Chapter 234: Sludge, Dirt, and Land
On the afternoon when Sadolin pointed to the book, Dmitri opened his entire world to Sadolin by reading, and patiently told the ignorant Sadolin the root of discrimination in the magical world. Then he looked into Sadolin's pure eyes and talked about the red color in their organization that was related to the Muggle world.
It was also on that afternoon that Sadolin, who began to have a different understanding of the world, pointed to the cover of the book and read out the title in her stiff English with difficulty - Mud, Earth and Land.
Taking this book that advocates equality and envisions a better future as a starting point, Sadolin, at the suggestion of Dmitry, began to read various enlightenment books in the library. In a month and a half, she could not read many books, but Sadolin's world was turned upside down.
In the past, when Sadolin saw the sky, she would only sigh at its beauty. But now, while she was sighing at its beauty, she also thought of the beautiful sky elsewhere at the same moment.
In the past, when Sadolin saw people, she would only think about herself finally being able to look others in the eye. But now, she has the awareness of observation, and guesses the state of others by observing their movements and expressions.
What was even more earth-shattering was that she truly cared about Dmitry and his career.
Every afternoon after that encounter, Sadolin would lean against the tree trunk and listen to Dmitri reading to her the book that she could not read independently yet. She learned new words and memorized new content.
The spiritual world that was already filled with warm colors was now filled with warmer colors, making it full and constantly enriched. Joy was not enough to describe her mood. Sadolin only felt that her heart was beating faster every hour, and she hoped that it would be like this every day.
During the one and a half months when all the constraints were gone, there was only one day like this. Dmitri asked for a day off from school, then came back as usual, continued his studies and conversations, and continued to take time to tell Sadolin everything about him.
However, Sadolin could see that his eyes were a little shaken when he just came back, and she was doubtful about it. The simple Sadolin was not a person who was very good at hiding emotions. Dmitri noticed Sadolin's doubts, but he remained silent about it.
On the day in March when Dmitri left school and returned from boating, Sadolin was inexplicably observing Dmitri on that remote path. Dmitri noticed Sadolin and inexplicably walked towards her.
"You want to know what I was doing yesterday, right?" Dmitry asked Sadolin with his head down, his voice sounding tired.
Sadolin subconsciously wanted to nod in agreement, but she had a hunch that Maggie would not like her doing so, so she stopped there and hesitated. Dmitri did not urge her, but just waited there quietly.
Sadolin finally nodded, and Apep watched his little friend walk away with a man, and those who came here to welcome or ridicule Demetri watched in surprise as the Slytherin followed him.
Squeak-squeak-
Dmitri slid into the boat, the strong muscles on his arms bulging. Sadolin sat opposite him, wrapped in a thick leather coat, her hands tapping the cold lake surface dishonestly. She spoke in English, which she had already mastered fluently, "Where are you taking me?"
"Do you remember when we first met, I asked you if you wanted to donate the jewel necklace?" Dmitri looked at her and answered irrelevantly.
"I remember." Sadolin nodded.
"I wanted to return it to you because you know nothing, neither what I am doing nor the value you gave me." Demetri lowered his eyes, "but I, we, really need that necklace."
"I spoke a lot in school, but I could only try my best to keep the children in my grandfather's organization from enduring the cold and to barely fill their stomachs with potatoes and dry bread. On the land where I was born, on the land where countless glories were born, countless compatriots died of freezing and starvation."
"But I don't know how to help them at all." Dmitri looked up and saw a numb sadness in Sadolin's eyes. He rowed the boat and brought Sadolin to the land where he was born.
The temperature here in March is not as cold as the coldest time, but it is still cold enough to wear thick winter clothes. However, Sadolin, who was wrapped tightly in a thick fur coat and following Dmitry, was surprised to find that most people on the street were dressed very thinly. Their cheeks were sunken, their eyes were dull, and they were shivering from the cold.
Dmitri's leather jacket, which was undoubtedly the worst in the school, was even considered extremely warm and respectable on this street.
"Hai-xi (What's going on here)?" The scene in front of her shocked Sadolin, causing her to speak in snake language subconsciously. After she came to her senses, she switched back to English, "What's going on here?"
"Things are complicated. We have no money now. We can't earn the money we deserve and we can't buy anything," Dmitri said in a dull voice. "Go a little further and you'll see a street with more people. There will be people standing there holding things, waiting to exchange them. Most of them are doing it to survive."
"Something to keep alive?" Sadolin felt that the prefix was very heavy.
"The cheapest bread, the most durable potatoes, and life-saving medicine," Dmitri said, his voice eerily calm. "Our organization was exchanging as much of those things as possible with them yesterday."
"Will they be able to survive that way?" Sadolin said hesitantly as she looked at the thin passers-by around her who seemed to be about to collapse.
"That's far from enough," Dmitri's voice rose, then suddenly dropped. He covered his face and sighed tremblingly, "But that's all I can squeeze out. Our organization still has a piece of land here, and there are still many people waiting for food over there. Although everyone is willing to save rations to help those outside-"
"But there is still so little, so little we can do." As soon as he said this, Sadolin saw a person lying on the side of the road, covered in a layer of snow.
That man was like everyone else on the street, with thin clothes and sunken cheeks, but his face no longer had the fresh color of life. He died on the street, perhaps frozen to death, perhaps starved to death, or perhaps he drank the last bit of wine and chose to lie down in the deadly snow and ice.
"He, he!" Sadolin opened her eyes wide. She grabbed Dmitri's arm, and her throat was choked. She wanted to ask the man what was wrong, but when she saw all the people on the street who were like him, she looked up and asked Dmitri, "What's going on here?"
