All living beings in hell

Chapter 116 - A River of All

The lotus lantern at the entrance was lit up, and the office welcomed nine guests No.60.

"How sad all living beings are, they have been imprisoned in the underworld."

An old man walked in slowly from the door with a cane. His legs and feet seemed not very convenient, which made me have the urge to get up and help.The old man staggered to the wooden chair, coughed a few times after sitting down, as if the few steps from the door to the wooden table took all his energy.

At this moment, I observed him carefully—the old man had shriveled cheeks, sunken eye sockets, and signs of malnutrition all over his body.The long white hair was sparsely lying on the top of the head, and the sallow scalp was exposed, like kraft paper.His skin was wrinkled and covered with large and small circular brown spots.

There is absolutely nothing that can be called vitality in the whole person, but it faintly reveals an inexplicable stubbornness.

"Hello, what should I call you?" I asked.

"Everything is like a river, it's a great honor to see you, the old man is being polite here."

Jie Chenghe wanted to get up and kneel down, but I quickly stopped him: "Don't pay attention to these etiquettes, you sit, you sit."

"How can this be done? When we grassroots see the officials of the Shenfu, we should kneel down and worship them."

"I don't know about other officials, but please don't worship me. We just sit and communicate frankly. I hope we can communicate relatively equally."

"My lord, the writer is so strange. How can we communicate on an equal footing with a lonely ghost like me? Isn't it your duty to give some life advice and send us to reincarnation?"

"It seems that you have a big misunderstanding of my responsibilities... It's okay, tell me why you came to see me today?"

"I'm here to ask for life advice."

"What life advice? I don't have any."

"Other ghosts say you have it, and they walk out of you, their eyes are bright!"

The old man stared at me expectantly, reminding me of believers kneeling in temples and praying for blessings, muttering in their mouths to Bodhisattva, Buddha, and the four heavenly kings to bless them for safety and prosperity.

"What advice do you want?"

"I feel that my life is going very badly."

I picked up the quill and started to record: "Tell me about the most difficult thing in your life, the kind that will still be fresh in your memory when you think about it."

Jie Chenghe sighed: "My whole life is full of difficulties, but no one tells or knows about them."

"I was born in 1944, and I experienced the most chaotic era when I was young. When I was a child, I was inspired to be a teacher, thinking that education is the way out for the new generation of people. I love studying, and I have loved reading since I was a child. He was the first one in our village to go to high school. I thought I would go on to university, graduate school, if possible, maybe I could go abroad for further study and return to China to play for the country.

I used to be an ambitious kid. I hoped that all Chinese people could read books. I hope that one day China's education level can be compared with developed countries.I hope that I have the ability to improve the entire college entrance examination mechanism, the education system, cultivate outstanding educational talents, and let these educational talents cultivate young people with high morals.

However, my life ended when I was forced to suspend my last year of high school.From then on, any dreams and ambitions have nothing to do with me.

However, I stick to my belief that knowledge can change destiny.I was beaten violently for this and paraded around the streets with a beater around my neck.I never thought that knowledge made me a shameful person!I look at the people who laugh at me and abuse me. My wish has always been to give them a better education. Am I wrong? "

I didn't answer his words and poured him a cup of hot tea.Jie Chenghe's tears seemed to have dried up, he was emotional, but there were no tears, his old voice was trembling in the gaps in the words.

"Later I was assigned to Daxing'anling. There were many fifteen or sixteen-year-old children in our team. Daxing'anling was cold in winter, but the river was so fast that it couldn't freeze no matter how cold it was. Our group of children wore cotton trousers to the knees in winter. When we got to the bank, I lost feeling in my legs, but I still had to go, [-] kilometers to the depths of the mountain to cut down trees. One team lost half of its people in less than three months.”

"Why are half of the people missing?"

"How can underage children suffer in that kind of environment? Those who were burned to the point of insanity were sent away, and some escaped, disappeared, and died of illness. The rest of us suffered from severe joint disease, and our bodies were afraid of the cold. In winter, my legs hurt like needles, and I can’t walk a step.”

"and after?"

"I worked in Daxing'anling for ten years. From a lumberjack to a small team leader, and then from a small team leader to a minister. I can sit in an office without having to stay outdoors and suffer, but I am also numb. I feel stuttering, some Sleeping on a warm bedding is better than anything else. What kind of education, what kind of knowledge, is something that dreamers who are full of food will talk about. I am in my 30s, and I am ready to live like that for the rest of my life. Be a small leader, manage Take care of your own lumberyard. If you are lucky, marry a wife and have a baby. If you don’t have that blessing, just live like this for the rest of your life. I admit it, I admit it.

I can't even realize this humble wish.

The country later said that it will make a sustainable development plan and close the logging farms on a quarterly basis.There are only three months of operation in a year. During operation, there are still many requirements for what can be cut and what cannot be cut.Most of the workers left, and I thought I couldn't do this job anymore, so why not look elsewhere.

At this time, I came up with a sinful idea. "

"What thoughts?"

"I want to continue studying. If it weren't for this idea, maybe the rest of my life wouldn't be so miserable.

When I returned to the city, the city was very different from when I left.There are many bicycles on the street, and young people are shaking their heads on the street with music that I can't understand.I bought a lot of magazines and books in a kiosk - story collection, city weekly, imported comics, poetry collections and essays, men's magazines, cars, photography, global finance, bunny girls - and two college entrance examination papers of that year, Chinese and mathematics .

