Hunter and Hussar

Chapter 1 Introduction The Ashes of the Winter Solstice

Why are we, the spirit of all things,

Encounter is not as good as a small tree?
Today you shook it and smiled superiorly,

Tomorrow it will turn into the soil under the roots.

Why are these words written by hand,
Is it longer and stronger than this hand?
They will throw away the rotten hands,

And silently live on a piece of torn paper.

Therefore, I lived proudly for decades,

As if to be the director of everything,
In fact, under their long-term order

I will only be a small actor for a while.

—— Mu Dan

I am a witness, not a participant.I am not the hero of my story.I am not exactly a lyric poet, even if the things I saw disrupted the course of my life--life had no meaning at the time, even though these things still oppress me with all their weight affects my behavior, affects the way I see things, I still think, in telling these things, with the cold, calm tone of an ethnologist: I have been in that swallowed world, and here is what I was there see.

—George Perek
"Brother, have you heard the phrase 'Football has nothing to do with life and death, football is higher than life and death'? I think the previous sentence means that football is just a sport, and don't regard winning or losing a game as more important than life. After that In a word, I think it means that the meaning of football can surpass life and death. Some people are gone, but because of his love for football and our love for football, everyone will remember him. Through Football, we have overcome death and oblivion, and those who leave will come back to us at some point..."

Mom told me she was going to burn paper money.I realized that today is the winter solstice, no wonder Mi Le has gone home, and I am the only one left in the dormitory.I went to the cafeteria early, and there was free Laba porridge to drink, which was much thicker than the white porridge for breakfast on weekdays, and there were a lot of dry goods in it that should be stuffed into mooncakes.I'm full after two bowls, so it's right not to go to the window to order food.

Think about going outside.Although sometimes I wish I could live in the dormitory alone, but today I just don’t want to lie on the bed and wait for the darkness to fill up the small space little by little.After changing into a pair of red sneakers, I pulled through the door, put on my hat, put my keys in my pockets, and walked towards the place where the sun was setting.

To the west of the school is an undeveloped lake area, with occasional greenery mixed with withered and yellow reeds, which belong to the weeds that can be found everywhere.There are also garbage scattered, plastic bags hanging on the reed grass flutter like flags, and the damaged cardboard boxes are being swallowed by the soil, only half of the body is exposed.Lying on the ground waiting to rot, the bottle of mineral water was lying in the fading sunlight, and the wall of the bottle was still full of water droplets.It will exist for a long time, the biology teacher said, some plastics need decades or even hundreds of years to degrade.

Hundreds of years later, people may still burn paper on the winter solstice.Will they still burn by this lake surrounded by reeds?I no longer know.Perhaps by then, this lake that I have not yet visited will cease to exist, just as I will cease to exist in that distant future.Our descendants burn paper for their predecessors, but we as the predecessors have been forgotten by them, only as a few rows of typefaces printed on the family tree and carved in red on the tombstone.

Someday.

The lake is at the bottom of the slope, and a section of the mound on the slope has been marked with several circles by lime powder, and there are iron buckets in the circle.It must be a designated burning area in the street or community.There are a few old people and children who are burning. They carefully folded the yellow foam paper together, touched the flame with the tip of the paper, and stuffed them into the bucket slowly after confirming that the things in their hands started to burn. inside.The children who were with them seemed a little flustered, and they might have regarded it as a game, throwing gold or silver ingots into the bucket one by one like a ring on the floor.Ingots made of paper are far less heavy than real ones.Falling into the dry winter wind, they mostly fell to the edge of the barrel.The iron barrels were spitting out flames, and the children did not dare to approach them, but the elders picked them up nonchalantly and threw them where they should go.A child threw a large stack of banknotes printed with "Tiandi Bank" into a bucket, then quickly pulled away and jumped behind his grandparents, as if avoiding fireworks that were about to burn into the sky.The fire was smothered by too much paper, the old man didn't say anything, he pulled it a few times with a wooden stick, and the burning light flared up again.

It was getting late, and the old man and the children got closer.A black bird slid overhead, hissed with a drawn out voice, and fell into the reeds by the lake.The old people were chanting words, and in the whimpering wind, their wrinkled and wrinkled faces were old and pious, just like every grayed old photo.When they say something, the child learns it.Only this soft whisper is flowing on the empty land.

