In This Lifetime

2. Beauty Among All Deities

"HUUUURGGEHH"

As if on impulse my body jolted up and I began puking.

I looked around and all I saw was darkness.

"Ah nice to see that sleeping beauty has finally awoken" I heard someone voiced.

I followed the sound of the voice and startled in surprise when I realized the figure was sitting on the bed beside me.

Wait, bed?

My eyes re-adjusted in the darkness. Although the moonlight coming from the blinds were faint I could recognize this setting anywhere. I was in my childhood bedroom. The real question was why was I here? How did I get here?

"Stop making that face, you'll get wrinkles." The voice next to me called out while reaching for my face and trying to flatten out my frown lines between my eyebrows.

"Who are you?" I questioned while swatting the hand away and moving closer to the edge of the bed.

"A beauty among all deities is what I am." the voice stated with a tone of amusement.

Although I was in no mood for jokes as I studied the face next to me more I could not deny her statement. Under the moonlight, she looked especially alluring. Her long silver hair flowed to her small waist. Small, sharp nose with thin baby lips. The part that enchanted me the most was her eyes.

Those eyes are something I've never seen before.

Scarlet red eyes that could bewitch me if I stared any further. So I did the most plausible thing I could think of to break the trance I was in.

"Ugly little thing" I stated and looked away. I said that to break eye contact, but I could feel my cheeks heating up. Something must be wrong with me to be able to blush just by staring at her.

"Who are you calling ugly, ugly!" the girl roared as she stood upright. "I, Yue Lao am a god...err or should I say goddess that no one would dare disrespect" the girl continued to voice.

I ignored her while she continued to rant about her beauty and shapely body. Yue Lao? Where have I heard that name before?

"GASP!" I exclaimed when I realized who she was.. or should I say him?

There is a legend that told of an old man under the moon. This old man was also known as Yue Lao. Yue Lao is a god of marriage and love in Chinese mythology. He appears as an old man under the moon. Yue Lao appears at night and unites with a silken cord all predestined couples, after which nothing can prevent their union. It is said he is immortal and lives either in the moon or in the obscure regions (Hades).

According to Chinese legend, the deity in charge of "the red thread" is believed to be Yue Lao the old lunar matchmaker god, who is in charge of marriages. According to this myth, the Red Thread of Fate is a belief that the gods tie an invisible red cord around the ankles of those that are destined to meet one another in a certain situation or help each other in a certain way. The two people connected by the red thread are destined lovers, regardless of place, time, or circumstances. This magical cord may stretch or tangle, but never break.

The legend told says there was once a young man named Wei Gu he was passing the city of Songcheng where he saw an old man leaning on his pack reading a book in the moonlight. Being amazed at it, Wei Gu walked up and asked what he was doing. The old man answered: "I am reading a book of marriage listing for who is going to marry whom. When Wei Gu and the old man came together to a marketplace, they saw a blind old woman carrying a three-year-old little girl in her arms. The old man said to Wei Gu: "This little girl will be your wife in the future." Wei Gu thought this was too strange to believe and he ordered his servant to stab the girl with his knife.