Oni-tsubo

Kapitel 24

"Hehehe!" Feixiao laughed: "Even if he really had a beauty that could topple kingdoms, he would definitely be a pile of bones by now. So if this is really Nalan, it's not surprising that he has changed into this appearance. What dead thing is beautiful?"

Once, they fought fiercely and were a legend for all time, but in the end, they were nothing but a pile of bones and a handful of yellow earth. How many times has life been so desolate?

Shubai disappeared that night along with the ghosts. Everyone searched the village for a long time but couldn't find her. When they left, Shubai's uncle saw them off. Chen Kai felt empty inside. There were supposed to be four people, but now only three people were going back. He felt the mountain wind was chilling.

"Don't worry, I'll keep looking. This village is so small, I'll find it eventually!" Shubai's uncle comforted them.

"I hope she's alright!" Professor Wang's old eyes were already starting to well up with tears. Shubai was one of his prized students, and she had just disappeared so mysteriously. No wonder he felt heartbroken.

"Hehe!" Shubai's uncle looked at Feixiao: "That night, we all said that Nalan had returned, right when his mask fell off!"

"What?" Chen Kai's eyes widened in disbelief.

“That’s right!” Shubai’s uncle pointed at Feixiao: “Back then, he was as beautiful as the legends say. I guess if Nalan were alive, he would look just like this!”

None of the three of them spoke. Would anyone believe that the extra ghost that appeared during the exorcism was Nalan? That ugly, ferocious monster, not some beautiful warrior.

Perhaps, people do need some lies so that glamorous legends can be passed down one after another, adding a gorgeous gold trim to the gray history.

The three of them had just reached the village entrance when the eccentric Granny Mi ran over again, waving at them from afar: "Hehe, come on, come on..."

"Should we go with her?" Chen Kai asked in a low voice. Whenever this old lady appeared, something bad would happen.

Feixiao looked at the old woman; her toothless, empty mouth looked sinister and terrifying.

"It's alright, let's go take a look!" he said, and followed them over.

Grandma Mi walked ahead with her back hunched over, following the mountain path for a long time, and the scenery became increasingly desolate.

"Where is this?" Chen Kai felt like he was about to be led into a trap again.

"It looks like there's a temple ahead. I can smell the incense!" Fei Xiao said, sniffing around.

After walking for a while, a very small temple appeared, or rather a small altar. It was just a bluestone slab about the size of a few beds, with some offerings placed on it. It seemed that there was a temple here a long time ago.

"Come on, come on..." That old woman seemed to only know these few words as she gestured to them.

"Let's go take a look!" Professor Wang said as he walked over, his courage seemingly unseen.

On the bluestone slab lay something that looked like a gnarled branch, very similar to the ghost horn that Feixiao had cut down the night before.

"This, is this the other horn? Shubai said she cut it off!" When Chen Kai saw this, he thought of Shubai. That snowy night, the last thing Shubai said to him was this. Her proud expression was still vaguely in his mind, but things had changed, and Shubai was nowhere to be found.

Thinking about it, my eyes welled up with tears again.

"You're saying she cut this?" Professor Wang asked, surprised.

"Yes, she told me herself!" Chen Kai didn't know why he was so surprised.

"But, but!" Professor Wang hesitated, "Shubai's uncle said that a female dancer once cut off a ghost's horn, but that was more than forty years ago!"

"What?" Chen Kai suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. What was Shu Bai? Did the Shu Bai who was with them never exist in the first place?

"Sister, sister..." Granny Mi started talking again, and even took out a very old photograph from her bosom to show them.

On that yellowed, wrinkled photograph, a girl in her early twenties, with two black braids, is smiling at them. Her eyebrows and eyes vaguely resemble Shu Bai's, and her haughty demeanor clearly belongs to that person.

"Sister!" Granny Mi was still pointing at the photograph and talking to them, but no one was listening anymore.

"Could it be? Could it be that Shubai is also a ghost?" Chen Kai asked Feixiao with wide eyes. This was too bizarre, even more frightening than the ghost that came out of the campfire.

"I don't know~" Feixiao shook her head: "Maybe she's a soul attached to the mask. There are too many things in this world that have no answers!"

Perhaps, perhaps, Professor Wang recalled the scene of Shu Bai's oral exam on the day she applied for graduate school. She sat there in a black dress, unlike the other students. Her calm face seemed to be waiting for something, or waiting for something to happen. Shu Bai that day was so aloof and charming.

Chapter Eight: Night Walk

After climbing for half a day, the three of them finally left the remote village and found a long-distance bus station. By then, Chen Kai and Professor Wang were so exhausted that they could barely lift their legs. The two of them sat down on the dirt roadside, feeling as if their bones were about to fall apart.

