'SEE YOU MORNING' 023 God's Finger

Beneath the shade of the trees, by the railing at the edge of the amusement park, turning around revealed a gravity-powered children's roller coaster ride. It stood over ten meters tall, with multiple winding curves and different branching paths to choose from, making it wonderfully fun to play. Li Haojun slid down from the top, choosing several branching paths along the way. But when he tried to repeat the exact same route as before, he found it impossible. When he reached the bottom, the car had lost all its speed and potential energy. Li Haojun stepped off, his feet landing on the soft earth, and looked at the light blue roller coaster support frames and yellow tracks, finding them a bit cute—after all, it was a children's ride.
Li Haojun suddenly remembered that he had brought his child here to play, but now there was no one around him. "I actually lost my own child??!" In an instant, Li Haojun felt as if he had fallen into an abyss. He tried hard to recall: when they arrived, the child was standing below the roller coaster, wearing children's overalls, a light-colored shirt with strawberry patterns, sleeves rolled up, and two little topknots on her head. That was my daughter.
My child, where is my child? Li Haojun began to search everywhere, but had no idea which direction to go. He stared down the path they had come, past the amusement park fence, wishing he could see through everything, but he couldn't spot that tiny figure... My child, my child.
He woke up in the middle of the night. It had only been a dream. Li Haojun hadn't been sleeping well lately. Tonight he was sleeping in the room next to Qin Wenjing's. Looking through the curtains at the night sky, it was still dark. Calming his nervous emotions and racing heart, Li Haojun thought back on the dream, trying to remember every detail.
At the breakfast table, Li Haojun told Qin Wenjing about his dream. This morning she was wearing a white diamond-patterned chiffon shirt with a deep V-neck and ruffled sleeves. She listened silently to Li Haojun finish speaking, said nothing, and just held her coffee cup, sipping it slowly. Seeing her silence, Li Haojun wondered if she was jealous—after all, he had recently gained two female assistants—and explained,
"The little girl in my dream was about four or five years old, and she was my daughter in the dream. I don't know why I had such a dream."
Qin Wenjing smiled slightly. "Malaya would make a perfect daughter for you."
"Ahem, how could I have a daughter like that? The one in the dream had black hair and brown eyes, and I still remember her red hair ties. I just wanted to ask you—do I have a daughter?"
Qin Wenjing still didn't answer. After a moment's hesitation, she lifted her own black hair and said softly, "If you want one with black hair, then take me as your daughter." She kept her head down, not looking at Li Haojun, her voice gentle. After a while, Qin Wenjing added teasingly, "No other daughter would go with you anyway. Only me."
After the hesitation, having gotten no useful information, Li Haojun replied, "Yeah, that's true." Then he stood up, walked over to Qin Wenjing, and pulled her head into his arms.
Just as their routine morning work was beginning, Qin Wenjing exclaimed excitedly,
"Do you remember that night we were in Richland?" Days had passed, but Qin Wenjing still felt the excitement of that night.
"I remember. What about it?"
"Check if you got an email. Victims get to vote on the sentencing of the perpetrators."
"Oh," Li Haojun checked, and sure enough, he had one too.
It turned out to be about several people who had organized and participated in violent vandalism during that parade. Li Haojun and Qin Wenjing looked through their profiles and convictions.
"Look at this one," Qin Wenjing said as she read. "He participated in vandalism and theft. Originally he was sent to do volunteer work at a state-owned farm on the border between the Citizen District and the Natural Freedom Zone, to experience life through labor. But he escaped. After being caught, he claimed that labor wasn't his specialty—he was good at theft, and applied to go to the High-Tech Freedom Zone to develop his skills."
Li Haojun chuckled. "Maybe he just doesn't want to work, not that he can't use his talents."
"Well, maybe he really is good at that. It wouldn't hurt to give him a chance to prove himself. I want to vote yes for him," Qin Wenjing said hesitantly.
But Li Haojun thought of the civilians living in the San Francisco Freedom Zone, the elderly living on the water raising their children and grandchildren, and the old woman selling flowers. He didn't want to dump a criminal on them, disturbing or even destroying their peaceful lives. So Li Haojun shook his head and said,
"No, I'm voting no. Because he destroyed public property, he lacks morality and self-discipline. Even if he were the king of thieves, what contribution would his skills make to this world?"
"Oh, then let's abstain."
"No, we need to exercise our civic rights," Li Haojun said, patting Qin Wenjing on the shoulder. "Let's keep going."
Li Haojun looked at the next person and said,
"I think this one was heavily influenced by the organizers. He's still young and easily swayed by others. Separating him from the organizers might give him a new chance."
"His sentence is community service," Qin Wenjing said, looking carefully too.
"But he can choose different communities to serve in," Li Haojun checked the different communities. "I think it might help him to leave the community where he grew up. Look at this one—it's a Protestant Christian community, and the residents are very socially active. Let him experience what order is, and what positive, normal interactions with people are like."
