The girl was extremely pale, with an oval face and round eyes which were especially attractive. She was wearing a light pink skirt, her hair tied back. She looked like a young woman. She rubbed her eyes blankly in the dark, looking from side to side.
"Where am I…?"
Chu Wanning said: "You are in Return to Truth barrier I set up."
The girl was taken aback and said fearfully: "Who are you? Why is it so dark here? I can't see you, who's talking?"
Chu Wanning replied: "Did you forget?… You're already dead."
The girl's eyes widened: "I'm… I…"
Slowly, she remembered.
Lowering her head, she folded her hands across her chest. She murmured in a soft, unwavering voice: "I… I'm already dead…"
"Only souls can come to the Return to Truth barrier. Here, their hatred will be eliminated. No matter whether the dead person has transformed into a vicious ghost or an ordinary spirit, they will retain their original and personality appearance, known as their 'Return to Truth.'"
The girl was frozen for a while as if she was gradually remembering the past. Abruptly, she dropped her face and silently wept.
Chu Wanning said: "Have… you been wronged?"
The young girl sobbed: "Are you King Yan*? Or Bai Wuchang*? Are you here to avenge me?"
*(T/N: King Yan [阎王爷] is the one to judge the dead while Bai Wuchang [白无常] is one of the deities to escort spirits to the underworld)
Chu Wanning held his forehead and said: "… I'm not King Yan or Bai Wuchang."
The girl sobbed quietly. Chu Wanning was quiet for a while and didn't speak. He waited until her cries calmed down a bit and then said: "But I am here to help you air your grievances."
When the girl heard this, she choked and raised her gaze, and said with a mixture of joy and sorrow: "Then you really are Lord Yama*!"
*(T/N: Same person as King Yan)
"…" Chu Wanning decided not to continue this topic with her and instead asked: "Do you know what you've done after you died?"
"I don't know… not really. I just remember that I was so, so sad. I wanted to get revenge… I wanted to go to them… I wanted to find him again…"
When the soul had just awakened, it would take a minute for all their memories to return to them, but it didn't matter. Chu Wanning patiently asked her: "Who did you want to go to?"
The girl whispered: "My husband, Chen Bohuan."
Chu Wanning was astonished. Chen Boyuan - wasn't that the name of the eldest son of the Chen family?
He asked: "What… what's your name? Where are you from?"
The power of Tianwen was infused with this illusionary barrier, and the dead who entered would almost always talk honestly with Chu Wanning. Therefore, the girl replied: "I'm a concubine, Luo Xianxian. I'm from Caidie Town."
"Before I came, I read the analects of Caidie Town. There are more than 500 households in this town, and there's no Luo family. Who is your father?"
The girl slowly remembered the details, her eyes filling with even more sadness: "My father used to be a scholar in the village. He was my father-in-law's brother-in-law's close friend. A few years, he contracted tuberculosis and passed away. Then I was the only one left from my family."
"Then why did you die?"
The young girl froze for a moment and then she sobbed: "I had no other option but to die. They, they lied to my father and stole the secret recipe for the butterfly fragrance powder. They beat me and scolded me, threatened me, and told me to leave Caidie Town. I… I'm a weak woman, where else could I go? I didn't have a single relative left in this world… The world is so big, where could I go? Apart from the Underworld, where else could I go? Where would there be room for me…"
After she recalled the events of her life, she seemed to have infinite bitterness and sorrow in her heart, She was desperate to talk to someone. Chu Wanning didn't even have to ask anything else, she slowly continued on her own.
It turned out that Luo Xianxian lost her mother when she was young. She heard from his father that she had an older brother, but her brother was separated from them in the chaos of the Lower Cultivation Realm, and they never saw him again so she didn't know whether he was dead or alive. When her elder brother was lost, Luo Xianxian wasn't even a year old, still in swaddling clothes. Later, she tried to remember her elder brother, but she still had no recollection of him.
There were only two people left in the Luo family were Xianxian and her father. The father and daughter depended on each other. They wandered around and finally built a small house in Caidie Town and lived there.
That year, Luo Xianxian was five years old. The Chen family's oldest son, Chen Bohuan, was two years older than her.
At that time, the Chen family hadn't made its fortune. Several members of the family lived in a two-bedroom earth-rammed hut. An orange tree was planted by the low wall of the small courtyard. In autumn, the tree was full of fruit and it grew over the low wall and snuck into the Luo family's yard.
Luo Xianxian tilted her head. The branches full of oranges looked like lanterns during the Lantern Festival. She was shy and introverted. She didn't play with others. She was always alone. She would dutifully be peeling some beans, raising her head from time to time and peeking at the orange tree peeking over from the Chen family's yard.
The oranges were temptingly yellow, and against the sunlight, you could almost taste the sweet and sour fullness of their juice.
Luo Xianxian looked eagerly, gulping and swallowing from time to time. Her cheeks were sore from the cravings.
