Chapter 16: It seems like an old friend has come (two)

  "Add a Madeleine cake... no, two, and I'll let you buy me a drink."

  Ludwig shook the soda water with one hand, and except for a weak alkalinity, it was clear and free of any impurities, and under the light, it even had a few hints of a sparkling flavor.

  Ludwig lay on the bar table, starving and shapeless.

  Alright, she's gone all out now——

  After she skillfully manipulated the situation to her advantage and disappeared without a trace, the image of Madame Grandet was perfectly portrayed.

  Alec smiled lightly and walked behind the bar. The previous bartender snapped his fingers and left, and he skillfully took out two bottles of pre-mixed drinks.

  Ludwig: “……Don’t tell me this wine is also yours.”

  But in her heart, she was even more certain, and everything before was just an illusion caused by extreme hunger.

  She has friends who like brewing, but absolutely no friends who like mixing drinks.

  In their small town, people think that wine should be well-stored in pear wood barrels with carved lotus patterns on them, quietly waiting for the next year to be opened unintentionally.

  But this kind of fancy bartending is not introverted and quiet, the barbaric shaking of wine will lose the original taste of the wine.

  A person as gentle and fond of quietness as An would even avoid the bustling streets, how could he possibly be mixing drinks in such a weird and wonderful bar?

  ……

  It was her fault.

  She used to sneer at bars, nightclubs and flashy life just like An He.

  She can't find her close neighbor whom she has known since childhood here.

  Here you can only find British people who are too good at mixing drinks and talking about romance.

  Suddenly I want to leave here very much.

  "No, this is my friend's, I just have a coffee shop, standard middle class."

  Ailisi's fingers fluttered wildly as she smiled with a hint of meaning.

  "The family property is not enough for me to squander, but it makes me and my loved ones live a rich and stable life, which is enough."

  He handed Ludwig a cocktail he had mixed.

  The wine is very beautiful, with various shades of green, layered like crystal, emitting a transparent glow.

  "She's really beautiful." Ludwig exclaimed: "What's her name?"

  Alicia gazed deeply into Ludwig's eyes: "Ludwig."

  “……”

  ...So how could this wine possibly be named after Duan Anji, and how could Duan Anji possibly be so tacky as to use her own name for a wine.

  What is the name of this wine if she asks Duan An?

  He just said seriously, since it's made with pear blossoms, let's call it Pear Blossom Wine.

  ……

  "She's called Vichy... This is a drink I've mixed for you, just for you."

  His tone was imbued with the sincerity and depth unique to an English gentleman; when he looked at you, it seemed as if the whole world had narrowed down to just one person.

  And he wants to carve the one and only you in the world into his soul.

  He grasped Ludwig's hand and placed his fingers on his lips for a kiss.

  Her voice still carries the gentleness unique to young people.

  "In commemoration of this, I recall the moment when I first saw you, that instant's illusion."

  His voice was soft and gentle: "It's as if we weren't meeting for the first time, but rather long-separated lovers... after days and nights of separation and longing, I've finally found you."

  "You sit by the window, rainwater streaks across the glass, people come and go, but you seem to be unrelated to the whole world... You've caught my heart, my miss."

  Even when expressing sincere affection and speaking cheesy love words, his eyes are unbelievably clean.

  "The world is so big, yet you came to the UK. The UK has so many coffee shops, yet you walked into mine... This isn't a coincidence, it's fate."

  Ludwig: ...Damn it, are all British people this ruthless nowadays? They're even more infuriating than the French when they get emotional.

  It's okay, our Miss Ludwig is a typical nightclub type, she can be more ruthless than you.

  "Great, I've got your heart and you've got my stomach, a perfect match."

  Ludwig drank half a cup in one breath, "Is your home or hotel?"

  Alicia was taken aback for a moment, then said somewhat at a loss, "I didn't mean that...Vishi."

  Ludwig downed the remaining half cup in one gulp, his red lips, painted with lip gloss, colliding with the green liquid, under the dark red light, evoking infinite ambiguity.

  Then Ludwig said coldly:

  "I'm also sincere, but only up to here."

  She tapped her toes on the ground beneath her feet.

  "I don't quite understand the British etiquette, but I've been making small talk with too many people... Don't give me that disapproving look, Eryss, don't forget, I'm also a French woman, and in your eyes, all we're good for is sitting on men's laps."

  She put down her wine glass and revealed a wistful smile: "But just now, I'm tired, so you're too late. I won't play the bar game with anyone anymore."

  "I've finished drinking, since you don't plan on opening the room, I'm going back."

  Ludwig waved his hand and took two steps before suddenly turning back.

  Ailisi stood still, staring blankly at her back.

  Figures swaying, music clamoring.

  He stands there independently of the world, surrounded by noise, yet he is quiet.

  Just like An and He from long ago.

