Chapter 31: The Woman in the Gazebo
Chapter 31: The Woman in the Gazebo
Zu An considered simply turning around and leaving the academy, but Cheng Shouping was eyeing him, and his lips were too loose to be trusted. If he were to run right in front of Cheng Shouping’s eyes, it was guaranteed that everyone in the Chu clan would hear of it before the day was up.
Since he had no place to go other than the Chu clan estate, he could only swallow his pride.
Ahh, the life of a lady-moocher isn’t easy either! I guess I’ll enter the academy first, then sneak away when no one is around.
Zu An grabbed the school bag which Cheng Shouping had prepared for him. To think that someone as old like me will still be carrying a school bag to school. This is so awkward!
With an awful look on his face, Zu An passed through the entryway and found himself standing before a quiet street. Lush trees grew along its sides, providing natural shelter to the pedestrians.
Zu An looked around and noticed several beautiful women sporting youthful ponytails walking around the area. Their short skirts fluttered in the light breeze, revealing glimpses of their fair thighs.
Wow, the students in this world dress a lot more openly than I thought. Maybe going to school isn’t that bad after all…
Another massive gate towered further along the street, and a guard was stationed there, verifying the identities of the students. This was likely to be the official gate that led to the academy proper.
Zu An gave his surroundings a quick scan before darting off onto a pathway to the side that led away from the area.
You want me to go to school? Impossible! There’s no way in hell I’m going to school again!
Zu An swiftly made his way along the path, which was amply sheltered by the surrounding trees. It seemed the academy had gone overboard with foresting the academy grounds. He saw tall trees and flowers everywhere. After taking a few turns, he realized that he was lost.
By the time he finally left the premises of the Brightmoon Academy, he could hardly recognize his surroundings.
“Where is this?” It had barely been two days since Zu An arrived in this world, and he hadn’t had time to familiarize himself with the sprawling Brightmoon City. Try as he might, he couldn’t place where he was.
“Given how famous the Yu clan is, I guess I should be able to find her residence by grabbing a passerby and asking him for directions,” Zu An muttered to himself. The only thing occupying his mind was completing the task assigned by Ji Dengtu so that he could regain his manhood. What was the point of cultivation and whatever else when his equipment was malfunctioning?
Zu An wandered the area, but to his consternation, there was not a single person to be found.
*Boom!!*
A streak of lightning flashed across the sky, followed by the rumble of thunder from afar. It began to drizzle lightly.
The drizzle wasn’t much of a concern to Zu An, but the lightning unnerved him. A lightning strike had brought him to this world, but he wasn’t naive enough to believe that being struck a second time would transport him back to his own world. It was more likely that he would just drop dead.
*Boom!!*
The rumbling of thunder reached a crescendo. Spotting a gazebo not too far away, Zu An ran to take shelter.
Safely in the gazebo, he was surprised to discover that it was already occupied. A woman in a simple dress sat on a stool in the gazebo, leaning lazily against one of the gazebo’s pillars. She gazed through the rain into the distance, one hand propping up her chin.
Her forefinger was hooked around a green wine gourd, which she twirled lightly. The movement was so slight, and it seemed that the gourd would fall at any moment, but it did not.
Something else drew Zu An’s attention. The woman’s shoes were placed neatly on the ground, and her beautifully-shaped feet were curled up naturally on the chair, slightly visible under the hem of her dress. They seemed made of the finest white jade, and the tops of her feet were smoother than silk.
Zu An admitted that he had an obsession with a woman’s face, chest, hips, and legs. He wasn’t particularly concerned with how the rest of her looked. However, he was starting to understand why some people had a thing for feet.
“Have you seen enough yet?” The woman hadn’t bothered to turn around, but she knew exactly what was happening behind her.
“Not yet,” Zu An replied reflexively, only to regret it right away. He really should kick this habit of letting his mouth run. He kept forgetting that he wasn’t on the internet anymore, where he was protected by a veil of anonymity. People could literally beat him up here!
While his cultivation had grown significantly yesterday, and he now possessed strength rivaling twenty men, he had an inexplicable feeling that the woman sitting before him was not someone he could deal with.
Clearly, the woman had not expected such a straightforward response. She turned around to study the shameless man that had barged into the gazebo. Satisfied, she turned her attention back to the rain. “Continue watching then.”
Zu An was floored by her response. He had seen all sorts of bizarre individuals on the internet, but he had not expected such nonchalance. On top of that, in the moment that her head was turned towards him, he’d been captivated by her gorgeous features. However, her clear eyes were slightly diminished, their distant look tinged with melancholy.
She sat unmoving, her back resting against the pillar, and watched the rain before her. An occasional breeze blew droplets of rain into the gazebo, slowly soaking her, but she remained unfazed. Her quiet breathing could be heard, even amidst the pattering rain.
Zu An drank in her captivating profile, but her air of melancholy was contagious. His heart slowly grew as heavy as the atmosphere around him.
His gaze swept outward to the rain blanketing the city. An unfamiliar tune filled the air around him, taking his breath away. For a moment, he saw a waterfall flowing in reverse, returning upward; the seeds of a dandelion flower drifted off into the distance, filling the sky with a multitude of tiny umbrellas; the sun rose from the west and set in the east; the ten years he had spent working himself to the bone in the kitchen during his years in school…
“You’re crying?”
An elegant voice caressed him out of his reverie, and Zu An realized that he was tearing up. The woman sitting opposite him stared at him curiously.
“I miss my home,” Zu An replied, wiping the tears off his face. He had been so overwhelmed by both the excitement and horror of having transmigrated into a foreign world that he hadn’t had any time to think about his home. The momentary flashback made him remember his parents in the other world, and he couldn’t bear to imagine how anguished they must have been to learn of his death.
