"Na...... Erin, if ...... I said what would you want if Santa Claus was going to give you a gift tonight? During the lunch break, Ling Xin and Erin walked side by side to the activity room. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

"Santa Claus? Oh, it's Christmas, and it's Christmas again......" Erin muttered to herself, turning her head through the railing of the hallway, looking at the snow still falling outside.

From Christmas to the Spring Festival, it is the coldest time in Jiangming City, although Jiangming City, which is located in the south, although it is generally a "warm winter". The lowest temperature is only about 3 degrees Celsius or 4 degrees, but it is not uncommon for temperatures to reach minus a few degrees Celsius as this year.

It only started to cool down a few days ago, and it snowed lightly today, and in the southern city of Jiangming City, it was already very cold at minus one degree. At this time, Ling Xin, who was already very afraid of the cold, had already added thermal underwear, sweaters, and down vests to her winter school uniform......

A small face with red cheeks exposed in a goose-yellow scarf, not only did it not look bloated, but even more petite against the thick winter coat.

However, the winter school uniform of Jiangming No. 4 Middle School is still an orange sailor uniform with a pleated skirt......

Well, although the material of the sailor's suit jacket is clearly thickened, but ......

But! No matter how thick! The lower body is still a short skirt! Or a short skirt! Or a short skirt!

Say the important thing three times!

However, Ling Xin may not understand it in the past, and even think that this winter's uniform is actually a short skirt, which is simply inhumane! You don't want to have a demeanor, not a temperature, and you don't have to play like this!

But now, I'll tell her what it is!

She even felt that on the surface, as usual, she was wearing white ordinary pantyhose under the orange pleated skirt, but in fact, the white pantyhose on the lower body had a mystery!

She even felt that wearing this layer of "thin" pantyhose, "wearing a short skirt in winter" and "exposing her thighs and calves" was even warmer than wearing the upper body with three layers inside and three layers outside!

As for Erin beside her, from a distance, it looks like only a pair of black socks under a short skirt, but in fact......

In fact, they are wearing a thick layer of flesh-colored cotton socks!

What girls want to be demeanor and not temperature in winter, and what girls' legs are particularly cold-resistant, this is all an illusion!

Of course, there are exceptions to everything, at least Ling Xin can't understand that there are indeed some people who don't wear warm leggings and show their legs in short skirts......

"Now, Xiaoxin, do you believe there is Santa Claus?" Erin paused, then turned her head to meet Ling Xin's gaze beside her, but answered the question.

"Me?" It seemed that because of the sudden question, Ling Xin was stunned for a moment.

"Don't believe it, but believe it." Ling Xin pursed her lips and smiled.

"Don't believe and yet believe? What is the answer? Erin wondered.

"I've known for a long time that it's just the elders dressing up as Santa Claus and putting the presents in your prepared socks while you're asleep, and it's the good idea that only good kids can meet Santa Claus. Actually, Santa Claus doesn't exist, at least I haven't seen it. So I don't believe it. Ling Xin smiled softly, and two shallow dimples on her face were exposed.

"Even though I know he doesn't exist, even though 'reality' tells me that he doesn't exist, I'm still willing to believe it, just like I know that the wish I made when the meteor crossed by has not been fulfilled once, but every time I seize the time to make a wish, and there are many, many beautiful legends, there is a song that says, 'I still believe that the stars speak,

The stone will bloom.

After passing through the wooden fence in summer and the wind and snow in winter,

You will arrive.

I'm still willing to smile and show my teeth, and tie a ponytail with butterfly flowers

Life is like a waking fairy tale, looking forward to every day

I still believe that the stars speak,

The stone will bloom.

After passing through the wooden fence in summer and the wind and snow in winter,

I'll go home.

From time to time I think of running and setting off,

Short skirt with bare feet.

Life is like a waking fairy tale,

Looking forward to every day......'"

Ling Xin sang softly as she spoke.

"Knowing that they don't exist, even if the 'reality' suggests that they are just illusory, I want to believe it, because isn't life beautiful because of good expectations? So even though I know they're illusory, I'm willing to choose to believe them. ”

"This is not believing and yet believing." Ling Xin turned her head to look at Erin's eyes beside her, and the two shallow dimples on her face never disappeared.

"Don't believe and yet believe?" Erin muttered and repeated,

Then he looked up and met Ling Xin's gaze again, revealing a bright smile.

"So, Xiaoxin, you asked me what gift I wanted, did you want to give it to me, you said it yourself, Santa Claus is actually pretending."

"No, no, no, please don't get me wrong, asking what you like and giving you something are two different things." Ling Xin waved her hand and denied it.

