息子の成長（The Son Grows Up）

第十五章：息子の成長

Chapter 15: The Son Grows Up

許夢蛟は今や二十歳になっていました。彼は古典を学び、科挙の試験の準備に人生を費やしてきました。彼は杭州中でその知性と謙虚な性格で知られていました。成功にもかかわらず、彼はいつも人生の一部が欠けていると感じていました。彼は母親が出産後すぐに亡くなったと聞かされていましたが、夢の中で彼女の存在を感じることがよくありました。

Xu Mengjiao was now twenty years old. He had spent his life studying the classics and preparing for the imperial examinations. He was known throughout Hangzhou for his intelligence and his humble nature. Despite his success, he always felt that a piece of his life was missing. He had been told that his mother died shortly after his birth, but he often felt her presence in his dreams.

「おばさん」とある日、彼は許仙の姉に尋ねました。「母さんのこと、もっと教えてください。どんな人だったんですか？」

"Aunt," he asked Xu Xian's sister one day. "Tell me more about my mother. What was she like?"

おばはため息をつき、その目は愛と後悔の入り混じったもので満たされました。「彼女は私が見た中で最も美しい女性だったわ、夢蛟。彼女はこの世のものとは思えない魂を持っていた。彼女はあなたとお父さんを何よりも愛していたのよ」

His aunt sighed, her eyes filled with a mixture of love and regret. "She was the most beautiful woman I ever saw, Mengjiao. She had a spirit that was... not of this world. She loved you and your father more than anything."

「父さんは？」と夢蛟は続けました。「なぜ父さんは僧侶になるために去ったのですか？」

"And my father?" Mengjiao continued. "Why did he leave to become a monk?"

「彼は彼女を失って壊れてしまったの」と彼女は答えました。「彼は彼が知る唯一の方法で平和を求めたのよ。でも、彼はあなたが偉大なことを成し遂げることをいつも望んでいたわ」

"He was broken by her loss," she replied. "He sought peace in the only way he knew how. But he always hoped that you would achieve great things."

夢蛟は頷き、心に新たな決意を抱きました。「僕はこれまで以上に努力します。科挙で最高の栄誉を勝ち取り、家族に栄光をもたらします。そうすれば、僕の心の問いに答えが出るかもしれません」

Mengjiao nodded, a new determination in his heart. "I will work harder than ever. I will win the top honors in the imperial exams and bring glory to our family. Perhaps then, the questions in my heart will be answered."

彼は昼夜を問わず勉強し、目標に心を集中させました。彼は教師たちの誇りとなり、同輩たちの羨望の的となりました。しかし、成功を収めながらも、彼は雷峰塔を訪れ続けました。彼はそこで深い平和を感じ、まるで愛のある存在に見守られているかのようでした。彼は母親が一言一句に耳を傾け、彼がなった男に対する誇りで胸を膨らませていることを知りませんでした。母と息子の絆は、塔の厚い石を通してさえも壊れることはありませんでした。真実が明かされる時が近づいており、夢蛟の旅は劇的な転換を迎えようとしていました。

He spent his days and nights in study, his mind focused on his goal. He became the pride of his teachers and the envy of his peers. But even as he achieved success, he continued to visit the Leifeng Pagoda. He felt a deep sense of peace there, as if he were being watched over by a loving presence. He didn't know that his mother was listening to his every word, her heart swelling with pride at the man he had become. The bond between mother and son remained unbroken, even by the thick stones of the pagoda. The time for the truth to be revealed was drawing near, and Mengjiao's journey was about to take a dramatic turn.