The woman’s expression flickered. She seemed surprised that he’d understood her music.
Zu An noticed the instrument in the woman’s hands. It was shaped like a seashell. “You were playing that earlier?”
“Mm,” the woman nodded in reply.
“Could I borrow it for a moment?” Zu An asked.
“You know how to play music?” The woman had not expected that.
Zu An smiled in self-deprecation. “I’m a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to useless skills that can’t be used to earn a living.”
The woman chuckled and tossed him the instrument. Zu An turned it around in his hands, examining it. While this seashell-like instrument had a unique appearance, the principles behind how it functioned were easy enough to figure out. Just as he was about to try out some notes, he noticed a light lipstick imprint on the mouthpiece. He hesitated, then turned to the woman and asked, “May I?”
The woman smiled and nodded.
Zu An brought the instrument to his lips to test it out. It took him just a few moments to figure out all the notes that it could play. It bore a striking resemblance to the ocarina in his previous life.
The woman’s melody had made him nostalgic for his home, so he subconsciously played Scenery of Hometown[1]. He had worked hard to learn it during his university years, just so that he could pick up girls. Only later did he realize with regret that no matter how well he could play the ocarina, it was still no match for a Ferrari.
Memories from his previous life flashed across his eyes, feeling more like half-remembered dreams. Was it Zhou Zhuang who dreamt of becoming a butterfly, or a butterfly that dreamt of becoming Zhou Zhuang?[2]
The melody wound slowly to its end, leaving the two of them in a deep reminiscence, with only the sound of rain between them.
The woman seated opposite him reached up to wipe the corner of her eyes. Zu An broke the silence. “You’re crying too.”
The woman sighed softly. “I saw vast fields, the setting sun, and farewells, all carried within your melody. What’s the name of the tune?”
“Scenery of Hometown,” Zu An replied. “What about yours?”
“The Silent Sea.” The woman picked up her gourd and took a sip of wine. “Do you want some?”
Zu An hesitated. “I don’t have a cup.” For some reason, he harbored no perverted thoughts toward the woman sitting before him. He wasn’t feeling like his usual self.
The woman tossed him the gourd. “It’s not as if I mind. Why are you so restrained?”
The woman’s carefree attitude seemed to clue Zu An in to how stiffly he was behaving. Tilting his head backwards, he lifted the gourd and took a huge mouthful. As soon as the wine flowed into his mouth, he felt a surge of heat engulf his body, burning him up.
The sensation caused him to choke, and he began coughing violently. His face flushed red. “What wine is this? It’s so strong!” It was even more potent than the vodka he had once drunk in his previous life.
“It’s called ‘Burning Sky’. The high alcoholic content is hard for most people to bear. It’s due to my special constitution that I often drink this wine to warm my body,” the woman replied. She took her gourd back and sipped lightly. A slight blush graced her snowy cheeks. She really seemed to enjoy the alcohol.
“My name is Zu An. May I know your name?” Zu An asked.
The woman shook her head lightly and smiled. “Life is a series of transient fates. If we’re going to part in the end, we might as well not get to know one another.”
Zu An frowned petulantly. “But I already told you my name.”
“You were the one who told me on your own accord. I didn’t ask for it.”
“I feel like I just got taken advantage of,” Zu An grumbled in displeasure.
The woman burst into laughter. “You drank my wine. It doesn’t seem to me like you’re at any disadvantage.”
“I guess so.” Zu An noticed that the rain was slowly coming to a halt, so he rose to his feet. “If fate brings us together once more, will you tell me your name?”
“I doubt that we’ll be able to meet again.” The woman shook her head. She shot a glance at the school bag he was carrying, and her face adopted a bizarre expression. “You’re a student of Brightmoon Academy?”
Zu An’s heart skipped a beat. A truant student would never admit to his own truancy. He eyed the woman warily. “If you aren’t going to answer my question, why should I answer yours?”
The woman pointed to the bag he was carrying. “I can tell even if you don’t say a thing. You’re carrying a backpack that only the students of Brightmoon Academy have. It should be lesson time now; what are you doing here?”
“I’ve spent more than twenty years studying from my days in kindergarten all the way until university. I don’t ever want to go to school again!” Zu An replied in frustration.
Kindergarten? University? The woman’s eyes flickered in confusion, but she left her questions unspoken. I am also keeping many things to myself, so what right do I have to question him?
“Thanks for your wine. I’ll be heading off.” Zu An was still thinking of looking for Yu Yanluo. This concerned his lifetime of happiness! It had to take precedence over everything else.
“Sure. It looks like we might just meet one another again in the near future.” A playful smile touched the woman’s lips.
Zu An eyed her impassively. Like I’d trust you. Isn’t the use of enigmatic words to hook the interest of men an intrinsic trait of beautiful women?
Barely a moment after Zu An left the gazebo, he noticed a black-clothed man walking along the pavement. The man glanced casually at him as he walked by. He’d taken a mere handful of steps before he backtracked quickly and called out, “Zu An?”
“Who are you?” Zu An frowned at the man in black. He had a long scar stretching from his nose all the way to his right cheek. A plum blossom insignia was visible near his neckline. Zu An’s heart skipped a beat. Plum Blossom Twelve had borne a similar tattoo.
1. A Japanese tune played by Sojiro
2. This refers to a poem of a man who dreamt of becoming a butterfly before waking up. As he woke, he wondered which one was truly the dream—him being a butterfly, or him dreaming of waking up as Zhou Zhuang.