Chapter 2 2. "Sunshine" and "Lonely"

For a long time, I have been struggling with a question: Where did the story of me and Danny Hagrid begin?Is it because I saw his photo in that various magazines, or was it the first time we met at the Opera House this summer? Xiaoduo took it very seriously that I helped her out of the siege before, and she always wanted to return this favor.Her new boyfriend, Xiao Pei, got the news that the Lyon Opera House was recruiting an actor assistant. They suggested that I give it a try. They said that they had found a good relationship and could help me apply for this summer with a weekly salary of 300 euros. work.

I don't know where they got so much talent, I actually got the job. My boss, Ms. Sophie, is a popular figure in the southeastern musical theater circle. After two years of silence, she came back and rehearsed a new play "Blue Velvet" in Lyon.She is a typical French girl, with golden red hair, a thin and delicate face, a slender body, slender limbs, with her breasts slightly in her mouth when she smokes or walks, like a tabby cat. I packed clothes, prepared scripts, ordered a car, and bought food for her for more than a month, and this absent-minded female star never called my name.She told me to do this and that for her in polite present tense in every sentence.

She never smiles and doesn't seem very pleased with anyone. When brushing my teeth at night, I told Xiaoduo about her. Xiaoduo said: "Then I really should talk to her, I have to ask her if she knows what she has. Let her take a look at our old house with fans from the 1970s. She will definitely be happy when she gets to know us two poor students who are working hard to pay for tuition." "Why should she balance me out?" I said, "I feel like I'm okay, not miserable enough to be a comparison." Xiaoduo giggled: "Just pay me." Sophie really became a little bit happier when she received a gift from the intercity courier on this day.

It was a small package and I received it for Sophie who was working on stage. In the middle of her duet with the male lead, she stopped suddenly, and asked me amidst the music that was still going on and the male lead's unstoppable singing: "What is that?" There was only an address on the package, and I answered Sophie, "No. 15, Avenue du Lou, Chambery." When Sophie heard this, her face remained calm, but she came down from the stage, took the package from me, and slowly opened it.Everyone was waiting for her while she was doing this, they were waiting for this beautiful lady to gracefully finish this thing that was far more important than work in her mind.Before the answer to this mystery was revealed, I kept guessing, which caring admirer would this be an expensive gift from?An antique bracelet, or a string of pearls?

She opened the last layer of silver foil and took out a bottle of transparent liquid. The slender glass bottle was covered with flowers, and the cold temperature sealed by the tin foil suddenly encountered the hot air outside, and the frost condensed on the delicate On the bottle, her fingers covered it, leaving marks, and the edges were transparent.Sophie unscrewed the cap and took a sip.The actress who was so cold that she never smiled suddenly smiled, as if love flowed into her heart. She compensates for all her patient colleagues.In the rehearsal after that day, Sophie cooperated surprisingly, and she said a few more words. She praised a line she should have been familiar with, and patiently followed the physical director through the scene.

Under the stage, I held the bottle and looked carefully. The liquid inside had no bubbles, sweetness or alcohol taste. It should be a bottle of ordinary white water.But this gift from No. 15, Avenue du Lou, Chambery, nourished Sophie like a fine nectar. After the day's rehearsal, I packed Sophie's clothes, printed out the libretto and sheet music for the next day, and cycled home. I started from the back door of the opera house, and I passed an unnamed small fountain with just two kicks.The statue in the middle is a curly-haired boy sitting and thinking. In the pool below it, countless large and small coins shine in the water waves—I don’t know how many people’s wishes are deposited in it.

I pulled a three-euro coin out of my pocket, wondering if I should make a wish to bring myself some good luck, or buy water to drink.After hesitating for a long time, I bought a bottle of Hager water in a small shop, opened it, took a big sip, and then saw a little fat girl, about two or three years old, being instructed by her mother to take a bottle of water. The little coin was thrown as hard as it could into the center of the fountain.She closed her curled eyes and made a wish about candy and friends. A child's wishes are as pure and lovely as their hearts, and may the fountain really have magic powers that grant her wishes and give her what she prays for.

