On the second floor of the dimly lit Shudong Bookstore, the two of them had drank most of the bottles of wine they bought from the supermarket. But the young Katenka was still curled up silently on the slightly worn sofa, as if the whole world was gone.
I no longer have anything to do with her.
"Katenka"
Wei Ran put down his wine glass, and when the other person raised his head and stared at him with those red and swollen eyes, he tried to change the subject and asked, "What's your... name?"
"My name is Katenka." The girl curled up on the sofa raised her head and stared at the ceiling above her head as she answered.
"no..."
Wei Ran paused, "It's like...like her name is Karenina..."
"Katenka" the girl's tone became more firm, "My name is Katenka, I am Katenka. There is no second name, no previous name, and there will be no other names in the future."
Wei Ran sighed and continued to ask tentatively, "What are you...for?"
"for what?"
Katenka shook her head, "I don't know why. At first, she was waiting for someone to contact her, but then she gave up and adopted me. This bookstore became her last bit of persistence.
She has been waiting for the day when she can hang that apple on the sign, and even though she suffers from Alzheimer's disease, it doesn't stop her from checking the door every day."
Katenka poured herself another glass of wine, "Sometimes even at night, she would get up quietly and sit at the door until daytime. She actually didn't remember anything at that time, and she often even forgot why she went out.
I forgot why I was sitting at the door."
Hearing this, Wei Ran sighed and silently poured himself a glass of wine, but Yu Wang was no longer there to continue asking.
"You should have come earlier," Katenka continued. "At least she would have remembered some things then."
"Isn't the Soviet Union gone a long time ago?" Wei Ran couldn't help but tell the truth.
"Soviet Union?"
A look of undisguised sarcasm appeared on Katenka's face, "Do you think I would care about a country that disappeared before I could remember it? She might care...but what's the use of caring?
She is already old, and I am an orphan who has never been to the Soviet Union since I was a child. I may even be an orphan without any Slavic ancestry.
Everything here, everything she and I are doing, is more like a reason for her to continue living. For me, it is more like a job...no, maybe more like a job that can sustain me.
It’s a weird ritual similar to a sacrifice so that the relatives can continue to live.”
"What about the future?" Wei Ran took a sip of red wine and asked, "What will you do in the future?"
"Isn't it my turn to ask you this? You are my boss."
Katenka put down the wine glass that he had finished once again, and gave an irresponsible answer almost as if he was mumbling, "Of course you will do whatever you say, but the only thing that makes me happy is that at least you are not a Soviet."
.”
Wei Ran burst out laughing, "This is indeed good news worth being happy about."
However, this time, Katenka did not respond. Instead, the wine glass in her hand gently slipped on the carpet and slowly rolled into the gap under the sofa.
Glancing at Katenka, who had fallen asleep for some time, Wei Ran sighed again, stood up unsteadily, took off his suit and covered it with him, walked down to the second floor, and sat in a corner of the bookstore.
Behind the bar on the floor.
In the blink of an eye, early the next morning, Katenka woke up from a hangover and staggered down from the second floor carrying Wei Ran's suit jacket.
Katenka threw the suit with the remaining vomit on the bar table, then sat on the high stool next to the bar as if nothing happened, and asked Wei Ran in confusion, "We drank last night.
How many?"
Wei Ran shook his head and did not answer the question, and Zhi changed the subject and replied, "I plan to take her back today."
Katenka was stunned for a moment, then asked, "Return to where?"
"Qiu Ming" Wei Ran turned to look at the deserted street outside the window and gave an address that was not very accurate.
"Then...then wait a moment"
As soon as she sat down, Katenka stood up and walked up the stairs a few more steps. When her figure was completely blocked by the curved stairs, she said, "Maybe you can come up."
Wei Ran, who had not slept all night, stood up after hearing this and followed the other party to the third floor, which was a model of filth and mess.
After waiting on the sofa for a while, Katenka walked out of the bedroom and placed a small suitcase that looked very old-fashioned on the table.
"She said that she was sent here carrying this small box."
While introducing it, Katenka opened the box and picked up the "Anna Karenina" that Wei Ran had seen before, "If the Tyumen Library is still there, can you help me return this book?
"
Seeing Wei Ran nod, Katenka put the book in his hand back into the box, and then put the urn on the table into it. Finally, he picked up a PSS silent pistol from the box, "This is
The gun is also her relic, you don't mind if I keep it, right?"
"Next time we meet, do I need to bring you some of the bullets it uses?" Wei Ran gave the answer in disguise.
"Forget the bullets." Katenka pulled out the magazine. "There are already bullets in it. Although they are not many, they are enough for me. After all, my weapons are not guns and bullets."
"Do you have the means to bring it to Italy yourself?"
