By the Helpless Bridge, in front of the Three-Life Stone*.
T/N: I think this post will help in explaining it.
He expressionlessly stood by the riverside and expressionlessly handed the Five Flavored Tea of Forgetfulness to her.
The girl lowered her head, unwilling to let go of her life. After a while, she looked up and carefully asked, “Can, can I not drink it?”
He gently laughed showing a hint of complexity, “If you don’t drink the Five Flavored Tea of Forgetfulness….you will carry a lifetime of memory to reincarnation. It will bring you pain and agony.”
“Spirit brother, I beg you…. There is someone I can’t forget, no matter what.” She bit her lips and whispered. Her eyes shone brightly.
“Someone you can’t forget….” He thoughtfully reiterated. After a moment, he sneered, “In this world, out of all the lonely ghosts unwilling to reincarnate, who doesn’t have people that they don’t want to forget?”
“You don’t have to say anymore, this bowl of Five Flavored Tea of Forgetfulness, you must drink it.”
He looked at her. His pair of deep and dark eyes made her a little flustered.
“Al-Alright then.” She didn’t dare to go against the spirit but she is still unwilling to take the bowl from his hand.
The girl closed her eyes and just as she was about to bring to bowl to her mouth, he suddenly stopped her. His strength is not too light. His body is cold, with no temperature at all. She couldn’t help but shudder.
She looked up and met a pair of sorrowful eyes.
“Before you drink it, why don’t you listen to a story.” He turned away, unwilling to meet her gaze. His voice is cold and clear, like the raindrops on a rainy day falling into the Yangtze River.
“What story?” The girl frowned in confusion. He lowered his eyes and stared at the riverbank.
“A long time ago, a scholar, who is on his way to Jiangnan to take the imperial examination, encountered a huge storm. He was in a sorry state as he tried to protect the books in his arm from the downpour. It just so happened that at this moment, a kind-hearted girl walked over and placed an umbrella over his head. He looked up at her and from then on, he had been entranced.
Later, when the scholar gloriously returned home as the top scorer of the imperial exam, he couldn’t find the girl again and spent the rest of his life alone. After death, his soul was too tormented and decided to linger in this world, looking for the reincarnation of the girl.
In her first life, she is a lotus picking girl. The scholar attached his soul to her paddle as she rows out into the river every day until the sunsets. Later, she was spotted by a wealthy merchant who took her in as a concubine. Afterward, she threw away the paddle.
In her second life, she is the daughter of a prime minister with a crafty and unruly temper. He became the seven-foot silver whip attached to her waist, accompanying her in all her wicked deeds. Later, the prime minister failed in rebelling and was executed. The men of his estate were sold as slaves while the women were sold to brothels. That night, he watched as she hung herself. He could only stay coiled at her side and accompany her as her body turned cold.
In her third life, she was an unfavored concubine of the emperor. He became her waist sachet and accompanied her in the lone palace. Later, the emperor called on her to accompany him. On the road, they came upon an ambush. The crowd fled but only she ran out and blocked the blade. She died on the spot. At that moment, her warm blood sprinkled on his body. The scholar suddenly realized that this world is really uninteresting.”
He calmly narrated the story and would occasionally pause. His tone, from beginning to end, was very calm, with no ups or downs. His calmness can make someone very flustered. It’s as if the story is unrelated to him.
He tenderly looked at her, his tone gentle and bitter, “Lifetime after lifetime, I will wait for you to grow up, watch you fall in love, accompany you as you marry another. In the end, there is only death and nothing can be done.
I am but a lonely soul. If it is not because I am obsessed with you and I didn’t want to reincarnate, I'm afraid I would’ve already disappeared from the world. Occasionally, I wondered, was the one I liked the you who handed me an umbrella and smiled at me that rainy day three hundred years ago or the different incarnations of you.”
“Chang An, after you drink this Five Flavored Tea of Forgetfulness, it is time for my soul to fly and scatter away.”
He whispered her name and let out a tired sigh. After listening, you will notice that there is a slight tremble at the end as well as some sadness and restraint.
Staring at him incredulously, the girl's expression gradually changed from the initial confusion to shock, and finally, she let out an uncontrollable cry. She reached out and touch her eyes with her trembling hands. She can’t seem to understand why she is crying for someone she has never met before.
He quietly guided the bowl in her hand to her lips, motioning her to drink. The girl bowed her head, followed his movements and swallowed.
It seemed as if a piece of memory remained. She could hear his voice again, his soft sigh, his calm and gentle voice and the fatigue in between.
The tone was very cold, inexplicably making others feel lonely.
He said, “Reincarnated so many times, in fact, the one I wanted to forget the most is you.”
She felt a little pain, but it only lasted for a second.
After a second, the girl who drank the Five Flavored Tea of Forgetfulness, no longer remembered him. She indifferently walked past him and crossed the Bridge of Helplessness to reincarnation.
He stood in the distance and watched her. After a while, his body gradually faded and his consciousness drifted away. He stood there quietly and watched himself disappear from the world. At last, the girl’s bell-like laughter resounded in his heart. It was so sweet. Life truly is tempting.
“Foolish scholar, it is raining so heavily…..why don’t you share an umbrella with me?”
……
“It’s exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
He closed his eyes and softly smiled. His voice was filled with nostalgia as he gently answered. Satisfied, he disappeared into gray smoke.
Not only do I want to share the umbrella with you, but I also hope to share the same path with you.
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