Xie Chi changed her destination to Shandong, transferring through several stations before finally reaching Yanzhou. She didn’t dare rashly rush up the mountain, so she went to the Pei family first, only to see their main gate sealed with official notices and the door plaque fallen to the ground.
Xie Chi went to a nearby tea stall to gather information from locals. By chance, two men were discussing the bandits, so she ordered a pot of tea and sat at the adjacent table, listening intently with her ears perked up.
The man in yellow said, “That Liu Er’Gou really has nine lives – escaped death by falling into the river and being washed downstream. Great disasters bring great fortune indeed. I heard the Japanese went mad with killing on the mountain, sparing no one, old or young – not a single survivor.”
The man in blue said, “That ruthless? What grudge did those bandits have with them to deserve such treatment?”
The yellow-clothed man explained, “I heard the bandit leader up there had killed many Japanese soldiers before, even killed a Japanese woman and child. The Japanese came for revenge. Though they call it revenge, they’re really after the coal mine. They’ve been here so long without reaching an agreement, so they used this excuse to wipe out all the bandits and seize the mine. Anyone can see through that.”
The blue-clothed man sighed, “Still, they didn’t need to massacre the entire mountain. That must be hundreds, maybe thousands of people, right?”
The yellow-clothed man shook his head helplessly, “Exactly. Not everyone living on that mountain was a bandit, but the devils don’t care – they kill anyone they see.”
The blue-clothed man frowned, “Doesn’t the county magistrate intervene?”
“Intervene my ass. Would he dare offend the Japanese? Forget the county magistrate – even the armed forces don’t dare say anything.” The yellow-clothed man glanced around and whispered, “Old Chiang is busy chasing that other fellow around, no time to deal with bandits. I say the Japanese are running wild on our soil – sooner or later there’ll be war.”
The blue-clothed man worried, “If war really breaks out, will they conscript soldiers and drag us all into battle?”
The yellow-clothed man sipped his tea, “Hard to say. Look at how the devils are jumping around in the Northeast now – their wolfish ambitions are plain to see! How many coal mines have they occupied throughout Shandong! Everything requires coal, and if war really comes, resources will be crucial!”
The blue-clothed man cursed angrily, “Damn those sons of bitches.”
The yellow-clothed man unhurriedly set down his teacup, “Ah, it’s all the coal mine’s fault. No sooner were the bandits wiped out than the Pei family ran into trouble. Now the Japanese have settled in permanently, who knows what other evils they’ll commit.”
The blue-clothed man slapped his thigh, “They should have just given them the coal mine instead of fighting the Japanese head-on and ending up like this.”
“You don’t understand shit. What kind of people are bandits? Would they ever bow down?” The yellow-clothed man stood up and dusted off his bottom, “Time’s getting late, I need to get to work. You pay for the tea.”
Just as the yellow-clothed man was about to leave, Xie Chi quickly stopped him, “Wait a moment.”
Seeing a beautiful young girl, the yellow-clothed man broke into a smile, “What is it, lass?”
“I just heard you talking about the mountain bandits. Do you know what happened to He Feng, the young leader of the stronghold?”
The yellow-clothed man asked, “The one who was close to the Pei family?”
“Yes.” Xie Chi nodded eagerly, looking at him expectantly, “Have you heard any news about him?”
“Haven’t heard anything.” The yellow-clothed man scratched his head thoughtfully, “But when catching bandits, they capture the leader first – those leaders definitely couldn’t escape.”
Xie Chi asked urgently, “Didn’t someone escape? That Liu Er’Gou – where is he now?”
The yellow-clothed man replied, “I don’t know about that, I just heard it from others.”
Xie Chi’s face turned pale.
The yellow-clothed man studied her, “Why are you asking about bandits? Do you have relatives up there?”
Xie Chi didn’t answer, “Are the Japanese still on the mountain?”
The yellow-clothed man asked, “You’re not thinking of going up there, are you? I advise against it – the mountain is crawling with devils now.”
“I understand, thank you.” Xie Chi turned and left.
