Broken Tower
At dawn, Zang Yue sat on her bed, facing the window, He'en sleeping in her arms. She looked out at the lush greenery, the sunlight gradually casting a golden hue on the glossy leaves.
"Tell me, what would their reaction be if they saw a stranger in the house?" Zang Yue stroked the kind fur, feeling that it was healthier than before. "Of course it's good to be able to stay. It's good for both you and me, isn't it?"
Hean put his head in a different position and made no sound.
"Why don't we go before they wake up? Otherwise, we'll scare them and cause chaos. When I come here a few more times and wear Ming Yan's clothes, she will definitely remember me. Also, who do you think Shuixi is? Am I really his sister? I don't think it's right to usurp someone else's position. If someone's sister is really lost, then the real owner may continue to suffer, don't you think?"
She said so, but she was reluctant to leave. A room where she could sleep peacefully, a soft bed, was truly enchanting. Seeing the clock strike six, she jumped out of bed, tidied up the sheets and quilt that had been messed up by sleeping, and when she reached out, the awakened He Kin climbed up her arm and clung to her shoulder.
She pushed open the window, lifted her leg, and climbed up easily. There was an eave below the window, and a locust tree next to it. She had already planned her route out of the house, and just as she was about to jump, the door behind her opened. Zang Yue glanced back. The person looked very familiar, but she couldn't remember who it was. However, she was determined to leave. When she heard the person who opened the door chase her, he was already squatting on the eaves.
"Fang Zhou, where are you going? He'an! Stop her!" Shuixi shouted from the window, watching her climb up the tree, climb onto the balcony from the other side, and then walk forward step by step along the sloping roof covered with tiles.
A wooden plate flew out, and Zang Yue, feeling the wind at her back, ducked down to avoid it, only to slip and fall under the eaves. She did a backflip to regain her footing, hearing a few tiles shatter on the ground. She couldn't care less and continued walking forward. She slipped again, forcing her to do another backflip, and before she could even find her balance, she did a side flip. Her footing was unstable, and she landed flat on the tiles.
Then the tile slid down with her.
"Help! Help!" she shouted, her body falling uncontrollably, but she had to force herself to comfort herself in her heart, telling herself not to be nervous, that it would be okay and it wouldn't hurt.
Sure enough, there was no pain after landing. Could it be that they had moved their position again? Lu Cangyue opened his eyes and saw the face of the strange man and the kind figure standing above his head.
"We're finished." The man stared at the rooftop, his eyes filled with regret. He glanced down at the person in his arms with disdain, then threw her aside in anger. Zang Yue finally managed to steady herself, feeling a sharp pain in her right leg. Just as she was about to demand an explanation from the man, the door across from her was kicked open, revealing a beautiful, though sleepy, and somewhat listless woman.
She glanced at the broken tiles on the roof and the ground, and immediately went to grab Shuixi's ears in anger. Shuixi kindly lowered herself to let her grab them.
"Shuixi, what are you doing? I told you not to keep a cat, but you insisted on keeping one! Do you think this is your home?"
Zang Yue called out to He Ai and wanted to leave quietly.
"It wasn't the cat." Shuixi explained aggrievedly.
"Who's that?" The woman looked at Fang Zhou. Seeing the green moss and dirt on Fang Zhou's body, she understood what was going on. She cleared her throat, smiled and pulled Fang Zhou over. She hugged her, put her head on her shoulder to catch up on some sleep, and said coquettishly, "Hey, what's wrong with you? Why are you awake so early? What are you doing on the eaves? Honey, if you have anything to do, why don't you just ask your brother? I'll take you shopping for clothes today, okay? I'll take you to my store to see what I've accomplished."
Is this the only effect of the drug? Cang Yue was stunned, even imagining that she was in some kind of schizophrenia institution. She said cautiously, "Sister, I want to go somewhere today."
"Where?" The woman on her shoulder immediately looked up at her.
"A place with a tower."
"You mean Chaolai Temple? Oh, that's boring. Then let your brother take you there. I'll take you there some other day. Don't refuse me again!"
