Chapter 42 "I hate you".
The monsters never expected that the people of Heaven would betray them.
They thought Flower Fruit Mountain was already theirs, and the monsters were all ready to hold a victory celebration at the Water Curtain Cave, but they were utterly defeated by the great god wielding the Fire-Tipped Spear.
The Water Curtain Cave, once considered a coveted treasure, has instantly become a den of monsters, a place where monsters flee in panic. They dare not even think about territory anymore; if they are a step too slow, they will lose their lives to guns.
The mountains and forests were filled with screams and wails. The boy was so engrossed in killing that he treated them like pork on a chopping board. If there was any difference, it was that the weapon in his hand was far more deadly than a butcher's knife.
The monsters who narrowly escaped death were so terrified that they no longer dared to plot against Flower Fruit Mountain.
Standing atop the hill, bathed in the blood-scented morning breeze, Nezha scanned the forest below with his eyes, making sure he hadn't missed anything important, before lowering his head to wipe the blood from the tip of his spear.
Scattered limbs and broken pieces of flesh were scattered throughout the battlefield, which would make excellent fertilizer for flowers.
Having finished his business, it was time to go back to find Jiang Huaisu. He hurried into the Water Curtain Cave and headed towards the inner room. He wrinkled his nose in disgust at the smell on his own body.
He cast a spell to cleanse himself, and all the bloodstains on his body disappeared, leaving his clothes spotless once more. Nezha exhaled and knocked on Jiang Huaisu's door.
The door was only slightly ajar, not locked.
"Come in," Jiang Huaisu said in a muffled voice.
Having received permission, he withdrew the barrier he had set up at the door and stepped inside. Jiang Huaisu lay on the bed, not looking at him, seemingly in a bad mood.
"I solved it." A boastful tone.
Jiang Huaisu gave a dry thank you, but didn't look up.
From this angle, he could only see the concave curve of her back and half of the back of her head. The blanket was draped loosely around her waist, and half of her smooth calves swayed slightly at the edge of the bed.
Seeing that she wasn't wearing shoes or socks, he walked over without thinking, grabbed her bare calves, and tucked them into the quilt.
Startled by the warm touch on her skin, Jiang Huaisu immediately pulled her legs back and turned to face him. The blankets were piled up in front of her, which she used as cover.
Meeting her gaze, which had unconsciously become wary, Nezha raised an eyebrow.
He moved closer, pulling the blanket over halfway, and questioned, "Why have you suddenly become so cold? Did I help the wrong person?"
His posture was condescending, but what he said was not so, as if he felt somewhat aggrieved.
Jiang Huaisu loosened the blanket with his help, her gaze somewhat evasive. "You helped me, so of course I have to thank you."
"Then why do you look so unhappy?"
"One thing at a time, I'm a little unhappy that you suddenly locked me in the room, and I don't really want to talk to you right now." Honestly revealing her thoughts, Jiang Huaisu awkwardly turned her head away.
She knew Nezha would be unhappy to hear this, but she was also quite upset herself, and couldn't possibly smooth things over like before. It seems Nezha wasn't the only one whose temper had flared up lately.
Nezha: "Then next time I'll put you in my embroidered ball and we'll go together."
"That's not the issue."
Realizing this was an opportunity for a proper conversation, Jiang Huaisu pushed aside the blanket in front of her and organized her thoughts: "Even if it's for my own good, you should consult with me before doing anything. Locking someone up just because you disagree with them is unacceptable."
Nezha looked puzzled, seemingly not thinking that this matter was worth getting so angry about.
"But I wasn't gone for long, I'll be back soon. I'm going to take care of something, you can rest in the room, isn't that better?"
Jiang Huaisu was speechless for a moment. Well, being a good-for-nothing is quite comfortable; the taste of reaping the benefits without lifting a finger is truly wonderful.
But that's not the point.
She struggled to steer the conversation back to Nezha to avoid being led astray. "What I mean is, the way you handle problems is a bit too... headstrong. If you're alone, you can do whatever you want. But when it comes to friends and family, you have to consider their feelings. Before, you brought Zhenying to live with Lianxin and monitored her in every way to protect her, but in the end, it backfired."
