I collect cultural relics in the human world

Chapter 195 Monologue
Brother Jing always thought that my first memory of this world originated from the summer when I first met him, but that was not the case. That day, he helped me cover the scorching sun with a little effort, giving me a chance to breathe in the suffocating heat wave. However, the occasional shade was not an opportunity for me to regain my life. It was just a coincidence of time.

And I chose to wake up after seeing him, not because he was so special.

At that time, my memory was limited to what my aura could perceive. I thought that the courtyard in the abandoned kiln and the cut blue sky were the entire world, and the person who took care of me every day was the only one in the world. Life is lonely, monotonous, boring and hard, so I would rather stay in a long sleep than wake up and face this empty world. At that time, as long as anyone gave me a little hope, I would become curious about the world - it turns out that there are other people in the world, it turns out that there are other scenery in the world, it turns out that we don't have to live So lonely and lonely.

My chaos was pushed aside at that moment, and I finally chose to enter this world, and the hand representing my life also changed from the hour hand to the second hand and began to rotate rapidly.

There is another thing that Brother Jing has always been wrong about. He thinks that my trigger point of pushing back the chaos is due to the throbbing of being taken care of, but he is not the first person to take care of me. Before that, I had been taken care of for a long time, otherwise I would have been corroded by the wind like this cave dwelling. I remember everything, confused but also clear, I just don't want to wake up.

You see, Brother Jing always seems to know everything, but he is always wrong about me, about companionship, concern and bonding. Later I discovered that he actually lived longer than my grandfather and was still lonely. He was so lonely that even his memories were worn away, and he was so lonely that he even lost the ability to step into the crowd. At least grandpa still had us, but he was alone. .

But this is all for later. Now in this monologue, I want to first tell the story of my grandfather, who is also the leader of the ridge beasts that you all know - Qi Fengxianren. His life is compared with that of Brother Jing. , I don’t know who is older, but it must be much longer than me.

When grandpa first had memories, this place was a prison, and he was just a stone.

I didn't have a specific understanding of the prison at that time. I just thought that this place was barren, barren, and full of wind and sand. It might be what a prison looked like. It was not until later that I followed Brother Jing to travel north and south to visit ancient times, and when I started studying literature, I found a passage in "Yuanhe County Chronicles" and realized that what my grandfather was talking about was a real prison - Hebian Bobo Po Liu Yuzi Yi Zhen Yu Chang'an , then captured his tribe, built this city to live in, and named it Wu'er City.

On his way back from victory, Helian Bobo built many forts to house prisoners of war in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, so there are many Wuerbao, Wuerzhai, and Wuercheng in this area. I no longer know which one of them this stone city belongs to, but I It was roughly determined that that year was 418 AD, which can be regarded as the year of my grandfather's birth. My grandfather always wanted to know where he started when he was alive, but I waited until he was completely dead before reading about it in the history books.

The person who brought him memories was the so-called "Wu'er" in Wu'er City - a prisoner from Jiangnan.

Grandpa said that he was a jade carver, a jade carver from a water town in the south of the Yangtze River, a jade carver completely different from the brutal and bloodthirsty Xiongnu - just like the calmness brewed by years of water vapor, silent, restrained and gentle. , and a hint of poetic sadness. Grandpa couldn't tell what it was, but I knew it was the spring breeze and the green south bank of the river. When would the bright moon shine on me again?

The jade carver always kept silent and kept his head down all day long pondering the objects in his hands. People in the city said he was mute. Only my grandfather, who was still a stone at that time, knew that he had many words. Whenever the moon climbed into the dark night sky and Stone City fell into a deep sleep, the jade carver would sit at the door of his house and talk to the moon in the sky about his heart, while his grandfather would lie at his feet and listen quietly.

In his story, spring has the charm of peach blossoms, the lightness of willow branches, and the sound of flower sellers in the drizzle. In the summer, the forest is deep and piney, the greenery is noisy, and the cicadas sing and the lotus leaves sway after heavy rains. Then there was an autumn rain and a cool breeze, the maples were red in the wind, the ginkgoes were floating yellow, and the autumn mood was strong under the sycamore leaves. Winter is coming in the cold rain, the golden osmanthus is gone, the plum blossoms are secretly fragrant, the winter snow has fallen all the pear blossoms overnight, and the greenery of the next year has already dormant in the soil.

During the rotation of the four seasons, what he talked about most was the small river in front of his home. The running water is tinkling, the fish and shrimp are playing, there is a fresh scenery every day, and in the different scenery every day, there will be the same girl, squatting on the stone slab with a clothes basket to wash her yarn.

