As the moon rose to the middle of the sky, Grandpa Bu opened the courtyard gate and saw Zhi You under the tree outside the gate.
“Come in.” Grandpa Bu sighed and greeted Zhi You to sit down in the courtyard. “Can’t sleep?”
Zhi You nodded, the moonlight casting a shadow over his eyelids and reflecting in his pupils.
“Life’s encounters are ever-changing, so I, an old man, enjoy divination, but I don’t like to predict people’s fates.” With a wave of his hand, Grandpa Bu conjured a tea set on the table. He poured Zhi You a cup of calming tea. “Jiu Hui’s appearance, growth, and transformation in the village were all beyond the arrangements of fate. Her destiny is special. She was born with the ability to transform into a human form, grow like a human baby, and even absorb the cultivation of great yaos for her own use.”
Zhi You’s hand tightened slightly around the teacup.
“Being too special is never a good thing, especially in these unpredictable times.” Grandpa Bu took a sip of tea. “Her destiny is chaotic, born against the grain. I’ve practiced divination for ten thousand years, but even I can’t read her fortune.”
“Tonight.” Grandpa Bu looked at Zhi You. “I finally understand why Xiao Jiu’s fate is in such a mess.”
“We all thought that she was supposed to be born five hundred years ago, but the will of heaven is fickle, so her birth among the yaos was delayed by four hundred years.” When Grandpa Bu saw that the tea in Zhi You’s cup had spilled, he smiled gently and said, “Don’t worry, sometimes a change in plans doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing.”
“I don’t know why she met you on the night she was born and became an ordinary garlic chive leaf, but more than four hundred years are enough for things can change.” Grandpa Bu stood up and gently patted Zhi You’s tense back.
“You were born under an unlucky star, but little Jiu helped you find your hometown and let you burn three sticks of incense at your mother’s grave. She defied her destiny and transformed her immortal tree body into a garlic chive. She should have died young, but your great virtue protected her for hundreds of years and helped her survive her most difficult years.”
“If she was born as an immortal tree, would she have never met me?” Zhi You asked again, “Is that right?”
“I’m not sure about that. I’m only good at divination, not omniscient.” Grandpa Bu shook his head with a smile. “The only one who can communicate with all things is Bai Ze*, but those ancient divine beasts haven’t appeared in tens of thousands of years.”
TN: Bai Ze
“It was fate that brought you together, so don’t dwell on it too much. Life is long, so just let things happen naturally.” Grandpa Bu laughed heartily. “There’s no such thing as something that’s supposed to happen in this world. The fact that you were able to meet and reunite is the best possible arrangement of fate.”
“The mountains and rivers are vast, and the sea of people is boundless. How beautiful and fortunate it is for two people separated by mountains and seas to be able to come together again?” Grandpa Bu put his hands behind his back, looked up, and walked out with a smile.
Zhi You lowered his head to look at the tea in his hand that had already gone cold, his eyelids drooping.
It was the most beautiful thing in the world to have met and gotten to know Jiu Hui. He was just afraid that his appearance had changed Jiu Hui’s fate.
In the middle of the night, Jiu Hui suddenly sat up in bed.
She had that childhood dream again. In her dream, as soon as she opened her eyes, she saw a child climbing up the dirt slope with his butt sticking out. After staggering and falling, he stepped on her face.
But this time, she saw the little boy’s face clearly.
After the little boy stepped on her, he looked at her with tears in his eyes, but he stopped crying in an instant. He seemed to have difficulty speaking, and it took him a long time to stammer out a few words, “Flower… flower light… will glow … immortal herb?”
“Immortal herb… can you help me find my mother?”
Alright, alright, alright, what did Zhi You say when he saw the little wooden man with its butt up in the air?
“I’m not like him.“carpreads.pages.dev
“I won’t step on you.”
Although she didn’t remember anything about being a garlic chive, the fact that she was stepped on the moment she opened her eyes was something she couldn’t forget even in her dreams.
Over the long years, there was nothing but icy snow on Fuguang Mountain except for her, who had fortunately accompanied Zhi You for more than four hundred years.
After lunch, Jiu Hui and Zhi You were summoned to the study by Uncle Wu.
