Chapter 42 Part 3

Time had entered late autumn. The mountains of late autumn, the roads of late autumn. The lush green slopes were dotted with a winding yellow ribbon—the leaves were about to fall.

Cocks crowed and dogs barked, smoke curled from chimneys, and the air was like fresh floral water.

The wind wasn't strong, so the clouds drifted lazily.

Houses were scattered throughout the village, but there weren't many residents left.

Jiang Du turned to look at Wei Qingyue, whose eyes were closed, and didn't wake him. When the car stopped, she called him to get up and look at the scenery.

The distant mountains were a tuft of green mist, mixed with the yellow of ginkgo leaves and the red of maple forests.

They first switched to an ox cart. Wei Qingyue had no idea how Jiang Du had managed to flag down someone driving an ox cart. A bell on the ox's neck jingled. It moved very slowly, but its eyes were large, with an ancient gaze.

Later, they switched to walking, stepping into the withered grass. Jiang Du pointed to a middle-aged man carrying a ladder not far away and said, "Look, it's time to pick persimmons."

Wei Qingyue was confused, asking as they walked, "Is this a place you used to live?"

"Yes, my grandfather's hometown. I lived here. There aren't as many people as when I was a child; they've all left," Jiang Du said. "The people here are all old-fashioned too."

Wei Qingyue finally smiled, just like he used to. "Jiang Du, you say the most interesting things. 'Old-fashioned,' I've really never heard someone described as 'old-fashioned' before."

Jiang Du shyly kicked a pebble at her feet. "They just are old-fashioned. Everyone went to the city to live. This place can't keep people. The ones who stay are the old people. Young people don't want to live here anymore."

They eventually struck up a conversation with the man carrying the ladder.

They followed him to see how persimmons were picked.

The persimmons were red.

They hung all over the tree, their color beautiful, standing proudly in the vastness of the world.

The ground was covered in countless fallen leaves. Jiang Du and Wei Qingyue sat on a nearby stone slab. The persimmon picker was as agile as an ape, climbing up the ladder with a bamboo basket on his back.

The wildflowers had withered, the white dew had turned to frost.

"That tool can also be used to catch dragonflies," Jiang Du pointed at the bamboo fork and said unhurriedly. Wei Qingyue smiled. He didn't know what Jiang Du had brought him here for; he just came because she wanted to. He would go with her to any place in the world.

Picking persimmons was troublesome, peeling them was troublesome, stringing them was troublesome. Jiang Du slowly explained the entire process until the frost formed on them. Wei Qingyue nodded from time to time in agreement.

The persimmon picker told them that a season's worth of persimmons didn't sell for much; the things weren't valuable.

"I want to film the disappearing villages, film the persimmon trees. I'm worried that I won't be able to see scenes like this in the future." Jiang Du fiddled with a blade of grass. She lowered her head, hugged her knees, and started to tease a small insect by her feet.

"But it existed. It will always be beautiful in my memory, and that's enough. There is nothing and no one in this world that cannot disappear. The most important thing is to have existed." She took a foxtail grass and brushed it against Wei Qingyue's shoes, which were dotted with dew and dirt.

Wei Qingyue laughed, also lowering his head and turning to look at her. "You want to film this? It's not that hard, actually. Get a team together, add music, add a script. If you really want to do it, I can help you."

Jiang Du also turned her face to speak with him. "Actually, that's not what I wanted to talk about."

"Then what did you want to talk about?"

"I want to say that all things must return to their roots; it's just a matter of time. The most important thing is to have been here. Just like," she touched a withered wildflower with her foot, "just like a flower. Since it blooms, it is destined to wither. But it has already bathed in wind, frost, rain, and dew, and it has seen the sun. That's what's most important."

"Why so sentimental all of a sudden?" Wei Qingyue couldn't help but tease her again. He was in an inexplicably good mood. "I'd want to praise you for being a literary youth, but these days, that term is practically an insult."

But Jiang Du just gazed at him, saying with infinite tenderness, "I need you to understand this principle, Wei Qingyue. You came looking for me, and I've seen you. I know you love me. Now, you also know that I love you too. I told you, my blessings for you will last forever, they will never stop. I keep my word."

