Geisteswissenschaftliche Fakultät

Kapitel 39

"Since this is fate, there's nothing I can do. If you want to take my life, then come and take it," Xiaoqiu's cousin said bitterly.

"Sis, what are you saying?" I asked in surprise as I watched my cousin step out the door.

"I originally intended to take your life. Although you only inherited a negligible amount of power, you're still a hundred times better than those demons and monsters. But I've changed my mind." The man turned to me, giving me a wicked smile.

"I think your young lady would be a better fit for this food."

"Flame Hurricane!" my cousin cried out in alarm, instinctively stepping in front of me. "She's my sister! You can't touch her!"

"I was wondering why she looked so delicious. So she's from the Luo family too," the man chuckled. "Then we can't let her go."

"Please," my cousin pleaded desperately. I had never seen my cousin like that before, abandoning her pride and self-respect just to ask the other person to agree.

"Sister, don't beg him. At worst, we'll die together!" Although I still didn't understand the situation, I just couldn't stand that man's smug expression, as if he controlled other people's lives. So what if we get eaten? I... I... I'm still really scared! I tried hard to stand up straight, but my knees trembled uncontrollably. It took a lot of effort to barely stand.

"Flame, I beg you to let her go, for the sake of our past love!" My cousin gritted her teeth and uttered those words.

Like a thunderclap in a clear sky, it suddenly dawned on me! No wonder this man looked familiar; he was my cousin's boyfriend in the photo. My cousin's boyfriend... wasn't human?

"In love?" Yan Ju laughed loudly. "I only approached you for fun. I never expected you to be a member of the Luo family. Heaven has really been kind to me."

"How could you do this!" I shouted angrily, but my cousin just pursed her lips, seemingly lost in thought.

"In the end, the surname Luo is just a burden." For some reason, my father's words suddenly echoed in my ears. I pondered them, and it seemed that I understood a little bit at that moment.

"Don't leave my side," Luo Lin suddenly whispered, stepping forward to stand between us and Yan Hun.

"Hey, I have absolutely nothing to do with those two, can you let me go?" I heard Luo Lin shout unbelievable words. This person was utterly despicable! I clenched my fists inwardly. This cowardly scoundrel!

"Humans are so selfish~" Flamehurr revealed an amused smile. "Alright, but... I'll have to wait until I eat you!"

Even now, thinking back on it, I still feel scared. In just a moment, the Flame Hurricane transformed into a fiery beast and attacked us, but Luo Lin seemed frozen in fear, neither dodging nor avoiding it. It wasn't until its sharp fangs were pressed against his neck that he began to react slightly.

"Oh, it's just a Flame Weasel. How boring!"

I clearly heard Luo Lin speak so casually, yet with a hint of disappointment in his voice. I recognized that voice; it was once the voice of another person inside Luo Lin!

Before anyone could react, a beam of azure light suddenly burst forth from Luo Lin's body. It was an enormous dragon that bit Yan Hun's neck and snapped it in two or three strokes. Then it swallowed Yan Hun whole, devouring him in no time. After patting its belly, it burrowed back into Luo Lin's body.

Then, the sky cleared, and everything came to an end.

****

"Alright, alright, that's enough to leave here." Aunt Luo said, wiping her eyes with her hand. "After this farewell, who knows when we'll meet again."

"Come visit often when you have time," my aunt and uncle said, wiping away tears.

Honestly, it's just that we live in different cities, it's not like we'll never see each other again in our lives, why be so sad? I couldn't help but think.

After that day, my cousin returned to her previous self, as if nothing had happened. However, she had added another treasure to her box: a silver totem ring.

“This is a ring I gave him back then,” my cousin told me. “It’s a pair, one engraved with flame and the other with noon.”

I know that my cousin was born around noon, so her nickname was Xiao Wu (Little Noon). The words "For Xiao Wu" are clearly written on the photo of me and my uncle's family.

"Hey, Luo Lin, can I come see you again?" I suddenly thought of something and asked the boy in front of me.

He frowned, scrutinized me for a long time, and finally replied, "It's best not to come if you can avoid it."

Why 1

"Because you're really good at causing trouble."

“You…” I sighed, but then I felt like laughing. As I thought about it, I actually laughed out loud, which made everyone stop being sad about parting and look at me strangely. But then they started laughing too.

"There will always be a chance to meet again." Aunt Luo smiled slightly, took my hand and said, "Go back and tell your parents that the Luo family's door is always open for them, and the old man is always there for them to come back."

