Okay, now, let us fast forward the time a little bit, but it doesn’t have to be too fast forward. At best, it’s jazz on a record, cutting into the blues at night, and blues should be paired with a glass of good wine.
If the bartenders had placed a cup of sweet and refreshing rose honeydew melon for everyone on the table earlier, it was light green, full of bright and high notes of summer and a hint of interesting temptation, suitable for young people to enjoy on a sunny day.
A eulogy and tribute to youth on the shores of Lake Michigan.
After the drinker quickly finished the pale green drink, the next drink handed to the bar was the pale red Hemingway. It also had a refreshing and delicious taste, with the unique flavor of grapefruit, but this time
The color of the glass of wine is different from the pale green of honeydew melon, and it matches the orange-red of the warm red sunset where Lake Michigan connects with the sky.
So our time naturally fast-forwarded from the beautiful and bright afternoon to the warm and dozing evening.
The people on the beach on Lake Michigan's Northern Avenue are getting thinner. The blue sky like washed air waves no longer exists. The blazing sun has also turned into the setting sun, making the white beach reddish. Looking at the city from the Navy Port, you can see the sky.
The boundary line between blue and red is actually tinged with a psychedelic purple, smeared on the tops of Chicago's tall buildings, wrapped layer by layer by clouds.
Such a sunset should be paired with such a good wine. Cheng Shuangfan heard that when the great writer Hemingway lived in Cuba, he liked to fish during the day and drink in the afternoon. The most common drink he drank was the glass of light red daiquiri now served on the wooden house bar.
, Hemingway sat with the sunset, drank the sunset, compiled the stories in his mind like a tidal wave, and searched for those intoxicating phantoms in the white foam.
He likes "The Old Man and the Sea" very much and also likes this short story about Hemingway, so naturally he also likes the grapefruit-colored wine called Hemingway Delicious in his hand.
It was quiet in the wooden house bar. The warm red of the setting sun behind him flowed on his cheeks, casting Cheng Shuangfan's figure on the wooden bar. With his eyes closed, he picked up the cocktail glass and took a sip and then put it down. After a while, he raised the glass again.
Take a sip, quiet and soothing.
The Mexican bartender who was waiting for the last customer to leave sat in the corner of the bar and wiped his wine glass quietly. From time to time he looked at the silhouette of a couple holding hands on the red lake beach in the sunset, with the mighty lake breeze behind him.
Blowing from the endless skyline to the shore, red gauze curtains fluttered on the water and were covered with haze, the black outlines of the trees swayed in the wind, and the white birds flew straight towards the setting sun falling into the lake.
The chairs at the bar were pulled up, but this was not a signal that the last guest in the wooden house bar was about to leave, but a new guest joining the evening drinking party at the sunset.
He sat next to Cheng Shuangfan. If you look at it from Cheng Shuangfan's point of view, you can see that he is wearing a flowery shirt. He is dressed up like a tourist who came here specially for tourism, but a real tourist would not wear a gun under his shirt.
.
The lake breeze blew his shirt, revealing the carbon black grip of the Beretta M925 underneath. There was an embossed three-letter abbreviation of an unknown sentence on the iron plate: UII.
"Thank you for a cocktail like this depressed young man working overtime." The flowered shirt raised his hand comfortably to signal to the Mexican bartender.
The Mexican bartender stood up and started his last work of the day. No one spoke in the wooden bar, only the crisp sound of the wine flowing in the mixing glass and the trivial squeezing of ice cubes. Until
A new glass of wine was placed in front of the flowered shirt. When he held the stem of the glass with his fingers and lifted it up, Cheng Shuangfan beside him said, "You are the last one to arrive."
As he spoke, Cheng Shuangfan took a sip of wine. He closed his eyes and did not look at the people around him, but he knew who the people around him were.
"I can't help it, boss. The plane is delayed. The plainclothes people on the plane said that I looked like a hijacker and wanted to drag me through the security check again." Flower Shirt explained helplessly.
"What are you wearing today?" Cheng Shuangfan could have turned his head and opened his eyes to take a look, but he still asked directly.
"You must wear shirts and shorts when you come to the beach, right? Otherwise, where would you find the atmosphere to chat with beautiful women?" The floral shirt looked down at his own attire and said matter-of-factly.
"Is this how you dress when you get on the plane?"
"Yes, I was originally going to go straight to the beach to have a beautiful encounter after landing, but the plainclothes air traffic policeman said there was something wrong."
"Well, no wonder." Cheng Shuangfan nodded silently, "Lingshu, if I were in plain clothes, I would have stopped you. After all, you look like a gangster. If you dress like a gangster, you won't be blamed for others to doubt you.
"
"Looks like a gangster, but has a heart as warm as gold." The flower shirt hammered his chest with his right hand, but his words did not refute Cheng Shuangfan's attack on his appearance.
"Anyway, just arrive, you are the last one." Cheng Shuangfan said.
"Are Liu Bo, Qing Yuan, Chang Yi, Zoé (Zuo Yin), Walnut and Xiang Ling all in place?" The floral shirt was loosened again. He leaned on the bar with his elbows and crossed his fingers against his chin to look around.
Scenery, "Where are they hiding? Not to mention hiding under the bar and preparing to surprise me?"
"It's just you and me here. They are all preparing for the mission in the temporary headquarters. You are the only one missing to get the team together. Without you, we can't start work." Cheng Shuangfan said.
"No, no, no, you are acting as if I am the boss of the UII team." Hua Shirt immediately became humble, "I am just a screw in the team that can be filled anywhere. Boss, you are the core of our team.
, without me, we will all fight bloody battles, but without you, the UII team will fall apart."
