Fair Padua， nursery of the arts.

——【William Shakespeare，1564-1616】

----------------------

January 25, 2020.

New Year's Day.

East longitude 11°52', north latitude 45°25'.

Padua.

The cradle of art in Shakespeare's mind.

The prestigious Pedro Café.

"You've been here for eight years, and you've always insisted that you have a phobia of coffee, and when you see a café, it's like seeing a ghost, why do you think about it today and invite me here for coffee?"

Nie Guangyi arrived before the voice came.

He holds a standing card in his left hand.

His right hand patted Xuan Shi's right shoulder from behind.

The strength is so great that it seems that there is a grudge in the previous life.

If he hadn't been accustomed to Nie Guangyi's way of appearing, Xuan Shi would have been directly photographed under the table at this time.

Xuan Shi didn't care about Nie Guangyi's appearance, but came out without a beginning: "I received a call from her." ”

Whether it is broad or narrow, Nie Guangyi is the only connection between Xuanshi and the past.

"She? Who? Nie Guangyi listened with a puzzled face.

"Cheng Nuo."

Xuan Shi lowered his head, his knuckled fingers, and straightened the coffee cup.

The position of the coffee spoon was adjusted very slightly.

Obviously, it wasn't crooked.

Except for himself, no one felt any different than before.

Hear the name.

Nie Guangyi gasped.

I want to speak, but I can't say it.

I want to curse, but I can't find the right words.

With his mouth open, he raised his right hand, went around to the opposite side of Xuan Shi, and patted Xuan Shi's left shoulder.

Nie Guangyi never thought that he was such a caring person.

I was so angry that I couldn't speak, and I remember to use the same strength to symmetrically give Xuanshi's left shoulder a moment.

He was completely thinking about Xuan Shi's upright posture.

failed to appreciate Nie Guangyi's "thoughtfulness", Xuan Shi directly stretched out his hand to block it.

Unloaded the strength of Nie Guangyi's hand, and honestly pressed the person to the opposite seat with his backhand.

If it weren't for Nie Guangyi's sneak attack from behind, Xuan Shi's reaction speed would always be faster than Nie Guangyi's.

The fact that he was not intimate but was disliked made Nie Guangyi angry:

"You're sick, aren't you? It's been eight years, and I'm getting married and haven't survived the itch for seven years, and I'm about to leave, and you still tell me Cheng Nuo? You two haven't even been in love! ”

"I'm not sick."

"I'm not sick, why are you telling me about someone who has been lying in a coffin for a long time?"

"She just left."

"After so many years, there has been no news, is there a difference between death and death?"

"Broadly speaking, don't talk about her like that."

"So what should I say?" Nie Guangyi is angry.

Xuan Shi looked at Nie Guangyi and didn't speak.

It's not so much thinking as emptying.

Cheng Nuo.

What a distant name.

Far away in the deepest part of the heart.

Nie Guangyi took several deep breaths before calming down his mood: "Have you forgotten what the hell you looked like when you were looking for her all over the world?" ”

"I haven't forgotten."

Xuan Shi was calm.

It is as if the moonlight sprinkles the brightness of the night through the cracks of the leaves.

With a halo of holiness, it spreads silently.

Nie Guangyi was so angry by this holy light that he lost his temper: "Tell me, what did the coffin board say when it called you?" You also share with me what makes you so unpossessed. ”

"She didn't speak."

"Didn't speak?"

"Well, the phone rang three times and hung up. Only she would be like this, nothing more than three. If it is someone else, it will either ring once, or it will ring for a long time, no more, no less, just three times. ”

Nie Guangyi looked at Xuan Shi like a fool and joked: "Mamma mia! You've really made me a big insight. An unfamiliar number rings three times, and you make up so much in your brain? ”

"Nope. Chinese New Year's Eve. Zero. I checked the location of the phone, China, Zhejiang, Wenzhou. I can't think of anyone other than her who would call me at midnight on Chinese New Year's Eve. ”

"Wake up. It's been eight years. You haven't changed your home number, and no one has left Padua. Interested in looking for you, will you wait until now? ”

Nie Guangyi half-pulled the corners of his mouth, and a sentence leaked out from the corner of his mouth with a smile: "You are a Spring Festival scam phone call if you die." ”

"It has to be her, I can feel it." Xuan Shi is very sure.

