"Let's not dwell on it."
Darent said vaguely.
"It's just right that she came. The two cases can actually be combined together... Besides, if you're really worried, you can go and ask her directly. She's out now, so she shouldn't be upset when she sees you, right?"
"No." Ethan shook his head. "It's not appropriate for us to show up in front of her before we thoroughly understand her condition."
"You are a psycho!"
Darent scolded him.
"I think too little... I think too little, but you think too much!"
"So they made us partners." Ethan finally grinned, "I didn't understand it before, but now I do."
"You know shit!"
"She's out."
Ethan stood up and looked across the street through the glass.
Hitzfeld and the short butler had walked out of the school gate again, followed by Ashley and Instructor Raymond Portman, who had met the two of them last time.
Ethan looked down at his watch. Only about 10 minutes had passed from the time she went in to the time she came out.
They came out so soon, and brought Ashley with them... Are they planning to go to the pond to check the situation?
Observing Ashley's condition carefully, she seemed very excited.
That should be correct.
Ethan felt a little annoyed because he had actually made a similar suggestion to Raymond Portman last time, but was rejected.
Oh, I can't do that, but Hitzfeld can.
Is this considered differential treatment?
It can't be that Ashley says good things about Hitzfeld to him every day, so this guy trusts her so much, right?
It was a bit unpleasant, but Ethan soon got over it.
If it were anyone else he would care, but it was Hitzfeld.
He was even faintly happy.
"The big guy is with them..."
Darent squeezed over to watch with him.
"Then they must be trying to catch a train. They came out so early just to catch the train. I remember there was a train passing by there at 10:."
As he was speaking, he saw the gray-haired girl sneeze.
"She has a cold."
Ethan immediately took his hat and left.
"I'm going to buy some medicine."
"?"
A bigger question mark appeared over Darent’s head.
"I have a cold too!" he shouted to his companions.
Ethan didn't even turn around.
"damn thing!"
The wooden man cursed fiercely, threw two bills on the table, picked up an umbrella and chased after him.
Chapter 66 Flashback
After deciding to have Instructor Raymond Portman take them to see the pond, they took a taxi to the North Station without further delay.
There was a train heading for central China at 10:. They were going to get off at the middle station, and since it was short, they didn't have much luggage with them. They bought their tickets and got on the train on the spot. They were lucky enough to find that there were vacant sleeper berths.
Raymond Porter was a rough man, but he wouldn't do anything like asking the ladies to share two rooms with him, so he stayed in one room with Ali - and he also brought the teenager with him.
"Ali? How is he?"
In the next carriage, Hitzfeld sat quietly on the bed reading a book, but still took time to chat with his companions.
"He can't beat me!" Ashley rolled up his sleeves to show off his muscles to others, "I can beat him down with one hand!!"
"What's the point?" Hitzfeld said without raising his head. "When you upgrade to official silver in the future, you will all wear power armor, and this gap will be directly eliminated."
"Heath, can't you praise me more..."
"In fact, I have praised you enough." Hitzfeld put down the book "Travels in the South China Sea - Translation and Analysis Edition" and continued to say to her: "I am reminding you that once a person who only focuses on strength loses the advantage of strength, she can easily become a weak person in an instant."
"I am not just strong." Ashley was dissatisfied, "I am a powerful warrior of the Sky Hunters. I have a wealth of hunting skills. I am more cunning than the most ferocious beast!"
Hitzfeld felt that the word cunning didn't really suit Ashley, but she was afraid that saying it out loud would hurt the girl's self-esteem, so she said cryptically: "Humans are also beasts. Do you think you are cunning compared to those bad guys?"
“…” Ashley put her hand down and thought for a long time without saying anything else.
After living in civilized society for so long, her biggest feeling is that there are a lot of bad people.
It's not just the rich who are bad people - it's not that simple, the poor are just as evil as well.
For example, she had used the money Hitzfeld gave her to buy things a few times before. She thought she would pay first and then buy other things and pick them up on the way back. But when she came back, she found that the other party was gone.
There are also gang fights, vagrants killing each other, and people at the darkest level will do anything to get a bite to eat. This is far from her ideal civilized world.
Of course, Ashley didn't think rich people were better because Heath had taught her about this, saying that some poor people did evil just to survive, and some rich people did good just to make it happen, or even did more evil to seek psychological comfort.
Hitzfeld told her that she had to look at things dialectically and not just look at one side of a person. Ashley didn't quite understand this yet, but what she could understand was that she had to get rid of all the guys who were not good to her family and friends.
If those people were used as the standard, then she really had no right to be labeled "cunning".
"The young master will understand later."
Walnut sat obediently on the bed opposite, peeled a fruit with a knife and handed it to Ashley, "Want to eat?"
Ashley first emphasized, "Don't call me little master in the future," and then took a bite without any hesitation.
After two or three seconds, she looked up at Hitzfeld as if she had realized something, turned the fruit to the other side that had not been bitten, and cut off a large piece of the walnut.
"Would you like to eat it, Heath?" Then he held the piece of fruit flesh and moved closer, with a silly smile on his face as if he was presenting a treasure.
Hitzfeld was at a loss for words and was about to reach out to take it, but was dodged.
"Don't do it, you'll have to wipe your hands then - I'll feed you!"
The girl felt it was a bit strange, but couldn't tell what was wrong. She could only lower her head and bite the piece of flesh, barely eating off one-third of it.
While chewing and comparing the bite marks on both sides, she found that her mouth was a little small.
"Why do you have to feed me?" Then she suddenly looked up and asked Ashley.
