-up copy of "Edgar's Dark Stories" "Collection 1".
This must be a dream.
Hesta quickly realized this.
But please, don't wake up yet.
She reached out and gently touched the sponge flower stand made by her mother.
Fortunately, all the important things are there.
In Short Alley, Hesta often heard her mother talk about her old life in District 14. Mom misses everything about the past - although the climate in the north of the 14th arrondissement is far less pleasant than here.
I heard that the winter there is very long. From October of that year to April of the following year, the snow hardly melts. However, winter is a time for chatting and reading around the fire, so life is not lonely.
My mother often talked about how when she was a child, she had a room that was completely decorated according to the description in Edgar's novel: wooden coffee table, dark green cast iron chair, green polka dot carpet, white curtains vertical to the ground...
Her mother's mother would often sit at the same coffee table and read with her on winter afternoons.
These past scenes are like "anchors" for my mother. They hold her firmly and allow her to always remember who she is and where she comes from.
It's a pity that there are almost no paper books in Minming Lane. In their free time, the mother and daughter could only sit on the coffee table and read old newspapers-until one day, such a coincidence happened, and they learned from old Charlie I got a copy of "Edgar's Dark Tales Part 1" there.
My mother used her two months' meager salary to buy this book from old Charlie, and old Charlie readily agreed.
This "Collection of Dark Stories" is a translation from District 14. The text on it is square and square, which is completely different from the text that can be seen in Short Alley.
Many days and nights, her mother and her sat around the small coffee table, using this book as Hesta's literacy introduction. Sometimes she listened to her mother read stories and explain vocabulary, and sometimes she copied the beautiful sentences with emphasis on them.
…
In the dream, Hesta lowered her head again and put the side of her face on the table.
She clasped the edge of the table with both hands - whenever she lay down like this, her eyes would always fall right in front of the stove.
The steam on the stove is thick.
Mom hummed a song.
Hesta swayed her feet. Under her feet, the patchwork carpet sewn by her mother was rubbing the warm soles of her feet.
It would be better to have a glass bell jar, Hesta thought, otherwise something would still be missing.
——
(1) Quoted from the poem "I would like to die young" by Mila Rokhvitskaya
