Chapter 156 Tree Vine
It is easy for a person to get lost in the dark.
Lost in time, lost in direction... until even losing oneself in it.
Pipa carried Yu Qingzhou on his back, slowly making his way forward, his steps uneven, and gradually he began to feel the strain.
His leg started hurting again.
But the loquats didn't stop.
He knew his physical condition all too well. He had to take advantage of his remaining strength and reach his destination in one go. If he hesitated and stopped to rest halfway, he might not be able to stand up again.
Rather than staying in such an ambiguous place, it's better to stay where you are from the beginning.
Now that we've started, we won't stop until we're completely exhausted and have no other choice.
Moreover, I have a strong feeling that the loquats should be arriving soon.
He had been moving along the direction from which the tree roots extended.
As time went by, more roots appeared beneath his feet and gradually converged in the same direction.
Therefore, Pipa concluded that she had not gone astray.
At the same time, I couldn't help but feel a little shocked. What kind of towering tree could have such a complex and intertwined root system?
Ultimately, seeing is believing.
Thinking this to herself, Pipa gritted her teeth and carefully lifted Yu Qingzhou's body on her back a little higher, whispering, "It'll be soon, it'll be soon."
Despite his leg injury, he managed to quicken his pace.
After walking for a while, perhaps because the pain had gone too far and made her numb, Pipa didn't feel as bad as before.
He walked with a limp and heavy steps in the boundless darkness, all around was quiet, and on his back was Yu Qingzhou, who had been dead for a long time.
If someone else were to see such a scene, they would most likely find it strange and eerie.
Pipa just found it a little funny, and he remembered the dream he had before.
When Pipa woke up from the bamboo house in her dream, it was the day of Yu Qingzhou and Li Nian's wedding banquet.
While searching for the mysteriously missing Lan, he wandered aimlessly through the streets and unwittingly arrived at the former site of the princess's mansion. There he found burned-down houses and charred corpses scattered among them.
Then, beneath a tall building, they found Yu Qingzhou's mangled body, shattered from the fall.
In the final scene of that dream, Pipa carried Yu Qingzhou on her back, walking all the way. They walked for an unknown amount of time, until finally they returned directly to their hometown courtyard, where they saw their mother, who had come back from the dead…
"I don't know... whether it's just a coincidence."
Pipa couldn't help but say to Yu Qingzhou behind her, "I had a dream that was...it was so similar to my current situation...it was almost uncanny."
His steps were heavy, and he spoke with some difficulty, but now that the words were on the tip of his tongue, there was no reason to swallow them back and save them for later.
just in case……
Pipa thought to herself, what if there is no future?
Even if we assume that such a situation will occur again in the future, the current bizarre situation is probably a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence.
In the past, he was careful with his words, preferring to remain silent rather than utter a single extra word. He never showed the slightest sign of anger, not even to a fool or an idiot. He was terrified that the slightest mistake would implicate his mother and himself.
Later, her mother still died.
As for the loquat itself—
I've been beaten and I've also eaten sweets.
While they couldn't be said to be completely carefree, they at least had enough to eat and wear, making them a thousand times luckier than those who could simply roll up a straw mat and disappear without a trace.
But Pipa's heart always seemed empty, probably because, as the world often says, people are never satisfied.
He loved someone, but not completely. He wanted to hate someone, but he didn't know where to begin.
Ultimately, it resulted in that awkward and incongruous state in public—unable to love, unable to hate, unable to express it, unable to do it…
Now, he's all alone.
In front of him, Pipa finally couldn't stay silent any longer.
Over here, Pipa was chatting with Yu Qingzhou about the coincidences between her dream and reality when a strange idea suddenly popped into her head.
if……
What if what you see in your dreams could not only reveal your past life, but also foresee your future?!
The loquat's thinking is not without basis.
His past dreams about Yu Qingzhou began to come true one after another. Later, he learned that it was all the work of lingering shadows of Yu Qingzhou's past life within her soul.
By the same token, since dreams can communicate with the past, they may also be able to predict the future.
Moreover, the idea of predicting dreams has existed since ancient times...
Thinking of this, Pipa paused slightly, her heart suddenly pounding wildly.
Because he remembered that at the end of his dream, he saw his mother, alive and well, waiting for him to come home...
If it really was a precognitive dream, does it mean that if he continues walking along the path he's on, he will actually see the other person?
As if in response to his thoughts, a faint light shone through the darkness ahead.
