Chapter 4 Chapter Four

The next night, this time I went to town alone.At that time, I hadn't decided whether to tell Komiya or the officials about the murderer fourteen years ago. I went to the kimono shop that was about to close, and I heard that the boss went to the wine shop to get drunk.I went to the restaurant, just as I found out, the boss was there.He drink after drink, feeling unable to strike up a conversation at will.I asked people around me about him without any trace.The kimono shop is run by the owner alone, but he was a reckless man when he was young, and he often blackmailed people for wine money.

On the way back to the village, I walked on the road with fields on both sides, smelling the fragrance of rice ears floating from the earth.I've been thinking about the owner of the kimono shop.When he saw the knife, he visibly panicked.When I walked to the front of the temple, I found someone standing in the moonlight, it was Xiaogong.On her head was a hair ornament given to her by a child.She saw me, pinched her nose and said: "Master, you reek of alcohol." "It's just a little wine smell, don't worry about it." Komiya went to the kitchen to cook for me.She rubs my shoulders after meals.

"Why is it so good today?" "I'm also very considerate once in a while." In the past fourteen years, to Xiaogong, I have been like her father, and I have also treated Xiaogong as my own daughter.I also had a wife and daughter when I was young, but both fell ill and passed away.I didn't tell Xiaogong that my dead daughter was also called Xiaogong. "See you tomorrow." I said to Xiaogong when she returned. "Well, Master, see you tomorrow." She bowed to me, and her figure gradually moved away. In the middle of the night, Xiao Gong's children came to knock on the door of the monastery.I asked what was the matter, and he worriedly explained the whole story:

"Mother said she was going to patrol the fields, but she never came back." We head to town.As I walked on the road I had just turned back, I felt more and more uneasy.We're going to town because we think Komiya should be there.Before Komiya disappeared, Komiya's children had just told their mother about the owner of the kimono shop. As we were on our way, I told Xiaogong's child what happened fourteen years ago.I also told him that Komiya was pregnant with him without having sex with anyone.Most of his expression was lost in the darkness. When we arrived in town, we were shocked to find passers-by panicked.The horses on which the officials rode made a sound that shook the earth and shuttled among the people.We silently sensed that something was wrong.

Many people gathered in front of the kimono shop.We listen to people's conversations.It happened when the owner of the kimono shop was on his way back from the wine shop.The boss was killed by cutting his neck with a grass scythe, and passers-by saw a woman running away.The woman's shabby, tattered clothes were spattered with blood, and she seemed to be fleeing in the direction of our village. The officials searched the outskirts of the town, and a group of people rode their horses towards the village.I froze in place, Xiaogong's child dragged me to a place where there was no one else.He also looked pale, but said in a strong tone:

"If Niang flees to the village, it's unreasonable. She should pass us by." If he didn't pass by, it meant that Komiya had left the road on the way.So where did she go?That being said, there was her father's tomb on the far side of the road connecting the town and the village. We parted the bushes and went deep, and heard a woman's singing in the sound of the stream.Before long, we came to a wide place.This is the place where the murder happened fourteen years ago.Moonlight illuminates a woman sitting on a fallen log.The woman is facing the cliff, only the back can be seen, but the hair accessories I have seen are stuck on her head.

"Mother." Xiao Gongzi who walked out of the jungle behind me called out.The woman stopped singing and looked at us with a sad expression.Her chest was stained red with blood. "That's the one." My whole body stiffened with terror.That night, Xiao Gong had an extremely sad and beautiful expression. "Mother, go home." Xiao Gong's child took a step towards her. Xiao Gong held a sickle in his hand, and the knife was stained with blood.She looked at me and said, "I have already said goodbye to Master." Xiaogong stood up and threw the sickle on the ground.

"Where else can I go back?" Then she walked towards the end of the ground.There is a stream under the cliff, and the sound of rushing water can be heard.Standing on the edge of the cliff, Xiaogong's body is so petite that it looks like it will fall if the wind blows. "Don't go there!" said the child, Xiaogong turned her head and said with loving eyes, "Mother has dragged you down. As a child of a sinner, you will definitely live a very hard life in the future." "No, let's escape together!" "You have to live here." "Mom, don't!"

