Puppet Mask
While immersed in her memories, Kim Hee-ro watches as she and Jiang Yi-lin are thrown onto a tricycle, as if observing someone else's life.
The two children, anxious and trying to comfort each other, huddled in the innermost part of the tricycle as it was loaded with radishes and cabbages and headed towards the bridge leading away from the village.
"Jiang Yilin, my grandma doesn't want me anymore, why are you following me?" Jin Xilu asked, her voice trembling with tears.
Jiang Yilin's face was tense, and he seemed dazed. He didn't hear what Jin Xilu said.
After more than ten seconds, Jiang Yilin felt a tickle on the back of his hand. He looked down at Jin Xilu, whose eyes were clear, and slowly found his voice, which was so soft it was almost inaudible: "Hmm? What did you say?"
“Where are we going? Do you know?” Kim Hee-ro grabbed his arm, wanting to get closer to him.
Just then, the tricycle stumbled on the country road, and if Jiang Yilin hadn't shielded her with his body, Jin Xilu would have almost fallen headfirst into a pile of cabbages.
"I don't know." Jiang Yilin spoke very little again. He could not feel any pain in his body, but he felt a morbid and intense self-loathing. He had already guessed that He Min was dead.
He had secretly gone to see her several times before. Although she was conscious and awake, she was unwilling to talk to him. Jiang Yilin did not blame her for not fulfilling her responsibilities as a mother, but he still said many things to vent his dissatisfaction, hurting her time and time again.
"I want to get out. I don't want to be like you, a dead person trapped here forever."
"Why, why can't you be a good mother?"
He whispered these words, and Jiang Yilin thought He Min was asleep and couldn't hear them.
"If I could, I would rather be disabled than be your child."
Only God knows that He Min only regained hope of living when Jiang Yilin was born.
When Jiang Yilin was born, his cries were not as loud as those of other babies. He Min looked at his healthy body and carefully checked it over and over again. There was nothing else wrong with him. She was already in tears, and she thanked God again and again in her heart.
Jiang Yilin was born just like any other normal child. The reason his hair color is getting lighter and lighter now is because his heart couldn't take it when he was three years old, and he almost died.
He Min forced Jiang Lianyin to find a solution, and finally, by exchanging half of her divine power, she enabled Jiang Yilin to find the oldest willow tree in the mountains, the Fallen Willow, to recognize her as his mother. From then on, Jiang Yilin was able to breathe again.
So when He Minxin heard Jiang Yilin say that she would rather be disabled, she felt as if she had been ripped apart by a sharp knife. She closed her eyes tightly and dared not make any rash moves because she was afraid that if she suddenly opened her eyes, she would frighten the child she loved.
Jiang Yilin was her own son, how could she not know the dissatisfaction in Jiang Yilin's heart? He was just venting. Everyone needs to vent their emotions. This family can't have any more crazy people.
But Jiang Yilin was unaware of this. From that moment on, He Min had already begun to implement her plan. She did everything she could to push the child away, just to send him as far away from her as possible.
He Min suppressed her maternal instinct to love her child and pretended not to love Jiang Yilin in order to put pressure on Jiang Lianyin. However, her body was not on her side. She could endure physical pain, but she was also afraid of death.
She feared that after her death, Jiang Yilin would become as cold-blooded and ruthless as Jiang Lianyin, unable to distinguish true love. So, after she had a premonition that her life was coming to an end, she...
While Jiang Lianyin was away for a few days, she tricked the maid into leaving, waiting for her son to come so she could tell him her plan—of course, she lied to him.
He Min told Jiang Yilin that there would be an opportunity in a few days to send him away from Elk Town. She told him not to worry that Jiang Lianyin wouldn't find him, as she would arrange everything.
She wouldn't tell him that this opportunity was earned with her life.
Whether Jiang Lianyin, that madman, is heartbroken or not, He Min has no say in the matter and doesn't care.
But one thing is certain: he had no time to care about anyone else during those days.
The day she died was the best time for Jiang Yilin to escape overnight, as far away from Deer Town as possible, because the cursed person cannot leave Deer Town.
Jiang Lianyin, surrounded by divine power, would naturally also be trapped by the curse.
Jiang Yilin closed his eyes, tears welling up and clinging to his long eyelashes. In the moonlight on the country road, Jin Xilu could not see his face clearly, but she could feel his deep sorrow.
"Are you cold?" Kim Hee-ro blinked and withdrew her hands from his.
Jiang Yilin did not answer, but only when she felt the hand she was holding slip away did she be slow to realize that she could no longer hold on before trying to hold on.