"Actually, it's the neighbor's younger brother, and his sister asked me to make a cameo appearance in Santa Claus, saying that his family's words are so familiar that they are easy to recognize, and they ripped off his dad's pretended Santa Claus beard on the spot last year. Oh, you also know, you also played together when you came to my house, with Yang Yan, and his sister, Yang Ying. Ling Xin explained.

"Cut~ It's not for me, why are you still asking me what I'm doing. But...... Santa Claus? Just you? Erin gestured with disgust at the position of her right hand on her chest, which was the position above Ling Xin's head.

"This is definitely the shortest Santa Claus."

"I'm short, do you blame me?" Ling Xin was helpless.

"Anyway, who sang that song just now? Why haven't I heard of it? ”

"Humph! You are the first person in the world who is fortunate enough to hear it! ”

……

At the end of the day, Erin returned home.

My parents are not at home, and it seems that after my parents' work came to Huaxia, they were busier than ever.

After the accustomed dinner of one person,

in the room.

After washing, I just dried my hair, put on thick cotton pajamas, and immediately got into the bed.

I took out my phone under the covers and glanced at the time on the phone screen.

I got home at half past seven, had dinner and washed up, and it was almost nine o'clock now.

The lights weren't on, and the room was pitch black, except for a little light coming in through the window, and a little bit of the phone screen that popped out of Erin's bed.

"Alice" is an address book displayed on Erin's phone screen.

Alice is pronounced Alice.

……

Erin's long, wavy hair was allowed to fall behind her, except for a large red bow at the back of her head.

Irene, who is dressed in a British-style school uniform, is full of aristocratic temperament.

Confidently navigating through the white hallway, he pushed open the third ward.

"Erin, you're here." On the hospital bed, the thin girl had dark circles under her pale face, like the kind of deep abandoned house that had been working all night for several days in a row, and had no energy.

At this time, the girl who called Alice like this is indeed not in good spirits, and always gives people the feeling that she has not woken up.

Erin looked at the obvious dark circles on her friend's face and replied softly.

"Yes."

Alice was her tablemate in the fifth grade of elementary school, and they have not known each other for a long time, just over a year now, but the two have become very good friends.

Perhaps, friends are really destined.

There are some people who, with such an opportunity, have only stayed together for a short time, but have become very good friends.

There are some people, even if they have lived together for many years, they can't become real friends, at most they are just nodding friends.

Alice is a very lively girl, always seems to have an inexhaustible vitality, always full of energy.

At the beginning of the fifth grade of elementary school, I was fortunate to be at the same table, that is, Alice chatted with her table all day long, even if Erin ignored the other party, Alice could always talk to herself.

"Huh! Erin! Look! Today, the Chinese teacher wore a skirt for the first time! ”

During the class, Alice deliberately lowered her excited voice and secretly turned her head sideways to Erin, who was at the same table.

"Huh! Erin! Look! That boy over there! It's the one in black! Doesn't it look like that who?! ”

Walking side by side on the way home after class, Alice excitedly pointed to a passerby in front of her.

"Huh! Erin! The math test results of the day before yesterday were sent out! I'm three points better! ”

Alice proudly raised the freshly issued roll in her hand, and the red sixty-five points on the head of the roll were extra eye-catching......

When did you become good friends?

Erin didn't know that at the beginning, she still hated each other, and thought that Alice, who was always chattering, was very noisy......

Maybe it's because you're used to arguing and arguing, right? Habit is such a terrible thing, and suddenly there is no such a person who is chattering in his ear and shouting with vitality, but he is not used to it......

A lot can happen in a year, including enough for Erin to get used to this noisy friend.

Even after the sixth grade, when she was no longer at the same table, or even in different classes, Erin was still used to walking with this noisy friend when she went to and from school.

"Erin~ Are you looking for Alice? The teacher said that she had taken a leave of absence, as if she was sick, and it was estimated that she was not lightly ill. At the Affiliated Hospital of San Li University, the teacher also organized us to visit her in the morning. "I often come to find Alice, and I know more or less the classmates in her class, and it just so happens that a classmate I know walks out of the class door and sees Erin standing outside the door.

Erin, who rushed to the Affiliated Hospital of San Li University, stood outside the door of the ward, but did not open the door for a long time.

"Hello, sister nurse, may I ask if there is a girl named Alice hospitalized in the past two days?"

"Oh, I looked, I found it. Well, ward 204, turn right on the second floor to the third ward. The nurse sitting at the front desk skillfully flipped through the notebook in front of her a few times and found Alice's name.

"That'...... Excuse me, what disease does she have? Erin hesitated and asked.

"Huh? You're ......" The nurse, who had kept her head down, glanced up at Erin.

"I was her classmate, and I came to visit her, but I didn't know what was wrong with her, and I was afraid of saying the wrong thing." Erin scratched her cheek with one hand and smiled.

"Oh, classmate, let's stay with her, it's liver cancer......" Miss Nurse said later, but Erin didn't hear it.