Watching the woman yawn as she left, Cang Yue tried hard to think about what her name was. If she just tried a little harder, she'd figure it out. Why hadn't this woman and this man forgotten it before she did?
"Boss Mingyan is really good to you." Shuixi came over and said.
It turned out to be Ming Yan! She remembered that there was such a thing, and turned to look at Shui Xi, only to think that this man was a little too ostentatious, "Are you my brother?"
"If I'm not your brother, then am I your sister? Shui Fangzhou, you must have slept like a fool all night!" Shui Xi hit her on the head, then quickly dodged away as if afraid of revenge, and went to work seriously.
He Ai called out to Shui Xi.
Fang Zhou rubbed her head helplessly, thinking, what a fool they are. If that's the case, then she might as well stay here for now.
"Come and help, what are you standing there for? Waiting for the feast?"
Shuixi brought over a ladder and was about to climb up when he turned and yelled at her. Fang Zhou, who had already decided to live under someone else's roof, had become more polite and obediently walked over to help hold the ladder. Seeing him climb up, Fang Zhou asked, "Brother, can you take me to the place with the tower here?"
"What tower? Where is the tower?" Shuixi asked casually as he was removing the loose tiles that hadn't fallen off. "Which tower are you going to see? You always ran around everywhere before. Haven't you seen enough?"
"Why are you so annoying?" Fang Zhou felt she was very familiar with this scene. She was filled with rage, but she could only suppress it because the other party was someone she couldn't afford to offend. But was Shuixi someone she couldn't afford to offend? Forget it, peace brings wealth, she told herself.
"Are you angry?" Shuixi grinned wickedly from above, throwing a small piece of soil at her with a hypocritical smile on his face. "There's a tower across the street from us. Is that the one you want to go to?"
"Across the street?" Fang Zhou immediately lifted her skirt and ran, leaving muddy footprints all along the hall. She rushed out the door, but before she could see the tower, the sunlight pierced her eyes. She instinctively raised her hand to shield her eyes. The sound of the bell approached, her curiosity piqued, and she squinted to peek from under her arm.
A young woman, wearing an ordinary but decent linen dress, was pushing a food cart with a menu in colorful cartoon characters on the sign. The bell sound came from a string of silver wind chimes on her handlebars.
"What are you selling?" Fang Zhou asked.
The woman opened the lid of the cylindrical container in the car, and the aroma of glutinous rice mixed with the fragrance of osmanthus filled the air.
"How do you sell it?"
The woman pointed at the sign. Fang Zhou recognized a few simple characters and numbers, but she was puzzled by her silence. Wouldn't it be more convenient to communicate verbally? Could she be mute? Fang Zhou's suspicions had barely crossed her mind when she glanced at the woman. She understood, gestured, and when she realized Fang Zhou didn't understand, she pulled out her phone and began typing.
"Sorry, I can't speak. If you don't mind, would you like to buy some mochi to try?"
Fang Zhou nodded and casually pointed at a line on the menu. Realizing he didn't have any money, he quickly apologized to the woman and asked her to wait. Half a minute later, Fang Zhou dragged out a tall, handsome man with an impatient expression. Three lines of muddy footprints were left in the brightly lit hall.
"Come on, brother, help me pay."
"I really owe you! Why are you so greedy?"
"Who asked you to bring me back? You deserve it!" Fang Zhou stared at the chubby little thing, not realizing that his true nature was exposed, and said rude words to the man.
"Go and mop the floor after you finish eating. I'll give you half an hour. If you can't restore it to its original state, I'll beat you up!" After paying the money, Shuixi left another trail of footprints when he walked back.
Fang Zhou, eating glutinous rice cakes, was thinking about something else. She asked, "Is there a tower in this area?"
The woman pointed across. I'd been so engrossed in my food that I'd almost forgotten about it. Shuixi also mentioned it. Fang Zhou looked up and saw that there was indeed a tower across the street, but the pavilion on top was specifically for dancing, and it was only three or four meters high. Could it even be called a tower?
