I sat on the plank in the cabin, chatting with Zaoji as I sorted out the rice balls she brought. Since the taste of the rice balls is really good, it tastes very fast, and six rice balls can be solved in three or two clicks. After eating, I poured a cup of hot water and sipped it to quench my thirst and the habit of drinking soup after a meal.

Usually, I use to drink a bowl of clear soup after a meal to dilute the residual taste and greasy feeling of the food in my mouth. It's a habit that hasn't broken for years.

Originally, I was going to divide the fish in half today, half for grilling, and half for boiling into a kettle. However, the fish was given to the early season, so naturally there was no fish soup to drink, so I had to replace it with water, and in my mind I imagined that the water in the cup would become a delicious fish soup.

Just thinking about it, the water in your mouth seems to have really turned into the taste of fish soup, which is delicious and rich, and has the unique fragrance of tender tofu.

"Can I drink from your cup?"

When I put down the empty cup, I was probably feeling thirsty in the early season, and pointed to the cup and asked me. There were no extra cups on the boat other than this one, but I and Zaoji were just kids and had nothing to fear, so I nodded in agreement.

The kettle on the stove was always piping hot, and to avoid getting burned in the early season, I lifted the kettle and poured her a glass of water.

In the early season, he picked up the cup and blew it cold, and then took a small sip. After taking a sip, her face showed a look of surprise and confusion: "Zhe, did you put something in the water?" ”

"No, I didn't put anything. What's wrong, is there anything dirty in the water? ”

I thought that in the early season, I probably drank foreign objects from the water, after all, it was the water fished out of the river, and no matter how clear it was, some foreign objects would inevitably get mixed in. However, I looked at it several times when I was scooping the water from the kettle, and only put it on the stove to boil after making sure that there were no foreign objects. ，

"It's not dirty, it's just ......"

Zaoji wrinkled her little face, looking at the water in the cup with some hesitation, she muttered: "It just looks like clear water, but when I drink it, I feel the smell of fish soup." It's very light, though. ”

Her voice was soft, but it sounded like a bolt from the blue to my ears. You know, I didn't say what I was thinking, so how did I know in the early season that I was thinking about the taste of fish soup? Could it be that she really tasted fish soup in the water?

"That's an illusion, it's just clear water."

Although my mind became chaotic, I remained calm, just staring at Aki's expression out of the corner of my eye, trying to see something substantial in her face. However, she was a little disappointed, her face was also full of confusion, and she seemed to suspect that it was just her own delusion.

"It's not an illusion, fold, you can take a sip and take a look."

But when she took another sip, her face became firm again, and she handed the cup to me, motioning for me to try it too. I didn't shirk it, I took the cup and took a sip, it was indeed the taste of fish soup.

No, I almost forgot one thing, and that is that I am still in the realm of fantasy, which may be my own fantasy, not real. Because no matter how you look at it, the cup is only water, and even if you smell it closely, there is only the smell of water vapor, and there is no other taste.

"You must have put fish in the kettle, let me see."

Convinced that she was drinking fish soup, she reached out to lift the lid of the kettle to see if there was the remains of a small fish inside. Instead of stopping her, I woke up from my fantasy state, and the thought pattern that had been split in half disappeared and returned to the normal world.

After I came to my senses, I took another sip of water from the cup, this time it was normal, it was exactly the taste of water, and there was no smell at all. I was pondering, could it be that I had the same hallucinations as I had just in the early season? But why is it such a coincidence that it is fish soup?

"How can this be, there is really nothing."

Lifting the lid of the kettle, I peeked inside in the early season at the risk of being smoked by the water vapor, only to see that it was all clear water, and there was no debris on the boiling blister.

"I've said it all, it's just your delusion, I don't believe you can try it again."

I couldn't figure it out, but I decided to be vague, so I handed the cup to Morning Ji again, shaking my head and smiling wryly, pretending to be helpless.

"No way, what I drank was the taste of fish soup! Such an obvious taste, don't you ......"

Early Ji was a little anxious, she snatched the water cup and took another sip, and then she was stunned, and the rest of the words could not be spoken, turning into an incredible murmur: "It's gone...... How could it be gone? Why is this so? ”

"I remember reading this in a book that said that people's sense of smell interferes with taste, and sometimes after smelling a certain smell and then eating other flavored food, you will feel that there is a smell in the food, and even have the illusion that the food is the object that emits the smell. I think...... Maybe you just smelled the fish, and now you drink water and have a similar illusion. ”

I try to make my expressions look as serious as possible to add to the persuasiveness of my words in a scientifically grounded way. In a way, I didn't lie to her, just like you can't eat in front of something that smells foul, and even if you barely eat it, you will feel the same taste as wax, and even the food in your mouth will stink.

This is the interference of the sense of smell with the sense of taste, which makes the sensory organs tend to be oversensitized, and eventually causes the brain to receive wrong information, or make mistakes in the link of memory comparison, making people have wrong perceptions.

In a simpler way, the nose and mouth are nasopharyngeal communication, and odor is a phenomenon of molecular diffusion. In other words, when a person inhales a smell, it is equivalent to eating an object that emits a foul smell, but the amount eaten is only at the molecular level. However, if a smell enters the mouth through the nasopharynx, the taste buds naturally send a corresponding signal to the brain.

"Is that so?"

