The arrival of Joya seems to have become a dividing line for the weather in Florence in recent times. Before her arrival, Florence was experiencing day after day of wind and rain, but after her arrival, Florence has been blessed with sunshine every day, and the cicada calls have once again resounded in the courtyard of the Totti residence.
Except for Joya, Italians in this world very much enjoy the summer sunshine.
Every morning, as the first rays of sunlight climb up the rooftops of Florence, the city's residents carry the pasta they had cut the night before and lay it out to dry on their rooftop terraces. Some residents without terraces even spread their pasta out to dry on the bustling cathedral square.
Until Joya opens the blinds in her room every morning, besides the layered red roofs, there is the ubiquitous layered Pasta.
Joya, who has been feeling that she has been recently suffering from pasta PTSD, quietly closed the window and decided not to go out for the next few days.
And when she finally came out of her own room, she would just happen to run into the two male servants of the Totti mansion, carrying a horizontal beam hung with freshly cut noodles, like they were fetching water, passing by the door of her room, heading towards the stairs to the third floor, and after seeing her open the door, they even smiled and said, "Miss Joya, there will be fresh noodles to eat soon!"
"..."
She feels her pasta PTSD is probably incurable.
Although the Totti family is a renowned aristocratic family in Florence, its member structure is quite simple. Joya only stayed here for two or three days, but she already had a relatively clear understanding of this family.
Unlike most prominent families with numerous branches and members, the Totti family, although once very prosperous, has had a very small population over the past hundred years. In this generation, apart from Ricardo himself, there is only his sister who married and went to Genoa, but she passed away many years ago due to complications during childbirth. Ricardo himself also only has one son, Marco, which makes the Totti family one of the rarest among the Florentine nobility. If there were ever to be a conflict between noble families, the Totti family would be almost certain to lose.
The Totti family is small, so they have few servants. Aside from Eliza, the grandmother who is dedicated to caring for the bedridden Martina, there is only the young girl Lisa and two strong men. The young men, Arturo and Ciro, are physically strong and have an outgoing personality.
Ciro is the boy who was chatting with Lisa at the entrance of Joya that day.
Ricardo does not care much about the opinions of others, even if sometimes people speculate that the few servants in the Totti estate are due to his business incurring losses, he is not like other aristocrats who can employ countless servants, and he does not mind at all, in his own words, as long as there are enough people, and too many people will only disturb Martina who is recovering from an illness.
He said this while reaching out to pat Joya's shoulder and comforted, "Martina hasn't been doing well lately, but once her condition improves, she will definitely chat with you properly."
From the day I first arrived in Florence and met Martina, Martina has been staying indoors and refusing visitors, saying her illness has worsened. Except for Ricardo and Grandma Eliza, she has not seen anyone else, including Marco.
That night, Joya secretly visited Martina's window, and also knew that she did not want to see her, but was troubled in her heart. Joya understood Martina's feelings, which were similar to a sense of shyness before returning home, and naturally did not pay too much attention to it. After hearing Ricardo's gentle consolation, Joya smiled and said, "When my mother's health improves, I'll pick some carnations again before the season is over."
She saw Ricardo's eyes crinkle slightly, and he even reached up to touch his nose, probably thinking of the carnations in his own courtyard that had been ruthlessly poisoned, so the smile on his lips grew a little wider.
Fortunately, during the days of waiting, Joya could still pass the time by reading books and telling stories to Marco, and it also allowed the few servants who were with Totti to let down their guard. Although Lisa still felt a bit awkward when facing her, she no longer feared that Joya would sell her off if she was displeased.
On the Lord's day, the Totti family, except for the bedridden Martina, all went to the nearby church for mass. As for Joya, who had been confined to the Totti residence these past few days, she had to get up early, tidy up her messy documents so they were presentable, and then have a cup of iced wine before leaving the Totti estate, reluctantly, at Ricardo's urging, to face the summer sun of Florence.
The neighbors of the Totti family had already heard that Martina's daughter who grew up in Rome had returned, but these days Joya has been staying indoors and has not been seen. However, some frivolous young people living nearby have thrown pebbles at the second-floor windows of the Totti family, only to hit the windows of Grandma Eliza, who then opened the window and unleashed a torrent of Tuscan dialect curses at the young people below.
Except for the people at Totti's residence, no one else has seen Joya, maintaining enough mystery to naturally arouse people's curiosity.
And so, in front of the church where the Totti family was having mass, there were a lot of people who wanted to see the commotion.
