Cheng Mo looked down at the little boy standing under the curb of the road holding a women's bicycle, he was really thin, although he had not yet reached the skinny state of "Little Radish Head", but it was not too far behind, his skin showed an unhealthy dull color, as if covered with a layer of black oil, it looked not so white, obviously a problem caused by malnutrition. In addition to being thin, the signs of overwork are also obvious, the slender hands are covered with scratches, and some of the scabs have not yet fallen.

However, the little boy named Khalid has really beautiful facial features, and if he takes care of it a little, becomes a little whiter, and then changes into good-looking clothes, he is definitely the kind of beautiful boy who will make girls scream. If such a look is in China, it is definitely the darling of talent scouts, and with a little training, it can definitely become a cash cow.

But in Syria, not only did he not have a chance to become a star, but even reading and eating became a problem.

Different birthplaces have created completely different destinies.

However, Cheng Mo's heart just sighed, the little boy's unfortunate life and cute appearance did not make him pity, he had always been rational to the point of cold-bloodedness, at this time his heart was more concerned about "his own safety", so it was bound to be impossible for him to agree to the little boy's condition of three thousand US dollars.

There is no doubt that the number "three thousand dollars" can be blurted out by the other party, either because someone instructed it, or because it has some special meaning. So Cheng Mo immediately shook his head, and said in a resolute tone: "Impossible, do you know how much three thousand dollars is?"

"I know, I know, but, sir, I really need this money....." Khalid clenched his hands into fists and whispered pleas.

Such a tone and attitude is almost equivalent to giving up the bargaining power, Cheng Mo was a little surprised that the little boy knelt so fast, but he didn't have any mercy, and his tone was so serious that it was almost condemning, "That's none of my business, I just know that this offer is very unreasonable." What's more, I don't have that much money either. ”

Khalid was still too young to judge who was in a strong position between him and Cheng Mo, so he was easily frightened by Cheng Mo, and asked with a sad face: "Then how much can you come up with?"

"A hundred dollars. With a cruel knife, Cheng Mo cut the price to one-thirtieth.

"A hundred dollars?" exclaimed Khalid, "that's a bit of a lot, and believe me, there's really no one in this town who knows English but me!

"I also know Saudi. Cheng Mo said in Saudi, "Maybe you are the only one who knows English, but there must be others who know Saudi....."

Khalid was stunned, he opened his mouth slightly and didn't know how to answer, so he could only stand there and stare at Cheng Mo.

"If you don't want to, I'll go to the hotel in town. ”

"There are no hotels in town that offer accommodation. ”

"There will always be people who are willing to provide it, but if it doesn't work, I can go to the city government and ask. Cheng Mo didn't give Khalid too much time to think, nor did he give the rich woman Athena a chance to interject, and pulled Athena to turn around and continue to walk forward.

He doesn't care about 3,000 US dollars, but deeply understands the truth of "wealth is not exposed". In addition, this is also his way of tempting Khalid, if the other party immediately agrees to his outrageous counteroffer, it means that there must be other ways to calculate him, and he must be doubly vigilant. There are no rules in a war-torn place like Syria, and as a "white man" anyone can be an enemy, and he can't capsize in the gutter. Cheng Mo was thinking about whether to explain to Athena, so that she must not be overflowing with love, so that she became a fat sheep, turned her head to look at Athena, but found that there was no emotion on her face, and she didn't look back at Khalid who didn't know how to be good, with a look of indifference.

"Is there a problem with this little boy?" Cheng Mo asked softly.

"Questions?" Athena turned to look at Cheng Mo, "I don't know, I didn't even look at him." I don't like small children....."

"I don't like kids either. After a pause, Cheng Mo said again, "Especially naughty children." ”

"Hmm. Athena nodded approvingly, and then said, "Where are we going?" Didn't the kid say there were no hotels in town?"

"Wait a bit. Cheng Mo said firmly, "I'm catching up with him." ”

As soon as Cheng Mo's words fell, there was the sound of Khalid pushing the bicycle "clang" behind him, Cheng Mo did not look back, but he did not speed up, and still walked along the street with Athena at the original speed.

Originally, the two of them didn't go far, and soon Khalid pushed the dilapidated bicycle to catch up again, and he didn't speak, just walked silently behind Cheng Mo and Athena a little bit. Cheng Mo glanced at Khalid out of the corner of his eye, he lowered his head and kicked the stones under his feet, his expression was a little timid, a little lost, and a little overwhelmed. He seemed to have completely forgotten what he was going to do, pushing his bicycle and following Cheng Mo and Athena, and did not continue to bargain with Cheng Mo.

After walking for a while, Cheng Mo took the initiative to ask, "Have you thought about it?"

Khalid raised his head and begged with a pitiful face: "Sir, please add a little more, add a little more, I know you are a good person, a little more is enough!"

