Anh, ycb, you are welcome. OwlHoot, my guess is that he is just a pawn.
Chapter 4 After the calamity, renewed life
(Translated by Foxs)
The storm finally passed, the sea was once again tranquil, like nothing ever happened, but no one knows how many innocent lives had been swallowed by it.
Pieces of the broken ship floated on the surface of the sea, along with many other unimaginable things, like the ship was spitting out the bones after it ate the contents. It looked unspeakably tragic and a total despair.
After a long time, a man slowly floated up. Lu Xiaofeng. He was still alive.
It was not because his luck was especially good, but because he has been through thousands hammer, hundreds refining (by fire) early on. His ability to endure the pain and to strike back, others simply could not imagine.
A sparkling object floated in front of his eyes. He reached out to grab it. Unexpectedly it was a bronze chamber pot.
He laughed. In this kind of situation he was still able to laugh. This is also something that others simply could not imagine.
But if he did not laugh, what else can he do? If he cried, what good would it bring? If he could bring back to life those who have been through trials and tribulations with him, then he would cry from now until the end of the days.
Now, not a single person was in sight, not even a dead person. Even if everyone had died in the disaster, their remains should still float in the vicinity.
Perhaps they have not floated up yet!
Lu Xiaofeng also hoped that he could find a few surviving people, he wished to find the Old Fox, Beef Soup, Yue Yang
But he could not find anybody. It was like all the people on the ship had been completely swallowed by the sea; even their bones were swallowed.
Just now he happened to bump into wood plank, a remnant of the hull, just before he lost his consciousness. Could it be that in that short period of time everybody else had been rescued?
He wished that it were so. He would rather he was the only one dying. Too bad he also realized that it was impossible.
No one could have expected the storm approaching, no one could have expected the ship to perish.
In a storm like that, no one could have stayed on the sea nearby, waiting to rescue them.
Lu Xiaofeng suddenly remembered Yue Yang, he remembered the strange expression in his eyes, You should now by now, why I insisted on not letting you ride on this ship?
Could it be that he really knew beforehand that this ship was going to capsize? And so he wanted to save Lu Xiaofeng, because Lu Xiaofeng had also saved him. But why did he insist on getting on board this ship? Could it be that he wished to court death? If he really wanted to die, he had already been dead; at least he would have been dead eight times.
Perhaps no one would ever be able to answer these questions. Lu Xiaofeng could only explain to himself, That kid must have said those things to piss me off; he is not a deity, how would he know that in three days the ship would capsize?
Right now Lu Xiaofeng was able to think clearly, because he was sitting on something that was completely reliable. He sat on a wooden statue of Buddha.
A zhang high [approx. 3m/10ft] Buddha statue, coincidentally the biggest Maitreya Buddha, lying on the sea just like a boat.
Unfortunately, not only this boat did not have yellow wine and beef, it did not even have any plain hard-boiled eggs.
Next time you fall into the water, I am afraid youll have only one thing to eat:Your own flesh.
Lu Xiaofeng really wanted to cut a piece of his own flesh to have a taste; he suddenly found he was hungry as hell.
Looking to the distance where the sky and the sea merged, he saw vast haziness. It was a very beautiful day. Too bad that no matter how beautiful, it was not enough to fill his belly.
After the storm, there was not a single fish in the vicinity. The only fish he could see was the wooden fish, big and small, all kinds of wooden fish, everything floated forward brought by the current.
Its a pity that he did not have any desire to chant the scripture.
If the monks saw these wooden fish, what would they feel? He wondered. Would they wish, just like he did right now, that these fish were real fish with flesh and blood?
There seemed to be an undercurrent in the sea, carrying these wooden fish and the Buddha statues floating forward.
What kind of place was in front?
In front of him was still the sea, an endless and relentless ocean. Even if the sea stayed tranquil without any wave like this, even if this smiling Buddha Maitreya could cross to the other side, Lu Xiaofeng could not make it, for sure.
He was not carved from wood, he wanted to eat; if he did not, he would die of starvation. If he did not die of starvation, he would die of thirst.
Surrounded by water, a man could die of thirst, wouldnt it be some kind of a ridiculous irony?
Yet Lu Xiaofeng could not even laugh. His lips were completely dry, he almost succumbed to the temptation of drinking sea water.
