Chasing Object
Beichongning Street was as bright as day, and Hui Zifeng suddenly felt a little uneasy. Amidst the crowd, he could hear his heart pounding. He was certain it wasn't from the sudden, intense run. He had clearly seen the white light coming this way, but now he couldn't find its trace. Just as he was about to continue forward, a hand stopped him.
It was Shuixi. He seemed to know what Hui Zifeng was doing. His gaze fell on the stage diagonally ahead. A building in front of him obscured his view, so only half the stage was visible. A group of girls danced with their sleeves in the fountain. The water was an obstacle, the dance a vibrant life force—perhaps that was the reason for the design. One of the girls was particularly eye-catching, with a voluptuous and powerful figure and an extremely contagious smile.
Hui Zifeng followed Shuixi's gaze and saw a small, snow-white animal crouching on the eaves of the stage. He couldn't tell what it was; it looked a bit like a cat, a bit like a lion. Shuixi's hand, resting on his shoulder, patted him hard. Startled, Hui Zifeng's gaze shifted to Shuixi's face, but when he looked back, the white animal was gone. The light above the eaves was dim, and it seemed as if a dark shadow was moving along the ridge to the other side.
He wanted to chase after her, but Shuixi grabbed his shoulders.
"Is that enough?" Hui Zifeng shook Shuixi's hand away. "Why don't you go and see it if you like it so much?"
"What are you looking at?" Shuixi had just come back to his senses and only heard Hui Zifeng's last word. But thinking about it, he understood that Hui Zifeng must have thought he was looking at a beautiful woman. In fact, he was indeed looking at a beautiful woman. But he only looked at her for a few seconds. "Let's go, let's go to the store to play a game of chess before leaving?"
"Let me go!" Hui Zifeng felt that Shuixi was deliberately trying to stop him, and he had thought that he should give up. After all, how could he catch up with such a strange animal by himself? But Shuixi stopped him, so he insisted on going against Shuixi. "I want to go see the beautiful sisters."
His gaze fell on the stage, and he was equally drawn to the striking girl. Hui Zifeng, his eyes fixed on her, approached her step by step. Shui Xi could see he was distracted, and no matter how hard she tried to stop him, she had no choice but to follow him.
The performance ended, and the actors walked off the stage with their backs to the audience. However, the striking girl turned back and glanced in the direction of Hui Zifeng and Shuixi. For some reason, her lips curled up slightly, a look of triumph.
Hui Zifeng hurried over, panicking amidst the pile of pink dresses. "Wait! Wait! Where's the girl with the flower embroidery on her brow?" He grabbed a random girl and asked, only to find they all had the same makeup, making it difficult to tell who was who. But he refused to give up and continued searching.
The actors scattered, Hui Zifeng chasing after one, then another, as if she had lost something precious. Shuixi watched silently from the side, not intervening. Hui Zifeng also realized her own loss of composure, looked at the street dotted with shadows, and sighed softly. Just then, she appeared again. Jumping and jumping, her long, thin braids swung behind her head, her sleeves dragging on the ground, passers-by accidentally stepped on them. She leaned sideways as if playing an interesting game, saw the right moment, pulled hard, and smiled with satisfaction.
A motorcycle passed by, and she dodged it with ease. Her movements were soft yet powerful, clearly unlike those of an ordinary dancer. Hui Zifeng chased after her. The girl's eyes seemed to see through the movements of the person behind her. With a contemptuous smile, she squeezed into the crowd.
A towering figure stood before Hui Zifeng, like a wall. He looked up and saw it was the actor who had just impersonated a monk on stage. He wore robes, Buddhist beads, a shaved head, and a bamboo hat. From a distance, he looked handsome, but closer inspection revealed a face thickly smeared with makeup and painted red lips. It was a strange sight, a disgrace to Buddhist culture.
"Donor, what advice do you have?"
"Who are you?" Hui Zifeng spoke unfriendly, looking like he was ready to fight.
