God's Gift

Ning Yue sang to this point in one breath, took a deep breath, sat down on the stage, casually draped his long sleeves over the chair, and sang:

"The world often plays tricks on people. When a stubborn person meets a child, the child becomes kind and the kindness changes the stubborn person."

"The stubborn disciple is originally a god, and his heart will not turn back. It is good to linger in the world, but to be a human being, he will lose his spiritual power."

"In spring, willows sprout new buds; in summer, elm branches grow luxuriantly; in autumn, flowers reflect frost and snow; in winter, snow covers bluestones."

Ning Yue's gaze fell on the leafy sycamore tree in front of the stage. It was unknown what he was thinking about. His gaze was like broken waves, with a hint of sadness in the sparkling light.

Yu Youyou followed his gaze and looked back. The sycamore tree remained the same year after year, no different.

Ning Yue raised her hand and placed it in front of her eyes. A crystal tear fell from her eye socket, leaving a clearly visible tear mark on her heavily made-up face. However, she stopped singing and spoke instead:

"That stubborn disciple was a divine being. He could not comprehend the impermanence of the world and was played by fate."

"He used the power of the Word Spirit to tease the world, but in return he was teased by the Word Spirit."

"He foresaw the future of the world and often said that things in the world cannot be changed, but he never thought that he would eventually see his own future in his closest relatives."

Ning Yue put down the fingers that were blocking her eyes, stood up, dragging the long hem of her costume, walked in front of Yu Youyou, knelt in front of Yu Youyou, gently placed her face on Yu Youyou's legs, and asked:

"God, do you think that the world's affairs are truly unchangeable?"

Yu Youyou lowered her eyes and looked at Ning Yue, her clear gaze without a trace of impurities, and said:

"You are the prophet. You know best whether the future can be changed."

Her voice was clear, still with a hint of childish innocence, and she spoke the most heart-breaking words in the purest voice of a child.

When Ning Yue heard this, he slowly closed his eyes. The tears in the corners of his eyes slid down from his high nose and fell on Yu Youyou's light yellow silk skirt, leaving a circle of wet stains.

"Yes, I know best."

Ning Yue opened his eyes and said in a light voice, "The future cannot be changed, so you don't like to see me the most."

Ning Yue raised a faint smile and placed his face on Yu Youyou's legs intimately, like the closest couple, and said slowly:

"We are all your body. You use new life to make everything in the sea grow, and you use blessings to bless everything in the sea. When you have nothing to do, you will also use retrospection to look at the past of the sunken ship."

"You use them for whatever you need to do, but you won't use me to see the future."

There was no emotion in Yu Youyou's eyes. She listened silently to Ning Yue's words which sounded like both a narration and a complaint.

"But the future is so interesting. I know when a ship will sink on the sea, where the krill you love to eat will gather tomorrow, and where you will find your lost Bubu."

"But you never use me." Ning Yue raised his head. His makeup was messy, but his eyes were still stunningly beautiful. The attachment in his eyes was revealed without disguise. He asked:

"God, why won't you see me?"

Yu Youyou did not answer the question directly, but instead asked: "Do you blame me for this?"

Ning Yue heard this, as if he found it absurd, and suddenly laughed, his body trembling with the laughter, and replied:

"How can I blame you?"

"I am your eyes. I am connected to you by blood. I know all your joys and worries. I won't blame you." Ning Yue put his face on Yu Youyou's legs again and whispered, "I won't blame you because I love you."

"Even if you throw me away, I will always belong to you."

"But you don't want to come back now." Yu Youyou stared at Ning Yue's ink-stained long hair with her dark eyes and said, "When I first arrived in Gusu, you didn't even want me to recognize you."

"No, no..." Hearing this, Ning Yue repeatedly denied, "How could the god not recognize me?"

He slowly placed his face in Yu Youyou's palm, and said slowly as if in a trance: "It's just that I have been waiting for you here for a long time, but you came too late."

"I often think that it would be better if you had come earlier." Ning Yue rubbed his face gently in Yu Youyou's hands and continued:

"You ignored me for so long, you should have found me earlier this time, but you found them first."

The powder on Ning Yue's face rubbed against Yu Youyou's white and tender palm, but he didn't care at all and continued:

"If you had come here a hundred years ago, I would have lived here happily for several years, and I would not have met Ajin, and none of the things that happened afterwards would have happened."

"But you came so late. It's too late to reverse the situation."

Ning Yue raised his eyes to look at Yu Youyou, holding her arms with both hands, and took half a step forward, almost leaning half of his body in Yu Youyou's arms. He stared at Yu Youyou with a spirited gaze and said:

"God, I almost became a human."

Yu Youyou's expression did not change at all, and she replied calmly: "You will not be an adult."

Ning Yue seemed unwilling to admit it. He came closer to Yu Youyou and said, "Why not? After I met Ajin, I could no longer see the future. I really became an ordinary person."

Yu Youyou pushed him half a step away and said, "But you saw it again later."

As soon as these words came out, Ning Yue's expression darkened. He knelt on the ground in a daze, half lowered his head, and murmured after a long time:

"God knows how sad I am."

Yu Youyou stared at Ning Yue's lowered head for a long while, with an unclear emotion in her dark eyes, and said:

"You felt compassion for Ajin and wanted to stay in the world to look after her, so you lost your divine power."

"You and her depended on each other for those ten years, but then you saw Ajin's future again, and that future was related to Ajin's death, so you wanted to change it, right?"

Ning Yue listened to Yu Youyou's words and smiled slightly, "The gods are still so smart that they can guess what happened without even looking back."

Yu Youyou's expression remained unchanged as she continued, "You thought Ajin's death had something to do with you, so you left Gusu, thinking that this would change things in the future."

Ning Yue listened to these words, slowly closed his eyes, and nodded weakly.

"But the future cannot be changed. No matter how you try to escape, Ajin is still dead. In fact, Ajin died because of you."

Hearing that Ajin died because of him, Ning Yue's expression froze, and he slowly held his face up, murmuring in confusion: "Why can't it be changed?"

Yu Youyou looked at Ning Yue with her clear eyes. After listening to his question, which sounded like doubt, she said, "In fact, the future is not unchangeable."

Ning Yue suddenly raised his head and looked at Yu Youyou in disbelief.

"This is why I never use you." Yu Youyou looked at Ning Yue's astonished eyes and said word by word:

"As my mother said, the future is what's in the box. If you never see it, it will never come true."

"Cause and effect are interdependent. You opened the box and knew what would happen in the future, so you tried desperately to change it. But the moment you saw the future, you had planted the cause. Everything you did to change the future was also the cause. All the possibilities came together to create the effect."