"Fourteen years ago, I should have died here. I can live until today because you let me escape, Daddy..." "I'm not mother's father, we just have the same name!" "Daddy's heart is in your body." Xiao Gong bowed deeply to his child. "What's the meaning……?" "Because you are Daddy's child." I heard horse neighing.It seems that the officials who pursued Komiya were searching the nearby villages. "I'm pregnant with Daddy's child." Xiao Gong's voice was extremely awe-inspiring.But I don't understand her words.

"The midwife said you were innocent, but you said you were pregnant with your father's child?..." "The man chopped Daddy, stabbed Daddy. I watched Daddy being cut into pieces and then the man stabbed me in the stomach with the same knife." Komiya stroked her belly.Although I didn't directly see the wound at that time, the doctor said that it was on the lower right side of the navel. "The blade of the knife reflects the moonlight, and it's wet. I thought it was wet because of Daddy's blood, but..." I remembered what the villagers said.I have never seen such a miserable corpse, even the lifeblood has been cut off.

"The wet knife went through my stomach." Komiya drew a circle on her stomach with her hand. "It must have been the knife that sent Daddy's child into my stomach." "how is this possible……!" "Then what other reason is there for me to conceive a child?" Komiya's child approached her with weak steps. "Mother..." he called, kneeling at his mother's feet. The sobbing was drowned out by the sound of hooves.Did the villagers tell them about this place?The horses stopped on the other side of the bushes, feeling that a large number of horses and horses were approaching. "Master..." Xiao Gong stood up and put the child's hand into mine, "It seems it's time to say goodbye." "Little Palace..." "This child will trouble you." She said, bowed to me, and jumped off the cliff without hesitation. "Mother!" Xiao Gong's child stood up and shook off my hand, and ran towards the cliff. "do not go!" "I'll save my mother!" He dropped those words and jumped off the cliff. I approached the edge of the cliff to peek under.The stream engulfed the mother and child, rumbling.There was a ledge in the way of the cliff, and I saw something red stuck there in the moonlight.It is a hair ornament given to the mother by the boy. There was a knock on the door amidst the sound of rain.I left mother and child in the lobby and went out to answer the door. A soaked man in traveling clothes stood at the entrance.It's a strange man. "Can I take shelter from the rain?" the man said, and I invited him into the temple. "Now there is a pair of unfortunate mother and child in the temple, please don't make loud noises." "What happened?" "The child drowned in the river." I led the man to an empty room in the temple, handed him a towel, and the man in travel clothes wiped his wet face. When I returned to the lobby, I saw that the mother was stroking the body of the child on the straw mat. "Didn't you find them both later?" asked the mother. "Many villagers searched downstream, but..." It should be dead.All the villagers said in unison. "Accidentally spoke too long." "Won't." I want to pour tea for my mother and travelers, and go to the kitchen to light a fire.There was the endless sound of rain outside.It's been a long time since I mentioned the matter of the mother and son to anyone.I stared at the flames in the stove, and thought of the bamboo dragonflies that flew out from the hands of Komiya's children.I think it is a very happy toy.Leaving people's hands, flying into the sky, flying freely, makes people feel comfortable and happy. The firewood burst in the depths of the hearth, and red sparks flew.At this time, the sound of chanting came from the lobby.I was surprised who was chanting, and listened quietly for a while. Going to the lobby to see, the man in the travel suit is facing the child with his hands clasped together.He is the one who recites the scriptures. Although the details are different from what I learned, the essential part has the same rhyme.It's the same as the scriptures that the boy recited. "Where did you learn the scriptures you recited just now?" "I was taught by people I met on the road." "What kind of person is that?" I asked, and the man in the travel suit answered me.I listened to his words and took a deep breath. "It's a man with a daughter. No, it must be the mother. We met in the moonlight, so the age of the two of them can't be seen clearly. They seem to travel long distances together, intimate, like husband and wife, but Like father and daughter, like mother and son. Yes, I met them recently. The two looked a little frightened, maybe on the way to flee in fear of crime. I asked them where they were going, and they said they were going to the ends of the earth. I asked Where is the end of the world, but they don't seem to know the answer."