The yellow-clothed man kindly added another warning, “Those sons of bitches aren’t human – don’t do anything foolish and rush in there.”
…
Xie Chi spent half the day inquiring before finding Liu Er’Gou’s residence. He was packing to go to Qingdao to stay with relatives. Upon seeing Xie Chi, he was so startled he immediately bowed and scraped, dropping peanuts all over the floor, “Young… Young Madam, you’re still alive.”
“Where is He Feng?”
“I don’t know.” Liu Er’Gou suddenly knelt down and slapped himself twice, “Young Madam, I’m not human, I was afraid of dying. The devils’ firepower was too fierce, so I ran. Later I fell into the river, hit my head on a rock and passed out. When I woke up, I was downstream.”
“Get up.”
Liu Er’Gou wouldn’t get up.
Xie Chi crouched down to meet his eyes, “When did you last see him?”
“The fighting was too chaotic, I didn’t see the young leader.”
“What about the others? The head leader, Chen Rongrong, big brother, and those people from Lei Village and Qing Village?”
“Qing Village had a traitor – Song Ye gave the devils a map, which let them sneak into the stronghold at night and assassinate so many people. I was lucky – they didn’t have time to reach me before someone woke up, then the fighting started. There seemed to be nine of them in total, all killed.”
“Who is Song Ye?”
“Song Jiao’s son, Song Qingtao’s cousin.”
“What about Song Qingtao? Did the entire Qing Village betray them?”
“No, I heard Song Qingtao personally shot Song Ye, then fought the devils. The young leader even brought people to help them.”
“Then what?”
“Couldn’t win – the devils had better equipment. We held out for quite a while, but by the end we didn’t even have arrows left. Who knew the devils would bring cannons and several machine guns – we couldn’t stop them at all.”
“So you ran?”
Liu Er’Gou hung his head, “Young Madam, please shoot me.”
“Did anyone else escape?”
Liu Er’Gou shook his head.
Xie Chi’s heart went cold. Feeling she couldn’t get any useful information, she slowly stood up and turned to leave.
Liu Er’Gou called after her, “Young Madam, where are you going? Are you going up the mountain? It’s dangerous up there, you can’t go.”
Xie Chi turned around and looked at him coldly. Liu Er’Gou’s heart trembled and he didn’t dare meet her gaze.
Xie Chi said, “Everyone fears death, and there’s nothing wrong with that. If you want to leave, do it quickly.”
…
Xie Chi was determined to find him, even if it meant seeing a corpse – she had to confirm whether it had completely rotted away.
The Japanese had occupied the mountain, so she didn’t dare take the main path. Remembering the secret mountain passage He Feng had mentioned to her, she spent a day searching before finding that old locust tree, following the water route and stone steps up the mountain.
The mountain had become filled with noxious smoke and miasma, the air thick with ash and a strange odor.
By the time Xie Chi reached the mountaintop, dusk was approaching.
Nearly half of Yun Village’s buildings had been burned down, corpses scattered everywhere, with some incompletely burned limbs piled into small mountains.
Xie Chi was shocked speechless by the hellish scene before her. She collapsed to the ground in despair, watching eagles and vultures peck at the remaining human flesh.
Not a single intact, recognizable corpse remained – where could she possibly find him?
…
Xie Chi searched through the entire stronghold, trying to find some clues.
In He Zhan’s courtyard, she saw two corpses embracing each other. Through the gap between them, Xie Chi glimpsed something golden – it seemed to be a gold bracelet. After careful examination, she confirmed they were Song Wan and Chen Zheng.
Xie Chi couldn’t imagine what had happened before they died. From their position, Chen Zheng must have desperately protected her with his life.
Why would they have died in He Zhan’s courtyard?
Xie Chi stumbled dizzily into the room and saw He Zhan’s corpse on the bed. He hadn’t been completely burned, but after lying exposed for days, his body had rotted, emitting an unbearable stench.
Xie Chi couldn’t stand it anymore and retched violently by the doorway.
Those people were beasts.
No one had been spared.