When I got home, it was getting dark, and I pushed the car into the courtyard, but was stopped by the landlord.She talked to me today, with a rare kindness: "I want to change the wallpaper in your room. The current one is too old and attracts mosquitoes. I won't need it for too long, a week or so at most. Where are you? Don't you still have friends? Can you move out for a few days..." Before I answered, Xiaoduo came out of the room.With chopsticks in one hand and a bowl in the other, she was stirring raw eggs.She looked at me and the landlady from above, and said with a smile: "Mrs. Fillon, what are you talking to this child? Didn't I say that we haven't owed a day's rent, and you want to drive us out? Don't talk to my lawyer?"

The landlord scolded her in a low voice and looked at me viciously.I raised my arm to clamp the car up and said, "Excuse me." Madame Fillon stepped out of the way before my wheel brushed her skirt.Xiao Duo laughed and watched me go upstairs step by step. It turned out that she was going to treat guests to eat dumplings, and asked me to help chop the green onions with the noodles.I saw fresh chicken and dried shiitake mushrooms soaked in water next to me, and I was a little surprised: "Why are you so grand? How important are today's guests?" "You, me, Xiao Pei, just the three of us, can't we eat more carefully?"

"Usually you find it troublesome even to cook a bowl of instant noodles, but today you suddenly have to be more careful, I don't know what to do." I said with a smile. She didn't answer at first, hummed a few lines, then turned to me and said, "Xiao Pei beat Zheng Jie." I was taken aback: "Is it the other way around? There is such a big difference in size between the two, did Zheng Jie beat Xiao Pei?" "You don't believe it, do you? But it's true. Do you remember how carefully he asked Zheng Jie's name last time? I was a little worried. Sure enough, just yesterday, Zheng Jie came back from working in the restaurant and let the four boys He fell down next to the subway and broke three ribs. I heard from his classmate this morning."

