Southern Red Beans

Chapter 1

Southern Red Beans

Reply [2]: How many people have seen those red beans that are as red as cinnabar and shaped like hearts?

Growing high on the tree, it falls to the ground when the autumn air is crisp and clear. After a long wait, it is finally picked up by a kind-hearted person, carefully washed clean, wrapped in a piece of silk, and presented to their beloved. Then, they watch with trepidation for the other's reaction, as if offering not just a tiny bean, but their own sincere and passionate heart. That tiny bean represents a heartfelt promise and a long-lasting longing.

I. Red beans represent my heart

"Let's break up," Cheng Zhiyun said calmly to Zhang Xuan. She tried to use a flat tone, hoping to minimize the hurt.

KFC was bright and clean, bustling with people and making a lot of noise. Zhang Xuan gestured to her, made a microphone with his hands around his mouth, and asked loudly, "What did you say? I can't hear you."

Cheng Zhiyun shook her head, indicating that she didn't say anything. Why? It's always the same.

Zhang Xuan took her hand and led her out of the store. "Where should we go? How about Baina? They have a new game there, and I heard it's really fun. I'll teach you once I know it." Baina was his favorite computer store; getting there from here required two bus transfers. Cheng Zhiyun didn't say anything. She never said that she didn't really want to go.

They stood at the crowded bus stop, the southern sun beating down on them intensely. Cheng Yunzhi, as usual, stood behind Zhang Xuan. He was a native southerner, dark-skinned, cheerful, and always full of energy. He loved to play and knew how to have fun; even as a graduate student, he was still hopelessly addicted to those damned computer games. He was always a fan of Nice bags and Adidas shoes. As for herself, it was obvious she wasn't from the south; her fair skin never tanned, and in her G2000 business suit, everyone knew she was a white-collar professional. Student and office worker, Zhang Xuan always seemed like a child who never grew up, while she was aging rapidly. Only half a year had passed, and she had changed so much. People used to laugh at them for being a "black and white couple," and she didn't care, but now it felt very awkward.

Zhang Xuan suddenly asked, "Why haven't I seen you wearing that chain lately?"

Cheng Zhiyun was momentarily speechless, and could only manage a weak reply: "I left it in my office." She reached into her pocket; it was there. The bracelet, strung with twenty-four bright red beans, was a birthday gift from Zhang Xuan for her twenty-fourth birthday.

Zhang Xuan said there was a tree in his hometown that, in autumn, would drop many red beans from its pods—these were love beans. Zhiyun said she had never seen them before, so he specially went home to find them and strung them into a bracelet with a small awl and silk thread for her. At that time, she was incredibly touched and wore it everywhere. But now she doesn't wear it anymore, because whenever her colleagues in the office look at her peculiar bracelet with a smile, she notices that they are all wearing sparkly diamond jewelry.

"Oh," Zhang Xuan replied casually. "The bus is here, hurry up and get on." He reached out to pull her. Many people wanted to catch that bus, and Zhang Xuan finally squeezed to the front thanks to his burly figure. Just as he was about to get on, he suddenly realized that Zhiyun's hand had let go.

"Why are you letting go? Come on, I'll pull you up."

"I'm not going." She stood there, staring blankly at him, her eyes filled with tears. "My wallet was stolen."

After calling the police and explaining the situation, the officers left. The two remained standing on the bustling street, at a loss.

"If I had hit you earlier, this wouldn't have happened," she said, feeling wronged.

"Who knows? Taking a taxi is too expensive."

Cheng Zhiyun's emotions finally erupted. The volcano of pent-up emotions could no longer be contained. She yelled at Zhang Xuan, "You're always like this! You never consider other people's feelings! Do you know how much I hate sweating buckets on the bus right now? And I've never liked playing video games, and I've always hated going to Baina, but you never ask me if I like it or not! Have you ever respected me? Have you ever asked for my opinion? Like at KFC just now, I actually prefer the Old Beijing style, but you ordered Mexican food according to your own idea. Have you ever thought that I have my own opinions? I'm not that clueless country bumpkin anymore, you know that?" Her voice grew louder and louder. Under everyone's gaze, Zhang Xuan blushed and stood awkwardly to the side, at a loss for what to do.

"I'm sorry, Zhiyun, well... I'll take you home." He tried to take her hand, but she dodged it.

“Zhang Xuan…” she looked at him and said, word by word, “Let’s break up. I’m sorry, I don’t love you anymore.” With that, she took out the crimson chain from her pocket; its vibrant red remained unchanged. But love, in the face of cruel reality, had lost its rosy beauty and gradually revealed its hideous side.

Zhang Xuan was stunned. He looked at the beans in his palm, as if they were pieces of his own heart that had been torn apart.

The two remained silent, wanting to say so much, yet feeling so powerless that they could not utter another word.