"I mean a very tall tower with red lanterns hanging from the eaves?"
The woman nodded.
Fang Zhou said excitedly, "Then can you take me there? This is for you." She rummaged in her sleeves and poured out a small piece of gold to give to the snack bar owner.
The woman declined, hesitated for a moment, and then agreed.
Fang Zhou excitedly snatched the woman's cart and pushed it forward while shouting his wares.
"Sister, how old are you this year?"
The snack shop owner smiled and pointed to the two numbers on the sign: "28." Fang Zhou thought she should be younger, and wondered why she was doing this street-to-street business. These days, only older people, with no other options, persist in their old ways. She wanted to ask again, but it was inconvenient, so she gave up.
She worked hard to sell her glutinous rice cakes along the way, meeting a group of kind students. She sold out a box of glutinous rice cakes in less than half an hour. Fang Zhou was excited. "Sister, if you can sell here from now on, you can go home faster, right?"
The woman just looked at her and smiled, then led Fang Zhou to Chaolai Temple.
"Chaolai Temple," Fang Zhou muttered, feeling no emotion. The door was blocked by yellow tape. Fang Zhou rushed forward, but the snack bar owner grabbed her wrist and shook his head at her.
"What's wrong? Is there a ghost here?"
Fang Zhou pushed open the door, only to be met with a cloud of wind-blown dust that covered her face and blinded her eyes. When she could see clearly again, a monk was hurrying towards her. "This place is closed today. Please return."
"Why?" She saw the half-broken tower standing not far away. "What's going on? What's going on?"
When the monk saw the female donor was about to break in, the word "trouble" was written on his face. His expression turned stern and he raised his hand to block her. However, it was the cat behind the female donor that jumped over his shoulder and broke in first. Wen Jie chased the cat first, but this action let the female donor in.
The workers inside were curious to see the monk chasing the cat, the woman chasing the monk, and they all leaned in to watch. The cat, nimble and swift, scuttled past the excavator and onto the broken tower, where it stood, peering around. Fang Zhou ran up nine steps, then up again, and saw the plaque with the three characters "Chao Lai Pavilion" piled next to a water tank, treated as trash, among cans, cigarette butts, and food wrappers.
Fang Zhou wanted to continue to rush in, which made Wen Jie angry. He shouted without caring about his image as a monk, "Hey, don't go forward, it's dangerous inside!"
Wen Jie ran to stop them, but Fang Zhou pushed her away. Unexpectedly, the woman's strength was so great that he shoved her into a pillar, causing a sharp pain in his forehead. Fang Zhou continued inside, a cloud of dust billowing. Sunlight filtered through the cracks in the rubble, illuminating the dust grains with remarkable clarity. There wasn't much inside, so Fang Zhou took a quick look before retreating.
Seeing someone madly charging forward, the other monks came to dissuade them. Fang Zhou, nimble as a cat, dodged several large men blocking his path, leaped over the trees, and reached the back garden. Unexpectedly, he saw the pagoda half-collapsed, blocking the waterfall over the Mirror Pond. The pagoda's top was submerged in the pool below, which looked stagnant and had been stinking for some time.
"When did it become like this?" Fang Zhou's eyes were dull, and he didn't know what year it was. "When did it become like this?"
Facing the helpless look in the female donor's eyes, Wen Jie let down his guard and replied lovingly, "Three days ago."
Three days? The water would be dead in three days? The water would stink like that in three days? Fang Zhou, unconvinced, kicked off his shoes and looked for a convenient place to jump in. Seeing this, the monks started shouting. The little girl had fallen into the water before, the temple had been sealed, and her body had been lost. They had barely survived that disaster, then the Chaolai Pavilion was struck by lightning, and now a beautiful young woman was about to jump in. If anything went wrong, these monks would be dead.
The monks were too busy to think about other things, just trying to stop the people. But none of them could have imagined that seven or eight people couldn't stop a frail little girl, and they were all thrown to the ground, more or less injured.
