Chapter 20: Story

“His fate can no longer be called strange, it’s as if he isn’t even within fate itself. That’s simply impossible, unless he’s using some method to conceal the heavenly mechanism. I wanted to probe further, but the closer my star power gets to him, the more it’s suppressed.” Yu Xuanji was completely puzzled, not knowing that Xu Xian wasn’t concealing the heavenly mechanism, he simply wasn’t in it at all.

“He doesn’t seem as deeply scheming as Pan Yu. When he comes tomorrow, I’ll ask him carefully. There should be an answer.”

“If he really is Master’s fellow disciple, what should we do?” Sun’er asked curiously.

“I must guide him onto the right path, not let him sink into this mortal world and waste this lifetime in vain.” At the end, Yu Xuanji’s face was full of resolve. It was as if she was speaking to Sun’er, but also affirming it to herself.

Sun’er looked at her master cautiously. Her master’s eyes reminded her of their first meeting, deep in the mountains, in an endless sea of bamboo. A Daoist came before her, just as she was awakening her first bit of spiritual intelligence, tapped her body, showed a satisfied smile, and said: “I’ll teach you cultivation!”

Back then, she didn’t even know what cultivation was, only that the Daoist’s gaze scared her. She couldn’t help but tremble, and then the Daoist smiled beautifully and said: “You agreed, so come with me.” Then she took out a prepared hoe and dug Sun’er out of the bamboo forest where she’d lived for hundreds of years.

“You may be a big, old bamboo now, but on the path of cultivation, you’re just a little bamboo shoot! From now on, you’ll be called Sun’er.” The Daoist decided her name for her, even though she couldn’t speak yet, and planted her in her own little courtyard. She’d been terrified, but her master was truly gentle, except for forcing her to do homework and take medicine pills.

And, besides the “abandoning after seduction” of not letting her call her “Master,” she was really very good (Sun’er had only recently learned the phrase “abandoning after seduction,” and now used it on her master without hesitation). No, the look in her eyes when she took her from the bamboo sea was still scary to recall!

Sun’er thought gleefully: her so-called martial uncle was probably doomed, Master would surely make him do homework, take awful pills, and drink bitter medicine. She imagined Xu Xian frowning as he ate those pills, getting spanked if he refused, and herself standing by with a bamboo stick to supervise. Sun’er smiled happily.

Yu Xuanji didn’t notice the little thoughts of the small figure beside her. She was troubled: would Xu Xian really come tomorrow? Since mastering the Heavenly Mechanism Algorithm, this was the first time something was completely outside her control.

At the academy, Pan Yu handed the letter to Li Siming.

Li Siming opened the envelope and read aloud: “At the end of next month, at the third quarter of the hour of sheep(1-3pm), snow will be two cun and three fen thick. “(1 cun. Is Approx. 38.5 cm. and 1 fen is Approx 14 cm long) Then he looked up with a smile: “Good! Announce the date so everyone can prepare. Pan Yu, especially you, don’t go out these days, just stay in the academy and study!”

Pan Yu smiled and agreed. Li Siming then turned to Xu Xian: “Now that the date is set, it’s time to send invitations. Xu Xian, you’ll deliver them.”

Xu Xian complained, “That’s a huge difference in tasks!” But he’d been wanting to get out anyway, so this job suited him. “Where to?”

“Jinhua City. You’ll go with Ning Caichen. Leave the day after tomorrow.”

Xu Xian was shocked. “Who? Ning, Ning Caichen?”

Pan Yu asked, “What’s wrong? Ning Caichen is our classmate, from Jinhua. What’s odd about that?” She immediately listed all kinds of details about Ning Caichen. Xu Xian hadn’t paid attention to such things since arriving at Jintian Academy, but vaguely remembered seeing the name during the entrance exam.

Xu Xian forced a laugh. “Nothing, nothing, the name just sounds familiar.” He thought: It must be a coincidence. Yes, a coincidence.

There’s no reason for this to be “A Chinese Ghost Story”, I should be in “Legend of the White Snake”! Is this the so-called “Hong Kong and Taiwan are one family”? Or did the director grab the wrong script?

Xu Xian’s thoughts wandered, and he barely paid attention to Li Siming and Pan Yu’s conversation, only responding absentmindedly when addressed. Pan Yu and Li Siming thought he was just nervous about his first long trip, not realizing Xu Xian was pondering the serious problem of transmigration.

As the sky darkened to indigo and the cold autumn wind swept past the window lattice…

Pan Yu washed up simply, preparing for bed, her black hair loose, wearing only a white inner robe. White as snow, hair like ink, truly a fairy or ghostly figure. She floated into the room and saw Xu Xian lying stiffly on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Pan Yu silently called him a blockhead, but said aloud, “Hanwen, don’t worry. It’s just a tiring journey, traveling is actually quite fun.”

