Chapter 13 Maomao Chapter Thirteen One day there, one year here

Mao Mao woke up and opened his eyes. Where is this?She had to think for a moment.She found herself back at some point in the amphitheatre, sitting on the weedy stone steps, confused.Didn't she just stay in the nowhere building of the master technician?Why did you come back here all of a sudden? It was dark and the air was cool.The first light of dawn had just appeared on the eastern horizon.Maomao couldn't help shivering, so he wrapped the particularly bulky men's jacket tightly around his body. She clearly remembered everything she had experienced.Remember that night of roaming with the turtle through the whole big city.Remember the strangely lit city and the blindingly white houses.I remember Never Lane, the hall with countless clocks and clocks of different styles, the kind of chocolate and honey bread, I still remember every word she said to Master Hula and the mystery of time.But what haunts her most is her experience under the golden domed roof.As long as she closed her eyes, she could see the flowers shining with strange colors that she had never seen before.The sound of the sun, moon and stars still lingered in her ears, so clear that she could even hum the melody of that music.

Just as she closed her eyes, those words sounded in her mind again. They really described the fragrance of flowers and their never-before-seen colors!Mao Mao remembered, those voices among the stars said so—with these memories, something miraculously appeared! Now, Maomao finds that the flowers in her heart are not only the ones she has seen and heard, but more and more.It was as if thousands of photographs of the flower of time were rising from an inexhaustible magic well.The words spoken by each flower are different. Maomao just listened with bated breath, hoping to repeat it, and even hoped to hum along.Those words were about some very mysterious and wonderful things, and because Maomao repeated those words, she also understood the inner meaning of those words.

This is what Master Hou La said: These words must grow in her heart first! Was it all but a dream after all?Or maybe none of this really happened at all? However, when Mao Mao was still thinking that way, she saw something wriggling in the open space in front, ah, it was a turtle, calmly looking for edible weeds. Mao Mao quickly climbed down the steps and walked up to it, squatting down beside it.The tortoise just raised its head, looked at Maomao with its old black eyes, and continued to eat grass slowly. "Good morning, Turtle!" Momo said. There is no answer written on the turtle's carapace.

"Is that you?" Maomao asked, "Was it you who took me to Master Hou La last night?" The turtle still didn't answer, and Mao Mao sighed in disappointment. "It's a pity," she said to herself, "that you're just an ordinary turtle and not that...sadly, I forgot its name. It's a beautiful name, long and strange, and I used to Never heard of it." "Cassiopea!" Suddenly, a line of shimmering writing appeared on the turtle's carapace.Mao Mao recognized it, and couldn't help being very pleasantly surprised. "Yes!" she cried, clapping her hands. "That's the name! Then it's you? You're Master Holla's tortoise? Isn't that right?"

"Who else could it be!" "Then why didn't you answer me at first?" "I'm having breakfast." These words were displayed on the tortoise shell. "Sorry! I didn't mean to bother you. I just wanted to know why you're here again?" "This is your wish!" Light came from the tortoise shell again, which was the answer. "Strange," murmured Momo, "I can't remember that at all. But why did you come with me, Cassiopeia?" "My wish!" A few words appeared on the tortoise shell. "Thank you!" Maomao said, "You are so cute."

"You're welcome!" Then he crawled forward again.It seemed that the tortoise wanted to end this strange conversation with these words, and continue its interrupted breakfast. Mao Mao sat on the stone steps, waiting for the arrival of Old Beipo, Jiji and other children.She heard the music that had been ringing in her heart again.Although she was alone and no one was listening to her, she sang louder and more courageously, with not only the melody but also the words, and she sang straight to the rising sun.This time, she seemed to feel the birds.The crickets, the trees, even the ancient stones listened to her song.

