The high-speed train ride from Beijing to Nanjing took just over five hours. This time Wang Lei was much bolder and no longer followed Wen Ning.
On the way, Lu Ming bought a lunch box and came over. They originally thought that Wang Lei was already dead, so they didn't buy it for him. However, when they were eating and excited, they discovered that Wang Lei had been looking at them.
Lu Ming had no choice but to buy a copy for Wang Lei
"No, you are dead and still need to eat."
Wang Lei scratched his head sheepishly
"Seeing you eating makes me feel hungry too."
After saying that, Wang Lei also started eating, not even a grain of rice was left (don't worry about whether ghosts can eat)
"Slow down, no one will compete with you."
Feng Dema looked at the way Wang Lei was eating
"Hmm."
Wang Lei Before he could swallow it, he took another bite.
"Leftover"
Wang Lei raised his head, paused with his hands, and put the last bite into his mouth.
It was afternoon when we left Nanjing station.
When Wen Ning came out, he glanced across the street.
"Wait for me"
After saying that, he ran into the convenience store opposite.
When he came out, he was carrying a plastic bag in his hand.
Wang Lei's eyes have been following that bag since he left the house.
Wen Ning handed him the bag.
"Is this for me?"
Wen Ning nodded.
Wang Lei took it, held it in both hands, lowered his head and looked inside
A bottle of Coke and an ice cream
He tore the paper and looked at it, not knowing where to start.
Wen Ning signaled with his eyes, and he took a bite.
Then his whole body froze.
"So delicious"
He covered his cheeks, his eyes widened, and did not move for a long time.
"It's cool now."
Meng Jiang said
"Don't bite, just lick."
Wang Lei uses licking instead.
After taking a lick, his eyes slowly opened wider.
"This thing is so sweet. What is it?"
"This is ice cream."
Lu Ming said on the side.
"Oh oh."
Wang Lei nodded
"I've never tasted anything so sweet."
He took another lick, very slowly, as if counting how many kinds of sweetness there were in the taste.
He stopped on the third lick, raised his head and looked at Wen Ning.
"Now, can everyone eat this ice cream?"
Wen Ning nodded.
"Yes, you can buy it as long as you want to eat."
Wang Lei was stunned for a moment.
"As long as you want to eat, you can buy it?"
"Hmm."
"What about the child?"
"Children can do it too."
"That"
Wang Lei thought about it
"What about those who have no money?"
Lu Ming opened his mouth. Meng Jiang said next to him
"With a few dollars, anyone can afford it."
Wang Lei lowered his head and looked at the ice cream in his hand
The sweetest thing he had ever eaten in his life was a piece of maltose during the Chinese New Year. He had to hold it in his mouth for a whole afternoon and slowly melted it.
He didn't expect sweets to be like this, cool, soft, melting as soon as you sip, and after melting, your mouth would be filled with the taste of milk.
"You can buy it if you want to eat."
He read it again.
Then he ate the ice cream.
The ice cream melted quickly, so he quickly lowered his head and licked it off his fingers without wasting any of it.
At the end of the meal, there was only a small flat stick left.
He raised the stick, looked at it, looked at it, then ran to the sink on the side of the road, rinsed it, shook the water, and put it in his trouser pocket.
Lu Ming saw it and was about to speak when Meng Jiang pulled his sleeve and he swallowed his words.
Wen Ning pointed at the bottle of Coke.
"You try this."
Wang Lei took it and looked at it over and over.
"What is this?"
"Open it and take a sip."
Wang Lei Unscrew the lid and take a big mouthful.
Then he coughed.
I coughed so much that I bent over, tears came out, and the bottle in my hand was swinging in the air.
"Drink slowly, no one will compete with you."
Wen Ning said while patting Wang Lei on the back
Wang Lei came over slowly, his eyes were still red, and he carefully took another sip.
This time he didn't choke. He smacked his lips, took the bottle away to look at it, and then looked closer.
"This one is sweet too."
