Give a bellflower to the drowning ghost

09

The rangers resumed their daily routine.

He got up from the mattress he had used for more than ten years, stepped over the game console on the floor, opened the door and walked out.

As Wang Ze said, the distance between the lake and the ranger cabin is not far.

He didn't wear shoes. He had walked this road countless times, so that he had clearly memorized where the weeds and tree roots would not hurt his soles. The wet soil deformed with his steps, leaving Not deep and not shallow footprints.

The ranger walked to the edge of the lake.

Borrowing the morning sun, he took off his pajamas and pajama pants, and hung them on the tree trunk beside him.

Then, he stepped into the lake without hesitation.

10

The lake water is not very clear in summer.

The quality of water can only be truly felt when it is integrated into the water.

When the water overflowed the soles of the feet, it was like being slapped on the feet by an urchin, and when the water overflowed the chest, it was like being caught by a wall.

When the water overflows the head.

The ranger bent his legs, hugged his knees, buried his head between his knees, and let himself be completely submerged in the water.

It's like being away from the whole world.

There is only the sound of the lake surging in my ears, everything is different from the shore, even my own body seems to have been replaced by someone.

It's like having reached the underworld.

11

The ranger's feet were caught.

He was taken aback, and the remaining air in his lungs was lost in the water due to fright. He instinctively wanted to kick his legs, but the other party pinched the tender meat on the inner thigh as expected.

He calmed down and surfaced.

Taking a deep breath of fresh air at the same time, was Wang Ze. He was wet, still wearing a shirt and trousers, and only his shoes were left indiscriminately on the shore, under the tree where the forest ranger hung his clothes.

Wang Ze looked extremely embarrassed, he patted the water surface and cursed: "What are you doing?!"

The ranger said, "Take a shower."

Wang Ze's voice was so high-pitched that people worried that his throat would break: "You take a bath in this kind of place?!"

The ranger said: "It's summer now, swimming in the lake will not catch cold."

He crossed Wang Ze, swam to the shore, and stepped on the dirt again.

Wang Ze looked at his body out of the water.

The untrimmed hair was wet and stuck to the neck, exposing the shoulders and scapular muscles, and then the waist, buttocks and thighs. The first forest ranger sat down on the shore. In the morning light, the wet skin seemed to emit a faint light.

His demeanor was so natural that Wang Ze felt that he, who was wearing clothes, was the one who needed to be embarrassed.

The ranger said calmly: "I realized it. You mean, I shouldn't swim in a lake where people have died."

Wang Ze took off his soaked shirt and sat near the ranger: "...Actually, I just thought you were committing suicide."

The ranger smiled: "I won't do this kind of thing."

Wang Ze calmed down: "Then would you do that kind of thing? Swim in a lake where someone committed suicide not long ago?"

The ranger said: "Why not? Don't we all live on the earth where countless animals and plants die?"

Twelve

The ranger led Wang Ze back to the hut to change clothes.

"I thought you wouldn't come here again," the ranger said as he walked.

Wang Ze was silent for a moment: "I apologize for what I said last time."

The ranger didn't look back.

Wang Ze brushed his wet hair back: "I... I care about his death very much, I mean the writer who committed suicide in the lake... I used to feel that life was unloved for a while, it was his death. The works and characters inspired me and let me find my new meaning of existence. However, why the person who wrote that kind of work would choose to commit suicide in this kind of place, I can't believe it... No, I should say I can't understand... I really can't let go of this matter, if I don't understand this matter, I can't move on, so I..."

The ranger said: "He committed suicide, and the police also judged it after investigation. If you don't understand why he committed suicide, you can ask the people he had dated with before his death."

Wang Yao said: "I know! I've searched for everything! Whether it's the police colleagues or his former classmates, I've searched! But they don't know, he seems to live alone without any relatives or friends. of……"

Just like you.

The only difference is that one is in the city and the other is in the mountains.

The ranger said, "I really don't understand."

Wang Ze couldn't react in time: "What?"

The ranger continued to walk forward, stepping on the footprints when he came here with incomparable accuracy: "You people, since you like him so much, worship him, and care about him, why are you so eager to understand him after his death? he?"

The ranger turned his head and smiled at Wang Ze: "I guess, you didn't even know his real name before he died, right?"

"If you don't know him at all, please don't rummage around in the name of remembering him."

"You came here just to find another reason to live, right?"

After the ranger gave Wang Ze his clean clothes, he saw off the guests.

13

Ten days later, the summer downpour came.

The forest ranger has increased the frequency of patrols, and will appear in the forest every day wearing heavy raincoats and rain boots, just like some ghosts that some parents use to scare children, but he never cares about this, he lives here alone, Appearance and adornment are only things that human society needs.

So when he returned to the ranger cabin, both he and Wang Ze were startled by each other at the same time.

Wang Ze was drenched all over. He had angered the ranger a few times before, and he was really embarrassed to go into the house and wet the other party's house, so he could only hold an umbrella under the dilapidated eaves to avoid the rain. Even so, he still Wet all over, looking very pitiful, and surprised by the ranger who appeared like a wizard.

The ranger let him in, gave him another set of clothes, and didn't expect the young master to return the clothes he had cherished for a few years.

The ranger gave Wang Ze hot tea in a stainless steel cup: "Why are you here in this weather?"

"I've figured it out!" Wang Ze said hastily: "I know it's too late for me to get to know him now, but I'm going to try to get to know you!"

It was the first time that the ranger had seen someone who could speak so politely about investigating privacy.

Wang Ze said: "I know he committed suicide, and his death has nothing to do with you! But I also know that he entered this mountain two days before he threw himself into the lake. I don't care about it, I know it! So you will know why he committed suicide..."

The ranger raised the corner of his mouth: "Then how do you know that I am interested in answering your questions?"

"You'll definitely tell me, because you don't want people around you all day," Wang Ze said, adding, "without cake."

The ranger smiled and said nothing.

At least until the rain stops, he told himself.