"Room 406." The receptionist with golden Afro hair impatiently tossed the room card in front of me. "There is an additional charge for hot water, a deposit of 200 for the internet cable, and a 30% service charge for room service."
I smiled and thanked her, grabbed the room card, and left. Behind us, there were still dozens of people, each anxiously watching the countryside inn's receptionist who had a queen-like demeanor as if awaiting a god's call.
The county government officials had arranged for us to stay in this supposedly best-equipped "Lucky Lodge." They explained that early tomorrow morning, special buses from the city would pick us up and take us to the airport.
Everything finally got sorted out, and everyone felt at ease. If the receptionists here had been a bit friendlier, I think everyone's mood would have been better.
I looked back at the two ladies working impatiently at the front desk. It wasn't their exaggerated hairdos that caught my attention, but a faint bluish black aura fixed between their eyebrows.
Observing the other staff passing by us, each of them looked languid and were yawning incessantly. And without exception, they all had a similar bluish black aura between their eyebrows.
Only humans who have had their essence absorbed by evil beings have such an endlessly lingering color between their eyebrows.
Recalling everything I saw along the way, this Dai County is located in a remote area with many mountains and dense forests, and a large lake embedded in it. They say the mountains and forests are full of demons and ghosts, and strange creatures emerge from the deep water. This small shabby lodge is situated in a particularly unlucky location facing away from the sun, with the front facing the market and the back the fields. Looking out from the bedroom window, there's even a tall old locust tree planted in the backyard.
Due to the wind and rain, the market was deserted, and a gloomy atmosphere hung over the countryside. The branches and leaves of the old tree in the backyard swayed, emitting a mournful sound, merely adding to the chill in the air.
Such a place is naturally the favorite of mountain spirits, demons, and ghosts.
Our room was on the third floor.
The so-called "best-equipped" lodge, aside from a hard bed and a table missing half a leg, had nothing else to offer. The air was thick with dust and the smell of mildew.
After restraining himself for a long time, Ao Chi finally erupted.
He pointed at the bed, the table, the moldy walls everywhere, and finally at me, using his last bit of reason to ask, "Can we leave now? Either return to Unceasing immediately or find a five-star restaurant to have a big meal! In short, I don't want to stay in this crappy place for even a second!"
I hadn't planned on staying either. The passengers were already safe, and Ao Chi and I could return to our city with ease.
But that's out of the question now. When you help someone, you have to help them until the job is done. At the very least, we had to deal with the things that shouldn't exist in this hotel.
Judging by the symptoms of those people, the situation is not too serious, and it didn't appear to be some formidable demon either. If it were, it wouldn't just leave them feeling tired and irritable; it would have sucked their lives dry in one breath.
I told Ao Chi about the situation, but he just gave me a glare. "These people have such terrible attitudes, they deserve to have their essence sucked away. I couldn't care less about them; after all, they won't die."
"They won't die now, but they won't be able to survive if it goes on. Never mind if we hadn't run into this. But after seeing it, we can't just turn a blind eye." I knew his childish temper was resurfacing.
He snorted and flopped onto the bed, sullenly asking, "Is this why you're staying?"
Why else would I stay?!
It's just that it was okay when he didn't ask. When he asked, on the contrary, it made me feel like there might be more to it than just this issue.
The lake in the woods, the heavy rain in the sky, whispered in my heart—
Don't leave, don't leave, stay, stay.
Ignoring Ao Chi, I walked to the window and pushed it open.
Before me lay only empty fields, with lush vegetation covering the rolling hills in the distance. If I'm not imagining it, there are constantly flickering, fish scale-like spots of light, winking at me through the gaps between the trees. I can't tell if they are watching me or if I'm watching them. Is it the light from the lake?
The rain was lighter. A moist and cool breeze flew like sprites from the evening scenery and gently caressed my face, sweeping away all the weariness and discomfort from my body and spirit. It wasn't cold at all. If this wonderful evening breeze was paired by a shower of apricot blossoms and the willow dance, it would herald the arrival of spring.
With my eyes closed, I let my fingers glide over my face, a thin layer of water melting into the warmth of my skin - not evaporating, but permeating.
I couldn't help sticking out my tongue and licking off a few droplets from my lips with the tip of my tongue. They tasted sweet.
This feeling, this sweetness, seemed familiar.
An indescribable nostalgia and fondness crawled into my heart like vines from every drop of rain.
All of a sudden, I thought of the cave I once lived in on Fulong Mountain. Its stone walls were moist and cool throughout the year and covered in moss. Back then, I was very young. Just like now, I dipped my finger into the dew on the moss and put it on my tongue, and the faint, delightful sweetness made me jump for joy like a merry bunny.
