The night was very quiet.
The wind was still, as if even the surrounding air had stopped flowing.
Wu Chun looked at the “ghost” standing in front of him, staring at him. On the white and somewhat abnormal face, there was no sign of emotional change, as if the ghost hadn’t even noticed Wu Chun.
Normally, Wu Chun didn’t have the habit of staring at handsome people incessantly, let alone the fact that the person standing in front of him was not even human. But now he didn’t know what was wrong with him. He wanted to quickly avert his gaze, but his eyes didn’t listen to him, and his feet uncontrollably moved forward.
To make matters worse, his mouth also began to lose control.
“Are you really a ghost?”
Wu Chun couldn’t be blamed for asking this question. It’s just that the “ghost” in front of him doesn’t really look like a ghost. There is no grotesque face as rumoured, no long tongue sticking out as in legend, the face is a bit too pale but still okay, and most importantly, the eyes are bright and piercing. The eyes of ghosts in rumours are either hollow or filled with evil, but his eyes…
When Wu Chun looked into the other’s eyes, he immediately thought of the phrase: Buddha's light shines everywhere.
To put it simply, in a pair of ghostly eyes, Wu Chun saw light.
Perhaps only the slightly purple lips still had a hint of a “ghostly” appearance.
After asking the question, Wu Chun didn’t get a response from the other person. After a while, Wu Chun felt something moving in his pocket, and when he looked down, he saw the pine cone in his pocket fly into the other person’s hand.
Wu Chun was scared that he was having a hallucination in the middle of the night. He rubbed his eyes vigorously to confirm that the pine cone had indeed flown into the other person’s hand.
Such a thing was impossible for a person to do.
“What do you think?”
The short sentence sent a chill down Wu Chun’s spine. The other person’s voice was like it was coming from under a glacier, carrying a cold and damp feeling that was bone-chilling. Wu Chun hugged himself, and even though it was a hot day, his arms broke out in goosebumps. He suddenly understood why he felt cool standing around the tree before.
It was just that the coldness had never been this bone-chilling before.
Wu Chun hadn’t even had time to react to the other person’s sentence when he looked up and saw the pine cone floating in front of him.
Wu Chun was stunned.
“Take it.”
Almost as soon as the other person finished speaking, Wu Chun’s hand grabbed the pinecone. Suddenly, the warm current that had left him was slowly converging towards him, and it’s not an exaggeration to say that Wu Chun felt “alive” again.
It turns out that this pinecone has such an effect.
Wu Chun looked at the pinecone in his hand, no longer as disgusted as before.
“Why did you put this thing on me? And why do you live in this pine tree? Are you the one scaring the villagers?”
After some thought, Wu Chun didn’t say the words “evil ghost,” since even if the other party was a ghost, it didn’t look evil at all.
“Aren’t you afraid?” The other person asked instead of answering Wu Chun’s question.
This question caught Wu Chun off guard. To be honest, he only felt fear for a moment when his 18 years of knowledge were questioned. But after his understanding was overturned, Wu Chun accepted the fact that ghosts existed in this world and became calm.
“I’m not afraid, not at all.” Wu Chun didn’t know if he believed it himself, but this was indeed his true feeling.
Perhaps it was because he had always been brave, since he was a child. The ghosts that made people turn pale when talked about are now standing in front of him, but Wu Chun doesn’t have the slightest fear. Instead, there was an indescribable feeling in his heart, “I don’t know why, but I’m not afraid when I see you.”
It may be Wu Chun’s illusion, but after he finished speaking, he felt that the corners of the other person’s mouth seemed to move, but the movement was too small for Wu Chun to be sure. He was still staring at the other person when they walked straight towards him and lightly placed their hand on Wuchun’s shoulder.
Immediately after, a faint blue flame ignited on Wu Chun’s shoulder.
Could this be the “two flames on a person’s shoulders” that the old man mentioned earlier?
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.
“Ghost” not only easily approach him but also freely manipulate the two flames on his shoulders?
Ktf gewbegr jgf lcvffv kgbcu.
Qtja xlcv bo qgbafmalnf oijwf lr atlr?
“Kbb kfjx.”
Ktf revvfc atgff kbgvr ogbw atf batfg qjgas ifoa Qe Jtec wbwfcajglis ecgfrqbcrlnf.
“Zs rtbeivfg olgf lr abb kfjx?”
