Black and White Impermanence
The night was perfect, and when I looked up, the Milky Way, rarely seen in the city, hung overhead. It's quite common to see it from the mountains, but unfortunately, the sight of the Milky Way and the bright moon hanging in the sky together is extremely rare.
On a clear, moonless night, the faintest stars visible to the average person are magnitude 6.5. If a bright moon hangs in the sky, only stars of magnitude 4.5 can be seen. In an instant, eight or nine out of ten stars in the sky disappear, and the Milky Way is hidden behind the moonlight.
Starlight filtered through the woods, falling on their feet. Among the decaying leaves were bits of twigs, and the crunching sound underfoot was particularly jarring when they tried to walk quietly. Qin Yanan felt her cheeks ache as she gritted her teeth. In the end, her and Liu Chang'an's footsteps had disturbed the couple.
"Hmm... it seems like someone's there..."
"It might be a wild animal from the mountains..."
"Ah..."
This conversation made Qin Yanan unable to bear it any longer. She ran forward and then heard the woman scream. Qin Yanan ran all the way over the hillside before stopping.
Liu Chang'an caught up and saw Qin Yanan reaching out to press down on a maple tree that was as thick as a person's embrace.
"I really don't know what these people are thinking? Don't they even have the money for a hotel room?" Qin Yanan's cheeks flushed red. "They even called us beasts... sleeping under the open sky, they're the ones having wild sex."
"That's possible," Liu Chang'an agreed. "China still has a large impoverished population, and the area around Mount Lu is mainly inhabited by students. For students, the cost of frequent hotel stays is difficult to afford."
Liu Chang'an's earnest explanation left Qin Yanan speechless, as if she should really be considerate of others and not be like the character in the proverb "Why don't they eat cake?"
"Moreover, the Love Evening Pavilion on Mount Lu is one of the four traditional spots for viewing autumn foliage. As the poem goes: 'A winding stone path leads up the cold mountain, where houses stand amidst the white clouds. I stop my carriage to admire the maple forest at dusk, where the frosty moon is redder than the flowers of February.'" Liu Chang'an nodded. "Perhaps they genuinely consider it an elegant affair. It's rare that they chose such a remote place, but I never expected that we, with similar refined tastes, would grace this place with our presence."
"Share the same refined taste?" Qin Yanan pressed her hand to her chest, her fingers tugging at the zipper in rhythm with her breathing, her cheeks flushed as red as the surrounding maple leaves.
"Don't misunderstand me. 'Having the same refined taste' means we both have the mindset of traveling at night. 'Having the same refined taste' means we do the same things. What are you thinking at such a young age?" Liu Chang'an tapped Qin Yanan on the head, then walked around the maple tree and continued forward.
Qin Yanan once again experienced Liu Chang'an's sophistry, but she had no choice but to mutter "old rascal" under her breath and quickly followed in his footsteps.
Descending the slope, groping their way through the forest, pushing aside the overgrown bushes and thorns, Liu Chang'an and Qin Yanan arrived at a tree covered in long vines, looking out at the valley in front of them.
Before 2010, Mount Lu Scenic Area was not very prosperous. Like many tourist attractions, it tried to increase its income by contracting out this valley next to the small lake. A wedding photography company built a three-story European-style building here, surrounded by a rose garden full of roses, a white piano, a suspension bridge, a rocking chair, a semi-circular arch, and other props that often appear in wedding photography scenes.
At this moment, the starlight flowed, illuminating the remaining artifacts in the valley so clearly that the darkness concealed their dilapidated state. The scene had a touch of romance... or, combined with ghost stories, it was eerily sinister.
"If there really is a problem, it's in that building across the street." Liu Chang'an looked around, his gaze settling on the long building across the street.
Qin Yanan also turned her gaze away from the triangular glass house by the lake, thinking to herself that those seemingly beautiful and elegant wedding photos were actually taken in this kind of godforsaken place. Popular Western-style wedding photos are probably all like this... The red walls of the Forbidden City... When I take my own wedding photos in the future, I must make them more grand.
"Ahem... What did you say?" Qin Yanan glanced at Liu Chang'an, then came to her senses.
"Let's go around." Liu Chang'an didn't repeat what he had said. In this remote place, there was no need to be careful. He picked up Qin Yanan, leaped across the valley, and landed on the opposite side near the long building.
Qin Yanan got down from his arms, and he picked her up with increasing skill. It was supposed to be the most romantic princess carry between a man and a woman, but Qin Yanan felt that it was no different from him picking up a long bench. When this man was warm and soft in her arms, the reactions of men described in novels seemed to be completely absent in him.
I walked around the back of the long building; it was quiet and deathly still, without light or sound, as if it were just an empty house.
"Shall we go in and take a look?" Qin Yanan asked.
Liu Chang'an nodded.
"Smack!"
There wasn't actually a switch or a crisp sparking sound; it was just a sudden bright light, as if I heard someone turn on a switch.
Suddenly, the glass on the front and sides of the long building became transparent and bright, and white lights illuminated the entire building. In the deep valley, it seemed that even the walls had become transparent, as if it were a house made of thin and fragile white paper. The pale light inside illuminated the dilapidated garden near the valley, and the path and front yard, which were covered with layers of fallen leaves, looked like a scene painted with oil paint, frozen in that moment of time's ravages and decay.
"This... this can't really be a ghost, can it?" Qin Yanan grabbed Liu Chang'an's hand, her heart pounding even through the thick, thick, thick layer of fat. Unlike ordinary atheists, Marxist fighters, and staunch party members, she had experienced many things like possession.
Ye Sijin... Although Liu Chang'an explained it as "obsession," aren't ghosts also a kind of obsession? Ye Sijin's obsession has dissipated, so could it be that someone else's "obsession" has formed the existence of a ghost in this valley?
"Don't be afraid, even ghosts are afraid of me." Liu Chang'an patted Qin Yanan's hand. If ghosts really exist, then there's probably an underworld, and maybe even a Book of Life and Death. Someone like him, whose name is not in the Book of Life and Death and who doesn't enter the cycle of reincarnation, calling himself the God of Death, is probably on par with the King of Hell. He wouldn't mind being on brotherly terms with him. What are mere ghosts compared to that?
"Black... Black and White Impermanence!" Just as Qin Yanan felt a little relieved, she immediately spotted two ghostly figures pressed against the glass. They were indeed one black and one white, exuding an eerie ghostly aura!