curse

Chapter 1 Introduction
wind and rain take away the night
Grass dripping dew

Let's all praise
how beautiful life is

my life and hope

always contradict

You and I are the banks of the river

forever separated by water
——Excerpt from Wang Luobin's "We Are Forever Across the Water"

XNUM X Year X NUM X Month.

It was pitch black outside the window, there were not many high-rise buildings in the distance, and almost no wind came in through the open window, and it was another sleepless hot night.

There are many books and materials piled up on the desk, and Bai Zhengqiu is lying on the desk while flipping through the materials while writing his thesis on a piece of manuscript paper. The long years when those Xianbei people conquered the Central Plains on horseback are among the words he wrote Faintly emerged.He was only wearing a white vest. In 1988, there was no air conditioner in the homes of ordinary people, and there was a desk fan running directly to his side.The wind blew across his back, and the vest undulated like waves. He stretched out his hands and scratched the exposed parts of his body. The mosquitoes continued to attack him, and the red bumps on his body were itchy uncomfortably.

Bai Zhengqiu looked at his watch, it was already 10:[-] in the evening, and many people downstairs were lying on the deck chairs outside their homes in the open air to spend the long, sweltering night.He didn't have this habit, so he put down his books and materials, and looked down at the park across the road outside the window. The park was still pitch black, and he couldn't distinguish the lush greenery and the quiet water that he saw during the day.But he still looked there, the only thing he could see clearly were the black shadows inside the park wall under the dim streetlights.

"Zhengqiu, go to sleep, have you forgotten? Tomorrow is your 40th birthday, and tomorrow I have to get off work early to buy more food for you." His wife said in his ear.

birthday tomorrow?Only then did Bai Zhengqiu remember that if his wife hadn't reminded him, he would have almost completely forgotten about it. Tomorrow is his 40th birthday, and he hardly noticed the passage of time at all. It seems that yesterday he was a young man who just graduated, and tomorrow But it's about to enter the age of forties.Only then did he realize that he was no longer young.

Suddenly, he seemed to think of something from the dusty memory many years ago. At this moment, a lock has opened the safe of memory, and all the things hidden in it have been revisited at a glance. over again.Then, an imperceptible fear began to pass over his heart, like a stone that had been suspended for many years finally fell into a pool of water that was as calm as a mirror, causing several lingering waves.

"40 years old, 40 years old..." He whispered softly in his mouth, with a slight trembling.

"What are you talking about?" The wife didn't hear clearly.

He moved his eyes away from the blackness outside the window, moved to his wife's face, and stared at her motionless.A guilty expression flooded his face, and his wife immediately understood, her brows were frowned, perhaps also a little worried, but she still smiled after all, and said: "No, you don't owe me anything, don't scare me yourself. Myself, I am thinking wildly, tomorrow is your birthday, you should happily enter the age of 40, and our family will have a safe life."

He also smiled slightly, maybe it was gratitude, maybe it was repayment, he couldn't tell: "Go to sleep."

The lights were turned off, the electric fan was turned off, and the room was surprisingly quiet.His wife's even breath rang in his ears, soft and clear, and he wondered how his wife was not afraid of the heat at all, and could sleep peacefully.But he couldn't sleep, he just lay quietly on the mat with his eyes closed, a dark ocean, a dark ocean suddenly appeared in his heart, thin waves beat against the shore under the night, those almost black waves The sea water has been rippling in Bai Zhengqiu's heart for a long time before he gradually sank into the black ocean.

Huge waves.

A violent wave cut across the calm ocean in the darkness like a sword, it seemed to cut his heart instantly, causing him to rise rapidly from the bottom of the sea to the surface of the sea. He was hungry for oxygen and survival, paddling in the boundless dark sea water Folding his hands, some dark foam trembled around him.Finally, he broke free from the sea water, breathed the air on the sea surface, and—he let out a long breath.

He woke up.

What about the dark sea?No more, but his body was already soaked and salty, and the frightening sound of the waves had disappeared.Is that from the sea?No, that is a mirage in the desert.

Touching his chest, his heart was beating surprisingly fast.He trembled and woke up his wife, sat up, pushed his shoulder and said, "What's wrong?"

"No, it's nothing, go to sleep."

The light was turned off again, Bai Zhengqiu lay down on the mat again, but couldn't fall asleep, and his wife resumed her even breathing. Sometimes, he really envied her.

Gradually, he suddenly felt a tremor in his back. It was an extremely slight vibration, and those feelings came from under the mat and under the floor.what's under the floorIt's the people downstairs, maybe they have to go down, from the 6th floor to the bottom floor, and then into the soil, deep in the earth.

