"I will convey these words to Mr. Mihailo later," Hesta put the suitcase on the table, "But please understand, I am only responsible for delivery, and I don't care about anything else."
"I understand, of course I understand," the man patted his pants and stood up, "Then you wait here, I will continue to go out to look for someone... She should be playing nearby, I'll see if I can find her."
Hesta nodded and watched the young man trot away. As he crossed the yard, he spoke a few words to his mother, and then disappeared outside the fence without looking back.
Peace returned to the yard, with only the regular sound of chopping firewood remaining. Hesta stood up from the house. She opened the door and stood by the door, looking at the woman holding a hatchet.
The woman noticed the movement behind her and turned around.
Their eyes met, and the woman waved the hatchet in Hesta's direction, making an intimidating gesture. Hesta stepped back to the corner in cooperation and squatted on the steps.
The woman stared at her for a while, and when Hesta made no move, she started chopping firewood again. Only this time she adjusted her direction so that Hesta's actions could be seen at any time.
The woman is broad but not strong. Every time she swung the hatchet, the fat under her arms shook violently.
Hesta looked at the corners of her mouth that were always sinking - the woman almost never smiled, and the wrinkles between her eyebrows and the ends of her eyes were extremely deep, as if she was always angry.
After a while, the woman got up and walked to the bucket at the well, scooped two ladles of water and washed her hands. At this moment, Hestad saw the dark brown marks on her ankles. The scars almost immediately reminded Hestad of those who had died. Prisoners who have been shackled for many years in a prison - people who are always shackled for activities will inevitably have bruises on their ankles, and after repeated inflammation and healing, the wounds will produce such pigmentation.
Hesta looked at the woman's face again. The woman had already picked up a handful of firewood and moved it to the firewood pile by the wall. Her walking posture was so clumsy, each foot stepped crookedly, but each foot was steady. Step on the ground.
After moving for a while, the woman sat down panting, wiped her sweat and rested.
Hesta walked quietly to her woodpile, picked up a bundle in one hand, and walked towards the woodpile as well.
The woman noticed Hesta's movements. She said nothing and just watched coldly.
The two quickly finished piling the firewood, and she carried the last handful into the kitchen. Smoke rose from the dim little bungalow.
The naked boys who had been in the room quickly poked their heads out to smell the scent. They screamed something, but Hesta didn't understand and didn't care.
After a long time, the woman came out with food and entered the main room. Hesta sat by the well and watched her busy, and quickly understood what the "problem" that the young man said just now meant - just From the interactions between women and boys, Hestad realized that he might not be the only one with a language barrier here. At least, the two boys couldn't understand what the women were saying either.
The woman spoke a special language, with a smacking sound that was not found in the Southern District 14 dialect. Whenever such a syllable appeared, the two boys burst into laughter and imitated it with winks.
As the boys started devouring their food, the woman sat behind them and watched. She kept mumbling words, and from time to time moved the food bowl to this child or that child... However, the children did not raise their heads to look at her, they just played with each other while eating.
The woman turned back and looked at Hesta sitting in the courtyard.
Suddenly, Hesta saw the woman waving towards him. She was holding a small bowl in her hand, and she made a tut-tsk sound at him to attract cats and dogs.
This scene made Hesta feel more intimate - Eleven had urged her to eat like this before in a deserted shabby house.
Hesta smiled with a complicated expression, shook her head and refused.
The woman pursed her lips, put the bowl on the window sill, and whispered many words that no one listened to.
After a while, the children finished their meal, and the woman took the bowl to the yard to wash. Hesta, who had been sitting by the well, now stood up and walked towards her.
Although the hostility in the woman's eyes became lighter, she was still very wary of Hesta's rash approach.
Hesta lowered her head and took out more than a thousand robi from her pocket - all the money she had previously defrauded from Mihailo. After deducting the three mobile phones she bought, the remaining balance was almost all here.
In front of the woman, Hesta put the money on the wooden cover of the well and pressed it down with a brick next to it.
"You keep the money, I'll take the person away." Hesta whispered, "She will never come back."
The woman stared at Hesta closely, her eyes returning to hostility again, and a string of bubbles came from the depths of her throat, like a warning from a wild beast before it became angry.
Hesta took a step back with her suitcase in hand. She lowered her head slightly toward the woman, and then left here briskly.
When he reached the end of the alley, Hesta stopped and turned around.
The woman did not chase him out.
She took one last look at the alley and left with long strides.
…
One evening a few days later, Hestad and Eleven were sitting in a small garden under the AHgAs Affiliated Hospital. Hesta put her right arm on the back of Eleven's wheelchair, and tapped the screen with her left fingertips quickly, sending a message to Yugali - Yu Xuekun is taking her outside to go through the procedures. If everything goes well, they will be there in three days. Then we can set off to Songxueyuan, and then go to Orange Town.
"Jane!!" Eleven shouted loudly, "What are you doing!! I've been calling you for a long time!!"
Hesta immediately looked up and put the phone into his pocket, "Huh?"
Eleven pursed her lips with an unhappy look on her face. She stared closely at Hesta's pocket where she kept her phone, "Who are you texting?"
Even though Eleven asked it several times, Hesta still couldn't understand the question.
"I don't want to blow the wind here," Eleven turned his head to the side irritably, "Push me back!"
This time Hesta understood a few keywords and quickly understood what Eleven meant. She stood up, grabbed Eleven's wheelchair and started walking to the ward.
When approaching the barrier-free passage, Eleven suddenly stretched out her legs and bumped her toes against the wall. She immediately began to howl and scream at an alarming volume. After a while, tears fell from her eyes.
Eleven was crying while paying attention to Hesta's reaction - she neither leaned over to care like a doctor or nurse, nor ordered herself to shut up like Yugali. Hesta stood by as if nothing was wrong - the high-decibel cry did make Hesta frown, but she quickly adapted to it.
"You hurt me!" Eleven glared at Hesta, "Look, I'm even more hurt because of you!"
Hesta stood against the wall. She took out the translator. After a while, the familiar synthetic girl spoke in an emotionless tone:
"You did it on purpose, I saw it."
(End of chapter)
