Chapter 20 Chapter 20 "I Will Live Forever!"

But they were forced to wait more than a week more, for the combination of a windy day and then Colin's threat of a cold would no doubt have irritated him greatly, but there were so many careful, mysterious plans to be had. Execution, almost every day Dickon would come in, if only for a few minutes, and tell what was going on, on the moor, on the trail, in the hedge, by the stream.What he has to say about the homes of otters, badgers, and water mice, not to mention the nests of small birds and the holes of field mice, is enough to make you shiver with excitement when you hear all the in-depth details from a trainer, bringing With piercing eagerness and tension, you realize that the whole busy underworld is at work.

"They're just like us," said Deacon, "except they have to build a house every year. It's a lot of work for them, so they scramble to get it done." However, the most attractive thing is the preparations for transporting Colin into the secret garden with enough secrecy.The wheelchair, Dickon, and Mary would turn a certain bend in the bush and into a walkway beyond the ivy-covered wall, after which turn no one could see them.As the days passed, Colin became more and more convinced of his feeling that the mystery that surrounded the garden was one of its most enchanting aspects.Never let anything spoil it.Never let anyone suspect that they have a secret.One must think he went out with Mary and Dickon simply because he liked them and had no objection to them looking at him.They used to discuss their course happily for a long time.They would walk up this path, down that, across the other, and circle the fountain bed as if they were looking at the "bed plants" that Mr. Rauch, chief gardener, had ordered.It was a reasonable move, and no one would think of any mystery.They would turn into a walkway surrounded by bushes and disappear until they came to the long wall.Everything has been seriously and carefully considered, just like the marching plan drawn up by a great general in the war years.

Rumors of strange and new happenings in the invalid's room naturally filtered from the servants' hall into the stable yard and among the gardeners, but nonetheless Mr. Rauch was surprised one day when he received an order from Master Colin's room. jumped.He had to report from rooms that no outsider would ever see, because the patients themselves had something to say to him. "So, then," he said to himself as he hurriedly changed his coat, "what about now? His Royal Highness, who forbids anyone to look at him, is now summoning someone whom he doesn't even look at."

Mr. Rao Qi is not without curiosity.He had never once caught a glimpse of the boy, and had heard a dozen exaggerated stories about his mysterious looks and mad temper.He heard most often that he might die at any moment, and had countless images of hunchbacked, limp limbs from people who had never seen him. "Things are changing in this house, Mr. Rauch," said Mrs. Medlock, leading him by the back stairs to the corridor which led to the hitherto mysterious bedroom. "Let's hope for the better, Mrs. Medlock," he answered. "It's as bad as it gets," she went on, "and it's so strange that they all find responsibility easier there. Don't be surprised, Mr. Rauch, if you suddenly find yourself in the middle of a traveling zoo, Ma Sarah Sowerby's Dickon is more at home than you or me."

As Mary had always privately believed, Dickon really had a magical power.When Mr. Rao Qi heard his name, he smiled reassuringly. "He's as at home in Buckingham Palace as he is on the bottom of the coal mines," he said, "but not insolent. He's just at ease, that boy." If he hadn't been mentally prepared, maybe he would have been taken aback.When the door of the bedroom was opened, a big crow, sitting on the high back of the carved chair, seemed to be in his own home, announcing the arrival of the guests with a very loud "quack-quack".Despite Mrs. Medlock's warnings, Mr. Raoch narrowly escaped being disgraced by a backward leap.

The young prince was neither in bed nor on the sofa.He sat in an armchair, and a young lamb stood beside him, wagging its tail like a suckling lamb, while Dickon knelt and bottle-fed it.A squirrel stood on Dickon's bent back, nibbling intently at a nut.The little girl from India sat on a stool and watched. "Mr. Rauch is here, Master Colin," said Mrs. Medlock. The young prince turned his head and looked his manservant up and down—or so the chief gardener thought. "Oh, you're Raoqi, aren't you?" he said. "I've sent for you to give you some very important orders."