"Huh?" I answered dumbly, watching them board the boat and drift further and further away from the shore...

"A man who looks exactly like me seems like a good choice!" I suddenly thought.

"...Ugh, what did I say?!"

Luo Lin, who was some distance away, suddenly sneezed, sniffed, and sat down.

"That girl named Qin is like a monster," he thought. "She actually judges people by their appearance from the very beginning based on their scent."

"Of course, who told her to be He Qiu's daughter?" someone in his mind said sarcastically. "I think she just thinks you look exactly like her!"

"How many times have I told you, don't just talk in my head!"

"Well, I've fulfilled your request," he said, lying on the tree trunk with one leg swinging casually, a ball of blue flame swirling in his palm as if it understood him.

"However, you didn't tell me beforehand that I would run into that guy Liao, even though you knew he was my enemy!"

The blue flames trembled, as if feeling guilty.

He squinted, sighed, and sat up cross-legged: "Forget it, you're already dead anyway, so I have nothing to pursue. Honestly, you were clearly a demon, yet you fell in love with a human... You can leave in peace now. She already believes you were only with her to steal her power, so she'll never think of you again. She might even hate you to the core."

The blue flame flickered, seemingly in sorrow. It slowly spun a few times in his palm before finally flying into the air and disappearing into the distance.

"Tch, you orchestrated it all yourself. You were the one who drove her away, and you were the one who lied to her..." He lay back down, chewing on a leaf, lazily gazing at the sky. Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the leaves, gilding his dark blue hair with a golden hue.

"Mom, look, there's a big brother over there!" A little child walked by, pointing at him and shouting.

"Stop fooling around, where did you come from, you little kid!" The adult beside him scolded and led the child away.

He rolled over, deciding to take another nap. He had used so much strength this time that even he felt a little tired.

"I'll probably never understand humans..." he muttered, yawning as he drifted off to sleep.

Other short and medium-length stories (Part Two)

Lotus under the moon

Forgive me, I didn't have time to write anything new one night and started uploading old works again...

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(I) Night Moon

I woke up with a start.

My face and brow were covered in cold sweat, my pajamas clinging stickily to my body. All around was utter silence; not even the chirping of insects could be heard—on this sweltering summer night, only the monotonous tapping of the bamboo hoe in the front yard echoed rhythmically through the old, empty ancestral home, one tap after another, the sound unusually loud. I couldn't remember what I had dreamt, but the immense fear still weighed heavily on my heart, leaving me utterly bewildered upon waking.

At 1:30 a.m., I stared blankly at the lotus pond in front of the house. The clouds drifted slowly away, and a crescent moon slowly peeked out from the deep blue sky. The outlines that were originally shrouded in darkness, whether blurry or grotesque, suddenly became soft in the moonlight. At this moment, this huge ancestral house seemed like a dream, ethereal and hazy.

This lotus pond in the backyard is my favorite place. When I was five years old, I was so captivated by the fragrance of lotus seeds that I almost drowned in the lotus pond in the Western Hills. I was rescued covered in mud, still clutching an unopened bud in my hand. After returning home, I had a high fever for seven days and seven nights. My grandfather, who was almost driven mad with worry, heard me muttering the word "lotus" while I was unconscious. In desperation, he ordered hundreds of workers to open this lotus pond for me overnight, and all the lotuses from the Western Hills were moved there that night. Afterwards, as if by miracle, all the lotuses bloomed overnight, and my high fever subsided without warning amidst the fragrant aroma.

My grandfather passed away five years ago, and the old and large family system disintegrated with the departure of the last patriarch. My return to my hometown this time is to complete the procedures for selling the ancestral house—the government has acquired a large area of land nearby, supposedly to build a large amusement park or something else; soon, this lotus pond, this old house, and even the West Mountain, the field ridges, and so on that hold many of my memories, along with the fragrance of lotus flowers, will all disappear.

I let out a long sigh, only then remembering to wipe the cold sweat from my forehead. My eyes, however, were involuntarily drawn to something—a vibrant red had appeared by the lotus pond in the moonlight. I squinted, carefully trying to discern what shouldn't be there in my memory. Was it… a person? I gasped. The servants had long since been dismissed, and there should be no one else in this ancestral house besides me. So, who was that figure in the bright red dress with white lotus patterns?

Two chilling words suddenly flashed into my mind – “ghost”!