Joya led Marco, following Ricardo to the church entrance, where they heard several jeering voices, and as she received the wine symbolizing the blood of Jesus, she met the inquiring gaze of the church priest.
Joya was given goosebumps by that gaze.
She was all too familiar with such a gaze. It was the same way Rodrigo looked at Julia when they first met.
After the mass, Ricardo and Grandma Eliza had to hurry back to the manor to take care of Martina. Joya had wanted to go with them, but before she could say anything, she saw Arturo, Ciro, and Lisa bumping into each other, as if they were urgently telling each other to do something. Just as she was wondering about it, the most cheerful of the three, Ciro, took a deep breath, with a serious expression on his face, and approached Joya with a much more solemn step than usual, staring at her as if he had something to say.
Joya was a bit confused. If she didn't know that Ciro secretly liked Lisa, she would have thought this scene was like a cultural film from some island country, with a shy male student being confessed to by a female teacher.
Ciro, the young male student, held back for a long time, and under the urging of Arturo and Lisa behind him, finally opened his mouth: "Miss Joya, would you like to eat noodles......"
Joya: "Ahh!!"
He paused for a moment and immediately corrected himself: "I just said that wrong! What I meant to ask was if Ms. Joya would like to come with us to the central market for a stroll."
Joya then withdrew the fearful expression that had involuntarily appeared in her eyes, then slightly lowered her head, blinked her eyes, and said: "I still have..."
"The few books have not been read yet" had not yet been said, when her sleeve was tugged, and she looked down to meet Marco's large blue eyes.
Marco conveyed his desire to her through his gaze without saying a word.
He wants to go visit the Central Market.
"Well......" Joya hesitated for a moment, "let's go for a walk."
The Central Market is located near the De' Medici family chapel, which is considered a bustling area of Florence. The stalls selling various small goods fill the indoor and outdoor spaces, resulting in a large flow of people and constant activity.
As soon as Lisa arrived at the central market, she darted off like a small butterfly that had grown wings, familiar with the stalls selling small trinkets. Ciro, worried about her, followed closely behind. Arturo seemed to be a regular at the central market, with vendors greeting him along the way, and he would often stop to chat with people.
And so, in just a short time after a few people had reached the central market, they had become separated in this crowded place.
Joya wasn't in much of a hurry, she held Marco's hand and walked along, stopping every now and then to take a closer look at any small trinkets that caught her eye.
Marco wasn't much of a talker, but he was very clever. He gently took Joya's hand and walked slowly forward, and then suddenly became interested in the shadows on the ground beneath their feet, purposefully stepping on his own shadow. He tugged at Joya's hand, looked up at her, wanting to tell her about his new game, but then caught sight of a wooden horse figurine on a display not far away. Joya was tugged by him, and was about to ask what was wrong, but then saw him staring intently ahead, so she followed his gaze and saw the wooden horse figurine placed at the very front of the display.
The little horse was deliberately sculpted to be round and adorable, with its tail swung up high, as if proudly calling out to people.
Joya smiled and bent down slightly, asking, "Do you like that wooden carved horse?"
Marco looked up at her, and his other hand went to his mouth, as if he were biting his fingertips with his tiny teeth, a gesture that expressed his intense inner struggle. He hesitated for a long time, then blinked his eyes and nodded.
Joya smiled at his behavior.
The quiet and gentle boy has liked horses since childhood. When Juan was young, he often begged to ride horses. As he grew up, he learned to ride horses and even fell and broke his leg, but he still insisted on competing with Cesare on horseback. Even the introverted and quiet Marco couldn't help but be drawn to the small horses.
She used her other hand to ruffle Marco's soft hair on the top of his head, and was about to take out her purse to buy the little wooden horse for Marco. But she just happened to feel a hand reaching into her purse.
She was stunned for a moment, and while she was dazed, the young man who had his hat brim pulled down low quickly snatched the money bag from her hand, turned around, and ran off, even bumping into the young lady next door who was looking at ribbons.
Joya unconsciously released Marco's hand and took a step forward, but as soon as she took that step, she reacted and turned her head, only to see Marco being embraced by a young man with black hair and disappearing into the crowd.
Joya's pupils dilated slightly as she held up the hem of her dress and hurried forward in high heels, not caring how many people she bumped into along the way. The person who had taken Marco away was also moving very quickly, and soon disappeared from her sight.
In this moment, a great panic gripped her entire consciousness. She stood in the bustling crowd of the central market, and almost desperately and helplessly called out "Marco!"
And a few seconds later, on the other side of the crowd, she heard a similarly heart-rending child's voice: "Sister, sister!"
