The rain continued to drizzle down. Wu Chun’s hat that was covering his head had fallen off, and the rainwater hit his head. His forehead was covered with damp hair pressed tightly against it, and the rainwater trickled down his cheeks.
Wu Chun stood motionless for a long time. One of his arms was still being held tightly by Xu Shi Yao, hoping to find a hint of a playful tone on Xu Shi Yao’s face.
However, there was none.
“What… What did you say?”
As Wu Chun spoke, his voice choked, and tears mixed with the rainwater flowed silently down.
How could this be?
Wu Chun couldn’t believe it. How could Xu Shi Yao not remember him?
Obviously, Xu Shi Yao had eagerly cherished every second that Wu Chun had appeared by his side. Wu Chun remembered the vivid drawings on the tree bark and Xu Shi Yao’s serious expression while drawing them. Xu Shi Yao would repeat the things they had done the day before, wanting to make their encounters the next day even more fulfilling and intimate.
Xu Shi Yao’s memory could only hold one day, but he tried his best to remember everything about Wu Chun, even a small gesture Wu Chun made unintentionally.
“Xu Shi Yao, you’re lying to me, right? How could you forget me?”
Wu Chun also cried without any restraint. Just as he was about to confess his feelings to Xu Shi Yao, Xu Shi Yao suddenly told him: He doesn’t remember.
“I’m sorry, but I really don’t know you.”
With just one simple sentence, Wu Chun felt an icy cold pierce through him.
“Lies! What about those tree barks? Show them to me! Look at what you wrote on them. How dare you say that you don’t know me?” Wu Chun grabbed Xu Shi Yao’s arm and in a final plea, almost shouted, “Show them to me, Xu Shi Yao!”
A hint of strangeness flashed in Xu Shi Yao’s eyes, and finally, he waved his white sleeve, revealing some tree barks that emitted a faint green glow in front of them.
Wu Chun immediately took a closer look. Starting from the first bark, it was almost blank, with no record of anything. Only when he reached the last one did he see a few words written on it: Xu Shi Yao, guard this place.
“Are there any others?” Wu Chun asked persistently, not willing to give up.
“Only these,” Xu Shi Yao replied.
“You know me!” Wu Chun could not hold back his tears and shouted again, “If you don’t know me, why would I appear here? Why would I know about these pieces of bark that can record memories? Xu Shi Yao, what happened during the week I was gone?”
Wu Chun couldn’t hold it in any longer and hugged Xu Shi Yao, bursting into tears.
Wu Chun cried for a long time, but the other person remained silent.
Gradually, the rain stopped and the sound of a dog barking came from downhill, breaking the silence between them.
“I’m sorry,” Xu Shi Yao said again, “I forgot.”
After Xu Shi Yao finished speaking, he pulled Wu Chun out of his embrace. “Go back, you are human. This is not where you belong.”
After finishing his words, Xu Shi Yao crossed his arms, and the sticky mud on the ground seemed to recede from him. There was not a single stain on his white clothes, and his long hair cascaded down his shoulders. Looking at his figure, Wu Chun felt a familiar feeling in his heart.
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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From a distance, Wu Chun seemed to faintly see Xu Shi Yao’s body shaking slightly.
“Listen, Xu Shi Yao! If you don’t have the ability to make me forget as well, to erase everything about you from my mind, even if there’s only a fragment left, our story won’t end.”
But Xu Shi Yao still walked away.
Wu Chun watched as Xu Shi Yao’s figure disappeared into the mountain forest.
Wu Chun stood at the same spot, dazed. The wind slipped into Wu Chun’s sleeves, and the pine cone pendant on his chest suddenly flickered with a faint light. Wu Chun took the pendant off and held it in his palm again. After a short moment, the faint glow of the pendant faded away. Wu Chun’s lips curled slightly and he whispered softly, “It’s okay, you forgot, but I remember.”
That night, Wu Chun didn’t dwell on it. When he returned home, he found his grandfather still asleep, which calmed him down. He lay on the bed, not falling asleep, but thinking about what had happened in the days he had been away.
Why did Xu Shi Yao end up like this?
Wu Chun remembered the six simple words written on the bark of Xu Shi Yao’s tree, as if hastily scribbled as a self-warning: “Guard this, don’t interfere with the rest.”
Wu Chun lay in bed, tossing and turning. In the past few days, he had learned from his grandfather that nothing significant had happened in Shili Village, except for the occasional passerby who visited Shili Mountain to worship.
If something wasn’t happening in the mortal realm, perhaps something was happening in Xu Shi Yao’s realm of existence?
However, if something was happening on Xu Shi Yao’s side, Wu Chun was powerless. He couldn’t even find out what had happened, let alone come up with an answer. Fortunately, he could still see Xu Shi Yao and have direct contact with her.
“Even if we start from scratch, it’ll be fine,” Wu Chun comforted himself. “He wants to shake me off, but it won’t be that easy.” As he spoke, tears streamed down Wu Chun’s cheeks. He quickly wiped them away with the back of his hand, but the tears continued to flow. Finally, Wu Chun pulled the nearby blanket over himself and covered his face.
During the night, soft sobs could be heard from under the blanket.
…
When the first rays of the morning sun entered the room, Wu Chun slowly opened his eyes. He had slept for less than an hour last night, and the lack of sleep over the past few days made his eyes feel heavy and dark.