Cheng Zhiyun finally broke the silence, "You...you're a very good guy, and a graduate student too. In the future, there will definitely be many great female students pursuing you...I...I...I'm leaving."

She turned and walked into the crowd, Zhang Xuan followed closely behind, earnestly saying, "Zhiyun, don't go."

Cheng Zhiyun silently pushed his hand away. She didn't know why she could suddenly become so cold. At this moment, she felt that Zhang Xuan was too immature. Since there was no hope, why beg? A lover who has changed their heart is the most unfamiliar stranger in the world. No matter how much you beg, they will not come back to your side.

Zhang Xuan grabbed her hand again, eager to put the bracelet back on her wrist. "Zhiyun, is it over just like that? Four years..." Cheng Zhiyun flipped her hand, took off the bracelet, and put it in his hand, answering, "Yes, it's over. Four years."

Zhang Xuan was unwilling to give up. So the two of them lingered on the side of the road for a long time, one putting on the beads and the other taking them off. Finally, Cheng Zhiyun lost her patience, tore them apart with both hands, and with a whoosh, the beads fell to the ground, rolling everywhere. Finally, they had a complete break.

Zhang Xuan fell silent. Cheng Zhiyun had never seen him look at her like that before.

So, feeling somewhat ashamed, she lowered her head and left without looking back.

She didn't turn around to look at him even once. If she had, perhaps she would have saved Zhang Xuan's life or seen him one last time.

Zhang Xuan bent over, frantically searching for the red beans he had left on the ground. They weren't valuable, but with people coming and going, they could easily be kicked and landed somewhere. He finally found twenty-three, leaving only one.

He thought with frustration, "Perhaps this is fate?"

No, to his surprise, the last one landed on the yellow line in the middle of the road. He carefully walked over, about to pick it up, when a huge container truck roared in and took him to another world.

In his hand, he still tightly clutched the twenty-three red beans, as red as cinnabar and shaped like hearts. A relieved smile still lingered on his twenty-four-year-old face. Death, so swift yet so merciful, had gently taken him away.

Magpie Bridge Fairy

Reply [3]: II. You will not have a good outcome.

The MBA classroom at G University was still quite empty, perhaps because it was still early. Cheng Zhiyun felt extremely tired. She hadn't had a good night's sleep for days. Every time she closed her eyes, she would think of that expanse of white, snow-white, the most despairing white, the white that represented the end of life. Zhang Xuan's cold, snow-white face, the snow-white sheets on Zhang Xuan's body, Zhang Xuan's relieved smile.

She could almost hear Zhang Xuan calling her name, "Zhiyun, don't go... don't go..." If she hadn't left then, or even just turned back to look at him, perhaps he wouldn't have died. But she didn't, and everything was beyond redemption.

Time flies like an arrow. Cheng Zhiyun tried to remain indifferent so she could concentrate on the lesson.

A woman walked into the classroom and waved to Cheng Zhiyun, calling out, "Cheng Zhiyun! You're here early today!" She then sat down next to Cheng Zhiyun. Cheng Zhiyun smiled faintly and said, "Just arrived. Jiongying, you're here early too."

Jiong Ying smiled and replied with emotion: "For someone who has too much time and only uses their years to kill time, only by constantly learning many things can they avoid feeling the pain of waiting."

"Waiting? Who are you waiting for?"

Jiongying's eyes suddenly became empty, her expression infinitely desolate, as if she were looking at a very, very far place, with a hint of despair and a glimmer of hope. This expression flashed by, and then she smiled again and said, "Now I'm waiting for the professor to come."

The two looked at each other and smiled. Jiongying put down her large schoolbag and said mysteriously to Zhiyun, "I brought a little thing with me today because it said it also wanted to attend the class." After saying that, she untied her schoolbag, and a fat, black cat actually crawled out.

"Oh, what an adorable kitten! What's its name?"

“Call it Blackie. Hey, have some manners, okay? Call me 'older sister'!” Jiongying said the last sentence to the black cat, her expression serious, not at all like she was joking. Cheng Zhiyun was about to laugh when, to her surprise, the black cat actually gave her a soft "meow~".

"Ah, it can actually understand?" Zhiyun exclaimed in surprise.

"It not only understands, it even calls you 'beautiful lady.' This lecherous cat was female in its past life, but it was reincarnated as male in this life, and it goes berserk whenever it sees a beautiful woman!" Jiongying said with dissatisfaction.

Yes, this is the black cat from "Cat Charm," who has experienced a century of vicissitudes and been reincarnated as a cat. It is now with its new owner, Jiongying, starting a new life—no, a cat life. This Ms. Jiongying is the same savage beauty who drove away the original owner of 501—the pitiful Shu Yan.

