Chapter 36036 A Presumptuous Question
I've never really noticed whether there's a Taiyi Zhenren in Journey to the West, but I do know there's a Taiyi Rescuer of Suffering. While both have the word "Taiyi" in their names, they're completely different. I've mostly forgotten the story of Taiyi Rescuer of Suffering, though I only remember the three fights against the White Bone Demon clearly because I saw them in textbooks.
I sometimes feel that my memory is very strange. It is normal for me to have memory loss when I am a fish. After all, the fish brain is so small. But after becoming a human, those important memories are still not remembered, and my mind is full of useless things.
"Qianyuan Mountain?"
Little Lotus was completely bewildered, but soon a smile broke out on the face of the woman in a man's body. He leaned closer to me and said, "Okay, let's go to Qianyuan Mountain!"
"Just so you know, if your master doesn't exist in this world, don't go berserk." I had to tell him this upfront. Little Lotus treats his master like a father figure. If Taiyi Zhenren didn't exist in this world, I wouldn't want him to turn evil and become a villain, shouting, "This world without my master is ruined!"
Haha, just kidding. Little Lotus wouldn't do that. I'm just using it as an artistic process. It's OOC, but it's fun to fantasize about it once in a while.
Little Lotus looked at me strangely: "What are you thinking about?"
I hummed twice, I don’t know myself.
Summer hasn't even ended yet, and if you spend too much time under the scorching sun, you'll feel unwell. Before I got a heat stroke, I dove into the river, and the coolness of the water made me shiver. It's been ages since I've been in the water, and I'm feeling a bit uncomfortable. I feel like I'm experiencing the aftereffects of that time I was pushed into the water in the painting.
But it didn't matter. After swimming a few times, I got used to it and transformed back into my original form. Whether it was a fish head and a human body or a human body and a fish tail, neither of them swam as freely as the original form.
It’s best not to be a human being.
When cooking fish, you don't have to think too much. Even if you're unlucky and get eaten, it's just a matter of opening your mouth.
Especially after what happened in Yunshui Village, I no longer have any favorable feelings towards humans. I was human once, so how could I not know humans?
...Well, actually, if you put it that way, it’s not really disappointing.
Forget it, it doesn’t matter. I don’t want to be a human being during this period of time anyway.
"Little Lotus, I don't want to be a human being anymore!"
Xiao Lianhua didn't respond to me. He sat cross-legged, as if he was meditating, or simply sleeping.
I swam towards him, jumped out of the water, and dived into the river with a splash.
He opened one eye and looked at me.
I smiled at him and asked, "Little Lotus, are you sleeping?"
Little Lotus's expression was so strange, and I suddenly remembered that I was a fish now, and my smile would probably look weird, so I became expressionless again, hoping to look more serious.
In the end, Little Lotus burst out laughing and poked my chin with her index finger. Hey, do fish have chins?
“…I feel like I’ve returned to Qianyuan Mountain.”
Really? But this is not a good thing.
"Little Lotus, reminiscing about the past is something people only do when they are old."
Little Lotus: ...
He tugged at my fin again, somewhat annoyed, "You're really stubborn."
As I pretended to whine, he lowered his hand. Then, as if on cue, he poked me and said, "In the painting earlier, your brother teased you about marrying Lotus, and you actually blushed."
I:……
Oh, why do I still remember this kind of thing?
Looking at Xiao Lianhua's obviously playful expression, I think he may really have nothing to do.
"If I have a cat, and someone makes fun of me and my cat, it's not a matter of blushing, I'd beat that person's head into pieces. What decent person would make fun of people and pets? If my cat was once a human, or if its soul was a human, then if someone makes fun of me and my cat, it's not a matter of blushing, I'd beat that cat and that person's head into pieces. Regardless of whether they were humans or souls in life, they're no longer cats, but people in cat skin. I keep a pet for the sole purpose of keeping a pet. If a pet acquires human characteristics, I call it a disqualified pet."
After saying that, I put the fish fins in front of the fish belly to make a cross shape.
Little Lotus propped up her chin, resting her hands on her legs, and asked me curiously, "So you did blush at that time, didn't you?"
"It's not me." I asked while blowing bubbles, "I have no memory, can I be sure it's me?"
Little Lotus tilted her head, "Isn't it?"
"This raises a question. Is the same soul the same person before and after reincarnation? If the same body has two souls, can it still be considered a single person?"
Xiao Lianhua had never thought about this question, but now that I brought it up, he seemed to have some interest.
"According to secular sayings, the former would be considered a person, and the latter would also be considered a person, but the latter would be considered to be caused by evil spirits."
"Then if I add another condition to the former, that the reincarnated person has no memories of the previous life, a different name, a different upbringing, and a different social life... would that still be considered the same person?"
Little Lotus hesitated, "Probably... not really."
In fact, he himself was not sure, because there was no similarity except in the soul.
"Okay. Then let's add another condition. Suppose you are the person who has no memory of your past life, and who has no similarities with your past life except for your soul. Now someone comes to you and tells you that he is your father in your past life. Would you acknowledge him?"
Little Lotus looked at me dimly: "Ayu, you did it on purpose."
hey-hey.
"That person could be your parents, siblings, lover, or even your enemy. In short, they just want to rekindle their past relationship with you."
Little Lotus reached up and broke off a willow branch to tickle me. I swam quickly to get away from him, but unfortunately, the Hun Tian Ling still wrapped around me. Well, I didn't even have any hope of escaping.
