Chapter 81 Sister He Ji and Bai Yan
As I walked up the mountain path, the birdsong I had heard before echoed again, clear and melodious.
The view from the mountaintop wasn't as expansive as Jiang Yuzhi had imagined; instead, the sky exuded a dull and oppressive atmosphere.
The birdsong faded away, and the rabbit vanished without a trace.
Only a familiar yet unfamiliar figure awaited her on the mountaintop.
As if sensing something, the man turned around, and Jiang Yuzhi became even more dazed.
He Ji? Or Bai Yan?
Two completely different faces blended together in perfect harmony.
Her hair was not tied up, and she was dressed in the same coarse linen clothes as the Jiang family.
When he smiles, he looks more like Bai Yan; when he doesn't smile, he looks exactly like He Ji.
Before she could react, the man had already walked up to her.
At a distance of less than two steps, Jiang Yuzhi could almost feel the other person's breath.
This made her more aware of her situation.
Whether it's the parents or the older brother, they all exist in the picture as ghosts, while this person is still breathing.
"Sister, don't you recognize me?"
"you……"
"I had that rabbit bring you to see me. Thank you for your hard work these past few days, sister."
"Are you Bai Yan or He Ji?" They were standing too close, and the man was considerably taller than her. Jiang Yuzhi looked up, staring at him blankly.
"Who do you think I am, sister?" He leaned down with a smile, getting even closer.
His tone of voice was like Bai Yan's, like the Bai Yan from the underworld. But the form of address was one that only He Ji would know.
But He Ji was absolutely unwilling to call her sister.
This person's attitude towards me was so familiar and natural, as if we had just met yesterday.
Seeing that she didn't answer and remained silent.
The man couldn't hold back any longer, "Sister, whoever you want me to be, that's who I am. A name is just a title. Whether it's Bai Yan or He Ji, I am still me, aren't I?"
Jiang Yuzhi remained silent.
"Alright, alright, sister, just consider me Bai Yan for now," she said, but the last part of her voice was so soft that Jiang Yuzhi couldn't hear it, "After all, Bai Yan is still engaged..."
"What?"
"Oh, it's nothing."
Bai Yan waved his sleeve, and a set of tables and chairs exactly the same as those in the thatched hut appeared in front of them. "Sister, please sit down. The story is long, and I will tell you slowly."
The "Landscape of Mountains and Rivers" was created in response to the aspirations of countless people.
With the country shattered and the nation on the verge of collapse, how can one think of a home?
Thus, the wishes of the people on this continent came together, and a picture full of beautiful aspirations was born.
If the map of the state exists, natural disasters will be quelled and man-made calamities will be mitigated.
At a time when the Heavenly Court's management was not yet perfect and the Underworld was not yet fully formed, the existence of the Sheji Map greatly alleviated the pressure on the Heavenly Dao.
The Sheji Tu (a mythical creature) developed self-awareness very early on, and its instinct to seek advantage and avoid harm was even more so.
He originally lived in a mountain forest.
When he was first born, he was not very powerful and could only protect a small mountain village.
One day, a peasant woman who went up the mountain to supplement her family's income found a cloth-shaped map of the land and grain under a particularly tender wild vegetable. Puzzled, she took it down the mountain.
The Sheji Tu (a mythical map of the land and grain) was not yet able to control the primordial power well. The peasant woman's life suddenly improved, and she often brought back valuable medicinal herbs from the mountains. Her husband, who worked in town, was suddenly appreciated by his employer and promoted out of turn. The child, who had never been to school, suddenly showed a talent for reading and writing that far exceeded that of ordinary people.
All these changes inevitably made the villagers envious.
Soon, the villagers discovered the existence of the Sheji Map.
Ironically, what was supposed to be a map for maintaining peace and stability in the region has instead become the first thing to cause conflict among the people.
In times of chaos, such items naturally spread rapidly throughout the states and counties, large and small.
A small village could no longer keep him.
When the bandits arrived, the village was destroyed.
The rolled-up cloth was stained with blood.
After the new emperor ascended the throne, he wandered in exile before finally entering the palace.
After changing hands many times, the cloth was already covered in scratches and bruises.
