allendalepharm Chapter 21 The memory is wrong!
Chapter 21 The memory is wrong!
Li Jiu was immersed in the vortex of memories, recalling more and more details, such as... he had actually visited Fulong Mountain when he was a child.
real or fake?
Why doesn't he have any recollection of it?
Has he been here?
How could he have been here?
Li Jiu tried to dig into more details, but the eerie chill he felt on his arm immediately pulled him back to his senses.
Only then did he belatedly realize that a faint light was seeping into the room, which should have been completely dark.
Light?
Where did the light come from?!
His heart suddenly tightened, and he looked in the direction of the light source.
The window seems to be open.
A gentle breeze rippled across the windowsill, causing the curtains to sway softly.
A strong sense of unease instantly enveloped him. Through the gaps created by the rhythmic movement of the curtains, it seemed as if some cold gaze was undisguisedly fixed upon him.
He seemed to see someone or something watching him outside the window, but before he could react, those eyes disappeared, along with that cold gaze.
Li Jiu felt a chill run down his spine, and in an instant, all sleepiness vanished. His mind went blank, and he even forgot the rules of the Mushroom House that he had almost memorized by heart.
He suddenly forgot what to do, only remembering the four most crucial words—"Go back to sleep."
Yes! Go back to sleep!
Go back to sleep!
Keep going! Damn it! Go to sleep!!
He quickly pulled his naked body back inside the blankets, and the bed and he looked like a frightened old turtle.
No! Wait a minute! Don't go to sleep yet!!
Sticky notes!!
He took out his phone and quickly wrote down his dream in a notepad, afraid that he wouldn't remember anything when he woke up the next day.
After doing all this, as if completing some kind of ritual, he began a frantic self-hypnosis:
Sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep...
He kept telling himself to sleep, but by then he was completely awake from the shock and couldn't fall asleep again.
He simply cleared his mind, stopped thinking about those irrelevant things, and continued his train of thought, recalling the details of his visit to Fulong Mountain in his dream.
He now clearly remembers that he came with his entire family of five, and that they came to Fulong Mountain because—wait, no! That's not right!
He suddenly remembered something crucial—his grandmother had been suffering from Alzheimer's ever since he could remember!
Moreover, his earliest memories are from when he was in elementary school!
He had no idea what the old house looked like before it was demolished, nor had he ever seen his grandmother chanting Buddhist prayers...
No, or rather, he simply doesn't remember that he was a resident who received compensation for his land expropriation!
What happened?
How did so many memories come out of nowhere?
And those memories... happened to appear before the "first thing" he remembered?!
I took a nap at the Mushroom House, and then some memories came back to me?
What's even stranger is that these memories don't seem to have been stuffed into his brain by some unspeakable supernatural force. Rather, they seem to be things he already possessed but had no recollection of until they were just awakened by "chance encounter."
The biggest upheaval was his memories of his grandmother.
In his memory, his grandmother was always an old woman with a blank stare who could not communicate. His grandfather moved out against his parents' wishes so that taking care of his grandmother would not affect his studies at the time.
But in this revived memory, Grandma was so kind and warm; she would pat his head, smile at him, and patiently explain those profound scriptures…
Most importantly, the blood ties and bonds he felt were so real and profound that they completely transcended the underlying logic of his existing memories, striking deep into his soul and making him firmly certain of the existence of this past!
He may not remember that time, but he remembers the feeling.
Therefore, he was absolutely certain that the memory was real.
Li Jiu's heart pounded like a drum, pounding wildly in the cramped bed.
He desperately wanted to call his father to verify the authenticity of his recovered memory, but the situation outside was far from optimistic, and his phone seemed unable to make calls. So he decided to wait until dawn to call and ask.
But with this back-and-forth struggle, he really couldn't fall asleep at all.
He simply huddled under the covers, constantly replaying the authenticity of that memory. Gradually, he seemed to hear that familiar chanting again, but this time the chanting didn't come from outside the window, but from the depths of his heart.
It was his grandmother's voice.
A voice, slightly accented with local dialect, both devout and gentle.
【「बुद्धवचनप्रज्ञापर्वतप िशरचमरयरंविभरतिर ंकर्मदोषंनभवति, मयरदमने नस्वचित्तंप्रकरशते।…”]
(The Buddha said that Prajna illuminates the illusions of the mountain demons, cuts off evil and prevents one from falling into the karma of killing, and subdues falsehoods to see one's true nature...)
【…】
……
His grandmother's chanting was like a lullaby, possessing a soothing magic that gradually calmed Li Jiu down. He, who had been wide awake, unknowingly drifted off to sleep...
When Li Jiu woke up again, he was awakened by the vibration of his phone.
He slowly opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw was that everything outside the curtains was white.
While it's not quite midday, it's definitely not early either.
He quickly reached for his phone to check.
7: 36.
For summer camp, this is about the right time to get up.
Tang Mubai in the clinic was still fast asleep, but his sleeping posture had changed from a turtle hiding its head to a giant clam.
Li Jiu quickly recalled everything that happened last night in his mind.
Then he was surprised to find that he still remembered his dream from the previous night very clearly.
But out of caution, he immediately opened his phone's notes app and quickly scanned the keywords he had recorded.
But with just that one glance, he froze.
The only thing in the memo was the note he made later about his childhood memories and the meaning of the scriptures.
The details that should have been recorded first—the knocking, the snake on the bed, and the unusual movement of the curtains—have all disappeared!
I clearly remember!
Why is there nothing here?!
Li Jiu felt like his memory was playing tricks on him.
He suddenly couldn't distinguish between dream and reality. What was going on? Was the sound of the door banging and the window opening a dream?!
But he clearly remembers what he wrote down!
Telephone!
correct!
Telephone!
He opened his contacts!
But this time, he was stunned again.
The most recent call in the call log was from Professor He, which took place around 8 PM last night.
Further back was the phone call with the front desk of Mushroom House that lasted more than five minutes, which took place around 7 p.m. last night.
As for the middle of the night...
Did I not call the front desk of Mushroom House?
Wait a minute! I clearly remember calling the front desk of the Mushroom House!
Besides, I should have tried calling twice and failed!
Could it be... that I made the call in my dream?
Li Jiu felt a wave of dizziness, and his thoughts were thrown into complete chaos.
Could it be... that I've been trapped in Inception too?!
He suddenly looked out the window.
The curtains were drawn tightly shut, showing no sign of being moved by the wind.
Could it be that even the curtains fluttering in the wind, the prying gaze from outside the window... were all just a dream?!
But... why does everything feel so real?
It's so real it's outrageous!
Furthermore... if waking up in the middle of the night is a dream, then why am I so clearly aware that I am "dreaming" after waking up from a dream?
Dream nesting?
Multiple dreams?
So, am I awake or not now?