"It has nothing to do with whether I'm a good person or not, Khalid. Cheng Mo shrugged his shoulders and said, "I can only afford a hundred dollars." ”

Khalid followed Cheng Mo and Athena with broken steps, swallowing saliva to moisten his dry lips, "Why, I know you are rich. ”

"Oh, how do you know?" asked Cheng Mo, pretending to be curious.

"The clothes you sold to Daddy Mubayed are expensive, I know that brand, Gucci, is very expensive....."

"Do you still know Gucci?" Cheng Mo pretended to be surprised.

"Of course. Khalid looked proud, "My dad used to take pictures in front of this shop when he was abroad! The door of the shop was very big, as high as the temple gate, and it was very magnificent, but the models in the window were so ugly! They didn't know how many clothes to wear.....

Khalid's "pride" was fleeting, and as he spoke, his face gradually became gloomy, his head lowered again, and his tightly pursed lips showed an indescribable sadness.

Cheng Mo was quite satisfied with Khalid's performance, basically ruled out the possibility that he was instructed by someone or arranged some trap, smiled and said: "But my Gucci is just an imitation, if I were really that rich, I wouldn't come here." Hearing Cheng Mo's words, Khalid raised his head and looked at Cheng Mo again, but at this time, there was no longer that kind of light in his pupils, and his disappointment was overflowing, and his upright posture just now was also a little sluggish like a frosted eggplant.

Seeing this, Cheng Mo immediately threw a sweet date, "I'll add another fifty dollars to you, one hundred and fifty dollars, which is also a lot of money, what are you willing to do?"

"One hundred and fifty dollars, one hundred and fifty dollars. Khalid replied with a sad face, "Okay." ”

Cheng Mo stopped, turned to look at the decadent and worried Khalid and asked in a low voice, "Can you ask why you need three thousand dollars urgently?"

Khalid said weakly: "Because it costs 3,000 dollars to go to Germany......."

Cheng Mo nodded, "If you are satisfied with your performance, I will consider giving you another fifty dollars." ”

Khalid smiled reluctantly and said, "Yes, sir." ”

"Then now you're going to take us directly to the black market?"

Khalid shook his head and said, "Go to my house first, my grandfather is more familiar with the black market, and he has to go to change money." ”

"Okay, you lead the way. Try to walk in a less crowded area. ”

———————————————————————

Khalid and Khalid took Cheng Mo and Athena around the city's main road and walked to the edge of the town. It used to be a large number of houses here, but now they are in ruins, and the wind blows a puff of dust. The road was also buried in broken bricks, and the cracks in the bricks were densely mixed with bullet casings of various calibers and sharp shrapnel, and the three people walked through it with a crackling sound.

Through Khalid's staccato narration, Cheng Mo learned that Latakia was a pleasant harbor town before the war, not only developed in shipping, but also in tourism, with a population of 600,000, dating back to ancient Cybla and Roman times, and although there are not many relics preserved before, there are still more or less of them.

But after the war, the population plummeted to more than 200,000, and most of the remaining monuments were badly damaged. Khalid pointed to a small hill not far away and said, "There used to be a crusader castle somewhere, but because the government forces used to occupy it and set up machine guns and artillery, only a few sections of the city wall were bombed. If it's still really good for taking pictures......"

Cheng Mo raised his eyes and saw that there were really only a few fragments of the city wall left on the hill, like torn paper, a strong fortress that had stood for hundreds of years, and now it only took a single shell to completely destroy it, and he didn't know whether it was historical progress or regression. But in fact, the fortress on the mountain bag does not describe the cruelty of war at all.

Looking around, there are completely intact remnants of the war, huge rockets, aerial bombs, homemade bombs everywhere, and parts of various military vehicles scattered everywhere, they have been rusted and mottled and mixed in the ruins. The guns that were burned until they melted and solidified, the Humvees that were torn apart like pieces of paper, and the T55 tank, which was only the keel, were like steel statues that could stand forever.....

Even if Cheng Mo didn't personally experience the war here, he could imagine how tragic the situation was at that time. Now, almost two years after the ceasefire was signed, there is still no time to rebuild the area. Cheng Mo couldn't help but think of Irak, he had been to Irak when he was attacking the Tower of Babel, compared to Syria's situation was more complicated, so it was even more tragic, and it was far from true peace.

Cheng Mo was quite emotional, but Khalid didn't have much emotion, and when he encountered a slightly better building, Khalid would tell Cheng Mo and Athena what they were being used for now like a tour guide.

Cheng Mo listened very carefully, and occasionally asked Khalid some questions, but the questions Cheng Mo asked were too deep, involving complex sectarian and ethnic struggles within Syria. Khalid really couldn't answer much, but Cheng Mo dug up Khalid's identity in the conversation.

As a port city, Latakia has a cosmopolitan flavor that cannot be found anywhere else in Syria, so it is more tolerant of other religions. For example, Khalid's parents, who were Sunrites, sent Khalid to a private Catholic school. As a result, most of Khalid's childhood playmates were Catholics. He knew the Bible even better than XXX, and Khalid's parents had no problem with that, his father, an engineer who had studied abroad for a short time, was more open-minded and wanted him to be exposed to English early enough to send him abroad to study in the future, so he was enrolled in a private Catholic school. Even his mother rarely wore a headscarf in public, and his father only went to the temple for funerals.