His own body trembled accordingly, and he reached out and touched the floor, and the floor was trembling, yes, the floor was trembling.When he opened his eyes, he saw a shadow in the dark room.

It was a human shadow, small, moving forward slowly.

His eyes were wide open, and there was some light in the dark eyes, and he slowly raised his body.The shadow was getting closer and closer, gradually casting on his face, and the outline of the shadow gradually became clearer. The small body in the darkness pounced on him like an unweaned beast.Those long strands of hair brushed his face, making him smell the familiar smell that seemed to be a little beast.

"Baby, what's the matter?" Bai Zhengqiu hugged his daughter tightly in his arms.

His daughter's face was deeply buried in his not-so-broad chest, and her slender fingers grabbed his back forcefully. He wondered why the slender 10-year-old daughter's hands were so strong that her fingers The tip dug into his flesh, making his muscles tingle a little.

The wife also got up, she turned on the light, and sighed again, probably sighing that she didn't sleep well that night.Then she touched her daughter's head, which was wet and covered with sweat, as if she had just come out of the water, as much as her husband's.She is a person who likes to be clean, and has always hated the smell of sweat, and her daughter has always been very clean, even in the hottest time, she did not sweat much, she was a little strange, raised her daughter's head with her hand, stared at Look at that little face.

The 10-year-old daughter closed her eyes, frowned, her breathing was rapid and heavy, her teeth were tightly biting her lips, and her face was frighteningly pale.The daughter inherited her appearance, beautiful and well-behaved, with an oval face. She always imagined what her daughter would become when she grew up?Maybe it really is a beauty fetus.She stroked her daughter's loose long hair, and the unique natural smell of the little girl's hair wafted into her nostrils.

The daughter was silent and didn't speak. She was a little worried, and suddenly heard her husband yell, and then she saw that her daughter's fingers were scratching her husband's back and bleeding. She hurriedly broke her daughter's hand away, and put The daughter slipped from her husband's arms.

The daughter is shaking.

"You won't be sick?" Bai Zhengqiu asked worriedly. His wife touched her daughter's forehead, but she didn't have a fever. Then she asked her daughter, "Baby, talk."

The daughter remained silent, and about 10 seconds later, she suddenly opened her eyes, staring at a focus of nothingness with her wide-open eyes, and there were some girls' unique light in her black and white pupils, but the light seemed to be It is particularly strange that the projection of the line of sight is in a very far place.

Seeing his daughter's strange expression, Bai Zhengqiu was suddenly a little frightened, he had never seen his daughter's eyes open so wide, it could be said to be scary.He followed his daughter's gaze and looked out the window. There was nothing in the dark night, only an inexplicable wind suddenly blew in through the open window.

Finally, there was wind, and a cool breeze hit in the sultry summer night, making Bai Zhengqiu and his wife feel very comfortable, but the daughter hugged her shoulders tightly with both hands, and continued to tremble.

Maybe my daughter really caught a cold, for my daughter's sake, let it be hot.Bai Zhengqiu walked to the window, the wind was very strong and messed up his hair, he greedily sucked in the cool wind for the last time, and swallowed the sudden wind into his mouth, only then did he feel a chill in his throat.He looked at the dark night outside, then slowly closed the window.

He looked back at his daughter again, and the daughter's cheeks gradually turned red. Suddenly, the daughter opened her tightly closed mouth, and softly said a word in that sweet girl's voice——

"There is a woman."

Although the little girl's crisp and tender voice was very soft, it was very clear in the quiet room. The moment Bai Zhengqiu heard this sentence, his brows twitched suddenly. This was already a habit of his. rise.

"Baby, what do you mean by woman?" The wife didn't understand.

The daughter blinked and continued: "I saw a woman wearing a red dress. Her face was white, her eyes were very big, and her black hair was tied with many braids. She..."

"Shut up." Bai Zhengqiu interrupted his daughter somewhat rudely, and realized his gaffe after speaking. He glanced at his wife out of the corner of his eye. The wife's gaze was obviously blaming him, and he murmured to himself. Said in a foreign language: "Impossible, absolutely impossible, you can't see her."

Then he said again in a soft voice, "I'm sorry, baby, where did you see that?"

"Zhengqiu, what's wrong with you? Are you serious about what the child said? My daughter was just having a dream. There's no need to make a fuss about a child's dream." His wife gave him a hand. He looked at his wife and noticed that There was also a trace of deep-seated fear in his wife's eyes.

