Chapter 17: Journey (2) (Fanwai)

In the middle of the month, the distant Valentin tribe is still lively and joy continues.
But this is the joy, but some people can't avoid it.
A petite figure walked through the stone forest. It was dark, and the moon above her head did not bring enough illumination. The shadow of the stone pillars made it difficult to see the ground beneath her feet. When a eagle tweet came from her head, she was frightened and fell down unexpectedly. On the stone, the pain was moaning-groaning.
It was a personal girl, maybe a Valentine.
The traveler jumped off the wind eroded column and came to her. She backed back in fear, clinging her back to the stone wall and shouting, "Don't catch me! Please let me run away! Don't tell the patriarch and the high priest! "
"Who are you?" The traveler asked.
The horror of the girl was quelled by this problem and this voice. She summoned the courage and looked up at the stranger. In the moonlight, the handsome traveler opened her mouth unknowingly: "I ... my name is Aya, wa, Valentine. "
"Where are you going?" The traveler asked.
"Ant City ... I'm going to Ant City!" Aya said at first very quietly, but suddenly she said aloud.
"You should go before dawn, the desert at night is dangerous," the traveller cautioned.
Is he concerned about her? Aya looked at the stranger in amazement. He was very tall, fair-skinned, and very different from the short brown-skinned Valentine.
Aya suddenly turned her head, looking at the bonfire in the distance, and suddenly had an idea in her heart.
She rose from the ground, scooped the rubble and gravel from her skirt, and looked at the traveler tremblingly. He stood in front of her, calm as moonlight, and resolute as a poplar that would not fall. She was restless, but was persecuted by inner anxiety.
"You ... would you like to ask me to dance? We can dance all night!" Aya took the courage, and blushed and said a subtle invitation.
If the Valentin tribe were here, they would understand her. Aya was afraid that he couldn't understand, and boldly squeezed out from his throat: "I'm an adult now, and I'm more intimate than dancing, all right!"
After that, she lowered her head quickly, for fear of seeing the disdainful contempt in the eyes of the traveler. This shame mixed with fear made her eyes red, and she was almost crying.
"Sorry, I'm a monk." The traveler answered her.
Aya's heart has shrunk. Even a girl like her living in a remote tribe knows what it means-he won't rush to get close to a girl, and he won't do anything wrong before entering the marriage. She should apologize and run away in shame.
But the fear of the future is driving her. She pursed her lips and begged desperately: "We can get married, I don't want gifts, don't have rings ... we'll get married tonight, you won't have to visit me tomorrow, begging You, I don't want ... I don't want ... "
The traveller replied, "Sorry, I have a lover."
Aya started crying and shivered with tears. She was jealous of the lucky girls in the tribe. They could dance with their favorite boy on this beautiful night, but she was locked in the room, waiting for the coming of fate. She escaped, but where could she escape? She couldn't walk through the vast desert of the quiet sea, and could only go to the underground ant city, the on earth that scared her. She doesn't have the strength of a bear, the sharpness of an eagle, or the agility of an ape. How can an ordinary human girl survive there?
Everywhere is a dead end. She can't see the dawn of hope. She finally despaired, wiped her tears and turned away, and walked towards the tribe. She escaped impulsively, but now think about it, there is nowhere to go. Why didn't she go back and accept her destiny?
But the traveler stopped her: "Do you have any difficulties and need my help?"
Aya stopped and turned to look at him. The traveler stood in the bright moonlight, staring at her with gentle blue eyes. This stranger was caring about her and worried about her pain. This recognition made Aya's eyes burst into tears. She wished to speak out all her grievances, but when staring at such a pair of eyes, she could not say anything. , Can only shed tears silently.
"Thank you ... sir ... thank you."
In a joyous celebration, this tribal girl with honey-colored skin intermittently told her story.
The Valentin tribe is a tribe that has migrated here from other places. Unlike the aborigines with high noses and deep skin, their skin is darker and their body is not very tall. In addition, they come late in this thin-watered land. Their relations with other tribes are not harmonious and even subject to discrimination.
