Chapter 67: Can’t you say what you said in the past now?
Mr. Yangke’s cemetery is located outside the city of Linville, in a suburban cemetery. It has a beautiful name, Itni. The incomplete information left over from the Genesis period shows that this ancient name is probably "eternity".
The ancestors used it to refer to death. Later, the believers of the Death Prayer Society used it to build the largest public cemetery in modern times, where the bones of the deceased were collected and buried voluntarily without any fees. p>
Perhaps because they were worried about disturbing the deceased's sleep, the route of the steam train did not pass through this place, so the three Ringers had to take a carriage to Etney Cemetery. As the wheels rolled over the stone road, making a rumbling sound, Ellie
Si looked past the car window and saw a building with a gray and black tone as the main tone, and couldn't help but be attracted by it.
Its architectural style is very exquisite in many details, with a solemn texture. It should be a religious building such as a church, but the overall atmosphere is very depressing, whether it is the cross-shaped main hall, which is guarded by several spires buttresses.
The side hall, the majestic bell tower, and the stained glass windows with colorful images are all extremely dim and low-pitched in color, and the gray-black surface has a faint cold light, giving it a very solemn feeling.
Occasionally, one or two monks in black robes can be seen coming in and out of the side door. Both men and women wear black turbans and very unique beak masks, with only a pair of eyes exposed. Most of the people walking inside and outside the building have sad expressions and are depressed.
The sound of her sobbing lingered in her dream, and Alice seemed to see things like hearses and coffins placed in the courtyard, which made people's hair stand on end.
"Hey, Ringer!" She tugged on the sleeves of the young man next to her and lowered her voice and asked, "Is that a crematorium?"
"..."
Ringer was speechless for a moment, and then told her the correct answer: "It's the bone sacrificial church of the Death Prayer Society."
"It's really a church."
Alice muttered: "Why does it look like a crematorium?"
Ringer continued calmly: "Because it does have similar responsibilities, providing free cremation services to poor people who cannot afford the fee, and finding a place of peace for them in Etni Cemetery.
Even for homeless people and beggars on the street, their death affairs are all taken care of by the Death Prayer Society and have nothing to do with the Kingdom’s Department of Public Works.”
His eyes moved away from the solemn but depressing bone chapel, and slowly fell on the cemetery gate not far away. He casually mentioned some related anecdotes: "The total area of Etni Cemetery exceeds the municipal
The square is the largest public building in Linville. It is said that when it was still in the project approval stage, someone once wanted to buy this land to build a factory. They had bribed city officials, but in the end they were forcefully rejected.
An official was also dismissed."
"Believers in the Death Prayer Society pray for the innocent souls here. They are also the managers of this cemetery. They treat the ashes buried under every inch of land equally and do not treat them differently based on their status in life. Therefore, many people
Fear those who wear beak masks, but also respect them. Of course, it is more of the former. There is a data that can prove: in addition to the relatives who come to express condolences to the deceased, in the churches of the seven righteous gods, death prayer meetings are held
The flow of people has always been the lowest."
He paused for a moment, then withdrew his gaze: "Both life and death are things that people fear, but our fear of the latter is far greater than our respect for the former."
Alice listened with relish. When Ringer finished his last words, the carriage stopped just outside the iron gate of the cemetery. The weather was sunny today, the temperature had risen, and the cemetery was sunny in the afternoon, but there were not many people.
, after all, it is a working day, and not every living person can spare time at any time to remember the deceased who has passed away.
Many times, the separation between life and death is not the annihilation of the heartbeat, but the cold reality.
As if infected by the solemn atmosphere lingering here, Alice, who had always been out of control, also restrained her temper and stayed where she was with Metien, watching Ringer register information in the reception room at the entrance of the cemetery, and then
He took a bouquet of white forget-me-nots from the hands of the silent prayer believers, turned around and waved to the two of them, then took Metien's little hand and chased after him.
Walking along the quiet and quiet stone road, you will be surrounded by a dense oak forest. The view above your head is blocked by the dark green leaves. Only a few white-gold lights squeeze through the gaps between the branches and leaves.
The ends of the branches hang down, forming transparent light pillars, swaying with flickering light spots on the ground covered with thick fallen leaves.
When Etni Cemetery was built, the first relatives of the deceased who were buried planted these oak trees with their own hands. Today, they have grown into towering trees. When the wind blows, there is the sound of waves flowing and washing.
