So, he spent almost no time sleeping. In the middle of the night, Cassia got up quietly, lit the gas lamp on the table, and took out the book he brought back from the military school to read. But his head was very confused.
, he couldn't read a single line of words, and there were only countless double images in his eyes. But he couldn't fall asleep no matter what. He saw the black box lying quietly beside the bed. After making sure that his mother and sister would not wake up, he
Then he gently opened the box, took out a short machine gun inside, and disassembled it a dozen times with a slight sound under the light of the gas lamp. Then he got tired of it, put it into the gift box again, and replaced it.
Other firearms repeated this meaningless thing. Now it seemed that only the cold feeling on these objects could cool his heated head. Only when it was almost dawn, he reluctantly took a rest.
The brain had not had a reasonable rest for such a long time, and the operator's body also had a bad reaction. He was groggy, and his temples felt as if they had been hit by a hammer, and there were bursts of pain following the beating of his heart. But he still felt
Kasia woke up very early and couldn't sleep at all.
You can see the dark sky outside the window, and the heating pipes have not been repaired for a long time. After the copper bell was replaced with a new one, it became the only sound in the house.
Her mother had already gotten up and was making breakfast in the crowded kitchen with almost no spare space. Her sister Lilia was still curled up in the quilt next to the stove, with only her little head exposed and her eyes closed tightly.
, haven’t woken up yet.
"You can eat in a moment." Mother heard Cassia's movements after getting up, and her voice came from the kitchen at this time.
Cassia said "hmm", walked to the door, took off several good locks, and opened a gap in it.
Snow seems to be falling outside again, and the endless cold wind is trying desperately to get into the house. The road has also turned white, and in the whistling wind, you can intermittently hear the collision of large forging machines falling.
Sound. The iconic black smoke pillars have also become curved, almost touching the severely corroded iron roof of the factory.
After breakfast, the snow outside still hasn’t stopped, and it looks like it will continue for a few days.
"When the snow stops, just leave here." Kasia suddenly said this, and her mother didn't respond, because where she lived didn't seem to be important to her. She could feel the changes in Kasia, but that was all.
It's a good thing. Years of fatigue have accumulated on the body, and most of the senses have been numbed. Cassia is almost unaware of the changes in the core of Cassia's body.
Only Lilia can feel that Cassia seems to be living far away from them. Even in her eyes, Cassia in front of her is a real existence that can be captured.
The toys that Kasia brought from Manoma made her happy for a long time, but during the snowy days, Lilia would still look confused for some time. The eyes that looked at Kasia seemed to be looking at something.
It was like a painting, and there was a feeling of reading a textbook. She felt that her brother was clearly by her side, but sometimes she felt that she would be separated from him the next moment.
The temperature can be clearly felt with the palms of the hands, and the breathing can be heard with the ears, but Lilia just feels that the brother next to her does not seem to live with her. It seems that there are two parallel Lilias in the world, and the current brother
It belonged to another Lilia, whose brother had left by train and hadn't come back yet. She thought of how she often looked in the direction of the station when she went out to play, expecting Cassia's shadow to appear around the corner. p>
Of course, Lilia doesn't have a detailed concept of parallelism in her head yet. She just feels that a "toy" like her brother has been replaced by another one without her knowing it.
A few days later, the snow that lasted for several days finally stopped, the sky became clear again, and new cumulus clouds were still brewing in the Lilac Mountains. When I picked up the dusty shovel in the corner and went out to shovel the snow,
Only then did Cassia discover that several families had changed among the neighbors. Most of the previous lives had not changed. When a family settled down, most of them were prepared to live here until they were buried in the grave. But it seemed that all
All the changes were concentrated in one year, many familiar people left, and the new neighbors were surprised when they saw Cassia coming out to shovel the snow.
There were also many old neighbors who worked in the same steam factory. They were surprised that Cassia came back so early and greeted each other. From them, Cassia also learned some recent news, whether it was
Human, or just about the small town.
Most of the dozens of people who took the heavy train to schools in various parts of the empire did not come back. Of course, the more than twenty people born in the minor nobility were no longer willing to return to this small town. Small towns in the border areas of the empire and
Compared with the cities outside, the gap cannot be described correctly. On the one hand, they are enjoying a more convenient and far more luxurious life than in small cities, but on the other hand, for them, it is also a gap that makes them feel desperate, like a cliff.
The difference between the top and the bottom of the cliff. The outside world is very vast, and the new things that appear in front of them make them feel that they are eliminated. The most important thing is that the aristocratic status in a small town is different from that of other students in a big city.
In front of them, it has become no longer important. They have become the lowest level, which is the most intolerable thing. They begin to miss the life in the small town, where being able to use electric lights is something that can be talked about with pride, and
You can also accept the envious and jealous looks of others.
But they are also afraid to go back. They have been eliminated. When they return to the small town again, they are afraid that they will no longer have the courage to leave there.
For example, Luo Wei and Irene, who had the same identity as Cassia and were both civilians, also informed their families through letters that they would not be coming back during the holidays. Whether it was summer vacation or winter vacation, they all stayed in the city where the school was located.
.
Of course it's not that they don't want to come back. Like those noble children, they also feel how huge the gap between regions is, and they know that there are people with higher status than the noble children in the small town. If they don't come back, they will have no money.
The cost of the train ticket is not a small amount. They were born as civilians, and living there has already been a drag on the whole family. There is no exact settlement of tuition fees and other expenses every year. When they return to the small town in the next one or two years,
It’s still something to be planned. Not everyone is in Cassia’s situation.
After shoveling the snow, Cassia looked at the bright sky and sighed.
In the afternoon, on the empty street, Cassia dragged her suitcase, and her mother held her sister Lilia's hand. She looked at the small house behind her that had just been newly painted with a parting look. Then they walked together to the only house in the small town.