Cinderella: The Legend of Yunhua

The tunnels are twists and turns, going round and round, extremely treacherous.I lost all five senses, and was lost in the dark and endless void like a walking corpse. In the mass of light, I couldn't resist any longer, my consciousness became drowsy, and I gradually fell into a sound sleep.

I don’t know how long it has passed, but I was awakened by a baby’s cry. When I opened my eyes again, my surroundings suddenly changed. My parents in the next life were looking at me with joy. Is it getting closer to the day when you see each other again?

"Mistress, look, our child is smiling." My father held me in his arms like a treasure.

I feel warm and warm in my heart. It has been many years, and I haven't enjoyed the love of my parents for a long time.This kindness and benevolence made me feel like I was in the thatched hut on the bank of the Blackwater River... Sir, if I hadn't been lucky enough to be enlightened by you, how could I have been lucky enough to feel the warmth of this human relationship at the beginning of my birth.

But, I don't know where you are now?Is it also like my father, watching me tenderly when I first came to this world?

——It is every year.

It's day and night.

I grew up safely in this quiet and comfortable country gentleman's family.

It just so happened that in my life there was another catastrophe, and it happened to be a year of weak crown. On my way back home after taking the provincial examination, in order to rescue a child who fell into the water, unfortunately, I contracted a cold and suddenly fell ill.My father consulted all the famous doctors in the neighborhood, but nothing happened, and his health went from bad to worse.Recently, I had hemoptysis, and I almost lost the strength to climb the bed.

Finally, a doctor who came to our gate took my pulse for me, sighed repeatedly, and said to my father, "My son's qi and blood are getting weaker, and his yang qi is not enough. I'm afraid that time will not be long. Don't go out for a long journey in the near future, and there is no medicine. But doctor, the consultation fee will be waived..." The implication is that it is time to prepare for my funeral.

My father was born in his late thirties when he was born with a son like me. He was supposed to hold it with care, but now that something happened suddenly, he was heartbroken, his hair turned gray all night, and he often wept secretly.

Although I am suffering from illness, I seldom complain about myself. When I think about seeing you soon, there seems to be nothing in this world worthy of my nostalgia, and I feel much happier.

If it happens to be a misty and rainy day, I will send my maid to push me into the courtyard, looking at your favorite azure, and thinking about the beautiful moment when I first met you, I can't calm down for a long time.

In this life, in the short ten years in the world, when I think of seeing you again, I don't have to worry about the big difference in appearance between you and me, and I feel much relieved.

Like this, day after day dragged on, my illness became worse and worse day by day, and I was exhausted and haggard, and I was thinner than a yellow flower.

In the afternoon of this day, I suddenly felt that the deadline was approaching, and it was raining continuously in spring, so I sent my maidservant to grind ink for me.

When the ink was finished and the pen was opened, I took advantage of the last glimmer of life I had accumulated, started the pen with luck, and splashed the ink.Press, hook, grid, touch, just a few strokes, outline your appearance.

Dailuo thrush eyebrows, cinnabar dotted lips, bamboo green clothes, black green hair, and that little cloud peach, I made it with my heart and blood.In the scroll, on top of the mountains, you wandered here independently of the world.

When the painting was first completed, I asked my maid to move the rice paper to the rain pavilion outside the courtyard, and used the misty and rainy weather in the early spring to moisten and render it, creating an ink painting that is about you but belongs to me alone.

When the painting is finished, it is the time of my death.

I dragged this decayed body and waited and waited, but you never came.Before I died, I read your name and told my heartbroken old father: "Father, my son has never performed filial piety at your knees. In this life... I only think that my father and son have a shallow relationship. If there is a chance, my son will be with his father again in the next life." When we meet again, we must be filial to our father. Father...the son still has something to ask, please bury him with that painting..."

In the midst of my father's wailing, I was trapped in this cold body again.

This time, you still didn't come on time.

My soul is struggling and waiting, looking forward to meeting you as promised.

Day after day.

