[Spirited Away] River of Time

? 1.

The shop owner quickly served the delicious roast meat and rice wine with chopsticks.The warm rice wine gave off a sweet aroma, and his movements were delicate and elegant.This was very different from the restaurant where her parents turned into pigs in her memory, and Qian Xun felt a little bit unbelievable in her heart.

Then, the shop owner took out a pot of charcoal fire from the kitchen and placed it in the center of the house.The fire was burning slowly, and there was a slight crackling sound.

"It seems that your girlfriend is afraid of the cold." He said this to Bai Long.

Chihiro's face flushed red.Bailong smiled slightly, but he didn't smile again: "I'm sorry to trouble you." He raised his eyes to see the snow on the roof, "It's snowing heavily, and there are not many customers late at night."

"They all go to your oil house to soak in the soup. Granny Tang can make a lot of money."

"Just don't make things difficult for Youwu."

"Mr. Bai, you have recovered your name. It is very different from before. Granny Tang dare not do anything to you."

"We still have to be careful."

The shop owner smiled: "I think Granny Tang wants to beware of you."

Chihiro can see that Bailong is familiar with the shop owner, but the conversation is not as close as that of Grandpa Boiler, and seems to keep a distance.

"Sir, does it bother you that there are no customers in winter?" Chihiro asked.

"Trouble? Not at all, I am happy to be quiet." The shop owner said with a smile, "The hidden world in winter is the best. Unlike summer, there are too many customers, and there are humans who stray into it by mistake. If she doesn't like to be lively..."

The voice suddenly stopped here, like a rushing river suddenly stopped flowing.Bailong's eyes dimmed, and Chihiro was surprised, but the shop owner continued unhurriedly, "...I just don't like being dirty. In the hidden world, there is luxury and luxury, and only when the snow covers up everything, can it be a little dirty. clean."

It was only slightly cleansed when the snow covered everything up.Neither of them knew that he would speak like this, and both fell silent thoughtfully.

Later, it was Chihiro who broke the silence, "Maybe it is not the world that is dirty, but the heart... If the heart itself has fallen into the net of dust and cannot extricate itself, how can it hope that everything around it is clean?"

The store owner looked at Chihiro in surprise.The candlelight hit the young girl's chestnut shawl-length hair, and there was a clear and transparent light in her eyes.

The shop owner smiled slowly: "You are right. If the heart is truly clean, there is no need to rely on any external objects to cover it."

Say sincerely to Bai Long: "Your girlfriend is not simple."

Bai Long seemed to be still in a trance.He didn't say anything.The wind outside the window rattled the washi paper lanterns, and the boy's short hair and safari clothes were also rolled up, which seemed to be drifting away.

"Mr. Bai's girlfriend, hurry up, it won't taste good when it's cold." The shop owner joked, "Mr. Bai's girlfriend" will become her later name, "Could it be true? Are you worried about turning into a pig?"

"Would you like to sit down and eat with us?" Chihiro asked.

The store owner hesitated for some reason.At this moment, Bailong also smiled and said, "Sit down as Chihiro said."

The store owner sat down opposite the teenage couple.

He has always been curious about the protagonist of the past story of Spirited Away.The girl looked ordinary at first glance, but her words were profound.No wonder she was able to help Mr. Bai find his name back ten years ago.

Chihiro started to eat meat with chopsticks, maybe because she was hungry and passed out, she was a little bit voracious.That action was full of cuteness and sincerity of a girl, Bai Long looked at her with an imperceptible smile in his eyes.

The store owner poured a small glass of rice wine for the two and handed it to them.Chihiro didn't shirk, and clinked glasses with them all, and the cup was drained.

Her straightforwardness surprised Bai Long: "When did you learn to drink?"

"I told you I'm not a kid anymore."

"Even if you're not a child, you can't—"

"I haven't seen you in ten years, why are you so talkative?" After finishing speaking, Chihiro boldly made a face at Bailong.

Bailong watched Qianxun helplessly as he poured another glass of rice wine.The shop owner couldn't help but laugh.

"You just met again, and your relationship is not unfamiliar, which is quite rare."

Chihiro couldn't help it: "Bailong said that we will meet again. I waited for ten years, but he never showed up. Sir, it's not too much."

Both Bailong and the store owner froze.Chihiro was so engrossed in eating that she didn't notice anything.

The shop owner hesitated for a while: "I heard from other monsters that the reason Xiaoqian came back is..."

"Well, because of the baby." Bai Long said in a low voice, "Now she is under house arrest by Granny Tang, as a hostage left by Qian Xun."

The shopkeeper's hands trembled, the wine glass fell, and the rice wine dripped all over the table.

2.

Chihiro was surprised.The store owner calmly took the rag from the table next to him and wiped it.Chihiro swallowed the last bite of meat, looked helplessly at the shop owner, then at Bailong, and slowly stopped her chopsticks.

"She... the child is in the hands of Granny Tang, will she die?" the shop owner asked softly.

"Isn't this what you've always expected?" Bai Long asked unexpectedly.

The air was stagnant for a moment.

