Sweet Wife in My Arms

After arranging the funeral at home, he packed up some of his clothes and carried the bundle on his back. He moved forward step by step, as if his feet were as heavy as a thousand pieces of gold.

His parents' bodies didn't have any scars; they had died for no apparent reason. Everybody said that normal people didn't die like that, that if something was weird it must be an evil monster. While few people in the village died these days, they died in the same way his parents had, and even the feudal officials could not determine the cause of death. The victims were just considered wronged souls.

But he couldn't take it, he absolutely wouldn't take it, he needed to find their murderer and avenge his parents. But he heard the village chief say that perhaps only the immortals of Green Mountain could figure it out and thus, he wanted to go to the Mountain of Immortals and learn how to be an immortal. Then he would get his revenge.

However, he only encountered regular mortal civilians on the Green Mountain. They all knew there were immortals on the mountain but didn't know where to find them or what they looked like.

Dragging his legs, he moved forward step by step. If he was hungry, he would eat a bite of his own food, if he was thirsty, he would drink a sip of water from the river.

At night, he sat under the trees and touched the object on his neck that his parents had left for him; it was a half new bead. They had told him that it was a family heirloom, it was lucky to wear and it was only passed down to the men of the family. His grandfather passed it to his father, and his father passed it to him when he was born. Thus, he had worn it for almost twenty years, but wearing it didn't seem to have any benefits.

He took the bead off and put it in front of his eyes. He looked at the beam in the light of the moon, it was still half new without any changes.

Suddenly, a ferocious-looking face swooped down from the tree. He opened his mouth in shock and his hand released the bead, which dropped into his mouth. His throat rolled a little and he swallowed it down.

He suddenly widened his eyes, covered his abdomen, and fell on the ground, both of his hands and legs twitching severely.

The ghostly face seemed to be frightened and stunned for a long time.

"Hey, what's wrong with you, did you just die of fright?"

It was a woman's voice.

"Hey, wake up." The ghostly face reached out and shook the man, whose eyes were rolling back into his head every so often. She took her mask off, she wasn't a devil or a monster, but a young lady.

Yan Boxuan widened his eyes, he couldn't say anything and his pupils contracted. In the end, he fell on the ground, still.

He woke up some time later, shivering with cold. He rubbed his eyes and gently touched his belly. He remembered how he had swallowed his family heirloom. He wasn't sure if that was real or not, however, and touched his neck. There was nothing there and he realized he had really swallowed it.

"Are you alright?" A young lady in yellow came in from outside with a bamboo tube in her arms. She handed it to him, "Drink."

"Thank you." Yan Boxuan took the bamboo tube and drank it mouthful by mouthful. You could hear the sound of gulping water and the rolling of his Adam's apple.

The young lady in yellow poked the fire on the ground with a branch.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay," Yan Boxuan sat down, "I'm rather timid, it was nothing to do with you." To himself, he added, How did I expect to find immortals on the mountains when I'm such a scaredy cat? How am I going to find out the cause of my parents' deaths and avenge them?

The lady in yellow felt terribly bad when she heard that he didn't blame her. She never thought he couldn't withstand a start, she just gave him a small scare and she almost scared him to death.

Yan Boxuan knew that the lady had misunderstood him but he didn't explain himself again.

"What's your name?" the lady asked. "I am Guan Yuexin, you may call me Yuexin."

"Yan Boxuan." Yan Boxuan spoke his name and threw a branch into the fire.

"Why are you here?" Guan Yuexin sat down and wrapped her arms tightly around her legs.

"I am going to Green Mountain."

Yan Boxuan gazed straight forward and a steadfast expression flashed in his eyes. He would go to Green Mountain, he must go to Green Mountain or he would die.

"What are you going to do there?" Guan Yuexin asked, pursing her lips. "It isn't fun at all."

"I want to avenge my parents," Yan Boxuan said drily, but there was a heavy pain in his eyes.

"Alright." Guan Yuexin stopped talking, but soon after she lifted her face up, "Well, as an apology, I will take you there."

"Really?" Yan Boxuan grabbed Guan Yuexin's hand suddenly, he was so excited that he forgot it was improper for man and woman to touch each other. Guan Yuexin's face turned red and her hand that was in his was burning hot. She even spoke with a stammer.

"Well, yes, I- I can take you, but it's up to you whether you can actually get there or not."

Yan Boxuan realized how inappropriate it was to hold her hand, and he hurried to release it. "Miss Guan, thank you."

"You're welcome." They were both embarrassed, and one of them went to pick up firewood while the other sat down and looked at the fire. They had nothing to say to each other until the next morning.

"It's here." Guan Yuexin shifted her direction and pointed to the steps that headed to the sky, "This is the path up to the top of the Green Mountain, you can only go up from here. There's only so much I can do. The rest you have do on your own."

"Thank you." Yan Boxuan bowed with his hands clasped together in front of Guan Yuexin. Her help had been enough, it was his great fortune to find the way to the Green Mountain. Green Mountain was right in front of him, no matter how many steps there were, he would climb them.

He tied his bundle onto his back, then he moved up the steps. Until he could no longer be seen, Guan Yuexin stood at the bottom of the steps and waved to him. "Goodbye, I wish you good luck."

She turned to begin walking away, but with each step she took her body slowly faded away.

At the same time, on the top of the Green Mountain, a string of bells rang.

"Someone is coming up the mountain?"