The boat, once brand new, slowly began to crack and grow old. It began to age.
Eventually it grew so dilapidated that it couldn’t be repaired. Like a life that has reached its limit, it couldn’t be forced to go on any further. It slowly sank to the bottom of the lake.
It had lived its life on the surface, and died at the bottom. Its existence had been on the waters of the lake, accompanying generation after generation of mortals who had created it. Other than them, the lake was its entire life.
In its life, the lake was its companion. No one could hear the voice of the lake, but it could. When it sank to the bottom, it died, but was also reborn.
At that moment, it awoke.
The moment it awoke, it saw a young girl standing at the bottom of the lake, smiling at him.
“Will you… accompany me forever?”
“I don’t know how long forever is, but in my past life, I could hear your voice. Now that I’ve died… I want to accompany you. I want you to be part of my next life.” At this moment it came to understand that… it was the spirit of the boat. Listening to the voice of the lake over the countless years had caused the boat’s spirit to come into being.
Before dying, its life had been the waters of the lake. After death, its spirit would protect the lake forever, into eternity.
It was then that a boat once again appeared on the surface of the lake. Inside the boat was a young girl warming a bottle of alcohol. Together, they floated to and fro across the lake.
Meng Hao’s mind shook as he saw all of this transpire in front of him. Everything grew blurry for a moment, and then came back into focus. He was once again in the boat. The old man was there in front of him, grinning at him and holding his cup of alcohol. The girl looked up at him, smiling, her chin resting in her hands.