Ashes And DustCh1 - A Call

The twelfth plane, J city

Spring was especially warm in the city that year. It was late afternoon, and the streets were filled with all kinds of people. ceOK4B

Children heading home from school walked on the sidewalks, running around happy couples holding hands and elderly people dragged their bags filled to the brim towards a nearby bus stop, only stopping from time to time to give way to others hurrying over. 

The air was filled with all kinds of noise, and music flowed out of a window someone had forgotten to close.

Chrysanthemum Garden.

In a nearby café, a man just got to the counter and was ready to pay. He handed a couple of bank notes to the cashier, and held the two cups with a hand as he waved goodbye to the girl before stepping outside. 

He felt his eyes hurt from the brightness, so he raised his palm to shield his gaze. The corner of his mouth twitched into an arc as he looked around before he walked leisurely across the street. isUmn4

At the same time in a nearby apartment. A weak streak of light fell on the empty couch in the middle of the room, serving as the only source of brightness in the entire flat.

A cat with particularly soft looking, beige fur jumped lazily, landing gently under the streak of warmth. It stretched with practiced movements before becoming completely motionless in the position it found most comfortable.

For a long time, there was no other movement in the room. A fly’s low buzz came from the direction of a potted plant, but soon everything sank into silence again. After about half an hour, the sound of footsteps could be heard from the other room.

The floorboards cracked lightly, and soon someone appeared in the deserted living room. The boy rubbed his forehead as he walked to the windows, pulling the curtains apart and opening the windows at once. Light flooded the room, and the cat gave a disapproving sound in answer to the sudden noise from outside. 

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The sounds from the outside world poured into the flat, completely washing away the isolated feeling from before. The boy yawned and walked into the kitchen, opening the windows so that air could circulate better. He hadn’t slept much the night before, but it seemed that he could afford to do so, as there wasn’t anyone to wake him up in the morning.

In fact he had only woken up now because he had a sudden feeling, the sort that leaves people in cold sweat – he felt that he was being watched.

As he moved around the room this feeling gradually lessened, so much that by the time he was cutting up vegetables and pouring them into a pot, it had disappeared almost completely.

He hummed a familiar melody as he prepared lunch. The fragrance filled up the kitchen, and soon the kitten appeared to circle around its owner’s legs and rub his uncovered ankles with its nose in hope of an afternoon snack. qa4cbK

At this moment, knocking was heard from the front door. It was light enough so that it could be mistaken for branches knocking on a window, but firstly, all the windows were open, and secondly, the flat was on a floor with a two digit number.

There weren’t any trees tall enough nearby, or maybe even in the entire country. The youth didn’t think about it too much, and he called out while putting a lid on the pot on the stove, ‘I’m coming, a minute!’

He clapped his hands together, and threw the kitchen cloth on his shoulder. He strode over to the door and opened it quickly, but there was no one to see.

The long corridor leading to the apartment was completely empty except for two or three bikes leaning against the wall a couple of metres away. The laughter of children came from the stairway. OCRDZv

The boy stood at the door for a while longer, but there was no other movement at all. He shook his head lightly and mumbled something to himself as he closed the door again.

The cat followed him to the door and it was nuzzling against his calves now. He bent down to pick it up and poked lightly at the kitten’s paw.

The sound of bubbling water came from the pot when he entered the kitchen again. He sat down on a stool next to the window and reached for a banana, although he ended up cutting half of it up for the cat. He hugged the warm ball of fur as he stared out the window after dinner.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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The sounds of the city melted together in the evening, and all that reached the room was a low buzz.

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There was still food left in the pot, but the youth didn’t bother putting it into the fridge, simply leaving it on the stove.

He stretched his legs and let the kitten down from his embrace gently, walking from window to window closing them in a practiced manner. The noise of his bare feet on the floor was softened by the carpets in the living room. qx01Ei

In a couple of minutes the brightness of the TV filled the room. The boy sank into the couch comfortably, his gaze fixed on the screen. The cat meowed and jumped up, occupying the same spot it napped in in the afternoon.

The youth was half asleep when his phone buzzed almost two hours later. He frowned and reached out to decline the call, but he changed his mind when he saw the caller ID. He rubbed his eyes lightly and completely muted the already quiet TV as he answered the call.

‘What’s up?’ He hadn’t spoken in a while, so his voice was lower than usual. He reached for a cup on the coffee table and drank a mouthful of water.

