Die and Come Back to Life

Liu Chang'an remained unmoved by the little girl's words. In all his years of life, he had saved countless people, places, cities, clans, and nations.

Naturally, there have been many who have caused harm and many who have led to the destruction of their countries and the extinction of their races. Throughout history, Heaven and Earth have been ruthless, and sages have been ruthless. There have never been any gods or Buddhas who viewed all beings as equal and brought compassion to the mortal world to save them.

Did she mistake him for someone else, or did she really recognize him?

This situation is quite interesting. Let alone others, if he himself had a portrait from a certain period of his life, and he were to see it now, he probably wouldn't even recognize himself.

Names may change, faces may change, but the inner self remains eternal.

If someone truly recognizes him, it would be a comforting thing, for someone has finally traversed the long river of history, plucked a wave that bears his image from the eastward flowing river, and arrived before him on the other side.

But what's with her current look, as if she's finally really driven mad by him? This resentment is quite frightening; Liu Chang'an feels that this is probably the true expression of being so angry she's on the verge of death.

"Miss?" Liu Chang'an cupped his hands in greeting, his tone as gentle as ever.

"Miss?"

"Hello."

After exchanging greetings, the other party remained unresponsive, so Liu Chang'an took another closer look at the little girl in the coffin.

The little girl's face still retained a touch of childishness, but it was impossible to tell her age. Of course, she was definitely two thousand years old. It was impossible to determine her age when she was sealed in this coffin, since there were many women who were still beautiful even when they were adults at that time. Many princesses and princesses were of noble status and could do whatever they wanted. Fairies like Zhu Juntang were not uncommon.

Above her forehead was a hollowed-out gold and jade hair ornament, and in front of her forehead were neat bangs, which was quite rare, since the hairstyle of the Han Dynasty women was often to leave their foreheads bare, which would make their whole face look round like a pancake.

Apart from that, her hair was parted into a bun, towering high on top of her head, while the remaining hair was twisted into a snake-like shape, interlocking with each other, and inlaid with an exquisitely crafted openwork headband and delicate gold leaf bird ornaments.

She was wrapped in layers of clothing, and one could see that the plain gauze dress, embellished with gold and jade, was far heavier than Lady Xin Zhui's less than one ounce of gauze dress, but it was even more magnificent and exquisite.

The cicada-like garment covered a black and red brocade robe, the ornate patterns on which were faintly visible, hazy and beautiful, yet subtly matched the various patterns on the outside of the coffin, exuding an air of mystery.

Based on preliminary judgment, this is indeed a woman from the Western Han Dynasty. After all, by the Yongping era of Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han Dynasty Han Dynasty, the clothing system had been established in a relatively detailed and serious manner. The seemingly gorgeous yet casual clothing of this woman should be from an earlier period.

Even when Liu Che Emperor Wu of Han) reformed the calendar, changed the color of clothing, and favored yellow, there were no strict rules or regulations regarding people's attire. What was truly memorable was that Liu Bang forbade those with ranks below Gongcheng (a minor official title) from wearing the pavilion head hat that he had once made from bamboo strips... as if it were something very rare.

Looking at the little girl's face again, Liu Chang'an couldn't remember her for a moment. He could only slowly sort out the traces left by the past, flipping through the images and fragmented memories that had settled in his mind.

In comparison, his memories from the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Period periods are clearer. After all, he could maintain a certain identity for a longer period of time and his memories were not fragmented due to frequent changes in identity and physical reconstruction. On the contrary, because of Liu Bang and his sons and grandsons, Liu Chang'an changed his identity several times in a relatively short period of time, which made many memories less profound and clear.

After reminiscing for an unknown amount of time, Liu Chang'an felt a slight throbbing in his head and quickly stopped. He decided to ask her directly instead. He simply couldn't believe that after so many of his young hens, she would willingly die of anger.

He had to come back to life and take revenge on Liu Chang'an, his sworn enemy from two thousand years ago. To just die of anger like this was too pathetic. How could he face those who made this coffin to bury souls back then?

Liu Chang'an checked her breathing; there was none.

I grabbed her wrist and checked her pulse; there was none.

He reached into his clothes, but there was no heartbeat. However, her skin was still warm, meaning that she had not truly died after coming back to life. Otherwise, she would have been cold long ago, given that Liu Chang'an had been in a daze for so long.

She wasn't in the same state as Lady Xin Zhui, who was truly dead and didn't come back to life.

This unprecedented and unheard-of state cannot be judged by the standards of life and death as commonly understood.