"Every member is equally important, you know this." Cheng Shuangfan closed his eyes and drank, "And you play a great role in this mission, but I can't do it without you."
"Really or not?" The flowered shirt's hand resting on the bar paused lightly, but after a moment he raised his eyebrows and asked, "What, is the matter very bad?"
"That depends on how you define bad."
“Is there ever that bad time in Africa like Burundi?”
"You mean the time when you were chased all over the mountain by a group of AK-wielding monkeys who were enslaved by the third generation? The situation wasn't that bad that time. The biggest problem is that Burundi's economy is too bad and the traffic is poor.
It’s inconvenient, food and accommodation are also a problem, and I’m wary of being ostracized by local drug lords hiding in the mountains and forests.”
"Isn't that not bad? Those tamed monkeys are as dangerous as Deadpool. That time I came back and heard the monkeys screaming for half a month at night and couldn't close my eyes!"
"The situation this time is very complicated." Cheng Shuangfan closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. "There will not be large-scale conflicts or conflicts. After all, the mission location is in a bustling big city, so there is no need to worry about this. But the process may
There are some twists and turns, and some necessary risks need to be taken, but as long as you are here, the problem won't be too big."
"If I have to say it, this situation is just like the one during Operation Congo," Cheng Shuangfan said.
The relaxed breath of the flowered shirt immediately stopped, and his expression was obscured by the shadow of the backlight.
"Can you reveal some details? For example... who is the person who took this risk? This will give me a better understanding and make preparations in advance," Hua Shirt said.
"I can't say it." Cheng Shuangfan refused, "This is a rule. You know it. If you say it, things will change and my workload will become very heavy."
"Wait a minute... Before I flew in, Xiangling asked me for my recent weight and measurements. Could it be that I am the unlucky guy? Captain, have you already started ordering a coffin and shroud for me?"
"The bodies of members of the UII team will be flown back to their hometown after death. In principle, we have no right to arrange a funeral for you." Cheng Shuangfan said.
The flowered shirt looked helplessly at Cheng Shuangfan, who was drinking with his eyes closed, and then slowly shifted his gaze to the counter further away, where there were already 15 identical finished Hemingway cocktail glasses, including Cheng.
The cup in Shuangfan's hand is 16 cups in total.
"Captain, we all believe in you... That's all I have to say." He sighed.
"Your words are enough." Cheng Shuangfan nodded, "Be careful with this mission, and nothing will happen."
"Boss, I'm relieved by your words." Hua Shirt's expression suddenly cleared up, and he was lying loosely on the seat, no longer as tense as before, "So the 'whisper' is over, let's take action next.
What’s the first step? Or have you done everything you need to do before I come?”
"I told you, we can't start work without you." Cheng Shuangfan said, "You have a very suitable role to play in this mission, and it has to be you."
"Uh, let's not call him a low-level gangster who harasses the mission target, right?"
"No. But I do need that unique temperament in you."
"Isn't that a gangster?" Hua Shirt has a clear understanding of his own temperament. This has happened since the first time he took a plane and passed through the security check, when he was touched five times from beginning to end by a girl with a frown on her face as if she was facing an enemy.
There is no controversial value anymore.
"But I guess at least a gangster wouldn't have a suit specially made at Anderson & Sheppard. (Anderson & Sheppard, a haute couture men's clothing store on London's famous Savile Row, Prince Charles has also been wearing his suit.
Double-breasted suit)" Cheng Shuangfan said.
You were shocked in the flower shirt, and turned your head with eyes shining, "Boss, have you finally discovered my hidden aristocratic aura? I'm starting to look forward to this mission." He immediately became energetic and geared up, visible to the naked eye.
"I've never said that... but I like your enthusiasm for the mission. Now that you have arrived, the mission can naturally begin." Cheng Shuangfan said, "Zuo Yin and the others are ready."
"Shall we start now? What should we do next? Should we try on clothes or attend a high-society dinner first? Where is my custom-made suit? Or do I have to go to the temporary headquarters to get the suit first? I hope that suit
It's a lapel collar, so that I can highlight my high-profile aura!" The flower shirt straightened the flower shirt he had bargained for at a street stall, and he was full of energy.
"No, we have to go to the airport first." Cheng Shuangfan closed his eyes and turned his head and said, "This is the airport where you landed by plane. Now we have to go back the same way."
"What are you going to do back at the airport?" Flower Shirt thought for a few seconds, and suddenly his face trembled, "Oh... I understand, boss, do you need me to have a cool sky party like in "The Wolf of Wall Street"?
I have no problem with this at all, I can play the role as I am! The temperament between a gangster and a playboy can be the same."
"What you think is quite beautiful...but I don't deny your last statement." Cheng Shuangfan closed his eyes and drank the last sip of wine in the glass.
When the last remaining red was swallowed up, the sun on the lake finally drowned in the water, so rows of white lights lit up on the beach. But as the area faded, there was still a group of
The red sun has not fallen. It is Cheng Shuangfan's eyes after he opens them. The golden color has a touch of residual red, which is more like the velvet scarlet of conjunctival disease than the coquettishness of lava.
Hua Shirt was already used to this scene. When he saw Cheng Shuangfan sitting here with his eyes closed and drinking, he knew what was going on with his captain. People like them, who saw these childlike eyes, would never
Worry or fear, on the contrary, there will be a sense of peace of mind at the bottom of my heart.
Cheng Shuangfan lowered his eyes and took a deep breath, then coughed and patted his back with a floral shirt. When he put down the sixteenth empty cocktail, he left a tip at the bottom of the glass. The two stood up and left the bar, with their backs to the wooden house bar.
The lit white lights stepped into the dark night of Chicago.