My father kept my body in the mourning hall for seven days and seven nights, and was eventually buried in the grave under the persuasion of my neighbors and friends.

Year after year.

My bones were buried in the dark and closed underground, exuding a stench of decay.

You—haven't come yet, but I don't have a good skin to meet you again...

I curled up in the ground, trying my best to keep my mind awake, sojourning in this dilapidated corpse and sighing faintly: Could it be——have you forgotten me?I——doomed to stay in the ground for eternity?

I don't know how many springs and autumns have passed, but my lonely and helpless parents never came to the grave to talk to me about their thoughts during the Ching Ming Festival. The grave turned into a lonely mound, covered with wormwood.

The courage I have accumulated waiting for you for many years is about to dry up, and the will has been exhausted by the years. I just want to take this opportunity to sleep in the earth.

You came.When I found this wild mountain grave, I still called me softly like before:

"Yunhua."

"Yunhua."

"Yunhua..."

The deep and shallow, high and low voices sang into my heart like a graceful song, nourishing my dry soul.

I broke ground through your guidance.

See you again at my grave.

"Yunhua, I'm late." You apologized, the same sentence, but this time you didn't explain the reason, your eyes were bleak, and you couldn't see the gentle smile of the past.

"My lord... If you keep the promise, I will wait for you, I don't care whether it will be sooner or later." I looked up at you, parting the corners of my mouth to show my teeth, showing what I thought was the brightest smile.

You smiled, caressing my forehead hair, "Yunhua, I kept you waiting..."

"I'm not afraid to wait, as long as you remember to come, my lord."

You took my hand silently and led me across thousands of mountains and rivers.

"My lord, why are you unhappy now?" I asked you timidly, afraid that you wouldn't want to mention it, but I couldn't help but worry about you.

You looked at me sideways, slightly raised the corners of your lips, "You don't understand, Yunhua, I'm no longer the Yingji I used to be..."

"In my opinion, the adult is still the same adult as before, with eyebrows, eyes, nose and lips, everything is different..."

——I miss you, the one I admire silently...

"It's almost here." You didn't return to me, your eyes were deep, and you led me to the bank of the Wangchuan River.

I stood by your side silently, seeing your dignified and desolate face, not saying a word, not as calm and breezy as it was back then, I thought, maybe, you are serious——isn't that you back then?

"My lord... If you have any troubles, you might as well say it. Although I can't help you, I am sincerely willing to relieve your worries."

You embraced me, tapped your toes, and took me to the other side with a few vertical leaps.

I always remember the faint fragrance hidden in your arms, it is my favorite smell.

"Yunhua," you held my shoulders and looked down at me, "I... the reason why I'm late all these years is because I died unexpectedly in my last life, and I walked through the River of Forgotten just like you. As soon as I regained my memory that day, I hurried over, and these years, I have made you... suffer."

It turns out—it turns out that you also reincarnated once, and the hardships during the process must be... not enough for outsiders.

I held your hand tightly, and it was the first time I could feel the tenderness in your hand after leaving my body, "Master, I almost blamed you wrongly. In the next life, I will stick to my faith and wait to meet you again."

You smiled, lightly and lightly, but it was the gentleness I am most familiar with, "Little devil, I promise you three generations of promises, and I will definitely not let you down. It's just that I will go on a business trip next time——" Your hand melted A ball of soft light pressed against my palm, "This is a soul-attracting talisman. I will engrave it on your hand. In the next life, if you pass away, the soul-attracting talisman will bring you to the bank of Wangchuan River. I'll meet you on the shore, and I'll take you across the river then!"

"I will keep the promise and wait for you here, see you soon." I was full of joy, I have known you for more than a hundred years, and when I thought of seeing you again in the next life, even though we were going to say goodbye immediately, I was satisfied.

"Yunhua, it's time to go on the road, let me see you off." You said.

I am reluctant to give up, looking back frequently, the wind blows the dust, you stand among the red flowers on the other side, like an ice lotus blooming in a high mountain, icy and pure, beautiful and unparalleled.