"You're such a pretty young girl, can't you open your eyes and talk to me again? At least tell me how I've harmed you, whether I killed your whole family or destroyed your country?" Liu Chang'an said with a mixture of regret and anticipation.

Why make yourself so angry? Look at you, all scrawny and pathetic, while I remain completely unfazed. Shouldn't you be so furious you'd jump out of your coffin? That old saying was meant for you!

There's a saying, "Good people don't live long, but evil people live for a thousand years..." So, does that mean I really am a scourge? But you're a good person? If it weren't for me, you would have killed quite a few people too. We're all in the same boat.

The little girl still didn't move. Liu Chang'an had two plans in mind, but he wasn't in a hurry. He decided to take her back first.

After closing the coffin lid and shutting the car door, Liu Chang'an drove the car back.

Outside the window, the lights blazed like dragons. The driver's seat of the transport truck was higher than that of ordinary vehicles. Looking left and right, the drivers on both sides had unfamiliar and indifferent profiles below them. Liu Chang'an recalled the moment when the little girl opened her mouth.

He felt joy.

This is a joy unlike any other I've ever experienced; it's a feeling of anticipation and deep-seated satisfaction, free from any illusions, tinged with a touch of trepidation.

She fell silent after saying just one sentence. What she said wasn't important; what mattered was whether she would ever open her eyes again and speak to him.

"If I had known this would happen, I would never have harmed you back then... But if it weren't for this, we wouldn't have met today, would we? We are no longer the people we were back then. Why hold a grudge when our meeting is separated by time and space?" Liu Chang'an muttered to himself as he tried to persuade the other person, but he also realized that this little girl had opened her eyes after two thousand years and still saw her great enemy. One can imagine the resentment she felt.

Forget it, let's keep trying to nurture her. If it really doesn't work, he'll take either her blood or her essence; he's determined to bring her back to life.

"Bang!"

A deep, resonant sound wave rippled outwards. Liu Chang'an looked at the green light ahead, drove past, and felt relieved. The coffin behind him had indeed returned to its original state, emanating an aura that coveted life again. It seemed that no matter what the little girl's mood was, the coffin was determined to nurture her.

Liu Chang'an was also somewhat worried that she would become Lady Xin Zhui.

On his way home, Liu Chang'an passed by the market and bought a small hen and threw it in. He originally planned to wait until tomorrow for someone to give it to him, but then he thought about how the girl had been so angry with him, so Liu Chang'an decided to be merciful and generous this time.

Liu Chang'an didn't park the car under the sycamore tree again, but instead parked it a little further away by a secluded wall before walking back. He was just thinking about having some noodles to eat for dinner when he saw Zhou Dongdong wearing her pretty little floral rain boots, holding a large pair of iron pliers and trying to pick at the puddles.

The large iron pliers were given to Zhou Shuling to use for picking up coal briquettes. They were a bit difficult for Zhou Dongdong to use, and Liu Chang'an felt that she was about to fall into the puddle at any moment. But after watching for a while, she didn't, so he went over to her.

"What are you doing?" Liu Chang'an asked.

"I'm picking up loaches." Zhou Dongdong sniffed and pointed to the loaches floating on the surface of the puddle. "They're all dead."

Zhou Dongdong was very sad, after all, she had been feeding the bean curd residue for so long, getting up early and working late, rain or shine.

"There was thunder today, they were all struck dead," Liu Chang'an said, glancing at the loaches. He hadn't actually checked whether they were dead or not.

"The loaches are so pitiful." Zhou Dongdong pointed to the small bucket next to her, which was used for playing in the sand and was now filled with loaches, and said sadly, "We'll have to eat them."

"It's inedible." Liu Chang'an shook his head. "After being struck by lightning, the blood couldn't be drained, and it's been soaking in water for so long, it's inedible."

Zhou Dongdong stared blankly at Liu Chang'an, the large iron pliers in her hand falling into the puddle. Zhou Dongdong had never felt so desperate in her life. She used to think that the loach was dead and she was sad, but at least she could still eat it, which was a small consolation. Now she realized that the loach was not only dead, but also inedible!

Zhou Dongdong wailed and cried as she poured the dead loach from the bucket back into the puddle.

"Bury it." Liu Chang'an took a shovel and filled the puddle.

Zhou Dongdong stood on the filled-in puddle, refusing to go home. It was truly a tragic moment... Was it really inedible?

This is an extra chapter for 3500 words. Tomorrow there will be two basic chapters, plus another extra chapter. Please vote for me! Various Requests!