Millennium Babylon

"If you want... you can tell about your father."

It is rare for Lin Mu to speak first, and he is still interested in his family background.

Jimmy purposely kept it secret, walked slowly to the earthen stove, and was quite pleasantly surprised to find that his pilot was self-taught and had just started a fire with sheep dung.

The next step is probably to learn how to go to the house to uncover tiles, catch lizards and roast them to eat.

Lin Mu didn't mention the matter of him taking off his clothes and belt, so he would never take the initiative to mention it.He understands the principle of getting cheap and selling well.

Jimmy led Wood up the winding steps to the castle terrace, where there was a table and chairs, apparently a place he frequented alone.

Jimmy pointed to the chair for Lin Mu to sit on, while he sat directly on the edge of the roof, his legs dangling, causing a gust of wind in his trousers.

Standing high on the rooftop, you can have a panoramic view of the whole Taal City.

One small house after another bears the life, death and hope of generations of desert people.And the sun cast a layer of pink color on the horizon, and the light was about to burst out.

Jimmy took out the set of silver plates, silver cups, and silver saucers, poured a cup of Ceylon black tea for himself and the captain, and served him a piece of homemade carrot cake.

Jimmy: "Are you hungry? I saw you fell asleep without eating last night."

Lin Mu: "Thanks. Do you like carrots?"

Jimmy: "I hate carrots the most."

forest:"……"

Jimmy: "That's why I forced myself to eat."

He smiled and took a piece of the captain's carrot cake, but was about to put it into his mouth when he suddenly stopped in mid-air.

He stretched out his other hand, approached the captain who was concentrating on eating the cake, rubbed the scar on his temple, and then quickly withdrew his hand, as if it had never happened.

Jimmy: "Does it hurt?"

Lin Mu was a little embarrassed, but tried his best to expose it lightly: "It happened when I was young."

Who knows that Jimmy doesn't know good from bad: "Did it hurt when I was young?"

Lin Mu: "I don't remember much, I was not sensible when I was young."

Jimmy: "How much do you remember? Why don't you tell me? I don't want to listen to stories for nothing. I'll show you cross talk later, or stand on my head, or show you a striptease. You can choose whatever you want."

Lin Shu didn't seem to hear it.

The sun came out, and his face was golden with the stubble of the night.His sculptural and icy face seemed to be covered in a layer of golden snow.

Then his lips moved, shaking off the sunlight: "My family's conditions are not good. I didn't go to school after graduating from high school, so I wanted to work quickly to make ends meet for the family. I was the only child, and my mother... was not in good health at the time." .”

Jimmy listened quietly.

This is the first time the captain has spoken so many words in front of him—not for emergency landing, nor for farewell.They just chatted one after another, like a pair of old friends, but at this time they just reunited after a long absence.

The captain said that he graduated from high school and was working in a factory. When the debt collectors blocked the factory owner and his pregnant wife, they punched them indiscriminately.

He rushed forward to save the person, and he also left a scar on his forehead.The whole family of the boss was very grateful to him, and they wanted to pave a better way for him no matter what, asked the relationship to find out clearly, and signed him up to be an armed policeman.

He trained in the Armed Police Force for two years. He was about to be promoted to company commander and passed the background check. However, he received news that his mother had dementia.

People say that this illness is like a reprieve, but reprieve still has a definite countdown date, but he only knows that his mother is leaving him as a stranger day by day.

He took a long vacation to stay at home with his mother, but when the vacation was exhausted, he voluntarily resigned from the army without delaying the organization.

It happened to be his 22nd birthday on the day when the mother who gave birth to him died.

Others have just graduated from university at the age of 22, young and ignorant, with their eyes wide open, ignorant and fearless looking forward to the future and stepping into the society.

But he has already watched birth, old age, sickness and death, and only thinks of a person living a normal life. There is nothing good or bad, just live.

Anyway... No one in the world would care about him like that anymore.

