Chapter 2 Lotus Is Not Lotus

Chapter 2 Lotus Is Not Lotus

Chapter Summary: "Are you a vixen?"

Yue means a mountain above a mountain, a high mountain.

Pan Yue was born in a place surrounded by mountains, with endless, overlapping peaks on all sides.

Most of the villagers, including Pan Yue's parents, were born in the mountains and died in the mountains, never able to step out of the mountains in their entire lives.

Pan Yue's mother believed that after visiting the Five Sacred Mountains, one need not see any other mountains. "Yue" represents the most majestic and indestructible of all mountains. She hoped that her child would be resilient, brave, and unyielding, so she named her unborn child Pan Yue while she was pregnant.

Pan Yue's father was a rough and uncultured man. After reporting the household registration, Pan Yue became Pan Yue.

When Pan Yue was in middle school, her father had an accident while working in a mine.

On the day she helped her mother sort through her belongings, she learned from her father's diary that her father was not illiterate, and that the character "月" (moon) was not an unintentional mistake.

Surrounded by mountains on all sides, like a cage, her father only hoped that she could leave the mountains, and soar like the moon in the sky, reaching the peak and rising into the clouds.

My father doesn't remember; the moon has its phases, and things are never perfect.

If she were to choose...

In the many nights that followed, Pan Yue swore an oath to the mountains under the moon: she did not want to be the fickle moon, but rather the cloud that came and went with the wind. She not only wanted to climb the mountains, but she also wanted to leave them and be free.

Two years later, she lived up to her father's expectations, was admitted to a prestigious university, and left the mountains.

I heard news from the mountains again two years later.

The village chief traveled more than ten miles to the town to call her, saying that her mother had suddenly fallen seriously ill and was "dying. Come back quickly!"

At that time, she was naive and ignorant of social customs, unaware that "bad people come from poor and remote places," and clueless that "there is much gossip and trouble at the door of a widow."

A day and a night later, Pan Yueshen, in a daze, stumbled back to the mountains and lay half-conscious in front of his mother's coffin.

A white curtain hung behind the familiar door, and smoke swirled everywhere, making one's eyes water.

The uncles, aunts, and other relatives who had watched her grow up gathered in the hall, cracking sunflower seeds and chatting idly, talking freely and without restraint, oblivious to everyone else.

"...She has a naturally seductive look, just like her mother!"

"You know what, even when Old Pan was still around, Old Han would often come over for a visit. In the last six months, he's been coming every day, sitting there for most of the day. You'd think they had nothing to do..."

"If you ask me, the one surnamed Pan should be the one lying down. No sooner had the eldest son left than Ximen Qing rushed to the door..."

Pan Yue felt a buzzing in her head. In the swirling white mist, the faces that should have been kind and familiar were transformed into strange and grotesque figures, like demons emerging from hell.

What happened in the next half hour was a complete blank in her mind, no matter how she tried to recall it.

When she came to her senses, she was already being held tightly in the arms of Uncle Han, who had rushed over after hearing the news. His face and wrists were covered with bloody marks that she had unconsciously scratched herself, but he still held her tightly.

She now held a three-legged stool, and the area around the mourning hall was in disarray, a complete mess.

The onlookers at the door quickly scattered, glancing sideways.

With a crash, Pan Yue, as if all her strength had left her, threw down the stool, broke free from Uncle Han, knelt before her mother's coffin, and burst into tears.

Three days later, after arranging her mother's funeral, she took her mother's ashes, bid farewell to Uncle Han, and boarded the bus back to the city...

"...Everyone called him 'Three-inch Dwarf Gu Shupi,' but he was a very honest man. He was able to support his family by selling steamed buns."

"Don't complain. Even though the mistress of the house couldn't tolerate you, she still gave you a considerable amount of money for your dowry. A good wife is always better than a maid in that household..."

The winding mountain road and the sudden storm felt like something out of a fantasy novel, as if someone was about to attain immortality.

Pan Yue still vividly remembered the bus rolling over and the mudslide pouring down. All she could see was a blur of light. She swayed and trembled all over, as if she were on a small, swaying swing and had to hold onto something to maintain her balance.

Someone was chattering incessantly in her ear, as if through a thin veil, and she couldn't quite make out what they were saying.

Pan Yue gasped involuntarily as a sharp pain shot through her right wrist, which was resting on the railing. She looked down and her expression froze.

This is?

A light blue straight collar and wide sleeves, a light blue pleated skirt... The dimness in front of me was because she was wearing a red veil on her head.

Her pupils contracted sharply, and she instinctively pressed her bloodied and mangled right wrist, then abruptly raised her head.