"You're sick! Healed, you know? ”

Nie Guangyi picked up Xuan Shi's phone, shook it in front of him, and unlocked it with his face.

Tap Call History.

From it, turn out the pass that Xuan Shi said.

Without saying a word, I directly pressed back.

One, two, three times, until the call automatically hung up, and no one answered.

"See? The face of the man in Allah Shanghai has been lost to you by you. ”

"I was born in Wenzhou. Can't lose the face of a Shanghai man. ”

"Then what kind of Shanghai hukou do you take, and what do you want to go to middle school?" Nie Guangyi changed his words and said even more angrily: "You have lost all the faces of our Shangzhong men. ”

Nie Guangyi and Xuan Shi met when they were in high school in Shanghai Middle School, and they came to Italy at about the same time after finishing college.

"It's the first day of the Lunar New Year, and she's definitely busy." Xuan Shi tried to find a suitable reason for the unanswered call.

"Whatever you want. I went out into the street and begged for a hug. Nie Guangyi stood up, didn't order any coffee, and was ready to leave.

"What are you doing on the streets?" Xuan Shi wasn't quite sure if he had heard it wrong.

"Please hug."

Nie Guangyi handed Xuan Shi a handwritten standing card.

The standing card is written in Italian Chinese and English, with three sentences written on each:

——

IO non sono un VIRUS

sono un essere UMANO

Abbracciami， come essere UMANO

I'm not a virus

I am human

Give me a hug, just treat me like a human

I'm not a VIRUS

I'm a HUMAN

Hug me， as a HUMAN BEING

——

Xuan Shi watched it back and forth three times before asking, "What are you stimulated by?" ”

"I went to a bar last night and looked at the cover of my passport and wouldn't let me in. After coming to Italy for so many years, it is the first time I have encountered such a target for overseas Chinese. What age is this? Can you tolerate such discrimination? ”

Nie Guangyi's anger is detached, and righteous indignation is filled.

Xuan Shi raised his head and looked at Nie Guangyi.

After thinking about it for a while, he didn't answer and asked, "Do you think this is useful?" Someone is willing to hug you, and there is no more discrimination? ”

Xuan Shi's heart has long been dead.

The word "hot blood" is far away for him like the Jurassic period that only existed before the extinction of the dinosaurs.

"No matter how weak the effect is, it's better to do it than not to do it well!"

Nie Guangyi's face was unprecedentedly firm: "It is the virus that is raging, and what is terrible is the disease, not us overseas Chinese who have lived in Italy for so many years. I can't just let panic, prejudice and discrimination spread. ”

Xuan Shi stared at Nie Guangyi.

It's a bit of a strange feeling.

When he was in high school, he was obviously a more enthusiastic person than Nie Guangyi.

Since when did it start, even the personality has changed.

Since when did you feel that the world has nothing to do with you?

Nie Guangyi couldn't accept Xuan Shi's expression at this time: "Don't you think so?" ”

"Of course I think so......"

Xuan Shi's desire to speak stopped again, touching Nie Guangyi's nerves in a sensitive state.

"What do you mean?" Nie Guangyi asked a little.

"Broadly speaking, I think so...... But there may be no way to accept physical contact from strangers. ”

"Hey! You say this, wouldn't it be nice for you to treat everyone who hugs you as the lover of your dreams? ”

As he spoke, Nie Guangyi took out a black ribbon and blocked it in front of his eyes, explaining: "I'll blindfold myself when I get to the central square later." ”

Xuan Shi raised his hands and waved at Nie Guangyi: "In the Spring and Autumn Period, there are thieves who cover their ears and steal the bell, and in the Spring Festival, there are generalized blindfolded begging for hugs." ”

"You'd better find some medicine to eat. If there is a disease, it will be cured. Nie Guangyi couldn't stand Xuan Shi's crepe tone the most, took the standing card, and counted down while walking out with disdain on his face: "Otherwise, you go bask in the sun and see if you can dry the water in your head......"