But the next second, warmth enveloped him as Kim Hee-ro hugged him. His brown hair was streaked with silver, and he opened his deep eyes to look at him. His gaze was devoid of emotion, just a light that flickered in the light cast by the vegetable plastic bags behind him, like a prince in a fairy tale.
"It's okay, I'll protect you!" Kim Hee-ro moved closer to him. Her lips were dry from not drinking water all afternoon in the tree. She continued.
"Jiang Yilin, please don't be sad anymore, okay? We'll find our way home together."
Jiang Yilin did not push away Jin Xilu, who smelled of persimmons. He allowed himself to indulge in this for a short while, and after a long time, when Jin Xilu was drowsy, he was afraid that if she fell asleep, no one would talk to her.
He licked his lips, adjusted his breathing, and his voice enveloped her like an invisible veil in the darkness.
Kim Hee-ro heard him say that.
"Do you want to hear the story of recognizing Liu as one's mother?"
In Jiang Yilin's story, there is a child who will never grow tall; he is cursed by his father.
The little man was locked inside a high wall, his mother was locked in a dark and cold basement, and his father was always going in and out of what they called their home.
As they arrived, Jin Xilu, oblivious to the situation, interjected, "Hey, Jiang Yilin, I know you don't usually go out, but I'm already tired of hearing these old fairy tales."
"Isn't it just the story of Rapunzel? A prince will definitely come to save her later, um—." That's so old-fashioned. Before Kim Hee-ro could finish the last sentence, Jiang Yilin pushed her face away.
"What are you doing? You're pinching my face."
"Do you still want to listen? If you keep talking, go sit on the other side and stop talking to your radish and cabbage." Jiang Yilin seemed disgusted, but after pushing Jin Xilu away, she quietly moved over herself.
"No! Tell me, I'm listening." After being pushed away for a few seconds, Kim Hee-ro clung to her again like a clingy octopus tentacle.
This time, Jiang Yilin didn't push her away, but instead changed the subject.
The original fairy tale has been turned into a bizarre and incongruous story.
"One day the child stopped breathing. Logically, he should have been buried in a pit, but the man's family needed an heir, so they made a deal with the willow tree demon."
Jiang Yilin paused here, then glanced at Jin Xilu's expression out of the corner of his eye.
But it was obvious that his gaze was too obvious, and he was immediately spotted by Kim Hee-ro, who was good at finding him. Kim Hee-ro winked at him, and the smile in her eyes conveyed to him, signaling him to continue.
"He did come back to life, but he became a monster that was half human and half ghost, and every year at a specific time he had to kneel on a willow tree."
Kim Hee-ro has a habit when listening to stories that is hard to define as good or bad: she listens so intently that she can't help but immerse herself in the story.
Hearing this, she couldn't help but ask, somewhat puzzled, "Half-human, half-ghost, why can't it be an elf?"
"You, do you think she's an elf?" Jiang Yilin's gaze was fixed on Jin Xilu, and his voice became somewhat impatient.
“Yes, did that child later pretend to be a ghost to scare people in the middle of the night? Or did he use his power to eat children? Or did he harm his parents like in ghost stories where the whole family is executed?” Jin Xilu listed them one by one, carefully analyzing for Jiang Yilin based on the books and TV dramas she had read.
"No, right?" Kim Hee-ro asked back.
Jiang Yilin swallowed hard, reluctantly stating the truth: "No, but he has a strange temper and doesn't like to communicate with people. Even his mother is afraid to approach him."
"Yeah! Your story is becoming so unsound. It's clearly... in today's parlance, he's just an introverted, socially awkward, good elf."
Although Jiang Yilin was the one telling the story, their roles had unknowingly been reversed, and Jiang Yilin had become the best listener.
"And I don't think this elf is strange. He may just be lonely because he lacks companions, which is why he always rejects communicating with people."
"You did this on purpose, didn't you!" Jiang Yilin said thoughtfully, her gaze turning into a cold knife as she swung it towards Jin Xilu.
In the first year after Jiang Yilin met Jin Xilu, he was still suspicious, mean, cold, eccentric, arrogant, and self-loathing—a truly annoying and strange character.
He suspected that everyone who was kind to him had ulterior motives, just like now, when it was clearly he who initially wanted to entangle Kim Hee-ro in his ghost stories so that Kim Hee-ro would be afraid of him and thus actively distance herself from him.
As for why he couldn't be the one to actively distance himself from Kim Hee-ro, it was because he didn't want to; he couldn't help but want to find Kim Hee-ro's gaze.
