Cuentos extraños

Capítulo 10

On a clear, moonlit night, I would slip from the bottom of West Lake onto the shore. It was a completely different world, filled with elegant figures and tender, fragrant flowers.

Tea is abundant by the lake, and tea brewed with spring water from Hupao is fragrant and leaves a lingering aftertaste.

People know how to enjoy life and make the most of it.

Sometimes, I would hide on the rafters of a house in a red-light district and listen to singers perform a short story about Su Xiaoxiao. The singers were heartbroken, and the listeners were captivated. Women have always been the same.

Or perhaps you'll see the bodies of a client and a prostitute entangled, and you can't help but think of him. The first time I saw him, he was entangled with a human woman.

---janeadam

Reply [20]: What exactly is he to me?

I eloped with him; I'm not his wife after all.

So am I the same as these prostitutes? Just doing it for my own livelihood?

Or go to a temple and listen to a passage of scripture. I am a dragon, one of the eight classes of celestial beings, all of whom are beings with great supernatural powers.

But the things in the scriptures suddenly left me bewildered. I was born to understand the scriptures, yet I was still lost in my own attachments.

Well then, everyone's life is but one lifetime. Humans' lives are shorter, dragons' are longer, but it's still just one lifetime. Perhaps humans are happier than dragons, because they don't have to endure such long and boring years. So let me be a human in my next life! Or let my soul simply disappear, no longer existing in this mortal world.

Liu Yi was rewarded for delivering the news, and his uncle gave him a lot of gold and silver, making him an instant millionaire. He then stopped returning to Huzhou and built a hut by West Lake to live in.

I quietly observed him; he was also a man with whom I had a predestined connection.

Some matchmakers began sending birthday wishes to unmarried women, but he ignored them all. I knew he had failed the imperial examination and had given up on the pursuit of officialdom. He spent his days reading and boating on the lake, living a carefree life.

One day, as I emerged from the lake, I clearly saw a small boat not far away. Liu Yi was leaning against the boat, with three or four wine jars beside him. The aroma of wine wafted from afar; it was a liquid that we dragons didn't quite understand.

Drunk, I was unaware that the sky was reflected in the water; my boat was filled with dreams that pressed down on the Milky Way.

He was carefree, yet somewhat lonely.

We looked at each other, one on the boat and the other in the water. Luckily, he saw me; if it were anyone else, they probably would have screamed by now.

After a long while, they looked at each other and smiled. At this moment, what was manifesting in me was not myself, but the woman who had been dead for a long time, Princess Dongting.

Unfortunately, Princess Dongting is now me, and I am no longer the same person I used to be.

I boarded his boat, and he poured wine into a cup, which I picked up and drank in one gulp. The wine was intoxicating, fragrant, and delicious. He said, "Who exactly are you? Are you the Princess of Dongting? Or Naga?"

"It's all me, Princess Dongting is me, and Naga is still me." But I am Naga after all!

He said, “Come to my house! I’ve painted your portrait, so many that I can’t even remember how many I’ve done.”

I gently blew on the lake, and the small boat sped towards the shore like an arrow. He was a little drunk, and his hazy gaze kept lingering on me.

I drank alcohol again, a liquid I wasn't familiar with before, but I really enjoyed it.

The moonlight was so bright that even without candles, it was a blinding white. Yet he lit a lamp, the gauze of which was painted with a woman—the Princess of Dongting, or perhaps it was me.

Then he took out many scrolls, unrolling them one by one. The figures in the paintings were either happy or angry, sitting or standing, dressed in white, black, red, or colorful clothes, some among flowers, some under trees. There were also a few on boats, with portraits drifting on the river, their desolation vividly conveyed on the paper.

He missed her more than she missed him.

There was wine under the table. He drank, and I drank too. We got drunk and lay down on the bed together. I closed my eyes but unexpectedly saw Jingyangzi's eyes. My heart felt like it was being pierced by sharp needles, a spasmodic pain that made cold sweat pour down my forehead.

Liu Yi put his arm around me and asked in a low voice, "Are you trembling?"

"Right! Maybe the wine was too cold."

---janeadam

Reply [21]: He hugged me tightly, as if he wanted to crush me. I buried my face in his chest, there was a strange smell, I didn't dare to look at his face, a strange yet familiar face, a strange situation.

The lamp suddenly rolled to the ground, and the lamp gauze was ignited by the flames. The woman's face was slowly engulfed by the flames. It was my face, yet it wasn't mine.

Neither of us moved, silently watching the woman disappear into the flames. He said, "Marry me!"

"What?"

"Marry me! I should have said that a long time ago."

I pushed him away. No way, how could I marry an ordinary person?

I ran towards the house, his voice calling after me, but I ignored it and ran as fast as I could to the lake. The lake water shimmered with a pale purple light. I looked up and saw a wisp of cloud drift across the moon. It was him. I sensed a murderous intent emanating from him.

The water rippled slightly, and he stood before me. I noticed that his face was even more haggard and pale; his days on the run must have been difficult.

The thought made me chuckle, and I said, "How did you know I was here?"

He said calmly, "You've forgotten that the female sword is on you, and the male sword is in my hand. I can always find you."

"You want to kill me?"

"No, I don't want to kill you right now."

"When will you kill me?"

"I haven't made a decision yet, but I have to make sure you suffer the same fate as me, with your family destroyed."

"This is all your own doing, you deserve it."

His hand gripped my neck, and I heard him say, word by word, "Vile woman."

I couldn't help but giggle again. "I'm going to marry an ordinary man. Do you remember Liu Yi, the messenger? I'm going to marry him. I can elope with you, and I can definitely elope with someone else too."

He stared at me coldly. I noticed the purple tinge on his face, and my face must have been terribly pale. This was our true face. He was a purple dragon, and I was a white dragon. Even wearing a human skin mask, we couldn't hide our true nature.