Xu Xian snapped out of it and looked at Pan Yu. Though he’d seen her many times, her beauty still moved him. He thought: If only this were Liang Zhu, but there doesn’t seem to be a Ma Wencai here. Oh well, I’ll take it one step at a time, maybe it’s just a coincidence.

“Mm, I was overthinking.”

Pan Yu sat at the desk, combing her hair with a bronze mirror, and said, “Weren’t you going to tell a story? Let’s hear it!”

Xu Xian replied, “Good point. What are you doing with a mirror at night? Listening to my story is what matters.”

He blew out the candle, and the room went dark. Pan Yu lay in bed, covered up, feeling much more comfortable, she still wasn’t used to sharing a room, and the darkness seemed to give her a bit of warmth.

She remembered that in the past, when she was so tired she couldn’t go on, she’d find a sealed room, lie in the darkness without eating or drinking, staring into the endless black. When she came out, she was once again the ever-smiling, jade-like young master. Locking herself away despite her mother’s worry was perhaps her only act of willfulness since childhood, the only willfulness she couldn’t avoid.

“A long, long time ago, there was a man named Liang Shanbo…” In the darkness, Xu Xian began his story. There are many versions of Liang Zhu, but the one he remembered most was the Disney animated version. He followed the plot, telling it in a relaxed tone.

In the darkness, Pan Yu curled her long body under the quilt, listening to that familiar voice telling a familiar story. When she heard about cross-dressing, her heart trembled, was he making this up? But she soon realized that Zhu Yingtai and herself were completely different. Zhu Yingtai was a spoiled, naïve young lady. But she herself couldn’t be willful, couldn’t act spoiled, couldn’t seek death, couldn’t fall in love with any man in the world, that was her fate.

“In the end, the two turned into butterflies.” Xu Xian let out a long sigh, feeling touched. In fact, the first time he’d seen that movie, he’d cried, though he’d been mercilessly teased by his classmates for it.

“Is it over?” Pan Yu’s voice came, colder than during the day.

“It’s over.”

“Oh. Then let’s sleep!”

Xu Xian, inwardly in tears: “Can’t you react a little? I talked until my mouth was dry, don’t you have any thoughts?”

“I do. It’s just that Liang Shanbo took so long to realize Zhu Yingtai’s identity, it’s a bit dumb. Zhu Yingtai was only concerned with her own feelings, she was too selfish. So it’s a dumb, selfish, and unreasonable story.” Pan Yu, though not without feeling moved or longing, could only voice total denial.

“Thunk!”

“What’s wrong?” Pan Yu asked in surprise.

“Don’t talk to me. Let me bang my head and die.” Xu Xian’s voice was full of defeat. For some reason, Pan Yu wanted to laugh. And she actually did, softly: “Even though the story is dumb and selfish, and you can guess the ending from the start, it’s still kind of fun. Tell more next time!” These new stories really suited her taste.

Was that comfort? Ninety-nine percent denial and one percent affirmation, plus a totally insincere expectation. Xu Xian grumbled, “Thank you for your grace. I’ll be sure to tell more next time.” But in his heart, he was indignant: Me, a transmigrator, and I can’t even move an ancient person? If Liang Zhu doesn’t work, there’s always Romeo and Juliet. If that fails, Titanic is the ultimate weapon, I’ll make you cry!

But on this front, Xu Xian was doomed to lifelong defeat. Pan Yu’s words were like a merciless verdict.

“That Romeo and Juliet, really has no backbone. Dying from such a coincidence in the end, it’s just another dumb, selfish story.”

Xu Xian spat blood.

“Jack is such an ugly name. And there’s actually a girl called ‘Meat Silk’ (Rose), she must have had a hard childhood.” Xu Xian spat blood again. “Let’s focus on the story—=, names are a minor detail.”

“A true man of honor wouldn’t die for a woman, especially a fickle, wanton woman. And Jack was just a lowlife gambler, not a real man. So the story actually makes sense.”

Xu Xian was fried inside and out, thunderstruck. How did Titanic become a story of a scoundrel and a slut? He no longer wanted to understand. He finally discovered Pan Yu’s only imperfection: extreme male chauvinism. In her view, “Meat Silk” should have jumped in to save Jack, and if she didn’t, she wasn’t a good woman, Jack should have pushed her in. Her exact words: “Such a slut, what’s the harm in killing her?”

Utterly defeated, Xu Xian swore never to tell love stories again.

“Today’s stories were all fun, tell some more every night from now on!”

“All right…” Xu Xian replied feebly.