Yellowed notes
The bluestone pavement of the old alley was gleaming with morning dew. Lu Ye, Chen Zhe, and Lele walked back to the tailor shop, holding the stuffed rabbit he had assembled. Lele's little hands tightly grasped the corner of Lu Ye's clothes, but her eyes were fixed on the rabbit. "Brother Lu Ye, is Sister Xiaoya really home? Can she still see the rabbit that Grandma made?"
Lu Ye squatted down and touched Lele's head. His fingertips brushed against the child's soft hair, and he suddenly remembered last winter, when Qi Chen had squatted like this on the edge of the playground at Qiming Middle School, talking to Xiaoyu's younger brother. Qi Chen's voice was soft, yet reassuring: "As long as you remember it in your heart, you will see it."
"Yes," Lu Ye said with a smile, "Sister Xiaoya will be watching from heaven, seeing Lele grow up well and seeing that grandma's rabbit has a new home."
The glass cabinet of the tailor shop was polished to a shine. Chen Zhe carefully placed the stuffed rabbit inside. Next to it was the sewing box left by Grandma Chen. "Oh, right," Chen Zhe suddenly remembered and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from the drawer. "I was sorting through Grandma's old things the other day and found this. It says 'Old Lane Bookstore, where Ah Mo's notes are hidden.' I don't know what it means."
Lu Ye took the note, and just as his fingertips touched the paper, the soul-calming bell on his collar suddenly rang. Qi Chen's outline became clearer in the bell, and his voice was vaguely remembered: "A-Mo... I think it's my master's name... He used to run a bookstore in the old alley..."
"Your master?" Lu Ye's heart skipped a beat. He had only heard Qi Chen mention his master once. He said that his master disappeared when he was fifteen, leaving behind only a soul-calming bell and a notebook for the underworld.
Chen Zhe nodded. "There is indeed a second-hand bookstore in the middle of the old alley. It has been there since the Republican era. The owner's surname was Mo. Later, for some unknown reason, it suddenly closed down. I heard that the store is haunted and no one dares to go near it."
In the afternoon, Lu Ye asked Chen Zhe to help look after Lele while he, carrying the note and the soul-calming bell, headed towards the middle of the alley. The closer he got to the used bookstore, the colder the air became. Residents of the alley avoided it, quickly closing their windows as they passed by, as if trying to avoid something.
The door of the bookstore is a dark brown wooden board with the words "Moji Shuzhai" engraved on it. Thick dust has accumulated in the gaps between the characters. A tattered lantern hangs on the lintel. The wick has long been rotten. When the wind blows, the lantern makes a "creaking" sound, like an old man's cough.
Lu Ye pushed the door; it wasn't locked, and it swung open with a gentle push. A strong musty smell, mixed with the smell of old paper and rust, hit him, making him cough. The shop was dim, with only a few rays of sunlight filtering in through the broken window, illuminating the dust dancing in the air.
The bookshelves were filled with yellowed, old books, some with moldy pages, others missing covers, the writing on the spines blurred. In front of the central desk stood an empty chair, draped over it was a gray gown, the corners stained with dark red, like dried blood.
"Master Mo?" Lu Ye called softly, the only sound being the rustling of pages. He walked over and was about to pick up his robe when he heard footsteps behind him. They weren't his, but came from the backyard of the bookstore, as light as feathers landing on the ground.
Lu Ye took out the soul-calming bell, grasped the flashlight, and slowly walked towards the backyard. The door to the backyard was ajar, and it was pitch black inside. A vague figure could be seen squatting on the ground, searching for something, holding a thick notebook in his hand.
"Who's there?" Lu Ye raised the flashlight, and the beam illuminated the shadow's face - a man in a gray gown, with gray hair and a face full of wrinkles. There were no pupils in his eyes, only darkness, like two bottomless holes.
"My notes... my notes on the path to the secluded world..." The man's voice was as hoarse as sandpaper rubbing against wood. "They hid my notes and locked me up here... I want to get them back and give them to my apprentice..."
"Are you Master Mo?" Lu Ye's voice trembled. The Soul-Calming Bell suddenly became extremely hot. The outline of Qi Chen in the bell became clearer than ever before. One could even see the excitement in his eyes. "Master! It's me, Qi Chen!"
The man's body suddenly stiffened, and he slowly turned around, his dark eyes staring at the soul-calming bell in Lu Ye's hand: "This bell... is mine... my apprentice... where is he?"
"He's in this bell," Lu Ye held the soul-calming bell in front of the man. "He couldn't find you back then and has been waiting for you to come back. Where are your notes? We'll help you find them."
The man's lips curled up into a strange smile. The temperature in the backyard dropped sharply, and a layer of white frost condensed on the wall. The old books around him flew up and hit Lu Ye! "You lied to me!" The man's voice became shrill. "That's what they said. They said they would help me find my notes, but they pushed me down the stairs and locked me up here!"