That year, a civil aviation company came to his hometown to recruit for the exam. Since it had just introduced a large aircraft and urgently needed to train pilots, it relaxed the recruitment age to 22 years old.

His physical examination and all indicators of physical examination are No.1. Xuefei does not need money, but also provides subsidies, and he needs the money to pay off the debt owed by his mother's illness.

He decided his life so hastily and casually.

Speaking of this, the captain smiled lightly, his beautiful eyes rolled away, and the usual indifference faded away, leaving only warmth.It's a pity that it was only for a moment. After smiling, he straightened his face again.

Jimmy: "Then why..." How did you end up in Thar?

The captain only replied: "Something happened."

Seeing that Lin Mu had finished eating a piece of cake, Jimmy politely wiped his mouth and looked like he could eat more, and went downstairs to fetch the last two pieces of cake and a jar of cookies.

He had been saving this for several months, preparing it for the celebration when Tal was awarded the Progressive Airport.But this matter has been messed up by the captain who jumped the queue and complained about him.

Jimmy also imitated the captain's smile and rolled his eyes: "What's the matter? I'm happy to tell you?"

The story of the captain is not complicated. He has always been the boy who drew his sword to help when he saw injustice, and he never grew up.

He worked in that civil aviation company for five full years, and gradually rose from the tiring long-distance flight in South America to the captain of the domestic two-hour short-distance flight, and he also began to contact the management personnel.A middle-level manager who was about to retire took good care of him, and his colleagues also agreed that he, a young captain, would take over the management one day.

Until one day he discovered that someone in the company embezzled public funds.

In order to tear down the east wall and make up for the west wall, that person even came up with the idea of ​​the social security of the flight attendants in the company, and conspired with the personnel and finance to reduce their social security to the lowest standard in the country, and he alone swallowed the difference.

He couldn't stand it, and one day he didn't go home after landing, so he went straight into the city and politely knocked on the door of the company headquarters to ask the leader for an explanation.

He didn't even do this for himself - the captain is too rare, he is the company's most valued resource, and the salary, social security and benefits are all paid according to the industry's high standards.

But flight attendants are different. Young and beautiful girls are like winter jasmine flowers on the side of the road. They will pop up automatically every year, and they will never dry up. Only new people laugh, but old people cry.

The leader didn't know what he was dissatisfied with being the captain, so he went all the way to the headquarters to make trouble.He said that he wanted to be fair, but the company's handling of this matter was dishonest and unfair.

Of course it's not legal.

Fearing that the incident would become a bigger problem, the company's senior leaders took the lead in handing over the middle manager who was in charge to the police.

When he left, he stared at Lin Shu in disbelief, pointed at his nose and called him "heartless" and "white-eyed wolf".Everyone in the company knew it, everyone was talking behind his back, his captain couldn't do it anymore.

Lin Mu gave all the savings from working for five years to the family of the manager who once appreciated him quite a lot to pay off the debt and reduce his sentence. age.

Then Lin Mu packed a backpack by himself and went to Xianshui City, Country K to reload it.

There is only one infrastructure company with a Chinese background in the three southern countries, which is Jianxin where he works now.

Lin Mu finished talking about himself to the roofs of thousands of households in Huangsha Xiatar.

Those past events that have not been mentioned for an unknown period of time are like lonely ghosts suddenly reappearing, and there is a trace of hearty relief.

He doesn't ask others to understand, or even listen, he just asks himself to look back after many years and still have a clear conscience.

Hollywood blockbusters always feature superheroes who can correct mistakes and restore justice without paying a heavy price.

He is not a hero, Lin Mu thought, he is the opposite of a hero, that's why he paid such a painful price to obtain the fairness and justice in his heart.

But if this is the price of justice, he paid it calmly.Maybe he's just going to start over again all his life, pushing rocks up hills and falling back down.Parting again and again, pretending to forget again and again.

Just when he thought that Jimmy was going to make a few comments on multi-values ​​without any pain, or even pat him on the shoulder with good intentions to give some comfort that was actually not helpful, he heard the other party's curiosity, asking Said: "What's in your backpack?"

