bullyxtreme Chapter 148 If Life Could Only Be Like Our First Meeting (7)
Chapter 148 If Life Could Only Be Like Our First Meeting (7)
It's so sad.
The vendor witnessed the scene firsthand, and even years later, the memory still sends shivers down his spine.
Hearing this with his own ears, Mei Shiyu was deeply moved. It was simply impossible for him to forget it immediately or to get out of his feelings of pity.
Only Li Tingyun himself was completely indifferent.
If it weren't for bringing up the old story again, I would have forgotten about it long ago!
The worst thing wasn't what he experienced.
It's not that I can't forget it.
Fortunately, Li Tingyun is a cunning and irresponsible person who doesn't learn his lesson.
One second you're in pain, the next you've forgotten it all.
Otherwise, would he even want to live?!
What kept him alive was never the pain.
It is hatred.
That's just how he is: sharp, domineering, and always showing his sharp edge. The more others wish him a terrible death, the more he will retaliate.
Through the trials of adversity, one grows stronger with each pain and each setback.
Mei Shiyu sighed deeply, "In this world, there are people whose fates are so tragic."
Ever since he heard the story, his hands have been clenched tightly, always clenched tightly, but...
Perhaps he was so engrossed in the story that he didn't realize he was holding someone else's hand the whole time.
He held Li Tingyun's hand very tightly.
My palms were soaked with sweat, but I didn't let go.
Mei Shiyu and Li Tingyun sat on the same bench, which the vendor had casually pulled out from the pile of miscellaneous items and pushed to them. It was neither too long nor too short, and the two of them had to sit close together to fit.
Suddenly, Mei Shiyu let go of Li Tingyun's hand, covered his face, and sighed a few times. His movements were extremely natural, and it seemed that he still hadn't realized that he had been holding someone else's hand for most of the day.
During this time, Li Tingyun didn't dare to make any big moves, as if a butterfly had landed on her shoulder, afraid that even a breath would disturb "it".
Now, the butterfly has flown away, completely unaware that it had once perched on someone's shoulder. Li Tingyun wanted to curse inwardly, but on the surface, he remained "calm and composed."
Mei Shiyu bent down, rested her elbows on her knees, wiped her face with her hands, and after recovering, said, "That little devil... all ten strands of his soul were thrown into hell, so he must have finally been scattered to the winds, right?"
The vendor said, "I heard that his soul tormented in hell for many years, and then there was no news of him. I suppose that apart from his soul being scattered, there can be no other outcome."
He looked at the willow tree across the street and said, "That little devil is dead, and the willow branches he planted were all pulled up. But later someone put the willow branches back in, and they grew into this big willow tree."
"Although...although those who came after him didn't have the same courage and didn't dare to do anything openly, planting willows and creating shade is still a kind of silent resistance."
Li Tingyun, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke up: "The 'later generation' you mentioned, you must be yourself, right? The border market is emptied every forty-five years. Once those people from back then are dead, no one will know about this anymore. Besides someone as bored as you, who else would do such a meaningless thing?"
Having his long-hidden secret exposed, the vendor could only chuckle awkwardly and say, "Yes, I did it. I can't say it was completely meaningless, I think it was quite meaningful, hahaha... even if the meaning was very small."
He certainly didn't have that much ability or that much backbone to shout "The emperor's throne rotates, next year it's my turn!" in front of the Ghost King and the Ghost Emperor, but...
"When I secretly replanted the willow branch years ago, a strange thing happened. There was a particularly pitiful woman, who came from some unknown city of the dead. After arriving here, she sat next to the willow branch and cried bitterly."
The vendor exclaimed in amazement, "That very night, the willow branches sprouted and grew wildly, and overnight they grew into this towering tree. It's truly amazing!"
Li Tingyun's pupils twitched, and he asked, "...And then?"
The vendor said, "Then, they summoned the underworld officials, but no matter what they tried, they couldn't uproot the willow tree. So they had no choice but to leave it there and set up the 'execution ground' for dealing with all sorts of traitors here. They were furious but helpless, looking like a bunch of clowns, hahaha!"
Li Tingyun coldly asked, "What I'm asking is, what happened to that woman afterwards?"
The vendor said, "Oh, her? She's already been reincarnated."
Li Tingyun said, "Even a strong man like you, with people helping you and no need to worry about the calamity that comes once every forty-five years, has still managed to survive in the border market for so long without being able to reincarnate successfully. So, how did that woman manage to do it?"
He asked, "Is someone helping her? Who is that person? Is it you?"
The vendor said, "It's me. That woman was so pitiful. No matter what I asked her, she said she didn't know. She seemed a bit mentally unstable, and she was also suffering from tuberculosis. She probably died of illness before she was born..."
"To put it bluntly, it's thanks to her having this troublesome disease that no other ghost dares to approach her. Otherwise, with her pretty face, she would have been defiled long ago."
"Although she wasn't very lucid, she still remembered that she had come to find her son. I asked her who her son was and where he was, but she said she didn't know. However, she pointed to the willow tree and insisted that it must have been planted by her son."
"I don't know what to say. Should I believe her or not? If I don't believe her, that would be the only reasonable thing to do. We're already at the border, what's the point of looking for relatives..."
Unless they are destined to live and die together, or made a pact before death and exchanged some kind of token, such people might meet again in the afterlife—but that's too "romantic." People live their whole lives busy making a living; who cares about what happens after they die? Who the hell has time to make such a romantic pact?
