Section 12: Rice Fields in the Rain
"The rice paddies in the rain were foggy, the ground was wet and slippery, and there were a few times when I fell in the mud, but I didn't care! She wouldn't think there was anything wrong with me looking like this anyway. Later, I don't know when the rain gradually became smaller, and it became a thin rain. I was riding non-stop, so the sweat and rain were mixed together, and although my clothes were already soaked, I didn't feel cold at all. I'm just spinning around here. Because with each turn, it was closer to the time when she came. Later, I don't know how long it took, I didn't have the strength to ride anymore, so I sat on the ridge to rest. "Every now and then, I glance under the tree where the sketchpad is kept, and once she comes, she can see me right here.
I waited like this, and the rain stopped for some time, leaving only a gray sky and not a single wind.
My head was groggy as if I was going to fall asleep. When I came back to my senses, I found that it was already evening, and it had cleared, and the setting sun was shining in the rice fields and in the trees in the distance, and I could faintly hear the barking of dogs and the shouting of people from the village in the distance.
With such good weather, she must be coming soon. When I thought of this, I got up and pushed my bicycle and walked under the tree where the sketchpad was kept.
Walked under the tree, all the painting tools are well placed there, she hasn't come yet, it should be on the way, I think!
I sat on the ground and watched the rice paddies set after the rain, dyed a warm red by the sun.
She must be on the way, I wanted to pick up the paintbrush, but I still couldn't. As long as she didn't come, I wouldn't have the strength to pick up the brush.
I don't understand why, I have too much I don't understand. The sun soon went down, and the sky began to get darker, and there was already a little bit of starlight, and the wind was blowing, and the canopy rustled, and after the wind became smaller, there were crickets chirping and frogs from time to time.
I listened to the voices and thought about her. I felt strange to myself, she had already left this world, but I couldn't understand whether it was true or not!
I couldn't believe it, even though I had seen the white flower of death with my own eyes, and the wound on my arm was still painful, but I couldn't accept it at all.
When the sky was full of stars, I leaned against the tree, not sleepy, her smile and every move flashed in my memory, as if it had been a moment ago.
The warm current she put around my waist still warms me, the situation and expression when she first talked to me on the edge of the playground, the strange expression when she said to me when she helped me clean up my painting tools, and the expression and action of greeting me when I met by chance at school, all of them appeared so clearly in front of my eyes.
I remembered the painting I gave her, the thick stack of cartoons she gave me, and all the details about her fell in front of my eyes like autumn leaves, and I couldn't stop for a moment!
And that hug and kiss at the end! Thinking of this, my pain suddenly disappeared without a trace.
It's as if she's telling me that she's not going anywhere and she's still here with me! But the rustling sound of the wind blowing through the canopy interrupted my memories.
I felt a feeling of paralysis and weakness beginning to permeate my body, and I couldn't move, as if I was being weighed down by the night.
Tears began to flow out without warning, out of my control! Either way, there was no way to change the facts, I couldn't turn back the clock, and I didn't know how to get out of this painful place.
In the woods in the middle of the night, I couldn't sleep all night. I'm glad I wouldn't be to her funeral, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to bear that scene, I couldn't tolerate that figure, that shining eyes, that demure smile could only turn into a pile of ashes, imprisoned in that little box, that cold place should not belong to her!
When the time came early in the morning, a thin layer of mist shrouded the rice fields under the morning sun, and people were already working in the fields.
One of the middle-aged men came up to me and asked me why I was here, and how long I had been here, and he said that there were always people here who came to paint.
I told him that I was here yesterday morning, and he looked surprised at what I said, and then asked me if I hadn't eaten yet, why didn't I go back, and I told him that I was too busy painting to get home, and that I had to wait for someone to come.
He nodded as if he didn't understand. I said I wanted to ask him for a favor, he asked what he wanted to do, and I said could you buy me some bread and water, and I had change with me.
He said yes, and then he sent his brother to ride to a nearby village and bought it for me! I thanked him and told him that I didn't want to disturb their work, and he said that you drawings are really incomprehensible, and then I turned around and went back to work in the fields.
I relied on this bread and water, and continued to wait for her here, always with hope and not willing to give up!
I look at this rice field and miss her during the day, and listen to the wind and miss her at night, and keep thinking about it, just so that time can pass quickly, so that she can come here faster.
On the fourth day, I asked the middle-aged man to help me buy nine bottles of beer with the little change I had left, and he looked at me not the first time he was surprised, looking at me as if he was looking at the tree behind me, and he was not surprised.
The beer was bought, and to thank him, I asked him if he wanted to have a beer with me, and he said there was still something to do, shook his head and left.
I sat under the tree and drank beer, and I drank all nine beers. I thought, maybe she won't come, I should go back, I got up to pack up my painting tools, and before I could do anything, my stomach felt like a river was turning upside down, and all the beer I had just drunk was vomited on the shoulder of the road.
The middle-aged man came here again to hold me and asked me if it mattered, I said it was okay, I was very grateful to him for taking care of me for the past few days, and then I forced myself to pack my things, ride my bike, and return to the real world! ”