[Crossing] Beacon Fire Dragon Line

That afternoon, the last batch of books was brought to the Pantheon by tricycle.

Sheng Rui came out to meet Father Padreio, and saw another person standing under the steps from a distance, with the sleeves of his white shirt rolled up to his elbows, and he was carrying down piles of scattered books. His slender back was like a poplar tree. Beautiful and tall.

"Ray, someone is with you." The priest pointed to the man, "He is of Chinese-German origin, and he was a volunteer in the Vatican before. He heard that we are short of people here, so he came to help. The lost books can be handed over to him for repair.”

Ouch?

After being alone for so long, there is nothing more satisfying than having company.Sheng Rui excitedly ran over to watch.

Hearing footsteps, the man turned and looked back.The gentle oriental looks, with a face like jade, black hair like ink, except for his pale complexion and deep green eyes like lake water, his Germanic blood can hardly be seen.The sunlight as clear as the holy light poured on him, like an oracle at this moment.

But those beautiful eyes were expressionless.Not cold or insensitive, nor arrogant or hostile, just deadpan.Being watched by such eyes, Sheng Rui felt like he was also a box.

"Hi, my name is Sheng Rui. You can call me Ray." Sheng Rui kindly extended an olive branch.

The man nodded his head slightly as a greeting, then turned around and continued to work.

"..." Sheng Rui was slightly embarrassed after being left out, like a cat rubbing against someone's instep begging for attention but being ignored.

It must be the wrong way to say hello.

Unhappily, he ran back to find the priest: "He doesn't seem to like me very much."

"He doesn't like to talk, and he didn't pay much attention to me all the way here." The priest showed an expression of "you are not alone".

Sheng Rui was slightly relieved.Seeing that Father Padreio was still limping, he couldn't help but feel a little worried: "How is your foot? Have you seen a doctor?"

"I've seen it, it doesn't matter much, but I can't walk a long distance. Alas, I am old, and my legs and feet are not working." The priest thumped his leg sadly, "Uh——Ray, since we are talking about this, there is a matter I'm afraid I need to trouble you. I have a letter to give to the Cardinal of the diocese of Florence. A monk promised to send it for me, but he has other things recently, and I don't feel at ease looking for someone else. Would you like to take it for me? Going to Florence?"

Sheng Rui is happy to take on this task.Not only for the priest, he also wants to take the opportunity to explore other cities.The cost of living in Rome is too high, and Chang'an is expensive, making it difficult to live for a long time.

"After you arrive in Florence, the Board of Cardinals will send someone to pick you up, and you don't have to worry about it when you come back. But how to get there is a problem. I'll try to see if I can find a way, and then—"

Before the priest could finish speaking, a deacon who rushed over interrupted their conversation: "Father, the bishop invites you to go to the church of San Giovanni, saying that he has something important to discuss."

The priest nodded: "I see. Ray, I'll leave it to you here."

The two men hurried across the Rotunda Square towards the east of the city.

Sheng Rui began to sort out the new batch of books with the young man.

This is a tedious and trivial job. The huge stack of books must be crated one by one and transported to the Pantheon.

The process is slow and tedious.To relieve boredom, Sheng Rui tried to talk to that person again.

"May I ask your age?"

"22."

"Oh. I'm three years older than you."

silence.

"You don't seem to like talking."

"Sorry, I'm not good at chatting."

Although it was a refusal, there was a kind of sincere honesty that made one believe that he was indeed so reticent because he was not good at words.As if to avoid more questions, he turned around and went elsewhere, distanced himself from Sheng Rui vaguely.

Sheng Rui retracted the tentacles into the shell knowingly, and stopped probing.Everyone has their own personality, which is also indisputable.

"Uh, if I whistle, will it affect you?" Sheng Rui asked.

"Xiao Mo" shook his head.

So Sheng Rui casually blew notes that didn't make a tune.Whistling makes him feel slightly happier, and it also has a self-deceiving use: to mask the rumbling hunger in his stomach.It's as if if you can't hear this voice, you won't feel hungry.

However, after all, it is self-deception.

Halfway through the move, he felt that his eyes were dark and he was sweating profusely.Stomach growls can be covered up, but hypoglycemia caused by hunger cannot be covered up.I usually don't feel much exercise when I don't exercise much, and I can't support it when I do physical work.He held on to the box and bent over so as not to faint.

Unexpectedly, "Xiao Mo" took the initiative to speak: "Go and rest, I can come alone." It was still the same flat tone as before, not so much making a suggestion, more like stating a fact .

Although I felt embarrassed to leave things to the other party like this, my body really couldn't tolerate his reluctance.Sheng Rui leaned on the box beside him, watching Xiao Mo busy around by himself.