"Backfiring?" Nezha laughed sarcastically. "Did Li Zhenying end up in trouble? I sent her back safe and sound, not a single hair on her head was missing. How can that be considered backfiring?"
"...Jin-young didn't become closer to you because of this. You see, she's naturally lively, but she pretends to be obedient in front of you because she senses your controlling nature and thinks you'll like her when she's compliant."
"So what if we're not close? We weren't that familiar to begin with."
"......"
Indeed, one cannot apply ordinary family dynamics to Nezha. So Jiang Huaisu began to search for new arguments, but hesitated for a long time before regretfully discovering that there were very few people who could have a close relationship with Nezha, and it was difficult to cite a positive and healthy example of a person who was emotionally committed to him.
I feel like Nezha's personality would be perfect for raising a dog. But then again, even Yang Jian fully respects Xiaotian's own wishes.
She sighed, "Do you like it when Zhenying pretends to be well-behaved in front of you?"
“It doesn’t matter, that’s her choice,” Nezha retorted. “You’ve never pretended to be obedient; you just love to go against me.”
“I did pretend,” Jiang Huaisu retorted, sticking her neck out, “during the time you locked me in the birdcage.”
"When did I..." Nezha stopped halfway through her sentence, her pupils trembling slightly as she realized she was referring to what had happened in the Zhen Mansion in the past.
At that time, as Miao Lian's prey, she had to live under his thumb and endure hardship. Seeing the change in Nezha's expression, Jiang Huaisu knew he understood.
Jiang Huaisu moved her knees and slowly approached Nezha. The latter's momentum weakened slightly, but he still tensed up and refused to back down. In the end, the two were almost face to face staring at each other.
“That time, you set up a barrier in the room, and after I broke it, you explained that it was to protect against mountain spirits and wild monsters.” Her gaze was fixed on his face as she said, word by word, “You lied, didn’t you?”
A flash of embarrassment and anger crossed Nezha's face. He instinctively wanted to deny it, but she had indeed hit the nail on the head. It would be too despicable to lie now, and he didn't want to do that.
“That’s right.” He tugged at the corner of his mouth and said frankly, “At the time, I wanted to lock you up and keep you company. I was very bored staying alone in the Zhen residence, and you came along, so of course I didn’t want to let you go. You know very well how selfish Zhen Miaolian is. He only cares about his own happiness and doesn’t care what you think.”
The fact that Nezha is switching between "I" and "he" at different times shows that his thoughts are confused and his logic is also muddled.
Jiang Huaisu wasn't much better off; she dared not meet his gaze again and awkwardly looked away. Originally, she wasn't entirely confident; she had only wanted to bluff him. Receiving such an answer, she felt somewhat lost, her forceful, demanding tone slowly fading like a punctured balloon.
If she had known the truth back then, she should have been furious. But emotions are delayed; so much time had passed, and the truth was revealed too late, that she felt little resentment at being deceived.
Thinking of Miaolian's vivid face in her memory, for some reason, a faint sense of sorrow suddenly filled her heart, and she sighed helplessly: "You shouldn't have done this."
"I didn't think too much at the time. I just thought it would be great if you could stay by my side so we could play together forever. Later I found that this wouldn't work, so I had to let you go."
Nezha's voice was flat, and his dark eyes stared at her menacingly: "Back then, you were only thinking about finding Sun Wukong. I was just a mortal and couldn't keep you here."
He sneered, "If you want to go to the Tushita Palace to find him, I won't stop you. But are you so confident that everything in this world will develop in the direction of the plot in that book? Maybe he has already been refined into a pill."
This undisguised malice made Jiang Huaisu frown.
She did feel that things were developing beyond her expectations, but it had nothing to do with Sun Wukong, it was Nezha... The tone has gone off track, hasn't it? What does it mean to be tied to someone's side for life? Both the tone and the meaning were filled with a chilling sense of oppression, giving one goosebumps.
What started as a serious talk to address his "overprotective nature towards friends and family" has turned out like this. Jiang Huaisu regrets it a bit; she should have known better than to bring up the past. She, the one who was deceived, hasn't even gotten angry yet, but the one who lied seems to have broken down first.