In fact, before the war, Hafez al-Assad, known as the dictator, had been committed to secularized liberalism, of course, because of his status as a religious minority of the Alawites, but his rule was definitely moderate and modern.

Ironically, it is precisely this moderation and modernity that makes him almost defenseless in the face of the big stick of "freedom and democracy" of the great powers.

But what if you have the power to fight back?

Not far away, Libia is also a lesson from the past, when the "Saudi Spring" broke out in Tunisia, Libia was under the rule of the political strongman Muammar Gaddafi, the economy and people's livelihood were quite good, and in the entire African region and even the Middle East, the living conditions of the Libia people were the best, their housing, medical care, transportation, Communications don't cost much, and public facilities are much better, because Gaddafi nationalized the oil companies controlled by Europe and the United States, and then the income from oil was used to subsidize people's livelihood and infrastructure in addition to building the army, so there is no such situation in Libia that Tunisia or Yemen can't live by, so it is uncovered.

But the problem is that Libya is too good for Gaddafi, and there are Africa's first oil reserves, which makes Gaddafi a little inflated, and even wants to set up an African investment bank and establish Africa's own oil organization, in order to promote African countries to form some kind of alliance to bargain with the lighthouse and Europa, which can touch the lighthouse and Europa's scale.

So Gaddafi immediately went to the lighthouse blacklist, and was labeled as a dictator by the lighthouse with the help of a powerful public opinion control machine, and then the French began to stab them, don't think that the Frenchie is a shaved surrender chicken, a row of harmless people and animals, in fact, the crimes committed by the French in the colonies are no worse than the Japanese. Now that the former colony dared to rebel, the French of course wanted to crush Libia, so as the former suzerain, the French were the first to send planes to bomb Libia.

The lighthouse is not rare for Libyan oil, but it needs control of the oil, and a large oil-producing country like Libia is not controlled by it, which is unacceptable to the lighthouse, so getting rid of the anti-American Gaddafi is an inevitable option....

For the lighthouse to solve the problem, all it needs to do is to use the routine repeatedly, as long as it uses the powerful propaganda machine again, Facebook, Twitter, and then with the help of the stick of freedom and democracy, and then sends powerful warplanes to bomb it a few times, and everything is captured.

This kind of routine Cheng Mo is also very familiar with as a Chinese person, and I think that the lighthouse was used in Xiangjiang back then, although it is simple, but it is very practical. In essence, this is a dimensionality reduction attack, but unfortunately this move has little effect on China, but it can easily subvert a small country like Libia. Even a strongman like Gaddafi was overthrown with only a few struggles.

It's just that after his death, the Libians did not see the freedom and democracy they wanted, and the lighthouse or Europa was only responsible for overthrowing Gaddafi, not for giving them the American and European life they longed for. I just don't know what it's like to be a Libia now, and when they can't afford to eat or it's unsafe to go out, will they miss Gaddafi, the dictator they once hated because of public opinion.

Cheng Mo walked slowly past the ruins of the battlefield, the history on the text and the real history give people a completely different feeling, no matter how strong the power of the words is, it is not as shocking as the real scene.

The tremendous destructiveness of the war showed him an extremely cold picture, and at this moment he had a new feeling for the country and the nation in his heart.......

————————————————————

Led by Khalid, Cheng Mo and Athena made a long detour along the edge of the city and back to the sea. There is a long street with small buildings on both sides of the coastal road, but the stone buildings on both sides of the long street have collapsed a lot, and now only stubborn wreckage remains. Probably because the stone is so hard, most of it has been stripped of the second floor or roof, leaving the walls made of granite.

Cheng Mo was able to deduce from the marble and granite that had lost its color that the small building here had a certain age, and assumed that it had not been destroyed, it must be as beautiful as Santoni.

Khalid pointed to a small building on the side of the sea and said happily, "That's my house." ”

Cheng Mo followed Khaled's finger and looked at one of the many damaged small buildings, one of which was basically intact, with a flat roof firmly covered on it, and no holes or collapses in the walls, except for the windows nailed to the wooden boards, which looked normal.

In the middle of a pile of dilapidated houses, it is almost like a miracle.

"Is that house that didn't happen to you your home?" asked Cheng Mo.

"Yes. Khalid quickened his pace.

"Why is it only your house that is good?"

"I don't know, my mother said it was the Creator's blessing, my grandfather said it was luck, and I don't know which of them was right. ”

Khalid quickened his pace, as if something in the distance was naturally attracting him. Cheng Mo and Athena also hurried to follow, the narrow street was completely different from the one in the ruins, it had been cleaned, free of bricks, shells, and mortar shrapnel. And there are still many people living in the houses that have not completely collapsed, and there are even shops open, and the people who saw Cheng Mo and Athena doing nothing were all staring curiously, and several children in shabby clothes rushed out, giggling in circles around the two of them, without the slightest fear, and asked Khalid loudly who they were.