How did Mao Mao know that she would not be able to find other listeners for a long time.She didn't know that waiting like this was completely futile. Because it's been a long time since she's been away, and the world has changed dramatically in the interim—Mr. Gray has conquered Guide Gigi with relative ease. Here's how it happened: About a year ago, the day after Maomao disappeared, the newspaper published a long article introducing Gigi entitled "The Last True Storyteller".In addition, it also reported when and where you can meet him, and what wonderful programs he will perform, I hope people will not miss it.

As a result, more and more people came to the ancient amphitheatre.They wanted to see what Gigi was like and hear his stories.Such a good thing, Gigi will naturally not object. As usual, he talked wherever he thought, and at last walked up and down holding up his hat, which was always full of coins and bills.Soon, a travel company hired him again.In order to make himself a figure worth seeing, the company also paid him a fixed amount of money.Tourists arrive regularly in limousines, and it didn't take long for Kitai to stick to a schedule he had arranged so that anyone who paid would have a chance to hear his stories.

However, since then, he has missed Mao Mao, because his stories have lost the wings of imagination.Even though he was paid double, he still insisted not to repeat the story that had already been told. After a few months, he no longer had to go to the old amphitheater and turn his hat around.Radio and TV have asked him to tell stories.Now he speaks there three times a week to millions and earns a fortune. So that he didn't have to live near the amphitheatre, he moved to another downtown area that was populated by the rich and famous.He rents a large modern house with a well-groomed garden surrounding it.

He also stopped calling himself Gigi and changed his name to Giro Ram.Of course, he has long since stopped making up new stories as he used to. He simply doesn't have time for this kind of thing. He began to save his inspiration.Now, he sometimes turns an idea into several different stories. Still, he couldn't answer the growing number of questions.One day, he did something he shouldn't have done: he told the story that only Mao Mao had heard. Like all other stories, he rushed through this one and then forgot all about it.They asked him to continue talking.Because he was talking too fast, he felt a little dazed, and he didn't think about it, so he leaked all the stories that could only be told to Mao Mao.No sooner had he finished telling the last story than he felt suddenly empty in his head, unable to invent any more stories.

He was afraid of losing what he had already achieved, so he had to repeat all the stories told, but changed the names and slightly changed the content.Strangely, no one seems to have noticed this. In short, it didn't affect others' questions at all.Gigi clings to this like a drowning man clings to a plank.Now, he's rich and famous—isn't that what he's always dreamed of? But when he lay in bed at night under the silken quilt, he often longed to go back to another life, where he could be with Mao Mao, old Beppo, and the children, where he really knew what to do. say something. However, there is no way back there.Mao Mao disappeared a long time ago and has not returned until now.Gigi did try to find her a few times at first, but then he ran out of time.He now has three hard-working female secretaries who sign contracts for him, record his dictated stories, advertise for him, and arrange daily activities, but the search for Mao Mao is never on the agenda. Gigi had almost changed completely, but one day he suddenly cheered up and decided to think about it.He said to himself: Now, my words do carry weight and have millions of listeners.Who else can tell people the truth! I want to tell them the story of Mr. Gray!I'm going to tell them this is not made up and I'm going to ask all my listeners to help me find Momo. He misses his old friends so much that he sometimes has trouble sleeping for several nights at a time.One night, he finally decided to do it.At daybreak, he was sitting in front of his large writing desk, planning to write down the plan.However, before the first word was written, the phone rang.He picked up the receiver, suddenly stunned. The other party had a strange, gloomy voice, and he immediately felt a chill in his heart, as if it came from the cracks in his bones. "Forget it," said the