All living beings in hell

Chapter 55 - A visit from the previous earthly writer
The lotus lantern at the door lit up, and the No. 30 No. [-] customer was ushered in the office.

"Dreams come true, dreams come true, dreams disappear, when and where to seek."

A thin man's voice came from the door, as if it might disappear into the air at any moment.

"Come in," I said.

"I heard about him earlier, but I didn't see him. It's a great honor to finally see the writer who you all talk about."

The figure of the guest has not yet appeared, but the sound of soft footsteps has already reached the wooden table.

An old scholar in an ancient blue robe walked in slowly.The scholar's brows are stretched, and there are not many wrinkles on his face, but his sideburns and beard are as gray as those of a seventy-year-old.

The scholar approached my desk and bowed: "My lord, Sheng De, I am honored to meet the writer today, and I hope to enlighten you."

I wrote the word "Sheng De" on the rice paper: "May I ask why you are looking for me today?"

"I don't know if there will be an end to the unfinished business in life?" Sheng De sat on the blue stone bench and asked.

"Most of the unfinished business is not a matter, but a knot in the heart." I replied.

Hearing this, Sheng De was taken aback for a moment, and then smiled softly: "Probably I can only talk to you about this matter."

"Please tell me, I will record everything you said truthfully."

"I was poor since I was a child, and I studied hard for many years just to be used by the imperial court one day. Unfortunately, my luck is not good, or my brain is really not bright. I have read a lot of books. I can understand other people's current affairs and politics. But I just don’t like arguing with others, and I don’t like to argue with others.”

"If you are an official in the imperial court, it is inevitable to argue about current affairs and politics."

"That's right, maybe I don't want to be an official, and I don't have the material at all. But I take this as my goal, and I spend my whole life on reading, and I spend my whole life on things I don't like. In my life, Boring, pathetic, pathetic."

"Sheng De, how did you end up in this hell?"

"My lord, because the mortal scribes are all mortals, they change quickly. The mortal scribes before you are next."

Sheng De took out a black wooden token from his waist.The token seemed to have been stained with blood, and the blood dried again. Under the friction of the sun and the moon, it merged with its own wood, forming an astonishingly beautiful cloud-like texture.Then the token was split into two halves from the texture, which happened to divide the two big red characters "holding a pen" on the token into two.

"It turned out to be a senior, how disrespectful."

Sheng De shook his hand at me: "There is nothing worthy of respect. I didn't continue this job. I gave up halfway through it."

"Why did senior give up?"

"For mortals like you and me, every time we receive a guest, it is a complete ordeal. Ninety-nine 81 difficulties! I couldn't bear it when I was more than 60 people. The token was at the end of my reception. After one guest, he was split in two. He lost his life and lost his official position, and he has no choice but to circle around in this hell ever since."

"What the senior said is very true. I am also deeply touched by the point of suffering. But now that you and I have lost our mortal bodies, we should be free in this hell."

"Freedom? If you want to be free, you can probably be free anytime. But freedom is a false concept, and the world makes it up to deceive itself."

"Why do you say that?" I asked.

"I came to this hell as a servant in the first place for the sake of freedom. I don't need to read books from the world, and I don't need to argue with those hypocrites about current affairs. I don't need to listen to their boasting and flattery. Sometimes ghosts are friendlier than humans, aren't they?"

"It's very personal, or... hell. I disagree." I replied truthfully. "Go on about freedom."

"Freedom... I was obviously free when I was in the world. If I wanted to, I wouldn't read books, and I wouldn't take exams. So what if I lost my official career with no prospect? I can pick chrysanthemums like Tao Yuanming Under the eastern fence, I saw Nanshan leisurely. Now that I think about it, why did I go to this hell to be an official in order to seek freedom?"

"Have you found what you think of as freedom while you're writing?" I asked.

"In the beginning, it was free. As an exit to escape from the world, all the novelties in hell, the bull's head and horse face are all weird, and it's fun just to look at them. But after a long time, I feel confused and upset. Even I can’t rest easy when I return to the human world. Those ghosts are occupying my heart and eroding my head. I often hear their broken thoughts in my dreams, so I wake up and can’t fall asleep. I can’t sleep until dawn, and my body can’t bear it. Stop it. And you, the writer, should be the same. You are afraid of the cold, and yearn for the sun all the time. When winter comes, your hands and feet are cold and you have continuous fever."

"It was indeed like this when I was still alive. I had a particularly strong desire for sunlight. Now that I have lost my physical body, I don't have this need."

"I only worked on this job for one year, and I couldn't take it anymore. I had a fever all day long in the humble house, and finally died on the sick bed."

"Then why didn't you quit halfway?"

"How to quit? How to quit this matter?"

"Put down the pen, take off the official uniform, return the token, and close the door."

Sheng De looked at me for a while, as if reading my thoughts: "Then would you choose to give up halfway?"

"Not for the time being."

Sheng De smiled: "On this point, we are all very attached. I was so attached that I died of illness, and you were so attached that you lost your body in hell, and you couldn't even drag your body back to the human world for burial. You are no better than me."

I also laughed: "Probably yes, I'm not much better than you."

