Dream Guide

Aoki thought of the fire again. The flames shot high in the evening wind, like the hideous face of the God of Death. Black smoke filled the dark night, covering up a thick black blanket around the firelight.

He jumped up from the bed, put on his windbreaker, and didn't have time to change his shoes. He ran out wearing a slip-on board, but he tripped over the roots of a mulberry tree at the door.

The memory was interrupted again at this point, and all he could remember was the time when he stood under the old willow tree in Liuying Lane with a crow on his head.

These are not secrets, they are all known to Salading, so he did not set up a mental barrier and just unfolded them in Salading's dream.

He recalled how he came to the woolen mill, and connections were made with some new images.

He saw himself sitting on a bench, with handcuffs on his left hand, and the other end of the handcuffs was cuffed to the back of the chair. A big-nosed policeman asked him in a nasally Southern accent:

"From where? Where's the passport? Chinese, Japanese or Vietnamese?"

When it comes to the Vietnamese, the guy seems to be biting his tongue.

He asked a lot more questions, but Aoki didn't say a word. This made him very angry. He shouted loudly:

"Speak, you bastard! Don't think you can stay here and collect benefits without speaking. You bastards, do you want to become American citizens? Tell you, no way! I have seen many people like you, and we have plenty of ways to help you. Send you back. Speak quickly. If you speak a word of Japanese, we will send you back to Tokyo. If you speak a word of Chinese, we will send you to Beijing. You can go to Hong Kong if you want. As long as you admit that you are a Hong Konger, we will send you to Hong Kong. But you If you don’t say anything, I will send you to Cambodia and Phnom Penh to be a drug slave!”

Aoki still didn't speak until he got into the immigration car.

"Give me back my clothes and my crutches," he said in English.

The policeman was startled, probably because he didn't expect that his English was better than his own. The mixed-race policeman from Mississippi had a long face for no reason, uglier than the old Japanese melon, and sneered:

"You took advantage of someone's drunkenness to take off their clothes and put them on yourself, so you had the nerve to say those were your clothes? Do you know what your nature is? Fraud! Robbery! If that gentleman hadn't been unwilling to meet you. , you will spend the rest of your life in prison."

At this time, another policeman came over holding a plastic bag and said, "These are his clothes."

The big-nosed policeman was stunned and said, "He robbed this, how can you give it to him?"

The policeman said: "The gentleman said he gave it to him and asked me to bring him a message." Then he handed the bag to Aoki, "He asked me to tell you that there is no eternal right and wrong in this world. Hatred If we can’t solve the problem, even the Milky Way can’t last forever, let alone our short life, let’s go home.”

The corner of Aoki's mouth twitched, and the word "go home" was like two bullets, slamming into his heart.

But he couldn't remember where home was.

He put on his clothes silently, while the big-nosed policeman cursed dissatisfiedly:

"Bullshit doctor, bullshit assistant professor, bullshit genius! I almost forgot, that person is also an Asian! The officials of the Federal Ministry of Education and the Immigration Bureau are all bullshit. Why do they bring in so many Asian students every year and let them stay? Come down and teach, and let a bunch of bastard Asians teach our children, they eat shit! Sooner or later, Asians will rule the world!"

His words made the immigration official who accompanied the escort very dissatisfied. He glared at him and said, "If you are dissatisfied with the immigration policy, you can run for election as a member of Congress. It is best to become president and then amend the bill. If you don't have this ability, you can Shut up! Go back and ask your grandfather how he came to the United States. It’s really funny for an African to laugh at Asians.”

The big-nosed black policeman was like a rooster being grabbed by the neck, and he lost his temper after a while.

Aoki put on his windbreaker and jeans, put on his brand-new leather shoes, tidied his slightly messy hair, and stood up straight. The tramp instantly turned into a graceful gentleman.

He held out his hand and said, "And my walking stick."

"Crutch? What kind of crutch?" The policeman looked at him in confusion.

"A piece of wood, so long, so thick, and black." Aoki said.

"I didn't see it!" the policeman said impatiently, "Come on, come on, don't cause trouble!"

The person from the Immigration Bureau took out the document and took a look at it and said: "The list of items shows that he does have a... stick. This is his only belongings."

The policeman cursed "FUCK" and left. After a while, he came back with a black wooden stick and cursed: "You have to take back even a damn piece of wood. A poor guy is a poor guy, yellow-skinned guy." Pig, Asian guy!”

Aoki ignored him, took the stick and got into the immigration car.

However, he was not sent to Cambodia because there was no international airport in Cambodia at that time, and there were no American flights flying there. They sent him to Vietnam, which was mired in war. The Americans still occupied the last city there. After his plane landed, it immediately flew away carrying the evacuated American soldiers. Immediately afterwards, North Vietnamese tanks roared into the streets of Saigon.

Due to war and disease, the population there has dropped sharply, and there is an urgent need for labor replenishment. No one will refuse a strong black laborer without an ID card.

…

Pictures flashed in front of Qingmu frame by frame. He was holding a black knotted wooden stick, making nets at the fishing grounds on the seaside, logging in the forest farms in the mountains... He followed a group of barefoot short men across the border. He sold daily necessities in the chaotic Phnom Penh, then went north from there and wandered on the streets of Yangon.

His windbreaker and leather shoes are brand new. The jeans were probably too long, and the trouser leg underneath was cut short by the young professor from Princeton. The threads were left open, and the original shape of the bell mouth was no longer visible, and they became straight-leg trousers.

The leather shoes were stained with a lot of dust, but they were shiny with a light touch. The toe of the shoes was like a mirror that could reflect a person's face.

He is the cleanest homeless man in Yangon.

His mind was empty, he didn't know where he was going or where he could go. But there was always a hint of smell that tempted him, like a dog abandoned by his owner in a foreign land, persistently crawling on the ground to smell the smell of his hometown.

While heading north in Myanmar and Vietnam, he encountered a team buying marijuana and opium poppies. He followed them over several mountains and came to a place called Maxuba. He followed the smell and found the small temple in the mountain.

There are no monks in the temple, only a woman lives there.

The woman said: "You finally found me."

Aoki didn't know what to say, because he couldn't remember what to say, why he came here, and why he found it here.

The woman added: "You have already killed Beiye and sealed the Zhenwu dream. My husband has also died, leaving only my daughter and me. Why do you need to kill them all?"