[Spirit of Halberd] grows inward

?09. The ninth mermaid

An old clay teacup was placed in front of Yisehui, and the tea in it dangled, like an old man who couldn't help shaking his body.Two or three pieces of tea leaves floated on the water, and gradually stretched out her soft body, like a little girl eager to show her charm in front of Yishihui.The rising water mist diffused in front of his eyes, and at the same time, the faint tea fragrance floated into his nose, successfully relaxing Yishihui's tense nerves.

I thanked the old man sitting opposite, picked up the teacup, and Yisehui took a sip, the bitterness that haunted my dreams spread out in my mouth, and after a while, it transformed into a sweetness with endless aftertaste.As the warm tea flowed into the throat, the tiredness and anxiety of many days seemed to come out obediently from every pore, and disappeared without a trace.

This is one of the warmest memories in Yisehui’s childhood: when he was young, he didn’t like to drink tea, but he couldn’t help but sneak up on the old people when they were drinking tea leisurely. Unique taste, and then slowly become addicted.Now, Yishui, who is far away from rural life, seldom drinks tea anymore.

The tongue suddenly came into contact with a taste that had not been tasted for a long time, and the cells in the body also began to wake up under such a catalyst, and the vague fragments left in the mind were also filled by the brain itself, and gradually became clear.Looking up her eyes full of nostalgia, Granny Matsui also had a smile on her face, as if she was also happy with Isshiki's return.

When Isshiki was young, he spent a period of time by the sea—his parents temporarily entrusted him to his grandparents who lived by the sea and made a living by fishing because of work problems. It was at that time that Grandma Matsui met at the seaside. of.In all fairness, Granny Matsui is a gentle and polite person, and she also likes children very much. Back then, he was often taken care of by Granny Matsui.

Later, his parents took him back, but he would still go back to the beach to play during summer vacation or other holidays.However, after entering Yuanyue, Yisehui's time began to decrease, followed by less and less times to go to the beach, and finally completely forgot about going to the beach.

However, Yisehui has always remembered such a Matsui Granny.

Perhaps compared to her grandparents, Yishihui is still more dependent on Granny Matsui.

I haven’t seen her in nearly 20 years. Granny Matsui seems to be no different from the one in Isshiki’s impression. Except for her graying hair and rickety back, Granny Matsui is still exactly the same as in my memory—the same clothes, the same smile, The same tenderness and kindness, the same makes people can't help but want to get close.

It's rare to meet someone I used to know, Yisehui doesn't say anything, but she is happy in her heart.The outside world is changing rapidly, and Granny Matsui has lived here for most of her life, so she is not familiar with the outside world.In order to avoid embarrassment, Yisehui chose topics that both of them could have something to say about.And one thing that the older generation usually likes to do is to remember.

No, Granny Matsui started her memories with such opening remarks: "Oh, I remember that Xiaohui was only as tall as my waist back then, but I didn't expect Xiaohui to be taller than me in the blink of an eye." It’s been a long time, time is not forgiving.” While speaking, Granny Matsui gestured with trembling arms, her withered body seemed to be broken in a second.

Yishihui smiled: "Grandma Matsui doesn't seem to have changed much, her body is still as tough as before."

"I can't do it now," Granny Matsui shook her head helplessly, the gaps on her face were full of stories. It will take half a day."

Time will take everything from you: youth, health, vitality, thoughts, and most importantly, life.

As time goes by day by day, human beings are both growing up and aging gradually.The straight back became more and more curved, the plump body became dry, the fair face became jet black, and the hair seemed to be dyed by snow, and it became whiter and whiter.At the same time, it is not only the body that is aging, but also the heart. After experiencing the joys and sorrows of the world, everything seems to be less important.

In the eyes of them who have long been indifferent to everything, the world is just a spider's web that goes away at a glance.

——After all, nothing in this world can last forever, from clothes to houses, from tables and chairs to metal, from love to life.When time gives you things and missions, it must take other things from you in exchange.The more precious something is, the shorter the shelf life is, like love, like life.

In the tragic battlefield of time, no one can race against time, and time is always the winner in life.

Yishihui felt that this topic seemed too heavy and sad, and remembered her main purpose of coming here, so she asked: "Grandma Matsui, you have lived by the sea for so long, have you heard any legends about mermaids?"

