Dark Cave - part 4 - Chapter 17
As expected, Kuroki Masaru’s face was as hard as steel: ” Yamashita-kun, you are my good friend, but you cannot ignore my decision and the feelings of our group. If you say one more word, you will suffer the same as she did. ”
Yamashita Masahiro felt a tightness in his chest and shouted: ” This is fine …” As soon as he opened his mouth, he was thrown to the ground by a boy who was good at judo. Yamashita Masahiro thought: I am useless and can’t save her.
With a scream of ” Ah ” , the hand that was on He Lingzi’s right shoulder was bitten hard by her. He Lingzi broke free from the arm, pulled out a sharp dagger from under her kimono, and quickly pressed it against the throat of the student who was pulling her on the left side.
” I knew this day would come! Fortunately, this is not the first time I have received such courtesy. ” He Lingzi said word by word, ” From now on, your senior is no longer Kuroki Masaru, but me. ”
Kuroki Katsu said in a deep voice: ” It turns out that the rumors were true. Your mother did kill someone. ”
” Do you have any objections ? ” He Lingzi stared at Kuroki Sheng. Kuroki Sheng looked at his subordinate who was grinning with the sword at his throat and shook his head. ” Please, Kuroki-kun, help Yamashita-kun up and apologize to him. ”
Kuroki Katsu did as he was told.
” Do n’t move … If anyone runs away before I release him , I will kill him. ” He Lingzi pushed the restrained student and started forward. Yamashita Masahiro followed.
After walking a long way, no one from the gym chased after them. He Lingzi let go of the hostage and ran away. Yamashita Masahiro quickly caught up with her, but he felt a little overwhelmed.
” Reiko, forgive me for not being able to …”
He Lingzi stopped and turned around: ” Yamashita-kun, you have only given me joy and friendship, what do you need to forgive? ”
” Reiko, I just hope …”
” There is always hope . I just want to know, how long will it take you to forget me? ”
” forever . ”
” Don’t follow me. When you see me tomorrow, pretend not to know me … No matter when you see me, pretend not to know me. ”
” Could that be the last time they saw each other? ” Guanjian rubbed his swollen temples and stood up to pace. Anzaki Sachiko still stared at the poetry collection of Yamashita Masahiro, looked up and said: ” Of course it is so. Look at how many poems Yamashita Masahiro wrote to Reiko and Tamako in those few short months. That’s why we can feel this pure first love so vividly. But after the poem “Farewell without Separation”, there is no mention of He Lingzi . Moreover, once her identity is recognized, it is very likely that her mother who fled will be implicated. How can she continue to come back to school? ”
” That makes sense, but if He Lingzi had never appeared in Yamashita Masahiro’s life , how could Yamashita Masahiro still miss her so much seventy years later? After all, they were only fifteen years old at the time and were just beginning to fall in love. Yamashita Masahiro later had a family, so how could he be so extreme as to buy two graves and sleep underground with Lingzi? ”
Yasaki Sachiko nodded and flipped through the collection of poems again. Halfway through, she exclaimed ” strange, ” and said, ” This collection lists all of Yamashita Masahiro’s poems in chronological order. He is a very prolific poet, with at least several poems every year, but there was only one poem in 1935, and no poems in 1936 and 1937. ”
” Maybe he was just in a bad mood at that time and didn’t have the passion to create? ”
” When a poet is in a bad mood, he will express himself more through poetry. ”
” What is your hypothesis ? ”
” Is it possible that the poems from that period were ‘ hidden ‘ by Yamashita Masahiro and not made public? ”
Guanjian rubbed his temples in silence. Anqi Sachiko flipped through the poetry collection again in silence, and suddenly stared at the book tightly, as if in a trance. Guanjian walked forward, and Anqi Sachiko raised her head and stared into his eyes.
