Qingmu felt like he had something to say to this woman, but he couldn't think of anything. His head felt like it was being bitten by a lot of bugs, and he had a terrible headache.
Seeing that he remained silent, the woman sighed and said, "I am old and feeble, a withered old woman, and should have gone to see my husband long ago. We made a mistake back then, listening to Kitano's words and ruining your family. That fire has burned for forty years, but it has also burned in my heart for forty years. Today, I will repay you with my life, but I only ask one thing of you: do not harm my daughter. The Sang family has left you a seed, so please leave one for our Du family as well!"
The woman stood up and walked into the yard, which was piled high with firewood. She stood on the pile and lit a fire herself.
A raging fire erupted, and the woman within it said, "Don't worry, my daughter will never seek revenge. I sent her to Masuba to treat people; she knows nothing of what happened here. I've instructed her to embrace Buddhism, to cultivate her spirit through faith, and to establish a spiritual Buddhist kingdom within her consciousness. Until that kingdom is complete, she won't leave this place, nor will she investigate what happened back then."
After she finished speaking, she put her hands together in prayer and began chanting Buddhist mantras. The fire, like a giant serpent, instantly coiled around her and devoured her.
Qingmu already had a headache, and seeing the flames made him feel even worse.
He clutched his head and screamed as he rushed out of the temple, stumbling and staggering along the mountain path before bursting into the streets of Masuba.
That flame lingered in his mind. He seemed to see many Sun in the sky, heat waves sweeping in, flames descending from the sky, and mulberry trees all over the mountains and fields ablaze until black smoke obscured the sun.
Exhausted and thirsty, he finally collapsed at the foot of an earthen wall.
He opened his eyes groggily and saw a young woman standing in front of him, smiling Ruhua.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"My mother sent me to treat your illness," the woman said.
"Treat my illness?"
"My mother said the patient would pass by here, and told me to wait here. I waited all day, and you're the one."
How do you plan to treat me?
"He's cured!"
"Healed?"
"Yes, I treated you while you were unconscious. You were so unconscious you weren't even dreaming, but that didn't stop me. You were just blinded by the flames of hatred, your heart was clouded. Once I extinguished the fire of anger in your heart, you'd be fine!"
Qingmu stood up and found that he was indeed much better, not as dazed as before. However, his memory had fallen into a deeper slumber, as if he was too lazy to even think about things.
He knew that the woman's mother—the woman who burned in the fire—had gone to great lengths to protect her daughter.
But he never intended to hurt her daughter!
Was he truly consumed by hatred? Did he travel thousands of miles to get here really for revenge?
He looked at the young woman and said, "I don't have money to pay for the consultation."
The woman said, "My mother said you paid."
The woman left, but left him a bag of dry food before she left.
He walked aimlessly, not knowing where to go.
At the dam entrance, he encountered a group of muleteers covered in mud, their horses carrying large and small baskets covered with cloth, their contents unknown. Among them was a dark-skinned boy carrying a rifle almost as tall as himself, which stood out conspicuously.
The caravan had barely entered the earthen wall of the dam when they were ambushed. The caravan members were fierce, but they were exhausted and their horses were worn out. Meanwhile, the other group was clearly prepared and had been waiting for them. The battle ended quickly, and all the caravan members were dead. Their horses and supplies were taken away, and their guns were also picked up, leaving only two people carrying the bodies at the foot of the earthen wall.
A child crawled out of the pile of corpses, plunged his machete into the stomach of the bandit who had been carrying him like a corpse, and then stood there straight, staring with two eyes full of hatred, watching another bandit raise the dark muzzle of his gun, with a hint of heroic defiance.
Qingmu saved him.
"What do you do?" Qingmu asked, handing him a piece of dry rations.
"A horse caravan." The child seemed very hungry, preoccupied with eating, and spoke very briefly.
What were you transporting?
Opium.
Why bring opium? Why not try something else?
"If you go elsewhere, you won't have enough to eat."
"May I have your name?"
" Wu Suotun."
Where do you live?
"No home."
Where are your parents?
"Dead."
As he left Masuba, the thin boy looked back, a fierce glint in his eyes, and bit his lip, saying, "One day I will come back for revenge."
They got lost in the mountains of northern Northern Myanmar.
Wu Suotun asked Qingmu, "Where are we going?"
Qingmu didn't know where to go either. He had a feeling before, and based on that feeling, he crossed several borders from Saigon to get here. Now, his feeling had disappeared.
To conserve their food, they began eating wild fruits and grasses to stave off hunger.
Wu Suotun picked a large bunch of mushrooms, which looked delicious.
Qingmu said, "Aren't you afraid it's poisonous?"
Wu Suotun said, "Following the caravan in the mountains, we often ate mushrooms, so I was fine."
He first wolfed down his food until he was full. Qingmu saw him eating and ate too, and then he was poisoned.
First, he felt dizzy and disoriented, then he felt completely weak, and then he began to hallucinate. He saw a raging fire, and a Crow flew around on the fire, cawing mournfully.
Leaning against a large tree root, in a moment of lucidity, he asked Wu Suotun, "Why weren't you poisoned?"
Wu Suotun sat two meters away from him, watching him warily, and said, "It was taken with the antidote."
Qingmu recalled that when he ate mushrooms, he had indeed chewed on a few blades of grass. He said with a wry smile, "Where did you learn that?"
Wu Suotun said, "I learned it from the horse caravan."
Qingmu asked, "Why did you poison me?"
Wu Suotun said, "I have a small appetite; your little bit of dry food will last me several days. The two of us won't be able to leave these mountains."
Qingmu stopped talking and opened his eyes to look at the sky. The sky grew darker and darker; it was broad daylight, but it seemed as if a cloth had been draped over it.
Wu Suotun waited cautiously for a long time before taking the dry rations and money bag from Qingmu. He then searched Qingmu thoroughly and finally took off the pair of leather shoes and carried them away.
Qingmu could have used his last bit of Mental Power to subdue Wu Suotun, but he didn't. With his last breath, he said, "Aren't you afraid of retribution?"
Wu Suotun said, "I don't believe in God. If there is a God, let him come to me, or send an angel."
Qingmu thought he would die in this old forest. He thought of Duwa and Duwa's mother again, and in his last moments of delirium, he saw a flash of fire.
He felt as if he had turned into a tree, burned to a crisp in a fire, standing charred black on the empty earth. Above him was the dazzling Milky Way.
Dewdrops flowed down from the heavens, landing on his face and entering his mouth.