"You guys take the car and go, I'll figure out how to get back by myself!" Fei Xiao waved to them with a smile after she got them to a safe place.

"Huh?" Chen Kai didn't expect him to really not be leaving with them. "Then when will you be back?"

"I don't know!" Fei Xiao shook her head, looking at the clear blue autumn sky. "The air here is very good, unlike in the city. We might need to stay for a couple more days!"

"What? What am I going to do?" Chen Kai suddenly felt very lonely. He hadn't been alone since he started university.

Feixiao smiled at him and said, "I won't stay with you forever. Go home and wait for me!" With that, she waved and left.

"Hey!" Chen Kai looked at his back and felt a little sad. How could he leave so decisively without any hesitation? He could have at least turned back for one last look.

But Feixiao's white figure gradually disappeared at the end of the yellow dirt road, never looking back.

"Hey, don't be sad, you're still too young!" Professor Wang, who was standing next to Chen Kai, quickly comforted him when he saw that Chen Kai looked dejected.

Chen Kai glanced at Professor Wang, "But, but no one is with me anymore!" He felt like he had been abandoned.

"Hehe!" Professor Wang glanced at him: "In the end, everyone has to be alone. No one will be with you for a lifetime. You'll understand that later!"

Yes, no one can accompany anyone for a lifetime. Perhaps everyone is destined to be alone. It's just that I've gotten used to Feixiao's company and never thought that one day Feixiao would leave me.

These reasons are all correct, but he still felt his eyes welling up with tears, as if this parting meant he didn't know when he would see his loved ones again.

How long has it been since Feixiao walked alone in the woods? Probably decades. It's been decades since she's been to a place like this, a place filled with the fragrance of trees and earth, a place where she can hear the sounds of life's growth and decay. Urban life has gradually eroded the spirituality of her life.

He walked along the forest path, stepping on the withered grass. He didn't know how long he had walked, but the sky was getting darker and darker, and the cold mountain wind was blowing again, which was very different from the bright sunshine at noon.

Feixiao looked around at the trees swaying in the mountain breeze and felt that she should find a place to stay. But she had unknowingly wandered into such a remote place, where there was not a single house.

Perhaps it doesn't matter. I'm just a fox, and I can live freely even in this jungle. When did I start to become more and more like a human? Why can't I withstand the cold wind of the wild anymore? Perhaps it was a thousand years ago. When I learned to shed tears, I lost my spirit, and my heart developed a soft spot. My body was no longer as tough as before.

He walked through the jungle, and in the distance, a small river appeared, its surface shimmering. At night, it seemed as if the stars in the sky had been scattered in it. The river flowed swiftly, drowning out the howling of the mountain wind beside it.

"Good!" he thought to himself. Based on his years of experience, he knew that wherever there was a river, there would be people and villages. Moreover, he was not far from the road, so it seemed that he would not have to camp in the wild if he walked a few more steps.

He quickened his pace and walked down the mountain along the damp riverbank. Perhaps it couldn't really be called a river; it was more like a winding spring, sometimes narrow, sometimes wide, flowing along the moss-covered rocks all the way to the foot of the mountain.

Feixiao reached out and touched the water. Since it was late autumn and they were in the mountains, the water was icy cold. He shook his head. It seemed that the water was undrinkable. Looking at the darkening mountains around him, he had no choice but to hurry on his way.

She walked along the river for a long time, but still didn't see a single house. The setting sun had already lost its last rays, and night had completely fallen into the deep mountains. Feixiao looked at the sky and sighed. Although she disliked hard tree trunks, it seemed that she could only find a sturdy big tree tonight. It had been a long time since she had slept with the fragrance of earth on her lips, and she felt a little nostalgic.

Just as he made up his mind, he heard someone singing not far away. It was a popular song he wasn't familiar with, but it had poignant lyrics:

My carefree face is that of a young man.

Unhurried eyes, waiting for the years to change.

The street that you and I know best is now deserted as the sun sets.

People say goodbye to each other on the street.

It was a little girl's voice, a weak and childlike voice, yet she insisted on singing such mournful lyrics, which felt extremely incongruous.

It was truly a case of "after the darkest hour comes the dawn," Fei Xiao thought with secret delight. It seemed she could find someone to stay with tonight. She quickened her pace and, just as she rounded a grove of trees, saw a girl in a red floral cotton coat washing her hands by the river. The girl looked no more than thirteen or fourteen years old and seemed unconcerned about the cold river water. Perhaps even the cold mountain wind and river water couldn't dampen her cheerful spirits.