“Before New Year’s Eve, you two will stay in the study and copy books. If you dare to go out and cause trouble again, or quarrel with the East Village, or fight with the West Village, I’ll break your legs!” Uncle Wu threw a pile of books into their arms. “Don’t you like storybooks? Take these storybooks and copy them well. If you don’t copy them well, you won’t have dinner tonight.”
After scolding the two of them, Uncle Wu left with his hands behind his back. Jiu Hui picked up a book and flipped through it. It was a story about a protagonist who tried to rule the world but ended up with a tragic fate.
Let’s switch to another one. This one was about a protagonist who wanted to be the number one in the world, but in the end, his cultivation was completely gone, and he became a madman.
“Could Uncle Wu have found these books overnight?” Jiu Hui reluctantly spread out the paper, picked and chose from the pen rack, and reluctantly found a pleasing brush. She grabbed a book and began to prepare to copy it.
Zhi You walked over to her and ground ink for her. The ink stick made a light sound in the inkstone. Jiu Hui dipped the tip of her brush in the ink, thought for a moment, put the brush down, took out a small wooden figurine with a raised butt from her sleeve, and handed it to Zhi You: “For you.”
Zhi You wiped his hands clean and took the small wooden doll with a puzzled expression. “This is…”
“For you.” Jiu Hui picked up the brush, ignoring Zhi You, and began to copy the book.
The study gradually grew quiet. The afternoon sunlight slowly climbed up the windowsill. Zhi You ground the ink, then sat down beside Jiu Hui and began to copy the book.
In the past, even when there were Elders teaching at Wangshu Pavilion, Jiu Hui would still secretly talk to him or pass him notes. Now that Jiu Hui had suddenly become so quiet, he began to feel uneasy.
“Little Senior Sister.” He turned his head to look at Jiu Hui. “Don’t ignore me. I was wrong.”
“What did you do wrong?” Jiu Hui asked him, raising an eyebrow.
Zhi You was silent for a moment. “I shouldn’t have kept it from you.”
Those four hundred years were memories that belonged solely to him, and Jiu Hui had long since forgotten them.
His little Senior Sister was so happy, and she had so many people who cared about her. The four hundred years of those repetitive days on Fuguang Mountain were really not worth mentioning, and they were not worth adding to her worries.
“That’s not what I’m talking about.” Jiu Hui turned her head. “In all my memories and knowledge, there is only this world behind Nushen Mountain. I can’t imagine that I was that small piece of garlic chive back then, and I don’t know what our past was. What about you? Did you know from the beginning that I was that garlic chive?”
Zhi You shook his head. “I didn’t know.”
But that day in Wenxian City, the moment he saw Jiu Hui, he felt that she was different from everyone else.
Everyone else was a dim passerby in the mortal world, but only her eyes and brows were clear, filled with brilliant colors, so he wanted to go to Wangshu Pavilion with her.
“I saw it recorded in the sect’s records that Fuguang is good at divination.” Jiu Hui copied a character incorrectly and secretly used a magic technique to erase it.
“But I can’t calculate your whereabouts.” Zhi You shook his head. “After you were lost, I couldn’t calculate any traces. Last spring, I dreamed of you.”
He rarely had dreams. When he was five, he dreamed of his mother. Last year, he dreamed of her again.
“What did I look like in the dream?” Jiu Hui asked curiously.
Zhi You drew a little person on the paper, and the little person had a garlic chive on its head.
Jiu Hui: “…”
“You told me that you wanted to go out and play, and you cried and made a fuss, wanting me to go with you.” Zhi You looked at Jiu Hui gently. “In my dream, I promised you.”
However, Immortal Lord Fuguang was unable to leave Fuguang Mountain, so the only one who could leave Fuguang Mountain was Zhi You.
Jiu Hui’s heart trembled slightly. Because of a dream, he had gouged out his heart, attached his soul to the body refined from his heart, endured the pain that pierced his bones, and came to this chaotic world of mortal dust all by himself.
He was so lonely.
Five hundred years of solitude was enough to drive anyone mad.
“Forget it.” Jiu Hui put down the pen. “I forgive you for stepping on me.”
Zhi You was confused: “Hmm?”
