Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
With blood as water and flesh as fertilizer, one can naturally cultivate the most beautiful flowers in this world.
In Red Sleeve Villa, Jin Luo stood quietly in the wind and snow, draped in a white satin shawl. Before her was a cluster of blooming peonies, vibrant in red and green, soft pink and pale purple, yet there were no pure white ones.
A tear slowly slid down her cheek as Jin Luo gently adjusted her shawl, crying softly.
"I'm sorry, I have poured all my effort into this, yet I still couldn't make it bloom white," Rui Tong leaned against the door railing, her silver hair obscuring her face.
"Fool, you are such a fool," Jin Luo repeated, crying even louder.
"Yes, I am a fool. If it weren't for my foolishness, your illness would have been cured long ago," Rui Tong lowered her head, filled with guilt.
When she first met her, she was still the carefree sister of the Xu Family, dressed in light pink clothes with adorable horned braids. She would either circle around the tree trunk or tell stories in a childish voice. Over time, she became accustomed to her presence, and she too grew used to her companionship. When the tragedy struck the Xu Family, she had just completed a hundred years of cultivation and could barely take human form. She saw her parents unharmed and witnessed her being chased, saw the fear on her face as she hid behind her; her heart softened and ached. Forgetting her identity as a demon, she hid her away.
Later on, she changed her name to Jin Luo and became the most popular girl in Red Sleeve Villa, while she became Jin Luo's most devoted maid and acquired her own name—Rui Tong.
No one knew that Jin Luo's initial cough was merely ordinary; it was she who acted on her own accord, foolishly trying to use demonic energy to cure her illness but ended up harming her instead.
As time passed, others only saw how loyal Rui Tong was but did not notice the heavy burden of guilt she carried within.
Rui Tong initially thought that as long as she cared for Jin Luo wholeheartedly, she would recover. But now she no longer dared to think that way. With both body and spirit extinguished, Rui Tong was not afraid; what frightened her was that no one would look after Jin Luo from then on.
Jin Luo continued to cry, her frail shoulders trembling as tears flowed from between her fingers and fell into the dirt. Rui Tong felt heartbroken; she stood up but stumbled heavily back down.
"Rui Tong!"
Hearing the sound, Jin Luo quickly got up and ran over.
"No! Sister, don't!"
Rui Tong turned her face away, using her thin, bony hand to pull strands of Silver Hair to cover her face.
"Why? Why won't you let me see?" Jin Luo bit her lip lightly. "You are my Rui Tong, no matter how you change, you will always be my Rui Tong."
"Rui Tong is ugly, afraid of scaring sister." Rui Tong lowered herself, burying her face in the ground.
"Really won't let me see?" Jin Luo asked, each word deliberate.
Rui Tong peeked through the gaps between her fingers and saw Jin Luo take a Vermilion Hairpin from her head, the end of the hairpin pointing towards her face.
"Sister, what are you doing?" Rui Tong panicked and reached out. Jin Luo smiled slightly, releasing the Vermilion Hairpin and using it to brush aside the white hair in front of Rui Tong's face.
"Ah!" Jin Luo exclaimed, leaning back and falling to the ground. Rui Tong saw herself in Jin Luo's eyes—a face marked with deep lines like old tree bark.
"I'm sorry, sister!"
She regretfully got up and stepped back, disappearing into a wisp of blue smoke under Jin Luo's gaze filled with lingering fear.
"Rui... Tong!" Jin Luo instinctively reached out to grab her, but the blue smoke slipped around her fingers and vanished.
She was originally a Wutong Tree, without gender distinction, but for Jin Luo, she chose to become a maid.
"If there is a next life, what would you like to be?"
That year, Jin Luo was thirteen years old and took the stage for the first time.
"If there is a next life, what would you like to be?"
"A simple person, and then find another simple person to live a simple life together."
At the age of thirteen, Jin Luo, residing in Red Sleeve Villa, already felt the weight of the world.
"You still haven't answered me. If there is a next life, what does Rui Tong want to be?"
"In this life, Rui Tong is your maid. In the next life... if you want to be a simple person, then Rui Tong will be another simple person and accompany you for a lifetime."
Jin Luo smiled; she thought Rui Tong was silly, unaware that Rui Tong was a spirit transformed from the Wutong Tree, and spirits do not have gender distinctions.
No one knew where Rui Tong went. They only knew that after a heavy snowfall, the red peony in the courtyard seemed to have been dyed by the snow and turned white. The new maid helped collect the pollen and sent it to Xing Ruyi, then returned to Red Sleeve Villa with the prepared Cold Fragrance Pill.
In spring, Jin Luo's cough finally healed. She sat by the window, gazing down at the peonies in the courtyard. The flowers had withered, and there were signs of wanting to fade away.
"Jin Gu Gu, do we still need those flowers in the courtyard?"
"No more. Tell someone to dig them up and throw them outside." Jin Luo averted her gaze; no one noticed her eyes were moist.
The withered peonies were thrown out of Red Sleeve Villa but were picked up one by one by Xing Ruyi. She cultivated a patch of land in the courtyard and planted each peony, watering and fertilizing them as she did with other flowers.
When it came to the White Peony, she sighed softly and said, "Don't worry. Jin Luo is doing well now. She used the money she earned from redeeming herself to buy Red Sleeve Villa, and now no one will force her to do anything."
A breeze passed by, and the White Peony seemed to nod gently as its withered petals fell one by one—some landing in the soil and others blown outside the courtyard.
Turning around, she saw a fox sitting on the windowsill. She smiled and tossed aside her gardening tool as she walked over. "When did you come back?"
"When you plant flowers," the fox extended a hand and gently pulled Xing Ruyi into his embrace.
"I thought Jin Luo would keep these flowers," Xing Ruyi sighed.
"She doesn't know that these flowers are Rui Tong," the fox said, resting his forehead against Xing Ruyi's.
"It's not that she doesn't know; it's that she pretends not to," Xing Ruyi replied, grabbing the fox's arm to adjust herself into a comfortable position.
"Are you afraid?" the fox asked, looking down into Xing Ruyi's eyes.
"Afraid of what?"
"Monsters!"
Xing Ruyi was taken aback for a moment, then laughed: "That depends on what kind of monster it is. If it's one of those ugly, old, long, strange Black Mountain Old Demon, then I would definitely be afraid."
The fox frowned slightly and remained silent.
"I know what you're thinking," she said, reaching out to smooth the furrow between the fox's brows. "I don't want to deceive you. I am human; weakness and fear are part of my nature. I just want you to know that I am not Jin Luo, and you are not Rui Tong. Remember, your name is Yin Chensi, and you are my fox, Xing Ruyi."
Comment 0 Comment Count