I swallowed hard and, with the greatest courage a lone woman could muster in this situation, called out, "Who is it?" Hearing my cry, the figure that had been standing opposite the lotus pond moved step by step towards the courtyard wall. Just as he was about to disappear into its shadow, he suddenly stopped and slowly turned to face me. In that instant, I felt as if I'd been struck by lightning! That face—I wouldn't mistake it, even though it had changed—it was unmistakably my cousin, Wensu, who had gone missing when I was five.

Wen Su?! An even greater shock, like a raging torrent, overwhelmed me! Why is it that for the past ten years, I have no memory of this person at all, as if he had never existed in this world?

My cousin Wensu, my childhood playmate, had a handsome face just as everyone had hoped for him when we were young. He was tall and slender, clearly the appearance of a seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy. Wait a minute! If I remember correctly, my cousin Wensu should be three years older than me. I'm already twenty-five this year, so why does my cousin Wensu look so much younger than me? And why, all these years, not only have others never mentioned him, but even my uncle and aunt have remained calm, as if this son never existed? A thousand thoughts raced through my mind in an instant, while he stood quietly in the moonlight, silently watching me.

"We agreed to meet at the lotus pond in Xishan~" A child's innocent voice echoed in my mind, and I shuddered! I was five years old when Wensu disappeared; at five, I fell into the lotus pond in Xishan and nearly died. Some images flashed through my mind, as if touching some memories, but they were too fast for me to grasp. I clutched my head in pain, because it began to throb and grew stronger. I tried to endure the pain and rushed barefoot outside to grab Wensu, but suddenly my foot slipped, and I fell heavily!

I jumped up abruptly, beads of sweat forming on my forehead. My pajamas were completely soaked, clinging damply to my body. Was it a dream? Was it reality? My mind was blank. The cold touch of my hand reminded me of my watch. In the unusually bright moonlight, I checked the time: 1:30 AM!

It's 1:30 AM again! The lotus flowers in the backyard are in full bloom, making it hard to believe that the lotus pond has been neglected for so long. Cicadas chirp and frogs croak, creating a peaceful scene. It was just a dream. Even knowing this, I couldn't help but look across the lotus pond. Nothing there, as expected, but still somewhat disappointing.

However, everything about Wensu began to slowly thaw in the icebox of my memory. Wensu's existence was definitely not a dream, I firmly believed it! Even though he disappeared inexplicably and completely, I still believed that there must be someone in this world who, like me, witnessed his existence. I got up and put on my clothes; I couldn't sleep tonight no matter what. The moment I stepped out the door, something slipped from inside my pajamas—a bright red belt with white lotus patterns.

(ii) Showers

I walked slowly along the ridge of the field. The midday sun generously radiated its heat, cicadas chirped noisily, and the moisture in the air evaporated, creating a distorted and surreal vision before my eyes.

My hometown is located in the countryside of eastern Zhejiang. It is neither as beautiful as the mountains and rivers of western Zhejiang nor as rich in talent as the neighboring Yuyao. The almost isolated geographical environment has led to economic backwardness, but it has also preserved the traces of the old agricultural society. That leisurely and traditional lifestyle is nothing short of a dream for me, who has long been numbed by the cold air and fast pace of urban life. Ironically, I am doing something that will end this way of life.

I looked at the documents in my hands—the termination certificates for the leased land I had just received from the tenants. Since my parents had lived abroad for many years, as the eldest granddaughter, I had to shoulder the heavy responsibility of persuading the farmers to relinquish their land. I had initially worried about encountering unpleasant hospitality, but to my surprise, my grandfather had maintained the family's reputation and social standing so well that everyone treated me, the last daughter of a landlord family, with utmost deference. However, the once-great family had dwindled to almost nothing by my generation; even the ancestral home and land would be sold off, a situation tinged with a sense of melancholy.

"You...you're not from Master Yan's family..." A frail, trembling voice reached my ears. As if appearing out of thin air, a petite old woman stood before me, smiling and bowing respectfully.

I quickly returned the greeting, sized her up, and tried to recall her identity from my hazy memory.

She wore an old-fashioned gray-blue diagonally-buttoned blouse, her sparse, graying short hair neatly tucked behind her ears, and her wrinkled face exuded a dignified air. She must have received a good upbringing in her youth, but the look in her eyes as she stared at me sent a chill down my spine, even though I was basking in the midday sun.

"Don't you remember the Kim family?" Seeing my stunned look, she grabbed my wrist and said urgently, then suddenly pulled her hand back as if realizing her rudeness.

