Ascending the vermilion stairs to the second floor, I pushed open the door to the familiar daily scene that greeted my eyes. Slouched in a beige rattan chair, Sean sipped freshly brewed West Lake tea while perusing the morning newspaper. His black hair cascaded like a waterfall, shimmering with a subtle luster. The morning sunlight traced the perfect lines of his thick eyelashes, straight nose, and thin lips. At the sound of the door, he slowly lifted his head, revealing a pair of eyes that were both beautiful and somewhat eerie—a silver eye that shimmered like moonlight, and a lavender one that was as soft as violets. He glanced at me with his heterochromatic eyes and gave a slight nod.
It was because of those eyes and his unchanging visage that I had doubted countless times whether he was human at all.
"Master, has Senior Brother not returned yet? I bet he's having a blast in Babylon," I dared not call him by his name in his presence.
He took a sip of tea and said, "Phoenix is a man of discretion." Setting down the teacup, he continued, "By the way, starting today, you will begin to fulfill the entrusted tasks. Are you ready?"
"Of course! Master, I'm so excited, but..." I looked around. "Where is the client?"
A fleeting, inscrutable expression crossed his face as he said, "Didn't I mention? Not everyone can come to make a request. Only those with a predestined connection come here."
Indeed, Sean had said that those entangled in past and present lives would dream of this place, but many would forget upon waking, or dismiss it with a laugh, believing it not. Only the truly fated would find their way here. For most, this place is just a teahouse, an ordinary one at that.
A knock sounded at the door, and my spirits lifted. "Come in!" I called out loudly. The door slowly opened, and a timid voice asked, "Excuse me, excuse me, can one really make a request here?"
I looked towards the voice and saw a girl in white, around my age, standing by the door, her delicate face filled with disbelief.
"You had a dream..."
"Yes, yes, I had such a dream, so..." she interrupted me excitedly, her expression a mix of agitation and hope.
"So, what is it that you wish to commission?" Sean asked coldly from behind me. The girl looked at Sean, clearly taken aback—a typical reaction, as most women reacted this way to such a stunningly handsome man as Sean.
"Can it really be commissioned?" she still couldn't believe it.
"Of course."
"Th-this is just too wonderful," she was on the verge of tears, "Am I dreaming now?"
I couldn't help but smile and shake my head; many clients were like this when they first arrived.
Her emotions gradually settled, and after taking a deep breath, she began her story: "My name is Lauren. Four months ago, I started playing a popular game with my classmates—calling upon the Pen Spirit. We were obsessed, doing it every day, talking to Yi, oh, Yi is his name. But later, Yi didn't leave, he stayed with me, saying he was my lover from a past life, entering my dreams every night. He said we had gone through three lifetimes of love and tragedy, and now that he's found me again, he wants to stay with me, he says he wants—to take me back."
Her expression was complex, with a hint of panic.
It turned out to be a Pen Spirit; such games are quite popular among college girls. Invoking Pen Spirits or Plate Spirits originates from one of China's oldest forms of witchcraft. A Pen Spirit, is a kind of intermediate state of being. After death, one enters the intermediate state and becomes a spirit. Spirits are life forms that have not been reincarnated after death. They do not have a fixed physical form, but due to the inertia of thought, they create a body from their own consciousness, which often retains the physical characteristics of their past life. Most of these spirits are relatively weak, so occasionally invoking them is not a big issue. However, there are two 'times of demons' in a day, once when the sun just sets, and the other between midnight and 2 a.m. The former is the 'time of demons' in the wild, and the latter is the 'time of demons' indoors. Invoking spirits during these times is more likely to attract stronger malevolent spirits.
"The Pen Spirit is not a high-level spirit; I will simply eliminate it for you," I said with a hint of disdain. The task for my first client was too simple; there was no need to travel through time and space. Exorcism is one of the most basic spells in spiritualism. Lower and middle-level spirits are easy to deal with; nowadays, what people call Pen Spirits, Chopstick Spirits, and Mirror Spirits all fall into this category.
"No!" Her face changed, and she quickly stopped me.
"So let him take you back?" I said with a smile. "You must understand, he can only take your spirit back, not your physical body. You would essentially be dead, do you understand?"
"No..." She shook her head and whispered, "Can you not harm him, nor let him take me back? He has been really good to me. If there's anything bad about to happen, he always tells me in advance and has always been by my side to protect me, so I don't want to hurt him... I want to commission you to go to my past life..."
"Understood, we will go to your past life to find the root cause of why you and he ended in tragedy three times and change the root cause, and the outcome will naturally change. That's not a problem." Sean said indifferently.
"Heavens, is there really time travel?" Lauren still looked incredulous.
"Come here." Sean waved his hand, and when Lauren walked to his side, he extended his right index finger to her forehead, closed his eyes, and chanted a spell. A ball of white light gradually condensed between Lauren's eyebrows, faintly revealing a character: Liao. As the character of Liao faded, another character appeared: Han. After the character Han faded, another character appeared clearly: Qin. I was a bit surprised while watching on the side. Usually, only the dynasty where the root cause lies is revealed. Why were there three today? Heavens, don't tell me I have to go to all three dynasties.
After the characters faded, Sean withdrew his finger and said in a low voice, "It is indeed a love calamity of three lives." He paused and said, "I want your Pen Spirit to appear; I have questions for him." With that, he took out a talisman, silently recited the Nine-Word True Mantra, held the talisman between his index and middle fingers, and threw it to the ground. A wisp of white smoke slowly rose.