Khalid shook his fist and drove away, and the group of children laughed and dispersed, hiding in the distance and grimacing at Cheng Mo and Athena. Cheng Mo didn't care about this, looking left and right to observe the surrounding environment, unlike the children's heartless happiness, the faces of the adults were cold and hard, like lifeless and shoddy clay sculptures.

Athena stared at the shops selling steamed buns and cakes, and watched intently.

As he approached Khalid's door, he pointed to the building facing the sea at the end of the long street, where the white rectangular building in front of an empty playground had been evenly split in half and turned into a square, and a green Syria flag stood on the edge of the crack, like a dividing line in a comparative photo, "That's the Catholic school where I studied, and the flag was supposed to be a cross, but it was blown up." ”

"Why did you even blow up the school?" Cheng Mo asked with some shock.

"Because it's a Catholic school. Khalid was a little gloomy, "I don't even dare to say outside now that I studied there, or even that I know English." ”

Cheng Mo didn't know what to say, so he could only be silent.

When he arrived at Khaled's house, there was a middle-aged man with a skewed beard and unkempt face like a homeless man sitting in the ruins next door to his house, and his house was left and right with only two walls, unobstructed in front and back, and upstairs was the ruins of the second floor, and you could still see the rotten wooden bed and wardrobe. He sat on the airy living room couch around him, surrounded by garbage and a pitifully skinny rat crawling at his feet, ignoring it and staring at the pictures hanging on the walls.

Khalid whispered: "That's Uncle Ashkal, the manager of a car company before the war, and after the war, he was responsible for cleaning up the corpses in the city. When it was his turn to clean up the rubble of the school, he dug up the bodies of Amuro, Khribin, Mawas, and little Soma from the rubble of the school's east building, and all four of his children died, and a bomb destroyed half of the school, and all four of his children were in the east building. Before the school was cleaned up, they still had a glimmer of hope, and when that hope was dashed, Aunt Adile went mad, and one night she accidentally fell into the sea, and the body was not found, so Uncle Ashkar never went out....." After a pause, Khalid whispered, "I said it was accidental, probably because the doctrine does not allow suicide!"

Cheng Mo glanced at it slightly, hanging on the bare wall was a dusty family photo, a middle-aged man in a suit holding a little girl and a woman in a dress stood side by side, three boys in small suits were standing next to his legs, smiling very brightly.

"Actually, it has nothing to do with religion, who hasn't killed a few people?" Khaled's narrative and expression were calm, and he pushed open the burgundy wooden door, motioning for Cheng Mo and Athena to go in first.

Cheng Mo withdrew his gaze and stepped into the courtyard of Khaled's house. The yard is small, there is no landscape in it, the concrete floor is not very flat, and there are some metal parts and electrical appliances that I don't know what to do under the fence, there are cabinet refrigerators, and the steering wheel of a car, and even a section of a tank's tracks. Cheng Mo guessed that Khalid had picked up all the things he thought were valuable.

Khalid closed the door and shouted in Syriac, "Mother, a guest has arrived." ”

Cheng Mo and Athena stopped and stood in the courtyard waiting. Soon a middle-aged woman wrapped in a black headscarf came out of the living room, her eyes were large and puffy, and her face was full of exhaustion, but she was dressed very cleanly, and at first glance she was a woman who paid attention to her image. When she saw Cheng Mo and Athena in the courtyard, she was directly stunned, glanced at Khalid in puzzlement, and after Khalid walked over and said something, she forced a smile, first invited Cheng Mo and Athena into the house, and then asked Khalid a few words softly.

Khalid quickly talked to his mother, arranged for Cheng Mo and Athena to sit down on the shabby leather sofa in the living room, and hurriedly said, "Wait a minute, I'll go to my grandfather first." ”

Cheng Mo nodded, and Khalid ran away in a gust of wind. And Khalid's mother brought water and three plates of food and put them on the coffee table, she didn't know how to communicate with Cheng Mo Athena, and motioned for Cheng Mo and Athena to eat with an embarrassed face, and then sat on the chair next to her a little cramped.

Athena was not a polite person, looking curiously at the three stacks of somewhat rudimentary snacks on the coffee table, and on the three old wooden trays there were food that could be seen at a glance. A plate of unknown green fruit that resembles an olive, but certainly not an olive, a plate of fried pasta that resembles a triangular spring roll, and a plate of rock sugar skewers.....

Seeing Athena looking at the snacks intently, Khalid's mother immediately uttered an unclear Syric language, presumably telling Cheng Mo and Athena not to be polite.

Cheng Mo had no desire to eat at all, and the appearance of these foods was not good, so he didn't want to do it, he turned his head to Athena who was eager to try it and said: "You can eat if you want, but don't expect too much about the taste......"

Athena reached for a green olive-shaped fruit and handed it to her mouth. Khalid's mother was taken aback, said something quickly, and kept shaking her hand.

