All living beings in hell

Chapter 17 - The Choice of the Smoker
The lotus lantern at the entrance was lit up, and the office welcomed customer No.13.

With a loud bang, the door was kicked open.

"Writing! I want to write!"

"I'm right here." I frowned, another impolite guy came, and before I entered the door, I already smelled a strong smell of sweat.

"Finally it's my turn! Damn it! I'm suffocating to death!" The rough voice was accompanied by loud footsteps, and before I could see his shape, he had already rushed behind the table.

"You don't know how awesome those wild ghosts are bragging about you! I need to see you today hahaha!" He approached, looking like a Manchurian in the Qing Dynasty, with a bare forehead , with a long braid behind his head.He was dressed in a plain coat of light green coarse cloth, and stepped on high boots with pointed toes.

I spread my pen and ink on the table: "Please sit down, what should I call you?"

"My name is Grassham Chacombe!" The big man straddled the wooden chair, with his hands on his knees, "Call me Lao San! You people from the Central Plains can't remember my name, so you call me Lao San!"

"What do you want me to call you?"

"Third brother! Call me third child!"

I picked up a pen and wrote the word "Lao San" on the rice paper.Then he looked carefully at the face of the guest in front of him.

——This is a very round face, so round that it reminds people of a full moon at the bottom of a well.Thick eyebrows, small eyes, high nose bridge, wide nose wings, and a mouth full of rotten teeth when he opens his mouth to smile.The third child does look like a human, except for his skin.This is definitely not the skin of a living person. It is dark green, and the black blood vessels under the skin are slightly beating. It reminds me of a corpse murdered by poison.

"Third, why are you looking for me today?"

"I understand the rules! I'm here to tell you a story and help me bring it back to the world." When he said this, he raised his eyebrows.

"Okay, then please tell me."

The third child rubbed his heavy palms: "This story is about a girl."

"okay."

The third child stopped talking at this point, looking a bit cramped.

"Need a drink?" I asked tentatively.

"No, no, no, I don't drink. I didn't drink when I was alive, and I don't even want to taste a drop after death. Writer, do you have opium?"

"Smoke? Opium?"

"That's the thing, do you have it?"

"No."

"Hey, I really don't know where to start if I don't take a bite at this time."

"Is this girl related to your going to hell?"

"It can't be said that it has nothing to do with it, but I have ruined myself and ended up in this state."

I poured a cup of coarse tea to the third child: "No cigarettes, no wine, let's drink tea."

"Drink tea, you can also drink tea." The third child took a sip of the tea soup, smashed his mouth, and then sighed, "My lord, I am a big smoker."

"Well, I can see it. Does this matter have anything to do with that girl?"

"That girl... also smokes, more violently than me."

"How did you know each other?"

"At that time, I was not addicted, I just went to a tobacco shop with my friends. It was the first time I went to that kind of place, and the smell was not unpleasant, at least I didn't hate it, like roasted sheepskin exposed to the hot sun For a few days and nights, there was a bit of smell and smell, but I still wanted to let people smell it. It was the first time I smoked that thing, I didn’t know how hard it was, and after a few sucks, it hit my head, and my mind was not clear. It was cloudy, my body was light. I was scared, but I felt very exciting! Walking in the corridor, the floor was like waves, rising and falling, I couldn’t stand still, I could only support the wall Go on. Then I saw her, what a beauty!"

The third child paused, as if lost in memory, he took another sip of tea.

"Tell me what she looks like?"

"It's not that I haven't seen a beautiful woman before, but she is different. Her legs are like jade pillars, white and long, protruding generously from the long skirt, and they are placed on the table like that, as if deliberately giving me It seems to be seen. The ten fingers are cleverly wrapped around the long copper rod, which makes me think that smoking a big cigarette can still be so elegant. She is definitely smoking a big cigarette, with a pair of peach blossom eyes half-closed, red lips half-opened, and the white smoke slowly flows from both sides. The lips slowly floated out, looking at it makes me want someone to go up and kiss me."

"and then?"

"On weekdays, I wouldn't be so courageous. But I can do anything when I'm floating. I went to her. It's strange to say that she doesn't seem to be conscious at all, and she doesn't resist or Ying Ying, when I wake up, I'm already by her side."

"and then?"

"I lost my soul because of her! Every day I want to go to the tobacco shop to find her, I just want to find her. Every day I lose my mind, I used to do work in the blacksmith shop, but now I don't want to do the work. I just run to the tobacco shop every day , Every time I run away, I have to buy cigarettes to smoke. After going back and forth, I can't quit this cigarette, and she can't quit either."

"Did you die from smoking opium?"

"That's not true, look at my physique," the third child said, patting his thick shoulders, "People who die from smoking opium are as thin as mummy before they die, I haven't reached that step yet. "

"Then how did you die? Why is it related to this girl?"

"Hey! You said it's really good luck!" The third child slapped his thigh, sighed, picked up the teacup and drank it down, "I want to marry her, but my parents are naturally unwilling. Who would marry her?" Let my son marry a smoker girl! I asked that girl, would you like to come with me? Let’s stop smoking, let’s go to another place, leave here, fly away, and be a wild crane!”

"Does that girl have a name?"

"I... can't remember." The third child was a little disappointed.