The shop owner probably hates humans too, right?At the beginning, Grandpa Boiler and Xiaoling also spoke badly to her.

Chihiro felt a little sad for no reason.She said timidly:

"I don't think she will die. Grandma Tang said that after the winter is over, I will be asked to bring the baby home—that's why I stay and work in the oil house."

"Going home?" the shopkeeper repeated mutteringly, "that's all right... that's all right. She should have gone home... The name we gave her doesn't count..."

Chihiro couldn't understand.But the shop owner had already left the seat, obviously the topic just now touched his unpleasant memory.

Bailong and Chihiro are left in the izakaya.The snow fluttered outside the paper window, making a few popping sounds from time to time, and the hidden world was filled with an emptiness and loneliness that Chihiro had never felt before.

"Why don't you ask." Bailong asked Qianxun quietly.

Chihiro smiled: "Because I believe you will tell me."

"...But this matter has nothing to do with you."

"But, after all, I came back because of the baby. I want to know about her." The girl's voice was as gentle as water, "You, let alone...you are sad about this, aren't you? I want to help you Share a little."

Bai Long's heart warmed up.It's been a long, long time since no one has cared about him like this, and only uses his Granny Tang. Needless to say, even the closest Grandpa Boiler, because they both work in the oil house and know Bailong's ability, they are more like long-term friends. relationship with descendants.

"I don't know where to start, just ask." Bai Long said.

"Will you be sad if I ask you?"

"It's okay. It's all over."

Chihiro thought for a while and said, "I remember Granny Tang said that babies were abandoned by their biological parents by the river, and washed into the hidden world by the water."

Bailong continued: "Then, a fox demon working in a restaurant picked up a baby girl in a swaddle." After a pause, he added, "Actually, the fox demon is in this izakaya—"Section of Time" --work."

Chihiro was surprised: "The fox demon who picked up the baby girl is working for the shop owner?"

"Yes. The fox demon insists on raising the baby girl. The shop owner fired the fox demon because of this."

"why?!!"

Bai Long paused, thought for a while, and found some milder words: "Because the monsters in the hidden world don't like humans. You asked him just now whether the food here will make people turn into pigs, and the answer is yes." ——Before this, many humans who ate the food here turned into pigs. Just like your parents at that time.”

Bailong's words were a little vague, but Qianxun's scheming was very fast. Combined with the two experiences of hermitage, she suddenly realized the seriousness of the problem:

"You mean, in the hidden world, humans are a hated race, and everyone thinks that the best place for them to go is the slaughterhouse—the monsters who treat humans well are all aliens and are rejected?!"

Bailong shook his head hurriedly: "It's not that serious. Prejudice can be eliminated. Look, Grandpa Boiler and Xiaoling treat you very well, don't you? And me, Qianxun, I treat you..." His face Suddenly it became red, and I stopped talking.

Turning his head, he found that Qianxun's expression was not quite right, he couldn't help but startled, "What's wrong with you?"

So bleak, so lonely, so sad, with tears in my eyelashes.

Qian Xunyou raised her head, met Bai Long's eyes, and then slowly shook her head: "It's nothing."

Nothing, just thinking too naively.It turned out that not only in the eyes of her current parents, but also in the hidden world separated by the tunnel, she was rejected.

She can only go on alone.

Bai Long looked at her and hugged her into his arms.No effort, just a kind of companionship.

Chihiro took a deep breath in his arms, and smelled the familiar fragrance of frozen river water.She calmed down quickly, and said softly, "Continue to tell the baby's story."

"After one year passed, the fox demon decided to send the baby back to the human world. When the fox demon walked out of the tunnel, the fox demon's body gradually became transparent... Before sending the baby to others, the fox demon disappeared. "

"My God! Is it true?!"

Chihiro remembered that she almost disappeared when she came here twice.

"Is it because there is no food?"

"No. Because of the law."

"??"

"It's a little difficult to understand... We gods and monsters were originally born in the natural world. After being expelled by humans, we came here and never returned."

Chihiro still vaguely understood.

"Humans abandon the gods of nature and completely lose their sense of awe. It's like a tree that has survived for hundreds of years. But one day, the roots die, the old tree stops growing, and the stems and leaves lose their life-waiting for them In the end, there is only gradually withering."

Qian Xun finally understood a little bit: "So, everyone in the hidden world can't come to us? If they go, they will disappear like a fox demon?"

"you can say it this way."

"I see……"

"I watched that fox demon disappear." Bai Long said again, his voice getting weaker, "I rushed there, but I couldn't stop it. I just watched the fox demon's body become transparent and disappear. It was like melting snow. I Carrying the baby back to the Shenyin world, casting a protective spell... So, there is a later, Risa and you mistakenly entered."

Seeing the monster disappear but being helpless, Bailong must be very sad because he is so kind... Chihiro raised his hand to pat him on the back, but at the same moment, an extremely terrifying thought flashed across him.

"Wait... Bailong, you said that after the fox demon went to the human world, his body became transparent and disappeared. Does that mean that when you go to our place, you will also disappear?!"?