The people are gone, and the sound is still there.

This is Nie Guangyi.

So love and hate.

Then there is action.

……

Take the last sip of coffee that has been cooled.

Coffee cocktails, coffee pasta, and pan-fried coffee steaks that haven't been touched since you ordered them don't make a difference......

Xuan Shi stood up.

He didn't leave immediately, but measured every corner of Pedrozi's café with his feet.

This is the place where Cheng Nuo has worked, and it is the starting point of her coffee dream.

This city, this café, was also once the end of Xuanshi's dream.

Cheng Nuo's dream is to be a world-class barista.

Xuanshi's dream is to join hands with Cheng Nuo for the rest of his life.

Like yesterday.

It's like a past life.

……

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, the Veneto region, where Padua is located, is also celebrating the Spring Festival.

Xuanshi has always avoided traditional domestic festivals.

Even though the Spring Festival in Padua does not have a particularly strong festive atmosphere, he is still afraid that he will touch the scene.

Today was a special case, and he arrived at the main entrance of the Padua City Hall in a trance.

There are many steps at the entrance.

At the bottom of the steps, there is a group of Chinese people doing an activity - "A Thousand Paper Cranes Pray for China and the World".

A large screen was set up at the event.

Inside the screen, some news of the domestic epidemic is played in a loop.

Xuan Shi hasn't paid attention to domestic news for many years.

Suddenly, I saw that Wuhan, which was still the most serious epidemic, was directly shocked in place.

He saw heavily armed doctors and nurses.

I also saw patients on ventilators and dying with ECMO.

A doctor in a white lab coat told reporters next to a bus full of medical personnel: "Seventeen years ago, my mother sent me to the battlefield against SARS, and today I send my daughter to Wuhan to fight the epidemic." ”

The reporter asked: "Are you worried?" ”

"Of course I'm worried about her safety, but I'm even more proud of this heritage," the doctor said. ”

Voiceover: Time can change many things, but it can't take away the great love of the world.

A nurse appeared in the video, her face has deep strangulation marks, which were left by wearing protective gear for a long time.

Nurse: "There was a surge in patients, we were working two shifts of 12 hours a day, 24 hours a day, and many of us didn't eat or drink for 12 hours in a row. Diapers that I didn't wear when I was a kid are now wearing adult ones. (The nurse smiles shyly.) ）

The reporter asked: "The requirements for a full set of protective clothing also include adult diapers?" ”

The nurse said, "No, we asked for it ourselves." ”

The reporter asked: "Is it because there is not enough protective clothing?" ”

The nurse said: "Not only for this reason, it takes 27 steps and 12 times to disinfect hands to take off a protective suit, which takes more than half an hour. ”

Voiceover: Only by beating the clock can we take back more lives from the virus.

A simple farmer waved his hand while avoiding the camera and said, "Don't want money, don't want money." I just heard that the medical team from Shanghai and Zhejiang lived in ...... Stay at this hotel. These dishes, all grown by myself, are worthless, worthless. I just want to give the doctors and nurses something fresh ......."

……

The person who was doing the activity saw Xuan Shi stop and ran over to ask him if he wanted to participate in the blessing activity.

"How do I participate?" Xuan Shi asked.

The event staff brought Xuan Shi to the edge of the table and handed him a marker: "Write a prayer here, and then sign your name on the signature wall." ”

According to Xuan Shi's cold temperament, he would not participate in such an event.

But today is an exception, he has too many emotions that he has nowhere to express.

Xuan Shi picked up his pen and wrote two lines of poetry on a blank card in the prayer area that best indicated his state of mind at this time:

[I miss people, separated from a distant country. 】

[I have something to feel, and I am in my deep bowels. 】

Then, under the leadership of the staff, I went to the signature wall to sign.

"You're Xuanshi?"

The people who did the event were surprised when they saw the signatures.

"You know me?"

