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墨書 Inktalez
One day, I sewed him a new outfit, and when I was about to change him into it, I discovered many scars on his back, some of which had only just healed.
The injury from the Thunder Strike had long since healed, but where did these new wounds come from?
"It's just training, nothing to worry about," he explained lightly.
I was puzzled. He spent every day with me except for one day each month; how could he have sustained such serious injuries?
"Don't think too much about it," he comforted me. "Things in this world are always like this; to gain something, you must sacrifice something. It's quite fair."
I understood; perhaps this was the inevitable path of his training.
Two years later, on my twentieth birthday, he gave me a grand gift—he took me to the town to watch the fireworks.
As the fireworks faded, he suddenly took my hand.
It was our first time touching skin without any fabric between us.
I was astonished. "Your Celestial Aura didn't harm me at all?"
He smiled and gently touched my face. "Are you happy?"
I nodded repeatedly, overwhelmed with joy and tears.
"How did you do it? Have you improved your skills?"
He nodded. "Yes."
Standing side by side, hand in hand, we finally felt like a true couple in the mortal realm.
His eyes sparkled as he looked at me and smiled. "It’s worth it."
"What?"
"Nothing. People often say a smile is worth a thousand gold pieces, and that's not untrue."
"That's for beauties; I'm not one."
Longyin stared at me for a long while and said, "My wife is very beautiful."
Later, I learned that there are rules in heaven.
Longyin wanted to experience all the joys and sorrows of life with me, but how could a human and a deity fall in love?
He wished to be close to me, yet both of us would face Heavenly Punishment. To spare me from suffering, he only sought the ability to touch my skin.
For this modest request, he endured the punishment of heavenly thunder every month.
The scars on his back were the unspoken emotions he bore.
While I secretly rejoiced, I had no idea that it came at an immense cost to him.
That year, the temple received no offerings, and the incense was scarce.
I wondered if this was why Longyin's powers were waning; he could no longer easily summon dark clouds, and I began to have my own thoughts.
I learned to weave cloth to earn some silver coins for our expenses and took in several children—orphans without anyone to rely on.
With more orphans and widows around, life became even more difficult.
Longyin couldn't understand why I was doing this; we argued several times as he urged me to send the children away.
I refused, and he wore a stern expression.
Once, in an effort to earn a little more for my children, I ventured into the mountains to search for Lingzhi mushrooms and nearly fell off a cliff. Longyin finally lost his temper with me.
Feeling wronged, I said, "Longyin, everyone has to die eventually. I don’t want you to be lonely after I’m gone. Besides, the temple has lost its incense offerings; I must do something to continue this merit for you."
My words made Longyin pause as he stared at me in silence.
I stubbornly turned my head away.
Behind me, I heard Longyin let out a sigh.
I continued, "I have raised them; they are your children too. After I am gone for a hundred years, if they return to see you, it will be as if I am still accompanying you."
He is immortal, but I will grow old. If my descendants can keep him company in my stead, it would be a form of eternal connection.
Finally, Longyin stopped arguing with me about the children. Not only that, he began to plan for their future.
Through me, he taught them to read and write, imparting the ways of the world to them.
As time passed swiftly, the children grew up and achieved success as I had hoped.
One day, the children who had established themselves in the capital returned to see me, wanting me to move away from River God Temple.
Just as I sent them off, Longyin returned from outside.
He looked at my aging face with pity and said, "It’s rare for these children to show filial piety. Even if you don’t stay long-term, you should go out and relax a bit."
I shook my head. Longyin sighed helplessly, knowing my stubbornness, and did not press further.
I understood that all these years he had wanted me to leave River God Temple, but as long as he was here, I had no desire to go anywhere else.
I thought life would continue peacefully like this until one day when I looked in the mirror and saw many wrinkles at the corners of my eyes and white hair at my temples.
I have grown old, yet Longyin remains as he was in his youth.
I have come to realize that there is always an insurmountable chasm between gods and mortals.
During those days, I was filled with melancholy, burdened with thoughts. Every time I gazed at his still handsome and youthful face, my heart ached with sorrow.
In the past, when we stood together, we were a pair of perfect match; now, standing side by side again, it felt more like an old woman with a young man.
Later, all the bronze mirrors in the house disappeared. When Longyin appeared before me again, his hair had turned white and his appearance aged.
I laughed and then cried, crying and laughing in turn.
He said, "Though I cannot accompany you for eternity, I can grow old alongside you."
Even if this is merely an illusion, having a husband like this makes me content.
One clear morning ten years later, I sat in the courtyard with Longyin leaning against me from behind.
Worried that I might catch a chill, Longyin wanted to carry me inside. I tugged at his sleeve and said, "The weather is nice today; let me sit here a little longer."
"Come in after noon; the sun will be warm then."
I shook my head. "Longyin, the children mentioned that they repaired the well in the village and built a dam. I want to go see it."
"Alright."
Now my children have prospered in the capital through business and returned to benefit the village. I feel very gratified.
In the past, people said that the River God Temple was a cursed place. However, when children from the temple became top scholars one after another, they changed their tune and began to call it a place of exceptional talent.
Now my reputation in the village has soared.
Recently, the children suggested once again that I move to the capital to enjoy my old age, but I refused them again.