Cheng Mo guessed that it was probably Athena's wrong way of eating, and it was too late to stop it. Athena, who had bitten the green fruit, had her face wrinkled, and immediately spat the fruit in her mouth on the ground, and the yellow, yellow, green, and green flesh and pulp splashed a flower on the white-green tiles.

Athena lowered her head to find the tissue but couldn't see it, so she subconsciously asked Cheng Mo: "Where is the tissue?"

According to his estimates, there is a high probability that there are no paper towels in this room, not only because of poverty and lack of materials, but also because of the Saint Laurent Church, which does not use paper to wipe PP, but with the left hand.....

Khalid's mother quickly stood up, said something she didn't understand, and walked out of the living room quickly.

Seeing that Athena still turned her head to look at him, waiting for him to hand over the tissue. Cheng Mo could only pick up the water glass, pour some water on his fingertips, and raise his hand to lightly wipe away the green juice and yellowish seeds stained with the corners of Athena's red lips. However, the sticky juice was already running down her chin and about to reach her neck, so Cheng Mo could only do it to the end, lift her chin, and slowly rub her thumb along the shallow sugar mark.

Sunlight leaked through the cracks in the plastic wooden panels, and a pale golden light cut like a sharp blade on Athena's white neck, with a strange sense of art, like a simple modern sculpture. This sudden picture and the occasional ambiguity made Cheng Mo's brain dizzy, and the atmosphere suddenly entered a state of confusion after drinking.

Cheng Mo looked sideways at Athena's towering figure, thinking that if Athena was compared to wine, then she must be the strongest vodka, which looked as pure and clear as water, but was actually as blazing as a flame. Especially in this small city with a strong smell of death, he subconsciously longs for Athena's presence to pull him out of this world.

But the shattered souls that swam like ghosts among the ruins made the sound of tinkling metal footsteps, and his brain could not get rid of the sorrow that was as heavy as shackles.

Cheng Mo is determined to get rid of these worthless pities, he has long known that as an individual, he can do nothing about everything, maintain a good attitude, and live his life well may be the only thing he can do, in addition to this, he can give Khalid a little more money. He looked at Athena's skin, which was as clean as white paper, and his heart moved, and he slid his fingertips and asked, "How do you feel when you see these cruel scenes?"

"I don't feel anything, I just hate humans more. Athena said lightly, "Humans are a flawed species. ”

"Defect refers to desire?" Cheng Mo thought for a moment, "It is desire that can drive human progress. ”

Athena shook her head and said, "It's not that I think there's anything wrong with desire, it's just that humans are too hypocritical. There is no good or evil in nature, and the natural laws of natural selection have no moral attributes, but human beings have invented the judgment system of morality, and the strong grasp the right to speak, judge others at will, and disguise themselves as human models, which is really disgusting. ”

"Then do you sympathize with the weak? such as these people who are powerless in the war?" Cheng Mo asked.

"Nope. What is there to sympathize with an ant being trampled to death by an elephant?" Athena said in a nonchalant tone, "not to mention that what they need is not sympathy. ”

Cheng Mo just wanted to refute this metaphor is inappropriate, people are different, it involves a question of subjective initiative, but before he could speak, suddenly, he remembered another sentence similar - "I will destroy you, it has nothing to do with you", this sentence from "The Three-Body Problem" and "What is the sympathy for ants being trampled to death by elephants", it has transcended the human individual and revealed the basic laws of the progress and development of the human world.

Although most people apply this sentence to the scenarios where companies compete, such as smartphones and cameras, e-commerce and physical stores, such as takeaway and instant noodles.....

In fact, competition between countries is even more so, the law can rarely restrain enterprises, but there is no law and morality between countries at all.

Just like the Syrian War, no matter whether it is religious contradictions, ethnic contradictions, or totalitarian rule, it is not the fundamental reason for its destruction. The root cause is the location of Syria's feet and the oil.

Oil is the black blood of the human world, and the world's transportation channel is the blood vessels, the most important of which is the Middle East through Syria to Europa. Therefore, whoever controls Syrica controls the "oil discourse" in the Middle East and even Europa, and whoever controls the discourse will be able to participate in the formulation of the rules of the game for oil.

Setting the rules of the game has always been something that top gamers around the world are looking for.

This is the reason why both Lighthouse and Ennoth want to control Syria, and it is also the root cause of the outbreak of the Syria War. The wrestling between the two great powers has nothing to do with Syria, and it has nothing to do with the Syrians, and even at the United Nations meeting that decided the fate of Syria, the foreign minister of Syria could only sit outside the conference room and cry.

Weakness is not a mistake, nor is it an original sin.

However, passively accepting everything, with no choice at all, is a consequence that the weak must bear. Suppose the weak place all their hopes on the mercy of the strong, the outcome is bound to be tragic.

The Syria are just fish in the pond that have been suffered, and the elephant Lighthouse and Ennoth don't care about the life or death of the Syria.