voice, "we advise you only for your own good." "Who are you?" Gigi asked. "You know that very well," replied the voice. "We need not introduce ourselves. Although you yourself have not yet shared our happiness with us, you are already fully one of us, you can't help but understand." !" "What do you want from me?" "We don't like what you're planning to do now. Be smart and leave that alone, you hear?" Gigi mustered up her courage. "No!" he said, "I can't let this go any longer. I'm not that little, nameless guide Gigi anymore. Now, I'm a big shot.Let's wait and see what you can do to me. " The voice sneered.Suddenly, Jiji's upper and lower teeth clashed involuntarily. "You're nothing!" said the voice. "We made you, you're a rubber doll, and we inflated you. If you annoy us, we'll take all the air out of you." Let it go. Do you really think that the reason why you are today is entirely due to yourself and your little cleverness?" "Yes, I believe that," Gigi replied hoarsely. "Poor little Gigi," said the voice, "you have always been nothing but a fantasist. Once upon a time you were Prince Giroram wearing the mask of poor Jiji. Now? Now you are wearing the mask of Prince Giroram Poor Gigi. Still, you should thank us for making your dreams come true. " "It's not true!" Kiyoyoshi stammered a little, "It's a lie! " "Good boy!" The voice sneered again, "Are you really going to embarrass us with the truth? You have spoken a lot of big things about truth and falsehood before. Oh, forget it, poor Jiji, if you You're not going to get good results if you have to mention the truth. With our help, you've made a name for yourself by bluffing. As for telling the truth, you have nothing to do with it. So you better leave it alone !" "Where did you hide Maomao?" Jiji asked in a low voice. "Don't worry about that, and be careful not to break your sweet little head! You can't help her anymore, even if you tell stories about us now. The result of a push will be: The success you achieve will be as fleeting as it was when you got it. Of course, this is up to you to decide, and if you feel that being a hero is as important as destroying yourself, we will not stop. But if you If you are ungrateful, you can no longer expect us to continue to extend our protective hand to you. Wouldn't it be more pleasant to gain fame and fortune?" "Of course." Gigi replied, sounding very depressed. "Look! Let's stop going around in circles then, okay? Better yet, you keep telling people the stories they want to hear!" "How do I do that?" Gigi struggled. Said, "Now, here, where I know all this, what shall I do?" "I have a good idea for you: don't think so highly of yourself. This matter really has nothing to do with you. Look at the problem this way, and you can do things as well as before!" "Yes." Gigi stared at the front and said sincerely, "In this way..." There was a bluff from the receiver, and the other party had already hung up the phone.Then Jiji also hung up the phone.Then, he threw himself on the large writing desk in front of him, buried his head and sobbed silently. From that day on, Gigi lost all self-esteem.He gave up his plan and told stories to everyone as usual.Now, he feels like a liar.Yes, indeed a liar.Formerly his dreams had led him along an unreal path, and he had let his fancy lead him wherever it took him, carefree.But now he is lying!He presents himself as a clown and a puppet for the audience, and he knows it in his heart.He began to loathe his profession.As a result, his stories became more and more dull and sentimental. However, this did not ruin his achievements, on the contrary it was called a new style, which many tried to imitate. While the style has become trendy, Gigi isn't happy about it.He knew now that it was all to blame.He got nothing.He has lost everything. He still drives the car to go to various appointments quickly, and takes the fastest plane.Whether he was walking or standing, the female secretaries kept recording the old stories he dictated, which had been changed.As all the newspapers reported—his stories were "surprisingly numerous."And just like that, Gigi, the visionary, becomes Giroram, the trickster. However, it is much more difficult for Mr. Gray to defeat Beppo, the old scavenger. Ever since Momo disappeared that night, as soon as old Beppo finished his work, he went to the old amphitheater and sat and waited.Finally, he finally couldn't bear it anymore, and he didn't care about Jiji's reasonable opinion, so he decided to go to the