Bai Zhengqiu ignored her, instead he walked out of the bedroom and went to his daughter's room next door.The daughter's room is very small, a small bed is placed near the window, the window is open, a gust of cool wind blows in, although Bai Zhengqiu is very eager for the cool breeze, but he still closes the window.He looked at the wall of his daughter's room again, there was nothing, everything was as usual, there were several watercolor paintings drawn by his daughter hanging on the wall.One is a small bridge and flowing water under a purple night sky, and there is a golden moon in the sky, and the other two are still life paintings of fruits and vases of flowers.

Back in the bedroom, Bai Zhengqiu saw that his wife had fallen asleep with her daughter in his arms.He looked at the sleeping mother and daughter, gave himself a mocking smile, and turned off the light.

Another hot sleepless night...

Bai Zhengqiu fell asleep near the early morning and had some random dreams. When he woke up, the sun had already shone on his face.He stretched his hand to the side and touched his daughter's soft body. He sat up, his wife was gone, and he probably went to work.Bai Zhengqiu looked at his daughter's fair face and woke her up.

Bai Zhengqiu and his daughter brushed their teeth, washed their faces, and finished the breakfast his wife left for them.He is an archaeologist who works in an archaeological research institute. He is writing a thesis on the history of the Wei, Jin and Western Regions at home these days.A month ago, the Institute had just allocated this apartment to him as a reward for his academic achievements, which made many colleagues who had worked for decades envious and jealous.

The daughter had already sat on the sofa and watched TV after breakfast, but Bai Zhengqiu turned off the TV. He looked at his daughter and said, "Honey, why did you come to Mom and Dad's room last night? Didn't you agree to move it?" Did you sleep alone in the new house? Why doesn’t talking count?”

The daughter blinked at him and said, "Father, does your back still hurt?"

The daughter didn't mention that Bai Zhengqiu almost forgot that she was caught by her last night until he bled. He smiled and said, "Just think of Dad." Where she scratched the bleeding marks.

"Father, does it still hurt?" the daughter asked while rubbing.

"It doesn't hurt anymore."

"It really doesn't hurt anymore?"

"It really doesn't hurt anymore. Baby, did you have a nightmare last night?" Bai Zhengqiu asked his daughter.

"Yeah." The daughter nodded.

"What did you dream about? Do you remember?" He thought it might be absurd to ask his daughter.

"A woman."

Bai Zhengqiu lowered his head, was silent for a moment, and then asked his daughter: "What else?"

The daughter thought for a while and said: "She is wearing a red dress, her face is white, her eyes are very big, and there are many small braids on her black hair, and she is talking to me."

"What did you say?" He was a little nervous.

"I don't understand. She only said a few words, as if speaking a foreign language. Anyway, it must not be English. I didn't understand a word."

Bai Zhengqiu nodded, his worry seemed to intensify, so he shook his head and said, "And then?"

"Then, that woman wrote a few words on the wall with a pen." The daughter tried hard to recall her dream.

"What word?"

"She wrote neither Chinese characters nor English. I don't know them, but I wrote down those words in my heart, and I can write them out." Bai Zhengqiu was really surprised by his daughter's answer.

He immediately took the paper and pen and put them in his daughter's hands. He didn't know if he should do this. The daughter just had a dream. Why must he force her to recall all the contents of the dream? ?You know, even adults may not be able to remember the content of the dream they had last night.Perhaps, this is not very good for his daughter, but even though Bai Zhengqiu scolded himself in his heart over and over again, he couldn't restrain the strange thing in his heart.

The daughter thought for a while, maybe she did have a memory and IQ beyond ordinary people, her white but strong hand held a pen, and slowly wrote a few specially arranged lines on the paper, there were straight lines and curves, these lines Combined with everything, it looks like some kind of words, and these complex words were written on paper by a 10-year-old girl who didn't understand it at all.

Those are indeed not Chinese characters, Bai Zhengqiu knows almost all Chinese characters, from oracle bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions, six ancient Chinese characters to Xiaozhuan and official script.It is not English or other Western languages, because there are no traces of Latin alphabet, Cyrillic alphabet, or Greek alphabet in those words, let alone Arabic, Hindi, or other languages.But it can be seen that it is a kind of linear writing, which is obviously a phonetic alphabet. Most of the phonetic writing in the world comes from the ancient Phoenician writing, and they all have certain writing methods. The common point is that it is completely different from Chinese, which is composed of ideographic square characters, and Bai Zhengqiu can tell it apart at a glance.

