At the beginning of Act IX, the original text:
Lu Mingfei trekked through the warm river, a dense fog shrouding the water, the lotus flower drifting downstream from the upper reaches of the river, rather like a rootless duckweed.
The river was not deep, the water was clear, and the bottom of the river was full of rounded pebbles, so that his bare feet were very comfortable on the pebbles, and when he looked down, he could see small fish swimming around his ankles. He didn't know where this was, but it didn't seem like a strange place, in his memory he had been here before, but when had he been to this kind of place that was far away from the world and very Zen? Couldn't remember how.
The sound of short but melodious music came from the other side of the river, the piano, violin and cello echoed each other, Luming Fei knew that this was the audition before the performance began, it sounded like an open-air concert was about to start. He stepped up his pace toward the other side of the river, suddenly remembering that he had come here to go to a great party. He saw his reflection in the river, dressed in simple and strange white clothes studded with sturdy belts, clothes that were probably designed to bind a person, and how could he be wearing them? How was he going to go to the concert in those clothes? He was a little worried in his mind, but still he just had to step onto the opposite bank of the river. In front of him was fuzzy green grass, between which bloomed small yellow flowers, which swayed in the wind, and girls were running and playing on the grass, their wide white robes could not cover their young and attractive curves, their hair was like gold or platinum as brilliant, and their skin was so plain that it looked like ice and snow.
In front of them, Luming Fei felt a little ashamed of himself.
One of the girls saw him and cried out in surprise, "The groom is coming!
They all ran towards Lumingfi, surrounded him, and spoke to him in a language he had never heard before, but strangely enough, Lumingfi understood them, and they said their blessings and made a face-to-face salute to Lumingfi.
Only one girl didn't come closer, she was still standing in the fog, her long hair flying in the wind. Lumingfei could not see her face, but he knew she was staring at him through the fog.
The girls put scarlet ribbons on Lumingfi, with gold and silver medals pinned to them, and his strange white coat looked decent against the ribbons, like a general's uniform. The girls combed his hair, dressed him in dark, shiny leather shoes, and tied a belt of laurel boughs, and he was powdered, and mirrors were handed to him, in which he looked surprisingly a little sword-browed and starry-eyed.
The wind picked up, and the fog flowed down the folds of the girl's coat in the mist, her long dark red hair roiled in the wind, and so did her long white dress, revealing her straight, beautiful legs, her feet in white, high-heeled, short sheepskin boots, her ankles tied with golden chains, and her bells jingled in the wind.
The plain white veil hid the girl's face, but Luminefi still recognized her, it was Eriyi, the boots and the anklet were bought together in the famous store in NanQingShan, and Eriyi looked more and more like an exquisite doll under the wedding dress and veil.
Luminee seems to remember that he came here to attend his own wedding.
The girls flanked him in front of Eriyi, singing and dancing around them, throwing flower petals, and a symphony orchestra hiding somewhere started playing Wagner's "Wedding March," with a majestic opening like the wedding of a king.
Luminee carefully reached out his hand, and Erika placed her white lace gloved hand in his.
The fog began to lift, and buildings appeared around them, chalky white skyscrapers surrounding them, tiny windows like rows of eyes looking down on them. The wind was high in the high sky, and the clouds were fleeting, but the wind was blocked by the tall buildings around them, and it was balmy and warm on this tiny patch of lawn. The girls flanked him and Erika to the flower gate made of laurel branches, where the priest in white vestments waited, and in front of the gate a table was set up to serve as a sacristy, which was actually an Orthodox wedding. A holy gospel, two wedding crowns, a glass of red wine, and two lit candles were placed on the holy table, and the priest placed a gold wedding ring and a silver wedding ring on either end of the holy table, allowing Luminefi and Eriyi to stand at either end of the holy table.
The music died down temporarily, and the priest drew three crosses on each of the bride's and groom's heads, handing Lumingfei and Eiriyi a lighted candle each.
The assistant priest at the altar said in a poetic voice, "Junzai, please bless."
The Priest also said in a poetic voice, "Praise be to our God always, from this day to eternity, in all generations."
The girls and musicians say in unison, "Amen."
The assistant pastor said, "In peace let us pray to the Lord."
Everyone said in unison, "Lord have mercy."
Not to mention that Lumingfi had never seen an Orthodox wedding, he hadn't even been to church much, but now he was reciting these ancient testimonies along with everyone else, but it was like he knew them by heart.
He was very peaceful and joyful in his heart, this feeling is very good, that beautiful girl across the street belongs to you, you are about to recite your vows to her according to the prescribed procedure, you put the ring on her ring finger, your wedding is witnessed by all your friends and relatives.
