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墨書 Inktalez
As soon as the blanket was lifted, Xing Ruyi smiled. It turned out that beneath the blanket was another one, carefully shaped into a human figure. Such a trivial thing could only be done by her Yin Yuan.
"Shopkeeper, is the young master alright?"
"He's fine!" Xing Ruyi replied with a smile.
"Of course he's fine. What could happen to the esteemed young master of the Yin Family? Are you saying he could really be scared to death by these bugs?" A voice came from outside the door. Looking up, they saw Yin Yuan standing there, looking as if he had just woken up, his face full of displeasure under the glow of fireflies. "If I were truly frightened by these bugs, it would be a disgrace to my mother, the Fox Demon, and my Father Fox. As for the responsibility for this negligence, it would fall on you, Li Mao. Given my Father's temperament, he probably wouldn't kill you but would instead revert you to your original form and send you back to the deep mountains to cultivate for another hundred or eighty years."
"Young master, please don't scare me." Li Mao glanced at him and, seeing that Yin Yuan was unharmed, finally relaxed the tension in his chest. "Why aren't you staying in your room properly? You made the shopkeeper worry. And these bugs in the courtyard—did you summon them? What’s going on? The Lunar New Year isn't here yet, and you're already busy decorating our courtyard?"
"Get lost! You're the one who attracts bugs." Yin Yuan shot Li Mao a glare and called into the shadows, "Come out! If you don't come out now, I swear I'll exterminate all these bugs!"
"I believe you! How could I not believe you?"
With that echoing response, another figure stepped out from the shadows. He looked like an ordinary old man, but the aura surrounding him told Xing Ruyi and Li Mao that this old man was indeed the master of all the fireflies in the courtyard. To confirm their suspicions, the fireflies that had been hovering in mid-air now joyfully swirled around the old man as if they were greeting their parent.
"Who is he? Why is he bringing these bugs into our home? Is he jealous of our Rouge being good and our Face Powder selling well?" Li Mao smiled on the surface but was already prepared to engage in a struggle with this old man at any moment.
"Mother has returned from the Hu Family and has likely dealt with that monster attached to Hu Da. This old man is the one who placed that thing on Hu Da. As for where he came from, I'm afraid I can't say; I just tangled with him for a while and tried every trick I knew, but he wouldn't budge. I disdain eating someone like him who raises bugs; I can only bring him back for you to handle."
"Handle what? I'm not some kind of thing; you're being too insulting."
"Oh, so you're not a thing!" Yin Yuan elongated his tone and pulled out a chicken leg wrapped in oil paper from his sleeve. This scene made the old man drool while Xing Ruyi and Li Mao exchanged glances of disbelief.
The old man swallowed hard twice and stared at Yin Yuan. "I’m not a thing; I am—"
The old man was at a loss for words, perhaps he didn't know how to describe his own goodness.
"You are an old man!" Yin Yuan poked the old man with a chicken leg. "At least, that's how you look."
"Yes! I am an old man; I have always been an old man!" The old man said somewhat defiantly, casting a reluctant glance at the chicken leg in Yin Yuan's hand before turning his gaze to Xing Ruyi, and with a hint of melancholy, he added, "But now, I don't even know what I am anymore. I came here because someone called me, and as for these bugs, he told me to bring them. What I'm supposed to do, he didn't say, and I couldn't be bothered to ask. After all these years, I've gotten used to it."
"Who are you? And who is the person that called you?"
"Who am I?" The old man looked up at the swarming fireflies. "I don’t even remember who I am. At first, I seemed to have a name, but after so long without anyone calling it, I've slowly forgotten it myself."
"Then how did you end up like this? You must remember that."
"I remember! I remember that I was a farmer, and my family was very poor; I couldn't even afford to marry a wife. It was a summer evening when I finished my work, carrying my hoe and walking barefoot along the path by the rice fields on my way home. We grew dry rice there, which was very close to the riverbank where many lotus flowers were also planted.
In our area, hardly anyone paid attention to the lotus flowers; we weren't city folks and didn't have that kind of leisure. We mostly ate the lotus roots below and occasionally picked some lotus seeds to take home for soup. It was strange that at that time I was feeling peckish; as I passed by the lotus pond and glanced inside, I saw Old Ren from my village sitting there. I intended to greet him, but unexpectedly he turned around and smiled at me before picking up a sickle next to him and slashing it across his neck. Blood splattered all over my face in an instant, and I was so shocked that I stood there dumbfounded, not knowing what to do.