Apart from that sentence, "Xiao Mo" didn't say anything.This made Sheng Rui feel comfortable.Even the gaze that seemed to be looking at something made him grateful at this time-in this case, it was a kind of thoughtfulness.The pity of others will only double remind him of his current misery.

Taking advantage of this short spare time, he quietly looked at the other person's appearance.He only had a face-to-face meeting with him at the beginning, and then he was shocked by the low pressure of the other party, and he never had the nerve to look at his face carefully, but he always wanted to find a chance to take a few more glances.

Because, this person is very beautiful.

The first time he saw it, he thought of a somewhat old word: Jiao Ruo Zi Du.

Sheng Rui himself is beautiful, and he unconsciously has high eyes on other people's looks.No matter male or female, there are few beauties who can fall into his eyes.But even he couldn't find fault with this face.Handsome and beautiful, coexisting in the same face in an incredible way, so moving that it is indescribable.Even the beam of sunlight that has been lazily wandering in the alcove for months seems to be particularly attached to him, slipping down along the wall and sticking to his side, the warm light spot has a long-lost tranquility.

Such beauty soothed the anxiety in his heart.It is like a hungry and tired lost traveler who unexpectedly encounters a fairyland-like beauty at the end of the mountain.It's useless, maybe even a mirage, but it feels like salvation.

After resting for a while, Sheng Rui felt better, so he cheered up and continued to move books.By the time all the books were transported, the sky was already slightly dark.

"I'll come back tomorrow." "Xiao Mo" said goodbye to him without saying a word.

Sheng Rui nodded, and didn't ask him where he would spend the night, since he probably wouldn't tell anyway.

After locking the door, he simply washed up and lay down on the floor.

Before going to bed every night, he would do something to make himself happy, sketch some simple images on paper with a pencil, and color them.The paint was obtained by chance from a down-and-out painter, and there were a few deflated tubes, and there was not much left of each color.He stipulates that he can only use a little bit every day.

He has always had a hobby of looking at bright colors, and at the same time, various melodies will automatically emerge in his mind, usually very cheerful.At that time, he would whistle them out. Today he drew a little black dog with green eyes, which was the impression left by "Xiao Mo".He is very satisfied with giving the other party such an image: "Xiao Mo" is just "little black dog".He deliberately painted its body to be round and cute, looking very soft, just like the feeling he gave him.

However, that serious expression...

He added two strokes above the round green eyes, and the little black dog frowned gravely.

He happily held the painting in front of his eyes with both hands and stared at it for a while, and Brahms' lullaby slowly appeared in his mind.He whistled it out.

However, another voice appeared soon, interrupting the quiet and melodious melody.His empty stomach began to yell again, and it tended to be deafening.

He read the Politics of Italy aloud three times over it.The slogan of the government: "Semangitroppoderubilapatria (eating too much equals robbery)".But it refused to accept such an excuse and continued to cry for more food.

Sheng Rui sighed.

Although I try my best to make myself look happy every day, in fact, I can't really be happy.You don't need to look in the mirror to imagine how bad you look from the dirty clothes and hands.He hadn't bathed for a long time, because the soap was also rationed, and citizens received a small piece every month on a ration ticket, which he couldn't afford.In order to keep it as clean as possible, you can only wash your body and hair with cold water.

He had only one suit of clothes, which he bought in exchange for bread.His original clothes were too conspicuous in this day and age, and even the old clothes couldn't be concealed, so he had to dispose of them secretly.Now the only clothes in this set are a yellowed coarse white shirt and a pair of work pants of an invisible color, which have an unpleasant smell and feel because of being dirty.

What's worse, even in such an embarrassing state, I'm afraid it won't last long.This job at the Pantheon is only temporary and cannot be done forever.

As long as he has free time these days, he goes around looking for other errands.Unfortunately, he didn't know any of the skills he could use, and he didn't need any of the skills he knew: no need to calculate option pricing, no need to manage investment portfolios.He doesn't even have enough strength to be a hard laborer, and today's incident has proved this tragically.

The only hope is that in two months - if history holds true - Rome will be liberated.Maybe his English would bring him a little bit of luck when the US troops came in.However, he doubted whether this weak body had reached its limit and could not last for two months.

He took a moment to get these pessimistic thoughts out of his head, forcing himself to sleep and forget about hunger.

Don't worry, he told himself.There will be a way, tomorrow is another day.

He closed his eyes in the fading light.When sleepiness was about to come up, there was a knock on the door suddenly.

Tee, Tee, Tee.

The small voice echoed in the empty hall.

He looked at the two tightly closed tall bronze doors with a little surprise.Who's visiting at this late hour?Father?

Tee, Tee, Tee.

The slow knock on the door sounded again, more clearly than the first time.

Sheng Rui stood up and went to open the door.