"I know," Hazel replied coldly.
"Are you here to pick vegetables too?" Eli continued talking to her.
"Weeding," Hazel said after a long pause.
"I'm here to pick tomatoes. I'll make sugar tomatoes later. Have you ever had them? Sour and sweet. Alexander loves them!" Evelyn walked into the vegetable patch, picking ripe tomatoes while chatting.
"I hate tomatoes," Hazel said flatly.
"Oh. What do you like to eat?"
"Why should I tell you?"
"I thought if it's something I can make, I could make it for you," Evelyn replied with a smile.
She didn't mind Hazel's coldness.
Maybe it was just her lonely personality and her defensive attitude toward strangers.
Hazel was stunned for a moment. Then she turned her head and didn't respond.
Evelyn didn't care. She kept picking tomatoes.
The tomatoes here were big and beautiful. Several were very red. Not the pale red you see in the market.
Evelyn liked them a lot. She held one in her hand, reluctant to put it in the basket.
It was just that she used to make sugar tomatoes with cherry tomatoes. One bite each.
She had never tried it with big tomatoes like these. She didn't know if the effect would be the same.
But these tomatoes looked delicious. Even without sugar, you could eat them straight.
Evelyn put them into the basket happily.
Alexander, Iris, and herself. Three people. Three tomatoes should be enough.
Or maybe she should pick one more, just in case.
"How old are you?" Hazel asked suddenly.
"Are you asking me?" Evelyn turned around.
"Yes," Hazel said, looking straight at her.
"I'm twenty," Evelyn answered. "What about you?"
After asking, she remembered Alexander had already told her yesterday.
"Eighteen," Hazel replied. Then she muttered, "Only two years apart."
"Are you still in school?" Evelyn tried to keep the conversation going.
"The college entrance exam is in June."
"Which university do you want to go to?"
"I won't tell you."
"Oh," Evelyn said.
She felt Hazel wasn't a good conversationalist. Just like Alexander.
When you were chatting enthusiastically, she would give you a sentence like "I won't tell you," making it impossible to continue.
Evelyn finished picking the tomatoes and looked at the other vegetables. She could pick some to cook for dinner.
"Hazel, is this lettuce planted by Iris?" Evelyn asked, pointing to the lettuce on one side.
"All of these were planted by Iris," Hazel said.
"Are you weeding for Iris's vegetable garden?"
"This side is my home." Hazel blushed and answered stiffly.
"Well, I'll pick some lettuce, green onions, and cabbage. I don't know if Iris likes dumplings. I could make dumplings," Evelyn said to herself.
"Iris's favorite food is flour dumplings. She doesn't like dumplings."
"Flour dumplings?" Evelyn turned to look at Hazel.
"You knead the flour into small balls and boil them. Like cooking noodles."
"Okay, I'll try that tonight. Thank you."
"You don't need to cook tonight."
"Why?" Evelyn asked, puzzled.
What would they eat if they didn't cook?
"Because... why should I tell you?"
"Well, when you want to tell me, you can tell me then," Evelyn said with a smile.
After picking some vegetables, she walked out of the vegetable patch with her basket.
"I'll go back first. Goodbye."
Hazel didn't respond.
Evelyn walked up the stone steps for a while. She stopped to rest. She turned and looked at the distant sea.
The view here was beautiful. You could sit here and watch the sunset at dusk.
But the view from Iris's yard was wider because it was higher up.
Evelyn thought about it and laughed. Just as she was about to look away, she saw Hazel looking at her.
Hazel abruptly looked away.
Evelyn continued walking up with the basket.
"Alexander, Iris's vegetables are so beautiful. And there are so many varieties," Evelyn said excitedly as she walked into the yard.
"Beautiful?" Alexander smiled.
"Yes. They're well planted. They look delicious."
"You were gone so long. Don't tell me you just sat in the vegetable patch and chewed on them."
"I'm not a pig," Evelyn said, then couldn't help laughing first. "I'm almost done. I'll show you a place later," Alexander continued.
"Okay," Evelyn answered. She put the basket down by the sink, washed the vegetables first, then carried them to the kitchen.
Later, Alexander took Evelyn to the only school on the island.
From kindergarten to junior high, the children studied here. But for high school, they had to leave the island and go to a small town.
Next to the school was the clinic. The only clinic on the island.
Alexander greeted the doctor inside.
The doctor was a young man. Thin. He looked up and smiled when he saw Alexander.
"I heard from my mother that you were back. I was going to visit Iris's house yesterday, but Chloe had something to ask for leave, so I came to work for her," Eli said, asking them to sit down and explaining.
"It's fine. I came to see you too. This is my wife, Evelyn. Evelyn, this is Eli Hudson. My elementary school classmate. Now he's the doctor on the island," Alexander said, pulling Evelyn to sit down.
"We were only in the same class for two years. Then he kept skipping grades, and I couldn't catch up," Eli said with a smile. "Hello, Evelyn."
"Hello," Evelyn said.
"I thought I would invite you back to drink at my wedding at the beginning of next year. But I didn't expect you to run ahead of me and marry such a young and beautiful wife."
"I can only blame you for being too slow."
"I need the bride to nod her head if I want to be quick," Eli said with a smile.
He took some dried fruits out of the room and served them to Evelyn.
Alexander said these things were actually medicinal herbs from the clinic. Eli was just offering them to Buddha.
Evelyn looked at the dried fruits in surprise. She thought they could be eaten as snacks?
"Don't listen to Alexander's alarmist talk. I picked them from the mountain, dried them in the sun, and put them in the clinic. You can come and get some if you need them," Eli explained with a smile.
Evelyn laughed too.
Eli also made a cup of scented tea for Evelyn. He used his own ingredients.
Evelyn took a sip. It was very sweet.
"Calming. Good for the skin. You can drink two cups a week," Eli continued.
"She doesn't need anything for her skin. If you have any brain tonics, give me some," Alexander answered. He took a sip from Evelyn's teacup.
"There are no brain tonics. But I have some calming ones. I prepared them for you. I was going to send them to you in the city. Now that you're here, I'll give them to you directly," Eli replied.
After a while, he took Alexander and Evelyn to the back of the clinic.
Alexander said Eli could have worked at a good hospital back then. But he chose to come back to the clinic on the island.
His fiancée was his classmate. She was willing to live on the island with him. She would teach at the school in the future.
Evelyn listened carefully to Alexander's words.
Because it was class time, there was no one on the playground.
Alexander took Evelyn to the other side. He pointed to an empty space and said, "I plan to build a leisure sports center here. In the future, people on the island can come here to exercise. Old people can also drink tea, play chess, and listen to music here."
Evelyn looked at Alexander with admiration. When he talked about these plans, a picture emerged in her mind. It was a leisurely life for the old and the young.