‘Xiaoyi, I told you I had a date today, didn’t I? So why haven’t you called?’ The voice of the caller was that of a man slightly older than him, and sounded somewhat more excited than usual.  d9mr7g

It was Xue Liuhe, Zhai Xiaoyi’s best friend of seven years.

‘……’

He didn’t remember anything like that! He coughed to cover up his silence.

‘I’m sorry, I was busy. Isn’t it fine to ask about it now? How did it go?’ QdaFpq

‘Busy, busy with what? Busy looking at your laptop the entire day, huh? At least is it something more exciting than the documents from last time?’ Xue Liuhe didn’t wait for an answer. ‘Nevermind, I don’t even want to know. The date was fine.’

‘Oh’ was all Zhai Xiaoyi said to that. Then he thought about it, and added, ‘You were so excited just now? What happened?’

It was as if Xue Liuhe was only waiting for this question as he exploded in words. From time to time a sound from Zhai Xiaoyi was heard, such as ‘oh’, ‘en’ or every so often a soft ‘definitely’, and it seemed that Xue Liuhe only needed this sort of encouragement to talk for hours.

‘She’s so awesome, you.. You don’t even know. You know, my words don’t do her justice, you need to meet her yourself.’ He sighed with regret as he finished. Zhai Xiaoyi’s eyes were closed as he listened, but he still hummed along as he rested his palm on the cat’s back, combing through its fur with his fingers. StfPVq

Xue Liuhe was deep in thought, and he didn’t realise that the other side of the line had been silent for some time. His dark eyes glistened with the reflection of the streetlights as he drove, still talking about the date he had just left from. Of course, he called Zhai Xiaoyi the moment he got into his car, no, even before, in the parking lot of the girl’s apartment block.

He finally came up with what he wanted, an unnoticed smile blooming at his lips. ‘Let’s go somewhere this weekend. We can call it a double date and you can bring whoever you want. How about it?’

Zhai Xiaoyi hummed. He liked hanging out with Xue Liuhe and he wanted to meet the girl who had him so excited.

A shadow of a smile appeared on his face as he agreed. Soon Xue Liuhe arrived at home and they said their goodbyes. BN1w5U

Zhai Xiaoyi rubbed his eyebrows as he dropped the phone back on the couch. He stood up and switched the TV off, going straight to his room and sitting on the bed. 

It seemed that although he slept through half of the day, he still couldn’t relax entirely. He sank into the covers, only managing to fall asleep after a long time.

Chrysanthemum Garden.

At the same time, in the nearby coffee shop.

The shop was much more crowded than in the day. There were all kinds of people sitting and chatting in the small booths and around the tables. aqmjFI

The scene appeared most likely to be that of a class reunion, as everyone seemed to know each other, not counting the strange location and the dark night outside.

On the top of the counter sat a young man, his legs crossed lazily. He seemed distressed and the people around him looked deeply invested in his story.

‘So you guys know that son of the Zhai family? I went to look for him today. He’s sort of famous these days?’ He asked the others, but none of them knew who he was talking about.

‘Aiya, it doesn’t matter if he’s famous or not. The guy’s got great abilities, at least that’s what my friend told me yesterday. You know I’m in a hurry, so how could I find just anyone? But this one’s different, I trust this guy. If he says the kid’s even slightly good, there is no way he is any worse than an expert.’ ygojHu

‘What was I saying? Yeah, so I went to find him. Even if he’s no good, I owe the guy for helping me out with the leaky pots so I decided to try.’ He trailed off again, but one of his audience members tugged at his leg to get his attention.

‘So? What’s the kid like? Did he agree to help?’ He sounded extremely excited. If this guy found someone who wasn’t only talented, but also willing to help.. 

‘No.’ The man laughed bitterly. ‘I didn’t even get to see his face, some kids came running and you know how it is, I couldn’t stay anymore.’ He rested his chin on one of his palms. His entire figure emitted dejection. ‘If the main bureau finds me in a fifty metres radial from children they are likely to revoke my pass again. I already took a risk going into the residential area.’

‘Right, Lin ge, what did you even do for them to be so strict to you? Don’t tell me the rumors are true and you’re really one of those.. folks who.. Tell me you didn’t do anything bad!’ The short man who asked the question before he frowned as he bit at the inside of his mouth. He had known Lin Xu for a long time, they became acquainted when he first arrived at the city, roughly fifty years ago. 8KREnp

‘Ah, don’t misunderstand. I scared a lot of kids when I first came back, it’s nothing to brag about. It’s just that the area I used to live in, the families there started calling daoists and said the buildings were haunted.’

