Winter in Liaozhou is always snowy. It is common for the snow to last for ten days and a half.
When the wind and snow arrive, the sky and the earth become white, covered in silver, and everything is renewed.
Xu Sheng had no time to take care of the picturesque snow scene, he just walked lonely, carrying the coffin, becoming an inconspicuous black spot in the vast world.
At this moment, his mood was extremely complicated. He was about to arrive in Wuzhou County, and the purpose of his trip was about to be achieved. But... what happened next? After burying the old blind man, where should he go?
The world is so big, is there any place for him to live?
What should he do? He is a disciple of Monk Hanshan and the disciple of the old blind man, but... is he really qualified?
"Am I worthy?"
Xu Sheng raised his hands and looked at them intently. Although they were clean, he seemed to see endless blood!
"What would Monk Hanshan think if he saw me killing so many people? How disappointed would the old blind man be if he knew I had used the Mysterious Art of Life and Death?" Xu Sheng asked himself in a daze, feeling confused.
"Destined One, Fate, "Mysterious Skills of Life and Death"." Xu Sheng felt deeply helpless. Where will his fate go? Is it to become a weirdo of the Xu family? Is it to turn into a blood-colored "Zhu Guo"?
To this day, he seems to have been pushed by fate. Faced with fate, he is...powerless.
The snow is still falling.
Xu Sheng finally felt a little cold. The coldness made him calm down a little. Looking at the endless paleness, he felt as if he was in another world.
He began to have the illusion that he was not from this world!
Yes, there has always been a gap between him and the world. After losing his memory for ten years for no reason, he felt as if he was placed in this world out of thin air; the sudden and unreasonable adventures were as strange as carefully planned
Planned script...
Originally, he regarded the "Dark Forest" as a dream, as an illusion; but last time, after the "Dark Forest" crossed the "Monument of Life and Death", he knew that it was not a dream, but reality!
If what he considered as a dream before was reality, then what he considered as reality for a long time is... just an illusion!
How to define truth and falsehood?
Life is like a dream!
The world is like an illusion!
With such a mood in mind, Xu Sheng's figure is getting bigger and bigger, becoming blurry and blurry in the wind and snow...
"Young man, do you want to cross the river?"
The sudden shout made Xu Sheng stop his reverie. When he raised his head, he saw a large river flowing slowly in front of him, boundless!
Strange!
There is an ice-free river in the world of ice and snow!
"Oh, I mean, young man, why are you still carrying a coffin?" A small boat was rocking on the water. At the head of the boat stood an old man dressed as a boatman. His face could not be seen clearly. His beard and hair were all white. He was wearing a raincoat and was covered with raindrops.
Full of snowflakes.
"Old man, is this...?" Xu Sheng pointed to the river, and his inquiry was beyond words.
"Are you a foreigner? This is a great wonder in Liaozhou. It is said to be the 'passing water' that never freezes all year round." The boatman took out a pipe from his arms and took a nice puff.
Exhaling smoke, he said: "Whether you want to cross the river or not, in this kind of weather, you'd better come to the boat to take shelter first, and wait until the weather clears before leaving."
"That's fine." Xu Sheng nodded in agreement. After traveling for so long, he was indeed tired. When the boat docked, he stepped on it gently. When he lowered his head, he discovered that there was still a pile of unburned objects in the middle of the boat.
There was a fire of firewood, and a steaming copper kettle hung on it.
"Want some?"
"good"
The boatman took a sauce-black porcelain bowl, filled it, and handed it to Xu Sheng.
"Is this... wine?"
"Yes." The old boatman nodded and puffed his pipe and said, "I brewed some sorghum rice at will. According to my own preference, I also picked wild tea from the mountains and cooked it with this turbid wine.
.Although it's a taboo, I don't care about it. In this way, it not only tastes mellow, but also refreshing. It's just the right time to drink it in winter."
