(a)

Unexpectedly, the snowstorm on the day of arrival was the last severe cold of this winter. After the wind and snow stopped, the sky was as clear as a wash, and the sun became warmer and warmer.

Spring unconsciously reveals the first sprouts.

With the weather improving and the temperature rising rapidly, we have more opportunities to go out.

Mr. Shen asked us what we most wanted to see.

Yi Chen said: "I don't care, you can look at it anywhere first, ladies first." ”

So, Mr. Shen looked at me.

I thought for a moment and said, "Do the residents of Winterlake have a cemetery?" I want to see the cemetery here. ”

Mr. Shen looked at me in surprise. He looked at Yi Chen again. Yi Chen smiled, indicating that this was completely expected by him. Day and night, I am so close to your repeated deaths and the deaths of countless people in the story, I want to see the cemetery, it is normal.

Mr. Shen shrugged his shoulders and said, "Okay. It's an unusual choice. ”

A person's eyes should always be fixed on the end, only in this way, he will not easily deviate from the goal on the road ahead. I think so.

(b)

It is a very ordinary cemetery, located in the northwest corner of the town, behind the church. It is in the middle of winter, where the cold wind is most violent.

The area of the cemetery is not large, the residents of the town are not many, the population structure is relatively young, and the number of people who have died is not too many, and many of them do not die in their lifetime, but from injuries sustained in hunting, or various accidents.

Around the cemetery, a large circle of ordinary spruce, pink granite or white marble tombstones dotted the cemetery.

On Sundays, bouquets of red or pink geraniums are routinely placed in front of these tombstones to convey the grief of the bereaved families.

We passed one tombstone after another. Mr. Yichen clasped his palms together one by one and expressed his respect and blessings to the deceased. Mr. Shen drew a cross on his chest. I followed Yichen with my palms together and bowed my head, silently praying in my heart that they would all be able to live well and start a better journey in life.

If there's anything special about this, it's that the entire cemetery is triangular instead of the usual square.

Mr. Shen explained to me that the formation of a triangle means that the number of people here who died in accidents is larger, and it represents a sharp, sudden death. If there are more people dying in the future, the cemetery will slowly develop into a square shape.

In addition, at the corner of the cemetery fence, a small remnant of the grassland left by the past can still be faintly seen. We looked at the cemetery's signage (which has been posted everywhere since the development of tourism), which was a grassland that survived the construction of the cemetery in the 40s of the 19th century.

Mr. Shen said that it is just spring, and the cemetery is still very desolate, and the flowers in the cemetery will not bloom until July.

Every July, a small one-man tall sunflower grows here, which looks like a compass used on Chinese Song Dynasty ships. It has a long local name, I don't remember how to pronounce it, I simply called it "Compass Aoi".

Later, when we came back for a summer vacation, we saw the garden full of these flowers. They swayed dish-sized, sunflower-like huáng sè flowers and danced gently in the wind.

Strangely, this flower is not to be seen anywhere else in Donghu Town and the surrounding areas.

Locals say it only grows around the cemetery. It was therefore believed that the flowers were incarnated by the spirits of the dead in the town.

So, although these flowers are beautiful, no one ever picks them home.

When I saw this flower for the first time, I liked it very much, and I didn't know the allusion to it, so I picked a small bunch, took it in my hand, and walked back to the camp's cabin. When he was about to reach the camp, he saw the chubby neighbor aunt next door, leading the fierce black hound, and was about to tie its chain to a post in the garden. I raised the bouquet in my hand and greeted my aunt. My aunt first greeted me with a spring breeze, and then she saw the flowers in my hand.

She gestured to me in shock and said loudly, "Hurry up and throw it!" Vera! Throw it away, Verorica! Don't take it home! ”

It took me a few seconds to realize, Vera, Verorica, they were all calling me. For some reason, she insisted that I should be called that. Maybe she couldn't pronounce the two Chinese characters of idealism accurately.

Ever since she persistently called me that, the people of the town have slowly followed her in calling me that.

I also pushed the boat along the water, followed the local customs, and signed some of the subsequent works under the pseudonym Verolica. The name sounds and looks pretty pretty doesn't it?

After all, all human names are the same, all of them are pseudonyms.

Sikhism holds that a person has a real name in addition to all his names. That real name is our real identity.

(c)

I was inexplicably surprised, but I still followed my aunt's request and threw the bouquet in my hand in the grass on the side of the road.

My aunt breathed a sigh of relief, she beckoned to me, and I came to the courtyard wall. She gestured with her hands and feet, trying to explain the reason to me, but the local language I could understand was very limited, and I only heard her gushing excitedly, but the meaning of the language was basically confused. I just smiled and kept nodding to her, saying that no matter what she said, I understood it.

When I returned to the camp, I told Mr. Shen and Katya about it.

Obviously, they didn't have to listen to the aunt and understood exactly what she was saying.

Katya explained to me that the compass aoi represents the spirits of the dead. He told me that if I took it back to my dwelling, it would not be long before death would follow, and that someone would die in an accident in my dwelling place to sleep with the dead.

In fact, it is already very taboo to bring this flower into towns and villages.

Death is a common fear of all people, no matter where and where they are, no matter what nationality they are in. Although death is within us, it is with us.

- But why can't people understand that other beings are also afraid of death? Why is it so easy to bring death to them without the slightest pity or scruple in your heart?

Throughout the ages, there may have been many people who have not killed many people like you, but there are also many people who have never been like you.

You never make killing an achievement, you never take killing as a pleasure. All your killings are based on the necessity of wanting to protect life, and your heart is forever filled with deep guilt.

For this you judge yourself, and you will never be happy.

(iv)

I took a picture of the compass sunflower with my mobile phone and copied it into an electronic photo frame. I put the electronic photo frame on my desk.

Compass Aoi then stood on my desk, accompanying my writing, the progress of the story, and the joys, sorrows, and joys we had.

I don't want to shy away from death.

Because I have understood that even if we turn a blind eye to self-deception, sooner or later, each of us will be forced to face it.

I'm willing to face it all the time.

Until the truth of it is understood.

Through the day and night of writing, I kept myself in front of its gaze, never retreating from it. js3v3