"Promise me you will understand this principle. If a flower blooms, it will also wither. It's just that some flowers are luckier and bloom for longer, while others are not so lucky and bloom for only a short time. But it bloomed. That is what's most important." She suddenly pulled him up, making him look at the mountains, the grass and trees, the beautiful persimmon tree before them, and then at the fallen leaves at his feet.

"Even though the leaves have withered, they still return to the earth. We will all eventually return to dust. Do you understand what I'm saying? This is the law of the world. There is no right or wrong, only the law."

Jiang Du's eyes were more beautiful than the persimmon tree, slowly welling up with crystalline tears.

"Wei Qingyue, you want to be with me, you want me to marry you. We held hands, kissed, made love. You know my feelings now, they've never changed. You know all of this, right?"

The golden autumn wind blew coolly, but a fog suddenly rose in the mountains. Wei Qingyue discovered that the persimmon picker had disappeared at some point. The ladder was gone. He looked around, and the entire village, the village he had seen on the way here, had vanished.

He subconsciously reached for her hand, saying urgently, "I understand, Jiang Du. Let's go home first. It's getting foggy."

Jiang Du smiled and shook her head, gently pulling her hand away. "I'm not going back. This is my home."

Wei Qingyue looked at her in disbelief. "What nonsense are you talking about? This place..."

This place was desolate, with only overgrown grass and tombstones.

How could this be? There was clearly a tree of fiery red persimmons, a hardworking persimmon picker.

Wei Qingyue tried to grab her hand again, but Jiang Du shook her head. "Go find Zhu Yulong. Go see a doctor, Wei Qingyue. Don't be sick anymore."

The wind blew the fog in, and the person before him became faint and indistinct.

Wei Qingyue stumbled as he tried to grab her. She was right in front of him, yet as distant as the horizon. He couldn't believe it.

"Come home with me." Tears suddenly rolled down his face. "We'll go buy wedding rings. We'll have the wedding right away. Believe me, I'll be good to you, I'll always be good to you. Can you please stop saying these things I don't understand?"

"I've already married you. I'm yours. Your wish has been fulfilled. Now, you have to go find Zhu Yulong. If you don't, I will definitely get angry and ignore you from now on." Jiang Du released the foxtail grass in her hand. It rose with the wind, scattering its seeds in the air. Next year, new green shoots would sprout again.

The whole world would once again flourish, but her leaf had already fallen.

"I'm not looking for anyone else, I'm only looking for you." Wei Qingyue was nearly swallowed by the sudden onslaught of pain. He started to run, on the rugged mountain path. The whistling wind blew his hair up and down. She was still before his eyes, but always just one step away.

"You can't leave, don't go..." Wei Qingyue cried, his steps never halting. It couldn't be. He had already succeeded. He had said 'long time no see,' he had said 'let's have a meal together,' he had said 'be my girlfriend,' he had said 'marry me'... He had clearly done it. Wei Qingyue's head was splitting. The scene from '09 couldn't be repeated, the story of '15 couldn't happen again. He had to catch her.

He cried and begged her. The thick fog swirled. He said, "You can't leave me, you can't do this to me, you can't."

Jiang Du's expression remained gentle.

Her slender white arms were exposed, showing two or three red dots.

He had once told her why mosquito bites swell up.

"I'm not leaving you. Go find Zhu Yulong. If you love me, Wei Qingyue, go find Zhu Yulong."

Wei Qingyue didn't listen. He only knew to chase her figure, running with all the strength he had in his life. The thick fog wet his eyebrows and eyes, tears washed his face, and the wind continued to blow.

The figure ahead gradually vanished into the depths of the fog.

He didn't care. He kept running until he was exhausted, until his heart and lungs were about to burst, until he had used up his very last bit of strength. Heaven and earth were no longer separate. He fell to the ground, unable to get up. At the horizon, it began to rain. That rain had actually been falling for twelve years without stopping. If it had ever stopped, it must have been his illusion.

He had once walked out of her home and into the wind and rain. He hadn't waved, hadn't spoken, just turned his head back once. That was the last time he turned back to her.

If only he had known.