"You," Hesta looked at her, "why, in the tree?"
"I'm sleeping up there!" the girl replied loudly.
This answer aroused Hesta's surprise, and also made her suddenly recall the restaurant belonging to Miss Chiba.
The girl slid down from the tree quickly, her clothes making a rustling sound on the tree bark. She had a shoulder bag slung across her body. She was smelly, and the hem and cuffs of her clothes were full of frayed cotton threads. The shoes are obviously several sizes larger than the feet.
"My name is Eleven." The girl sniffed, coughed a few times, and spat aside.
"Eleven?" Hesta repeated, "Nine, ten, eleven...this eleven?"
"Yes, because I was born in November."
The girl smiled, showing her messy teeth. She wiped her nose and mouth with her sleeves, then put her hands behind her back and walked around Hesta.
"Where did you come from?"
"Vyborg."
"There are no Hestads in Vyborg, don't lie to me! You must have sneaked in from the wasteland!"
Hesta blinked. Eleven spoke very quickly, and she didn't understand what the other party was saying at all.
The two chatted casually for a few words, and Eleven soon discovered that the person in front of her was not speaking fluently. When she found out that Hesta was from the Third District, her eyes widened.
"I understand, you were sold here to be someone's wife, right?" Eleven pinched Hesta's empty sleeve with great regret, "They abused you, right? No wonder you ran away... you Where did the box come from? It looks like high-end goods, was it stolen?"
Hesta was still a little confused, but seeing that the little girl in front of her seemed to be interested in her suitcase, she took out her identity document from the mezzanine.
Eleven wiped his hands hard on his trouser legs and took the document doubtfully.
"Oh... you retired, you were a soldier!" Eleven returned the document to Hesta and made a gesture of holding a gun, "That's you, isn't it?"
Hesta shrugged slightly and nodded.
"Okay, then you must be good at fighting," Eleven's eyes lit up, "You just said you had no place to live. Come with me. I have a place for you to live. Come?"
…
In the afternoon, Hesta followed Eleven through half of the city and came to the countryside of Mei County.
This area is very much like the southern part of Vyborg. You can see an abandoned building every hundred meters, usually a small building with two or three floors.
Along the way, Eleven's mouth never stopped. Hesta could only understand about 20% of them based on voice alone, but Eleven had various ways to get Hesta to understand her meaning, sometimes with gestures, sometimes with onomatopoeia, Sometimes she would even stop and draw Hesta in the sand.
She said there used to be a lot of fights in this area because drug dealers were hanging out in these houses, but then they all went north.
After that, these houses were abandoned here, but in fact, each house has its owner - in the summer, homeless people often come to Mei County to escape the heat. Sometimes they will travel together in groups of three or five and occupy a house. They would take turns going out, sleeping during the day, cooking in the evening, and going out at night to scavenge and buy some things.
As they spoke, the two stopped in front of a house. This building was very new, and the glass windows on the second floor were not broken. The lavender curtains floated out of the window, making a huffing sound.
"This building belongs to me. I occupied it in advance this spring." Eleven pointed his thumb at himself, "...but now, it's all been robbed. If it's robbed, it means it's been occupied by someone else, you know. ?"
Seeing that Hesta didn't understand, Eleven played two roles, pretending that he was sitting in the room, but someone rushed in and drove him away.
"Understood." Hesta pointed at the house in front of her, and then made a sweeping gesture, "You want me to... huh?"
"Yes! Take this place back and we'll stay here tonight," Eleven said with great enthusiasm, "How about it? Can you do it?"
Hesta looked around, picking and choosing, and finally picked up a branch that came to her.
"Try it."
…
At night, Hesta went to Meijun Railway Station again.
There was no new news from the owner of the grocery store in the morning, but he mentioned that he had a friend who also worked at the location on the business card, but he couldn't contact him at the moment. He estimated that he would have news in two days, and Hesta could Come back then.
Before leaving, seeing Hesta alone, the boss stuffed her with two more loaves of bread. Hestad was speechless for a moment, and after thanking him, he walked two blocks before remembering that he could pay.
She stood there hesitantly for a while, then headed towards the dilapidated house in the countryside with the bread in her hand.
Eleven was cooking noodles on the first floor when he heard Hesta's footsteps and asked loudly who was coming.
"Me," Hesta replied.
She followed the sound and came to Eleven's side.
It was completely dark at this time, and only the Eleven side of the whole building had some firelight. The girl squatted in front of a simple stove made of bricks, and the dark orange firelight reflected her face red.
The water in the pot is already boiling, and Eleven is stirring the noodles in it with chopsticks.
"You stir it up," the girl handed the chopsticks to Hesta, "Do you know how to use them?"
Hesta rolled up her sleeves and took the wooden chopsticks.
Eleven freed up his hands and started to break lettuce into the pot.
"Don't go too fast," Eleven kept his eyes on Hesta's hand, "Just stir slowly and don't let the bottom stick to the pot."
Hesta suddenly remembered something and handed over the two pieces of bread in his arms.
"Not bad," Eleven was surprised, "Where did it come from?"
"A boss," Hestad said slowly, "a grocery store, a train station."
"You mean the grocer over there at the train station?"
"Hmm." Hesta looked at the pot. She tapped the edge of the pot with her chopsticks, "You...?"
"You want to ask where these things come from?" Before Hesta could respond, Eleven let out a series of proud laughs, "It's just what's left of the few people you drove away at noon. It's a pity that there's no electricity here. There’s no refrigerator, otherwise I’d definitely be able to hack some of their meat... Hey, go outside and help me get the light, I have a rechargeable light in my bag.”
Eleven made a few movements to hold the bag strap to Hesta, and then patted his waist. Hesta nodded and went out in the dark. I don't know if he understood.
After a sound of rummaging, Hesta walked in carrying her bag.
"You are very smart!" Eleven took the bag with satisfaction and pulled out a palm-sized lamp. After pressing the switch, the light was extremely white and bright, making Hestad squint his eyes for a while.
That night, the two of them squatted by the stove and started eating dinner.
Even while eating, Eleven didn't stop talking. When the two of them lay down to sleep, the little girl suddenly sighed.
"It's strange," the little girl said, "I feel like I really like talking to you. It seems that I won't be tired even after three days and three nights."
(End of chapter)
