glass lover

■

As expected, Mr. Oberstein went to Marshal Luo Chenglin, and the marshal exchanged three resignations from the three chief executives of the empire in exchange for Mr. Oberstein as a staff officer next to him.The face and favor of the three officers, plus the admission of a talent into the Marshal's Mansion, Reinhardt.Feng.Luo Yanlan took advantage of this opportunity and got not a small benefit.Those who are familiar with the situation all feel that his methods are powerful.The sense of threat from the old power nobles has deepened.

After I knew he was safe and sound, I told my dad calmly that I was going on a trip.

"Are you traveling alone? Isn't that dangerous?"

"I have a companion. My brother and I want to go back to our old hometown and have a look."

"Your brother? Isn't he serving? Why is he free?"

"It's rare to have a long vacation."

It seems that my decision and departure are very hasty, but I have actually planned for more than half a year.I asked Millhassen for five days off, and he agreed without asking anything.After get off work, he invited me to the bar and chatted late without realizing it.

"I heard about your Paul. I just think he is very lucky. He met such a boss."

"If it wasn't for Reiner's vacation this time, we plan to travel together, otherwise I really don't know where to hide."

I started smoking, one after another.It seems that swallowing clouds and mist can make people accept their decadent status quo.He didn't stop me, and poured me wine:

"Where are you going to hide? Isn't it great that he didn't go to court-martial? You should be very happy."

"You're right. Anyway, we broke up."

A line of tears slid down his cheeks.

"Do you want to hear me tell the truth?" Millhassen looked at me seriously, and I nodded to him through my teary eyes.

"If you divide it, you will divide it. But that doesn't mean that this love is worthless. Besides, is it really so unbearable to love someone?"

I lay down on the table and sobbed, "Why do people change?"

"Why do you say such things? What he can see is much crueler than what you can see."

"What about you? You never had a lover. Don't teach me."

He looked at me who was already a little drunk, showed an ambiguous smile, and said in a low voice:

"Having no lover does not mean that you have never been in love."

It was two o'clock in the morning when we came out of the bar.I was so drunk that I leaned against Millhassen as he called a taxi to take me home.When we got home, he helped me to the door and opened it for me.

"Shall I walk you in?"

"No need. I'll just go upstairs by myself." I staggered and closed the door, thinking that I wouldn't let anyone know that I came back from drinking late at night.

I have to prepare things for the trip tomorrow...

Go upstairs and turn left, the second door is my room.I pushed open the door, only to realize I had gone the wrong way.I went to the study.The chessboard and chess pieces are still neatly arranged on the tea table as before, and there is a teapot and two teacups beside it.A sore feeling in his chest came up uncontrollably.What little sobriety and sanity I had left told me that I should turn around and walk back to my own room.

Barely moving my feet, holding on to the wall with my hands, I slapped on a door without paying attention.I fell down in the corridor, drunkenness and headache haunting me.I was startled by a heavy, hollow sound, and the door swung open.

It was the thin, pale face that no longer had the warmth and radiance it used to stare at me.He reached out and helped me up.I looked at him blankly, but he didn't say anything, he just took me back to the room half-supported, covered me with the quilt, then turned and left.

■

On the morning of the hangover, I took it for granted that I didn't get up early and go downstairs.Even if I do wake up, I don't want to get out of bed so quickly to face a new day.

Traveling may bring me good memories, and it is a rare opportunity to travel with my brother.We set off in the afternoon.

The journey back to the birthplace is farther than imagined.We spent a whole night on the ground bus, crossed two provinces, and arrived at the nearest city to the village of Jialuote where we were born in the early morning of the next day.And from this city to Jialuote Village, it takes about [-] kilometers to go, and there is no public transportation, so you can only drive a rented car.On the way there, Reiner and I took turns driving and resting.Although the scenery on the road is beautiful, you can also see the fact that the gap between urban and rural areas is uneven.

"We haven't entered the universe yet. This is the capital planet of the Galactic Empire. If you have visited those border planets, especially the territories of the great nobles, you will know what exploitation and oppression are, and what poverty is."