"Hmm."
"Still a little numb."
He smacked his tongue
"Numbness on tongue"
"That's anger."
Lu Ming said with a smile
"It's inflated and contains carbon dioxide."
"Qi can also be put into a bottle."
"Yes."
Wang Lei held the bottle, stood in the sun, and drank sip after sip. He took a sip and paused, as if he was studying the taste.
He suddenly raised his head while drinking.
"Wen Boss."
"Hmm."
"It would be great if my mother could drink this."
No one answered.
Wang Lei lowered his head and took another sip.
"My mother has never eaten anything sweet. She saved some money at that time to buy medicine for my father. My father had a cough for half his life."
"My brother hasn't eaten either."
He gripped the bottle a little tighter
"It would be great if I could take it back"
Wen Ning asked curiously
"Did you remember something?"
Wang Lei nodded and said
"I remembered a little bit."
He was holding the Coke bottle, and there was a layer of water droplets on the surface of the bottle, which stuck to his fingertips, giving it a cool feeling. His eyes fell on the pedestrians coming and going on the street in the distance, and his voice was soft.
"I think of the adobe house at home. There is an old jujube tree in front of the house. It bears dates every autumn. My mother picks the ripe ones, dries them and puts them in clay pots. She is reluctant to eat them at ordinary times. Only during the Chinese New Year will she take them out and share them."
He paused and his Adam's apple moved.
"My father coughs and wheezes all year round and cannot do heavy work. Most of the farm work in the fields is done by my mother and I. It is rare for the family to have spare money, and whenever we save a little money, we use it to buy medicine at the town drugstore. Candy is something you don't come across very often throughout the year. During the Chinese New Year, my mother bought a small piece of maltose and gave it to my brother and me. I held it in my mouth and didn't dare to bite it, so I sipped it slowly all afternoon."
Wang Lei looked down at the half bottle of Coke left in his hand.
"At that time, I thought that when life gets better, I would earn money to buy a large piece of candy for my parents and younger brothers to try. Later, when the war started, I thought about going out to serve as a soldier to keep the Japanese out, and then I could go home after the war was over."
At this point, his brows furrowed slightly, his head felt swollen, and his memory seemed to be covered with a layer of mist. He could see fragments, but could not connect the complete story.
"The rest is blurry. I just remember following the team, walking farther and farther away from home. I saw many people fleeing on the road, their houses were burned, and their fields were deserted."
Feng Dema stood aside quietly, his original playful smile put away, and he listened quietly without interrupting.
Lu Ming stopped joking and lowered his hands with a silent expression. Meng Jiang leaned against the railing on the roadside, his eyes falling on Wang Lei without saying a word.
Wen Ning looked at him with a calm tone
"Don't worry, as many as you can remember. We are not in a hurry this time."
Wang Lei nodded and took another sip of the coke, the slightly tingling sweetness still lingering on the tip of his tongue.
"When I ate the ice cream just now, my mother suddenly appeared in my mind. She always said that when the world is peaceful, life will be sweeter. I didn't understand it at that time, and thought sweetness only consisted of maltose and dried dates."
He raised his eyes and looked at the children walking on the street. There was a little girl holding an ice cream cone of the same style in her hand, jumping up and down beside her mother, laughing loudly.
"It turns out that in the peaceful days, sweetness was like this. Anyone could buy it for a few dollars. Children could taste it anytime they wanted."
He tightened the cap of the Coke bottle and held it carefully in his hand, as if reluctant to drink it all at once.
Lu Ming hesitated for a long time, then spoke softly
"Maybe I can think of more later."
Wang Lei nodded and looked deep into the street. The hustle and bustle of the city, the passing of cars and people, were completely different from the dilapidated and wandering world in his memory.
"I moved forward desperately at that time, just to keep such a life. But at that time, I had no idea what the peaceful and prosperous era was like."
Wen Ning raised his eyes and looked at the road ahead.
"Let's go, let's go to the next place"