"Erin, you're here." Alice on the hospital bed was pale and looked unrefreshed, and she looked even thinner against the backdrop of a loose white hospital gown.

Obviously, they were playing together a few days ago, and they made an appointment about which movie they would watch next time, and which energetic, chattering face was still floating in Irene's mind.

The friend in front of him was pale, and he didn't seem to be awake.

Of course, it's not something that doesn't wake up.

Patients with liver cancer show drowsiness, can wake up when they breathe, and then fall asleep again, and react slowly, which is often the third red flag of advanced liver cancer - hepatic encephalopathy.

Just walking this short distance in the hospital corridor, Erin had already used her mobile phone to check this information in a thousand degrees.

"Hmm......" Erin agreed softly.

Alice's parents are not there, so it is estimated that they went to work, and it is only twelve o'clock at noon.

"Really, without your noisy goods chattering in your ears, I'm really not used to it!" Perhaps because she felt that the atmosphere in the room was too dull, Erin joked.

"Hmm...... I can't quarrel with you anymore......" Alice said in a low voice, looking down at the white quilt.

There was a long silence in the room.

"I'm sorry, Irene, I originally said that we would join the club together and form a band...... Alice still kept her head down, but the white quilt kept dripping water droplets, one, two, three......

Erin on the side just clenched her fists and pursed her lips to look at her friend.

……

"Hey! Alice! How much better today! I'll tell you! Our Chinese teacher in the fifth grade, Mary! Right, right! It's the one who is fierce all day long! Mary, who is in her thirties and doesn't have a boyfriend! She's getting married! I really can't see it, I didn't even have a boyfriend before, and now I suddenly say I'm going to get married......"

"Alice! Morning! Today, I saw a boy on the side of the road who fell while eating a cone, and the cone was just paste-grue, not to mention how funny it was......"

Erin, who was not lively and didn't talk much, seemed to have taken over the work of "Alice", and everyone around her felt that she had become lively, gossipy, and ...... It's noisy......

After class every day, I went to my friend's ward on time to share the "gossip" I encountered during the day with my friend.

Everyone around me felt that Irene, who was not taciturn but definitely didn't talk much, became more lively, more sunny, always smiling, and always chattering.

Only Erin herself knows, seeing her friend's increasingly haggard face, seeing her sad friend, in fact, she really can't laugh, but she just knows, she just knows to do it.

Until one day, oh, this state did not last long, and less than half a year later, the day came.

"Haha, you don't know the reaction of that thing at the time, you laughed at me......"

"Enough, Erin...... "This is the first time, since the hospitalization, Alice interrupted Erin's words for the first time, in the past, it was Alice sitting on the bed, quietly listening to the happiness shared by her friends, as if she was infected by that happiness, often grinning with pale lips and smiling, this is the first time, the first time she interrupted her friends.

Suddenly interrupted, Erin's originally excited expression froze, as if someone had suddenly grabbed her throat, and her voice stopped abruptly.

"Enough...... Erin...... I'm tired......" Alice's tears continued to slide down her cheeks, trying to squeeze a smile out of her friend, but in fact she put on a very strange expression.

"I have discussed with my parents in the morning, and the doctor has agreed, and the chemotherapy has been stopped from today, and in a few days, I will be given 'euthanasia'." Alice whispered, but could not hide the tremor in her tone.

In this world, "euthanasia" is actually legal, but it has to go through a lot of procedures, the first of which is that in addition to the signature of the person concerned, a relative and a doctor must sign. And then you have to investigate and explain the reasons in the box, just like Alice......

"Why?" Erin asked softly.

"I know that the current level of medical care is already difficult to cure, my parents are just ordinary workers, the cost of treatment is not cheap, the treatment day after day makes me very uncomfortable, the high cost of treatment makes the family very difficult, this will only make me continue to be uncomfortable, make my parents uncomfortable."

"The most important thing is that I can't see any hope......"

……

Months had passed, but Erin still couldn't forget what a face it was, with a look of relief, despair, relief, and apology.

"Huh? Didn't you say you didn't want to follow us to Huaxia before? Didn't you say that you don't want to go to a strange city, a strange school, or contact with strange people? We have already told your grandfather that you can stay and stay at his grandfather's house. ”

"No, I want to go to Huaxia, I want to leave this familiar city, familiar school, familiar ...... Person. ”

……

"Alice, the winter in southern China is really cold, obviously the temperature is not as low as ours, but it feels much colder than there. If we were there, we would have lit the fireplace and turned on the heating, right? There is no such thing as heating in the south of China, and even the fireplace is only for decoration, so it is not needed at all......" Huddled in the quilt, Erin said into her mobile phone, as if she was talking on the phone, more like talking to herself. (To be continued.) )