1067, Northern Song Dynasty, Bianliang, Tokyo

☆☆☆

That night, she stood with the other servants who were in charge of the candlelight, and there were so many people each time. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

When the rattle bell rang, they lined up one by one, one holding the shoulder of the previous one.

She walked into the passage as usual, and when her bare toes touched the cold water, it was as if she had been pricked by a needle, and although she was used to the cold, she still had goosebumps on her arms.

Immediately afterward, cold water would come from all directions, and she reached out early to hold on to the stone wall next to her, but she was still swayed by the water. The water will continue for a while, but she will wait silently, and at this time, she will silently say in her heart, I am a stone statue.

As soon as the water stopped, it went ashore with the flow of people.

As long as she stood quietly, someone would come up and dry her body and put on her clothes. Touching the rough edges of the cuffs, you can feel that this is a hard-wearing garment.

You should also wear a soft and fluffy shoes, which are comfortable and warm.

She stretched out her right hand and placed it on the right shoulder of the person in front of her, and she also had a hand on her own right shoulder. No one spoke, only the slight grinding of their shoes on the stone staircase

After walking through the thirty-three stone steps, I heard the sound of a bunch of keys, and as the keys were inserted into the lock hole, they turned slowly and steadily three times, and the heavy iron door slowly opened. Behind the door is a staircase that winds down. She did the same as everyone else, removing a long stick from the iron frame at the entrance, which was her tool and her cane.

With each fork in the road, there were fewer people in front of her. When it was her turn, the people behind released the hand on her shoulder, and she walked towards her own corridor with her cane.

Behind the road was a winding staircase that led to a deeper level, and the stairs down were steeper and narrower, but she was not afraid, she had walked countless times.

When you come to the end of the stairs, everything suddenly opens up, as if bathed in light.

This is her realm, and she slowly opens her eyes.

There was nothing in front of me.

It's nothingness, not pitch blackness.

Because she was born unable to see, even though she was constantly constructing in her mind what she should see in the light world. But she knew in her heart that there was nothing to make up, and her world was nothingness accumulated in fifty-five years.

Although she is a blind woman, she can still feel the light in front of her, because she is in the "White Building".

The white building is neither a building nor a white building.

In the white building, there are hundreds of large and small lamps, and the people in charge of the candles are all blind.

She is one of them, and they are responsible for lighting new candles before they are extinguished.

Therefore, the lights here are bright, and the night is like day, hence the name.

The uniqueness of the White House is also that there are many rules, and if you want to work as an errand here, you must not only have the people in the building as a guarantee, but also sign a death deed. But the amount of silver per month is staggering, and a day's salary is something that a poor person like her can't earn in a lifetime.

She has no regrets about the slave who signed the death contract, at least her children, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren are not worried about eating and drinking.

All the blind servants in the building had one skill - to light the lamp.

They don't need to look to know which light is going out.

And she is even more stunt.

The blind person has a keen sense, but she can perceive it with all her heart, she can distinguish men and women by smell, she can distinguish age by the rhythm of her steps, and she can even distinguish the color of her clothes, for example, she knows that the clothes she wears are brown. This is also why she has been in charge of a stone hall alone in less than two years after entering the White Building.

Her duty, as always, is not to let the oil lamp go out.

In the past, she lit a Buddha lamp in the big Buddha hall of Xiangguo Temple, and the burning candle also smelled, and she knew how much the candle burned by smelling it with her nose. When they are about to go out, the candles emit wisps of light smoke, and they sing the last elegy of the candles.

The same goes for butter lamps.

When the oil ran out, the wick would turn slightly, and she could feel the airflow on her skin.

She walked under the oil lamp, raised the long stick one by one, facing a extinguished lamp disk, with a slight tilt, a small hole in the long stick popped out a bamboo hollow thin tube, Bo Bo Bo, the lamp oil in it slowly flowed into the lamp plate, and then she twisted the long stick, and the small bamboo pipe was put back again.

She pulled a knot on the bamboo stick, and the iron lid on the top of the long stick opened, and inside was a cluster of flints, and she gently pointed the flint at the wick, and the lamp was rekindled.

After doing this, she withdrew her stick and walked to another oil lamp.

The oil lamps in the White House have forty-nine lamps on one lamp.

Legend has it that Shakyamuni walked on the ground as soon as he was born, the first six steps are the six paths of transcendence, the seventh step is the path of enlightenment, and the seven seven and forty-nine bright lights represent the infinite and immeasurable. But the forty-nine lamps in the Buddha hall are usually called the sin-extinguishing lamps, how many forty-nine lamps are lit in so many stone chambers? How much sin does the person who wants to forgive sins commit?

She felt more and more that there was some secret hidden in the depths of the White Building.

The one who can light the lamp at the bottom must be a servant who has been in the building for ten years.

Although she is not qualified yet, she must go down to have a look, this is the purpose of her entering the White Building.

Before, she had already found an opportunity to explore the two floors below, and she had memorized all the steps. The White House is a huge labyrinth of countless stone chambers connected by the corridor, and it is easy for a discerning person to get lost when she walks in, so she slowly explores, silently noting down the route in her heart, and occasionally can't remember the number of knots that are still wrapped around the cane.

She walked out of her stone chamber and listened to the sound of people by ear, such a closed corridor, the sound traveled far away, and she could hear it very clearly, and it was easy to avoid the people she touched.

Today went very well, she walked through more stone caves that curved like intestines, and at the end of the road was a heavy iron door, she was afraid that there was a lock on the door, so she was busy touching the door, and did not find the keyhole, so she pushed hard, and the door opened quietly.

She first gently probed the ground with her cane, and sure enough, it was a staircase again, extending downward.

She walked down step by step, counting as she went. One, two, three, four. The stairs leading into the corridor were all thirty-three steps, and she knew that between the first and second basement floors were sixty-six steps, the second and third floors, and the next floors, she remembered. X, Eleven, Twelfth, XIII.

But this stone staircase was not consistent with the previous number, and she couldn't help but start knotting in the rope. Two hundred and ten, two hundred and eleven, two hundred and twelve, two hundred and thirteen. With each passing section, the air around you gets colder.

How much more?

Three hundred and thirty-three, she went to the bottom.

A cool breeze blew, and the smell of the wind made her feel like she had walked under the Bianhe River.

The space suddenly became so open and everything was so unfamiliar that she had to be careful, she reached for the wall with her cane and touched it with her hand.

She was thrilled by the cold touch, which was the texture of metal, and the walls were iron. (To be continued.) )