woman wearing irish linen shirt

I looked at her and smiled slightly: "Did he buy it?"

"Hmm." She seemed a little proud, "I made up a long story, you don't want to know, anyway, now you are my sister."

"Sister," I leaned on the windowsill with both hands, facing her and asked, "May I know how old you are?"

Miss Pender blinked: "I will be 30 this summer."

"Then it's too easy for your sister to come." I had a premonition, but I didn't expect her to be one year younger than me. "I'm older than you."

"How big is it?"

"It's older than you anyway." I laughed, "What year did you get your doctorate?"

"16 years," she said. "I remember we started working full-time in the same year."

I coughed and did not forget to tease her: "You have checked my resume, I know, but let's treat it as common knowledge."

Did she study earlier or did she get enough credits for her undergraduate degree very early?Can Harvard graduate early?

"It's hard to say. I just wanted to show how much I know you." Her teasing was cut short, and before I could react, she added, "I'm sorry I can't stay too long, there's still— —I bought some things for you, I don’t know if you have allergies, so I bought all the anti-inflammatory drugs with different ingredients in the convenience store, can I put them here?”

"Of course! Thank you." She probably managed to come here after compressing a full day's schedule.Subconsciously, I wanted to go up to see her off, just as I took a step, I stopped again, looked at her awkwardly, and finally smiled.

The wind was blowing behind her, and she looked back at me with gentle eyes.

"Give me the trash, and I'll take it down." Miss Pande gave me no room to refuse, and then said, "If you need anything, you can call me, okay? I will arrange it."

"Uh, okay." I didn't know how to answer this sentence, "You just stand there and don't move."

I stuck to the wall and went to the bathroom to get the garbage, stuffed it into a garbage bag in the kitchen, put it on another layer, and tied it tightly, then put it in a conspicuous place, and walked back to the window against the wall.Doing this with gloves on was a bit of a hassle, my fingertips got tangled in the plastic bag and almost came off a few times.I wonder if she will get impatient?

Touching the window, I took a breath and said, "You go and get it, but you must wash your hands carefully afterwards, promise me."

Miss Pender was looking at me all the time I was talking, and I was a little apprehensive.

Don't she really treat me like a younger sister?

But I think back to the scene when we first met.That night she waited for me to check out and went for a walk together, wasn't she also so kind?Maybe that's why she was able to be a partner.She has both talent and advantages in buying people's hearts, and she must have always been unfavorable in the past.

Will today be an exception?

I forced myself not to think about it, but it didn't help.I was at a loss and couldn't say anything more, I could only watch her pick up the trash.When passing by the living room, she suddenly said, "Perfect refrigerator."

Miss Pender did not look at me as she spoke.

I stayed by the window alone without feeling the heat, and stood for a while looking at the closed door.

There are two missed calls from Lao Huang on the phone, and there are more than a dozen messages of condolences.Originally, I wanted to reply collectively, but felt it was inappropriate, so I replied one by one, and flipped through Lao Huang's news again.Those who know me, Huang Xiuwen also.In addition to the two "greeting" messages of "Are you alive? Don't work overtime" and "You are so cunning, why don't you attend this meeting", the long list is all briefings about yesterday's meeting.

Our efforts are nothing more than a mantis arm, and the framework was finalized at the meeting.

I told them what the big boss meant. The opposition on our side is not as fierce as last week; naturally there will be no one on Kevin's side to turn the tide, and everything will roll according to BCG's will.Even though I knew the result in advance and the briefing was in front of me, I still felt dejected after losing the battle.

Lao Huang called directly, probably just after the meeting.I tried my best to say that I was fine, but he still yawned a lot, but before hanging up the phone, he repeatedly emphasized two or three times that if there is anything needed, I must tell him.

I really have a lot of things here, the food has bottomed out, and it will take some time to make an appointment for nucleic acid testing.But Lao Huang was infected by me and fell ill, so it doesn't matter-what if the sickness is brought to my sister-in-law?He also has two young children at home, and I never considered asking him for help at first.

Thinking about those extinct households in ancient times, life is probably very difficult.I live in a modern metropolis where everything is convenient, so as long as I can still take care of myself, it shouldn't be a big problem.

I didn't reply to the message of only one person.It wasn’t until I came out of the shower and changed my clothes that I felt much calmer that I replied, “Thank you for making the special trip today. I’ll see you at Thursday’s meeting.”

The distance in the wording is deliberate on my part.I think it's better this way, with a certain amount of advance and retreat.

