815 Come in Please (2/2)
Ning Que had sent people there to look for the two. By the windy riverside, there wasn't a single trace of the Big Black Horse, the black carriage, or those things in the carriage.
Finally, one thing had come back from Heaven to the mortal world today. Then, where were the other things and people? The Arrows, the Umbrella, the funny horse, the Headmaster and Sangsang?
Ning Que felt uneasy. It took him long to calm down and concentrate on what was really happening. Who was keeping his stuff? Who was able to find the Drunkard and let him send the message?
”Who is it?” He looked at the drunkard and asked directly.
The Drunkard's answer was direct. He did not answer at all. The Headmaster was no longer in the mortal world, so if he didn't want to talk, nobody could force him to.
Spring breeze blew in Ning Que's face, bringing him not a bit of warmth. It felt chilly, or he felt cold, inside and outside, which cooled down the spring breeze passing by him.
By the Sishui River, he saw the Headmaster and Sangsang ascend to Heaven and explode into shooting stars shimmering all over the sky. He was sure that Sangsang had died, or she had gone to the Kingdom of Haotian; either way, she was no longer in the mortal world now because if she were, he would've felt it.
”Then who has taken away the Big Black Horse? Who picked up the Arrows? Who's holding the Big Black Umbrella now? Who's giving the carriage back to him? Why is the carriage in the Drunkard's hands?”
Ning Que was trying to figure it out.
”Those perturbing me shall be left behind.” He chinned up and looked to the dim sun hanging in the spring sky. He fell into silence for a moment and continued, ”Those leaving me shall be forgotten.”
He looked at the Drunkard and said, ”Please come in.”
The quiet southern gate turned tense after his welcoming. The tension flooded at the foot of the city wall and burst high into the sky.
The Drunkard watched the magnificent city wall of Chang'an and asked, ”Why would I?”
Ning Que said, ”Every guest should be introduced inside.”
The Drunkard said, ”Not if he was an unwelcomed one.”
Ning Que said, ”Being welcome or not, he is, after all, a guest, and a guest has to agree with the host.”
The Drunkard found him interesting, so he said with a smile, ”Then I am no guest at all.”
Ning Que smiled but inside he felt the contrary.
Because one could either be a guest, or an enemy.
He looked at the Drunkard and asked with sincerity, ”How can you give my things back to me if you don't come inside?”
The Drunkard looked at him as if he were looking at a naughty kid, and he said, ”I am an old man. I've already walked so far, do you really want me to finish the last a few steps all by myself?”
Ning Que said, ”Even if it's only a few steps away, you still haven't come.”
The Drunkard said, ”You can come out.”
Ning Que said with a smile, ”You can come in.”
The drunkard looked at the mottled city wall of Chang'an and fell in silence for a moment, then he said, ”Maybe someday in the future.”
Ning Que responded immediately upon hearing those words, and he said, ”How about today?”
That was an invite as well as a gamble. Or to be specific, he was gambling with his life, with the future or Chang'an, with the vicissitudes of the Empire, and with the destiny of the mortal world.