"Yeah, I agree. I'll vote for that too," Qin Wenjing said, nodding.
"Next one. He's also an organizer," Li Haojun checked his resume again. "Look, he was an active participant in these kinds of activities even when he was in school. I think it's just inertia that he's still doing this at such a young age after dropping out."
"What kind of inertia?" Qin Wenjing asked curiously.
"The inertia of human nature. Look, he had bad grades in school and didn't participate in any other school activities. What do you think his purpose was in joining these political activities?"
"What could it be?"
"Superiority, power, or just having nothing better to do, I guess," Li Haojun said, staring at his profile on the screen. "I think what he needs is to honestly understand himself and find his place in society. So I agree with his sentence: go to the state-owned farm on the border between the residential area and the Natural Freedom Zone to experience what self-reliant labor is like. Because he wasted his opportunity. Now that he doesn't have to worry about survival, he should do something more meaningful."
It took the two of them nearly an hour to go through all the profiles and make the decisions they thought were appropriate. They went back to the first person again.
"He was supposed to serve at the state-owned farm, but he escaped," Li Haojun said, looking at the man's profile. "From the timeline, he first fled to the Natural Freedom Zone, but it seems he couldn't survive there. After a while, he ran into the residential area and was caught."
"Well, should we reject his application?" Qin Wenjing asked.
Li Haojun looked at her with a smile, said nothing, and pulled a coin out of his pocket.
"I won't force your free will. This time, let God decide."
He showed the coin to Qin Wenjing as he played with it. It was a gold coin, with Benjamin Franklin's head on the front, and the Liberty Bell and a small line of text on the back: "A republic, if you can keep it."
"You flip it," Li Haojun said, handing the coin to Qin Wenjing.
As Qin Wenjing reached out to take it, Li Haojun grabbed her hand instead and said with a grin,
"Let me touch God's finger." Then he tilted his head back, rolled his eyes upward, pretended to be blind, and while touching her hand, imitated a trembling northwestern Chinese dialect and said,
"Oh my girl, turns out God is a woman."
Qin Wenjing laughed heartily, couldn't help but pout and shake her shoulders, swinging her arms and tugging twice at Li Haojun's hand that was holding hers.
Just then, a message from Malaya popped up on Li Haojun's screen. He glanced at the screen, then at Qin Wenjing, and smiled bitterly.
"Killjoy."
Qin Wenjing didn't seem to mind. She tugged at Li Haojun's hand, made a curious sound, and leaned over to see what was going on.
"Hello Ethan, tomorrow you need to go to Ellensburg. I will arrive to assist with your itinerary, and Kesiya will also come to familiarize herself with the local factory. Please choose: if you go tomorrow morning, we will arrive tonight; or if you go tomorrow afternoon, we will arrive tomorrow morning. Malaya."
Li Haojun thought about them coming all the way from Boise and chose the latter option, so they wouldn't have to rush or travel in the early morning. Then another message from Malaya came.
"Please choose: do we go directly to the factory and meet you there, or do we pick you up at your house first and then go to the factory?"
Li Haojun was just about to reply when Malaya added an explanation.
"Oh, it's not that we don't want to pick you up and arrange your itinerary properly. We just don't want to disturb you and your wife's rest, so we're asking for your opinion."
Seeing this, Li Haojun turned his head and saw Qin Wenjing staring at him.
"When did you tell people I'm your wife?" she asked curiously.
"Hey, nothing like that. I never said anything. That little girl is just being naughty," Li Haojun explained.
"I was actually going to suggest they rent a place near us, otherwise they'll have to make this trip every time. They live so far away from me. But now I think I'll forget it. I'm afraid you won't be able to stand it."
Hearing this, Qin Wenjing pouted her little mouth.
"Hmph, what does it have to do with me."
"Alright, alright, it's me who can't stand her disturbing us, okay?"
After Li Haojun coaxed her like this, Qin Wenjing leaned over again.
"Geez, looking at the different airline routes she listed, it really is far. Why do they live so far away?"
Li Haojun immediately replied to Malaya that he chose the first option, then said to Qin Wenjing,
"It's noon already. Let's have lunch in a bit, and we won't work this afternoon. Let's go sunbathe in the backyard together."
"Why?" Qin Wenjing asked in surprise.
"Because I owe you tomorrow afternoon. I'm making it up to you today in advance."
"You don't have to be so dramatic."
Li Haojun stood up gently, pulled Qin Wenjing's head into his arms, breathed in the scent of her hair, and said softly,
"You have no idea how much I miss you when you're not by my side."
Qin Wenjing tilted her head up in his arms, wanting to say that she would go too, but the words never left her mouth. She just quietly enjoyed the warmth of his embrace at this moment.