Liu Zhuang Xian

“You dead beggar! How dare you eavesdrop on my wife bathing! I’ll kick you to death today!”

Lu Xiaochan curled up, in too much pain to make a sound.

The villagers around saw the butcher’s eyes turn red and veins bulge on his body. They all stepped back, not daring to intervene.

Fortunately, a child’s voice cried out, “Oh! Mother, is the little beggar dead?”

The butcher only wanted to save face, not cause a death. So he withdrew his foot and spat at Lu Xiaochan, “Next time, if you dare to eavesdrop on my wife bathing again, I’ll chop you up and feed you to the pigs!”

With that, the butcher dragged his wife away.

Lu Xiaochan’s mouth was full of the taste of blood. He couldn’t even stand up.

People came and went around him, but no one cared about the life or death of a beggar.

The originally extremely hot weather suddenly became overcast, and before long, heavy rain poured down.

Lu Xiaochan was drenched by the rain, which also washed away the blood on his body. He managed to swallow a few mouthfuls of rainwater, regaining some strength, and slowly crawled towards the roadside.

With each inch he moved, the broken bones in his body felt like they were piercing his internal organs.

But Lu Xiaochan had an inexplicable obsession: even if he were to die, he wanted to die under the tree at the crossroads.

That was where the old beggar had found him, and it was because of the cicadas singing in that tree that he had gotten his name.

Fallen leaves return to their roots; where one comes from, one returns to.

Using his last ounce of strength, he finally crawled under the tree.

He closed his eyes. People, of course, have birth and death, beginnings and ends.

I’ve had enough suffering in this life. Gods and Buddhas, please be kind. In the next life… let me have it a little better…

In his hazy state, he seemed to smell that dew scent from his drunken dream again. Unlike the smell of rain mixing with mud, this was an otherworldly fragrance.

The scent grew stronger, as if someone was standing beside him.

Lu Xiaochan’s ear seemed to catch a drop of dew that had lingered at the peak of the Ninth Heaven, enduring for a thousand years, finally falling freely as it wished.

In an instant, all things fell silent, and time stood still.

The rain that had been pouring through the tree branches suddenly suspended in mid-air.

Lu Xiaochan frowned. He forced his eyes open, but still couldn’t see anything.

However, he knew someone was beside him, very, very close.

He painfully stretched out his hand. Even if it was all his imagination, he wanted to be sure. But his fingertips touched only the mud beneath the tree.

“Ah…” Lu Xiaochan sighed.

If he had any lingering attachment, it had never been for endless food or inexhaustible “Drunken Life Dream Death,” but for someone… even if just for a moment, to hold him in the heart.

Otherwise, a matter of life and death would leave not even a trace.

He closed his eyes. This was probably his last breath.

“Xiaochan, it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

This was the last voice Lu Xiaochan heard.

It was the first time he heard someone say his name in such a tone, casually lifted yet set down with utmost care.

Was this heaven taking pity on him, giving him one last comfort in this life?

Whoever you are, could you say my name once more?

“Earlier, my spirit left my body to seek you, but I could only stay for a moment. I had just gathered my thoughts when you got into trouble.”

The cool voice carried a hint of regret, but that hint was bone-deep, like a crack in cold jade.

“Whoever hurt you, I’ll make them pay a thousandfold.”

Warm breath fell on his ear, his cheek, his neck.

No matter how dirty and messy he was, this person didn’t mind, only wanting to be close to him, entangled until death.

Lu Xiaochan couldn’t tell if it was a dream or an illusion. Someone had come for him under the stars and moon, just for a moment of earthly bliss.

His consciousness gradually blurred. His soul seemed to be cradled in someone’s hands, held close, warmed and comforted. A breath entered his body, nourishing him like dew on all things, permeating his body. All pain gradually disappeared. He felt as if he had fallen into soft clouds. Never in his life had he slept so peacefully.

After an unknown time, the heart-wrenching cicada chirping made Lu Xiaochan’s head feel like it was about to explode.

He sat up abruptly, grabbed a stone from under the tree, and threw it upwards. “Stop that noise! Are you calling for spirits?”

The stone fell back down, landing right between his legs. Luckily, Lu Xiaochan reacted quickly, or his family jewels wouldn’t have been safe.

The cicadas continued chirping. Lu Xiaochan suddenly realized… he hadn’t died?

What was going on?

Lu Xiaochan stood up, suddenly noticing he had no pain anywhere.

The taste of blood in his mouth was gone too. He felt his arm, certain that the butcher had broken his left arm, but now it seemed fine?

He jumped up and down on the spot, bewildered.

His legs, which couldn’t even stand before, were now healed?

What had happened?

Lu Xiaochan turned around casually and heard a small cracking sound. He crouched down to feel around and found a bamboo branch.

This bamboo branch had good flexibility, and its thickness and length were just right.