I told them, "This is my home; my husband is here. Where else would I go?"
The children had never met Longyin and only felt that I had become increasingly stubborn in recent years, with my hysteria worsening.
Despite this, they still complied with my wishes.
As Longyin and I went out together, I noticed that my health was deteriorating. After just a few steps outside, I was already gasping for breath.
The sunlight warmed my face pleasantly.
Suddenly, a wave of drowsiness washed over me, and I found a place to sit down. "I really am getting old; just a little while and I'm already sleepy again."
Longyin turned to me, allowing me to lean against him. "Where are you old? You're still young."
I looked at Longyin; he seemed to have aged more than me by at least ten years. I smiled lightly and said, "You don't understand; I'm afraid I might leave you soon."
After a long while, he began to speak, his words filled with chatter about the happenings in the village.
"The village has changed so much in recent years."
"Yes, after the children built the Charity Hall, they want to establish a school so that the village children can receive an education."
"They also constructed the Dam, accumulating quite a bit of merit."
"All of this is their achievement."
"It's thanks to you as their mother," Longyin said.
For some reason, I felt a pang of sadness and tightly grasped Longyin's hand.
I am no longer the stubborn and clever girl I once was; now, my movements are slow, and I find it hard to reach out to him.
He raised his hand to gently stroke my hair, just like he did in the past. My eyes suddenly felt a bit wet. "Longyin, after I die, don't bother with a grave. Just burn me to ashes and scatter me in the wind. I want to be with you forever."
"Longyin, you must practice well after I'm gone, striving to leave this place as soon as possible..."
"Longyin, my life has been too ordinary; it's been too short... I can't accompany you until the end."
Perhaps in his life, I am merely a drop in the ocean, but this is the best and most precious thing I can give him.
"There will be no one to help you plant vegetables or cook anymore. No one will throw tantrums and ask you to take them to see the lanterns and fireworks. No one will be as lively as I was..."
Longyin did not answer me; he simply held me gently in his arms, just as he did when we were young—so warm and indulgent.
"Longyin, do you think we will meet again?"
"We will."
I smiled, though deep down I knew that goodbye... was already impossible.
"Longyin, I'm tired..."
His voice choked with emotion. "If you're tired, then sleep for a while. I'll take you home soon."
"Okay..."
I slowly closed my eyes.
It is said that on that night, a heavy rain fell. The century-old River God Temple collapsed with the storm.
The villagers said that the deity within had completed its cultivation and returned to its rightful place, ensuring that from then on, there would be good weather and abundant harvests.
Some say that the deity was moved by human emotions and, in losing his wife, chose to end his cultivation in this way.
What is the truth? Who knows?
In the coming year, as the orioles fly and the grass grows, this temple, once dedicated to a young girl, ultimately faded from the mortal realm.
Epilogue
I am a deity redeeming myself among mortals, overseeing a small village, yet it is not a place of peace and prosperity.
It is said that the villagers have long engaged in wicked deeds, thus incurring Heavenly Punishment.
I first encountered Lianyi on the day she was born.
It was New Year's Eve, a night filled with bustling markets and family reunions, yet there lay a couple covered in blood at the entrance of my temple.
The husband had been severely injured by villains and breathed his last at the gates of the River God Temple. The wife, having gone into premature labor, gave birth to a baby girl before departing this world.
I still remember vividly how that woman mustered her last breath to name her daughter Lianyi, then turned to my statue to plead for divine protection for her child’s survival.
To be honest, as a practitioner accustomed to life and death, I had long since grown indifferent to such tragedies.
Thus, for the next sixteen years, I only occasionally watched over Lianyi.
She grew up at her uncle's home, enduring a life filled with beatings and scoldings.
I did not wish to intervene too much, thinking they were family and it couldn't be worse than this. Little did I expect that their hearts were so blackened they would use her as bait to drown in the river.
One day when I returned, I saw a flash of red clothing floating in the river. Upon retrieving it, I found it was indeed Lianyi.
Fortune favored this girl; she had survived after all. I decided to keep her at the River God Temple—at least here I could ensure her safety.
I thought she would be afraid of me, but instead, she thrived in my temple.
Later on, it turned out that I was the one who fell first.
We supported each other for decades, and in the end, I watched helplessly as she passed away in my arms, her face aged, as if she had simply fallen asleep.
I followed her wishes and scattered her essence in the wind. That night, a heavy rain fell, not knowing how many orange-yellow apricots it knocked down in the courtyard.
In truth, I had already achieved my purpose.
And on that rainy night, the River God Temple, which had sheltered her for a lifetime, collapsed with a thunderous roar.
...
I exchanged hundreds of years of merit for a chance to meet her again in the next life.
In this life, both she and I were born into a Noble Family, Pax Sinica, Noble Children, Jade as the Hall, Gold as the Steed.
We met when we were young; I protected her as we rode through the capital and accompanied her as she grew freely.
In the third year after her coming-of-age ceremony, we celebrated an extraordinarily lively wedding. The Royal Favor and the Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince personally sent my betrothal gifts.
On our wedding night, I wore a beautiful Wedding Attire and lifted her Veil with my Ruyi Staff. Beneath it, her eyes sparkled like water as she shyly smiled and asked me, "Husband?"
In this life, I finally found my completeness.
(End of text)
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