Chapter 232 Scene 19 (Inverted V) Sunset, sea, beach...
"Give her to me, and you guys go play too."
"Okay, just go and have fun."
"Take good care of yourself, little doll, and thank Dean Jiang!"
"Shi Liu, we're going out to play. We'll bring you something good later! Thank you, Dean Jiang!"
"You're welcome. Go ahead and be safe."
"Yes! Dean Jiang, we've told you many times before, be careful not to fall into the water when you're near it. You have to pay attention to safety. We know that!"
“Yeah, sea, here I come!!”
“…”
“…”
"It's very beautiful," He Yuezhe said, as Jiang Ruoshi placed her on her shoulders and quietly looked at the rosy clouds in the sky. "The children will like it."
"Of course they like it, but what about you? Do you like it?" Jiang Ruoshi folded his arms across his chest, sitting on a large rock at the edge of the beach. "When we first met, you helped Chen Shuo, right?"
"Um."
"This is my fault. I thought I had scolded those kids and they wouldn't do that again, but I didn't expect..."
"Jiang Ruoshi."
Waves, azure waves, with white spray, foam and sand rubbing against each other, hitting the rocks coldly, human tears slowly dripping down, merging with the sea water, being gently embraced by the waves and brought back to the sea.
The orange-red sunset dyed the sky red and merged with the sea. Wave after wave brought not the fear of death, but the warm laughter of children.
"...Why are you crying?" He Yuezhe reached out and touched the corners of the woman's eyes.
The woman was already quite old, with fine lines at the corners of her eyes and her skin a little loose, but her always determined eyes sparkled again.
"I...it's nothing. I just feel like I haven't done well enough." Jiang Ruoshi lowered his head. "If I really left like that, leaving these children behind, would they...no, would they, would they dislike me, hate me? Hate me for not saving her, hate me for leaving so decisively, hate me, hate me for abandoning them, again, again..."
"Dean Jiang, look, look!" The girl with the wide-eyed pupils waved a piece of kelp in her hand happily, "What is this? Is it the tentacle of a giant monster?"
"..." Jiang Ruoshi forced a smile and responded, "No, this is something edible, called kelp."
"Kelp! Let me try it!"
"Hey, don't eat anything raw!"
"That's right, wait for our Jade Master to use a little trick or two before eating!"
"What do you mean by a little trick? You're being too harsh!"
"Jadeite, please grill this fish for me as well."
"What? Li Han, you can actually pick up fish!?"
"Good luck, what, are you dissatisfied?"
"I accept, I accept..."
"Hey, here's mine, bake it for me too!"
“Oh, sure, let me see what it is—Oh my God! Yuejie, what the hell is this?! Take it away! Ahhhhhhh don’t come near me! Help! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”
"coward!"
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, what, little lamb, how did you learn bad things from them! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"
"Emerald—Emerald—don't run—"
"Water fights are so scary." He Yuezhe held up his face and looked at the children who were having a water fight with some unknown seafood. He curled his lips and wrapped himself with Jiang Ruoshi's colorful silk scarf.
"...Hey, shouldn't we focus on this?" Jiang Ruoshi's mouth twitched. She poked He Yuezhe, who looked like a cocoon, and asked, "Are you afraid of water?"
"The doll is made of wood, of course it is afraid of water." He Yuezhe answered as a matter of course.
"Then don't pull my scarf. I use this scarf for taking pictures, not to block water for you." Jiang Ruoshi pulled the scarf out of her hand little by little with a smile.
"Does this thing look good in photos?" He Yuezhe wondered.
A scarf with such gaudy colors, even if it could float, it would still...
"Yeah, how about it, isn't it super beautiful?"
“…”
"Hey, why don't you say anything?"
"...Uh, oh, ah, it looks good, it looks good."
"Then take this and take a picture of me? Just press this button. Don't press it too many times, and don't press the wrong one." Jiang Ruoshi stuffed a small camera into He Yuezhe's hand, patted her shoulder with a smile, and said, "Little doll, I believe in you. You will definitely take a good picture of me, right?"
He Yuezhe suddenly felt that if she couldn't take a good photo of Jiang Ruoshi today, she would be drowned on the spot.
He Yuezhe felt guilty: "Uh, oh, yes, yes, I will take good photos for you, yes, yes, yes..."
"Okay, then let me comb my hair first... Um, hold up the mirror so I can see, um, and put on some lipstick... and sunglasses, put them on... Alright, it's perfect!"
Jiang Ruoshi is not beautiful, but she is also pretty.
When she smiles, she is very contagious, just like the sun, always emitting warm light, making everyone unconsciously infected by her.
The sunset, the sea, the beach, the children, the colorful scarves, a big, confident smile, a pair of eyes that are still firm through the sunglasses, a woman who has experienced a lot and is full of hope for the future again.
“Crack.”
"Oh, oh!" The next moment the shutter sounded, Jiang Ruoshi jumped up in surprise at the waves hitting her legs, "So cold!"
