i was my mistake

Although only Zhao Jinyu was missing, it made the two of them feel as if something was missing on the way back, somewhat empty.

Riding out from school, there were fewer and fewer students on the way. Gradually, it seemed that there were only two of them, students from Yinjiang High School, riding on the road.

Wan Qing sat on the back seat, squinting at the scenery along the way.

Whether it's the green farmland, the simple cement brick house, or the large and exquisite bungalow, she seems to like it all.

In front of it was a small supermarket in the countryside. A small truck was parked in front of the door, and two sweaty men were busy carrying boxes of goods.

"Sunny!"

"Why are you so disgusting? What's the matter?" Wan Qing asked, turning her head slightly.

"Let's buy some drinks? I'm thirsty...cough! And then I want to play the gashapon machine at the door..."

"A primary school student, you?"

"This is a reward for studying hard, don't you understand?"

"...OK." Wan Qing patted her on the shoulder and got down from the back seat of the car.

Ye Chen parked his bicycle aside and looked at her expectantly, and the latter took out a five-yuan bill from the small pocket in the middle of his schoolbag and handed it to her: "Take it, I'll wait for you at the door. "

"Ah, don't you drink?"

"Don't drink."

If the two of them drink drinks, the five dollars may not be enough—unless they buy a brand-name drink full of saccharine.

"You really don't drink?"

"Don't drink, you can use the rest of the money to turn the Gacha, hurry up, I'm annoying you to death." Wan Qing pushed her, and the latter smiled 'hehe' and rushed to the small supermarket.

One of the people carrying the goods was an old man with half-white hair, while the other was a young man who looked less than 20 years old.

And Wan Qing knew that old man.

In fact, his appearance was already blurred in her memory.

But when I saw it again, I remembered it all at once.

That was the person who rescued her from the decadence during her sinking period.

As her first master, he took her to deliver the goods.

Following him, Wan Qing even learned to drive a car—without a driver's license, of course.

Because of some things, she still didn't go to get a truck driver's license in the end, but just got a car driver's license.

But in those days, I was really grateful to him.

It was precisely because of the help of this nagging old man that she was able to live through that period of depression.

until graduation.

Every weekend, I follow him out to work.

The salary is actually not much, but the three meals on weekends and weekends will not miss her. For Wan Qing, who only dared to pay the rent, water and electricity, and did not dare to use it in other places, it really relieved too much pressure.

——At that time, she only ate one school meal a day, because the school lunch was cheap enough and she could add unlimited refills. On weekends, if she didn’t come out to work, she had to pay for her own food, and she definitely could only eat one meal.

At that time, she always looked forward to working on weekends.

Because only on weekends can a teenager who is developing be full.

If it wasn't for him to supplement nutrition, I am afraid that she would not even be 1.7 meters long.

"Hey, let me tell you." The old man lifted up his white vest and wiped his sweat, "My hometown, in such an evening, there will be long bells ringing, and then someone will play the harmonica slowly on the road. Let's go, the tune of the harmonica is like this, ding ding da da, da da da da..."

Seeing this scene, Wan Qing couldn't help showing a nostalgic smile on her face.

Old man Tian is still the same as before, when he meets a newcomer, he likes to talk about the past in his hometown.

Unlike ordinary people, the hometown mentioned by Lao Tian does not really exist in this world.

——He always said that his real hometown is in the sky, there is an island, and there is a road leading to the sky on the ground, but he doesn't know where to go back.

Yes, he always said that he was a wanderer who left his hometown.

Islands in the sky?That is of course nonsense.

But Old Man Tian always said categorically that everything he said about his hometown was true.

He can say more and more details, and can repeat it many times vividly.

Everyone at the freight station felt that Old Man Tian was a bit out of his wit, but he was still pretty good, and everyone didn’t dislike him very much, but every time he partnered with him, he had a headache—because every time he drove, he would always Rambling about his hometown.

The hometown he was looking for his way to, even if it really existed, he might never be able to return to his hometown.

Wan Qing took a deep breath.

After she graduated, Old Man Tian suddenly disappeared.

She worked there for a while after graduation.

But no matter who you ask, you don't know where he went.

All I know is that no one can reach him anymore.

He didn't resign, he just didn't come for half a month.

It's like the world is evaporating...

Where did Old Man Tian go after that?

She looked at the old man Tian who taught herself how to drive, deliver goods, and how to live. She wanted to call out "Master", but she opened her mouth several times, but there was no sound.

This is another world line.

The two are strangers to each other.

Wan Qing was no longer that boy, but a pretty girl with black hair and green eyes.

"There are also people delivering goods in that place, but instead of driving a truck, they take the railway. The railway is on the side of the road in the countryside, and it can stop anywhere like a bus..."