Even if there is an agreement, the possibility of meeting again underground is very small.
Not to mention that the 108 border markets were scattered and disorganized, and it was uncertain where one would be driven after death, the terrible, chaotic and dangerous environment of the region meant that no one knew if they would survive to see the next day. It was good enough if they could take care of themselves, especially the elderly, weak, women and children, most of whom did not live long.
Although that's the logic, the vendor actually believed the woman at the time.
The vendor said, "If what she said is true, then doesn't that mean that little devil who met such a tragic end was her child?! What a terrible coincidence! If only she had arrived a moment earlier—"
He suddenly changed the subject, "No, no, no, it's better that she came a step later. If she had seen her son's soul torn to pieces like that, she would have gone crazy."
Li Tingyun stared straight ahead at the willow tree. "She had already gone mad once before she died, which is why you saw her looking confused and dazed, isn't that right?"
His voice remained icy, his face devoid of joy or sorrow; no one knew what he was thinking, not even himself.
The vendor said, "You're right. I don't know how she went mad before she died. Sigh, for someone like that, death isn't a relief either..."
"If the cycle of reincarnation in the underworld operates normally, and everyone can 'die in a worthy place,' with good deeds being rewarded and evil deeds being punished, then for those who have chosen a dead end, death is the true liberation!"
"But as things stand now, even the dead cannot find peace. The suffering will forever remain in suffering, the desperate will forever remain in despair, and even death is no longer a way out. In this life, one cannot choose to be born, nor can one find peace in death. In the end, everyone will go mad."
The vendor chuckled and said, "It's better to be crazy, it's better to be crazy!"
Li Tingyun said, "Continue with the story. What happened next?"
The vendor said, "Later, I gave a small piece of my lodging to that poor woman. Until one day, the Ghost Emperor issued a 'pardon'..."
The decree stated that in the year the border market was emptied, some of the little devils would be pardoned and allowed to reincarnate on their own.
However, the number of places is very limited.
Only a select few imps who rushed out of the city before the border market closed were granted a pardon.
It's like a human emperor granting a general amnesty, but the Ghost Emperor certainly wasn't doing this to show his noble sentiments of compassion and love for his people; he was trying to shift the blame.
Provide those long-suppressed brats with a path to survival that requires fighting to emerge, thereby dismantling their desire to rebel and eliminating their resentment and fighting spirit.
The people below are simple-minded. As long as they are not completely wiped out and there is still a glimmer of hope, few people will think of rebelling, overthrowing and rebuilding the rules. They will only thank the Ghost Emperor for showing leniency.
Perhaps the Ghost Emperor was intimidated by the little devil who had caused such a ruckus and didn't want to raise such a troublesome entity like a venomous insect in the market. Therefore, he made a compromise, although the method he used to express his compromise was both vicious and clever.
"In any case, this 'pardon' was issued at a very timely time. That woman was able to be pardoned and reincarnated smoothly through this route."
The vendor slowly explained the reason: "I know a ghost official in the underworld. I've been working for him. He's like my protector. Every forty-five years, I go to his place to hide..."
The underworld official said he could pull some strings and give him a pardon, but this was a one-time opportunity.
After all, this underworld official has limited power. Regardless of reincarnation, he still needs to "pull strings" with Judge Cui Jue to get this done.
Li Tingyun finally understood, "You gave your spot to that woman?"
The vendor said, "Yes."
Li Tingyun said, "Why did you do this? What did you do to that woman? Are you feeling guilty, ashamed, atoning for your sins, or afraid of retaliation?"
The vendor wiped away his cold sweat. "Hey! What nonsense are you spouting! You're just judging others by your own petty standards. Couldn't I have helped her out of kindness? Of course, I also had my own selfish motives. My selfish motive is that by doing this, I'm accumulating good karma, good deeds done in secret."
If a person does not accumulate merit and virtue in his lifetime, and no one performs rituals for him after death, he will be driven into the border market. In this place where demons, monsters, and all sorts of people mingle, it will be very difficult for him to do good deeds and accumulate merit.
Basically, the ghosts in the market can only accumulate merit by working to earn magic stones—a method with very little effect, even more difficult than farming to grow a golden house.
In addition, they could hope that their descendants would be capable enough to hold another memorial service for them, but of course, this was even less likely.
Once a person dies, within three generations, no one remembers who their ancestors were. This is especially true for poor families. If their ancestors had no surplus wealth, it would be too much to ask of their descendants to produce a great figure within two or three generations. Perhaps, the descendants are still eagerly waiting for their ancestral graves to emit auspicious smoke.
But ironically, most of these souls who were driven into the border market and could not find a way out were simple, unadorned poor people, the lowest of the low, and the lowest of the low.
Therefore, many of the ghosts in the market had no chance to struggle. After forty-five years, they all became nourishment for the rulers' cultivation.
The existence of border markets was already absurd;
The rule of sending souls here to be slaves is even more outrageous;
Using the merit book to blackmail these animals, setting an unattainable high requirement that they can't meet no matter what they do, forcing them to exert themselves and make money, is even more outrageous;
Furthermore, a great calamity occurs every forty-five years, during which the underworld and the Ghost Emperor squeeze every last bit of value from these lesser ghosts—it's even more outrageous!
The small vendor, having lived for several hundred years, finally saw through it all: there should be no threshold for the soul to be reincarnated; good and evil deeds in life are naturally settled after death; those who are destined for hell will go to hell, and those who are destined for reincarnation will reincarnate.