Chapter 31: The Phantom of Eastern Europe (1)

The day after arriving in Prague, the sun peeks out from the top of the castle hill. Chen Ying woke up early and entered the palace as one of the first tourists of the day. Rare treasures and unreadable letterheads flashed before her, and then she walked through the high main entrance, sat down in the café outside the palace gates, and turned on her computer to connect to the Internet.

She saw Wang Yi's email hanging in her inbox, and the picture attached was "Starry Sky on the Rhône". In his letter, he regretted that this was not the world-famous "Starry Night", although both paintings depicted a brilliant night sky on the same deep blue background. It is a well-known fact that that masterpiece is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The letter was sent in the afternoon two days ago. She took a sip of her coffee, mixed with milk, and wrote back to him with white bread in her mouth.

"Where are you?" Received a reply from him within a minute of sending the email.

"Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic." She replied to him simply.

"I'll look for you." Wang Yi sent a letter saying.

"Where are you from?" Chen Ying asked.

"Paris."

Before she could reply, she received another letter from him:

"I'll take the next flight and I'll see you at Javier International Airport at half past eleven."

Chen Ying hesitated for a moment, looking for the right words to stop his whim. She stared at the barrage of emails on her computer screen, biting her lip in thought.

He sent another email with a screenshot of the ticket information.

"Don't come." She replied anxiously, typing only two words and sending it.

There was no response. I waited a little longer, but it still didn't. She refreshed her inbox repeatedly, hoping that he would change his mind. Another group of tourists climbed the hill and lined up in front of the ticket office at the entrance of the palace, where serious guards stood with guns in front of the low sentry house. Chen Ying remembered that Qin Hong had mentioned the tin soldier in "Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales", and his posture was probably like this, with his head held high and fearless.

From the top of the hill you can see the whole of Prague. The Charles Bridge over the sparkling Vltava River connects the two banks solidly. She walked along the bridge early in the morning to Prague's Old Town, into a world full of red-roofed houses. On the piers of this nearly 700-year-old bridge, there are various black statues on both sides. Most of their weapons or decorations were gilded in gold, shining brilliantly in the morning sun. The fallen trees at both ends of the bridge are only bare branches, and the half-human-high iron frame on the mottled side of the bridgehead is adorned with colorful concentric locks. The walls next to the bridge are spray-painted with vows of love in various languages. The capital letters E and J were circled by a heart-shaped pattern, and Chen Ying crouched down to stroke the graffiti, her fingernails crackling across the uneven stone walls.

After her coffee, she descended the old stone brick road. The unopened shop windows along the way display different styles of mole dolls. They raise the tip of their bright red noses, or wear hats of various colors, or comb a few strands of hair at random, and open their arms in a friendly manner towards passers-by. Chen Ying looked at the business hours on the door, it would be a little while. The sudden promise made her delay, and she had to look back and forth through the window a few times before leaving. There are only a few garbage collectors on the street, and the sound of tourist shoes on stone bricks can be heard all around. CHEN YING WALKED TO THE NOVE BUTOVICE METRO ENTRANCE ON THE VLTAVA RIVER AND CAME TO PRAGUE UNDERGROUND. There are only three metro lines here, and the yellow line turns to the green line and you can reach the airport at the end of the northwest direction.

Chen Ying was sitting in the subway when she saw a homeless man with filthy body in the corner of the platform sleeping in the corner of the platform. He was carrying a bag of waste plastic bags and clasped his hands to his chest. There are many stations passing through, covering almost all the stations on the west side of Prague. Chen Ying looked at the station name outside the window uneasily, lest she go to the wrong station. The subway was moving slowly, and by the time she arrived at the airport, it was past eleven a.m.

"Excuse me, where is the exit for international flights?" She walked over to the information desk and found a man in uniform and asked. Although she had arrived at the airport, she was still unsettled.

"Go along this road, turn right at the first entrance, and the third glass door on the left is." The staff wore white gloves to show her the way.

"Okay, thank you."

She hurried forward and hurried towards the exit. A number of people had gathered there to meet the airport, many holding signs with their names written on them. The Eastern Europeans were curious about her and looked at her with their necks stretched out unabashedly. They had no ill intentions, and the few people standing in the front row even deliberately gave up a place to beckon her over. She boldly walked over and joined the waiting crowd. With the arrival of the flight, the people around her left one after another, and many people waved to her before leaving. She stood leaning against the blue dividing line, and saw the dark green forest of dense cypress trees on the distant mountains outside the window.