"Mermaid?" Granny Matsui was taken aback, she didn't expect Yishihui to mention this, then she frowned and thought about it, "This... To be honest, I don't know very well. But I heard from others that I have seen a mermaid before. people have talked about it—mermaids are beautiful and have an ethereal voice, and they often use their singing to attract passers-by to eat them.”

eat...

Isshiki's pupils contracted a bit after capturing this sensitive word, but he blinked quickly to force himself to relax, and continued to listen to Granny Matsui's narration.

"It is rumored that when the ship sails until midnight, the people on board can hear the singing of the mermaid. When they are intoxicated by such singing, they can no longer wake up, and the ship just disappears into the sea."

The mermaid in Granny Matsui's mouth is completely different from the mermaid princess in the fairy tale book, but it fits Selina's gloomy, mysterious and frightening image.Seemingly getting closer and closer to the answer he wanted, Yisehui took advantage of the victory to pursue: "That is to say, the mermaid is not as beautiful as in the myth, is it?"

Granny Matsui nodded: "In my understanding, this is indeed true. It is said that many inexplicable shipwrecks are caused by mermaids. And most of the rumors on the seaside are about mermaids in the image of demons and monsters."

At this moment, he realized that he was too naive to regard the mermaid as a sacred animal.

The feeling of watching his own dreams shatter with his own eyes almost broke his heart.

Yishihui fell silent, but Granny Matsui continued her memories, and sighed: "Oh, it would be great if Xiaoyi was here. If she is still alive at this time, she will be about the same age as Xiaohui." ?”

"Xiaoyi?" Yisehui suddenly raised his head, the name was too familiar, but he couldn't recall it no matter what.

"Sure enough, Xiaohui must have forgotten about Xiaoyi." Granny Matsui sighed, "After all, so many years have passed. When she died, Xiaohui was still in Shangguoyi, right?"

The memory of more than ten years ago is obviously too long. Even though she had grown up at that time, Yishihui still found it extremely difficult when trying to retrieve her own memory.There seems to be a fault in the memory in the brain, and the blurred shadow seems to be wandering in the brain, but it is like a thin layer of mist, no matter how it is scattered, it is still unclear and incomprehensible.

"It shouldn't be, Xiaohui, you guys had a great time when you were young."

Yishihui frowned, no matter how hard he tried, he could only find a vague silhouette in the inventory in his mind.If we continue to dig, there are only vague words in our ears: "Ah Hui, Ah Hui!"

Ah Hui?

Did Xiaoyi call him "Ahui" back then?Why is it exactly the same as the title that Selena spit out?

A bright light flashed quickly in his mind, and then disappeared.His intuition told him that there seemed to be some kind of connection between these two things that no one else knew about.Yisehui quickly grasped this breakthrough, and asked eagerly: "Grandma Matsui, can you please explain in more detail?"

Granny Matsui probably had never seen such a anxious Isshihui, and she was startled for a moment before she began to recall with difficulty: "Xiaoyi, she is a very lively and cheerful little girl, very lovable, and she is very good with Xiaohui when she was a child." Friend. By the way, she seems to be someone's granddaughter..."

It seems that there is such a person who appeared in Yisehui's memory. Her figure is preserved in the deepest part of the brain. Although she can't fully recall it, her voice and smile are very memorable, as if this memory of playing together is part of his life. The most memorable part of the same.With Granny Matsui's eloquent narration, the image of Xiaoyi gradually took shape in front of my eyes.

Long black hair, blue eyes, and beautiful pear dimples at the corners of his mouth when he smiles.

Undoubtedly, this is a delicate and beautiful flower.

But this flower has withered in her best years—Xiaoyi, whom Grandma Matsui spoke of, encountered a tsunami when Yishi Hui Nianguoyi came to play together during the summer vacation, and has been buried in the bottom of the sea ever since.

The narrations of others must not be as thrilling as the ones I have experienced. Even though there is a lot of pity in her tone when she speaks, her expression is still light - so many years have passed, no matter how sad and sad, It has already been smoothed and filled by time.

Yishihui remembers the tsunami.

When the tsunami came, Yishihui was playing at the beach with a group of friends.Seeing that the storm was coming, Yishihui felt a little uneasy, and immediately told her friends to stay away from the beach. Only Xiaoyi and another girl whose name she couldn't remember were still playing on the beach in their own way.As a result, when the tsunami struck, Xiao Yi didn't dodge it. The surviving girl hugged her knees and shivered, her eyes filled with the fear of the disaster she had just experienced.