Like fireflies in the dark night, yet even more captivating...
Seeing this, Pipa quickened her pace, forgetting the gnarled tree roots in the darkness and that her legs were already nearing their limit.
But at that moment, the boy couldn't care less about anything else.
It's like a traveler trekking through the desert, parched and on the verge of death, suddenly seeing a clear lake surrounded by green grass. He doesn't care whether what he sees is real or a mirage.
A traveler in the desert will only realize at the moment of his death that everything ahead is nothing more than an unattainable, dying dream.
Loquat, on the other hand, was much luckier.
Because when the boy looked up in pain, the giant tree emitting a faint light was already within reach.
—This is real, not an illusion.
The unexpectedly smooth, slightly cool touch under my palm was real.
Pipa couldn't help but raise her head, and when her gaze fell upon that dazzling, star-like expanse, she couldn't help but hold her breath for a moment.
Because he realized he was wrong.
The thing in front of you is not a tree, but a collection of countless branches and vines that are intertwined and clustered together.
They burst from the earth, uprooted themselves, and gathered in the air to form an incredibly large, even majestic, existence.
What was previously thought to be a tree is actually only a part near the ground, which can be directly observed with the naked eye.
More vines and branches were actually hidden in the surrounding darkness, just like the meridians that run through the body, radiating outwards from the center in a fine and dense manner.
Although the loquat cannot be seen in its entirety, one can still vaguely imagine the magnificent, almost eerie, sight.
Compared to what is before him, he is so small and insignificant.
It is precisely because he is so small and insignificant that he is allowed to touch and look up at the existence before him so closely at this moment.
What immense tolerance and compassion this is!
Pipa couldn't help but think.
Accompanied by an indescribable surge of emotion deep within her heart, Pipa's face suddenly became wet, and tears fell without her realizing it.
Before he could reach out to wipe away his tears, a familiar rustling sound was heard, and a soft vine suddenly drooped down from somewhere in the darkness above his head.
As soon as the vine appeared, it seemed to have a life of its own, slowly twisting and turning in the void, gradually approaching the weeping loquat.
Then, under the boy's gaze, which was a mixture of surprise and bewilderment, she gently placed the end of the tender leaf on the boy's tear-streaked face and began to wipe it away with gentle movements.
Feeling the gentle touch on her cheek, Pipa couldn't help but shudder.
If the previous events were more about awe and shock caused by the unknown itself.
So this tremor only concerns Pipa's own heart.
Because he could clearly sense the presence of another person in the gentle touch of the vines.
"Mother..."
Both the slightly rough texture and the gentle touch when wiping away tears reminded Pipa of her long-deceased mother.
The woman once did the same, gently wiping away the tears from her face when she was still a child.
Okay, okay, loquat, stop crying!
[...]
Did you have a nightmare? Okay, okay, you're not afraid anymore now that you're awake.
[...]
Can't sleep? If you can't sleep, how about Mommy sings you a song?
【Um. 】
Suddenly, the woman's doting voice echoed in his ears, word by word.
Then he heard a child's listless reply.
In the drafty little house, a woman's soft humming soon began to rise.
I can't remember what she sang, but the melodious tune is clearly etched in my heart.
—It was so familiar, yet so unattainable.
Pipa took a deep breath, pulling herself out of the warmth of the past, and looked intently at the green vines that seemed to have absolutely no connection with her mother.
With a trembling voice, she called out "Mother" again.
"...Is that you?"
The moment the question left her mouth, even Pipa herself thought she was crazy to have such a wild idea.
But……
Pipa recalled that dream, and the mother she had lost and found in the dream.
Thinking back to that earlier guess, I could no longer suppress the impulse in my heart.
—If there is anything in this world that he truly cannot let go of.
Is there anyone else that Pipa would absolutely want to see again?
Perhaps, it can only be my mother.
Time seemed to stand still for a moment. Pipa stared at the suddenly still vines, her heart pounding as if it would jump out of her throat at any moment.
Finally, after who knows how long.
—Perhaps it will only last a short while, but the loquat is no longer able to make a judgment.
It felt like half a lifetime had passed.
The vine in front of them finally moved. A thin tendril emerged from among the leaves, its curled end gently touching the loquat's forehead.
Just like countless times before, his mother would smile slightly, playfully tap his forehead with her fingertip, and then say—
[...What a silly child.]
Upon hearing this, Pipa's eyes widened suddenly, because this time, he clearly heard his mother's voice.
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