She simply hummed a song with her head down, lost in her own world. Her slightly yellow hair was tied back with a simple rope, and the small whip bounced back and forth with the rhythm of her singing.

"Um, little girl!" Fei Xiao really couldn't bear to disturb her, but if she didn't speak up, she probably would never notice her approach.

"Huh?" She looked up when she heard the voice, seemingly not startled by the stranger.

"Um, where do you live?" Fei Xiao looked into her clear eyes and felt a little embarrassed, after all, she had been abrupt.

The girl stood up, stared blankly at the person in front of her, and only snapped out of her daze when she heard his question: "You're so beautiful, are you a boy or a girl?"

"This, this, it should be a man, right?" Fei Xiao was a little embarrassed because she didn't expect her to ask such a question. "Where do you live?" He had no choice but to repeat his question, which was what he really cared about.

“It’s nearby!” she said, pointing to a small path beside her.

"That's wonderful!" Fei Xiao felt a sudden surge of joy, realizing she would finally be spared the night sleeping on the cold, hard tree trunk.

"Um, may I stay the night?" he asked shamelessly.

"Yes, sure!" The girl nodded, but there was a lot of hesitation in her eyes. This pale-faced girl seemed to dislike having others stay at her house.

"It's alright, I'll pay you a lot of money!" Fei Xiao was incredibly shrewd; he had already seen through the hint of reluctance in her eyes. He knew that people were greedy creatures.

It would have been better if money hadn't been mentioned. As soon as money was brought up, the girl quickly waved her hand and said, "Please don't talk about money. You can stay at our house, but please don't mention money!"

Feixiao was puzzled for a moment, then quickly said, "You helped me and provided me with a place to stay, it's only right that we do this!"

"No, no, no!" the girl shook her head and said, "My parents are Buddhists, very kind people, and they don't like people talking to them about money!"

"Oh!" Fei Xiao suddenly realized. It seems that the people here are very simple and honest, unlike those in big cities.

"Then come with me!" The girl turned around and skipped off to lead the way. "It's getting dark, let's hurry!"

Feixiao had no choice but to follow behind her, walking down the mountain path, and finally felt relieved.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, a small village appeared in front of them, which seemed to be even smaller than Shubai's village.

The girl walked for a while, then turned back to Feixiao and said, "By the way, my name is Xiaoqian. Don't mention money to my parents later!"

"Okay!" Fei Xiao agreed, wondering what strange quirks this girl's parents had. Did they see money as dirt or were they obsessed with it? She kept reminding herself of this.

"My name is Feixiao!" he hurriedly introduced himself, "It means red silk!"

"You like red silk?" the girl asked as they walked.

"It's alright!" Fei Xiao said to her with a smile. Such a simple and pure girl is really rare.

"Really?" the girl said, raising her arm. "I really like red fabric. Look at my cotton coat, isn't it pretty?"

Feixiao turned her head to look at her red cotton coat with small floral patterns, her eyes filled with approval: "Not bad, very pretty!"

"Right? Oh, I'm home!" Xiaoxi said, skipping and hopping to open the door, looking carefree.

Feixiao glanced at the house she ran into. It was a very simple house, with a willow fence outside, indicating that the family was not wealthy.

"Dad, Mom, someone's here!" Xiaoxi said as she ran inside, her little braid bouncing behind her.

Feixiao followed her into the courtyard. For some reason, as soon as he entered the courtyard, it seemed as if every pore on his body was emanating a dangerous signal. His innate, sensitive animal instincts made him not want to go in.

"Come on over!" Xiaoxi waved to him from beside her front door, her red cotton-padded jacket with small floral patterns looking particularly striking.

Seeing her beaming smile, Fei Xiao had no choice but to bite the bullet and go inside. After all these years, what kind of people hadn't he seen? What kind of dangerous situations hadn't he been in? This time, he'd just do it for the sake of this kind-hearted Xiao Qian; he couldn't just leave like this.

As soon as Feixiao stepped into the courtyard, the lights in the house behind Xiaoqian turned on, illuminating a dim, yellowish night.

"Who's here?" A middle-aged woman's voice rang out from inside the door.

"I saw him by the river, someone who wanted to stay the night!" Xiaoxi's figure flashed and she had already entered the house.

"Then let him in quickly!"

Feixiao slowly walked into the courtyard. It was an ordinary, unremarkable house, yet there was a dangerous aura about it. Just as she stepped into the house, there was a loud "thud" above her head, and the crows in the woods returned to their nests. Feixiao glanced back at the dim sky, hoping that nothing would happen tonight. Perhaps she had just been overly vigilant.

"Come in quickly, let me see what we can get you to eat!" the middle-aged woman's voice continued from inside.