“Not a big problem”
Katenka put the pistol with the magazine in his pocket, and then closed the lid of the box himself, "Okay, let's use this suitcase to send her back. After I move to the location you provided, I will
I sent you an email. I hope you have arranged a job for me by then, after all, I don’t plan to run restaurants and bars.”
"Let's talk about these things later." Wei Ran revealed the matter vaguely, "Do you need me to do anything else for you?"
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! Katenka looked at the suitcase on the table, hesitated for a moment and replied, "Can the name appear on her tombstone be Karenina? What if?
If you can, help me put a bouquet of sunflowers, that's her favorite flower. That's it, these are enough."
"I hope life in Italy will satisfy you"
Wei Ran said his final farewell, then picked up the small old suitcase and left Shudong Bookstore as Katianka watched him off.
Only when the taxi he took completely disappeared at the end of the street, Katenka, who was hiding behind the window, sighed first, and then exhaled heavily. There was also a trace of anger in his slightly red and swollen eyes.
Relaxing color.
Jogging all the way downstairs, Katenka picked up a claw hammer from behind the door on the second floor, removed the apple on the sign at the door of Shudong Bookstore, and replaced it with a pink peach.
With her hands on her hips, she glanced at the sign of the bookstore that she had grown up with. After being silent for a long time, Katenka threw away the hammer in her hand, pushed open the door of the bookstore with a sign that said it was temporarily closed, and began to pack up the things she needed to take away.
luggage, and items that need to be destroyed.
One day later in the early morning, almost at the same time that Weiran's flight landed in Tyumen, a fire broke out on the first floor of Shudong Bookstore.
With the help of firefighters, Katenka, wearing only a set of pajamas, escaped from the third floor of the bookstore shrouded in smoke.
Glancing at the bookstore shrouded in raging fire, Katenka's expression showed a trace of nostalgia. But then, it was replaced by a deliberately disguised panic, and she allowed the people around to help her onto the road waiting for her.
Ambulance nearby.
In Tyumen, Russia, Weiran also met Nikolai who was waiting in advance at the airport. He followed this old man, who was also in his twilight years, into the parking lot and got into an inconspicuous van. After closing the door, Nikolai said,
"Go west along the Tula River to a place called Kamenka."
Weiran silently started the car and left the airport. With the help of the navigation system, he headed west along the Tula River. Finally, when the sun jumped out of the horizon and dyed the entire Tula River red, he drove into what Nikolai said was called
The small city of Kamenka.
Under the guidance of the other party, the van left the main road and drove into the forest on the edge of the city, finally stopping at the edge of an almost deserted cemetery.
He took out Karenina's ashes urn from the suitcase and handed it to Mr. Nikolai. At his signal, Wei Ran picked up the shovel, crowbar and bouquet of sunflowers in the carriage, and then walked into the room.
It's not a big cemetery.
It was obvious that even Nicholas was not familiar with this place. The two of them searched almost half of the cemetery one tombstone after another, and finally stopped in front of an ordinary-looking tombstone.
Pushing aside the lush weeds in front of the tombstone, Nicholas glanced at the name "Karenina" on the tombstone and an inconspicuous "K" in the corner, and then said, "dig it up, this is her grave."
Already."
Wei Ran nodded in astonishment, put the things in his hands aside, picked up a shovel and dug out the grass-covered soil behind the tombstone, and then used a crowbar to open a small stone slab.
In this tomb, which is only the size of a microwave oven, there is only a small can bottle.
Bending down to pick up the can, Nikolai carefully unscrewed it and took out a document, a library card, and a slightly rusty Soviet national emblem inside."
"These things were buried by Karenina herself before she was sent to Vienna."
Nikolai looked at the national emblem in his hand and explained, "She said she hoped to have the opportunity to be buried here after her death. By then, at least this Soviet national emblem will know everything she did."
Wei Ran opened his mouth, not knowing what to say for a moment. He just felt that everything in front of him was more like an absurd pantomime.
Nikolai seemed to have no hope for Wei Ran's answer. He carefully placed Karenina's ashes in the small tomb, and then put the rusty national emblem and the documents originally placed in the cans.
Stacked on the lid of the urn.
Finally, the old man took out a neatly folded Soviet flag from the briefcase he had been carrying and put it into the tomb. Then he took a step back and waved to Wei Ran, "Restore this place to its original state."
When the guards covered the tomb with stone slabs, Nicholas took out a PSS silent pistol from his arms, pointed it diagonally at the sky, and pulled the trigger repeatedly. Amidst the inaudible gunfire, the wet soil
Covering the stone slab also fulfilled Karenina's last wish.
After three weak gunshots, Nikolay slowly put away his pistol and muttered to himself, "Comrade Karenina, you have completed your mission. Now... you can have a good rest. Finally, welcome
