Horse-head Wall Reflects the Qing Dynasty

Chapter 41: Fortunately, I had a dream early, expressing deep feelings in three lines

A few drops of drizzle always continue, just like the dot-and-dye in traditional Chinese painting. The most indispensable part of the ink-and-wash Jiangnan painting is also this "rain".

Cheng Heng followed the rain into the summer night, and when he opened his eyes, he saw Guan Yin as he wished. But the latter was just as passive as before.

"you're right."

"What did I say?" The first sentence Cheng Heng said when he appeared in front of him was so incoherent. Guan Yin looked at him, and the confusion between his brows was self-evident.

Realizing that Guan Yin was more enthusiastic today than when they met under the osmanthus tree, Cheng Heng hurriedly explained: "You said those words to me after Ruan Bi passed the imperial examination and was said to be going to be an official."

"Ok?"

"That day, under the osmanthus tree." The person in front of him seemed to be deliberately avoiding the question, but it was clear that Guan Yin had won the unspoken bet. Why shouldn't he admit it at this time? Cheng Heng didn't understand, and his speech speed also increased.

"Where are the osmanthus trees?"

"Isn't it you who's talking to me?"

Now both of them looked at each other in confusion. Cheng Heng paused for a moment and finally understood - it turned out that it was a dream he had under the osmanthus tree, and even Guan Yin was a pure dreamer.
The person in front of him was also seen through a dream, and the person who made him secretly bet on himself was also a dream. Cheng Heng was completely unable to distinguish what was reality and what was beyond reality.

"You dreamed about me?" It can be seen that Cheng Heng's reaction is not bad. In this world, the only person who knows that he is a teacher named Guan Yin in another world is Cheng Heng.

Guan Yin couldn't just leave the person in front of him alone no matter what.

"Of course I dreamed about it." Cheng Heng felt that Guan Yin's question was no different from nonsense. Even if he put himself in Guan Yin's shoes, he would ask the same question.

"So which one is the real you, which one is the dream, and which one is the dream within the dream."

It is clear that dreams are the continuation of reality. Whenever a person has a dream that is not bizarre, it must be because of the subconscious mind. Cheng Heng has not yet realized the key to this matter...

Guan Yin didn't know how to respond to Cheng Heng's question. But if he didn't say it, he didn't say it. Guan Yin didn't want to win over Cheng Heng for nothing: "After all, whether I said it or not, it was all your dream."

Dreams are not reality. Whether good or bad, they cannot really affect anything except one's own state of mind. Guan Yin is not a superstitious person.

"Okay." Since Guan Yin said he didn't know, Cheng Heng didn't dwell on it. After all, he changed his original idea and was grateful for this dream.

The two sat facing each other in silence for a long time, until the drizzling rain outside the window gradually stopped.

The dream was not over yet. Cheng Heng stood up idly, walked to the window, and looked out at the small courtyard under the moonlight - there were fewer flowers on the familiar trumpet creeper, but the vines grew more luxuriantly.

“Did you fertilize it?”

"What?" Guan Yin paused for a moment, remembering that the only thing Cheng Heng could mention was the trumpet creeper, and finally gave the answer before Cheng Heng could explain, "If you're talking about the trumpet creeper, no one would specifically fertilize a flower that grows in nature."

"Then why is it so good?"

"Good-looking?"

"So this is also telling us not to interfere with everything else and let them grow on their own?" Another sentence without a beginning or an end came out of Cheng Heng's mouth. Guan Yin was not originally curious about the story in the dream mentioned by the former. After hearing Cheng Heng's riddles twice in a row, Guan Yin suddenly became curious about his dream.

"Maybe it's 'turning into spring mud to protect flowers'," since Cheng Heng didn't say it, Guan Yin finally didn't ask, "It rained heavily a few days ago, and now... this table has cracks again. I don't know if it will get moldy again."

Guan Yin hadn't seen so many mold spots for a long time.

"Maybe."

In the dream, Ruan Bi took over the teacher's position and passed on the scholars' work to the next generation. It seemed to be a kind of "turning into spring mud to protect the flowers". Fragmentary information and emotions penetrated into Cheng Heng's mind, making it too confusing to make sense of.

Of course, this did not affect Guan Yin.

Guan Yin's gaze was still on the trumpet creeper that had grown more vigorously at some unknown time, and he did not move away for a long time: a life that originally had the ability to move upward, after leaving those seemingly gorgeous things that restrained its growth, finally got closer to the higher wall.

This trumpet creeper really looks like Liu Jiaoan!
"Have you found anything?" Cheng Heng was almost certain that he would be able to leave this world where Ruan Bi was soon, but why was Guan Yin still here?
"What did you find?"

"Have you found a way to leave here?" The stories he wrote and the real people in history, all of this certainly attracted Cheng Heng.

How many people have never imagined becoming the characters in their own essays, articles, or scripts, or even just living around them?
But Cheng Heng knew that he would always write the next world that he liked more. No matter what he said when he reasoned with Guan Yin, Cheng Heng still wanted to return to real life...

"Nothing yet..." If we don't mention these, Guan Yin's recent life is full of food, not cold, there is no intrigue between the three of them, and he doesn't have to deal with any troubles. It is quite comfortable - being a teacher is hard, much harder than Guan Yin's current life.

Before Guan Yin realized that he was like a frog in boiling water and would lose his will sooner or later, Cheng Heng hurriedly said, "Maybe it's in a letter, or in a meaningful sentence."

"Don't forget, it was because of a letter that we realized that the world had long since become a fantasy of teacher Cheng Zhan."

"Perhaps everything now is also an illusion of the original body."

The morning bells and evening drums, the sound of the bells and the crowing of the cocks together woke up the night and also knocked away Guan Yin's dream.

"letter?"

"detail?"

The first thing Guan Yin did when he woke up was to look for the manuscripts.

The writing style must be different when one is emotionally excited, or maybe the tears left some traces of wetting?

The first thing Guan Yin thought of was the story of saving the souls of the dead. Since the heavy rain was real, and the natural and man-made disasters were real, perhaps this story was related to the original body.

Each stroke was smooth and steady, and each character was as clean as an examination paper. Guan Yin could not see any clues.

"Has it been copied before, or is it not here? Or maybe I am just overthinking, the broken situation..."

Finally, an irregular circle with a faint yellow tint on the outside of a light ink color appeared in front of Guan Yin's eyes - but this one clearly said "Farewell to My Wife".

(End of this chapter)