"Okay—Ah—Yu"
He stretched out his tone and swung the Hun Tian Ling with a smile. I was swinging there, and my brains were almost mixed up - if fish have brains.
But fortunately, he didn't go too far. I took advantage of the moment when Hun Tian Ling was relaxed and dived into the river.
"So, do you think that reincarnation can still be considered the same person?"
I didn't get an answer from Little Lotus. I didn't know what he was worried about. I could clearly guess his stance from his behavior, but it was so difficult to get him to say it.
Summer weather changes quickly. One moment, the sun scorches, the next, thunder and lightning roll in. Dark clouds, like ink, quickly transform the sky into a halo of ink painting. Bean-sized raindrops pounded the river, making a clattering sound. Little Lotus couldn't stand the noise, so she returned with me to the large villa at the bottom of the Yunshui River.
The sound of rain was suddenly isolated on the water surface, and the world became quiet.
"Ah, rotten." Little Lotus wanted to take a bite of the fruit, but found that all the fruits in the fruit basket were rotten, so she threw them back into the basket. This happened last time when the deer demon invited us to White Tiger Ridge. I threw the uneaten fruits into the house like this. As a result, after a period of time, the fruits were almost rotten.
What a pity.
I don’t know if the seeds from rotten fruits can still be used. I really want to plant fruit trees on the banks of the Yunshui River.
I sighed, then dug a hole in the mud and pushed all the rotten fruits into the hole and buried them. I looked up and saw Little Lotus sitting on the railing of the corridor, her chin in her hands, looking at me.
"What do you mean? Do you want to grow fruit at the bottom of the river?"
I shook my head and said, "That's not the case. Burying the dead gives me a sense of completion." This is the sense of ritual.
Little Lotus was greatly shocked, probably because she had never seen such a sense of ritual.
"Speaking of which..." Looking at Xiao Lianhua, I suddenly had a very special question I wanted to ask him.
Little Lotus raised her eyebrows, waiting for my next words.
"This question may be a bit presumptuous, please don't be angry." Before asking the question, I decided to give a warning first.
Little Lotus scoffed, "Hasn't it been enough that you've been so presumptuous of me?"
I smiled awkwardly and asked, "You are a lotus root, right?"
Little Lotus had a strange expression on his face, "What kind of question is that? Weren't you there the day I transformed into a lotus root?" He didn't know what he was thinking about, and an unnatural look flashed across his face.
I didn't take it seriously and said in a slightly lower voice, "Well, it's like this. Lotus root is the rhizome of the lotus. As long as the lotus root node is healthy and pest-free, it can sprout... and so on. Little lotus, can you sprout and bloom?"
I was really curious about this question. Actually, I wasn't that curious at first, but when I heard him mention growing fruit, this question just popped into my mind.
Little Lotus's expression froze, and I quickly said, "If this question is even more presumptuous than the previous one, you don't have to answer it!"
When Little Lotus was still a lotus, she wasn't very good at rejecting people. But after Little Lotus acquired Nezha's memories... well, I haven't spent as much time with this maid, Little Lotus, as He. Anyway, I don't want to embarrass Little Lotus.
He seemed to be thinking.
His thumb and index finger stroked his chin, and then rubbed it unconsciously.
"I haven't actually thought about this question carefully." said Little Lotus.
I:……
Oh, it doesn't seem like it was because of being presumptuous.
He slowly raised his arm, his slender index finger stretching through the ripples of the water. A faint, turquoise halo suddenly condensed at his fingertips. The halo gradually grew larger, and with a whisper of "open," a tiny, tender, almost invisible bud, gleaming with a bead-like, gentle yet resolute bud, broke through the barrier and peeked out.
The tip of the bud grew rapidly, and the slender, glowing stem spiraled around his index finger, carrying an extremely strong vitality.
The buds appeared.
It was extremely small, and wrapped extremely tightly. Layers of extremely light, soft pink smudged across a pale blue background, absorbing the light of the spirit pearl emanating from the fingertips, plumping and expanding at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Finally, the tightly closed petals trembled slightly, as if breaking free from invisible constraints. One petal, two petals, three petals... layer upon layer, gracefully unfolding.
A complete lotus stood gracefully on the tip of his pale index finger.
I couldn't help but applaud as I swam around the lotus.
The flowers bloomed much faster than before.
Perhaps he'd exerted too much force, and the lotus blossoming at his fingertips quickly reached its end. The petals quickly curled up and wilted, and then, a lotus pod appeared in sight.
I was stunned by what I saw, but Little Lotus was open-minded. She just opened the lotus pod, took out the lotus seeds inside, tasted one, and gave me another.
He ate it with gusto. "No wonder you like it so much, it tastes really good."
I looked at the lotus seeds on the fish fins and felt quite complicated.
Just then—
"Ayu, Xiaolianhua..." An extremely cold voice appeared at the bottom of the river.
Little Lotus and I looked up and saw Nezha with his arms folded in the air, staring down at us - with a lotus pod in his hand and a slightly complicated expression.
"You two, do you have this habit?"
I:……
Little Lotus was not shy at all. "Have you tried it? It tastes pretty good."
Nezha's expression became more complicated.
I swam over and asked, "I wonder what important matter has the Third Prince come here for?"
Nezha put away his complicated expression and returned to his cold look.
"I have come here today in the name of the Jade Emperor to invite you two to the Heavenly Palace."
Little Lotus and I said in unison:
"Going to Heaven?"
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