"Well, you continue. You want to be a wild crane with her, what did she say?"

"She didn't object to me! She never objected to me... It can even be said that she didn't react at all. I just stole a sum of money from home and wanted to take her away."

"and then?"

"In the end, we didn't even leave the city, and I was poisoned to death."

"By this girl?"

"No, no, no... She won't poison me to death. I didn't expect that she was a girl raised by the owner of the tobacco shop. She was raised and smoked since she was a child. The consciousness of smoking has long since disappeared, and only this is left. Empty and beautiful body for people to play with. I took her to run away, how could the owner of the smokehouse agree! Someone secretly poisoned my food, and she accompanied me to finish the first bite of meat, and I passed out When I wake up again, I will already be here."

"Do you regret it?"

"Regret what?"

"Regret entering the smoke den? Regret meeting this girl?"

"I don't regret it, I think it's worth it to meet her in the tobacco shop."

"But you don't even remember her name now."

"It doesn't matter what the name is, as long as I remember her."

"Then where is she now?"

"how could I know?"

"If you care about this person, you just need to close your eyes and visualize, and you will know where she is and what she is doing. Hell is not like the world, and the spiritual consciousness will be more free here, and it is not restricted by any time and space. of."

Hearing this, the third child closed his eyes and frowned, as if he was contemplating hard.I lit a stick of incense, thinking that he might need some time.As soon as the incense was lit, the third child opened his eyes: "I can't see."

"Maybe you don't need to look, you can use hearing, touching, smelling, and feeling... You can try them all."

The third child closed his eyes again as if he had made up his mind, but in just a few seconds, he opened them again: "I can't do it."

"What are you afraid of?"

"What can I be afraid of! I am not afraid of anything."

"If you are not afraid of anything, why do you close your eyes and visualize this matter so sloppily? What are you avoiding? Afraid you won't see her?" I said while pouring some hot water into the third cup Tea.

"My lord..." The youngest took a sip of the freshly poured tea, "Are the things I have done worthwhile?"

"Whether it's worth it is a very personal judgment. If you think it's worth it, then it's worth it."

"I think it's worth it, but this incident also made me fall into hell."

"You can also leave and reincarnate."

"But... I'm afraid that if I'm reincarnated, I'll never see her again."

"Can you see her in this hell?"

"I don't know, but I've been looking for her."

"You've even been perfunctory about visualizing her. How did you find her? There are many places people go after death, so how do you know that she will definitely come to this hell?"

The third child lowered his head and said nothing, as if a child had been scolded.Seeing his appearance, I hesitated a little, wondering if my tone was too strong.

"My lord, I am not reconciled."

"What are you not willing to do?"

"I died so young and worthless. I'm not reconciled."

"So you don't think it's worth it."

"It's worth it, I'm just not reconciled."

I put the end of the sapphire pen on my chin, and thought for a while: "If you could repeat your life, how would you choose? From before you first entered the smokehouse, how would you choose? "

"I...I don't want to go into the smokehouse anymore. I want to join the army. The weapons I forge are sharp and durable. The army must need me."

"If you don't enter the smoke den, you won't know that girl."

"I..." The third child looked down at the hot tea in the cup, "My lord, maybe I've never known her before. Maybe I've always known someone in my imagination."

"So even if you don't see her in that life, it doesn't matter?"

"No...it doesn't matter."

"Okay, join the army, and then?"

"Forge weapons, kill enemies and serve the country."

"Suppose your life was like that, you didn't go into that smoking den, you chose to join the army. You made good weapons for the soldiers and served the country. Now your life is coming to an end, and you feel How about it?"

"I feel...peaceful."

"Are you satisfied with such a life?"

"Satisfied. I feel fine."

"Third, you already know what you want."

"what?"

"Go for reincarnation, you already know what you want, don't you?"

The third child looked at me, stunned, the teacup in his hand was still steaming.

"What if I don't want to do that again?"

"There are many things to do in life, not only smoking opium, not only meeting beautiful girls, not only joining the army. No matter what you do, it is more interesting than going around in hell. At least in the world, you have choices, don't you?" ?”

"I have... a choice."

"This choice starts now. You can choose to go to the world to start a new life, or you can choose to continue to stay in hell."

"My lord... I... need to think about it."

"It's okay, there is a lot of time in hell, you think about it slowly. If you think about it, I will write you a letter of recommendation, and you take the letter to ask Granny Meng for soup." I looked at the stick of incense that I lit before , is near the end.

"My lord...I can't decide now..."

"Okay, it's okay. When you are ready, the time will come. It's not early today, and it's almost time for us to finish here."

The third child stood up unsteadily, still thinking deeply.The wind in his head was so loud that it enveloped his whole body, my voice also disappeared in the wind, and he couldn't hear it.

"Goodbye." I said.

The third child didn't answer me, as if he had just smoked a big cigarette, he almost floated to the door of the office, and staggered out holding the door frame.The lotus lantern at the door was dimmed, and I closed the rice paper on the case, thinking about the conversation I had just had with my third child.Even the officials of the underworld can only help in a limited way.

Whether it's a human or a wild ghost, the final decision is still in your own hands.

Thinking of this, I twisted my sore wrist, well, it's time to go back to the world to sleep.

(End of this chapter)