I put down the washbasin in my hand: "You want to make dumplings for Xiao Pei because of this? You want to thank him for beating Zheng Jie? You have grown up, and you have always heard the saying 'Chinese don't beat Chinese', right?" ?” Xiao Duo didn't laugh out loud, but he looked surprised in my eyes: "When will it be your turn to teach me, a little girl like you? Are you making a movie? And 'Chinese don't hit Chinese'! New man There's nothing wrong with a friend beating up a shameless ex-boyfriend, right? Why blame me for this happening in France?" I hated her self-righteous and nonchalant attitude, and I simply dropped what I was doing and prepared to retreat to my room.Suddenly, I saw another thing about her that made me unhappy—on the stove, her mixed cabbage and pork dumpling stuffing was placed in another basin, and there was actually a book with Danny Haig’s photo under the basin. magazine. I jumped over and pulled the magazine out from under the basin. The title page had already been stained with oil.Xiao Duo jumped over in the next second and hugged her basin: "What are you doing? If you overturn my dumpling stuffing, see if I won't beat you!" "What are you doing?!" I yelled, "Why are you messing with my books?!" "Isn't it just a pictorial? Should I use your trade dictionary as a pot?" She still had plausible words. I was so angry that I couldn't speak, I rushed into my room angrily, and slammed the door hard.She is so annoying!Really annoying!I can't wait to put all the flour on her face!I opened the magazine anxiously, and turned to the page of Danny Haig. Fortunately, his photo was intact, but there were a few oil stars in the text.I carefully cut out his photo, a square piece, about the size of a palm.Where do I put it?The old and stained wall is not acceptable, nor is the table next to the window. After searching for a long time, I still clip that photo in the "Chinese-French Dictionary" that I often read. The entries at the header and footer of that page are soleil and solitude, respectively. "Sunshine" and "Lonely". Then I lay in bed and fell asleep.I slept very badly, the space was stuffy, the air was damp, I was drenched in sweat in the shortness of breath, and there were so many chaotic sounds in my ears: the waves of the Rhone, the sound of motor vehicles and the unbearable noise. The sound of the horn, the creaking and squeezing of the bed next door, the door opening and closing again. I had a dream. I dreamed that money was sent from China. I happily opened it and saw that it was blank and there was no money. This dream woke me up with fright. I opened my eyes in the dark, and tears flowed from the corners of my eyes to my ears.I'm a nineteen-year-old young man, so I shouldn't have so much melancholy and sadness, but sometimes I'm tired. The next door was very quiet, I got up gently to go to the bathroom, opened the door and saw Xiaoduo sitting on a chair in the dining room wearing a sweat-wet vest.She was lighting a cigarette, and when she turned around and saw me, she smiled: "You will know when you get older, you can't get along with anyone, you can't get along with your own stomach, you sleep without eating, you are angry with me, right? You are so stubborn, you little thing." She said me, but she pushed a bowl of dumplings on the stove towards me with her elbow, "I left it for you, try it, sister, I will make it Not everyone can eat the dumplings." I didn't eat dumplings.Coming out of the bathroom, I took out the bottle of Hager water I bought from my satchel and drank it. I sat next to her and watched her always smiling face sink and float in the smoke.She said: "You are becoming more and more incapable of buying such expensive mineral water. The tap water in Lyon can be drunk directly. Don't you know, or have you won the lottery?" I wiped my mouth: "Xiao Pei is gone?" "Yeah." She nodded, took another puff on her cigarette, and looked at me, "I tell you, I'm with them, but I don't love anyone." I take another sip of water. "But I can't stop," she said. "I can't stop after my first boyfriend. When one is gone, I have to get another one right away." She curled her legs up and put her feet on the chair. I looked at her, my eyes unconsciously swept over her thigh. She laughed again, haha, extremely exaggerated: "What are you thinking? What I told you is not just that, but here." She pointed at her heart with her finger holding the cigarette. "I'm lonely." Xiaoduo said. The two of us have no more words.I finished smoking that cigarette with her in this small dark hall, and then she took a shower and went back to her room to sleep.I sat there by myself for another half day until the whore came back.She came to our door just in time and yelled into the phone, "Come to me? Come to me is not okay. Me, I never have 'friends' at home." The next day was July 3, 2002. The reason why I specify this date in this lengthy narrative is because it is of great significance to my future life. On this day, a westerly wind blew in Lyon, which had always been hot, and the temperature dropped slightly; on this day, Sophie was going to rehearse Act Three, Scene Two of "Blue Velvet" in the Opera House—the noble lady was bewitched by the new gardener. On this day, the newly packaged Haiger water was put on the market for just six weeks, and the sales volume exceeded 25 million bottles, creating a miracle in the industry for 30 years, that is, at least one out of every three French people Consumed a bottle of mineral water worth three euros, and French TV One wanted to meet Danny Haigh but failed; on this day, because of the previous insomnia, I couldn't cheer up from the morning and fell asleep. When Sophie sang "The heart of Bohemia is hidden in the shell of copper helmet and iron armor", I still couldn't hold back, lowered my head, and began to doze on my seat. That sleep was very solid and relieved, and I solved a big problem in a limited time. I was awakened by someone from behind, and the voice seemed to come from the sky: "Hey, is Sophie calling you?" Sophie on the stage shook the libretto in her hand and asked me, "What's the matter? The libretto doesn't match." My sweat came down again.I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand, hurried up to the stage with the stack of printed lyrics in my hand, and showed her one by one.Finally found what she wanted, marked today's date with a red pen, and put it in her hand.Sophie took it and whispered to me, "You were sleeping just now." "I'm sorry," I said sincerely, "I didn't sleep well last night." "I asked you to be an assistant, not to know which day you slept well or not." "..." I was kicked off the stage by the sound of music playing again, and I returned to my original seat while wiping my sweat with a handkerchief.The man who woke me up was sitting in the row behind me, where the light from the stage was dividing, and it was dark in the back, and I didn't know yet that he was Danny Hagrid. I only heard his voice, and there was a smile in his voice: "She's not very friendly when she's working, is she?" "Not bad. You called me just now?" "That's right." "Thank you. But why didn't you call me earlier?" "You slept so soundly, it's enviable." "..." "Are you a foreigner? Thai, or Vietnamese?" "Chinese." "You speak French very well." Instead of smiling at him at his compliment, I was a little embarrassed. I said seriously and stubbornly, "Please call me 'you'." He really laughed, with his arms resting on the chair in the front row, and he gradually leaned forward, as if he also wanted to take a closer look at me in front of him.Then his face gradually became clear in the dim light and shadow, and the face I had seen countless times appeared in front of my eyes now: short blond hair, lake blue eyes, and a small wrinkle at the corner of his mouth compared to his in the photo —He is not a young boy anymore, at the age when a man is most attractive to a woman, and he is really handsome, with a gentle and kind manner. Danny Hagrid slightly raised his smiling face, looked at me carefully and said, "You are still a child, why should I call you 'you'?"