Chapter 47 4 of Hearts...we don't know who the dealer is and who's dealing the cards...

Hans the baker stared blankly at the sky.When talking about Magic Island, his azure blue pupils flickered with a strange light. However, after the story was told, the look in his eyes seemed to disappear. It was late at night, and the room was very dark.A fire that had been lit at dusk was now only a gleam of light.Hans got up and stirred the ashes in the fireplace with a stick of fire. The fire burned for a while longer.The flickering firelight shone on the goldfish bowl and all kinds of strange decorations in the room. All that evening I was absorbed in listening to the old baker's tales of the Magic Island.As soon as he started talking about Floyd's poker, I was hooked.When I heard the exciting part, I couldn't help opening my mouth, looking dumbfounded.I let him finish the story in one breath and never interrupted him.The legend of Freud and the Magic Island, although Hans only told it once, I am sure I have firmly remembered every detail.

"Frod is finally back in Europe," said Hans at last. I couldn't tell whether the words were addressed to me or to himself.I just know I don't quite understand what he means. "You mean the deck of cards?" I asked. "Yes, that deck." "Because that deck is now stored in the attic?" The old baker nodded.Then he stood up, went into the bedroom, and produced a small card case. "Albert, these are Floyd's playing cards." He put the box on the table in front of me.I took the whole deck out of the box and put it on the table, feeling my heart beating non-stop.The top card in the deck is the four of hearts.I carefully looked at each card, and found that most of them had faded and their patterns were hard to read, but a few were quite clear—the Jack of Diamonds, the King of Spades, the Two of Clubs, and the Heart.

"Is it these cards that... walk around the island?" I asked bravely. The old baker nodded again. It feels like every card I hold in my hand is a living person.I took the King of Hearts to the fire and looked at it, remembering what he said on the magic island.I said to myself in my heart: Long, long ago, he used to be a vigorous dwarf, playing and jumping in a big garden all day long.Then, I took the red heart in my hand again and stared at it for a long time. Remember she once said that she does not belong in this card game. "The only thing missing from this deck is the Joker." I counted the whole deck and found only fifty-two.

Hans the baker nodded. "He's playing a big card game with me. Do you understand that, boy? We're all dwarfs, and we don't know who's the dealer and who's the dealer." Card." "You mean...that clown is still in the world?" "Of course still in the world, boy," said the old man. "Nothing in this world can hurt a clown." Hans the baker stood in front of the fireplace with his back to the firelight; his huge figure loomed over me.I suddenly felt frightened.I was only twelve years old at the time, and my father might lose his temper at home now, because I didn’t come home in the middle of the night and stayed in the old baker’s house. In fact, I don’t have to worry too much. Already very drunk, lying in bed somewhere in the city, so he won't be staying at home waiting for me to come back.Hans the baker was the only one who really cared about me and was worth relying on.

"That clown must be very old now." I was dubious. The old baker shook his head vigorously: "Have you forgotten? The clown is different from us humans, he will not age." "Did you see him again when you went back to Europe together?" I asked. The old baker nodded; "I only saw him once... about six months ago. One day, I suddenly saw a dwarf jumping in front of the shop door. I ran out to have a look, and found that he had disappeared. Albert, that's when you came into my life. On the same afternoon, I saw a group of scumbags bullying you, so I ran to the street and beat them up to vent your anger. That day... that day It happens to be the fifty-second anniversary of the sinking of Floyd's island in the ocean. I've done the math and I'm almost sure it's 'Joker Day' on the Magic Island."

I was dumbfounded and just stared blankly at the old baker. "Is that old calendar still in effect?" I asked. "It seems to be working, young man. That's the day I found out you were a motherless, helpless orphan. So, I'll buy you a sparkling soda and show you a beautiful goldfish." I froze all of a sudden.Only now did I remember that in the "clown's feast", the gnomes of the magic island also talked about me. I swallowed a bubble of saliva. "What about...the story in the future?" I asked. "It's a pity that I didn't remember everything the gnomes said at the banquet on the Magic Island. However, we humans always store what we hear in our hearts, even if we can't remember it for a while. Always One day, it will pop up out of nowhere. I was telling you the story of the magic island just now, and I suddenly remembered that after the Four of Diamonds said, "Please drink the sparkling soda and let him see the beautiful goldfish", the Four of Hearts went on to say if."

"What the hell did the four of hearts say?" "The boy grew old and his hair turned gray, but before he died an unfortunate soldier came to the village from the northern lands." I just sat there, staring at the fire in the fireplace.In an instant, I felt a sense of awe for life, and that feeling remains to this day.My whole life is summed up in one sentence.I know that Hans the baker will soon die and I will be the next baker in the village of Dürf.I also understand that it will be my responsibility to pass on the secrets of Rainbow Soda and Magic Island to the next generation.I will spend my life in this cabin, waiting for the day when an unfortunate soldier from the northern lands will come to the village.

I know that day is far away; the next baker will arrive in the village of Dürf, and it will be fifty-two years from now. "The goldfish I raise now are also bred from the goldfish on the island from generation to generation," baker Hans continued. "A few of them only lived for two or three months, but most of them lived for many years. Every time I saw a goldfish die in a glass tank and stop swimming around, I would feel very sad, because in my life In my mind, each of them is different. Albert, this is the secret of goldfish - even a small fish is an irreplaceable individual. So, when they die, I will put their bodies Bury them under a tree in the woods, erect a small white stone tablet for them, and let them have a permanent testimony of their lives."

Two years after Hans the baker told me the story of the Magic Island, he died.My father passed away the year before.After his death, Hans adopted me, so I became the heir of all Hans' property.When he was dying, the old man who was the most respected and loved in my life asked me to listen to him and whispered a secret to me: "The soldier didn't know that the girl whose hair was shaved gave birth to a beautiful boy doll." This is the old baker The last thing I said before I died: a word. I know that this sentence was said by a dwarf at the clown's feast. Hans forgot it for a while, and suddenly remembered it when he was dying.

In the middle of the night, I was lying in bed thinking, my father knocked on the door. "Will she come back to Arendall with us?" I yelled before Baba's front foot crossed the threshold. "We'll have to wait and see," Dad replied.I noticed a bewildered smile flashing across his face. "Mom promised me to take me to the dim sum shop tomorrow morning." I am confident that sooner or later, the fish of my mother will get into my net. Dad nodded: "Tomorrow at eleven o'clock in the morning, she will be waiting for you in the lobby of the hotel. She will cancel all other activities tomorrow."

That night, our father and son were lying on the bed, staring straight at the ceiling, and fell asleep for a long time. The last sentence my father said—I don’t know whether it was to me or to myself was: “A sailing boat at full speed, always You can’t just stop and stop.” "Maybe," I said, "but I believe that fate is on our side."