He stared at the wall for a long time. Passersby heard the peach spirits’ commotion and whispered among themselves.
“Those poor little flower spirits. Look how cheerful they seem, still able to laugh.”
“Indeed. They’ve been trapped in this manor as servants since birth, never able to leave. I hear they only exist to help the Guan family with their spells.”
“The Guan family head is too cruel! Recently he destroyed a temple just because he found the bells noisy. And that Guan Shuangshuang, causing trouble all over town without consequences. Will no one stop them?”
“Hush, be careful or you’ll end up like those peach spirits. Who dares to offend the Guan family?”
The crowd scattered like frightened birds.
This was both a living city and a dead one, with gray skies eternally shrouded in clouds. Even a Guan family servant could do as they pleased here.
People who bought incense from him during the day could be found dead by the roadside at night. The more deaths in the city, the better his incense business.
This was the pattern he had observed.
Back then, the boy was too young to understand these feelings. He simply kept the rumors locked in his heart.
From then on, he would sell incense beneath that tall wall at regular intervals. Never calling out to customers, never actively seeking business. Just sitting quietly, listening to falling peach blossoms, spring rain on pavilions, and her voice year after year—
“Sister, it’s raining. My dress is all wet.”
“Sister, I’m so sleepy. Let me sleep hugging you. Yesterday I heard jingling sounds outside, like someone selling candy. I wish I could taste it… but I can’t leave. It’s okay though – too much candy is bad for teeth. As long as you’re here, I’m happy.”
He didn’t understand why, trapped in such a terrible place, she could talk so much every day, like the only bright color in this gray world.
You know? This world has been cruel to us both, but after you appeared, it seemed to gain new meaning.
The boy took the money from selling incense and pushed open the temple door. In the blink of an eye, he had grown into a young man.
The Buddhist temples had fallen into disrepair, and the children all went their separate ways. The prettiest girl became a courtesan at the Orchid Fragrance House, her sleeves full of perfume. When the young man returned, he saw her walking with a small fan, swaying her hips with practiced grace.
She brought many steamed buns back, watching the younger children devour them ravenously. Turning to him, she asked, “Won’t you have any buns?”
Seeing the young man completely ignore her.
The girl asked again, “Are you looking down on me?”
The young man corrected her: “Not looking down. Just pure dislike.”
The girl persisted: “Why do you dislike me?”
He counted money, replying coldly: “You talk too much.”
“Too much?” The girl was unhappy. She walked over, hands on hips. “What if the girl you like in the future talks a lot too? What then?”
The young man paused, asking: “What is ‘like’?”
The girl said: “When a man lies on top of a woman.”
He continued counting money: “Disgusting.”
A copper coin dropped to the ground. She picked it up and tossed it to him: “Then you tell me, what is ‘like’?”
The young man replied impatiently: “How the hell should I know? Stop asking me. Get lost.”
After counting the money, he figured it should be enough.
Placing the unsold incense on the ground, he ran out to buy jingling candy without looking back.
He arrived too early – the old candy seller hadn’t come yet.
Sitting by the street, waiting was torture.
Playing with fallen peach blossoms on the ground, he suddenly understood.
Like is… wanting to hear her talk, wanting to spend his last few copper coins to buy her candy, wanting to pinch her cheeks and tease her, and wanting to run away with her—escape that deadly fate.
So when the plump Guan Shuangshuang stepped down from his sedan chair and everyone in the street knelt with bowed heads, he alone stood up and looked at Guan Shuangshuang.
Young Master Guan had never been defied in public. He frowned at him: “Why aren’t you kneeling? Are you blind?”
Not only did the young man not kneel, he cursed: “Idiot.”
The world fell silent for a moment. Guan Shuangshuang kicked down a servant, sneering: “Well well, you dare insult me? Take him away! I’ll make him wish he were dead!”
Guan Shuangshuang starved him for days, beat him several times, then kicked him into the Guan family dungeon.
The young man had planned to find a way to escape, but looking up, he saw that little peach spirit who had been picking peaches from trees in the corner of the dungeon.
She must have done something wrong. Hearing movement, she crawled up from the corner, rubbing her sleepy eyes.
The young man deliberately made a fierce expression.
Startled, she looked at him like he was crazy for a long time after.
Well. He regretted that.
He didn’t really understand love, and no one had taught him how to love. He only thought about getting her attention.
When she ate, he deliberately knocked her down to steal her food. When she talked to him, he spoke harshly, very fierce. On the surface it was “I don’t care about you at all,” but he always found himself staring at her face lost in thought while she slept.
Those days were cold, even moonlight seemed rusty.
The dungeon was dark year-round. The musty smell of moss on the walls mixed with rain-soaked earth. Insects perched on withered grass, gently flapping their wings. White butterflies landed in her hair, then quickly flew away.
The young woman curled up in the corner. Fragments of light through iron windows fell on cold shackles. Her arms were pale. She hadn’t spoken or opened her eyes since last night, had never slept so long.
He watched her like a thief for a long time, still couldn’t control his legs walking step by step towards her.
Her forehead was so hot. She had a fever.
If only he hadn’t been so fierce with her.