The black cat obediently let Zhiyun hold it in her arms, and even rubbed against her everywhere. What can you do? It's a cat, after all. Cats get beautiful women throwing themselves at them, and cats get to rub against beautiful women's arms. If you're jealous, may you be reborn as a lecherous cat in your next life!

Jiongying couldn't stand it anymore, so she grabbed the cat and threw it into the table. The cat let out a muffled groan inside, as if it were crying.

"That's interesting. Aren't you afraid the professor will find out?"

"If it meows, I won't feed it cat food. Let it fend for itself. Let me tell you, it doesn't know how to catch mice!"

"Really?" Cheng Zhiyun couldn't help but burst into laughter. This was the first time in so many days that she had laughed so happily.

Many people had already arrived, and the professor, carrying his lecture notes, slowly entered. But the whispering in the classroom continued. "Do you believe in fate?" Jiongying suddenly asked.

Cheng Zhiyun seemed to hear the sound of her heart shattering, softly, in the very smallest crack, a sweet, metallic liquid lingering within her. "I didn't believe it before, but now I do. I only believed it six days ago."

Jiongying looked at her and said deeply, "You are very sad."

“Yes. Six days ago, my boyfriend of four years passed away, leaving this world forever. I had just broken up with him before that. He was walking in the middle of the road to pick up a love bean to return to me when he was hit by a car…” Cheng Zhiyun tried her best to continue, but tears had already blocked all her vision. She lowered her head and began to sob.

Jiongying patted her head, pulling it into her arms, comforting her like a loving mother soothing a wounded child. She sighed and said softly, "Life and death aren't truly separate. If fate allows, we'll meet again. I believe that." Suddenly, she noticed a red scar on Zhiyun's wrist, and startled, asked, "Zhiyun, how did you get that scar on your hand?"

Cheng Zhiyun replied sadly, "I didn't know about his accident. I thought since it was over, I would disconnect my old phone. It was my former classmates who found me by asking around. When I arrived at the hospital, he was already..." She began to recount that painful memory... When she arrived at the hospital, Zhang Xuan could no longer say to her, "Zhiyun, don't go."

She looked at him, unable to believe it. In just one day, the man who had begged her not to leave was dead? The weight of fate made it hard for her to breathe; she felt the world spinning around her.

Beside them stood a woman, utterly heartbroken. Zhang Xuan's mother, her hair now white, her body as thin as a bamboo pole, her eyes swollen from crying, could only make out blurry figures. She was unaware that her son had broken up with Zhiyun, and went over to hug Zhiyun, weeping uncontrollably. Zhiyun also wept bitterly. Zhang Xuan's younger siblings tried to comfort them. As everyone was weeping, suddenly an old woman appeared from the side, grabbing Cheng Zhiyun with her withered, iron-like hand, and said viciously, "Give me back my Xuan!"

Cheng Zhiyun was startled. She had never seen an old woman look at her with such fierce eyes, nor had she ever touched an old woman's hand that was so cold and strong. It was as if a sharp pair of pliers had gripped her tightly, and she felt as if she were being pressed down by some force, unable to move.

Magpie Bridge Fairy

Reply [4]: Zhang's younger siblings quickly said to the old woman, "This is Brother Xuan's girlfriend, Grandma!"

Cheng Zhiyun remembered Zhang Xuan saying that because he was the eldest son in their family, and his parents wanted to have more children than allowed, they sent him to live with a distant relative, lying to everyone that he was their nephew. That distant relative was an elder of her mother's, called Grandma. Zhang Xuan lived with Grandma from a young age and was well taken care of by her. Later, his parents took him back, but he still went back to see her once a year.

But the old woman showed no sign of letting go; instead, she tightened her grip and sneered, "I know she's Cheng Zhiyun. Ah Xuan was a kind-hearted boy, but he was just unlucky to have met a vixen like you! You're the one who killed him, do you think I don't know?"

Cheng Zhiyun was utterly devastated, losing all strength and swaying precariously. She stared in horror at the old woman. How did she know? What did she want? For a moment, she thought she was going to be killed.

At this moment, Zhang's mother said to the old woman with tears in her eyes, "Old woman, don't say such things. Zhiyun is a good girl, how could she kill Ah Xuan? Please let her go."

The old woman finally let go, still glaring hatefully at Zhiyun, and muttered to herself, "None of you know, only I know how Ah Xuan died!" She opened her other hand, and in her palm was a red love bean, as red as cinnabar and shaped like a heart!

"You...you...what do you want?" Cheng Zhiyun asked in shock, pitifully and with difficulty.

A sinister smile slowly spread across the aged face, and the old woman coldly whispered a curse in her ear: "You harmed Ah Xuan, I won't let you get away with this. Just you wait, just you wait... You wait for him to come and demand revenge... You wait for him to rip your heart out... You won't have a good ending!"

