Chapter 79079 Memoirs (Part 2)
I actually don't quite understand Nezha's shock at my transformation into a human. Since this is a mythical world, it's not uncommon for demons to transform into humans.
Although I was also surprised that I became a fairy.
But my surprise only lasted a moment. After I followed Nezha into the house, he suddenly thought of something and, with a simple "Wait," turned and left the room. I found a spot to sit down, wrapped in my rough outer robe and waited for him—not really, really, but a bit rough compared to modern times.
But is it really okay for him to just take off his outer robe and go out like that?
I was still thinking about this when Nezha came back, bringing in a gust of warm wind when he opened the door. I saw that he was holding a set of indigo clothes, neatly folded.
Seeing me looking at him, he glanced away slightly.
"There are no sisters in the house, only the maids' clothes."
I took the clothes and said thank you.
Unfolding the clothes, she saw a knee-length linen top with a cross collar and right lapel, paired with a long skirt. All the seams were pressed with dense stitches, and the cuffs were worn to fine frayed edges. It was obviously an old piece of clothing that had been washed many times, but it was so clean that there was not a single stain.
Holding the clothes, I glanced around the room until a screen caught my eye. I nodded to Nezha and quickly ran behind it, took off my outer robe, and put on the maid's clothes. I had never worn this kind of clothing before, but it didn't matter; it wasn't difficult to put on.
After getting dressed, I picked up the robe hanging on the screen and walked out.
“This one…”
I wanted to ask him if he wanted to wash, but when I thought about the water shortage, I stopped talking. He seemed to have thought of this too, and pulled his robe over him and put it on.
His gaze lingered for a moment on the slightly revealing maid's clothing on me, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he just nodded slightly.
"There's a strange maid in the mansion. Wouldn't you be suspicious?" I asked him.
He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Then hide in the yard. I'll tell people not to enter the house."
He seems to be talking to himself again now.
Seeing that I didn't respond, he frowned slightly, "Why, you don't believe it?"
I shook my head.
His brows furrowed slightly, then relaxed again as if thinking of something. "Yes, it's really boring to stay in the room all the time. Well, how about taking you out of the house once every ten days?"
I:……
I always feel that there is something wrong with the content of this conversation.
But before I could think about it too much, he said that today was the best day to take me out of the house for some fun. I suspected that he wanted to go out on his own.
"Follow closely, don't let others see you."
I hummed and followed him.
Nezha was very familiar with the patrol routes and servants' schedules in his mansion. He led me through many twists and turns, successfully avoiding everyone and quietly slipping out through a side door. I was nervous the whole time, and only felt relieved when we were out of the door.
The real Chentangguan was completely different from what I'd imagined. It was hard to imagine how I could survive in this era. While I was fortunate to have the chance to start over, the late Shang Dynasty was definitely not a time to survive. Even the so-called prosperous Tang Dynasty wouldn't have been my dream. I'd thought that since I'd been reborn, I'd just live well, but in reality, that was just self-consolation.
Thinking about it this way, becoming a carp spirit might be a good thing. Fairies should be able to live very long, perhaps with a chance of surviving into the modern era...
Chentangguan had not seen any rain for a long time, and the three animals used for the sacrifice had been thrown into the East China Sea, but there was no sign of any movement. As a last resort, human sacrifices were resorted to.
Today we are offering human sacrifices.
Nezha took me to the top of a tree and looked at the sacrificial ceremony on the city wall.
His face was expressionless, as if he didn't consider it a sacrifice at all. "Tell me, if that evil dragon eats a human, will it bring rain?"
How would I know?
He seemed to be asking me, but it also seemed like he was talking to himself.
I didn't answer, and he didn't ask any further questions.
Human sacrifices were usually slaves. Of course, there were slaves in Chentangguan, but they were the property of the locals. To pray for rain, there was no alternative but to give away wealth.
The eyes of the slaves used as sacrifices had long been numb. They had seen the future since they were born, and they would not even think of "maybe it would be nice to die like this."
The sea churned, no longer the lifeless ripples it had been when the three animals were thrown in. Turbid waves surged high, crashing against the rocks and the city walls with a dull rumble. A thick, salty, and rotting seaweed-like air permeated the air, almost suffocating it.
The crowd let out low cries of fear and retreated one after another. Even Li Jing, who was presiding over the sacrifice, turned pale and managed to stay calm.
Amidst the waves, a massive, ferocious black shadow gradually emerged. First, a dragon's head, as big as a hill, poked out of the water. Its scales gleamed a cold luster in the dim light. Its horns were jagged, and a pair of giant, lantern-sized eyes, cold and merciless, scanned the tiny humans on the shore.
This is Ao Bing, the third prince of the East China Sea Dragon Palace.
He opened his bloody mouth and sucked gently, and the numb-eyed slaves on the city wall were tied up and pulled by invisible strings, falling into the huge mouth without even having time to scream or struggle.
After a brief silence, Prince Long hummed in dissatisfaction like thunder, which made people's eardrums hurt.
"Hmph, Li Jing!" His voice echoed like the sound of the sea, arrogant and cold. "Is this the sincerity of your Chentangguan? These tough-skinned slaves are really hard to chew! They are simply a taint to this prince's mouth!"
The dragon's enormous eyes swept across the pale-faced people on the shore, finally landing on a few trembling children, tightly hugged by their families. A hint of greed flashed in the dragon's pupils.