It took me three days to finish reading all the content, and earnestly did all the math questions and Chinese reading comprehension on the test paper.There was only one thought in my mind at that time, I wanted to go abroad. "

What Jie Chenghe said was a little dry, he took a sip of hot tea, and praised a few words: "This tea is just bitter."

"Many customers complained that it was too bitter."

"Bitter but not astringent, it actually made my throat a lot more comfortable." Jie Chenghe touched his shriveled chest, "It seems to be a little more comfortable here."

"Please continue."

Jie Chenghe coughed a few times and cleared his throat.

"Going abroad requires a lot of money, a lot of money. Not only money, but also people. I found an agent who went abroad and said that [-] can help me with everything, from going abroad to entering a university. In those days, ten The price of [-] is sky-high! I counted the money I had saved in the past ten years, and it was less than [-]. But for the sake of my dream, I decided to give it a go.

I started a business and messed with everything.I have also done hardware stores, scrap iron recycling, and I have also opened factories in the sea.Five years, more losses than gains.After another five or six years, the business gradually improved.At that time, the price of going abroad agency also doubled, but I was rich. At that time, I could spend 20 to go abroad.This is not something everyone can do.

But I didn't do that, I thought I already had so much money, why would I go to school?I remembered being thrown vegetable leaves and being spat on in the street. Those people did not deserve a good education at all.They should be mediocre all their lives, and finally die alone in an unknown corner, spending their last moments immersed in emptiness and regret.

So I didn't go abroad, I continued to do business.I married a young and beautiful wife and have a son.

Business is hard, life is hard.When I was 50 years old, I was diagnosed with problems, including fatty liver, hyperthyroidism, and a tumor on my waist that required surgery.After the operation, my body plummeted and I never got better. At the age of 60, his hair is already full of white hair.

During the 08 economic crisis, I jumped off a building. "

"Then you came to hell?"

"Yes, I fell from a very high place and landed on a rock full of needles. People kept falling next to me, and everyone was screaming. My body hurts, but I don't know. Know why I'm alive. I didn't know I was dead until a minotaur appeared to me with a chain in his hand."

"Looking back at your life now, if you could change one thing, what would it be?"

"My lord... I still want to study."

Jie Chenghe looked a little annoyed, he covered his face with his hands, trying to hide a certain expression.

"Why do you still want to read?"

"The mediocre people I hate, aren't I myself?" Jie Chenghe said sarcastically, "I despise those who spit at me and trample me under their feet, but I have a relationship with them... What's the difference. In the end we are all going to die, and we are all going to hell after death, there is no difference between us at all."

"Not all souls will come to hell after death. Generally, souls who come to hell have strong obsessions, or some extreme traits of greed, hatred, and ignorance."

"So those who insulted me may also go to heaven?"

"It's not impossible, if they develop a good life and cultivate their minds later."

Jie Chenghe raised his crutch high and stabbed it heavily on the ground several times, the floor made a loud bang, accompanied by the sound of cracking between the wood grains.

"Why! Why! I have experienced so much! Why can those rotten people go to heaven! But I want to stay in this ghost place! Why is this fate so unfair!"

"Why do you think so?"

"I think fate is so unfair. No matter how hard a person like me works, it's useless! In the end, I still end up like this! Good people don't get good rewards, that's how this world is."

"Good people do good deeds, not for good rewards. You call those people mediocre, how do you define mediocre?"

"A person who has no achievements, a person who has been mediocre all his life. At least I still earned a lot of money. Although I lost it in the end, I was rich once. I did things that others can't do!"

"Then why are those who have no achievements, those who do nothing, may go to heaven. But you come to hell?"

"I read in the Bible before that people who commit suicide will go to hell after death. It must be like this. If I don't commit suicide and die, I will also go to heaven."

"It sounds like the thing you regret most now is that you committed suicide."

"Regret, regret is useless."

I put down the quill and flexed my wrist.

"I've written down your story, what else do you want from me?"

"Give me a few words of advice. If I'm reborn as a human again, I hope my life won't be as bad as this one."

"Actually, it's not bad, what a rich experience. There are pains, regrets, falling to the bottom, and great wealth. It's a wonderful life that many people dream of!"

"It's very painful when you really live this kind of life. You need to bear all this by yourself. It's really painful."

"I can't give any advice, because advice cannot alleviate the pain in life. Maybe hugs, beliefs, and love can be used, but in the end, only you can grow out of pain and even complete rebirth. As the underworld Official, I can't give you a hug. If you don't have faith and love, if you don't have it now, you still have a lot of time to learn and explore slowly."

"If I can have a clear goal, I will know better what to do. Please, Mr. Writer. Give me a goal!"

"I just said it."

"I... I don't understand."

"Then go think about it again, it's almost time today."

Jie Chenghe stood up in frustration, and asked me cautiously: "Is my life really wonderful?"

"It's wonderful, and I'm sure many readers will like it."

After hearing this, he breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good, that's good."

"It may also be hated by many people."

Jie Chenghe's face changed instantly: "Then what should we do?"

"Do what you have to do, and leave the rest to the world."

"I understand this."

"Well, that's the end of today."

He sighed: "I hope that the next life will not be wasted again."

I didn't answer the words, watching his old back step by step, slowly disappearing through the door.

(End of this chapter)