"Thank you." Xu Sheng sniffed the smell of wine and suddenly remembered that he had not eaten for many days. Strangely enough, he was not hungry at all!
"It seems..." Xu Sheng raised his head and drank the drink in one gulp.
Now, he is no longer an ordinary person. His physique has undergone huge changes, which cannot be measured by common sense.
Eighty percent of it is because of the "Xuan Gong of Life and Death"!
He thought like this, after all, there is so much other people's blood in his body, and the contaminated blood of Qin Lie!
"Me, still me?"
Xu Sheng stared at the blurry face reflected in the wine bowl, dazed.
"Little brother! Little brother!"
"well"
The old boatman called Xu Sheng twice before he could react. He quickly saluted, sent the wine bowl back to the old man, and said, "Thank you."
"We are all poor people living in a foreign land, so there is no need to use these polite words."
"That's fine," Xu Sheng responded, and then he was a little confused and asked softly: "Isn't the old man from here?"
"This is it." The old boatman took a puff of cigarette, looked at the vast river, and said helplessly: "Yes, and no."
"how do I say this?"
"Thirty years ago, there was great chaos in Guandong, and the war once reached Youzhou. Old man, I, my two sons and daughter, and my wife all died in the war." The old boatman paused, turned away, and continued: "But, I
But I didn’t die, I didn’t have that good luck! I was dragged to work as a man, and after I was injured, I was thrown into the passing water. I drifted to about here, and was rescued by a ferryman. From then on, I became a ferryman.
His assistant. Fifteen years ago, the ferryman also died, and I was the only one left on the vast river."
"Ahem!" The old boatman coughed twice, took a long puff of cigarette, and said again: "I make a living as a ferryman here. Two miles east across the river, I have a small shed and breakfast that I built myself.
The two acres of land I cultivated over the years, together with the boat, are all my belongings. I don't really want to call this place my home, but...it has been for many years, and in fact, this is my home."
"Old man, it's my fault that I made you sad again." Xu Sheng bowed apologetically, deeply touched and a little sad.
Just thinking about the separation of his wife and thirty years of loneliness makes people shudder and feel deep despair.
"It doesn't matter." The old boatman waved his hand, "It's all over. In the past thirty years, when I think about the past, when I think about the days when my wife and children are still around, I feel a little awkward. It seems that it is someone else's life and has nothing to do with me.
, and I won’t be too sad.”
Such a feeling!
Xu Sheng was shocked. He had it too. From the day the meteorite hit the ground, it was like a starting point. His life was completely different. Now, if he was asked to look forward to the past, he would even doubt that the simple farm boy before was really himself.
?
Speaking of which, Xu Sheng in the farm era was very similar in temperament to "Qin Zhao" when his memory was closed.
Which one is the true self, past or present? Maybe both?
Xu Sheng had a headache thinking about it, so he asked the old boatman again: "May I ask, my husband, what is your age this year?" For some reason, he just felt comfortable and relaxed in his heart while talking to the boatman.
"Nine out of sixty."
"oh"
At this age, he is not much different from the old blind man who has been dead for a long time. Xu Sheng looked at the old boatman, and what appeared in the back of his mind was the figure of the old blind man.
Speaking of which, the two are really similar, with the same skinny and shriveled body, the same old and hunched body, and the same indifferent temperament honed over the years.
"Teacher" Xu Sheng was deeply moved and naturally whispered.
Although he took Monk Hanshan as his teacher, he knew that he was more influenced by the old blind man and he was more willing to become someone like the old blind man.
if you can.
"What did you say?" asked the old boatman.
"No, there's nothing." Xu Sheng shook his head and asked the boatman, "Is there any more wine? I want some more."
"Yes, that's enough." The boatman filled another bowl, approached Xu Sheng, and said loudly: "I see that you are fascinated. No matter who you are missing, I hope this bowl of wine can relieve your sorrow.