"Are you worthy of praying for rain with such low-quality blood?" Prince Long's voice was filled with disgust. "Listen! This prince wants young boys and girls!"
His words were like a winter icicle, piercing the hearts of every parent present. Muffled sobs and panicked gasps suddenly filled the crowd.
"Li Jing!" Prince Long raised his voice, giving an unquestionable command, "Three days! I'll give you three days! Prepare a pair of plump, fair-skinned boys and girls! Sacrifice them to me then, and perhaps, if I'm in a better mood, I'll consider sending down a few raindrops. Otherwise..."
He swung his huge dragon tail violently, slamming it hard on the sea surface, stirring up huge waves, which smashed hard on the city wall, causing an earth-shaking tremor and people screaming.
"Otherwise, wait for the waters of the East China Sea to flood back and submerge your Chentang Pass! Use the lives of the people in this city to appease this prince's wrath!"
After saying that, the huge dragon head slowly sank into the sea, leaving behind only the turbid sea surface that was rolling endlessly and the dead silence of Chentang Pass shrouded in despair.
The sound of the wind seemed to have stopped, leaving only the endless sobbing of the waves and the desperate weeping of the crowd that could no longer be suppressed.
I stood on the treetop, feeling cold all over, and subconsciously grabbed Nezha's arm. His hand was tense, his muscles as hard as iron.
I turned my head to look at him, only to see that he still had no expression on his face, but those eyes that always carried a hint of unruliness or playfulness were now as deep as two ancient wells, reflecting the tragedy of the world below, and surging with undercurrents that I could not understand but were heart-wrenching.
He didn't look at me, his eyes fixed on the gradually calming, yet still murderous sea surface, and squeezed out a few words coldly from between his teeth:
“…evil beast.”
…
Back in Nezha's room, I didn't set foot outside. But at dusk, Nezha returned, filled with rage. It was the first time I'd seen him like that. Before, he'd only been furious, but now, it seemed like he couldn't calm down unless he killed a few demons.
I wasn't afraid, so I asked, "Does your father really want to sacrifice young boys and girls?"
When Nezha heard my question, he turned his head abruptly. The hostility in his eyes had not subsided, but became even stronger, as if burning with a cold fire.
"He dares!" His voice was not loud, but it was firm and fierce. "General of Chentang Pass, if you really want to satisfy that evil dragon by killing children, you don't have to hold this position anymore!"
He paced around the room impatiently for two steps, then suddenly stopped, a cold and mocking arc appearing at the corner of his mouth.
"My father?" He snorted. "He actually had a good idea. He said that since the Third Prince complained about the rough flesh of slaves, and young boys and girls were really... difficult to find, why not offer a few more strong slaves, ten, twenty! Perhaps they could be worth a pair of children, and get the Dragon Prince to be more flexible."
I was speechless. Bargaining with more lives? Li Jing was truly naive.
Nezha's tone was filled with sarcasm, clearly expressing his extreme disapproval of his father's actions, even feeling humiliated. He walked to the window, looking out at the dim, oppressive sky. His voice lowered, yet with an almost cruel calmness:
"Yes, let's negotiate conditions. Use more lives to exchange for that tiny possibility, and pray for mercy from those evil beasts who treat human lives as worthless."
He turned around suddenly and looked at me with sharp eyes, which seemed to penetrate my thoughts.
"Do you think Ao Bing will agree, or will he feel insulted and become even more furious?"
I opened my mouth, the answer self-evident. For a dragon that easily demands a replacement sacrifice simply because its flesh is too rough, and who considers humans blood food, this kind of bargaining would probably only infuriate him.
Nezha looked at my silent reaction, the cold curve at the corner of his mouth disappeared, and his eyes became extremely focused. What was surging in them was no longer simple anger, but an almost resolute and dangerous determination.
I suddenly understood.
Negotiate? Make concessions?
Not at all.
Li Jing may still have a glimmer of hope, wanting to exchange peace for compromise and more sacrifices.
But from the moment Nezha heard Ao Bing's request for a young boy and girl, he never thought of compromise.
He asked his father if he really wanted to offer the sacrifice, not out of worry, but to confirm that the last possibility of a peaceful solution had been cut off.
When he said he wanted to negotiate conditions, the sarcasm in his tone was not because he thought this method was stupid, but because he had already seen that the end of this method would inevitably be failure and greater humiliation.
Then what?
Then, it’s no longer a matter of conditions.
He came back from outside in a rage. What he thought and what he wanted to do was never about bargaining.
In the end, no matter what, he will still go down that path.
…
There seems to be no need to explain what happened next. What I saw in my dream was what happened next.
Whether it is the ending described in the myth or the ending I have experienced, it seems that the word fate cannot be avoided.
I watched him confront the Dragon Prince, and I watched him draw out his dragon tendons. The recent rains at Chentang Pass had alleviated the drought, but there was still a looming risk of flooding.
Until the end, Li Jing wanted to use three thousand human sacrifices again to exchange for the Dragon King's forgiveness, and even forced Nezha to admit his mistake in public.
Nezha returned from his father's study and said, "Everyone thinks I'm wrong." He looked at me. "Do you think I'm wrong too?"
I shook my head.
"Where there is oppression, there is resistance. So how can it be wrong for people to rebel against God's tyranny?"
His eyes were sharp, and I smiled and said:
"Besides, that's not called resistance."
“That’s the revolution.”
Can I consider Nezha’s rebellion as a provocation to mankind’s traditional submission to gods?
This land has never accepted its fate.
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