Leiner, who has served in military bases on other planets for two years, told me with a sneer.

After driving for four hours, we learned from the old road signs that Jialuote Village had arrived.

I remember the address, but now we are not in such a hurry.We walked around the village slowly, and parked the car at the gate of an elementary school.Both Reiner and I were too excited to speak, because this school is where we had studied before.Everything looked exactly as I remembered it, with little change.We wandered randomly in the village, searching for scenes in our memories.

For going home, from the original eager anticipation, it gradually turned into an indescribable timidity.Turning a road with a green fence, the house with beautiful high windows jumped into view.

The yard was overgrown with weeds, and the whole house was almost covered with ivy, covering the outer walls like green velvet.Perhaps it is because of the protection of the thick climbing vines, which makes it look a bit gloomy, and the whole house does not seem to have any signs of destruction.

Trembling, Reiner took out the key from his pocket, ran into the yard in three steps and two steps, and almost slipped on the mossy stone steps.As soon as the dark green door was pushed open, I saw him froze in place.

"Gretchen, we are finally back."

The scene inside the house was clearly the same as the day we left, except that everything was covered with thick dust.We also went out of our way to clean and tidy the house that day, telling ourselves we would be back soon.

Some curious people gradually gathered outside the yard.

"Young man, where are you from?"

An old man asked us in the dialect of Carrot.Without even thinking about it, Reiner blurted out in the Jiarot dialect he used when he was a child: "We used to live here."

"This is Herman's house. Isn't he dead? Isn't his child still young?"

"We are his children." The old man was probably old, and he couldn't tell the time when he spoke.I answered him with a smile in dialect.

"There have been no young people here for a long time." The old man shook his head and said to himself.

Among the onlookers outside the yard, there appeared a face we remembered, that was our primary school teacher, Mr. Zweig.He kindly invited us to have dinner at his home, but we couldn't resist his kindness, so we let him go.

It was one of the worst dinners of my life.

It's not that Mrs. Zweig's cooking skills are bad. In fact, her dishes are very delicious. What makes us uncomfortable is that the Zweig couple told us about the recent situation in Jialuote Village.

Their two sons were already dead.As soon as they entered the door, they saw a photo hanging in the living room, with the date of birth and death written on it. Their youngest son was also in the same class as Reiner.

The daughter of the next-door neighbor XX was widowed and moved back to the village with her child; Young people under the age of 30.

Lena grimaced.He dared not admit that he was now a lieutenant officer. He felt more uncomfortable than anyone else when he heard the Zweigs talk about other people's life and death as if they were talking about trivial matters.

"My son's life is not good. The bosses he meets are all nobles. He is just reckless. It's fine if he loses his life, but he will drag a bunch of people to die together! My child..."

Mrs. Zweig wept.And we almost escaped from their house.

We drove the car to the door of our hometown, and the two of them slept in the car for a night.It's been a long time since I've been in such a rural place, and I'm still not used to the loud insect chirping in the fields.Neither my brother nor I could sleep.

"Greek, before you decided to come, did you have mental preparations?"

"I have prepared, but many things have to be seen and heard with my own eyes before I can really feel it. No matter how much preparation I have, I can't prepare for it."

It's been a long time since I saw such clear moonlight shining in through the car window.On Reiner's neat and handsome side face, there was a slightly excited expression.

"You said, was it wrong for me to choose to be a soldier? Seeing them so painful...I..."

"How do you know that they can only suffer weakly? Didn't we all survive?"

"That's our luck!"

"So, as an officer, you must cherish your subordinates. They don't sacrifice themselves for you for no reason. You must have seen too many noble officers who disregard human lives."

Reiner turned his head, showed a relieved smile, and took my hand.

"Do you have any impression of the people on the side of the Free Planet Alliance? Political propaganda so-called rebels."

"Of course it's such a propaganda, but they must also be raised by their parents, who will bleed and hurt. And I think, before you actually go to the front line, you don't know anything about them, right? You are a soldier. Knowledge is already very limited, how can ordinary people know what has been fought for 150 years?"

