In any case, it is a good thing that Zhong Hui and his family can leave.

Not long after Zhong Hui left, Hong Kong Island ushered in a new round of bombing again, only this time it was not the Japanese themselves, but the Allies. A bomb fell from the sky, turning Hong Kong Island, which had not yet recovered, into devastation.

Wen Jianning and the others hid in the church and did not dare to go out, so they could only listen to the sound of cannonballs turning from lively to low, from low to stagnant silence. Allied planes came and went, and only the Japanese themselves searched again and again to make some noise.

The cicadas outside the church gradually stopped, and summer on Hong Kong Island was gone, and autumn was coming again.

The food is getting less and less every day, and before the winter comes, they can't even drink gruel.

The first to be unable to bear it were the young children, who were so hungry that they were skinny, and some of them were weak enough to survive the first autumn rain, and their little bodies curled up in a ball and disappeared silently.

The nuns went around raising money to try their luck with the rich or pawning some antique belongings that Wen Jianning had handed over to them, but under the strict control of the Japanese army's rice and grain on the market, the food they could raise was still only a drop in the bucket.

Wen Jianning had already lost her weight, and Jianwan finally realized how ridiculous it was for her to keep shouting about dieting to lose weight. As for Jianxiu, among the three, her physique has always been the weakest, and later she was forced by Wen Jingshu to become addicted to smoking. After finally quitting, before the body could recuperate, it caught up with the outbreak of war.

After days of hunger, fatigue and worry, it is rare to see that Xiuxiu can survive until now before falling ill.

At first, she just coughed, but then it got worse and worse, and she had a high fever all day long, and even started talking nonsense. Mama Theresa took the risk and brought in a doctor from a private clinic overnight.

But the other party just shook his head when he saw it, and saw that Xiusheng was suffering from lung disease, whether it was anti-inflammatory pills or other medicines, they were strictly controlled by the Japanese people, and ordinary people couldn't get them at all, so they could only rely on their own hard work.

Wen Jianning even used the Feng family's antiques, and repeatedly asked the kind doctor for help, but the other party was embarrassed for a long time before gently pushing away the antiques, only saying that he would try his best to help find a way.

After he sent the anti-inflammatory medicine, it was another week later.

During this period, they also tried to send Jianxiu to another place for healing.

But now most of the hospitals have fallen into the hands of the Japanese and are not open to the public at all. Moreover, more than half a year has passed, and the arrest of them has not stopped, and they do not dare to take risks to seek medical treatment everywhere. Only a few small private clinics were still open, but others said the same thing as the doctor.

When they were on the verge of despair, they were very grateful for the anti-inflammatory medicine that was suddenly sent, and they hurriedly let them rest after taking it. Those pills seemed to have some effect, and on the day of Jianxiu, there were gradually signs of fever reduction, which made Wen Jianning, who had been nervous for several days, finally able to breathe a sigh of relief, and in the evening, he was finally willing to let go of Jianwan's vigil.

However, Wen Jianning closed his eyes for only a moment, and was suddenly woken up.

Seeing Wan's face was pale, and he trembled: "See the embroidery, see the embroidery and call you over......"

Wen Jianning knew that it was not good when she saw her expression, and hurriedly turned over and got out of bed.

However, it was a little different from what she imagined, seeing that Xiuxiu had woken up at some point, her spirit seemed to be good, her eyes were a little too bright, only her arm outside the quilt was extremely slender, as if it would be broken when the wind blew. has been tortured back and forth by illness for more than half a month, and she is already very thin, but now she is as pale as paper.

Jianxiu's voice was very soft: "Jianning, I want to go to the statue of Our Lady ......"

Wen Jianning paused and agreed to her request: "Okay." ”

It's just that she can hold Jianxiu herself, but it's not so easy to hug all the way to the church downstairs, so she had to let Jianwan help by the side, and the two of them worked together to carry Jianxiu all the way to the bench in front of the statue of the Virgin Mary and sat down.

At this time, the ink in the sky outside the window has gradually faded, and in a few hours, the sky will soon be bright.

But Wen Jianning's mood is sliding into the abyss of the night little by little.

Although the light of the kerosene bean-sized flame is weak, it can be placed on the bench next to it, but it can also illuminate a corner. The dim light of the light gilded the side face with a warm yellow halo, making her delicate silhouette softer.

The expression on Jianxiu's face was surprisingly quiet, which made Wen Jianning instinctively feel scared.

This is the first time in her life that she has smelled death so clearly from someone close to her.

Jianxiu closed her eyes, put her hands on her chest and prayed, and after a while she opened her eyes and said softly: "I just quietly made a wish to Our Lady, I don't know if she will agree to me." ”

Wen Jianning grabbed her hand and said, "No matter what she wants, if she refuses to agree, I will agree." ”

Seeing Xiu, he smiled slightly: "I wrote my wish on the greeting card for you at Christmas, don't break your promise." ”

Wen Jianning was stunned when he heard this.

Seeing what was written on the greeting card that Xiuxiu had written for her, she couldn't remember it for a while.

By the way, by the way, there was a sudden bombing, and they hurriedly hid under the bed, and then the refugees stormed the church. In a hurry, she left the greeting card on the floor, and afterwards she picked it up casually and tucked it in the book at the bedside.