The story always ends abruptly here, leaving only a pair of eyes shining with tears under the bright moon.

It was three years later that grandpa finally woke up, and the person who woke him up turned out to be a Huns.

Wu'er is not alone in Wu'er, but there are also some Huns. In addition to the Hun soldiers who stay here to guard, there are also some Hun orphans left over from the war.

The Wu people who did not dare to express malice towards the Hun soldiers vented all their pain on these orphans. Grandpa did not know how the child survived. He only knew that when he fainted at the door, he was covered in wounds and as thin as a stick.

The hatred of the country and the family was at the forefront. Grandpa thought that the jade carver would treat the child like other Wu people, but he didn't expect that he would give him half of his roasted potatoes, boil some water, and carefully clean and bandage the child's wounds. .

That was the most precious water in Stone City, so the child naturally refused to leave. People around me also tried to persuade him several times, saying that people who are not from my race must have different hearts, or that it would be difficult for you to have a family after you have a child, but the jade carver waved his hand away with a smile.

At that time, the jade carver had already followed the local customs and became a stonemason in this stone city. He was very respected because he was reliable and had good craftsmanship. The child learned the craft from him. He was talented, hard-working, and well-spoken. He was more eloquent than his master. He gradually integrated into Shicheng and was even more popular than his master. The jade carver talked less and less to Yue, and smiled more and more on his face.

The first work of the Hun orphan was to carve his grandfather into a fairy riding a phoenix.

My grandfather, who was used to listening to the mist and rain in the south of the Yangtze River, heard the monologue of a foreign boy during those days of ax and chisel attacks - if it weren't for the barbaric plunder of their tribe, the master would not have been forced to leave the south of the Yangtze River where the birds and grass grow, and he would have been killed. Trapped in this barren, desolate, barren land. All Wu people in the city resented him, but the master repaid him with kindness, bringing him back from the brink of death and teaching him a craft to make a living. He lost everything in that war, but now, he wants to work hard to survive, and he wants to protect the man behind him.

When the young man brought the finished product to the master, the man from Jiangnan had a flash of surprise in his eyes. Then he took out an old book with withered pages and told the young man the story of the spine beast in detail. The young man felt that he was intoxicated by those stories from the past. In the light and shadow flowing from ancient times.

Grandpa's proud work as a young man was carefully stored at the edge of the kang. Since then, the person who told Grandpa's story has been replaced by a young man. He hugged his knees and sat in front of the paper window, telling the moonlight his determination to protect him over and over again.

Grandpa suddenly realized that he also wanted to protect something, such as the jade carver from the south of the Yangtze River, the young man in front of him, and this land - their home.

Time passed quickly in the subsequent story. The boy followed the patterns in the book and assembled a complete set of ridged beasts. From then on, I was born - a stone-carved Suan Ni.

With the young talent and hard work, the two people's lives got better and better. The one-hole kiln turned into a three-hole kiln and then into a five-hole kiln. The set of ridged animals was decorated on the hanging flower door built by the two of them. The matchmaker who came to talk about the match almost leveled the threshold, but the jade carver never let go. Grandpa said that he could not forget the small river in front of his house.

However, he helped the young man get a wife and became an old gentleman himself. Not long after, the boy became a father, sent his master away, and became a grandfather himself. The family was filled with descendants, and a family was born on this land. As the years went by, the family continued to grow and inherit, and my grandfather also followed his inner path, guarding everything in this family and us on the roof until the Ming Dynasty.

Due to the opening of the central government, Shanxi merchants had close access to the waterfront and were able to transport military supplies to border fortresses in exchange for salt. The brothers were so envious that they gave up their ancestral craftsmanship and decided to leave Stone City and try their luck on the other side. Grandpa had a premonition of the coming disaster and warned them several times in his dreams, but he could not stop their determination to get rich overnight. They could only watch helplessly as the brothers stepped onto the ferry and were swallowed by the ruthless water of the Yellow River.

Such a large family disappeared in the cracks of time in the blink of an eye, and he could do nothing - after that, the only thing he could do was to protect us.

After this, this is my story.

My story is actually not complicated. I’ve already told the first half, and you’ve heard the second half, so let’s talk about the middle.

After I woke up, I realized that I had made a wrong decision. Although the world is big, it is still lonely. But grandpa was very happy. He seemed to feel that his long-term protection had paid off, and he paid more attention to me.

