Chapter 24: Vow
The length of time is resilient.
It can be infinitely long.
It can also pass in the blink of an eye.
If one were normally made to stay up all night, working through the night, wiping mechanically, one might feel that time is infinitely long.
Every muscle cell is on strike.
But when you are intensely focused and yearning for a miracle, you simply cannot be bothered by this long process.
You are busy, busy without stopping.
Hoping that your busyness can be of some use, can change something.
The further it goes, the more powerless one feels.
The water has been changed dozens of times.
There is even slowly light on the horizon.
The candle flame went out.
At this moment, the room plunged into darkness.
Jiang Yu held her sister and leaned on a small chair; she was tired and afraid, having fallen asleep for a while in terror, her hands holding her sister very, very tightly.
In between, Jiang Mianmian also slept several times.
An infant’s stamina is limited, and she had used up the spiritual spring water in one go, which also drained her strength. Whenever she opened her eyes slightly, she knew Father and Mother were taking turns wiping Fenger.
At this moment.
The candle burned out.
In the darkness.
Jiang Changtian was incomparably desperate and full of regret.
Everything before his eyes was black.
In the darkness, he could not find a glimmer of light.
He felt cold, very cold.
He touched his son’s body; it was no longer hot, it seemed to have gone cold.
He could not hold back his suppressed sobbing, wailing like a beast.
Since he was young, he felt his birth Mother detested him; she was amiable to everyone, but to him, she could not hide her disgust.
It was fine when his Father was alive, but after his Father passed away, the look his Mother gave him was colder than the way she looked at beggars on the roadside.
At that time, he thought he would never have children in the future; if one were to be so disgusted by their child, why bother?
But later, he was expelled from the family, he got married, and he had children.
He lived in extreme poverty and distress, but his heart was at peace.
He was willing to do anything for this family.
Killing, arson.
But, his Fenger died.
He was still bickering with him yesterday, he was so devil-may-care, he picked embroidered shoes for his sister, he was so sensible, he was covered in wounds, he didn’t utter a single sound, he, he must be in excruciating pain.
He felt such pain.
Such pain.
Jiang Changtian grabbed his son’s hand tightly.
Tears flowed uncontrollably.
He trembled all over.
His body swayed, his vision went black, and then he collapsed into an embrace.
His wife held him.
Keeping him from falling.
This ordinary-looking woman was always there.
Jiang Changtian would always remember that when he almost drowned, she jumped into the river, dragged him out, and carried him back to the shore and home on her back.
She was tall and strong, with plain features.
But her shoulders were broad and steady.
She could cook.
It didn’t taste good, but it was filling.
Jiang Changtian never thought he would marry her.
But at this moment, he held his wife.
He felt that she was also trembling, her voice shaking, but his wife still rubbed his back with her hand, and still said steadily: “It’s okay, it’s okay, we have money, we can buy a good coffin, Fenger likes bright colors, we can buy a vivid color, in the next life, in the next life, let him be born into a good family, he will become a young master of a wealthy family, he will live better than now, he will be very well, Husband, it’s okay, it’s okay.”
“No…” Jiang Changtian wailed.
Why.
Why is Heaven so unfair.
What did Fenger do wrong?
He didn’t harm anyone, the prostitutes in the brothel all liked him, he smiled at everyone, he smiled at everyone…
If good and evil are rewarded, the retribution should fall on him.
He could be the one to die, he could be torn apart by five horses, have no remains left, be pierced by ten thousand arrows, just don’t hurt his child, don’t…
Jiang Changtian wailed and trembled.
He hated, he hated, he hated.
His Fenger died, he wanted someone to pay with their life, he wanted to kill, he wanted them to taste a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand times the suffering.
By what right are they clean and dressed in finery,
By what right do they hold prayer beads and judge life and death,
By what right do they sit high in the magistrate’s office,
They must fall, they must die, they must be like him, rolling and struggling in the dust, they must be as bad as him.
The suffering he tasted, he wanted them to taste more, he wanted them to regret it, to repent day and night.
Jiang Changtian gritted his teeth tightly, until they bled, the metallic sweet taste filling his mouth.
Finally, unable to hold it back any longer, he spat out a mouthful of blood.