  Late autumn, white frost on the wings of a cicada, golden leaves scattered all over the ground, a wooden bridge, and a creek nearby.

  A spring gushed out from the hole in the stone and flowed into his shoes with a gurgling sound.

  He stood there with a faint smile, the autumn cicadas wailed mournfully as if they were about to die, but his smile remained like spring breeze, so lush and green that it seemed to be dripping down, seeping into the ground beneath his feet.

  She closed her eyes.

  When I opened my eyes again, it was still an expressionless and distant look.

  Alec was still staring at her in a daze, he forced a slight smile, picked up the glass of wine he had poured for her and took a sip.

  "If my words offended you, then I'm sorry. Hopefully next time I go to your place for coffee, you won't throw me out."

  She smiled at Ares and turned away.

  As for what was in his eyes, sorry, this is beyond her scope of inquiry.

  "Ah, and Madeleine cakes, two portions, remember to pack them."

  She suddenly parachuted into France and all she could see from the mirror was a large empty room.

  A pair of slippers, a chair, and a set of tableware.

  No fire, no food, so she didn't expect to have a full stomach.

  There isn't even a landline phone, so she didn't expect to make any inquiries either.

  The parents of this body left a ten-year-old little girl alone at home without even asking a nanny to take care of her life.

  Every month, only one uncle would deposit money into her card - and she didn't see Mikala Uncle, who was always busy with archaeological excavations, running around the world, until a year later. He was a middle-aged man with a beard as big as Holsey's, and not a single neuron in his brain was normal.

  After growing up a bit more, she accidentally discovered that the painting on her wall was exactly the same as the one hanging on the heroine's wall in "The Louvre Phantom", and then came travel.

  Sorry, Holmes is still acceptable, after all, every reasoning has its logic inside, while the plot of Louvre Phantom has exceeded her understanding ability, mummy pharaoh and so on, she said can't hold it, can only learn from Uncle Mikala, running around the world.

  Just like before in Romania.

  And even earlier, she had traveled through most of Eastern Europe.

  Mom, you said, is this world real or fake? Are people who have died really dead?

  Traveled to many places around the world, but never dared to go to China to take a look.

  But compared with Greece's housing and possible financial crisis, Ludwig wants to know more about ——

  Is the cheese shop under Pingjiang Road Bridge in Suzhou relocated?

  Is the old lady who often sells osmanthus wine balls near Lion Grove Garden still there?

  And at that time, often carrying a bird cage made of chicken wing wood, like an idle young master strolling around Liulichang, the uncle who was still obsessed with selling paintings of Spring Palace in small cups, also set up his antique stall everywhere.

  In her previous life in 2003, how old was she? What was she doing?

  What if she wasn't in that world, what would she do then?

  What if in another world there was another her.

  She's in a dilemma, what should she do?

  After leaving the bar, Ludwig walked down the streets of London with his arms around him, looking aloof and unapproachable - not because he was cold, but out of habit.

  Accustomed to not knowing where to put his hands, he didn't know how to walk with those legs that had been walking since birth.

  This is the helplessness of a stranger in a foreign land.

  Luckily when she first arrived, no one asked her whether or not she was going to school, so she was able to teach herself French in her house for a year.

  Otherwise, facing a large group of kids with different hair colors and bloodlines in school, she simply had no idea what to do.

  What can she do? Whether it's language communication or psychological identity, she can't do well at all?

  Was she supposed to take the hand of a French girl?

  Let her off this time...

  In the distance, from the square, came the sound of a street band performing, it was The Eagles' rendition of "The Girl From Yesterday"

  She waited by the phone for a long time,

  Facing a memory that will never return home, telling the past

  She thought he would come back, thinking about what he would say when he came back.

  But she will forever be that girl from yesterday...

  The singing voice dissipated in the slightly cool air, neon lights illuminated the dark clouds, and the distant high-rise buildings, even on a clear night, seemed to be shrouded in mist.

  A couple with white temples, one holding an umbrella and the other walking a dog, hand in hand crossing the street.

  In London, sunlight never penetrates through fog and clouds, dogs' fur is always damp, the moon is forever shrouded in a veil.

  A black stretch limousine was slowly stopping beside her, blocking the alleyway corner she was about to turn into.

  Ludwig stood at the crossroads for a while.

  But the car seemed to have no intention of leaving, just silently stopping there with a blatant and defiant look.

  She looked into the distance and found that the traffic police had left at some unknown time, leaving no one on duty.

  He probably went on patrol somewhere else.

  Look at that black sedan's luxurious and ostentatious appearance, she curled her lip, turned around and walked back the way she came.

  Anyway, she's in no hurry to go back.

  She never rushes back.

  Suddenly, an unexpected event occurred.

  Everything seemed to have happened in just that instant when she turned around —

  A sound came from behind, shaking down the car window.

  Then, her back was pressed against a cold and chilly pipe-like object.