But Lu Xiaochan remembered that he had thrown his bamboo branch in the alley earlier. When he crawled back to the tree, he didn’t have a branch with him.

What was going on?

He suddenly recalled the voice he heard when he was on the brink of death.

Had someone really come to save him?

Lu Xiaochan gripped the bamboo branch and tapped around, but there was no one there.

He propped himself up with the branch and went to the Wusi Tavern across the street.

If someone had really been by his side during yesterday’s downpour, perhaps the waiter had seen them?

Lu Xiaochan crouched under the tavern’s windowsill. As soon as he heard the waiter’s call, he whistled.

The waiter immediately poked his head out.

“My goodness! Are you human or ghost!”

“I’m human, of course!” Lu Xiaochan raised his bamboo branch, nearly hitting the waiter’s forehead.

“You… you were beaten to a pulp by that butcher yesterday. I saw you coughing up blood! Are you… are you really not a ghost returning to life?”

“Ghost returning to life, my foot!” Lu Xiaochan felt anger rising. “You saw me almost beaten to death, and you didn’t dare stop that butcher. Fine. But why didn’t you come check on me after he left?”

“Well… I thought you were dead!” The waiter, probably feeling a bit guilty, grabbed a white steamed bun and threw it down to him.

“I’m fine, perfectly alright! Look at me, arms and legs all intact!”

“You… it’s only been a day, how come you don’t even have a scar? Could it be divine protection?”

“That’s why I’m here to ask you, did you see anyone by my side under that tree yesterday?”

“Yesterday’s heavy rain lasted from noon till midnight. There was no one on the streets, no customers either. We closed up shop early…”

“Alright, I get it. You didn’t see anything, right?”

“That’s right…”

“Thanks for the bun. I’m heading back.”

Lu Xiaochan turned around and walked back to the tree.

His brutal beating yesterday wasn’t a dream.

That heavy rain wasn’t a dream either.

His severe injuries healing overnight definitely wasn’t a dream.

So, the person who came to his side couldn’t have been a dream either.

I’ve dreamed of you so many times. If you came to find me, why won’t you show yourself?

Lu Xiaochan closed his eyes and sniffed hard. He could smell the cosmetics on passing women, the sweetness of the candy in children’s hands, the sweat on men carrying shoulder poles, but that elusive scent that haunted his dreams was nowhere to be found.

Lu Xiaochan sat under the tree, took out the steamed bun the waiter had given him, tore off a piece, and stuffed it in his mouth.

Before he had eaten much, someone began crawling towards him bit by bit.

Lu Xiaochan moved aside a little, thinking there was room for two under the tree, but the person grabbed his shoe, which was so worn his toes were sticking out.

A dry, hoarse voice spoke up.

“Please… please give me… a bite to eat…”

Lu Xiaochan nearly choked on his bun.

He had spent his whole life begging others for food, and now someone was begging him?

Lu Xiaochan took another bite.

“Please…”

“We’re both beggars, why make things difficult for each other?” Lu Xiaochan took another bite.

“I’m so hungry…”

The beggar’s voice was faint, barely audible, the hoarse sound grating to hear.

“I’m hungry too.”

At that moment, Aunt Zhang passed by with her grandson and said, “It’s just a bite of bread. That beggar is skin and bones, barely alive. You’re a beggar too, how can you be so heartless?”

Lu Xiaochan laughed out loud. “Aunt Zhang, if it’s all about kindness, why can’t your grandson give away the meat bun in his hand? I have nothing, just this half bun, yet you want me to be the kind one. Between us, who’s more heartless?”

Aunt Zhang was speechless. Her grandson was about to offer his half-eaten meat bun, but she quickly pulled him back.

“Don’t look. Let’s go.”

Lu Xiaochan chuckled and held out the last bite of his bun. “Fine, here, eat it.”

The beggar devoured it like a starving ghost reborn, and then suddenly bit Lu Xiaochan’s finger.

“Ah!”

Lu Xiaochan kicked and punched, but his finger was still firmly clamped between the beggar’s teeth. The beggar let out an inhuman laugh, as if he wanted to eat Lu Xiaochan’s entire hand!

People on the street who saw this scene quickly backed away. Women’s screams and children’s cries mixed together.

“It’s an evil spirit!”

“That beggar… is the incarnation of an evil spirit!”

“His tongue is sticking out! His eyes have turned white!”

“How could there be an evil spirit in our Lushu Town!”

Lu Xiaochan gritted his teeth. He knew something was off when this beggar suddenly appeared! So it was an evil spirit!

In all his life, he had only heard about such things in the old beggar’s stories.

If targeted by an evil spirit, one either had to subdue it or learn its name.

If one could call out its name, their soul could “negotiate” with the evil spirit, perhaps gaining a chance at survival.

Half of his arm was already in its mouth. Cold sweat poured down Lu Xiaochan’s forehead.