But she never reached out to pick one. Her dad was a scholar who had been inferior to her father-in-law's brother-in-law. He failed the exam, but he didn't lose his backbone. His sour scholar brain was probably hurting but he always coached his daughter to be a "gentleman."
At the age of three, Luo XianXian knew that wealth couldn't be lusted after and poverty couldn't be changed. She never reached out to pick the oranges that were close at hand, even though she craved for them.
One night, Luo Xianxian sat in the courtyard humming and washing clothes by the moonlight.
Her father wasn't very strong, so he had to go to bed early. The poor man's child had to take charge of the house. The little girl rolled up her sleeves, soaked her thin arms in the barrel, and rubbed her face earnestly.
Suddenly a hoarse cough came from the door, and a young man covered in blood staggered in and stared at her.
The little girl was so frightened that she even forgot to scream.
The young man's face was dirty and bloody, but his eyebrows were very handsome. The two people stood frozen staring at each other for a while. In the end, the young man couldn't stand up anymore. He sat down slowly against the base of the wall, panting, and said hoarsely: "Bring some water."
Xu was that kind of young man who didn't look like a bad person or perhaps Luo Xianxian was simply too kind-hearted. Although afraid, she still ran back to the house, made a cup of tea, and held it up to the young man's mouth.
The young man wasn't very polite. He threw back his drink, then wiped the corner of his mouth. Rolling his eyes back, he stared at Luo Xianxian's pretty face. His eyes glazed over and he didn't speak for a while.
He didn't speak, Luo Xianxian didn't either, she just blinked timidly. She held her hands at a distance she thought was safe enough and sized up the stranger.
"… You look like an old friend of mine." The young man suddenly grinned, squinted his eyes and smiled eerily. With the bloodstains on his face, it was really quite terrifying. "Especially the eyes, they're so round. It looks like you could gouge them out, stick it in your fingers and swallow it in one bite."
When he said such horrible words so plainly, even with a little smile, Luo Xianxian trembled even more, and subconsciously covered her eyes.
The young man said: "Heh, clever girl. Just cover them up. Don't keep staring at me. I can't control my own hands."
He spoke casually with a northern accent.
Moonlight fell into the courtyard. The young man licked his chapped lips and suddenly saw the orange tree stretching into the yard. For some reason, his eyes lit up. His pupils flashed in the light, the lustre brightening for a moment before dimming back down. He raised his chin and motioned.
"Girl."
Luo Xianxian: "…"
"Pick an orange and peel it for me."
Luo Xianxian finally spoke up. Her voice was soft, slightly trembling, but she didn't hesitate to say: "Sir, that's not my family's fruit tree. It belongs to someone else. I can't pick one."
The young man was taken aback. She wasn't sure what went through his mind but his face slowly sank.
"I told you to pick one. I want to eat an orange. Pick it for me!" The last phrase was harsh like he spat it out through his teeth. Luo Xianxian shuddered, still stubbornly stood her ground.
The little girl was soft-natured, but her bones were the same as her stubborn father.
"I won't."
The young man's eyes narrowed. He raised his nose, his expression changing: "Do you know who you're talking to, brat?"
"If you want to have some water, I-I'll pour it for you. If you want to eat, there's some food inside, but the orange tree isn't mine. I can't pick it. Father said taking something without asking is stealing. I'm a gentleman. Wealth can't be lusted after and poverty can't be changed. You can't fish…"
In her rambling, she started talking about fish instead. The half-grown girl blushed. She insisted on what her father had taught herself and ended up completely fumbling her words, but under the young man's gaze, she was violently trembling, and her legs were weak.
The young man was speechless.
Hearing such a little kid, especially a young girl, say things as odd as "taking without asking is stealing", "wealth can't be lusted after and poverty can't be changed", and - and "I'm a gentleman"?? pfff, he normally wouldn't be able to stop himself from laughing out loud.
But he couldn't laugh.
On the contrary, there was a strong resentment in his chest and his heart was being crushed like it was being trampled by a horse.
"I hate your kind, so-called…" He supported himself on the wall, shakily rising to his feet, and hissed out: "Good man, gentleman, hero, benevolent."
Under Luo Xianxian's horrified gaze, he slowly moved his injured foot,
he moved over to the orange tree. He looked up, sniffed the smell of the orange tree almost greedily, and then a red gleam of rage flashed in his eyes. Before Luo Xianxian could react, he climbed the tree, shaking it, trampling, kicking, and hitting its branches.
All the oranges on the branch crackled and fell to the ground, rolling away. The young man's smile was twisted and he shouted wantonly: "Taking something without asking is stealing! Wealth can't be lusted after! The mighty never yield!"
"Sir! What are you doing! Stop! Dad! Dad!"
Luo Xianxian hadn't wanted to call for her father. Her father was a weak, powerless scholar so there wasn't much he could do. But she was a little girl after all, and she was so terrified that she finally broke down.
"What are you shouting about! Your dad can come out and I'll cut him down too!"