police. "It'll be better this way," said old Beppo to himself. "Even if Momo was sent to the prison with bars again, it would be much better than being caught by Mr. Gray. If she was still alive, she could go back again." Escaped, she has escaped from there before. Well, perhaps I am worried about whether she can get through. Anyway, first of all, she must be found now." So he went to the nearest police station on the edge of town.He walked around for a long time, fiddling with the hat in his hand, and then he mustered up the courage to walk over. "What's your business?" asked the policeman, who was busy filling out a long and complicated form. Old Beppo paused for a moment before saying, "Something terrible must have happened here." "Tell me?" the policeman asked as he continued to write, "What happened?" "This matter concerns our Fluffy." Old Beppo replied. "A child?" "Yes, a little girl." "Is it your child?" "No." Old Beppo replied at a loss. "She is, she is our child, but I am not her father." "Say yes for a while, say no for a while!" the policeman said angrily, "Whose child is she? Who are her parents?" "Nobody knows," old Beppo answered. "Where is her household registration?" "Hukou?" old Beppo said. "Oh, I think we all know her with us." "That means she doesn't have a registered permanent residence." The policeman sighed and said firmly, "Do you know that this kind of thing is not allowed? Here we go!Whose house does the child live in? " "She lives alone," answered old Beppo, "that is, in the old amphitheater, but she's not there now, she's missing." "Wait a minute," said the policeman, "if I hear you right, there's a little homeless girl living in the ruins outside the city. What's her name?" "" Maomao. said old Beppo. The policeman took it all down. "...My name is Maomao, what's her last name? Tell me her full name!" "It's just Maomao, no surname." Old Beipo said. The policeman scratched his chin and gave old Beppo a worried look. "That's not okay, good man. I'd like to help you, but I can't report to my superiors like this. Tell me first, what's your name?" "Bepo." "Bepo... what's your last name?" "Scavenger Beppo." "I'm asking about your surname, not your occupation." "Scavenger is also my last name." Old Bepo answered patiently. The policeman put down his pen and covered his face with his hands. "My God!" he said in despair, "why do I have to be on this shift today?" He stood up, shrugged his shoulders, smiled at the old man with a forced smile, and said in a nurse's gentle tone: "We will fill out this form later, and now you can tell me from beginning to end what happened. things, how it all happened.” "Everything?" old Beppo asked puzzled. "That's all about this matter," said the policeman. "Although I have a lot of forms to fill out by noon and I don't have time right now, I'm exhausted—you can still submit; Say it all." He leaned back, closed his eyes tightly, and the expression on his face was that of a martyr who had just been put on fire. So old Beppo began to tell the whole story in his peculiar way with trepidation: from Fluffy's appearance to her features, to the conversation he had heard with his own ears on the garbage dump. "On that night, Momo disappeared." Old Beppo ended his narration. The policeman watched him for a long time sadly. "In other words," said the policeman at last, "it was true that there was an incredible little girl here, but no one can say whether she was carried away alive by some ghost of unknown origin, and no one knows. Where has she been abducted? However, it is not certain whether this is true.Therefore, this matter can only be figured out by the police station. " "Yes, please help!" Beppo old pleaded. The policeman leaned forward and said roughly, "Hit on me!" Old Beppo didn't understand why, but he shrugged his shoulders and obediently complied. The policeman sniffed it, shook his head and said, "Obviously you're not drunk." "Yes." Old Beppo blushed in embarrassment. "I've never been drunk." "Then why are you telling me such nonsense? Do you think the police are so stupid as to believe such nonsense?" "Yes." Old Beppo said sincerely. At this time, the police finally lost their patience.He jumped up from his chair and punched the cumbersome form. "enough!" His face was flushed, and he shouted, "Get out of here immediately, or I'll arrest you for insulting the officer!" "Excuse me!" said old Beppo in a panic. "I didn't mean that, I meant..." "Get out!" yelled the policeman. Old Beppo turned and