"I'm so happy...I'm happy for you." Hesta smiled sincerely, "I always thought your married life would be very difficult."
"Why?"
"..." Hesta lowered her eyes and thought for a moment, "Because you are always taking care of others?"
"It's part of my job, Jane." Valenti smiled. "Of course, I don't mean tonight."
Valenti was a little tired from standing, so he simply sat on the ground on the curb beside the bridge.
"If you have to ask how life after marriage is different from before, I think it is obvious, but it does not come from my nuclear family or the mercury needle, but from some more peripheral people - after you get married, other people treat you expectations will change.”
"for example?"
"For example, my father, have I mentioned to you that he is a well-known doctor in the Third District? In the past, he would often ask me how I was doing at the base recently. Sometimes I encountered problems at work. I would also discuss it with him, but in the past two years, there has been almost no discussion.”
Hesta looked at Valenti, there was obviously some sadness in her words.
"Is he no longer able to help you?" Hesta asked.
"No," Valenti looked forward, "It's because he no longer cares about my work. How will I plan my time next and what projects will I do... He hasn't asked these questions for a long time. Occasionally he Most of the phone calls were asking how Virgil and I were doing, or when we planned to have a baby.
"I can clearly feel the changes in these expectations, so I don't really want to talk to him about anything else."
Valenti narrowed his eyes and said softly, "I'm sorry."
"Furthermore, when you get married, you will inevitably have to face the issue of childbirth. I have to estimate its impact on me, but a child is too uncontrollable." Thinking of this, Valenti suddenly laughed, "I was discussing this topic with Masaki a few days ago."
"What did Miss Chiba say?"
"She said, if I really want to have a child but find it too troublesome, I can just give birth to it and leave it to Virgil."
Hesta tilted her head, "...it doesn't seem impossible."
Valenti laughed again and shook his head, "No! If you put a child in my arms, I can't ignore him—I know myself.
"But I still have too many things to do. I want to be promoted, I want to rotate at bases in several other regions, and I want to participate in psychological support projects that are part of the combat order."
Valenti spread his hands and pressed his fingers into his palm one by one.
"To do this, I need to get at least another neuroscience-related degree. I need to have more than five years of experience in leading an independent project team. I also want to live in the first, ninth and twelfth districts for a while, so I It would be best to learn the languages of Districts 9 and 12 again - even if I were only responsible for delivering the child and not caring about anything else after that, I don't seem to be able to spare a year or two to complete the pregnancy. , the process of childbirth and breastfeeding.”
Valenti thought for a while, then changed his mind, "Maybe it's not that I can't take it, but I just don't want to take it. I know there are very powerful people in the livable land who can advance all plans in multiple threads at the same time - but that's too hard. , I have seen what my aunt lived in the two years from pregnancy to the end of lactation. Even her husband was equally gentle and considerate, minimizing her fatigue, but it was still too hard, and I didn’t want to eat so much. How painful.”
Hesta was confused by Valenti's words.
"Now that you have made it clear that you have neither time nor energy...then what are you still struggling with?"
"That's the problem," Valenti frowned, "I resist the personal impact of childbirth, but when I pass by a children's clothing store, I look twice; when I see something about it in the newspaper Regarding the issue of children's education, I couldn't help but discuss with Virgil what I would do if this happened to our children..."
Valenti leaned over the bridge railing, "I just can't seem to make up my mind to completely cut a child out of my life plan... Can you understand this feeling?"
Hesta was silent for a moment and shook her head honestly.
Valenti sighed, "This is another trouble for me. I have also talked about these problems with Chiba, but she also can't understand what I am struggling with. The marriage rate of women in the mercury needle is less than 20%, and they will choose to have children. Less than 5%, I really don’t know where to find a similar person who can talk about these things..."
Valenti sighed softly, "Anyway, it's difficult."
Hesta tried to think, but these problems were too far for her. She thought for a long time and could only leave an encouragement like "You will definitely find a solution."
Valenti smiled. She looked at the water in the distance and murmured, "This may not be something I can solve by myself. Maybe I will never be able to solve it..."
She smoothed her hair again, "But no matter what, I will be prepared."
Next, the two sat on the ground on the road beside the bridge and talked a lot. Valenti sent a message for help to Mercury Needle's workstation through her mobile phone and waited for the workstation to send a car to pick her up.
At half past two in the morning, the workstation car arrived. Hestad took back his coat and stood on the roadside waving to Valenti.
Valenti had already made way for Hesta in the back car. Seeing that she was standing on the side of the road and not getting in the car, Valenti moved to the window again and said, "Aren't you going back with me?"
"I want to walk alone again." Hesta replied, "Don't worry, I know the way back to Paul Street."
Looking at Hesta's calm face, Valenti suppressed her worries - rationally speaking, she certainly didn't have to worry about Hesta now.
"Then stay safe alone." Valenti waved to Hesta, "When you get home, send me a text message."
Hesta nodded and the two said goodbye.
On the way home from Shiqiao, Valenti first wrote a text message to Chiba, briefly telling her about tonight's events. After finishing writing, she leaned against the window in a daze, looking at the car that was rapidly reversing outside. street view.
Valenti was a little tired, but the cold wind blew on her face, making her very awake.
She thought of tonight's plot of "The Dagger and the Sheath", and suddenly felt that Hesta's doubts were reasonable, but she rarely paid attention to the characters in this story before. Her attention was always on the voices of the actors. .
These ancient stories always follow the same pattern, not only in "The Dagger and the Sheath", but even in the most famous musicals in the third area such as "Phantom of the Church" and "Midsummer's Fate", the heroines are still happy and beautiful. Incarnation.
They are the lone stars hanging in the night sky, the embodiment of love and ideals in the world. They always use their lovers to bring redemption, or use death to leave an aftertaste of accusation or sadness.
Suddenly, a bright light pierced her from the front and she couldn't open her eyes. The next moment, a car sped past her.
The driver cursed harshly - someone turned on the high beam late at night and hit their car.
For some reason, this sudden bright light reminded Valenti of the moment when he and Hesta briefly looked at each other in the theater box.
In the box of the theater, before Hesta ran away, Valenti saw some panic and even fear in her eyes...a fear of a secret being revealed.
She suddenly realized that Hesta might have lied about something.
Valenti frowned as more clues connected in her mind.
In Hesta's file, she stated that she was an orphan born in Short Call Lane, with no parents, no brothers or sisters, but she clearly knew what a prayer gold coin was - many years ago, Qianye asked her to deliver it to Hess There was a gold prayer coin in the tower. At that time, Hestad not only recognized what it was, but also told the origin of the gold coin very accurately.
It can be seen that she is not ignorant of the distant Hesta tribe.
Tonight, she said she had never heard the story of "The Dagger and the Sheath," but she looked so heartbreaking when François sang "Let Me Go."
"...Where are the other Volvas?"
What about other Volvos...
Valenti suddenly realized something. She lowered her head, turned on her phone, and left a message to Chiba again:
Masaki, can you help me check someone in District 3?
