The Voyage In The Blizzard - Chapter 102

“Longwei.”

A loud, shrill, almost unpleasant hoarse voice rang out like from the bottom of the ocean.

“Longwei.” the voice repeated the name a second time, and this time he pronounced each letter separately.

Then silence.

But after a few seconds, the hoarse voice suddenly became even louder.

“Longwei!”

This time it sounded like an order given to a soldier to do what was required of him.

And again silence.

Abrupt silence.

And suddenly the sound of a drum.

No, it was the sound of thunder.

A quiet thunder was heard somewhere in the sky, telling everyone about the impending rain.

But the voice was still louder than thunder.

“Longwei.” repeated the voice.

When the voice died down for a few minutes, the silence seemed painful, as if the ear membranes were accustomed to this unpleasant voice.

The smell of rain, the smell of grass. And again the voice.

Finally, the voice sounded louder than the silence and thunder.

“Longwei can you hear me?”

It was a question.

Wanting to answer the question, wanting to signal that yes, he hears it, Longwei slightly opened his eyes. But his eyelids were heavier than his willpower.

Feeling on himself someone’s hand, which was poking him in the chest, he made a sound. And this sound was like the growl of a lazy bear.

“Can you hear me?” someone repeated his question.

And then suddenly a sharp pain from a sharp stick.

The pain was so intense that he had to bent and make a suffering sound.

“Why don’t you answer if you hear?” growled a voice.

And again the pain from a sharp stick.

“I hear. Stop it.” Longwei finally was able to say.

“Then open your eyes. Stop pretending.”

Bringing his hands to his eyes, Longwei rubbed them and slowly but surely began to open his eyelids. Never before in his life did he think that it would be so difficult to open his eyes.

And finally, opening them, his gaze fell on the wrinkled face that was looking at him at close range.

“Who is it?” he asked, still not understanding what was happening.

And then the old man, without ceremony, as always, hit him on the leg with a stick.

“And now you don’t want to recognize me either?”

“I really don’t remember you.” Longwei said, trying to sit up and even move away from the old man.

But the old man drew closer to him. “Looking at you, I can still believe that you forgot. You’ve been lying here for so many years.”

“Years?” Longwei asked, but the old man didn’t let him ask anything.

“I’m Lei’s grandfather. Remember.” he ordered him holding a stick in front of his face, as if wishing to punish him with one more blow if he did not remember.

“Lei?”

“You do not remember anything.”

Looking around, Longwei asked, “Where am I?”

“You are dead.” The old farmer answered shortly.

And then Longwei, in horror, almost shouted, “Dead?”

“Don’t you remember what happened?”

Looking at his clothes, which were covered with dried blood, Longwei did not answer.

He could feel the cool ground, he could hear thunder, he saw the black earth around him, and he also saw many huge stones over his head. Touching his face, then his hair, then feeling his heartbeat, he said, “Am I really dead?”

And then suddenly a loud, almost evil laugh echoed.

“What’s so funny?” asked Longwei, looking at the crazy expression on the face of the old man whom he still could not remember.

Poking his forehead with his finger, the old man said, “I’m kidding. You’re not dead.”

“Not dead?”

“Why are you repeating? Or have you completely forgotten to speak normally? Do you even know how you got here?”

Shaking his head, Longwei tried to remember but his mind was blank.

“Yes, you seem to have completely lost your memory and also lost your mind.” said the old man and stepped aside. Throwing a stick on one of the stones, he looked at him again and, jumping up, disappeared from sight.

“Wait! Where are you going?” Longwei asked getting to his feet. A slight dizziness was still felt, but overall he felt a strange surge of energy. So strong that it seemed to him that he could fly up.

“Follow me. Or are you going to stay there all your life.” growled the old man stretching out his hand.

Stepping onto the soft grass, Longwei looked at the place from which he climbed.

It was a gap formed by an earthquake.

Then looking ahead, he suddenly saw somewhere far, very far away, the towers of the palace with several flags on the tops.

“Don’t you recognize this place?” asked the old man pointing forward.

Trying to remember at least something, Longwei shook his head. “No.”

“Do you know how many years have passed since the war ended and the curse was lifted?” the old man asked as if Longwei already knew everything.

“War? Curse?”

“Yes, everything is really bad with you. I am so sorry for Lei. And Yun Qi.”

“What?”

“What? Why are you looking at me like that? Do you remember them?”