Perhaps it was damage caused by turmoil, or perhaps it was a reduction in the power of the source.
The map of the land and grain is no longer as dazzling as it was when it was first discovered.
The new emperor casually tossed it into the Imperial Wardrobe and ordered the female officials to repair the map of the state.
Even a skilled cook can't cook without rice.
No matter how skilled a female official is, without magical powers or specially made threads, how can she mend a spirit object?
The lady-in-waiting tried every kind of precious thread in the palace, but all attempts ended in failure.
The new emperor's patience ran out, and in a fit of rage, he ordered the execution of the female official.
At this moment, the tattered map of the state and its people came together to take shape on an ordinary night.
When the ultimatum was issued, the female official, knowing her days were numbered, could not bear to see the boy, who was just beginning to take human form, confined to the palace for the rest of his life. So she disguised him as a young eunuch and sent him out of the palace, while she herself was poisoned to death.
When the lady-in-waiting was mentioned, Bai Yan paused and quietly observed Jiang Yuzhi's expression.
Jiang Yuzhi knew, of course, that the female official Bai Yan dared not even mention by name was none other than her aunt, Jiang Yunxiu, whose whereabouts were still unknown.
"Don't worry, continue." Jiang Yuzhi's eyes were deep, and it was unclear what she was thinking.
"At that time, I didn't know she was your aunt. My aunt told me to leave the palace and not to look back, and to run as far away as possible."
The newly born He Ji, not yet knowing how to use magic, embarked on another journey of escape.
Zhao Qingyun soon discovered that the Map of the State was missing. He learned from a eunuch that Jiang Yunxiu had secretly sent someone out.
Zhao Qingyun was certain that the person had absconded with the Map of the State.
The pursuers surrounded and intercepted them like a vast net.
With the city gates sealed, He Ji was unable to escape the capital.
After much wandering, they ended up at the back gate of the Jiang residence.
"Later, my sister found out everything." Bai Yan sighed softly, lowering her head and not daring to look at her. "Did my sister ever blame me?"
Jiang Yuzhi gave an irrelevant answer, "Why...why do you call me 'sister'?"
"Hmm? Sister doesn't like it?"
"I have no idea."
Jiang Yuzhi then remembered that when she rescued the boy at the back door, she was still an innocent young woman.
She was the youngest child in her family, and it was rare for someone even younger than her to come along, yet she insisted on being the older sister to them.
Besides practicing her weaving and embroidery skills diligently, her favorite thing to do was read the storybooks her brother bought for her.
But the new younger brother didn't want to acknowledge her as his older sister, nor would he read storybooks with her.
Later, as the two became more familiar, Jiang Yuzhi found him somewhat boring, always with a cold face, and reluctant to go out.
In retrospect, there were reasons for all of this.
He Ji, now known as Bai Yan, started to laugh more and developed a fondness for reading storybooks. Even the way he addressed her changed to follow her original meaning.
Jiang Yuzhi stared intently at Bai Yan.
"At least now we can face each other honestly."
Bai Yan raised the corners of her mouth. That's enough.
It's impossible to say I never felt resentment.
When the family was led to the guillotine, Jiang Yuzhi was filled with remorse.
She even wondered if things would have been different if He Ji hadn't been saved.
Now she understood that He Ji was also a victim. Without him, her aunt would be walking on thin ice in the palace, and one day, Zhao Qingyun would find another excuse to execute her aunt.
Or perhaps he was just in a bad mood that day.
As a family member of my aunt, it was only a matter of time before I was implicated.
Jiang Yuzhi has been a ghost for so many years that she can practically recite Zhao Qingyun's life story over and over again.
He killed his father and mother, ascended the throne, never married, and died on the run.
There is always a reason why someone is pitiful, and vice versa.
Jiang Yuzhi could never forgive his actions, even though Zhao Qingyun was a wisp of the Jade Emperor's soul sent to the mortal realm to undergo tribulation.
"Zhao Qingyun couldn't find me for a while and was also tied up with uprisings elsewhere. I didn't mean to leave without saying goodbye. It was because I heard that the uprising in the north was about to be suppressed that day. I was worried that if I stayed any longer, I would implicate you, so I had to leave overnight."
