Chapter 13 Old John's Gift
The moon is bright and the stars are sparse. The moonlight in the small town seems to be particularly bright tonight. The silver moonlight shines on the quiet streets, quietly covering the earth with a layer of plain clothing.
In Old John's old house on the corner of the street, waves of ups and downs came from the room.
If you distinguish carefully, it is exactly the tone that the bard usually uses when telling stories.
Inside the house, Ino was telling a story vividly, the story of the little match girl.
"...In the long cold night, the little girl lit the first match. It exuded warm and bright light, like a small candle, making people happy. The little girl just felt like she was sitting on a Next to the big iron stove, this iron stove also has polished copper corners and copper decorations.”
"...All the matches were ignited! The light illuminated the surroundings of the little girl. In the light, the little girl saw her grandmother who loved her, the kind old man who had passed away. 'Grandma, take me away. "After the fire goes out, everything will disappear," the little girl begged and ran to her grandmother.
"But this time, the grandmother in the light did not disappear, but hugged the little girl tightly... The two walked across a bridge made of light, and came to a place where there is never hunger, never cold, and Always carefree in the garden.”
Ten minutes later, Ian finished telling the entire story of the little match girl.
Contrary to what he expected, Old John did not shed tears, nor did he show any choking, but only relief and a touch of joy.
"Little Enoch, you know, the day we first met a month ago. You said: All life has light, just like a burning match, weak, warm and bright. And when the match goes out If it can illuminate other people, then it shouldn’t be called a regret.”
Old John repeated his original words, reading every word sonorously and forcefully.
"Do you know how much relief and confidence that sentence gave me? My daughter's life is bright. She used her life to illuminate others, illuminating the person she temporarily called her 'uncle'. Tragedy After this happened, he also gave up his alcohol addiction and went to another city to start his own life.”
Hearing this, Ino decisively took over the conversation and said: "Both the redeemer and the redeemed have been reborn. The difference is that the life of the redeemer is indeed brilliant, not regretful."
"You're right!" Old John said decisively, "So, I have to make up for my mistakes, use the remaining life to illuminate others, and be a true savior."
"Is that why you have been hammering spikes and making soles during this period of time?" Ino asked.
After all, he is not blind. Everyone can detect the changes in Old John during this period.
"I am a shoemaker and have no other skills. But when I came back, I learned that on the day my daughter died, her bare feet and even her clothes were the apron left by her grandmother."
Although he had made up his mind, when it came to being sad, there was still unconcealable sadness on Old John's face.
"So I thought, use my skills to help barefoot people have shoes as much as possible. Even if I only help one person in the end, then I will be satisfied."
…
No matter how long the night is, the sun will eventually break through.
The next morning, Ino opened his eyes tiredly.
I chatted with Old John until midnight last night, so I got up early and was always a little tired.
Although it is not necessary to get up early, when I think about the possibility of returning today, the remaining sleepiness suddenly disappears.
"It's time to go home again. I feel like I didn't make any money on this trip, so I'm trying to sharpen my tongue."
Ino was thinking about it while packing and washing, and at the same time thinking about the gains of this trip.
This is not unknown, good guy... Three baskets of toasted bread, several large bags of mushrooms, two small bottles of kerosene, dried wild vegetables, rags...
Add up the bits and pieces, and it’s a lot of stuff.
But the gold coins, silver coins, or even copper coins he really wanted were not available.
Looking at the disturbing pile of odds and ends in the corner, Ino didn't want to take any of them with him, so he decided to leave them all to Old John.
After breakfast.
Old John rarely went to work at the stall, but looked at Ino's neatly packed luggage.
"Are you leaving today?"
"Yes! I'm leaving today."
Ino responded easily. After speaking, he pointed to the supplies next to him and said:
"Those things are all left to you. Don't refuse. It's a burden for me to carry them. Bandits like to intercept travelers with heavy baggage."
Old John instinctively wanted to refuse, but after hearing the reason behind it, he nodded silently, which was regarded as acknowledgment of Ino's words.
"In this case, I will give you a gift in return, otherwise people will say that Old John took advantage of the little guy."
After looking at the piled supplies, Old John stood up and walked to the cabinet in the corner.
It was an old object, so much so that it had to rely on a few rocks to barely maintain its balance.
Old John groped in the wooden cabinet for a while.
Soon, Ino saw the return gift from Old John.
A small bag sewn from linen jingled, and just by the sound, you could tell that it contained at least silver coins, because copper could not make such a clear and sweet sound.
Next to the small bag, there was a box of very old matches, which seemed to have been used. There were even some burn marks on the edges of the matchbox.
But Ino didn't dislike it at all. Instead, he carefully took the match from Old John's hand.
"Thank you for your return gift. I like it very much. As for this..."
Glancing at the purse on the table, Ino shook his head decisively and refused:
"No one is richer than the bard. Although our gold coins are hidden in our heads, it is safer that way, isn't it?"
The refusal was resolute, but he was also uncomfortable in his heart. If possible, who would be stupid enough to give up the gold in hand.
But this is the case in this world. Unless under certain circumstances, any greedy behavior will lead to unpredictable consequences.
Without giving Old John time to speak, Ino raised the matches in his hand and explained:
"I already have the most precious gift, and I can't ask for it greedily anymore."
He said this sincerely, without a trace of falsehood.
In this fantasy world, many things cannot be measured by appearance alone, just like the inconspicuous divination dice.
What's more, this box of matches at the moment is a key item that connects two stories. You don't have to think about it to know its specialness.
At the same time.
After sending out the matches, Old John also looked at Ino's eyes carefully.
However, he did not see any disgust in those amber eyes, but only sincerity and joy. It was obvious that the other party liked this gift very much.
"To be honest! I didn't plan to give it to you at first. The gift for you was just this bag of gold coins."
Old John stretched out his calloused palm and clumsily untied the rope tied to the purse. The unique color of the gold coins was fascinating.
However, neither Old John nor Ino took a second look at the gold coins.
Especially Ino, who had seen treasures bigger than this, a mere bag of gold coins was not worth his attention.
But the appearance of this bag of gold coins also resolved his previous doubts.
That is, Old John obviously had no ability to make money, but he could live a stable life for decades after returning to the town.
Now, the root cause has finally been found.
New book release, new journey, thank all the big guys for their support.
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Please collect~! Please recommend~! Please vote~!
