Early the next morning, Hesta and Si Lei left the hut. They followed the instructions of their companions and walked through the forest in front of them. It was said that as long as they kept walking south and got on the main road, it would be easy to hitchhike.
But before they parted, the girls came up to them mysteriously and said that if they encounter a cabin like the one last night in the woods, they must not approach it. This incident aroused great curiosity in Hesta. She vaguely felt that she had heard this incident somewhere, but she really couldn't remember where.
But several girls were determined to seduce her, and no matter how much Si Lei pressed, they just wouldn't say anything. The girls each carried their luggage and ran away. When they were far away, they turned back and waved vigorously, shouting to Hesta and Si Lei: "Goodbye! See you later!"
After walking for about three hours, a road appeared in front of them - the two of them had walked out of the forest. Although the process went smoothly, both of them couldn't help but feel a little regretful when they thought that they didn't encounter a single cabin along the way.
Si Lei and Hesta sat on the side of the road for twenty minutes. Sure enough, they encountered a truck pulling wood. The door opened, and a sturdy middle-aged man leaned out and asked them where they were going.
"We're looking for the Garrison War Memorial in District 14!" Si Lei replied.
"What monument..." The woman narrowed her eyes, "Can you say it again?"
"The Garrison War Memorial of District 14," Si Lei slowed down his speech, "should be at the southernmost part of Vyborg."
"I've never heard of it!" The middle-aged man pushed the car door open a little further, "But I'm also going south, and I can give you a ride on the way. Come on up!"
On the way, Si Lei asked the driver about the cabin in the forest again, but the driver was also surprised and said he didn't know.
"Are you not a local?" Si Lei asked.
"He's a local. I've lived here for more than 40 years!" the driver said cheerfully, "But when you say this, I'm really impressed. There are abandoned wooden houses in some woods, but We all find it so embarrassing that we usually don’t get close to it.”
"Where will you send us later?"
"New Vyborg," the driver replied loudly, "a tavern. Anyway, if you want to find out anything, you must go there."
The truck drove for more than two hours, from overcast clouds to bright sunshine.
When they arrived at the place, the driver entered the house with the two of them. This long journey made Si Lei wonder if she had come to the wrong place - it could only be said that Vyborg was much, much bigger than she had imagined.
The tavern is old but tidy. Packing boxes are piled in the corners, and many small pieces of furniture are tied up with hemp ropes. It looks like they are about to move. The only thing that has not been cleaned up is a photo wall. There are many photos taken by people in this pub on the wall, some of which have become blurred due to age.
Hesta's eyes swept across them, and finally landed on a group photo in front of him. It was a black-haired woman and a black-haired man, holding a baby in their arms, their eyes slitted with laughter.
"Xu!" the driver shouted at the bar, "Xu!"
An older woman came out with a smile. The driver immediately pulled Hesta to his side and asked, "Do you know if there is any monument nearby? These two outsiders came here specifically to find the monument. I don't know. Do you know if there are any other monuments in this area——"
"The Garrison War Monument." Si Lei added softly from the side.
"Oh, it's right next to it." The boss replied, "When you go out and walk to the west, there is a gentle slope. You can see it when you turn over."
The driver was startled: "...there really is a monument!"
"Would you like something to drink?" the boss asked with a smile, "There is also food."
"We want everything. We are starving...really." Si Lei took the menu and said, "Can we leave our luggage with you for a while? Let's go out and take a look and pick it up when we come back."
"OK!"
The boss took Si Lei's suitcase and placed it inside the bar.
…
At two o'clock in the afternoon, Si Lei and Hesta walked out of the tavern. They walked slowly up the gentle slope mentioned by the boss, walking slower than before.
This neighborhood was desolate and deserted. At first there were some dilapidated houses on both sides of the road, but in the back there were only sparse weeds. The climate here is harsh. When I was in the shadow of the building, the wind made me shiver. But now I stood under the sun for a while, and the scorching sun hurt my face again.
Both of them tightened their hats and forgot to wear sunglasses.
Gradually, they came to the end of the gentle slope.
At the end of the gentle slope is a steep slope, and in the distance is a large piece of sunken land. There was no vegetation on the khaki ground, which was cracked under the scorching sun. In the middle of this scorched earth, a black broken stone stood there. Its fracture had long been turned gray by wind and sand. Near the broken stone, half of the broken top of the monument was sunk into the ground and half was exposed. From a distance, it looked like Like an inconspicuous black soil slope.
"Okay, I saw it." Si Lei looked at Hesta, "Go back."
Hesta frowned, she looked left and right, and found a place with a slightly flatter edge to go down.
"What are you doing? It's dangerous!"
"I want to go take a look..." Hesta murmured in a low voice, "It's too far away here."
Si Lei had no choice but to follow Hesta down. Even though the monument was within sight, the two of them walked under the scorching sun for more than half an hour from going downhill to arriving.
Standing at the foot of the monument, Hesta looked at the behemoth in front of her in disbelief - she did not see any inscriptions on the monument, whether it was upright or upside down, and the exposed surface of the monument had been completely smoothed.
Si Lei looked at the stone tablet and then at Hesta. Standing in front of such a stone monument, Hesta looked a little confused. All of this is far from the scene she imagined... The monument that Liz had been thinking about long ago no longer exists, and what stands here now are only two huge stone skeletons.
"Let's go." Si Lei whispered, "There is nothing here anymore."
It took a while for Hesta to react. She followed Si Lei on crutches and slowly turned back.
…
In the evening, a carriage passed through the forest and drove slowly toward the lake.
There was a middle-aged man and a little girl sitting in the carriage. The middle-aged man raised the curtain and looked out the window. There was not a single pedestrian on the path under the setting sun. Only the old and new tombstones of the forest rangers stood beside the path.
Suddenly, a light of fire caught the middle-aged man's eyes - there seemed to be a bonfire on the shore of the lake in the distance.
The middle-aged man closed his eyes, and a distant song drifted to his ears, intermittent and unreal:
"...The name is Paka,"
"Falled to death in front of the bridge..."
"...the well in the backyard,"
"Can't I continue to follow Hesta?" The girl on the side suddenly said, "I want to continue to follow her."
The middle-aged man laughed and said, "Things with Bo Shanfu will also be interesting. Don't worry about Hesta for now."
"But I want to know what she will do next." The girl replied, "If she is in danger——"
"She will find a way on her own." The middle-aged man replied.
The singing in the distance continues:
"daughter……"
"My daughter is about to be born..."
"If she's in danger she can't handle—"
"That means she is unlucky," the middle-aged man smiled, "but everyone has to go through this."
The singing gradually approached, and the bonfire in the distance became brighter than before. The middle-aged man looked to the other end of the road - there were children playing around the bonfire. They stood in front of the firelight, and each person's outline was a small black shadow. .
"...hatchet!"
"……scissors!"
"……riverside!"
"……ashore!"
The children's songs became more urgent, causing the accompanying domestic dogs to bark. These sounds mixed with laughter and cheers echoed over the lakeside.
The girl in the carriage was lost in thought.
"is that so?"
"That's it." The middle-aged man replied softly.
The carriage passed by the camping group, and the middle-aged man lowered the curtain. She looked forward and heard the clear singing of children nearby:
"The sweet little girl is crying,"
"The river dyed red is flowing,"
"Don't forget, my lovely little daughter,"
"Your name is Anna,"
"Your name is Anna."
——End of this volume——
