Chapter 18: Lethe
Approaching only to find that the river is blood-yellow, extremely turbid, it looks like a black river from a distance, full of insects and snakes, the fishy wind blows on the face, there is a stone standing on the riverbank, the three words "Lechuan River" are written on it, and the font is bright red like blood.
The blackened blood-yellow liquid in the river kept tumbling and bubbling, and if you looked closely at the water surface that was as big as a ball, it was like a soul that had been thrown into hell and died in vain and struggled and screamed in pain.
Am I going to go over?
There seem to be tens of thousands of lonely souls in the river scrambling to drag me into the water, will I fall? The river is an abyss from which there will be no return, is it possible that if you fall into it, you will not be able to be reincarnated?
Just as I was struggling with how to get there, I suddenly noticed a bridge nearby.
I walked cautiously along the river to the bridge, not daring to get too close to the river, for there was something black and translucent, shaped like a human, that would suddenly emerge from the sticky surface of the water like a bubble, stretch out its long, slender claws, and grab my ankles at once.
"Nai He Bridge", three words are clearly engraved on the bridge.
What a bridge? At this moment, I actually think it's a little ridiculous, is this the legendary Huangquan Road? No matter what the name is in the world, after death, he will go to the ghost gate. The people outside the gate are still singing and dancing, and the soul inside the gate crosses the Huangquan Road.
Is it true that when I walk across this bridge and drink a bowl of soup, I forget all my love and hatred?
There are lonely souls under the bridge, are those who are unwilling to forget a certain relationship, so they refuse to drink the bowl of soup and are willing to jump into the river?
Am I going to walk through here? Will I also forget that his eyes are as clear as the lake, and when I meet them again in the next life, they will be strangers?
However, looking back at the sky on the bridge, I really can't speak. There is no way back in this life, but to go there.
In the end, I stepped onto the bridge, and the stone guardrails on both sides could not stop the river from surging, and slapped on both sides of the bridge. The blackened blood-yellow liquid didn't seem to be the river at all, but was watched by all kinds of struggling souls, looking for anyone on the bridge, waiting for the moment when the water was lapping. Drag you down the river.
"Ruolan?"
A haggard man's voice sounded behind me.
He hunched his back slightly, his gray hair was gray, and his eyes were sunken, although he was dressed in a straight suit. But it still couldn't hide the emaciated body inside the clothes.
"Are you ......" I looked at him curiously, trying to recall in my mind, but I couldn't find the impression of this person.
"Thank you for your concern for my son, if we meet again, I will definitely repay you." He spoke like a gossamer, as if he was mentally tortured, his head hung and his eyelids drooped, but as he spoke, he tried to smile at me.
After he finished speaking, he smiled at me and prepared to move forward, as if he was very indifferent to everything in the world.
"But who is your son?" I couldn't help but stop him.
"Wei Chi Shuai", he squeezed out another smile after speaking, but immediately stared at the front with indifferent eyes. Keep walking, and pass me all the way to the other side of the river......
"Wait!" I stopped him, and he stood in front of me, but didn't look back.
"Did you just see Dashuai? Where is he now? I haven't seen him since I was separated from him in a courthouse-like place."
His thin back trembled slightly, but he still didn't look back, turned his back to me and said, "Have you seen a handsome man here?" ”
"Hmm...... What's the matter......" Before I could finish my sentence, he continued on his way, ignoring me.
I stood still. I wonder why he cried when he said just now, and why I left before I finished speaking. Dashuai, what's wrong with Dashuai?
That's right! This is where the dead come!
Thinking of this, there was another burst of sweat hair standing on end! That's right! This is where the dead come! I'm dead! So what! Everyone dies, and death is not terrible. What is terrible is the separation, and the difference between all the nostalgic people and things! After everything is figured out, I am relieved, I think my color at the moment will be the same as the color of him in front of me, there is no unwillingness. There is no pain, only indifference.
Who is he? How do you know about Dashuai? Why do you secretly cry with your back to me when you know that Dashuai is dead?
Thinking about his appearance...... He...... Isn't he Yu Chijie?
But how did Yu Chijie get so old? There are so many gray hairs all at once, and people have lost so much weight!
And also...... How did he die......
In my confusion, he had gradually walked away, and I looked at his emaciated back, and quickly followed, I was afraid that if I was distracted, I would be dragged into the river by those pairs of invisible rotten hands.
"Sir, drink this bowl of soup!"
There was an old woman at the head of the bridge, holding a bowl of tea, and handed it to Yu Chijie.
He turned his head and looked at the old woman with a wistful look. This time there was no longer indifference in his eyes, but a lot of emotions gathered together, and his face was full of tears.