Ktf batfg qjgas vlvc’a rjs jcsatlcu, yea pevulcu ogbw atflg fsfr, Qe Jtec uefrrfv atja tf kjr qgbyjyis gluta. Fcobgaecjafis, atf batfg qjgas kjr cba bcis j utbra yea jirb j kbbvfc utbra. Ktfs jikjsr rqbxf kbgv ys kbgv, jcv Qe Jtec cfnfg atbeuta atja bcf vjs tf kbeiv tjnf ab uefrr j utbra’r atbeutar.
“So, because my shoulder fire is too weak, you can easily approach me?”
The other person still didn’t say anything.
Just as Wu Chun was about to ask again, the other person suddenly took the pinecone from his hand. He plucked one of his own hairs, and the hair instantly turned into a silver thread. The thread went through the top of the pinecone, and the other party once again placed the pinecone back into Wu Chun’s hand.
It looks like a big necklace!
Wu Chun looked at it back and forth and asked, “Do I wear it around my neck?”
The other person nodded.
Without much thought, Wu Chun put it on. The pinecone instantly shrank and really turned into a pinecone-shaped pendant.
“What is this for?” Wu Chun asked as he held the pinecone pendant.
Before the other person could speak, a black lump suddenly rushed towards Wu Chun. Just then, the pinecone pendant on his neck suddenly lit up, and the black lump was instantly knocked away.
Wu Chun patted his chest in shock. Even if the other person didn’t say anything, he understood the function of the pendant.
His protective fire was weak and couldn’t defend against these dirty things, so the other person gave him the pendant.
Did the other person see that his protective fire was weak the first time they met, which is why they had been following him with the pinecone pendant?
However, Wu Chun couldn’t figure out why the other person wanted to help him.
As soon as Wu Chun was about to ask, he saw the other person staring at the black object for a while, looking very serious, with his eyebrows almost furrowed together.
“Dead.”
As soon as the other person finished speaking, the black aura around the object dispersed, and then Wu Chun saw a familiar face.
“Isn’t this…?” Wu Chun exclaimed, recognising the person as the one who came to call for his grandfather on his first night here.
Judging from his age, he should be in his early thirties.
“Drowned.”
After saying these two words, the other person suddenly walked in a big stride in a certain direction, with Wu Chun closely following behind. They walked to the edge of the mountain together, looking at the rope and the axe lying on the ground, as well as the stone that had been stepped on at the edge. Below them was a very deep lake.
It seems that the other person came to secretly cut firewood at night and accidentally fell into the water and drowned.
Suddenly, Wu Chun didn’t feel good in his heart. Although this person was just an acquaintance to him, perhaps out of compassion deep inside people’s hearts, even towards strangers, sadness would arise.
“Tell me.” Wu Chun slowly squatted down.
If it wasn’t for their livelihood, who would come to a place like this in the middle of the night?
Wu Chun let out a slow sigh, looked up, and met a pair of slightly puzzled eyes.
“Relative?”
Wu Chun shook his head and said, “No, just met once. Aren’t you feeling upset?”
“I’m a ghost.”
Wu Chun was suddenly at a loss for words, even feeling that the question he had just asked was foolish. Judging from the appearance of the person in front of him, they had died at a young age, just slightly older than himself, and yet their lives had already ended.
Wu Chun remembered that there hadn’t been a young person’s funeral in Shili Village for two years, and most of the funerals during that time had been for the elderly. He also recalled what Grandma Wang had said earlier that afternoon: that the ghost she had seen was probably him.
Putting it all together, the person in front of him had likely died at least two years ago and had yet to be reincarnated.
Wu Chun felt even more upset. Emotions were already easily stirred up at such a late hour, so he simply hugged his legs and sobbed quietly.
His reaction caught the other person off guard. He reached out his hand and stopped just before touching Wu Chun’s head. The words of comfort that he wanted to say were replaced by three words: “Go back home.”
“No,” Wu Chun replied, wiping his tears and getting up from the ground. “I can’t go back yet. You haven’t answered my question.”
This was the purpose of Wu Chun’s visit tonight, and he couldn’t come all this way for nothing.
“Did you scare the villagers?” he asked.
The other person stared at him with intense eyes, and even though Wu Chun felt uncomfortable, he still gathered his courage and asked a series of questions.
“Why haven’t you entered the cycle of reincarnation? Or is there no such thing as reincarnation at all?”
“Yes.”
Finally, Wu Chun got a response. It was really difficult to get any information from the other person’s mouth.
“Then, how long after death can one enter reincarnation?” Wu Chun continued to ask.
“Seven days.”
Seven days…
People say the first seven days…
If Wu Chun guessed correctly, the other person must have been dead for at least two years but still not entered reincarnation.
Was there any hidden story in between?
“Then, what should be done during these seven days?”
It took a while before Wu Chun got the answer to this question: “Go home.”