Old Ren kept slashing at his neck with the sickle. Like me, he was poor; his family couldn't even afford a whetstone, so the sickle was very dull. When cutting lotus pods, he had to drag it along carefully; now using it on his neck made a slashing sound. Strangely enough, even though so much blood was gushing out of him, he seemed not to feel any pain at all. In a daze, it seemed like I heard someone calling Old Ren's name and others calling mine. So I turned around and suddenly everything went dark; then I knew nothing.
When I woke up again, I found myself lying in the lotus pond. It was dark then, with beautiful fireflies flying everywhere just like now—twinkling and very lovely. Following the light of the fireflies, I crawled out of the pond and swayed back home.
As I passed by my neighbor's house, I overheard them discussing my mysterious death; they believed it must have been caused by a ghost and suggested that it would be best for them to leave home for a while to avoid catching my bad luck. At that moment, I was puzzled; how could these two people curse me when I was clearly alive? But when I saw my reflection in the light and shadow, I was terrified; this was no longer a human reflection but clearly just a skeleton frame."
"A skeleton frame?" Xing Ruyi suddenly thought of Mountain Spirit's brother Jin Yu, who had also suffered under a skeleton frame for many years as a kind-hearted child.
"Yes, it's just a skeleton. I'm from the countryside and have heard many strange things. I know that when a person dies, if their death is unclear, they can become a ghost. But is a ghost really like this? Why is it so different from the stories I've heard? If I were a ghost, why wouldn't Yama send those Ghost Messengers to catch me? Could it be that this Underworld is just like the court's Yamen, judging people based on their appearance and wealth? I can't understand it; no matter how hard I try, I just can't figure it out. But now that I've become like this, I'm afraid to go out and ask anyone, so I can only hide in that broken house at home, quietly waiting.
Strangely enough, even though I returned home in the dark, when I woke up the next day, I found myself back in that lotus pond. The difference was that as time passed, I noticed many Fireflies growing from the cracks in my bones."
"Rotten grass becomes fireflies, and decayed corpses become insects. These strange Fireflies are said to be formed from the souls of humans and the phosphorus in their bones. It's no wonder you feel like these Fireflies are growing out of your own bone cracks."
"Maybe that's how it is for you; anyway, I don't understand. All I know is that these insects are my children. They are the ones accompanying me and protecting me." The Old Man extended a hand, and those Fireflies immediately seemed to respond to his call, all fluttering down to rest on his fingers. In no time, his entire arm began to shimmer with golden light.
"What about that person? The one you mentioned earlier—who is he? Is he a Taoist priest with very special Dan Feng Eyes who always seems to smile three parts when talking?"
"That person..." The Old Man thought for a moment. "I don't know if he's a Taoist priest, but his eyes are indeed similar to yours. Let me think carefully; I remember lying in that lotus pond for almost a year, repeating the same thing day after day. When it got dark, I'd crawl out of the pond and return home; when it got light again, I'd find myself lying back in the pond, quietly staying in the dark mud while watching these lovely insects emerge one by one.
Occasionally, I could hear people talking above me. At first, those speaking were people I knew—gossiping about this and that. Although it was trivial, it sounded quite interesting. If someone careless came along, I could even feel the sensation of being stepped on. Sometimes their foot would land right on my head; the smell was worse than the rotten mud in the pond. But at least I knew that during those times, I wasn't alone.
The person appeared one evening before it got dark; the sun was beautifully hanging in the west, and I could still see the outline of the mountains in the distance. As I rose from the water, I happened to see two water birds flying by. That person was squatting by the field ridge with eyes just like that young lady's—smiling at me.
He seemed very powerful and impressive; he simply beckoned me with his hand, and I followed him without thinking. He taught me some skills and showed me how to tame these insects of mine. It was only then that I realized how powerful these insects were. However, I've never used them to harm anyone; that was before I came to the Yun Family Gathering."
The Old Man glanced at Xing Ruyi again; his meaning was clear: I came here specifically for you.
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