I watched them in the wind.No one paid attention to me until an old man had come to my side.She wears a cotton cap not so carefully knitted, with a shrunken head and stooped body, opening her toothless mouth and trying to make sounds like a baby.I didn't understand what she was trying to say, but she quickly held up a card in a plastic case.The words written on it were very large, and it was said to be a deaf-mute person. I didn't read what was written after that.

I fumbled in all my pockets, and only found the key a few times.I just wanted to walk around without bringing anything, and in the end I only found a coin.I grabbed the coin and handed it to her, hands with calluses on the palms and chilblains on the backs.

She took the coin in her palm, held it, and immediately pointed to the sign.I took another look and said it was two yuan for a pack of napkins.

I don't have another coin.Without saying anything, I shrugged, shook my head helplessly, and turned around.The sky was getting late so quickly, except for the deep red, the blue silence had already submerged the top of the head.

If there's another dollar, I'll give it to her.

Someone is touching my arm with something.I turned my head and saw the old man with his waist down to his knees.She handed me a pack of napkins, even though I only paid half the price.Seeing that I didn't mean to take it, she pointed to my forehead with a paper bag.I must be sweating again, I've walked a long way and the wind hasn't dried my sweat.

I took it, didn't say thank you, just nodded to her.Maybe she was smiling, I saw the slight fluctuation of the wrinkles occupying her cheeks.When she was still thinking, she had already walked forward step by step, and it seemed that every step she took might fall down.I kind of want to help her, but how far will she go, and how long will I have to help her?
She still walked away alone, towards the place where the sun set.Is her home there?Is there relatives waiting for her?

The old people and children who burned the paper left, and the unburned and burnt ashes floated in the air.Combustion is short-lived after all, but ashes are long-lasting.The reed dies, the fire cools, and only the sun rises and sets, always moving.For us, the only thing that is certain, perhaps, is that we are heading in the direction where the sun goes down without stopping, and finally become the name Ashes is looking for in another world.

I was a little tired, and walked to the iron bucket that was still conducting heat, and looked at the package of napkins with the little light left.It has a weird scent that I don't have with any of the brands I've tried.I pulled one out, and the smell was so much stronger that I couldn't imagine rubbing any part of my body with it.

The sun hadn't quite set yet.Mom must have burnt out, sending all my heart out for me and Dad, even though I didn't do anything.

My sister should burn it for me too.

But he didn't receive my gift today.But now I have nothing left but a messy bunch of keys.

I wanted to find paper money that had been left behind or half burned, but I knew it belonged to someone else.We have been taught since we were young not to take other people's things.So, I thought of the napkin in my hand.But who will burn this?And I just felt that I don't know how to use it and give him things I don't need?I did do something like this.He didn't see through, and was happy for a while, and I was complacent.

I've done this shit before, and I'm still doing it today.I didn't make any progress at all.Sorry, sorry.I didn't think about anything, I didn't prepare for anything, I didn't even remember what day it was, and I brought you this bag of things, but I didn't have anything else on me.I'm sorry, I don't want to make excuses, I'm just so confused, I can't remember the days, and I don't know what to do.You should be angry, you should be angry, I only give you a pack of paper that is half sold and half free.What can it do there?Not even a popsicle can be bought.I know that my mother will give you living expenses, my sister will give you pocket money, and I want to give you something too.But what do I have?

Damn me.If you can feel me, be there for me.Scold me, hit me, I won't fight back, I just want you to beat me and scold me.I would do anything if I could.

Nothing happened.The wind blows the reeds and brushes my hair hidden under the hat.It occurred to me that I should have taken off my hat.I cover my face with it.The new ashes spread out in the cold, as if only it existed forever in this world.

　Welcome everyone to read~
　　The story roughly tells the growth experience of the children, and it should be a very cute style of painting!Although the heart will experience all kinds of depression, but in general it is still very sunny ~ Heal and add a little depression (not)

　　Of course the author is a fan, but not the Liverpool fan who was sung by the cue team in the first volume.I hope that everyone can let go of their prejudices in the novel and maintain their love for football, so that all characters will not show obvious support for the real club~ Even if there are some jokes and jokes, they are not malicious~ The author will control it well limit!

　　All the school characters in the novel have nothing to do with reality, there is no absolute correspondence and insinuation, respect every school and every teacher and classmate!There is no hatred outside the fierce competition, but mutual understanding and respect～The author is not a student of the local No. [-] Middle School～
　　
　
(End of this chapter)