The dusk came and went, the night fell, finally the long night also passed, the sun rose again. No one knew how long, he was almost completely delirious. He could not help drinking seawater, only to vomit it again. No one knew how long he has been vomiting, it seemed like even his intestines had been completely spitted out.
In this kind of half awake, half asleep condition, he felt as if he had fallen into a large net, a very, very large net, which was slowly tightening around him, hoisted him up that he felt that he was hanging in the air, and then he really fainted.
It was indeed beyond his imagination that he would wake up again after losing his consciousness; he could not imagine even more where he would be when he woke up.
When Lu Xiaofeng woke up, he was in a fairyland.
The sun was shining brightly, the sand on the beach was white, soft and very fine, the bluish green seawater looked like jade, the place where the gentle waves lapped the beach was foamy white. Clear and boundless sky with no clouds in sight, the land filled his eyes with emerald green.
If this was not fairyland, then what kind of place was it? How could living person reach this fairyland?
Lu Xiaofeng was still alive, there was indeed a fairyland among the world of the living. But he was having a hard time believing that it was real. From the moment he was thrown out of his bed to what has just happened right now, everything felt like it was a nightmare.
The smiling Buddha Maitreya was also lying on the beach. After going through so many disasters, its arms were still hugging its own round belly, its mouth was still wide open in laughter.
Lu Xiaofeng stared at the statue hatefully, The people who rode the same boat as you all have died completely, yet you lie down in here smiling widely, what kind of Bodhisattva are you?
Although that Bodhisattva was a Bodhisattva, it was carved out of wood, whether other people live or die, it was unable to do anything about it; other people cursed it, it could not hear.
Lu Xiaofeng sighed, Although you have shown injustice toward others, but you have saved my life, I should have not cursed you.
The disaster was over, he alone was the only survivor; should he be grateful, or should he be sad? Since others did not know, while he did not have any way of telling them, it seemed that this wooden puppet was the only friend with whom he went through trials and tribulations together.
If you have ever experienced these things, you would change just like him too.
Right now he was still alive, but whether he would be able to continue living, he himself was not too sure.
The world is boundless, alone he arrived at this completely foreign land, even if this place was a fairyland, he was unable to bear it.
He struggled up. Surprisingly he was still able to stand. The first thing that came into his mind was water. If there were no water, the fairyland would turn into hell.
Patting the Buddha Maitreyas belly, he said, You must be thirsty too, Ill go find water for everybody.
It looked like this place was an island. Among the trees, flowers and plants on the island, a lot of them he had never seen before. The Japanese banana [musa basjoo] tree was full of banana. Each one looked like a large mantou [steamed bun].
After eating several bananas, the thirst was even more unbearable. He snapped a branch and used it as a stick as he walked passed the banana tree. Unexpectedly he found a pond of clear spring.
He did not know until now, that water actually tastes so sweet, far surpassed the best green-bamboo-leaf wine.
It was only after he finished eating and drinking that he remembered a terrible matter.
If there is no ship pass by, do I have to spend the rest of my life on this deserted island?
No ship passed by.
He chose the largest rock on the shore and sat on top of it to watch the sea for a few days. Not even a single ships shadow was to be seen.
This deserted island was definitely not on the ship route. He could only looked at the Buddha Maitreya with a bitter laugh, It looks like well have to stay in this place for a while. We cant keep on living like a wild dog like this, we should at least try to look decent.
He had never carried saber, sword, or any sharp weapon. Luckily that copper chamber pot also followed him, floating onto the island. Cutting the chamber pot open, using a stone he flattened it and clamped it between two pieces of wood to make the handle, and then he ground it by the spring water for one or two sichen. Actually it became a knife that he could use.
He did not want to use this knife to kill at all.
Now he knew that other that to kill people, a knife actually has so many other uses.
Cutting branches as the frame, and using the leaves from palm tree and banana tree as the roof, he built a thatched house, which cannot be considered too ugly, by the spring. And then he gathered some soft grass and leaves and spread it on the ground. He let his only friend, the Buddha Maitreya, to lie down first. And then he lay down next to it. Looking at the moonlight leaking down through the banana leaves, and listening to the distant sound of waves lapping on the shore, he suddenly felt his eyes were moist, a drop of tear flowed down his cheek.
In the past two years, this was the first time he shed some tears.
No matter what kind of disaster or suffering, he had never been afraid. But he suddenly realized that the most frightening thing in the world is loneliness.