Crown of Silence

Chapter 216 The Illusory Sun

Late at night, in the main building of the Royal Conservatory of Music, two figures met unexpectedly. When they discovered each other, they felt awkward.

"Good evening, Mr. Yegor."

Ludwig, who was the first to come down the steps, said hello, and Yegor, who had just entered the door, quickly returned the greeting.

After some pleasantries, the awkward atmosphere seemed to disappear, but the sterile conversation continued.

Ludwig noticed that Yegor was absent-minded and suddenly came straight to the point, "Are you also here to check the results of the lottery?"

"Where, where."

Yegor laughed, looking like he didn't care, but his eyes became cautious:

This veteran is ten years older than me, but he has always moved faster than me. He is extremely sensitive to the direction of the wind and can be ahead of anything.

Even this time is no exception. As soon as he walked in, he had already finished checking and was ready to leave. Although he didn’t know what the outcome would be, how could a person with such a good face like him admit this kind of intention?

He said sternly: "The drawing process is under our surveillance, so what surprises could there be?"

"oh?"

Ludwig glanced at him with a smile: "Then why is Mr. Yegor here late at night? Don't say such nonsense that you forgot to pick up documents. When you come to a meeting, you never bring documents."

Yegor's expression became embarrassed again, and he became a little angry:

"Ludwig, aren't you too?"

"To be honest... I just wanted to satisfy my curiosity."

Ludwig smiled, and his pupils turned into snake-shaped vertical pupils under the moonlight, blinking and blinking, which made Yegor feel slightly stunned.

The summoning faction cultivates the animal nature in the heart and controls the demons to fight, but at the same time, the reason must also be stronger. But no matter what, there will always be some impact.

Because of this, the musicians of the Summoning Faction always have some weird habits, even Ludwig is not exempt from them.

For example, excessive curiosity.

Yegor snorted coldly, "I just want to ensure the fairness of the result."

Hearing Yegor's defense, Ludwig couldn't help but laugh:

"Egor, once humans start talking about fairness, it means that unfair things are going to happen.

Did you notice something? "

"Stop beating around the bush, Ludwig, just say it directly." Yegor rolled his eyes at him, "I hate philosophy and great principles."

Ludwig spread his hands, "I just want to say that things like drawing lots are never fair."

"You want to say that there is a problem with the bye in the Music History Department? The results of the lottery are under the supervision of the three of us."

"Don't forget, this is the Requiem Barrier. Even if you draw lots, the result is controlled by the Requiem Barrier.

We can only monitor the students, but we can't do anything about the barrier. "

"There can be no problem with the barrier."

"Of course it's impossible. There will never be problems with the barrier. The problems are just people."

Ludwig said calmly, "My survey results just now verified my daytime induction.

Although I don't know much about the forbidden faction, I can still feel that the barrier has been mobilized three times this afternoon. "

"three times?"

Yegor thought for a moment and realized something was wrong: "If you just want to modify the results, there is no need to use the authority three times, unless..."

"Yes, there are three authorities who want to change the result of this lottery at the same time."

Yegor was silent, finally feeling the complexity behind this incident.

"Of those three authorities, one has the lowest authority, which comes from the student union. One authority comes from the school committee, which is obviously Sidney."

"That's not surprising."

Yegor said: "Sidney doesn't want to see the Department of Music and History continue to have a bye, and hasn't Gavin always wanted his younger brother to inherit his position these days? If you want to become the president of the student union, the Department of Music and History is the best place to start. One of the stepping stones.”

Ludwig just laughed, "Unfortunately, no matter what they do, they can't succeed.

Because the third authority canceled out all their changes. "

"offset?"

Yegor looked at him with doubt in his eyes: "There is only one person who can offset the authority of the school committee."

"Yes, it is our principal."

Ludwig wanted to laugh a little, as if he was laughing at himself and his colleagues these days.

"Why are we so anxious? The principal has probably dug a hole for us to jump in.

Yegor, I'm afraid you and I have been tricked by those guys from the principal. "

He patted Yegor on the shoulder and saw a wry smile on his old friend's face. Yegor sighed and gave up the urge to continue questioning.

If the investigation continues, it will only intensify the already tit-for-tat conflict between the school committee and the principal.

But he didn't understand what was the reason for the principal to go against the school committee on such a trivial matter?

"Tell me, what exactly does he want to do?"

"How do I know?"

Ludwig lowered his head and slowly filled his pipe with tobacco. Thinking of what happened during the day, he couldn't help but laugh at himself:

"I have lived for so many years, and sometimes I don't even know what a dog is thinking. How can I understand what is hidden in a person's heart?"

——

Ye Qingxuan had been sleeping for twenty hours. He was sleeping so deeply that he could not wake up no matter how much he screamed. It was as if the sky was falling and no thunder could move him.

And it looks like I can continue to sleep again...

After being carried back from the arena, Ye Qingxuan was thrown on the sofa, with Bai Xi's random graffiti still on his face.

It's still like a wax figure, maintaining its original posture.

