winter in greenland

When seeing off Xia Zuo and walking out of the port, Dan was surprised to see two figures, one big and one small, wandering beside the port administrator's cabin.

When he walked over, the younger one saw him first, shouted "Dan!" and rushed over with a big excited smile on his face.

Dan subconsciously caught the little girl, a little surprised: "Nina? Why are you here?"

The little girl was wearing a sky blue hoodie, her hair was tied into a ponytail, and her blue eyes were still watery. She turned to look at her mother, but said nothing.

Nina's mother seemed a little embarrassed. She beckoned to Nina and called the little girl back. She hesitated to speak: "If it's convenient for you, can we go in and find a place to talk?"

Dan thought for a while and took them to a coffee shop near the port.

After ordering drinks for both mother and daughter, he returned to the seat by the window with the tray in his hand, and stretched out his hand first: "I was in a hurry last time, so I didn't have time to introduce myself. My name is Dan Smithton."

The young mother shook his hand. "Martha Reed."

"So, Mrs. Reed, you brought Nina here today, do you need my help with anything?"

Martha hesitated for a while, then said to Nina: "Honey, can you go outside to play for a while? Mr. Smithton and I have something to talk about. Don't run too far."

Nina nodded, turned around and ran out.

"It's like this, Mr. Smithton, because of the volcanic eruption, our family plans to move out, but Nina... Nina is actually my ex-husband's child. My current husband...he doesn't like Nina very much. Na. Originally, their relationship was decent, but because my youngest son suffers from congenital asthma, we planned to move to a place with a better climate in central Europe when the volcano started to erupt, but Nina refused to go... ..."

As she spoke, she turned her eyes to the street outside the window. Nina was squatting by the flower bed not knowing what she was doing.

"So?" Dan raised an eyebrow.

"I tried various ways to talk to Nina, but she..." Martha raised her hand in vain: "When we moved to Reykjavik, there were no other family members here, I thought... If If it's convenient, can Nina stay with you for two months? Me and Morgan...my husband, let's think of other ways to pick her up and go back to Europe. Billy's condition is getting worse, we can't delay any longer Mr. Smithton, Nina has been mentioning you since we met last time, and I know this request is very abrupt, but Nina is not yet of school age, and this is the only way I can think of right now..."

Dan didn't speak for a moment.

Martha seemed to think of something suddenly: "Uh, of course I will pay, you don't have to worry about this..."

"It's not about the money, Mrs. Reed." Dan slightly raised his hand to interrupt her, and he frowned slightly: "Have you discussed this matter with Nina?"

The expression on Martha's face was somewhat evasive: "Not yet... In fact, we don't have that much time. Letting her stay in Reykjavik is already the biggest concession I can make..."

Dan ignored her, turned sideways and knocked on the window lightly. Nina outside heard the movement and turned around, looking at them curiously.

Dan made a "come here" gesture to her, and the little girl tilted her head to look at her mother, and walked in with some hesitation.

Dan called her to his side, leaned slightly to look her in the eyes, and said, "Nina, now your parents are going to take your brother back to Europe for medical treatment. Would you like to go back with them?"

Nina shook her head without hesitation.

Before Dan could ask the next question, Nina had already grabbed his cuff and asked timidly, "Can I come and live with you?"

The answer was obvious, but some hesitation flashed across Dan's face.

He wasn't worried that he couldn't take good care of the little girl, but that there was no news from August that made him feel uneasy.His original plan was to deal with the port affairs in the next few days, and go to Greenland first to see what happened. If he wants to bring this little girl... Regardless of whether Nina is willing to go with him or not, All the preparations on the road alone were enough to give him a headache.

"Is it okay?" Nina still grabbed his cuff, the look in her eyes was mixed with expectation and fear of disappointment.

"...All right, as long as your mother agrees." Dan finally compromised.

"Yeah!" The little girl plunged into his arms and hugged his waist.

Martha looked grateful: "Thank you very much, Mr. Smithton, please give me your account, and I will directly remit Nina's living expenses."

Dan asked the waiter to borrow a pen, scribbled down his bank account number, and turned to Nina: "But I may go to other places to deal with some personal affairs, Nina, can you come with me?" ?”

The little girl blinked her eyes and nodded: "Yes, I will be obedient."

Dan secretly sighed in his heart: "That's how it is. Mrs. Reed, I remember that we have left contact information before. Since Nina is here with me, my number will not change. I will guarantee that she will call you every day." A video call, so you can understand her situation."

Martha looked grateful: "Thank you so much." Then she raised her wrist to look at her watch, took out a key from her bag and handed it to Dan: "This is the key to our apartment in Reykjavik , all of Nina's things are over there, and you can live there directly. Morgan has already taken Billy to the airport first, and I have to rush there right now. If you need anything, you can call me. "

As she spoke, she stood up in a hurry, pulled Nina and kissed her on the forehead: "Be obedient dear, we will pick you up after Billy's condition stabilizes."

Dan just watched her pay the bill in a hurry, trotted all the way out of the coffee shop, stopped a taxi on the side of the road, and headed towards the airport.

"Your mother is really...resolute and resolute." Dan endured it, and changed the euphemism.

Nina didn't answer. She moved to where her mother had been and sat down, holding the glass of milk that had been served earlier, and looked up at Dan from below.

Dan sighed again in his heart, and looked at the little girl: "Then Nina, do you want to drink or eat anything else?"

Nina shook her head.