Guanjian lowered his head to look at the poetry collection, and suddenly his whole body trembled. A blank information card that can be obtained for free from the library was embedded between the pages of poetry from 1935 and 1938. There were no words on the card, only a big question mark. ” Shishi?! ”
An Qi Sachiko let Guan Jian sit still for a long time before she said, ” Perhaps , Ms. Huang … Shi Shi, has the same discovery and questions as us. ”
Guanjian said: ” If this question mark was really left by Shishi, then she might have known about He Lingzi’s existence. I’m so stupid, of course she knew! ” Guanjian slapped his head. On the product label under the pair of firefly ears, there was a string of numbers, 759632 , He Lingzi’s grave number! ” She has probably reached a similar stage as us . But what to do next … I have no idea. ”
Sachiko Yasaki added : ” Masahiro Yamashita’s wife passed away 20 years ago. She was a native Japanese. According to Dr. Yuji Yamashita, they had a good relationship …”
” It once again shows that Yamashita Masahiro’s strong thoughts and feelings for He Lingzi could not have been based on just the six months of contact in middle school …”
” Ah! ” almost at the same time.
” From 1935 to 1937, Yamashita Masahiro was roughly 18 to 20 years old. ” Guanjian said with a little excitement, ” If Ho Reiko had appeared when Yamashita Masahiro was entering his youth , the feelings between the two would have evolved into passionate love. ”
” It was so passionate that Yamashita Masahiro wanted to be buried with her …”
” Is it really her who is buried in the tomb ? There is no urn in He Lingzi’s tomb? Maybe there is something she doesn’t want to make public …”
Anzaki Sachiko stood up: ” Oh my god, do you think Yamashita Masahiro would bury some materials under He Lingzi’s grave? ”
” Perhaps what is buried is a true love, a very personal love … Shishi put He Lingzi’s grave number and the firefly earrings together. Is this also hinting that there are clues under He Lingzi’s grave? ”
” No, no, I know what you are thinking …” Anzaki Sachiko subconsciously took a step back.
The moonlight shone on the two tombstones side by side, which were pale and gray. Guan Jian stood in front of the tombstones and shivered several times. He felt as if there were a pair of eyes watching him, watching the crazy thing he was about to do.
He Lingzi, no matter who you are or what your background is, please forgive my recklessness.
He took out a short-handled shovel from his bag and was about to break the ground when he heard Anzaki Sachiko say, ” Wait! ”
” I have prayed and asked Ms. He to forgive me. ”
” I’m not trying to stop you, I just want you to see if the flowers and plants in front of the tomb are any different. ”
Guan Jian took a closer look and exclaimed , ” Oh , really, the flowers and plants in front of He Lingzi’s tomb are a little crooked . ”
” The gardeners at the cemetery would not plant these small flowers and plants crookedly. It is very likely that these flowers and plants have been turned over and replanted by someone else, and because of unprofessionalism, they appear uneven. ”
” You mean, Shishi might have the same idea as us and also come … ”
An Qi Sachiko said softly: ” Yes, Shishi is a smart girl …”
Guan Jian nodded , and without saying a word, he carefully dug up the flowers and plants. The soil was constantly dug up, and the pit became deeper and deeper, and bigger and bigger, until the shovel suddenly encountered resistance.
A sealed leather bag. After opening it, there was a metal box about the size of a laptop computer. It felt heavy in the hand. There was a light engraving on the box surface, which seemed to be a landscape. Anzaki Sachiko exclaimed softly , ” Distant mountains and ancient temples, this is a typical Nara landscape. Why do I feel that this box is made of pure gold ? ”
As he was speaking, Guan Jian had already opened the lid of the box.
The first thing that caught my eye was a small and exquisite glass jar. Next to it was a stack of neatly folded yellowish rice paper. Guan Jian couldn’t help but open the top sheet of paper. Under the flashlight, there was another poem titled “Su Mu Zha · Firefly’s Pain”.
Sumuzheh : Pain of Firefly
on two branches, swallows nesting together, three years of being together, with a thousand hearts. I want to spend the day and night in the warm tent, draw eyebrows together, and paint the lifelong wish.
is mournful , the pen is broken, the distance is so near, where are the fireflies scattered? The moon is reflected in the lonely window, the clouds pass by, the plums fall, and the candle tears are scattered.