"I don't know." After denying it, the volunteer said: "But I've seen your name, you donated 20,000 N95 masks to Wuhan." ”

"Me?" Xuan Shi was a little puzzled: "Where did you see it?" ”

"It's in the donation list of the China-Italy Youth Federation. Your name is so special that you can remember it at a glance. ”

"That's the case...... Xuan Shi didn't know how to respond, "Then can you remove my name from the list?" ”

"Huh? Why? Do good deeds without leaving a name? ”

"It's just a gesture, there's no need for it."

"How can this be a gesture? Do you know how tight the mask is in China? Doctors may not be able to renew N95 masks. This is the largest single donation of N95 masks we've received in recent times, and it's on its way to Wuhan. ”

"Doctors can't necessarily do it? Is it so exaggerated? "Xuanshi's concern is not the same as that of volunteers.

"Absolutely! Have you paid attention to the current price of N95 masks in China? ”

Xuanshi really didn't know the price of domestic masks.

We did donate a batch of N95 masks.

Without knowing if it counts as knowing.

……

Two days ago, Nie Guangyi asked him, "Are there any medical surgical masks?" ”

"There is no medical surgery, there should be a lot of N95."

"How many exactly?"

"I don't know."

"What about the expiration date?"

"The boxes I saw have a year and a half of shelf life, and they should have been produced in the same batch."

"Can I donate it?"

"In the new warehouse, you can just ship it away."

……

Xuanshi's career in Padua was a bit trivial.

In the beginning, he was just a clerk in a supermarket.

It took more than a year to become the store manager.

Then he spent 500,000 euros to join the supermarket where he was the store manager.

Every month, in addition to the store manager's salary, there will also be performance dividends.

Joining a supermarket is not a lucrative business, but a stable income.

As long as the location is well selected and the management is not stretched, the prospects are still very impressive.

Xuan Shi is more talented in site selection.

Starting from joining one supermarket, it has gradually become ten, and the management experience is constantly accumulating.

He hopes to create his own supermarket chain brand in the near future.

At that time, he will be the one who collects the franchise fee, not the one who has to hand it over.

At the end of 19, in order to prepare for the first supermarket of his own brand, Xuan Shi started a warehouse.

This warehouse originally belonged to a medical device factory.

Because of poor management, it has gone out of business.

The remaining factory building and two warehouses are to be sold.

Xuanshi purchased one of the warehouses.

He wanted to buy both, but they were only willing to sell him one, saying that the other warehouse would be sold together with the factory.

The plant was sold in a package with equipment and warehouses for 5 million euros.

This is something that is outside the scope of Xuanshi's ability.

The 20,000 N95 masks donated to Wuhan were left over from the warehouse that the medical device factory did not empty in time.

In Xuan Shi's view, Nie Guangyi's willingness to transport this batch of masks helped him solve the trouble of follow-up processing.

He never watched the news.

It doesn't matter if it's Italian or domestic.

Nor did I download any of the social software.

I heard from the people who did the activity that the price of N95 masks in China has soared to the sky, and money can't buy them.

Xuan Shi figured out why when Nie Guangyi transported the mask away, he said that he was generous for a while, and muttered for a while that he was not afraid of being bought and sold.

However, shouldn't these masks be recorded in Nie Guangyi's name?

Nie Guangyi is a person who loves to be in the limelight so much.

Why didn't you use your own name at this time?

What's more, these masks were originally white.

Xuan Shi felt that he was ashamed of it.

Wait until the people who do the activities start to report to their homes: "My name is Huang Yuqing, Wuhan is my hometown, and I represent ......"

Xuan Shi almost muttered to himself, "It would be nice to be able to help people in need", and fled away from the scene of the blessing event.

He was especially unaccustomed to gratitude from strangers.

Huang Yuqing caught up and wanted to say something.

Xuanshi's phone rang at this time.

The ringtone of the call made him feel relieved.

Xuan Shi pointed to the phone and quickened the pace of leaving.

The number that called him at 0:00 on the first day of the Lunar New Year appeared on the mobile phone display again.

Xuan Shi's heartbeat soared in a straight line as the phone rang.

