Chapter 598 Three's Company
After a long while, Zhu Shicai finally regained consciousness.
She blushed deeply, too embarrassed to look anyone in the eye. Then, as if recalling our conversation, a very complicated expression crossed her face.
To bring Zhu Jiu back, Xiao Wan would have to disappear. If Zhu Shi were like me, she wouldn't hesitate much. But the reality is she can't think like me. She can't accept that logic with a clear conscience, even if it's based on Xiao Wan's willingness.
If fulfilling her mission was Xiaowan's decision, even at the cost of her own disappearance, then I would respect her will. However, I have no intention of accepting this fate. Ultimately, Xiaowan's obsession is simply to complete her mission; disappearance is inevitable, not her ultimate goal.
Therefore, I'm wondering if there's a way to ensure that the little bowl won't disappear even after fulfilling its mission as the embodiment of dreams.
Asahi seemed to be pondering something as well.
“Um…I have a question.” Zhu Shi raised her hand.
"What's the problem?" Little Bowl asked.
"Mom... uh, Xiaowan said that I should get married to the person I like and live a happy life... Could this 'person I like' be referring to Senior Brother Zhuang?" Zhu Shi asked.
"Of course!" Xiaowan said matter-of-factly. "Aren't you Zhuang Cheng's fiancée? Aren't you going to marry him? Although you don't have any romantic feelings, right now, when it comes to 'someone you like,' there's no one else but Zhuang Cheng, right?"
Zhu Shi opened her mouth, then involuntarily covered her face, letting out a painful groan: "My God, I actually called this girl who looks only ten years old 'Mom,' while she calls my fiancé 'Brother'..."
Mr. Zhu's expression was also quite distorted. After making several hesitant gestures as if he wanted to say something, he retreated to the door of the bedroom and mumbled, "Well, I'll go downstairs to the living room to watch TV for a while. You young people can finish your talk first, and just tell me the result later..."
"Wait, Grandpa!" Zhu Shi shouted, "Are you going to abandon me! Abandon your lovely granddaughter like me?!"
Good luck. Goodbye.
Mr. Zhu slammed the door shut, and then came the sound of hurried footsteps outside, as if someone was fleeing in panic, quickly moving towards the living room downstairs.
Zhu Shi stretched out his arm toward the tightly closed door, his palm grasping weakly in the air as if trying to hold onto something that didn't exist, before finally letting go in despair.
I didn't know what to say in this situation, so I just kept quiet and remained a silent bystander.
Xiao Wan coughed softly.
Zhu Shi's shoulders twitched. She turned her head and met Xiao Wan's smile.
“Well then… let me continue,” Xiaowan said. “For now, let’s continue calling you Zhushi.”
"Alright, stop looking at me with those pitiful eyes. When we're alone, I'll still call you Jiuxing, but for now you're still planning to continue being 'Zhushi,' right?"
"The point now is, you think there's a problem with my desire for you and Zhuang Cheng to be together and achieve a happy future, right?"
“…Yes.” Zhu Shi nodded. “Senior Brother Zhuang likes Ma Zao, and Ma Zao also likes Senior Brother Zhuang. They are mutually in love. If I were to be with Senior Brother Zhuang, wouldn’t that be like stealing his love?”
"Of course, I originally planned to marry Senior Brother Zhuang, so in that sense I was already interfering. But we had an agreement that even if we got married, it would only be a purely physical relationship... uh, ptooey, anyway, no matter what, Senior Brother Zhuang's true love should be Ma Zao, not me."
"If it really turns out like that, Asahaya will hate it too, right?"
Xiao Wan turned to ask, "What does Sister Ma Zao think?"
Seeing Xiaowan call Mazao, whom she regarded as her younger sister, "older sister," Zhu Shi's facial muscles twitched again.
"I knew from the beginning that Zhuang Cheng had feelings for Zhu Shi. Even if Zhuang Cheng really likes Zhu Shi, I won't find it annoying. As long as Zhuang Cheng is happy, I'm happy." Ma Zao said innocently.
“But my engagement with Zhuang Cheng was largely based on the assumption that Xiao Wan was my and Zhuang Cheng’s daughter. Now that Xiao Wan’s true identity has been revealed, we’ve lost that basis. Do you really still think that kind of thing is okay?” Zhu Shi said. “Also, Ma Zao, you may be too young now to understand the true taste of love, which is why you said such absurd things. But that might not be the case in the future.”
"Why do you know I don't understand?" Asaha retorted. "I don't know what I'll be like in the future. I just want to seize the present. And..."
"And?" Zhu Shi asked.
"I don't want to be separated from you either..." Mazao said softly, "Zhu Shi, stay with us forever."