"Very well, sir," replied Raoqi, wondering if he would be instructed to cut down all the oak trees in the garden, or turn the orchard into a pond for flowers. "I'm going out in my wheelchair this afternoon," said Colin, "if the fresh air suits me I'll probably go out every day. When I go, no gardener is allowed near the porch by the garden wall. No one is allowed. I go out at about two o'clock and everyone has to stay away until I say they can go back to work." "Very well, sir," replied Mr. Rauch, very relieved that the oaks were preserved and the orchard was safe.

"Mary," said Colin, turning to her, "you said what you said in India when you finished talking and wanted people to go?" "You said: 'You have my permission to leave,'" Mary replied. The prince waved. "You have my permission to leave, Rao Qi," he said, "but remember, this is very important." "Quack-quack!" commented the crow hoarsely but not impolitely. "Very well, sir. Thank you, sir," said Mr. Raoch, and Mrs. Medlock led him out of the room. Out into the hallway, being a rather kind man, he smiled until he almost laughed.

"For God's sake!" he said, "he's quite a gentleman, isn't he? You thought he was the whole royal family wrapped up in one—the queen's husband plus everyone else." "Ah!" protested Mrs. Medlock, "since he had feet, we've all had to let him trample on every one of us, and he thought other people were made to be trampled on by him." "Maybe he will develop this temper, if he survives." Mr. Rao Qi suggested. "Well, one thing's for sure," said Mrs. Medlock, "if he does survive and the Indian kid stays here, I'm sure she'll teach him that the whole orange doesn't belong to him, like Sue. Shan Sowerby said it. And he's likely to find out the size of his lot."

In the room, Colin leaned back on his pillow. "It's safe now," he said, "I'll be able to see it this afternoon—I'll be able to get in it this afternoon!" Dickon and his animals went back to the garden, and Mary stayed with Colin.She didn't think he looked tired, but he was very quiet before lunch, and he was very quiet while they ate.She wanted to know why, so she asked him. "Your eyes are so big, Colin," she said. "They're as big as saucers when you're thinking. What are you thinking about now?" "I can't help but wonder what it's going to look like?" he replied.