The devil has always liked the pure human girl. As the dragon queen aging, she asks for more offerings. Her and cruel secrets are spread in the desert of Jinghai-she the blood of virgins in an attempt to restore the traces left by years. As a young adult, Aya was selected as a tribute to the Valentin tribe this year, and will be sent to the dragon ant queen's palace in the underground ant city. She didn't know if she would actually face a bloodthirsty tyrant, but she knew that none of the girls sent were returned.
Aya's mother died early, and her father was bewitched by a trader and became a believer in the ideal country. She left the tribe to pursue her dream town. Aya, who was alone, was raised by the tribe, provided that she would be a tributary tribe when she was an adult.
Aiya, who had no choice but to grow up in agitation, in order to maintain her purity, the patriarch and the high priest forbid her to contact with the opposite sex, watching her peers marry one by one, she felt heartfelt envy, and deeply Fear.
Finally, in this unattended bonfire festival, she was moved by the joy and excitement, and quietly escaped the tribe, wanting to mix in the underground Ant City to make a living, and then she met someone who changed her life.
Now, she and the man were sitting on a low, easy-to-climb wind-elevated pillar, looking out at the bonfire in the distance.
She talked intermittently, for a while bewildered, for a moment, self-pity, and sometimes even felt guilty: "Maybe I shouldn't run away. If I go, other girls will be sent there instead of me, they don't want to ... There should be a better life. "
The traveler, who had been silent, told her, "No one should bear this pain, and so should you."
Withered tears ran down from her eyes again, and Aya choked, "But you don't think so. Since I have accepted the support of the tribe, I should give them back, which is a matter of course."
"Raising a child is an obligation, and this obligation should not be used to ask her to return her life, which is unjust," said the traveler.
"Isn't it my fault? Isn't it because I'm too selfish?" Aya asked hopefully.
The traveller shook his head: "It's not your fault, nor is it anyone's fault."
"Who's fault then?" Aya was confused.
The traveler could not answer, he was also thinking, if this world persecutes a kind and enthusiastic ethnic group to sell their own kind in order to survive, who's wrong?
"It's the devil's fault." The traveller said, "So we must destroy them, drive them back to the demon world, and let them never come to earth."
"That's great. If this is the case, Abba will no longer believe in any ideal country? A world without demons is so beautiful, it is an ideal country. I want to live in such a world, everything is good, most Good and best. "Aya said. Her barren words could not express the world in her mind, she could only use the word "best" to describe it.
"What kind of world?" The traveler asked.
Aya thought hard and described the ideal country in her heart: "It must be an equal world. In addition to humans, there can be demons that do not hurt people ... I heard that there are such demons in the underground Ant City, and they even interact with humans. Intermarriage, if they do not hurt us, I can accept their existence. No matter what kind of skin color, whether it is you or me, whether we are men or women, do we have faith, as long as we are willing to be peaceful and friendly, Without hurting each other, they should all be equal and they should all be happy. "
The traveler was surprised. He did not expect that an uneducated tribal girl would have such a ambition and ideal, which made him shamelessly hostile to all demons.
Aya thinking about such a world, she couldn't help but smile: "How nice it would be to live in such a world."
As she said, she smiled again and sighed softly: "What do you want to do so much? We don't even know if we can spend the next demon tide ... there will always be some demon fled to the ground in the days of each month Last month, the five sheep of the patriarch's house were eaten, and they have been eaten before. "
Aya asked, "I heard that monks like you can do magical magic, can you?"
"I don't have that power, but I have the Lord in my heart." The traveller replied that even if he had been exiled, he still believed.
"Believe on the Lord, will you become as smart and powerful as you? Can I also believe?" Aya asked wryly.
The traveler handed her a heavy book as an answer.
Aya held the book carefully, for fear of touching her precious dirty book with her hand, she looked at the words on the cover, and pronounced it difficultly: "Do you think so?"
She only knew some simple words, for fear of remembering it wrongly, after turning the pages, she was embarrassed to find that she couldn't even read most of the contents.