I've traveled through time?!

Shaking and swaying... it turned out that I was sitting on a slowly moving flower bridge.

Looking again at the silver hairpin on the left and the round fan on the right... Pan Yue unconsciously tightened her grip on her right wrist and suddenly frowned.

Was the original owner forced into the bridal sedan chair, and in desperation, used the only strength she had inside the chair to cut her wrist with the silver hairpin she wore, intending to commit suicide?

wrong!

She stared wide-eyed and slowly turned toward the direction from which the incessant chatter was coming.

"...They say a man is short and ugly, and when a woman marries, the most important thing is that he is honest!"

Three-inch bark?

Pan Yue swallowed hard, staring at the slanting light and shadows flying backward in front of the curtain, and suddenly tightened her grip on the red veil.

Educational resources are scarce in the mountains, and she didn't receive much formal education growing up. Of all the people she knew, both ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, there was only one person she could describe with the phrase "a tiny, insignificant person."

"you say……"

Another ray of blinding light swept past her eyes. Pan Yue abruptly lifted the curtain, glared at the smiling old woman accompanying the bridal sedan chair outside the window, and demanded sharply, "Whom am I going to marry?"

"Oh dear! My little wife, why did you lift the red veil?"

The old woman outside was about forty years old, with flowers in her hair and her face covered with gaudy rouge and powder. When she saw her lift the curtain and peek out, she glared at her, nimbly poked half of her plump body in, snatched the red veil from her hand, and forcefully covered her head with it.

"I say, Miss Jinlian, don't blame Granny Sun for being ruthless, but this marriage today was personally arranged by the wealthy Master Qian. You have to marry him whether you like it or not!"

Rumble!

The red veil that came down on her head was like a dark cloud sweeping in from the sky, accompanied by a gale and rumbling thunder, shaking the order she had painstakingly built up inside her to pieces, and her heart sank straight down.

Before yesterday, she had no problem with her name.

After yesterday, she still didn't care about any of the names in the world, except for the name "Golden Lotus" that her mother was given out of nowhere.

Or rather, what she cared about was not "Jinlian" or any woman named Jinlian, but rather the unique connotations that scholars, writers, and ordinary people throughout history had fabricated and far-fetched for the name "Jinlian."

And she... Pan Yue lowered her eyes to look at her bloodied and mangled right wrist, her clear eyes suddenly darkening.

She came from a pure body and will return to a pure body. She was forced to sit in the bridal sedan chair because she did not want to submit to the wealthy family. The original owner proved her innocence with her death. Who has the power to summon a wandering soul from another world and make Jinlian reborn?

Why did she have to dress up as Pan Jinlian? Why must the name "Jinlian" be sullied and mired in a ditch?

She was determined not to let them have their way!

The resentment that had been building up in my heart since my mother's passing was like layers of dry tinder igniting a spark, which in an instant ignited a raging fire!

"Hey! Master Wu is here! Is the fried rice with fruit ready?"

With a thud, the bridal sedan chair landed on the ground, and music and dance immediately began outside the curtain.

Granny Sun's ingratiating voice came from outside the curtain.

"Grandma Sun!"

Without waiting for a greeting, Pan Yue, unable to bear the commotion, ripped off her veil, lifted the curtain, and strode out of the sedan chair.

It was nearly noon, and the sun was blazing at the street corner.

As Qingsi's gaze slanted towards the gong, she subconsciously squinted, furrowed her brows, and soon her eyes welled up with tears.

As if caught off guard by this unexpected turn of events, the people at the street corner, who were banging drums and gongs, bowing and scraping, jostling each other to join in the fun, were all speechless and motionless, as if they had been struck by acupuncture points, whether for the bride's beauty or her actions.

Before anyone could react, a burly man suddenly stepped out from the crowd. He was over eight feet tall, with fox-like eyes and silkworm-like eyebrows. He was imposing and handsome, truly standing out from the crowd. When he tilted his head to look at people, his clear eyes seemed to hold a hint of naivety and innocence that seemed out of place with his surroundings.

Are you a vixen?

The burly man strode up to Pan Yue, looked her up and down, his expression brightening with delight. He tilted his head and spoke in a crisp voice.

As soon as he finished speaking, the neighbors who had been watching the spectacle gasped in surprise, looking around, whispering among themselves, and then covering their mouths and laughing as if they were delighted to see it.

"you!"

Pan Yue felt a buzzing in her head, and a breath caught in her chest, unable to go up or down. She supported herself with her left hand on the bridal sedan chair, pointed at the person coming with her right hand, glared at him, and her cheeks turned red with anger.