Seeing that she didn't respond, Nezha pressed on with a sarcastic tone: "Are you thinking about Sun Wukong again? If he really were refined into an elixir, what would you do? Would you follow him in death?"
"What does this have to do with Sun Wukong... Why do you always drag him into this? I never said I wanted to die with him, you're just making things up yourself." Jiang Huaisu added firmly, "In fact, he won't die, and neither will I."
"real?"
"If you ask but they don't believe you, it's better not to ask at all."
Jiang Huaisu was a little annoyed, and her tone unconsciously became barbed. The other person wasn't one to back down either, and it looked like things were about to escalate into a heated argument.
However, after she finished speaking, Nezha curled the corners of his lips and narrowed his eyes slightly, as if he was satisfied with the answer and did not continue to argue with her.
“Whether Sun Wukong is dead or alive, he can’t come to your side now.” Nezha changed the subject. “Even if he’s not here, it’s just the two of us, can’t we still get along well, like last night?”
Recalling the wild drinking and toasting at the party last night, and the hand she had on Nezha's waist when she woke up this morning, Jiang Huaisu was too ashamed to recall the details. It was the first time she had ever been so drunk, and she didn't know where Nezha got the conclusion that they "got along very well".
“No good,” she said curtly. “You seemed to have been drinking fake alcohol last night.”
"Fake wine?" Nezha looked puzzled. "What do you mean? Isn't that homemade wine from your Flower Fruit Mountain?"
"It's just a descriptive phrase, meaning you look a bit strange right now." He seemed to be in a worrying mental state.
"What's strange?" he asked himself, then answered, "I'm not strange."
The situation was a bit strange, but thanks to these few nonsensical lines of dialogue, the tense atmosphere miraculously disappeared.
Nezha had assumed Jiang Huaisu was still bothered by what happened during her time in Zhenfu, but it seemed she had no intention of continuing to question him, and even actively changed the subject. This allowed Nezha to relax a little.
After a moment of silence, he abruptly asked, "Jiang Huaisu, we're friends, right?"
Meeting that expectant gaze, Jiang Huaisu neither shook her head nor nodded. After a long while, she uttered a muffled syllable: "...Hmm."
“Since we’re friends,” Nezha said in a serious tone, “shouldn’t you treat me better?”
"Oh. Can you give me some advice? How should I treat my friend?" It certainly wouldn't be locking my friend in a room at the slightest disagreement and preventing them from playing with other people.
"For example, you should appropriately fulfill some of your friends' needs. If a friend tells you to go east, you can't go west. If a friend tells you to pluck the stars, you can't try to catch the moon. If a friend tells you to..."
He paused for a moment, seemingly unsure of what to do next.
Jiang Huaisu stared at him with deadpan eyes. Was this a friend or an ancestor? It was utterly unreasonable. Besides, Nezha's words were clearly exaggerated, making it impossible for her to respond seriously.
“When your friend asks you a question, you should answer honestly,” Nezha added the second half of the sentence.
"Oh...so you have a question you want to ask?"
"have."
"In your heart, who is more important, me or Sun Wukong?"
"......"
After all that, we've come full circle.
The name "Sun Wukong" is now giving Jiang Huaisu a headache even more than the golden headband.
Can possessiveness and competitiveness between friends be so terrible? She almost suspected that Nezha had fallen in love with her, and she was extremely jealous.
Of course, she wouldn't voice such narcissistic speculations. Nezha, a virgin for thousands of years, was never one to have truly grasped the world, and when it came to the life lesson of friendship, he was practically a primary school student.
Asking such a naive question, knowing full well it would put her in a difficult position, yet stubbornly insisting on getting an answer.
She really did compare them in her mind, placing one person on each side of the scale... She felt she couldn't choose. If asked who carried more weight, it would definitely be Sun Wukong at first. If only Nezha had asked this question earlier, she would have chosen the monkey without hesitation in the past.
But later... Nezha also found a place in her heart. In this situation, she couldn't help but consider his feelings.