Wu Chun carefully climbed out of bed and took a step towards the door when he heard his grandfather’s voice from behind him.
“Did you see him last night?”
Wu Chun was taken aback, but after a moment he turned around and smiled helplessly.
“Grandpa, you already know?”
“As your grandfather, how could I not understand? Did you see the child last night?”
“Yes.” Wu Chun nodded.
“What is it? Didn’t you want to see him all this time? You finally saw him, but you look unhappy.”
Grandfather’s caring voice once again shattered the defenses in Wu Chun’s heart, and he could no longer hold back his grief. A wave of emotions flooded his heart.
“Grandfather…”
“My good child, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”
Without thinking, Wu Chun rushed into his grandfather’s arms like a distraught child seeking comfort. With a voice full of sorrow, he said, “Grandpa, he doesn’t remember me anymore.
…
This was the first time Wu Chun talked to his grandfather about Xu Shi Yao.
Wu Chun had very few people to confide in. Some things could only be shared with Xu Shi Yao. With every additional person in the world who knew about Xu Shi Yao’s existence, there was an additional level of danger.
There were too many uncertainties, so Wu Chun had to be extremely cautious.
But now, Xu Shi Yao insisted on not knowing him. Even though Wu Chun had so much to say, he couldn’t talk to Xu Shi Yao for the time being.
Wu Chun told his grandfather about how he met Xu Shi Yao, deliberately hiding his own feelings for Xu Shi Yao.
“His memories are being erased every day, but he said he would try to remember me, but he still forgot.”
Wu Chun lowered his head in sadness and felt his eyes well up again, as if tears were about to fall.
“Chun Chun, did he really forget you?”
“Yes,” Wu Chun said, wiping away his tears. “He doesn’t remember anything.”
“But just now, Grandpa heard you say that when you first met, you were the only person who could interact with him. Because of that, he even doubted your identity, right?”
“Yes,” Wu Chun nodded. “Look at this pine cone.” Wu Chun took off the necklace around his neck as he spoke. “At that time, it was because he doubted my identity that he made this pine cone follow me. Later, he realized that the flame on my shoulder was too weak, so he decided to stay with me.”
“If that’s the case, when he saw that you were able to interact with him directly last night, he should have been suspicious. Then why did he keep urging you to leave this place? His memory might not last long, but he shouldn’t have changed completely.”
Grandpa’s words woke Wu Chun up. He had been immersed in the grief of Xu Shi Yao forgetting him and had completely ignored this matter.
Upon reflection, when Xu Shi Yao saw him for the first time last night, the first thing he said was, “It’s dangerous here, go back quickly.”
It was completely different from their first meeting.
Not being able to remember anything would only increase the lack of security and make one more cautious of any unusual situations around them. Logically speaking, if last night was the first time I appeared in the other person’s mind, why didn’t they inquire about my identity first like they did in the beginning? Instead, from beginning to end, they urged me to leave.
Leave…
Every word Xu Shi Yao said that night revolved around those two words.
Wu Chun had a feeling of foreboding in his heart.
“Kid, Grandpa thinks you should have a good talk with him.”
…
Wu Chun arrived at Shili Mountain once again. As he approached, the branches of the pine trees swayed as if to welcome him.
Wu Chun picked up a medium-sized stone and sat down beside the pine tree.
After a rain shower, the weather was no longer so scorching hot. Occasionally, a breeze would blow by, bringing a cool sensation. Wu Chun leaned against the pine tree and remained silent for a long time.
Wu Chun wanted to confront Xu Shi Yao, but judging from his behavior last night, it was unlikely that he would admit anything if questioned. He might even refuse to come out and meet Wu Chun.
Xu Shi Yao might seem cold, but perhaps only Wu Chun knows that the warmth in his heart surpasses that of everyone else here.
As expected, Wu Chun’s guess was right. When he arrived here in the evening, there was no sign of Xu Shi Yao in front of the pine tree.
“Coward!” Wu Chun stamped his foot in frustration. “He doesn’t even dare to come out to see me.”
Wu Chun climbed directly up the pine tree, remembering Xu Shi Yao’s words about seemingly sitting on the branch, but actually being held in the other’s arms. With this thought, Wu Chun’s heart was filled with a touch of sweetness. He reached out and embraced the tree trunk, pressing his face against it as if to hug Xu Shi Yao.
However, after a short while of hugging, a sound similar to a chain saw cutting wood came from the mountainside.
Without hesitation, Wu Chun jumped down from the tree and ran towards the source of the sound.
“No tree-cutting allowed!” Wu Chun shouted as he ran.
A white figure quickly flashed by Wu Chun’s side, and in a moment of carelessness, he tripped over a stone beneath his feet and fell to the ground.
“Ah!”
A feeling of pain radiated from his ankle, and the white figure suddenly flashed back. In an instant, Wu Chun felt himself being lifted up and placed on top of the pine tree.
“Wu Chun, where did you fall?”
The concerned voice of the other person came as her hand gently touched Wu Chun’s twisted ankle, sending a chill through his body.
“Xu Shi Yao.” Wu Chun choked out his name, and the moment the other person lifted his head, he suddenly threw himself into their arms. “Xu Shi Yao, you remember me, right?”
A soybean:
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
This is so sweet. They care each other a lot.
Thanks for the updates!
🙏
So he does remember!! I was going to bawl if he forgot! 😭
OMG OMF OMSG (my mind and heart is a mess rn)