chsdbacks The Road Ahead
The Road Ahead
The Road Ahead (4/5)
"You have no choice. You have no other choice."
Su Mu patted Kamado Tanjuro on the shoulder and spoke softly, as if speaking to Kamado Tanjuro, but also to himself.
He's already a ghost.
He had no choice. Whether he was a good ghost or a bad ghost, in people's eyes, he was a ghost.
Perhaps some kind-hearted people would think they could live peacefully with ghosts, but most people would not have such a thought.
A ghost is just a ghost.
"Let's have another drink."
Su Mu poured another cup of wine and handed it to Kamado Tanjuro: "Wine is a good thing. After drinking it, you can forget many things for a short time."
"Kamado Tanjuro" took the sake cup and drank it all in one gulp.
"Cough cough————"
Perhaps he was sick, or perhaps he choked on the sake, at this moment, Kamado Tanjuro couldn't help but start coughing. It seemed that some sake had gotten into his eyes, and at this moment, Tanjuro's eyes were full of tears.
Su Mu sat back down by the campfire, drinking his own sake, while looking at Kamado Tanjuro: "At least you can still drink, you can still taste the sake, and you can get drunk and forget some things, but I can't taste anything at all, let alone get drunk."
"Are you really not going to hurt my family?"
"Tanjuro Kamado took another sip and asked again."
"Won't."
Su Mu spoke again, seeing that Kamado Tanjuro was about to ask another question, but he raised his hand to stop him: "No matter what I say, you probably won't believe me, so why ask again?"
"I won't feel at ease if I don't ask."
"Even after asking, I still feel uneasy."
Su Mu took the large bowl of stewed chicken that Xiang Naihei had given him, and silently took a big bite. Although he found it tasteless, he kept eating.
Seeing that her uncle had started eating, Kanao also took a small bowl, sat down next to him, and ate in small bites.
Kamado Tanjuro silently watched the scene unfold before him, snatched the sake bottle from Su Mu's hand, and began to drink. Tears streamed down his face as he swallowed the bitter sake. "Perhaps, I should be able to trust you."
After taking a big gulp, Kamado Tanjuro put down the sake bottle.
Su Mu looked up, amused, at the other person: "Believing in a ghost? How laughable!"
"ha----"
Kamado Tanjuro laughed loudly: "Just as you said, what choice do I have? Should I kill you?"
But what good would killing you do? Would it protect my family?
"We can't protect them."
Su Mu said something, opened his mouth, and swallowed a chicken leg that Kanae put to his mouth. Although he couldn't taste anything, seeing the pretty crescent moon that the girl made as he swallowed the chicken leg, he felt that it was actually quite tasty.
That's it.
Tanjuro Kamado silently watched the human and demon getting along harmoniously before him. This seemed quite different from the cruel demons that his family had tales of.
After taking another sip of chicken soup, Su Mu patted Kanao's shoulder: "Go and bring the people at the cave entrance in to warm themselves by the fire. It's too cold outside."
"oh!"
Kanao immediately took another bite of the chicken leg, stuffing her mouth full, before walking out of the cave. Sure enough, she saw a boy with dark red hair, red eyes, and a very obvious scar on his forehead. He looked sunny and approachable.
Tanjiro stopped in his tracks and saw a very beautiful and delicate girl walking out of the door.
Tanjiro, a young man living deep in the mountains, rarely saw girls outside, especially such a beautiful one. He felt slightly embarrassed and scratched his head awkwardly.
"Your uncle lets you in."
Kanao only glanced at Tanjiro before turning away without hesitation. She felt uneasy whenever she was even a step away from her uncle.
"Your uncle is—"
Tanjiro wanted to ask her something, but Kanao had already turned around, and he could only see the girl's beautiful back view, with a butterfly hair clip on her dark hair that looked like it was about to fly away.
Tanjiro scratched his head, hesitated for a moment, and then followed them inside.
After entering the cave, I was slightly surprised to see its appearance by the light of the burning candles. It seemed that the cave was very well made.
Tanjiro never expected that there would be such a well-built cave near his home.
Soon, Tanjiro noticed his father sitting by the campfire. Seeing his father drinking, Tanjiro was shocked and rushed over to stop him.
"Let your father drink it; he's dying, he won't be able to drink it later."
The sudden sound made Tanjiro, who was trying to stop his father from drinking, stop in his tracks. Then, he turned around, his eyes reddening, and said, "Father is fine. He won't die."
It was a voice that sounded almost like it was crying.
"You already know that, don't you? Why deceive yourself?"
Su Mu looked up and calmly gazed at the boy before him, just like the boy on the screen. However, the boy at this moment lacked the maturity and resilience of the boy in the future. He appeared very immature and unsteady.
"No, no, I won't die."
Tanjiro shook his head frantically.
Su Mu ignored all of that and pointed to the campfire: "Come and warm yourself by the fire."
Tanjiro, despite his red eyes, still came to the campfire, sat down next to his father, and watched his father drinking.
"Have a drink with your father, you may never have the chance again."
"9
Su Mu poured Tanjiro a cup of wine.
Tanjiro took the sake cup blankly, staring at it, then looked up at his father, longing to hear him tell him that it wasn't true, and that his father would soon be cured.
Tanjuro Kamado raised his head, his increasingly dim and lifeless eyes looking at Tanjiro, and at the sun-shaped earrings that symbolized the head of the family that Tanjiro wore on his earlobe. He gently raised his cup: "Drink."
"Father, I—I haven't drunk it."
Tanjiro said in a low voice.
"Drink up, it's okay, you're all grown up now."
Tanjiro raised his sake cup, but tears involuntarily streamed down his face.
Tanjuro Kamado watched all this silently, wanting to say something, but what could he say? Then he suddenly gulped down a large cup of sake.
Tanjiro had no choice but to raise his sake cup and drink it down in one gulp.
"Cough cough————"
Perhaps because it was his first time drinking alcohol, Tanjiro couldn't help but cough incessantly after finishing his drink.
Tanjuro Kamado silently watched his son cough incessantly, and finally reached out and gently patted his son's shoulder: "From now on, you'll have to walk your own path."
17
The boy dared not look up, his body trembling.
Kamado Tanjuro turned his head to look at the demon by the campfire, then looked down at his son, who was bowing his head, feeling his life growing weaker and weaker. He slumped down beside him, took a big gulp of sake, then filled his cup again and raised it to the demon by the campfire once more.
He drank another full glass, then laughed loudly, "I've had my fill of wine, now I'm going to sleep."
The man, who was about to die, smiled, and then his breathing gradually stopped.
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