"A garden?" Mary asked. "Spring," he said, "I'm thinking I've never really seen spring. I hardly ever go out, and when I do I never look. I don't even think about it." "I've never seen spring in India because there isn't one," said Mary. In his claustrophobic life, Colin had a richer imagination than her, at least he spent a lot of time looking at beautiful books and pictures. "The other morning you came running in and said 'it's coming! it's coming!' You gave me a really weird feeling. It sounded like things were coming in a big procession, with puffs and puffs of music. Like I have a portrait, in the book - throngs of beautiful people and children, with garlands and blossoming branches, everyone laughing and dancing and squeezing and playing the flute. So I said 'maybe we can hear the golden horn!' and told you to open the windows." "Funny!" said Mary, "it really does feel like that. What a crowd it would be if all the flowers, leaves, green things, birds, and wild animals danced by at the same time! I'm sure they would dance, Sing, play the flute, and there will be bursts of music." They both laughed.Not because the idea was funny, but because they all liked it. After a while, the nurse took care of Colin.She noticed that when he was getting dressed, he no longer lay down like a log, but sat up and tried his best to dress himself, talking and laughing with Mary all the time. "He's all right today, sir," she said to Dr. Craven, who stopped by to see him. "He's in a good mood, let him be strong." "I'll call for you again in the afternoon, when he comes back," said Dr. Craven. "I'll have to see if going out is right for him. I hope," he said in a low voice, "that he'll let you go. " "I'd rather give up this job now, sir, than be fired later," replied the nurse, suddenly resolute. "I didn't decide to actually advise you that," said the doctor, a little nervously. "We'll do the experiment. Deacon's a baby I'll take care of." The strongest porter in the house carried Colin downstairs and put him in the wheelchair, where Dickon waited outside.After a footman settled the blanket and pillow, the prince waved to him and the nurse. "You have my permission to leave," he said, and they both disappeared quickly, and when they were both safely inside the house, confessions had to be made, they giggled. Deacon began to push the wheelchair slowly and steadily.Miss Mary walked beside, and Colin threw back his face to the sky.The sky is high, and the small snow-white clouds are like white birds, floating under the crystal-clear sky with outstretched wings.A large gust of soft wind swayed from the wilderness, carrying the clear aroma of the wilderness.Colin kept puffing out his thin chest, sucking it in, and his big eyes looked as if they were listening—listening, not his ears. "There are so many voices, singing, humming, calling," he said, "what is that scent that blows on the wind?" "It's the gorse blooming in the moor," said Dickon. "Ah! the bees are there, and it's such a fine day." The path they took was full of people.In fact, all the gardeners and gardener's sons were taken away by magic.They wandered in and out of the bushes, circled the fountain beds, followed their carefully planned routes, for the sheer mystery of it all.But when they turned at last into the ivy-walled gallery, they were agitated by the impending excitement, and for mysterious reasons they could not explain, they began to whisper. "This is," Mary breathed, "and this is where I used to walk around and ponder and ponder." "Is it here?" said Colin, and his eyes began to search eagerly among the ivy, "but I can't see anything," he whispered. "There's no door." "I used to think that too," said Mary. Then there was a beautiful silence, the breathing stopped and the wheelchair continued to turn. "That's the garden where Ji Yuanben worked," said Mary. "Really?" said Colin. After a few more yards, Mary whispered again. "This is where the robin flies over the wall," she said. "Is it?" cried Colin. "Oh! I wish he'd come again!" "There," said Mary, with solemn joy, pointing under a large bush of lilacs, "he stopped on a little heap of dirt, and pointed me to the key." Then Colin sat up. "Where? Where? Where?" he cried, and his eyes were as big as the wolf's in Little Red Riding Hood, as Little Red Riding Hood had been asked to describe the wolf's eyes.Dickon stood still and the wheelchair stopped. "Here," said Mary, stepping into the flowerbed near the ivy, "is where I went to talk to him when he called to me from the wall. Here is the ivy blown away by the wind." She held the hanging green curtain. "Oh! it's here—it's here!" gasped Colin. "Here's the handle, and here's the door. Dickon pushes him in--shove him in!" Deacon just pushed, strong, sure, and dazzling. But Colin actually fell back on the pillow, and although he was breathing audibly with joy, he had covered his eyes with his hands and remained there, shutting everything out until they were all inside—the wheelchair stopped magically, the door closed.Only then did he take his hand away and look around, and around, and around, just as Mary and Dickon had been.On the walls, on the ground, on the trees, on the swaying branches, on the tendrils, there has been a flawless green veil of small young leaves, in the grass, under the trees, in the tall gray vases in the arbor, here, there , there are dots and splashes of gold, purple, and white everywhere, and the trees hold out clusters of pink and snow-white on his head, with wings fluttering, faint sweet flute sounds, buzzing, Aroma, aroma.The sun poured down warmly on his face, like the lovely touch of a hand.Mary and Dickon stood and stared at him in wonder.He looked very strange and abnormal, for a luminous pink was slowly creeping up all over him-ivory cheeks, neck, hands, all over. "I'm going to be well! I'm going to be well!" he cried. "Mary! Dickon! I'm going to be well! I'm going to live forever-forever-forever!" 【①Beddingplant: Plants that are about to bloom are transplanted into flower beds and flower pots, mostly annuals, used to create a bright but short-lived effect, and discarded after flowering. 】 【② Yard: Equivalent to 0.9144 meters, which is about the length of two steps taken by an adult. 】 【③A traditional European fairy tale, a little girl always likes to wear a red hat, nicknamed Little Red Riding Hood.She went through the woods to visit her grandmother, and met the wolf who wanted to eat her, but the hunter killed the wolf and rescued Little Red Riding Hood. 】