Volume II
In the first world she transmigrated into, Song Jia accidentally killed the original host and made the monarch so insane with grief that the whole world was destroyed with him.
Her boss then declared after she went back to the modern world...
Song Jia remembered. Souls forgot the memories of their previous lives' because of the soul beguiling soup that was given by the Goddess of Forgetfulness, Meng Po.
The tenth court wasn't far. It didn't take long for their carriage to arrive at their destination.
Zhao Cheng got off the carriage first before turning around and offering his hand to Song Jia. She paused for a moment before taking his hand.
These series of actions were exactly what he had done before when they visited Li Jia's maiden home during her first mission.
"Jia'er." Zhao Cheng held her hand tightly. "There's something I want to tell you."
The words 'Wang ye has matters to discuss with qie?' almost came out of her mouth, but Song Jia suppressed it in time. She nervously patted her heart.
This grandma almost forgot the role that she's playing, ah~
Song Jia coughed and asked, "What is it?"
They were now entering the tenth court, where a tall arched gateway, a paifang, served as the entrance. Even from afar, Song Jia could already see the landscape that had turned into a sea of red because of the presence of so many red spider lilies.
Song Jia wasn't surprised to see it. It was because she knew that the red spider lily had been proclaimed by myths and legends to bloom in the underworld, guiding the dead through samsara.
There was a small road that snaked through this flat landscape filled with flowers, and a signpost near it proclaimed it as the 'HuangQuan Road.' At the end of the road was a large river, its waters stained with blood.
Zhao Cheng pulled a curious Song Jia away from it. "Don't go near the WangChuan river. If you fall there, you'll never reincarnate."
Song Jia pointed at a large rock along the river. "What's that?"
"San Sheng Shi, the Rock of Three Lives. Your last life, this life, and the next life are all written in that rock."
As he spoke, his eyes flashed. He lowered his head and immersed himself in his thoughts.
"Oh, and is that the Naihe bridge?" Song Jia was excited and tugged at his sleeve.
Zhao Cheng smiled helplessly, allowing her to pull him towards it. A gentle wind blew from the west, lifting the hem of Song Jia's skirt and fluttering it around her ankles like the flap of a butterfly's wings. The golden tasseled belt outlined her slender waist, the beautiful long pendants of jade and tassels making a soft tinkling sound. [3]
Zhao Cheng's hand involuntarily grabbed her wrist. Song Jia winced at his painful grip.
"What's wrong?"
It took a few beats for him to slacken his grip and remove his hold on her. Zhao Cheng hid his trembling hands behind his back, showing her a relaxed expression.
"It's nothing, I thought you were going to stumble."
Song Jia threw him a strange look before focusing once more on the Naihe bridge, walking steadily in front of him.
Her straight and slender back was reflected in front of his eyes, her black hair cascading like a waterfall over her shoulders.
Maybe she was too dazzling, that his eyes became a bit sour. He raised his hand and slightly covered his face, hiding his emotions.
His sense of reason was rapidly disappearing, and the voice inside his heart was being magnified to a hundred decibels, confirming what some part of him had always known.
Just staying by her side...it would never be enough.
He would always be too greedy.
From start to finish, his love had bloomed uneasily, with doubts and uncertainties. It was ugly and flawed, like how the root of the lotus flower would grow in the mud at the bottom of the pond.
He wanted to become selfless and gentle, to show her that his love for her was also as exquisite as the lotus flower that had risen up above the water, pure and decent.
But love that had grown in the mud, it would forever be unqualified in front of her, as dirty as the silt that had sunk on the bottom of the Yellow River.
Just a moment ago, seeing her act so carefree and unrestrained like a bird that was about to take flight, Zhao Cheng had the sudden urge to chain her to his side and never let go.
She had already left him once.
It was okay if she didn't love him, it was okay if she wanted to hurt him, it was okay even if she hated him. Zhao Cheng felt he deserved all of this. She could hurt him in this life as much as she wanted, to take revenge on him as much as she liked. Make him suffer in this life and the next...
But only her leaving him, he would never agree to.
He could never lose her again. Once was enough to drive him crazy. If he lost her once more...
It would completely kill him.
[1] Reflex arc is too long: Ch. slang used to describe a situation where it took someone a while to realize something; slow reflexes/response.
[2] blue slim shiitake mushroom: Ch. slang in reference to how a 24-year-old man from Nanning, Guangxi said 難受想哭 [nán shòu xiǎng kū] "Sad, want to cry" in the Nanning dialect. His teary monologue made him an Internet sensation overnight. Nova's meaning is that Song Jia is too dense that he wants to cry in sadness.
[3] A type of yaopei 腰佩 (lit. "waist wear") called Jinbu/禁步. An accessory worn since ancient times, Jinbu was initially used to hold down the skirt.
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*Red lotus flower: love, sacrifice, domination and power. Lotus flowers usually come in gentler colors, but red ones are considered proofs of love and are usually given to someone who you find very dear to your heart.
A/N: I didn't meant to delay the updates (I've already written it), but I suddenly got swamped without warning and couldn't edit ('༎ຶོρ༎ຶོ') Don't worry, I will never abandon the pit.