In fact, he had no reason to believe that the call was made by Cheng Nuo.

This kind of intuition, which is almost a sixth sense, should not exist in men in the first place.

But he still picked up the phone when it rang a second time.

Even if there are 10,000 voices shouting in my heart, don't answer, don't answer, don't answer!

Xuan Shi's hand was still one step ahead of his brain and made a decision.

"Ah Shi, I'm sorry, I just missed your call."

On the other end of the phone, Cheng Nuo's voice came.

After eight years, the dream haunts the soul.

"The phone call just now was not made by me, it was Nie Guangyi who called back my phone."

Xuan Shi reflexively explained.

Whoever calls who first finds whom.

These are things that have long been meaningless.

At this moment, inexplicably becomes a very important issue.

"Well, I was looking for you in the first place."

Cheng Nuo's voice was faint, revealing a little tiredness.

Chinese New Year's Eve, I think there will be a little lack of sleep.

He was looking forward to her call and had been looking forward to it for years.

In the first year of Cheng Nuo's disappearance, Xuan Shi called Cheng Nuo over and over again.

From Sorry, the user you are calling is temporarily unreachable, please dial again later.

Call until [Hello, the phone you are dialing is turned off].

Then go to [Hello, the number you dialed is empty, please check before dialing].

It took Xuan Shi a long time to accept the fact that Cheng Nuo had forgotten the promise between them.

Say yes.

As long as he comes to Italy.

As long as she can find a café where she works.

She was with him.

For a lifetime, never give up.

He came, but she was gone.

Not a word was left.

On either end of the phone, no one spoke.

The environment around each other is not very quiet.

Time and space seemed to stand still.

The whole world froze.

"Ah Shi." Cheng Nuo was the first to break this suffocating silence.

"Yes." Xuan Shi also made a promise - [As long as you look for me, I will always be there].

Xuan Shi didn't know what Cheng Nuo was going to say to him.

He hadn't heard anyone call him [Ah Shi] for many years.

Strange and yet familiar.

A salutation.

Spanning eight years.

shortened the distance between the two.

Xuan Shi thought without any bottom line.

If.

She said she missed him.

Then he forgave her.

It's just that...... If.

"Can you find the suit?" Cheng Nuo asked.

The real world, where do there are so many ifs.

Xuan Shi followed Cheng Nuo's words and asked out loud: "Protective clothing? The kind of doctors and nurses wear in the news? Antivirus? ”

"Yes."

"You're in Wuhan?"

Xuan Shi's heart directly mentioned his throat and eyes.

Cheng Nuo in his memory, rarely has this kind of weak appearance, is it because he is infected?

In the most desperate moment, I thought of him?

Xuan Shi doesn't like to talk, but the inner world of social fear has always been richer than that of ordinary people.

"No, I'm in Wenzhou."

"If it's not in Wuhan, then it's fine."

"Not good. Outside of Hubei, Wenzhou is the most serious. The epidemic in Wenzhou is even more serious than many cities in Hubei. ”

"How so? Wenzhou and Wuhan are 900 kilometers away, right? ”

"Ah Shi's geography is still so good." Cheng Nuo probably wanted to use this to ease the atmosphere.

Xuan Shi didn't take this stubble, and asked out loud: "Why is Wenzhou so serious?" ”

"Next to the South China Farmers' Market where the epidemic broke out in Wuhan is the South China Glasses City."

"A glasses city opened by Wenzhou people?"

"Well, the most of them are Wenzhou merchants."

"Is that so? I just saw the news that medical teams from all over the country have gone to support Wuhan. Wenzhou if it's serious......"

"Protective resources are very scarce in various places, and in this situation, we must first focus on Wuhan, and Wenzhou has sent medical teams to support Wuhan. For the Chinese New Year, we don't want to cause chaos to the country, and we are ready to launch a global Wenzhou people's self-help activity tomorrow. ”

"Global Wenzhou people save themselves?"

"Yes, it is to use the energy of Wenzhou people all over the world to find a way to send the medical resources that are in short supply in the hospital to the front-line doctors in a point-to-point way."

