Hearing her question, Wu Li was stunned for a few seconds by his own sudden thought.
Because the first form of address that popped into his mind was actually "A-Ge".
She had called him that on the day they first met, but this was a term of endearment Miao girls only used for their sweethearts. Besides, she was a year older than him. Why would he want her to call him that?
He was truly going mad.
She was the one afflicted by the love gu, not him.
Moreover, their current journey to Youquan Town was precisely to break the love gu on her and let that venomous gu scorpion return to his body.
"Lili."
The young girl's crisp voice suddenly rang out.
"I'll call you Lili, okay?" she said. "The character 'Li' means separation, so its meaning isn't great, but when two are put together, two negatives make a positive!"
"Two negatives make a positive?" Wu Li was puzzled. Why did she always come up with such strange sayings?
Chai Xiaomi ran excitedly to get paper and a brush. She smoothed out a piece of yellow hemp paper on the desk, ground the ink, and neatly wrote down a character: Li.
"One 'Li' means separation," she said while writing another one.
"What do two 'Li's mean?"
Chai Xiaomi looked up at him with sparkling eyes. The brush twirled swiftly and smoothly between her fingers, sending a few stray drops of ink flying. One tiny speck landed right on the tip of her nose like a small mole, but she remained completely oblivious to it.
Wu Li's gaze lingered on that speck of ink for a moment before he said lightly, "Still separation."
"Eternal separation in all lifetimes."
The mother he had never met bestowed this name upon him, along with this blood of ultimate purity. She had also stuffed her hatred and curses into his very bones and blood, forcing him to live with a burdensome mission.
His mission was to kill the heartless man who had betrayed and deceived her.
Otherwise, this blood of ultimate purity would flow endlessly within his body, and he would never be able to die.
That pathetic woman naively believed he would avenge her just to rid himself of the curse. After all, the price of immortality was watching the people around you grow old and die one by one. But in his eyes, this was clearly a blessing.
There was simply no one in this world he cared about.
As the years passed, when the day came that even the High Priest turned to dust, no one would ever be able to control his body again.
How many people under the heavens bitterly prayed for immortality, yet he had effortlessly obtained this indestructible shell.
How utterly delightful.
Simply out of curiosity, or perhaps because he was truly bored out of his mind, he still secretly went to seek out that so-called heartless man.
The first year of Zhaoyuan.
The streets were bustling, and snow as big as goose feathers fell softly.
Icicles hung from the eaves, and the ground was covered in a thick layer of white. The spring couplets and New Year paintings in front of every household bloomed like specks of red in the stark white world.
A little beggar was curled up beside a dry well, his tattered clothes unable to keep out the bitter cold.
He came from Mount Chi, which was hot all year round. This was the first time in his life he had ever seen snow.
So there really was such pure, flawless white in the world.
Passersby were all saying that this little beggar probably wouldn't survive the New Year. Most of them merely sighed in pity; occasionally, someone would toss down a copper coin and hurry away.
The little beggar seemed to hear nothing. He just curled up motionlessly, letting the chill freeze his body inch by inch.
Suddenly, a noisy clamor of voices rose from the end of the long street.
Carriage wheels crushed the snow, leaving two deep ruts as a luxurious palanquin slowly approached, followed by a grand and imposing guard of honor.
The man in the palanquin, dressed in brocade and jade robes, grabbed handfuls of the five grains from a clay sack beside him and scattered them to both sides of the street.
It was the New Year's blessing parade. The monarch personally scattering seeds was a ritual of bestowing the foundation of livelihood upon the people.
A dirty little face lifted amid the noise, his gaze piercing through the swirling snow to land beneath that ornate canopy.
The man's face was somewhat pale, and his brow showed signs of haggardness, yet his expression was kind and benevolent. He motioned for the palanquin to stop, stepped down with the support of his attendants, untied his own cloak, and draped it over the shivering little beggar's shoulders.
He then set down a small pouch of silver coins, gently stroked the top of the child's messy hair with his palm, and said in a gentle voice, "Poor child, go buy something to eat."
That warmth seeped down from the top of his head. The little beggar stared blankly at the steaming hot buns in front of him; the rising white vapor made his eyes feel slightly hot.
Was this the warmth of a father?
Just then, the palanquin curtain was suddenly lifted, and a handsome young master in fine clothes and a jade crown poked his head out. He was about the same age, yet lived in an entirely different world.
The young boy called out loudly, "Father! You promised to buy me candied hawthorn today. Look, the stall is right ahead!"
"You brat." A trace of lively amusement finally surfaced on the man's sickly face. "You just lost a baby tooth yesterday, and it was decayed right to the root. Eat fewer sweets. I'll indulge you just this once."
He lowered his voice and added, "Don't let your mother know when we get back."
"I know, you're so naggy!"
The palanquin set off again, crushing the snow as it slowly disappeared at the end of the long street.
The little beggar stared at the receding shadow until it shrank into a tiny black dot and was completely swallowed by the curtain of snow.
He wasn't as bad as imagined...
If only he were a thorough villain, how great that would be.
But unfortunately, he wasn't. He loved his son, he loved his people, but he just didn't love that foolish woman.
Nor did he love the child in her womb.
He showed no concern and asked no questions.
He even remembered clearly the exact tooth that boy had lost.
Yet he didn't know that today was that foolish woman's death anniversary, and it was also his eleventh birthday.
At that moment, he suddenly understood her jealousy and hatred.
Since he had to take revenge, he would choose the most ruthless way.
The soft, warm buns soon turned cold and hard in the frigid air, and fell into the dry well along with the money pouch.
The snow was still falling, quickly covering up all traces.
...
"Hey! What are you thinking about? Look, did I draw it well?"
A piece of yellow hemp paper was almost pressed against the tip of his nose. Wu Li snapped back to his senses and focused his eyes on it.
Beside the two "Li" characters on the paper, a pair of little hands holding each other had conspicuously appeared. The lines were vivid and lifelike, as if one could truly feel the warmth of those touching fingertips.
"Two 'Li's put together means—never separating."
She leaned in a bit closer. "How about it, Lili? Do you approve of your big sister's drawing skills?"
Remembering the monkey he had drawn in the illusion, Chai Xiaomi couldn't help but laugh.
The candlelight was warm and harmonious, reflecting in her eyes like shattered light, making her whole person seem to glow with a cozy warmth.
Wu Li's hand shook, and a few drops of cold liquor splashed onto his fingertips. Only then did he realize that he had been holding that cup of rice wine all along. The aroma of the wine spread due to the shaking, weaving its way into his breath thread by thread.
His brows furrowed abruptly, and his gaze sank sharply, becoming as dark as a deep pool.
"What's wrong? Do you not like this nickname?" Seeing that his expression was off, Chai Xiaomi's excitement instantly deflated, and her voice lowered as well. "And here I spent so long drawing it seriously..."
"No," Wu Li interrupted her, his voice laced with coldness. "There is something wrong with this wine."