"
"good"
A cup of turbid wine enters the throat and turns into a knife and hook in the intestines. People say that wine relieves all worries, but it is not known that after drinking, you will become even more sad.
The so-called wine relieves sorrow and makes people forget their worries, which is probably just self-comfort. A sad person will still be accompanied by tears even if he drinks a thousand cups. After waking up, recalling the past will definitely be even more uncomfortable.
In this world, the only thing that can heal the pain is probably time. In the end, all kinds of honors, disgrace, gains and losses, joys and sorrows will go to... the grave!
One bowl after another, until the end, it was all tasteless. Xu Sheng put down the bowl and looked up at the sky.
At night, the wind is still there and there is no snow; a bright moon is in the sky, covered by dark clouds, half hidden and half left.
Firewood was lit again in the boat, and the old boatman set up a bamboo pole and roasted dry food in front of the flames. The firewood made a "cracking" sound, which was clear and restless in this silent windy and moonlit night.
"Old man, do you want to stay on this river from now on?" Xu Sheng untied the coffin, and his mind became peaceful as he followed the scenery.
"Well. I will probably be chained to the river all my life, and I will eventually die here. In fact, I don't feel very sad, on the contrary, I feel a little at ease, as if that's what I should be like." The old boatman continued to smoke,
Swallowing the clouds, he said lightly: "What can an old man who is half buried in the ground do? He can't do anything and can only accept the arrangement of fate. Maybe, that is the best arrangement."
"Destiny...the best arrangement." Xu Sheng whispered, thoughtfully.
"Yeah, how do you know what you met is not the best?" The old boatman coughed, and Xu Sheng stepped forward and patted him on the back.
"Ahem" the old man finally put down his cigarette and said earnestly: "I met the best wife in the world, the two cutest children, and also encountered the most painful war. But it's okay, after that
I met the kindest ferryman again, and the most beautiful passing water in the world is with me day and night. What else should I be dissatisfied with? The past is the past after all, and no one can restore it. In heaven and earth, I
I have gone through this life, although I am not very promising, but I have a clear conscience and have not sorry to anyone. I have indeed suffered some hardships, but if I think about it carefully, I am more happy. Right and wrong, gain and loss, good or bad.
, leave everything to God that is beyond human power. It has given me all this, and I have to thank it! Maybe tomorrow, maybe the day after tomorrow, I will die on this river. It’s not a big deal, just feed the fish.
In the past thirty years, I have eaten so many products from the river, why am I the only one eating them and they can’t eat me? What’s the point of this?”
"Old man, you are really open-minded." Xu Sheng sat down cross-legged, hesitated for a moment, and said softly: "I have a question, I want to ask you, old man."
"What do I know?" The old man shied away at first, then thought for a while and said slowly: "Tell me, maybe there is some use in screwing up the old man."
"Suppose there is such a person, whose fate is controlled by others and whose future is uncertain, what should he do? He has received sacrifices from some people and been given high expectations, but he knows that he cannot live up to those expectations, so he has done some
There is nothing he can do to change his mistakes, so what should he do?"
"This is a troublesome thing." The old boatman scratched his head and said with some embarrassment: "That man is so tired from his life. Since he doesn't know what to do, why don't he follow his heart?"
"Intentions?"
"Yes." The old boatman stopped smoking. He put the pipe back into his arms and said quietly: "That must be a kind person. If he were not kind, he would not have such sorrow. Those who helped him must also be
With the same kindness, they definitely don't want to see him give up his kindness. As long as he keeps his kindness, he will live up to his trust."
"Is that enough?" Xu Sheng asked.
"That way you have a clear conscience." The old boatman put away the bamboo pole and brought the steaming pancakes to Xu Sheng's mouth. He smiled and said, "The first thing you should care about is your own belly. Since the future is uncertain, you are worried.
What's the use? But when doing good deeds, don't worry about the future. If the end point has been written, then just follow the path of your heart."