Moreover, she vaguely sensed that the two weren't really comparable. It's like asking a chef whether cooking wine or sugar is more important—one removes fishy smells, the other enhances flavor—it's a difficult choice. Sun Wukong and Nezha probably fall into this category; they have too many differences.
For example, if it were Sun Wukong today, he would never ask her such a question.
Without hesitating for too long, Jiang Huaisu spoke:
"You are important."
Sorry, Monkey King. Since you're not here anyway, this will just make the kid happy.
Nezha: "Perfunctory."
Jiang Huaisu: "......" This man is so hard to please!
“But it doesn’t matter.” He laughed. “At least you’re willing to coax me. I originally thought you would say his name.”
Nezha rested his hand on the bedpost, leaning forward as if trying to move closer to her.
"Let's go back. Back to Yunlou Palace."
"Uh." Jiang Huaisu hesitated for a moment before declining, "I'd like to stay a few more days. Why don't you go back first?"
Although Nezha had driven away all the demons, she feared there might be future troubles and wanted to stay a while longer to observe the situation. She would leave once Flower Fruit Mountain had stabilized.
With a crack, the wooden bedpost split open. It was because Nezha hadn't controlled the force in his hand.
"...I'm sorry." This was a very quick apology. "I'll make it up to you."
Jiang Huaisu waved her hand: "No need, this pillar is already old." It seems that in the future, she will have to follow the crowd and sleep on a stone bed like the monkeys, which won't break so easily.
Nezha wanted to move closer, but the bed frame was making an ominous creaking sound, so he consciously stepped back and moved away from the rickety wooden bed.
Jiang Huaisu sat calmly without moving, her gaze following Nezha as he walked from right to left and then from left to right in front of her.
The room was so small that there wasn't much space to walk around, so he simply sat down in front of the dressing mirror and looked at Jiang Huaisu with a deep gaze.
"You really won't come with me?"
"What difference does it make if I come back right after you? If you can't bear to part with me, you can stay at Flower Fruit Mountain for a couple more days."
"No, I hate Flower Fruit Mountain." Nezha was very annoyed at this moment, but he couldn't let his anger out.
He's like the "pressure cooker" Jiang Huaisu mentioned; if the lid isn't lifted soon, he'll explode on his own.
What's so great about Flower Fruit Mountain?
He couldn't understand. "Isn't the scenery at Yunlou Palace beautiful? Isn't the spiritual energy in the Lotus Pond abundant? And Zhenying can keep you company. Staying here, do you prefer to pick lice off each other with the monkeys?"
"Don't make baseless accusations. I don't have lice, and most of the monkeys on Flower Fruit Mountain are also... very clean." Jiang Huaisu scratched his head. "Anyway, it has nothing to do with those things. It's only natural to make sure your home is settled before you leave on a long trip."
Nezha couldn't refute this, and could only stare at her resentfully.
"But you, Nezha, why are you reacting so strongly? I don't think you really hate Flower Fruit Mountain."
In Jiang Huaisu's view, Nezha was a person with very clear likes and dislikes. If he truly disliked Flower Fruit Mountain, he wouldn't have helped drive away those monsters. Doing these things wasn't simply out of consideration for a friend. Similarly, she didn't think he truly hated Sun Wukong; she'd heard that Nezha had intervened when the monkey went to heaven to become an official.
Nezha didn't answer immediately, seemingly lost in thought himself. But this state didn't last long; he forcibly interrupted his thoughts, raised his head, and said, "For no reason, I just hate it."
Rejected by Jiang Huaisu, he didn't ask again. He turned and walked out, seemingly preparing to go home alone. Before stepping over the threshold, he cast one last, complex glance at her, a look of resentment mixed with melancholy.
Jiang Huaisu wanted to say goodbye, but her instinct to avoid harm kicked in at this crucial moment. She decided it was best not to say anything more, as Nezha seemed emotionally unstable at that moment. The cat she used to have, annoyed by her petting, would give her this look before suddenly attacking and scratching her – an unusual and ominous sign.
So she just smiled at him. Unexpectedly, this friendly smile had the opposite effect, and Nezha seemed even more upset.
"...I hate you."
Without any explanation, Nezha slammed the door and left, leaving her completely bewildered in the room.