Zaoji nodded as if she didn't understand, she probably couldn't understand the in-depth concept, but the main meaning was still understood. But even so, she still looked at me with sparkling red eyes, not at all like she was convinced, but only hid her doubts for the time being.

This is a very curious and stubborn child. It's harder to deal with than other kids.

"That's how it should be. Well, aren't you thirsty? Hurry up and drink water, it's almost cold. ”

I was determined to close the conversation, but I made up my mind to go back and experiment. What just happened is by no means that I had the same delusion as the early season, but there may be something I don't know about that is causing this phenomenon.

"By the way, I almost forgot."

Early Ji looked down at the water glass, and then quickly turned her head away, and could see that her side face suddenly turned crimson, like a ripe apple.

I didn't have the ability to read minds, so I didn't know what came to her mind for a while. In retrospect, though, that cup passed between me and her twice, and both she and I left a visible lip mark on the wall of the cup, which was tantamount to kissing indirectly several times.

But as if I thought about it, I couldn't give birth to the slightest hint or embarrassment in my mind, in my eyes she was just a child, nothing more.

……

This is how the afternoon was spent, and in the morning she said she wanted to fish, so I taught her some basics. How to choose bait to attract fish, what water level and water area are different types of fish, how to hook the fish, how to adjust the float to control the depth of the hook sinking into the water.

My problem with being a good teacher continued to freak, and the afternoon passed in the gushing fishing education. When the melody of "Homecoming" came from the loudspeaker in the distant village, I waved goodbye to Zaoji when I returned to the shore, but before I could take two steps, she called back.

"Fold, this is so heavy, can you help me carry it to my house? My house is not far from the opposite bank, a few minutes away. ”

She looked at the small wooden bucket with the fish that I had carried ashore, and then called out to me for help. So I picked up the small wooden barrel and followed behind the early season, and after crossing the stone arch bridge called the shallow bend, it was equivalent to entering the watermill village, and further on there was a waterway that branched off from the tributary of the Tone River, and the early season's home was a little behind the waterway.

After about five minutes' walk, I arrived at her house, which was a two-story wooden house similar to mine, but it was bigger than mine, and there was a small flower bed and lawn outside, which looked quite chic.

Early Ji trotted to open the door and shouted softly towards the house: "Mom, I'm back." ”

"Welcome home in the early season. Is it your friend standing in the back? ”

Soon a young-looking woman came out of the house, who looked like Early-Ji's mother. She walked out the door and hugged Early, then found me standing behind Early, and then smiled softly at me.

The woman's face struck me as familiar, as if I had seen it before.

My memory is not bad, it can even be said to be very good, and after a little recollection, I easily turned out the memories of women, and at the same time brought out memories of the early season.

I remember that just after I was born, my parents put me in the nursery of the maternity hospital, where each baby had a crib, and to the left of my bed was a baby girl called Watanabe Aki.

Later, I was punched and kicked several times by jumping over the crib fence and always reaching over the fence to harass me, including when Morning's parents came to take Morning Season away, Morning's mother put her on my bed to say goodbye to me, so I punched and kicked her a few more times...... These memories were all turned over.

Even though it's just a memory of being born, six years have passed since then, my face is still a little stiff.

"Well, his name is Shiraishi Zhe, and he is a friend I just met today."

"Hello, I'm Morning Season's mom. I'll ask you to take care of it after the early season. ”

When my name was mentioned in the early season, the mother of the early season had a puzzled and strange look on her face, and she probably had some impression of my name.

"Hello, I'm Shiraishi Orizu. I'm the one who deserves to be taken care of. ”

I bowed to her according to etiquette.

"Hey, it's really polite, it's good that my family has half of you in the early season."

Then came the usual compliment, and I smiled shyly: "You have won the prize, and you are no worse than me in the early season." ”

Early Ji affectionately hugged his mother's arm, and after hearing his mother's words, he rubbed twice in dissatisfaction, and then happily ran to me and took the barrel and handed it to his mother: "Mom, look, this is the fish caught today, and he gave me this fish." ”

"Really. In the early season, I remember my mother told you, you can't just accept other people's things, hurry up and ......"

After glancing at the fish, Zaoji's mother frowned, and I knew that this was a problem with adults, so I stepped forward and explained to her: "I brought rice balls for me to eat at noon today, so I gave her the fish I caught in the river as a gift in return." Please don't blame her, if she doesn't take the fish, then the rice balls I eat will make a fuss in my stomach. ”

Early Season's mother hesitated, and Early Season held her arm and shook it gently, wrinkled her face, and looked at her with pitiful eyes. In the end, she finally nodded in agreement: "Since that's the case, then you can take it in the early season." But thank them well. ”

"Fold, thank you."

Zaji smiled and thanked me happily, and then ran home with the barrel, and soon disappeared.

Watching her disappear into the door, I felt that the time was almost up, so I put my hand on my chest and waved at her mother: "Auntie, it's time for me to go home too." Please wait and talk to the early season. Bye. ”

"Okay, please be careful on the road. Next time you have time, you can come to our house to play. ”

"Thank you, excuse me."

"Be careful all the way."

After saying goodbye, I greeted the fiery sunset and walked along the gravel road in the direction of home. Fortunately, the adults used their spells to clear the snow from the road early in the morning, otherwise the melting snow would have made the road muddy.

After walking a distance, there was a faint murmur of the early season and the gentle scolding of her mother behind her. I smiled, tightened my collar, and quickened my pace home.

……