"Hmm, um." The young man who helped move the goods replied perfunctorily. He didn't even have the strength to nod after a busy day.

"People on the ground say ours is called Paradise Island, but in fact we all call it 'Litimxi'. Ritimxi has a harmonica that doesn't need to be played by anyone - as long as it is wound up, it can make a sound by itself. sound……"

"Understood, old man, are you not tired yet?"

"Haha, I'm not that old yet!"

"It's amazing, I'm already tired after a day..." The young man said helplessly, "Phew, I can finally rest after this trip."

"Yeah, it's not the end of get off work time when we go back to the site, we can drink some water and smoke a cigarette, and continue chatting."

"Rittim Hee?"

"Yes."

"Okay..." The young man held back the whining words that almost popped out of his mouth, and nodded wearily.

Ye Chen, who came out of the supermarket, stuffed the coin into the gashapon machine with a 'grumble', turned it around three times vigorously, and one fell from it.

"Wan Qing!" She suddenly shouted excitedly, "Look at this! The little assembled toy of the first machine!"

"Oh?" Wan Qing looked towards her, and she saw a small box that she held up high, with a huge purple 'robot' printed on the cover.

Of course, that is not a robot, but the first EVA machine.

"Good luck."

"I saw the advertising paper posted on it, this should be the grand prize!"

"See what's going on inside?"

"Ok!"

Ye Chen couldn't wait to unpack the package. There were two assembled parts inside. It looked very simple, and the mobility was naturally poor, but there was no doubt that it was indeed the first model.

"I'm going to put it together here! Oh yes, here's a Coke for you."

"Ok?"

"One bottle per person."

For Coke, the price increase is very small.

Ten years later, it was two dollars and five dollars, and more than ten years later, it was three dollars or three dollars and five dollars. In 1997, such a bottle was two dollars.

But you know, prices are completely different.

Such a bottle of Coke costing two yuan is still a bit extravagant in this day and age.

I usually drink Coke at Zhao Jinyu's house, and I don't think there is anything special about it. If I really buy it myself, it will be expensive.

After all, this is an era when you can eat a box lunch for two yuan.

The assembled toy in the gashapon is really not delicate, and there are naturally few parts. Ye Chen put it together in a few strokes, and because of poor workmanship, the joints are still loose.

But Ye Chen was still very happy.

"Wow, it looks pretty good, how about putting it on the table?"

"what ever."

"Machine No. [-]!" Like a primary school student, she grasped the purple No. [-] machine and made a fighting posture, "Machine No. [-], move out!"

"...Okay, okay, don't embarrass yourself here, okay?" Wan Qing squeezed the ponytail on the left - yes, she has been wearing double ponytails for the past few days, and after getting used to it, it seems to be quite good Yes, the main reason is that the braids on both sides are very balanced, not always dangling like a single ponytail.

"Hey..." She carefully stuffed the small model of the first machine into the gashapon, and then put it into the schoolbag, patted it solemnly, and then kicked off the leg support and straddled it on the bike seat.

But after waiting for a long time, no one sat in the back seat.

She tilted her head and saw Wan Qing staring blankly at the pickup truck driving away.

"Wan Qing, what are you doing? Let's go."

"Huh? Well, let's go." Wan Qing unscrewed the bottle cap and took a sip of Coke, then sat on the back seat, her green eyes were extraordinarily clear in the sunlight.

"What were you looking at just now?"

"The old man driving the car was my former master."

"Master?"

"Well, taught me to drive, taught me to deliver goods, and helped me a lot during my most sinking period."

"Oh... no wonder."

"But now he and I are just strangers. Although I was very grateful to him in those years, it is obviously impossible to express my gratitude now."

"Just keep it in mind." Ye Chen stepped on the pedal slowly, accelerated continuously, and asked casually, "So what kind of person is he?"

"A person who is looking for his hometown."

"what?"

"He said that his hometown is in the sky, where there is an island called Litimxi, and the people on the ground call it Sky Island..."

"puff."

"Everybody thinks he's a little mentally ill, and to be honest, I think so too, but other than that, he's just a nice guy."

"Maybe he was traumatized when he was young...his age."

"Well, his era... was the age when people's spiritual world was shocked. Some people were crazy, some went to extremes, and some were regarded as objects of criticism..."

"Yeah, maybe it's because of this that he feels that there is no real hometown for him on the ground."

"Maybe, it's also a kind of ideological self-evasion."

……

57. Street stall in the rain

The blood-red sunset was sinking, but suddenly a large group of dark clouds floated in the originally clear sky.

The air became dull, and the whole city seemed to have entered the night ahead of time.

A few children who had been playing marbles in the alley started to yell now, looking scared and excited at the same time.

"It's going to rain heavily!"