Chapter 42 Chapter 42: Life and Death on the Ancient City Wall

I always like to call Xi'an City Chang'an City. A city can only be called a city if it has walls. Xi'an is a truly dignified city.Its continuous walls on all sides make it still have an imperial air after a hundred years of vicissitudes, just like Feng or De, which is crowned before the surname of European aristocrats. On a moonlit night, when I climbed to the top of the city alone, as soon as I stepped on the thick bricks of the city wall, all the people and things under the city immediately faded away.In the weeping wind, I seem to be able to hear the heartbeat of the city wall and feel the tender love under its hard shell.

There is a cold seeping slowly from the bottom of my heart, I feel lonely, and I feel at ease.I leaned against the city bricks, stroked the clear engravings on them, and gently read a name. My thoughts were drawn far away by the moonlight like water, far away, as far as the ancient times thousands of years ago... In a certain dynasty and a certain generation, the rebels rebelled, and the guards of the city stood on guard, vowing to protect the safety of women and children in the city with their lives. One of the young guards, named Qin Yue, confided to his companions before the moon rose: "We fight to protect women. This is a man's bounden duty. However, I haven't had time to really know a woman. Fall in love with her once."

On the night when he said this, the enemy came to attack, Qin Yue was shot with many arrows and died in battle.With the last bit of strength, he carved his name on the city bricks with the tip of a spear dipped in blood.At that time, the moon had risen to the mid-heaven, and it was as clear as washing. Qin Yue swore to the moon: If many years later, there would be a girl who was as pure and kind as the bright moon.She will appear above the city walls, and read my blood-soaked name in the moonlight.At that time, my spirit will be reborn on this city brick, and love her life and death. As time passed, I finally stepped onto the ancient city wall in a gauze dress tonight, and read out the soul-stirring words: Qin Yue.

My hand stroked gently, my heart trembled slightly, the moonlight suddenly dimmed at that moment, and I knew something was going to happen. Then I heard clang-clang footsteps behind me, and the crisp sound of armor colliding.I turned around and saw him. He was wearing a war robe, and the armor was shining with a cold light, and it hadn't rusted due to age.He approached, stopped at a distance from me, leaned his spear on the wall, and asked softly, "Are you afraid?" I looked at him, into ancient times, and into eternity.I replied: "Don't be afraid, I will bring you back to life."

When we meet, it is as natural and turbulent as the wind blowing over the water, ever-changing, with new ripples and new surprises every minute. He told me the customs and allusions of the predecessors, and I told him the current etiquette fashion.I danced at the top of the city, and the white gauze skirt danced into a huge lily. I asked him to come closer, smell the perfume on my body, and said that it was the French brand Cavelin. France?He doesn't understand.He said that women at that time were also fragrant, but they were dyed with spices. I don't believe it. I heard that at that time, women wore thick and thick clothes and didn't take a bath for several months. How could they smell good?

He smiled and didn't argue with me.But he pointed to my gauze skirt and said that it was not the best material. In their era, there was a silk material called gauze, and the whole skirt could be tied together and worn through a ring. I am fascinated.Silk has always been a kind of clothing material that I am in awe of, and I always feel that it is alive.In its previous life, it was a silkworm that ate mulberry hard, spun silk lingeringly, and cocooned itself in despair. The more it struggled, the tighter it entangled. Achieve a piece of soft Chinese clothes. Does the whole process look like love?I asked.

love.He repeated it softly, seeming a little uncomfortable with the word.Women of our time, he says, don't usually speak so boldly about matters of love. I laughed and told him that girls today are different, they go out to work, work like men, and be their bosses.Men and women are already equal, monogamous, and the extra one is called the third party.I showed him the watch I was wearing, the high heels I was wearing, and asked him to try my 520 brand cigarettes. He was very surprised and showed a simple smile.I noticed that his teeth were white.So I remembered that although there was no toothpaste at that time, it seemed that there was a way to brush teeth, using salt.

I asked him about this, and he laughed again, paused, and said: "Girls at that time wouldn't ask questions like that, they didn't talk that much." I interrupted quickly: "I know, you can't laugh If you show your teeth, your skirt must be above your knees." Although there were a lot of disputes, we had a good chat, and when we broke up, we were a little reluctant to part.He said that he hadn't talked to anyone for thousands of years, and I said that although I talked every day, I was equally lonely.So we made an appointment, if there is moonlight tomorrow night, we will come to this city to meet again.