"What are you doing here, Wenjie?" Shuixi frowned and walked over to Hui Zifeng. "He really is a monk, Si Tan, don't make such a fuss."
When Hui Zifeng heard this, he felt uncomfortable all over. He quickly clasped his hands together, bowed and apologized, but he still refused to forgive her. "But Master, why are you blocking me? I have something else to do. I'll be there for you next time."
"He's a monk who randomly bestows blessings on tourists on the street." Shuixi pulled Hui Zifeng back and patiently explained again, though his tone was less respectful when speaking to the real monk. "Are you not afraid of punishment from the Buddha for returning to your old ways?"
The monk smiled slightly and handed Hui Zifeng a red purse.
"I'll take it. Okay, thank you, Master. Can I go now?" Hui Zifeng started to move again, but was dragged back by Shuixi. Hui Zifeng was really angry now and raised his fist at Shuixi. A cute head poked into the circle of three people, rolled his eyes around and looked at the three people, then said to Hui Zifeng, "Are you looking for me? What do you want to see me for?"
This was their first meeting. Hui Zifeng felt himself being moved. At that moment, the girl's voice could replay itself in his mind a thousand times, ten thousand times, as if something was bewitching him. That face, despite the heavy stage makeup, he felt as if he had seen her true face. Was this what they called love at first sight? His mind flooded with thoughts, and everything rushed to him. He had no time to react, and watched her turn and walk away nonchalantly, holding the cat in one arm and holding an oil-paper umbrella in the other.
"Sorry, my cat is scared."
She was only concerned with stroking the cat in her arms, suddenly appearing in front of the three people and then leaving without a care in the world. Hui Zifeng only knew that he was stuck somewhere, his brain unable to think, his mouth unable to speak, his body unable to move, and he watched her come and go.
A few minutes later, she vanished without a trace in the bustling streets. Flowing like a river, bright as a light. Hui Zifeng began to wonder how long those few minutes really were, how many heartbeats they were for me. I felt like I had grasped something, but I couldn't hold on to it.
"Hey, hey, hey! Is this love at first sight?" Shuixi's arm knocked someone against the railing by the river, and they almost fell over. Fortunately, Shuixi quickly grabbed Hui Zifeng's waist. Both of their minds were elsewhere. Hui Zifeng didn't realize that he should be concerned about how Shuixi could use such great force. Was she hostile to him?
The river water had a faint stench. Hui Zifeng dove in and nearly vomited. All his nerves slowed to a crawl. The light in front of his eyes flickered and gradually became blurry. A strong fragrance emanated from the palm of his hand. Hui Zifeng looked down and opened his palm. The fragrance quickly spread, and his temples began to ache.
"What's this?"
The monk named Zuowenjie smiled but said nothing.
"Open your mouth!" Shuixi's powerful voice suddenly appeared out of nowhere and hit Hui Zifeng's ears. Before Hui Zifeng could refuse, a matcha-flavored ice cream cone was already stuffed into Hui Zifeng's mouth. The sudden coldness, or perhaps Shuixi's excessive laughter while shaking Hui Zifeng, accidentally knocked the red purse into the water.
"They said you were cold-hearted, but you get mad when you see a beautiful woman! Cool down, boy!" Shuixi's sense of humor was reasonable. After saying this, he walked towards the monk with a graceful gait.
"How dare you commit treason!" Hui Zifeng was furious and roared behind him.
Shuixi turned around, with an expression that seemed serious yet also a bit intentional to irritate the other person, and snorted contemptuously, "Who is on top and who is down there?"
Wasn't this man happy to be his lackey? Hadn't he always been at his beck and call, caring for him and obeying his orders? Over a decade, how could he have changed so quickly? Hui Zifeng sighed softly and turned to walk the other way. He didn't care what happened to Shuixi.
Meanwhile, Shuixi grabbed Wenjie's shoulders and, ignoring the gazes of others, held him hostage in a small alley before releasing him. Wenjie straightened his crooked Buddhist beads and robes, his face devoid of any displeasure. Instead, he faced Shuixi with the doting smile of an elder towards a child.