"Ciel, can he do it?"

Bai Xi poked Ye Qingxuan's face, as if he had found a big toy, and had a great time playing with it.

Across the sofa, Charles spread his hands and said, "I don't know either.

I was sweating for the first few hours, but now I have no reaction except my heartbeat. Pupils unresponsive to light stimulation. But at least there's breathing. Fortunately, there was nothing else going on, it seemed like he was just asleep. "

"Did he have some strange disease?"

"It doesn't seem right. He was in good health during the entrance examination, but he was a bit thin." Charles paused, shook his head and sighed: "Like a girl, eh... A good man should be like a senior, with eight-pack abs That’s right!”

"Say it like you have."

Bai Xi glanced at him, "Do you want to send him to the hospital?"

"Actually, if you want me to tell you, if there's nothing important, let him sleep." Charles took out a bottle of wine from the cabinet, opened it skillfully, smelled the aroma of the wine, and sighed happily. :

"As the saying goes, if you have wine now, you will get drunk now. Anyway, there is no other way, right?"

Bai Xi was stunned for a moment, "You can't just leave it alone, right?"

"Maybe he just wants to be quiet. Well, don't ask me who Jingjing is. Anyway, let him sleep a little longer.

After playing football for such a long time, you should at least take a break, right? "

Ciel lowered his head, wiping his wine glass, and his eyes became filled with emotion: "No matter how strong or powerful people are, there will always be times when people want to escape reality.

If this is true for saints, let alone us mortals? "

"Here, cheers."

Charles put the wine glass into the young man's stiff hand, clinked it with him, raised his head, and drank it all in one gulp. His gaze fell on Ye Qingxuan, and it became profound and complicated, as if he had penetrated his body and looked towards Some unknown place:

"——I hope you can escape, young man."

——

Blizzard fell from the sky and fell in Ye Qingxuan's eyes.

The sky was still empty and pale.

Thousands of snowflakes fell from the sky.

He walked barefoot in the ice and snow, and the soles of his feet were punctured, leaving a trace of eye-catching red in the footprints he left behind.

But later, the red color gradually disappeared and was frozen in the frost.

Panting, he lifted his legs and moved forward, trying to find the feeling in his lower limbs, but his legs were almost numb.

Sometimes, he would look back and look at the long footprints he had left. The footprints extended from the depths of the ice sheet, gradually being covered by snowflakes and disappearing without a trace.

This doesn't feel like a searching journey anymore.

It was a long escape.

In the cold wind, there were broken snowflakes, and the ice crystals collided with each other, making a small and subtle sound.

Countless sounds came and went, like rain. But in the 'rain', there was a hoarse voice singing an inexplicable song. The song is sometimes far away and sometimes close, making it difficult to hear it clearly and unable to catch up.

But until the end, the singing disappeared, and in the silence, only the laughter echoed.

laugh at.

Ye Qingxuan lowered his eyes and looked at his frozen and cracked feet. There was no feeling on the toes with raised nails, only dark red traces of frozen blood.

So familiar.

Really familiar.

Maybe this should be my own foot. The first time he took a good look at his feet, they looked like this.

Numbness, paleness, and a dull pain that pierced his bones reminded him that the long journey was not over yet, letting him know that he was still alive.

At that time, there was snow like this in the sky, but there was still the light of fire burning behind it.

Yes, the light of the flame.

He covered his forehead in pain, not daring to think about it anymore, but those memories had awakened, like a haunting ghost, pulling him, asking him to look back at his past.

The forgotten past.

On this pale ice field, Ye Qingxuan saw fragments of memories constantly emerging.

Among those fragments are the contemptuous eyes of those people, the dilapidated wooden houses, and a gentle voice.

"Little Leaf..."

She whispered softly in her ear, "Little Ye Zi, are you back?"

"shut up!"

The boy roared hoarsely and covered his ears. But that strand of dull blond hair drifted past his eyes, like an illusion, fleeting, with a trace of nostalgic fragrance.

"do not be afraid."

Her voice came again, from the bottom of her heart: "Little Ye Zi, don't be afraid."

Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, don't be afraid, don't be afraid...

The sounds kept echoing, overlapping each other, and sounded one after another. The whole world seemed to be gently comforting him.

But that sound only frightened him.

he roared angrily.

Then, those sounds disappeared, as if nothing happened.

There was only the whistling sound in the wind, and he saw the snow under his feet was reflected red by the firelight behind him.

Behind him, something was burning.

Burning.

Ye Qingxuan was stunned. He stood stiffly on the spot, not daring to look back. But there is the smell of burning wood. Is it a wooden house?

The wooden house that was set on fire, the wooden house that was burning, the collapsed wooden house, that wooden house...

He turned back dully, looking at the vaguely familiar simple wooden house and the phantom.

The phantom was in the flames, staring at him quietly, with compassionate and gentle eyes, just looking at it, it made people feel sad.

"Little Leaf, don't be afraid."

The wind brought the sad murmur from the depths of memory, making Ye Qingxuan lower his head silently, grit his teeth, trying to dispel it.

