Can the sadness that magic cannot take away be offset by love?

Receiving his gaze, she smiled slightly and walked over to say hello.

"Senior, good morning?"

Ernest also said "good morning", tied up his hair that was almost reaching the floor at the back of his neck, and said to her:

"This candy shop is very famous in the old college. Come and try it."

The old lady who owned the shop was wearing a pink plaid apron with lace trim. She walked over with a smile and brought a bowl of kelp and mung bean syrup to the small wooden table.

The small wooden table was very short, only reaching her waist and abdomen, and the small bench next to it was even shorter. After she sat down, something felt wrong all over her body. She raised her eyes and looked at Ernest, not understanding why he could sit so upright despite his height and long legs.

After adjusting her sitting posture, she was finally able to relax. There was no menu in the small shop, so the old lady who owned the shop reported to her the ingredients available in the shop:

"There are still some mung beans and kelp in the house, and the only fruits left are apples and pears... Oh, there are also some mangoes, but they haven't been peeled yet, so I have to wait a while. The sweet potato syrup is more delicious, and the young people like taro balls and sago I like it, and some lotus seeds and white fungus..."

Slightly larger shops will have menus in their stores. Even if they are too lazy to print them, they will handwrite them by themselves. Shops like this that don’t even have menus are either too small that no one comes, or their history is gone. It has been here for a long time, and most of the people who come here are regular customers from the past.

Aecilia ordered mangoes and taro balls, but the shopkeeper only charged her Sanya coins, and then turned around neatly to play with the sugar water. She blinked on the spot and looked at Ernest.

"Were there many students here before?"

He nodded slightly and said:

"It happened a long time ago. At that time, the commercial street had not yet begun to be planned and built. Most of the students in St. Ferguson would go to this alley to buy snacks after class. The business here was very busy at that time."

Now, this place has become a well-deserved old alley. Except for a small group of people, no one will remember the bustle and bustle of this dark and narrow place.

The shop owner's grandmother's sugar water was spread out in front of her house. Aecilia could not find any words indicating the name of the shop, nor did she see any sample sugar water or ingredients displayed outside the door to attract customers. Apart from three sets of tables and chairs, there was nothing to prove that this was a business store.

She was curious about how someone like Ernest, who had nothing to do with the earthly mud, knew that there was a candy shop with no advertisements or menus.

With this thought in mind, she asked.

Ernest was silent for a while before this small question, and then said:

"When my father was still in St. Ferguson, he loved bringing my mother here. He often told me about the past."

Aecilia nodded understandingly, thought for a while, and said:

"I have to tell them first that I'm here. I'm here with Lucius and my roommate."

Ernest said softly:

"No, Lucius just asked me to help find you. They have gone to watch a movie now."

Aecilia was stunned, and then said calmly:

"My roommate is different from Lucius. She should tell me..."

When they clicked on the Zhiwang chat interface, their chat history was still stuck on the last cyber farewell.

Aecilia was convinced that her roommate must have been brainwashed by Lucius's words and had completely forgotten about her close roommate, so she closed the smart network in grief and anger.

Ernest was quietly putting spoonfuls of sugar water into her mouth, and the mango taro balls were quickly prepared. She thanked the old lady who owned the shop and picked up the small plastic spoon that was brought with her.

The sugar water was served in a stainless steel bowl. The bowl looked almost exactly like the stainless steel rice bowl provided for nutritious lunches when she was a student in general school. It was as big as a plate.

The mango was cut into pieces, floating densely in the white milk, and there were colorful thumb-sized taro balls floating on the milk.

The outer wall of the bowl feels cool to the touch, and the entire bowl of sugar water looks very cute and inviting. She first scooped up a small piece of mango, which was surrounded by a light layer of white milk brought up by the spoon. The sweet aroma of milk intertwined with the fruity aroma of mango after entering the mouth, and the taste was very moving.

After swallowing it, Aecilia couldn't help but continue to use a spoon to scoop up the taro balls and milk in the bowl. In the corner of her eye, the shopkeeper's grandmother was still standing aside, looking at her with her back bent.

She turned her head and happened to meet the eyes of the old lady who owned the shop. She could clearly see the deep but heart-shaking memory in her eyes that contained stories.

She sighed: "There used to be many children like you who came to grandma to look for sugar water..."

Aecilia didn't know how to speak, but the old lady who owned the shop continued:

"As time goes by, fewer and fewer people come. Occasionally, some customers who used to come here will come to visit from time to time, but some children never come back... I don't know if I can see them coming to drink sugar water again. .”

She picked up a tissue on another free table and wiped her hands, showing a light nostalgia for the past, but Esilia knew that many words spoken in the most ordinary tone often contain hidden meanings. The deepest emotions in the human heart.

Her cloudy eyes looked at Aecilia again, looked her up and down for a while, and sighed.

"There used to be a little girl with white hair who would sit here and drink sugar water every day. Sometimes she would order lotus seed and white fungus soup, and sometimes she would order mango sago... Her favorite was mango taro balls."

She raised her eyes and recalled:

"The young man who often comes with her doesn't like to drink sugar water, so he likes to get a free cup of warm water here. The two of them are always talking and laughing, and they seem to have a good relationship. Unlike the two of you, who don't talk at all. There’s nothing breathy about it.”

She made a little joke at them, and they both looked at her with a smile, waiting for her to continue.

"Then one day, that young man came to my place alone. It was the first time he came by himself... When he came, his eyes were red, and he ordered a bowl of mango taro balls. I kept looking at him, and then... …I saw him start to cry before he even took two bites.”

The old lady shook her head, as if she could still recall the scene clearly in her mind.

"There are many things that children hide in their hearts. Maybe they haven't finished their homework, they failed the exam, they were scolded by their parents... and they didn't go well at work...

"I didn't know what to do, so I asked my old man. Before he retired, he was a teacher who taught arithmetic. He said that he would give him a book of arithmetic problems and he would calm down soon... Who I know the child cried even more miserably..."

Her eyes were a little confused, and she smiled slowly:

"My old man always thinks that if he writes an arithmetic problem about any problem, there will be no problem. This is all from his time. How can he still apply it to children who have seen things that are different from ours..."

She slowly turned around and looked at a black and white portrait on the long table inside the door. She stood quietly for a while, then shook her head and turned around.

"The children are not here, and those who grew up with us are almost gone. I still remember that when we were playing with glass beads, a guy who liked to grow a white beard when he got older would always win our marbles...even the old man They were all anxious to leave me and go find my parents, and now I am the only one left."

Aecilia opened her lips slightly, but before she could say anything, the old lady continued:

"You are all good children, willing to listen to me. When this person gets old, his brain will never be able to keep up with the new things now. He needs to communicate more with you young people. I won't get old, old lady. Too fast."

You will not age too fast, and your vivid memories will last longer. Those ancient and vivid, pale and bright past, together with those smiling people in your memories, will quietly disappear before they are about to be completely forgotten by the world. I took a breath in a small corner and took one last look at the old place that was gradually becoming unfamiliar.

Just like the sour papayas and pickled radishes that were always displayed at the gate of the general school when she was a child, even though they were later replaced by cold warning signs erected to separate the flow of people and maintain order, she walked past the shop selling sour papayas and pickled radishes. When the wooden cart often parks, I can always smell the familiar sour smell that makes people salivate from the bottom of my heart.

As long as she is still here, the imprint of that smell engraved in the depths of her soul will not dissipate, but will accompany her to continue to survive in this world.

Until all the palms that had handed out the small, old and worn bills were buried in the soil.