Lin Mu: "What?"

Jimmy: "The backpack you left China, how big is it? How heavy is it? What's in it?"

forest:"?"

Jimmy: "In case I want to elope with you temporarily, it's good to have a reference when packing."

forest:"……"

Just a quilt, a piece of clothing, and a UnionPay card, I don't know if country K can accept it.

A pair of chopsticks, his mother had hoped that he would have no worries about food and clothing.There is also a pair of socks that she wove for her husband who has been away from home for many years.

The memory of the last moments of my mother's life is like a compass in the center of Bermuda, turning incessantly but never going in the right direction.And Lin Mu accompanied her patiently searching, searching, until she found calm.

Jimmy suddenly put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a squeeze.With moderate force, he moved comfortably.

Elope?It was only then that Lin Mu realized what Jimmy seemed to have said just now, but he just picked up the essence and thought: The two of them can't elope.

He has no family anymore, no one cares about him and no one stops him. If he wants to elope, at least an important supporting role must be an obstacle to happiness, and he is left alone.

After listening to the captain's youthful past, Jimmy was satisfied, and even the pain of forcing himself to eat two pieces of carrot cake was overturned immediately.

He looked at the captain, and suddenly he didn’t dare to look at him—a man as tall as Lin Mu, unknowingly holding an exquisite and expensive British Maison silver plate, forked a piece of disproportionate cake into his mouth, eating it so deliciously ,like a child.

Jimmy was afraid that he would turn into a puddle of water if he watched it any longer, so he didn't care if others were willing to force it to drip on his heart, willingly falling into Hollywood's cheap and sensational plot.

His captain, his trees.

Jimmy got up, stepped on the eaves that were less than one shoulder wide, walked to the very edge, and then found a familiar angle to overlook the world of mud and sand in Tal City.The sun has risen as usual, and its rays are just on every roof, and it owes no one and favors no one.

Jimmy boiled another pot of water, and promised the captain to serve scallion noodles when the water boiled.

Lin Mu: "I have nothing to say, it's your turn?" He still remembered that Jimmy suddenly told him just now that his father was Edison Chan, a famous arms dealer.

Jimmy didn't mention his father's name at all. He just turned around and tore the TV antenna on the roof into the shape he remembered of Teletubbies Daisy. The loss of a power plant idling for a day is as small as [-], and the TV will not be watched for a while.

Jimmy looked at Lin Mu: "I want you to like Tal. Have you ever been on a blind date? You can't see it at first glance. I know you haven't. The next thing is the blind date pitch between you and Tal, do you want to hear it?"

Lin Mu didn't answer.

Jimmy: "A long, long time ago, long before I knew you, Taal was the capital of the northern state fiefdom, and it was self-respecting. People who wanted to marry the princess of Taal had always lined up from here to the end of the desert. At that time, the princess was only six years old, but at the same time, she received marriage proposals from the princes of Jaipur and Udaipur. The prince of Tal betrothed her to the prince of Jaipur, but the prince died young. The prince's brother refused to give up. He insisted that Princess Taal should still marry into Jaipur and marry herself. The prince of Udaipur sent troops directly. The two city-states fought for a full ten years for a girl. Legend has it that the blood of the soldiers The lake on the edge of the desert was dyed red. When the princess was 16 years old, she committed suicide by taking poison. Some history books say that she did it voluntarily, because she could not stand the suffering of the people and was willing to sacrifice herself for peace. But there is still history The book says she was forced."

Lin Mu: "Who forced her?"

Jimmy: "Her dad, the prince. And maybe his brother. All the people who died in the war, and all the people who will benefit from the truce."

Lin Mu: "How long ago was this?" So feudal.

Jimmy: "I didn't know you back then."

forest:"?"

Jimmy: "Knowing you, it seems like a century has been lost."

For no reason, I want to go back to the past.I want to cross the new century with you, and history suddenly has meaning.Feeling that there is not enough time, and there is never enough time to be able to look at you.

