"The name mustard particle comes from an old friend of mine who lives in seclusion. She explained it this way: mustard borrowed from Buddhism's mustard particle and sumeru, but from the perspective of the word combination, it is also taken from Taoism.
All things in life are united."
"Um."
"But what I want to tell you is not these things that you will understand sooner or later."
——"Old Dragon", Ao Xing
In the old town of Tiandu, the crowds in the nine alleys of North Street, where the night is about to begin, have not diminished. With the students finishing classes at the Tiandu Drama Academy, the narrow roads have entered daily congestion hours.
At the corner of the middle section, Lao Zhao, who runs a candied haws shop, was making candied haws as usual, swaying freely to the rhythm of the main theme song on his mobile phone.
Outside the store, a familiar figure flashed past.
"Um?"
Lao Zhao stopped what he was doing and looked a few times in the direction where the figure disappeared. His wife behind him asked curiously:
"Old guy, what did you see?"
"It's nothing. There was a very sensible young man a few months ago. He was always wearing a mask. I seemed to have seen him just now."
"Ah, you mean the one with his sister?"
"Yes, yes, hiss... strange."
"What's wrong?"
"He didn't seem to be wearing a mask just now. No wonder I..."
"uncle."
"Hey! Hello! Which one do you want to eat?"
The voice at the counter pulled the owner, Lao Zhao, in front of him, a blond girl with blue eyes was happily choosing candied haws.
Old Zhao squinted his eyes and then recognized the girl.
Isn’t she the foreign girl who once asked Lao Cha about the location of Xushan?!
"over."
"What?"
Lao Zhao turned his head and looked at his wife behind him, talking in Chinese Mandarin without any scruples.
"Lao Cha is on duty today, and I can't speak foreign languages!"
"It's okay, I can speak Chinese Mandarin."
"Um?!"
The blond girl was wearing a butterfly-themed blue-purple dress, and her fluent Mandarin made Lao Zhao's mind stop for a moment.
Didn't she know how to speak before?! In the past few months...she can speak so well?!
"Ah, oh, oh, then I feel relieved. Come on, have you chosen the candied haws you want to eat?"
"Hmm...it still tastes like cream. It tasted quite delicious last time."
The girl's answer confirmed her identity. The shop owner, Lao Zhao, handed a candied haws of butter to the girl, looked at her appearance and shook his head helplessly.
Times have really changed, and today’s children are not simple...
Watching the girl skipping away in a familiar direction, a certain dizziness suddenly came over her.
The world in his eyes was suddenly filled with disgusting white light and distortion, and he was so stunned that he sat directly on the ground inside the counter.
He covered his head, and under the anxious care of his wife, he held his head for more than ten seconds and finally recovered to a mental state that was just enough for normal actions.
"I……"
"What's wrong with you? Don't scare me!"
"It's nothing, don't just yell about it!"
Lao Zhao waved his arms several times, drove away his concerned wife with a grumpy attitude, and then stood up from the ground with force.
This was the way men expressed their feelings in that era.
"Okay, okay, go ahead and do what you have to do, don't let the syrup burn!"
Lao Zhao was holding on to the edge of the wall behind him indifferently, waving his hands angrily to drive his
wife.
Blinking replaced the urge to reach out and cover your head.
In the middle of the sea of people, a girl licking candied haws was drifting happily with the waves, but the parts that came into contact with humans silently turned into blue-purple butterflies.
Just like, he hates humans touching his body.
"Aren't you going to treat me tonight?"
"I'm afraid you'll lose your appetite."
"Then I invite you?"
"Wait a while, are you hungry?"
"good."
In the Moat Park at the end of the 9th alley of North Street, Lin Shuwen and Ao Xing, who met for the second time, looked like grandfathers and grandsons, and sat on the grass beside the moat, one on the left and the other on the right.
Staring at the sinking sun.
"You have changed a lot during this time."
"The more I have experienced, the more I have become. When I was a child, I was always tired of the carefree and peaceful life. Now that I have grown up, I feel that I can have a group of friends who are always with me, and play and go around like salted fish every day.
Live a life of neither poverty nor wealth..."
Lin Shuwen curled up his knees, his arms hanging down naturally on both sides, pulling out weeds.
"You can live like that now, but when you don't have a mission, you can still..."
"The point is, the friends who are always by your side."
Lin Shuwen put a weed root in his mouth and bit it slowly and hard like he was grinding his teeth.
"No one will always be with you..."
"Then just let them live well, but, hehehe..."
Only in front of Ao Xing, the guide and elder, would Lin Shuwen let his sensibility temporarily occupy the high ground of his thoughts.
This young man, who was only twenty-two years old, laughed silently, his sad eyes full of the shadows of those two things that had passed away.
"Accept."
