[Transmigration] Die Gemahlin des Kriegsgottes

Kapitel 25

The End of "Baize Village"

Baize Village, bathed in the morning sun, does indeed have many porcelain kilns, but they are not scattered everywhere in front of and behind houses, inside and outside the village, and their shapes do not resemble burial mounds at all.

Cang Ke was right. The mounds I saw at night were indeed graves. In these unseen tombs, there must be someone he knew, someone he loved, someone he would wait for forever.

Seeing Icefin and me both glancing furtively at the Baize Village lagging behind us, we stuck out our tongues and grinned foolishly, spontaneously starting to sing the rhyme we'd learned from Cangke. Dad listened with squinted eyes for a while, then suddenly leaned closer in surprise: "The ceremony begins with drums, the dance continues. Beautiful women sing gracefully. Spring orchids and autumn chrysanthemums, may their love endure forever. You two, you can't be singing this, can you?" Although we didn't understand what he was saying, one thing was certain: even at this close range, we couldn't see those black lines that looked like cracks in porcelain anymore!

"What's the big deal! The melody of this song is awful, and the lyrics are so weird!" Uncle Chonghua, a pure science major, thought his father was making a fuss over nothing.

"That's 'The Ritual of the Soul'! It can be said to be the oldest requiem in China!" Dad pushed up his glasses. "Who taught you that? And you even sang it!"

"It must be because you forgot after you taught me, brother!" Uncle Chonghua said nonchalantly, "Just like what happened last night!"

"You don't remember anything either, do you?" Dad said anxiously. "What happened? How did we end up in that place?"

Icefin and I peeked at each other and made faces—we wouldn't tell anyone, and even if we did, Dad and Uncle Chonghua wouldn't believe us!

That happened many years ago. This fading memory was rekindled by news reports about Baize Village. Archaeologists had unearthed the remains of an official kiln there. I heard that the official kiln's practice was to fire many identical pieces for selection; out of about a hundred, only eight would be presented. This selection process was brutal, because in the end, the porcelain was indistinguishable in quality, yet only one would be chosen. The porcelain that failed the selection was simply smashed on the spot, sealed, and buried deep underground.

Bearing the fate of being destroyed at any moment, and cherishing the dream of becoming the only one left, these fragile and beautiful creatures endured the trials of fire. But their dream ended as soon as it began—not because they were not perfect, but because one had already been chosen. In this world, there is no need for identical things…

The entire village of Baize was built on the land where porcelain fragments were buried. No wonder I saw so many graves back then, no wonder there were so many human figures with missing limbs in the ghostly mist, no wonder they were so determined to obtain one of the identical items as an offering…

However, what puzzled the archaeologists was the discovery of a perfectly intact, deep blue-green porcelain vase at the site. Even without any decoration, its pure blue color and solitary posture instantly captivated everyone's attention. Local unofficial histories supposedly record that the official kiln declined because the finest porcelain vases produced there mysteriously disappeared en route to the capital, leading to the closure of the entire kiln and the punishment of all officials.

“I heard they found a fragment exactly like this porcelain bottle in the ruins, and they’re working hard to restore it!” I said, turning up the TV volume to drown out my whispers to Icefin and Icefin. “This bottle… it must be Cangke…”

"He actually gave up the chance to go to the capital and stayed." Icefin, sitting next to me, suddenly laughed: "That idiot, it's a wonder he waited until today..."

"This is a headache..." Icefin and I sighed in unison, but at the same time we frowned—when did we pick up Cangke's lazy and sluggish speaking habits!

The End of "Baize Village"