Chapter 59 Chapter 3 Dark Night (2)

Shang-Paul's pupils were as pale as the blue sky, he squinted his eyes in the strong light, and in front of his eyes were dreamlike figures in the light and mist, the shocking sound waves sent by the giant speakers, and the excitement of the crowd shouting slogans in unison, everything around him, It's like being in a movie with blurred light and shadow.But this is neither a dream nor a movie. The crowd is already approaching them, and the riot police behind them are ready to move. "After joining the international environmental protection movement, I realized a new kind of life. The work, career, and social relationships in the original framework can no longer dominate me. If you say that I have lost my roots, that's okay, but Marty, I didn't know what it means to live a full life until I had no more roots."

"In case you are going to regret it, have you ever thought about what to do?" "Marty, I think the point is, are you focused on your own life, or the world? That makes a difference. I believe that one has to be not just a living being, but a living being. People who are in the fate of all human beings. Otherwise, I don’t know how people should live, so that they can really live enough.” There was some commotion at the entrance of the "Legislative Yuan". The budget review meeting just now seemed to have a result.The line of the riot police was uneasy, and they reorganized from right to left. Jill and Marty stood up and retreated to the side of the banyan tree.

"You're a funny friend." Marty and Jill stood with their backs to the banyan tree, waiting for the commotion to pass. "Hmm, interesting." "How did you know him?" "A friend introduced him. He just came to Taiwan and wanted to get in touch with social movements, so he found some journalist friends for help. Someone asked me to help him translate, and that's how we got to know each other." "So you agree with the Green Planet Party?" "I have done some background research. The evaluation of the Green Planet Party in Europe is very extreme. Their radical organizational form always makes people think that they have political ambitions, but they have indeed done a lot of social work. I think the Green Planet Party has a lot to do. As long as there is a clear idea, it doesn’t matter if the means are radical. In the past, all issues were inevitably pan-politicized, but now even political issues are inevitable to be pan-environmentalized. Groups like the Green Planet Party only faithfully reflect the trend of the times. I'm very interested."

Several "opposition parties" and "legislators" who just came out of the "Legislative Yuan" jumped onto the podium and were delivering an impromptu report. The demonstrators crowded in front of the podium, while Champau-Paul shuttled around the fringes of the crowd to take pictures, capturing shots of mass gatherings .Champaul is very tall, almost taller than the whole crowd.His chestnut hair reflected pale silver in the spotlight, and Marty's eyes followed the light with ease. For so many years, Marty has integrated into the social rhythm of Taipei since she knew herself. She is a fruit that absorbs the same nutrients as others. Under the same cloudy sky, she is soaked in a sauce jar with a narrow outlet. .Marty almost believed that most people's life is like this, between the dull schedule at work and the boring TV series after get off work, between working hard to make money and spending money harder, swinging like a pendulum.To break through this doomed anguish, she once lazily unwound her own clockwork, only to be troubled by the greater anguish of inaction.

It's not that I'm too decadent, but the city itself is decadent enough.That's the answer Matty has been finding lately. Are these anguish and these answers trapped by my own Taipei-style thinking?Marty was moved by what Shang-Paul said.The road of life is in a moment of thought. If you don't have the courage to go your own way, but shirk on other people's outlook on life, what kind of cowardly emotion is it?Seeing the enthusiasm of Shang-Paul to devote himself to his ideals, Madi suddenly felt that he was an ordinary person who was good at making a cocoon. The world is infinitely vast, and other people's outlook on life is other people's business. This city is so innocent, it has never trapped people, it is people's narrow thinking that traps this city.

Jill lit a cigarette against the wind, and Marty had a feeling that Jill, who was addicted to smoking, kept her addiction in front of Champaul.Jill patted the dust off her skirt while looking at the crowd in front of the podium. "Look at Jean-Paul," said Jill. "People are so inadvertently assimilated into their environment that they think that's the only way to survive. Jean-Paul is a good friend who reminds us that there are many a different kind of life." "You're right." The recent episodes of life flashed before Marty's eyes. She also thought of Xiaoye, Rattan, Suyuan, Dr. Chen, and Hai'an.