"After I died of illness, I could choose to go up, or go down and return to the underworld again. I chose to come back."

"Why did you choose to go down to the underworld?"

"Then you lost your life in hell, why did you choose to stay in the underworld?" Sheng De asked me back.

"It's because the work isn't done yet."

"My thoughts were the same at the time. I thought about coming back and continuing to write. At least what I was doing during my lifetime, although suffering, is still a familiar job. I know how to do it. In the heavenly court, I don't know anyone else. Getting to know someone who is not familiar with the place of life, it is a laborious and laborious thing to start all over again.”

"And then, what happened?"

"When I opened my eyes, I was in Po Meng's manjusawa flower field. Po Meng handed me my manjusawa. At that moment, I looked back at my worthless life, feeling sad and angry. Thinking of the cause I planted, which led to the fruit of returning to the underworld, I was not reconciled. I was really not reconciled. I didn’t even want to do the work of writing, I didn’t want to do anything. I asked Granny Meng to arrange my reincarnation. "

"and then?"

"Grandma Meng asked me repeatedly if I was sure I would give up the job of writing. Alas, I was so angry at the time that I threw the token to her. Just when I turned around and wanted to leave, Granny Meng grabbed me and took back the sapphire from me. Pen. I waved my sleeve, and the pen flew out of the sleeve and scratched on Po Meng's cheek... Po Meng's cheek began to bleed, and the bleeding could not be stopped... It was the kind of human, warm, bright red blood, Drop by drop on my token."

When Sheng De said this, he sighed several times in a row: "I can't believe I hurt her... I can't believe I hurt her like this... Sigh..."

"and then?"

"I was dull, and my mind went blank. Granny Meng broke my writing token in half and handed it back to me, telling me that now that the official position has been removed, she will find a new person to write in the world. I am free, if If you think it over clearly and want to reincarnate, then go find her."

"Then what are your plans now?"

Sheng De looked at me faintly: "But I didn't expect that you would continue to do this after your death. Does losing your body not affect you at all?"

"The impact is quite large."

"Then why are you still holding on?"

"I find it interesting. There are not many things in the world that I find interesting. I am not familiar with Heavenly Court, so I don't know if there will be any interesting things. If it is in the three realms, I find it very interesting for a while. It's the job of 'writing'. It's rare to find such a fun job, so you should cherish it."

"Just because it's interesting?"

"Of course there are many other reasons, but if I don't like it, I will never do it. If I like picking chrysanthemums, I will go to see Nanshan. It's a pity that I don't like farm work like growing melons and beans in seclusion. It’s very ordinary. It’s conceivable for a day or two, but it will definitely be extremely boring after a long time. Then it’s a joy to meet and chat with different lonely ghosts every day.”

Sheng De said: "These ghosts are not good at making trouble."

I was a little confused and asked, "What is good?"

"Most of them have a strong hostility and will try their best to disturb your mind and make you crazy like them. The sentient beings who have fallen into the abyss don't want to be saved at all. They just want your sympathy, Grasp your sympathy tightly, and then pull you into the abyss together."

"This is catastrophe."

Sheng De nodded: "Yes, this is a catastrophe."

"Now you are my guest, you are my catastrophe. If I survive your catastrophe, what can I learn?" I asked Sheng De.

Sheng De smiled, and replied slowly: "We may be each other's disaster."

"All disasters are opportunities for growth. Although I have lost my body, at least I am not afraid of death, and it is more convenient to work."

Sheng De smiled: "The writer is really optimistic."

"What do seniors plan to do next? Do you want to reincarnate and return to the human world?"

Sheng De thought for a while: "I've thought about it, but I'm really embarrassed to see Granny Meng again. I haven't apologized for cutting her cheek..."

"Then just apologize, Granny Meng doesn't care about such things."

"Oh, I'm really ashamed to say it. If I'm reincarnated, I'm afraid I won't be able to return to this underworld. There are some people and things in this underworld that I still miss."

"It's not in a hurry anyway, you have a lot of time to think about it slowly."

"Yeah, I'm not in a hurry anyway..." Sheng De thought for a while, "I'm also the writer, your brain is much clearer than mine."

"Senior, I have given my brains to the hungry ghosts along with my body."

Sheng De smiled: "I really hope to know you in the world, you must be an interesting person."

"I am probably the same in the underworld and in the world."

"You're right, it's time to think about it, you can't spend forever in hell."

"Go and talk to Po Meng, if you want."

"That's right, that's right." Sheng De stood up and cupped his hands, "Hearing what you said, I felt a little more cheerful."

"It's good to be cheerful. Senior, do you have any advice you want to give me?"

Sheng De showed the kind of eyes that read my mind: "If I really give advice, you probably won't listen."

I smiled: "Try."

Sheng De looked me up and down again: "My lord, if you are determined, all illusions will naturally become clear."

"The image is born from the heart." I said.

"Si Shi, everything is up to you."

I stood up, bowed and cupped my hands: "Thank you, senior."

"Writing," Sheng De called out my name suddenly, "You will finish this job."

"Yes, I will."

Sheng De smiled: "I hope we can meet again in the world."

"Goodbye." I replied.

(End of this chapter)