"Is there a shortage of N95 masks in Wenzhou?"

This is the first thing Xuan Shi can think of.

I regretted it after asking.

According to Nie Guangyi's temperament, he must have emptied the warehouse directly.

Regardless of whether Wenzhou lacks it or not, he has no extra N95 to donate.

"What is missing, but what is even more lacking is protective clothing. The protective clothing of the designated hospital in Wenzhou can only last for five days at most. ”

"Five days?"

"Yes. Now during the Spring Festival, work and production have been suspended everywhere, and if we can't find the resources for protective clothing, those doctors who are fighting the epidemic on the front line will have to go to the virus to take their lives without adequate protection. ”

"To this extent? I thought that Wuhan was the only one facing a shortage of resources. ”

"The virus doesn't even have borders, where are the boundaries of cities? I called before, just to ask you, are there any resources for protective clothing? ”

What a real reason. What a luxury if.

Xuan Shi couldn't respond.

"Ah Shi, if you have a channel, help us think of a way."

"You guys?"

Eight years is enough time to change a lot of things.

He is still him, but Cheng Nuo and others form [we].

Xuan Shi couldn't accept the fact that he was so cruel.

"Well, a large group of us launched an operation to help Wenzhou."

This [our] explanation made Xuan Shi feel relieved in an instant.

"Why do you think I have a source?" Xuan Shi began to be curious.

"I saw you in the donation list of the China-Italy Youth Federation. I used to be one of the heads of the federation and I didn't get in touch after I left Italy and I got back in touch yesterday. ”

"That's why you called me?"

"Yes." Cheng Nuo did not deny it.

Xuan Shi couldn't figure out what kind of feeling he was feeling now.

Disappointment is certainly inevitable.

He originally thought that Cheng Nuo had specially chosen to call him at midnight on Chinese New Year's Eve.

Now it seems, it may just be a dozen.

After playing, taking into account the time difference, it will ring three times and hang.

There's nothing special about it at all.

It's not because of what I miss.

But.

In addition to the extreme disappointment of personal feelings, as an overseas Chinese born in Wenzhou, raised in Shanghai, settled in Padua.

In Xuan Shi's heart, there is also a blood rushing.

My heart is my home.

The pictures that appeared in the news touched his long-sealed heart.

At this time, the feelings of family and country have become stronger than ever.

He knew he had to do something for his hometown.

However, at this very moment.

Cheng Nuo brought him a mental blow that made it impossible for him to say a complete sentence.

He.

It's always been there.

In a place that Cheng Nuo can reach with a phone call.

But.

If it weren't for the epidemic, Cheng Nuo wouldn't even be willing to call him.

Eight years, not eight days.

Xuanshi couldn't pretend that nothing had happened.

There are no ifs. There is only silence.

"Ah Shi, if I hadn't seen the donation information, I wouldn't have been able to believe it, this number is not empty." Cheng Nuo once again took the lead in breaking the condensation of time and space.

"What did you say?" Xuan Shi began to wonder if there was something wrong with his hearing today.

First, I couldn't understand Nie Guangyi's [begging for a hug], and then I couldn't understand Cheng Nuo's [not an empty number].

"The number I am calling you now is my work phone specially prepared for the operation to help Wenzhou."

"Ah Shi, that phone call at zero o'clock, I didn't think I could get through......"

"Because I don't know what to say, I will hang up in a hurry."

"I called you twice more on my own phone, and each time it was empty."

"Ah Shi, I only found out today that your phone number is not really empty."

"You just unilaterally blocked me."

Every word Cheng Nuo said, Xuan Shi could understand it, and when combined together, he couldn't understand it.

"My phone is empty? Are you kidding me? ”

"I didn't."

Cheng Nuo was silent for a while, let out a long breath, and then made up his mind: "Ah Shi, even if it's an empty number, I will call you every year at this time of the Spring Festival." ”

Xuan Shi never thought that there would be another version of the story between him and Cheng Nuo.

A radically opposite version.

This version had too much impact on him, and he couldn't digest it for a while.