“Back when you were a little kid and I was just a little sprout, did you step on me?!” Jiu Hui asked indignantly. “I even dreamed about it!”
Zhi You asked cautiously, “Little Senior Sister, are you not angry that I kept this from you?”
“What’s there to be angry about?” Jiu Hui shook her head. “You can’t even tell the difference between an orchid and garlic chive. I also don’t remember anything before I transformed either.”
“But back then, I moved my foot.” Zhi You explained obediently, his eyebrows lowered and eyes downcast. “I was afraid of stepping on you, so I fell into the ditch next to me.”
Jiu Hui looked at him with doubt, “Really?”
“I’ll be a puppy if I’m lying.”
Jiu Hui: “…”
This made her even more suspicious.
“This painting.” Zhi You smiled gently at Jiu Hui. “This painting, does it resemble little Senior Sister when she was young?”
Seeing how cautious Zhi You was, Jiu Hui’s heart softened. She stretched her head over to take a closer look at the little girl in the painting. Aside from the fact that she didn’t have a garlic chive leaf on her head when she was a child…
Squeak.
The door to the study was pushed open, and Uncle Wu strode in. He glanced at the painting on the table and snorted coldly, “I told you to copy books, but you’re secretly drawing in the study.”
“Is this still the painting of Xiao Jiu when she was three years old, throwing a tantrum because she wanted to raise a baby iron-eating beast, crying and making a scene?” Uncle Wu couldn’t help but glance at the painting a few more times, reaching out to take it away. “Copy the book seriously. If I find out that you’re not being serious again next time, you’ll have to copy for two more hours tonight!”
“Uncle Wu…”
As the door slammed shut, Jiu Hui glanced at the book she had copied less than half a page of, and lazily plopped down on the table.
She hated copying books.
“Little Senior Sister,” Zhi You whispered, “I’m a fast writer. I’ll help you copy it later.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhi You felt someone was watching him. He turned his head and looked towards the window. Uncle Wu, who had transformed into a black crow, stuck a crow’s head through the crack in the window. Its pitch-black eyes were staring at him.
Zhi You, who was always calm and composed, couldn’t help but tremble as he held the brush.
The study fell completely silent. Jiu Hui and Zhi You lowered their heads and desperately copied books, not daring to make a sound.
Uncle Wu flapped his wings with satisfaction and flew towards the bright sky.
After copying books for several days and reading about the tragic endings of countless arrogant protagonists, Jiu Hui had transformed from a fresh and tender garlic chive into a withered blade of grass.
On the morning of New Year’s Eve, when she got up, she saw countless red lanterns hanging in the village, and she still couldn’t react.
“Aunt Jiao,” Jiu Hui asked Aunt Jiao, who was spinning yarn under the tree, “how come there are so many more red lanterns in our village overnight?”
“Isn’t it customary to hang lanterns during the New Year in the mortal world?” Auntie Jiao said without looking up. “We yaos don’t celebrate the New Year, but this is Zhi You’s first year in our Shanghuang Village. We must throw a lively New Year’s Eve banquet for the child.”
Jiu Hui looked up and saw that not only were there red lanterns hanging in front of and behind the courtyard, but there were also peach charms hanging on the courtyard gate and new spring couplets pasted on it.
As the winter wind blew, the red tassels under the red lanterns swayed. Jiu Hui chuckled softly.
“Your new clothes and Zhi You’s are ready. Tomorrow, you’ll go to your friend’s succession ceremony, so change into your new clothes and go.” Aunt Jiao waved her hand. “Go play with Zhi You. Old Hei said that you don’t have to copy books today.”
Jiu Hui walked around the village and saw Zhi You climbing a tree, hanging lanterns under the direction of several grandpas and grandmas.
She stood still, watching as Zhi You was being bossed around by her grandparents, and couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
“Our little lazy garlic chive has finally woken up.” Grandpa Long called out to her, “Come and hang lanterns with Zhi You.”
“Coming.” Jiu Hui tapped her toes and flew to Zhi You’s side. She took a red lantern from him and hung it on the highest branch of the tree.
“A new year, with great fortune shining upon you, and a bright future ahead.”
Author’s Note
Little Garlic Chive: I wish you all good luck and a bright future.