The scene shifts, and I find myself in a place where Zhou Yu's soul and spirit followed that wooden flower.
When he saw Zhou Lang happily chasing after the wooden flower, he turned around and found that I was nowhere to be seen.
However, the soul that voluntarily drowns in the lake will continue to repeat the very thing it was doing before it died if it does not leave the place in time.
I saw Zhou Lang's panicked expression time and time again, anxiously repeating the scene of him struggling desperately in the lake, searching for me before his death.
"Ah Hua... Ah Hua..."
"Ah Hua... Ah Hua..."
The desperate cries calling my name echoed as I repeatedly and recklessly plunged into the river, my face contorted with panic and anxiety.
It was like one sharp arrow after another piercing my heart, causing me unbearable pain.
And I tried again and again to stop him from jumping into the lake, but I could only helplessly call out his name, "Zhou Lang," with him time and time again in despair.
Year after year, spring, summer, autumn, and winter, the four seasons cycle.
Time passed, until the lake dried up.
Zhou Lang, who had searched for me thousands and thousands of times, finally became delirious, sitting upright in the middle of the dried-up lake, clutching the wooden flower in his hand.
The only thing I remember is: "I'm waiting for Ahua."
Seeing him sitting there blankly, even the wandering ghosts on the roadside liked to tease him by asking, "Hey kid, what are you doing sitting here?"
Whenever asked, he would gaze into the distance with a deep look and murmur softly, "I'm waiting, Ah Hua."
"I'm waiting, Ahua."
"I'm waiting, Ahua."
"Don't wait anymore, she won't come back. Come with me to be reincarnated," a kind little ghost said, handing him some food as he kindly persuaded him.
But he kept whispering the same thing: "I'm waiting, Ah Hua. She said that as long as we get separated, I'll wait for her where I am, and she'll come back to find me."
"Then why hasn't she come back yet?" the little devil pressed.
"He said he likes plum trees and wants them to bloom all year round. I haven't finished planting them for him yet, so she must be angry."
"She will come back as long as I plant all the flowers."
Year after year, the seasons cycle.
Zhou Yu's love took root and sprouted on that wooden flower, growing into a crimson plum tree.
His tears of longing fell to the ground and blossomed into countless flowers that bloom in all four seasons. He nourished and nurtured these flowers with his spiritual power.
Day after day, time slips away.
Flowers bloom and fade, year after year.
Regardless of spring, summer, autumn, or winter, through wind, rain, cold, and snow, the seasons change.
The boy under the tree stood there, gazing into the distance, waiting for her—
Ah Hua, come back.
Times change, and things change.
Until, the boy under that tree
He lost all his spiritual power and senses, grew a head of white hair, and became a lonely and desolate tree spirit who had experienced many vicissitudes.
As times change, even nowadays when ordinary people drive cranes and excavators to destroy and remove every flower and blade of grass here, these flowers and grasses have long since become intertwined with their hearts and roots.
If anyone damages or moves even a single flower or blade of grass here, he will unleash a fierce storm and fly into a rage, seeking revenge on those who approach or move even a fraction of the plants.
That day, he looked panicked and helpless, protecting the flowers and plants around him. He exuded a black, malevolent aura and began to go berserk uncontrollably, almost killing the lives of the hundred workers there.
Fortunately, Ling Yan's appearance prevented a tragedy.
Ling Yan stood with his hands behind his back in front of Zhou Lang, looking at Zhou Lang who was already delirious, his spiritual power exhausted, and all his senses gone. He said with a look of regret, "Old friend, I never thought we would meet like this."
He sealed him away and soothed his soul with his zither, which is why he has survived to this day.
Nevertheless, he refused to leave this place, just to wait for Ah Hua to return.
After reading about his more than seven hundred years of loneliness and vicissitudes, and his lifelong obsession with my return.
My eyes were already brimming with tears, which then streamed down my face.
My heart is filled with remorse. I was heartbroken when I lost Zhou Lang, but since his immortal body perished, I dare not set foot on this land again.
If I ever come back here and take a few more glances, I'm sure I'll see the spirit of Zhou Yu waiting for me here.
I would never allow him to wait for me here for over seven hundred years.
"I'm sorry, Zhou Lang, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry."
I kept removing the shackles and seals from his body and the talismans.
I kept apologizing to him, but even if I said sorry a thousand times, I could not make up for the debt I owed to Zhou Lang and all the years of waiting.
"Ahua, what are you doing? You are a soul in the dream world, you can't touch these seals! You will be burned."
At that moment, Ranmo suddenly appeared and grabbed my arm tightly to stop me.
But I acted as if I had gone mad, shaking off his hand and constantly fiddling with and trying to remove the shackles and seals on him.
"I told you to stop! Are you crazy?!" Ranmo tried to stop me, but because her spiritual power was inferior to mine, she was pushed heavily to the ground.
Ignoring the burning effect of the spiritual incantations on the talisman on me, I finally removed the shackles and seals from his body.
Zhou Lang, whose seal had been removed, seemed to sense someone touching him, and his body shrank back as if he had been electrocuted.
When I approached him again, he became somewhat frantic and refused to let me touch him, struggling incessantly and even trying to attack me.
Tears streamed down my face as I hugged Zhou Lang tightly, sobbing.
I called his name in his ear: "Zhou Lang, Ahua is back."
Zhou Lang, sensing my presence, seemed to gradually calm down.
But he still seemed unable to hear me calling him, and his eyes were full of vigilance and defensiveness.
I held him like that for a long time without moving...
Once he calmed down, I released him from my embrace.
He can't see or hear, but he can feel.
So I stretched out my blood-soaked, sealed fingers and hooked them together, mimicking the pinky promise I made with Zhou Yu back then.
My voice trembled, and I choked back tears as I whispered, "Pinky promise, Ah Hua and Zhou Lang will be together forever."
Remembering how I used to stick out my index finger when we argued about getting the stamp, I couldn't help but burst into tears.
He pulled out his index finger and said, "Stamp!"
As soon as the stamp was applied, Zhou Lang suddenly raised his head, his eyes seemingly sparkling with starlight. His mouth was open but no sound came out; only his pale, thin lips could be seen slightly parted, forming the shape of "Ahua!"
I burst into tears of joy, nodded vigorously at him, and repeated the action I had just performed.
Finally, he used almost all his strength and spiritual power to pull me into his arms...
At that moment, I seemed to see plum blossoms falling from the sky, and vast fields of flowers blooming all around.
I tilted my head back and pressed my lips to his slightly cool, thin lips, releasing all the longing I had felt for him over the past seven hundred years into this embrace, this kiss…
I wish I could hold him tightly like this and kiss him passionately...
Never to be separated.
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