He walked too fast, not giving her a chance to react or reply.
He hates monkeys, he hates Flower Fruit Mountain, and now he even hates her? Jiang Huaisu thought with a headache, could it be that he really drank fake alcohol yesterday? His behavior today is very abnormal, he's never been like this before.
He left without explaining himself clearly, and his attitude was very unfriendly. So, did they have a fight? Jiang Huaisu was confused.
On the way back to Heaven, the cold wind couldn't quell Nezha's restlessness. He desperately wanted to take Jiang Huaisu back, but she wouldn't obediently listen. Even though he had already dealt with those monsters, she was still worried about those monkeys, finding all sorts of excuses to stay on Flower Fruit Mountain.
For a fleeting moment, he considered simply carrying her away without a second thought, intending to discuss everything back at Yunlou Palace. But she was exceptionally perceptive, like a small forest animal sensing a trap lurking beneath a withered branch, alerting herself before the danger even materialized.
At that moment, her eyes were filled with panic, and a somewhat forced smile hung on her lips, as if she wanted to comfort him but didn't know how.
Lost in thought, the fiery wheels beneath his feet spun halfway around and headed in another direction. He had changed his mind; instead of returning to Yunlou Palace, he turned and flew towards Guanjiang Estuary.
Time flows synchronously in the mortal realm. While Nezha goes to Erlang Shen's mansion for tea, Jiang Huaisu is cleaning up the battlefield on Flower Fruit Mountain.
The sight of the dismembered limbs was unsightly, so she directed the little monkey to collect the body parts and then pile them up in an open area to burn them.
"Never mind the bones for now, pick out the parts with meat on them. They'll rot and stink, so we need to get rid of them as soon as possible." If this were when she first transmigrated, she would definitely have vomited everywhere at the sight of this. Now, although she still feels physically nauseous, she can now command the cremation work with ease.
It seems that he grew a lot during his years as an adjutant in Flower Fruit Mountain.
I don't know how Nezha fought, but there are corpses of varying degrees of damage scattered everywhere, covering half a mountain. It's going to be quite a hassle to collect them.
Jiang Huaisu put the head of an eagle demon into a bag. The smell of blood and decay was so pungent that she had to tie a silk cloth around her mouth and nose.
My sense of smell was temporarily diminished, but my hearing seemed to have become more sensitive, perhaps as a compensatory mechanism of the body. The sound of leaves rustling in the wind seemed to be right next to my ears, as did the babbling of mountain springs and the clear chirping of birds.
However, hidden beneath this natural white noise is an extremely discordant and suppressed breathing sound.
As if sensing something, Jiang Huaisu suddenly turned around to look behind her. A mountain breeze blew, causing the tips of the grass to sway, but there was nothing there.
Was it just her imagination? She became alert and summoned several small monkeys from the vicinity. They carefully searched the area but found nothing unusual.
Could it be that she's been under too much stress lately and has become paranoid? She shook her head, stopped thinking about it, dismissed the little monkeys who had just patrolled with her, and continued to work separately.
After several busy days, the monster fragments in the mountains and forests were finally mostly cleared away. A rain fell during the night, washing away the lingering stench of blood.
No more monsters came to cause trouble during this time, presumably having witnessed the consequences of plotting against Flower Fruit Mountain. Those who had been lurking in the shadows, hoping to get a share of the spoils, all backed down.
The wounded monkeys are recovering slowly, and everything is moving in a positive direction.
After replenishing the reserves and redistributing the supplies, taking inventory of the monkeys, and arranging shifts for defense, Jiang Huaisu finally had some free time. While sitting on the hilltop enjoying the breeze, she thought of Nezha.
I wonder what he's doing now.
Jiang Huaisu pondered that it was about time for her to return to Yunlou Palace. She had agreed to stay at Huaguo Mountain for only a few days, and she couldn't keep delaying it.
But then again, while Sun Wukong was in the furnace to hone his fiery eyes, she didn't necessarily have to wait for him in the heavens.
Why did I agree to stay at Yunlou Palace back then? It just seemed like a natural thing; Yunlou Palace became a place I absolutely had to return to.
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