The priest takes the gold ring from the saucer and uses it to draw three crosses on Luminee's forehead, asking aloud, "Luminee, do you take Erika Uesugi as your lawful wedded wife, and do your best to care for her and cherish her all your life?"
"I am willing." Luminefi said.
"Eriyi Uesugi, do you take Luminefi to be your lawfully wedded husband and to love and cherish him to the fullest extent of your life?" The priest placed the silver ring in Eriyori's palm.
"I do." Erika said.
"Then now you may exchange rings."
Lumingfei held the ring in one hand and took Eriyi's soft hand in the other, it was a very soft and warm little hand, so warm that when you hold it, you don't want to let go. Just when Lumingfei was about to put that ring on Eriyi's ring finger, the priest suddenly asked a strange question.
"Are you sure?" The priest asked.
Luminee suddenly realized that he couldn't see the priest's face from the beginning to the end, the fog on the lawn was dispersed, but there was always a fog wrapped around the priest, the man who always stood in the fog asked him softly, "Are you sure?"
"Am I sure?" Luminee asked himself dully.
Hell, why would he suddenly come to a wedding? Or his own wedding? He suddenly realized that this was a very ridiculous thing, he never saw Eriyori as a girl to be pursued, it was a monster, and he was the caretaker of this monster, but why suddenly did their relationship become like this? He couldn't recall the cause and effect, he found the whole thing absurd and natural, he stood amongst his family and friends, surrounded by blessings, the beautiful girl was willing to marry him, he had recited his vows...wouldn't that be enough? Why even ask me? Let me fulfill this wedding properly and I will be happy...why do you have to come and ask me about my...heart?
The heart is empty, as if knocking on the chest will make a hollow sound.
It is clear that he does not feel sad, but he knows that he is very sad, clearly want to put the ring on the slender finger, but can not move, the body is like a rusted tin man.
He tried and tried and tried, thinking how sad it would be to drag his bride along like this, how embarrassing it would be in front of the guests. The guests stirred, especially the girls, which were the bridesmaids, and the bridesmaids made a sound of dawning realization and said, "That's right! Forgot! And burn the golem!"
They lit their torches with joy and ran past Luminee and Erika, lifting the hems of their robes and showing off their dazzling legs like herds of deer. They ran under the concrete gate of the church, up the winding staircase to the bell tower, Luminefi looked high up, the wind swirled and went straight up into the sky, the concrete cross that was poured on top of the church appeared out of the mist, the mannequin wearing a plain white wedding gown was tied to the cross with wire, she was very simply made, her limbs sagged feebly as if they had been broken at the joints, and her face was sewn with white linen, because the The face was sewn in white linen, and because the workmanship was so rough, the face looked fragmented, like some kind of evil puppet doll.
Could it be that in some local weddings, the puppet dolls are burned as a sign of burning the devil for good luck? Luminefi looked blankly at the puppet doll high above, he grabbed Eriyi's hand and secretly cheered himself up, don't be a wimp again when you continue the wedding ceremony after burning the puppet doll.
The wind blew the puppet doll's veil, and silver light jumped around her ears. How could there be this kind of expensive looking jewelry hanging on the ears of such an ugly puppet? Luminee squinted his eyes to identify the thing.
It was a pair of silver-colored four-leaf clover earrings.
"No...No." This extremely unfamiliar sounding name came out of Luminee's mouth, which he simply pronounced unconsciously, again like the sound made by the heart that was supposed to be beating empty.
Eriya was holding his hand tightly, but he unconsciously let go of Eriya, the ring fell from his hand, and he panicked and ran towards the clock tower. He was completely panicked, he was scared to death that those girls would just burn the golem.
A ghostly sigh came from behind him, seemingly from a priest. Luming Fei suddenly woke up, this is his wedding, he is only one step away from happiness, what should the wedding do if he leaves?
He turned back violently, Eriyori stood in the blazing flames, still wearing a long white dress and high-heeled boots, the golden chain on his ankle shone with light. The veil and white dress dissolved into black smoke, and in the black smoke his bride had wooden branches for bones, a face sewn with burlap, and dull eyes dotted with ink pens.
It turned out that his bride was also a puppet, and he let go of her hand, so the puppet lost its life. The world blazed with fire, and he stood in the center of it.
Luminee sat up violently from the bed, covered in cold sweat. Outside the window was a dark night and heavy rain, and he woke up from his nightmare, still in Tokyo in late spring and early summer. Red gauze curtains hung down on all sides of the round bed, and a light, soft down comforter covered his body.
He suddenly remembered the killing in the long street late at night, and with the injuries he had sustained, he should have been lying in the emergency room of a hospital, but now he was lying in a lover's motel room, enjoying a bed for the first time. He had been sleeping in a bathtub for the previous few days.