Lu Ye quickly used the Soul-Calming Bell to block the flying books. A blue light emanated from the bell, and the books stopped in mid-air. Qi Chen's voice choked with sobs, "Master, we didn't lie to you! I'm Qi Chen. You taught me how to identify resentment and write the Notes of the Mysterious Realm. Do you remember? That winter, you took off your long gown and gave it to me, saying, 'A Mysterious Realm practitioner must protect himself before he can protect others!'"
The man's movements suddenly stopped, and a trace of clarity flashed in his dark eyes. He stared at the soul-calming bell, and tears flowed from his empty eye sockets. They were black, like ink: "A Chen...it's really you...I've been looking for you for many years..."
Lu Ye breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he was about to step forward, a crack suddenly appeared in the backyard floor. A black mist emerged from the crack and wrapped around the man's legs: "Don't believe them! They are all here to steal the notebook!"
The man's body trembled violently, and his eyes turned dark again: "My notes... no one can take them!" He grabbed a brick on the ground and threw it at Lu Ye!
"Master!" Qi Chen's voice was filled with anxiety. The soul-calming bell emitted a dazzling blue light, blocking the bricks. In the blue light, a vague fragment of memory floated in the air - it was the young Master Mo teaching the young Qi Chen to write notes. Sunlight shone through the window onto them. Master Mo smiled and said, "Ah Chen, when you have learned it, I will pass this notebook on to you. You must carry it with you to help those stubborn souls find freedom."
The memory fragments dissipated, and the man stopped moving. He looked at the afterimage in the air, and his tears fell even harder: "A Chen... my apprentice... I'm sorry for you..."
The black mist screamed and slowly dissipated into the air. The man's body slowly became transparent. He pulled a yellowed notebook from his chest and handed it to Lu Ye. "This is the Tongyou Notebook. It records my life's experience and... the method I used to find myself. Back then, I discovered someone was using resentment to harm others and tried to stop them, but they imprisoned me here and hid the notebook... Now, give it to Ah Chen, and help me tell him that Master has always been proud of him."
Lu Ye took the notebook and was about to speak when the man's figure completely dissipated, leaving behind only a faint scent of sandalwood, exactly like the scent of Qi Chen. The backyard returned to peace, with only the notebook still in Lu Ye's hand. The cover read "Mo's Record of the Mysterious Path" and a line of small words underneath: "Passed on to my disciple Qi Chen."
Lu Ye sat on the steps in the backyard and flipped open his notebook. The first page was in Master Mo's handwriting, which read: "The art of communicating with the spirit world is not about slaying demons and monsters, but about resolving grievances and untying knots. Behind every obsession is a heart longing to be understood."
Turning to the middle of the page, Lu Ye suddenly spotted a photo tucked into his notebook. It showed Master Mo holding the young Qi Chen, standing at the bookstore entrance. Both were smiling, the sun shining brightly. On the back of the photo were written: "Ah Chen's fifteenth birthday. May he live a peaceful life, free from resentment."
"Qi Chen," Lu Ye touched the Soul-Calming Bell. Qi Chen's silhouette in the bell was staring at the photo, his eyes filled with tears. "Look, Master has always been thinking about you. He passed the notes to you."
Qi Chen's voice was choked with sobs, much clearer than before: "I remember... He said that he would pass the notebook to me when I was fifteen... But when I was fifteen, he disappeared... I searched for him for years..."
Lu Ye placed the note on the Soul-Calming Bell. It suddenly glowed a pale blue, slowly transforming into a beam of light that penetrated the bell. The bell began to shake violently, and Qi Chen's outline became increasingly clear. He could even see the tear marks on his face and hear his gentle breathing.
"I remembered..." Qi Chen's voice was filled with excitement. "I remembered Master teaching me how to identify resentment. I remembered him taking me to Jingyuan to look for clues about Su Qingyuan. I remembered him saying that he wanted to open a bookstore with me in the future to help people find their lost memories..."
Lu Ye's tears fell on Ling. He stretched out his hand. Although he still couldn't touch her, he could feel Qi Chen's warmth around him: "Qi Chen, we can open a bookstore together in the future. Just like you and Master said, we can help people find their memories and help wronged souls resolve their obsessions."
Qi Chen nodded gently, his voice gentle: "Okay, when I regain all my memories, we will open a bookstore called 'Chen Ye Bookstore', with you, me, and Master's notes."
The setting sun streamed through the window into the backyard, illuminating the soul-calming bell in Lu Ye's hand. He knew that Qi Chen's "memory" had been partially restored. Although it hadn't fully recovered, their reunion was getting closer and closer. As he left the used bookstore, Lu Ye glanced back. The door slowly closed, as if Master Mo was bidding them farewell.
Back at the tailor shop, Lele was drawing on the table. On the drawing paper was a picture of three people holding hands, with the words "Brother Lu Ye, Brother Qi Chen, Lele" written next to it. Lu Ye walked over, touched Lele's head, and his heart was filled with warmth.
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