When I was away, the two of them helped each other. Mazao helped Zhushi communicate with the forging of the Yama Sword, and Zhushi used the power gained from the communication to repel the life-threatening evil that threatened Mazao. They became partners who shared hardships and were true comrades. Perhaps when Mazao was lonely, it was Zhushi who provided her with emotional warmth. When we reunited, the reason she could show such a happy smile without any gloom was probably also thanks to Zhushi.
For Mazao, who values companionship, fears loneliness, and suffers from countless psychological traumas, Zhu Shi has become an inseparable person.
In Asaho's heart, Xiaowan should also be the same person. After some thought, Asaho chose to stand on the side of "helping Xiaowan fulfill the mission of becoming the embodiment of dreams".
Ma Zao certainly didn't want Xiao Wan to disappear; she seemed to have other plans now.
Could it be that she shares the same thoughts as me? Even if Xiaowan were to disappear to fulfill her mission, would she resolutely defend Xiaowan's decision? I had this suspicion, yet it seemed inconceivable. Could that emotionally fragile and scarred Asao really make such a decision?
"No... your being with Zhuang Cheng won't affect our future relationship. What kind of reason is 'not wanting to break up with me'?" Zhu Shi asked in astonishment.
Ma Zao said seriously, "If I'm with Zhuang Cheng, I'll definitely want to stick to his side all the time. That way, I won't have time to keep you company. If you don't come along, won't the distance between us widen?"
"What a strange reason... such a statement..."
In a moment of desperation, Zhu Shi blurted out, "So, according to this logic, doesn't that mean you also want Xiao Wan and Senior Brother Zhuang to be together? Otherwise, you won't be able to be with Xiao Wan often in the future."
"--Um?"
Asaha seemed to realize the problem only then, and then lowered her head as if thinking.
At the same time, Xiao Wan seemed to have suddenly received some kind of revelation and fell into strange thoughts.
"Ah..." Zhu Shi seemed to realize that he had just said something he shouldn't have said.
She quickly changed her perspective, looked at the small bowl, and said, "Also... you just said that it's not me who judges whether I'm happy, but you. So what specific criteria do you use to judge?"
"No matter what I say, you know best that I have no romantic feelings. Even if you see me and Senior Brother Zhuang pretending to be in love, you can definitely tell that my heart isn't truly immersed in the atmosphere of romance. Won't that keep you from letting go of your obsession?"
“That’s simple,” Xiaowan said. “When you were little, you imagined a happy future with the person you liked, but you didn’t imagine how much you could give for the person you loved. Instead, you imagined how much the person who loved you would give for you.”
"In other words, what you sought as a child was not so much a lover, but rather to be loved."
"Although you've always been pampered, you're still not satisfied and want more love and affection. This may be a somewhat greedy and selfish desire, but back then you were just a little girl nestled in your mother's arms, wanting to be pampered by your prince charming and showered with care... This is definitely not an ugly fantasy, but a normal desire."
"And the fact that you were able to bravely cut off this part later proves that you have a nobler character than this naive and greedy one, and I am proud of you."
"So, now you should understand what my criteria for judgment are, right?"
Zhu Shi gave the answer as if talking to herself: "The key is not whether I can fall in love with Senior Brother Zhuang... but whether Senior Brother Zhuang will fall in love with me?"
“That’s exactly right,” said the little bowl.
“No… this is still strange!” Zhu Shi said. “The prince charming I imagined as a child could never be a man who cheats on me, right? Ah, I don’t have anything against Senior Brother Zhuang, but rather I find it hard to imagine myself marrying a man other than Senior Brother Zhuang… but that image certainly wouldn’t fit the vision of an innocent ten-year-old girl for her ideal partner, would it?”
“Well, generally speaking, I would definitely be eliminated, but my situation is special,” Xiaowan said. “I don’t just want you to be happy; that’s just my innate mission. Besides that, I have another mission with equally high priority: to help Mazao-neechan achieve happiness.”
"It's impossible for Asahi-neechan to be with any man other than Sho-sei-nii. If this third party is Asahi-neechan, I can completely accept it."
"At the same time, considering that you will soon be able to fully master the power of the Great Impermanence, I don't think any man other than Brother Zhuang Cheng is worthy of you. You yourself also have feelings for Brother Zhuang Cheng, right? And Sister Mazao just said that she doesn't want to be separated from you..."
"Considering all factors, the best solution is for the three of you to be together."
"On the other hand, if even the three of you working together doesn't work, then no method can possibly get rid of my obsession. From my own perspective, the only way forward now is to move in that direction."
Having been brought to this point, Zhu Shi seemed to have finally found herself unable to escape, and she looked at me with pleading eyes.
(End of this chapter)
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