Candle [Rebirth]

After that day, Zhaowu lay on the hospital bed in a daze for several days. .

He had been hungry for too long before and was beaten again. He was so weak that he couldn't get out of bed for several days.When he finally regained some consciousness, someone happened to be sitting in front of his bed. He didn't open his eyes, listening drowsily.The voice was not unfamiliar, it belonged to his adoptive father, and the other person was unknown, it must be a member of the adoptive father's family.

One person said: "Look at this child, he is really bewitched. I'm afraid he won't get better... Before leaving, the Taoist priest asked me to lock him up in the ancestral hall and starve him quietly for a few days. I don’t know if I’m still alive.”

The other person replied: "You don't care about him, what if he doesn't listen to the Taoist priest's words and attracts evil spirits to us? Let me lock him up for a few days and send him to the remote village of his cousin as soon as possible. He will die on his own, who made him mess with something he shouldn't have..."

"But……"

"I can't be soft-hearted! He has been raised by us for so many years. He was supposed to be an official through the imperial examination to earn us some face. What happened? Look at it now, it's useless at all! It's not as good as that bastard from the Erfang family. , I see it is a piece of material for reading... At least there is a blood relative, so there is no worries..."

"Oh, that's all I can do..."

He was given some ginseng soup and then thrown into the room again.In the past few days, no one has come to see him. His adoptive parents saw that he was useless, so they cut off their unnecessary care. I don't know where I went.

With the last of his strength, he got out of bed, stumbled and rushed out of the house, screaming as he ran.The servants thought he was bewitched by evil spirits, so they didn't stop him, and let him go all the way to the Flower God Temple.Since the news of the haunted Huashen Temple spread, the incense has also decreased a lot. I heard that the townspeople are considering moving the Huashen Temple to a better place, but they haven't done anything about it.

Zhaowu knelt down in front of the flower god statue, knocked viciously a few times, his voice was choked and hoarse: "Flower Goddess, where did she go?"

"Is she going to die..."

"It's all my fault, it's all my fault!"

He kowtowed repeatedly until he was dizzy, and after an unknown amount of time, he suddenly heard a young man speaking: "Don't worry, she's not dead."

Zhao Wu straightened up abruptly, but saw a man wearing a bamboo hat sitting on top of the statue.The man was dressed in green clothes, the long veil was fluttering like a fairy, he was holding a flute or a flute in his hand, he looked chic and unrestrained, but his face was very vague in Zhao Wu's memory, so several people couldn't see his face clearly.

Seeing him looking up, the man jumped off the statue lightly: "I rescued her, and I've been waiting for you for the past few days.

The man looked at the young man, but his voice was calm, Zhao Wu didn't care about it, he just said in a hurry: "Really?"

The man seemed to stare at him carefully for a while, before he smiled lightly and said, "Naturally."

"That……"

"I came here today to ask you for her," the man sighed, and seemed to say regretfully, "You are originally human and ghost, and fate depends on force. If she wants to be with you, she must Give up some of your own things, let me ask you, will you not abandon her no matter what she has given up and what she has become?"

"Yes." Zhaowu replied without hesitation, "No matter what she becomes, I will never abandon her."

"Very good," the man replied quickly, reached out to pick up the newly offered tea on the table, and poured him a cup of tea, "You wait here, when the tea cools down, she will come to see you."

There was a tall candlestick next to the statue of the Flower God, and hundreds of candles were lit. Zhaowu sat on the futon with tea in his hands and stared at the candles.The tea in his palm cooled down bit by bit, and just when he was about to despair, thinking that the man was lying to him, the door of the Temple of Flowers was suddenly pushed open.

With a thought, Zhao Wu shook his hand, and the teacup fell to the ground and shattered.The visitor seemed to be Hua Chao, but it didn't seem to be. The pink and purple dress was covered with a huge coat, covering her head and face.

"Little five..."

She called out, her voice hoarse and vicissitudes, she seemed to be 20 years older.Zhao Wu climbed up from the futon, ran towards her happily, and was about to call her name when she suddenly took off her hood.

The blue hair bloomed overnight.

The long hair that was once shiny and black and belonged to a girl no longer exists, replaced by a head of dry and snow-white hair, affectionate eyes, delicate red lips, and white jade-like skin... It has become dry and dry after unbearable years of torture. Pale and wrinkled.

A girl with the most beautiful eyes in the world.

An old woman with white hair.

"You..." Zhao Wu was so surprised that he couldn't speak, and took several steps back, "You..."

"I made a deal with a human," the old woman smiled at him, wrinkles accumulated at the corners of her mouth, "Humans and ghosts have different ways, I want to be with you, I have to turn myself into a human, but I want to be a human Paying the price of my youth..."

She took a step forward and said with a wry smile: "Xiao Wu, we can be together now, aren't you happy?"

"You..." There was a bloody smell in his throat, Zhao Wu was almost dizzy, as if he was scratching his heart with sharp claws.