A soul that has been soaked in the world for a long time. In those long-lasting songs, you may be able to hear the ravings of the dead.
It is said that some people regard these oak trees as the sustenance of the deceased in the world, but when they walk into this forest, they often drown themselves and cannot distinguish the appearance of their relatives.
After walking forward for about ten minutes, a gray-white stone forest suddenly burst into view. Cold and white stone monuments stood one by one. The cold and dead tone was incompatible with the surrounding oak forest, and it was hollow and isolated from the whole world.
Alice subconsciously slowed down her steps, and Metien also held her breath. Only Ringer's expression did not change. He walked steadily through the passage between the stone forests and led the two girls to Mr. Yang Ke's tombstone.
In front of him, he bent down slightly, placed the white forget-me-not in his hand in front of his tomb, and whispered:
"Mr. Yang Ke."
"Meteen and I are here to see you."
……
There is an epitaph on the tombstone: His years rest here.
The person who left this epitaph sincerely hopes that the respectable man just fell asleep. Maybe one day he will wake up and say to himself on the sunny afternoon in his memory: "I did a good job."
A long dream..."
Unfortunately, reality is a rationalist.
The afternoon wind blew slowly, and you could hear the sound of the waves standing here. There were birds chirping in the forest, and squirrels were chirping, which slightly relieved the dull and serious atmosphere here. After placing flowers on the tombstone, Ringer
He gave up his position and gave Metien time to express her emotions. After all, the main purpose of sweeping the grave this time was to comfort her bad mood.
The pink-haired little girl seemed to have accumulated a lot of words to say to her father, so much so that she kept talking incessantly. Ringer, who was standing not far away, vaguely heard "religious decrees", "closing churches", "travel" and the like
words, and even heard Alice’s name. The experiences during this period were so rich that perhaps I couldn’t finish them in a short while.
The maid standing side by side with Ringer poked his waist with her elbow: "Why don't you go and say a few words to Mr. Yang Ke?"
"Already said."
"Just that one sentence?"
"Yeah."
"Don't you have anything else to say?"
"There is no end to what I want to say." Lin Ge quietly looked at his sister who was squatting in front of the white tombstone, as if mumbling to herself. A cluster of solid sunlight was reflected in the depths of his eyes: "There was no such thing in the past.
If you say something, you won't say it in the future; if you won't say it in the future, you don't need to say it now. People are always used to postponing things that should be done, because they are lives dominated by sensibility."
Suddenly I became philosophical.
Alice didn't quite understand, so she couldn't think of anything to say in agreement or refutation.
But Ringer didn't originally say these words to get her answer. The young man just looked at his sister's back, maybe also at his father's tombstone, and fell into a certain memory in the past.
When Ringe was still young, but had already begun to learn to write, his father took him to stand at the door of the chapel and witnessed rays of light falling from the stained glass windows, cutting the shadows, forming mysterious and complex geometric patterns. He said
: "From now on, you will take my place as the pastor of Xinxin Church, right?"
Did he agree or refuse?
The door knocker that has not been eroded by mottled rust, the beams that spiders and ants still crawl over, the new bench that smells of oak, the glass patterns that have been cut into pieces, my father's questions, my own confusion, and the silent goddess
Like... all flicker in your mind, like the silhouette of time, passing through the gaps in the sunlight. You ignore them inadvertently, but you can see their figures in the gaps when you lower your head.
He suddenly said: "Medien."
The little girl who was telling her father how scary vampires are turned around subconsciously and blinked: "What's the matter, Ringer?"
"I forgot to ask for a bouquet of flowers for you." Ringer said: "Go to the cemetery manager to get it, and remember to say thank you to him."
"Okay!"
Medien agreed without hesitation, and did not ask Ringer why he didn't go get it. She stood up with a sigh, patted the dust on her skirt, and walked towards the way she came. Alice walked towards her
The figure from behind shouted: "Remember to get a bunch for me, Metien!"
As the maid of the Ringer family, she felt that she should also show some respect to Mr. Yang Ke.
Medien waved her hand to express receipt, and her petite figure quickly disappeared into the shadow of the oak forest. Then, Alice turned to look at Ringer next to her, wondering what he wanted to say to her when he deliberately sent his sister away.
.
Under her gaze, Lin Ge remained silent for a few minutes before slowly speaking: