stories that happened on a specific occasion

Sato sat on a square stool behind the bead curtain.

He broke the tea cake in his hand and threw it on the fire to roast.The roasted tea leaves were put into a paper bag while it was still hot, and left to cool.

During this period, he continued to tell me about the past events he met in this shop.

After the tea leaves are ready, they are put into a container and the tea leaves are carefully crushed.The tea powder is sifted through the tea seeds again, and finally only the tea powder is left.

Sato boiled the water, a special wind stove, charcoal, and a pot specially used for making tea.

At the first boil, add a pinch of salt.

After the second boil, Sato scooped up a spoonful of water and put it aside.Then, while stirring the boiling water with a bamboo utensil, sprinkle the tea powder into it.

When the third boil is reached, the tea is ready.Remove from heat and pour tea into containers.

Carefully pour the tea together with the foam into the thin white tea bowl.

The fragrance of tea is overflowing, permeating the entire store in an instant.

Sato handed me a cup of tea, and then continued to tell the story of the young man ten years ago.

Sato's story

The young man drank the tea in front of him and asked a question.

"How do you know the secrets these people tell are true?"

Sato smiled, and replied: "Of course I know, if you don't believe me, you might as well talk about it and you'll know."

The young man's curiosity was obviously aroused by Sato, and he was naturally willing to try things that could be done without spending money.

So the young man told a story.

Soon, Sato gave a quotation for the first story told by the young man.

"For the time you wasted, you should at least pay me." Sato said.

The young man laughed and replied, "Well, that doesn't count."

Sato didn't flinch at all, got up and took out a newspaper from a drawer of a cabinet.

When the newspaper was placed in front of the young man, he became serious.

"How are secrets bought and sold?" the young man asked Sato.

"You tell me your secret, I'll offer the price." Sato replied.

After thinking for a long time, the young man put down the newspaper.Then, he told Sato his secret.

1984 was the beginning of this young man's story.At that time, he and his family had just moved into a new home.

It was a large courtyard.This means that in the era when there was no Internet, everything that happened in this courtyard was the talk of the old men after dinner and the daily chat of the housewives.

The home of young people is one of the members here.

Thirteen years after moving here, he was a teenager at the time of his adolescence.

This summer, the teenager often enjoys the shade on a bamboo bed in the courtyard downstairs with his friends.

The topics at that time seemed to be trivial matters.Either it's about the senior girls, or it's about the gossip that goes around the school.

"Your sister is messing with Teacher Wen!"

Suddenly one day, such words were thrown directly in front of the young man without any concealment.

That day, the boy felt that he lost all face and ran back home.

In this hot summer, the hot air sticking to the surface of the skin is like glue, and the words from the neighbors cling to the boy's body, and a single eye contact from others can make the boy's heart beat faster and feel uneasy.

Even Teacher Wen's image in the young man's heart has changed.

He is no longer the tall and handsome teacher in the boy's heart, but a heartless person who cheats on his pregnant wife to make broken shoes.

But some things can never be avoided.

This yard is the same as the boy's world, only so big.Teacher Wen lived downstairs in their house.

One afternoon, when the depressed boy was returning home, he passed Teacher Wen's house.He heard the commotion behind the door, mixed with the sound of a woman weeping.He moved closer to the door, trying to figure out where the sound was coming from.

At this moment, the door in front of him was suddenly opened.

The boy and the person in the door met their eyes. It was Mr. Wen's wife.She looked at the young man with red eyes from crying. For some reason, when the young man looked at her, he always felt that there was sadness in the woman's eyes.

Teacher Wen's wife ran past the boy and hurried downstairs with her slightly protruding belly.Teacher Wen, who chased him out of the house, was surprised when he saw the young man at the door, but he didn't dare to stop.

It was that disgusting face, the boy stared at Teacher Wen who passed by, his heart was full of anger.

Suddenly, a shrill scream suddenly spread throughout the building.

Hearing the sound, the boy immediately chased after him.One after another, the residents in this building opened the door in twos and threes.

The boy ran to the second floor and saw the woman sitting down on the steps.She was sitting on the stairs with her legs outstretched, her lower body covered in blood, with a painful expression on her face.

Teacher Wen hurriedly picked up his wife, shouted for help, and ran downstairs.

The boy stood a few steps away from the pool of blood, looking at the bright red that stained the concrete floor, he took a few steps back in fear.

The boy grabbed the banister of the stairs and tried to run home.

He looked up and looked upstairs.

It was my sister, who poked her head out of the stairwell and saw all this.She was covering her mouth, her eyes filled with horror.

Everything in front of me should never have happened.The teenager kept saying this to himself in his mind, just like the scene he saw a few weeks ago, it shouldn't happen.

If I had brought my keys that day, I might not have to go to Teacher Wen's house to do my homework.If I don't go to Teacher Wen's house to do my homework that day, my sister doesn't have to pick me up.If my sister didn't come to Teacher Wen's house to pick me up, then Teacher Wen wouldn't grab my sister's hand.After that, he must have held his sister's hand more than once, that's why people knew about it, and people said they were dealing with broken shoes.

If she had brought the key that day, Teacher Wen's wife would not have had a miscarriage.

The young man repeatedly recalled the picture he saw of Teacher Wen and his sister that day, and the pained expression of Teacher Wen's wife sitting in a pool of blood today.

He looked at his sister, who was wearing the floral dress that day.

The sleeveless, floral dress that didn't cover the knees.

"What happened?" the older sister asked the boy.

The boy shook off his sister's hand on his shoulder, and then turned to look at her.

Her face, like Teacher Wen's, has become disgusting.

"What's wrong with you?" My sister asked again.

The young man hated the person in front of him. He was pointed at the spine at school and laughed at in the courtyard because of her.

The teenager roared, and then pushed his sister.

"it's all because of you!"

The elder sister was a little stunned, completely unaware of why the boy acted like this.

She stepped forward to argue, even though she was three years older than the boy, she was pushed back a few steps by the angry boy.

"Are you crazy?" My sister yelled at the boy.

The boy also shouted hysterically to his sister: "It's you, it's all because of your broken shoes!"

This sentence has been held in my heart for a long time, and I finally spit it out at this moment.While the boy felt happy, he also felt inexplicably wronged and helpless.The boy looked at his sister, her eyes were reddened, she looked very much like Teacher Wen's wife.

The elder sister stepped forward, and slapped the young man hard with her hands.

The boy straightened his back and did not intend to stop there.

"You're messing with broken shoes." The boy squeezed these words out of his mouth.

The older sister slapped the boy again.

The boy still didn't waver in any way, and even felt that he was like the fearless warrior in the textbook who faced the enemy in the face of danger. He wanted to use his unyielding attitude to speak out for justice.

"You broke your shoes!" The boy shouted again.

The elder sister raised her hand again and waved towards the boy.

This time, the boy lowered his head to dodge, and his sister lost her center of gravity due to excessive force.The boy took the opportunity to push him hard from behind.

In an instant, everything was quiet.

Ever since the boy could remember, the family structure had made him feel twisted.

My bedroom is too small, and I have to share it with my sister for a long time; the storage room is as big as the toilet, but it has no real function; The center occupies half of the living room area.

This is the table of the Eight Immortals, the boy bumped into it countless times, leaving several scars on his body.But the Table of Eight Immortals was unscathed and remained in place.

But now, it's finally different.

The corner of the table, which was stained red by blood, finally showed a dent.

I don't know whether to be happy or sad.

After so many years, the revenge of the Table of Eight Immortals has finally been avenged.But my sister fell under it.

The boy looked at his sister, there was a huge blood hole on her forehead, and fresh blood was continuously flowing out.

Like the pool of red on the stairs, it left a bright red mark on the off-white concrete floor.

The young man looked at the blood that seemed to have life, slowly flowing towards him from under the table of the Eight Immortals.They must know who released them and who killed their hosts.

The boy was so frightened that he fell to the ground. He folded his arms around his knees and stared at his sister who was limp in front of his eyes, and the red blood that was constantly spreading, lost his mind.

As for the memory of that day, the boy can't remember clearly.I just vaguely remember mother's crying and father's beating and scolding.

That day was the longest day in the boy's life.

He couldn't remember how that day ended, where his sister went after she disappeared from under the Eight Immortals Table.

"Just say she's missing, did you hear that?"

In a daze, the young man saw his father Xuan Hong's eyes looking at him, and said this to himself.

Since that day, the cement that has been piled up on the balcony for many years has disappeared.

The space in the storage room has finally become smaller.

However, since that day, the teenager began to suffer from insomnia.He said he could always see a figure standing at the foot of his bed.I couldn't see her face clearly, but I could hear her crying.

After listening to the young man's story, Sato took out his checkbook.

"Your story, I can give you that price."

After speaking, Sato handed a check to the young man.

The young man has not fully recovered from his story, and the tears are still dripping from his eyes.

"I'm not going to sell it to you." The young man ignored Sato's check and said.

Sato didn't speak, just looked at the young man.

"Can you keep it for me for a while?" The young man wiped away his tears and said, "If it's true as you said, once a secret is handed over to you, it will be forgotten, you can just keep it for me for a while, so that the secret will be forgotten." Have I forgotten for a while?"

Sato had never met a customer who made such a request. He thought for a while and asked, "How long will it be kept?"

The young man also thought for a while, and replied, "Ten years."

Sato didn't agree immediately, but stood up and took out a piece of paper from a cabinet.

"Since that day, I haven't had a good night's sleep." The young man looked at Sato almost pleadingly, and said, "Ten years. Let me sleep well for ten years, and I will forgive myself for the mistakes I made." Pay the price you deserve."

Sato handed the piece of paper in front of the young man, and said, "No problem, as long as you sign this contract, our agreement will become achievable."

The young man looked at the contract in front of him. The content on it was all the secret agreement of buying and selling that Sato had told him, except the last one was marked in red.

"I can keep your secret for you temporarily, that is, if it is not a business relationship, then I don't need to pay you any fees, and you don't need to pay me any fees." Sato said: "Within ten years, this secret will Disappear from this world until you redeem it."

"How to redeem?" the young man asked.

"Ten years later today, I will return the secret to you." Sato took the young man's hand holding the pen, put it on the contract, and said close to his ear: "At that time, with your most precious Just come and exchange it with me.”

After speaking, the young man signed his name on the contract.

After Sato finished his story, he took out a contract and placed it in front of me.

"I have not forgotten the ten-year agreement." Sato said looking at me.

I don't know when the tears that were already overflowing flowed from my eye sockets and dripped on the back of my hand when I didn't realize it.

Sato removed the tea pot from the stove, and instead, picked up the contract and placed it on top.

In an instant, a corner of the contract was ignited.

In the spreading flames, I saw the increasingly obvious white tiger pattern.

The burnt aroma spread from the contract, and the white tiger in the open flame became lifelike, and it suddenly broke through the contract and hit me, turning into a puff of smoke in an instant.

I closed my eyes and was surrounded by this cloud of smoke.

All the things in the past have finally come back.

I opened my eyes, and for some reason I was standing on top of a pile of broken bricks and tiles.

Time seemed to flow backwards, those broken bricks rose from the weeds and slowly built a building.I was standing in this building, looking at a familiar door that suddenly appeared in front of me, marked 402 on it.

I reached out to touch it, but the door opened by itself.

I walked in the door and saw a boy in a white short-sleeved shirt and a girl in a floral dress standing in the middle of the living room, arguing non-stop.

I looked at the surrounding environment, and I was sure that it was my former home.There is also a family portrait I drew on one wall, as well as several award certificates.

Suddenly there was a muffled sound, I lowered my head, and saw the girl just now fell down in front of my eyes with her face covered in blood.I looked at the bright red all over the floor, and wanted to retreat but couldn't move.

I looked at the boy standing beside me.

Exactly 14-year-old me.

The boy also looked at me, and then said to me in a low voice: "You killed her."

Suddenly, it was dark.

I hugged my head, knelt down on the spot, and couldn't stop crying in pain.

After an unknown amount of time, when I opened my eyes again, nothing had changed.

The hotel room still looks like that, there is no one else in the room except me.Only the ashes of the burnt incense stick fell on the coffee table, and there was still a little lingering fragrance.

I looked around carefully, not knowing if I was in a dream or reality.

Outside the window, a heavy snow finally fell silently.

The author has something to say: Anyway, it’s all finished, so let’s publish it>.

Finally, there is an epilogue left, this novel is coming to an end, thank you friends for reading, and thank you for your kindness, you have always left me messages with encouragement and support, I am very grateful :)

Hope to have a chance to meet you again~~~~