White Olive Tree

Chapter 47

Seeing Song Ran's stunned expression, Pei Xiaonan misunderstood and said, "He talks little and is not a familiar person, so he looks cold, but if you want to interview him, he will help."
Song Ran gave a hint of a smile and originally wanted to ask her how she knew her, but when the words came to her lips, she thought it was meaningless and swallowed them again.
After interviewing Pei Xiaonan, I got quite a lot of meaningful story information.
Song Ran thanked him and said goodbye, his footsteps heavy as he went downstairs.  She crossed the courtyard, looked up at the sky, and sighed.
As soon as I walked out of the hospital, my steps stopped.
Li Zan was sitting on the steps at the door, surrounded by more than a dozen homeless children from the East; the oldest was seven or eight years old, and the youngest was only two or three years old.
He was cutting up a green apple with a saber. The children gathered around him and watched eagerly.  There was a child in ragged clothes lying affectionately on Li Zan's back, with his little black hands around his neck and his messy little head tilted on his shoulder.
Li Zan had a faint smile on his lips, his expression was patient and quiet, and he cut an apple in his hand into eight pieces vertically and then cut it horizontally.  The sixteen-petal apples were distributed, and the children reached out to take them one by one, taking their own apples and licking them carefully.  Green apples are sour and sweet. The children look at me and I look at you, chattering about the taste, and jumping excitedly on the roadside.
A little girl looked at her friends next to her, then at Li Zan, then reached out and handed her her little apple slice.  Li Zan smiled and shook his head.
The little girl took back her hand, smiled shyly at him, turned around and ran away.
Li Zan sat there, wiped the juice on the saber with a handkerchief, and put away the saber.
At this time, a little boy picked up an intact empty beer bottle on the roadside and greeted his companions happily.
The little ones gathered together and soon disagreed on what to do with the beer bottles. 
One child put a beer bottle on the ground and kicked it, suggesting that everyone play with the ball. The other child quickly picked up the bottle, dusted it off and carried it into his arms. He pointed at the broken glass on the side of the road and made noises to the effect of "Yes."  Broken idiot!"
Other children were chattering on the roadside with their palms spread out and their shoulders hunched.
Li Zan stood up and walked over, bending down and reaching out to the little boy holding the beer bottle.  The little boy handed him the precious beer bottle with confidence.
He walked to the outer wall of the hospital, put the beer bottle on the corner and stood upright. He searched the ground around him and easily picked up a few pebbles and small glass.
He stood on a cement brick one or two meters away from the beer bottle, holding a piece of broken glass between his fingers, narrowing his eyes slightly and taking a look.
He took aim and threw lightly.
The broken glass drew a parabola and fell into the mouth of the beer bottle, clanging and clanging into the bottle.
The clear sound that jingles like bells is like the sound of nature.
"Wow!" The children were so excited, they jumped up and down, clapped their hands, and looked around for pebbles and broken glass.
In this country where even marbles have become a luxury product, they finally have a fun game.
Song Ran was taking pictures seriously and couldn't help but smile.  In the camera, the children actively drew lines on the ground, lined up excitedly behind the lines, and threw stones into the bottles.
The stones hit the glass bottle, clinking.
After a while, even the idle doctors and soldiers became interested, picked up broken glass and lined up with the children.  More adults were watching happily.
Some children jumped in and were overjoyed, as if they had become heroes;
A soldier missed several shots and was ridiculed by his comrades, laughing loudly.
The adults and children made a fuss.
Song Ran zoomed in on the camera, wanting to get a close-up, but with a shake of her hand, she captured Li Zan's side face.  He stood aside, folding his arms and smiling as he looked around. His eyelashes were dark and long when he raised his eyes.
She couldn't move away from the camera for a moment. The next second, he looked sideways in her direction. His eyes were dark and clear, slightly squinted, and seemed to have the power to penetrate the camera.
Song Ran's heart skipped a beat and she quickly moved away from the screen.  After a few seconds, she slowly raised her eyes from the camera to look at him.
He stared at her.
Song Ran said dryly: "...I am shooting material."

Li Zan moved the corner of his mouth and was about to say something when a little girl ran over, grabbed Song Ran's clothes and shook her.
Song Ran lowered his head. It was the child who wanted to give Li Zan an apple just now.
Her clothes were in tatters and her face was dirty, but her big eyes were as cute as freshly washed black grapes. Her long eyelashes were blinking. She grinned at her and extended her hand and heart to her.
In the little girl's hand are a few glass crystals she just picked up, which are her treasures.  She shared these treasures with Song Ran and asked her to play with them.
Naturally, Song Ran couldn't refuse her kindness, so he picked two out of her soft little hands and said, "Two are enough. Thank you."
The little girl didn't understand, but she ran away happily.
Li Zan took a step back to make way for her.  Song Ran walked to the children's team and lined up. The throwing distance now was much closer than Li Zan's just now, so it shouldn't be difficult.
She observed the children and soldiers in front of her, simulating it silently in her mind.
Finally it was her turn. She picked up a stone, squinted one eye and glanced at the mouth of the bottle, and she was right.
She threw it hard.
The stone perfectly avoided the beer bottle, not even touching the bottle itself.
"..."
Someone next to me laughed very softly, very briefly, and seemed to be restrained out of politeness.
But Song Ran heard it and turned to look at Li Zan: "..."
He didn't smile, but there was a slight blush on his cheeks. He coughed lightly, walked over, and pointed at her left hand.
She spread her hands, and there was only one stone left in her palm.
He stroked the palm of her hand with his fingertips, picked up the stone, moved it farther and closer in her sight, gestured, and said: "You can't use one eye. To accurately judge spatial distance visually, you need two eyes."
Song Ran opened her eyes alternately, and found that there was indeed a feeling of movement in space.
"Oh..." She suddenly realized, "I know."
He put the stone back into her hand.
Song Ran looked at it, not used to it, but slowly found it correctly and threw it towards the mouth of the bottle again.  This time, the stone hit the bottleneck and bounced away with a clang.
Song Ran withdrew from the team with no regrets and was quite satisfied, saying, "I hit the bottle."
Li Zan said: "Just play more."
Song Ran returned to the camera and adjusted the lens.
Li Zan also inadvertently withdrew from the crowd, closing the distance with her.  He stood aside, watching the people having fun, and suddenly asked: "Is your mother recovered from her illness?"
Song Ran's heart moved slightly and she raised her eyes: "It's much better."
"Are you discharged from the hospital?"
"I've been out for a long time. I've been back to work for a long time."
   "That's good."
The two of them stopped talking for a while.
A child ran over and pulled Li Zan's hand, asking him to teach him.
Li Zan then walked over, squatted beside the group of children, and started teaching despite the language barrier.
Song Ran took pictures for a while. When he saw that the time was almost up, he shut down the machine and put it away, and walked to his car.
Just as he walked down the steps, Li Zan's voice came from behind: "Going to the western suburbs?"
Song Ran turned around and saw that he was one meter away behind her. He had followed her at some point.
She nodded: "Ah."
"Alone?" His expression was quite calm.
"..." Song Ran actually planned to ask Jose to come with him, but he lied so easily when he said it, "...well, alone."
He pursed his lips into a flat, straight line, exhaled silently, and said, "I'll go with you."