But he was powerless.

Charles' voice seemed to sound again, right beside his ears.

He said, "The flame is pain."

Ye Qingxuan was stunned, and couldn't help wanting to laugh, to laugh at himself: it turned out that he had escaped for so long, so hard, but just went around in a big circle, and finally returned here.

"So that's it."

He raised his head, stared at the phantom of the flame, and shed tears, "It turns out that I am about to forget even this memory."

Haven't you been looking for the sun?

This is your sun, Ye Qingxuan.

This is the source of your pain.

Where your mother died.

-

"After so many years, you are still waiting for me here..."

In the long silence, the boy stared at the burning wooden house. After a long time, he staggered into the wooden house.

"Mom, I'm back."

He stared at the flames that engulfed him and whispered softly.

The burning pain spread, but this painful burning made him feel at ease.

It was like finding a home.

Over the years, he has become accustomed to their existence. If there is no pain, he doesn't even know how to live.

Across the dancing red, the boy stared at the vague phantom quietly.

The phantom also stared at him, with gentle eyes, as gentle as in the past. In such eyes, Ye Qingxuan smiled and knelt in the ashes and flames.

After so many years, are you okay?

I am living well, just like you said, without fear.

After you are gone, I am not afraid of anything.

"I'm back in Avalon. I'm studying at the Royal Conservatory of Music now. I'm looking for what my father did back then... I haven't been to my grandfather yet."

"For so many years, I've always listened to you and never done anything bad. I have some friends, Vito, Charles, Bai Xi, and some others. I really want to introduce them to you."

"..."

He lowered his head, stroked the skeleton, and whispered softly, "I'm sorry I haven't seen you for so long."

The flames burned and rose, like a gentle palm stroking his face, giving him pain and life.

Ye Qingxuan closed his eyes, feeling the pain brought by the past, and the painful flames wiped away his tears, so gently.

He suddenly had an urge to stay here.

How nice it is here, so quiet and reassuring, without having to think about the coldness and horror of the outside world.

Stay a little longer, stay a little longer.

Just stay in this warm flame, even if there is nothing here except pain...

For a long time, for a long time, the boy slowly got up and said goodbye softly.

"Mom, I'm leaving."

He turned his head and took a last look at the phantom in the flames:

"I will miss you."

The boy walked out of the burning wooden house, the blizzard fell into his eyes, melted, the water vapor condensed in the wind, and drifted towards the sky.

It was like a sigh echoing above the sky.

He moved forward again, facing the blizzard and frost, embracing the white snow that was rushing towards him.

The staggering footsteps were imprinted in the snow, gradually extending forward.

Gradually, gradually, the boy's figure turned into a distant black dot, covered by the wind and snow, swallowed up, and disappeared.

Just like sending himself away, Ye Qingxuan stared at the back figure gradually going away, listening to the dim melody coming from the wind and snow.

That was the sound of frost freezing, but it turned into the sound of a piano, cold and sad, like a whisper in the ear.

Whose hoarse singing came from the wind.

"I saw three suns in the sky, and I stared at them for a long time. They also stared at me, as if they didn't want to leave.

But, you are not my sun.

I also had three suns in the past, but the two I loved the most have gone away..."

It was like a long dream finally ended.

In the hoarse singing, Ye Qingxuan felt himself dissipating, blending into the cold wind, and turning into frost.

He was rising, rising, and rising again, passing through the wind and snow, the cold clouds, and gradually moving away from the earth.

In the snowy field, the burning wooden house also disappeared.

Ye Qingxuan closed his eyes, waiting for the end of this dream world.

If a world without sadness is like this, then it would be better to have a sadder world, right?

At least, such a world still has you.

At least, I will still remember you this way.

.

Goodbye, mother.

——

At dawn, Ye Qingxuan woke up from his dream.

The morning light illuminated his eyes.

He sat on the sofa and saw the wine glass that appeared in his hand at some point. The strong liquor in the glass reflected an illusory sun.

He smiled, raised the wine glass, and drank the "fulcrum" he had been looking for.

The strong liquor went into his throat, like a flame, bringing him the pain of living and making him scream happily.

On his knees, the sleeping girl was awakened, rubbing her confused eyes, and raised her head to look at him:

"Cousin, are you awake?"

"Yeah." Ye Qingxuan rubbed her hair: "I woke you up, I'm so sorry."

Bai Xi looked at him, and after a long time, he asked softly:

"Did you cry?"

"No." Ye Qingxuan smiled: "Why should I cry? I just remembered something."

Bai Xi looked at him silently, and when she saw his smile, she was no longer worried. She lay back on his knees, found a comfortable position, closed her eyes, and fell asleep.

Her white hair had grown long without knowing when, and it was scattered on the sofa, like silk. Ye Qingxuan looked at her sleeping appearance and the smile on her mouth, and couldn't help reaching out to pinch her face.

It must be a beautiful dream.

——

After writing this chapter, I feel a little exhausted. Let me take a day off to think about the following plot.