She finally jumped, but just as her feet left the shore, they were pulled back by a long arm.
Wenjie thanked God quickly and followed Shuixi happily. Thinking of the female donor's shoes, he went back and pocketed them in his clothes to send them to the owner.
Shuixi carried Fang Zhou to the side yard like a watermelon and placed her on the stone table. There were few people here, and the pine trees were all a hundred years old, with dense branches and leaves. A person of Shuixi's height could only see him from the waist down. Fang Zhou sat on the stone table, her entire upper body hidden among the branches and leaves. No one could see her expression unless they got close. The cat slowly followed and jumped onto the stone table, and Shuixi scolded her, "What are you doing? You didn't even stop me!"
Wen Jie sighed silently, wondering why Shuixi had found such a crazy girl to date? However, an ordinary guy would definitely not be worthy of Shuixi.
Shuixi seemed to hear what he was mumbling in his heart. She glared and snatched the shoes from Wen Jie's clothes and threw them on the stone table. "Put on your shoes, you dead girl, you ran off with someone in a moment! Do you know how hard I tried to find you? I, your brother, still have a house to repair, books to read, homework to hand in, and someone to serve. Can you see how hard I am working? Do you know how hard I tried to make sure you stay in the store and have a place to go? There is nothing you can't do well. Why do you have to imitate others and commit suicide? Come on, tell me, what do you want to do, let me hear it, okay? You just finished eating the glutinous rice cakes I bought and you ran over to jump into that big puddle, Shui Fangzhou, what can I say about you?"
Wen Jie couldn't stand listening in while someone was scolding his sister, so he left mid-sentence. However, the sound had already reached the outside of the courtyard. He couldn't help but stop, wondering when Shuixi had a sister. Who could his sister be? Thinking of the fierce scene just now, Wen Jie thought, this person must be someone who can be easily messed with. This temple is destined to be plagued by disasters!
Fang Zhou leaned forward, a defiant look on her face, and pushed Shui Xi. "Got it, nagging brother." She jumped off the table, slipped on her shoes, and walked out with a haughty air. Shui Xi held her forehead, closed her eyes, sighed silently, and turned to rush ahead of Fang Zhou.
In Wenjie's view, the picture was that the brother brought his ignorant sister to apologize to him.
"I'm so sorry for causing trouble to all the masters. I will definitely double the compensation for the losses caused." Shuixi glanced at the bleeding spot on Wenjie's head, turned around and tugged at Fang Zhou fiercely, "Hurry up and apologize to the masters."
It's rare for Shuixi to be so serious! Where does this girl come from? Wen Jie is very interested. He wants to observe what kind of person she is.
Apologize? How? Fang Zhou was puzzled.
"I'm sorry?" Fang Zhou said this while standing upright and glancing at Shuixi's reaction.
Seeing him sigh again, Fang Zhou reached out his hand, and sensing Wen Jie's surprise, he changed to a bow. But that didn't work, and Fang Zhou took a step back and was about to kneel. Wen Jie hurried forward to stop him, but Shui Xi took a step back.
That kneeling was indeed a kneeling on the ground. Wen Jie was caught off guard and bumped into Fang Zhou's elbow. In a moment of panic, he instinctively tried to help her up without any reason, but was bumped in the chin by Fang Zhou's recklessness. He endured the pain and finally helped the reckless girl to her feet, smiling and politely saying, "It's okay, I'm glad you're okay. Just don't come to this dangerous place casually in the future. Look, there's a sign saying "Under Construction" over there, which means no trespassing."
The farce ended, and Wen Jie escorted the two people and the cat out the door. He returned and walked up the steps to Chaolai Pavilion. The prayer ribbons on the two acacia trees fluttered in the wind. He couldn't help but stop, approached the acacia trees, and sniffed them fiercely. It seemed that there was the scent of wild animals again.
Why was it so obvious? He had never noticed it before. Wen Jie searched through it and found a tape with words he couldn't understand. It really gave off a strong smell that made him more and more addicted.
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