"This is what my mother left me, and now I will give it to you." The traveller said.
Aya closed the book in panic, threw it back, and smashed it into the waist of the traveler. He groaned, her face suddenly pale.
"Are you okay? Did I hurt you? Sorry, sorry!" Aya apologized in fear, and her tears fell down in a hurry.
"It's okay, it's a previous injury." Although the traveler's face was grayed out, he was calm, as if the wound on his body was really just a minor injury. He put the book back into Aya's hands. "It doesn't matter anymore. I can memorize this book very early. If it can help you, it will be valuable."
He didn't think there was anything to regret sending the Holy Bible to a girl who couldn't fully understand it, and the place he was going to go was dangerous, with the result of it, maybe it would make him sleep in the ground forever. Ask her to take this scripture back, at least the tribe people will not blame her for her escape.
There is a kind seed in her heart, whether she believes it or not, she should be treated kindly.
"Thank you, really thank you." Aya thanked him again, overwhelmed by the joy of holding the book.
On this uninvited bonfire festival, she still received a gift. Perhaps the traveler did not know the meaning of the gift, but it still made her secretly jump. A happy bird in her heart was singing, almost from her heart. Fly out.
But he has a lover, and Aya bowed her head sadly, trying to conceal her sour mood, turned down the pages of the book, read the above text by moonlight, but secretly blushed: "Love is ... and there is ... "
"Love is endurance and kindness," the traveler told her.
This heart-piercing sentence made her feel agitated, as if inspired by fate, she continued bravely: "Is love ... what?"
The traveler slowly told her, "Love is not jealous."
Aya's hand stroking the pages of the book froze, her ignorant longing turned into a full loss and self-deprecation, but finally made her thoughtful.
Love is not jealous. Aya read this sentence silently in her heart. Don't be jealous of the girls who can dance with your sweetheart, nor should you be jealous of strangers' lover, that's not her love.
The bonfire in the distance has become faint, the sound of celebration gradually muted, and the festival has come to an end.
Aya holding the book and said softly, "I want to go home."
The traveller said, "I can take you to Ant City and help you settle down."
"No, I'm willing to go back, thank you." Aya said, "But before I go, can I talk to you for a while? Anything can be said."
The traveler promised her.
Aya talked happily about the past. She no longer mentioned the fear that made her miserable. Instead, she talked about the funny things she encountered. From the time the water was pumped, the bucket was pushed into the well by the sheep. I got my hands hot when I was doing a pit in the pit. The neighbor's guy helped her get water and cool down. When the merchants talked about the outside world, they knew there was a place called the Holy See. She wished to tell all the interesting things, because she didn't think the traveler was happy, she wanted to make him happy, and she wanted to know his past, even if it was only his name.
But the traveler was always a silent listener, and he had no intention of telling his story.
She didn't know where he came from, what kind of pain and despair he experienced, and why he had such a gentle sadness on his body, and he didn't know what was carefully stored in his heart. what kind of person.
But the traveler didn't say, he said nothing.
Late at night, the young girl was so sleepy and drowsy, she murmured, "Where is your lover, where did she go?"
The traveller replied, "He has been in my heart."
Aya can't tell whether this is what the traveler said or whether she dreamed. She fell asleep with her book closed. The traveler couldn't take the liberty to take the strange girl back to the tribe, so she covered her with a blanket and sat next to her to watch the vigil. warm.
The traveler did not sleep by himself, he was waiting for the rising sun to rise, and then quietly left to continue his journey.
Before this journey began, he did n’t really have much opportunity to watch the rising sun. He could n’t see it in the twilight hometown. When he reached the homeless village, there were half and half of the year under the eternal starry sky. When performing missions outside, he was hurried and waited for a sunrise. He didn't actually have any attachment to Chaoyang. If his lover is still there, it is also beautiful to watch the sunset together. The setting sun in the dusk town never falls, they can sit side by side on the beach, holding hands, always seeing the heavens.