It's just that the book is upstairs, and Wen Jianning doesn't dare to walk away at the moment, so he can only ask Jianwan to hurry up and help find it. Jianwan, who hates others the most on weekdays, can't take care of her much at this time, and she puts it aside in a panic, as if someone is chasing her behind.

Seeing Xiu gently rolled her dark eyes, she smiled slightly: "...... It's rare to see such a panicked ...... She's not too bad, she's just too unlikable......"

Wen Jianning snorted, and then heard her sigh slowly: "You two haven't gotten along since you were kids...... It's usually just that, but now at a time like this, you have to help her a little more......"

Wen Jianning's heart tightened, and he said in a deep voice: "I will, and you want to be together." ”

Then she heard a long sigh from deep within her thin chest.

Wen Jianning felt for the first time that every minute and second of seeing Wanwan's absence would be so difficult. She held one of her hands tightly, and she could clearly feel that her life was passing silently.

Seeing that the breath of embroidery was gradually weakening, his eyes slowly lost his brilliance, but his face was still smiling, and he whispered: "Tell you a secret...... In fact, since I was very young, I was a little jealous of you, you are so smart, and you study so hard. Mr. Qi admires you the most, my cousin also loves you, Aunt Mei Shan and they treat you differently, seeing that Wan treats you as an opponent, Yan Tingchen also likes you...... Now think about it...... It's so undeserved......"

"Actually...... I don't like Yan Tingchen that much, I just want to fight with you inexplicably...... Fight, fight, and lose yourself. If you hadn't pulled me, I'm afraid I'm ...... now."

She is not a strong-willed person, if she stayed in the mid-level villa, she might have followed Wen Jingshu to act as a tiger today, and she would never be able to go back.

Wen Jianning choked up and said, "I know...... I know. ”

But in those years, she had never been secretly jealous of seeing embroidery.

In her eyes, Jianxiu's temper is always so good, and she can always get along with the people around her, even if she sees people like Wan making things difficult for her, she won't be angry, just smile and pass.

It wasn't until later that she knew that Jianxiu was just an ordinary person, and she was just an ordinary person.

Jianxiu sighed and said: "I heard you say that when you were in college in Kunming, I really envy you...... I felt that I had been trapped on this island for half my life, and I had really lived in vain...... If I still have the chance, I really want to go to the mainland to see more......"

To see the suffering of the world that she had never seen, to see the vast mountains and rivers.

In her life, she was ignorant and at the mercy of others when she was a child; when she was a girl, she was only submissive, and all she thought about was how to please others and keep her life in a greenhouse; and then she regarded Yan Tingchen and everything in the Mid-Levels Villa as a dream, and indulged in sound and lust all day long, doing nothing. Only in the less than a year that I followed Jianning, although I stumbled and suffered a lot, I vaguely felt that I had finally lived a personal life, but it was too short.

Wen Jianning's nose was slightly sour: "We will go back, and we will go back together in the future." ”

It can be seen that Xiu just smiled silently, she knows, I'm afraid she can't go back.

Her hand gradually became cold, leaning weakly on Wen Jianning's shoulder, her whole eyes looked into the air, and she muttered to herself, "I really regret it...... I didn't go with you back then...... All these years have been wasted in vain......"

Wen Jianning finally burst into tears: "It's me, it's me who didn't take you with me......"

Seeing that Xiu didn't have the strength to say anything more, he only opened his mouth and said silently: "I don't blame you." ”

No one is to blame for whose choices it is.

Jianxiu only felt that her spirit was a little trance, she gasped slightly, and her eyes seemed to be back to that rainy night seven years ago, when Jianning asked her if she wanted to go together. The torrential rain poured down, the wind almost snapping the trees on the roadside, and the rain pooled into a river that flowed past their feet. There was only a small umbrella above their heads, and they were still unable to block the wind and rain by the two of them, and their faces were wet, I don't know if there were more tears or more rain.

Jianxiu refused, and then she saw a flash of gloom on Jianning's face, a resolute look appeared, and she left without looking back, running in the direction of the only car headlights that were on in the rainy night, leaving her alone to stand where she was.

She opened her mouth, mustered up the courage to raise her hand, and tried to catch Wen Jianning who was far away, but she missed it.

But before she could feel sad, the heavy rain suddenly stopped, and a ray of sky light tore through the night, gradually spreading, lighting up the entire sky. The rainstorm is gone, the haze is gone, everything that used to be is gone.

Seeing Xiu only felt that his body was getting lighter and lighter, lighter and lighter, until he rose into the clouds.

The sky was like a clear lake, and rose-colored clouds floated around her, and not far away, the orange sun was about to sink a little below the water. In the shadow of the clouds at dusk, she jumped gently towards the sunken place—

The whole person is forever plunged into endless warmth and light.

……

Jianwan hurried upstairs, and after finding the greeting card, she rushed all the way back to the church, but saw Jianxiu leaning on Wen Jianning's shoulder. When I came to the front, I found that I saw that Xiu's face was pale, her eyes were closed, and there was a faint smile on her lips, as if she was asleep. Seeing that Wan was breathless, the hand holding the greeting card suddenly let go and fell to the ground.

It had a short sentence written on it, "May my sister see Ning and always be bright." ”

(End of chapter)