"What are you doing?" Shuixi accuses the other person without any hesitation. "How do you know her? What did she say to you?"
"It sounds like you know her, too." Wen Jie showed a clever look that didn't suit his monk's status, and chuckled, "What's the point of making things difficult for me? I'm not your servant. I'll do whatever you tell me to do. Just leave me alone, okay? I'm a monk from Chaolai Pavilion. You can't afford to offend me."
Shuixi felt helpless, watching Wenjie's smug expression. It wasn't that he couldn't do anything to Wenjie, but rather that he didn't want to. Thus, their relationship became like this: whenever Shuixi showed off his power, he'd run into a wall, and be warned by Wenjie. Clearly superior, yet subservient.
"What was that thing you gave to Hui Zifeng?" Shui Xi asked almost in a begging tone.
For the sake of their past friendship, Wen Jie answered politely, "It's just some incense ashes from the temple. It helps to refresh the mind."
What was the point of refreshing the mind? Were these two colluding just to help Hui Zifeng refresh his mind? Shuixi didn't quite believe it, but he knew it was impossible to get any useful information from Wenjie. He was just an ordinary monk, not familiar with any devious ways. He must have been deceived by that witch.
The moon hung high in the sky, already the fifteenth. The closer one gets to the heavens, the purer everything becomes. Two pink sleeves fluttered in the air, occasionally brushing against the body of a small white animal squatting nearby. The wind blew away the creature's fur, revealing its pink skin. Some things never change.
Shuixi walked out from behind the clock and stood less than a step behind the man and the lion.
"The place with the dimmest light is Yunsheng Hall." Shuixi thought he could control his negative emotions, but as soon as he opened his mouth, even he could hear the sour taste in his voice.
The entire city stretched out before him, like a three-dimensional map spread out on a table. Lights shone brightly everywhere, vying for attention, each one vying for attention, afraid to outshine the others. Even someone as calm as Shuixi felt a sense of panic in such a scene. Over the years, the lights grew more numerous, their light growing brighter, like a vine, constantly creeping upward, eventually reaching the highest point, grabbing his feet and pulling him down until he became one with them. Only the light of Yunsheng Hall was peaceful, soft, and quiet, detached from competition, guarding its own corner of the world. But that place, after all, was still different from before.
"That semi-circular building was your former home, now called Jinhui City." Shuixi said again.
The building, perched on the edge of the city, was another landmark, 88 meters tall, second only to the clock tower beneath them. It covered 30,000 square meters, stretching out in a semicircular pattern. Shuixi, seeing it for the first time, was deeply shocked, and it took him a while to recover from his fear. "It's just a human creation, nothing to be afraid of," he told himself.
The girl turned around, and Shuixi saw a disposable medical mask, blue in color, that covered most of her face, leaving only her forehead and eyebrows exposed. Shuixi was stunned. The little lion next to her also turned around and saw Shuixi, and hurriedly squeezed into the girl's arms. The girl pulled down the mask, revealing her entire face, and asked in confusion, "Who are you?"
Oh, right, she should have forgotten him. Shuixi smiled calmly and reached out to touch the little lion in her arms. "I'm its friend, and also your...enemy. Girl, I need to warn you first. Don't get close to Hui Zifeng. He's not the one you're looking for."
The little lion was docile at first, but it looked at Shuixi with a wary look. When his hand reached out, the little lion ducked its head, not resisting. But after Shuixi finished speaking, for some reason, the little lion bit Shuixi's wrist. Its face wasn't fierce, but its mouth was fierce. Two lines of blood quickly flowed from the tender white flesh. Shuixi maintained a forgiving and caring smile, pausing his caress for only a second.
"Be kind!" the girl hurried to stop him, but the little lion went even further, pouncing on Shuixi and grabbing his neck. It quickly fled behind the bell and emerged a full-grown lion, as tall as the bell itself. The narrow passageway was too large for its size. Without hesitation, it pounced on Shuixi, and fell down the tower with him.
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