walked out slowly. For several days after that, old Beipo went to several police stations, and the situation he encountered was basically the same.Either throw him out, or send him home friendly, or comfort him, so as to get rid of the entanglement of the earth. But once old Beppo met a sheriff-like figure who seemed more serious than his colleagues.After listening to the whole story without expression, he said coldly: "This old man is crazy, we must find out whether he will endanger public order, and take him to the detention center first!" Old Beibo was forced to wait in the detention center for a long time before being escorted into a car by two policemen.They drove across town to a white building with iron bars on its doors and windows.But this is not a prison or similar places as the old Beppo imagined, but a mental hospital. He was thoroughly examined here, and the doctors and nurses treated him politely, neither mocking nor scolding him, and even showing interest in his story.He had to repeat his story over and over again.Although they never contradicted him, old Beppo always felt that they didn't really believe what he said, he couldn't get their intentions, they just wouldn't let him go anyway. Whenever he asked when he could go out, he always got the same answer: "Soon, we need you at the moment. You know, the inspection is not over yet, but some progress has been made. " Old Beipo thought it was related to the investigation of Mao Mao's whereabouts, so he waited patiently. In a large ward, many patients were sleeping.He was taken to a bed and made to sleep there.One night, when he woke up, he saw a person standing by his bed in the dim light.At first he saw only the red dot on the cigarette butt, then the stiff bowler hat and the briefcase that the man standing in the dark was holding. He got it, it was a Mr. Gray.He felt a chill penetrate into his heart, and he wanted to call for help. "Quiet!" said the monotonous voice, "I have been ordered to come and give you some advice. Listen, and I will let you answer before you speak! Now that you have finally seen how far our power has grown, it is entirely up to you whether you wish to know more.You can't hurt a hair of us by telling people about us, but we still feel uncomfortable.In addition, your assumption is very correct, your little friend Mao Mao was imprisoned by us. But you mustn't expect to find her with us, it never will.And all your efforts to save her are only making things worse for the poor child, and every effort you are making is making her suffer, old chap, think what you do next! " Mr. Gray exhaled a few smoke rings, proudly observing the impact his words had on old Beppo, because old Beppo believed every word he said. "In order to speak as concisely as possible, because my time is also precious," continued Mr. Gray, "I make the following proposal to you: I will return this child to you on condition that I will never reveal our truth again. and our work. Apart from that, we ask you to save one hundred thousand hours of your time as ransom.As for how we get the time, you don't have to worry about it, that's our business.Your task is simply to save time, how to save it is your business.If you agree with this suggestion, we will try to get you to leave here in the next few days. If you don't agree, then you will stay here forever, and Mao Mao will stay with us forever. You should think about it.We've never made such a generous offer, and this is the first time, how is it? " Old Beppo swallowed twice, and said hoarsely, "I agree." "You are very wise." Mr. Gray said with satisfaction, "then, you have to remember it well: keep completely silent and save a hundred thousand hours. As soon as we get these hours, we will return Mao Mao to you. Goodbye, Old boy." Before the words finished, Mr. Gray had already left the ward.The cigarette butt behind him glowed dimly like a will-o'-the-wisp in the dark. After that, old Beppo told no more of his stories.When people asked him why he used to speak, he just shrugged sadly.After a few days, they sent him home. But old Beipo didn't go home, but went directly to the compound in front of the building where he and his colleagues received brooms and carts every day.He took out his broom and went into town and began sweeping the streets. He looked flustered, and he was no longer like before, taking a breath and sweeping.Now, he no longer loves this kind of work, his purpose is just to save time.He knew painfully and clearly that by doing so, he