"I'm sorry; I can't give you the drugs for free again," Li Chuchu, the owner of the local drugstore in Plum Blossom town, shook her head wryly at the anxious mother on the other side of the counter, "it's time you accepted it, Yifei. You're my friend; we've known each other since we were little, so I can't hide this from you. Yiyi is dying. There's nothing more you can do. You have to move on with your life too. At least, at least you can start over once she's off your hands," Li Chuchu added bluntly, brushing non-existent dirt of Yan Yifei's tattered blouse's shoulder. The young woman caught her hand and shook it off, her eyes turning red.
"Chuchu! That's going too far! I won't allow you to curse my child! Yiyi will survive! And who said I'm taking the drugs for free; I'll pay you once I get my salary from Mr Han! Please, Chuchu! Help me! Yiyi can't die!"
"Hah," Li Chuchu shook her head and walked to the back of the shop, ignoring the frantic mother. Yan Yifei wrung her hands as she called her childhood friend's name over and over inploringly. Li Chuchu pretended not to hear at all. Eventually, Yan Yifei could only turn around sorrowfully and leave.
She headed for her boss's house. Mr Han, who was Plum Blossom town's wealthiest man as he was the only one who drove a beat up Camry, an achievement that the local townspeople were immensely proud of, was throwing a party to celebrate the birth of his seventh child and only son. All the local townspeople seemed to have squeezed themselves into his small yard, and there was rambunctious laughter among Mr Han and his friends as they indulged in booze to their hearts content. Yan Yifei squeezed in and approached the area where the women were converged, singling out the gray haired head of Mr Han's mother, who had a status similar to a village head in the olden times.
"Ma'am," Yan Yifei greeted her respectfully, and then gave the mother of the newborn her congratulations. Mrs Niu, who was Mr Han's mother, looked over at Yan Yifei and smiled a little.
"Oh, you're here. I was wondering when you would arrive,"
Yan Yifei grimaced at her tone. Everyone in town knew that Mrs Niu wanted Yan Yifei as her daughter in law, and to be the one to bear Mr Han a son. It disgusted Yan Yifei to no end. What angered her most was that they didn't even care about the plight of her daughter. However, she gritted her teeth and ploughed on. For the sake of little Yiyi, she decided resolutely, she would brave everything.
"Ma'am, I would like to speak with you," Yan Yifei inclined her head. Mrs Niu gulped down a glass of fruit wine and belched loudly.
"Eh? Go ahead and talk. What's there that these people here can't listen to?"
"Yeah, yeah," the few women with her agreed.
"Fine then. Ma'am, I'd like for you to help me beg Mr Han-- he's owing me three months salary. I wouldn't have come to trouble you today except that my daughter is sick and I need the money to buy drugs for her. Please ma'am, help me," Yan Yifei was already close to tears. The thought of little Yiyi lying cold and unmoving in her bed kept coming back to her mind. No, she shook her head, she wouldn't believe it! Yiyi was not dead! Yiyi wouldn't die! She, Yan Yifei, would not allow it!
"Eh?" Mrs Niu belched again, "so is that why you've come to ruin an auspicious day for us like this. I finally have a grandson after so many years, and I'm in such a good mood, but you're here to harp about the money you're owed? Yifei, this is ridiculous!"
Yan Yifei scuttled back at the old woman's outburst. She clenched her fists and approached again.
"Ma'am, please! My daughter can't die! Of you can just tell Mr Han to give me enough to buy drugs--"
"You-- why do you keep clutching to false hope?" Another woman from Mrs Niu's family interrupted suddenly, "we've all heard about what the doctor you invited from the next town said. Yiyi has been lying comatose for a few days-- isn't it even weeks? Just give up already and move on with your life! Mrs Niu here wouldn't mind having you as a daughter in law. You're so good-looking, you shouldn't let your beauty waste. Why don't you marry Han Feng and give him a few more sons. You'll have nothing to worry about for the rest of your life. And rest assured, when Yiyi dies, Mrs Niu and Han Feng will help you bury her, won't you, Niu-jie?" The woman turned to Mrs Niu for confirmation.
"Sure we will. What's a little funeral to Han Feng?" Mrs Niu gulped more wine, "Jiu-er is right. Yifei, just go bring your things over,"
"You-- you all--" Yan Yifei stumbled back several steps as her entire world seemed to crash around her. Tears streaming down her face, she turned on her heels and ran out of the teeming yard. She stumbled into the street and raced across town towards her house. Something was stirring within her, a mother's primordial instincts. Something was happening to her daughter...something was happening to Yiyi even now, she knew it, but she would never believe that it was death. Yiyi would not die. Not on her life.
***
It felt as if she was falling through a void, falling and falling and falling without landing on anything solid. *Sighhhh*. She was incredibly bored already. Opening her eyes, she stared blearily at the swirling masses of nothingness all around her. *So boringggg*. She seemed to be slowly becoming aware of things. Her first emotion was: boredom. The second was the realisation of her identity: Yan Yi.
Who was Yan Yi?
Sorry, not Yan Yi. Not many knew her real name. She was known as Dark Knife.
Dark Knife? She raised one eyebrow in her limbo state.
*Wait, I'm not dead?*
No, she must be, she reasoned with a frown. The repeated stabs of Xiao Jinyu's dagger had hurt a lot.
*Wait, Xiao Jinyu????*
Hatred welled in her and boiled over. Suddenly, a silent scream burst out from her lips. That traitor!!!!
*I must kill her!!!*
*Calm down, Yan Yi,* she scolded herself as she tried to remember more things. However, a sudden light glow interrupted her.