Cheng Zhiyun fainted on the spot. When she woke up, she found a red scar on her wrist. It didn't hurt at all, but no matter what she did, it wouldn't go away, as if it were a ghost attached to her body.

III. The Seventh Night

Amidst the warm, hazy mist, stood a graceful figure. Her skin was as white as snow, smooth as satin, as if a gentle touch would shatter it like early spring snow.

Cheng Zhiyun closed her eyes in the misty steam. She wanted to forget everything.

The bathroom door was silently pushed open. A wisp of cold wind crept in from outside. She suddenly felt a chill on her arm and realized the door was open.

"Who?" she asked. No one answered. Hesitantly, she finally got out of the bathtub, grabbed her bathrobe, tied her hair up, and cautiously walked towards the door. Suddenly, a red blob flew into her arms. She immediately screamed in fright.

"You scared me to death! I can't handle being scared! Please don't do that again next time."

Zhou Tao smiled and shook the bouquet of fiery red roses, "I wanted to give you a surprise."

Cheng Zhiyun took the flowers and carefully placed them in a vase. "Don't you have to work overtime today?"

Zhou Tao wrapped his arms around her slender waist and whispered in her ear, "I missed you..." They quickly freed themselves, and the room temperature instantly rose. The woman murmured in his arms like a fledgling, "I'm scared..." "Scared of what? I'll protect you!" the man said firmly... In the heat of passion, the bright red line on Cheng Zhiyun's arm, like a living snake, meandered slowly from her pulse to her forearm, getting closer and closer to her heart... At this very moment, in room 501, a person and a cat were idly sitting there. Blackie nonchalantly wiggled its paws, changing TV channels. Jiongying lay lazily on the bed reading. This whole family had bad habits! In this family, the one who loved watching TV was the cat, and the cat didn't have to worry about getting nearsighted while watching TV—it was so unfair.

"Master, why didn't you help your classmate break the curse today?" the cat asked.

Jiongying hummed in agreement and continued flipping through the book. "Do you think she'll be in danger?" Heimi pressed on. Jiongying turned another page. Heimi, still oblivious, asked, "Are you really not going to help her?"

With a snap, Jiongying closed the book and asked indifferently, "Why should I help her? Why should I break the curse for her? I'm not a god, how can I meddle in so many human affairs?"

Blackie panicked: "She's your classmate!"

"Blackie~ Did you take advantage of me today and now you want to be a hero and save the beauty?" Jiongying asked with a sly smile. The black cat actually blushed, "I... no, just a little! Meow~" Magpie Bridge Fairy replied [5]: Jiongying shook her head, "If you're so capable, go and save her yourself. You have a hundred years of cultivation. If you can't be a hero, you probably won't crawl back like a bear."

Bu Heimi cried out anxiously, "If I were capable, I would have gone long ago!"

Jiongying nodded: "Okay, you said it yourself, so don't go back on your word if I ask you to do something in the future."

Hei Mi felt as if she had stepped into a dangerous trap, a trap that was unfathomable, just like the woman's eyes in front of her, which held an unfathomable darkness.

But it nodded without hesitation.

Jiongying gazed at the bright, clear moon outside the window and murmured, "It'll be soon, it'll be soon..." Just then, the phone rang.

"Jiong Ying, save me, save me, help me..." Cheng Zhiyun cried out in panic and helplessness on the other end of the line. After her cry, the phone suddenly went dead.

Jiongying and Heimi exchanged a glance. "Go get my car keys." A minute later, the black cat brought back a bunch of keys. Jiongying was already dressed, wearing a floral one-shoulder vest from CHRISTIAN LACROIX over a KLOVA work jacket. Her speed in changing clothes was the fastest among beauties.

Fifteen minutes later, they arrived at the villa district of G City. The entire district was quiet; although there were lights, they were sparse, making many buildings appear particularly eerie in the dark night.

"How did you know she lives here?" Blackie squatted on the passenger seat, looking around. Jiongying didn't answer, then suddenly swerved the steering wheel, almost throwing Blackie off. "What's wrong?" it asked in surprise.

"We've arrived," Jiongying replied calmly.

A person and a cat got out of the car. Ahead stood a two-story villa with its lights on. For some reason, a faint red mist seemed to shroud the house, making everything inside seem unreal. A faint weeping sound drifted in the wind, like singing, seemingly from an old woman. She was singing haltingly, half-crying, half-singing, "Moonlight, shining on the ground, every ten nights, picking betel nuts..." It was a Cantonese nursery rhyme, "Moonlight." This song was originally meant to lull children to sleep, but now it sounded like endless sorrow and desolation, even a hint of resentment. The pale moonlight shone directly into the house. Everything seemed eerily mysterious.

"Snap!" A strange sound broke the atmosphere. Blackie suddenly heard the sound nearby and instinctively bent its claws out. The incredibly sharp claws reflected a cold light in the darkness.