There are not many clinics with the SASH logo nearby, and the tests are only done in the morning, so I had to ask for leave tomorrow morning.Not long after I started processing the documents in the afternoon, the boss caught me and ordered me not to work, even if I tried to defend myself again and again, it was useless.I couldn't reply to the email, so I leaned against the window and had nothing to do. The Kindle was at hand, so I picked up the book I bought earlier to read.

Miss Pender had good taste. "The God of Small Things" was a shocking work in the year it won the award. Literature derived from suffering often implies a real and heavy history. When reading it by my family, there is always a sense of absurdity of being exposed by a third party; For an outsider like me, the perspective is always inseparable from novelty.I have hardly read Oriental novels in English, and out of prejudice, I think they are written for outsiders.

Even for me, this book is brutal.Since the real pain in my life, I haven't read pure literary novels unless it is necessary for my studies.In addition to choosing engineering later, the last time I read serious literature was in 2011, and it was Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying".At that time, I had just arrived in Cambridge to look for a house, and I was busy and idle.

There are really too many details in "The God of Small Things", forcing you to admit the truth and face the truth. As long as you turn the pages of the book, the pain will resonate.Ms. Pande is still of Indian origin, and the national culture must be as inseparable as flowing in her blood.How could she bear it?To read without a trace of emotion?

It's more difficult than I can imagine.

Is her homeland the same as in the book?

Until the evening, none of the messages I sent to Miss Pender turned into double blue ticks.She must still be busy. She came to visit me at noon today, maybe she sacrificed her lunch.I actually wanted to say something to her again, but I couldn't think of words.

Why did she come here?

The refrigerator is completely empty.I was reluctant to go out, so I added a little tip on the Green Knight, and asked someone to buy food and daily necessities for the next two weeks and deliver them to the apartment lobby, and asked the administrator to deliver them to the door.When I picked it up, I found a post-it note on the outside of the bag, which read:

"Come on! Everything will get better and better!"

I now reasonably suspect that Miss Pender has made up some remarkable story for me.

At night I prepared to be quarantined.First of all, my clothes. The suits and trousers are almost all made of worsted wool. It is hard to imagine what will happen to them after disinfection. This must be dealt with in advance; the computer must be brought with me, and a pair must be bought as soon as possible. The Bluetooth headset is convenient for me to have a meeting while infusion.I checked the symptoms on the Internet again, and the online consultation was the most deadly, so I gave up after reading two articles.

I'm still leaning toward the flu.The characteristics are more consistent, and I am almost fully recovered now, and I have no symptoms of pneumonia.But the incubation period for the flu is so short, I haven’t left the apartment in the past two weeks, and I just threw out the garbage and went to the corridor a few times, and I also wore a mask: I can’t blow the wind on the balcony and hit the big luck, right?

The feeling of softness and pain in my body has not subsided, and now because my mind is so clear, I start to miss home uncontrollably——

That's when the plastic bag brought by Miss Pender came to my rescue.

That bag has been sitting on the coffee table all day.I deliberately didn't look through it, I really don't know how to face it.Looking at it now, there is nothing scary: just like what Miss Pender said, it contains several anti-inflammatory drugs with different ingredients, and there is also a box of fruit.

It's kiwi.

I'm baffled.

Because there are many Chinese people here, in addition to sending flowers, it is also common to bring some milk and red envelopes when visiting patients.Generally, there are many varieties in the fruit basket, but there are very few kiwis, mostly cantaloupe or something.After all, cheap fruit is not suitable as a gift. Kiwi fruit, which is perishable, has a relatively high risk, so it is natural that the appearance rate is low.

Her medicine should be purchased from a convenience store on a plastic bag. They don't have any fruit, and the kiwi fruit must be bought extra.

I hesitated and sent a message to the boss: "Do Indians have a tradition of buying kiwi fruit for patients?"

The news came quickly: "No. You saw it in stand-up comedy?"

I said, "I received a kiwi."

Rudra: "You can find stand-up comedy on Netflix while you eat. Relax, your body and your head."

My body and mind are at ease, thank you.

But when I actually typed it, it read: "Sonya came to see me today. Kiwis from her."

Boss replied in all caps: "Relax. Don't work."

I thank you.At least with the help of my boss, I know it's not a cultural habit.

This is too difficult to understand.Maybe it's because I asked for leave saying I might have a cold and kiwis are rich in vitamin C?Maybe she just bought kiwi fruit the day before: but the packaging label says April 2020, 4, which is today—that is, she wants to eat kiwi fruit at noon, and she bought it for me by the way—even less likely, kiwi fruit tastes better It's very inconvenient, her schedule is non-stop, where did the time come from.

Even if she was on the way, she must have bought this box of fruit specially.but……

Why kiwi?