The lamb also figured it out at this time, knowing that he was thrown in the living room, and if he sat there waiting to die, he would never be fed.

So it hopped up to the roof, saw Lin Shu first, and remembered that it was he who kicked itself off the sofa while half asleep, so it turned around and ran away in fright.

In the middle of the run, he saw Jimmy again, stopped timidly, and approached his trouser legs aggrieved.It hid behind Jimmy, poking its head out curiously to look at the danger tree, like a beautiful white bush covered with snow.

Jimmy smirked: "Have you eaten lamb recently?"

Lin Mu: "... I ate it in Karachi."

Jimmy: "No wonder. She has a good nose, and she hates people who eat lamb."

He took up Lin Mu's right hand, put it on the other's heart pretendingly, and patted it solemnly: "Read to me silently: the lamb is a good friend, not delicious."

forest:"……"

Jimmy suddenly felt sorry for the princess.

It doesn't matter whether she is beautiful or not, brave or not—who wants to die for someone else's war?No one should die for someone else's war.

Even if the desert is desolate, lonely and hopeless, as long as there is even one such soft lamb, no one is willing to die.

The alien princess should have lived her mediocre and long life, but unfortunately she became a firework in the history books, just a touch of pink lace.

Jimmy's pager suddenly rang, it was an urgent call from the airport, and a new flight made an emergency landing at dawn, which proved that the disaster situation in country K continued to deteriorate.

He thought, once we leave this time, I don't know when we can meet again.There have always been thousands of mountains and rivers, and soon the world will be separated.He told Lin Mu that he could borrow his house at any time, and it didn't matter how long he stayed, although he knew in his heart that he would not stay for long.

So Jimmy had nothing to say, and wanted to prolong the parting, and then a little longer: "I haven't asked you yet, how was the flight yesterday?"

Lin Mu: "Do you want to listen to the truth, or have you filtered it?"

Jimmy: "Filtered."

Lin Mu: "It's boring. It's all clouds." After a pause, "So I can only miss you."

His honesty and openness surprised Jimmy.

The man straightened his captain's uniform, the image of an honest man, not for teasing—Jimmy's throat tightened when he saw it.

Jimmy quickly regained his composure: "I don't have time now, I'll make scallion noodles for you when I come back tonight."

Lin Mu: "Eat the turkey noodles you mentioned."

Jimmy smiled at him: "It's okay, I'll put less spicy on you."

Lin Mu looked at Jimmy's back and walked away.

At the end of the line of sight, the only concrete road in the city leads to Taal Airport.He was only in a daze for a moment, and then he heard Ji Yuanyuan screaming in the wind downstairs: "Lin Mu, you wait for me! Why can my old lady sleep in a sleeping bag in the lobby of the guest house, but you can live in a luxury castle hotel with a rooftop to watch the sunrise? Why don't you Do you have the time to tease sheep? Are you teasing my old lady? I am going crazy when I see the letter."

She changed back into her flight suit, only wearing an elegant orange silk scarf around her neck, and flew against the wind like a traffic light.

Chen Yan's motorcycle was parked by the side of the road, and he waved to the captain to say hello, and he was about to turn around and leave after delivering her safely.

"Wait, handsome guy. I just came here and I'm not familiar with the place. I'll borrow a car for two or three days, and I'll return it to the guest house when the time comes. Do you think it's feasible?"

As Ji Yuanyuan said, she magically conjured a pack of cigarettes from her pilot pocket, and was just about to take out one and hand it over, but Chen Yan stopped her heartbrokenly: "Smoking is harmful to your health."

Ji Yuanyuan: "Hey, it's all a lie from the doctor. My grandma smoked all her life and lived to 96. There's nothing wrong with her."

Chen Yan: "I am a doctor."

Ji Yuanyuan: "..."

Chen Yan left the motorcycle and the helmet to Ji Yuanyuan. Seeing her looking at the helmet with disgust on her face, she specifically told her to wear it when driving - although the color is a bit earthy, it can save her life at critical moments.