He could only feel at ease once he was sure her gaze was still on him.
He's so insecure, disgusting, and despicable.
While indulging in Kim Hee-ro's warmth, he pushed her away, wondering if she would react to his terrible attitude.
If, of course, he only dared to think about it once in his mind, that is, if.
If Kim Hee-ro is frightened by the story and starts to distance herself from him, Jiang Yilin doesn't mind making Kim Hee-ro endure her fear and pretend that she was originally attracted to him.
Anyway, he didn't want to be the kind of "good elf" that Kim Hee-ro described.
"You did this on purpose, didn't you!" Upon hearing this, Kim Hee-ro got angry and, unable to control her emotions, slapped Jiang Yi-lin's watch.
Accompanied by crisp applause, Kim Hee-ro's voice, which was already louder than Jiang Yi-lin's, turned the atmosphere of questioning into a childish squabbling between elementary school students.
"You're the one doing this on purpose! You're doing this on purpose! You know I'm scared in this atmosphere, yet you still deliberately tell me ghost stories. You're just looking for trouble!"
"I've already been very accommodating, hinting to you time and time again to talk about things in a bright and positive direction, but you just keep thinking about your stupid ghost story."
Kim Hee-ro's eyes were very bright, the kind of clean and bright that couldn't be erased even in the dark.
Jiang Yilin stared at her incessantly chattering mouth, a strange, slightly aroused pleasure welling up inside him. He smiled to himself, thinking: So this is how she reacts... It doesn't seem so bad.
Later, Jin Xilu took over the storytelling from Jiang Yilin. She made up a fairy tale based on her memory of Snow White, Rapunzel, the Frog Prince, and the Seven Fairies, regardless of whether Jiang Yilin was listening or not.
The story wasn't finished when Kim Hee-ro fell asleep leaning on Jiang Yi-lin's shoulder.
Jiang Yilin stared at the sleeping Jin Xilu, unable to look away for even a moment. Finally, he suppressed the smile on his lips and continued to tell his story in a cold, gentle voice in her ear.
What follows is the story of the fallen willow tree recognizing its mother; every year when he went out, he would kneel under the willow tree.
The story of a fallen willow tree recognizing its mother sounds creepy and ridiculous, but it's exactly what he experienced.
From selecting the tree and the auspicious day to preparing five kinds of pastries, a pair of red candles, and three sticks of longevity incense, it's hard to imagine that all of this was done by Jiang Lianyin, who was manipulating the unconscious Jiang Yilin, to meticulously serve the willow tree.
He entered the mountain before dawn, on the very day Jiang Lianyin used the clan chief's name to seal off the mountain. So over the years, no one knows when he entered the mountain or when he staggered back inside the wall.
Offering incense, attaching a life lock, hanging a red thread, entwining it around the tree, entwining it around him, guarding his life—can one truly find peace of mind?
The most important step in changing her address is calling the willow tree "Mom," because she's afraid the willow tree will get jealous. This is why He Min doesn't want Jiang Yilin to get close to her anymore and call her "Mom."
At first, Jiang Yilin would have nightmares every time he finished worshipping the willow tree.
Every time he dreams of that willow tree trying to devour him, its gray bark melts and intertwines tightly with its dark brown roots. The once lush and glossy willow tree instantly withers into an empty shell, and its branches turn into whips that relentlessly drive him away.
"Run, run, faster, I want to see you... my son, my son!"
When he told Jiang Lianyin later, he wasn't surprised at all, but told her, "You'll get used to it."
Jiang Lianyin is always like this. He is always indifferent to people and things other than He Min, as if everything is inanimate. Several times when he went crazy, he was deliberately provoking He Min by contradicting her, wanting to see her reaction.
Later, He Min somehow heard about his nightmares and took the initiative to talk to Jiang Lianyin.
Jiang Lianyin achieved her goal and did indeed come up with a solution afterward.
However, the solution was to change the visit from once a year to once a month. It's unclear whether the willow tree had truly accepted him or if he had simply gotten used to it, as Jiang Lianyin had said.
After having nightmares for six months, he has been able to live in harmony with the willow tree in his dreams.
Whether Kim Hee-ro believes it or not, whether she wants to hear it or not, Jiang Yilin has already accepted Kim Hee-ro's intrusion into his life.
Jin Xilu had no choice but to accept everything about him, but she was a silly girl and wouldn't doubt anything he said.
He would tell her the true stories when she was asleep, and he was also willing to weave false, beautiful tales for her when she was awake.
He'll keep lying for as long as he can.
But he never expected that once he put on that mask, he wouldn't be able to take it off.
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