Around the time she was five, Ye Chun encountered a cat.
Perhaps it had been a sudden inspiration, perhaps merely coincidence. She had walked into an alley she normally would not have entered and heard an unusual sound.
Beside a rotten cardboard box, she saw a cat on its last breath.
Its snow-white fur was covered in blood, its organs spilling from its belly. It looked as though it had been run over by a car, barely clinging to life.
She picked up the cat, blood running onto her dress, then ran home and knocked on the workshop door. When Ye Xian opened it, she saw the cat Ye Chun was holding up.
"Kitty is dying."
"Mm." Ye Xian nodded.
She raised the cat a little higher and brought it closer. Viscous Blood Water seeped through her fingers, ran down her arm, and dripped to the floor. "Ye Xian, save it."
Ye Xian frowned and corrected her. "Call me Aunt."
"Save it," she repeated.
"Its organs are ruptured, its lungs are damaged, and its brain is already dead." Ye Xian withdrew her gaze. "Saving it would be useless, only adding to its suffering. Give up."
She could not understand. "But Ye Xian, Aunt, saved me."
"It is different from you."
Ye Xian said, "It is already about to die."
"What is death?"
"It means disappearing. Casting everything aside. You will no longer hurt, and you will no longer be sad."
Ye Xian said, "It is a good thing."
"I don't understand."
She looked at Ye Xian, wanting a clearer answer, as she had countless times before. But Ye Xian said nothing more, only looked at her.
With a look she did not understand at the time.
Under that gaze, she felt as though she understood something.
She had to do