"Vilyuchinsky! Veluchinsky!" The visitor nodded excitedly, "Ship! Big ship! Come and sit?"
Although neither of them understood the other's language very well, they understood each other immediately with only key words and gestures.
Hesta held up his crutch and followed the man to a dock not far away. There were only a few passengers on the ferry at night. Hesta paid the money in exchange for a thin ticket. She took a few steps inside and suddenly saw a familiar figure near the side of the ship.
"...Officer Si Lei?"
Si Lei turned around in response.
Their eyes met, and both of them were stunned.
"The boat is about to sail!" the boss at the bow of the boat shouted loudly, "Everyone, please find a seat and sit down!"
…
"So you're the only one?" Si Lei looked back and confirmed again, "Qianye dares to let you run around like this...Aren't you kidding about your own safety?"
"It's okay," Hesta leaned back in the chair, "Miss Chiba said, I have been under strict surveillance for the first three months. If I really encounter any danger, someone will always come to save me. If this is a black ship, it will be in bad luck."
Si Lei looked around again, his eyes suspicious: Hesta was the last passenger to get on the boat, and there was no one following her, and the total number of passengers on the ferry at the moment was no more than ten - could it be that they all got on early? The watcher waiting for her?
The waterscape around them began to move backwards, and the boat moved away.
"What are Officer Si Lei doing in Vyborg?"
"Just go and have a look. After all, this place is mentioned a lot in the book "The Forest"." Si Lei replied. She looked at Hesta, "Why did you go there? Is it also because of Anna?"
"No, I've heard that there is a monument there since I was a child. Since it's close, I'll drop by and go."
"The one commemorating the Garrison War?"
"Um."
The ferry traveled on the water for more than an hour and finally docked at an even more dilapidated small pier.
There was almost no lighting on the pier. From a distance, Hesta could see people waiting on the shore with weak lights. Before the ship docked, those people began to shout the names of their relatives in an unfamiliar language. Their voices started to change. As soon as there was a sound, the passengers on the boat let out a loud and long "Hey——!" and waved vigorously in response.
Si Lei glanced at Hesta, who had empty hands, and tapped her crutches with his knuckles, "Is this all the luggage you brought?"
"It's just a temporary boat. All my things are in the apartment."
Si Lei sighed, "Forget it, you can come with me tonight."
…
There is still snow on the Viborg Road in June. The snow is very dirty, mixed with sawdust and cinders, and the path is muddy.
At this time, there were almost no people on the road, but the occasional pedestrians were wearing anything. A man wrapped in a thick cotton coat passed by, and then a young man wearing short-sleeved shorts came towards him.
Si Lei stood in front of a grocery store, then looked at the paper map again under the dim light. She looked back and forth for a while, "...the hotel should be right here."
Hesta stepped forward and knocked on the grocery store door.
After a while, an old lady took off the door panel and poked half of her face out from behind, "Who is it?"
Hesta couldn't speak, so she quickly called Si Lei over. The old lady's accent was very thick, and even Si Lei couldn't fully understand it. However, the two talked for a long time, and the old lady finally showed a look of enlightenment and waved them in.
"She said that there used to be a hotel here, but because not many people came, it closed long ago," Si Lei explained in a low voice as he walked through the courtyard. "Now it is a small shop and warehouse. In addition to selling some daily necessities, , mainly used for sending and receiving letters and express delivery. Going north from here, there are about a dozen villages, large and small..."
Hesta nodded. She stood in the center of the yard and slowly looked around. The structure of the front store and the backyard reminded her of many memories.
"simple?"
"……coming."
The old man led the two of them to a compartment next to the warehouse. Si Lei put down her luggage and quickly followed the old man out. When she came back, she was carrying a hot water bottle.
"How long do you plan to stay here?" Si Lei asked.
"Go back after seeing the monument."
"Then let me go with you tomorrow. At 6:30 tomorrow morning, there will be a car heading towards Villiers. It seems that the monument is on the edge of this town."
"How long are you going to stay here?"
"It depends on the situation," Si Lei replied, "Wait until I visit all the villages and towns here... maybe more than half a month."
"Are you here to find out Anna's background?" Hesta was a little surprised, "Do you really think you can find out?"
"...Just try your luck, who knows."
Si Lei finished washing and placed the remaining half bottle of water beside Hesta's bed, "You can use the rest."
"Thank you."
…
Early the next morning, the sky was still gray, and the two left the grocery store. Si Lei left a note on the only table in the room, pressing it with a hot water bottle.
They were originally worried that the bus station would be as difficult to find as the hotel last night, but what happened was just the opposite. As soon as they arrived nearby, they saw a group of people carrying large and small bags gathered together. A large bus that could hold about 20 people gathered together. The car parked alone on the side of the road, the door was closed, and everyone was waiting under the car.
The two of them hurried forward and after observing for a long time, they couldn't find the head or tail of the queue - no one was queuing up.
Suddenly, someone tapped Si Lei on the shoulder. Si Lei turned around and found that it was a little girl of eleven or twelve years old. Hesta also looked over here. She was startled for a moment, and then she stared into the girl's eyes. It's cloudy at the moment, and the girl's eyes are a strange light brown color, but as long as the sun rises, or the light here is brighter... these eyes will turn into a familiar golden color.
"Hello?" Si Lei asked tentatively.
"It's going to snow tonight!" the little girl's voice was still shrill, "You're going to freeze to death if you dress like this!"
"Snowing?" Si Lei was startled, "I checked the weather here yesterday and the temperature in the next few days..."
The little girl immediately laughed, "You still believe that! Only a fool believes that! That's not allowed in the mountains!"
Hesta looked at the two people in front of her. Although she didn't understand what they were talking about, she saw the little girl patting her cotton-padded jacket and tugging at Si Lei's windbreaker. She roughly guessed the meaning. She wanted to ask if there was anyone nearby. It was a place selling clothes, but I couldn’t string together a complete sentence in my mind. I could only grab the hem of the little girl’s cotton-padded jacket and asked, “Can I… buy it?”
"My clothes are not for sale!" The little girl pulled back her cotton-padded clothes and pointed to a residential house not far away, "There are rentals over there. You can pick one by paying a deposit. Do you know how to choose?" "
Si Lei glanced into the distance, and just as he was about to check out the bottom price with the little girl, he saw that she had already put down her suitcase, and turned around to tell a few of her companions to look after it for her.
"Let's go," the little girl asked Si Lei, "You two foreigners are not good at it. If you don't know how to bargain, you will be ripped off. I will take you there."