We became a pair of grandparents who depended on each other on the Loess Plateau.

But it was really boring. One second I would be basking in the sun on the roof and listening to my grandpa telling stories, and the next second I would fall asleep, and when I woke up again the moon would be dimmed. Until one day, I suddenly thought of a question, why was I the only one who woke up among the house full of ridge beasts? If others also woke up, would I not be lonely?

This idea was like a prairie fire, quickly igniting my life. Two days later, I woke up my first partner, brother Xingshi. A week later, I had nine toys in this desolate but vast land. companion.

After that, life suddenly became richer.

This is Stone City, which is our territory. We explored the mysterious abandoned kilns and ran wildly in the deep caves. During that time, people often heard terrible noises in the mountains. In fact, it was us brothers playing hide and seek. The majestic Yellow River outside the city also attracted our attention. We were all stones, so naturally we couldn’t swim, but my grandfather found gourds for us to tie to our bodies. He also made sheepskin rafts for us to ride on the wind and waves. He even secretly went to the other side of the Yellow River to see it while grandpa wasn't paying attention. Compared with Stone City, it is much more lively and prosperous there. If you are lucky, you can even see caravans with camels. During the day, when we couldn’t go out and play wildly, grandpa would tell us stories. Although we had heard the stories countless times, with the company of other friends, we also enjoyed them. During the holidays, the other side would also sing operas. At that time, grandpa He would take us to sit by the city wall and listen to the high-pitched and sometimes resentful drama. When the mood struck, he would even sing a few lines. It was the happiest time in my life.

But gradually, my energetic brothers became sluggish day by day. No matter how I tried to inspire them with my own energy, they were still listless. I thought they were tired of playing around day after day, until one day I saw my grandfather's face, and I realized that my grandfather was getting old and his protection would no longer work.

"Child, let me take you to find the person who woke you up."

It turns out that grandpa was also wrong. I chose to wake up on my own, not because of Brother Jing. But right or wrong is no longer important. Grandpa used his last breath of spiritual energy to take me to my dream to find Brother Jing, and he left me alone before his death. I looked at Grandpa’s cloudy but still loving and worried eyes, and held Brother Jing’s hand.

Grandpa left with peace of mind. I saw the last bit of his spiritual energy entering my body, and with the help of Brother Jing, I erected a tombstone for him.

Instead of nourishing me, that spiritual energy became a tombstone in my heart. Grandpa has gone through thousands of years. If it weren't for me, why would he die so quickly?

I finally killed the person I loved most, and the second hand of my life turned back to the hour hand. From that moment on, I could no longer grow up. But I can't leave. I don't want Brother Jing to be crushed by loneliness like me. It seems that he only has me.

I don’t know whether it’s because of the spiritual energy that belongs to my grandfather in my body or because I miss my grandfather. I want to protect someone like my grandfather.

Because of this thought, I walked along with Brother Jing, looking for historical sites, reshaping my body, and searching for his memory until he met Sister He.

He has met many people, Fan Yu, Liu Rui, Guan Zihe, and even that vampire, but I know that Sister Xiao He is different, because Brother Jing has changed, and I know that he is no longer alone. Maybe my Responsibility ends.

So when the impostor found me and told me that he could take me back to the past, I suddenly didn't want to resist. Even if I can't go back to the past, it would be nice to be able to return to the chaotic and confused state before I woke up. At least, I don't have to carry that tombstone anymore.

But in my dream, according to my grandfather's description and historical records, I reshaped my hometown in my grandfather's memory, reshaped all my brothers, and even reshaped every detail of daily life, but I still can't see my grandfather.

Later, Brother Jing still came over. For so many years, I always thought that I was protecting him. In fact, he was trying his best to protect me, just like my grandfather.

I finally showed him the tombstone erected in my heart. I thought he would be scared, but he told me that the deceased will not stand still, but flow with time. It was my grandfather’s last wish to give his spiritual energy to me. Be with time.

It turns out that it’s not that he doesn’t want to see me, it turns out that he is still guarding me in my body, it turns out that I stopped time, and I also stopped my grandfather from coming to see me.

In fact, I should have figured it out a long time ago, but I don’t want to live so easily. Time is too long and can almost erase everything. I am afraid that I will forget like Brother Jing. I need a sense of guilt to remind me all the time that I have. Being protected selflessly by such a person.

But now, I have finally stepped into the flow of time.

Just like I chose to wake up on my own thousands of years ago, it is the same now.