not only denied and betrayed his beliefs, but also denied and betrayed his entire life so far.He hated what he was doing, he was sick.If only it was his own business.He would rather starve him to death than deceive himself.But, it's about Momo, he has to redeem Momo, and the only way he knows is to save time. He sweeps the streets day and night and never comes home.When he was exhausted, he would sit on a bench by the side of the road or on a stone for a while, play a ton, and then continue to sweep.He was also in a hurry when he found time to eat, he swallowed whatever he wanted.He didn't go back to the hut next to the amphitheatre.He sweeps, sweeps, week after week, month after month, winter and summer, autumn and winter, he is still sweeping and sweeping. Spring comes and goes, and it's summer again in a blink of an eye.But Beipo hardly noticed these changes, he just scanned and scanned, only thinking of saving a hundred thousand hours quickly so as to redeem Mao Mao's body. No one in the big city noticed the little old man.Whenever he passed people, panting and waving his broom--as if it was his life--someone stuck out a finger behind him and tapped themselves on the head, and they thought the little old man was probably a fool.For old Beppo, people's views like this were not surprising, so he didn't take it to heart at all.Even when people sometimes asked him why he was in such a hurry, he just paused for a moment, looked at the questioner timidly and sadly, and put his finger on his lips-the most difficult thing for Mr. Gray is to put Mao Mao Those children among friends introduce their trap. After Mao Mao disappeared, the children still gathered at the ruins of the amphitheater whenever they had the opportunity.They can always invent new games, and as long as they have a few broken boxes and cardboard boxes, they can play for half a day.They travel the world magically in them, or build castles and palaces out of them.They kept reinventing themselves, telling one story after another, and in a word, they played as if Momo was among them.It's all stated in an amazing way, as if Mao Mao is still among them. The kids never doubted that Fluffy would be back.They kept silent on the subject, as if there was no need for it.Mao Mao belonged to them, was the center of their mystery, whether she was present or not. In contrast, Mr. Friends have nothing to do with them. Since they couldn't exert influence on these children to get them out of Mao Mao, they had to try to achieve their goals indirectly.This is the influence exerted by adults on children.Of course, not all parents agree to do this, but there are indeed many people who are suitable as Mr. Gray's assistants.In addition, the children's own weapons are now being used by the hair masters against their parents. Some people suddenly remembered the children's parades, their banners and placards. "We have to do something about it," said the townsman. "It's not okay that more and more children are left unattended and disorganized.This cannot be blamed on their parents, because modern life has left them little time to care about their children.But the city's governing body should care about it. " "It's really not going to go on like this." Others said, "The well-ordered traffic order is messed up by these wandering children, and the traffic accidents caused by children are constantly increasing, and more and more money is spent on this. The money could be put to better use.” "The children who are left alone," some declared, "will become criminals if they are not educated in morals. The city management agency should find a way to manage those children, and should set up some shelters to educate them to be useful to society. " Some people said: "Children are the human resources of the future. The future will be an age of jets and computers. At that time, a large number of experts and technicians will be needed. But instead of educating them and preparing them for tomorrow's world, we have instead Indulge them more and more, and let many of their children waste precious time in play. It is a disgrace to our civilization and a crime against humanity!" This is very convincing for time savers.Since there were already many time-savers in the great city, they persuaded the municipal administration in a very short time that it was necessary to do something about those children. As a result, so-called "children's homes" have been established in every urban area.Those were tall buildings, where unattended