"Also, to be honest, after staying on the border front for a long time, you will find that they are just repeating some meaningless little frictions, as far as I think, that has no strategic value at all. I don't know why I am fighting? Who are I fighting for? ?” Reiner caught my words, and said it in one breath, as if he couldn’t speak quickly.

"How can you not know who to fight for? Of course it is to safeguard the dignity of the only ruler in the universe, to declare the legitimacy of the Goldbaum Dynasty, and the fact that the Galactic Empire is sacred and inviolable."

"You can recite it very well." Reiner sneered a few times, "Legal legitimacy, if he is really the only ruler of the universe, why bother to maintain this natural legitimacy? Hmph."

"Yeah, I can actually recite this kind of boring thing, it's all because..."

My eyes were red, and I couldn't continue.

"Greek, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, I'm just thinking about something from the past." I secretly reached out and wiped the tears from the corners of my eyes.

Reiner was silent for a while, then whispered:

"If such a class system suddenly disappears now, will those people who were at the top still survive?"

"do not know."

■

At dawn the next day, Lena and I took turns to fetch water from the stream two hundred meters away to clean the house.No one has lived in it for so long, and we are also worried whether the house has been seized or changed hands. The village head told us that the people in the village withered too quickly, and no one tried to occupy the house for many years.

"I think there are too many troublesome things. No one will take care of this innocuous place, the inheritance dispute of a fallen officer." Reiner told me with a wry smile.

It took two days to clean the old house inside and out.Just cleaned up, sat down with a cup of tea, and we were heading back on our way.After the vacation, Lena will report to the new unit soon, and I will also return to work.On the way back, I felt that what this journey gave me was not any relaxation or pleasure, but a kind of heaviness that I had never felt before.

Back in the Capital District, we broke up.When I arrived at the door, unexpectedly, Hugo didn't rush forward to welcome me home.

"Hugo! Good dog, where are you hiding? Hugo!"

I left my luggage in the yard and went around to the backyard to find it.I faintly feel that something is wrong.

"I bought you an apple! Hugo!"

Came out from the backyard, still didn't see it.Dad heard my voice and opened the door.

"Dad, where's Hugo? Did you go to the vet?"

"Hugo was hit by a car at the gate yesterday and died."

"What!?"

I was so surprised that I dropped the bag to the ground.

"Does Mr. Oberstein know?"

"The morning before yesterday, he took some things to the officers' quarters. He probably won't be back for a while."

"Dad, haven't you informed him yet?"

"Not yet. He told me not to call him unless it was an urgent matter."

I bent down and picked up the tote bag with the apple and the dog toy.Hugo's death, is it important or unimportant, urgent or not urgent to him?Hugo is very old, but he is a good pet who has lived with Mr. Oberstein for more than ten years.I sigh for this dog who has also been with me for a long time.

"Is that so..."

I put away my surprised expression, went back to the yard and took my luggage into the house.

"Did the trip back go well?"

Dad asked while carrying my luggage for me.

"It's going well. The scenery in the countryside is very good, but the road is too far, and we spent a lot of time driving." I replied lightly.

"It's good that it goes well. I was worried that you don't seem to be in the mood to work for a while. It's good to go out and relax."

Did dad see it too?I felt my breathing quicken.I only heard my father talking about Mr. Oberstein looking very tired for a while, not eating well, and not sleeping well.Especially after I go out for a trip, my spirit is even worse.Originally, his father wanted to prevent him from moving to the officer's dormitory so quickly, but he insisted so much that his father had to help him pack his things and send him out.

I had mixed feelings in my heart when I heard it, and tears almost came out.Going upstairs and passing by the study room, I habitually opened the door and went in. I saw that the sofa next to the floor-to-ceiling window had changed its position, and I didn’t know where to put the chessboard.Some of the things I use most often are still there and look out of place with the rest.

Without saying a word, I walked forward and silently packed the things I put in the study.I found an empty box, put all those things in it, sealed it, and moved it back to my own room.It turns out that I took out all the books I put in his bookcase and piled them up in my own small room.

But I did not return the key to the study.