Valenti and Hesta could clearly hear the conversation between Virgil and the postman from the second floor.
"Don't mind, they don't mean any harm," Valenti turned around and said with a smile, "I found that the people in Nia are really welcoming. When we first moved here, we encountered a leak in the attic. I asked the aunt next door to fix it here. I was looking for someone on the roof, but she came over in the afternoon with tools - Virgil had prepared a reward, but she refused to accept it."
Hesta listened quietly, "That's great, I'm happy for you."
Valenti lowered her lips and waved her index finger in front of Hesta's face.
"Don't use honorifics to me, Jane."
Hesta smiled, "Okay."
After a brief exchange of greetings, Hesta walked around the slightly narrow living room.
Although Valenti has only lived here for less than three months, the layout here is not at all perfunctory - it is completely opposite to Miss Chiba's house. If Chiba's home pursues minimalism, then Valenti Miss here is the representative of maximalism.
It looks like a place where Miss Valenti would like to live. From chairs to sofas, there are fabrics of various colors everywhere. In the dream-like flowing colors and stripes, surrounded by all the bright and beautiful carpets, pillows, paintings and cushions, it seems that there are countless places to stay, and people can sit down and immerse themselves in any corner. have a good rest.
In front of the low old refrigerator, Hesta stopped.
Several of the refrigerator magnets here looked familiar to her. She had exactly the same one - they were souvenirs sent by Miss Chiba from various pleasant places whose names she had never heard of. Hesta's fingers gently stroked them, and finally her eyes fell on a female statue in the middle of the refrigerator.
The woman in the portrait has no facial features, but has a connected dark eyebrow and a flowery headdress. There is a line of small words written under the portrait: to die, plus ferre possumus quam existimamus
Hesta turned around, "Miss Valenti?"
"Um?"
"Is this classical language?"
"Ha, yes."
"What does this sentence mean?"
"'In the end, we can always bear more than we imagine'." Valenti replied warmly, "This is an artist from before the golden age, Jane, her name is Carlo, famous for her self-portraits . I like Kahlo very much as a person and her paintings. I passed by the 9th District in Chiba last year and brought me this when I came back. I was so surprised."
"Caro..." Hesta murmured. She stared at the line of text she couldn't understand and fell into a brief silence.
"Oh, this doesn't mean to persuade people to be infinitely patient," Valenti explained softly, "it is a summary of Carlo's life. She had a very serious car accident when she was young, and then experienced thirty years of Multiple surgeries. She was bedridden for a long time in her life, so she often painted herself.
"Her self-portraits are full of various metaphors. She paints her body that is constantly undergoing torture, her pregnancy and miscarriage, her love, her pain... She uncompromisingly describes the unique female experience in her paintings. In those days, this practice was highly prized.
"The former Museum of Modern Art in the core city of District 3 has her paintings. You can take a look at them if you have a chance. Those pictures are cruel, passionate, and full of vitality——"
"...Like the weather in District 9?"
Valenti was startled for a moment, then burst into hearty laughter, "Yes! Yes, just like the weather in District 9!"
There was a sound of footsteps in the corridor outside the door. Before there was a knock on the door, Valenti had already stood up to open the door. Virgil carried letters and packages into the house and placed them all on the low coffee table in the middle of the living room. .
"There's your package, Valenti. I guess the etched seal you ordered has arrived." He glanced curiously in Hesta's direction, "What are you talking about, are you so happy?"
"We are talking about Kahlo's paintings - let me introduce them!" Valenti walked to Hestad's side, "This is my former student Eureka, Eureka Demon, and this is my husband Virgil , Virgil Wood.”
Hesta reached out to Virgil, and the two briefly shook hands.
It wasn't until the head-on encounter like this that Virgil found a little bit of the source of the depression that had just made him feel: the girl in front of him was very tall - and a little too tall. When she was standing in front of the window and walking towards this side, a voice The shadow inevitably falls on myself.
Virgil's own height was around 177, and this Eureka... Virgil assessed it in his mind for a moment uncertainly.
Her height is probably 180cm...
Even higher.
Hesta's eyes were already looking at the coffee table, "What etched seal?"
"Oh, I'm going to start teaching psychology classes to the kids in a middle school here next week," Valenti replied, cutting open the foam paper with scissors, "so I pre-ordered a batch of etched stamps and planned to send them to them. As a souvenir, do you want to see it?"
Hesta did not answer, but sat next to Valenti.
"Oh my God! The store didn't pack it for me independently!" Valenti exclaimed, "It's been shipped so far, so the seal has to be scratched -"
Virgil stood aside, "Can it still be used? Do you want to send it back and redo it?"
"It's too late," Valenti sighed, "Forget it, I'm inexperienced this time... Just be careful next time."
From the opening of the package, Hesta saw a blue and white color - this is the front of the etched seal, and the back is a mirror-like smooth and shining gold-plated layer, and a short pin. This etched seal Can be pinned to clothes, schoolbags...and anything.
Hesta stretched out his left hand to pick up one, and put it in the palm of his hand to look at it carefully. On the blue background of the etched seal, there were raised metal characters:
"Asking for help is an act of the strong"
Hesta looked at this sentence and felt that it looked familiar for a moment. It seemed to be printed on the title page of the hardcover book that the psychological assistance center of the base gave to all mercury needles.
On the side, Valenti picked through the many etched seals, took out a good one, turned around and pinned it on the collar of Hesta's coat. Its cold color and simple design matched the mercury needle's uniform style very well.
Valenti smiled and patted Hesta on the shoulder, "She's pretty, isn't she?"
On the other side, Virgil had already brought the previously prepared meals from the kitchen to the round table in the living room, "Come to eat and chat while eating."
Hesta stood up together with Valenti and sat down at the dining table. She took off her cloak and uniform with one hand and draped them casually on the back of the chair behind her.
"Do you have chopsticks?" Hesta asked.
"Chopsticks?" Virgil was a little surprised, "Yes, wait a moment."
He turned around and went to the kitchen to get a pair of chicken-wing wooden chopsticks and put them on Hesta's dinner plate. It wasn't until she raised the chopsticks with her left hand that Virgil saw that the sleeve of the girl's right arm was empty under the elbow.
Valenti was a little surprised, "When did you become so good at using chopsticks...did Chiba teach you?"
"Yeah. Chopsticks can be used with one hand, which is very convenient."
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