*Oh?*
She squinted her eyes as the light morphed into that of a young girl. Yan Yi watched her with unconcealed distaste and scrutiny. She didn't like children.
*Oh? That's another thing*, she shrugged as she tried to close her eyes to ignore this new apparition.
"Hey, can you help me?"
Yan Yi opened her eyes. She squinted her eyes as she pointed at herself with a transparent hand.
"Me?"
"Yes. Please help me. You have a lot of viable spirit essence. You can be me," the little girl pouted.
"Pardon? I'm kind of busy here."
"If you miss the critical moment, the portal will be closed!" The tiny girl shouted urgently, pointing towards a swirling mass of light behind her that Yan Yi hadn't seen before, "hurry!"
"'Scuse me, I don't want to be a little girl!" Yan Yi snapped.
"Please! I can't bear for my mother to loose me; she's going to be so sad!" The tiny girl lurched forward and pulled Yan Yi and hurled her towards the light.
*How??!*
*Didn't laws of physics apply in this spirit world of sorts?*
"Good luck. You can have your revenge and do whatever else you want. Just make sure my mother lives a good life," the little girl muttered as the adult woman morphed into a clone of her.
"Hmph," Yan Yi snorted. She was feeling new sensations now; mostly pain.
"Da*n!" She swore, "how sick were you!?"
A luminous tear dropped from the child's eye.
"Please take care of my mother,"
"Heard you," Yan Yi flipped her hair- the girl's hair it had been-- over her shoulder, "what's your name, by the way?"
"Yan Yi,"
*Yan Yi???*
*That's my name!!?*
"Why--" but it was too late. The girl dissolved into a pool of light and Yan Yi was sucked into the vortex. Her whole body spasmed once, then she opened her eyes.
*
"Yiyi? Yiyi?" A soft feminine voice was the first she heard. Yan Yi slowly turned her head in the direction of the voice. A pale trembling woman stood in the tiny room, bearing acute resemblance to the girl Yan Yi had encountered in the spirit world thingy. However, this woman was thin, a bag of bones, Yan Yi wanted to say.
*No wonder the girl asked me to take care of her* she thought to herself, *this lady certainly needs taking care of*.
"Yiyi!" Yan Yifan had rushed up to her, "you're -- you're awake! Tell me, tell me, does anywhere hurt? Are you in pain? Feeling cold? Hot? Uncomfortable? Hungry?"
Yan Yi frowned.
*Noisy,*
"I'm --" Yan Yi paused, shocked, then she regained her composure. Of course. Of da*n course. She had become a child. Of course her voice would be tiny. However...
*I don't like it. It sounds whiny,*
Yan Yi closed her eyes and coughed a little. Asides having experienced some pain when she was transmigrating, this body seemed to be well. Hale and hearty?!!
*In that case...*.
She jumped off the bed lithely, like a cat, landing on all fours. That made her notice the rest of her body.
*Bony, starved...who raises a child like this??*
"Hahhh," Yan Yi exhaled loudly as she raised herself to get full nine year old height.
*Oh?*
Yan Yifei had collapsed to the floor, her mouth wide open. Her legs simply couldn't hold her up any longer.
"Are you all right-- mother?" Yan Yi added at the end, the title rolling off weird and awkward off her tongue.
"Yi-er!" Yan Yifei could only croak, "you -- you're well! You're fine! You're alright!"
Lips pursed, Yan Yi walked over to Yan Yifei and grabbed her hand. Yan Yifei took the cue and got up shakily and sat on the bed.
"Oh I knew it, Yiyi! I knew you wouldn't die! I kept telling everyone but they wouldn't believe me! Oh, Yiyi!" And she threw her arms around her daughter's tiny frame.
*Huh?*
Yan Yi was completely stunned. After living two and a half decades as Dark Knife, clawing her way to the top from the most woebegone circumstances, she could not recall ever having been hugged like this.
*It feels...warm,*
*Is this...what it means...to have a mother?*
*Then, little Yan Yi, I'll fulfil your request,* she pledged silently as she reached out and clasped the thin woman in her own arms.
*Yan Yi has returned!*
*
Starring down at the bowl of rice soup in front of her, Yan Yi smiled blithely.
*Nice, just nice, of fate,*
*After I suffered this for one life, you want me to go through it again???!!* she screamed internally.
"Yi-er, bear with mother," Yan Yifei coaxed gently after sending the murderous intent emanating from her daughter, which she reckoned as displeasure, "don't worry, after I collect my salary from Mr Han, I'll treat you to a nice meal in Peach Blossom town!"
*Peach Blossom town?* Yan Yi raised her eyes, *what the hell was that?*
*Anyway,* she picked up the spoon and started to drink the soup, which was more water than rice, with a few vegetables floating around in it. At least this was good. She had a roof (howbeit leaking) over her head and a mother to take care of. At the beginning of her former life, she had to forage for food on dumpsites.
Gulp, gulp.
*That's it?*
*No, this won't do,*
Yan Yi set the bowl down and her eyes raked over the decrepit house. It was just one room divided into three; kitchen, toilet, and living room/sleeping room.
*Hah,*
*If only that little thingy had let me finish regaining my memories!* Yan Yi ground her teeth in anger. Then something occurred to her, and she frowned.
"Mom, what year is it?"
Yan Yifei, who had been watching her daughter all along, jumped at her sudden question.
"Oh? Oh? It's 2007,"
"I see," Yan Yi suddenly grinned. Her smile was so wide, and her eyes were so cold, that it was creepy. Yan Yifei shivered. Was... was Yiyi ... alright???