In fact, Bai Zhengqiu knew the few words written by his daughter, more precisely, it was a word composed of six letters.This ancient script was once brilliant, however, this script has died with an ancient civilization for more than 1000 years.It was not until 100 years ago that explorers rediscovered it from the ruins, and then it took decades for many famous scholars in the world to slowly decipher it.Now, it is inconceivable that it could be accurately written by a 10-year-old girl who just started elementary school history class.

Bai Zhengqiu's brows twitched habitually, he could feel his body trembling slightly, and he pronounced the word in the ancient language he learned from his mentor more than ten years ago: "MU—YO -"

The voice was distorted, the vocal cords were trembling inexplicably, but basically the two syllables were pronounced correctly.It was actually one syllable, which should be pronounced as MUYO. He was a little nervous and dragged it into a phoneme unconsciously.He felt that the syllable immediately diffused in the room, spreading to every corner of the room.

"Dad, what are you reading?" The daughter couldn't understand what he said.

"Don't ask."

"Father, you must know these words. What do these words mean?" the daughter asked.

Bai Zhengqiu was silent for a long time, and then said two Chinese characters in a very low voice——

"curse."

The voice was so faint that only he could hear it clearly.

"Dad, I didn't hear clearly, can you say it again?"

"Shut up! Shut up right now!" Bai Zhengqiu was really angry. He picked up the piece of paper with trembling hands, and then tore the paper and the ancient characters on it into pieces. He threw the pieces into the air, and then It fell to the ground like snowflakes.

The daughter looked at her father's appearance, and she felt that her father was no longer the gentle and elegant researcher he used to be, but a rough man.She curled up in the corner of the room and never dared to speak again.

"I'm sorry, baby, forget this dream, forget these words, forget them completely, and never think about them again. No one will disturb you." Bai Zhengqiu hugged his daughter's head and held her Holding him in his arms, the unique smell of his daughter and her soft hair reminded him of something again.He shook his head, let go of his daughter, and just looked at her face blankly.

The daughter nodded, as if she had been wronged. After a while, she suddenly said: "Father, I want to paint." My daughter studied watercolor painting. When she was very young, Bai Zhengqiu discovered that she had a talent for painting. She has always asked her teacher to teach her how to draw, and now she has no problems with simple watercolors and sketches. Bai Zhengqiu stipulated that she should draw a picture every day during the summer vacation.

This time, what my daughter wanted to draw was a boulevard, so I copied it according to the watercolor painting in the art book.The daughter first draws the basic lines with a light pencil, then draws the outline in the frame of the line, and then paints the color with a watercolor brush.

The daughter quickly drew the outline with a light pencil, but Bai Zhengqiu found that something was wrong. He carefully looked at the picture in the book, and it was completely different from the outline drawn by his daughter.But he didn't make a sound, he quietly watched his daughter paint, and then, the daughter began to outline the lines of the scene in the picture.Gradually, his daughter's painting began to take shape. To his surprise, this was not the tree-lined avenue that his daughter should draw at all, but a horizon.

An open horizon, what appears to be a vast wasteland and sky.That's right, Bai Zhengqiu could see very clearly that what his daughter drew was not the path in the art book at all.

Bai Zhengqiu wants to correct his daughter's mistakes, but is this really a mistake?The daughter did it on purpose, he thought of the dream her daughter had last night.He didn't speak, just observed quietly.The daughter adjusted the color in the palette, mainly vermilion plus some brown-black, and it turned into a deep red close to purple, just like the color of blood plasma.Then, the daughter licked the color with the tip of the pen, and carefully drew it on the 8-carat lead drawing paper.The daughter is very skilled in using watercolor brushes, and soon, the painting was completed. Yes, this is a wasteland, with some broken stones and gravel, and some incomplete mounds in the wasteland.

During the whole process of his daughter's painting, Bai Zhengqiu didn't say a word, just quietly watched his daughter draw out a piece of wilderness.

This wasteland was familiar to him, and it reminded him of something again.

The daughter held up the painting, smiled and said, "Dad, I'm going to stick this painting on the wall."

Bai Zhengqiu didn't speak, he did as his daughter said, and pasted the painting on the center of the wall in his daughter's room. Looking at the painting on the wall, he suddenly took a few steps back, feeling a little strange in his mind. As if the wall with the paintings was about to press down on him, he instinctively leaned back and put his hands in front of him to block it.This action surprised him, how could he feel this way?Maybe it was too hot, it was just a painting, he shook his head, and exited his daughter's room.

During this long day, spent with difficulty in the heat wave, Bai Zhengqiu did not write many words in his dissertation, and the traces left by those Xianbei and Hun cavalry on the land of the Central Plains have almost disappeared, as if they did not write at all. It's like it didn't exist in this world.