He Zhanghui, Chen Rongrong, the cook, Old Wang, the elderly, and the children too.
The laughter seemed like just yesterday.
She still clearly remembered every detail – that night’s bright moon, He Zhan elegantly blowing out the candle, A’Jin’s clear singing voice, Song Wan’s graceful dancing, Old Wang’s wild laughter…
She remembered He Feng’s clear, bright eyes, like a turbulent galaxy of stars, gently stroking her long hair, whispering in her ear, “Are you drunk?”
…
Tonight was cloudless, stars and moon illuminating the mountaintop.
Hatred brought anger, death brought grief, but she honestly didn’t love He Feng enough to die for him or foolishly seek revenge against the Japanese.
She needed to leave this place.
But the night path was too dangerous, and wild beasts roamed frequently at night – she didn’t want to die on the way down the mountain.
She found a small cart and gathered the scattered limbs, placing them in a room that hadn’t been destroyed.
Xie Chi believed in ghosts and spirits. She sought shelter from wind and rain for these souls – not for peace of mind, but hoping thousands of departed spirits would bless her remaining years with good fortune.
…
…
“I am A’Zhi.”
“So those weren’t dreams – they were memories from my past life.”
He Feng fell silent.
“Say something.” Ji Tong stood up and walked toward him, “He Feng.”
He Feng suddenly flashed three meters away.
“Why are you avoiding me!”
Meng Yuan suddenly appeared before her, “Wanzhi, you remembered! Do you remember me?”
Ji Tong wasn’t in the mood to deal with her, completely absorbed in the strange yet familiar memories belonging to another person.
He Feng pulled Meng Yuan aside, “You go first.”
Meng Yuan pouted, “Fine, you two catch up first.”
“A’Zhi.”
This name had a special magic, tugging at her heart, making her eyes burn as tears unconsciously fell.
“Don’t cry.” He Feng appeared exceptionally calm, so calm he seemed almost cold – unlike the young man from before who wore all his emotions openly, as if afraid others wouldn’t notice his inner turmoil. “Go home now, take a shower, change into dry clothes, then drink some hot water. After you finish all this, I’ll come find you.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
Ji Tong didn’t say much more to him, turning and running straight home.
It was still raining outside, and grandmother hadn’t returned yet – perhaps she was trapped at the market. Ji Tong quickly grabbed clothes from the balcony and rushed into the bathroom to shower.
The hot water made her skin turn red.
Ji Tong kept shivering, forcefully pinching her own arms. Her mind was filled with ruins and corpses, as if she were physically present on that mountaintop, surrounded by the smell of burning and decay.
Her impressions of that era all came from films and TV shows – even the most outrageous scenes couldn’t achieve true empathy through a screen, but now those bloody, gruesome scenes were vividly imprinted in her mind, terrifying, bewildering, and impossible to accept.
She turned the water temperature even hotter, but still felt so cold, so cold…
And there was Song Mang.
Ji Tong raised her hands, seeming to see them covered in blood. She scrubbed vigorously, distressedly pulling at her hair, not knowing how to dissolve these terrifying memories.
…
Ji Tong not only completed everything He Feng had told her to do, but also blow-dried her hair halfway.
She sat powerlessly on the bed with slumped shoulders, her body still trembling slightly, softly calling his name to the air.
He Feng appeared before her.
In that moment, her heart suddenly settled, all anxiety instantly disappearing.
She looked up at him, her mouth trembling slightly with countless things to say. She heard him say, “I cannot always be by your side. You must take care of your health and not be like today.”
Ji Tong was no longer as reserved as before – it seemed this layer of memory and relationship made certain requests and willfulness feel natural. “Can you take off your hat?”
He Feng didn’t respond.
Ji Tong suddenly stood on the bed.
He Feng tilted his face slightly upward, “What’s wrong?”
“I want to see your face clearly.”
He Feng was silent for a long moment, then said, “Sit down.”
Ji Tong refused.
“Sit down, I’ll let you see.”
Only then did Ji Tong sit back down.
He Feng crouched before her and reached up to remove the large hood of his cloak.