Her light-colored eyes, filled with apology, looked at the other person.
Bai Yan omitted the hardships he endured during his escape, only mentioning that his body had become increasingly damaged due to war and famine, and he had tried every means to collect a lot of merit gold threads to repair his body.
Unfortunately, Bai Yan discovered that he could not repair it himself; the gold thread and the map of the state were separated by an invisible barrier.
Left with no other choice, he thought of Jiang Yuzhi.
So, Bai Yan returned to Kyoto with Jin Xian.
He encountered Jiang Yuzhi, who was out and about, in the woods outside Kyoto. He hastily handed her the map and gold thread and urged her to leave.
The Turing of the state, far removed from its original form, is even weaker.
In order to buy Jiang Yuzhi time to repair the damage, and also to secure his own chance to survive, Turing hid and fled from Kyoto.
Zuo Huai, who lives by the sea, has nowhere to escape.
After helping a koi carp transform into a dragon, He Ji vanished into nothingness in the sea breeze before the soldiers could catch up.
When he opened his eyes again, he was an infant with no memory of anything—Bai Yan.
“I know that my sister can definitely heal us. We are all from the same source, and only my sister can save us.”
"From the same source?" Jiang Yuzhi repeated, puzzled.
"You'll understand soon enough. I don't have much time left, and there are a few things I need to tell you, sister." Bai Yan became slightly serious.
Jiang Yuzhi straightened up abruptly, standing up with a mixture of tension and worry, and said urgently, "What do you mean by 'not much time left'? Aren't I currently re-weaving the Map of the State? Why are you..."
Bai Yan gently pressed down on her hand, which was resting on the table, and he sat calmly, looking up at her. "Don't worry, the separation is only temporary. When I wake up, I may not remember many things, so I hope you will understand, sister..."
The warm touch on the back of her hand gradually disappeared, and that person, just like the memory that Long Jin carried when he returned her power, vanished from Jiang Yuzhi's sight once again.
Jiang Yuzhi stared blankly, at a loss, and slowly turned her hand over. A small paper figure made by her appeared in her palm.
With a light touch of her fingertips, a flowing passage of text appeared before Jiang Yuzhi's eyes.
My magical powers are insufficient, so my elder brother and uncle and aunt have had to fend for themselves. The tables and chairs are a makeshift replica of my brother's. Fearing my sister might not be comfortable, I've tried my best to keep her clothes as they were. The day the map of the world is complete, and this world is revitalized, that will be the time we truly meet again. Calling out to my sister, my wife, in the underworld is something I can't help but do in my ghostly state, but I hope my sister won't mind.
Note: Little Paper Doll Sister, please keep this safe; you can use it to enter and exit the Altar of the Gods and Gods. Uncle, Aunt, and Brother should remain in the Altar for now to ensure the safety of their souls.
She read that passage over and over again, and finally couldn't help but laugh out loud.
He kept pretending to be pitiful to make her happy.
Unlike He Ji, unlike the Bai Yan of the human world, he is exactly like the Bai Yan of the underworld.
Even if He Ji hadn't gone through those experiences, he would probably still be the same.
White inkstone is also one.
Jiang Yuzhi was well aware that Bai Yan had two completely different faces in front of her and in front of outsiders.
It is said that the young master of Bai Family Cloth Shop is ruthless, decisive, and shows no mercy.
In the midst of laughter and conversation, they subdued the chamber of commerce, which disregarded its rules, and then conveniently investigated its accounts, uncovered corruption, and ordered its property confiscated.
This is the young master that Ah Zhao knows best.
Jiang Yuzhi had never met him, but she could glean some information from the coroner's attitude when they went to the morgue together that day.
Jiang Yuchuan, who was waiting at the foot of the mountain, almost lost his patience and went up the mountain to look for him.
Only then did his younger sister come into view.
His tense face seemed to relax a little, with a faint smile on his face.
Jiang Yuchuan unconsciously relaxed as well. "How is it?"
“It’s He Ji.” Jiang Yuzhi briefly explained what had just happened. “Once I finish fixing the drawing, my parents and brother will be able to leave.”
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