Zhao Yingjun looked at Yan Qiaoqiao, who was hanging her head.

Suddenly.

She remembered her conversation with Brother Wang on the rooftop of the MX Building that day.

"So when did you start... when did you start feeling like a father?"

That was the question she asked Brother Wang at the time.

It was a very abstract question, but Brother Wang answered without hesitation:

"The moment my daughter was wronged."

Honestly.

At the time, Zhao Yingjun didn't fully understand what Brother Wang said, and she did feel it was a bit melodramatic and making a mountain out of a molehill.

But now.

Looking at Yan Qiaoqiao's aggrieved and lonely appearance in front of her.

Her nose twinged.

She lowered her body, reached out her arms, and hugged the delicate figure like a flower bud:

"I'm sorry."

She said softly.

Even though many things were not her fault;

It wasn't her who gave birth to this child;

It wasn't her who missed the companionship of childhood;

But

"I'm sorry."

She said again, closing her eyes, feeling the slightly cool temperature in her arms, which gradually seemed to become warmer.

Zhao Yingjun straightened up.

Looking at the bouquet of carnations in Yan Qiaoqiao's hand.

Old and dilapidated.

The tin foil on the outside of the packaging was wrinkled, and the flowers were scattered.

But at this moment.

It was the gift Zhao Yingjun wanted to receive the most.

She pointed to the flower:

"Where did this bouquet of flowers come from?"

Yan Qiaoqiao pointed to the distant, empty park entrance:

"I picked it up from the trash can."

Hearing this answer.

Zhao Yingjun smiled, both surprised and not surprised.

Thinking about it carefully, that made sense.

Yan Qiaoqiao didn't have a penny on her, so where else could she buy flowers? She could only pick them up from the trash can.

"Can you give this bouquet to me?"

Zhao Yingjun said with some anticipation:

"I really like this bouquet of flowers, if you can give it to me."

"Although I'm not your mother, I can try to be gentler, more patient, and more tolerant; I can try to be a good older sister, protect you, and take care of you."

Yan Qiaoqiao nodded.

Holding the bouquet of light yellow carnations between them, the remaining fragrance of the flowers flew through the air, permeating their nostrils, particularly sweet:

"For you."

Yan Qiaoqiao said softly.

Zhao Yingjun solemnly took the first bouquet of carnations in her life, carefully admiring its appearance.

She liked it very much.

She smoothed out the wrinkled tin foil little by little, and the flowers still looked complete.

Although there was only one bouquet.

But carnations are carnations.

Many emotions in this world cannot be described by quantification.

"Thank you, Qiaoqiao."

Zhao Yingjun smiled slightly:

"I really like it."

She inexplicably recalled the bunch of equally crumpled roses that Lin Xian gave her on the overpass she flew over with Lin Xian at the beginning of last year, and couldn't help but smile:

"I really didn't expect it..."

"The two most important bouquets of flowers I've received in my life were actually picked up from somewhere else, and they're both so crumpled."

Yan Qiaoqiao tilted her head:

"Two bouquets?"

"Who gave you the other one?"

Zhao Yingjun looked at Yan Qiaoqiao's curious and innocent face, rubbed her hair, and smiled gently:

"You'll know the answer."

"When the time comes..."

"Let him tell you this story himself, okay?"

Yan Qiaoqiao nodded obediently:

"Okay."

Zhao Yingjun couldn't bear to put this bouquet of flowers in her handbag, as that would make the flowers even more crumpled. So she switched hands and held it in her left hand.

She also saw the game coin that Yan Qiaoqiao was holding in her hand.

She thought of the scene at the claw machine.

Yan Qiaoqiao didn't catch a single doll.

So she suggested:

"How about we try the claw machines in the mall again?"

"Can we catch one?"

Yan Qiaoqiao looked up expectantly.

"We can try again!"

Zhao Yingjun encouraged:

"Although I don't know how to catch them either, I can learn."

The sky was already dim, and the lights of Donghai City lit up.

A big and a small beauty, holding hands like this, rose from the park pavilion chairs, resembling sisters, like a mother and daughter, and walked into the bustling large shopping mall next to them.

Not long after.

The two of them came out of the arcade, and Yan Qiaoqiao held up an arrogant big-mouthed monkey, waving it happily in the air.

Although this doll was ugly.

It was the one they had struggled for a long, long time to finally catch.

Zhao Yingjun also discovered later.

To catch a doll in this obviously money-grabbing claw machine, you have to be stubborn.

Don't be too ambitious, don't try to find so-called skills, just keep throwing coins at a certain doll, and blindly grab it.

There will always be a strange opportunity where the claw for catching the doll is like it's angry, grabbing the doll tightly, not letting go at all, and directly transferring the captured prey to the exit.

This arrogant big monkey came about like that.

Purely by accident.

Just like Yan Qiaoqiao's appearance.

The two came to the underground parking lot and got into the Alphard van that had been waiting for a long time.

Yan Qiaoqiao still couldn't put down the big monkey in her hand, and Zhao Yingjun next to her also couldn't put down admiring the carnation.

This was the perfect version of the Gift of the Magi.

Both of them got what they wanted most.

Zhao Yingjun was suddenly a little curious.

Yan Qiaoqiao was clearly in a state of amnesia and clearly couldn't remember any memories related to her parents, but why did she still miss her mother every day?

Missing a mother who doesn't exist, who she doesn't remember, how is that even possible?

"Qiaoqiao."

She turned her head and asked:

"Didn't you say that you don't remember who your mother is? Or any memories of being with her."

"In that case, how do you miss your mother? Or has your memory recovered a bit?"

Yan Qiaoqiao shook her head:

"I don't have any memories of my mother, but I can't forget the feeling of missing her."

Memory.

Emotion.

Zhao Yingjun thought of the two common social issues during this time.

With the launch of the third volunteer experiment of the hibernation pod, that is, the last batch of experiments, mankind is getting closer and closer to the hibernation era.

Experts predict that around 2025, mass-produced hibernation pods will be put on the market for public use.

At that time, many problems will definitely follow.

Sociological issues,

Ethical issues,

Population issues,

Issues of morality and law.

But this is nothing to fear, because the development of human society itself is a process of discovering problems and then solving them.

These are the rules that those in power need to consider, and they don't have much to do with individuals.

Putting it on an individual's attitude towards hibernation

What everyone is most concerned about and worried about is the side effect of amnesia, and the accompanying loss of emotion.

How can we guarantee that the memories obtained after waking up from hibernation are real?

There is still no convincing answer.