Compared to before, his features were more defined, his face more gaunt, his features more sharp. He had matured, become more stern, and more weathered.
Ji Tong observed him silently for a long time, her attention turning to his eyepatch. It wasn’t completely black – there were faint red patterns on it, like the markings of a fierce beast. She asked, “What happened to your eye?”
“Nothing happened.”
Ji Tong remembered events from her past life, her nose stinging, “Take it off, let me see.”
“Can you not look?”
He Feng considered, then decided to remove the eyepatch, but Ji Tong suddenly stopped him, “Wait.” Her lips trembled slightly as tears fell, “Never mind, I won’t look.”
He Feng unconsciously raised his hand to wipe away her tears, pausing mid-air as he remembered he was a ghost, then lowered his hand again, “Don’t cry.”
Ji Tong cried even harder, “It must have hurt terribly.”
He Feng felt extremely uncomfortable, “I’m not blind, there’s just something in this eye that shouldn’t be shown to others.”
Ji Tong looked at him with teary eyes.
“If you called me here just to watch you cry, I won’t come next time.”
Ji Tong quickly wiped her tears.
He Feng said, “You said you remembered.”
Ji Tong nodded vigorously.
“What did you remember?”
“You were a bandit.”
He Feng paused, turned his face away to smile briefly, then looked back at her, “Yes.”
“I was kidnapped up the mountain by your people.”
“What else?”
“You taught me archery and shooting. We caught fish together, rode horses.”
“Mm, what else?”
“My sister was killed by Song Qingtao, who also tortured me, then I killed her father.” Ji Tong’s gaze dimmed – killing someone was, by her current education and long-held beliefs, an unforgivable crime.
“You were defending yourself.” He Feng saw through her distress and diverted her attention, “What else do you remember?”
“You always protected me, and later we…” Ji Tong bit her lip and lowered her head, intimate scenes floating through her mind, “You…”
The room fell quiet.
He Feng understood her too well – seeing her expression now, he knew exactly what she was thinking.
Ji Tong gripped the bed frame and quickly changed the subject, “I also remember going to the Pei family birthday banquet, then the Japanese attacked, you returned to the stronghold, and when I saw you weren’t there I went back to Wuxi. Later I saw news about you all in the newspaper and went to find you. I went up the mountain through the secret passage behind the waterfall.”
“Then what?”
“Then I saw the stronghold had become ruins, everyone was dead. I wanted to go down the mountain, jumped into the river, and suddenly my memory cuts off there.” Ji Tong tapped her head, “I can’t remember anything after that no matter how I try.”
He Feng seemed to breathe a great sigh of relief, his expression relaxing considerably.
“But I remember you saying you died in 1948. Where did you go? What happened?”
“I escaped.”
“Then what?”
“Then just ordinary life.”
“Then why didn’t you come find me?”
“I did look, but couldn’t find you.”
“Why can’t I remember what happened after? Did we never cross paths again?”
He Feng gazed into her eyes and said flatly, “No.”
“You’re lying to me.”
He Feng fell silent.
“If we never crossed paths, why does Meng Yuan know me? And she seems very familiar with me, but I don’t remember who she is at all. She’s always followed you, so there must have been something else between us.” Seeing his continued silence, Ji Tong asked again, “Can you tell me what happened afterward? How did you die? How did I die?”
“A’Zhi.” He Feng looked at her openly, “I don’t know how you died, or when you died. Even the Book of Life and Death in the underworld has no record of your name. I can tell you that after that separation, we did meet again, then separated once more. As you know, that was an era of war and chaos – life and love meant nothing compared to the nation.”
Ji Tong’s heart ached.
“A’Zhi, with that said, do you still want to continue asking?”
She silently gazed at He Feng.
His once clean, bright eyes were now like a stagnant pool, without the slightest ripple.
She forced herself to smile and shake her head, swallowing her bitterness, “You’re not like you used to be – your appearance and personality have changed so much.”
“What you remember is me at seventeen. If I hadn’t died, I’d be over a hundred years old now.”
…