‘Even so, that wouldn’t be an issue for the department, but soon everyone got a ton of talismans and holy statues and whatnot. Even if most of them were fake, the ones that weren’t were the last drop of water in the cup for the big men at the bureau!’

‘They revoked my pass for twenty whole years. This was before we met, of course. It’s already old water under the bridge anyways.’

He didn’t seem too bothered, but a sniffle gave his true feelings away. ‘I barely have a year left. If I lose my pass again, how am I supposed to do anything? That’s why I risked going there in the first place.’ k5VzxZ

‘It is risky, but isn’t it worth trying if I can meet my girlfriend again? I’ve been looking for her for decades. I don’t even know if she’d recognize me if we met on the streets?’ His sniffles gradually turned into silent crying. The short man felt like he was coaxing a child.

‘Don’t say that, don’t you look the same as you did back then? How could she forget you? I’m daring to bet even if she found another man she didn’t forget you!’ He felt that his sentence wasn’t quite right, but he couldn’t come up with anything better.

The man’s crying grew louder, and people from other tables were shooting interested looks in their direction. He coughed and spoke unwillingly. ‘If it’s such a big matter, I’ll accompany you tomorrow, okay? Don’t cry, the boy will definitely help.’

‘And even if he doesn’t, we’ll just scare him a little so he will. Alright? You said you trusted the guy who told you about him; you can trust me too. We’ll go give the kid a visit tomorrow?’ qpMdj9

The young man on the counter gave a loud sniffle as approval. The short man sighed with some relief, and tried to change the topic. ‘Didn’t you say Lin Ran had something today? Why didn’t she come to tell us about it? It’s not like there’d be stuff to talk about all night, I wanna hear about whatever she’s so busy with!’

The others looked excited too after hearing that. The man smiled lightly, and agreed while wiping his tears, ‘RanRan said she had a date this evening. I’ll call her to ask when she’ll come. I’m sure she won’t want to keep it all to herself.’

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

He pulled an old mobile phone from his pocket, and started typing on it right away. The call connected, and he put it on speaker phone so everyone could hear. A soft, melodic voice came from the cellphone.

‘Brother? I’m on my way to the café, I’ll be there right away. Why did you call me?’ oY3kgc

‘Ah, it’s nothing really. Your brother just wanted to know how your date went. Right, where are you, what did you say?’

The girl laughed lightly and the ones who heard it felt their heart tingle. ‘I told him I lived in one of those new flats towards the northern border. It is somewhat far away, but it’s more believable than saying I live with a dozen ghosts in a coffee shop.’

The knocking of her heels that was quite loud before suddenly came to a halt. Keys jingled from the glass door of the café, and a young woman in her early twenties waved to the people inside excitedly.

She had dyed blonde hair that fell on her shoulders in light waves. It could be seen that her hair hadn’t been dyed in some time now, more than five centimetres of the roots were a dark color. She was wearing a pretty, green dress and held a shoulder bag in her arms. She smiled as she stepped into the small shop. The ghosts inside greeted her excitedly, all asking about her night. BSWCzu

‘How did it go?’

‘Is he nice? No, is he handsome?’

‘What happened? You can’t keep us waiting forever!’

‘Ah, I want small RanRans running around in the shop!’ rJlDC6

Lin Xu paled at that exclamation. He stepped in quickly.

‘RanRan just got home, let her breathe for a moment! Children, it is no time to speak of children yet, am I right? Let her sit down. Here!’ He handed a lukewarm cup of tea to the girl, pulling her towards the couch in a corner of the café.

He sat down next to her, looking at her with the same excitement as everyone else in the small shop. ‘Now tell us, how did the date go? Is he like what you thought he would be?’

The girl put down her bag first, holding the cup in her hands tightly. She took a breath before talking, as if to tease her audience. When she looked up, her eyes were gleaming like stars. dFMY v

‘Tell us! What is his name?’ The short man asked, almost biting his nails.

‘His name is Xue Liuhe. He is.. I can’t even tell you how wonderful he is.’


The author has something to say:

Lin Ran: He really is too awesome! jhZD5W

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5 comments

    • haha this might sound disappointing, but our ml is as much of a human as it gets. the mc is the supernatural one, and he’s just going to get further from the concept of a human.. thank you for reading!