"Ah, but this is the ocean. Hey, come on, I'll strike a few more poses. Remember to take good pictures for me!"
Jiang Ruoshi, like her grandmother, is someone who has experienced the old world. So, is that why they always have such a strong vitality burning in them?
Because we have experienced happiness and beauty, we are never afraid and always thrive even if we are in purgatory?
"..." He Yuezhe looked at the magnificent scene before him and couldn't help but laugh, "I know."
It’s just because they believe that with their power, the world will one day return to normal.
"Hey, why haven't you taken a picture for so long? This pose is not good?"
"It will block the light and make your face dark."
"Okay, okay, I'll change it. How about this one?"
"very good."
“Crack.”
"Hey, kids, has anyone found any shells? Let Dean Jiang take a picture of them!"
"Me! Me!"
"I picked it up too! Dean Jiang!"
"Dean Jiang, here!"
"Wait for me! I picked it up too!"
"Oh my, there are so many, I can't take them all by myself!" Not long after Jiang Ruoshi finished speaking, her hands were filled with a pile of various shells.
"Or, why don't you each take a little and I'll take a group photo of you?" He Yuezhe suggested, squinting his eyes while facing the sun.
"Why?"
"Oh yeah, Lele is here, we should take a new photo to hang up at home!"
"Well, Ban Weile, come, stand in the middle."
"Dean, this is not good, right?"
"There's nothing wrong with it. Everyone has a photo of themselves standing in the middle. You're not an exception!"
"Brother Jade, you are so nice!"
"Hmph! Don't try to curry favor with me!"
"Come on, kids, those in front squat down, and those behind can jump up. Come on, wait for this wave to go back—"
"Ding Dong! Congratulations, you've obtained the key item: Ban Weile's Petri Dish x1!"
“3, 2, 1——”
"Current completion progress: 2/?"
"eggplant!"
“Crack!”
Jiang Ruoshi said that most of these children were specially "created" in a certain workplace, and they all have some unique physical characteristics to a greater or lesser extent.
Sheep eyes, fire, bone growth, bad words, beard, melting...
Jiang Ruoshi asked He Yuezhe, don’t you think these children are scary?
He Yuezhe replied that they had done nothing wrong, they were just a group of children, and the scary thing was not them, but the person who made them become like this. Fortunately, it was dead.
Jiang Ruoshi didn't say anything else.
The waves receded, and the bright red afterglow of the sunset sprinkled freely behind the children, making their faces red. The beach was sparkling with tiny lights, and shells were piled in their hands. Through the photo, you can smell the fresh scent of the sea.
"it's beautiful……"
"Yeah, it's beautiful."
He Yuezhe sat on the platform in front of the car, looking at the tired children taking a nap, and said, "Everyone is tired from playing, do we still want to go there?"
"..." Jiang Ruoshi withdrew his gaze from carefully stroking the photo, turned on the high beam, and looked forward to the road again. "I have to go. I promised them."
"What are you going there for?"
"To see their families."
“…”
"They have families, just like all other children in this world."
“…”
"Puppet, do you know what 'family' is?"
“…”
"In the past, they were kept in that work place, and the name of that work place was 'nursery', so the job of the people who went there was to take care of them."
“…”
"During that time, they would constantly treat those people as their real family, but through the filter of the workplace, those people were full of fear of them."
“…”
"They didn't feel loved by those people, and so those people were killed."
“…”
"They feel so guilty about it that they beg me to take them there to meet their 'family' every week at this time."
"Where can you find those people?"
"I'm just lucky."
“…”
"By the way, I ordered takeout. Everyone will be going in soon. Could you please sign for it outside?"
"Is there anyone who would accept takeout from that kind of place?" He Yuezhe twitched his lips.
Jiang Ruoshi raised his eyebrows and said, "Of course, people who are short of money will do anything, and there's nothing there. Are you... scared?"
"..." He Yuezhe turned his head away, "No, I'm not afraid."
"Oh, don't be afraid, don't be afraid."
"snort."
"Okay, don't be mad at me. It's just a mass grave. They're all alive here. There's nothing to be afraid of."
“…”
“Zizi——”
"Well, we're here. Let the kids rest for a while. I'll help you get the takeout, and then we'll go in together. Is that okay?" Jiang Ruoshi stopped the car, pulled the handbrake, and looked at He Yuezhe with his hands on the steering wheel.
"……oh."
“…”
“…”
“Knock, knock.”
"Oh, quite punctual, here you are."
"Hello, here's your takeaway."
The car door opened, and the cold wind blew in. He Yuezhe moved towards Jiang Ruoshi, wrapped the silk scarf tightly around her body, and squinted her eyes to look outside.
Under the eerie words "Mass Grave", a eerie boy, holding a strange thing with a smiling face in his hand, looked at the two of them sadly.
“…”
“…”
He Yuezhe: Was Yuan Yang such a sinister kid when he was little?! He's worthy of being the kind of person who could freeze himself in a freezer...
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The author has something to say: Still late.
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