After saying that, Wu Chun and the ghost returned to the pine tree. Perhaps the power of the pine cone on his body was strong enough; the soul was still lying there, and after a while, it slowly got up and went down the mountain along the path.
He was going home…
Looking at the figure disappearing into the distance, Wu Chun felt uneasy.
During these seven days, he went home repeatedly, but his family couldn’t see him. Even though they were close to each other, they still couldn’t meet.
Maybe going home was just an obsession.
He left too suddenly and didn’t have a chance to say a proper goodbye to his family.
It wasn’t until the figure disappeared into the night that Wu Chun looked away and noticed that the “ghost” who had just been standing beside him was now on the branches of the pine tree.
“You should go back now.”
The weather tonight was not good; the moon and stars were hiding behind the dark clouds, and Wu Chun couldn’t even tell what time it was, but he guessed it must be very late.
“I have two more questions to ask you.” Wu Chun pursed his lips and gathered his courage. “What’s your name? Do you have any family left?”
“I forgot…”
Wu Chun: “…”
“Okay, I’ll ask again. When did you pass away?”
The atmosphere fell silent after Wu Chun asked this question. He knew he was being presumptuous by even touching the other person’s sore spot. They were just strangers and had no obligation to tell him anything.
“I’m sorry.” Wu Chun bowed slowly and turned to leave, but a cold voice suddenly sounded behind him.
“1995.”
…
The next day, the weather indeed turned gloomy, with a misty drizzle falling.
News of someone’s death in the village quickly spread. It was said that the person’s wife had gone out to search for him when he didn’t return home overnight. When she saw the tools and footprints of someone slipping on the mountaintop, everything became clear.
Grandfather went out early in the morning to help.
Wu Chun sat at the door of the main hall with the pine cone pendant hidden under his clothes, feeling a slight chill.
Looking outside, Wu Chun’s thoughts had already gone far away.
In 1995, when Wu Chun was only thirteen years old, he remembered that there had been a big landslide in his grandfather’s village that year. But if Wu Chun remembers correctly, his mother said that no one was injured or killed in that landslide.
“1995, was it the people from this village?” Wu Chun muttered to himself, and coincidentally, his grandfather walked in from outside.
As soon as he entered the door, Wu Chun heard his grandfather sigh slowly.
“In their thirties, with two children, and they’re gone just like that, causing…”
Wu Chun stood on the sidelines, not knowing what to say.
“What’s wrong, Chun Chun? You’re frowning. Did something happen? Tell Grandpa about it.”
“Grandpa,” Wu Chun asked cautiously, looking at his grandfather and whispering, “did a young person also pass away in this village in 1995?”
“What did Grandma Wang tell you?”
Wu Chun didn’t expect his grandfather’s reaction to be so strong, but according to what he said, was this matter also related to Mrs. Wang?
Wu Chun shook his head. “She didn’t tell me anything.”
“Ah.” Grandfather patted his shoulder, brought a small stool over, and said, “Sit down and talk.”
…
In 1995, there was no clear prohibition on the smell of pine trees. During those years, the pine trees on the mountain were cut down every year just as they had grown, and there were no major incidents in the previous years. However, that year, there was suddenly a heavy rain.
The tree being cut down made it easier for landslides to occur naturally.
In that disaster, no one in the village died in the landslide.
However, during that summer, Grandma Wang’s grandson, Xu Shi Yao, returned to his grandmother’s house after finishing college entrance exam. On the third day of his visit, a heavy rainstorm began. He died trying to save a woman carrying a child in the landslide, and he was the only person who died in that disaster.
Xu Shi Yao was eighteen years old that year. He went to his grandmother’s house in the countryside to share the good news of his admission to college, but he never expected that he would never be able to return.
Oh… Damn.
Oh, this is really sad, he was so young and so kind
Thank you for your translation 💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝
This explains grandma Wang mistaking him for her grandson (even more) since he carries SY’s pine cone.
Also explains SY’s obsession with making sure the villagers don’t cut down too many trees. He must have decided to make sure landslides don’t happen again.
This makes sense…. He was such a sweetheart, too. 😭
».. to his question: “Go home.« ” is missing at the end
».. to his grandmother’s house after finishing college.« I guess to call it “after finishing the college entrance exam(s)”, otherwise it doesn’t make sense.
Okay, my bad xD WC seems to be a more emotional person than I thought. And why is he able to see that soul but others can’t but can see our Mr. Ghost? Confused desu~. Or it maybe is a pinecone bonus xD
Thx for the ch (ㅅ˘ㅂ˘)
How sad .. No wonder he protects the trees..