White Impermanence, Question Two

"This poem is called 'Prelude to Water Melody.' It was written by Su Shi, a poet of the Northern Song dynasty, and he's also one of my favorite poets."

"Oh."

"Junior Brother, you might not know this, but in my previous life, I was a great literary master. I published books and poetry collections, and I had quite a bit of expertise in poetry."

"Mm."

"If you're interested, Junior Brother, I can give you a few poems that will be remembered for generations. They'll come in handy when you go down the mountain and show off."

"Is that so?"

"On one condition."

"Just say it, Senior Brother."

"Little Junior Sister just returned to the mountain from the Ji Clan. She has a Thousand-Year Jade Dragon Snow Ganoderma. Help your Senior Brother trick her into handing it over later, and we'll split it three-seven. How about that?"

"Second Senior Brother, you're too late."

"What do you mean?"

"That Thousand-Year Jade Dragon Snow Ganoderma has already been claimed by Eldest Senior Brother."

"Fuck!"

"Eldest Senior Brother also promised to split it four-six with me. When I refused, he beat me up."

"Junior Brother... you've got it rough."

"Second Senior Brother, you don't have to comfort me. Master actually wanted to use that Snow Ganoderma to make wine. I went to the back mountain and reported it, so Eldest Senior Brother should be getting beaten by Master right now."

"Junior Brother, that was a little underhanded."

"I learned from you two Senior Brothers."

"Junior Brother, when I just came up the mountain, I seemed to see Eldest Senior Brother searching all over for someone. Do you think he might be looking to... beat you up again?"

"Senior Brother, now that you mention it, I'm already starting to hurt."

There was an unrestrained Second Senior Brother in the Great Emperor's Forbidden Zone, and over the years, Gu Baishui had picked up quite a few strange expressions just by being around him.

The one that had left the deepest impression on him was "Prelude to Water Melody."

But Gu Baishui's favorite part of the poem wasn't "May We All Be Blessed with Longevity, Sharing the Beautiful Moon Across a Thousand Miles."

It was the line before it: "People have sorrow and joy, parting and reunion; the moon waxes and wanes. Such things... have rarely been perfect since ancient times."

Gusts of gloomy wind blew through the courtyard, and Gu Baishui calmly handed in his test paper.

At another table, a certain ambitious youth had torn out another big handful of hair, but still couldn't solve the science questions on the test.

Old Ox-Head impatiently chewed on his own tongue, rolling his eyes again and again.

At that moment, Horse-Face, on the other side, shook the test paper in his hand, then raised his eyebrows.

"You got them right. Come with me to the next courtyard."

The courtyard fell into an eerie silence for a moment. Lu Ziyou's body stiffened slightly. He suddenly raised his head, his gaze fixed on the Green-Robed Youth who had stood up.

A terrifying, horrifying idea gradually took root in his heart.

The questions on the test came from another world, whether they were from the humanities or the sciences. No one except a Transmigrator should have been able to answer them.

But Gu Baishui had answered them. Did that mean he, too, was a Transmigrator who had been playing the fool to catch the tiger?

A cold, sinister glint flashed through Lu Ziyou's pupils. His gaze stuck fast to Gu Baishui, but in the next instant, a bull's hoof rudely shoved his head back down.

"What are you staring at? He's already finished the test. Trying to cheat?"

Ox-Head slapped Lu Ziyou's right cheek in exasperation. "You may be uneducated, but you still need some backbone. You're counting on someone else to give you the answers? Have you no shame?"

Hearing Ox-Head's words of encouragement to study, Gu Baishui, who had already reached the entrance to the main hall, couldn't help but pause. He turned around and shrugged calmly.

"Want me to wait for you in the back?"

Lu Ziyou's face flushed bright red, but after a moment of silence, he forced himself to calm down.

He took several deep breaths, focused his attention on his test paper, and stopped paying attention to the distractions around him.

The heavy rain continued to pour through the courtyard. Gu Baishui walked beneath the corridor's eaves, following Horse-Face through an arched doorway and into another courtyard.

"Go in by yourself. Old Bai's waiting inside."

Horse-Face stopped at the arched doorway and lifted his long chin toward Gu Baishui.

Gu Baishui nodded silently. He already had some guesses and expectations about the "Old Bai" Horse-Face had mentioned.

Sure enough, after he stepped a few paces into the courtyard, he saw a tall, slender figure standing by the door.

He was dressed head to toe in white official robes, with a tall hat on his head and a ghastly white mourning staff in his right hand.

As Gu Baishui looked at him, the man turned around, revealing a pale face, calm and cold.

The tall, gaunt man licked his lips with his scarlet tongue, then pointed inside the room and spoke with concise clarity.

"Go in."

White Impermanence seemed to have no feelings toward Gu Baishui at all. He simply led him into the room, then closed the door behind him.

Inside the same room, all that awaited Gu Baishui was a wooden table and a sheet of Xuan Paper.

The pages turned softly, and neat, elegant handwriting appeared before his eyes.

This was the second question Gu Baishui had encountered.

[I knew Li Shiyi first, and only met A-Xu later.]

[In late spring, as summer was beginning, I followed Li Shiyi for the first time to escape the heat at the Mid-Lake Pavilion in his home.

That day, a gentle spring breeze blew, and willow catkins filled the sky. They rose and fell over the emerald-green surface of the lake like white birds in flight.

There was only one pavilion in the middle of the lake, and inside it sat only one girl in white, silently reading an old book.]

[Li Shiyi said the girl in the pavilion was his younger sister, a little mute who didn't talk much in front of outsiders. But in front of him, she was always chattering away, as if she poured all the words she held back around other people onto him instead. He'd been getting a little fed up lately, so he'd called me to the back mountain, hoping A-Xu would give her mouth a rest and let him have some peace and quiet.]

[Li Shiyi was right. A-Xu didn't say a single word on the first day we spent together. She quietly munched on her book, and no matter how much Li Shiyi teased her, she wouldn't speak.

Li Shiyi found it a little boring, so he turned and went to his family's vegetable patch to pull up the old man's radishes.]

[But what he didn't know was that not long after he left, A-Xu said her first words to me: "Isn't my brother kind of stupid?"

I hesitated for a moment, looked into the bright eyes of the girl across from me, and nodded against my conscience for the first time.

Then we became friends. A-Xu said I was her only friend, and that it had always been that way, ever since she was little.]

[After A-Xu and I became friends, Li Shiyi really did have a lot more free time. A-Xu had a new playmate who was willing to listen to her stories, so she decided to tell me all the stories she'd already told Li Shiyi.]

[She told them from the beginning of the year to the end. Sometimes Li Shiyi would join in when he had nothing better to do.

He would sit beneath the willow tree with a bowl of melon seeds. Sometimes he was a lazy, inattentive listener; when the mood struck him, he would even push A-Xu aside and indulge in playing storyteller himself.

Whenever Li Shiyi told stories, he would gesticulate wildly, his face alight with excitement. That girl A-Xu always played along, resting her little face in her hands and listening with an earnest, obedient expression.

I was a little curious. A-Xu had told all those stories to Li Shiyi before, so why did she listen even more intently than I did?]

[A-Xu tilted her head, her eyes curving as she smiled mischievously a few times. "It's really funny watching my brother make things up as he goes."]

[But one day, A-Xu suddenly didn't want to tell stories anymore. Her little face drooped, and she looked troubled.

She wrapped both arms around her knees and sat beneath the willow tree, lost in thought for a very long time. Then she asked me a very strange question.

"If someone just takes a nap, and when they wake up, they've become a different person, what should they do?"]