Feeling someone approach, she said she was so cold, so cold.
The young man pulled her into his arms, held her tight, wiped her dirty face, then pressed his cheek to her forehead, covering her limp hands.
She still cried that she was cold, her heart nearly crying itself away, but he remained helpless.
The little spirit nestled in the mortal youth’s arms, one wracked with pain, one powerless to help. He leaned against the wall, a desperate snow falling in his heart.
She clutched at his clothes in agony countless times.
Countless times he wished he were a cultivator.
Cultivators had magical medicines, could cure her quickly.
Not be so powerless, able to offer only an embrace that wasn’t quite as cold.
…
“With global warming, the North Atlantic current will gradually weaken, and penguins die every year. Even the Antarctic Peninsula at world’s end can’t escape this fate.”
What was she saying… he couldn’t understand.
But still wanted to listen.
She often said things he couldn’t understand.
He didn’t really care, just wanted to hear her keep talking.
“If… this world is a long winter.”
“Would you… be willing… to keep warm with me?”
I’m willing.
…
In the silent night.
Who knows who first made that promise, what kind of secret remained hidden, as gentle winds blew through this rotting, damp place, carrying it, struggling to escape through iron windows, outside where a full round moon kept rising, countless stars burning bright within it. Below, mortal dust rolled endlessly.
He wanted to run away with her.
Best of all, to the moon.
Then no one could hurt her anymore.
…
Her illness was too severe, she was unaware of everything around her.
When the fever broke, she opened bleary eyes.
The young man had already broken the iron shackles on his feet. Lifting his chin, he asked: “Want to leave?”
His answer was a shake of the head.
He didn’t understand.
Guan Shuangshuang came several times, each time ordering him beaten before leaving. His body grew weaker and weaker. He thought before death he must take her and escape.
She still refused to leave.
He lost patience.
Gritting his teeth, he broke a hole in the iron bars, grabbed her hand and ran.
She kept struggling, twisting her ankle: “Let go, you’ll get me killed this way.”
Silly spirit, staying here is what will get you killed by the Guan family.
The wind that year was gentle. Birds gathered in flight.
He held her hand, leading her escape.
The early moon slowly rose behind them.
The sunset was magnificent.
He kept pulling her along, black hair flying, as if truly running to the moon.
Their shadows tangled together on white walls, edges gilded with faint golden light.
Someone approached. They hid behind house walls. The young woman’s forehead pressed against his chest. The young man lowered his gaze, quietly engraving her features in his eyes – an unforgettable feeling.
But their luck wasn’t good.
The Guan family quickly noticed something amiss, grabbed things and ran this way. In the dim world, wild ghosts poured forth. The young man coldly glanced out, forcefully pushing her into a gap between two walls.
This world has been cruel to us both.
Little peach spirit, hide well, don’t be found.
Before walking out, he looked at her one last time.
She fell to the ground, staring at him in confusion.
He thought quietly—
Hope I can see you again in the next life.
Clubs fell on the young man’s body. One blow, two blows, over seventy blows. His spine broke, yet it was the lightest wound he’d ever received. Blood flowed down the gaps between stone slabs, engraving memories of her in his blood.
The jingling candy he’d held so long finally melted in that moment.
…
If this world is a long winter.
I’m willing to keep warm with you.
The first life ended.
…
After death, people go to the City of Darkness. Sinners face judgment in the King of Hell’s court. He went to the court, waiting to go to hell, but the King only sat high on his throne, looking at him with pity, shaking his head, pointing to the path of reincarnation.
He Liansheng’s second life began.
About a hundred years had passed in the mortal world since the previous life.
Guan Yinzi was killed, Separatin Fire emerged.
Everyone knew Yin Mountain had changed dynasties, now guarded by a group of peach spirits, renamed “Separation Fire Manor.”
The strongest one had only a hundred years of cultivation, couldn’t even do lightness skills, had a beautiful sister and a long-missing sickly brother-in-law, surrounded by tigers, leopards and wolves.
He Liansheng reincarnated into a poor family in the Luodan Kingdom. His luck wasn’t good – he happened to be born in the territory of Sha Ku, the first of the Eight Strange Ones of Luodan.
Master Sha Ku was unkempt and eccentric, infamous for long. He either didn’t appear at all, or appeared only to kill. If Guan Yinzi killed for cultivation, Sha Ku killed purely for pleasure.
Creak—
The boy pushed open the door. He dragged his parents’ bodies through the snow, enduring cold looks from others. People died in this city every day. With endless snow, wheat stalks bent early. Some traded children for food.
He lit his only coal, silently watching his parents’ bodies vanish from the mortal world. This winter was very cold.
Firecrackers sounded one after another. Buddha statues were everywhere. The wealthy burnt expensive incense to deities, while the poor still knelt in broken temples weeping bitterly.
After burying his parents, he sat in the snow hugging his knees for a long time, carefully carving a stone with a sharp knife. Snow fell silently, the stone sculpture quickly gained features.
He had no money for cinnabar, couldn’t dot the Buddha’s eyes.
Without opened eyes, the Buddha couldn’t see the world’s suffering.
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