So do these poor Syrians deserve sympathy?

There is no doubt that the vast majority of ordinary people will deeply sympathize, but when it is really necessary for people in other countries to do something, it is also the vast majority of ordinary people who oppose it. Maybe they will symbolically donate money and goods to show their superiority, maybe they will take photos and movies to publicize the horrors of war and the tragedy of the Syrians, maybe they will leave messages on social networks to pray for the miserable Syrians, but they will never allow refugees to flood into their country.

Human compassion is limited and cheap.

Thinking about Athena's phrase "What's more, they don't need sympathy" seems cold and meaningful.

Endless desires and limited resources are irreconcilable contradictions in the human world, Cheng Mo sighed in his heart.

Just as Cheng Mo was pondering, a small head poked out from the wooden door on the side of the living room, and a ten-year-old girl looked at them secretly with big flickering eyes on the eaves. Cheng Mo immediately remembered the little girl who was hiding in the crowd next to the second-hand clothes stall, and he was sure that it was the same person. The little girl looked a little like Khalid, undoubtedly Khalid's sister, she wore two long pigtails, her eyes were round like black grapes, her nose was small and tall, and her lips were a faint pink, which matched the round and soft apple muscles, like a porcelain doll carved in pink.

Athena seemed to sense the little girl's prying eyes and looked back at the doorway of the inner room.

Cheng Mo withdrew his right hand raised in the void, his chest suddenly felt a little empty, he pretended to be casual and poured some water from the water glass, rubbed it twice in his palm, and then wiped those water stains on the black slacks carelessly.

Athena, on the other hand, tilted her head to look at the little girl, perhaps out of fear, perhaps out of shame, and the little girl retracted her head behind the door, but immediately leaned out again, and found that Athena was still looking at her, so she hid again. She just repeated the voyeuristic action over and over again, and she was not too tired, as if she was cosplaying a game of "whack-a-mole" with Athena.

The little girl's childish behavior made Athena very dazed, and she stared at the little girl in confusion, as if she wanted to see what the little girl was going to do.

Probably the little girl was a little embarrassed by Athena's direct eyes, and she stopped her head and hid behind the door, until Khaled's mother walked in through the door, and she took her mother's clothes and walked out of the room.

Khalid's mother first handed Athena a brand new silk scarf to use to wipe her mouth, and when she saw Athena take it, Khalid's mother's face showed a trace of pain, but she didn't look at it much, half-squatted down, and began to wipe the floor with a rag.

The little girl cautiously walked out from her mother's side, she looked at the half of the fruit thrown on the ground by Athena, grinned and showed an innocent smile with missing front teeth, she ran to the side of the coffee table with a sheep's horn braid, and quickly topped the green fruit with a knife on the side of the wooden plate, and then cut a few knives with ease, peeling the fruit like a mango, and the yellow flesh like cantaloupe appeared in front of Athena instantly, and the little girl raised her white and tender little hand timidly handed it to Athena.

Athena hesitated, but still took the fruit from the little girl's hand, first tasted it cautiously, and then solved a fruit in three strokes and two clicks.

"Is it delicious?" asked Cheng Mo.

"The first time I accidentally ate the skin of the fruit, it was very bitter, but just now I only ate the flesh of the fruit, it was much better, a little sour, but the fragrance was very fresh and thirst-quenching......" Athena looked down at the olive-shaped fruit on the wooden plate, "It should be a cactus fruit!"

Cheng Mo also looked over, and said with some surprise: "There is indeed a custom of eating cactus fruits here in Xulia, but this fruit is inevitably too small, and it is also a little too green, it stands to reason that cactus fruits are generally purple and yellow...... right" After a pause, he explained to himself, "It should be that they are picked before the cactus fruit is ripe....."

Athena nodded in agreement.

Seeing that Athena had finished eating, the little girl took a knife, cut another cactus fruit, and handed it to Athena again.

Athena had always been accustomed to serving, so she naturally took the cactus fruit and ate it indifferently. The little girl immediately cut another one and handed it to Cheng Mo, with a shallow smile floating on her face, very well-behaved.

Cheng Mo waved his hand, signaling that he didn't need it, and didn't take it.

The little girl was slightly disappointed, and then Khalid's voice sounded again in the courtyard, and the little girl immediately put down the knife and cactus fruit in her hand, shook off her two calves, and ran towards the door with her hands outstretched.

The laughter like a silver bell rang out in the courtyard, Cheng Mo turned his head, and saw Khalid holding his sister in a circle through the door, perhaps noticing Cheng Mo's gaze, Khalid quickly stopped the game with his sister, and took his sister's hand from the yard into the living room, and he introduced with affection: "My sister Afaf has just turned ten years old......"

Afaf broke free of Khaled's hand and hurried into the house. Harry glanced at his sister's back and continued: "My grandfather will be back soon, and I asked him to buy some lamb chops, he is very familiar with Grandpa Ibrahim at the corner of the street, and he will definitely get the fattest lamb chops....."