Dan stood up and took her hand: "Okay then, it looks like we have to go to your house first."

As they walked out of the cafe and passed the port, Saco called Dan from a distance through the window of the caretaker's cottage: "Hey Dan, there's a package for you that came with the ferry this morning."

Dan was a little strange: "Mine?"

Sacco came out while responding, holding a palm-sized brown paper bag in his hand, which was tied several times with twine.

"Well, this is it."

Dan took it, and the receipt on the front of the package had only "Old Port of Reykjavik" and his name scrawled on it, and he recognized who it belonged to at a glance.

He took it almost impatiently, said "thank you" to Sacco without raising his head, and opened the package three times.

The brown kraft paper was wrapped in two layers, probably to prevent water from entering. The innermost part was a transparent plastic sealing bag, which contained a stone half the size of a palm.

Dan opened the plastic bag and shook the rock out gently.

It is a very common limestone, light brown, and the edges have been carefully polished and chiseled into an oval shape. The two sides of the stone are carved with a series of shallow curved lines, which looks like an ancient shell. .

Nina stood on her tiptoes curiously, trying to figure out what it was: "What is this?"

Dan's eyelashes drooped heavily, and he didn't say anything for a while. After a while, he put the stone back into the bag, and raised his hand at Sacco: "Thank you, Uncle Sacco."

The old man waved his hand: "It's nothing. Who is this little girl?"

Dan took Nina up again, and before he could speak, Nina had already raised her hand and waved at Sacco: "My name is Nina, and I'm Dan's friend."

Sacco was amused by her adult-like demeanor: "It's so cute, my granddaughter is about the same age."

Dan also looked at Nina and smiled, stroking the top of her head: "Let's go first."

Nina's apartment was not far away. Instead of taking the bus, they walked slowly along the long street.

After kicking a few small stones on the side of the road, Nina raised her head to look at Dan again: "What was that just now?"

"Probably a fossil?"

"Fossil?" The little girl's eyes widened.

"It's not a real fossil, someone made it look like a fossil."

"Ah, I see! This must be a present!"

Dan couldn't help laughing at her serious look: "So you have received such a gift?"

Nina shook her head: "No one has ever given me fossils. But my dad used to give me presents every birthday and Christmas, and they were also wrapped in thick paper like that. But the paper he used was prettier than this one, with many stars on it. .” The little girl said while gesticulating.

After a pause, she seemed to have noticed something wrong with her words, and added: "It's not the current father, it's the previous father."

Dan frowned: "The former father?"

"Well, my mother said that he went to a far away place and couldn't spend Christmas and birthday with me anymore. Then I got my current father."

Dan stopped walking when he heard this, squatted down and looked into Nina's eyes: "Do you like this father?"

Nina shook her head: "No, he doesn't like me either."

He had a bad guess in his heart, and he hesitated to ask: "Then will he...sometimes...I mean, scold you or something else?"

Nina's eyes widened: "No. Morgan just doesn't like me, especially after having Billy."

"Billy is your brother?"

"Well, my mother said he is four years younger than me."

"Well, can you tell me why you don't want to go back to Europe with them?"

The little girl thought for a while: "They don't even like me."

Dan was a little surprised: "They?"

Nina nodded emphatically, "Morgan, Mom, and maybe Billy. Mom always says I'm naughty, but I just want to play with her for a while. She's always holding Billy. I know they went back to Europe because Billy, I'm not going!"

"But maybe there are other relatives in your family over there, grandparents or something."

Nina still shook her head: "I don't want it."

Dan was dumb, stood up silently, and took Nina's hand again: "Okay, let's not talk about this, what do you want to eat tonight?"

“Ice Cream Cone!”

"anything else?"

"Can the fries be okay?"

"I'm afraid that won't work."

"Then I want cream of mushroom soup!"

……

Dan didn't plan to live in Nina's apartment. He simply packed all of Nina's usual clothes into a small suitcase, took Nina's favorite bear doll and left.

I took the little girl to have dinner at a nearby restaurant, booked a baby bed in the shopping mall, and bought her a Winnie the Pooh balloon. The big one and the little one planned to go back.

Nina was obviously sleepy, and stopped to rub her eyes from time to time. Dan simply picked her up and let her lie on his shoulders. The rope of the balloon was wrapped around the fingers of the hand holding her, and the other hand held her. Her suitcase, slowly walking home.

The street where he lived was on the back of the main street, and usually there were not many pedestrians. As the sound of his footsteps gradually approached and amplified, a figure stood up from the stairs of the front door of his apartment.

"You are?" Dan stopped in front of the apartment, looking at the woman in front of him with some doubts.

Short shoulder-length blond hair, a straight nose, and gray eyes that faintly show the fatigue of long-distance travel.

She reached out first: "Murphy Dev, the leader of the meteorological research team of the Royal Danish Scientific Expedition Team, we met a few years ago, Captain Smithton."

Hearing what she said, something vaguely remembered in Dan's mind. At that time, he and August had just been rescued from the ice cirque. He was carried out by the rescue team from the ice cave in the mountainside. Before he lost consciousness, he was sporadic. I heard a few lines of their conversation, among them the name "Murphy".

He put down Nina's suitcase and shook hands with Murphy, still a little strange: "Professor Murphy, are you looking for me?"

"To be precise, Heath was looking for you." Murphy looked back at his apartment: "Shall we go in and talk?"

The author says:

There will be an update at 7pm~