"You should go and see Hai'an." Jier seemed to have read her mind.She leaned against the banyan tree and reached out to shake the fibrous roots floating in the air. "Go and see Hai'an. As far as I know, he's been having a rough time lately." "What's the matter?" "He doesn't want to tell me. You go talk to him. I always feel that Hai'an likes you. You are smart, you are much gentler, and you know how to be considerate." The fibrous roots of the banyan tree do not depend on the soil. They hang freely in the air and are gently brushed by Jill's fingertips.When a gust of wind blows, the slender fibrous roots that have lost the support of the soil are all swaying with the wind, but they are still a bunch of roots. Using their posture in the wind, they also capture the thin nutrients in the air and nourish the banyan tree.

Marty took Jill's car and came to the building where Hai'an lived.After getting out of the car, she waved to Jill and Jean-Paul, and watched them leave.After a day of street activities, Jill and Jean-Paul did not intend to take a break. They were going to visit a magazine known for its staunch anti-nuclear stance. Jill's taillights drifted away, disappearing into the traffic at the intersection ahead.Marty walked into the building's lavish fountain atrium, only to be stopped by uniformed guards.The guard called Hai'an to report Marty's visit, and Marty was not allowed to enter the classically furnished elevator until the other end of the phone approved.When the guard called, Marty could hear clearly, a woman's voice on Hai'an's side.

Arriving at Hai'an's door, the door opened before Marty rang the bell.In front of Marty, stood Akiko. This was the first time Akiko met Marty, and before Marty could speak, she opened the door to let Marty in. "Please sit down." Mingzi said lazily.She gathered the silk robe on her body with both hands, and walked towards the mattress in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows. Her figure was provocative, but not erotic.In such a cold night, Akiko was only wearing a thin pure silk gown, under the almost transparent gown was a naked body. Akiko ignored Marty and sat down on the mattress with her knees hugged.The floor-to-ceiling windows in front of the bed are built obliquely outwards, and you can enjoy the entire sky as long as you sit in front of the bed without looking up.Now Akiko was staring out the window blankly.

Akiko's gorgeous body is fully displayed in front of Marty.Marty stood silently for a while, seeing that Akiko seemed to be the only one here.There is a faint, sweet fragrance like gardenia in the air. Marty came to the mattress and sat down on the foot of the bed, and she too looked out the window.The sky in Taipei tonight, as usual, is cloudy and dark.A starry night is too extravagant in this city. "What are you looking at?" Marty asked. "Star." "Why can't I see it?" "The sky in Taipei is too dirty. I'm pretending." Mingzi's Chinese has an indescribably strange accent, not like a foreigner, but not like a local.Perhaps, the strange thing is the way she uses words.

"Where is Hai'an?" Akiko turned to face her, without blinking her intoxicatingly beautiful eyes. "I don't know where he is." Mingzi tilted his head and fell into unhappy memories, "I haven't seen Hai'an for many days. Do you know where Hai'an is?" Of course Marty didn't know.No job, no relatives, Hai'an, which seems to have nothing to do with the whole world, is an isolated island that has lost its relative landmarks. In the vast sea, he does not leave traces for others to capture.Where is Hai'an?It was a question the two of them should never have asked each other. A floor-to-ceiling mirror on the wall on the left reflects the figures of the two of them; not far from the right, there is another large mirror. Under the light of the two mirrors, thousands of Marty and Mingzi are reflected, all sitting silently. The visual situation is as illusory as their inner feelings.Marty, who just came out of the heated demonstrations, seemed to have entered a pit in a different time and space.Here, the world becomes very far away, distant and unreal, the world becomes a dream, and they who are sitting here are the plot of the dream.