Jin Jiu's family... I tried hard to recall my impression of this person. After I was seven years old, I moved to the provincial capital with my parents and never came back. Even when my grandfather passed away, I only stayed at the old house for a few days. To say that I didn't remember him was an understatement; it was more like I had no impression of him at all.

"Is...is that so? You can't remember?" The light in her eyes dimmed instantly, and her aged face twisted into a sorrowful expression that was unbearable to look at.

"Oh...it's Grandma Jin..." I couldn't bear to see her upset, so I just gave a perfunctory reply, "Of course I remember, you always took care of me when I was little!"

Perhaps my comforting words had an effect, because hope rekindled in her eyes. But I didn't expect that this time she would grab my wrist so tightly that I instinctively gasped.

"Is that so! Of course!" She didn't loosen her grip on my thin, withered hand, as if afraid I would run away. Then she covered her mouth with her other hand and chuckled. "You were so mischievous when you were little! What did people say back then?" she thought hard. "Right, people said that you, Young Master Wensu, weren't a reincarnation of a celestial dog, given how mischievous you were!"

I was just giving perfunctory replies with a smile when I heard the words "Wensu," and I was suddenly startled: "Grandma Jin, you remember Wensu?"

Hearing this question, Grandma Jin laughed strangely: "What are you saying? It's been so many years, how come you're still so naughty! Don't think that Grandma can't remember just because she's old. Isn't Wensu your name, young master? I still remember very well what you like to eat and what you like to play. I also remember that you used to love going to the lotus pond in Xishan."

I shook my head helplessly and leaned closer to her: "Grandma Jingjiu, please look carefully. I am Zhu, Wensu is my cousin, and I am a woman."

"Nonsense!" Grandma Jingjiu seemed a little angry. She released my hand and looked me up and down seriously. "When I was young, I was known for my excellent memory. Let alone who belongs to whom, to be frank, I wouldn't even mistake which dog belongs to which family. Besides, I served the previous master for over thirty years. Which member of the master's family do I not know? In your generation, only your father, Young Master Shi, had an only son. Your uncle, Young Master Jin, never had any children. As for Miss Chun, she had a daughter named Yuan Dan. Don't think that just because I left the Yan family to help my sister raise her children when you were four, I know everything about the master's family. There has never been a Miss Zhu in our family. Besides, your face..."

She abruptly stopped speaking, looking at me with confusion and bewilderment in her eyes: "Didn't you ask about Young Master Su? This face, at first glance, is indeed correct, but how come..." She muttered softly, more to herself than to me.

"Mom, what are you doing?" A slightly gruff voice interrupted Grandma Jin. The burly middle-aged man who cut between us was none other than the tenant farmer, Jin Jianhua. He bowed deeply to me: "I'm so sorry, Miss Zhu, my mother has caused you trouble! She just came back from outside earlier. She's old and her mind isn't clear. Please don't take any rude things she said to heart." Without waiting for me to speak, he dragged the still-grumbling Grandma Jin away.

I stood there dumbfounded, the words Grandma Jin had said echoing in my mind.

"Isn't Wensu your name, young master?"

No, Wensu is my cousin's name!

"I still remember how much you loved to play at the lotus pond in the Western Hills back then!"

Wen Su got lost in Liantang!

"Our family doesn't have a Miss Nagisa."

But I am Nagisa!!!

The sun had been obscured by dark clouds sometime during the night. The sky, which had been dazzlingly bright just moments before, had turned terrifyingly dark in the blink of an eye. The wind was blowing fiercely, and it seemed even more unrestrained in this open field. I was completely unaware of the pebbles and dust whipped up by the wind hitting my face.

Am I Wen Su? There is no such person as Zhu? Did Grandma Jin remember wrong, or did Grandpa hide something from me? What exactly happened to Lianchi when she was five years old? All sorts of images spun and flew rapidly in my mind, from slow to fast, and finally transformed into a light and shadow-like existence, making a creaking sound and sparking in my mind.

The rain began to fall, a deluge like a white curtain hanging from the sky to the plains. Thunder roared, and lightning flashed, clenching its teeth as it clenched the thick black curtain. Yet I could hear nothing, see nothing. My vision was shrouded in darkness, a darkness deeper than the night itself. In that darkness, I saw a white dot, like a spotlight on a stage, pale and fixed there. In the center of this white spot was a figure with a vibrant red background and white lotus patterns. He turned to me, revealing a face exactly like mine…

(III) Japanese style