"Master? Where is the spirit?" I saw nothing in front of me and hurriedly asked.
"Right beside you." He said lightly.
I turned my head and was startled to see a tall man standing right next to me. I quickly jumped away. Although I'm not afraid of spirits, it's natural to be startled when one suddenly appears next to me. Even a human can scare someone to death.
I vaguely made out the man beside me, who looked to be in his twenties, with a handsome face and a heroic aura. He was dressed in strange clothing, and thanks to TV dramas, I knew at a glance that it was the attire of a minority ethnic group. Could this man be from the Liao era? I didn't expect the Pen Spirit to be a handsome guy.
"You, you are indeed the same as in my dreams..." Lauren murmured, her face shocked.
"Ye Lu A Bao Ji," Sean said, shocking both Lauren and me. The man in front of us was the famous Liao emperor. We immediately focused on him again.
Lauren's face turned pale as she said, "You told me your name was Yi. So, you are such a famous figure..."
A Bao Ji did not deny it. He looked firmly at Lauren, his eyes full of unspoken words, while Lauren looked at him in astonishment, her expression changing constantly.
"That is my Han name. Besides, what difference does the name make? I am always me," he said in a deep voice, then turned to Sean and said, "You are indeed a great person, so I will get straight to the point and talk about my story with her."
"The tragedy between Yan and I began over two thousand years ago. At that time, she was the daughter of the Qin state's diviner, known as Yan, and I was the general of the Qin state, Xin. From childhood, we were in perfect harmony and had pledged our love in secret, vowing to become husband and wife, never to part. In the eyes of all, we were already a couple, merely awaiting the right moment to declare our union. It was at this juncture that I was ordered to march to war. Before my departure, I went to her home to ask for her hand in marriage. With her family's approval, I set off with a heart swelling with excitement, my eagerness to see her again fueling my fighting spirit. Soon, I returned triumphant at the head of my army."
Pausing for a moment, as if recalling a painful memory, he continued, "I had thought to see her smiling face upon my return, but instead—what I found was her grave. I was beside myself, demanding answers. How could she, who was well and vibrant, be dead? When I learned the truth, my grief was overwhelming. It turned out that my own brother, who had always been in love with her, had... dishonored her in my absence. Her parents, fearing scandal, forced her to marry him. On the day she was to be wed, she took her own life. In my rage, I killed my brother and, consumed by despair, fell on my own sword at her grave."
I glanced at Lauren, whose eyes were red-rimmed and glistening with tears.
"In the second life, I was reincarnated as the Han general Huo, and she was the youngest daughter of Guang. We had feelings for each other, but I failed to cherish the chance to be together. At the time, full of youthful vigor and ambition, I spoke of 'how can I think of home before the Xiongnu are defeated,' and in my quest for glory, I even killed her beloved brother, Gan. From then on, her love for me turned to hatred, and she hastily married in her anger, while I continued to fight on the battlefield until I too died suddenly of illness. Once again, I failed to hold onto her."
I couldn't help but look at him again; this man seemed to be reincarnated as notable figures each time.
"In the third life, it's almost laughable. In my previous life, I was driving away the Xiongnu, but in the third life, I became the Khitan emperor of the Liao state. She was reborn as the daughter of Hui, a Han Chinese I employed, named Yan. I fell in love with her at first sight, and despite the opposition of my court, I made her my consort. But fate seemed to mock me; on the eve of her entry into the palace, news came that her entire family had been murdered by intruders. How could such a coincidence occur? I suspected that Empress Ping was behind it but had no proof. Thus, I missed her yet again."
"Do you not have any memories of your past lives?"
He shook his head and said, "Only at the moment of my death do the memories of my previous lives flash before me. And each time I am reincarnated, those memories are erased, so I decided never to be reborn, to wait there for Ah Yan's call to take her back."
"Wait? What if she never summoned you?" I asked out of curiosity.
A bitter smile crossed his face, "So, I have waited for over a thousand years."
"What, and you would just keep waiting if she never called upon you?" I was somewhat astonished.
"Yes, I would wait for her appearance, a thousand years, two thousand years, three thousand years, I would wait," he said with determination. I was both astonished and touched, and as I turned to look at Lauren, her face was streaked with tears.
"Yi..." Lauren whispered, lifting her tear-blurred eyes to look at Abaoji...
Abaoji looked at her with emotion, and they gazed deeply into each other's eyes. At this moment, Lauren's heart must have been in turmoil.
"So, the commission is established," Sean's stern voice broke the atmosphere.
"Mm," Lauren nodded.
"Rest assured, I will find the root cause and resolve your three lives of emotional tribulation, I will."
As I said this, my nose felt sour, and my heart felt heavy, not knowing whether it was for their tragic love across three lives or for Abaoji's hopeless wait. If a man were to wait for me for a thousand years, whether he be human, ghost, or demon, I would marry him!
Suddenly, Sean stood up and threw a talisman at Abaoji. After the white smoke cleared, Abaoji had vanished, "Lauren, Abaoji will stay here for now. You go first, and I will notify you later."
Lauren's eyes seemed to still be tearful as she nodded gently and turned to walk out the door. After a few steps, she stopped, turned her head, and looked at me, saying, "Please help us."
I nodded firmly, watching her step out of the room. The moment she crossed the threshold, her memory of this room was erased. Only after I complete my mission will Sean's dream summon her back again. Once she sheds a tear, the memory of this teahouse of past and present lives will be gone forever.