His wife left work early, and she and Bai Zhengqiu worked in the same archaeological research institute.In fact, they were classmates in college, the same department, the same archeology major, and they were assigned to the same unit after graduation. It seemed that they were destined to be a pair, which was somewhat enviable at the time.When she got home, she went to the kitchen to cook many of her husband's favorite dishes. The smell of meat gradually wafted from the kitchen, but Bai Zhengqiu felt a little restless and restless for no reason.

When it was finally time to serve the food, my wife took out a piece of birthday cake that she had bought after get off work. She carefully inserted 40 candles and lit them one by one.She turned off the light in the room, and 40 candles flickered in the dark room, and the faces of the family of three were reddened by the candlelight.

"Make a wish." The wife said softly.

What's the point?Bai Zhengqiu thought about it carefully. Although he was a little uneasy, he finally calmed down and silently wished his daughter a safe life.

Then, he took a deep breath, and just as he was about to blow it to the candle, his daughter suddenly called out: "Dad, I feel bad." Then she opened the door and rushed into the bathroom.Bai Zhengqiu hastily followed behind. He saw his daughter vomited, and spit all the lunch into the toilet.

"What's the matter? Has the lunch spoiled? I said to put all the food in the refrigerator. Why do you keep forgetting it?" His wife blamed Bai Zhengqiu.

The daughter's face was ugly and she complained of a stomachache.Bai Zhengqiu said: "Send your daughter to the hospital to have a look."

"Blow out the candles before leaving, today is your birthday." His wife insisted on having a complete birthday for him.

He shook his head, as if he had made up his mind: "No need, let's take my daughter to the hospital first."

The family of three walked out of the room, and the candles continued to be lit until the cream cake was burned and slowly melted together with the cream.

Half an hour later, Bai Zhengqiu and his wife took their daughter to the hospital. They took their temperature and did some simple examinations. The results showed that their daughter's body was completely normal. She was very healthy and had no illnesses.

"Baby, what's wrong with you?" Bai Zhengqiu asked his daughter in confusion amidst the unique smell of the hospital.

"Father, I'm not sick." The daughter said with a smile.

The wife shook her head and said, "Go home."

The road at night is still relatively cool. Some people sleep outside all night. The moonlight is also very bright this night, shining on the shadows of a family of three.The way back home from the hospital is very short, and soon, I will be home after crossing the road.

Green light.

They walked on the crosswalk, the daughter walked quickly, bouncing across the road, the wife was a little worried, and quickly caught up with the daughter, leaving behind Bai Zhengqiu who was walking slowly.

Bai Zhengqiu was still walking slowly on the crossroads at the intersection.Suddenly, he heard something ringing in his ears.He looked at his wife who was already on the sidewalk. She looked back at him in a daze, her lips were tightly closed, and her daughter was still bouncing around.

The voice seemed to come from the bottom of his heart, and it seemed to come from a very distant place.But he could hear it clearly, as if the voice belonged to him alone, and that voice repeated a simple and ancient syllable-MUYO over and over again.

——MUYO——MUYO——

MUYO—this word again, instantly filled his eardrums and his whole body, he knew the meaning of this word, he knew that this time he was doomed, after so many years, this day finally came.It was the only syllable in his ears, as if it had taken up the whole world, so that he didn't hear the sound of a truck driver panicking at the sight of him as he turned a small turn and honking his horn desperately.

It was too late, and his wife found that he had been parked motionless at the intersection until the red light in the other direction turned green, and a truck carrying several tons of cement roared and turned this way.The wife seemed to have some kind of foreboding, and she started screaming, but it was too late.

When Bai Zhengqiu finally turned his head away, a strong light made him unable to open his eyes.A few seconds later, when he saw clearly, he found that he had already flown up, yes, like a light bird, soaring high, he saw clearly the big truck, the driver was sitting In the cab, he stared blankly ahead.Bai Zhengqiu found that the corner of his mouth was also bleeding, his spine might have been broken, and he felt that he began to descend again.Daughter, he looked for his daughter in the rapidly changing scenery around him, and finally, at the moment before he was about to land, he saw his daughter, standing on the side of the road, looking at him with wide eyes, goodbye, daughter, okay Live on, you'll be a pretty girl, just like—her.

Bai Zhengqiu fell to the ground, the color of his brain was like the color his daughter had mixed in the palette.

The wife screamed loudly, her voice was hoarse, and her shrill voice, which she had foreseen, penetrated the sky and stimulated her daughter's heart.The daughter could only say silently—Father, farewell.

(End of this chapter)