He stared for a moment and said weakly, "Will you find her in the next life?" ”
"Let's drink it!" The mother-in-law just smiled slightly, did not answer his question, and handed the bowl to his mouth.
He stretched out his trembling hands and took the bowl full of hot, and a tear fell into the bowl and mingled with the soup.
The leaves fall without flowers, the flowers bloom without leaves, and it is difficult to love each other.
The other side of the Lethe River calls for deep affection, but the bridge smells quiet.
Poverty swallows the body, prosperity drinks blood, and the void dreams are heavy.
Reincarnation asks this night in the next life, when will the flower moon in the world disappear.
This bowl of soup is made with the tears of this life.
The mother-in-law looked at him with a smile and waited for him to drink it all. And he, in a daze at the soup, tears fell down one by one.
"Will you find her in the next life?" After half a ring, he asked again, as if there was great unwillingness in his heart, extreme longing, eager to continue the frontier.
"Maybe, maybe not, even if it will, you and her are strangers", the mother-in-law still smiled slightly, telling a story that had nothing to do with herself.
"Everything is forgotten, right?" Yu Chijie brought the bowl closer to his mouth, but the nameless sadness in his heart seemed to be getting stronger and stronger.
"All love and hatred will be written off", the mother-in-law urged: "Drink quickly, forget it, and there will be no pain."
"Nope! I want to see her! Yu Chijie suddenly threw the bowl to the ground! Without warning, he suddenly cried and roared as if he had gone mad: "Does she pass by here every time she is reincarnated?" I just have to stay here to see her! I haven't seen her since I had Dabao, and I have a lot to say to her, I want to see her! ”
The muddy river under the bridge slapped against the bridge hard, like a demon desperately trying to break free from the shackles and climb up, even if he hit his head and bleed, he would drag the people on the bridge into the water.
"Do you have to think about it, a reincarnation may be eighty years, maybe five hundred years, or one thousand years, are you willing to suffer here until she appears?"
Yu Chijie lowered his head and was silent, his eyes looking straight at the sewage of the river under his feet......
The air was filled with the pungent smell of blood and rancidity, and the wind in my ears was like a group of ghosts wailing......
Waiting for a person is torment in itself, but it takes more courage to refuse that bowl of soup.
"I'll do anything, just let me see her! Whatever you want! He was speechless, he was so speechless that he couldn't speak, a middle-aged man, crying bitterly at an old woman at the bridge, how helpless it would be to be like this!
"Let me see someone first," said the old woman, standing aside, and then a girl appeared behind her.
How is she? She was still wearing an apron, carrying a bamboo basket, holding a sickle in her hand, looking at Yu Chijie with teary eyes, and tears fell down one by one in the gaze.
But Yu Chijie has been avoiding her burning gaze, and there is only dodging and indifference in his eyes.
"Ah Ming......" the girl shouted as she looked at him affectionately.
He looked back behind him, and then at the girl, with a puzzled look on his face, and a little bit of complaint, as if the girl had disturbed him.
"Ah......h Don't you know me......" The girl tried her best to hold back her tears, but she couldn't hide it, and cried quietly: "You hugged me and said, we are going to be together for the rest of our lives, you will go wherever I go, it is because of my repeated insistence that you survived, and we finally separated, but I have been waiting for you, why did you forget me......"
"I'm sorry, miss, you recognized the wrong person", he smiled wryly.
"Nope!" The girl threw down the sickle, plunged into his arms, and hugged him tightly, under the girl's embrace, the suit was wrinkled badly, it turned out that he really only had a skeleton left, what did Yu Chijie go through before his death, his face was haggard, and the deep dark circles under his eyes were the result of long-term overdraft of physical strength and energy?
He put his hands behind his back, tried to untie the hands of the girl he was holding, and said politely, "I'm sorry, you must have recognized the wrong person, I don't know you".
"Nope! I know you in ashes! Amin, I've been waiting for you for so many years, how can you ...... like this" The girl said and hugged him tighter, as if she was afraid that he would fly away and bury herself in his chest, and the whole person was about to melt in tears.
"You're enough!" Yu Chijie used brute force to untie her hands around her back, and said in a firm and prepared tone: "I don't know you, you recognize the wrong person!" I also have a wife, and I love her very much, please respect yourself! ”
The girl stood in place in embarrassment, her hands constantly rubbing each other, and her joints were slightly red, which should have been caused by Yu Chijie's excessive exertion just now.
"Ah Ming, do you really not remember me at all......" The girl bit her lip tightly, blood and tears mixed together, and she slipped to the ground.
The wind is louder, like black ghosts scratching your cheeks with their claws from time to time, and constantly surrounding you, blowing into your ears and whispering death songs all the time.
"Please excuse me, I have something to do," he said, pushing the girl down with his hand, and began to look for the old woman. (To be continued.) )