Longwei lost his balance and fell to the ground. His head was empty, but he felt that there was still something in the corner of his mind. But what exactly he did not know.

“Longwei, it has been exactly three years since everything changed. Three years of complete calm and happiness. The world has never been so happy.” said the old man sitting down next to him.

Having handed him a jug of water, he said, “Have a drink. Maybe the water will restore your memory.”

Feeling dry in his mouth, Longwei grabbed the jug and began to drink the cool water greedily.

“It looks like all these three years you lay here. I certainly don’t understand how you survived and why you don’t remember anything. But it looks like you went into hibernation. For a long hibernation.” the old man continued to speak as he watched Longwei try to swallow the last drops of water. “Of course you don’t remember, but these three years, the Three Mountains have changed. Now flowers bloom there and it’s always warm. No more blizzard, no ice. Only nature in the sun. And my farm has become much better. My Snowballs like the new climate too, their fur is even thicker.”

“Three mountains.” Longwei muttered.

“Yes. Three mountains. Of course there are places where even the grass does not grow. The battlefield remains the same. Without ice, of course. But the ground there is black. This is a trace of a curse and it will never go away. The battlefield will always be the same as a reminder.”

Putting his hand on his back, the old man changed his expression to a worried and said, “My son, what happened to you that you don’t remember anything.”

“I don’t know.” Longwei answered fearfully, looking at his palms.

“Try to remember. Longwei, you have a beautiful daughter. She did it all. She changed the whole world. Yun Qi. Longwei, remember.”

Clutching his head with both hands as if trying to wake up his memory, Longwei suddenly stood up and shouted loudly, “I can’t!”

And then the old man, completely mad, hit him on the head with a stick.

“Why are you hitting me?”

“To get your memory back.”

“Stop it or I’ll hit you too!”

“And you try!” the old man threatened him and struck the next blow.

“Enough!” shouted Longwei, but noticing that the old man was only getting angrier, he did not want to fight the old man and ran forward.

But the old man was faster than him. Having caught him, the old man threw him to the ground and continued to beat him with a stick.

The blows were not strong but very unpleasant.

Covering his face with his hands, Longwei shouted, “Stop it! I’m in pain!”

“Remember! Lei! Yun Qi. You have a daughter. And Lei! Remember, come on.”

“I don’t remember! Why are you forcing me?”

Maddened even more, the old man hit him right on the head.

And then Longwei let out a quiet cry.

“You are also a crybaby.”

“I seem to be bleeding.”

“Show me.” said the old man and bent down to him and when he approached, Longwei snatched the stick out of his hand.

Throwing the stick away and checking his head he said, “You are a crazy old man. What do you allow yourself?”

“Oh, you ungrateful! You at least know how hard it was for me to lift that stone and remove it from the path! You at least should know that I almost died while making my way to you. While you were lying there somewhere in the ground like a dead man.” said the old man waving his hands.

“I didn’t ask you about that!”

“Oh, you didn’t ask! Ungrateful! Irresponsible crybaby!” Without stopping, the old man, although without a stick, continued to attack him with his fists.

The old man slapped him in the face, hit his head, shaking him by the collar.

And then unable to endure it any longer, Longwei caught his hand that was about to hit him in the face again.

“Please do not force me to use force on you.” he said.

But the old man still did not stop and stepped on his foot with all his might, so that Longwei shouted in terrible pain and his scream was louder than thunder.

“Please stop. Do you want to kill me?” asked Longwei falling to the ground and clutching his foot covered in mud.

“Listen to me, you crybaby.” The old man started to speak, but suddenly Longwei stopped him with a gesture of his hand.

The voice that sounded somewhere very far carried familiar letters. Hearing this voice that immediately disappeared, Longwei jumped up and walked forward.

This time the voice sounded even louder. And it had a joy and happiness.

Now, knowing who this voice belongs to, Longwei stopped. As well as his heart.

“Yun Qi!”

It was Lei’s voice.

“Lei.” Longwei whispered and a nervous, joyful smile, lost for three years, appeared on his tortured face. “Lei.” he whispered softly although he wanted to shout that name as loudly as possible.

Without waiting, not thinking about anything, keeping his mind in its pure state Longwei ran forward.

The grass under his feet tickled him but he felt nothing. No wind, no voice of the old man behind, no sound of thunder, he did not even feel the first drops of rain that washed away the dirt from his face.

All he felt was warmth and joy. The joy that he had never experienced in his life.