The little girl was scared silly. Small water droplets rimmed her round eyes, tears forming.
The Chen family next door went to a neighbouring village to visit relatives so the whole family was away. No one could stop this lunatic.
The little madman shook the oranges all over the ground and still wasn't satisfied. He stomped on the ground several times, crushing several oranges, growing ferocious. She didn't know where he found the strength, but he jumped over the wall and flipped into the Chen's yard. In the courtyard, he found an axe and chopped down the whole tree. Then he turned around and cackled.
He laughed and laughed then abruptly stopped. From his squat, he straightened himself, staring blankly in a daze.
Suddenly, he turned his head and waved to Luo Xianxian: "Girl, come here."
"…" Luo Xianxian didn't move. She was frozen to the spot, the little cloth shoes embroidered with yellow flowers digging into the ground.
Seeing her hesitating, the young man calmed down his voice and said as sweetly as he could, "Come here. I have a treat for you."
"I… I don't… no, I don't want to go…" Luo Xianxian mumbled. Before she finished speaking, the young man suddenly grew irate again——
"If you don't come here, I'll go into your house and slice up your father!"
Luo Xian trembled harshly but finally took small steps towards him.
The young man squinted at her: "Hurry up, I'm not waiting all day."
Luo Xianxian lowered her head and moved towards him. When she was still a few steps away, he suddenly stretched out his hand and violently pulled her over. Luo Xianxian let out a scream, but it only reached the back of her throat before something was shoved into her mouth to gag her. The young man stuffed an orange into her mouth. It wasn't peeled or washed, but covered in the dirt and pushed into her mouth.
The young man tried to force her to eat it in one bite. The orange split open and was rotten inside. Half her face was covered in the rotten fruit, but the lunatic was still smiling. He crushed the fruit into her face, stuffing it into her mouth that she was desperately trying to keep closed.
"Aren't you a gentleman? I thought you didn't eat stolen food. So what are you eating now? Huh? What are you eating now!"
"Haaa… no… I don't want… dad…dad…"
"Swallow it." The young man narrowed his eyes and stuffed the last bit of fruit into Luo Xianxian's mouth. His pupils gleamed with an eerie light and he shuddered. "Swallow it!"
He watched Luo Xianxian forcibly swallow the orang. She muffledly choked out "Dad". The young man was silent for a while, then he suddenly smiled.
That smile was more terrifying than his hideous face.
He stroked Luo Xianxian's hair with satisfaction, squatting in front of her, and said softly: "What are you calling your dad for? Shouldn't you be called out to me? Isn't the orange I gave you sweet? Was it delicious?"
With that, he picked up another one off the ground.
This time, he didn't stuff it in her mouth. He carefully peeled off the orange peel and cleaned off all the white piths attached to it. Then he wiped his hands, broke off a piece, and brought it to Luo Xianxian's lips. He whispered: "If you like it, eat some more."
Luo Xianxian knew that she had encountered a madman today. She had no choice but to lower her head and silently ate the orange that the madman handed her. The sweet and sour juice melted down her throat and her stomach churned…
The young man squatted there, feeding her slices of oranges. He seemed to feel better and even started to gently hum a song.
His voice was rough, very hoarse, like a broken gust of wind, vague and inaudible. Luo Xianxian could only make out a few words.
"Three or four flowers fall into the pool, the bell chimes once or twice on the shore. The best thing is to be young, a light-footed horse, you can see the end of the world…"
He suddenly said: "Girl."
"…"
"Tsk." He curled his lips and reached for Luo Xianxian's slender face, "Let me look at your eyes."
Luo Xianxian shivered. She was powerless to resist. She could only let the young man inch forward, his bloody finger coming closer and closer to her eyes.
"This is how it is," he said.
Luo Xianxian whimpered and closed his eyes. She was really afraid that this madman would, on a whim, poke out her eyes like they were fruit.
But the young man didn't poke them.
The other coldly said to her: "Didn't you teach me the saying that wealth couldn't be lusted after and poverty couldn't be changed? I've also got something to tell you."
"Hmm…"
"Open your eyes."
Luo Xianxian's eyes were tightly closed. The young girl laughed in exasperation and hissed: "Don't be like that. Open your eyes!"
"… Do you think I won't be able to gouge your eyes out if you have them closed?!"
Luo Xianxian forced her round eyes open, her slender eyelashes trembling, and tears streaming down her face which looked pitiful and fearful. She wasn't sure how to make this stranger happy. He suddenly let go of her cheek, his hand lingering in the air, and then gently patted her head.
He gazed into her eyes, and a trembling smile shook from the corner of his mouth. His smile was distorted, ferocious, and just a bit miserable.
He said: "There are men in Linyi. Twenty of them are dead."
After he spoke, he turned around and his figure sank into the darkness and gradually disappeared.
Only the mess on the ground was the only evidence that such a person, covered in blood in the middle of the night, had been here.