He wanted to take him to the snow-capped mountains to see if the snow leopard he had treated occupied the snow-capped mountains, where there was a beautiful waterfall ice lake, and the frozen blue-green lake water in the snow and ice made this The hilltop is as beautiful as a fairy tale. He also wanted to take him to see the penguins in the polar area, and even adopt an abandoned little penguin, feed it, and watch it walk on the swaying ice surface until it was strong enough to return to living in the ethnic group.
He has many, many things that he wants to accomplish with him, maybe he doesn't want to do things, but just wants to be with him.
When people in love are together, they can feel each other's hearts even if they don't say a word.
But if there is a distance between life and death, can this distant thought still reach the other side of the Styx?
The traveler watched the rising sun rising from the horizon with peace of mind. He was like a small boat drifting from one port to another. Maybe he would encounter storms along the way, but when the ship arrived in the bay, he still felt lucky and never felt hard.
He never felt that he should take happiness for granted. His belief is not for the sake of happiness, but for peace in his heart, even if he is punished.
Calm pain is better than hypocrisy. He is so convinced that he will not escape. He made mistakes and didn't think about repentance, so he was punished. For him, such punishment was not pain, but atonement. All sufferings in this world are redeeming the original sin, and he will pay for it with his whole life.
At dawn, Aya woke up from her sleep. She covered a blanket. A bonfire beside her didn't know when it was lit. Now there was a faint flame swaying in the wind, and the traveler had left.
Aya clutched the blanket, picked up the book, and hurried to the tribe. The rocks and thorns along the way made her run too fast, and she accidentally fell to the ground.
She couldn't care less about herself and picked up the Codex, only to find a piece of paper falling off the page.
She picked up the paper and turned it over. It was a hand-painted portrait with a young handsome man smiling at her.
There is a name in the corner, which should be the name of the person in the portrait. It's very simple. She can read it easily if she doesn't know much. She said it gently: "Qile people."
Obviously just an ordinary name, but the sloppy brush strokes in the portrait softened her voice unconsciously. She wanted to take a closer look and feel the tenderness with all her heart, but a gust of wind from the Gobi blew violently and swiftly and took this portrait from her hands, blown thousands of miles above the vast yellow sand Clear sky.
The grain of sand flew in the wind, captivating Aya's eyes, she waved her arms in a panic and panic, but could only hold the yellow sand full of hands. When she opened her eyes again with tears in her eyes, the portrait had been taken to the sky by the wind, fluttering, without roots, and disappearing in the sky.
Aya chased after it without thinking, running all the way with the wind, and a great sadness filled her heart, and a voice inside made her run, run, and run desperately ... She lost her shoes and stepped on the gravel The blood was flowing, but the pain in the body couldn't cover the sadness in her heart. She still didn't dare to stop, she wanted to catch the thing that was about to be lost—until she was tripped by thorns and fell heavily. On the ground.
She fell so painfully that she fell to her knees and wept, her feet had been bloody, her knees were torn and she was bleeding. Even her hands were full of scars. She flinched and wanted to give up. Unwillingly raised his head and looked into the distance.
The wind was blowing again, and the wind and wind sent the thin piece of paper to a distant and unknown distance, such a large sandy sea and such a small piece of paper, there was no trace in the blink of an eye, only the vast yellow Sand and blue sky, ancient floods.
Who is that person in that portrait? Aya never knew again.
It is destined to be unknowable, unsearchable, and unavailable.
And how can the emotion carried on the flimsy paper withstand the ruthless sand of the desert?
It will eventually be destroyed, buried, and forgotten.
Aya knelt down under the scorching sun, behind her was dappled blood, which showed her almost crazy efforts for a story without an answer. There were tears in her eyes fascinated by the wind and sand, but she could not wash away the hard sand in the soft eyes, as if something sharp stuck in her heart, so sharp and sore, she didn't know What exactly is that.
She doesn't know anything.
Suddenly, sadness and sadness came to the girl's heart, and she burst into tears in this barren land, for a stranger who didn't know her name, and a stranger who only knew her name.