"..." Dmitri's throat rolled and his nose was full of sourness. He swallowed the sourness and reluctantly answered Sadolin's question, "At first there was only disappointment here, but after a deception, it turned into despair."
"What?" Sadolin didn't understand, not at all, but Dmitri stopped talking. She looked at the desolate street scene and stopped asking.
They stayed here until night. It was freezing cold. Sadolin sat on a step like Dmitri and looked into the distance. A gust of cold wind blew, and Sadolin shivered and subconsciously wrapped her leather coat tightly.
Then, in my sight, I saw a thinly dressed woman with her shoulders hunched and her frail body hunched, slowly moving to a slightly sheltered corner against the cold wind.
Just by looking at the woman shivering from the cold, Sadolin felt even colder.
Dmitri, who was sitting next to her, was wearing his old leather jacket which was probably not very warm. He was also looking at the woman with no expression on his face. The passion that seemed to be in his eyes at school was gone. He stood up, gestured to Sadolin to wait, and walked towards the woman.
Dmitri walked over, and Sadolin saw the woman put her trembling hands on his chest, as if she was smiling, but her expression was so stiff, and looking at that smile, Sadolin felt a little uncomfortable.
Dmitri started talking to the woman. Sadolin could not understand or hear clearly. He saw Dmitri take out a few green bills from his pocket, hand them to the woman, and kiss her cheek. They talked for a while, and then the woman left with a hunched back as she came. Dmitri sat back next to Sadolin.
"What were you doing just now?" asked Sadolin.
Dmitri was silent for a moment, then he shook his head. "I don't know either."
"What did you give her? Something to keep her warm?"
"I hope so, but that's not enough. I can't give her much. Maybe just enough for her to have a few meals, but I can't give her more." Dmitri looked calm, but his words were full of denial.
Sadolin was even more confused, "Why did she come out on such a cold day?"
"To survive." After saying this, Dmitri closed his lips tightly, and a suffocating sourness surged in his throat. He breathed slowly, trying to calm his emotions.
Another woman came over, just like the previous one, with hunched shoulders and hunched body, moving step by step as if she would fall down at the next second. Dmitri repeated the previous process: he walked over, talked, gave money, kissed her cheek, sent the woman away, and then sat back next to Sadolin.
Sadolin looked up at Dmitri, who was sitting next to her and whose shoulders were more than half a head taller than hers. Thinking about how he had just been in the snow, she suddenly felt that Dmitri was so small and pitiful.
The wind and snow around Dmitry were too strong, and the white color formed by the wind and snow was constantly growing, so the tall Dmitry seemed infinitely small.
What about herself?
Sadolin caught a glimpse of the shiny, thick leather jacket on her body, and felt a surge of shame and regret in her heart. She had been in a daze, as if she had not stepped into any world yet.
After Dmitri stood up and sat down several times, it was finally time to take Sadolin back. Sadolin felt relieved but also anxious about leaving here.
She couldn't quite bear to see the miserable conditions here, but she couldn't let it go.
When she thought of this, Sadolin suddenly looked up at Dmitri, realizing that this man might have come and left in pain countless times with the same mentality as she just had.
Squeak-squeak-
Dmitriy slid into the boat, the strong muscles on his arms bulging. Sadolin sat opposite him, wrapped in a thick leather coat. Her face was as calm as Dmitriy's, and her eyes were as filled with sorrow as Dmitri's.
"I sold the jewel necklace you gave me and got a lot of money," Dmitri said of the necklace he mentioned when he came here. "A large part of the money stayed in the organization. I also brought some of my grandfather's comrades' family members who were still alive back to the organization. I finally had enough money to buy them some warm clothes and let them eat better."
"A small part of it, I spent on these things today," Dmitri looked at Sadolin, "This is what I am doing, this is the value you give, I am very grateful to you, Sadolin."
As he spoke, Dmitri rummaged in his pocket, stretched out his clenched fist in front of Sadolin, and slowly opened it in the moonlight, revealing a sparkling emerald necklace inside. It was the necklace that Sadolin had fallen into the lake and was washed away by the current that afternoon.
"I found it long ago by diving to the bottom of the lake, Sadolin," Dmitri said, with a hint of hope beneath the sadness in his eyes. "To be honest, until today, I am still hesitating whether to sell it directly."
"Dmitri," Sadolin whispered, interrupting Dmitri, and she placed her hands on the hand that Dmitri stretched out in front of her, pushing and curling Dmitri's open fingers back, and repeating what Dmitri had said when they first met, "Do it with all your heart, I am willing, willing to devote it to your cause."
"Sadolin..." Dmitri's eyes flickered, and because of the dryness in his throat, his voice was very low. His other rough hand touched Sadolin's delicate cheek and gently stroked it. He slowly leaned towards Sadolin and said the girl's name again, "Sadolin..."
Dong-dong-dong-
As her face became hot, Sadolin heard the longing heartbeat again. She couldn't tell whether it was Dmitri's or hers, nor could she tell whether it was for the exciting career or for the other person. However, looking at Dmitri approaching her, Sadolin subconsciously closed her eyes.
But Dmitri's breath stopped abruptly a few centimeters in front of her, and after feeling the heat getting farther and farther away from her, Sadolin opened her eyes in confusion.
"It's late, we should go back," Dmitri avoided Sadolin's sight and rowed the boat again, "Sadolin..."
And when the two were about to return to Durmstrang, Karkaroff, Big Jonas and Trevor were waiting for them at the entrance of the school.
The Riddle siblings have already written their own ending today.