I thought I had almost forgotten that taste. But just now, in the instant of opening the window, my long-lost memories were awakened by the entangled wind and rain.
Surprisingly, the sweetness of the rain was identical to the taste of the dewdrops on the moss in my memory.
Such a light but timeless sweetness is unique.
Bang!
Ao Chi pulled me aside, rudely closed the window, and scolded, "You're sick! It's raining, why the hell are you standing here foolishly! Are you going or not?"
Ao Chi waved his hand up and down in front of my eyes, snapping me out of my daze.
"Do you find that lake we fell into familiar?" I grabbed his hand and asked seriously.
"Every lake looks more or less the same, so there's nothing familiar or unfamiliar about it." Ao Chi frowned, gave me a strange look, then felt my forehead, "Did you hit your head during the crash?"
"If you want to leave, leave. I'm staying." I refused outright, plopping down on the bed, glaring at him. "You really don't find that lake familiar?"
"I've seen thousands of lakes, and they all look pretty much alike!" Ao Chi was nearly driven to tears by me, scratching his head hard with a dark face.
"Scratch your head too often and you'll go bald!" I kindly reminded him, my gaze falling on a shabby booklet titled "Introduction to Lucky Lodge" on the bedside table.
I picked it up and flipped through it. Beneath poorly printed photos of the hotel were extensive praises for Lucky Lodge and a brief introduction to Dai County as a whole.
My eyes stopped on one line of text, then went back, moved forward, and went back again. I read it many times — Dai County, boasting beautiful scenery, simple folk customs, and a long history, was known as Daizhou City in ancient times. It was renamed Dai County after the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Daizhou City... Daizhou City...
Shaluo, it's getting late, we need to leave!
Leave? Where to?
Daizhou City!
A conversation that was so far away that it had almost turned to ashes jumped out of nowhere in my mind.
Snap! I closed the booklet, stood up, grabbed Ao Chi's hand, and dragged him to the window. Ignoring whether the rain had stopped or not, I forcefully pushed it open and pointed outside, saying, "Daizhou City! This is Daizhou City!"
"Daizhou City?" Ao Chi was still clueless.
"You amoeba[1]!" I angrily stomped on his foot and pointed to the distant hills, "Don't you remember that lake? It's Duan Lake! Where we first met!"
"Duan Lake..." Ao Chi started scratching his head again, but as his eyes finally brightened, he exclaimed, "Oh! I remember now! Back when I escaped from the East China Sea, I was passing by Daizhou City when I saw a lake with clear and lovely water and decided to jump in for a bath... er..."
I furiously knocked him on the head, "You used Duan Lake as your bathtub, and while you were enjoying yourself, you caused the lake to overflow and triggered a rainstorm that almost destroyed the entire Daizhou City! Then Zimiao brought me here, making you..."
As I reached that point, or rather, mentioned that name, I suddenly stopped, feeling awkward.
Ao Chi didn't seem to notice my little abnormality and jabbered on and on, "Right, right! Humph, you even called me ugly, and I wanted to burn you to death right away. Later, that guy shot me with an arrow, and I lost several dragon scales. It hurt so much! Then I escaped to Dongting Lake..." Memories poured out like a box being opened, releasing everything hidden inside, unstoppable.
As we reminisced, Ao Chi's expression gradually turned serious.
It was only then that we both realized that in so many years, neither of us had returned to this place - Daizhou City, Duan Lake, where Ao Chi and I first met. I had left behind a breath of true energy here to help dam the lake by trees, yet somehow, in the subsequent years of our lives, we both seemed to have forgotten about it.
Back then, he was lawless here, and I experienced both joy and sorrow here. But when the invisible guide brought us back here, surprisingly, neither of us recognized it. What a joke. Time indeed wields a cleaver, chopping off human youth and life, as well as chopping off the memories and concerns of demons.
But why did I feel uneasy now that the memories had returned?
"What's the big deal?" Ao Chi took a deep breath, stepped forward and closed the window again, returned to my side, and grabbed my cold hand. "Look at you, you've turned pale. It's just revisiting old haunts. At least, Dai County won't be used as a natural big bathtub by a dragon like Daizhou City was in the past."
"You were indeed quite an as*hole back then." I rolled my eyes at him.
"Who doesn't act like an as*hole when they're young!" Ao Chi retorted with his skewed logic. He lifted my hand, rubbing it gently to warm it up, and smirked, "Fat chance of falling in Duan Lake! Is this God's gift to us on our second wedding anniversary? Should we go plant some kind of love tree or couple's tree by the lake to commemorate it? After all, it's where we hit it off!"
[1] Amoeba is an unicellular organism without a brain... I'm sure you got it.
No comments:
Post a Comment