"Um?"
The sudden concise answer made Lin Shuwen look at Ao Xing, who was standing with his right leg curled up. The old man with white hair was looking at him with a teacher's smile.
"In life, you have to accept many things before you can continue on. This truth was told to me by an old friend of mine who told me how to name "mustard particles"."
At the beginning of the topic, Ao Xing talked about the naming process of mustard particles in a serious tone. Finally, he stopped this "introduction" in one sentence:
"But what I want to tell you is not these things that you will understand sooner or later."
The sun blended into the hazy sky, and the bright red glow was bright and magnificent, seeming to cover the entire sky.
Ao Xing guided Lin Shuwen to gaze at this mixed magnificence, his face under the red light full of expectation.
"There is no need to anxiously search for your own definition. Only after you pass away will this definition be set for you by others. Before that, you just need to "accept" it, not "accept" but "accept"
"."
"You should be able to understand the meaning of this word, right?"
"Um."
Lin Shuwen stared at the sky under the setting sun. He might have understood something, or he might not have grasped something.
Finally, he lay down on the grass and let his thoughts go.
"What do you want to eat?"
"I want to watch it for a while."
"Um."
Behind the grandfather and grandson, the blond and blue-eyed girl sat on the grass in a generous manner. There was no illusion of butterflies, no deliberate dodging, and she felt different from being in a crowd.
The girl clasped her hands together, and in the folded hands was a key-shaped cross hanging around her neck. She closed her eyes, and the words she muttered silently were in a language that cannot be understood by humans:
"My father, your daughter is always grateful for your wisdom and charity, and she is always fulfilling the great task you have given her. At this moment, the Silver Key has opened the door, and your daughter has met you as a charity.
The light of hope, the "darkness" respected by my father, please forgive Senam's daughter for her stupidity, and please give me a little more time."
The strange prayer has come to an end, and together with it, there are several human beings who have fallen into coma and madness. They have been driven by curiosity to eavesdrop on the prayers, perhaps due to hormonal stimulation, or perhaps simply.
desire for knowledge.
The girl remained calm and knelt down on the grass with a serious expression, facing the direction of the man lying on the ground looking at the sky.
Like a devout nun facing a statue of God.
"Let's go."
Lin Shuwen saw the moment when the red clouds were fading. He stood up from the grass, bent down and picked up the absent-minded Ao Xing, and then walked towards North Street Ninth Lane with half of his body.
Suddenly, Lin Shuwen, who was passing by the girl, seemed to have received some kind of compulsion, and subconsciously looked at her who was kneeling beside him.
"Abby...hiss...yu...um..."
As if dusty memories exploded in his mind, Lin Shuwen pressed his temples, and the feeling he felt when he was pulled into a dreamland not long ago came to him again.
But this time, it only lasted less than ten seconds. With the figure of the girl suddenly disappearing at a certain moment, Lin Shuwen's spirit gradually returned to normal.
"Well..."
"Give it a moment, give it a moment!"
The urgent shouting drew Lin Shuwen's attention. Having just regained his energy, he looked towards the place where the crowd was gathered. Several humans who were unconscious or dancing were being put on stretchers by the medical staff who had just arrived, and they were quickly heading to the ambulance parked at the exit.
deliver.
"Ao Xing."
"All I know is that something was here."
Ao Xing shook his head with a complicated expression, and took Lin Shuwen's hand as if he was escaping, pulling him away from the increasingly crowded place.
He believed that this child would not turn into that kind of heartless alien god, and he was also willing to believe that this child was not a fake.
But reality...
"Shuwen."
"Um."
"nothing."
The behavior of hesitating to speak comes from the "blindness" of an elder towards his beloved younger generation.
Ao Xing just held Lin Shuwen's hand tightly and silently walked against the crowd of people in the nine alleys of North Street.
""Old Dragon.""
"Um."
"If I really encounter the worst ending, I hope you can take good care of Aike for me."
In front of a fast food restaurant, the two of them stopped at the same time because of these words. Ao Xing had a gloomy face, stretched out his hand to rub the bridge of his nose a few times, and took a deep breath:
"You can raise your own daughter by yourself!"
"But you have to deal with the children you value by yourself, right?"
The swinging identity, the biggest threat that is constantly moving, and the links of truth and falsehood, suspicion and trust.
Even if Ao Xing is willing to believe in the child he values, facing an enemy he feels powerless against, can this young boy really find and hold on to that "heart"?
No one can guarantee it, and no one can predict it.
"Promise me that you will definitely "accept" and "accept" thoughtfully!"
"yes."
"Okay! Damn it! Don't say anything anymore! Let's go! Let's go eat!"
"yes!!"
As the lanterns came on, two figures finally appeared in the crowd of people playing together.