As she spoke, Afif took another glass of water in one hand and a towel in the other, and swayed back to the living room with cute little steps, she handed the water to Khalid, stood on the chair, and wiped the sweat from his forehead for Khalid.

Khalid was a little embarrassed to say something to refuse, and Afif pouted, jumped out of his chair and ran back to the house with a towel.

Khalid shook his head helplessly and said, "I'll go and help you clean up the house first, and you can rest first." I will definitely not be able to go to Damascus today, but I will have to find a way tomorrow! As for the exchange of money, after dinner, I can just give the money to my grandfather......"

——————————————————————

After Khalid cleaned up the room, Cheng Mo and Athena moved from the living room to the second floor, which was probably Khalid's room, with posters of Spider-Man, Batman and other Beacon State superheroes on the wall, but there was not much furnishings in the room. There is only a one-pole bunk bed and two desks and two chairs.

Khalid said that the sheets and duvet covers were brand new and were originally given to his sister as a dowry, but that his sister's boyfriend had gone to war in the war and had died. There are few young men in the whole town now, except for the elderly, women and children, and it is difficult to find a suitable partner.

Then he said with a sad face that the task of preparing a dowry for his sister and sister fell on his shoulders, and he had to prepare a rich dowry for his sister and sister no matter what.

Neither Cheng Mo nor Athena responded, and Khalid was not embarrassed to talk to himself. When a bald old man on crutches and carrying a large piece of lamb ribs came in the courtyard, Khalid immediately stopped talking, said a word to call them when they were eating, and ran downstairs excitedly.

Soon the courtyard was bustling with activity, Khalid set up a fire, and his mother carried the lamb chops into the house. When the firewood was lit in the iron stove, his mother brought out a bowl of lamb chops that had been cut and marinated.

As the sun sets, the evening breeze of the city wafts the smoke of cooking and the smell of roasted lamb chops fills the air. The two turbaned women and Afif both came out into the courtyard, Khalid's mother kneading the dough, Khalid's grandfather churning the lamb chops on the stove with his cane, and Khalid controlling the fire.

Afif squatted by the fire, obediently helping Khalid deliver firewood, she swallowed her saliva and stared at the sizzling lamb chops on the shelf, and kept asking Khalid something. The proximity to the smoke soon cleared up in the corners of Afaf's eyes. Khalid drove the rubbing of his eyes into the distance, and the little porcelain doll-like girl climbed onto the pile of mechanical parts piled up by the wall and sang loudly, which was clearly a Saudi ballad: the color of the sky

Today it has turned gray

The color of the sea

Today it turned red

Her heart was broken

Tears could not be suppressed

We feel your pain

.........

Her two sisters also sang along, obviously a song with very sad lyrics, but they sang very happily, and for a while the whole yard was full of laughter. When the lamb chops were cooked, Khalid's grandfather handed a lamb chop to Khalid as soon as possible, but Khalid held the iron skewer but did not eat it, and carefully blew it a little colder, and raised it to Afaf's mouth.

Afaf, who had been drooling beside him, only ate a small bite and let Khalid eat it, and the two of them pushed it back and forth for a long time before they finished eating a lamb chop. Then came his two sisters, who divided a lamb chop and two crepes, and they took turns grease the lamb chops and rubbed them on the pancakes a few times, then minced the meat with scissors, and rolled them in the cakes with vegetables, and sat on the steps to chew slowly.

Khalid's mother just rolled some vegetables in the dough and pushed a lamb chop to Khalid, who in turn shaved off the meat of the lamb chop with a knife and gave it to his sisters and sisters, who were still unsatisfied, and carefully gnawed the bare ribs many times.

Afif handed the burrito with lamb rolled in his hand to Khaled's lips, and Khalid took a small bite, touched Afaf's hair and smiled.

Cheng Mo sat on a chair in the room on the second floor, looking through the window as the gray-blue sea was gradually dyed by the glow of blood, and the courtyard was floating with bits and pieces of happiness belonging to the world.

I don't know when Athena, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, also walked to the window, and she looked down at the scene in the courtyard in a daze.

Cheng Mo remembered the rumors about the Onassis family, and could only turn a blind eye to Athena and say nothing.

It wasn't long before Khalid came up and called Cheng Mo and Athena to dinner, but there were only two chairs at the table in the courtyard. The number of roasted lamb chops on the plate was far more than Cheng Mo imagined, and there was no doubt that most of the lamb chops were concentrated in them, maybe one lamb chop and one cake for the two of them just now was their family's share of dinner.

Thinking that these were not enough for Athena to stuff her teeth, Cheng Mo felt a little pity in his heart, so he only ate a piece of bread and a lamb chop. To Cheng Mo's surprise, Athena, who has always eaten an amazing amount of food, only ate a loaf and a lamb chop.