How can it be, how can it be like this?Why give something so precious to yourself?Even though there is a distance of nine mountains between us, I should... let me walk to you, I should pay the price, I should bear the consequences, I don't need you...

You don't need to do this, hurt yourself.

Just as he was about to speak, the blood that had accumulated in his chest the past few days surged up recklessly, Zhao Wu's eyes went dark, his feet went limp, and he passed out.Consciousness was blurred, only a voice in my heart was shouting - no, no, no!

When he woke up again, there was no trace of Hua Chao in front of his eyes.

Zhao Wu looked around in a daze, but only saw the man who couldn't see his face clearly during the day. When he woke up, the man took a few steps closer and said in a playful voice, "I knew it would be like this."

Before he could speak, the man continued: "My love, without youth, beauty, and everything that attracted you back then, what is there to keep? She has become like this now, You don't have to think too much, just go home and be your young master."

Zhao Wu's eyes widened, and he grabbed the man's arm, his voice was hoarse and cracked: "Where is she...?"

"What do you want her for?" The man said impatiently, "She has become like this, what else is worth your nostalgia, you..."

"You... It's you... Did she make a deal with you?" Zhao Wu didn't let go, grabbed him tightly, and said word by word, "You...give her her youth back!"

The man smiled disdainfully: "She forced it to me, why should I give it back to her?"

"Give it back to her...take it away, mine!" Zhao Wu almost bit his tongue, "I'll give it to you, my youth... you give it back to her, give it back to her!"

The man's laughter stopped now, and he asked suspiciously, "What did you say?"

He seemed to have activated some spiritual energy, threw Zhao Wu away, got up and walked around him twice, and suddenly grabbed his collar in anger: "You don't care?"

"Cough... Let go..." Zhao Wu's forehead was covered with cold sweat, he was so weak that he could hardly speak, "I don't care! Just don't hurt her, take mine... I hurt her, I hurt her , you take mine! Give it back to her!"

"Why don't you care?"

The man threw him down angrily, as if he was extremely puzzled and annoyed, he turned around twice like a headless chicken, and repeated like crazy: "Why don't you care?"

Why don't you care?

When we first met, who didn't have crescent eyebrows like distant mountains, hair like flowing clouds, who didn't have youth, and who didn't have youth.These glamorous things, like shining golden signboards, are born to be loved, and... then what?

Then the years flew by, the beauties were late, and all the good things became old things, and what was left to each other was oldness and decay after deterioration.At this time, what is it that supports each other to go on?

Zhao Wu hugged his leg tightly, and the hot emotion in his chest burned his heart over and over again, leaving burnt marks: "I beg you! Please...give it back to her!"

The man kicked him away, turned into anger, and said viciously: "Return her? It's a good idea! I can't return her. If you want to find her, turn yourself into a ghost!"

"Hahahahaha, I don't care..." The man roared and laughed, like a complete lunatic, "Crazy, crazy, how can there be such a person in this world..."

He stumbled and walked out, and just a few steps away, the smile froze on his face.

Zhao Wu, who was behind him, got up and knocked down the tall candlestick with his body. The candles fell on the incense oil like a rain of fire, making the flames dazzling.

The thick smoke made Zhaowu unable to open his eyes, and the heat wave swept over him, making him feel like every drop of blood in his body would be dried.He was clutching his chest, and fell slumped in front of the desk, his finger was cut by the teacup that was just broken, which happened to be convenient, he gave a low laugh, and continued to write stroke by stroke on the ground.

On the first day we met, the girl in a pink and purple long dress, with water-cut eyes, was as picturesque as a picture.That day was the second day of February, the morning was sunny and the night was quiet. A pink-purple hibiscus flower fell in his palm—he remembered every detail so clearly.

"The color is beautiful on the second day of February, and the flowers are swimming together..."

"Quie ye cold new tea..."

The soul seems to have drifted away from the body, and there seems to be exclamations and curses outside the flames soaring into the sky, but those are all things in the world.

"The lonely soul returns to its hometown..."

"Young man, don't go..."

He has fantasized about the warmth countless times since he was a child, and finally holds it firmly in the palm of his hand. Even if the other party is not even human, so what?There are countless people around him, hypocritical and submissive, wearing masks to disguise themselves, mingling in the indifferent world, stingy with a little bit of sincerity.

Stop being human...

It is better for us to be lonely ghosts together than to be separated from each other in the world and never see each other again.

I'm here to find you, and I'll take you to ancient Chang'an.

The fire burned through the foundations and continued overnight.According to the legend, it was cursed by the Goddess of Flowers, all the flowers in Xiahe withered overnight, and no more flowers could be planted since then.

After dawn, there was only a piece of charred ruins in front of people. Everything in Zhaowu and Huashen Temple was reduced to ashes. A group of crows screamed and screamed, and dropped a pink and purple hibiscus flower in the ruins.

Just don't go, boy——

Only the crow that flew back into the sky remained.