"I saw Xia Sha do this too!"
"......???" Hitzfeld was stunned and stopped chewing.
The worst situation finally happened, and some details of their past interactions came to Ashley's eyes - she probably thought this was how same-sex people should get along.
She had clearly promised the mother that she would take good care of the child, and it would be terrible if she really planted the saplings crookedly. Hitzfeld immediately stopped all analysis work and began to remind Ashley earnestly and as subtly as possible not to do this.
"My case with Xia is very special... We didn't get to this point because we were just friends. There are some behaviors that Ashley should not imitate."
"...I don't quite understand." Ashley said she didn't understand.
"..." Hitzfeld took a breath and looked at Kurumi, as if weighing whether she could really be trusted.
"It's just like a wife and husband." She finally decided to come clean, "You see? Although we are not married, the essence of our lives is no different from that."
She thought that this was enough explanation, but unexpectedly Ashley became more interested in it and kept pestering her for specific details, asking her, "Who is the wife and who is the husband, you or Xia Sha?"
After finally getting the girl out of here, she finally had time to pick up the cup to drink water and rinse her mouth, then picked up the analyzed translated version of "Travels in the South China Sea" to continue reading.
She found this book while rummaging through the bookcase. It was hidden very secretly. If it weren't for the lady's note after the original version of "Travels in the South China Sea", she really wouldn't have known that this book might have existed in the library.
This version of "Travel Notes" is similar to the original in terms of story, but it is much thicker because each story has interpretations and annotations, either focusing on a period of history or on myths and legends.
Hitzfeld was very interested in the Nemo people's mother river and wanted to know all the information related to it, so she brought the book with her when she went out this time.
Ashley went out for a stroll - this car was also produced by the Reising Company, but it was an old model and the berth space was relatively small. She really didn't want to be stuck in it all the time.
After reading for a while, Hitzfeld felt uncomfortable. She was already relatively short, but she still couldn't straighten her legs in bed, so she planned to get out of bed and walk around.
"You can go ahead!" Hu Tao volunteered to stay and look after the house, "but don't go too far, just stay nearby and take a breath."
"I'm not going far."
With a humble remark, the girl put on her shoes, stood up straight, lowered her head to smooth out the folds of her skirt, and walked out of the car.
As soon as she came out, she saw Ashley standing a few meters away arguing with a teenager. Further away stood Instructor Raymond Portman, who had opened a crack in the window on the aisle and was smoking happily.
"As far as I remember." Hitzfeld approached and the three of them were stunned by his first words, "The Flint Knights rarely smoke."
Metal toxins are already accumulating in the lungs, so if you dare to smoke, you are really tired of living.
"I'm different." Raymond raised his eyebrows unconsciously. Not only did he not put out the cigarette, he took another puff. "I don't need to fight outside. I usually accumulate very little toxins... Not smoking will make it less fun."
"Miss Hitzfeld." The young man bowed to her consciously, "Are you out here for some fresh air as well?"
"Yes." Hitzfeld nodded and looked at him carefully. He felt that he was thin, taller than himself and shorter than Ashley, and had a relatively weak temperament. He really couldn't tell that he was also a knight's apprentice.
"Your name is Ali?"
"It's Ali."
"Are you from Pingkou Village?"
"This...Did Ashley tell you about it after she returned?"
"She didn't go into detail, but I can roughly figure it out." The girl shook her head. "Generally speaking, only areas in the extreme north and west have that kind of custom. You don't have to worry about it. This name is also very good."
She was referring to the fact that Ali had no surname. The boy's father died early, and local customs did not allow him to inherit the deceased's surname or the mother's surname, otherwise he would be discriminated against.
But without a surname, one would still face discrimination outside. She speculated that Ali had a hard time before entering school.
"It's my honor to receive your praise!"
Ali was very excited, as happy as a fan being praised by his idol.
"you know me?"
"Our village has had traveling theater troupes come here, and we all know about your deeds in the Crystal Sea."
Then I know why Ashley is targeting you.
Hitzfeld's face twitched slightly.
When it comes to what really happened in the "Crystal Sea", the stories woven by mobile theater troupes are certainly not as good as the personal experiences of the people involved.
This is true for me, and even more so for Ashley. Because she has lived on Brays Island longer, she has a deeper understanding of this matter than I do.
And that involves Ashley's mother. Just imagine how she would react to those fabricated and unrealistic plots... Ali, who promotes these, would certainly arouse her anger.
But in order to keep it secret she couldn't say it directly, so she could only vent her anger by doing things like "beating Ali".
"Aren't you going to go back to sleep for a while?"
The two men started arguing again. One said that the traveling theater troupe was full of mentally retarded liars, and the other said that at least they were more reliable than you who only knew how to beat people. Raymond simply put out his cigarette, blew the last puff of smoke out of the window, and came closer to ask Hitzfeld.
"It should only take four hours from departure to arrival. After getting off the bus, there is still a section of mountain road to walk, which will be very tiring."
"I can hold on," Hitzfeld assured him.
Raymond nodded, didn't insist, opened the door and walked in.
He is not as rough as he looks.
Recalling some details of the other party's words and actions, Hitzfeld's lips curled up slightly.
She held onto the railing, opened the window a little, and breathed in the dry and cold air rushing in, but suddenly her eyes became dazed.
It was as if she had taken this train before, stood in the same position as now, and opened the window to enjoy the breeze.
"..."
She stood there for a while, went to the bathroom, and then followed Raymond's example and returned to the studio, where she stayed without coming out.
Just like before, there were still two pairs of eyes watching everything.