But the next day was a rainy day, I was not reconciled, so I went.The red paper umbrella and the green skirt lingered on the wall for a long time, but could not be met in the end. When I went to work again, when I saw the male colleagues coming and going around me, I was picky for no reason. I always felt that their faces were blurred, their behavior was frivolous, and their tone and expression were not soft and charming.I long for the sunny sky, the full moon, and the eternal covenant on the ancient city wall. Is there 1000 years between me and Qin Cheng? After three days and nights in a row, the sky cleared up again.The moon had just risen, and I was running all the way up the city, this time in jeans, trying to surprise him.

Qin Yue arrived before me, and made fun of him as soon as we met: "Quiet girl, wait for me in the corner of the city. I don't see you, scratch your head and hesitate." I yelled: "So you saw me, but you didn't come to see me." He remained silent, pain and embarrassment flashed in his eyes.I hurriedly changed the topic: "My favorite are those two sentences: Shi Wei, Shi Wei, Hu Bugui? It makes people feel sad." So we discussed, discussed Chu Ci and Han Fu, discussed ancient literature with a real ancient person, and I benefited a lot. Meeting him gradually became the greatest joy and the heaviest consolation in my life, almost too great for me to bear.For the first time, I know that loving someone can be so happy and selfless.However, I never took a step closer to him, never held his hand, and made an appointment with him.

I didn't dare to take the risk, and I had no way of guessing whether his hand was cold or hard.Love can't be tested, I would rather watch it quietly from a distance, until it turns white. Every day I am calmer, gentler, more like a woman, a classical, real woman.In Qin Yue's era, there was a clear division of labor between men and women, and they were absolutely different.Women do not have such great freedom and power today, but women have endless tenderness and pity. He is a real man who can never be seen again in this world. For him, I am willing to be a real woman out of time. There are suddenly more suitors around me, because of the mysterious and classical pure femininity in me. There are new flowers on the desk every day, and the time and place of the appointment are written on the back of the pink business card.I didn't even look at it, just threw it into the wastebasket. I can't see other people with my eyes. In my heart, there is only Qin Yue. Give me love, I'd rather be an ancient woman. One night, the moon and stars were thin, and Qin Yue and I walked slowly on the city wall. He pointed to the lights outside the city and told me the history of the moat.I bent down, suddenly staggered, and fell backwards.I screamed: "Qin Yue save me!" As a soldier, Qin Yue was well-trained and helped him in time. Our hands, our hands cross the air. At that moment when they had clearly grasped each other, they clearly missed it. I missed a thousand years! I fell hard and stared at him with wide eyes in disbelief.I finally know that he is not a mass of ice, nor a piece of iron, he is nothing, a piece of nothingness. too cruel!Qin Yue looked back at me miserably, completely overwhelmed by the unexpected reality.The infinite pain in his eyes gradually became hollow. I was suddenly terrified, I knew I was going to lose him, so I called: "Qin Yue!" But he has refused to respond, he is a real man and regards protecting women as his bounden duty.He once gave his life to defend the territory, but today, today is not Qin Cheng's era.There are no wars in peaceful years, and men are no longer needed to fight bloody battles for their women. What they want is just a little tenderness, the care of daily necessities, but Qin Cheng, seeing his beloved woman fall down, Not even able to reach out to help. This kind of reality was no longer acceptable to Qin Yue, his world was shattered at that moment.He looked at me again, and I saw desolation in his eyes.Then, he turned around and left. I yelled his name sadly: "Qin Yue!" No, my beloved, you can't just walk out of my life like this.I jumped up, my ankle felt a tearing pain, and I fell back on the ancient city wall.Qin Yue, I wept bitterly, watching him drift away under the moonlight and finally disappear.And the brick in front of him with Qin Yue's name engraved on it gradually calmed down, becoming smooth without any traces. Qin Yue finally fulfilled his vow and left with the greatest satisfaction and the most painful regret, never to see me again! I sat on the top of the city, stroking the cold bricks, two lines of tears flowed quietly, and in a blink of an eye, they were dried by the night wind again. Someone was blowing the xun in the distance, it was not the music of the world, it was the echo of history, it was the cry from the ground, whimpering in the night wind, soaking into my heart layer by layer. In the wind, I don't know how many souls of the previous dynasty wandered in it. They made the air on the city wall look cold and faint, and even the moonlight looked more ethereal than under the city. I always feel that every ray of wind above the city is different from that below the city, has its own breath and meaning, and tells some unknown stories buried in the world of mortals. Mine is called Qin Yue, what about yours?