"Who are you calling a fox...?"

"Ah! Second brother?!"

Before he could finish speaking, Wu Dalang, who was bowing and scraping to his neighbors at the street corner, looked up. When he saw who it was, his eyes lit up. He rubbed his hands together and waddled over like a duck, his short, stocky figure swaying as he walked.

"Second brother's return is just in time; it coincides with your sister-in-law's wedding!"

Sister-in-law?!

Pan Yue's hand, which was suspended in mid-air, paused slightly, and her gaze flickered as she looked at the person who had just arrived.

"...It really is his second son! I heard he went to Cangzhou, how come he's back?"

"Don't you know? Wu Erlang is truly a hero. His deeds of ridding the people of evil have already been reported back from the neighboring counties!"

"How so?"

"It is said that there is a Jingyang Ridge south of Yanggu County, where a huge tiger with glaring eyes and a white forehead lives. It has eaten thirty or twenty hunters, and the hunters and villagers have suffered for a long time! Fortunately, the hero Erlang of the Wu family killed the tiger with a few punches and kicks when he crossed the ridge! Now everyone in Yanggu praises him and wants to marry their daughters to Erlang..."

"Truly a hero!"

The villagers started talking about it again.

Pan Yue, standing in front of the sedan chair, frowned slightly, squinted, and gazed intently.

Wu Song, the tiger-slaying hero whose story is known to everyone, young and old alike?

Judging by appearance alone, he certainly lives up to the description in the book: "imposing figure and dignified appearance."

Before she could see him more clearly, Wu Dalang, wearing a red flower in his hair, had already swayed and staggered in front of Wu Song.

"Second Brother's trip..."

He looked Wu Song up and down, his face crinkling with laughter. He reached out to touch Wu Song's arm, but before he could touch him, Wu Erlang, who looked bewildered, suddenly jumped three feet high as if startled.

"What are you doing?!"

Everyone only saw a blur flash across the long street. When they came to their senses, the nimble Wu Song had already darted behind his betrothed sister-in-law, carefully holding onto the corner of her clothes. He stared at Wu Da with a wary expression, his bright fox eyes wide open.

"Who are you, and why are you touching me?"

Pan Yue froze as she sensed the unfamiliar presence suddenly approaching from behind. Before she could figure out the other party's intentions, the gossipy neighbors started talking again.

"What's wrong with Erlang? Why doesn't he recognize Dalang?"

"In contrast to this, why did he hide behind his new sister-in-law?"

"Although the eldest sister-in-law is like a mother, this new sister-in-law of his, tsk, do you know why such a beautiful woman was betrothed to a short, ugly man like Gu Shupi?!"

"..."

Because of these seemingly plausible yet strangely familiar rumors, Pan Yue felt as if she were being pricked by needles and burned by fire where Wu Song was holding her, making her extremely uncomfortable.

Just as he was about to make a move, Wu Dalang on the other side came to his senses and bumped into his brother, who looked cautious. He gesticulated wildly and asked in a flustered manner, "Second brother, what's wrong? Don't you recognize your older brother?"

"elder brother?"

As if suddenly remembering something, Wu Song stood up, squinted at Wu Da, then looked down at himself, tilted his head, and asked Pan Yue with a suspicious look, "Is he really Songsong's brother?"

Warm breaths brushed past my ears, accompanied by sudden bursts of clamor from all sides. Each word and phrase felt like a sharp blade piercing my eardrums and penetrating my chest.

Yesterday and today overlapped, and Pan Yue felt an uncontrollable surge of anger in her chest. She suddenly pulled her hand away and shoved Wu Song away!

"roll!"

Songsong stood there, bewildered. When she saw the anger in Pan Yue's eyes, her nose twitched slightly. Her clear fox eyes followed the faint scent of blood in the crisp grass and leaves all the way down to the wrist that was covered by her sleeve and was now oozing streaks of crimson. Her fox ears twitched slightly and her pupils contracted sharply.

"elder brother!"

Neighbors pointed and whispered, and the rumors became increasingly offensive.

Pan Yue clenched her fists, her face ashen; just as she was wondering what to do, Wu Song suddenly stepped forward, blocking her view to the left and right, and bowed to Wu Dalang, who was also looking dazed, saying, "Brother, it's getting late, why don't you invite the neighbors in for a drink? We can discuss whatever it is after noon!"

"Second Brother is absolutely right!"

Wu Da looked as if he had just realized something, slapped his forehead, and made way for them, beaming with joy, "Everyone, if you don't mind, please come in and have a drink at our wedding..."