After eating, Cheng Mo gave Khalid five hundred euros and asked his grandfather to help him change it to Sulliarira. An hour later, his grandfather bought a large plastic bag of Syrira, and Cheng Mo counted more than 800,000. Cheng Mo gave Khalid 30,000 Syrian lira, told him to arrange tomorrow's meal, and hurried to inquire if there was a chartered bus to Damascus.

Khalid nodded and left the room.

At night, the town is silent, there is no internet, no television, except for the sporadic lights and the roar of diesel generators on the harbor side, which seems to be a primitive society isolated from the world.

The oil lamp on the table was like beans, not as bright as the moonlight outside the window.

The two of them really had nothing to do, so they could only lie on the bed early, Cheng Mo slept on the bottom bunk, and Athena slept on the top bunk. The cool evening breeze leaked in through the window, Cheng Mo wrapped the quilt tightly, and a crescent moon sprinkled a piece of silver light on the old desk, in this city that was almost detached from modern life, Cheng Mo felt a kind of primitive transparency.

It was a novel experience for Cheng Mo, but he knew it wasn't what the Syrians were expecting. He closed his eyes and fantasized about the ancients at sunrise and sunset, and did not enter the life of modern civilization at all, Cheng Mo felt that he was not unable to accept such a hard life, if there were suitable people around him.....

In his mind, he once again recalled the imagination that Xie Minyun had said to him when he was leaving, Cheng Mo closed his eyes, he wanted to use firewood to cook or the smoke was too big, and when the time came, he must tell Xie Minyun to give up such a romantic but naïve idea, maybe it would be better to use smokeless charcoal.

In such a quiet time like water, Athena's slight breathing and faint wind sound are like a lullaby, Cheng Mo feels a kind of sober and comfortable sleepiness, it is hazy and not as annoying as when he is forced to fall asleep, Cheng Mo is immersed in it, enjoying a moment of stability.

I don't know how long it took, but Athena's voice suddenly sounded in the room.

"Do you have any siblings?"

Cheng Mo opened his eyes, the long light sleep made him feel no sleepy, but unusually awake, he stared at the bed and whispered: "No, I am an only child, and I will be glad that I am an only child." He reached out of the covers, "But I have a cousin and a cousin. ”

Athena turned over and asked in the direction of the window, "You...... How's your relationship with them?"

"Ahh

"If you don't want to say it, you can't say it. ”

"I didn't expect you to be observant. Cheng Mo smiled, but immediately he realized that Athena didn't need to look at words and emotions at all, first, because of her identity and strength, and second, because she could spy on people's hearts. Cheng Mo vaguely guessed that the rumors about the Onassis family may not be groundless, and it can even be said that maybe the death of Athena's siblings is definitely inseparable from her as the media speculates. He paused slightly, "There's nothing I can't say, the relationship isn't good or bad, but my cousin probably hates me, and I don't like him either." But my cousin is a girl with a great sense of justice and kindness, and she belongs to the kind of person who will take the initiative to get out of the car and help the elderly cross the street when she sees them. Others will dislike me for having a heart attack, but my cousin will not, when I was a child, I went back to my hometown, and she didn't dislike me for taking me to the park with my big responsibility and trouble, taking me to the park to play, I can't play those very exciting projects, bumper cars, roller coasters, spinning planes..... She took me on a boat, and my cousin was very upset about it......"

"Is that why you don't like your cousin?"

"No, that's why I'm jealous of him. ”

"Don't like it because you're jealous?"

Cheng Mo nodded at the bed, "There are factors in this regard, and it is also because after my father passed away, their family invaded my life. Probably because I am a very selfish person, so I have always liked to speculate on other people with the worst malice, so my uncle and aunt became my guardians, which was a great danger to me, and made me lose my sense of security, so I was very disgusted with their family for a while, and even my cousin was not so cute. ”

"Then you didn't think about killing them?"

"No, first, I don't think I have the ability to kill them without suspicion, and second, I think they just want me to have a heart attack and die in an accident, and there is no real threat to me. Cheng Mo pouted and smiled, "Later, I found out that they are actually not so bad, they are all small citizens with little courage, taking advantage of a little advantage is the limit of their courage, the cruelty within the family generally only happens in wealthy families like you, we small citizens for property, at most just fight and fight, not to the stage of killing, so say....... Sometimes too much money isn't a good thing. ”

"I'm not really interested in money. Athena whispered.

I also heard this phrase from a people's capitalist. ”

"I don't understand what it means?" asked Athena, confused.

"What I mean by this is that when you're in a certain position, you can't help yourself, and it has nothing to do with your own will. ”

"No one can sway my will. ”

"Then why do you care about killing your own siblings?"

Athena turned, as if lying down again.

Silence came as scheduled.

Cheng Mo also turned around, he lay on his side on the hard wooden bed, looking at the silver sea outside the window, the deep night made the faint lights on the harbor side conspicuous, like a vanity flower growing along the coast, the sparkling waves floating on the dark sea like butterflies that can't fly, they tried hard to wave their wings, but they couldn't reach the vanity garden on the other side, they could only wait anxiously for the moment when the sun rose, burning everything.......