Sabre Cyclone - Chapitre 21
Am I even a person?
"You guessed right, I'm not human. Do you know what I am?" I winked deliberately.
I pointed in the direction of Leifeng Pagoda: "I am a snake spirit! Maybe I am the snake spirit that was imprisoned under Leifeng Pagoda."
He looked at me with a strange gaze, then slowly took two steps back. I watched him retreat in despair; though it was only two steps, it felt like an eternity. Now I finally understand: although he has the same face, he is no longer that purple dragon.
---janeadam
Reply [41]: I once thought that fate would give me a chance to start over, but in fact fate gave me nothing.
His right hand was always in his pocket; what was he hiding in his pocket? I stepped forward: "Don't back away. Although I'm a snake spirit, I won't harm you."
He took two steps back, and finally extended his right hand. It turned out he was carrying a gun. He pointed the gun at me and said, "Don't come any closer, or I'll kill you."
"Will you kill me? Is it because I pushed Ruan Zhiyun off the building, or because I'm a snake spirit?"
He was momentarily bewildered. Why? "Of course, it's both, maybe..." Maybe there are other reasons?
Perhaps that was his destiny to be reborn?
He didn't say it; he didn't understand. Although he wrote down the story of the Dragon Girl little by little under my guidance, he didn't understand that he himself had once been that purple dragon.
I took another step forward. "You really going to kill me? No way?"
He gritted his teeth and said, "Don't go any further, I'll shoot, I really will shoot."
"Then let's go!" I continued to approach, and he retreated until he reached a tree, where he had nowhere left to go, but I still pressed on. His hands began to tremble, and I knew he was about to lose his temper. He was now an ordinary person, and ordinary people have their limits. He was no longer a dragon; only dragons possess the composure to remain unmoved even when Mount Tai collapses before them.
The setting sun is like blood, the great river is surging, and the dew on the maple forest withers. This desolation is the same in ancient and modern times.
He took one last step forward, and when the gun fired, the world trembled. I froze, his hand still raised, a wisp of smoke rising from the muzzle. I lowered my head slightly and saw a bloodstain on the white cheongsam on his chest.
The bullet must have pierced right through my heart. I felt a chill in my heart, but no pain. Blood gushed out impatiently, and as the blood flowed away, life slowly left my body.
Will I die? Aren't I immortal?
Suddenly, we heard the sound of ten thousand horses galloping in the distance. We turned around in fright and saw the river tide coming. The tide was unstoppable. I haven't seen such a magnificent sight for a thousand years.
I turned around and smiled: "Do you remember? A long, long time ago, you told me that we all live for a destiny, and now I finally believe it. After waiting for a thousand years, it turns out that this is the day I've been waiting for."
He looked at me with surprise and doubt. I walked towards the riverbank. The tide was getting closer and closer. Was my uncle at the bottom of the tide? As I leaped into the river, I heard a shout behind me: "Naga!"
He finally remembered my name. I'm not Long Xuechen, I'm Naga.
Looking back, he stood alone by the river, the setting sun like blood, the great river rushing, the dew withering the maple forest, this desolation is the same in ancient and modern times.
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What is love in this world that makes people willing to die for each other?
Flying across the north and south, their old wings have weathered many winters and summers.
Joyful moments, bitter partings, and among them, foolish lovers.
You must have words to say, across ten thousand miles of layered clouds, amidst a thousand mountains covered in evening snow, to whom does this solitary figure turn?
---janeadam
Reply [42]: Eight
In 1945, Zhang Zhengqiu was released from Tilanqiao Prison in Shanghai after serving his sentence for murder.
During his twenty years in prison, he aged rapidly. Although he was only in his forties, he looked like an old man in his sixties or seventies.
In 1931, Japanese artillery fire crippled his right hand. Although the hand still exists, it is unable to exert any force and trembles constantly.
He took the tram to the main street, where newsboys ran by shouting the day's news. He heard the news of the Japanese surrender, but it had nothing to do with him. Twenty years earlier, when he was active in Shanghai, the Japanese weren't as rampant as they would later become.
Twenty years have passed in the end.
When he passed through Baxianfang, he saw a house rental advertisement. He was in dire need of renting a house because after twenty years, he had nothing left.
The family rented out the top floor of the attic room for twelve yuan a month. He registered it under the name Zhang Zilong, which was his real name; Zhang Zhengqiu was his stage name after becoming an actor. Following the housewife up the dark stairs, we saw someone cooking over a fire, with fumes rising into the air.
He rented the house and paid the first month's rent.
Then he groped his way downstairs. He needed to find a job, and he only had enough money to pay another month's rent.
He was lucky; a few days later, he found a job at a cosmetics shop. The shop wasn't big and only needed one employee. Actually, they could have done it without an employee, but the proprietress wanted to experience being an employer.
The wages weren't much, only 25 yuan a month. After paying rent and food, he could save 4 yuan.
The proprietress was a demanding Shanghai woman. She constantly ordered him around, sometimes even making him rearrange the goods that had just been neatly arranged.
His weak right hand made it twice as difficult for him to do things as anyone else, but he did it without complaint, because without this job, he would have no livelihood.
Never think about the past, absolutely never.
When it rains, the attic leaks. We have to use basins to catch the water and get up frequently at night to empty the overflowing basins. Otherwise, the water will overflow and leak to the floor below, causing the residents downstairs to come up and make a fuss.
This was not a difficult task for him, because he often woke up from nightmares, and after waking up, he would look around in confusion, sometimes forgetting where he was.
He saved up four yuan every month, and after four months, he had enough money to buy a cheap suit. He bought it without hesitation. The shirt underneath was yellowed, but it was better than nothing.
That day, he saw the Dragon Girl being performed at the Grand World. A large advertisement for Long Xuechen was hanging on the upper floor of the Grand World. He looked at the woman in the advertisement with a slightly sad smile.
He bought a ticket and went in to watch the movie, Dragon Girl, which was the last movie of his life.
Two young men and women sat behind him, watching and whispering amongst themselves.
"Long Xuechen is so beautiful!"
"She was absolutely stunning. It's unbelievable that such a beautiful woman would die so young."
---janeadam
Reply [43]: "Why did Zhang Zhengqiu kill her? Didn't people say they were a couple?"