This was a scar in Yisehui's heart: he had already sensed that something was going to happen, but he still couldn't save Xiaoyi.

But afterwards, Yishihui could only comfort herself with the words "but I saved the rest of the people".

The existence of Xiao Yi gradually faded in his mind as time passed, but this incident was deeply imprinted in his mind.Retrieval of memories changed the quality of sadness, and the remorse for not saving my good friend gradually turned into my sixth sense of rejoicing. Now that I think about it carefully, Yisehui wants to cast aside such a feeling of abandoning sadness. Own.

After Granny Matsui told the story, she stood up and babbled out an old photo album, opened a page, pointed to one of the photos and said to Yishihui, "Look, this is Xiaoyi."

Yisehui took a look, and when his eyes touched the person in the photo, his mind went blank.

She has long black hair that reaches to her waist, and her blue eyes are full of smiles and happiness. Her immature face can vaguely tell that she will grow up in the future. A little princess.

Yishihui's hands trembled violently, and a terrible conjecture took shape in his mind.Thinking of this, Yisehui stood up suddenly holding the photo, and ran out without even having time to say goodbye. The blood in her body suddenly boiled, but the cold wind made her mind extremely clear.The sea breeze is like a sharp ice knife, cutting through Yishihui's brain, and laying his memory bloody in front of him.

how come……

Stumbling forward with all her strength, Yishihui felt that her eyes were a little swollen, and she didn't know if it was blown by the wind or forced out by her emotions.

how come? !

The seagull stopped flying, stood on the reef and stared at Yishihui, and there seemed to be a thousand words in his deep eyes that he wanted to tell him.The sea surface was as rough as his heart, and it slammed against the rocks fiercely, and the rocks began to shake slightly due to the force of the palm.There is such a corner of my heart, a gap is cracked, and the crack is getting bigger and bigger, and the crack is getting longer.

That deep gully swallowed all Yisehui's thoughts, and the only trace of happiness that remained collapsed at this moment.

Xiao Yi in that photo... no.Now, the mermaid from the deep sea, the beautiful and elegant Selena who lives in his house, but feeds on humans, is clearly what Xiao Yi will look like when he grows up!

It was as if something had clenched Yisehui's heart, making it extremely difficult to breathe.

****

While Yisehui went to the beach to find a remedy, Selena came to the vegetable market in Linhai.

As soon as you step into this space, the smell of seafood hits your face immediately.The salty and wet taste, mixed with sweet or salty fishy smell, scrambled to get into the nasal cavity, robbing the position that it should have.Selena hooked her lips, closed her eyes deeply intoxicated, and took a breath.

Hearing and smell suddenly become extremely sharp.

Serena could clearly hear the sound of fish and shrimp bouncing in the box, the yelling of fishmongers, and the bargaining of women buying vegetables.The water-wet ground is extremely slippery, and everyone walks on the ground carefully step by step.Among the hurried or arrogant crowd, Selena stood quietly, breathing the air in this space.

Clearly filthy——

The dead fish and shrimp exude a dead and decayed breath, the fish and shrimp frozen in ice exude a faint smell of despair, the sweet and disgusting smell of human beings tainted by desire... everything Everything, in Selina's view, seemed to be deliberately enlarged by someone, it was smelly, but it made people involuntarily indulge in it, unable to extricate themselves.

Some things, even if you know it is wrong, you still make mistakes again and again.

Selina heard the screams of the same kind, heard their desperate voices, and heard their hoarse voices.But even though the voice was sharp enough to pierce eardrums, Serena remained indifferent, walking through each booth with a charming and sweet smile without stopping.

She came here to cook a world-class dish, and a good dish requires a lot of attention to ingredients.

Walking around the vegetable market, Selena finally shook her head in disappointment and muttered to herself: "No, if you don't have the awareness of voluntary devotion to food and become ingredients with fear, the final dishes will still not be able to touch people's hearts. Yes, I don't want this kind of cooking..."

Selena, who was talking like a lunatic, was suddenly attracted by an irresistible fragrance.

Selena looked down, and her finger had a small cut for some reason, and blood was rushing out of the exit.The bright red blood slowly expanded its domain on the snow-white skin, like gorgeous flowers blooming on the snow field, so beautiful that people couldn't help but want to pick them.She slowly raised her head and put it in her mouth.

Then, Selena's deep eyes suddenly showed an intoxicating look as if they were lit by something.

I found... the best ingredients in the world.