children were sent, and could only be picked up with permission. Children were strictly forbidden to play in the street, on the lawn or anywhere else.If the child is caught on the spot, he will be sent to a nearby "children's home" immediately.The child's parents will also be punished accordingly. None of Maomao's friends escaped this new regulation. They were separated, and those from which city were sent back to which city. They were sent to different "children's homes".There, of course, they couldn't even think about that kind of game. The games that can be played in the "Children's Home" have long been stipulated by the management staff, that is to say, only those games that help them learn are allowed.In this way other games are gradually forgotten which have entertained them, educated them, and filled them with fantasy. The faces of the children gradually became like little adults who save time.They get bored and do what people ask them to do.full of hostility.Even when left alone sometimes, they can't think of what else they can do. Besides, the first thing they can do is make noise—not happy noise, of course, but angry, disobedient noise. But the gray gentlemen did not deal with those children in person.Now, they have laid a net in this big city, and it seems that the net is not only dense, but also very strong.Even the brightest kids have trouble slipping through the net.Mr. Gray has achieved his goal, and they have made all preparations for Mao Mao's return. Since then, the ancient amphitheater has become empty and deserted. At this moment, Mao Mao was sitting on the stone steps there waiting for them.She had been there all day, sitting like that, waiting.However, no one came.not a single person. The sun is setting on the main line, the shadows of objects are getting longer and longer, and the weather is starting to cool. Mao Mao finally stood up, she felt hungry growling.No one would think of bringing her something to eat now, and this has never happened before.Even Gigi and old Beppo must have forgotten her today.Mao Mao thought, this must be an oversight, an unpleasant accident, tomorrow will figure it out. She went down the steps and walked over to the turtle, who was sleeping with his head in his shell.Mao Mao squatted in front of it, and tapped on the tortoise shell with his fingers sheepishly, and the tortoise stuck out its head to look at Mao Mao. "Excuse me," Maomao said, "I'm sorry to wake you up, can you tell me why none of my friends came all day today?" A sentence appeared on the tortoise shell: "No one will come now." Mao Mao saw it clearly, but didn't understand the meaning of this sentence. "Okay then." She said confidently, "Anyway, I will figure it out tomorrow, and tomorrow, my friend will definitely come." "No one will come again," was the answer of the turtle. Maomao stared blankly at the blurred letters on the horn armor for a long time. "What do you mean?" she asked at length uneasily. "What has happened to my friends?" "all gone." Maomao shook his head. "No," she said softly, "that's impossible. You must be mistaken, Cassiopeia. They all came to our big meeting yesterday, and nothing happened there!" "You have been asleep for a long time." This was Cassiopeia's answer. Mao Mao remembered that Master Hu La once said that she must sleep for a solar year like a seed in the ground. When she said yes, it didn't occur to her how long that might be.Now, she remembered. "How long have I been asleep?" she asked in a low voice. "One year and one day. It took Maomao a long time to understand the meaning of this answer. "But old Beppo and Gigi," Maomao said intermittently, "they must still be waiting for me!" "No one is waiting for you now." These words appeared on the tortoise shell. “这怎么可能呢？”毛毛的嘴唇都有点儿颤抖了，“简直难以置信，难道这一切就这么完了吗？——原来的一切……”龟甲上出现一个词儿：“已成往事。” 毛毛长这么大还是第一次感到这个词儿所包含的巨大分量。她的心情从未像现在这样沉重。 “可是，我，”她不由自主地小声说，“我还在这儿她真想痛哭一场，但却哭木出来。 过了一会儿，她感到乌龟正在触摸自己的一只脚丫子。 “我在你身边！”几个字出现在充甲上。 “对，”毛毛勇敢地微笑了，“对，卡西欧佩亚，还有你在我身边，我很高兴。来，我们睡觉去。” 她抱起乌龟，爬进墙上的洞口，来到下面她自己的房间里。借着夕阳的微光，毛毛看到屋里的一切同她离开时一样（当时，老贝波将她的屋子又收拾过了）。但是到处都是厚厚的灰尘和蜘蛛网。 在那个用箱子板做的小桌子上，有一封信立着靠在铁盒子上。信上也覆盖着蜘蛛网。 信封上写着“毛毛收”。 毛毛的心跳开始加快，她还从来没有收到过信。她拿在手里，翻来覆去地看着，然后才撕开信封，抽出一张纸片。“亲爱的毛毛！我已经搬家了。你回来以后，请马上去找我。我非常担。。你。你不在，使我很难过。但愿你没有出什么事。如果你饿了，就去找尼诺，他会把账单寄给我，我会全部付清的。你想吃多少就吃多少，听见了吗？其余的一切，尼诺会告诉你。继续爱我吧！我也继续爱你！ 你永远的上士”虽然吉吉费了九牛二虎之力才把这封信写得既漂亮又清楚，但毛毛还是花了很长时间才一个字一个字地读完。她刚读完信，最后一道日光就消失了。毛毛的心终于平静下来。她托起乌龟，把它放在床上，让它紧挨着自己。她钻进落满尘土的被窝，小声说，“你瞧，卡西欧佩亚，我并不孤独。”乌龟似乎已经睡着了。毛毛在读信时清清楚楚地看到，这封信在这儿几乎放了将近一年，这真是她没有想到的事。她把信纸贴在脸上，现在她不再感到寒冷了。