After he finished speaking, he reached out to stop a local minibus, neatly climbed onto the roof of the car and began to check his first-aid bag, ready to go to the temporary camp of the American Aid Association.

Lin Mu locked the sheep in the house and locked the door of Jimmy's house.Seeing that Ji Yuanyuan was still staring at her beautiful big eyes through the window, looking at the innocent lamb, she suddenly said, "The lamb is a good friend, not delicious."

Ji Yuanyuan: "Who the hell is it a friend? Why are you so familiar with being a sheep? How about sharing your duties?" She pouted, "A few months? It looks quite big. Lin Shu, Let me tell you the truth, no matter how old you are, it won’t taste good.”

Lin Mu said: "Which of us is the captain?"

Ji Yuanyuan: "Who knows if you are—" a relational account.She stopped in time when she was on the verge of speaking, wishing she could slap herself in the face, but she suddenly burst into joy at the new gossip she remembered about seeing the letter.

Ji Yuanyuan: "Hey, do you know?"

Lin Mu: "Know what?"

Ji Yuanyuan: "My God! You don't know yet! You really don't know?!"

Lin Mu: "I was surprised."

Ji Yuanyuan: "Do you know who is the new manager who came here to take over the dismissed regional manager after the crash last month?"

After thinking about it, Lin Mu understood, ignored Ji Yuanyuan, and rode away on the motorcycle left by Jimmy.

It was his ex who had long been vague in his memory...Wen and Xing.

How long has it been since you saw me?Even the person's appearance and voice can't be easily recalled, but only the name is always fresh - the vice president of Jianxin, the unsurprising candidate for the next board of directors.

It was a very busy day, and Lin Mu had no chance to see Jimmy again.

Seeing the letter, he and Ji Yuanyuan were informed to suspend the company's daily flight activities, and to join the rescue force of country K as an alternate on the spot, responsible for transporting thousands of tents and tons of milk powder donated by China from the capital of country Z to Thar, and then by land from Thar Transfer to the vicinity of the epicenter of country K.

Jianxin had done such a great good, so of course he couldn’t stay silent—before four o’clock in the afternoon, when the poisonous desert sun was still hovering overhead, a large group of international journalists funded by Jianxin poured into Taal City.

Lin Mu was annoyed when he saw it: it was exactly the same as six years ago.

When the war died down six years ago, country Y unilaterally declared independence on the Thar border, and it was also a dusty airport. Those reporters were busy chasing the flag-raising ceremony, but no one took pictures of the one who was invited to the ceremony, but suffered from stomach bleeding. The arms dealer picked up by his helicopter.

Lin Mu remembered the arms dealer's name more clearly than his ex-boyfriend's: Edison Chan.

In the evening of the same day, as soon as the airport runway cooled down to the take-off zone, Lin Mu sat in the cab of the heavy transport aircraft A380 and called the control tower, ready to take off.

The A380 is too big and unsuitable for the short runway of Thal Airport.However, in the current disaster in country K, only heavy-duty transportation can respond to the needs of transporting disaster relief materials most efficiently-only the driver needs to master take-off and landing.

Ji Yuanyuan is taking a rest today, and the co-pilot assigned to him by Xinxin is a native of K country, middle-aged and a little bald, and has been driving transport planes for more than ten years.

In the headset, a local young man who spoke cumin-flavored English nervously reported the destination information of Lin Mu K country, guiding him to runway No. [-] for takeoff.

That person wasn't Jimmy.

Lin Mu was a little disappointed.He didn't know why he was disappointed, because the navigator wasn't that young man?Just because of this?This... a person who has only met three times?

He decided to take a second look at Tal as he took off.You won't be able to see it until K country.

"K938 applied for takeoff." Lin Mu said lightly.

"Approved to take off, K938," but suddenly Jimmy answered him loudly in his ear: "The weather ahead of you is fine."

Lin Mu felt a movement in his heart, but only two polite words came out of his mouth: "Got it."